Made me cry a little bit...

Sarah ran across this video this morning. Its simply awesome. God talking to a little boy and giving him truth and answers in a time of need.

Amazing...



Here's the direct link to YouTube in case it doesn't fully load...

I created an iPhone app!!

It was fun!!! In my last contract I ended up doing some Javascript fun stuff and I figured why not give web programing a whirl and see what happens. What better way to do some web programming than to program for an iPhone??? Its wizzy, its cool and I can carry it my back pocket!

So here's what it is, its a dice roller for the popular game "Settlers of Catan". Specifically for the "Cities and Knights" variant of Settlers. It rolls 2 dice and also a colored ship die. The user can simulate a Settlers roll multiple, multiple times and then see how the distribution aligns with known probability theory of 2 dice rolling.

You're probably thinking, why in the world would you do this when you can roll the dice when you play? Well....whenever we play, inevitably some good number like 6 or 8 ends up being rolled a lot less than some stinky number like 3 or 10. So then we get to discussing the accuracy of our dice and if the dice are truly giving us random rolls. Sooo, I programmed up a roller as an alternative for us to use when we play.

I went to extra effort to make sure the rolls were random by reseeding the random number generator with the number of milliseconds since epoch (Jan 1, 1970) before each and every roll of each die. This is needed because some studies have come out showing computer random number generators, really aren't that random. They're psuedo-random. And that may be good enough for Joe Blow, but not for us, hard-core-geek-freeks.

So now that its done, I submitted the application to Apple and hopefully if I didn't step on too many copyrights with regards to the game's images and references, then hopefully they'll accept it and add it to the list of Apple approved iPhone applications!!!

Above is the logo I had to create for the Apple submission and below are screen shots of the application in action... Due to real estate limitations, I couldn't use titles in the Stats View, so the first column shows actual results, second column shows expected results, and the third column shows the difference between the two.

Enjoy,

Tim.


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Click for PC Demo
With an iTouch or iPhone navigate to "http://www.bennettspeed.com/catan/catan.htm"


   

Elise falls asleep on the toilet

Oh too funny!!!

Different beards...

Well, after the play, I experimented with different beards. Below are pictures of the results. My friend, Lisa from Albuquerque, suggested I try a mustache with a goatee look. I liked it, but in the end, I shaved it all off. Here's some pictures...

     

Tequila addiction

Okay, so I'm not an alcoholic, far from it, but I do have a thing for trying better and better tequilas. At work, there's 3 guys who are really into Margaritas and so we investigate tequilas, we each buy one or two of the ones we think are good and then we taste test on Friday's. After deciding which is the best, we then make small margaritas and enjoy the new found tequila. This is now known fondly as Tequila Friday's!! So now I own 5 different bottles of tequila. I must be crazy. Sarah definitely thinks so. (But she's been thinking that for a long time now) So what's the results of all our taste testing? Here's the results as we've decided thus far. In order from rock-gut to whoa-baby:

Jose Quervo Gold - In all honesty about the dirtiest, nastiest stuff you can buy. Lots of bite and no taste. Not 100% blue agave.

Jose Quervo Blanco - Less bite than Quervo Gold, but still just a step above from drinking gasoline. Jose Quervo really does a disservice to tequila. Also, not 100% blue agave.

Cazadores Repasado - I once talked with a lady who co-owned a decent Mexican restaurant here in town. I asked her what her most ordered tequilas were. Hornitos and Cazadores was the answer, which they are the best of the cheap tequilas. However, Cazadores has more of a whiskey taste and less of a tequila taste making it very horrible in my opinion.

1800 Blanco - Definitely a ton smoother than Jose Quervo Blanco, but that's not hard to do. Not worth the money. Perhaps the Repasado is better.

Suaza Hornitos (Repasado) - Best tequila for the $20 something price entry. If all you've experienced is Jose Quervo, this is great stuff.

Cabo Wabo Repasado - A huge step up in smoothness and taste from the Hornitos. Has a medium amount of bite. After taste is decent.

Patron Repasado - Not far from the Cabo Wabo Repasado. Again has a medium amount of bite and after taste is decent. Some refer to Patron as the Jose Cuervo of upper end tequilas. Everybody thinks its great stuff (marketing), but really it leaves a lot to be desired.

Don Eduardo Anejo - Extremely difficult to say which of the Don Eduardo's is better, the Anejo or Repasado. The anejo has a lot of bite, which I don't like, but it has a ton of after taste. You can literally take a small sip of this stuff and have a wonderful taste in your mouth 3 minutes later. The large amount of bite however, doesn't make for good margaritas and can easily turn off the tequila sipper.

Don Eduardo Repasado - Extremely smooth, good amount of taste, NO bite what-so-ever. Makes for excellent margaritas.

Don Julio Repasado - Little more bite than the Don Eduardo Repasado, but tons more taste which more than makes up for the small amount of bite. This is definitely the best repasado I've tasted to date and makes smokin' Margaritas.

Don Julio Anejo - Less bite than the Repasado and about the same amount of taste. You can definitely tell its oak barrel aging relation to the Repasado. Have yet to try it in a Margarita, but I'm guessing its going to be fabulous and possibly a new favorite. Could very well be the best tequila you can buy in the $50 range.

San Matia Anejo - First of all, this tequila is in a whole different price bracket from all the above tequilas. This stuff runs $140 for a 750mL bottle. So its not really fair to put this stuff in the same list as the above tequilas. And No, I didn't buy this bottle. Boss lady bought it for us tequila lovers. But anywho, this stuff is aged 3 yrs, has no bite what-so-ever, has a very nice wood-maple flavor. Very good for sipping. Kind of a waste to put this wonderful stuff in Margaritas.


So there's the breakdown of Tequilas as me and the guys at work know it. By the way, our recipe for making Margaritas is really simple. 1 part lime juice, 3 parts tequila, 3 parts orange liqueur (a mixture of Cointreau, Grand Marnier, & Triple Sec). Go easy on the Grand Marnier though, too much can ruin a 'rita. And if there's too much tartness from the lime, increase the ratio of Triple Sec.

There ya go, you have more than enough info for making excellent Margaritas!! Just take it easy, those babies are strong!!

Also you may be wondering...
  Blanco - no aging in wood barrels
  Repasado - Aged a minimum of 3 months, but not more than 1 year.
  Anejo - Aged a minimum of 1 year.

Tim.

Christmas is coming...

Hey folks, again, its been a while since I blogged and I had a goal of a blog a month, but I obviously haven't hit that. Not by a long shot. But there are a few things new. Its SNOWING and man do I love it. With the 4Runner and AWD, I look for excuses to head out and enjoy kicking the truck sideways in the snow. What a hoot. People must think I'm crazy.

Also, tomorrow, I'll be Joseph in the church's Christmas play. If I had blogged earlier, you could come see me at Radiant Church, but since I'm posting this so late... But the real news is I've grown a beard for the part. Its the first real beard I've ever grown. I must say, the first 3 weeks were horrible. So many times I wanted to shave the stinkin' thing off. But I held out and now it looks pretty decent if I don't say so myself. Sarah's not digging it too much. Something about not liking to kiss hair. So she's excited for tomorrow when I'll shave it all off. Below is a picture of it as it stands right now. As we shave it, we'll try a few different looks for the beard and take pictures. We'll see how they come out. See if any of them look good or not. Below's a picture of what it looks like now. Let me know what you think...

Tim.