Android Wemmert Blog

Ready set go

2010-07-10T14:33:00.001-04:00

Well seeing as today is full of shit, and that i am spending my time getting ready for a good two weeks of fun in Kentucky, i do still have some time to sit back and realize just how much i love the sister site I brought up yesterday officially. It literally was born out of a three week "sit and think" where I even started posting funny convos from work at Buzz. I literally thought, man this would be awesome to put them all onto a site that anyone could read them and anyone could enjoy IT hell with me. Out of that thought was born Office Daze. And two hours later the logo for my site was drawn up, and an hour after that my blog post was picked up, however briefly (literally about ten minutes) on twitter. This has got to be the best turn out of any of my solo projects ever.

So please, enjoy it with me, submit some fun, and check back often at office daze thank you all

Google Shows me the sign

2010-07-08T16:48:00.001-04:00

Well today before I got ready to sign off of everything and get ready to go home to my fiancee, and my dog I thought I'd head on over to my Google Adsense to take a look at what has happened today.

Now I'll admit that my site is probably not the best or most popular site on the internet, but I get people to stop by and read my ramblings and my rumblings from time to time and low and behold people at the very least return. Any way back to the topic at hand, reviewing the information on my estimated earnings and I came across something very interesting indeed: my estimated earnings was reading: 6 6 6!

Is this a sign from the dark one? Is this a sign from Google? Well if I were to be a superstitious man I might just believe in that kind of hocus-pocus, but for now it's the most amusing thing that I've seen this whole month . . . and it's only the 8th!

Well back to the 'ol grind . . . for another 15 minutes and then it's off to the 'ol homestead.

More Google TV fun news

2010-07-08T08:39:00.000-04:00

As if watching TV wasn't bad enough (wait, I watch TV!!) Google and their genius level engineers have developed (and consequently released a little bit ago on Wednesday) Youtube "leanback" for those of us who dread having to use that pesky scroll-wheel to look for another video.

This little gem was developed and released for those of us (me included) who watch enough You tube to fry our brains, and like to sit on the couch. What's better is that Google, who is releasing their Google TV very soon , is going to combine it all into that little box (and select Sony TVs). So not only will you not have to wait long, you may not even have to buy anything extra to use it.

This new feature includes a minimal keyboard controlled interface which includes a "like" feature that will eventually figure out what you want to come on next and queue it up for you; soon enough the TV remote will be a relic that we see in museums instead of crammed between couch cushions.

So how long does the world have to wait for this feature to go forward full steam? Well if my calculations are correct, Google TV will be here in enough time for me to get one for my birthday (November 29th). Anyone feeling generous?

Hit me up with your questions (should you feel compelled to ask them) by clicking on the link at the top for me email.

Many thanks

2010-07-07T23:04:00.001-04:00

In the grand scheme of things i think thw whole situation is finally resolved. Everything seemed to slowly resolve itself: little by little; once what i did was reversed. Next time i have to make changes that are universal to my site I guess I should follow some common sense and not do it all at once. Seems like common sense, but when you really want to go home and let the rest of the site run on auto pilot you tend to throw responsible site practices out the window . . . At the very least i do that sometimes.

Good times

Remember: please, please, please keep an eye out for anything weird I may have missed and let me know via the email link at the top of the page.

Talk to you guys tomorrow.

Sincerely,

ANDROID_wemmert

AKA

Wessie Emmert

Dear Readers

2010-07-07T16:46:00.001-04:00

Dear Readers,

Please forgive the weird happenings on the site that have been happening in the past 30-90 (or more, I’m still looking into it) minutes. This plea is, of course, assuming something happened during your last visit today. I went onto one of my networks’ ad sites to fix something that they told me was broken, and lo and behold when I loaded the page to take a look at the site it had a lot of the content reading “unable to display” and the ads were being all weirded out too. So much so that for a while my site looked like crap and for the past few hours (on and off because I have to call customers) have been trying to rectify the situation so that people don’t end up on my site saying, “What the hell happened here?” because let’s face it, sometimes people say that when they go onto a site that is having issues for whatever reason.

So far the site seems to be providing all of the correct content and ads and such, but a couple of the times it has been loaded from separate computers and browsers just to make sure it has gone BONKERS. I’m still working on the situation, and still trying to figure out what happened with the networked ad site that I updated that caused this mess.

On the bright side, Chrome still loads my site really fast . . . even if I still use Mozilla.

If anyone catches something that could be fixed or has gone wrong in the past few hours, or over the next few days please use the link at the top (of my email) and let me know so that I can fix it. Thanks a bunch guys for not freaking out (even if you did for a second LOL)

Sincerely,

ANDROID_wemmert

AKA

Wessie Emmert

Successful bird rescue parts 1 and 2

2010-07-06T07:01:00.001-04:00

Yes before I go to work I'm posting this blog today about my rescue of a bird this morning from my dogs. I took them outside before I got ready for work and realized they were looking intently at something in the corner of my lawn. When I went over there I realized that they had trapped a baby bird (baby being a relative word). I managed to get them away while I ran inside for some vinyl gloves and proceeded to chase it up and down the fence and pick him up and send him off into freedom . . . away from my dogs that is. Check both of the videos here.

Part one:

Part Two:

SUCCESS!!!!

My actual experience with the iPad

2010-07-03T17:15:00.001-04:00

Just the other day my office bought some iPads for display of our applications with printing and copying. I'll have to admit i try to stay away from anything Apple, but obviously I had no choice. Since that happened, and I have to set them up for work, I thought I might actually get to know these devices for real.

To be honest, I wasn't impressed, but that's because I hate Apple, but i thought I should give it a chance. Upon turning it on and getting it to let me use the system (after plugging it into iTunes of course) I was up on the internet surfing for videos, my own blog (hehe) and google maps to name a few things. Aside from the fact that it had nothing (which turned me off of it before it was even out) the internet was fast and my youtube videos played nicely.

I thought I might become an Apple convert for a second there, but just to do anything extra special on it (download my own programs, or to even take pictures) I was left shothanded.

So this fun little device, which i reluctantly used the first time, on looks alone almost converted me to Apple; but once the "WOW" factor was over with and it once again came back to me about the limitations . . . I ran away.

In short, I think it's pretty on looks alone . . . But until it comes out with more, I think I'll still steer clear of it.

Top Ten Things I can't wait for

2010-06-29T11:48:00.001-04:00

During the last few weeks I have watched patiently in the world of Technology. For the past few weeks so much has happened, so much so that I have almost regretted formulating gmail alerts because literally my inbox is full of so much new technology I can barely read it all. So instead of writing one blog post for each of them (and boring all of you to death) I’ve come up with a list of things I just can’t wait for.

10. Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG: Who doesn’t want to play in a world that is 3000 years before the rise of the Emperor, wield the power of the force and fight for / against the powers of evil in a fully voiced and motion capture animated world? No one doesn’t want to, the real question is, what side will YOU be on?

9. The new Rock Band with “Pro” mode: Play a game, act like a Rock star, and learn to play the guitar at the same time . . . count me in.

8. Nintendo 3DS: who doesn’t want a 3D screen, and 3D games, while playing in our own 3D world . . . without wearing stupid glasses? I know I want it.

7. Kinect: Yes, the fabled Xbox controller-less controller. Not only am I looking forward to punching an onscreen character in the face without memorizing a button combination like, “down-to-forward and then punch” but I’d like to lay down some actual smack down to my brother, and register in-game points for it.

6. The new Xbox: Enough said. Honestly my original (generation 1 with no red rings) has held up against the passage of time, but it’s default 20GB HDD is being pushed to its limit as of recent with game companies pushing out add-ons, and with me downloading all of my favorite TV shows. Who doesn’t want a slim XBOX with bigger space, Wi-Fi, and the ability to play Kinect right out of the box? And with that sleek black color, here’s hoping it doesn’t suck.

5. Google Voice Desktop App: Ever since Google bought Gizmo, the free VOIP service a while back and incorporated those workers into their empire, there have been rumors of a desktop application that will put phone companies to shame. Seeing as not a lot has come out about Gizmo, or a Desktop app for voice it leaves us wondering. With the recent opening of the floodgates of Google Voice to the public, this dream seems just a little bit closer to reality.

4. Toshiba Libretto: This dual screen tablet computer is a beauty, and for anyone who has been wondering whether or not Microsoft’s own dual screen tablet is vaporware or not can pretty much just give up on them and go over to Toshiba. I mean seriously, Microsoft’s Courier better be able to make a pizza, because this not only beats them to the punch, but beats them hands down.

3. Android 2.2: sure it’s on its way out, and sure it will be here before we know it, hell some people already have it, but with options such as remote wipe and improved exchange support you can’t help but be amazed at the progress of Android.

2. Portal 2: where else do you get to be hounded by an insane A.I. and fight for the right to eat some delicious cake. Don’t forget the rhubarbs for the cake, they are the most important ingredient.

1. Google TV: This is by far the thing that I am the most impressed by from Google. When you wrap the Android OS into a set top box, or even into the new Sony LCD TVs, you can’t NOT be amazed by the ability to surf the net and watch TV and record your favorite shows all at the same time. With a release date (supposedly) of later this year I know there just might be iPhone-esque lines waiting for this device, especially if it’s released around the day after thanksgiving. Look for the Logitech Set top box in a store near you SOON!!

How 'bout that iPhone

2010-06-24T22:44:00.002-04:00

All day today i have been in a constant battle over the best smart phone. Crazy, I know, but it comes with the territory of bragging about yours for so long.

So went my day today, the iPhone 4 day. Amidst the battle cries of apple fan-boys (and girls) there was a constant flood of challengers willing to put the new iPhone against my hacked / much improved G1. There were all sorts of challenges from SMS (I use swype), camera, internet speed (i used opera), multitasking (which they swore up and down that the iPhone was the only one with it), apps, and much more (I have turn by turn).

They came after me with everything except the "face to face" function. The only thing that shut them up was my disapppearing ATT signal magic trick. You know, the one where the signal goes away when you touch the phone, yea that was funny.

Now i have nothing against apple, they are a smart company, i just have it in with competition. When it gets started, I want to win. To put it simply the new iPhone is a marvel: small, light, fast anf fun. Just don't always think it's the best.

On Live

2010-06-23T22:19:00.000-04:00

I realize that I titled my last post (about 5 minutes ago) as "On live and Computer Projects" and included nothing about On Live. I am going to rectify this right now.

So Far On Live, which I'm sure many of you are using and have found to be incredibly useful, has to be the best thing that I have come across in the name of gaming that I have ever seen. The best part is the fact that your computer, in theory, doesn't really have to be able to run some of the graphic intensive games natively. To test this theory I decided to install the launcher onto my Acer netbook and see what I could do.

Once I loaded the launcher onto the Acer (which barely meets the minimum requirements) I started it up. While jittery at first, the program quickly picked up the pace and began to run smoothly. The real test came when I decided to run "Borderlands" and see just how far it would go.

Borderlands, an incredibly graphic intensive game, especially for the type of graphics that it puts out would never even try to run on such a low powered machine, but after about 5 minutes of jittery game play, it stabilized and I was soon shooting the heads off of the bandits and running through the scenery as if the computer was a 2000 Dollar Gaming machine.

What does this mean for the rest of us? Well it means that those who don't have a console or a 2000 dollar gaming machine can spend at most, 15 dollars a month (subscription and multi-day play prices) and get some awesome kick ass gameplay. Will this affect the game and console manufacturers? Maybe, but I still think there is a demand for those steady types of games, what it does do though is open up more avenues for developers to get paid for the work they have done without relying on them.

So check it out, I know I like it as a console player, so maybe you too will like to take a break from pushing your system to the limit, and try out some new games in the process.

Off to bed, talk to you all later

Computer Projects

2010-06-23T22:08:00.001-04:00

Obviously it should come as no surprise that I have been tinkering with several projects: my car, fiancees computer, the HP that I just tore apart and put back together, and so far it's been a lot of fun. I seriously haven't had the time to do any of this before, now that I have found the time to do so after work takes me back to my high school days, when I would take hulks of computers home from the tech class and put them together in all sorts of configurations trying to find the best one.

Unfortunately my "computer in the car" project has been put on an indefinite hiatus because of my wedding plans, but that hasn't stopped me from making other computers come to life as of late.

My first project: and still on going as I begin to finish the whole deal is my fiancees computer. By taking the motherboard and the supplies that I was going to use in the car, and slapping it into a tower that I had in the house, and mixing it with an applicable power supply I am building a design computer that she and I will be able to use to run higher powered apps for design and gaming.

My second project: which is about 99% complete, and through which I am writing this blog is only incomplete in the way of graphic card drivers. I took an HP Compaq nc6400 screen, the body and the majority of guts from an HP Compaq 6910, and some more powerful Intel innards and compiled them into one computer (and broke the nc6400 donor computer in the process . . . oops) what came of that is an incredible powerful and useful "Frankenstein" computer that is about 60% HP and 40% Intel parts that will be able to let me run just about anything right now and that I hope to be able to run, Star Wars: The old Republic.

This has seriously been the most tech fun I've had in a long time, and a DIY dream. It's because of this that if anyone wants to know how to take apart an HP laptop (and believe me it's hard) let me know, or if anyone has any ideas or wants any help or needs any help just let me know. In the mean time I'm going to look for more projects to do and let you all in on the fun.

Tonight

2010-06-22T22:47:00.001-04:00

Well updates for this week:

More postponement of the car computer

Tore apart 2 HP's one remains - very powerful if i do say so

Turned my Dad onto Google voice - gave hime invite one day before open haha.

Got my invite for on live - 12 months gaming for FREE!!!

Work stilll sucks.

I'll elaborate on more of that tomorrow. Just the facts for tonight.

Google Voice, now you too can stick it to the man!

2010-06-22T17:13:00.001-04:00

It seemed like for years people from all over Twitter and Google Buzz, not to mention message board all over the internet were continually clamoring over Google Voice Invites. I’ve seen it all, from: paying for invites, begging for invites, threatening people for invites, bragging about who got their invite and who didn’t; but mainly I’ve seen almost everyone willing to PAY for Google Voice Invites. As of today I have one thing to say, “Keep your money!”

Yes, that’s right, you’ve heard me correctly, you can actually go straight to Google Voice and sign up without being pestered for an invite code, and roll right into the bright blue (red, orange, blue, green, red) future that is free VOIP phone calls over the internet. While you may have to do some finagling to get it to be 100% free and clear, like sign up for: skype or gizmo (still not available), the fact that Google has provided everyone now phone numbers makes the whole process just that much sweeter.

So, what does that mean for the rest of the world? Well, for one, I just heard the collective sound of every phone company in the US shit a brick (sound travels fast), and secondly a move like this usually means that something else is on the horizon, could it be: . . . . Google tablet . . . . voice capabilities with Google TV . . . . perhaps a full-fledged desktop application for Gizmo (please let it be this one); however you look at it or split it, this is a grand day, let the entire world ring out and call each other over voice. The problem with it? Well I see nothing wrong, except I still have issues with it transcribing my voicemails, but that’s neither here or there.

So, what are you waiting for?

Need comfirmation: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/062210-google-voice.html?hpg1=bn

Need the link: https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=grandcentral&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fvoice%2F&followup=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fvoice%2F&ltmpl=open

Get to it! Go get your dream number before everyone else! Maybe you’ll get one cool enough to sell it on Ebay because no one else can get it . . . or you could just go make phone calls.

Enjoy!

fun with HP

2010-06-22T07:01:00.000-04:00

Well I happened across two NICE HP computers: 2GHZ processors 4GB of RAM, 250GB HDD. That's right, two of them, and I just happened across them. What am I doing with that? Well, one of them has a screen that is broken and the other has a fried power supply, so I'm currently in the process of taking the two apart completely and changing monitors over from one to the other so that I have one whole laptop that I can use, for a decent amount of time for basically no money. You can't ask for any more than that, basically, an AWESOME computer for nothing at all.

Still working on the computer for my fiancee, and still have to go to Fry's to get the components. What is awesome about the whole thing is that I am going to use the laptop that I am restoring to remote desktop to the computer for my fiancee so that we don't have to go into our office and fight against the crap on the floor in order to use it.

I'm still sitting on high ground as far as my house goes, but the more rain I get the worse it looks. So far though as soon as there is a break in the rain the water drains pretty quickly, so I think I'm safe this year . . . . but there is always next year.

Crazy week so far, and there is always more to come.

Computer project

2010-06-20T08:10:00.001-04:00

Well folks for the time being Im putting the car computer project on hold. I know that even i had anticipated the completion of the device, to ride around town listening to music in wonderdul quality, to have windows 7 at my fingertips with that motherboard; but for the time being i must put it on hold.

Why am i putting it on hold? Well to put it short my fiancees computer crapped out, so to give her a computer that is at the very least, "not crappy" and the fact that i had all of the supplies for a computer on hand, i decided to put her first and my car second.

Make no bones about it though, this project will continue, i will have a computer in my car. To make things slightly better though, the current hardware setup i have is more than enough to run the new Star Wars MMO, so look for me on there when it come out.

Other than that and going on walks with my fiancee, planning our wedding, and changing the oil in our cars, this month has been a busy one so far. To say the very least i can't wait for the rest of it.

Incredible bug, android kryptonite or nothing to worry about?

2010-06-18T23:25:00.000-04:00

A Thought . . .

While all the buzz is about the Android Operating System and it's recent champion . . . the HTC EVO, one topic that has recently graced the pages of sites everywhere is the HTC Incredible's privacy bug. If you haven't heard or read about it, you probably live under a rock, or the recent Mid-west storms took your internet offline for too long. The bug has made the pages in big part due to it's uncanny ability to save web page screen shots . . . permanently . . . without the ability to even delete them via factory reset. This has lead to screen shots of: facebook, open sessions from financial institutions, and what could be even more dangerous leaks that we don't know about yet.

What does this have to do with being kryptonite for the Android system? Just like other social systems, and a other websites (facebook and buzz) security issues, and just as those issues have lead to inquiries and discussions as to how our security is even handled, this may bring the most innovative Operating system into the dark night of skepticism. If anything comes about from a revelation of a bug or a leak, it's people going out of their way to find the problems, or to even back-pedal on that system or service and have it lose the credibility it garnered.

While this is only a postulation, and an opinion, you have to admit the questions I've raised hold a lot of merit. It's just one of the things I think about when I read stories such as this. So don't think of this as a bashing of the Android system in general, especially since the recent bug was limited to the Incredible only, think of it as a "what if scenario" something to think about.

All I want for Christmas is a Droid X

2010-06-18T22:56:00.000-04:00

Seriously, while this may seem like a cheesy Christmas rhyme, but seriously, after reading about this phone for a while: on the internet, buzz, and twitter; I've found that this phone has to be one of the coolest and technologically powerful phones yet to be release.

Sure the Evo has 4G (another phone I want really bad) but it's on my least favorite carrier, Sprint (my work uses Sprint and we can never get ahold of anyone), but both have such shiny goodies like: HDMI output, HUGE screen, Android OS of course. That is where the similarities end, with Droid X set to run the fabled Android 2.2 it will definitely pull far ahead of the competition when it comes out.

Why will Android 2.2 be the show stopper for the new Droid X? Android 2.2 is supposed to address many of the tiny, yet significant concerns that businesses have with the system on a corporate level. This also comes with one option that I feel might even push it into the market that I think would thrive in (the Army National Guard) a "remote wipe" option. That option alone will make it a must-see for any business conscious person with security of their operations and systems in mind, let's hope it doesn't suffer from the same flaw that the HTC incredible did . . . saving everything from the internet even after a factory reset.

Even though the main option that makes the EVO the phone right now is the 4G option (that isn't even rolled out all the way) it's the business options that the Droid X brings to the table that I feel will really make it the show stopper, hopefully, a European one is released unlocked that will work with AT&T . . . that or I just need to go over to Verizon.

Who will win in the "big screen" and the "big hitter" match-up? well, only time will tell.

Who want's 'em?

2010-06-18T13:36:00.000-04:00

Updates I mean, seriously over the past few days the internet has been rife with updates and well, I can't help but keep thumbing through the same ones over and over. Why keep looking through them, updates and comments, both are hilarious. What are they?

LAKERS' FANS RIOT

http://bit.ly/dcTCAC
http://winopso.org/2010/06/18/lakers-win-but-la-still-cant-cure-stupid/ -- I particularly think this one is hilarious

iPHONE 4 CAMPER
http://mashable.com/2010/06/18/first-iphone-4-camper/

SWYPE BETA (been going on for the past few days . . . get it while it's hot)
http://mashable.com/2010/06/17/swype-beta-android/

AMAZON PATENTS SOCIAL NETWORKING SYSTEM
http://mashable.com/2010/06/17/amazon-patents-social-networking-system/

These here are just some of my favorites, and recently from the blog I used to write at: www.winopso.org they have been putting out all sorts of geeky articles and blogs, check them out . . . I may move back over there part time from here. As you can see I do a lot of reading at Mashable, great people, maybe I could write for them some day, until then I have mine and I'll send them theirs.

Until then I'm off to TACO BELL to get some eats!! 2 Dollar value meal here I come.

In a rare moment of coincidental genius

2010-06-18T05:37:00.001-04:00

I found myself sitting in my house, you know, watching "Big Bang Theory"; the stuff normal people do. When sitting around me was the makings of a wireless entertainment system I had never knew i had, until i thought, "yes! Two xboxes, windows 7, my internet, another computer, and enough category 5 cable to string up a walrus" no, it wasn't the making of the power rangers (love that show), it's me playing videos, games and internet everywhere in my house and anywhere i want. Basically i had no idea that i had all of the makings of a house-wide entertainment system until now.

Aside from my house-wide: internet, movies, tv, and games; all essentially playable on any TV. I've also built and tested my first 3D computer, sure, it's very possible that you all out there have done this already . . . I havent. A Dell M4500, with a Nvidia quad card, and a SHARP brand HD 3D projector . . . This machine is god-like, too bad it's for work. Since I'm a SHARP employee i might just get a discount.

So lets just hope that today, friday is just as good if not better than yesterday was. Hopefully it is because it sounds like I've done everything already that could possibly be fun . . . In one day.

Android Swype Beta, better than you think.

2010-06-16T22:49:00.000-04:00

I got an awesome opportunity this afternoon to go to swype's website and sign up for the beta program for their keyboard program. While this may not seem as cool as you think (unless you have a My Touch with the swype built into it) this program is way cooler than any touch screen keyboard to date.

When I read about it this morning I started to read up on the program and from what I read I found nothing but great things about this keyboard, not to mention loads of messages from people about how easy it is to use. Once I got all of the information that I wanted I made up my mind, "why not?" and downloaded the program.

About an hour later, (my phone is a G1 that ran out of memory) the program was ready to be installed and set up and ready to use. While the program is pretty straight forward . . . trace a word and go . . . this program also has a very in-depth tutorial for those who may not be savvy or ready to get into the tracing game. You can skip the tutorial, but it actually has a lot of information and shortcuts that are quite useful, everything from: punctuation, capitalization, estimation, and speed.

In fact once I got through the tutorial, and the setup, I opened my text messaging and started going at it. It was so easy to do, that I actually almost wrote a book before I realized I needed to send the message.

The verdict:

This is simply the best keyboard that I have ever seen or used, in fact, once the beta is over with I'm going to be lost. Why? Because I honestly never want to use another keyboard again, and while there are "similar" applications on the market (and I installed them) nothing can quite stand up to this application.

Download it yourself at beta.swype.com and have your phone ready to go. Or go ahead and purchase a myTouch 3G 1.2 which has the swype app already installed on it, however you decide to start swyping, you'll honestly never go back to texting the same way for the rest of your life.

If you have any questions regarding the Swype app (I like to think of myself as a pro at this point) just ask me, or send me an email at wemmert2@gmail.com

Thanks for taking the time to read my review of this beta app. I hope you like it as much as I do. On a further note, GET THE BETA NOW, as the site read it will be available for "a couple of days"

Times, they are a changing

2010-06-16T10:24:00.001-04:00

First of all I hope I don’t get sued over that title.

Second of all I’m going to be changing the layout of my page several times today, thanks to Google’s designer for the blogger I am able to make my own changes and I am going to constantly experiment until I find one that fits how I want the blog to feel. Don’t feel alienated at all by the changes, In fact take this as an invitation to let me know what changes you want and don’t want at the same time.

Sorry for the confusion, and enjoy the ride.

What do you think? long weekend?

2010-06-16T08:46:00.001-04:00

First of all I just want all of you to let me tell you that I am happy you all were so patient with me for the weekend (and a couple of days). When it comes to inconvenient timing my life is one of those that you can set your watch by . . . yes I know that makes no sense but I think you all can feel me on this one. I have done nearly everything this weekend from show up 2 hours away from my house at 4:30am (yes I woke up at 2am) and stand on my feet for a grand total of about 60 hours!

I’m normally all about being gung-ho about the National Guard, but this weekend took its toll on me hard core. All day on Friday I sat in a fox-hole shooting a rifle (and that was the high-light) and afterwards stood on my feet the entire day in a medical assessment of my health: eyesight, vitals, you know the whole shebang. That day was the easiest by far, because the next day would be the worst yet.

Saturday was the day of my run as a “range safety” walking around in the hot sun (my face is a nice shade of red) and yelling at people. While this may sound like loads of fun, by the end of the day my feet were so sweaty in my boots that the bottoms of my feet looked like prunes . . . gross. If that wasn’t the end of my fun I don’t know what could be . . . oh wait . . . the storm that rolled through. The storm was about the size of Illinois and was moving right over Indiana with a Vengeance that would make even the hard core storm chaser cringe. I actually walked a mile (half mile up the road, around a fence and a half mile back down the road) with about 30 other guys to an abandoned “cold war” bunker so we could get out of the storm and not die. Opening the bunker was nice, since it was underground the humidity was nil, and the coolness of the ground around it made it the best hideout ever! That lasted about 2 hours of lightening and horizontal rain, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Sunday was going to be easy, but then a fateful HumVee ride to the administration building left me stranded at Atterbury without my Unit (yea I know . . . what the hell) and helping other people tear down our campsite until 7pm. Leaving me back home by around 11.

Monday and Tuesday were big time work catch-up and sleep catch-up which is why I’m so glad you guys were so patient with me, I know my mis-adventures through my own self inflicted mis-adventures (yes that makes it a mis-mis-adventure) are so much fun to read, which is why I’ll grace everyone with a tech article here soon to make up for it.

Have fun, stay dry, and I have to go back to work

Wouldn't you know it

2010-06-10T20:53:00.001-04:00

Tonight is not going to really have anything, and as much as i hate to admit it, i have nothing to write about. Tomorrow might be different, in the morning it's off to National Guard at 0430 . . . Wish me luck :(

Do YOU love it?

2010-06-10T08:33:00.001-04:00

Logging into your computer this morning you no doubt saw Google’s new feature, and colorful background screen. While this is an AWESOME feature that I love, especially the feature where you can make your own background image appear on the Google page itself, I can’t help but think that this may be in response to “Bing” and their picture filled backgrounds; could this mean that Google is feeling threatened by Bing and decided to level the playing field by making their front page more “serene”?

It’s no secret that in our world of competition once one franchise does something, sooner or later other franchises follow suit with amazingly similar products, And while Google has made a name for themselves in more ways than one: being a spring board for individuals and businesses, paying people to display ads, making their own open source OS, and dropping hard core into the phone game; their homepage has remained relatively the same since the day it was born. While this hasn’t bothered me any, the appearance of Bing into the search engine ring and their colorful images right off the bat had me think that at one time Google might do that, but at the same time I was partial to the simplicity of the blankness.

What’s good about it?

It hasn’t hurt Google’s load time for one, I know it initially bothered me for a whole 3 seconds while I saw the images, thinking that the fastest loading site ever might lose ground by putting images onto their pages, but even on my company’s crappy internet service the load times were just as fast as before. Individuality is another good quality of the image, putting an image that inspires you can really do great things for your esteem, and perhaps push you to find that thing you’ve been looking for all morning.

What’s bad about it?

Copy cat? It seems to me that they are definitely following Bing’s lead on the image part. I have honestly never seen Google follow anybody at all, and to me this is a sign of the times. I only hope that Google remains loyal to their customers and continues to put on a good show for us all. Picasa pics can be a good thing or a bad thing, in fact I’m sitting across from my boss and he wants to put a picture of his daughter on the home page; but doesn’t want anyone on the internet to get a hold of it. This is a valid concern and it makes sense that he may be wary of it, and you should too, but if you know anything about how Google seems to work, they’ll more likely than not just store it somewhere and no one will get it unless they hack Google.

In short I’m loving the new Google Background, and I hope that just maybe they will come out with a HUGE innovation to the search engine that will send the rest running for the hills. And while I may love it, if my article here didn’t make that apparent; the real question is: do YOU Love it?

New Way of Doing it

2010-06-09T16:57:00.001-04:00

I honestly think there should be a better way to perform IT Technician duties than there is right now. What I’m talking about is that most users, and I don’t need to start calling ages because it is all ages, seem to think that if it can’t be solved by trial and error then IT must be involved. That situation is where you get people who call in every day because their: send / receive is too slow, monitor is “jiggly”, can’t get to their hotmail account even after they’ve been told it’s blocked . . . numerous times . . . in official email. I do realize that it is my duty as someone who knows the “ins and outs” of the machines to take the time and educate them on the proper use of their computers and the proper use of IT, but most will not heed my word and do anything about it.

This is where I loved my last job (stupid economy) where we had a “black list” for people who submitted the same ticket criteria for more than three days consecutively. This would go to a certain tech who dealt especially with the “black listed” to make sure they knew what is going on and what to do by themselves rather than call IT every time the, “the pointer looks like a hand” and all that jazz.

I firmly believe that people who know they are calling IT constantly, and know it is an issue should be offered PAID computer classes from their employer in order to better extend their knowledge and relieve the constant stress that IT professionals are in on a constant basis. I know that we provide a necessary service, and are necessary to all businesses to work efficiently, but more and more of them are being pushed to the limit with the economy going down (hopefully back up, they say so but I don’t see it) and IT staff being cut to the limit.

I guess this is not only a rant, wrapped in a blog, but a promise and a statement that I will come up with some sort of solution for our people here in the company I work for, and only wish that that solution be passed to the rest of us.

For the sake of our sanity.