The Internet Ate My Homework

Some People Are Just Clueless

2012-01-27T06:31:00.000-06:00

I got this in my email yesterday:

When: Monday, January 30, 2012 1:00 PM-1:30 PM (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada).

Where: Daniel's office

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Please call Daniel’s office – 818-xxx-xxxx

I responded to all with:

I think this went to the wrong person

What I got back, from one of the cc recipients:

This has to do with the LatAm ######## ##### commercial plan…I want you on the call.

I'm not sure whether to play it straight and prove my incorrect identity, be a smart ass and prove my incorrect identity, or give 'em a call on the 30th and be a smart ass to prove my incorrect identity. I think that last one would go something like this.

Daniel: Hello, Dan's office
Me: Hi Dan. Are we ready to get this thing started? Are xxx and yyy there?
D: Who is this?
Me: It's Joe (sounding surprised that he doesn't recognize my voice)
D: Joe who?
Me: Joe Fusco (getting mildly irritated that he doesn't know me)
D: You don't sound like Joe Fusco
Me: I can fax you my ID if you'd like (being moderately irritated)
D: Who is this really? How did you get this number?
Me: I got an invitation from yyy.
D: Wait. Are you the Joe Fusco that told us we sent you the invite in error?
Me: Yes. Yes I am.
D: Then why are you calling if you knew that invite wasn't for you? (becoming moderately irritated)
Me: xxx insisted that he wonted me on the call. So... here I am.
[click]
...
Me: Hello?
...
Me: Hello?
...
Me (to myself): Oh, I'd just love to hear the conversation in that room right now.

Even The Brief Encounters

2012-01-26T15:58:00.000-06:00

I just got back from a funeral for a former coworker. Actually, I can't even call her that because we never really worked "together." We did similar jobs for different departments.

I didn't know her very well at all, really. In the last 24 hours I discovered that she has a brother, she was once married, she played a multitude of different musical instruments and apparently played them very well but was very humble about her talent, she loved animals of all kinds and that was a major focus in her life, she majored in languages in college and at least spoke German, and she was a scuba diver. So why did I go to her funeral?

I went to her funeral because I have known her for at least ten years and she was always a bright, positive and noticeable presence wherever she went. Each time we met she was always glad to see me. Not in the way that she was excited and loved to be around me. She always greeted me with a big smile and happiness in her voice like she was glad to know me, no matter how superficially. To tell the truth, I was glad to know her, too, no matter how superficially. For the first time in my life, I can honestly say that I attended a funeral to pay my respect to someone.

I Believed It Once

2012-01-25T13:34:00.000-06:00

I am generally disinterested in politics. I don't know the difference between the left and the right, conservative and liberal, or many of the labels politicos must use to describe the world of politics in a succinct manner. I skim the sidelines, picking up bits here and there, but overall I feel it is a system I cannot influence so I usually find myself voting (oh, yes, I vote) for what appears to be the lesser of two evils.

When Obama came on the scene he talked a good game. I, and many others, wanted to believe he was the one who could bring about the change we so desperately wanted. From my view, his administration has been one of contradictions.The biggest one I can think of is healthcare reform. His plan was to develop a comprehensive healthcare system in full view of the public. Transparency of the process was one of the ways he sold it to the American people.

How did Obamacare finally get tied up into a neat little package? Behind closed doors. And when it emerged it was a tome of unimaginable proportions that the largest portion of the population of which it would effect had no hope of ever understanding it.

I did not watch the State of the Union address Tuesday night. I don't have an attention span long enough to sit through all of the dramatic pauses and drawn-out applause and still come away understanding more than the first five minutes. I did, however, read the transcript. The rhetoric seems familiar. It all sounds good and wholesome and sensible... well, most of it anyway... but also untenable in our current political climate.

I have culled a few excerpts from the speech that I would like to comment on:

"Think about the America within our reach:... An economy built to last, where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded."
- I don't know how many companies I have worked for that have spouted this type of sunshine in their value statements but greed has a tendency to win out in the end. I would like to see that happen and it may still. It is at least a good goal to shoot for.

"We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of Americans barely get by, or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules."
- It's that last part that really gets me. The same set of rules for everyone. All men are created equal. Unless you work for congress where you get guaranteed retirement benefits, incredible, cheap healthcare, and can vote a raise for yourself. I guess some are more equal than others. Many people have made this point and have called for an end to it but it's the golden rule. Those that have the gold make the rules. As long as they make the rules why on earth would they make a rule that lessens their standard of living?

"It is time to turn our unemployment system into a reemployment system that puts people to work."

- Right there with you, Mr. President. I hope you have an idea how to accomplish this because I don't.

"Higher education can’t be a luxury -- it is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford."

- Amen! Unfortunately, in my lifetime, I have only seen it become harder and harder for people to afford education. If you're dirt poor you have a shot at a grant. If you're a 4.0 student, an even better shot. If you can play a sport universities fight over you. But if you're an decent student from a household with average income, your only option is to go into debt and with that debt comes no guarantees.

"...I’m sending this Congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage, by refinancing at historically low rates. (Applause.) No more red tape. No more runaround from the banks. A small fee on the largest financial institutions will ensure that it won’t add to the deficit and will give those banks that were rescued by taxpayers a chance to repay a deficit of trust."

- I hope this works better than your last plan.

When I bought my house I could easily afford it. I did not get sucked (suckered?) into an ARM. Due to an illness, we suddenly became a single-income residence and have been for the past five years but the payments we were given when we signed the papers were still manageable with some sacrifices. Then, my mortgage company underestimated our insurance payments and decided to increase our payment.

They increased our payment not by the $100 or so dollars a month that would have covered the shortfall, that we paid for ourselves by the way, but by nearly $300 per month. We scraped by and the payment settled down the next year. We just got notice that they did it again and this year my mortgage payment is nearly $500 more per month than it was when I bought the house.

During all of this we applied THREE TIMES for the relief program. Three times we were denied. Do you want to know what else we got in the envelope with the notice that our payment was increasing? We got an application for the relief program.

Where is my bailout, Mr. President?

"...we need to change our tax code so that people like me, and an awful lot of members of Congress, pay our fair share of taxes."

- That's a start but please feel free to refer to my earlier comments about everyone playing by the same rules.

"I’ve talked tonight about the deficit of trust between Main Street and Wall Street. But the divide between this city and the rest of the country is at least as bad -- and it seems to get worse every year."

- Yeah, that's the point I'm trying to get at. Stop working for yourselves and start working for US - the people you represent.

"Send me a bill that bans insider trading by members of Congress; I will sign it tomorrow."

EXCUSE ME!!?? Since when are members of congress allowed to engage in insider trading? You bet your ASS I want to see that law come about.

----------------------------------------

Overall it was a good speech that said, "Yes, we're upside down on a lot of things but we're going to fix it." I've heard it before. I've heard the call for change. I believed in the possibility of change. But really, at my level, I haven't seen a lot of change happening. I'll believe it when I see it... but even that will probably be screwed up after congress mutilates it.

Not Just No But HELL NO! To SOPA And PIPA

2012-01-18T11:09:00.000-06:00

You may not have heard of this but with all the publicity you probably have. Congress is working on a new bill called the Stop Online Priacy Act or SOPA. It has been introduced and championed by none other than those who refuse to change their business models to meet popular demand and attempt to punish their customers as a means of survival: The Entertainment Industry.

Here's a snippet from Wikipedia:

The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten such infringements within six months. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.^[4]
Proponents of the bill say it protects the intellectual property market and corresponding industry, jobs and revenue, and is necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws, especially against foreign websites.^[5] They cite examples such as Google's $500 million settlement with the Department of Justice for its role in a scheme to target U.S. consumers with ads to illegally import prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies.^[6]
Opponents say that it violates the First Amendment,^[7] is Internet censorship,^[8] will cripple the Internet,^[9] and will threaten whistle-blowing and other free speech actions.^[7]^[10] Opponents have initiated a number of protest actions, including petition drives, boycotts of companies that support the legislation, and planned service blackouts by English Wikipedia and major Internet companies scheduled to coincide with the next Congressional hearing on the matter.

Here's the part that concerns me. It requires "Internet service providers to block access to [infringing websites]." ISPs are a utility, not an enforcement agency. It's like asking the gas company to patrol the streets and turn off the gas to the homes of suspected drug dealers. It's an impossible task.

Okay, maybe ISPs won't have to patrol for the sites but simply block them when they are informed about them. Well, that currently requires a court order and sounds a lot like DMCA takedown notices and we all know how well those have worked out.

Boil it down and it's censorship without due process. I am all for copyright owners protecting their works but this is not the way. It blatantly ignores the concept of fair use which includes criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

How You Can Take Action: (many taken from the EFF website)

Via Google: https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/
Call your Senators and Representative and tell them to oppose Protect-IP and SOPA, respectively. Click here for some suggested talking points.
Contact Congress through EFF’s action center. Customize your letter to explain who you are and why you are worried about this bill.
Do you administer a website? Then put a banner on your site protesting censorship or link to EFF’s action center. I put a banner on my wav site.

Don't be silent or you may be silenced.

How I Became A SciFi Nut

2012-01-17T14:45:00.005-06:00

I grew up during a time when there were only 4 channels available on television. You had the big 3 networks and PBS. The major networks operated, at that time, using a standard known as PICAN (say it like pecan). The networks were charged with operating in the Public Interest, Convenience And Necessity. What this meant was that Saturday morning children's program had to include some sort of educational content (hence the moral lessons in cartoons of the time). It also meant that Sunday morning programming was usually of a religious nature.

When we returned from church on Sunday mornings the only thing on TV was... church. There was no way we wanted to repeat the experience we had just been through so we turned to PBS. The PBS station in Tulsa, OK used to run episodes of Star Trek on Sunday mornings. Hence, I, and my siblings, watched Star Trek on almost any given Sunday morning.

I can't tell you why it had a more pronounced effect on me than my brother and sister but it did. I was fascinated by every part of it. I watched it every opportunity I got. I bought and read and memorized trivia books about the show. There was even a period of time when I could watch 10 seconds or less of any part of any episode of the original series and tell you which episode it was and give you a plot synopsis.

Flash forward to 1977. There was this movie that came out that got all kinds of buzz. It pioneered visual effects that are considered simple by today's standards. But they're also the foundation of some of today's standards. It is the only movie I have ever seen people line up around the building to see. Maybe you've heard of it? It was called Star Wars. These days it's called episode 4 but it was the original in many many ways. Star wars was really the spark. It lit the fire.

The next summer I saw a poorly produced commercial on TV that piqued my interest. What caught my eye was the tall guy in the back dressed as Chewbaca. It was an ad for a little SciFi convention called OKon and it was right there in downtown Tulsa. I had to go.

I was only 11 or 12 at the time so I begged and pleaded with my mom to let me go. None of my siblings wanted to go so it was just me and mom. We went to the Mayo hotel in downtown Tulsa where she paid my admission for the day then sat patiently in the lobby reading a book.

I don't remember a whole lot about that particular convention. I was only there for a couple of hours, three at most. There were no big celebrities to fawn over. I wasn't a big reader at the time so I didn't know any of the authors they had there. I most likely just walked around the "huxter's room" and ogled at all the cool toys, posters, T-shirts and other merchandise. Once I had seen all I could see and exhausted what meager allowance I may have had with me, I returned to the lobby and mom and I went home.

I attended every OKon there was after that and still go to conventions today. I have seen the evolution from fan gathering to commercial enterprise, no pun intended. Some are very fan-centric and give attendees a variety of activities to choose from. Others are more structured and have a singular tone to them. They are all, however, a chance for like-minded fan(atic)s to geek out and be comfortable in those elements of their personality, however pronounced, that all the people who know them don't understand.

So, here I am. A child of the stars born from reruns on Sunday mornings, raised by movies and educated at family gatherings called cons (conventions to the uninitiated).

Things To Do In 2012

2011-12-27T08:45:00.000-06:00

As 2011 draws to a close, as pretty much any year draws to a close, people start making resolutions for the new year. The most popular, by far, is to lose weight with other contenders such as quitting smoking, drinking less, furthering education, etc. rounding out the top 10.

I don't do resolutions. Resolutions are often not specific enough and fall into the category of things we say to ourselves on a daily basis as we look at ourselves in the mirror. "I really need to lose weight," or "I really need to quit smoking," or "I really should..." They're often ideas, not goals, which only sets us up for failure. How many of you have formulated a specific resolution like, "I will lose 20 pounds by March 31 in order to look my best for my sister's wedding in May."? Anyone?

The second reason I don't do resolutions is that they are often forgotten or put aside by mid-February. We don't hold ourselves accountable. We don't go back to those resolutions periodically to ask ourselves, "How am I doing?" If that's the case, why bother?

The third, but not necessarily final, reason I don't do resolutions is that they are often singular. Hey, we don't want to make our selves crazy by resolving to lose weight, quit smoking, drink less, further our education AND blog more. That's way too much to work on at once,

This year, I decided that I would do something similar but different. I have a few long-term projects I want/need to work on and a few things I want to learn. With that in mind, I decided to come up with a To Do list for the new year. So, without further ~~adew~~, ~~adieu~~, ~~adoo~~, delay, I bring you my list of 10 Things To Do in 2012.

Get the new design/CMS for my celebrity photo site online.

As I was originally designing the new look and readying to transfer to a new Content Management System, I decided I wanted to re-crop, resize, and watermark all of my pictures. Because of my glasses at the time, I ended up leaning in to the monitor and tilting my head back as I worked... for an entire day. I got a lot done but I was hurting for over a week after that and haven't really picked it up since. It's time to Git 'R Done.

Complete one "Book of Me" entry per month

Part of the reason I keep a blog is to collect my stories. I want to do more with that so by the end of 2012, I should have at least 12 new personal stories collected here.

Watch 3 classic movies I've never seen

I love movies. Plenty of people know that and I will often find myself in a discussion about movies. Many friends have told me I need to see The Usual Suspects. So this is the year I will do that. But why stop there? Let's make it 3 movies I haven't seen.

The Usual Suspects
Network
The Trouble With Harry

Finish transferring my dad's Beatles albums to MP3

I've had the records for about 2 years now. It's time I finished that project.

Sort out at least 25% of my "2 Sort" music folder

It's a collection of music I have acquired that is mis-tagged, mis-labeled or just not sorted into a genre or artist folder yet. It's time to get it knocked out a little bit.

Unsubscribe from email lists I don't read

My inbox is a MESS. It always is. I need to reduce some of the clutter and noise so unsubscribing from lists and newsletters I don't read is a great way to at least accumulate a little less.

Leave myself notes to find/look for/open in 1 year, 5 years and 10 years

I saw this on a list I found on the internet. It actually said to leave yourself a note in a library book and look for it 20 years later. I don't want to invest that kind of time (although I may do it just to leave a note to the finder).

Make a short movie, just to say I did it

This is another one I found on the internet. It said it shouldn't be a YouTube video but an actual movie, with a story. This may be the most difficult to accomplish but it sounds like fun.

Learn how to photograph people

I love photography but I'm not too great at it. I have a camera-shy wife and no kids so most of my photos are landscapes and animals. I'm slowly getting better at that but I suck at portraits. I have a few friends who are professional photographers so I think I'm going to hit them up for some pointers. Now, if I only had a test subject. Anyone want to volunteer?

Earn an engineering-level technical certification

I had a hard time with this last one. I wasn't sure what I wanted to put on the list. I'm not even sure I want this on the list. The fact of the matter is, however, that in order to progress in my job, I need an e-level cert. I have a hard time putting forth the effort for self-study, for various reasons, so I have had a lot of false starts. But here it is, my public declaration that I will do this. I will do this within a year.

So, that's the list. I will type it up neatly, post it where I can see it, refer to it throughout the year and give regular progress reports.

Oh, before I go, I should tell you my resolution for the new year is to take better care of myself. I'm starting to get a little fluffy.

25 Movies You Really Should See

2011-12-26T12:52:00.001-06:00

I'm putting together some things I want to accomplish in 2012. One of them is to see 3 classic movies I've never seen. I will present my full To Do list later but it got me thinking about what movies I would share with people. Here I present Uncle Bubby's List, in no particular order, of 25 Movies You Really Should See.

Casablanca

I once had to defend this in a college class as the best movie ever made. I've loved it ever since.

Citizen Kane

A tale of greed and self-indulgence with an undertone of loneliness and lost innocence.

Charade

A fun mystery starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant.

Office Space

Everyone who has ever had a job should watch this movie. It encapsulates the workplace perfectly and takes you places you would really love to go but can't.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

A microcosm of the 1980s with shopping malls, part-time jobs, and awkward teenage love.

The Breakfast Club

If you don't see yourself in at least one of these characters, you probably don't have a pulse.

12 Angry Men

A murder trial. A jury room. The vote is 11 to 1. A very interesting look into human nature and human behavior.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Atticus Finch, a lawyer in the Depression-era South, defends a black man against an undeserved rape charge, and his kids against prejudice. I couldn't say it any better.

The Shawshank Redemption

Another look at human nature and common decency.

Star Wars (Episode 4: A New Hope)

The movie that made Sci-Fi fans out of so many many people. It also revolutionized movie making and special effects.

Fight Club

A troubling look inside

The Matrix

A mind-bending look at reality

Psycho

What can happen when you love your mother a little too much

It's a Wonderful Life

To be or not to be... how our lives connect to so much more than ourselves

Dr. Strangelove

A bizarre take on 1950s cold war paranoia

North by Northwest

A case of mistaken identity causes one man to have to unravel a mystery more tangled than a ball of last year's Christmas lights

A Clockwork Orange

Sober, drunk, stoned, it doesn't matter. This movie is weird no matter how you watch it.

The Green Mile

Duty and redemption

Forbidden Planet

An old Sci-Fi classic with a wonderful "things are not as they appear" twist

Arsenic and Old Lace

Pure screwball fun from beginning to end

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World

More screwball fun

Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade

A fantastic follow-the-clues story with everything Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford and Sean Connery can bring to it

Snatch

A fun tangling and untangling of some relatively shady characters

The Boondock Saints

They're on a mission from God

Toy Story

One: It's a cartoon. Two: It's a fantastic story. Three: It's good for adults and kids alike.

Rule Of Acquisition Number 168,894*: Garage Sales Are Good

2011-11-19T20:02:00.002-06:00

On almost any Saturday morning you can usually find me cruising by at least one or two garage sales. Hey, I gotta do something since they got rid of Saturday morning cartoons.

I tend to find the sales I want to check out by using iGarageSale or Garage Sale Rover on my iPhone. Both of these apps parse the Craigslist database and display pins on a map representing the sales near your current location. You can tap the pins and view the listing details.

Today, I found two. A garden variety garage sale and a pawn shop that was selling everything except guns and ammunition at 50% off Friday and Saturday to make room for a U-Haul center. I thought it was rather clever of them to advertise in the garage sale section of Craigslist.

After enjoying our traditional Saturday morning breakfast at Hardee's/Carl's Jr. we popped in at the first garage sale. Not much there, really, but I managed to snag a copy of the original Halo for the XBox. We gassed up my car then stopped by the pawn shop. Given their location, lack of inventory and minimal variety, it's no surprise they need to bring in another business type to stay afloat. We learned they will also be selling scooters and ATVs as well as used cars. They have the lot space for all of that but can you say, "all in?"

Anyway, the pawn shop sells DVDs for $2 each, making them $1 each on sale and I picked up The Man With One Red Shoe and 300. Not on the top of my must-have list but worth a buck to have them in my collection. I also spotted a copy of Left 4 Dead for the XBox 360. While I was meandering about looking at other things I didn't need or already owned, the wife asked me, "Did you see this?"

She handed me a white box. It was The Star Trek Original Motion Picture collection. It has the first 6 movies plus a bonus disk. It was still in its original shrink wrap with an $89.96 Wal-Mart sticker on it and a $60 pawn shop sticker on it. Today, it would be $30. Now, I've never been a big fan of the odd-numbered films so I took a look at the spines to remind me of the titles. They're in thin cases so I start squinting at The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, The Search for... "Ooh! These are Blu-Rays! I want." So, that's another one of my Christmas presents I already know about.

The wife had mentioned during our morning planning session that she wanted to go to Tulsa to return some items to K-Mart and redeem her "Turkey Bucks," which garnered us an $11 coupon for a Butterball turkey. I had a small pile of items I had decluttered from my office, including an inkjet printer, a stereo received and a 6-disc CD changer I haven't used in six years, and decided it would be a good time to take them over to Goodwill. Finally, we wanted to swing by a Kohls to look at a waffle maker they had on sale - she's been into waffles lately for some reason.

We made the trek to Tulsa and got everything squared away at K-Mart and dropped off our items at Goodwill. As is our habit, we popped in to see if there were any goodies worth taking back with us. The wife picked up a blouse and I walked out with a Sister Hazel CD and the Barenaked Ladies greatest hits disc one.

The big score of the day, however, was at Kohls. Many years ago my wife gave me a nice leather wallet as a gift. It is a tri-fold wallet with an extra pocket in the back of the middle section of the cash area. Over the years I have found this space invaluable for storing FSA cards, corporate credit cards and other items I don't want to accidentally utilize.

About a year ago we noticed the wallet was starting to look a little past its prime. The black dye had faded from the corners-in so that the wallet now looks to be black with green highlights. I started looking for a replacement, even from the same company, but never found one that had anything like that extra convenience of that separate pocket.

It being (almost) holiday season, Kohls had their wallets prominently displayed. I started looking at them and, as usual, was getting disappointed with what I was finding. Around the back side of the display there were wallets from the company who made my wonderful extra-pocketed model. Wouldn't you know it, the very first one I picked up was exactly like the one I carry - extra pocket and all. Joy filled my heart and I was more than willing to pay the $20 to obtain this gem. I looked around a bit more and found one in a deep brown that eventually made it home with me.

Add another good Saturday to the list.

*Can anyone tell me where my Rule of Acquisition number comes from?

The F In F.E.A.R. (and I don't mean "first")

2011-11-17T20:12:00.000-06:00

I picked up a copy of F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon) for the Xbox this weekend. I've really been enjoying playing it.

As you move through the buildings you will step forward or open a door only to find yourself suddenly somewhere else... and there's usually a lot of blood. It's like an interactive cut scene/flashback. You actually have to move through it to get it to disappear. After each of the ones I have been through so far, I've silently said to myself, "That's fucked up."

Then, I got to one area where I met the first Stealth Trooper. These are guys who can cloak themselves as they move toward you (you can spot them if you look closely... and happen to be looking in the right place) and they move FAST! The first time I went through it I saw this guy "running" up the wall of an office and climbing into the ceiling. Next thing I know he's pummeling me, running away before I can get a bead on him, then running back and pummeling me again. "What the HELL is that!!??" (I forgot about slow-mo)

The second time, I threw 2 grenades into the office as I approached it then emptied 60 rounds from a couple of machine pistols into him. Whew! I investigate the office then proceed down the walkway. "HOLY SHIT!!! There's two more!!!" Lucky for me I found a corner and I have lots of bullets and med packs.

I *LIKE* this game!

The Changing Face Of Photography

2011-11-13T00:38:00.000-06:00

My very first digital camera was a Sony Mavica FD-88. It was 1.3 megapixels and recorded the images onto floppy disk. In its day it was a fancy damn camera and cost me a pretty penny.

When using my Mavica, if I wanted someone to take a picture of me the first thing they would do would be to put it up to their face to look through the viewfinder. The camera never quite made it to their eye because they would get a look of confusion then push it away from them again so they could pinpoint the precise location of the viewfinder. This was followed by a look of increased bewilderment because they couldn't find it. Because there wasn't one.

The Mavica used the LCD screen as its viewfinder. You held it away from your face, lined everything up using the LCD (you actually viewed through the lens), and snapped the picture. This may sound familiar because it is the way most pocket digital cameras today work.

I eventually upgraded my Mavica to a Nikon D70 DSLR and went back to having a viewfinder on my camera. I still find it mildly humorous when I hand someone my camera. Because of the increasing popularity of those pocket digital cameras, people are used to using the LCD as their viewfinder. They will stare in confusion at the LCD trying to figure out how to activate it (some even check the lens cap) only to realize moments later that this one has a viewfinder.

How We Got Screwed At Sears.com

2011-11-09T14:28:00.001-06:00

My wife ordered a small storage building with home delivery from sears.com in mid October to replace one that was damaged in a thunderstorm.

Two weeks later she called to find out why the shed had not been delivered yet. She spoke with online services who dropped the call trying to transfer her to e-commerce. She called back and her call was dropped *again*. She was finally connected with e-commerce who attempted to pass her back to online services. Can you imagine her mood at this point? It gets worse.

She managed to keep the agent from transferring her and found out that the order had simply not been completed. When he tried to re-establish the request with delivery services he found there were no more available in the warehouses for them to deliver.

To his credit he managed to work a refund and reorder of the same product for home delivery but it encumbered over $600 of our liquid assets until the refund completed processing. I literally had to wait until the refund was deposited to go buy groceries.

She received notice that the shed was to be delivered Monday, November 7. Nobody showed, nobody called, we just didn't have our product. She called to check the status and was given a revised delivery date of Wednesday, November 9. Guess what? Nobody showed up to deliver our shed. Nobody called us. We received no email. We got nothin' just like before.

When my wife called delivery services to find out why our shed had not been delivered she was told the order had been cancelled. When she inquired why, she was told it was cancelled by online services and delivery services had no idea why. After being transferred to online services she was told, by a supervisor, they had no idea why it was cancelled and she needed to talk to delivery services.

This is a completely unacceptable way to do business. Not only are we both quite angry that our hard-earned money has been jockeyed around and we do not have the product we paid for - twice, we are extremely disgusted with the lack of customer service from a company as large as Sears. I thought we were ordering a product from a trustworthy source but that seems not to be the case.

Would I recommend sears.com to a friend, family or colleague? There's not a chance in hell that's going to happen. As a matter of fact, I doubt I will shop at Sears retail locations.

The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling!

2011-11-08T16:24:00.000-06:00

I live in North central Oklahoma which is just shy of smack dab in the middle of the United States. Oklahoma is known for Native Americans, the Dust Bowl, the musical of the same name, Will Rogers, and tornadoes. Oklahoma is not generally known for its seismic activity.

On November 5, 2011 I experienced my second earthquake (the first one was only a few months before that). It was the largest in Oklahoma history (M5.6) and was centered about 60 miles from where I live. Last night, November 7, 2011, I wondered if I should start preparing for the rapture. Imagine this: A massive line of severe thunderstorms stretches diagonally across the state. We are experiencing light hail, lots of lightning, extreme wind shear and large, landscape-gouging tornadoes. This was weather we only normally see in May if we see it at all. Then, at 8:46 PM, my house started to vibrate. At first, I thought it was the storm but quickly realized I had heard no thunder – and to shake my whole house I would have heard it. This one was a M4.7 very close to the epicenter of the M5.6 we’d had on Saturday.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, I heard on the radio this morning that an asteroid the size of an aircraft carrier (1,300 ft. wide) was due to “dart” past the Earth between the earth and the moon. This is supposed to happen TONIGHT!

The last two earthquakes to produce tsunamis actually shifted the magnetic axis just a bit. One of the 2012 doomsday shows I was watching on the Discovery Channel several months ago theorized that the Mayans predicted a polar reversal. Normally this would occur over the course of thousands of years but here’s my take on what’s going to happen.

Asteroid 2005 YU55 (that big ol’ honker that’s going to “dart” past tonight) will pass close enough to the Earth to suck some of the atmosphere into its wake. This will in turn disrupt the electromagnetic field (affecting most forms of communication currently available to us). Through an additional series of lunar gravitational events and other geomagnetic excursions, the magnetic poles will invert in a matter of days or weeks rather than in thousands of years. It’s already happened to the sun. Its magnetic poles reversed in February of 2001.

Once the polar reversal is complete, we can look forward to super volcanic activities (bye bye Yellowstone), massive earthquakes (hello New Madrid), Tsunamis and nasty hurricanes all culminating in THE NEXT ICE AGE!

Please, someone, tell me WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO!!??

For those who want more, ask me about my Hurricane Katrina theories (my friends will know what this means)

iOS5 On The iPhone 3Gs Disenchantment

2011-11-06T07:39:00.001-06:00

I installed iOS 5 on my iPhone 3Gs the day it came out. Everything looked all unicorns and rainbows at first but I have started experiencing some issues. Some I expected and can live with, others are really annoying and, despite being able to use custom alert tones, are making me consider reverting to iOS 4.x.

Performance: I took a performance hit when I installed iOS 5. I expected this one and it is noticeable but not intrusive.
Battery Life: This is being widely reported and actual impact seems to be highly variable. I caught a glimpse somewhere that iOS 5.0.1 is going to address this. I have taken some steps to try to mitigate the impact for myself but it is still considerable.
Wi-Fi Sync: I discussed this in my last iOS 5 post. What a joke. Highly unreliable. I've turned it off.
The Icon Shuffle: My app icons are randomly rearranging themselves. It's nothing major but every once in a while things aren't where I expect them to be. A single icon has moved to a different part of the screen thus rearranging other icons. Weird but tolerable - for now.
The Home Screen Flash: I have also discussed this one before. I hit the power button to wake up the phone and the home screen flashes for a partial second then it goes immediately back into sleep mode. A second click will usually bring it up.
Internet and Location Services: This is the one that has me ready to throw my iPhone against a wall. Seriously, I considered it last night I was so frustrated. I fire up Facebook or my ESPN score app and they just sit there and spin, those little circular hash marks taunting me as if at any moment my data will be presented. I pull up a map or traffic information and that little arrow in the upper right corner, try as it might, can't figure out where I am. I can sometimes clear out unused memory with Memory Pro to correct it but more often than not I am going through the 5-minute process of rebooting the phone. Sometimes multiple times a day. This is one of the reasons I got rid of my HTC Fuze.

I have my phone backed up and am going to try a restore using iTunes. I don't really want to do that but it seems my only option for now. I'll let you know how things turn out on the other side.

Update, Nov. 12, 2011: The restore seemed to straighten out a few things. The battery life improved somewhat and location services appeared to start working as expected. I did experience the home screen flash once but only once. It's still there but not as invasive. My icons have not moved themselves around.

I went ahead and updated to iOS 5.0.1 the day after it was released. I should have left well enough alone because the location services are flaky again (though not as bad), even after another restore. Battery life is stable, however.

iPhone WiFi Sync FAIL

2011-10-30T08:10:00.000-05:00

My first "real" MP3 player was a 2nd Gen Microsoft Zune. I also have a Zune HD. Both of these devices have WiFi sync that works without a hitch so I was thrilled to hear that iOS 5 would include WiFi sync. When I first set it up it worked beautifully. Since then, however, it has been hit-and-miss with mostly a miss.

Fail number one: If you leave that checkbox enabled next to "Open iTunes when this iPhone is connected" you will A) drain your battery faster when you're on WiFi with the iTunes host and B) won't be able to make iTunes go away for more than a couple of minutes on the host. What happens is that as long as you're on the same network, these two keep a connection to each other as if you had the cable plugged in but weren't syncing. It causes the phone to constantly tell the host it's plugged in, thus actively using WiFi and draining the battery, and causes iTunes to re-open every couple of minutes because the phone has been "plugged in." The Zune software can distinguish between a wireless and wired connection and only auto-launches on a wired connection. On the Zune, if you want to keep the system available for WiFi sync it's easy enough to do because the Zune software isn't such a RESOURCE HOG as iTunes.

Fail number two: If I go into Settings > General > iTunes Wi-Fi Sync, most of the time the phone doesn't see the host as "online" and can't complete a sync. This occurs even if the aforementioned checkbox is left enabled.

What's the point? Why would I want to leave a feature enabled that rapidly drains my battery, annoys me on the host system and doesn't work most of the time? Apple, I would give you an F for Fail but you did make a good effort to enable the feature so I give you a D for Doesn't Work.

Note: I did not include the iPad in this rant because I sync my iPad with my laptop, which is off most of the time, and do not know if the functionality is similar.

Gadget Freak, Part 2

2011-10-29T21:49:00.002-05:00

I grew up at a time when Radio Shack was a place that electronics enthusiasts, and those needing vacuum tubes and phonograph needles, actually sought out. Back then, the store was dark and lined with all manner of electrical components. The staff actually knew the difference between a BNC and a DIN. Today The Shack sells cell phones and overpriced accessories and what they still have for electronic components are relegated to storage drawers tucked into a back corner. And good luck finding an employee who knows what you're looking for much less where to find it.

But I digress.

When I was about ten years old I went to our neighborhood Radio Shack with my father. He needed some sort of widget and I was most likely picking up a battery with my battery club card. Displayed semi-prominently in the middle of the wall opposite the cash register was this black keyboard outlined in silver-grey plastic connected to a similarly colored black and white television measuring about 13" (it actually was a modified RCA XL-100 B&W TV) and it caught my eye. (ooh, shiny...)

I went over to look at it. What was this? Some kind of new typewriter? No... A typewriter needed some kind of output to paper. Let's see. There's a keyboard, presumably to type with, and a display. What has a keyboard and a display? Oh, I know... it's a computer (a TRS-80 Model I, to be precise). What can you do with a computer? I think I pressed the return key or maybe typed in my name and pressed enter. I may or may not have gotten some sort of unknown command error but it certainly didn't do much.

I stood there pondering this new device for a while longer, wondering how I could test it, play with it a bit, get a better feel for what it was and what it was capable of. Then I remembered that you have to program a computer.

I thought about that thing for days. I marveled at the possibility of having a computer in a home. Those visions of the future I had seen on TV were starting to come true. I told my mom about it excitedly when we got home. I told my friends at school what I had seen with my own eyes. I wanted to learn what you could do with it and how to do it.

A few days later I went into the store on my own (it was within walking distance of the house). I remember walking to the back of the store to a revolving wire rack with books on it. I looked at the different titles and found two that I had to have. The first was a book about the TRS-80 and programming in BASIC. The second was a book of BASIC programs. I could only afford one so I bought the programming guide.

I read that thing from cover to cover. I absorbed every bit of information it contained. I learned the structure and the syntax of the BASIC programming language. I learned how to construct the program then execute it. I even learned about storing the program on cassette tape for later retrieval.

Side note: The TRS-80 tape drive was nothing more than a portable tape recorder with a special cable to connect it to the computer. Reading programs was sometimes hit-and-miss because the computer was extra sensitive about the volume. Yes, it had a volume control on the tape recorder and if you didn't get that thing just right you would have to rewind and start all over again.

In the course of reading that book, I wrote my first program (and no, it wasn't 'hello world'). It had variables and user input and loops and subroutines and it was all mine. I knew it was overly simple when I wrote it but I didn't care. It would ask you to type in your name and some other information then display it back to you, or something like that. Only problem was, I had no way to test it. Unless...

The next weekend I took a trip to the store with the express purpose of testing my program. I don't remember if I asked for permission to do so but I typed in my program line by line, saved it somehow, and ran it. I think it even worked the first time. If I was hooked before I was obsessed now.

I would sometimes spend hours and hours at that store on a Saturday afternoon. I would code and test and debug and learn. Sometimes I would only spend 30 minutes entering a program, giving it a run-through, and leaving it in memory as a demo for other kids that might be just as curious as I was that first time I saw it.

I remember my mother telling me I shouldn't spend all day at Radio Shack. It was a business and I was getting in the way. Shortly after, I asked the manager, whom I had come to be friendly with, and he told me it wasn't a problem. He said he honestly didn't know much about the thing and that the 'demo' programs I put on there at least showed it off a little bit.

As other computers were introduced to the market (the Apple II, the Commodore 64, the Atari 400 and 800, etc.), I began to spend my weekends hanging out at different computer stores doing basically the same thing I used to do at Radio Shack but with different systems. Every once in a while mom would give me the speech again and I would maybe skip a weekend but I was right back in short order.

I eventually outgrew my Saturday morning computer club of one (well, it was eventually 2 when my buddy Bill would join me) but I've never really lost my passion for computers and all things electronic. I involved myself in computer classes at school and even managed the school's BBS system for a while. Before graduating high school I had learned something like 4 or 5 different computer languages and, as with many things in my life, I was not proficient with any of them. Well, I was proficient with the programming languages, I've just never been terribly proficient with programming.

Now, my passion has become a career as I, and many others, always knew it would. Stay tuned, there's more to come.

Gadget Freak, Part I

2011-10-24T22:08:00.000-05:00

I have always had a passion and fascination with electronics. If it beeps, blips, blinks, flashes or needs some sort of power supply, I'm into it. I remember taking apart radios, tape players and whatever else I could get my hands on just to see what was inside of them. The challenge when I was younger was to get the devices reassembled in working order before dad came home.

I recall one time when I was about four years old my father had just gotten a combination radio and cassette player (keep in mind, this was circa 1971 so this was high tech). When he brought it home he showed us all how he could record something off the radio and play it back on the tape.

That sounds simple enough these days but my four-year-old brain, having seen this only once, somehow got it backward. I believed that you could get the contents of the tape to play on the radio. The part I remembered in the right order was that you had to press the play and record buttons at the same time.

Shortly after, my parents went out and we were left with a babysitter. Wanting to show off, another fascination I never outgrew, I tried to show the babysitter how this all worked... using my father's Johnny Cash cassette.

For those of you who know how cassettes work, the record button won't go down when you put in a pre-recorded tape because the record tab has been removed. Somehow, my little undeveloped brain figured that out, figured out a way to override it and managed to erase random chunks from my dad's tape.

Dad never got angry with me about it. He was more curious as to how I had accomplished it because, at the time, he didn't know how to do it himself. Of course, I had slept a couple of times between the time I did it and dad discovered it (I had no idea I had done any damage) and the knowledge of how the damage had been done was lost to me.

A Weekend With iOS 5

2011-10-17T22:04:00.001-05:00

So, I updated my iPhone 3Gs to iOS 5 a few days ago. There are a couple of features I'm ECSTATIC about, there are a couple I'm a little miffed aren't as advertised (i.e. not included), and there are those I just don't care about. I am going to go down the list as Apple has them listed on their site.

Notification Center: This is a nice feature. I can take it or leave it, honestly, but it's nice that it's there. I think I would be more excited if I had more communications like I did with my previous job (the only thing I miss about my previous job is the chair - it was a NICE chair).

iMessage: Confusing and limited. Not sure how this one is going to play out. It's all jammed together in one app and the app decides when to use it instead of SMS. I'll need to look into it more when some of my friends update.

NewsStand: VERY limited selection from what I saw and, frankly, I don't want the icon if I'm not going to use it. Let me take it off the home screen.

Reminders: I like this feature. I can see it coming in handy like a ToDo list. But you can have multiple lists so I could potentially keep a list of DVDs I want to look out for at garage sales. There are supposed to have location-based capabilities. Apple says, "Say you need to remember to pick up milk during your next grocery trip. Since Reminders can be location based, you’ll get an alert as soon as you pull into the supermarket parking lot." I haven't seen it.

I have done some bit of research and it appears the location capabilities are only available on the iPhone 4 and 4S (and, presumably, future iPhone models). With previous updates it has been quite clear where the feature implementation line is drawn but not so here. In the past they may have said something like, 'If you have an iPhone 4 or 4S, reminders can be location based.' but apparently they think it's funny to make everyone who doesn't have an iPhone 4 or 4S go looking for phantom features.

Twitter integration: Yeah? So? I guess this is important if you use Twitter a lot.

Camera updates: Yay! They made a hardware button click the shutter! Do you know how awkward it is to push that button on the screen sometimes? Thanks for this one, Apple. There are also editing capabilities. For me the screen on the phone is too small for editing but it's nice to have the ability to do a quick crop.

The Apple iOS page says you can access it from the lock screen - not that I've seen on the 3Gs.

Safari: Reader view and reader list look interesting but I haven't had an opportunity to try them. There's supposed to be tabbed browsing but, again, apparently not for the 3Gs (why not?). I don't like using Safari and I generally don't like browsing on my phone so not a reason to upgrade.

Wireless Sync: I applaud Apple for bringing this to their devices. This is a feature the Microsoft Zune has had since the second generation devices. Apple's implementation still needs a few tweaks. I'm not sure why iTunes keeps launching itself (yet another reason to hate it). Implement a little watcher program if you want to have it auto-launch so it only launches when I try to sync. Either that or make it my own damn fault for not leaving/having iTunes running. I don't know if you've noticed but iTunes is a bit of a resource hog.

iCloud: I don't find this revolutionary but I do find it comforting. I get 5 gigs for my apps, contacts, calendar and photos and any of my purchase from iTunes are stored up there as well without charging against my space. (they get away with this because they're only storing a pointer/shortcut/alias in your iCloud, not the actual item). For the most part, it's all automatic.

Is iCloud just a backup/sync service? What if I would like to browse what is stored up there (i.e. view a slideshow of my photos)? There's no app or anything. If it's just a backup service, why all the hype?

Mail: Limited text formatting. I can go for that. Message flagging. A very handy feature.

Calendar: Haven't taken an opportunity to explore the calendar enhancements. I've been using Extreme Calendar by Birdsoft because it has templates. It meshes with the built-in calendar so I'm not inclined to switch back.

Multitasking Gestures for iPad 2: Thanks for specifying but is there some reason original iPad owners didn't get this?

Game Center: Never used it.

That's all they highlight on their features page but there are more new features, like expanded and custom alert tones. As I stated in my original post, I love that I can create my own alert tones. I have been having a grand time creating new ones to import to my phone.

Here are some more hidden features.

User-Defined Keyboard Shortcuts: In general I like text expanders. I'm not very prolific in messaging via email, twitter, facebook, SMS, etc. on my phone so I haven't configured this but I did find it. It's under general->keyboard in the settings.

Custom Vibrations: Really? I'll have to look into that one.

LED flashes for visual alerts: Read about that one but it's a moot point on a 3Gs.

Instant definitions: I'm sure that'll come in handy. I'll have to read up on that one.

There are others and I'm sure I'll discover more.

A glitch I seem to have is when taking my phone out of standby. Every once in a while the backlight will come on when I hit the power button then turn right off again. I sometimes get a blip of the lock screen. Hitting power again brings it right up. Not sure if it's iOS 5 or my phone yet.

For me, iOS 5 was worth the update for the custom alert tones alone. The rest is just frosting. I will get use from most of these features. I'll consider updating when my 3Gs slows down enough to be annoying or the updates stop applying to it or the battery gives out - whichever comes first.

UPDATE 10/29/2011: I have noticed that the battery life on my 3Gs has been affected to a slight degree but I am also having difficulty with memory usage. Self-contained programs seem to have no difficulty but those that rely on a wireless or 3G connection to operate will sometimes sit there and spin trying to download. It's not crippling but I find myself using an app to clear the inactive memory a lot.

Updating an iPhone 3Gs with iOS5 - Caveats And Cool Stuff

2011-10-13T14:35:00.001-05:00

I generally read up on any major iOS updates and maybe even wait a few days to see if any problems arise (i.e. phones being 'bricked') but decided to just jump into the deep end on iOS5. I updated both my iPhone 3Gs and original iPad last night. For the most part the updates went smoothly but there are a few caveats you might want to know about.

When you update to iOS5, iTunes will completely back up your device, clear it, install the new base code, then restore your media files (music, movies, photos, etc.) but it does not restore your apps. Before you go into panic mode it is very easy to overcome this. Go to the device summary in iTunes and select Apps at the top. Make a minor change (move an app to a different page, uninstall an app, etc.) and click Apply. iTunes will faithfully replace all of your apps and folders just like they were before the update with the exception of whatever change you made to get it to allow the sync.

Unless...

At some point, possibly at the 4.3.whatever update, iTunes decided I no longer needed to sync my apps. I only noticed this change recently and had been intending to correct it but didn't want to lose some of my saved data that iTunes sternly warned me I would lose if I should enable this function. In my ignorance I did not enable App Sync prior to updating my iPhone and, therefore, it later showed only the default apps and folders that happened to contain default apps from my previous customizations in the greyed-out graphic. I was able to enable and apply the app sync and get all of my apps pushed back to the phone... in random order... without the benefit of folders. I've been spending my time between calls today getting things back in order.

Now, about the update itself.

My absolute, hands down, no discussion favorite new feature is the ability to select alert tones. I suppose you could call this more of an unlocked feature that has been present on every other smart phone before or since the iPhone was introduced four years ago but I'm still thrilled they enabled it. You can also see your ringtones as an option but they likely won't work (read on). Through a little research I learned how to make custom tones. It's the same process as creating a ringtone but it has to be less than 15 seconds long.

There are several other updates that you can read about in detail on other sites but I'm going to highlight some of the ones I like. The notifications screen is cool (swipe down on a home screen to see it) and it's nice that you can now flag mail but these aren't barn burners.

I have had a couple of Microsoft Zune devices and they've had WiFi sync since day one. Given that the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch have had WiFi since their respective introductions it's nice to see this come to iOS. It's a very handy feature.

iMessage is a nice way to stick it to the evil empire of your service provider. It allows you to send an SMS directly to another iOS5 device. If you have unlimited texting I suppose this doesn't really matter.

iCloud is a nice comfort. It can store your music, photos, documents, contacts and, if you want, device backups. It will be nice to sync contacts and documents between devices. With iCloud you get 5GB on a free account. The cool thing about that is your purchased music, apps, books, and TV shows, as well as your Photo Stream, don’t count against your free storage.

Photo Stream is an iCloud feature that I have decided to turn off. Every new picture you take is automatically uploaded to your iCloud for 30 days up to a maximum of 1,000 pictures. It allows you to sync photos seemlesly between iOS devices.

At first blush this seems really good but consider this: It's all or nothing. Every. Single. Picture. you take ends up in the photo stream. It doesn't matter if you're grabbing a Kodak moment or sexting, it gets pushed to the cloud. I have found no way to delete photos. If you turn photo stream off it will delete all of the photo stream photos from your device but they're still in the cloud (for 30 days, at least). I have also found no way to send photos to the stream from the camera roll nor have I found a way to view (AKA share) photos via the web or other means. Nope, not mature enough and has too many holes in it. It stays off.

There are a couple of features missing from the 3Gs but not much. Safari is supposed to have tabbed browsing now but they aren't present on the 3Gs. There is also simple photo editing in the camera app that is supposedly missing but I saw it in the PhotoStream and Camera roll.

Here are a few things I noticed about some of the new features that are not necessarily clear.

WiFi sync has to be turned on in iTunes. I was wondering why it wouldn't work last night and found the setting this morning. Plug in your device then highlight it on the left side of the iTunes window. Near the bottom of the summary tab you will see a selection that reads ‘Sync over Wi-Fi connection.' Check it and you should be good to go (haven't had a chance to test it, though).

I noticed another setting this morning that I haven't had a chance to investigate. It looks like you can sync (maybe it was backup?) to iCloud *OR* to the local computer but not both. I'll update once I get more info.

The new reminders function/app is supposed to have location-based capabilities. That ability does not seem to be present on my 3Gs. I'll have to look deeper into that as well.

It appears that the NewsStand cannot be placed in a folder. I have tried and the folder keeps running away no matter how hard I try.

NOTE: I was going to try out iMessage and my contacts were GONE!! Luckily I located a fix at http://www.seangw.com/wordpress/index.php/2011/10/ios-5-upgrade-lost-my-contacts/

That's my experience so far. I'll let you know if I run into anything else worthy of note.

Oh, one more thing (yeah, kinda on purpose). Before you update, be sure you backup your device and transfer purchases... just in case.

Random Word

2011-10-09T11:11:00.000-05:00

I read something about a random word generator on another blog and decided to Google it. I found one and the word it gave me was "Biscuit."

Alright... let's go with that.

The first thing that came to mind was biscuit head. I don't know what that means to you but in my experience it's a softer and familial way to call someone a fu*king idiot. A way to point out the stupidity the already know they are burdened with. "You decided it would be a good idea to throw the turkey into the fryer from the second-floor balcony? You're such a biscuit head."

There's also the biscuit used in woodworking. A small tab used to join two pieces of wood together.

Dictionary.com shows more than 10 definitions for Biscuit.

There's biscuit mix, biscuit bread, cookies are called biscuits in some parts of the world, there's biscuit-colored, and "a piece of plastic or the like, prepared for pressing into a phonograph record." (didn't know that one), You can "take the biscuit," bake biscuits, eat a biscuit, float an air biscuit, - I wouldn't recommend eating an air biscuit - and I'm sure many other things that Google is not revealing to me.

Ever notice how when you say a word over and over and over and over it starts to sound weird?

Doesn't Seem Quite The Same

2011-09-28T07:53:00.000-05:00

I watched the first 15 minutes or so of War Games: The Dead Code before leaving for work this morning. I remember the original War Games with Matthew Broderick so, naturally, I am going to compare the two.

I must say at first blush I am less than impressed. In the original, the protagonist had a certain innocence to him. He was just smart enough to get himself into trouble. He stumbled upon what looked like a gaming site then spent several days, in movie time, researching how to gain access. He employed the assistance of his smarter, and twitchier, friends/mentors to help him in his quest.

In this version, the two lead characters - I haven't figured out which is the protagonist yet - seem like the type of people that would-be gurus look to for advice and hacking strategies. One goes so far as to build a small device that can intercept cell phone calls and redirect them to a nearby phone instead of the one they were destined for. David Lightman was quite clever but just didn't seem mature enough to understand the full implications of his actions until he was face-to-face with them. He had that high school innocence. So far it seems these two schmos are in college. If not then I have to wonder why their first scene occurred in a dark room with computers/work areas next to each other as if they are roommates.

I have set myself up for disappointment but I have to watch out of simple morbid curiosity.

The invasion of popular culture

2011-09-26T21:23:00.001-05:00

I'm testing out Blogger for iPhone. Thought I would share what I saw at the store the other day. I'm surprised it took this long.

Finally

2011-09-25T22:28:00.000-05:00

After 21 years of marriage and 19 years living in a single-family home, my wife and I have finally accomplished something we've never done before.

We parked one of our cars in the garage.

The wife has spent most of the weekend selling various items on Craigslist, redistributing items via FreeCycle, donating items to Goodwill and simply disposing of junk. this afternoon, we pulled her car into the garage and closed the door.

The chances of us getting my car in there as well as pretty slim but it's not outside the realm of possibility. Maybe in another 10 or 12 years.

Sent from my iPhone

Why I Still Hate iTunes

2011-08-13T17:52:00.001-05:00

I admit it. I drank the Kool-Aid™. I didn't just sip it, either. I took huge gulps. I have more products in my house that start with an i than I ever thought I would. The only one I really don't like, though, is the piece that, in the darkness, binds them: iTunes™.

iTunes is up to version 10 point something and it still, in many ways, sucks. I realize they give it away but Microsoft gives away the Zune software, too, and it puts iTunes to shame. It's put iTunes to shame from day one. So, what is it about iTunes that's so horrible? Let me count the ways...

It's a resource hog. At least it is on the PC. For as much as Steve Jobs complains about the resource usage of Flash™, iTunes is pretty bad in this department. The only difference is that it sucks resources only while its running. It doesn't slow down the PC just because.
It doesn't track folders. If I add music to my collection I have to manually add the track(s) or rescan the folder(s) to get them to show up in my collection. What's up with that? How hard would it be for me to tell iTunes which folders to keep an eye on and have it automatically add new content? It can't be too hard. Microsoft figured it out. (I should note that I do not let iTunes manage my collection. I'm picky about my naming scheme and "01 title.mp3" isn't it.)
It changes the title in the catalog from "title" to "artist - title" and creates a duplicate entry. Why? Why doesn't it just read the ID3 tag and leave it at that? Where is it getting that information to combine it, anyway?
It's extremely easy to duplicate tracks on your device and unnecessarily take up space. If you've ever browsed your iDevice you'll notice that the audio tracks are not named in any way you can recognize. iTunes and iOS, apparently, work some sort of file name voodoo and your tracks end up in an indecipherable code. The way around this, from what I've read, is to manage your device through playlists. I got news, it's still easy to duplicate tracks.

For all its iterations and all its bells and whistles, iTunes can still be very cumbersome to use. Hey, Apple. Why don't you study the Zune software and alternative music management software like MediaMonkey and put some of the conveniences of those products into iTunes. This may be a gilded cage I voluntarily climbed into but it could still use a little polish here and there.

UPDATE: I've just added #5 - "iTunes has stopped updating this podcast because you haven't listened to any episodes recently..." What the hell? Why don't you let ME decide when you should stop updating the podcast, you dictatorial bastard.

More Lawyer BS

2011-07-13T19:04:00.000-05:00

Today, I received a second letter in the mail from the law firm of Brown | Jones & Associates, PLLC. The letter starts out like this:

A few weeks ago, we notified you of a lien that had been filed against you for unpaid medical bills in Payne County.

I decided I was going to see this one through. I was going to quiz them on who had filed the lien, how they found out about it, etc. and basically back them into a corner and give them enough rope to hang themselves with.

Enclosed with the letter was a business card with a toll-free number on it. I called the number... and got a phone company error tone saying the call could not be completed. I tried again, same thing. Curious.

In the text of the letter was a standard phone number with a Tulsa area code (the law firm address is in Oklahoma City - curious again). I called the number and it just kept ringing until it finally disconnected and gave me the fast busy tone. No answering service. No voice mail.

Still determined to let them know how I feel about their wicked wicked ways I sat down to compose an email. I was going to lead them in with worry then slam it home but that's not how it turned out. It's there a little bit but I still want to back them in to a corner. This is what I wrote:

I just received a letter from you dated July 12, 2011 that has me deeply concerned. It states that there is a lien filed against me for unpaid medical bills in Payne County. Are you representing the party who has filed the lien? If not, how did you find out about it? I haven't been notified of any liens.
Another thing that has me very concerned is that I am unable to contact you via phone. I tried calling 866-xxx-xxxx listed on your business card but all I got was one of those phone company error tones and a recorded message saying my call couldn't be completed. Then I tried 918-xxx-xxxx listed in your letter but nobody answered. I didn't even get a voice mail system. I also find it curious that the address on your card lists an Oklahoma City address but the 918 area code services Tulsa.
Please reply to this message and let me know who has filed the lien. I would very much like to clear up this matter.

I'll keep you updated on how it turns out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

2011-07-06T20:56:00.000-05:00

As of yesterday, July 5, I have been blogging for eight (8) years. More to come.