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Starting February 19th, 2009 all the TV transmitting towers in the United States will turn off their analog signals and only broadcast in digital … and this has many people very confused. What does this mean? How will it affect you? Do you have to buy new equipment? How much will it cost?

There are three reasons for the transition from analog to digital. The first being, digital signals are much more efficient and use a much smaller radio frequency spectrum per channel. As an example, 3 digital channels can be broadcast using the same amout of spectrum as a single analog signal. The second reason is, it will free up a lot of the radio frequency spectrum for other uses such as wireless broadband, local emergency organizations and public safety communications. The third reason for the transition is a digital signal offers much improved picture and sound quality as compared to an analog signal.

Another misconception is, those who receive their TV stations from a cable company or through a satellite provider such as DirecTV will also have to upgrade their TV or buy a converter box. Subscribers of satellite services such as DirecTV and Dish will be completely unaffected by the transition because these services require you to lease or purchase a digital box that connect your a satellite dish and then your TV (DVR or TiVo are examples). Even though some local cable companies may send an analog signal into your house, they are not required to go digital. Only the TV stations that broadcast their signals from transmission towers over-the-air which are then received by an antenna are required to transition to digital. It’s unlikely these few cable companies that send an analog signal down the cable line will change, for the simple fact they would lose a bunch of customers. However, if you are unsure about your cable company, call their support line and ask if you will be required to upgrade. Chance are, you will not.

The people who are affected by the analog to digital transition are those who receive their local TV stations for free via an over-the-air antenna and do not have a digital tuner in their TV or VCR. So, how do you find out if your TV or VCR has a digital tuner? Look on the back of your television or VCR for one of the following labels:

• Integrated Digital Tuner
• Digital Tuner Built-In
• Digital Receiver
• Digital Tuner
• DTV
• ATSC
• HDTV (High Definition television)

If your television equipment contains any of these labels above, you should be able to view digital over-the-air programming without the need for a digital-to-analog converter box. Remember, you do not need an HDTV to view free over-the-air digital programming. As long as your television equipment contains a digital tuner, you can view over-the-air digital TV broadcasts. An HDTV is only necessary if you want to view High Definition programming in full HD quality.

If your TV is not digital ready and you receive your TV stations using an over-the-air antenna, then the cheapest solution is to purchase an analog-to-digital converter box to continue receiving free local TV stations using your existing TV and antenna. This box will covert the digital signal into an analog signal that can be passed to your television. Fortunately, the government has mandated that every U.S. household be eligible to receive up to two coupons, worth $40 each, toward the purchase of a digital-to-analog converter box. You will be able to request the coupons beginning in January of 2008. The coupons may only be used for eligible converter boxes sold at participating consumer electronics retailers, and the coupons must be used at the time of purchase. Manufacturers estimate that digital-to-analog converter boxes will sell from $40 to $70 each. This is a one-time cost. To inquire about the coupons and eligible boxes call 1-888-388-2009 (voice), 1-877-530-2634 (TTY) or go to http://www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon/.

Your existing antenna will not need to be replaced unless your current reception of your local TV stations is poor. With a digital signal, you either get the channel or you don’t. When you don’t have good reception of a digital signal, the TV screen will start to break up into small blocks and the sound will cut in and out. This is different than an analog signal that may cause the TV stations to look fuzzy or not come in all the way, yet you can still watch it and get sound.

Most amateur hockey players don’t know what their skate radius or rocker pitch is ground to. Some wouldn’t even know what you are talking about and most wouldn’t care even if you explained it to them. Some would even say it’s a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. But I guarantee, if you were to change it on them, they would most certainly notice a big difference. And I’d bet anything that each pro-skater in the NHL knows exactly what their profile is, or has a trainer that knows exactly what they want. Some NHL’ers even ship their skates back to a trainer on another team once they’ve been traded because the trainer knows exactly how to profile and sharpen their skates.

What do you mean profile?

A hockey skate profile describes a few things. The first of which is, how much of a flat spot your skate blades have. The second thing it describes is where that flat spot (pivot point) is in relation to the overall length of the blade. And third, it describes the hollow or how “sharp” the skate blade is.

First … the flat spot, also called the “radius”. Yes, every skate out there has a flat spot. You can’t easily see it by just looking at your skate, but it is there. It has to be, because this is the “gliding surface” or the area of the blade where one does most of their skating. If you start skating then glide along the ice, you are skating on the flat spot of your skates. The radius determines how tight a circle you can skate in if you were to glide around in a circle at maximum turning capability without picking up your feet or sliding the skate. The bigger the flat spot, the bigger the radius, the larger the circle. The smaller the flat spot, the smaller the radius, thus the smaller the circle. There’s a trade off between a large and small radius. The larger radius means you will skate faster and have more stability, but you won’t be able to turn as sharp and you will be less agile. A smaller radius means you will be more agile and capable of making sharp turns, but you won’t skate as fast and will feel a little less stable. As an example, take a look at a pair of speed skates. The flat spot is almost the entire length of the blade, so they have a very large radius, can skate very fast, but make very wide turns. No hockey player could ever keep up with a speed skater, but they could easily out maneuver them. This is because a hockey skate has a much smaller radius or flat spot, which is in contact with the ice. Finding what’s right for you depends on your skating style. Fast skater, less agile? Slower skater but very agile?

That last thing that describes a hockey skate profile is the hollow, or how “sharp” the blade is. This is what every player has re-adjusted every time they get their skates “sharpened”. If you look down the skate blade, you can see an inner and outer edge. In between these two edges the blade curves upwards (convex) ever so slightly. This is called the hollow. The science behind why a skate glides along this is ice rather interesting. When the edges of the skates put pressure on the ice, they melt a very thin layer of the ice which turns into water. The water gets trapped between the two edges and the skate hydroplanes on the water.

Technically, the hollow is the measure of a radius (as in a circle). For example, if you put a piece of paper flat in your hand then bend your fingers, the paper curves. The more curved it is, the smaller the radius (deeper hollow). The less you bend your fingers, the less of a curve in the paper (less hollow). Therefore, the paper has a larger radius. What does this mean? A deeper hollow (say for example 3/8 of an inch radius) means the skate will have more “bite”. That is to say, when you are skating the blade will dig into the ice which translates into more aggressive traction in turns and more stability, but it will degrade your gliding efficiency by causing more friction. A shallow hollow (for example 5/8 of an inch radius) will provide slightly better speed and glide efficiency with less bite. If you are a very aggressive skater who makes sharp turns and quick starts, you may be more likely to “blow a tire” or lose the ability to “hold an edge” with a more shallow hollow (eg; larger sharpen radius).

Finding the right mix of all three criteria is the tricky part. If you have a large gliding surface (rocker) you probably don’t need to have a deep hollow because enough of the skate is digging into the ice; it’s just spread over a larger area. Where the rocker is depends on the boot. If the boot already leans forward, you may not need an offensive rocker. It just depends on the manufacturer.

What’s my profile at now? Can I tell?

Unless you take them into a shop, it’s kind of difficult to know what your current profile is. Bauer skates right out of the box almost always have a 9 foot radius. CCM’s usually have an 11 foot radius. So if you’ve never done anything with them, it’s probably safe to use this as a starting point. If you set you skate straight up, you may be able to see the rocker position. The skate will tilt forward ever so slightly for a forward pitch (offensive rocker) and backwards for a reverse pitch (defensive rocker).

Do I really need to have my skates profiled?

In my opinion, heck yeah. And most pro sports stores will say the same thing for a couple reasons. The first being, most skate blades for all the major manufactures (Bauer, CCM, Easton, etc) are ground then shipped from overseas. They may come from different batches and may not always have matched radii. This can cause pretty severe degradation in your skating ability, even if you don’t know it. Especially if you buy a pair of skates then just re-learn how to skate on them thinking you “just need to break them in”. The second reason is, profiling can make a HUGE difference in your skating ability. There is no magic profile that works for everyone. Bauer and CCM just start their skates with 9′ and 11′ radii because they are middle of the road for their boots. There is no magic number for what a radius should be. Just because you are 6′ tall and wear a size 11 skate doesn’t mean you should have a 10′ radius, offensive rocker, and a 5/8 hollow. The size of the skate, who makes it, your height and what position you play, and your skating aggressiveness all have a role in the radius you should choose. See the charts at the bottom of this page for some guidelines. These are NOT hard fast rules but would be a good place to start experimenting. Getting your skates profiled is not expensive and usually costs around $25. You can even ship them off, have them profiled, and returned in just a few days. However, each time you have your blades profiled, it takes away a little bit of the blade surface. Do it too many times and you will need to have the steel runners replaced (about $40 or so).

How often should I sharpen my skates?

I like a 5/8″ hollow so there is less bite but more efficient gliding. Once I loose a little bit of that hollow, I lose the bite in the ice. That’s when I find myself loosing an edge in turns, in quick accelerations, and know it’s time to get them sharpened. For me, that’s after about 5 games. I’d probably get it done every two games, but it’s just a hassle since the shop is far away from the rink I play in.

How often should I have my skates profiled?

There is a lot of leeway in this topic. Remember, most don’t know what profiling is and in most cases have never had it done. So those that do have it done, vary from once every few years to every 20 times they sharpen their skates. The blade does loose its contour the more your sharpen it, so I like to do it after about 30 sharpenings or about 2 years. And of course, if things just don’t feel right anymore, it’s a good idea to take them in.

I work on a classified program for Lockheed Martin and our network is completely isolated from the internet. Therefore, I have two WSUS servers; one connected to the internet which harvests the updates and the second is on the classified LAN. Each day, I check for updates on the internet WSUS server and if anything new pops up, I export the metadata and copy the files to DVD.

Setting up the WSUS servers was easy. However, understanding how the two WSUS servers interacted was a different story. Here are a few problems I encountered but have since resolved:

If you are finding that the updates on your disconnected WSUS server are not downloading even after you have imported the metadata and copied the files to the server, check and confirm the following:

• The WSUSContent directory should be exactly the same on both servers. That is if on WSUS server #1 the directory path is C:\WSUS\WsusContent\ it should be the same on WSUS server #2. If you have the updates going to a different drive letter, then the metatdata in the database from server #1 will not point to the right place when you import it into WSUS server #2. You can run C:\Program Files\Update Services\Tools\wsusutil.exe help movecontent as a possible solution.
• Within the Update Services application, select Options=>Update Files and Languages and make sure “Store update files locally on this server” is selected, “Download update files to this server only when updates are approved” is checked, and “Download Express installation files” is NOT checked. The express files require communication with the Windows Update website and since your disconnected WSUS cannot communicate with it, all the update files cannot be downloaded. Makes sure these settings are the same on BOTH servers. You may need to re-download all the updates on the internet connected WSUS server to re-sync the files if you at one point had this checked and later unchecked it. You will then need to copy those files to the disconnected WSUS server.
• Within the Update Services application, select Options=>Update Files and Languages and select the Update Languages tab at the top. Make sure the same languages are checked the same on BOTH servers.

Obviously, you have to match the approved updates on the internet connected WSUS server with the disconnected WSUS server. But I did notice when you approve an update on the disconnected WSUS server, it appears as if the server has to download the updates from itself. If you click between one of the Update views and the Server Name where the “Updates needing files” count is displayed, it takes a few seconds to update.

Way back in my college days I had a 1987 Ford Mustang LX. Sporting the 5.0L V8 and 215 HP, it was actually pretty fast back then. I remember having a blast driving the car and the power was perfect for merging into tight fast moving traffic from a standstill, something you encounter quite often on the busy streets in Silicon Valley.

But to my dismay, 1 month after getting the car repaired, the transfer case went out yet again. The mechanic said the repairs were under warranty so I didn’t have to pay for it a second time, but my confidence in the Explorer waned. After fixing it a second time, I wasn’t going to take anymore chances and decided it was time to buy a new car.

Thinking back to that ’87 Mustang I had in college, I wanted something fast again. So just last week, I bought the 2008 Ford Mustang GT Premium. I added the Comfort and the Interior Sport packages and got the car for just 0.04% under dealer invoice thanks to my employer’s no-haggle partnership with Ford Motor Company.

In my opinion, there is no point in buying a muscle car such as the Mustang and getting the smaller engine, so the 6-cylinder version was out of the question. Even though the 6-cylinder is just as powerful as my 1987 LX 8-cylinder, I wanted more. You’ve got to get the 4.6L V8 to take full advantage of this car and that’s what I got.

The power/torque band on this car is great. It really starts to pull hard when you hit the 3500 to 4000 rpm range. It goes from 0-60 mph in 5 seconds, but oddly doesn’t feel it because of the sport bucket seats. The handling is what you wold expect from a $24,000 car. I really like the feel of the steering and the car straightens out smooth and under good control when coming out of a tight turn. The traction control works very well. I tested it on an icy patch and the car was reluctant to spin out of control under normal driving conditions. Granted, had I really tried to spin the car, I probably could have, but why try? If I want to spin the car, I can push a button on the dashboard to turn off the traction control. The car is also surprisingly quiet for an 8-cylinder. When you get on the gas, it gets a bit noisy but you got to love the low rumble of the engine. It sounds great! Perhaps I’m biased having come from an Explorer that handled nothing like this car, but this car is really fun to drive. True, there are other cars out there that give the Mustang a run for its money, like the Subaru WRX, but you will spend about $10K more for that car. Trust me, I looked and test drove one. They are fun too, but they start at about $33K new, unlike my Mustang GT which I got for $24K out the door.

Some have called me crazy for getting the Mustang GT because I live in Colorado Springs, Colorado where it snows (albeit just a little) and gas prices are soon to be at $4 a gallon. I’ll address issue number one first. Colorado Springs averages about 13″ of precipitation a year. We see maybe three good winter storms in which ice is on the road for a total of 10 days out of 365. This amounts to 2.7% icy road days; hardly a reason to buy a 4×4 in this part of Colorado. Conversely, those who have the double cab, extended long bed, duelie with the 8L turbo diesel engines that average about 11 mpg drive on non-icy roads 97.3% of the year. Which sounds crazier? And if the weather is really bad and I have to get somewhere, then I’ll drive the AWD Honda CRV. Second, yes gas prices are going up, no doubt. However, I work at an Air Force base east of the city so my commute is on country/county roads with virtually no stops. The 8-cylinder engine motors along with hardly a strain so my gas mileage is actually way better than my Explorer. I averaged about 16 mpg in the Explorer and 24 mpg in the Mustang GT. I’m actually saving gas compared to my old car. Yes, I could have bought a Honda Civic or a Ford Fusion, but what’s the fun in that?

The only thing I dislike about owning a Mustang, and I remember this from my college days, is that a good chunk of the little sticker-plastered, water-melon launching, lowered rice-burners driven by a member of the “Fast and the Furious” fan club has to prove their worthiness. If I happen to be next to one of these people, they have this unbearable urge to beat me to the crosswalk across the intersection or zoom in front of me. I’ll say it now … I don’t race and I didn’t buy this car to race. But if I put as much money into my car as they put into theirs … ah, nevermind.

Anyhow, I love the car and have no complaints as of yet.

In an effort to save money on energy bills, people think insulating anything and everything will help retain heat and thus run the furnace a little less. While that is true in areas of the house that are conditioned with heat or AC, this isn’t the case for the garage. Trust me, I found out the hard way. I insulated my entire garage which is not heated … the walls, ceiling, and garage door and notice only a small difference. Here in Colorado where temperatures get into the single digits, my garage is at most only 15°F warmer than outside and I spent about $500 insulating it. When going from 5°F to 20°F, you still aren’t going to spend a whole lot of time in the garage, so why bother? Now if I spent a lot of time in the garage and added a heater, that’s a different story and I would probably see a big difference. In that case, insulating the garage is definitely worth it.

Unless your garage is heated though, insulation will have little affect on the temperature of your garage in cold climates. Just because you add insulation won’t make the garage that much warmer or cooler. The main purpose of insulation is to slow the conduction of heat from the walls and ceiling to the outside and vice-verse. Insulation does not generate heat. If your garage is already cold, the area will virtually remain the same temperature whether you have insulation or not. And remember this, when you open your garage door in an unheated yet insulated garage, you recycle the air in a matter of seconds then trap the new cold air until you open the door again. And no, things like a refrigerator, freezer, or lights will not heat the garage to make the insulation worthwhile.

Now, if you do want a warm garage, then I would add a heater and insulate the ceiling, walls, and garage door. Depending on the size of your garage, insulating the walls with batts of R-13 will typically run you about $100. If the ceiling has 24″ center joists, that will cost about $200. The garage door will cost about $100 if you use the pink Styrofoam stuff from Home Depot, but that will only insulate your door to about R-6. If you spend a lot of time in the garage, buying an insulated garage door might be better, but it will cost you about $1500.

But before you do anything, the best way to make your garage a little more comfortable is to stop any cold air infiltrating into your garage from the outside. Put new weather-stripping down where the garage door makes contact with the ground. If you have a door entrance from outside into the garage, make sure the seal is intact and no air is coming in around the frame. These are good first steps that will only cost you about $40 and can make quite a difference. Even a slight draft can make your garage feel much colder than it really is when it’s 10°F outside.