Well, since there's been lots happening and I've had little, if any, time to address all of it, I'll be brief and to the point...
First, Kaia and I are pleased to announce a new addition to our household: his name is Dexter and he's awesome!
Assuming you have clicked the above link and have speakers attached to your PC, keep in mind that that is actually not Dexter, but that example is very similar thereto. Yes, Dexter is a Pleo -- a fully-animatronic, engineered baby dinosaur.
Now before the reader shakes his/her head in mock indignation, let me put it into words: Pleos rock. We'd been considering getting one for months, if not years, as soon as we'd heard about them. I'd seen them at Sharper Image stores and in some catalogs that make their way into my snail-mail box; Kaia has friends in the Valley and beyond who have them. So between us, we'd been really wanting one. With the news the Sharper Image stores are closing en masse -- completely, totally, and 1000% -- we figured we'd stop in and take a peek. Sure enough, after we made a trip to Tiffany -- less than a block away -- we stopped in and they had three left. After our visit and our impulsive decision to procure a Pleo, they had two.
In short, Dexter -- we declined to name him Elvis -- is a trip. He has his own personality based on his interaction with his environment. For example, if he's treated well -- petted, touched softly and treated like a baby -- he's a happy Pleo. If he's ignored and treated like a product, he doesn't have much interactive personality. In short, he's his own self-fulfilling prophecy. Having a Pleo is a bit like having a baby, a puppy, a cat and a large Iguana all wrapped up into one rubberized package. Except it's louder (or quieter, depending on your personal experience). Between us, we've managed to get him to purr, snore, burp, cry, walk, sit on his hind legs and -- over the last day or so -- sing. It's almost uncanny how he manages to react to his environment. Of course, if you accept that he's a "product" -- which he is -- it's amazing how life-like and realistic he is. Then, there's the technical aspect -- he's got sensors all over his body so he can interpret touch and "feel" his environment. Plus he's sporting a half-dozen cameras -- in his eyes, his snout and likely elsewhere. Watching him shuffle along in my apartment is a trip; he basically looks around, listens, howls in response or to get attention, and he cruises around -- albeit slowly -- in a pretty amazing manner.
But the best is watching Kaia get him to sing -- it's almost enough to delete our wanting to get a pooch and a kitten...almost.
Though, the key factor, of course, is Pleos don't poop.
The other issues of the day -- work, schedules, Kaia heading home, cable/home theater issues and Willie Randolph's classless dismissal by the New York Mets -- are all secondary. They'll all be there again and again, one way or the other.
But getting a Pleo is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. No, I'm not entranced by the magical, mythical bond between man and machine (if you have a spare Ferrari GTO, let me know so I can qualify that last statement). Nor am I pretending to be a father to a rubber-covered animatronic toy. What does really blow me away is that every time I watch the little guy cruise around my place in and of his own volition it reminds me of Star Wars -- how robots and droids are doing their own thing, floating around (sometimes literally) in their own little world(s) and in some small way, Pleo reminds me of what might someday be. If not Star Wars, perhaps then the (crappy) Tom Selleck-Gene Simmons movie "Runaway" -- in which robots and droids cohabitate (with less-than-wonderful results) among man. We may have a long way to go, but the fact is this little guy may represent that first step, and if nothing else, watching him do his thing, and hearing the sounds coming out of him, is a trip. And more importantly, never fails to get us to smile.
Which is a pretty big achievement in and of itself.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Under The Weather
Every time someone uses the expression "under the weather" to indicate they've been sick, it always reminds me that the only earth-bound creatures who are not -- constantly -- under the weather are astronauts.
Just a thought.
There's been much ado in Boogieland, but first and foremost, I've got a good reason for my lengthy, otherwise-unexcused absence. First, I was feeling shitty -- perhaps a touch of dehydration or some stomach issue in general -- so I got to visit the hospital for a quick exploratory adventure plus observation last week. It wasn't awful, except for the fact that it coincided with Kaia being here, so she had a free pass for a day (and a night) at Boogieland. Despite the fact that there's enough media and electronic stimuli therein to occupy a normal person's focus for, say, a decade or two, I felt badly being away from her as much as she did me.
On top of that, I -- like everyone else in this City -- have felt the effects of the sudden temperature change. Essentially the mercury went from a balmy 80-ish to a repulsive 98-ish without warning for a four-day span, which hopefully ended last night with a mongo-huge thunderstorm. However, I'll know once I hit the pavement whether that's true or merely wishful thinking. In either case, the A/C unit's going full-blast at 14,000 BTU's of icy airy goodness, and it's keeping us both sane and cool.
Speaking of sane and cool, this past week we saw a bunch of apartments, most of which had real possibility. The problem isn't the $2800 for a one-bedroom; nor is it the fact that some of the places we've seen are in neighborhoods spicier than your Mexican friend Juan's Uncle Chimichanga's Jabanero Gargling Sauce. No, the problem is that the apartments we've seen, largely speaking, have been unoccupied and, therefore, have no air conditioning. And since we've insisted on seeing apartments with only new (aka energy-efficient) windows, that means the hot stays hot and the cool stays cool. Only in this 98-degree scenario, the apartments feel like they're running at, say, 120. Add to that the smell of paint, lacquer, tile grout and the other acoutrement construction guys use to take an old place and make it new again and you've got a recipe for feh.
In either case, we've been happily managing. I've been carving through piles of work -- both in the office and outside, both day and night -- and Kaia's been doing the same (albeit without the need for office visitation). We're both pretty mellow and moving toward our schedules, which are increasingly intertwined. The nice part is that, even with lessened external running around, we're happy spending time together and haven't found the need to want to throw the other out a window. None of that's a surprise to either of us, but it's amazing to know the lock-and-key groove we've managed to develop over four years just keeps on getting better and better. We know where we're heading and inasmuch as there are plenty of people who despise marriage and the modern aspects thereof, whatever it is we're doing and wherever it is we're heading seems fine by me.
Put another way: since I was forced to stop drinking Diet Coke for the past few days, I would have expected I'd be bouncing off the walls and taking it out on her. The fact that she hasn't, in response, hit me in the head with a frying pan says a lot.
...Although I did happen to notice one of the pans hanging in the kitchen has conspicuously gone missing. I'll just assume that she put it away after she cleaned it.
...And sleep with one eye open.
I'll be back soon...hopefully.
Just a thought.
There's been much ado in Boogieland, but first and foremost, I've got a good reason for my lengthy, otherwise-unexcused absence. First, I was feeling shitty -- perhaps a touch of dehydration or some stomach issue in general -- so I got to visit the hospital for a quick exploratory adventure plus observation last week. It wasn't awful, except for the fact that it coincided with Kaia being here, so she had a free pass for a day (and a night) at Boogieland. Despite the fact that there's enough media and electronic stimuli therein to occupy a normal person's focus for, say, a decade or two, I felt badly being away from her as much as she did me.
On top of that, I -- like everyone else in this City -- have felt the effects of the sudden temperature change. Essentially the mercury went from a balmy 80-ish to a repulsive 98-ish without warning for a four-day span, which hopefully ended last night with a mongo-huge thunderstorm. However, I'll know once I hit the pavement whether that's true or merely wishful thinking. In either case, the A/C unit's going full-blast at 14,000 BTU's of icy airy goodness, and it's keeping us both sane and cool.
Speaking of sane and cool, this past week we saw a bunch of apartments, most of which had real possibility. The problem isn't the $2800 for a one-bedroom; nor is it the fact that some of the places we've seen are in neighborhoods spicier than your Mexican friend Juan's Uncle Chimichanga's Jabanero Gargling Sauce. No, the problem is that the apartments we've seen, largely speaking, have been unoccupied and, therefore, have no air conditioning. And since we've insisted on seeing apartments with only new (aka energy-efficient) windows, that means the hot stays hot and the cool stays cool. Only in this 98-degree scenario, the apartments feel like they're running at, say, 120. Add to that the smell of paint, lacquer, tile grout and the other acoutrement construction guys use to take an old place and make it new again and you've got a recipe for feh.
In either case, we've been happily managing. I've been carving through piles of work -- both in the office and outside, both day and night -- and Kaia's been doing the same (albeit without the need for office visitation). We're both pretty mellow and moving toward our schedules, which are increasingly intertwined. The nice part is that, even with lessened external running around, we're happy spending time together and haven't found the need to want to throw the other out a window. None of that's a surprise to either of us, but it's amazing to know the lock-and-key groove we've managed to develop over four years just keeps on getting better and better. We know where we're heading and inasmuch as there are plenty of people who despise marriage and the modern aspects thereof, whatever it is we're doing and wherever it is we're heading seems fine by me.
Put another way: since I was forced to stop drinking Diet Coke for the past few days, I would have expected I'd be bouncing off the walls and taking it out on her. The fact that she hasn't, in response, hit me in the head with a frying pan says a lot.
...Although I did happen to notice one of the pans hanging in the kitchen has conspicuously gone missing. I'll just assume that she put it away after she cleaned it.
...And sleep with one eye open.
I'll be back soon...hopefully.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Who Let The Dawgs Out
Now that summer is officially here -- or at least it has smelled like it is in New York this past week -- there's lots of fun and frolic to be had by all. However, despite that, I'm still bouncing around like a pinball trying to handle everything on my plate work-wise while prepping for the next few weeks, which brings deadlines and some other specific things that need to get done ASAP, as well as Kaia coming in.
Among other things, I'm dealing with a few deals -- big ones -- all of which need to be finished ASAFP. And on top of that, the looming deadline of June 15th -- which also happens to be Father's Day -- is coming up quick. With all due respect to The Rolling Stones, time is anything but on my side.
We finally received the Lenovo ThinkPad. However, as I indicated at some point earlier, Microsoft's decision to phase out XP really wound up being a shitty side factor in our purchase. Assuming you've seen the recent Apple ads knocking Vista (there have been several but the best of them are the one where the actor portraying a PC says "I'm running Vista and I've been error-free for a week." And he keeps repeating it. It's funny but the thing is, my limited experience with Vista doesn't suggest it's buggy, riddled with problems or shitty; it's actually none of those things. The main problem with Vista is that a) it looks a lot cleaner and nicer than XP and that means it's slower and requires more resources to do so. It's sort of like the difference between a Toyota and a Lexus; one's nicer than the other but the nicer one, invariably, will burn more gas because it's heavier and softer around the edges. The other problem is that since I'm so used to XP's interface and comfortable with getting around the old-school way, having to re-learn everything -- and seeing how there are more layers to navigate to do so -- isn't enthralling. If I had a dummy system and could just tinker with Vista for awhile that would be fine; but these days, there's no time to waste and every moment in front of a computer has to have some intrinsic, productive value (aside from the commission of these posts).
In either case, the solution that Microsoft -- and Lenovo (and Dell, Gateway, Samsung, Sony, etc.) offer is a retrograde disc (or package thereof) which allow people who don't want (or cannot use) Vista to go retrofit their new machine(s) with Windows XP Pro. It's actually a reasonably decent solution: you get a new machine with Vista; you run a program on the computer that allows you to back everything up (and in Lenovo's case, everything is backed up and can be instantly recalled by pressing a blue button on the keyboard -- pretty sweet); and then you run the "retrograde" utility and a couple hours later you have Windows XP Pro. Done.
Problem is, because the policy is in effect for June 1, the shit's been hitting the fan and companies have been left scrambling for cover and to address and re-dress their policies and how they will sell their stuff to consumers like individuals, small business and other miscellaneous entities other companies who employ more people than China has people. Essentially, we got our machine, they gave us a credit for a price drop, everything's good and now all we need to do is prep it, get it set up on our network and go forth.
As of next week (or the week thereafter, more likely) our consultant will be coming in to get us our data. At the same time he'll likely do what he has to do to get the notebook configured for the proprietary software we use, and once that happens I'm off and running. Being that I've archived software for the last ten years, it's a pain in the ass waiting for someone else -- and, more importantly, their schedule -- to conform with mine in order to get started. At the very least, however, the old desktop is still somewhat functional and can do -- slowly and painfully -- everything I need done.
Ah, but this is boring...who cares about business data- and machine-migration? Unless you're a PC geek, I'll assume you don't. Overall, everything beyond the PC and work angles are peachy and moving forward quickly. I've spent the past few days getting the place ready for Kaia coming in, so between laundry, organizing, throwing stuff away, getting laundry and cleaning together and work, I've been pretty damn busy.
Hopefully that 'splains the absence thus far, but I'm expecting to be swinging by here sometime this coming week. Between Kaia's apartment search and getting everything done workwise, I'll be busy, but I'll be back for more juicy updates (okay, for more daily dish on the boring minutae of my life).
Until then, enjoy...
Among other things, I'm dealing with a few deals -- big ones -- all of which need to be finished ASAFP. And on top of that, the looming deadline of June 15th -- which also happens to be Father's Day -- is coming up quick. With all due respect to The Rolling Stones, time is anything but on my side.
We finally received the Lenovo ThinkPad. However, as I indicated at some point earlier, Microsoft's decision to phase out XP really wound up being a shitty side factor in our purchase. Assuming you've seen the recent Apple ads knocking Vista (there have been several but the best of them are the one where the actor portraying a PC says "I'm running Vista and I've been error-free for a week." And he keeps repeating it. It's funny but the thing is, my limited experience with Vista doesn't suggest it's buggy, riddled with problems or shitty; it's actually none of those things. The main problem with Vista is that a) it looks a lot cleaner and nicer than XP and that means it's slower and requires more resources to do so. It's sort of like the difference between a Toyota and a Lexus; one's nicer than the other but the nicer one, invariably, will burn more gas because it's heavier and softer around the edges. The other problem is that since I'm so used to XP's interface and comfortable with getting around the old-school way, having to re-learn everything -- and seeing how there are more layers to navigate to do so -- isn't enthralling. If I had a dummy system and could just tinker with Vista for awhile that would be fine; but these days, there's no time to waste and every moment in front of a computer has to have some intrinsic, productive value (aside from the commission of these posts).
In either case, the solution that Microsoft -- and Lenovo (and Dell, Gateway, Samsung, Sony, etc.) offer is a retrograde disc (or package thereof) which allow people who don't want (or cannot use) Vista to go retrofit their new machine(s) with Windows XP Pro. It's actually a reasonably decent solution: you get a new machine with Vista; you run a program on the computer that allows you to back everything up (and in Lenovo's case, everything is backed up and can be instantly recalled by pressing a blue button on the keyboard -- pretty sweet); and then you run the "retrograde" utility and a couple hours later you have Windows XP Pro. Done.
Problem is, because the policy is in effect for June 1, the shit's been hitting the fan and companies have been left scrambling for cover and to address and re-dress their policies and how they will sell their stuff to consumers like individuals, small business and other miscellaneous entities other companies who employ more people than China has people. Essentially, we got our machine, they gave us a credit for a price drop, everything's good and now all we need to do is prep it, get it set up on our network and go forth.
As of next week (or the week thereafter, more likely) our consultant will be coming in to get us our data. At the same time he'll likely do what he has to do to get the notebook configured for the proprietary software we use, and once that happens I'm off and running. Being that I've archived software for the last ten years, it's a pain in the ass waiting for someone else -- and, more importantly, their schedule -- to conform with mine in order to get started. At the very least, however, the old desktop is still somewhat functional and can do -- slowly and painfully -- everything I need done.
Ah, but this is boring...who cares about business data- and machine-migration? Unless you're a PC geek, I'll assume you don't. Overall, everything beyond the PC and work angles are peachy and moving forward quickly. I've spent the past few days getting the place ready for Kaia coming in, so between laundry, organizing, throwing stuff away, getting laundry and cleaning together and work, I've been pretty damn busy.
Hopefully that 'splains the absence thus far, but I'm expecting to be swinging by here sometime this coming week. Between Kaia's apartment search and getting everything done workwise, I'll be busy, but I'll be back for more juicy updates (okay, for more daily dish on the boring minutae of my life).
Until then, enjoy...
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Whistle While You Work
It's not exactly Tiny Tim cavorting through a verdant field of lush, vibrant colors and flora, but it's better'n nuffin', as they say in Ye Olde Western films.
First and foremost, of course, there's the piling-on syndrome inherent with work; some offices are quiet with inactivity and a lack of need. This one, however, is not; we've got plenty to do on any given day and the hits just keep on coming. Sure, I could complain that I've got 12 hours of work to address each day and after I've put in six or so hours in the office and another two downtown (if not more than two) and than an additional hour or so at home reviewing my work and subsequently falling asleep at the keyboard, I'm still not quite all caught up. It's a Catch-22. But I'd much prefer having the problem of having too much to do than the problem of having too little. Then again, check back in a few weeks during my next filing deadline and I might espouse a slightly different opinion.
But I digress.
At the heart of the issue is the PC. I've been using the same Dell XPS desktop for a few years now -- October of 2004, actually -- and my machine is almost "fully crapped out." For those of you unfamiliar with PC lingo, that's the technical term for "dying a slow death." Others include DOA, shitting the bed, doing the silicon nap, the semi-conductor cheese-squeeze -- the list goes on and on but the bottom line is I've milked as much out of the work PC as I'm going to. I don't mind the fact my home PC is faster, more efficient or better at doing everything I do during my waking hours; the problem is that the work PC needs a variety of key upgrades that would wind up costing more than the machine is worth, so we're relegating it to "server" duty. What that means is that, for the second time in about three months, I'm going to have to prep from scratch a new machine (we ordered a Lenovo ThinkPad as its replacement) and demote my current desktop to scan/print duty. Like a racehorse past its prime, it's no longer fit for rigorous daily use but still can sire a scan job or print job every now'n then...
What's interesting is that I configured the new machine Monday night with Windows XP Pro and then Tuesday morning, when we went to buy the machine, we were told that Windows XP Pro is no longer for sale. Apparently, Microsoft decided to stop selling Windows XP as of June 1st (which we knew when it was announced a few months ago) but apparently May 20th is synonymous with June 1st. I'm not sure why this problem cropped up or why Microsoft is going with a shitty operating system (Vista) over a solid, mature, reliable one that is compatible with everything I've thrown at it, including third-party and proprietary 'ware, but the short and long is it's going to take a shitload of effort (not to mention the worry factor) to get the situation resolved. It turns out everything will be fine -- there's, much like a strip club, a back-door solution, but it's still a serious pain in the ass. Thanks, Microsoft.
On top of that, we've got a new load of annual data coming in sometime next week. Since Monday is Memorial Day, that means the new machine -- which is being built as we speak -- will be delayed a day. And, thereafter, that means the new machine will probably arrive after the new data load is set and scheduled to be uploaded to our server. Which means -- if you're still following -- our consultant will have visited our office, uploaded the data and left for greener pastures well before Mr. UPS makes me sign for the box from Lenovo.
Yet another pain in the ass.
Now, granted, that's not the end of the world. It's just that since we're a small office, we make every effort to minimize the external distractions and delays inherent in the daily workday. So having our consultant swing by for the data delivery -- which is crucial, of course -- would have been ideally timed to coordinate with the arrival of the new machine. But since Lenovo isn't a quick mover, the new machine -- in theory -- won't ship until June 10th. By my calculations, June 10th is about three weeks away. The new data -- about one week away. You don't need one o' them-thar fancy abacus devices to know that means two visits.
Oh well.
Meanwhile, as the workload flows onto and off of my desk, things are otherwise fairly peachy. I've got a few major happenings this summer and I'm trying to plan around them; for the most part, everything is going according to plan. But the silver lining/dark cloud thing can rear its ugly head at any given moment, so even though we ordered the new PC, it's going to be a few weeks until it arrives; as with any other plans, Murphy's Law definitely applies. So all the busy-ness coming at us like a bullet train in a Tokyo suicide-infested suburb might very well derail some of my plans for the summer. Alas, things out of my control are just that: out of my control.
Of course, Kaia's impending move to NYC is rolling along, and she'll be here in a week or ten days to continue scoping out the rapidly inflated housing market. I'm not sure what she'll end up choosing -- location-wise or configuration-wise -- but I'm guessing it will be something near my place and something akin to a one-bedroom. Questions remain about what we'll do with her car and when the move date will actually be, but for the most part, we're rolling with it in good faith and the excitement builds.
And if nothing else, it's a journey, not a destination; hopefully this rest stop along life's highway is just the first in our new chapter.
And if I can squeeze in a few more overbearing cliches, I'll be sure and let you know.
Meanwhile, hope everyone has a happy Memorial Day without work, aggravation or bullshit. At the very least, one out of three ain't bad.
-B-
First and foremost, of course, there's the piling-on syndrome inherent with work; some offices are quiet with inactivity and a lack of need. This one, however, is not; we've got plenty to do on any given day and the hits just keep on coming. Sure, I could complain that I've got 12 hours of work to address each day and after I've put in six or so hours in the office and another two downtown (if not more than two) and than an additional hour or so at home reviewing my work and subsequently falling asleep at the keyboard, I'm still not quite all caught up. It's a Catch-22. But I'd much prefer having the problem of having too much to do than the problem of having too little. Then again, check back in a few weeks during my next filing deadline and I might espouse a slightly different opinion.
But I digress.
At the heart of the issue is the PC. I've been using the same Dell XPS desktop for a few years now -- October of 2004, actually -- and my machine is almost "fully crapped out." For those of you unfamiliar with PC lingo, that's the technical term for "dying a slow death." Others include DOA, shitting the bed, doing the silicon nap, the semi-conductor cheese-squeeze -- the list goes on and on but the bottom line is I've milked as much out of the work PC as I'm going to. I don't mind the fact my home PC is faster, more efficient or better at doing everything I do during my waking hours; the problem is that the work PC needs a variety of key upgrades that would wind up costing more than the machine is worth, so we're relegating it to "server" duty. What that means is that, for the second time in about three months, I'm going to have to prep from scratch a new machine (we ordered a Lenovo ThinkPad as its replacement) and demote my current desktop to scan/print duty. Like a racehorse past its prime, it's no longer fit for rigorous daily use but still can sire a scan job or print job every now'n then...
What's interesting is that I configured the new machine Monday night with Windows XP Pro and then Tuesday morning, when we went to buy the machine, we were told that Windows XP Pro is no longer for sale. Apparently, Microsoft decided to stop selling Windows XP as of June 1st (which we knew when it was announced a few months ago) but apparently May 20th is synonymous with June 1st. I'm not sure why this problem cropped up or why Microsoft is going with a shitty operating system (Vista) over a solid, mature, reliable one that is compatible with everything I've thrown at it, including third-party and proprietary 'ware, but the short and long is it's going to take a shitload of effort (not to mention the worry factor) to get the situation resolved. It turns out everything will be fine -- there's, much like a strip club, a back-door solution, but it's still a serious pain in the ass. Thanks, Microsoft.
On top of that, we've got a new load of annual data coming in sometime next week. Since Monday is Memorial Day, that means the new machine -- which is being built as we speak -- will be delayed a day. And, thereafter, that means the new machine will probably arrive after the new data load is set and scheduled to be uploaded to our server. Which means -- if you're still following -- our consultant will have visited our office, uploaded the data and left for greener pastures well before Mr. UPS makes me sign for the box from Lenovo.
Yet another pain in the ass.
Now, granted, that's not the end of the world. It's just that since we're a small office, we make every effort to minimize the external distractions and delays inherent in the daily workday. So having our consultant swing by for the data delivery -- which is crucial, of course -- would have been ideally timed to coordinate with the arrival of the new machine. But since Lenovo isn't a quick mover, the new machine -- in theory -- won't ship until June 10th. By my calculations, June 10th is about three weeks away. The new data -- about one week away. You don't need one o' them-thar fancy abacus devices to know that means two visits.
Oh well.
Meanwhile, as the workload flows onto and off of my desk, things are otherwise fairly peachy. I've got a few major happenings this summer and I'm trying to plan around them; for the most part, everything is going according to plan. But the silver lining/dark cloud thing can rear its ugly head at any given moment, so even though we ordered the new PC, it's going to be a few weeks until it arrives; as with any other plans, Murphy's Law definitely applies. So all the busy-ness coming at us like a bullet train in a Tokyo suicide-infested suburb might very well derail some of my plans for the summer. Alas, things out of my control are just that: out of my control.
Of course, Kaia's impending move to NYC is rolling along, and she'll be here in a week or ten days to continue scoping out the rapidly inflated housing market. I'm not sure what she'll end up choosing -- location-wise or configuration-wise -- but I'm guessing it will be something near my place and something akin to a one-bedroom. Questions remain about what we'll do with her car and when the move date will actually be, but for the most part, we're rolling with it in good faith and the excitement builds.
And if nothing else, it's a journey, not a destination; hopefully this rest stop along life's highway is just the first in our new chapter.
And if I can squeeze in a few more overbearing cliches, I'll be sure and let you know.
Meanwhile, hope everyone has a happy Memorial Day without work, aggravation or bullshit. At the very least, one out of three ain't bad.
-B-
Monday, May 12, 2008
So Much To Say...
Well, despite the fact that it's been nearly a week since my last visit, I can honestly admit that I don't feel bad in not getting back here sooner. So much has been happening -- even more than usual -- that I haven't had time to feel guilty for being an absentee landlord of sorts.
First, everything over the past week or so culminated yesterday with Mother's Day. I managed to get everything together -- goodies, a nice arrangement of flowers for my mama, cards, a charged digicam -- and spread the love. It's always nice spending time with my family, but making sure I got all my ducks in a row this year -- and being able to do so -- was really great. We went to brunch in the mid-afternoon and got to spend time with my grandmother and my uncle, and we had a wonderful time. More importantly, both my mom and my grandmother had a wonderful time, which was/is the point. And since there was no baseball, no football, no basketball and no (Rangers) hockey to distract me, I had as much fun as (hopefully) did they.
Second, Verizon Wireless finally released a new Blackberry right as my plan was due for review and re-up. Since we're all locked into a big family/office plan, the dollars were due to increase since the Blackberry pricing got beefed up over the past month or two, so they basically told me "Get a new phone or you'll be paying another $50 per month." Thanks, Verizon. So I got my paws on the new
Blackberry Curve.
Those who know me know I'm a bit of a technophile (just a tad), so the fact that I waited more than two years -- you read that right -- to upgrade to the new 'Berry says a lot. What says more is that I was and continue to be seriously impressed by this new Curve. Despite the fact that, sure, the Curve was available to AT&T people a year ago; but the thing is, Verizon's wireless network here in NYC is so much better that I wasn't willing to consider having our lines switched over. The short version: since we have four lines, switching over would be a one-time, somewhat monumental task. It'd have to be the kind of thing where we were having serious problems with our phones, and the truth is that the price plan I managed to get us hooked into is fair, we rarely -- if ever -- have phone issues (unless, like with my dad, we forget to charge the phones), and everything works well. So switching just to get better, nicer, newer phones didn't seem to make much sense. Why go for something new and shiny if old reliable still works better than anything that follows it? So, I scored a Curve. And the nice thing is because of the timeframe, they dropped the price for me another $100, so I got the phone for next to nothing, a week before they were officially released, and the switch to the new device was painless.
Ahhhhh.
What wasn't painless, of course, was my ISP decided to crap out for a day or two so my download speed was slower than most modems from the 80's. There was some sort of problem -- line problem, server problem, uplink problem -- that wound up with my connection losing data (official term: packet loss), but a techie showed up late Friday with some cool tools and solved the problem. On top of that, he saw some of the games I had on the shelf by my PC and we talked geek for a few, so he hooked me up with some bitchin' sites vis-a-vis anti-spyware and some great utilities as well. Given I just installed the new Berry and am syncing it nightly with my home PC to keep everything up to date, I was and am pretty jazzed.
Speaking of hom and work PC's, my work PC's starting to take its final walk to PC heaven. Things are slowing to a crawl and the machine creaks when I'm running Word and Excel along with a couple browser windows, which basically is constantly, so it's likely I'm going to be needing a replacement. I've gotten a variety of suggestions, but it's likely I'm going to get a notebook -- either a Lenovo or a high-end Dell -- and since I've had a notebook in the past, plus lots of experience using Kaia's -- I'm curious if having a notebook for work will be doable. I'll end up plugging in a keyboard, a mouse and my monitor at work so odds are it won't be a big deal, and it will definitely run faster than my machine does currently, but I'm not sure if a notebook is the right move, and if it is, I'm sort of overwhelmed by the variety of what's out there. I actually considered building my own machine for the office -- a desktop, natch -- but I'm not sure if having my entire office-based productivity hinging on something I assembled is really the right way to go. True, I'll be familiar with every single thing inside the box, but if anything goes wrong, I'll be crapping myself instead of calling Dell, Lenovo or the local/long-distance PC tech people with whom I consort on- and offline.
Finally...Kaia's hitting NYC in early June to continue her apartment search and to hang out for awhile. I'm guessing her swing here will be a couple weeks, and hopefully that will be enough time for her to find a place and leave some of her stuff behind to bring by cab rather than prep for the movers.
Nothing much else exciting to report; we're still on track to hit Mexico for a friend's wedding in August, July's going to be a hot n' busy month -- specially if Kaia's moving here therein -- and the road is open and the tank is filled with $3/gallon gas.
I'm outtie.
-B-
First, everything over the past week or so culminated yesterday with Mother's Day. I managed to get everything together -- goodies, a nice arrangement of flowers for my mama, cards, a charged digicam -- and spread the love. It's always nice spending time with my family, but making sure I got all my ducks in a row this year -- and being able to do so -- was really great. We went to brunch in the mid-afternoon and got to spend time with my grandmother and my uncle, and we had a wonderful time. More importantly, both my mom and my grandmother had a wonderful time, which was/is the point. And since there was no baseball, no football, no basketball and no (Rangers) hockey to distract me, I had as much fun as (hopefully) did they.
Second, Verizon Wireless finally released a new Blackberry right as my plan was due for review and re-up. Since we're all locked into a big family/office plan, the dollars were due to increase since the Blackberry pricing got beefed up over the past month or two, so they basically told me "Get a new phone or you'll be paying another $50 per month." Thanks, Verizon. So I got my paws on the new
Blackberry Curve.
Those who know me know I'm a bit of a technophile (just a tad), so the fact that I waited more than two years -- you read that right -- to upgrade to the new 'Berry says a lot. What says more is that I was and continue to be seriously impressed by this new Curve. Despite the fact that, sure, the Curve was available to AT&T people a year ago; but the thing is, Verizon's wireless network here in NYC is so much better that I wasn't willing to consider having our lines switched over. The short version: since we have four lines, switching over would be a one-time, somewhat monumental task. It'd have to be the kind of thing where we were having serious problems with our phones, and the truth is that the price plan I managed to get us hooked into is fair, we rarely -- if ever -- have phone issues (unless, like with my dad, we forget to charge the phones), and everything works well. So switching just to get better, nicer, newer phones didn't seem to make much sense. Why go for something new and shiny if old reliable still works better than anything that follows it? So, I scored a Curve. And the nice thing is because of the timeframe, they dropped the price for me another $100, so I got the phone for next to nothing, a week before they were officially released, and the switch to the new device was painless.
Ahhhhh.
What wasn't painless, of course, was my ISP decided to crap out for a day or two so my download speed was slower than most modems from the 80's. There was some sort of problem -- line problem, server problem, uplink problem -- that wound up with my connection losing data (official term: packet loss), but a techie showed up late Friday with some cool tools and solved the problem. On top of that, he saw some of the games I had on the shelf by my PC and we talked geek for a few, so he hooked me up with some bitchin' sites vis-a-vis anti-spyware and some great utilities as well. Given I just installed the new Berry and am syncing it nightly with my home PC to keep everything up to date, I was and am pretty jazzed.
Speaking of hom and work PC's, my work PC's starting to take its final walk to PC heaven. Things are slowing to a crawl and the machine creaks when I'm running Word and Excel along with a couple browser windows, which basically is constantly, so it's likely I'm going to be needing a replacement. I've gotten a variety of suggestions, but it's likely I'm going to get a notebook -- either a Lenovo or a high-end Dell -- and since I've had a notebook in the past, plus lots of experience using Kaia's -- I'm curious if having a notebook for work will be doable. I'll end up plugging in a keyboard, a mouse and my monitor at work so odds are it won't be a big deal, and it will definitely run faster than my machine does currently, but I'm not sure if a notebook is the right move, and if it is, I'm sort of overwhelmed by the variety of what's out there. I actually considered building my own machine for the office -- a desktop, natch -- but I'm not sure if having my entire office-based productivity hinging on something I assembled is really the right way to go. True, I'll be familiar with every single thing inside the box, but if anything goes wrong, I'll be crapping myself instead of calling Dell, Lenovo or the local/long-distance PC tech people with whom I consort on- and offline.
Finally...Kaia's hitting NYC in early June to continue her apartment search and to hang out for awhile. I'm guessing her swing here will be a couple weeks, and hopefully that will be enough time for her to find a place and leave some of her stuff behind to bring by cab rather than prep for the movers.
Nothing much else exciting to report; we're still on track to hit Mexico for a friend's wedding in August, July's going to be a hot n' busy month -- specially if Kaia's moving here therein -- and the road is open and the tank is filled with $3/gallon gas.
I'm outtie.
-B-
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
This Is Too Cool for School...and the USPS (And Other Stuff)
Tired of waiting on the USPS website to update itself to show shipping progress? Want to keep track of someone without their knowing?
This lets you slip a credit-card-sized tracker in, on or in close proximity to someone. Sure, it's designed to be dropped along with other items -- cash, papers, discs, whatever -- in an envelope. But drop this sucker in someone's glove box or on the floor of their back seat and you'll have instant location on 'em 24-7. So for you stalker types, and you know who you are, knock yourself out.
Incidentally, in honorable mention, this is a keeper. It's a one-shot news story about Amy Winehouse, but hot-damn is it worth a click.
And finally, this should be required reading for any and every guy out there without an older brother. Had I had the opportunity to peruse this site, I would have avoided three miserable years with the ex. Had I taken said missed opportunity prior to meeting her, I would have noted she was a member of seven of the listed categories and I would have been off faster than a Puerto Rican prom dress. C'est la vie.
By the way, the site to which that link leads is titled, simply, "Women To Avoid II" and will be perma-linked at the right to insure others glean the wisdom contained therein.
Good night, and good luck.
This lets you slip a credit-card-sized tracker in, on or in close proximity to someone. Sure, it's designed to be dropped along with other items -- cash, papers, discs, whatever -- in an envelope. But drop this sucker in someone's glove box or on the floor of their back seat and you'll have instant location on 'em 24-7. So for you stalker types, and you know who you are, knock yourself out.
Incidentally, in honorable mention, this is a keeper. It's a one-shot news story about Amy Winehouse, but hot-damn is it worth a click.
And finally, this should be required reading for any and every guy out there without an older brother. Had I had the opportunity to peruse this site, I would have avoided three miserable years with the ex. Had I taken said missed opportunity prior to meeting her, I would have noted she was a member of seven of the listed categories and I would have been off faster than a Puerto Rican prom dress. C'est la vie.
By the way, the site to which that link leads is titled, simply, "Women To Avoid II" and will be perma-linked at the right to insure others glean the wisdom contained therein.
Good night, and good luck.
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