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I Finally Killed Off Google Doc’s

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I have finally succeeded in killing off any remaining documents i had hosted in my personal google account.  This action was a bit harder than i expected it would be.  I won’t go into further details on a public post due to security concerns however i am glad that I was able to go through and move everything i still needed and delete everything I didn’t need.  Exporting data was easy to an offline file but moving things that others still needed to collaborate on was a challenge and requires giving out new URL’s unless i was moving the document to someone else in the same google work domain.  I wasn’t doing that so it was challanging.

This milestone was one of the last I need before I can delete my remaining google app’s id that i used to use as my main account.  The last milestone may be the most difficult but that will be the topic of another post, Android Apps.

 

The challenges of Google Stickiness

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The biggest challenge I have seen with getting rid of my Google Account is that I don’t really want to get rid of it 100%.  I plan on getting rid of the account I have been using because it is the only way to delete some things.  For example i moved out my Google Voice number but all my call records and voice mail cannot be removed unless i manually delete them or if i delete the entire account.  With thousands of log entries and voice mail i won’t be doing any manual deletions so nuking my entire account is the only option.

Since i want to delete everything i will lose anything i cannot backup or move.  For example any purchased Android app’s and media I won’t be able to keep.  There is no way to transfer purchases.  I was smart and only bought one ebook from Google and never bought any music.  I continue to do that with Amazon MP3 just because the MP3 has no DRM and allows for me to keep using it even if i ever get rid of Amazon.  Google and Amazon for that matter tie your ebooks to the account you bought it with.  The one ebook isn’t an issue since i had already bought it on my amazon account due to issues with the google reader.  

My biggest challenge is all the Android app’s I have purchased. Over the years I may have spent $100 or so on apps. Many of them I do not even use anymore but on principle i am not pleased with having to give them all up because they are tied to other services that I don’t want. In the end I think I am going to bite the bullet and live without the apps, but I am not happy. I already setup a new Google ID just for registering Android devices and any App purchases. Going forward that will be my approach, dedicated accounts for specific services that I need/want to use. Right now all i think i need is something for Android and Youtube.

More Wireless in the Subway is Good

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This week I started noticing I was getting wireless signal on my phone in the stations in Queens on the way home from work. I was surprised since I hadn’t had that happen before. For several months if i wanted to check mail or sync something i knew i had to wait till 5th ave on the way in or 5th ave was the last chance i got till i got home on my return trip.

After a few days of curiosity I searched the internet and found that the MTA did announce new stations coming online this month. It was just challenging to find what stations. Once i found the list i confirmed that all the stations on my route home in Queens will get signal. That will be helpful to me when i am checking mail on my way into work each day. I have found that my commute is a good time to sort through all the mail from overnight and get quick responses back to people.

Of course the downside of signal in stations are people making calls. Data is great but having some clown talking loudly on the subway into their phone is not fun. Especially when they leave the station and there is the inevitable “hello, hello, can you hear me” when they drop the call. I guess progress has a price.

Family Photo Shoot

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Today I took the day off because we had an appointment for a photo shoot with the girls. We found a fantastic photographer (Amanda Saldarelli Photography) last year that we used for Teagan’s first year photos. We booked her again this year for a smaller session for photos we are going to use for our holiday photos. We went to the grounds of a museum near Great Neck. I didn’t even know that place existed but it was very nice backdrop for our photos. Thankfully Teagan survived the car drip without getting sick. The past month or so we have completed several trips without having to give her any medication so we have our fingers crossed that she is over her car sickness phase. As recently as our Maine trip in August she had trouble so we very happy she is doing well traveling.

Both girls were awake and in a good mood for the session. With two kids that young you have to be grateful for that. Besides Teagan running around a lot the session went well. We are hoping we got some really good photos.

Besides the photo session the day was generally uneventful day at home playing with the kids. It was nice to have a 3 day weekend.

A Mystery of Childhood I Won’t Solve

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Around Teagan’s first birthday my parents got her this easy chair with her name on it.  She also has a play kitchen set with utensils and wood food, etc that she loves and plays with all the time.  She has had the kitchen for over a year.  For at least a few months Teagan has been taking her play kitchen utensils and placing them on her lounge chair.  Today MC mentioned it, but we both know she has been doing it for a while.  MC doesn’t think she ever puts the fake forks and knives on the chair, just the ladle, spatula, etc.  I am not sure about that, but i do know she never puts other stuff like the food or pots on the chair.  It is not an every day occurrence but she has done this several times.  The chair is not even near the kitchen.  I would love to know why she is doing it but she can’t communicate well enough yet.  MC and I just have to scratch our heads and smile at this one!

What was once old is new again

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Back when I first started writing my blog over 11 years ago I did so using my scott.ac domain.  I was pleased with myself to have gotten a domain with just my first name.  Over the years I got too many questions about the .ac so i moved my online presence to other domains with the more traditional .com, .net, & .org.  Oh how I thought powerz.org was a cool sounding domain name back in 2000.

With my recent changes I decided to make with regards to my web & email hosting I took the time to change the domain I use once again.  This time back to scott.ac.  Now a days there are literally going to be thousands of new domain names out there.  I have bought a few myself.  I realized then that with so many new TLD’s I still have one of the easiest domains I will ever get.  So after that realization I went back to the domain name I have had the longest (since 1999, man I feel old).

My Feedburner feed will redirect to the new URL.  I will once again (i have done this a few times in the past) take the hit and lose my google rankings while the site gets reindexed.  I don’t really care about that.  I am still surprised I get traffic on this site.  I still enjoy writing even though i only just started writing again in recent weeks.

Of course I am a realist and I give myself 2 years before I decide to change things again.

A New Search Engine

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As a continuation of my previous discussion on my recent aversion to all things Google over the past month I have been moving my default search engine elsewhere.  I have been a fan of startpage.com.  I have heard from people I know that their search results are not nearly as good as google but they don’t log your searches so I made them my default search provider on my computers.  I do use Yahoo sometimes as an alternative to Google.  They may be close to Google in the data retention but the advise I got was they are a bit more transparent and better at fighting requests to hand over data.  That is purely opinion but the opinions of people I trust.

My Sudden Allergic Reaction to All Things Google

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I have recently had a technical dilemma.  I have been a user of many Google services over the years.  I have several Google Apps for Work domains.  I post private videos of my family on Youtube.  I have loved Google Voice long before Google owned it.  For most of the time I have used their services I have know there have been some questions about what they do with all the data collected.  From day one of Gmail you knew they were looking at your mail to give you ad’s.  At the time I brushed it off, especially since i didn’t really start using gmail for a few years after it came out.  After I did the lingering security questions were still there but because they provide services that really work well I didn’t question anything nor did I really care.  The cool aid was great.

The problem I am facing recently is I have read more specifically about what data Google collects and how long they store it.  Or rather how they don’t really say how long they store it.  There are many discussions on the topic, here, here, here, and many other places.  After reading a lot on the topic and talking with a few people I work with more knowledgeable on the subject than I am I decided the great user experience wan’t worth all I was giving them.

If was to move providers I needed first an email provider.  2nd I needed to stop using Google Voice.

Until very recently that was no small feat.  I didn’t want to rely on my mobile alone.  That is why I ported my mobile number to Google Voice in the first place.  Thankfully as good timing would have it the new IOS software offers wifi calling and handoff to computers for calls.  This is not nearly a replacement for google voice for me, but it made it easy to move back to one mobile for everything since as long as I had WIFI I know my number would work.  With my new iPhone 6 I would be able to solve my Google Voice dependency.  Next up of course is the bigger issue, my email hosting.  If just picking anyone I would have gone with Office 365 or some other cloud offering.  The problem was as I kept talking to people and reading more I have to say I wasn’t too happy with the US governments tactic’s on getting access to people’s accounts.  After that statement I know people are going to say if you don’t have anything to hide, why would you worry.  Well I don’t have anything to hide, but that’s not the point.  I would rather not know my government could relatively easily get access to my stuff with a court order that apparently happens more often than you would like.  I don’t think I am being paranoid guy about this.  To me it feels more like ignorance is bliss.  Since I do know how creepy stuff is apparently now a days I don’t just want to leave Google mail I want to ensure my data is safe where ever i put it.

I thought about my own server.  I just don’t want to deal with it.  The super secure Swiss email hosting provider was too expensive.  I opted for a well known general web hosting provider in Switzerland were data privacy laws are much more strict than in the US.

Next up for me is to goto the T-Moble store and port my number.  After that it is lots of mail copying to my new provider.

NATO Strap

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A few weeks ago I decided to try getting a new strap for my watch. I am thinking of a new watch and what I want to get has a heavy band. Looking on Pinterest I noticed that the NATO strap with a nice watch actually looks good and is considered pretty stylish. I was originally skeptical, but after my research i was sold on the idea. My Omega X-33 watch’s band is wearing pretty badly since it is titanium so I decided to try getting a NATO strap it as a test to see if I would like it. I went for a black and grey stripped combo.

I ordered 2 bands since the first cheaper one I got was crap and I didn’t even want to try putting it on the watch. Once I got the 2nd band I had to find time to goto the Omega store to get them to make the change for me. I wasn’t going to attempt that myself. Today I found time to get over to the store. Thankfully it was a 5 minute change. I think it looks good. I need to use it for a while to see if I like it better than the traditional metal band.

Last Day in London

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Today was my last day in London. As I write this i am on my flight home. As with most business trips the last day always seems like I should have gone home the day earlier. It is just because I am tired and home sick but it is still not easier. My 2nd workshop was very worthwhile so i am glad i had the opportunity to stay.

Thankfully the tubes weren’t striking and the workshop ended a bit early so i had plenty of time to take the tubes to Paddington and then catch the Heathrow Express. I traveled to the airport with Mark who was also headed that way. Since we work in two different continents we only get limited amounts of time to meet in person so the travel time was good to catch up on some stuff.

I can’t wait to get home to see MC and the kids. I hope Teagan is feeling better. I just want to give both of them big hugs! Until then I have to be happy that the flight is not packed. It was empty enough that I was able to move up a row to the middle of a bulkhead row. I now have enough leg room to put my feet up and barely touch the bulkhead in front of me. There is only one guy on the aisle and me in a row of 4. Since the aisle arm rests apparently do not move in the bulkhead row to accommodate the tray tables i am in the middle two seats able to sprawl out. Now if this guy in my row would stop coughing and not covering his mouth all would be good.