James Bittinger's Journal

I recently got an iPhone 4S through work. My previous phone was a Motorola Droid. The iphone is much better at managing apps and more responsive. Physically it has a more solid, pleasant feel to it. The battery life is better on the iPhone. It was nice having keyboard on my Droid, but I find can live without it. I do however miss the notification LED on my Droid. Why the iphone doesn’t have this doesn’t make any sense to me, since it can’t cost that much more to add. Apps wise, I haven’t seen much difference. Obvoiusly the Droid had better Google integration, which like, but I still can access google maps, gmail, etc. Siri is a really cool feature, but I find it only appropriate to use when not in public, since it seems weird/rude giving verbal orders to my phone when others are around. I do think the use of an electronic personal assistants will become much more prevalent was time passed.
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2011 was a relatively uneventful year. Brett moved to California. Willy got a new job working from home. Carl got engaged. Christine started a new job at Alpha Natural Resources and finished her MBA. Shane and Brandy had a little girl. Weatherly, Hutch, MK, Willy and I ran the Tough Mudder. Julie and I went to Europe. I broke all my personal running records and turned 30 years old. I have a feeling 2012 has much more in store for us.

Best movie seen: Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows (Really?)
Best video game played: Portal 2
Best book read: The Hunger Games
Best album heard: none (I haven’t listened to much this year)
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Weatherly, MK, Willy, Hutch, Tim Sant, Weatherly’s friend Joe, and myself ran the Tough Mudder last weekend at Wintergreen, VA. It was a 10 mile course up and down ski steep ski slopes with 27 obstacles to overcome. We drove up the night before hand and stayed in Stanton, VA. To get to the ski resort for our 8:40am start time, we got up at 5:30am to frost covered cars. The drive took a little less than an hour, and we had to shuttle to the top of the mountain. Registration was painless, and I got my number marked on my head and leg. We went to the start and took the Tough Mudder pledge, and resolved to stay behind the initial rush so that we could stay together.

Immediately we had to run through a snow blower spraying water and then up a long steep ski slope, but we were able to maintain a slow jog. At the top, we had to scale two 10ft walls. From there we had a long descent, and then hurdle several hay bales while getting sprayed with water. After that was our first “death march”, a half mile climb up a steep slope. Near the top we had to bear crawl under a cargo net the rest of the way up. We waited about five minutes for Hutch and Tim to catch up, but we decided that I would be best to split up into two groups, since they were already getting worn out.

Our next obstacle was the log carry. Being the overachievers that we are, Jon, Joe and I grabbed one of the huge logs to carry instead of the individual ones. It was pretty heavy, to “log” around for about a quarter mile over rolling hills. The next obstacle was the money bars, which ascended and descended for about 20 bars over cold water. Willy and myself made it. The others got wet. After that we had to cross on a wobbly balance bean over cold water. We all got wet on that one, but it didn’t matter, because the next challenge was a long dumpster full of ice and water that we had to swim through. It was burning cold, and my adrenaline really kicked while trying to get through this one. All I could think about was to keep moving after I got out. Then we had a vertical climb up a cargo net, and a half mile forest trek over logs and such. After that we were back on the ski slopes to slide down a giant slip’n’slide. From there we had to crawl through a large drainage pipe into a small pool up another drainage pipe. After that was the longest climb of the event to almost the top of the mountain. At the top of this climb, we had to crawl twenty yards through mud under barbed wire.

From here it was mostly running over rolling hills at the top. There we completed the tire obstacle, went over the hay bale tower, went over/under the log obstacles, and scaled two 12ft walls. From here is was more downhill than uphill. We completed the skake’n’bake, which you waded through a pool of water and had to crawl through sand under barbed wire. We went through the mystery obstacle, which was a tower with a straight drop down into a shoot. Then we crawled over a hanging cargo net while being blasted with water. After this obstacle, we knew there were only three left, the half pipe, the fire run, and the electric shock.

The half pipe was the physically the most challenging obstacle. It was overcome by sprinting up it as hard as you could to grab the hands of two people hanging over the top to help pull you up. I fell my first attempt and scraped up my legs some more than they already were. The fire run was mostly just think smoke, and wasn’t as bad on my lungs and eyes as I expected. The electroshock obstacle was a large number of dangling wires to run through where some are charged to 10k volts. I got shocked once that caused my whole body to spaz. Willy got shocked so bad it knocked him down in to the mud. After the electroshock humiliation, we ran through the finish to collect our free headband, muscle milk, and beer.



Overall it was more challenging that a half marathon, but it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. At no point did I question whether I could make it. I felt I trained well for it. To train, I continued my normal weight lifting routines and spent two months running long distance on trails, the knob trails at Steele Creek and the Houston Dam being the most challenging. The Tough Mudder was an awesome event and I certainly recommend to it someone looking for an alternative challenge to normal high endurance events.
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I just finished Bioshock 2 this week. I love the world of Rapture, and I don’t know what took me so long to get this. Now I need to find something else to play until Battlefield 3 comes out next month.



I also finished Blood Meridian. It’s a western about scalp hunters that is supposed to be a modern classic. Cormac McCarthy is certainly good with language, but I didn’t like this book. The plot doesn’t flow well and it is hard to follow because he so inconsistent with his descriptions. He might spend a page taking about some piece of the landscape and then have one sentence for a pivotal action in the story. Plus it’s morbid, gory, and depressing. I still respect his skills as a writer, but I wouldn’t want to meet Cormac. He can’t have a very joyful outlook on life.
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Since I spend at least an hour and half commuting each day, I have been listening to audio books to optimize my time. It makes the drive tolerable and sometimes even enjoyable. So far this year I have “read”:

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. The Great Divorce
3. The Screwtape Letters
4. The Last Battle
5. The Catcher in the Rye
6. The New Testament
7. Mere Christianity
8. Bossypants
9. The Shack
10. The Hunger Games

All of these have been great books, but I especially enjoyed The Hunger Games. It is well written with a great plot. I found myself sitting in the car even after I had pulled in to the garage to hear what happened next. The writing is descriptive but easy enough to follow without having to concentrate too much, which is enjoyable after a long day. It is engrossing, and I really care(d) what happens to the protagonists. I can’t wait to listen to the rest of the series.
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The Train ride to Bath was scenic and painless. We arrived a little early to check into the bed and breakfast we were staying at, so we decided to walk there instead of taking a cab. Little did we know that the walk was 1.5 miles straight up hill, so we got a good workout carrying our luggage all that way. We picked up our key from the pub next door. The place was nice and it was good to have a double bed; we had been sleeping in twin beds at the other hotels. We walked back into town and ate at a Thai restaurant. It was very good.

The next day we walked into town for the free two hour guided walking tour that the city government provides. It was pleasant, and we got to see all the main sites in Bath. For lunch we ate at a French themed café. We then walked to a scenic overlook that was near our B&B. After some rest, we went for a run down and up the 1.5 mile hill. For dinner we ate the Pump station next to the Roman Baths. For a fancy dinner, it was disappointing. We did drink some of the hot spring water. I don’t recommend it.

Tuesday, we took a tour bus to Stonehenge. We were going to take the train to Salisbury, but our host at the B&B recommended the tour, and it was much easier. I was expecting Stonehenge to be awe-inspiring. It wasn’t. It’s some big stones in a field. The English country side, however, was beautiful and made the trip worthwhile. On the way back to Bath, we stopped at a small English village that had been preserved. For lunch we ate at a bakery and I had a meat stuffed pastry with cider. It was the best meal that I had on our trip. That afternoon we took it easy and went for another run up and down the big hill. For dinner we ate at the oldest house in Bath. It was an excellent meal.

Wednesday we headed home. We took the train from Bath to Paddington Station in London, and then the train from Paddington to Heathrow Airport. Getting through the airport took a while because that day they were doing extra security checks. Our flight to Atlanta took off on time, and we arrived 8 hours later a little early. Getting through passport checks and customs took forever, and then we had to go through normal airport security all over again. At this point Julie found out that she could not take a snow globe through because of the liquid, so we had to go back on check it. Luckily we made it through okay and got home fine with all our things.
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Getting to the train to London was similar to getting through the airport. There was extra security because of we were crossing from the EU to Britain and maybe because of the Chunnel. The ride to London was quick, but it took quite a while to get our checked baggage and get to the hotel. We checked into our hotel and went to grab a late lunch. Our hotel was in Notting Hill near Hyde Park. We first tried to find the book store from the movie, Notting Hill, but later found out it doesn’t exist. We ate at a Pret-a-manger a couple blocks away, which is great for fast healthy food. I was pretty worn out at this point but still wanted to make the most of the day, so we took the tube to the British Museum. The museum was free and fun. They have the Rosetta Stone and a good bit of the Parthenon there. We then walked around Soho trying to find a good place to eat. It was miserable, because we were both really tired and couldn’t agree on a place to eat, not to mention it was very crowded. We finally ended up at a small real Italian restaurant, which was quite good. I navigated our way back to the hotel and crashed.

The next day, we had a morning guided tour. We went inside St. Paul’s Cathedral and watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. That afternoon we went for a run in Hyde Park, and later we took the tube to the Tower of London. It was expensive getting a single day ticket for the tube the day before, so I got us Oyster cards that you can fill with credit for the tube. They were handy and made us feel like Londoners. It was pretty expensive to go inside the Tower of London, and it was only open for another hour, so we only walked around the outside. We then walked across Tower Bridge. Next, we took the tube to Harrods, London’s big department store. It was very expensive, so we didn’t spend long there. From there we walked to Wellington Arch, and then walked through Hyde Park back to our hotel. We ate dinner at a fancy fish 'n' chips restaurant. I usually just ordered a glass of wine for myself at dinner, but I convinced Julie to share a bottle with me, which she actually enjoyed. We ended up getting a bottle of wine with every dinner after in Britain.

Friday, we spend the morning in Westminster. We saw the Clock Tower and Parliament and went inside Westminster Abbey. There we found the graves of Charles Dickens, Geoffrey Chaucer, Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin amongst many kings and queens. We then walked across the Thames to ride the London Eye, the tallest Ferris Wheel in Europe. From there we walked to see the Cabinet War Rooms, which was where Churchill managed the war during the Blitz. We then walked back to Buckingham Palace to take a close up picture of the Guards. For dinner we ate at a Thai restaurant a couple blocks from our hotel. It was pretty good.

Saturday morning we went to Covent Garden Market to browse some. Then we walked to the IMAX to watch a movie, but they were all sold out, so we decided to take the tube to the Science Museum to see an IMAX movie there, but the movie playing there wasn’t very interesting, so we walked around the Natural History Museum some. Did didn’t spend long there, since we have both been to the ones in DC and New York. We walked back to the hotel through Hyde Park. Julie went for a short run, and we at dinner at a nice pizza place. I think we got calzones, which were good.

Sunday we went for a run through Hyde Park, and checked out of our hotel. We took a cab to Paddington station to catch our train to Bath. ^ TOP

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We rode in first class on the way to Paris, which means free food. Unfortunately we ate a big breakfast right before, so we missed out. The ride to Paris wasn’t too long, 2-3 hours. To be so close, Paris was about 20 degrees warmer than Amsterdam. Paris was certainly the most impressive city of the four we visited. The architecture is impressive and consistent, and city feels like it has a proud history. Julie and I both commented that first day how similar it was to DC only bigger.

We arrived at the hotel too early to check in, so we left our bag there, and took the metro to the Musee-d’Orsay which is a museum converted from an old train station. It mainly houses works from artists after 1820, so mostly impressionist like Monet, Manet, and Degas. It would have been more enjoyable if we didn’t have to wait an hour in the blazing sun first to get in. Afterward we stopped at a small café. I got crepes, and Julie discovered a new love, macaroons. We then took the metro back to the hotel, to check in , rest, and get out of the sun. For dinner we ate at a café near the hotel, which was located near the Eiffel Tower. Once it started to get dark, we took a boat ride on the Seine River, so we could see the city lit up at night. It was fun and relaxing, and got to see the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Louvre, and numerous bridges lit up. The guide spoke everything in four different languages, which was different. It definitely is a tourist city. Back at the hotel, there was a fight going on between the door man and a shady looking guy trying to get in the hotel. Julie and I quickly got inside, and in the morning we noticed the the glass doors were shattered from the fight.

The next day, we had a morning guided bus tour of the city and went up to the second level of the Eiffel Tower. That afternoon, we walked all over the city. We started at the Arc de Triomphe and walked down the Champs-Élysées. They were already setting up for Bastille Day where they have a huge military parade down. We then saw the Luxor Obelisk, the Louvre from a distance and walked to the Opera House. From there we walked to Galeries Lafayette for some quick shopping. Then we walked to the Louvre. It was close to 100 degrees outside by then, and there was a long line outside to get in, so we didn’t. Next, we walked to Notre Dame. Be then we were worn out from the heat and walking, so we took the metro back to the hotel. For dinner we ate at a nice pizza restaurant. We walked around for 45 minutes after looking for an ice cream shop nearby, but ended up getting some from a vendor near the Eiffel Tower.

Tuesday, we took the train to Versailles. The gardens were very impressive, but the palace was so crowded that day, we didn’t spend much time inside. We spend a couple hours walking through the gardens and Marie-Antoinette's estate. Julie had been looking for a store called Naf Naf that her friend recommended to her since we arrived, but hadn’t found one. We took the metro back out to the Champs-Élysées to look for it again. We finally found it, but it was thoroughly disappointing after all the trouble. From there, we went to the Sacre Coeur Basilica. The church was beautiful on top of a hill overlooking the city. Outside they were setting up a giant jump ramp, which we later saw people rolling down on TV when we were in London. We did run into aggressive street people here that would physically grab you trying to sell you things. This was the only time I felt unsafe our trip. We headed back to the hotel to clean up. For dinner we had Thai food, which wasn’t really that impressive. The next day we travelled to London.
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We had an overnight flight to Amsterdam arriving at 8am the next morning. I tried taking some melatonin on the flight over to help me sleep. It did not. Once in Amsterdam, passing through the border security was uneventful, but we ended up waiting 90 minutes to pick up our luggage that had gotten “lost” in the system. After a little searching we found the driver that was picking us up, but we still had to wait for another couple that he was picking up who was also delayed. So after a 12 hours flighting, we spent 3 hours total waiting at the airport.


My first impression was that Amsterdam was more open than I imagined, surrounded by farmland and not many really tall buildings. We got checked in and ate lunch at a café called the Soup Kitchen, which was pretty good. We walked to Dam Square and then proceeded to Anne Frank’s House. However, the walked the wrong direction, so we made an hour loop around central Amsterdam first, passing about 20 coffee shops (“coffee shops” don’t sell coffee). The Anne Frank House was sobering for me. I think Julie was disinterested, since she was only one girl of millions that were killed. We had dinner at a Dutch restaurant. It was good, but I think we were both too tired to enjoy it.

The next day, Friday, we had a half day tour scheduled of the city, but Julie wasn’t feeling well, so I went on the tour by myself. The tour was a boat ride on the canals, a diamond cutting factory, and the Rijksmuseum. The canal ride was relaxing as I was still worn out from all the traveling, and it was a great way to see the city, without getting run of by bicycles. There more bikes in Amsterdam then there are people. Julie was feeling better by when I got back, so we went back to the soup kitchen for lunch. That afternoon, we booked a bus tour to visit the three countryside villages and see some windmills. It was very picturesque. That evening we couldn't decide where to eat, so we ended up at an Irish pub for some bar food.

The breakfast at the hotel was included each day and it was great. Saturday morning, we did a three hour bike tour of the city. Unfortunately it was cold and raining, not optimal biking weather. We got we see quite a bit of the city though. It was fun making people get out of your way on the bike, after spending two day on the receiving end. Julie’s hands got so cold, I had to unlock and lock her bike for her. I can’t remember what if anything we did for lunch, but Im sure we crashed after a rainy bike ride that afternoon. For dinner we had Dutch pancakes, which are similar to pizza in that they are big and you can order them with meat and vegetables in them. Very tasty. I had a fresh minty to drink that I saw others drinking. It’s just mint and hot water with honey or sugar. I wouldn’t get it again. The next day we left for Paris.

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My project for the past couple months has been updating my home theater PC (HTPC). I have had a PC hooked to my TV since I moved into my house to play movies and TV shows from the internet. Originally this upgrade project started with me wanting to be able to play and pause videos without getting up to use the mouse, which is under the TV, and upgrade the network connection. I soon found there is a lot of cool software to play with for home theater computers. When I first built my HTPC four years ago, windows home theater edition was the only real option for at HTPC interface. It was okay, but I found just opening media files from windows explorer to be just as convenient.

For my updated HTPC, I decided to use XBMC as my media player. XBMC is an open source cross-platform media player and home entertainment system software originally created to run on the XBOX, but over years of development, has been ported to Linux, iOS, and Windows. Given that it has been in active development since 2003, it is stable, performs well, and has nearly every feature you could think of for your home theater. Tons of plugins, elaborate skins, and supporting programs have also be created for it.

I found a program that automatically downloads new TV shows and updates the XBMC's library, saving me from manually downloading and managing tv shows. When Julie and I want to watch any show from the previous night they are already downloaded and on the XBMC. I also setup a similar program that does the same thing for movies, and there is one being worked on for music as well, each which can be accessed remotely through a web interface.

Desiring to be able to manage my computer remotely, I discovered DDNS, which allows you to remotely access a dynamic IP address. With DDNS setup I decided to move my website off of a remote host and host it myself. I setup an apache web server with XAMPP, which comes with php and mysql already setup. I also added a web project called mediafrontpage that lets you see recent movies and tv shows add to XBMC, upcoming shows to be downloaded, status of current downloads, hard drive status, and search for new media.

Next I decided to build a file server, instead of storing the files on the HTPC. I used Unraid for my OS, which is Linux distribution that can be managed headless with a web interface and supports adding new hard drives of different sizes with optional parity drive. I choose it mainly because it was easy and free. I already had an extra CPU/motherboard, so I only had to buy a case and 2TB drive.

I made a few other hardware upgrades. I added more RAM to the HTPC, with the plan to upgrade to Windows 7 soon. My HTPC is connected to my network through a bridged router running dd-wrt. I upgraded the routers for a 802.11g wireless network to 802.11n wireless, which also upgraded the wired speed to gigabit. I got my old Microsoft remote from Jon, and I just got a wireless xbox controller to use with emulators on XBMC.
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I played through Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 recently. The gameplay builds on KOTOR fundamentals, but with the added element of 3rd person shooting and moving to cover (i.e. Gears of War). The first one lacked refinement and is buggy at times. The second is polished and smoother, but the plot is weaker. The story in both is engrossing, just the second game concentrates more of developing each character, all twelve of them, so the overall plot doesn't seem quite that epic. They did a good job in the second game incorporating the decisions that I made in the first one, which made it feel more personal. In short, they were both enjoyable, and I intend to play the next one.

Julie and I also rewatched the Lord of the Rings Trilogy last week. It really is amazing that these movies even got made let alone made so well. They were such a large undertaking. In retrospect, many of the things I didn’t like the first time because they were different than the book, were actually pretty good decisions for the movie to work. I still wish the casting could have been better, but these were difficult roles to fill. The CGI’s hold up, but it is more noticeable ten years later than it was back then when it was groundbreaking. Here’s to hoping The Hobbit movie is even better!
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I don't know where this is from but it cracks me up:

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Here is what I have been listening to lately:

Spoon – Gimme Fiction
Spoon – Transference
    This is my new favorite band. Every song on these albums is great!
Weezer – Hurley
    Weezer is just wanting to get paid (and laid). Not bad, not good. At least it’s better than the Red albumn.
Joanna Newsom – Ys
     I would not call her wining whispering old lady voice music. I guess that’s what you get when you get music recommendations from Time magazine.
Eminem – Recovery
     Eminem rules hip-hop. This album kills. I could put this in repeat and not get tired of it.
Robert Plant – Band of Joy
     He’s still got the voice that help define Led Zeppelin. It was better than I expected.
Seal – Seal II
     Seals good, just not for me. I do like “Kiss from a rose”, but I wouldn’t get any more of his music.
Surfer Blood – Astro Coast
     Good album, but nothing to tell your friends about.
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This year went by fast! Brett finished graduate school. Willy got a new job with Alcatel-Lucent. Carl started a new job (I can’t remember where). Christine started graduate school and got a cow. Shane and Brandy are having a little girl. Julie got tenure and married me. I finished graduate school, married Julie and began a new job at Eastman. We also got a cat, which is currently really sick.

Best movie seen: Inception
Best video game played: Star Craft 2
Best book read: The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding
Best album heard: Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
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The past month has been very eventful. I married the now Julie Bittinger, honeymooned in New York, started a new job at Eastman Chemical, and went to Chicago for a week of training. The wedding went great, and I just posted all the pictures online here. Everyone was a big help making it a great day. New York was a lot of fun, and I found it to be a fairly stress free place to visit considering how big and populated it is. We got to see the today show, a Broadway play, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, amongst other normal site seeing. The train ride to New York was different, it is a little easier than flying but has its own issues. If there was an Amtrak closer to Bristol, we might be more inclined to use it. Eastman is a different work environment than King, which I still dont have a solid feel for yet. Their IT infrastructure and integration is really impressive, but they do also have four to five times the amount of resources that we had at King. It is exciting to see what can be done with enough people, money, and talent. I have a lot to learn, and it will be a while until I can get settled in. Chicago was cold, and I didn’t get to do too much there other than go to class, but the city is amazing at night from the air.

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