Dave Bullock / eecue : Programmer | Photographer | Admin | Human

For years my blog allowed comments, but the system was hard to figure out and people rarely commented. Recently I have noticed a few sites using Disquss to power their comments and I decided to give it a try. It's easy to use from both a publisher and a user's perspective. One nice feature is the ability to export all the comments, which I'll likely do once I finish the rewrite of the software that powers this site. I hope you'll leave a comment if you enjoy reading my blog and viewing my photos. Thanks!

Tomorrow is my 30th birthday, but instead of sending me gifts or cards, please donate to Midnight Mission:

http://www.midnightmission.org/default.asp?pg=don

Thanks!

Update: Note that although the donation form appear to not be secure, the from is contained in an iframe and is on an SSL enabled server.  

Over the years I've been using various social networks here and there, but for the most part I've been posting my content directly to this site, eecue.com. I spent a few hours today going through all my profiles and updating my bio, tags, links and whatnot. Here is what I updated my bio to:

Dave Bullock / eecue is the offspring of a photographer and a programmer. He has been sifting through bits on the internet since he was young and along the way has taught himself programming, UNIX and photography. Dave is a frequent contributor to WIRED News and a member of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Search and Rescue Team. When he's not shooting photos of geeky stuff around Los Angeles, you can usually find him crawling through a cave, out in the desert or rescuing a wayward hiker.

And here is my one liner:

Programmer / Photographer / Admin / Human

And my tags:

programming, photography, downtown los angeles, los angeles, cooking, desert, search and rescue, SAR, electronics, ham radio, microcontrollers, hacking, computer security, wired, photojournalism, hiking

Here is the daunting list of social networking sites I have profiles on, along with a short description of what it is all about. [If you want to join a site that is invite only, let me know and I'll make with an invite]:

• 43 Things - A fun list sharing sit for goals.
• Bebo - Bebo is a blogging site, they really need to add RSS importing though.
• Blip TV - A social video site, which allows you to upload content in HD with no size limit. I use it for both my personal movies and D2LA footage.
• Delicious - This is a social bookmarking site. I've been using Delicious frequently, and their site posts my links to eecue.com on a daily basis.
• Digg - Digg is a great social news site, the only problem is that the more friends you have the slower the site loads. SQL optimization time guys!
• Dopplr - Dopplr is a pretty cool social travel site with very a simple feature-set and interface.
• Facebook - Facebook is currently the best social network IMHO. It has plenty of great features. Some of the application invites get really annoying, but they recently added a feature to ignore certain apps.
• Flickr - Flickr is a social photo sharing site. I've had some issues with them in the past, but they're still quite cool. I use them to host all of the photos that you see in my blog posts.
• Good Reads - GR is a reading list / book list sharing site. My next project is to catalog the hundreds of books I own and upload them to GR and Library Thing.
• Jaiku - Jaiku is a pretty cool social aggregation site. Although, it seems to have some RSS importing issues right now.
• JungleScene - JS is a site I run about drum'n'bass and jungle in Los Angeles. It's a fairly active forum site that I started in 1999.
• Last.FM - Last FM is social music site. I haven't installed the app yet, but I will soon.
• Library Thing - LT is another book list social site.
• LinkedIn - Linkedin is a social network for professionals. I have my resume up there, although I'm not currently seeking employment.
• MeFi - Metafilter is an old school social new site. I've been a member for some time now, but I actually rarely use it anymore. I'll have to check back more often.
• Ning - Ning is a site creation platform that you can use to build a complete internet community. I wish they would allow you to use 5 character site / user names!
• Tribe.net - Tribe is a social networking site that some of my hacker friends used. I never really did much with it.
• Pownce - Pownce is another social network site that you upload files, photos and text to.
• Xanga - A blogging platform. I'm not sure about this one, will probably kill my account at some point.
• My Yahoo Profile - Not really a social networking site, but yahoo does allow for a profile.
• Reddit - Reddit is a cool and simple social news site. Full-disclosure: I am a frequent contributor to WIRED News who's parent company owns Reddit.
• Slashdot - I used to spend a lot of time on Slashdot, but I mostly just use digg now and my RSS reader. I do still subscribe to an RSS feed from Slashdot.
• StumbleUpon - SU is one of my new addictions, I can seriously waste hours finding new and cool sites by hitting the stumble button. Unfortunately it only works in Firefox and I've been using Safari since the Leopard updates.
• Tailrank - Tailrank is a meme aggregator. You feed it an OPML file and it give you a listing of what people are talking about that day.
• Technorati - Technorati is a massive blog aggregator and link tracker.
• Twitter - Twitter is a great little site for posting short thoughts online. It's like instant messaging that all your friends can see.
• Upcoming - Upcoming is a social calendaring site.
• Vox - Vox is a blogging platform, but also includes cool RSS aggregation features as well as linking to your other social profiles.
• YouTube - I've only uploaded a couple movies to YouTube, but one of them has over 100,000 views. I need to get an ultracompact digicam that has better video capabilities and use it more often!

Update:

• Virb - This is a cool site for artists and musicians.
• Myspace - Totally forgot I had this. I updated my profile, but I don't have any friends. =]
• Blogger - I've actually had this page since 2002, but I've always just used my own software for blogging. I updated the page with my RSS feed and profile.
• Naymz : I can't tell if this is really a legit service, but it seems cool enough. Could just be a personal detail data mining site.
• Yelp - I've been meaning to use Yelp more often.
• ClaimID - This seems like an interesting aggregator, will have to set it up with my other sites.
• Mugshot - A social network aggregator that may actually be useful.
• Profilactive - Another aggregator.
• Ziki - YASNR
• Uber - forgot about this one as well.
• Wink - Seems like an interesting social contact site.
• LiveJournal - I totally forgot I had this.
• MyBlogLog - I also forgot I had signed up for this.
• Deviant Art - I'm going to upload some of my better photos to here at some point
• Tumblr - Another microfeed site. I think I'm going to write a tool to post to every one of my social sites at once.
• Twitxr - Scott Beale set this up today so I figured I'd give it a try.
• Buzznet - I uploaded a few photos here once... someday maybe more.
• Friend Feed - Another social feed aggregator.

Hello Readers! Thanks for following my blog. I hope you've been enjoying my writing and photos over the years. Don't worry, I'm going to keep blogging and shooting! I made some changes to the site last week and last night. Here is a quick rundown of what has changed:

• Error Page: I have updated my error page to actually be helpful, before it was worthless, but now when you land on it, you'll find it much more helpful.
• Side Bar: Added blog categories list, added full archives listing, removed login
• Comments: I have totally removed the comments section from this site. They were hard to use (almost impossible) and spambots spent all day trying to spam them, although they did actually fail, but still. I will be reintroducing comments when I release the next version of this site. If you want to comment on a post, email me and I'll update the post with your comment and a link back to you (link the old boingboing style)
• del.ico.us Links: As I'm sure you've noticed I've been automatically posting my links from del.ico.us every day. I hope you're enjoying this. Let me know through email either way.
• Image Layout: I've changed the layout of the image pages by simplifying the interface and moving the album information to below the image. I've also added a share this button.
• Blogs: I've added a date posted field as well as a share this button.
• ShareThis: I saw this post on laughing squid and decided to add that functionality to my site. You will find a ShareThis badge on every page now.

Let me know what you think! 

The day before yesterday I dropped a glass bottle on the floor, which I then picked up and vacuumed off the floor. I warned my wife to not walk around barefoot just in case. I should have heeded my own advice. Yesterday I was walking barefoot in my loft and I stepped on a shard of glass which lodged itself deep in the arch of my left foot. I tried to get it out with a pair of fine tweezers I sterilized.

The self-help tweezing didn't work so I called Penelope who came home and she also tried to get it out. With the glass still stuck in my foot we decided to call our doctor. He saw me right away, but said that he wouldn't be able to get it out and to go to the Emergency Room.

The doctor injected the wound with lidocaine and went to work. After about 15 minutes of probing my foot with a pair of sharp tweezers and enlarging the entry hole to about triple its original size she pulled out the shard of glass. It was about 10mm x 9mm x 1mm and quite sharp. I was amazed that piece fit in through the tiny entry hole which was only about 3mm wide. I guess skin is quite stretchy!

The procedure didn't hurt at all thanks to the lidocaine, and I went home without any pain. In the middle of the night the lidocaine wore off and I was awoken by the extreme pain in my foot. I am basically unable to walk, I can sort of hobble and hop, but my foot is extremely sensitive even when I'm laying down. The doctor prescribed me some pain meds, which Penelope is picking up right now.

This weekend I am shooting NAMM for WIRED News, so I have rented a wheel chair. That should be interesting.

UPDATE I've been working from Downtown LA (read: home) today and my foot is feeling much better. Penelope picked up my 'script of Tramadol, but I haven't taken any yet. I think I'll probably pass for now. The pain isn't so bad when I'm just sitting around. She also went out of her way and picked up a wheelchair for me (which WIRED News is footing the bill for) that I'll use to make my way around NAMM tomorrow and Sunday. Hopefully that will work out. 

So a few people have asked me if there is anything in particular that I want for the Holidays. If you want to buy me a present and can't think of anything, check out my Amazon Wishlist. Thanks in advance!  

I just want to congratulate my beautiful, sweet, wonderful, caring, intelligent, inspiring, empathetic, hot and sexy wife, Penelope, on passing her Nursing 200 final today with flying colors. You did a great job baby, and now you just have a little over a year to go! You're going to be the best nurse ever! You are the world to me sweetie pie. I love you!

Photo of us atop the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge near Taos, from our recent trip to New Mexico. 

My beautiful, sweet wife and I had a beautiful wedding 1 year ago today. We've had an amazing array of fun adventures since then, starting with our honeymoon in Fiji, and continuing with trips to the zoo, the desert, San Francisco, Huntington Gardens, DEFCON, Santa Barbara, San Diego and many more. Our special day every week is Sunday and we try and do something fun and different every time.

Penelope is the sweetest woman I've ever met, and her charm and charisma is readily evident to everyone who meets her. I couldn't have asked for a better person to share my life with. Thanks to her compassion and love for humanity, she will be the best nurse ever.

My only gift to her today is dinner at the Water Grill, plus some hiking / scrabble action. The real gift will come next month in the form of a vacation to Santa Fe, Taos and Sedona. Sweet sweet Penelope, you are perfect for me. I'm looking forward to the next 50+ years with you. 

We just checked in to the newly remodeled Hotel Majestic. The first room we checked in to, one of the standard rooms, was a bit smaller than we remembered and had a flickering light, so we called down to front desk and the gracious and pleasant Nisi upgraded us to a junior suite. The suite is lovely, and although neither it nor the hotel smell like old books any more, and we are quite pleased with it. It has a very nice fireplace, which Francisco the bell hop / valet driver fired up for us, as well as a lovely 4 post bed. It also reminds us a bit of home as our windows are facing the street.

We have a reservation for 2 at Perbacco and boy are we hungry!  

After taking a tour of Hearst Castle, the wife and I are almost to SF. I'm posting this from my new Macbook Pro through bluetooth to my Blackberry and out over the EDGE network. We're going to be in SF for 5 nights and are planning on having some good food. I've been saving up for this as it our Christmas present to each other and I'm really excited. I posted a thread on Chowhound SF seeking recommendations for good restaurants. I will potentially be guest blogging on Metroblogging SF. Vacation, yay! 

I just want to put up a quick post to say the wedding went wonderfully and we had a great time. I would write more, but I have to pack for the honeymoon in Fiji.  

I have changed the design, but you will probably only notice it if you are running Windows Internet Explorer. This page should now render correctly in IE and it no longer has the javascript warning you that you are running an insecure browser. That was just plain annoying, and I apologize for it. I have also moved the blogad away from the right and column and into the left hand column below the google ads. In order to do so, I widened the left column by about 10 pixels. So basically it was a very small change, but once I launch the new version of this site will be a bigger change. I am going to get rid of the whole programmer / designer / admin / human thing as I no longer design, and instead mention something like programmer / photographer / human... or something to that extent.  

My coverage of the marches has been mentioned on slate:

La marcha: As hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their political supporters turned out nationwide Monday, bloggers documented the demonstrations. At Metroblogging Los Angeles, amateur photographer Dave Bullock captures the scene on the West Coast. Explaining the pictures of demonstrators "feverishly waving their American flags," Bullock notes that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa "opened his talk with a polite request for the protesters to roll up and stow away their non-American flags. He said that the flags from other countries would not help their cause, and most of the protesters obliged his request." (See the complete collection of Bullock's photos on his personal Web site.)

I started the day by forgetting to Spring forward. On my way to Echo Park, whilst mounting my bike when a light turned green, I ripped a 10" hole in my shorts. When I got to the park I was greeted by Mack, Eric and Wil and shortly after that my portrait was taken by a photog with a battery powered inkjet printer in tow. In said picture, I looked like a mutant squinting pirate, despite the fact that our team was not the arrrr'ing one. Furthermore I blew it when I passed on the free vegan tamales and beer.

Read the rest at blogging.la. 

So I noted that my photos and my website were shown on CNN the other day, well I am going to be back on CNN. The weekly "On the Story" show is filmed tonight and will be shown at 7-8 p.m. ET Saturday and 1-2 p.m. ET Sunday. Today I got a FedEx'ed yellow pelican case containing a Mac Mini and an iSight. During the show "correspondents give you the inside word on the stories they cover each week" and I am going to be the featured "internet correspondent". Hopefully CNN won't spin it like Deutche-Welle spun it (starting at 8:00 [it is already down]), where they called me an "activist protesting the [HR4437] bill".

Update: Well that went pretty smoothly. I'm looking forward to seeing the show. They definitely didn't spin me as an evil blogger or an activist. Everyone on the crew was very nice and I actually enjoyed it. Hopefully I didn't look too nervous. Btw Abbi told me that the Saturday show will be preempted for some other coverage, but it will be show again on Sunday and possibly late at night. 

Just got back from a birthday shooting trip in the desert. Penelope and I had a great time, but I'm glad to be back at home in my air conditioned loft with running water. Photos coming soon. 

I love my sweetie pie! We finally set a date, July 9th 2006 at the New Otani garden! I am excited.

So I just spent about 15 minutes writing the first few paragraphs of my first ever novel. You can read what I have so far here on my nanowrimo page. I will be writing every day and posting up what I have, be warned the copy has not been edited yet. Thanks to Robert Daeley for inspiring me to do this! 

Last month my site had over 100,000 visits from over 22,000 different people and a total of over 1.2 million hits. You can run an add that runs right over there to the right of this text for $20 a week. Click here to buy an add. 

So as you can see over to the right of this post I have my first blogad. It seems pretty relevant as I live in a loft and write about loft living several times a week. It's funny because if you look at my stats on the blogads website it only shows that I get 1700 hits a week (mostly because the counter has only been on there for a couple of days) but in reality I get about 5000 visits DAILY from 2000 different sites... I assume about half of those are RSS or search engines that don't load the blogad code, but it will be interesting so see how many I get at the end of one week according to blogads.