Month: June 2009

Another Unplanned Day

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Today I was planning on heading to my “home base” office downtown. Everything was going according to plan until I got the email saying the express 7 train wasn’t running and I would be expecting delays. The station was packed when I got there. As I was waiting for the train I got an email from someone I am sharing office space with and he was going to be in the office at the same time as me. Thankfully if there wasn’t a train delay I wouldn’t have gotten the email since I would have been on the subway. Due to a short shuffle of desks I am sharing a desk with someone since we are both rarely in that office. Today we would be conflicting. With the train delay I wouldn’t make it to that office and make my 9AM call anyway. I decided to goto the midtown office and forage for an open spot. That place is allot bigger and I have a much better chance of finding space. Sure enough I did. The rest of the day was a bit different since i was somewhere i wasn’t planning on being. Now I had meetings that I could do in person vs over the phone. Things actually worked out really well since I got allot done. I like the mid town office, but I don’t always like schedules changing at the last minute.

I didn’t get out of the office till almost 6. So much to do! Thankfully I got my inbox to 0. My to do emails are only at 34. That is great for me. I am off to the mid town office again tomorrow to meet with someone who is visiting from out of town. That trip to mid town was planned though!

For dinner I tried some prepared chicken parm from the grocery store by my house that I bought yesterday. It was pretty good. That was the first or second time I have tired prepared foods from them. I will use them again for that sine I have had good luck so far. It is nice to just heat the oven and drop something in. It is also a change of pace from grilling up fish or steak. Either way it was tasty. If it keeps I have the other half of the portion for dinner tomorrow.

Unplanned Monday

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Do you ever have days that end up being nothing like you planned? Is it because of nothing within your control? For me today was one of those days. I had a few problems that came up in the morning that side tracked me for most of the day. Because of that the day was a blur, but I wanted to take a minute to at least write something. More tomorrow.

The Weekend Went By So Fast

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This was a totally lazy weekend, even by my standards. It was partially unintentional. I got a head ache in the early afternoon yesterday, and it didn’t go away the rest of the day. Thankfully it didn’t get really bad, but it was bad enough to curtail any evening plans I had.

Today was not much better. I did a bunch of shopping online for things I have been procrastinating buying. It was mainly replacing some clothes that I have that are getting ratty. I also did my laundry and cleaned up my apartment a bit. I waited for a Fresh Direct Delivery in the afternoon. Dined on fresh Sword Fish in the evening. I gotta love fresh stuff from Fresh Direct. I also decided to try and finish a book I started over a year ago. Not sure why I stopped reading Pattern Recognition because it was good, but I have about 1/3 left to go.

Now it is getting late and I don’t know where the weekend went. Oh well. I am off to read another chapter or two before bed.

My Parents Are Becoming So Tech Savy It Scares Me Sometimes

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We live in a very technical world now a days so I don’t know why it surprises me that my parents are slowly embracing modern tools. I am less surprised by my dad than my mom but it sometimes still takes getting used to.

My dad at least has a long history of having useful gadgets. He was the first person I remember to have a PDA. It was an old Sharp Wizard that I eventually inherited. I get my love of gadgets from him, but I think I take it to a whole new level. Of course there is alot cooler stuff out now.

My mom on the other hand is not tech savvy at all. I still get calls from my mom for help doing basic stuff on my dad’s GPS. Of course my sister who once programed for a living also calls me just as frequently about similar issues so I shouldn’t judge.

What is funny recently is that my dad had been dead against a smart phone for ages. At one point I got him a Treo 300 that he used for a year or so, but didn’t like the small keyboard. He ended up going back to a regular phone and an old style Palm handheld. He has had a palm handheld (minus the time with the Treo when it was Handspring) since they first came out in 1996. Recently, well actually over the past few years he has been asking about an all in one phone/PDA. The problem is he doesn’t like the little keyboards. Because of that he hasn’t switched his setup, but has really wanted to ditch his phone, PDA, and pager (yeah he still has one) for one device. His work was going to give him a Blackberry a while ago but he turned it down because again he didn’t want a keyboard. I showed him the iphone when I got it and we decided it wasn’t for him since he would have a problem with the lack of feedback on the virtual keyboard. Recently he has been wanting a new phone again, so he went to the Verizon Store (his carrier). I was surpassed when he came back and said he wanted a Blackberry Storm. He liked the feedback of the virtual keyboard, and the phone did everything else he needed. He even wanted to get the data plan to get work email. He spent about an hour with sales guy and ended up buying one. I now need to go over and migrate his palm data to the Blackberry. In some ways I am not surprised he got that phone and in others I am a bit surprised he has a phone as advanced (arguably) as the one I have!

My mom also surprised me with technology when she started asking me about the Amazon Kindle. Apparently Operah had a special about it and she was interested. My sisters mother in law gave my sister a Kindle and my sister lent it to my mom for a cruise she went on a few months ago. She really liked it since she didn’t have to pack a bunch of books. She took a while to get over some issues with it but apparently got the hang of it. For a while I was pondering upgrading to the Kindle 2 and she asked if she could have my old one if I did. At first I wasn’t going to upgrade. For me the price of the Kindle 2 was too much to be worth the upgrade from the first version. My mom’s birthday is coming up and I couldn’t figure out what to get her (and I still owe her a mothers day gift) so I asked if she wanted my Kindle for her birthday gift? She said yes, so I ordered a Kindle 2 for myself. The new one would be a waste for her, so I don’t feel so bad giving her the generation 1 version. I am excited for the new Kindle and hopeful my mom doesn’t run into any problems using the Kindle the next time she uses it.

In a later post I might write about part two of this post, about my progress at weaning both my mom and dad off AOL. They still use it for email. I setup a mail domain on Google Apps and created accounts for both of them. I just need to show them how to use the Gmail web interface and get them to tell people the new addresses.

Dodging Rain

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I worked from home today. The day could have gone either way. I could have had a few meetings (that was what my schedule said) so I could get some backlogged work done, or things would come up throughout the day that would distract me from what I was aiming to do. The latter happened as I expected but hoped wouldn’t. I didn’t even realize what time it was when I called it a day and aimed to meet up with friends.

I headed into the city to meet up with some friends at Blaggards. Turned out no one showed up. Stanley texted me saying he was taking off sine no one else showed up. I was in the subway so I didn’t see it until I got there. Everyone was last minute cancelations, except Luke who I hadn’t heard from. Since I was already in the area I went to Macy’s and did some shopping. From there I headed over to the Apple Store on 5th ave.

As I got out of the subway by the Apple Store I started raining. It looked like a major thunder storm was coming in. I ran to the store just in time. I bought a iPod Nano 8GB (silver if you are curious) and an arm band to use it when exercising. Yes, I bought a new nano so I could actually try to do that exercise thing people keep talking about. It is kind of redundant to have since I have an iPhone and a 160gb iPod but each device has its own uses. The 160gb pod is currently being used as a portable hard drive and like the phone is to big for use when working out.

Before buying the pod, I browsed around to kill time while it rained. By the time I got out of the store it was raining a bit but not as bad as it was. The sky was really dark for just after 6 on a Summer afternoon. I got home and it was still only raining a bit but it looked like it was going to pour again anytime. I got really lucky getting home without an umbrella. At one point in my trek home I could have bought one (those guys selling umbrella’s know exactly where to position themselves) but I rolled the dice and made it home only slightly damp.

I ordered in and just watched some shows I had on my Tivo. I wasn’t in the mood to head back out.

Travel Day

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Today was an in the office day for me. Unfortunately the office in question was in NJ. I typically have a full day of meetings when I goto the NJ office on Thursdays. It is my only time to meet face to face with some people so the day is packed. Today was a bit different. For starters the entire afternoon was set aside for a certification meeting i had face to face with some people. Can’t really go into too much more details besides we had to review a long list of standards and processes. I still had two hours of other meetings in the morning. I brought lunch since we were supposed to work from 12 through 5pm. Thankfully we finished the items on the agenda after only around two hours. That left me the remainder of the afternoon to take care of other outstanding items I had. It was good to be able to catch up stuff that was piling up.

I was able to head home normal time. It still took me about 2 hours to get home. I didn’t do anything memorable at night, unless you consider ordering in dinner memorable?

Uncle x3

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Yesterday I became an uncle again. This is my sisters 3rd. Alexis Zoe. I love the name! My sister and baby are doing great. I am not sure when I will get to see either of them. It is always hard to get to South Jersey. I am aiming for sometime next week.

I didn’t get to write about the new baby yesterday since I spent last night at my parents house. I had to goto the eye doctor for a checkup. Besides my eyes being really dry I am in good shape. My prescription hasn’t changed. It is now like 5 or 6 years since the last time I have changed it. According to my doctor at my age that is a great sign.

My parents were at my sisters during the day to take care of the other two kids while my brother in law and sister were in the hospital. I ended up taking the LIRR to their place and took a cab from the train station. Since they weren’t going to be home for dinner I walked to the outback down the block. I had lobster tails! They were yummy. I then went and got the customary present I have gotten for Morgan & Zachary. Thats a long story for another time. I now need to find the other present I get the kids, but unfortunately FAO does not sell the size stuffed dog I want to buy. They only have the small one, and the super big one that I don’t know who buys. The middle sized one that is actually really big is not for sale anymore. I am upset. I got Morgan that sized elephant, and Zachary the boy dog of the same size. I need to spend some time over the weekend finding something else. Gretchen is having a kid at the end of the week (or anytime at this point) so I need to find something for that little guy as well.

Alexis Zoe

Update: photo now added of the new little one resting.

Baby Watch 2009

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As odd luck would have it my sister and one of my best friends are both expecting new babies this week. My sister is off tomorrow morning to have the baby (its planned), and my friends wife is going to be induced by the end of the week if theirs doesn't show up. Hopefully if all goes well I will be an uncle again tomorrow by lunch time. All I had to do was not drive my sister crazy!

The big dilemma for me is what to get as a baby gift. The stuffed animal collection I liked to get from FAO apparently discontinued the middle sized option that I got for my Niece & Nephew. I don't want to risk going with the really huge one, but the small one is kinda small. What is an uncle to be to do? I will buy the customary bottle of liquor. Yes a baby needs a nice bottle of scotch. Well, the plan for that is to get one the day they are born and give it to them when they turn 21. I got the idea from my dad when the toast at my Bar Mitzvah was using the same bottle that my great uncle gave to my parents and they toasted at my Bris. Since that gift is not really functional for a two decades I need something more current. I am going to have to scour the internet tomorrow for something suitable. I am not sure when I can get out to see the new little one. Apparently most if not all family is banned for the first week so they can all settle in, but after that I am not sure.

As for my friend, I also await word when the time comes. As of this morning it the little guy can't come fast enough but he is taking his time.

iPhone 3GS First Thoughts

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I got my iPhone 3GS on Friday. I was eager to get it when they announced it, but when it arrived I didn’t even want to rush home to take a look. I usually can’t wait to play with new electronic gizmo’s. Either I now have luke warm feeligns about it or I am getting older. I hope I just have low expectations of the new device. In any event I have had the device for a few days and I have early impressions since I can be opinionated about my gadgets.

One major reason to upgrade for me was the doubled capacity that I get with the 32gig unit. I would have gotten a 64gig one if they offered it. I wanted 32gigs last year when I bought my 3G. Ironically since I purged many videos from my 3G before upgrading I don’t even need the entire 16gigs I had. I know that in a few weeks I will use up the new space I have but right now it is weird seeing all that free space in the bar graph when I sync the phone.

I haven’t done that much to notice the speed improvements. Every once in a while I think it might be a bit zippier, but nothing major just yet. The camera is a great improvement, but still didn’t do so hot for me in low light when I was out on Friday. Video was nice, and I used it a few times with Zachary on Sunday but to be honest I am not going to praise that since a phone of iPhone’s class should have had that function already.

I have to say I am not a fan of the cut and paste function. I know I want it when I need it, and it is another one of those things that should have been around for some time, but I have problems with Apple’s actual implementation of cut and past. I have selected text to cut and paste while scrolling through items i was reading. It is actually very annoying. The amount of times that has happened vs actually using the cut and paste function is making that feature more of a detriment to me than a bonus.

The compass function was neat, but i haven’t really had a chance to use it. One downside I did notice was when I brought up google maps when I got out of the Lincoln tunnel on Sunday the Google Map app started spinning around and I had a semi-transparent warning box telling me that the compass couldn’t work and i needed to get away from interference. This wasn’t good since i couldn’t see where i was (approximately) on the map, where the old version on the 3G would at least just give me a blue circle that showed my margin of error. With the map spinning around and the warning box I couldn’t really estimate my location. Hopefully this was a fluke but I am not so sure I saw the last of that message especially in Manhattan.

So far you might conclude I don’t like the new phone. That is not true. It is a great piece of equipment. In my opinion it has unfortunately it has yet to live up to the cost I paid for it. What will improve my opinion is seeing all the new software that utilizes the push technology in the 3.0 software. I know I could have gotten that with my old 3G, but this new functionality on top of the new hardware was the reason for me to upgrade. For now I have to wait since it seems the hardware is a bit ahead of the software written to utilize it. Once a true push IM client comes out, and other nifty new apps such as the Zip Car app and the Tom Tom GPS app then the new phone will start paying for itself. I am also waiting for a push version of Facebook, and a twitter client (Tweetie I hope since I like it and paid for a copy). It is still a great media device that I take with me everywhere. That hasn’t changed, but for an incremental upgrade it has a bit to go before it becomes worth the upgrade.

For now the new iPhone 3GS is just like my iPhone 3G. I love it, it is probably the best phone I ever had, but I would love to get rid of it if I could. What I mean by that is it is a fantastic device but Apple is still too restrictive on the OS, and I would love for someone to come out with something that truly rivals it (Android, and S60 are nice but not there yet by far and I have tried both). Till then I await updated software for my 3GS!

Monday June 21, 2009

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Today was a work from home day for me. It was packed with meetings and going through my backlog of tasks. I ended up working late and am still stopping my relaxing this evening to kick out an email or two to clear up my backlog. At least today felt productive. I had a huge email backlog from traveling and being in meetings all day Friday.

I ran out after I wrapped up most of my work to grab a fillet to cook for dinner at the grocery store. It was good. Now I just need to wait for the George Forman to cool to clean it.

I need to order groceries, but I won’t be home tomorrow so I will wait till I am home on Wednesday. I am spending the night at my parents since I have a doctors appointment out on Long Island early in the morning. It is easier to go from their house than from mine. Also my mom giving me a ride really helps. My parents are at my sisters tonight and tomorrow to take care of the kids while she and Michael are off having another one, but will be back tomorrow night. Since I am going into the office, I need to pack a bag. That reminds me. I need to go and do that before I forget.