Month: December 2005

Road Trip

by

I took a work road trip today. Had to meet some people in our other office and several other people had other missions up there so we rented a van and drove up. Got allot done, and we tried to avoid the traffic from some storm that was coming up the coast. We didn’t really avoid the traffic. Got stuck in it from the GWB all the way to my house. I assume that everyone was stuck in it past that too.

After work I hopped out of the van by my house but instead of going home I hoped on the subway and went to heartland brewery to meet Jayson and John for dinner and drinks. I had fun. We talked and hung out. We need to schedule another poker night.

Powerbook 12″ Mark 4

by

I now am the proud user (not really owner) of a brand new Apple Powerbook 12″. My old one cleaned up and on ebay as we speak. I was thinking about upgrading for a few months. I didn’t need to since my old one is barely 6 months old, but I was feeling the lack of hard drive space. I can fill a 60gig drive really quick. So when the opportunity to upgrade to a new Powerbook (and give up my windows laptop at the same time) came up I jumped at the chance. I was using my windows laptop less and less, and if work was willing to get me a mac (and lets face it I was using my personal laptop as my work laptop for a while) I was going to take the offer. And I saved the company a ton of money by because getting a new windows box would be hundreds of $$$ more than the powerbook cost. Win win.

The only down side was I just wiped my old powerbook and reinstalled everything like 2 weeks ago. So I had to do it twice in a month. I am gettng good at it though! And yes you read the title correctly. I have gone through 4 versions of the 12″ powerbook. I also had 1 15″ before the 12″ came out but that was way too big for me. The first 2 twelve inch powerbooks were bought by people I know and they have nice homes now. The third one is on ebay since no one I know wanted to get it. It had a bunch of people interested but no one was ready for a new machine so a stranger will be very happy with their purchase!

Man Shopping

by

Today I took the day off and went man shopping with my dad. Man shopping you ask? Well you will get the picture in a minute.

I got up normal time I would for work and headed out to my parents place. My dad picked me up at the end of the 7 line. We headed over to “the dinner” for some breakfast. Nothing says lets go man shopping like eggs, greasy hash browns, sausage, bacon, buttery toast (some whole grain toast, my dads only concession), cheese, and 5 units of insulin (not for me). When we were full we headed out to the mall, Roosevelt Field if you are keeping score at home.

We were actually shopping before 11AM. Even in a holiday time like now, you can expect little or no crowds at 11AM on a Friday. We hit the Verizon store to setup 2 new cell phones for my parents and transfer numbers from their old provider, 20 minutes. I was amazed that when we walked out of the store the numbers where already ported over. It took me a week and 7 phone calls when I did it. Next we hit the Apple store to just look. I didn’t find any cases for my new iPod so we didn’t buy anything. My dad liked the 30″ cinema display.

Next we were off to Best Buy to get a new PDA for my dad. This man shopping trip was for him, not me. We have been planning on doing this for months, so we had a list. He ended up going with the Palm Tungsten E2. Nice color screen but simple since he does not need tons of frills. He loved the screen on it.

After that we went to the La-Z-Boy store. He wanted a recliner. We spent the most time in this store. Most of it was lying in several chairs. We had to test them to make sure he was picking the right one. He found a nice comfy one in black leather. We paid and we were done with everything in under two hours. Now that is what I call man shopping!

I then went back with him to his house to move him to his new “temporary” computer. That took a few hours. Then we went to eat by my sisters to see her and morgan. My mom staid home since she was not feeling well. All in all a productive day (for him). I got not much done for me, but I had fun.

iPod 60Gig

by

I took the plunge. I went to the Apple store and Kai and I both got a new 60gig iPod. My old 40gig (non color) iPod is being cleaned up for resale to someone. I didn’t get the new one for the video functions, but that was a benefit. I got the new iPod because it is supposed to have great battery life, it is slimmer than the old one, and it FINALLY comes in black. And of course the main reason to upgrade is the fact that it is 60GIG’s. I actually use the thing as a portable hard drive so I was running out of space on the 40gig. The color and video are nice extra’s (maybe even the final extra little feature that got me to buy it) but they are not the main reasons.

So far I am not happy that there was 1 type of case available for this model iPod at the apple store. What gives with that apple? So I am stuck with this really pathetic case they give you. Another, what is up apple? For $399 you can give me a better case than this. A cradle would be nice, but my old cradle works so I am not happy. The only other complaint I have is the fact that my nifty wired remote no longer works since apple decided to change the physical inputs. What gives there? Did you guys sit down and ask what good feature can we take away to piss off customers?

Yes I am griping. Why? Because I spent allot of money on a portable music player, and I expect to get my moneys worth. In general I am happy so far with my new pod, but it could be better! And yes in my book it is still the best out there!

Anniversary

by

Today is my 4 year (full time) anniversary at my current company. In some ways it doesn’t feel like 4 years, and in others it feels like I have been there for ages. it is weird looking back. I really have been working at the same company for 5 years coming up in July. Or 5 years in March starting off at the original company that provided support for my current place. It was a rather complicated situation. In any event it is 4 years to the date that I stopped being a contractor and started my full time stint.

On most days I am happy and don’t even think about leaving. That is a big step for me since before this place I never stayed anywhere more than 2 years (nor did I want to). I say on most days because this has been a rough week. Things are settling down, but I had high stress levels dealing with some people.