Month: February 2009

Netbook Update

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I have had my HP Mini 1000 for about a month and a half now and so far I haven’t had the urge to get rid of it. On the surface that doesn’t sound like a stellar endorsement, but from me it is. The netbook hasn’t changed my life or anything close to it. I am not really even using it for the main reason I got it. I ended up returning the wireless USB card so I don’t lug the netbook around with me everywhere allong with my work computer. What I do use the netbook for is light typing around the house, or when I don’t want or need to carry a regular laptop around I throw it in my bag. It was cheap enough so I don’t regret keeping it and using it like this. It is a nice to have and when I need it I am very grateful I have it.

The screen size prevents me from using it much more than I currently do. That is partly due to the screen being small, and my eyes being not so perfect. The keyboard still kicks ass, and the wifi and bluetooth actually work without any major complications. That is not something I could say for previous bluetooth experiences with Windows XP.

I just recently paired my Jawbone 2 bluetooth headset with the Mini 1000 to use Skype 4.0 on it. I never really used the Jawbone even-though as bluetooth headsets go it was expensive. It is also the best rated bluetooth headset I could find, but I never fit in my ear. I just read a kick ass review by someone at Cnet. The fix was so simple it was almost funny. They suggested putting a Jabra ear gel on the earpiece. I had one from an old Jabra headset and the instructions worked flawlessly. The headset now fits snug on my ear. I will use it with the Mini 1000 for a bit so I can make Skype calls on it. I want to try that out vs my Mac the next time I work from home. I am curious about the call quality differences between the latest Mac version of Skype and the new 4.0 version for Windows.

iPod Dock’s

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For a while I have wanted to get a set of speakers I can plug in my iPod or iPhone 3G into. I haven’t gotten one yet for several reasons. The biggest one is that I have been encasing my iPod and iPhone in protective skins. They are great to protect the easily scratched devices (come on apple) but the downside is that with these cases the devices will not fit into any devices made for them. Last week I noticed my brand new (less than a month old) case was flaking its finish off. I read a review that this was possible so I rolled the dice when buying it, but since the case started falling apart I took the phone out of the case for a bit. I noticed that even though these cases don’t add too much bulk, it felt like it did. When I held the “naked” phone in my hands and used it, I was surprised how much sleeker it felt. I the remembered that all of my Treo’s never were in cases when they were in my pocket. I do have concern that the back of the phone will scratch up, but I think I will leave the cases off the phone for a while.

With no case preventing me from buying a dock or a speaker dock for my phone I started looking for a decent speaker set. The timing was perfect because recently I have wanted to listen to music in my bedroom. Now I have to put headphones on and that is a pain. My research has show me that there are tons of options. My research of reviews also showed me that many consumer electronic companies don’t get consumers. People if you make a device specifically for a GSM phone don’t suggest that you put the phone in airplane mode to avoid the feedback sound you get from speakers when the phone is plugged in. That isn’t a viable option, just a cheesy work around.

I found a ton of devices that had an equal amount of options. I find it funny that what I finally set my eyes on is the most basic of systems. I am debating on buying the Bose SoundDock Series II. The only downside I read in reviews is that it lacks features that other cheaper models might offer. Again, consumer electronic companies (in my opinion) don’t get it. Do you need to throw in all these features that many wont use to sell devices? I want to plug in my iPhone 3G and listen to crap on it through good speakers. I want to charge said iPhone in the speaker system, and maybe access the unit via a remote. This isn’t a radio, or an alarm clock, or whatever other features people want to creap in there. I know others might want those features but it is over kill for me. I want good sound. The iPhone 3G will work fine in the Bose system because they said they shielded the unit from the GSM frequencies that cause interference. It might be on the pricey side for what it does but I am tempted to go and get one. Jayson has the older model and loves it. It is a Bose after all. I don’t typically take name brands for granted, but they have lived up to their name for me so far!

So this story ends with me going to the Apple store last night and buying the Bose system. I also bought an iPhone dock for my computer. It drives me crazy that I have cables lying all over the place for my iPhone on my desk. Without the case I can plug the phone into a cradle and one more piece of clutter is off my desk.

Grand Torino

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Beata and I went to see Grand Torino on Monday. I read good things about the movie. It didn’t disappoint. It turned out to be a great drama. It also turned out to be pretty funny. That was unexpected. Well I should say it was unexpected by me. Beata said she read it was funny. I didn’t believe her. They were able to make a dark drama actually be a bit funny. I liked it.

Afterward we went to Dukes for some dinner. I haven’t been there in a while so it was good to go back there.

I am not sure why my friend Brian thought that I remind him of the Eastwood character. BG, I never beat someone down with a hand gun, and I don’t think I am that jaded:) Now my will might be as colorful as the one in the movie, but that is where I draw the line!

Working On A Sunday (and Monday)

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This weekend was a 3 day weekend (4 days if you count the day off I took Friday). I wouldn’t have know that if I looked at what I did this weekend. See I worked all day yesterday and today. I actually just finished up a call a few minutes ago. That means I was working on and off since 10 AM this morning. Fun. If that wasn’t enough fun, I worked from about 11:30 AM to about 9 PM last night also. I had problems with something at work that required attention. I don’t like days like this, but I also know that days like the last two come with the job. That doesn’t really make you feel much better when a weekend is ruined, but it is true.

I didn’t have major plans yesterday but I wanted to do some shopping. That was out. I didn’t plan on it, but Beata wanted to goto dinner tonight and I couldn’t because of a planned call I had, that actually turned into two calls that lasted about two and a half hours. Having to cancel or avoid making plans because of unplanned after hour work is not fun.

Now I am sitting on my bed with my netbook writting this post and some other stuff, while listening to music. I am trying to unwind from the crazyness I had all day and get ready for sleep so I can get up and start the real work week!

On top of all the craziness that went on, I also ended up taking some migraine medication since I started getting a head ache this morning. All in all a stressful semi depressing weekend.

Friday TV

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Since I was being lazy Friday night, I watched a bunch of TV. I went through my Tivo and watched a bunch of stuff I missed since I had plans most of the week. After watching most of the good stuff (still a ton of crap on there) I watched some semi live TV. I say semi live since I don’t start watching anything until it has been on for at least 15 minutes so I can safely fast forward through the commercials. Gotta love Tivo!

I ended up watching the first episode of Dollhouse. It was pretty good, but lets see if Fox cancels it like they did the last Joss Whedon show. For now it is programed into my Tivo.

I also watched the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica. It was really good this week. I though John Hodgman as the brain surgeon was great. I loved his little bit of comedy in his scenes. I am not sure if he was supposed to be funny but he was. The regular doc is always funny so he fit right in.

So Far, A Lazy Weekend

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Today was a total lazy day. I got up around noon after only going to bed at around 11:30 last night. I didn’t do that many productive things today and I am very happy about it. I did clean my apartment a bit, scanned and shredded some documents, and ordered a printer. Other than that I was pretty lazy.

I don’t mind being lazy since I was so busy during the week. I had plans Monday, Tuesday, & Thursday this week. I almost had plans Friday but I was so tired I decided not to go out. I like going back and forth between really busy and lots of lull time to relax. I know by Monday I will be a bit bored but for now I am living it up. For me this is a 4 day weekend. I took off yesterday, and I have Monday off as a holiday. With the 7 train not running tomorrow I will probably have a lazy day then too. I don’t have anything so pressing that I want to deal with shuttle bus’s and lots of waiting tomorrow.

OK, now off to bed!

Printing

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I find myself spending money this weekend on a printer and all the accessories that go with it (extra ink, paper, etc) even though I avoid printing at all costs. I currently own an HP LaserJet 1200 that I bought way back in 2002. Back then I couldn’t stand to use an ink jet printer. The Laser Jet still prints black and white copies perfectly 6 years later. That is the problem. It prints black and white copies only. If don’t print much, but more and more the things I have wanted to print are in color. I have recently been thinking about upgrading one of the oldest pieces of gear that I have.

I looked at color laser printers, but decided not to go that route. HP had a nice one that wasn’t much more than what I ended up spending but it was a huge workgroup printer. Laser Toner also would be really expensive especially since I don’t print that much. I looked at several multi function printers and ended up buying an HP OfficeJet J6480. It got really good reviews from Cnet. I liked that it could be used as a flat bed scanner, and it had wireless networking. Both functions I wanted and it worked with my Mac. It wasn’t the cheapest multi-function printer out there, but it had some of the best reviews and the wifi was the final deciding factor for me. I should hopefully have it by mid week.

Day Off, Not Really

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Today I took the day off. The problem is that I might not have worked, but I didn’t really get a day off out of this. I got up earlier than I normally do for work so I could be at my accountant by 8:15AM. He worked his typical magic and I got back more this year than last year. I attribute that to more $ I put into the 401k, but whatever the reason I am happy I got more back. I wasn’t so happy that he didn’t see me personally. This guy is so busy he has assistants (lackies). Due to a scheduling snafu I didn’t see him but someone else. Typically I see the main guy but since my return went up I didn’t make a big deal about it. The fee went up again this year but when you are getting like 15 times the fee in a return you don’t really complain.

After the tax’s were done I grabbed a capachinno at Starbucks and then headed home for a few hours. I then had to head out to two doctors appointments. I had some checkups I needed to goto as follow up to my incident in October. Apparently they figured out (or think they did) what caused everything that happened in October. If I do what they tell me, I should be fine, yay!

Unfortunately two doctor appointments took up the entire afternoon, so I just ended up going home to crash instead of heading out to Blaggards to meet up with some friends.

Coctails and Steaks

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Today was a hectic day at work. I was in the office and my NY (NJ) team was also in. That means even more meetings than normal. Well, not really since every day this week was 100% filled with some meeting or another. After work there was a meet and greet at one of the other offices downtown. I walked over with some of the people from my office. It was a nice get together. I got to meet a few people I never have actually meet, but have spoken to on the phone dozens of time. That is always nice.

I had to cut out of the meet and greet slightly early to head uptown. I meet Beata and two of her friends for dinner at the Kobe Lounge. They had a restaurant week price fix going on. I never have done the restaurant week thing. I am not a fan of the limited menu’s of the price fix. This was good since if there wasn’t a price fix there is a good chance wouldn’t have ever gone to eat there. The food was fantastic but I don’t see the value of spending a ridiculous amount of money for a few ounces of special beef. My typical thinking is as long as i can still find a good steak for under $50 I am happy. What can I say I have simple food tastes! Overall I had a blast. I think I got along well with Beata’s friends and like I said the food was really good.

I took tomorrow off, but I still have to get up early to goto my accountant so I am now off to bed.

Dating

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This is the first post in a long while where I bring up a relatively overlooked topic on this site, dating. I decided long ago when I started dating I wouldn’t really talk about it in my blog. The reasons are many hopefully obvious reasons. It is easy not to talk about individual dates hear and there. My dilemma is what do you do when you find yourself entering into a relationship with someone? Did I just say relationship? Wow, kinda not sure else how to categorize, it so yeah.

So what do you do when your personal life involves someone else more and more? I figure I can blank out that part of my life from writing about, or I can openly include it. For the past several weeks I didn’t know 100% where things were going, so it was an easy decision to leave out things. After several weeks of getting to know someone and liking what you learn, I guess you want to write about it. That and the more you go out with someone the less I have to write about other things since I spend more time with her. It has started making writing a bit more difficult.

What I decided to do was just write about everything anyway and not post anything. That way I can still write. Ironically I was discussing with her writing about a party we went to for her birthday this Saturday that I said I wouldn’t post anything right now. I also offered to let her read what I wrote. I was slightly surprised when she said she didn’t mind me posting things if I wanted to. I guess that is why I like her in the first place. She is really cool.

So here I am writing about a girl for the first time in years. It is kind of awkward, but really cool at the same time. Her name is Beata. I meet her online. There was a time when I would be embarrassed to say that, but I have come to think that online dating is a great tool.