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Posting old entries, pardon the mess.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

January 20, 2008

Well, soup today! Dad made chicken soup but it came out bad so he tossed it and made lima bean soup. That's pretty easy to make and good. Its pretty much the beans, oil, and onion. Not very hard to make but good!
Watched the newest Harry Potter on Bluray and I have to say I found it to be kind of boring and long. It was good towards the end however. I really love the PS3 for Bluray but it is bad with normal DVD up converting.
I got a very annoying canker sore on my cheek! I hate these things so much! They take forever to heal and hurt a lot when you bump them. Mine is in a spot were it is very easy to bump and I can not wait for the thing to die!
I have some more work to do on the links page soon and I really hope I can get it up by the end of the year but I am not making any promises!!! soon. I want this to be a good set of sites that can also serve as a backup for my favorites on FireFox.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

January 19, 2008

Well, it Saturday once again and we went shopping today. We are eating home today since we got artichokes again. I love these things so whenever I get a chance to get them I take it! Sure they are a pain to eat but they are so good that its worth it!
I cut my left index finger while I was taking apart that PDA yesterday so it’s a little annoying to type now until it heals. Its not painful in a sense that I am screaming, its just annoying. Its funny how you don't feel that you got cut until after you notice the cut is there!
I want to announce some changes for the site! I noticed that I accidentally posted the SPB Full Screen Keyboard on the T20 review. Well, I am going to take the T20 review off the site since the thing is pretty old. I have also decided to start fixing the old links page. I have a way to make it alphabetical easier. When you use NotePad++ there is a key combo that swaps lines. Its CTRL + T in case anyone is wondering. There is also a CTRL + D that duplicates the line.

Friday, January 18, 2008

January 18, 2008

Well, today was a boring day. We went to the grocery store like every Friday. We picked up artichokes for tomorrow again. We had chicken fajitas today. For those who don't know what they are, they are just a soft taco shell with chicken instead of hamburger.
Well, since it has been pretty much 3 weeks since that InterLink came and no answer from the guy in Japan, I decided to have a little fun today! I took it apart and noticed that the thing is unfixable really. I did find some fun stuff out about it though. For one, it has a Toshiba processor. I didn't get it back together 100 percent but its good enough. I will probably toss it now.
I was thinking of this today. They need to make a PDA with a design that is favored to bloggers. I would love a PDA with a keyboard and a large screen with WiFi and Bluetooth. I need some special stuff for mine though, mainly SSH and SFTP support.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

January 17, 2008

Well, I had a boring day so this is not going to be a long one today. I had pasta for supper. My dads is one of the few sauces I actually like. The weather update for today was light snow. Tonight we will get a wintery mix. Joy.
I have to say that Mac users are the most annoying fanboys I have ever seen. They believe anything Steve Jobs says. Mac users think that they are smarter and better then others. I hope you like the battery being sealed into your MacBook Air!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

January 16, 2008

Well, not much happened today. We didn't do much shopping today. We went to Walmart for a few things and to the grocery store. Here is something a little different, I am putting the dinner update here today. I had Artichokes! I love them stuffed with seasoned bread crumbs and Mozzarella cheese.
Well, you can see that the MacBook Air is not the popular! Its funny to say this to me. EVEN THE FANBOYS HATE IT! That’s right! Even those die had people who buy anything Apple makes hate this thing! Well Apple, I hope your happy with your decision! You should have just made a small MacBook Pro. With a removable battery!
Something that hit me on Macs. They are hard to clean or upgrade. I don't know for sure but I can replace the hard drive or clean my fans easy. The Acer has vents that are easy to open up. I don't like to let the fan get full of dust and I clean mine often. Maybe its just me, but I take care of my computer. I would rather give up a little design for easy access to key components! Hard drives are not invincible and they will die on you! So why should a manufacturer seal them in? So they can get more money out of you!
Some snow and wintery mix tomorrow night! FUN! I hate the mix crap since its just a waste to me. I would rather have blizzard then a little mix. We may get some good snow fall this year since the big storm of 2007 was on Valentines Day after all!
I went through my folders and sort of disorganized them. Pretty much all I did was remove some sub directorys to make it easier to navigate. Sometimes having stuff organized is too much of a pain. For example, saving a word file would be in several sub folders of my Documents folder. Now its just in one folder so much easier!
I will still keep the sub folders on my Server to keep that a little organized. I did awhile ago get rid of the sub directories for blog though so its just in one folder. Of course I would like to lump them all together but that is a pain since the way I upload the files if right click blog on my website folder on PC and hit send to server.
I also noticed that Windows will not let you change the name of My Documents folder. This really annoyed me! I would rather have my folder be my name and make My Documents as a sub folder that would make it easier for me to navigate. The best I could do is rename the shortcut on my start menu. I guess that will have to be good enough for me.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

January 15, 2008

Well, we all know what today is don't we? Yes, its Macworld! Yes, I know I hate Macs but I will cover it like every other Blog is! First, this is not a live thing like Engadget is doing. Sorry, but I do not have the resources to live blog a keynote since I am kind of far from California. My coverage will be more of a rant then anything.
First thing announced is the Time Capsule. The thing is a simple a network storage device for backup of your Mac using WiFi. That is kind of sad since you can just as easily use a USB hard drive for the same thing. The sad thing is that the USB drive is probably faster then this. They will have 500GB and 1TB sized drives. Not bad on the size, but the thing is that it probably only works with Macs. Plus, I have a 120GB server in my room, I can back up to that just as easy!
The iPod Touch and iPhone ate getting updates. Guess what happens if you own an iPod Touch. YOU HAVE TO PAY 20 BUCKS FOR THE UPDATE! The new buyers will get the update with the iPod but current owners need to pay! Good job Apple, Microsoft let the Zune 30 users upgrade to the firmware from the new Zunes for FREE!
Do you rent movies? Well how would you like to rent a movie with your computer. That’s right, you buy the movie for 3 or 4 dollars for standard definition movies and high definition are a dollar extra. You have 30 days to open the file then after you open it, you have 24 hours to watch it. Wow that’s such a great idea! HEY HERES A BETTER IDEA, WHY DON'T I JUST BUY A DVD OF THE MOVIE AND GET TO KEEP IT? OH WAIT, THAT ISN'T AS COOL AS ITUNES!
The Apple TV was a joke and now they are making version 2! Wow, the change is that it doesn't need a computer. WOW APPLE! I guess this is the future since Apple does everything right. I guess I should throw out my DVD player and PS3 and go buy this device and rent all my movies on iTunes since it is the cool thing to do!
Now we come to MacBook Air. Yes, its called the Air. What the hell is with the name? Well, its THIN, that’s the thing. Its only .76" thick. WOW who the hell cares? First of all, it costs 1800 bucks for the base model. That’s a 1.6GHZ Dual Core. Want faster? Add 300 bucks and you get a 1.8GHZ. Now, there is no optical drive included, but that costs 100 bucks extra. You can also use the drive on your own Mac with special software. Now here is the kicker! The battery, hard drive, and RAM are not user replaceable! You can not buy a new battery and have 2, its inside the sealed case. The RAM is only 2GB and is soldered in too! The HDD is only an iPod classic drive! God, I guess laptops are disposable now? I am but going to pay 130 dollars to send my laptop to Apple for a new battery. Plus the fact that its 1800 bucks to start off!
Supper today was beef stew. Some of the meat was a little tough though. For the most part, the vegetables were a little on the hard side. It was good though. We also has some snow today. Not much, just showers but the trees were all covered.

Monday, January 14, 2008

January 14, 2008

Well, today feels like a day I want to do a little ranting. I don't know if I have did this before, so here goes!
First, I want to talk about my idea I have for a PDA similar to the Newton. Now I am aware that the Newton was a epic failure, but this is more less an improved version. This would essentially be a small tablet pc like device.
It would run on Windows CE and have around a 5 inch VGA screen. The core software would be similar to the HandHeld PC, but with a few differences. For one, all data input would be screen based, or with an optionally available Bluetooth keyboard. There would be a full screen version of Decuma. This would allow you to input a lot of text at once.
The handheld would also have a version with a slide out thumb board. This would also come in a bundle pack with the Bluetooth keyboard. There would also be an optional cell phone card to add calling and internet access to the device. This would be in a bundle pack or sold separately.
The device would be made for media access and would feature a 80GB hard drive, or 64GB flash SSD if you so chose. The device would also include a copy of TCPMP for movie playback. There would also be a viewer and downloader for YouTube.
The software would also have a specially made version of Office. These would be the full desktop suite of Office 2007, or OpenOffice, depending on what you choose to use. This means that you could leave the laptop at home for the next business trip and only carry around this small device.
The battery life would have to be long enough to keep the device useful but small enough for it to be thin. To combat this, the device would ship would 2 batteries, one normal sized, and one double sized. To make charging easier, the batteries would have a charge port on them instead of just the device. There would be a Y adapter to charge 2 batteries.
Second topic, I want to talk about laptops. Now, I love them but I also hate them. How is this possible? Why would I hate something I love? Well, keep reading!
One thing I hate about my laptops is that they get hot. Now, I can't blame AMD or Intel for this, as this is a flaw of the design laptops use. They can not have the more elaborate cooling systems of a desktop. They can only have a small heat pipe and fan.
What can be done to improve this? Well, not much as far as I know. The one thing that can be done is to use processors that run cooler. They might be able to at most move the intake vents. They place them on the bottom which can restrict airflow. They could be placed on the top above the keyboard though and have the vent output on the back in the middle. This would keep it from burning your legs. This also involves moving the battery on some laptops, such as my Acer, or ports like on my IBM ThinkPad T20.
I also hate the fact that battery life is not very long on some laptops. Some of them get only like an hour and a half, yet some get like 6 hours or more. This is very unbalanced. I know that batteries are expensive but they could maybe be a little bigger! Why not use those new Silver Zinc batteries?
Why are they so awkward to use sometimes? This is more less a personal preference I suppose. I have trouble using them unless I am in a chair or they are on a desk. Why? Well for me, they are hard to position on you lap so that you are comfortable and the laptop is balanced. Then there is also the hot fan blowing on your legs. I don’t see how people can lay down in bed with them either.
I also have to say that you also need to make some sacrifices for owning one. For example, you lose a lot of USB stuff. Sure you can still use that cradle for your PDA but now its in the way since there is cables all over the desk. Plus you only have a few ports to use so now you might need a hub!
Another one is that if the LCD breaks some how, its like 300 bucks for a new one. Plus, once you pick a size, you are stuck with it unless you use an external LCD. Of course, this also goes for the keyboard and mouse. If you don't like them or they break, you need to spend money for a new one or get an external one. Though I do like having my VX Revolution, though I lose a USB port to that!
You also lose some hard drive capacity too. Though this is not a problem for me, since I can make do with a small hard drive just finem some people may need more then what you can get in a laptop. Of course, there is always external hard drives.
The worst one is that they don't have the same stuff you would find in a desktop since they need to have low power consumption. This means that it may not have a faster processor or high end video card. Of course they make gaming laptops.
last but not least, its getting so hard to pick a computer anymore. They have so many different screen sizes, hard drives, and other various little things to choose from. You may want a 12 inch model but someone else may want a 15 inch. There is just to many choices. But hey, at least there is choices unlike Apple computer!
Well, today was more less a mini rant of sorts. I just wanted to give my self something to do today really. We were supposed to get up to 4 inches of snow today and we didn’t get much all day, just a few showers! We were supposed to get a little more tomorrow but that changed to showers only too. Oh well, we did get a little bit!
I tried to take that ThinkPad 570 apart last night and I got all the screws out except for one of them that holds the hinges onto the case. The head is totally stripped and I can not get it out. I am going to try the Dremel trick this weekend or when I get a chance.
So I can assume everyone has heard about the guy who is suing the Yankees because they took steroids. ONLY IN AMAERICA!
For supper today I had a canned chicken sandwich. Its from Sams Club. Its like tuna but chicken. It is really good with a little mayonnaise on it. I like it on crackers too.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

January 13, 2008

There is something that I forgot to add yesterday. They need to make a tabbed file browser. This would be easier since I tend to have a few folders open at a time when I am moving files around. This could be easier since it would only mean one window instead of several.
The one program I don't like tabbed is the instant messenger applications. I use Pidgin, which was GAIM before, for Windows and have used it on Linux. Its a really nice program but the first thing I do is turn off the tabs. This is one thing that annoys me since I have a lot of people I talk to.
Well, I have to say this adapter is annoying me since I can not find the tip for my Acer locally. I checked Circuit City, who I know use to sell tons of Kensington stuff, and they didn't have any. I also checked OfficeMax where I got the adapter. I checked Office Depot though I knew that was a lost cause! I am going to take the thing back, since I don't see a reason to keep it!
We got a print server on sale at Office Depot though. It isn't wireless but I will still be able to use it with my laptop. My dad figures this is easier to get working then the shared printer way. We should have it up by next weekend.
Folding is going well for the PS3. We are up to 5 Work units for the team! I am not leaving it on all night again though however.
Supper today was home made pizza. Came out very good too! We made one broccoli and one plain pizza. Funny thing is I ate pizza all week for lunch and will this week! Good thing I love pizza!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

January 12, 2008

You know, I was thinking about some useful changes for technology. I guess some of these are personal preference changes but they may be beneficial to the average user. Some of these are general changes that would be for any program, but some of these are Linux or Windows specific changes. Some are also PDA or cell phone changes. I will list some of what I am thinking of…
First of all, I would like to see a tabbed office suite. Why? Its easier when your doing multiple files. This would also be on PDA office suites too. The main thing is the program could open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, all in the same program. This is also for simpler icons. There could be one icon for the suite instead of one for each program.
Second, I would like too see Microsoft restructure the file system in Windows better. I would also like to see it better then it is in Vista. Vista has the right idea with a folder for the user with your name on it. This is close to the home folder on Linux. I would like to take this a step further and also rearrange the folders for documents, media, and other stuff.
I got a new adapter today! Its a 70W Kensington that can be used in car, airplane, or with a wall. Its more less for my ThinkPad since its also for car use. I will also be getting a tip for my Acer. I noticed Kensington says I need the 120W one but my Acer only uses 65W.
The PS3 has finished one work unit and the second will be be finished by morning. I have decided that I won't use my Acer for this since its being really annoying. I went to resume it and it started over again. I rather use the PS3 since its faster anyway. I may use it if I get a new laptop though.
Supper today was Long John Silvers. Very good and oddly, I am not that thirsty today after eating it. We got the 8 piece meal coupon, 5 fish and 2 chicken. I like the chicken but I think the fish is better personally though I will eat both.

Friday, January 11, 2008

January 11, 2008

Well, I have soon good news for the people who are Folding at Home. I have the PLAYSTATION THREE folding now! That’s SIX cores of 3.2GHZ each! Wow is that thing fast! What took my Turion a few hours took the PS3 like 30 minutes. Now that is processor power! I would love to see my PS3 owners who read this site use theirs too. I finished 65% of the work unit today and will finish the rest tomorrow. I don't like leaving the PS3 on all the time.
What the hell is with hard games anymore? I was playing Final Fantasy II and now I am pretty much trapped in the dungeon with one of my guys dead and the other three have darkness. I only have 3 high potions left and no MP on anyone. Plus I need to go down like 5 floors of random battle hardness. Sorry if I like easy games but when I see something like this is makes me hate the game a lot. Its just not fun when you have something like this happen to you!
I am thinking of changing the News page to a page dedicated to the Folding at Home information. I will also start working on the links page though I do not know if they will be in order. It is a lot of annoying work to get the links into a alphabetical ordered list with category lists. To make this page easier to code I will use a lot of blank lines to separate links for ordering.
I had a Hungry Man XXL TV dinner today. I love the Turkey one since its 1.5 pounds of food for 5 bucks. Plus they are very easy to make. I like them better then the plain sized one since they don't give you the crappy vegetables. This one is just the turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. The one thing I have a problem with is that they don't give you enough gravy. What they should do is have a packet of gravy come with it so you can have extra gravy on the meal.