scott

Can I Find The Right Phone? Part 1

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Since October I have had a minor problem left unresolved. I have been unsuccessfully searching for a wireless phone I could use every day. I have written previously about how my Treo 680 had been causing me too many problems so I was on the outs as my day to day mobile. The issue is I haven’t been able to find a suitable replacement. As much as I jump from phone to phone (I do about 1 a year and maybe toy with an alternative one during that time but never switch over to it) over the years, I have been sticking to Palm based Treo’s relatively consistently. I did go from a Treo 270 on T-Mobile to a Treo 600, then to a Treo 650. From there I went to the Treo 700 on Verizon. When I left my last company I switched my number to a Treo 680 on AT&T. It has been several years using the Palm OS on Treo phones. As I have said in the past it has been a love / hate relationship.

So even though it sounds kind of silly I am stuck on what phone to use day to day. I guess it is such a big deal because I use it for allot more than making calls. In fact I use it for other stuff more than I use it as a phone. I check my mail on it. Read the news on the way to work. I keep track of my expenses on it. I use it as a calendar, and more importantly I track all the tasks I need to accomplish on it. I use it to track notes, and I take notes with it more than I use pen and paper. If I am in a meeting playing with my phone, it is because I am actually taking notes or updating tasks related to what we are talking about on it. There is tons more things I use it for, but that is enough for you to get the point. Because of all my requirements I am a bit picky.

The Palm OS on my Treo 680 did everything I needed it to. It just would freeze up for no reason I could identify (maybe due to loss of cell signal but if it was that it is a retarded problem) and would crash or reboot at least once a day. Recently I also had huge issues syncing my Treo to my Macbook. The Missing Sync is a great product, and I have used it for years but since they updated the Palm version it has been buggy. I have had to reset the data on the phone dozens of times due to corrupt data or the software simply crashing on syncing some conduits, especially my task lists. So I can have everything I want, but deal with problems all the time. It kind of feels like WIndows, but I solved that problem by getting a Mac.

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To Skype or Not to Skype

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As I said in a post a about a week or so ago, I have made a decision not to renew my .mac subscription and instead I went back to my traditional hosting provider, even if I don’t use it that much. I do use it enough to warrant a traditional provider that gives me flexibility. Another technological decision has also been on my mind as of late. This one involves VOIP phone providers.

I currently have a Broadvoice VOIP account. I have had one since I moved into my apartment in Manhattan in 2003. I have my number setup on a Cisco 7940 IP Phone. I think the service and the phone are fantastic. I haven’t had many reasons to complain, but I just don’t use the service that much. On the other hand I also have a Skype In number, and until recently I had Skype Unlimited. Now I am paying month to month for Skype Pro. The problem is I don’t use both services enough to justify the expense of one, let alone both. I have a mobile phone that is my primary number, and I don’t even go over my monthly minutes on that. It is smart to have a VOIP phone since it is really cheap. I want one just in case I have issues with the mobile, but like I said I don’t use either of them that much.

To cut costs I have been thinking about dropping either Broadvoice or Skype. The problem is both services have their pro’s and con’s. Skype is actually cheaper per year and if I started using it more the cost is also fixed since I get unlimited inbound and outbound calls on the plans I have. Broadvoice has a few nifty features Skype does not but I don’t use it enough to make it worth my while. What Broadvoice does have in its advantage is that I can use my Cisco 7940 phone with it. That phone is great. It has a good speakerphone, and I have a really good headset for it. The Skype cordless phone I have has a good speaker, but no headset. I can use a headset with Skype if I use my computer, but there is no way to change from headset, to handset, to speaker on the same call if I use the computer. As weird as that sounds, it happens more than you would think.

My final option is to do what I have done for years in the past before VOIP. That is drop all other phones and just use my mobile. All the major wireless carriers announced unlimited phone plans this week, so that is a very viable option right now. What to do…

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Family Travels

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My sister and niece are going on a two week trip to Hong Kong on Tuesday. One of her best friends moved there about two years ago with her family and my sister is going to visit. Her friends twin daughters are also friends of my niece, so she is excited to go visit. While they are away my nephew will spend a week with my mom, since Michael could only be home 1 week, since he had to work the next one. My mom is taking him to Florida for the week to play in the sand, and do what other 18 month olds do.

Recently Zachary has become attached to Elmo. He is the first kid in my family to finally like the red muppet. I am a fan of Elmo, so I have been trying to get all the little cousins in my family to like him, but none have been as attached to him as Zach seems to be. I am trying to find him an appropriately sized Elmo doll for him to take on his trip. The one I ordered seems to have gotten lost in shipping.

And the farthest I am going for my vacation next week is to Manhattan for a hair cut.

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Unobtrusive Technology

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While waiting for the train the other day I got to thinking about some of the technology I use everyday that you don’t think about. Stuff that is just there and works so it is unobtrusive. That type of technology is the best kind, but like I said I don’t really think about it.

The first thing that came to my mind is my Tivo. I have always loved my Tivo or any other DVR I have had, but now a days Tivo is just like a cable box to me since I don’t have a cable box. Tivo just works. It is part of the TV experience for me. It almost never needs to tinkered with. It just blends into the experience, until I go somewhere that doesn’t have Tivo and then I wonder what I used to do before 2001 when I didn’t have a DVR.

My sonic tooth brush is next in my mind. Yes, it is just a tooth brush, but it is a mechanical device. It works so well I don’t know what I did before I had one. I don’t like to travel since I don’t carry it with me when I do. As with the Tivo it just blends into my world that you don’t realize it is there until it isn’t.

The same affect my Tivo has on TV seems to be happening with my new Kindle. It is just like a book with unlimited pages that I leave in my bag and can take out to read whenever I want. It is no longer a piece of technology, but a tool to read that to me is becoming no different than a paper book. That is the difference between a device like the Kindle and lets say my mobile phone. I use my mobile all the time, but it hasn’t turned into a Kindle or Tivo just yet. The new Nokia I have is close, but not yet. Phones, and computers I have or had are great but they require work to keep going. For example I haven’t had to reboot my Kindle because of a problem, but I do that to my smart phones, or even my Mac. As much as both have changed how I live my life, neither a computer, phone or other device has the same effect as the three devices I just mentioned above. There are others, but I think my point is made.

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Flickr Spree

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Over the past two months I have been tasking myself with a digital clean up so to speak. I have been spending some of my free time going through my photo album in iPhoto. I have been uploading everything of value onto Flickr. The uploading isn’t too hard, but I am trying to take the time to tag and organize everything. Back in September when I shut down my hosting account I wanted to put my photo’s somewhere, so I upgraded my Flickr account to Pro. Since I didn’t have a Gallery site anymore I wanted my photos on Flickr.

I now have my recent history in photo’s up online. I think I have most photos back to about 2000 uploaded. There are still allot since 2000 that are not up, but they are the less important photos. Next task is to get to some of my older photos I have taken at camp, either as a councilor in the 90’s or on my teen tour’s as a camper in the late 80’s. After that it will probably be the photo’s I got from my parents of the family. That might take a while, because there is a lot of them. I don’t think of this as a waste of time, because it is like organizing my life in pictures. It is kind of fun. This is going to be a work in progress for some time. The big question is always what photo’s can be made visible to all, and what if any of them should be left more private for friends and family? So far I have been pretty open about what I put up there, but with a young niece and nephew you have to be worried about crazies getting too much information off of some post or picture.

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Dam Cold

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Either I am getting sick again (2nd time in 2 months) or the humidity or something messed me up on my trip to Atlanta this weekend. I am now feeling how I get right before I get a cold. I also get this feeling when I am allergic to something in the air. My gut is saying it is a cold. I need to get to the Cold Ez, or that ZiCam that Michael got me into when I got sick at his place in December. Either way when I get home I am going to take something. I am on the plane now, and it is not very comfortable feeling this way in the air. I have a bad feeling that my ear’s are going to not react well when we land. I used to have horrible problems flying when i was a kid and a teenager. As an adult it has been allot better, but every so often I fly and have issues. Fingers crossed that this landing my ears are ok!

Traveling Again

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This weekend I had a quick trip down to Atlanta. All in all the trip was not eventful. The biggest thing that happened was I forgot the suction device that holds my Dad’s GPS to the windshield in the rental car. i remember taking it off the wind shield, but must have forgotten to put it in my bag because I cannot find it.

As much as I am still pissed at Delta for my trip to nowhere (see previous posts), they were not bad this trip. We actually departed on time both directions. I also cannot complain when I get into the Crown Room Club free (gotta love Amex Platinum Card).

I need to remember this weekend since I will most likely not remember the last time I drove until I remember that I drove this weekend. Before this week, I cannot honestly remember the last time I drove a car. I think it was the week I stayed at my parents place in August but then again I might not have even used one then. That is one of the sad things about living right by public transit (in this case the subway) you don’t need to drive. That is good and bad I guess.

My Big Boy Apartment

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I am 99% done with decorating and furnishing my new apartment. My mom got me some acent pillows and some sort of blanket throw or I don’t know what to call it for my big chair and sofa. My coffee / dining room table arrived two weeks ago. I even received the 3 prints I bought to hang on my walls in the living room. I haven’t hung them yet but they look really cool.

The last few things that I need to make everything complete is a few chairs for the table when I use it as a dining room table. Michael’s dad had dining room chairs that stacked nicely. I want to look for a few like he had, so I can keep them out of the way when I don’t need them but break them out quickly. I think that is better than storing folding chairs. I need something soon since I want to have poker at my place soon now that I have a table.

I am happy with the way everything came out. This is my first apartment that I bought nice real furniture. My first place i had cheap stuff. Then when I moved a few years ago my parents gave me their old stuff. It was basically nice but almost 20 years old and not my own. Now I think I finally have grown up and did my place up on my own. So it is really my big boy apartment!

Now I need to have a few poker parties to (hopefully) help pay for it all:)

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Web Hosting

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Ok, I made a mistake by canceling my web hosting account. I miss the flexibility of having a hosting account even if I don’t really need one all the time. I went back to Site5. They were good, and the only reason I canceled the account was because I didn’t want a provider at all. I am in the middle of configuring the site now.

I am trying to keep my Internet spending down this year so to offset the hosting costs for the year I am getting rid of .Mac. I don’t really use it, so I am going to let the account lapse when it is up for renewal at the end of February.

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