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Have you seen the new Lego Mindstorms NXT?
Monday, July 31, 2006 9:06 PM

The people from Lego visited the Microsoft campus to show off the latest version of the Lego robotics hardware – MindStorms NXT. There is a video of the visit at On10. It looks really cool and it is scheduled to hit retail stores this week just

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Location, Location, Location
Sunday, July 30, 2006 10:06 AM

Reading this entry at the JobsBlog started me thinking about location as it relates to working. Years ago I went looking for a job that would move me to a specific place. I've lived in the house I bought at that time ever since - over 27 years. Since

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posted by AlfredTwo with

I need a different vacation
Thursday, July 27, 2006 10:39 AM

I am more or less enjoying my vacation but it's not really the right vacation for me. The nice part is being with family and some of the activites we have done. I spent some time with my nephew and niece paddling around the lake on kayaks yesterday. That

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Question of the Day
Tuesday, July 25, 2006 11:13 AM

How much work does it take before a vacation day is officially not a vacation day? Does reading email count and if so how much email (I have over 166 unread email messages in my work account). How about phone calls? Is one incoming call (short) enough

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Carnegie Mellon Trip Report
Sunday, July 23, 2006 12:03 AM

In my job I have spent a lot of time visiting some of the top computer science university departments in the US. I’ve also had the chance to talk to professors from many other universities. But I much confess that my favorite of the big name schools is

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posted by AlfredTwo with

On a Roll
Saturday, July 22, 2006 11:36 PM

Well I’m really on a roll these days. For the third time in I think three trips I am spending an unplanned night in a hotel near an airport because of travel problems. This is delaying my vacation another day at least. Instead of driving to the mountains

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posted by AlfredTwo with

How to design an airport waiting area for business travelers
Friday, July 21, 2006 10:39 PM

I wasn’t planning on blogging today. I’m not yet on vacation but I was not planning on having any down time either. I am on a trip to Pittsburg to visit Carnegie Mellon University to observe a teacher training course they are running that sounds pretty

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Going on Vacation
Thursday, July 20, 2006 7:33 PM

Things will be quiet at my blog for the next week. I am going on a badly needed vacation. While I will have Internet (don't tell anyone) it will not be 24/7 like at home and I probably will only check email every couple of days. I'm addicted but I am

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posted by AlfredTwo with

How to start a busines
Wednesday, July 19, 2006 11:45 AM

Rick Segal is a venture capitalist with a very interesting blog. Here he talks about how he "creates a new business" in real time to show the CEO and CTO of a large company that they really are at risk to some "little guy" witth a big idea. I of course

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posted by AlfredTwo with

The Alfred Thompson FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Tuesday, July 18, 2006 12:06 AM

Why are you writing an FAQ? Mostly just for the fun of it. There are questions that I get asked fairly often either in presentations I give, talks with people at conferences or email or instant messenger conversations. I just thought I’d write some of

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Working Together
Monday, July 17, 2006 7:31 AM

Maryam Scoble has a blog post about working with her husband that is helpful if you ever think about such a thing. My wife and I worked at the same schools together for a number of years. Schools are interesting places. Very often students will assume

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Good news bad news
Saturday, July 15, 2006 8:26 PM

The monitor on this laptop looks wonderful at 1400x1050. The problem is that everything is hard to read. I guess my eyes are getting old. I don't really think I need new glasses. And as long as I can set the resolution to something else I don't

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posted by AlfredTwo with

I blame TV
Friday, July 14, 2006 11:49 PM

My wife is going away for a week with a friend. My son made a comment the other night about worrying about me eating. Now my son has been living on his own for years and is a very good cook. I on the other hand have never lived alone and am not known

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posted by AlfredTwo with

The Games of Windows Vista
Tuesday, July 11, 2006 4:13 PM

OK no one is going to buy a new operating system just because of the games that come with it. Well almost no one. But if you were then the games in Windows Vista might just do the trick. First the old games have been updated with really great graphics.

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Beating Murphy
Monday, July 10, 2006 11:01 AM

If you are looking for a story of how business travel is fun and exciting this is half of it. It’s the exciting part without the fun. And of course you will need a generous definition of exciting as well. I'm sure you all know "Murphy's Law" which says

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Smart v. Knowledgeable
Sunday, July 09, 2006 4:27 PM

I admit that I have a problem with people who don’t seem to be able to distinguish between stupid and ignorant or smart and knowledgeable. I used to hear it all the time from students. They would complain that they were “too stupid” to do something. This

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Listen to it get quiet
Wednesday, July 05, 2006 12:42 AM

Have you ever heard it get quiet? There are a couple of times when this happens. Most often it happens when someone turns off something that is making background noise. If the air conditioner suddenly shuts off for example. Or the power in the building

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Random Notes
Monday, July 03, 2006 11:34 PM

I will be traveling tomorrow. I fly out to San Diego for the annual NECC conference. It should be fun. Well if I finally get the kinks out of my Windows Vista laptop which was just repaired last week it will be fun. Otherwise my talk on Saturday will

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Chess
Saturday, July 01, 2006 11:23 PM

I used to play chess. I haven't played in years though but the other day I installed Windows Vista. It includes a chess game. So I played. I played very badly. I won the first game at the beginner level but I probably shouldn't have. At the middle level

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posted by AlfredTwo with

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