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Mikey Pizano

April 16, 2008

Went a few places today. My mom got a new mouse and I took the old one. She got a VX revolution like me and my dad have. The one she had before is a MX600 series. I am not sure of the number though but I think its 630. Its a laser mouse.

I didn't play Oblivion much today. I am getting a little sick of playing games for the time being. I am taking a break. I have some other stuff to work on. I have the new site to code and I want to work on that C++ game again but I am going to start over and make a funny game instead of a serious one.

I had hot dogs for dinner today. These were just plain ones that weren't spicy this time. They were still good though. I wanted the ones with cheese inside but they didn't have them at store. The weather was really nice today at 66. It is going to be in the 70s for the next 3 days too!

April15, 2008

Well here is some good news. I did the update on the T20 last night and now Pidgin is working fine. This means that the ThinkPad is a lot more useful now. I did go back to my Acer last night so I could have a bit faster computer for Youtube since the Vaio stutters.

I also played a lot of Oblivion today. I have been gathering stuff to sell and make potions with so I can raise up my money. I have not really been doing much on the lines of quests though since I am just playing to kill time mostly.

The weather was really nice today compared to yesterday. It was 55 and very sunny today. It is going to be 64 and sunny tomorrow too. Supper today was boneless pork chops breaded and fried, with green bean casserole. I like mine with extra onions but that ends up getting me back later.

April 14, 2008

This is day 2 of using Linux 100 percent. I am, however, having a small problem with Pidgin on my ThinkPad. It keeps running slow. I don't know why and I may end up doing the upgrade to 8.04 early and see if that helps.

I love playing PS3 in my room but the one annoying thing is that I have to switch to a laptop since I use the Vaio with the TV for the monitor. It will be nice when I get the mini and get that loud Vaio out of my room.

Supper was chicken fingers and French fries today. The temperature was a little cold again. It is going to be 56 again tomorrow though. I can't wait until it is a steady 60+ since thats means its close to summer and the grass needs to be cut and I get money!

April 13, 2008

I have some BIG announcements I would like to make. These announcements may shock you so I want to make sure you are all sitting down!

The first is a pretty big one but probably the smallest. I installed Ubuntu on my T20 again. This is going to kick off what I like to call Phase 1 of the master plan. This, along with the Vaio running Ubuntu, make up my transition away form Windows.

The Acer will be followed up once I am confident that I do not need Windows XP at all anymore. This is also being held off because of the annoying WiFi problems that I always have with it. It is undecided when I will actually switch the Acer to Ubuntu.

Phase 2 is a big one. I am getting an Averatec 1020 from a very good friend. (If your reading this, you know who you are!) I do not know when he will be sending it out so thus I am unsure when I will get it. This will be a Ubuntu only computer as I have checked around and it will support it 100%. Be on the look out for a review soon.

Phase 3 is the HUGE shocker. I was talking with my good friend last night and he said I may be getting an older Mac Mini. Its a core duo model with 1.25GB of RAM. Now its a long story so I will tell you the short version. When he gets his new Mac Pro, he will go down the hand me down ladder to the relative who has the old Mac Mini. He is going to try to get the Mini for me.

Phase 3.5 will be taking down the Vaio completely. This will leave only the Mac Mini, Averatec 1020, Acer and T20 as my available computers. Phase 3.5.5 will be narrowing it down to Acer, Mini, and Averatec as the only set up computers with possibly removing the Acer from the setup.

Of course everyone reading this is probably stunned by now. I want to thank my good friend for trying to convert me to Apple. I know I have hated on Apple in the past but I have always wanted to try OS X. I never hated the software, just that the hardware is usually way out of my range.

This is a less shocking announcement but still important. I will be going BACK to 110MB hosting. The early readers of my site will remember that I left because they had decided to take away MySQL and I had a small forum at the time. Well now I am going back since I miss the freedom that a site allows me. I will be coding this completely different that will make adding new pages a breeze for me.

Now, like the 2 computers coming soon. I have no idea when this will actually go through fully. For the time being, all entries will be posted here. When I am finished with the site, you will see a post here that says its ready and to hop over to the new page. Once again, until I post a entry saying that the blog has moved, it will be here.

I really wanted to keep the 2 computers under wraps until I got each one but I just had to announce it today with the other announcements. I know that me getting an Apple product is a real surprise. It came as a shock to even me.

Supper today was meatloaf for a change. I haven't had it in a pretty long time. It was really good today. My dad makes it with some ham and a hard boiled egg in the center. The weather was kind of chilly today and will be 47 again tomorrow.

I want to end todays entry with a special thank you to my very good friend who is giving me the computers.

April 12, 2008

Today was a fun day. We spent the day out shopping. It was so nice today too. It is going to be cold tomorrow though and they say we may even see some snow showers on Monday. I am pretty tired today. I didn't get to play Oblivion though.

Supper today was chicken wings and pizza from Pizza Perfect. They have some of the best food really. The wings are different then most. The mild are great and have very little burn. The pizza is "Old Forge" style. This is a local thing though. Its really crispy on the bottom and has white cheddar cheese on it.

April 11, 2008

Well, I didn't do much today but I am addicted to Oblivion again for sure. I started to gather ingredients to make potions to sell for some gold so I can raise up my money and I have to say, I enjoy doing this as much as just playing the game. Its good that you pretty much wonder endlessly and explore the caves you find. You really have to love games that don't have a linear order to them.

The weather today was warm and we didn't get that rain until later in the day. No thunder at all! I am kind of disappointed since I wanted a nice storm for a change. The grass is starting to grow and may need a cutting by next weekend I hope. Its going to be 66 tomorrow! We had tacos for supper today, nothing fancy.

April 9, 2008

I started to play Oblivion again. This is going to keep me busy now. I still need to finish Disgaea and Crisis Core though. I will end up going back to them again soon though. I like to switch off sometimes so I can have something different to play. They are all different types of games.

The weather was pretty warm again today. We are going to have it in the 60s again tomorrow with thunder showers! Got to love that! The one thing we don't need more of is rain! Supper today was chicken picatta from Sams club my Michael Anglos.

April 8, 2008

Today was a great day. I got a new hair cut finally. I hate having long thick hair! It is really frustrating in the summer. I even got Adblock Plus to work on Firefox 3!!! Also picked up a pair of sandals too since they were cheap. Sent out my iPaq again so its on its way to Florida again.

I also have some really good news. I am back on Linux again. Now this is a permanent Linux computer. I took my old Vaio, which was the server before I took it down, and tossed Ubuntu on it. The best thing is it can run all the fun desktop effects! I am using my TV as an LCD.

I saw the DualShock3 controller at Wal-Mart today for 50 bucks. I was going to buy it but I don't need a second controller yet and I would rather save the 50 bucks for something more useful. The only thing it really adds is rumble anyway.

The weather was beautiful today! It was in the 60s again. It's going to be 65 tomorrow! I has steak on the grill and a salad today. I had some steak dust on mine. Funny the one thing the stuff is for, we have never used it on till now.

April 8, 2008

Well, I have some good news. My TV came back and I have the Vaio hooked up now. The only problem is the screen resolutions don’t want to line up right. I will have to mess with it later on. The best thing is that I can play PS3 in my room now.

The weather was warm enough that I am wearing shorts and a t-shirt tonight. My allergies seem to be acting up. The pollen count is high today. It is going to be 60 again tomorrow. I had Salisbury steak patty with steak dust and a baked potato for supper.

April 7, 2008

Well, this is good. The box came so I can send the iPaq out yet again. I really hope that they actually fix it this time. I have been waiting a long time now. If they don't fix it, I will just have to call them up and complain I guess…

Supper today was chicken stew. The way it was made was with tomato sauce. I am not to sure if this is normal or not. The weather was pretty nice today and will be again tomorrow. Its going to be 58 tomorrow. Now that my RC car is out of order it gets nice huh?

April 6, 2008

I didn't do what I had planned today with the RC car. I was going to but I just didn't feel like it. I also decided to wait on that Apple rant for some time. I just am not in much mood to rant today. It will come soon though. I went to Best Buy and asked about my TV. They said its on the way back to the store!

Supper was pasta today. Pasta is nothing really special but good none the less right? The temperature will be 51 again tomorrow. This means that the grass will start growing again soon and I can make some money again! RC doesn't pay for itself!

April 5, 2008

Well today was a fun day. We went to go pick up two new chinchillas. The trip was a short one really at only 90 minutes each way. Needless to say this is a LONG entry today. Enjoy the rant. This entry will have an update on the chinchilla outcome at the END.

One thing that annoyed me lately is the Adblock Plus doesn't work on Firefox 3 Beta 5. Now, it is sort of expected that stuff wouldn't work but I had it working fine on Beta 3 and Beta 4. Beta 5 is the final beta release and the full release will be coming sometime in June. They may even get it working before the full release.

Now, what is annoying me is not the Adblock Plus won't work yet. What is annoying me however is that all these ads really slow down the computer! Now, maybe using a Pentium 3 750MHZ ThinkPad isn't really that good of an idea to begin with, but I would hate to throw out a working computer! I know that all these ungodly annoying ads are what PAYS for most of the websites we get, but they have got to go!

I have only 384MB of RAM on this T20 but I can run Office 2007, Visual Studio 2008 Professional, and Windows XP just fine. These don't slow down the computer nearly as much as Firefox does! Is Firefox to blame here? Absolutely not. Now I do not mind ads on a site but FLASH ads are murder.

If an ad was a simple static PNG or JPG its not nearly as much of an impact on people who use an older computer. Just try loading Engadget on something like my T20. Now as someone who uses an older computer quite a lot, I think I speak for a lot of people here who have no reason to upgrade.

The worst ads however are these ones that TALK. These, and all sounds on the computer, for some reason go over Windows Media Player 11. Now I use this a lot so I can listen to music on my Acer instead of using my Walkman like I am now as I write this in the back seat of a 2003 Ford Focus. This is one reason I will not go to a site like Freeware PPC or Palm without an Adblock installed. I do not car if I "won" two "free" iPods or an Xbox 360.

Now this rant is not just about flash ads annoying me to death. Its also about other stuff like why we need to stop neglecting older computers. Now I know I probably sound like an old man complaining that the old days were better. The thing is however that some older technology was better. Now I don't mean we should all drop a 3.2GHZ 8 core Mac Pro for a Pentium 1. I am talking about stuff like the ThinkPad line for example.

The best thing about an older ThinkPad is that these things are like tanks. I can use my T20 and not worry is something is going to break anytime soon. Sure my older 570 needs new hinges but it still works. The build quality on these older ones is simply amazing.

Look at taking it apart for example. IBM and now, Lenovo, provide a full hardware maintenance manual online. This even tells you the part numbers and how to replace them. If you have a broken keyboard, all you need is a new one. Its easy to replace for even an average user. This is something a lot of companies should work on. I would rather get a part and replace it myself then send it in for service. When you need to send your computer in, you are without it for a few weeks.

Now, sometimes older technology is nice but kind of pointless to use right? I mean who wants to use an old Macintosh 128k? Well, I should say it more like this" Who, besides the die hard Macintosh fans, would want to use an old Macintosh 128k?" right? There is a limit on old technology to me. While it may be fun to mess with something old like that, its not very useful.

One of these things that I love the form factor of is the Handheld PC line. These were pretty much a mutated offspring of a Laptop computer and a PDA. These can, however, be made quite useful if they made a little change here and there. Here is my proposed "Bloggers PDA" device.

Now, there is a device which we will use the basis from. This is the MobilePro 880 by NEC. Very similar to my 780 but with a 9.4" square 800x600 LCD. So, we will take the form factor of this including size. Now there is some stuff around the screen so lets up the size to 10" since I think it would fit. Also, replace the old DTSN screen with a newer and much nicer TFT. Lets also replace the CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent light) backlight with a nice LED backlight.

The next set of changes I would make is to use a faster 624MHZ XScale processor to speed it up. Lets also add some software that could use dynamic scaling to make it more power efficient. Lets also add a nice big LiPo (lithium Polymer) battery for a good battery life. Lets shoot for at the least 6 hours. This would be user replaceable, unlike a certain 1800 dollar base model MacBook Air.

Next, we will add a TrackPoint while retaining the touch screen. This would make it a bit more easy to use. This means that you don't need to pick up the stylus all the time. The dual pointing methods could also include a touchpad for wider range of user preferences like the IBM ThinkPads have now with the UltraNav system.

Now I did say this would be aimed at the blog user. So we will need a nice sized memory right? How does 4GB of internal flash sound? This may not seem like much at first but consider that it would also have CF, SD, and a PCMCIA CardBus slot. The CF slot would be a Type II and the CardBus slot a Type III. Why a Type III if most cards are Type II? A Type III slot will allow the use of two Type II cards at once.

Now, as this is being aimed at people on the move, we are going to need some sort of wireless communications right? Well, There would be 3 models of the device. One would be standard with WiFI G and Bluetooth. Thn you have the GSM and CDMA models which will have a cell phone in them with 3G speeds. Why 3 models? Not everyone wants the phone part so it would be something that could be removed easily or added later on if the user so chooses.

Now, of course we are going to need some good software right? Now we know XP will not run on a ARM based processor like the XScale. This means we will need to go with Windows CE or Linux. I personally vote for Windows CE. Now, on its own, Windows CE is not perfect so it will need some changes. Keeping Windows CE as the core, it needs a new name right? I was thinking something along the lines of Windows Portable Edition. I shall call this Windows PE from now on.

Windows PE would need to have some good features for a blogger right? Of course, a word processor is needed. The new word processor software would be based on Word 2007. This could be called Office Mini 2007. It would also have a "Publish to Blog" button of course. We also would have the full suite of basic office software since there will be other people who want this.

It would have a Mini edition of Windows Media Player 11 also for music and video playback needs. Now since we are dealing with a device with only 4GB of internal memory, which will be shared with software, we would need to use a codec for audio and video that takes up a smaller space as possible.

It would also have a decent browser such as FireFox 3 or Internet Explorer 7 to provide full internet including stuff like YouTube and flash games. There would also be a full Instant Messenger, SMS, and Email suite for communicating with friends. The instant messenger would be Pidgin of course. Now, since we have a full internet browser we will need to have an option for an external mouse right?

The device would have full USB 2.0 host and 2 ports. These would have full power so you can charge your MP3 player or cell phone over the battery if you so wish. There would also be a docking port on the bottom so you can add 4 more USB ports, LAN and VGA ports and a DVD RW drive. There would also be a second extended battery on this base. The base would be sold as an add on to keep costs low.

So there you have it, a PDA made for bloggers and normal people! Now, I know not many people would but this since PDA users are starting to become a technological minority lately with cell phone PDA users becoming a stronger force. I still like the classic PDA, sorry. I just don't see much need to cross the two together.

I wanted to do a rant about living in a world dominated by Apple but this entry is already quite big. Its almost 4 pages at this point and an anti Apple rant would probably add 3 more since we all know how much I can't stand Apple. I guess I could include it in tomorrows entry or another day maybe.

Now I would like to do some more normal blog stuff. I really love those noise canceling Sony headphones that I got for 40 bucks at RadioShack! They are pretty much perfect for car trips since I can use them to block out most everything. They also sound really good too. They are one pair of headphones that have good bass. It really is true that you get what you pay for an all.

I really am a Sony fan. When I look at all the Sony stuff I have, I need to laugh. I have had a PS1, PS2, PS3, and PSP. I do have a Vaio desktop but not a laptop. I have 3 Clies and a lot of stuff for them that is Sony branded. I also have a NetMD and a Walkman MP3 and CD player. I use Sony headphones most of the time. I just need a Vaio laptop and a Bravia TV!

Speaking of TV… It will be 2 weeks Wednesday since I sent mine in to get fixed. I really hope to have it back soon since I want to use it as a monitor for that old Vaio. I decided to put the XP hard drive back into the ThinkPad since I will get my TV back soon. I can't say this on a forum because I would probably be killed but I will say it here.

I see Linux to be more of a hobby then an operating system. Sure you CAN get along without using Windows but no matter what, you need Windows for something in my opinion. Sure you can use different software but I always end up missing XP for some reason or another. I like to play with Linux but I don't think I could use only Linux. Linux just isn't really there yet in terms of user friendliness and hardware drivers. Maybe in a few years Linux will be the dominating operating system but I think Windows is here to stay!

Okay here is the chinchilla update. We ended up with 4 instead of the planned 2. We got a good deal though. So, here is the color and name list. I will take pictures when they settle in more.
Girl:
Kiki: light tan
Candy: beige
Boy:
Chilly: black ebony
ChinLee: dark tan

We had McDonalds for supper since we didn't have time to really eat with the whole chinchilla pickup thing. We also needed to get a second cage since we didn't count on getting 4! I will do the full teardown on the buggy tomorrow. The weather will be in the 50s.

April 4, 2008

Today was a wet day. It rained all day. I really am sick of this weather. I am still planning on dismantling the car this weekend. I have been thinking of spending a little more on the car then I expected to though. I need to get a new body and tires soon so I may get them early.

I haven't been working on that game much since I decided to take a little break to play Crisis Core. I really am enjoying this game and I hope to finish the main story soon. I am going to play it twice though so I can get all the missions done.

I had hamburgers for supper today with French fries. They were the Angus beef ones from Sams club. These are pretty good. They are seasoned so they taste a lot better then most. The weather tomorrow is going to be a nice 53 and cloudy. Too bad my buggy doesn't work since its going to be nice.

April 3, 2008

I got a call from CyberTech today. I will be getting a box in a few days to send it back again. I hope it comes back fixed this time. I am getting a little annoyed with this thing. This will be the second time I am sending it in. After 3 times though, it gets replaced.

I also decided to Ubuntu my ThinkPad T20. I swapped out the 40GB 5400RPM drive for the spare 80GB 4200RPM drive I had. I installed the updates for 8.04 LTS. I shall see how it runs. I may even install it on the Acer if all goes well. Though I will probably wait for 8.04 to be released fully before I put it on the Acer.

I will be taking apart the buggy this weekend to inspect everything. I am thinking of ordering differential oil to use instead of the stock grease. The differential oil will give it better traction since it won't spin out the differentials too much. A friend suggested I got 5000 weight all around.

Supper today was chicken fried steak. It was okay. I thought it was a little on the peppery side personally. Weather today was kind of chilly. We are getting rain tonight into tomorrow. Going to be 47 with about and inch and a half of rain.

April 2, 2008

I had some problems today. I took out the RC again. The one way is still slipping but I did fix it a little. I got it to start today and took a walk to the park up the road. The car was running great and I was doing a lot of high speed runs. All was going well until I clipped a plastic barrier that they put up. It was only a few inches tall bit it broke the upper arm on the one side.

What annoys me is not that the car broke but how it broke. The piece of the arm that broke was the turn buckle, a metal rod with threads, not the plastic of the arm. Right before this happened. I started to hear a clicking noise. This means that one of the ring or pinion gears on the differential are going to strip soon.

I will have to take the car apart this weekend and start cleaning it good. This lets me inspect the gears to see if they are stripping. The best way to clean the car of course is to totally take it apart. I need to mix up some cleaner though. I use Purple Power from Wal-Mart since its cheap and works well.

Supper today was fried chicken and French fries. My dad makes really good fried chicken but its really basic. Its just breaded with seasoned bread crumbs and fried on the stove. I really love it on a sandwich. The best thing is that when my dad makes it we have enough left over for a few cold sandwiches! The weather today wasn't bad. It will be 54 tomorrow and rain at night.

April 1, 2008

Well, Cyber Tech gave me a call today. They are trying to tell me that it is a software problem and that I need to do a full drain on the battery, hard reset, and call them back. If that doesn't fix it, I will get another box in the mail. This is getting kind of annoying.

I was thinking of making an April fools post as a joke. I don't really think that they are that funny personally. Some of the sites I check did some jokes but they did some stupid ones. Gizmodo is using Mr. T in every post. Woot is having a Woot off with the same product all day. Youtube is Rick Rolling people with the featured videos.

We had pork chops with the steak dust on them and a baked potato. The steak dust really is good on anything really. The weather was nice today. It was in the 60s! We even got a few thunder storms towards the evening. It will be 46 tomorrow.