Category Archives: Rant


Rant

West Coast vs East Coast

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Occasionally I get asked if I miss the east coast.

I miss my family and my friends. I used to miss some of the food, but that’s been easier to get over lately. Virace (Ballard) and Pallino’s (Redmond) pizza is on par with New York pizza. Machiavelli’s (Capitol Hill), Vince’s (Renton,) and Pasta Bella (Queen Anne) have good Italian and I’ve been quietly perfecting my own pizza and red sauce over the last six months. Sure, I miss Dunkin’ Donuts, but I’ve found that a regular cup of drip coffee with Cremora (or whipping cream) fills the niche. Not to mention all of the west coast only things: Vivace coffee (Seattle) and all of the Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese food that spans from Chinatown to Redmond and back again. Sure, some Asian fusion places have caught on in some part of Connecticut and there’s other pockets of cuisine in New York City, but it can’t compare…

Ultimately, it’s when I look at Facebook on days like today – when two-thirds of my friends list has a weather related complaints – that I know I don’t miss the east coast. We had some traffic issues in my area today… we had around an inch of snow that had melted by 10am. Connecticut got 30 inches. On top of the 18 inches they picked up a couple of weeks ago that haven’t melted yet.

*snort*

Was there a question there, really?

Rant

My Weekend With A Windows Phone 7

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I’ve had what could be called a “smart” phone since around 1999, when I worked for a wireless ISV that wanted to make data available to any device at any time, be it a desktop screen phone, voice-read data calls, PC’s, or to uber-small black and white mobile phone screens… yes, hearing people talk about multiple screens and clouds is not a new concept. Sorta like how Facebook is a glorified BBS from the 80’s.

Anyway, since 1999, I tooled around with HDML, WML, skipped the Handspring phone and the Pocket PC Phone, and eventually fell in love the non-touchscreen Windows Mobile 5 because I hated having to use a stylus… when the v1 iPhone hit, it took me a while to get past using the on-screen keyboard – and having to re-learn how to TXT – but I eventually got there and have stayed through to my current iPhone 4. I’ve been around the block more than a few times with devices and have watched them get better with each generation.

This weekend, I pulled my SIM from my iPhone, put it into a Windows Phone 7 Samsung and spent the entire weekend without an Apple product in my pocket.
Continue reading My Weekend With A Windows Phone 7 →

Rant

Features We Lack Due To Stupid Decisions

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This ended up being a longer list than I expected it to, but I felt it needed to keep it going… you see, there’s a bunch of devices that I own and use on a regular basis that are good. Really good. Good enough that I would recommend them to other people. But most of them have one or two irksome things that hold the device from being a great device. It’s usually some missing feature that you look at the thing and say “why can’t they do that?” For me, I ask “why don’t they do that?” because, after writing software for two decades, I know that most anything is possible even on new mobile devices. For me, it’s not a question of can but it’s a question of will and there’s almost always a CEO saying “It’s better this way, so we aren’t going to change it” rather than sucking it up and giving the public what they want.

And thus begins the list of shame.
Continue reading Features We Lack Due To Stupid Decisions →

Rant

Hurricane Earl

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Oh, look: there’s a storm brewing in the Caribbean… tons of news stories, four full days of warning, and lo! likely not a piece of bread or bottle of water to be found on a shelf from Miami to Bangor. Me, I’m waiting for “Will this storm be another Katrina?” My answer? No, because the people that are in danger of the storm will prepare for it, unlike the residents of The Big Easy years ago.

Same weather – different storm.
Continue reading Hurricane Earl →

Rant

One for Heaven, One for Hell?

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The Voice of God and The Boss both pass in the same week? The Yankees aren’t going to have enough room for the black arm bands for both of these giants… I hope there’s enough room in Monument Park for another plaque for Steinbrenner, because he needs to be in there. Plain and simple.

As the Voice of God, we can be sure Sheppard is going up; as a teacher for years, as well as PA announcer for the Yankees and Giants, he’ll have a space reserved. The question then is where would you put George, after all those years of iron rule, strife, drama, and chaos? After all, the man did hire and fire Billy Martin until he died. Drove an unflappable Torre all the way to the west coast… yet seven World Series rings and eleven Pennants in 37 years?

God is a proven Yankees fan: George should be talking to Captain #9 about how to beast catch a game while wearing wings right about now.

Rant

Apple Can Suck My Left …Toe

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Having been to the gym more often these days, this is no idle thread.

I did not pre-order an iPhone today. I planned to. I wanted to. In fact, there’s nothing more irritating than trying to give someone money for a product and you have to jump through hoops before they let you. As you can guess, AT&T got involved in the transaction. It’s easy to be pissed at AT&T but I’m even more enraged that Apple continues to stick with the most inefficient wireless carrier in the states. They are to the wireless industry what the New York Knicks are [currently] to the NBA. About as useful as teets on a bull.

Here’s how today went.
Continue reading Apple Can Suck My Left …Toe →

Rant

Turning The Page

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Right now I’m caught in the middle of the announcement of iOS 4 and the coming E3 conference. Yes, I’m currently living two of the busier times of my work-year. The build-up to E3 is only matched by the build-up to the holiday season every year. The iOS stuff comes at a time when I’m jonesing for new hardware while still debating picking up and iPad; that bit will last most of the summer. Along side all of that, Office 2010 pops onto shelves this month next to about four different games that have raised at least one of my eyebrows, if not both. And running parallel to all of that, the patriarch of my Mom’s side of my family has been laid to rest in CT, while I’m in WA. Long life, lots of family and friends, and has been popping all over the world over the last decade or two. A good run, I’d say, but since we lost my maternal grandparents so early on, he’s been the root of our family tree for as long as I can remember. Ask any family member about something that happened in the past – last century or last week – and they all start with “Well, let’s see. Junior was born in 31…” Yes, 1931. Yes, he was called Uncle Junior. And yes, he was my godfather. Any references to The Sopranos is strictly coincidental.

Perspective is sometimes… harder than it needs to be.

Rant

One Way Or Another

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Download Squad: But… I wonder if Google spoke to Microsoft before publicly decrying and defaming the state of Windows security — this is libel. This is yet another example of Microsoft unduly paying the price for old installations of Windows and Internet Explorer 6 — something the CIO at Google should be held accountable for, not Microsoft. […] And finally, what if Microsoft turned the tables on Google and simply banned you from searching it on Windows computers? What if ‘google.com’ was redirected to ‘bing.com’?

The same reason why Apple can ship OSX to Europe with a Mail, Chat, Browser, and Media Player right out of the box: there’s a set of rules for one company that doesn’t apply to all.

It hasn’t been a two way street for more years than I can remember.