It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned my Apple on this site… that’s mostly because my G4 has been sitting mostly unused for a while. As you may remember, a few months ago I threw about $800 into a G4/450MHz tower, in an effort to see what all the hub-bub about OS X was. I’ve still got it running and I keep it up to date; it’s now running OS X 10.2.3 and even the recent updates to Office.X and the “I” line of Apple software. The problem is that I can’t seem to pull the “Switch” trigger.
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All posts by Randy
Home Improvements
Over the last week of my vacation, I decided that it was high time to start another home project. Over the past year I’ve done some very minor projects, like painting a wall with some of that suede paint from Ralph Lauren, building some bookcases for my second bedroom, and changing a bathroom faucet. You have to have known me for a while to see the humor in such things, I guess, but I can tell you this much: I’m useless for home improvements. I have some sort of mental deficiency when it comes to things of a biological nature (don’t even attempt to ask me what any of the medication I take is called or what it does; I just do what I’m told) and of a home improvement nature (I had to call my support group of friends to perform surgery on the bathroom faucet.) I can build you a computer in under an hour However, given that I own my place (or at least the first four payments of it after this round of refinancing) I do try to do what little things I can.
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On the 3.14th Day of Christmas…
I must get soppy this time of the year. I mean with all the holiday well wishing and the Peppermint Mocha at Starbucks – it’s a most lovely time of the year! It’s the constant well wishing that is the most touching to me, especially in the capitalistic environment of the US. It’s getting harder and harder to keep our good cheer when you have to combat the mall hordes and trudge around in occasionally snow covered parking lots. Having seen the decorations for months now, you’re almost tired of mistletoe and candles… and then the constant bombardment of ads and overtures to get your gift giving dollar… never mind that the Sunday paper in December jumps up in weight by about five pounds, due to the increase circulars… no, it’s getting very hard to keep in mind the whole point of the holidays and the good will towards your fellow humans.
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Kick Me
So why read this book? Simply put, it’s pretty freakin’ funny. It’s a collection of short “stories” from Feig’s adolescence – I’m saying “stories” since some of the episodes last only a couple of pages, but it’s definitely a collection of stories in the single volume. Now, I’m not a regular reader of anthologies – I’m more of a novels guy – but this book is well worth the read. I’m not sure if it’s because we shared some similar experiences while growing up or just more of the humor that each of the stories has, but I found myself holding back laughter during my commute, which is an unprecedented thing.
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Update on the S105
I’ve had the S105 for a couple of months now and one of things that it has not been able to do is download MIDLets. MIDLets are phone based applications, written in Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME), that are downloaded over-the-air to your phone and stored there. They are typically games or other types of utilities, and are typically more robust applications, when compared to WAP web sites. Most of the phones that I’ve worked with (including Motorola’s T720, i90c, i95cL, Nokia’s 7210, etc.) have all allowed downloading without issues. The inability to download MIDLets to the S105 has been blamed on manufacturer, network, and software version – at the end of the day, it was simply the network and T-Mobile has been attempting to address this.
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My Life as a Parking Criminal
The Milford station (of the MetroNorth commuter rail) has been under construction for what must be over a year now. They’ve actually made some pretty good progress on the station, but since no one knows what they’re planning to do, it’s hard to say when it will all be done. They have put Lot 2 back together somewhat – people can park there again! They’ve also put back some of the spaces in Lot 1, mostly by keeping the construction vehicles out of the way. They’ve also created some confusion about parking, which is where my Rant starts.
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Freedom of Rant
I’ve sometimes wondered that if our founding fathers were given a chance to look at America 250 years from their own time, would they continue to form a new nation or would they return to the farmer’s life that they were living before 1770 and avoid the mess that we’ve sometimes made of ourselves? I do think it would make for a decent movie, or at least a Sci-Fi Channel mini-series or something. It makes me wonder anyway. Given the difference in the time periods of the late 1700’s and the current early 2000’s, how could the same government function?
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Goo Goo Dolls: Gutterflower
A bit late of a “review” but I’ve gotta tell ya just the same… “Gutterflower”, by the Goo Goo Dolls has been a pretty good listen. Here’s the rule of thumb I used for these guys: If you like any of their singles and/or their last couple of CD’s (“Dizzy Up The Girl” or “A Boy Named Goo”) then you’re poised to like this one as well. There’s nothing earth shattering for them on this album but it’s definitely a solid release. What the hell does that mean? Simply put: I like the Goo Goo’s and this CD was not a surprise to me – it’s the same sound that they’ve had all this time and since I’ve liked it from the beginning, I’m pleased with the latest… if you’re a fan, you probably already have this, but if you haven’t gotten a chance to get it yet, ask Mr. Hanky for one this holiday season! Just a quick “what’s on the iPod today” review!
Thank You, Drive Thru… Psyche!
So, there I was, sitting in a McDonald’s parking lot. I had just pulled in and was about to go through the Drive Thru, when I noticed that there were already about five cars waiting in line there – screw that! I’d rather take my gelatinous ass in for a walk, however cold it is out, and go wait at the front counter. See, an empty Drive Thru is a good thing – they are forced to finish waiting on you before they can be rid of you. Your the first one in line and no one can come from behind, and take your store supplied knave away from you, until you are done with’m and drive away!
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Gobble Gobble Gobble
Happy Post-Thanksgiving-Day-Break. Or something like that. As it should be obvious by now, I’ve taken the week of Thanksgiving to be as far away from computers as possible, hence there were no new posts to the site… and now that it’s Monday, I’m sitting on a train, just like always. Well, almost “like always”. The 7:25 Express train was delayed. Made for a nice oxymoron, given that I’m sitting aboard a delayed express – sorta like the motto for Amtrak.
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The Morning Paper…
People sometimes ask me “How do you keep up with new technology?” and seem surprised when I reply “I read web sites.” How can they be surprised? I mean web sites are easy to publish and most of the ones that I choose to read update on an daily, if not hourly, basis… there’s no printing involved, no time to market – you change a file on a server and *bam* the page is instantly available. Maybe it’s what I read that’s key…
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Fear and Responsibility
My last few Rants have been either of Geek nature or just small, little things, and I think I know why… see, there’s a been a stone in my shoe for some time now, and I think it’s taken me this long to formulate my thoughts enough to share them. It came into my mind a bit when the DC Sniper was roaming around the DelMar peninsula, but I’ve since realized that it’s more than that. I realized this while I was watching the news this morning and the reporter was talking about how some guy, who shot at an abortion clinic worker and accidentally killed him, wanted to vie for an insanity plea. Add to that the story about some other guy that shot a bunch of people at a Wendy’s, while trying to steal their stealing money, and now protesters are fighting for him and against the death penalty… and the Rant firmed up well in my mind… Responsibility.
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HOT Doughnuts NOW
Day 2, A.K. – On this, the second day After KKD opened, I find representatives of two of the few companies making me money in the stock market, while in the local coffee house. Cosmic? Not really – just good timing is all. The guy with KKD had come up to help open the new Milford store; even though it is a franchised place, they have “helpers” that do this for a living, just like most chain companies. While talking to the guy, I learned that the store, while packed yesterday, wasn’t as busy today… only a few people in line at a time.
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A Geek in Review
There’s been a couple of changes in my digital toy box, so I thought I’d do an “update” of sorts: Samsung S105, Pentium 4 2.53GHz, Toshiba e740, Y’z Dock, Sony DCR-TRV25.
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It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!
Christmas season? When isn’t it Christmas season is the better question: the stores start putting their decorations up in September (true story! they started in the end of September this year!) and have their projections made long before Halloween. This means that The Season is now Halloween to New Year’s Day – people will bitch and moan about “how things were different when!” and fight it in their own homes, but it’s already a fact. Besides, who can withstand the marketing machines of American retailers? I know can’t. And I know for a fact that everyone of you out there has at least one Ronco “As Seen On TV” product somewhere in your house right now! I’m even willing to give you 100 to 1 odds that it has got something to do with exercise. We’re all victims of the Marketing Machines – besides, Ronco products make a shit load of sense on the TV shopping channels at 3:30am.
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