Random Randy

Drum Sample: Swiss Army Triplets

2012-02-15T16:46:00.003-05:00

Today, while in a half daydream, I thought of an old snare drum solo that I played in the AGM competition back in the 1990's. It was called "The Winner" by Mitch Markovich. It brought home the 1st place trophy for me that year.

When this snare drum solo was proposed to me by my drum instructor (back when I was in the 9th Grade), I remember at first thinking it would be too hard.

My drum instructor, Keith, assured me I could do it and that it was a great solo. That solo changed my playing forever. I now find myself involuntarily incorporating Swiss Army Triplets into my drumset playing - now I remember why I do this.

Today's "Random Randy" is just a video posting. If you don't know what a Swiss Army Triplet is, don't worry about it. Here is a one minute clip of them being applied on the drumset. The tempo is around ~ 114 bpm. You can call me Mr. Tilde because I've been using this crazy character in the last few posts. I am not a mathematician; I'm an estimator. This drummer's drumset looks very similar to mine.

p.s. I hope to eventually play like Vinnie Colaiuta. I'm 30. I'm not playing like Vinnie did at 30. Dang it.

10 Valentine's Day Gift Ideas Under 5 Dollars

2012-02-13T14:00:00.000-05:00

Love it or hate it, Valentine's Day is just about to land. If you procrastinate on Hallmark Holidays like I do, you're probably reading about Valentine's Day only because you need to buy your loved one a gift. . . NOW! I'm almost certain that once every year, I hear one say, "Single People really must hate Valentine's Day". Let me counterpoint that by telling you that I was single before and did not hate V-day.

Hating V-Day is definitely something that happens over the years. Reasons for a person to develop a hate for V-Day could be peer pressure (which can correlate to more expenses when couples 1-up each other), or couples just start to run out of ideas. Rather than viewing V-Day as an out-of-control, inflating Hallmark Holiday, lets stop, think, and simplify things.

Here is something interesting: You do not have to hate V-Day. I am not going to list a bunch of ways in which one can develop a liking for the holiday. Instead, I have compiled a quick list of 10 Valentine's Day Gift Ideas that will cost you less than 5 potatoes.

Thoughtful Card
I'm not referring to one of those cards with vulgar wording, age jokes, or any other predictable card punchline. Find a card at the dollar store. Often, chain stores will offer cards, 2 for $1. So, if you've got a second Valentine, or if the first card causes an unwanted reaction, pull out your backup.
Lottery Ticket(s)
This is the Valentine's Day gift idea that I typically combine with the aforesaid ^.
A couple of dollars will buy you two scratch tickets. Take your card, place the two tickets inside and you're done: A present that you did not even have to wrap. Even better, your total is just over $3 (depending on your tax). If your loved one wins, you win.
Heart Balloon
This is not a medical term (is it?). This third idea can still be had for ~ $1 again. Indeed we have not left the dollar store just yet. You do not even have to make it to Idea #4, and you could actually be finished with your V-Day shopping. More importantly, you have not even spent $5.
Mobile Phone & Plan
Show your loved one that you're one serious individual. Sign up for a 2-year agreement with any major mobile phone carrier. Be certain that you'll be together for a long time (at least 2 years). Doing this will get you a free phone. Sure, you'll get your first bill, but it's V-Day! Also, It just so happens that I have an Amazon store right here for you to visit, should you decide to purchase a mobile phone.
Draw a Heart in the Snow
The opening photo to this article is a heart I drew. The price of this one is also free, provided that you are on your lawn, and live in a region that gets snow. Just hopefully you don't draw on his lawn. The last i heard, he has been seen living in the Hamtramck, MI area.
Cut Food into Heart Shapes
This can potentially be free as well. If you're going to make pancakes one morning anyway, you have a cookie cutter, or are just artistic with a knife, cut them into heart shapes. Once the hearts are cut out, you can eat the remnants. When you go to deliver the food to your loved one and they ask, "Aren't you going to eat?", you can respond: "Of course not sweetie, this is for you.".
Netflix/Redbox
Packaged in a red envelope, Netflix is V-day'ish. Rent a sappy movie and when it arrives, have the movie playing, and deliver culinary heARTS (!) - pun :-D
Learn a Short Tune and Sing It
If you think this is far-fetched or are afraid of having no music ability, don't give up just yet. The Amazon store has kazoos for under $3. Get cheesy and play your partner a tune that you wrote. If it's a long-distance relationship, record it and upload it to YouTube. Please don't turn into this guy, though.
Dinner
I probably should not list this one because we all know that Dinner costs more than $5 - Not at Taco Bell! Cutting your dinner into a heart shape here does not apply - that's my advice anyway.
Flowers
You can buy flowers; They do die. Plastic flowers would probably work as an embellishment to the already-purchased gift you are going to present to your loved one. Seriously, I rarely buy flowers on V-Day. I think flowers work for Anniversaries, or during a hardship. OK, V-Day might be a hardship to some, but I'm just trying to stay under $5.

I Said He Said It

2012-02-11T13:30:00.003-05:00

Anytime I see an image with words written over it, I immediately question it, being the skeptic I am. This picture pretty much summarizes that.

Signed,

-Socrates-

Winner in our CoffeeMaker Giveaway

2012-02-10T21:51:00.002-05:00

I would like to thank everyone for entering our Hamilton Beach Voice Activated CoffeeMaker Giveaway.

Our randomly selected winner is Sammissh from California!

Congratulations on winning our very first giveaway!

Please remember to subscribe to RandomRandy to keep up to date on any future giveaways that we may hold.

Thank you.

Random Randy

Google Bar Updated

2012-02-10T13:21:00.001-05:00

I was pleasantly surprised this morning to find that Google, once again, updated the Apps Bar (that's what I'm calling it), you know that darkened bar that allows you to access Google's products. I guess Google has decided to make the bar a little more efficient by shrinking the Google logo. I'm sure this is welcomed by users with smaller screen; It definitely is welcome on my Toshiba's tiny netbook screen.

In order to access Google's additional products, just click the "more" on the far right side of the bar, and it will expand to display them. All in all, I think this will really benefit all Google users in the long run. I think it's "coolgle". Sorry that I'm corny. You can see the full extent of my graphic editing capabilities by looking at the screenshot above. I colored over 2 letters with the white marker in my favorite Open Source image editor, GIMP.

Cat. Whas That?

2012-02-09T13:51:00.001-05:00

Cats can be silly creatures. I was never a cat fan, myself. I actually said that I would never own a cat my entire life. . .until a couple of summers ago, when my wife convinced me to take care of an abandoned cat, whom we've named Vic.

Vic is probably the funniest cat I've ever seen. Vic plays hide-and-go seek every minute of the day (if you give in), he goes crazy for the simplest toys (a piece of crumpled paper, he'd chose over catnip any day), and walk up to a door for no apparent reason, and slams his two front paws into it, making an audible *THUD* across our entire home!

I always tell my wife that I think Vic was a dog in his previous life. I say this because this cat wants more attention than any dog I've had for a pet while growing up. So here's a little clip of Vic playing "What's That?"

P.S. When a person says "What's That?" to Vic, usually they are referring to a bird or squirrel that is outside the window, taunting him. The squirrel and/or bird will have a taunting match with our cat.
Also, please excuse the heating blanket on that back couch, my netbook on the floor (that's how I blog!), a coffee table drumming book, a tissue box, and our wedding photo album all sitting out. I promise, our house is normally spotless. Don't Judge!

Hope you've enjoyed Vic Fur. Thanks for watching!

:-D

Voice Activated CoffeeMaker Giveaway: Friday is Getting Close

2012-02-08T12:16:00.000-05:00

A quick reminder: Entries for the CoffeeMaker Giveaway initially started out slow. Today, I've noticed a burst in traffic and I'm now seeing a considerable amount of entries. This is a reminder that on Friday at 11pm EST, I will be selecting one winner for a Hamilton Beach Voice Activated CoffeeMaker. This is our first giveaway ever, so best of luck to all of the participants!

Casual Shoes on Nomorerack

2012-02-06T13:00:00.002-05:00

With Valentine's Day around the corner (whether you want to believe in Hallmark Holidays or not), It's good to keep an eye open for the best deals. Today's deals on Nomorerack are selling fast. I'm just spreading the word of some good deals as I see them. For example, Nomorerack is selling these Comfortview Crisscross Casual Shoes - yikes on the Alliteration. These shoes normally sell for $64, but are currently $16. That is 75% off. Whether this is something you would buy for Valentine's Day or for yourself, I don't know.
If you think you or a friend would like these, jump on the deal now as it will not last long. This is not the only deal, however. As I've written in previous posts, there are 9 total daily deals on Nomorerack, one of those being a deal that goes towards charity.

To snag this and many more deals at NoMoreRack

Sign up for a free account and check your email to verify your membership.
Start saving!

Madonna Wants World Peace and M.I.A Wants you to...

2012-02-05T21:03:00.000-05:00

Seconds after it happened (I was not watching the entire Halftime Show), Google+ was exploding with news of M.I.A flipping "the bird" on stage. I thought, "no way did that happen. Madonna lit up the stadium with 'world peace' during that same show that I caught the end of".

Then, quickly, links started showing up, leading to video footage. Yep, it happened. Here is a link to the Deadspin article that was posted to Google Plus within seconds.

Cat Toy Creation

2012-02-04T21:04:00.003-05:00

If you have ever had a pet cat, there is a good chance that you've heard of the old Wire Dangler Toy - Cat Dancer. They're cheap, like $2 after shipping, and you should have one. If you don't have one, buy one. Chances are, you'll encounter a cat at some point in your life and you'll be ready to have hours of fun, or be the center of attention when a cat is present.

Ok, I'm only kidding. I do, however, own a Wire Dangler Toy myself and my cat never seems to be bored with it. I was bored with it though. So what could I do to make this toy more interesting?: Attach a darn balloon to it with a piece of Scotch Tape. Better yet, my cat can't read that well, so he probably will not notice that I'm a big 'ol cheapskate and that I used my birthday balloon from nearly a month ago.

On the day of me designing this self-proclaimed clever contraption, (when my wife arrived home) I'm pretty sure I was given the look, followed by a blank stare, rolling of the eyes, and probably another blank stare. A day later though, we find the cat tapping at it, sneaking up on it, and having a great time. I win. Vic (our cat) wins. We all win.

RandomRandy.com's First Giveaway!

2012-02-03T21:53:00.000-05:00

UPDATE: Winner Has Been Announced

For a small blog, we're going to start this year off somewhat big. Ok, I know it's February already, but this is really the first big announcement. No, I'm not giving away that stock photo of money that I posted; So cruel of me, I know. This is a small, small site, ya know!?

I would like to demonstrate just how easy it can be to get valuable items at Nomorerack for Free. I have decided that I am going to giveaway 1 brand new Hamilton Beach 12-cup Voice Activated CofeeMaker, valued at $59.99.

The Giveaway runs from tonight, Friday, Feb 3rd, 2012 at 11pm EST until Feb 10th, at 11pm.

There are some simple Rules that apply:

To Enter:

1.) Sign up for a free nomorerack account, using this link. This is my Nomorerack friend share link.

They'll send you a welcome email.

2.) In that email, scroll down to the very last word of their welcoming paragraph, and tell me what it says by sending it my way via this "Question or Comments" form.

You are then entered to win! The reason I have to make this somewhat interesting is because the odds of winning are extremely high as RandomRandy.com currently has a low volume of traffic. Good Luck!
Drawing

The winner will be selected at random and notified via email instantly. The winning entry will be drawn on Friday, February 10th, 2012 at 10pm EST.

Eligibility

There is only one (1) winner. The giveaway is open only to U.S. Residents, age 18 and older. One entry per person only - duplicates will be disqualified. This giveaway is void where prohibited by law (although, I'm sure most people are allowed to have a coffee machine).

I'm Back With No More Rack . . .Jack?

2012-02-03T00:26:00.001-05:00

So, back in November, I wrote about a website that was new to me called NoMoreRack. I'm chiming in again with a little update to let folks know how the points system worked out for me on NoMoreRack. Well, it worked. I had 42 "friend points" racked up, and I decided to cash them out early, just to make sure that I would actually get something in return for my recruiting efforts. I had never heard of this site before, so I was a little skeptical about getting a free item.

I decided to go for the Hamilton Beach Coffee Maker, being that it would cost exactly 42 points of my friend balance. Just days later, it arrived in the mail, brand new, shiny and ready to make coffee. Just one thing though: I don't need a coffee maker. So one of my lucky friends will probably get this for a random gift. Or, if my wife is not reading my blog - Happy Valentines Day, hun. Lets have some coffee!

Ok, I would not really pull that stunt. We know I could not get away with that one. The screenshot above just shows a select few of the many items one can cash their friend points in for. Check them all out here.

And if you haven't already, can you use my link and sign up for a Free account at No More Rack?

It would really make my day. Thank you!

Get The Rubber Duck Out

2012-02-01T01:25:00.001-05:00

Ok, well today I felt a little crazy-creative, signed up for a free account at Xtranormal, and made a silly 48-second video. If you are unfamiliar with Xtranormal, it's simple: You type sentences, and the little cartoon people speak it. Sure, there are more advanced features, like camera pans, and facial expressions, which are not hard to utilize, so I did added some of those as well. At the end of the video, there might just be a grand finale sound effect. Go ahead, watch.

For this simple 48 second video, I set the mood with the simple Chopsticks-esque Glockenspiel sound - it's a stock free background sound to use on the Xtranormal site.
The flatulence was not me.

Thanks for Watching!

How To Clean the Screen of Your Electronic Devices - And Save Money -With Video

2012-01-30T23:51:00.001-05:00

Would you like to clean the screen of your electronic device but do not want to purchase that pricey "safe" cleaner that won't damage your screen? I'm not going to tell you (or take any responsibility) that my method is "the way" to clean the screen of any electronic device. This way has worked for me personally for years, leaving all of my electronic devices clean and in mint condition.

You're already probably warm enough to know what I'm going to reveal as my method of cleaning my electronic screens. Yep, that's a picture of a pile of Microfiber Cloths. These microfiber cloths of mine pictured above are approximately 25% of the box that I purchased on Amazon. They were just under $23 with free shipping and I seriously think that this is all of microfiber I will need for maybe a decade; They're washable.

Once you have your very own microfiber cloth in your possession (don't I make that sound nice ;), you'll only need one more thing: Filtered water (I prefer any non-mineral type water), so that you're not worrying about any residue after a good screen wipe. Maybe it's just me, but when I think of well water, or any water that doesn't have a good chlorine filter on it, I picture calcium and other deposit buildups (who knows what's in your city or well water).

When I apply the water to the microfiber cloth, I approximately use only a couple tablespoon's worth. Be sure to pour the water very slow. I say this with caution because often, even though microfiber can absorb many times it's size, it takes long to do so; The water will splash right off and shoot in another direction if you pour it too quickly.

Next, gently take the wetter part of your microfiber cloth and wipe your screen. I've read many cleaning guides over the years and they often inform one to wipe in a circle. I personally find it much, much better to wipe in a straight path (think of squeegeeing). Why lose track of where the dust is at? I have attached a video to show you my results. I will admit this is not optimal quality as I'm holding a recording device in one hand and screen cleaning with the other.

Abiword

2012-01-26T14:10:00.002-05:00

From now on I will be prepping my RandomRandy.com posts in my favorite Word processor - Abiword. See? That screenshot ^ up there is what I’m typing in right now.

Abiword is a lightweight, lovely, simple Word Processor that does everything I need. My most recent post on RandomRandy.com was my first post using Abiword. I typed it up, saved my document (I autosave to a dropbox drive because that’s just as effective as saving to the cloud via an online word processing app - so in case my power goes out and I need to restore my data), and then simply copy and paste the entire article right into my blogger account. All of the formatting was preserved and I ended up with a RandomRandy.com post analogous to the one on my hard drive. “Yay” for simplicity.

Unless you have some super multi-core computer with a bazillion GiGs of RAM, your computer may noticeably require some processing power to open up a full-featured Word Processing application such as Word, LibreOffice Writer, or OpenOffice.org Writer. Expect to use over 100MB when installing any Office Suite in general. I’ll cut to the chase and say that Abiword is about 8mb to install - ridiculously awesome! This is a full-featured word processor that runs on multiple platforms, it supports plugins, things like Mail Merge, and much more.

Abiword does not only run on a couple of platforms, it runs on a bunch of them! The good thing about being able to install this tiny, full-featured gem on all of your platforms is that, when combining the total amount of disk space you’ve used up among all of your computers, it probably will not even come close to the amount of disk space one would use up installing a single copy of any office suite on any computer. The last time I checked, hard drive prices were going up - like 150% up!

Have I convinced you yet to at least try it? If so, I’ll recommend a little trick that I have used over the last couple of years to integrate the reliability of cloud computing with my local hard drive. What you can do is set up a free Dropbox account, download it for your platform, and install. Now just remember to save your Word Processing documents to a Dropbox folder on your computer and you’ll have the reliability of the cloud + your local hard drive in case, say, the power goes out when you’re typing, or if you would like to easily access your document from multiple computers without having to remember to email yourself an attachment every time.
I hope that I have at least given you some ideas to make your Word Processing tasks more efficient.

Facebook = The New Myspace?

2012-01-24T13:45:00.002-05:00

I've been coining this phrase for months to my Facebook friends. There are even some pretty darn hilarious videos poking fun at the idea. And then Facebook (in my opinion) even went as far as to redesign profiles of their users to the "Timeline". Is Facebook the New Myspace?

For me, using Facebook lately has felt more and more like a chore. Today, I was reading an article on TechCrunch about another Facebook-related chore: Users Get a Week To Clean Up Profiles. Alright, man, that's it. I think it would just be easier to delete my Facebook. What are your opinions? I'm sure I will get some diverse responses such as: "All my friends are on Facebook, why should I delete it?", or even as diverse as: "All my friends are on Facebook, why should I delete it?". I know, I just repeated myself - so do people.

Even though I've been saying that Facebook is the new MySpace to my friends for months, when I finally saw Facebook Timeline, it was the icing on the cake. I really am surprised that Facebook is pushing this. Since this is a blog written by me alone (as of this posting), and I don't have a team of Web Developers, etc, this is just for fun and I can just make some predictions. I'm going to predict that Facebook Timeline was a bad idea.

Where It All Begins

2012-01-23T21:40:00.000-05:00

There are many famous, professional bloggers on the Internet, making a living by posting articles on a regular basis – I am not one of them. I have been blogging on and off for the last few years, but in a very inconsistent manner. For the year 2012, I have promised myself that I'm going to post on a fairly regular basis. I have titled this posting appropriately in that I feel this will be the year that I begin as a serious blogger and not just a person that owns a domain name that is, as far as content goes, on life support.

So, I think I’ll just give you a little rundown of how I plan on contributing to my blog regularly. This is not a personal blog about RandomRandy; This blog is about anything, really. If I receive an email from a reader suggesting a topic to cover, I probably would consider it and post it right on this site. I often post video reviews, generally Android App reviews on Youtube.Those videos will be shared on this site, along with a little write-up to compliment it.

I really think that blogging is about sharing. Google Plus is about sharing and I feel I can prove this by using it as the main method to get across content to my readers. When a post goes live (published to this site), I immediately share a Google Plus link to that post to all of the users that choose to follow me. The reason I have decided to use Google Plus as my sharing method is because the integration with my favorite search engine, Google, is perfect. When I post content to this blog and share it to Google Plus, it seemingly spreads like wildfire!

This blog is apparently still kicking as long as I'm still posting – something. Where it all begins for me is a “New Document” in LibreOffice Writer. From that point, I'm in a mindset similar to when I was writing a paper in high school. When I finally press “ctrl+s”, count to 100 to myself, down 4 coffees, tap on my nose 3x’s, I’m done. I then have to muster up the courage to copy and paste this finished “paper” to my blog, RandomRandy.com.

And there you have it! There is really not much more to it, other than I'll occasionally use Google Docs to backup my local documents for reassurance that I can access them at any given time.

. . .Here we go: “CTRL+S”

Action.

An Oldie But Goodie Android App: Launcher Pro

2012-01-19T16:35:00.002-05:00

Android launchers/Home Screen Replacements have come a long way over the last couple of years. Right now, for Android, the leader seems to be Go Launcher EX (a very customizable, free Launcher - I mean completely free too - there is no dumbed-down version). Please forget about Go Launcher for just a second. I want to look back at a Launcher that was the King of the Android launchers for quite some time: Launcher Pro. The only reason I do not currently consider it "King" is because the author has not updated the app since May of 2011 (as of this writing, this holds true).

Launcher Pro is sort of frozen in time. I do not necessarily consider this to be a bad thing, however. There are mobile phones being produced today having specs akin to those found on phones produced 2 years ago. A phone that comes to mind would be the Samsung Replenish.

I thought that maybe Launcher Pro could be an alternative launcher that may play well on this low-spec, Samsung Replenish. I installed Launcher Pro Plus on the Samsung Replenish (the full paid-version of Launcher Pro which can be purchased through an unlocker) and the results were fantastic. With full screen widgets such as Calendar, Facebook, Contacts, SMS, and Twitter enabled, the file size of Launcher Pro only weighed in at 2.86 MB. Go Launcher EX Will set you back 4.4 MBs before it's even installed to your phone! So here I give you Launcher Pro running smooth as silk, Widgets and all, on the Samsung Replenish. Enjoy the video!

Download Links are Below

Launcher Pro Free Download Link: Launcher Pro Android Market

Poor Man's Electronic "Check-In"

2012-01-11T19:22:00.001-05:00

Have you ever been frustrated by your friends being one step ahead of you when it comes to technology? Do you get on your computer to check "The Facebook", only to see your friend displaying a detailed, chronological Timeline of his or her whereabouts and check-in status? Today, I put myself in those shoes and thought up an idea of how anybody with a wallet can check in.

I didn't think too hard actually. I just want to make this sound official. Take yourself out shopping today. After you're done shopping and you go to the register to pay, you'll probably be given a receipt. On that receipt (usually at the top or the bottom), you'll see the time, date, and *gasp*, even the location of your existence, at that very point in time!

Take the receipt home, scan it, upload that scan to some website like you did in 1998, when you first configured this rig. Once you have your photo (scan) uploaded, you could even caption the file, or just name the file itself to be self-descriptive. I even scanned a couple of my receipts tonight to get you started. Enjoy, and welcome to the past!

The first receipt shows that I checked into Home Depot in Lake Orion, MI and purchased some drain cleaner just before the store closed at 9pm. The second receipt shows that I stopped at Kroger, a local grocery store, in Richmond, MI. Sorry if you've wasted your time reading this, but have a splendid day!

(Drunken?) Mike Portnoy Doing a Drum Clinic in Berlin

2012-01-11T00:37:00.000-05:00

Honestly, I do not know how legit these clips really are, but they just surfaced on YouTube the other day, (Jan 9th). I make it a habit to run a YouTube search every few days, to find the latest posted video clips of many talented musicians. I ran my search tonight, and I what I stumbled on was pretty hilarious. One of my favorite bands, Dream Theater, is an excellent Prog Rock band, composed of some of the world's best musicians. This is not a clip of the band acting crazy. These are clips of Dream Theater's former drummer, Mike Portnoy, acting very strange.

When viewing the 4 separate video clips, we see Mike Portnoy getting a little crazy. Normally his drum clinics are tame, and he has a mild sense of humor. In these clips, over and over, he's putting his underwear on his head and constantly blurting out nonsense. If it had to be my guess, I'd say he was borderline trashed, or just putting on a good act. Either way, It's probably happened to many of us before.

I went ahead and attached all 4 videos for your convenience.
Enjoy viewing them before they are pulled from YouTube!

Android App: Screen Off And Lock

2012-01-08T23:44:00.000-05:00

As of this posting, I'm sporting a Nexus S 4G From Sprint. Many newer devices that were made in the last year or so seemingly have a minimal amount of hardware buttons. With screen "real estate" (I hate using that cliche term for mobile devices) increasing more and more with each new production, it becomes economical to move those buttons that would normally be hardware buttons onto the touch screen.

This holds true for all of the Google Nexus phones that were produced in the last year, as well as for the Galaxy Nexus. On my Nexus s 4G, the only physical buttons I have are a Power Button (which seconds as the Standby/Airplane Mode Button, etc), and a volume rocker. The remaining "Android" buttons are touchscreen-ish (soft buttons). So, whenever I need to wake or turn my phone screen off, I'm stuck pressing the power button all of the time.

Pressing the power button, and only the power button, constantly really got me thinking: "What if this button wears out before the life of my phone is up?". There is where I found the app, "Screen Off and Lock" very useful. I could at least cut my power button presses in half from using this app. I will explain how this works.

First, I'd like to inform you that if you're currently running a Cyanogenmod-based ROM on your Nexus Phone, you probably will not have to use this app, reason being that Cyanogenmod ROM has a version of the power widget built into the Notification area, which conveniently has an option to turn the screen off and lock it. Still though, if you wanted, you could install Screen Off and Lock and enjoy a few extra features. Also, Motorola Phones running a stock ROM are not supported.

In this screenshot, notice the two similar icons at the top center of my screen. The left one is simply a short cut that, when pressed, will shut the screen off and lock it (without having to hit your power button). To turn your screen back, just press your power button as your normally would. At least we've eliminated half of our presses. Even better, if your phone has a trackball, you could use that instead to wake your phone, therefore never having to press your power button when using your phone!

The Screen Off icon to the right has a little wrench on it. This will not shut off your screen, but it will take you to the settings for this app. I think it's pretty cool that this tiny app, weighing in at 313k (as of this writing), even has some customization features.

I've squashed a few more screenshots to display all of the options in this version of Screen Off And Lock - This version is FREE. First you'll see that you can chose to "Enable shortcut in notification area". It's important to realize that this doesn't add a running app in the background, even though you'll constantly see it in the notification area. This will just keep the app's shortcut visible in your notification area, therefore saving some space on your desktop. The remaining settings are self explanatory.

In the remaining screenshots, it shows you can enable Sounds and/or vibrations while locking your screen. I think that's pretty neat. Say you're in a loud club, watching a Hard Rock band and you are quickly putting your phone into your pocket while locking your screen, if you want to feel (haptic feedback) your phone responding to your locking of the screen, you can have that. That sounds dorky, but it can be useful!

I think this is a great app, especially for the great price of free. If you're concerned about excessive button presses wearing out your Power button, or if you prefer some extra bells and whistles while locking your screen (while using minimal space!), get this app now.

Direct Android Market Link: Screen Off And Lock

Crossbones ROM for the Nexus S 4G

2012-01-08T01:51:00.000-05:00

The Nexus S series of Android phones have been out for well over a year now. Being that Android is heavily customizable, I had a feeling that this phone's life was just beginning. If you don't have a Nexus S 4G Phone, or don't care about what a ROM is, this post probably won't be of interest to you. I would like to write about my experience with the Crossbones ROM for the Nexus S 4G.

I have tried every Nexus S ROM currently available on the XDA Developers website. I've tried both Android Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich ROMS. I look for three main things in every ROM: Stability, Speed, and Battery Life. I must have all three of these things, or it's junk to me.

I have been using Crossbones ICS ROM since before Christmas Day and have not experienced a single crash! The stock Gingerbread (factory install) on my new Nexus S 4G had crashes, sub-par battery life, and, well, the speed didn't really have any problems. This Nexus S 4G did not have speed problems though because it is a 1Ghz Smartphone, running only Gingerbread. Even the lowest-spec phones can run Gingerbread.

If you read about or are somewhat conscious in the mobile phone world, you may have heard of Google's latest phone, the Galaxy Nexus. This phone is a beautiful Google phone that was the "first" to run the latest ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) Android OS. Well, I'm thankful for hackers and the open source movement, because now it's running on the year-old Nexus S and Nexus S 4Gs (and many phones to follow).

Here are a few screenshots of my Nexus S 4G running Crossbones ROM.

If you have a Nexus S 4G and I have grabbed your interest, head on over to the Crossbones thread at the XDA Dev website now. From my experience, they're very responsive in answering questions one may have regarding the ROM. I must say the logo for the ROM is also pretty snazzy!

Gum Gets on My Nerves!

2011-12-27T17:32:00.001-05:00

My Phone Number Is . . .

2011-12-12T17:25:00.003-05:00

Located in today's update, you will find my telephone number. Is this an actual phone number where I can be reached? Sure, it's my home phone. So now you're probably wondering, why in the heck would one do this?

I will explain.

I have sort of done this before, but in a different manner. At the Old RandomRandy.com, I had a little widget that one could click, be connected to my phone, but my phone number would be hidden from that user (Think of something similar to the "Contact US" on a big company's website where you input your phone number and have them call you - it sorta works like that).

Here is my actual. . .wait for it. . .

Phone number: (586) 799-2428 (i.e.) (586) 799-CHAT.

Skeptical person from another generation: "Why in the heck did you just give out your phone number over the Internets..are you kurazay?!"

Myself or anybody reading this blog: "No."

I will give one reason why it's alright to give out your phone number over the internet. In two words, the one reason is Google Voice. I'm not going to write a lengthy review on Google Voice, but I will give one the information needed to find out more about this wonderful, free product from Google.

In short, Google Voice will give you a free phone number that you can choose. You can even make it spell something interesting, given the area code, exchange, and numbers are available for your state and city (it has a letter to number converter when you're signing up that lets you figure out what your phone number spells!). But just wait a second - You already may have Google Voice and not even realize it.

If you currently have a Gmail account and have seen the "Call Phone" link located within your Gchat contacts, you already ~~sorta~~ have Google Voice ready to go. The next step would be to head on over to the Google Voice website. If you're already signed into gmail, you're still in Google's territory and your login will work on the Google Voice website. From here you will have the option to set up a phone number, free of charge - pick something cool - it's fun.

Once you have your Google Voice phone number set up, you can add all of your current telephones to your Google Voice account. Here's where it gets cool. When somebody dials your Google Voice number, it rings any of your phones that you decide should ring (you can setup scheduled ring availability for each line that you add). Apparently, as of this post, you can ring up to six phones simultaneously from your Google Voice number. Here it is in Google's own words:

If someone calls your Google Voice number, you can have up to six different phones to ring, including your work, mobile, and home phones. You can set custom voicemail greetings and call rules for your different contacts. Find out more about the basics of Google Voice and how it works.

So, why did I just give out my phone number over the internet? Now I feel I can answer this question where it will make more sense. The phone number above is my Google Voice number. I can turn it off at night, block phone numbers from known telemarketers, disable my phone from ringing if the phone number is not in my address book, and so much more. If my phone rings through, chances are I probably won't be home to answer it in the coming weeks, but I can always check voicemail via the Google Voice app which is available on different mobile platforms.

There are so many features available from Google Voice, that It would take me a very long time to cover them all and explain how they work. For example, you can Port your existing mobile phone number to Google Voice, increasing the power of your phone tremendously! That's just one feature alone.

Feel free to leave questions or comments that you may have about Google Voice below. I will be happy to explain to the best of my knowledge.

Rack Up Some Killer Deals for the Holidays

2011-11-26T02:56:00.001-05:00

So my mother emailed me a link a couple of weeks ago to a site called NoMoreRack.com. I checked it out and was fairly impressed. After the initial look-over, I brushed it off for a couple of weeks until black Friday was near. I returned to this site and checked out the deals, and they literally blew me away.
While people were out shopping, kicking and punching one another at 3am this Black Friday, I simply logged onto NoMoreRack.com and checked out a few of the deals they had going. I'll cut to the punch and tell you that NMR was selling a 42" LG Plasma TV for $150! So, I simply added this item to my cart (I promptly logged into the site at 12am EST, as that's when all of their latest deals go live), and clicked "Checkout". Not so fast though. The website crashed, as 100's of thousands of guests flocked to the site to soak up the savings. At least I knew that's what was happening as the checkout page output a consistent error on the screen.
At that point, I had a feeling the TV was already a sellout, but I decided to email their support crew. A few hours later, they responded:

" Hello Randy, Thank you for writing in. I apologize for the problems you have experienced while using Nomorerack as well as any inconvenience it may have caused you. Our consumer experience is extremely important to us. Unfortunately, we had an extremely high amount of shoppers come to our site at the same instant (hundreds of thousands). This caused our servers to have down time. We have now resolved the issue. Rest assured, our IT team is working around the clock to ensure our performance is optimized. Always here to help! Thank you for your patience and continued support. Committed to delivering you the best deals as always. Regards, Rica with Customer Care Nomorerack - 8 Daily Deals! "

Ok, so no hard feelings. Was I bummed? Yeah. Did I get to rub it in my friend's faces that I didn't have to step foot into a store to rack up an awesome deal? Not this time. Last week I had a decent steal-of-a-deal at Amazon.com, purchasing this Recumbent Bike. So what do we do now? I suggest you head on over to NoMoreRack.com and sign up for a free account so that you'll be armed, ready to snag the best deal when it goes live at 12 pm EST (Sometimes 12 am if it's a special sale).
One more thing that I highly recommend when you sign up is that you check out the points rewards they have going on. Here's an example: Say, for instance, you get 200 people to sign up for a FREE account at no more rack. With that many points, you could get a Nintendo Wii. So please if you do sign up, use my referral link, so that I get 1 point. Then, do the same with your friends: Post your referral link to Facebook, twitter, Google +, your website and start earning those free points!

update: Just snagged a pair of diamond earrings for a family member (hope they don't read this blog), and saved a couple hundred dollars. I've attached the image receipt: