Technology

Allot To Write About

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I have allot to write about, but for some reason don’t feel that up to writing today. So here will be a quick recap of the weekend.

I continued to throw stuff out of my apartment in anticipation of my move next month.

I am also getting ready to ebay a bunch of tech stuff I have. I realized that allot of my crap is not worth that much anymore used. So it is easier to just keep it and or give it away.

Had dinner with Carrie, and my grandmother tonight. Morgan also! My grandmother was in to visit my cousin who is sick. She took us to dinner. it was actually pleasant. That is not always the case with my grandmother.

Got a hair cut on Saturday. My regular barber wasn’t there. Not sure what his deal was. His father did my hair. Didn’t do a good job. it is ok, but he didn’t listen to me when I gave him instructions. That may be the last time I go to that place since I am moving. I need to find a new place in the city for next time.

We had an issue with one of our Call Manager Servers Saturday that caused it to fail. The second machine in the cluster took over fine, but we had about 15 seconds of down time while that happened. Kai is working on getting a patch for it. I spent allot of Saturday working on the phone system because of that, and other issues.

The plus side is I did some more work on our IVR. I even setup our own for Support, to prove the concept. An IVR for support is overkill but we had extra 800#’s and it shows that they system can work.

This blog entry was written while listening to Machine Head by Bush

Sean And Kelly

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My friend Sean and his wife Kelly are visiting today. They flew into DC a few days ago and are driving up to NYC today. They will hang out tonight and stay over by me before they continue their drive up to his parents place near albany tomorrow.

I haven’t seen them in almost a year and a half. It doesn’t feel that long, but I think it has been. Sean is one of those friends that I am sad lives very far away. I have other friends that I wish lived that far away. Go figure.

We IM a few times a month and keep in touch, but it is hard when people are so far away. It will be good to see them.

We are planning on hitting Angelo and Maxis by my office for dinner. I will need to fast today to eat their later.

I got the air mattress from my parents last night so they have a place to sleep. I love that air mattress. I slept on it for almost 6 weeks when I moved to Baton Rouge. it is comfy. Just plug it in and hit the button and it inflates. Ah the joys of technology.

My Apartment In Visio

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I can be considered a true computer geek. I am moving. If you read this you know that already. Well last time I moved I took all the measurements of my new apartment and plotted it in Microsoft Visio. My mom and sister measured all the furniture to make sure it would fit in the apartment. I figured why not put that all in visio and see how the place will turn out. I did just that, and it came out awesome.

Due to a freak hard drive accident last August, I lost the visio file, but I found a hard copy a few weeks ago. I took that paper with all the measurements of my furniture, and a copy of my new apartments floor plan (complete with dimensions of the rooms) and created a new visio file. I don’t have the bathroom or kitchen done yet, since I don’t have dimensions for them, but the living room and bed room’s are both done. It looks like all my furniture will fit just fine.

I just have to decide if I am going to take my living room wall unit. It was very hard for the movers to put back together. That costs money. I also may want a wide screen TV this winter. If I get one this wall unit will not fit it. I would need to get a new one then anyway.

I have a few weeks to decide before the movers come. I am still pondering my options. I need to goto ikea and see what I can get for a replacement wall until.

Gmail?

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What is the big deal about Gmail? For many the concept of 1gb of free mail storage is a great idea. What I want to know is why tech guys are so into the Gmail invites? Is it because of the 1gig of space? Or that there are only a few invites floating around?

I am not talking about normal users who use hotmail and such now and gmail is a major upgrade. I am talking about people like myself and others I work with. Gus got a Gmail account and was so happy. I don’t know why. He has his own mail server. he has virtually unlimited mail storage as it is, but he was almost giddy when he got his gmail account. Howard also got one. He was practical in saying it was for life, so it was a good idea to have one. But your own domain with your own mail server is good also. Now most people don’t do this, they have mail through someone, but if you are a tech guy with your own custom home email address running on your own mail system do you really need gmail? Again it is a great idea, but not for me. Howard offered me a gmail invite. I turned him down. I don’t have any use for it. I don’t want something just to have it.

I guess this is an internet trend that I just don’t get. I will stick with my mail system with my own domain (or several domains to be exact)

This blog entry was written while listening to Given to fly from the album “Yield” by Pearl Jam

iMac or Not to iMac

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I am still pondering the sale of my iMac when I move next month. I can still get a large amount for it, so I keep thinking will I be better served by a different computer? If I do sell it I would need a DVD burner for my powerbook or some other solution. I would also want a larger flat panel screen for my desk at home since I use the 20″ most of the time.

Too many choices. Pondering continues…

New Cable

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I got a call from the cable company that provides service in the building I am moving to. They said that the management company sent them my name. I currently use Time Warner, and for the most part I am happy. This place uses RCN.

First impression is that they are more money for less services. I get 4 premium packages, digital cable and a cable modem for under $100. These new guys offer you digital cable, a cable modem, and 1 premium package for $101. I am loosing 3 premium packages. To get them, I need to pay $13 more per channel That is a racket. Extra cable box’s are also more money per box than I currently pay. The only plus side is that I can buy a static IP address for $4 per month. I don’t think I can do that now. Of course my current provider only changes your address if you leave your modem off for extended periods of time. I have had my same IP for over a year.

In a nutshell I think I am getting a worse deal than I currently have. Only time will tell, but as I like to say “i think this will end badly”.

The Treoless Day

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I went the day without my Treo. I mean I didn’t use it as my cell phone, and I didn’t carry it around wherever I went. Here is what I realized.

The all in one device is a great idea. I found myself walking around with my Pocket PC fishing in my pockets for my cell phone when I wanted to make a call. Not everyone I know fit into my T610. I walked around with the Pocket PC since I keep my To Do list on that or my Treo. So I saved weight by only carrying a light cell phone, but ended up with my bigger Pocket PC in hand most of the time when I left my office.

This is a well known conclusion. A combined device is better if you DO carry around a phone and an organizer. I thought I would save on some weight by using the T610. For part of the day I was right, but for the rest of the day I was not.

The other point is that the screen on my iPaq 1945 Pocket PC is 10x better than my Treo. I would use that if the device wasn’t so dam big. yes I know that is the smallest pocket PC out there, but it is still big compared to my Treo. A Treo with bluetooth and a better screen would be nice. Please?

Tomorrow I will go back to my Treo. Actually as I sit on the train now, I ponder swapping my SIM card back into the Treo.

The only advantage the T610 has over the Treo is the fact it has bluetooth so I can use a wireless head set, and that the camera is better. it takes smaller photo’s, but they are clearer. Man can you tell the difference.

The Treo is Off

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I did the unthinkable. I turned off my Treo today. I took the SIM card out of it and placed it in my Sony Ericsson T610. I am doing this for the day. Why you mask ask? Or you may not give a crap. I am wearing shorts today, and pocket space is limited. Carrying my Treo, & wallet it fells like I am carrying rocks. I have my new blackberry. It is big, but clipped to my belt. So for now I don’t need this huge phone. I still love it, and need it. I will leave it on my desk and use it as a palm when needed. But I want to keep my cell on me during the day. I can do that easier with the T610. This is the weight dilemma that I have always had. It is a bigger issue in the summer time when I have no jacket.

What I really need is the Blackberry software on my Treo so I don’t need this new big Blackberry I have. But this big blackberry is great. it has a nice wide keyboard, and direct connect. I am in technology heaven, but I now have too many devices. each one is great, but only does some of the things I need:( I need the pocket knife of smart phones, but it hasn’t been made yet. Come on PalmOne, make me a better Treo. I will buy it!

Got Rid Of Backups

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Several months ago I read that CD-R’s and DVD-R’s won’t last as long as most people orginally thought. The personally recorded disks may only be good for 3-5 years. No one knows. I have been using CD-R’s and more recently DVD-R’s as my only form of backup of my computer data.

I keep everything on the computer now a days so those backup’s are important. Knowing these CD’s “rot” I decided to take all my backups dating back to 1998, and put them back on a hard drive. I then backed up that directory to another hard drive. Drives are cheap so I figure if I keep all my crap on 2 drives I will be safe from problems. Or so I hope. I took some of the really old backups and destroyed the CD’s. I still have my recent DVD’s of backup’s for 2002-2004, but older stuff is getting destroyed since I don’t really need the CD’s with them back on disk. I use a Lacie firewire drive with 200 gig of storage space.

I also decided to buy a new Firewire drive every year for backup’s of crap. I realized that I bought my 200-gig drive less than a year ago and I have only like 50-gig’s left. It is cheaper to buy a new drive than to worry about removing crap off the existing one when it gets filled up.

I still have some more archiving to do, but I am getting things cleaned up virtually and physically before I start packing to move!

Must Have Software

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I have said good things about CallShield before. I will say more good things. It filters calls to my Treo 600. So if XYZ person calls and I don’t want them to call, I can send them to voice mail, or refuse the call or hang up on them right away.

The hang up function is great. I have some old lady who keeps calling me. She is so old and or retarded she keeps dialing my number instead of whoever it is she really wants to get. So I programed my phone to hang up on her. I see in the phone log that she calls like 8 times trying to get through. People are stupid.

The reason I am praising the software again is that she tried to call last night at like 1:30AM. I didn’t know this until this morning since the software worked as advertised. My only problem is that I wont want to switch to another phone since I won’t be able to do this kind of filtering on a normal cell phone.