Entries by Gregg Berkholtz

Alright...so a friend was giving me well-deserved grief last night about usage of some words & phrases, so to help out those of you whom simply dont live in the techie/geek world:
-phishing: In the field of computer security, phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information.
-haz: slang for has, have, haz ...honestly, I just like cats, and that's an adorable website.

Yea, there's other stuff, but I'm too snarky this morning to dig them up for you. Maybe you should look around yourself <3

Hmm, that's funny; between German and Dutch, geek means crazy freak. Hmph!

For the past few months, I've been seeking a new place in inner-SE Portland. My reasons have been simple; despite the novelty of having a workshop in my condo, I miss having a real garage. I look forward to soon having the ability to use my lathe and CNC, without spending equal time cleaning up afterwards, and to complete fiberglass layups without ~1.5hr drives across town.

Though, what does this all have to do with sex? Continue reading "Phishing for SEX! WOOT!"

I've been promising a status report on my current hearing aids for months, and now that a full year has elapsed since my initial review...I've run out of excuses The next few blog postings will detail three primary points:

The current status of my hearing, and attempts to mitigate a fairly recent profound loss.

Recent experiences using technology to help mitigate the loss.

An "outsiders" view of the hearing aid industry.

To immediately address one major point; there are two major types of hearing losses. A conductive loss is what you experience while fighting head colds, and while there is often a comparatively-mild impact on the quality of sounds you'd hear, a conductive loss largely impacts the quantity of a sound, not the quality. A sensorineural hearing loss is a totally different experience; it involves a reduction in the ability to hear certain frequency ranges, which significantly impacts communications by affecting speech comprehension accuracy, and the loss of an ability to process certain frequencies extinguishes the ability to perceive the related sounds. In-effect, a sensorineural hearing loss hinders the quality, not quantity, of a sound. To better understand, see this illustration.

One major point I intend to make over the course of the next few postings: Phonak's claim that their Phonak Naida V UltraPower hearing aids are water-resistant is, without any doubt, wholly-false. Once you get beyond, and accept this indisputable fact (which I'll clearly document in the next posting), they're not bad little gadgets. Though their false advertising has significantly hindered my ability to enjoy liberties that many otherwise take for granted...and has done so at a great financial and emotional cost. Continue reading "A quest to hear & enjoy life; three years after a profound hearing loss"

The smug little phrase, "Business is business," is often used to raise a false issue and fabricate an escape from duty.

Milton Friedman is known for the phrase, “the business of business is business”. Though, in the 1700's, George Colman the Younger published a play titled "Heir at Law", which coined "...Business is business. Nothing is more important than business and the profit it brings. There's no justification for not putting it first..."

In the twenty-first century, is this still an acceptable business behavior?

What is the business of business? Is it truly still the case that all which really matters is shareholder value? Or, in a world where businesses can yield substantial financial, social and even political power, should it rather be business's business to take responsibility for social issues in their local and national communities?

There remain a few shrinking social classes that subscribe to the philosophy that only money matters; businesses who wish to continue dishonorable practices, or who do not believe that they can make a success with better methods. The other, are certain exponents of culture who aspire to conform to Mathew Arnold's definition of persons who "...know the best that has been thought and said in the world," but possess no desire to expend the energies towards an attempt to beautify industry, and therefore find it convenient to hide behind a duty, by keeping in circulation a fallacy; branding a difficult task as hopeless.

The need for organizations in both public and private sectors to behave in a socially responsible way is becoming a generalized requirement of society. It is shared by the stakeholder groups that are participating in the ISO working group for social responsibility, as they work to develop ISO 26000; an International Standard providing guidelines for social responsibility for consumers, and throughout industry, government, labor groups, nongovernmental organizations and other forms of business world-wide.

The perception of an organization’s social responsibility performance can influence;

Its reputation

Its ability to attract and retain male and female workers and/or members, customers, clients or users;

The maintenance of employees' morale, commitment and productivity;

The view of investors, donors, sponsors and the financial community; and

Its relationship with companies, governments, the media, suppliers, peers, customers and the community in which it operates.

Are you running a socially responsible business? The draft ISO document is already online, grab it while its still free!

Yes, in today's world it is still possible to travel over 200 miles on a single gallon of gasoline.

My trip took me from downtown Portland Oregon, into Astoria Oregon, then Seaside, down to Tillamook, and then back into Portland. To get an idea of my average speed, the Portland to Astoria leg took roughly 4 hours...and I pedaled the entire way

My Bike & the route:

View Larger Map

58 miles, 1/4 a gallon, over ~3 hours...WOOT!

The route roughly consisted of... Continue reading "Hi, I'm Gregg, and I'm addicted to ICE... :-)"

It's dirty, but it feels oh-so-good!!

The short-story, is that over the past few months, while the electric setup continues to make progress. Waterproofing the electronics is proving far more challenging than I bargained for. This is the pacific-northwest, so one can hardly ignore the chance of rain! So, with a 300-mile solo ride planned for late June, I needed something better-tested. I swallowed a bit of pride, and as a part of me withered away...the idea of a gas motor was solidified. Only ~$350 + a weekend, and the deed was done...and yea, it works great in the rain, no waterproofing necessary.



I just completed the 1st test ride tonight, and while going /uphill/... Continue reading "Gas...it's so dirty, but oh so much fun!"

I live in downtown Portland Oregon, on the corner of 19th & W Burnside, overlooking the city.

Since moving to The Civic condos in October, I've been working with a clearly-overextended condo management organization; PREM Group. Despite initiating the process just days after moving in, nearly six months have passed, and the installation of a simple DSL connection still has not been processed...this is all despite dozens of phone calls, voicemails, in-person discussions, and at least two dozen emails...to managers, bosses, and the bosses bosses... There have been plenty of promises to act, but...with no delivery of services, by the time December rolled around, I was getting desperate.

As a computer systems administrator, by way of a career spanning well-more than a decade, I need reliable and fast internet services...and when Clear WiMAX hit the Portland market in December of 2008, I was their second "general" customer to receive the WiMAX modem. Continue reading "Quality of Clear WiMAX Services"

My visit didn't go so well. Initially, it was supposed to be 30-45 minutes...although I arrived shaking, weak, and barely able to walk a straight line... Continue reading "Sweating, trembling, butterflies in my stomach...a warm wet finger...what's next?"

On the evening of March 12th, I had a bit of an accident...nearly lost a finger in the process... Continue reading "Nine Fingernails"

I have a small metal shop, but many have asked how one balances living in a condo, and maintaining a small metal workshop. Continue reading "Home is where the tools are..."

They say you'll never understand, until your first true Tango Moment. They're right, you won't.

While I have no idea if she was in the middle of a "Tango Moment", the expression on her face says something... That expression is a big part of why I dance.

Awesome! I knew I wasn't crazy; a guy I used to work with, who trains police, competitive racers, and other professional drivers, once explained a mirror adjustment technique. Since them, I've used it to effectively eliminate blinds spots. Until today, I didn't know what it was called... Continue reading "BGE Mirror Setting"

I think I finally figured out a decent use for my blog, at least for another six-months or-so.

Lately, I've received a steadily-increasing volume of questions regarding my "simple" electric bike setup. While the wiki details the "final" product...or, more accurately, the project's /current/ state. The design continues to evolve...and improve. There's just not much room for commentary, or quite-simply, folks to ask the questions I value so much (as they help me better-explain details, and force me to think about possible design revisions...and have great ideas themselves!).

So, here it goes... Continue reading "The Recchetta - my eBike project"

So, I was asked tonight; "...why do you live downtown..."

My answers ranged between convenience, simplicity, necessity, and a bit of novelty.

Upon arriving home tonight, there was a mysterious light illuminating the floor. In that moment, I remembered another reason...beauty:


At the height of Portland's snowstorm, I wandered into a quiet calming park: