Mick West

Very cool trail map, from a more useful perspective than the usual one:

http://mickwest.com/mammoth/

iMovie is a nice little program. Unfortunately it’s a little too little. It has no native support for the AVCHD format, which means it has to import those files and convert them to it’s own format (a .mov file that uses Apple’s Intermediate Codec). This takes up more space, but it’s only a working file, so fair enough. Being in this intermediate format means the it’s quick to work with.

So, how it SHOULD work is: you start iMovie, then plug in the camera’s USB cable, and it will open a window, show you your clips, and you hit “Import All”, and it just works. Yeah right.

Of course, you had a problem, which is why you are here. Something like “No camera connected”? or “Folder is not a Camera Archive”?

Now you probably know that AVCHD files are stored in the .MTS format, and if you look at your camera (open up the NO NAME volume that mounts when you plug the camera in), then you’ll see that in /PRIVATE/AVCHD/BDMV/STREAM there are several .MTS files which contain your video.

What you CAN do is work with the .MTS file directly, and convert them using a program such as VoltaicHD, which is designed specifically for this purpose. This works fine, you drop in an MTS file, click go, and it will produce a .MOV file about 7x the size. You can then import this into iMovie with File->Import->Movies. This then creates ANOTHER copy of the file, this time about twice the original size.

Well that’s one solution, but why can’t iMovie import the files directly?

The simple answer to that is “You broke it”.

iMovie expects to find an AVCHD folder, and the various files inside that, which contain thumbnails, playlists and other meta-data. This data must match up with the .MTS files, and is very fragile. The easiest way to break it is to delete one of the .MTS files, which is something you’d likely do after copying it manually to your PC.

And once the AVCHD folder is messed up in any way, like by deleting any file in it, then it’s broken forever. You can record new files, and you’ll still not see them, and iMove will tell you that’s not a camera you just connected, even though you know that it is. The only thing you can do is delete the ENTIRE AVCHD folder, or (preferably) format the memory card. Once you’ve done this, record some new video, start iMovie, plug in the camera (in PC mode) and you will be able to import.

Things to do:

* Already have an .MTS file? You’ll have to convert it before you import it. Use VoltaicHD, or maybe Handbrake. There’s talk of “recreating the directory structure”, but it all you have is the .MTS then it’s not going to work.
* iMove can’t detect your camera, even though the volume shows up the desktop? Copy all the files off it, and reformat the card.
* Want to delete some files? Delete them using the camera, or delete the whole folder. If you delete individual files from the computer, then iMovie will no longer detect your camera.
* Want to keep the original files for archive purposes or just make room on the camera, but don’t want to convert them yet? You can quickly copy the entire AVCHD folder to your hard drive. Then you can import this later with File->Import->Camera Archive…

Remember: NEVER CHANGE ANYTHING INSIDE AN AVCHD FOLDER.

So my naturalization oath day finally arrived. It in Pomona, which is about 60 miles from here, and they said to arrive at 12:30. So I set off around 11, and arrived around12 (unusually clear traffic for LA). When you arrive it’s pretty much a case of follow the signs. There was a huge queue of cars at the gate (gate 17, not 14 as they listed on the note), and they charge $9 for parking.

Then just follow the streams of people into the fairground, it was quite a long walk (about half a mile total), and I’m glad it was not too hot.

Then we are separated out into “Future Citizens” and “Family and Friends”. I joined the “Future Citizens” line (click any of these photos for big versions)

Eventually we all get inside, there’s a bunch of tables where they take away your green card (gone forever!) and write a number on your appointment letter.

Then we were given small American flags and sat down, and waited for the ceremony to begin. This seems to take rather a long time, and I think we actually start around 1:30.

That’s the last photo I took. If you look in the upper left you can see a small area for family and friends to view the ceremony. I think that space is very limited, crowded standing room only, and a lot of people ended up outside. The ceremony started with some calling to order (seing as how it was actually a court, with a Judge and all). Pretty much the first thing we did was stand a take the oath:

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.

This was done by the Judge reading it out a bit a time, and everyone (3500 people) repeating it. This was not so simple, as the sound system was terrible, and it was hard to hear what he was saying, especially with words like “abjure” and “potentate” in there. Still, we got through it, and then everyone clapped and waved their flags.

Next someone gave a speech, which I think was about the history, honor, and responsibility of being an American citizen. Unfortunately I was only able to hear one word in ten.

Next they played us a video of Lee Greenwood singing “God bless the USA“, set to a montage of images of America – Steel Mills, Mountains, Birds, Oceans, People, etc. This seemed a little asecular to me, but what can you do.

We then pledge allegiance to the flag, sang the national anthem, and that was the ceremony over. We were shuffled back to the tables where we went the the table number we were given earlier to collect our certificates.

A that point you are done and can leave. But I chose to go and apply for a passport in the next building. This took another hour, with the long line. Plus they take away your certificate (will be mailed back later), and you are technically not allowed to make a copy of it, so you will be left without evidence of citizenship during that time, except fot he reciept they give you, and the letters you had from earlier. Passports take 2-4 weeks, so although I’m a fully legal American citizen now (feels a bit odd writing that), the process is not quite over.

[Update: My passport arrived in three weeks, with the certificate mailed separately]

The next to last part of applying to become a US citizen is the naturalization interview, where they make sure you are a worthy enough person to have the right to become a citizen of the US. Mine was scheduled for today, at 7:45 AM.

So I get up at 6AM, and set off. They say don’t arrive too early. I get to the Federal Building (300 N Los Angeles St, Downtown LA) at around 7:30. There’s a short line outside, and it’s raining. The guard directs me to the end of the line. I did not bring an umbrella.

I’m in the line for about 10 minutes, not raining too hard luckily. Then through security – there’s a sign saying “No cameras”, but they don’t seem to mind cell phones with cameras built in. I proceed to the 6th floor, into a moderately large room with many people of all ethnicities. I give my form to the lady behind the window, and take a seat.

People get called every minute or so. Many people seem to be couples, or maybe people with lawyers. Many people are practicing their civics questions. I use the flash cards on my iPhone for a while, but I’m already about 99% sure I’ve got them all, and I only need 60%.

My name gets called after about 45 minutes, and my interviewer, Mr Rivera, takes me back to his office, on the way there he makes a copy of my greeen card and my drivers license. When in his office I have to be placed under oath, standing up, right hand raised, promising to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

He then asks a bunch of questions, like: “have you ever been arrested for drunk driving” and “have you been a communist”. He asks me if I pay my taxes, and then if I’ve brought my tax returns with me. I did not.

He then turns to his computer and prints out the actual test part of the interview, consisting of ten questions, that he asks verbally, of which I have to get six right. My six were (with my answers):

• Who is in charge of the executive branch? (The President)
• Name one right guarenteed by the first amendment? (Freedom of speech)
• Why did the first colonists come to america? (Freedom of religion)
• Describe one amendment to do with voting (Women’s right to vote).
• What was the main US concern during the cold war (Communism)
• If the President is incapacitated, who takes over (The Vice-President)

That’s it. There were four more questions, but all you have to do is get six right, so they stop when you do. We then moved on to test my mastery of english, which was a two part exam, firstly reading – where he gave me a piece of paper, on which was written:

Which state has the most people?

Which I read aloud, then he gave me another piece of paper, and told me to write “California is the state with the most people”, which I did. There were spaces on both pieces of paper for multiple attempts, but I managed to get it first time! I think that because it was obvious I could read and write, he was just doing the minimum required to get the paperwork done. The tests both went into my file.

It seemed like we were done, but he then informed me that they need to keep my tax returns on file, as I was self employed. He then told me I could bring it in today or tomorrow, or mail it in – but mailing it in could take a really long time to process. So I said I would bring it in today.

So, another 45 minute drive home, then I printed out five years of federal tax returns, sorted out the bits that were needed (1040, including the bit on self-employment tax). He kept saying I’d need business tax returns, but I think he thought I ran a small business.

Anyway, drove back, the room is now totally packed, must be 400 people in there, but I tell the guy at the window I’m returning with documents, and he goes back and tells MrRivera, who comes and gets me after about five minutes.

Then that’s about it. He examines my tax returns, seems to think they are in order, adds them to my file (which is now about two inches thick – they use a LOT of paper). He rustles through the file for a while, then eventually gets out his big APPROVED stamp, and stamps a few pages, hurrah!

So then he gives me a piece of paper (N-652) saying I was approved, and tells me the Oath Ceremony will be in a few weeks, and I’ll get a letter. I can also apply for a passport directly after the ceremony.

Not too bad really. Pity they did not make the information about bringing tax returns more apparent, but it just added two hours to the process, and was just annoying rather than a problem. One thing I was worried about as I arrive was that I just brought my current passport, and not the one I entered the country with originally. But he asked for neither, so all was well. If in doubt though, bring everything.

Our DSL connection here is through DSL Extreme, althought Verizon handles the wiring. We’ve been havin intermittent problems, where it will work perfectly (3Mb/s) all day, and then around 6PM, it starts going really slow and hanging.

So I call DSL Extreme. The first time I’m connected to an idiot who finds nothing wrong, and heck there is nothing wrong at the time. He tells me to call back if I have a problem. Grrr. But a few days later I call back while it’s actually bad, and they tell me they can se something wrong and they have to send in Verizon.

A few days later, a Verizon tech arrives to look at the external wiring. After some poking around, he declares there is no problem up to the connection on the panel (which is in the garage), and since my phone works then that’s the end of his responsibility. More grr!

So they are basically saying that something is wrong between the wiring block at the panel downstairs, and the modem. The panel looks like this:

And the wiring inside the house looks like this:

Yay fun! I had to buckle down, and actually figure out where all the wires went. In the end it turned out to be relativly simple. A phone line is just two wires. We have six wires coming into the house, in three pairs (orange, green and blue). Only the incoming orange wires are actually used here. Since I only use one phone socket in the house (for DSL + wireless phone base station) I simply cut away all the other wires, so all I had were two wires going directly from the panel to the socket that was in use.

In the end though, I’m not sure that was the problem. I think the problem was this:

This is a wiring block. The wire from the phone company comes in on the left. The wires to the condo are on the right. See the orange wires labed 4 & 0 (for 407), that’s my phone line. The bit of metal is a bridge clip, which makes a connection between left and right. Only here, the bottom one (of my set) is not pushed on correctly, and seems to be barely making contact with the right hand side.

So I pulled it off, pushed it on firmly in the right place, and my DSL has worked fine ever since.

What bugs me is that the Verizon guy tested all the way to the left hand side of this wiring block. If he’d tested the right hand side (or just looked at the clip), then he would have found the problem. But his responsibility ended half an inch from the actual problem.

I’m currently living in the US as a “premanent resident”, with what is known as a “green card”. This means I can live here as long as I like, but I’m not a citizen. I can’t vote, I can’t leave the country for more than six months at a time, and there are some tax problems.

On Election day this year, November 4th 2008, I decided to apply for citizenship, and so filled in my form and sent it off. This is what happened so far (I’ll update it as more thing happen).

Nov 4th 2008

- Filled in the N400 form. This can be downloaded from the slightly confusing USCIS web site. It’s a PDF that you can fill in at your computer and then save and print out. I’m sure eventually they will accept it over the internet, but for now you’ve got to mail it in.
- Took some passport photos. These have to be ratther particular, 2″x2″. There’s a nice page explaining all the details, or you can just pay someone to do it for you. You need to send them two, and keep two for later. I did them myself, Holly took a photo of me with a white background, and I cropped it to fit. You write your “A Number” on the back of the photo, in pencil.
- Wrote check for $675. Somewhat expensive.
- Sent it all in (I actually did the above over a few days, but I mailed it on election day).
(There’s a handy checklist for the above).

Nov 13th 2008

An I-797C Notice of Action arrives, telling me my application has arrived, and I should hear from them within 425 days. Yes, it actually said 425 day.

Nov 20th 2008

Rather surpisingly, I hear from them a week later, with a letter telling that I have an appointment to be fingerprinted on december 4th, at 12 PM. Not too bad. But I think the long wait comes after, waiting for the interview.

Dec 4th 2008

Fingerprinting day. I arrive at 11:40 for my 12PM appointment. Not very busy. They are very serious about their “No Cellphone” rule, making me leave mine in the car. I fill in a form, and am called in less than five minutes. The fingerprinting took arount 10 minutes (a grumpy Russian woman, constantly berating the machine). My fingers were too dry, so they were squirted with water several times, but eventually it worked.

They game me a book to study for the Naturalization test, questions like: What is the “rule of law”. Now I just have to wait until an interview is scheduled. No idea how long that will take.

Dec 18th 2008

I’ve got my appointment for the interview. Set for Feb 17th 2009, at 7:45AM.

Feb 17th 2009

Naturalization interview.

March 3rd 2009

I get a letter informing me that the Naturalization Oath Ceremony is on March 25th, 2009, at the Pomana Fairplex, 12:30 PM. I am to bring the letter, my green card, probably my passports (just to be safe). I also have to assert that since the interview I have not practiced polygamy or been a habitual drunkard.

They also note that “Proper attire should be worn”

March 25th 2009

Naturalization oath ceremony, I’m now an American. Applied for passport.

April 15th 2009

Passport arrives, and the Naturalization certificate was returned in a separate envelope. Basically five and a half months from applying to getting the passport and certificate.

Back in 1993 I took a trip to Nepal with my ex-girlfriend Carol. I took a lot of photos on that trip, and finally got around to scanning them in:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mickword/Nepal1993#

Six days of the trip were trekking near Pokara, in the Annapuran region. This is approximately the route we took:

From Nepal 1993

It’s about the easiest trek you can do. We walked for about five hours a day, maybe a bit more, but were really only walking 5-8 miles. It was a lot of up and down though. The heights on the map are in meters.

This is how I got started programming, 20 years ago, 1988:

Actually I started a few years earlier, but this is probably where I really got into writing code, and writing games. That’s a Sinclair ZX-Spectrum in a dK’tronics keyboard. Microdrive on the left. TV as a monitor. Sound sampler plugged in the back, plotter on the right. Cassette player (from before I got the microdrive). I still have that pink folder under the calculator. This is all on my desk in my room at Needham Hall, from when I was at UMIST (now Manchester University).

This is in Hebden Bridge, near to Bingley, where I grew up. If my life had a taken a few different turns, this could have been me:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8548110@N06/516706022/

Just downloaded the iPhone wordpress app. Seems to work quite well.

Is my computer now redundant? I think not, but it’s nice for blogging on the run.