On The Third Dav of Vacation…

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Saturday it rained. It wasn’t a typical southern rain. It didn’t rain for a few minutes and be over. It rained all day. We were pondering making the drive to New Orleans but the rain totally ended those plans. Instead we went to the shooting range. I had only gone shooting once before at Gretchen’s dad’s place but this was my first time at a real range.

Joe and Chris brought an assortment of weapons. Some would say a small arsenal. Others would say they were not waiting in the car while they went and got a few things from a store (that someone was me). We were only kidding but Joe loads up.

I got to fire a 45 and a 9mm. I even got to use a laser sight. For someone with as poor vision as I do, I (and everyone else) was amazed that I wasn’t a half bad shot. I naturally aim a bit high but with practice that I wont get I could compensate for that. I wasn’t as impressed with the laser sight as I thought I would be.

After the range we headed back to Joe’s place to relax for a bit, and then we went out to a really nice dinner. Joe and Karen (mainly Joe) does know how to find nice places, and I am amazed that the staff knew him! The meal was great. Afterward Chris headed off to a bar, but I was tired so I headed back to the house with Joe and Karen.

What was funny was Karen was prodding Joe to find stuff for us to do so I wouldn’t be bored. The fact is what we did do was inline with exactly what I was looking for. Minor activities, but nothing too crazy. I even got to goto Waffle House for Breakfast this morning! Vacation was almost perfect! Points were lost for the weather.

Day 2

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Friday was low key. Joe, Karen, & Chris had to work. I slept in and thankfully slept off the drinking from Thursday. I didn’t drink a lot but for me after one or two I start to feel it the next day. Getting old stinks sometimes!

I went to Joe’s office. Hung out for a bit, they ordered lunch for us and some of his guys that were in the office. I then took a quick run on two jobs with him to just tag along. We got to drive around the wet and dreary Baton Rouge for a bit.

For dinner Joe grilled up some steaks from some place they order from a lot. They place seasoned everything in some special seasoning and sauce. It was really good, even if Joe did over grill the steaks.

After ward we played some xBox. I hadn’t played anyone on xBox in a while. I forgot how fun it is. I didn’t forget how bad I was at it though.

Vacation #1, Day #1

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Yesterday I was off to Baton Rouge, well I flew into Baton Rouge but am staying with Joe & Karen in Zachary. I hadn’t seen them since the wedding, and I haven’t visited in ages. So when I decided to burn off vacation days they were a logical choice to go hang out with for a few days.

My flights out were relatively uneventful. That is always good when dealing with the airlines. I am thankful for my Amex card and that it allows me access to the Delta lounges.

We hit the Chimes for dinner after I got picked up from the airport. I didn’t need anything fancy. I just wanted some fried sea food. I got it in the form of shrimp. We drank a bit and then headed back to Joe’s place.

We hung out and talked a lot longer than I thought. Joe and I (mainly Joe) had a few more rounds. It scares me how much a like Joe and I are in some ways.

The New Monitor

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Friday my new HP 30″ monitor arrived. It is pretty huge! I am glad I thought it through and ordered the quick release mounting bracket or else I don’t know how I would have screwed in that monitor on the LCD arm. Removing the base and putting on the mounting brackets were relatively simple. Getting the monitor onto the arm took 2 try’s since I had trouble visualizing how it connected. In the end I needed more time working on the cable management than I did on mounting the LCD.

So far the Mini DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI adapter from Apple is working ok. I can see some slight “shaking” of windows near the edges, but only of certain colors. I barely notice it so I am not worried about that. What I don’t like is every so often when I wake the display from sleep it displays garbage squiggly lines on the display and I have to unplug the adapter and plug it back in. When I do that everything resets back to normal. Thankfully it has only happened a two or three times in two days. I may just have the monitor stay awake all the time but goto screen saver. I know that isn’t the best thing to do but I will give it some time to figure out what my plans are. I am just thankful that so far (knock on wood) the entire setup is working. I want to take photos of the entire setup after I clean up all the clutter, but that is for another day!

The Android Experiment

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A few weeks ago I purchased a used T-Mobile G1 on eBay. It was party to see check out the Android OS, as well as check out T-Mobile service near where I live and work.

Firstly the G1 I got was a bit more beat up than I would have liked, but for the price I paid I kinda knew what I was getting into. I found it harder than I originally expected to separate my experience with the Android OS with my feelings about the G1 hardware. I was not a fan of the G1 at all. It was big, heavy, and I could not stand the curved bottom of the phone, nor could I really use the keyboard because of that uncomfortable bulge at the bottom of the phone.

The Android OS on the other hand was OK. I looked for equivalent applications to what I typically use on my iPhone. I didn’t do a complete search but looked for the top 5-10 apps that I use every day. I was able to find apps that performed the same functions. That was the good news. The bad news was that several of them were just not as polished as the iPhone equivalent. Maybe I am biased, but the iPhone apps just seem more polished than the Andriod counterparts. There were a few exceptions, but in general I wasn’t too impressed with the Andriod apps. On the up side I was happy with some of the types of applications that I couldn’t get on my iPhone. I loved the call blocking app especially since the T-Mobile number I got seemed to have a lot of people calling it. I also loved the Google Voice integration. For me as a Google Voice user it was perfect. I didn’t even tell anyone I got a new #. I just routed calls to the G1 and then used Google Voice to make outbound calls. For me that was the best part of the Android OS. I really miss that functionality on the iPhone.

The second part of my experiment was how is the T-Mobile service. The short answer is it is just as poor as AT&T is where I use it most. I don’t get any reliable signal inside my apartment with T-Mobile. By my window I get 3-4 bars but inside I only get 1-2 if any. Without a signal booster the service is useless in my apartment. If the Android phones supported T-Mobile’s Wifi calling like some of the Blackberry’s do that wouldn’t be an issue, but right now it is a major show stopper. At work in mid town I got slightly better results. I sometimes got decent signal at my desk, but other times it was spotty. Not consistent enough for me.

The bottom line is as tempting as T-Mobile’s no contract plans are, the service where I spend 75% of my work week (home and work) I had spotty service. That means if I want to stick with a GSM carrier I am stuck with AT&T. As much as I refuse to use Verizion I might need to consider. I may end up getting a Verizon Mifi anyway so that might be the trade off that keeps me with my iPhone an AT&T but more on that later.

I will keep my T-Mobile SIM until after my vacation but I don’t see myself keeping it long term. As for the G1, I am going away at the end of the week so I wont have time to sell it before I go, but it will go up on eBay before Christmas. If a AT&T compatible 3G (85mhz & 1800mhz) Android phone comes out I may give it a try again but until then I am sticking with the iPhone. Like I tell anyone when they ask if i like it, the iPhone is the best phone I ever had, but I would love to be able to get rid of it!

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Monitor Upgrades & Monitor Arm Number 2

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While I am happy with my new LCD Monitor arm purchase, I wasn't done with just that. The mounting of my Dell 23" LCD was the first part of a larger project I have had. For almost 2 years I have wanted to upgrade my main system setup with a bigger monitor. I first went the all in one computer route and got a 24" iMac in March. Even after I put all my problems with the iMac behind me (in the end it was working perfectly) I decided the all in one route wasn't what I wanted. So here I am at the same place I was almost 2 years ago. I want a bigger display. First my Mac laptop (Black 13" Macbook at the time) didn't support the 30" monitor.

Then the 13" aluminum Macbook came out and it did support the 30" display. Problem was the cable to make it work wasn't out. Then I waited since everyone said the 30" Apple display was getting refreshed (it didn't).

Then I went with the iMac. Well I just sold the iMac and am back to a laptop being my main machine. I am now running a 13" Macbook Pro. It can power a 30" LCD. At first I looked at 25" and 27" options. The 27" panels I saw didn't do very high resolution for 27". They only had 1920×1200 resolution. Not much better than the 23 & 24" panels I have used. I didn't want to go with the 30" since they were really pricey and every one of them had trade off's. I finally saw the HP 3065 had good reviews with two minor issues. One was that it was DVI only. That was almost a show stopper for me but I ended up not caring since HDMI and Display port might be getting big, but I figure there will still be adapters to DVI for the next few years (heck VGA is still around so I have good odds). The other was lack of adjustment of the display other than color but I don't typically do much adjusting beyond that. The price was expensive but much cheaper than the Dell or Apple alternatives so I went ahead and ordered one.

The reason for the quick action was because I had always said if the first monitor arm I got worked out I would get a second one. My desk is setup in an L configuration and I have two display setups, basically a work and personal setup. With my work setup finished I told myself I would finally decide on what to do with my personal setup. My major reservation has been the questionable reviews of the Mini Display Port to Dual Link DVI adapter Apple sells. Most but thankfully not all reviews say that the adapter is crap and makes thinks look like crap. The 1.02 firmware release of the adapter is supposed to be better but it is still a crap shoot. I didn't want to roll the dice but I finally broke down and am having faith the setup will work.

In order to hold such a large monitor I had to get a different monitor arm. This time I went with the Ergotron MX Desk Mount LCD Arm. Their sales people emailed me back pretty quick to answer my questions about weight and size panels so I went with the MX for the larger display. I am hoping that setup works out as well as the LX model I setup yesterday.

My new kit (monitor, arm, cables, etc) arrive later this week. I am hopeful it sets up without issues. When that is done I think my desk upgrades will be done. In the end I will have spent a ton of money, but as my dad says you can't take it with you and I do use everything for work. Working from home 2-3 days a week got me to think about having the best organized setup I could think of. Well that is how I rationalize it anyway. Photo's and a full breakdown of all the upgrades when everything is in place.

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Monitor Arm

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After pondering about buying one for months I finally broke down and bought an LCD monitor arm. Instead of buying one from the company that makes my desk I opted for a different model that seemed a lot better and much cheaper. Sorry Anthro, your desks may rock but I went with an Ergotron LX Desk Mount LCD Arm. I read a good review and picked one up on Amazon for $150 cheaper than I was going to pay with the solution from Anthro.

The arm was super easy to setup. Gotta love C Clamps. It took a few minutes to get the 100 x 100 VESA mount adapter on and the monitor mounted by myself but I had a bunch of practice at work so it wasn’t as bad as mounting the 19″ ones I had at work last month. Overall I am very happy with my purchase and the way the setup came out. It was well worth the money.

Monitor Arm Monitor Arm

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Sunday Migraine

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All in all it was a productive day yesterday and the crowds weren’t so bad. On the down side in the early evening after I wrote my post last night I got a sudden migraine. It was a bad one. I couldn’t even finish dinner. I ended up being able to get up for a little while a few hours later, but had to go lie down again quickly. I ended up sleeping it off and was fine this morning.

Sunday Shopping

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Today I didn’t listen to my better judgement and I went into Manhattan for some shopping. It is a big shopping weekend so I typically like to avoid the crazy crowds. I do have some stuff I need to get before my vacation so I decided to head out anyway. I first hit Macy’s to check out some luggage accessories. I need a few items before my trip. That Macy’s was a bust. I then headed over to see if my hair cut place was open for a quick cut. It was closed on Sunday.

I then headed to Paragon Sports looking for a computer bag. After much research this week I decided to look at a Timbuk2 Commute 2.0 Messanger bag a try. I really like my Tumi Messenger bag, but it is just too small to carry much more than my laptop and a few items. When traveling, or just going on day trips to the office in NJ I need to carry more stuff. The Tumi just wasn’t cutting it. My Swiss Army bag was big enough but just was too bulky and looked like a monstrous book bag. I heard good things about Timbuk2 before, and while checking out reviews I stumbled upon their site. Their messenger bags looked just as nice as the Swiss Army and Tumi ones I was checking out, and they were 1/3 the price of the Tumi ones. That is the thing with Tumi. I love my bag, and got it on sale and it was still $200. The slightly larger version of the same bag that probibly would have been perfect for me was $300. That is a lot for a bag. The Timbuk2 bag I settled on was less than $100.

So back to Paragon. They ended up having what I wanted but not in the right color. I then headed over to Tekserve who was supposed to carry the brand I was looking for. In the end they did have exactly what I wanted in the color I wanted so I picked one up. Saved me ordering online. I then hit up Best Buy since I am looking for a new monitor. That was a bust too. I then grabbed some Outback to go and headed home.

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