More bizarre behavior from our DirecTV HR20 DVR has recently cropped up:
When we press the 30-second skip ahead button, the DVR actually rewinds about 15 seconds before starting to skip ahead 30 seconds. It doesn't happen every time we press the skip button. And it seems more likely to happen when the show we're playing back is within the first five minutes of the recording.
No, I'm not fat-fingering the skip button and accidentally hitting the replay button (my fingers aren't that big, thanks), and I can't understand why this bug has appeared now.
Our latest upgrade (to software version 0x145) happened on Friday 3/30/07 at 1:47am. Nothing has changed recently in our setup, so I'm stumped about this one.
I'd resisted posting about the HR20 for a long time because I didn't want to jinx our good luck with the latest software build. However, this rewind-before-skipping-ahead "feature" is getting a little annoying.
Oh, and another beef that I've got with the way the HR20 sets up series to record: if there are multiple broadcasts of a show (like the Daily Show or Deadline or Art Mann Presents), the DVR records the earlier broadcast, even if you choose the later broadcast to avoid overlaps with other recordings. Annoying.
But hey, at least I'm not losing programs anymore. (fingers-crossed)
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
turning old CDs into something valuable
Thanks to a BB post, I see that a couple of those old CD-ROMs I've been lugging around since I moved from San Francisco to DC back in 1995 might actually be worth something, at least from a patent-busting point of view.
Overly quoting the EFF story here (but for good cause):
Overly quoting the EFF story here (but for good cause):
Can't wait to dig through my file boxes to see if I've got a golden ticket!A company called Acacia has claimed a patent on an “information distribution system” that amounts to the idea of shipping a CD-ROM that contains hyperlinks to online resources. (EFF is currently working on busting another Acacia patent that covers streaming audio and video over the Internet.)
To help bust this overly broad patent, we are looking for prior art that shows the use of this technology before 1994. Specifically, we are seeking the following items:
1. NetNews CD-ROMs, sold by Sterling Software, preferably volumes #1 through #35. These CDs may have been also available through CD Publishing Corporation.
or
2. Other CD-ROMs that were distributed in 1993 or earlier that contained
hypertext content or were installation disks for applications that linked to Internet content.Information about these or similar items is greatly appreciated. Submit tips to Philip H. Albert with Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP.
Friday, May 11, 2007
my favorite Treo 650 map app
I'm still oozing with gushy feelings over having found the Google Mobile Map application yesterday (thanks to the folks blogging at WWD).
This lightweight little app (480KB download) brings all the power of web-based Google Maps to your handheld (mine's a Treo 650) with surprisingly quick speed and decent resolution:
w00t!
The only other Treo app that I've found even close to this clever and useful is the Caltrain Schedule for Palm OS, but now that I'm a mile from work, no need to slavishly consult the "next train" info for me.
This lightweight little app (480KB download) brings all the power of web-based Google Maps to your handheld (mine's a Treo 650) with surprisingly quick speed and decent resolution:
- real-time traffic data
- detailed directions (written and illustrated)
- search results displayed on screen
- satellite images
w00t!
The only other Treo app that I've found even close to this clever and useful is the Caltrain Schedule for Palm OS, but now that I'm a mile from work, no need to slavishly consult the "next train" info for me.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
i remember her when...
Over a bowl of Grape Nuts at breakfast, I was glancing over the list of attendees at the white-tie dinner for the Queen at the White House last night, and what caught my eye were the names of two different pro football players in attendance: Peyton Manning and Timothy Hasselbeck.
Perhaps Dubya thought it proper to have some footballers in attendance for the Queen? (shhh, don't tell him).
What stood out all the more was the fact that Elisabeth Hasselbeck was in attendance with her husband (or was he with her?). Yes, she's a co-host of "The View" now and all that.
But this is also the same Elisabeth (Filarski) that we watched sweat through a season of Survivor Australia to finish in fourth place.
Who could have thought she'd go from getting eaten alive by flies in the Outback to an audience with the Queen?
Just goes to show that life is funny sometimes... and there's no way to know what's coming next.
Perhaps Dubya thought it proper to have some footballers in attendance for the Queen? (shhh, don't tell him).
What stood out all the more was the fact that Elisabeth Hasselbeck was in attendance with her husband (or was he with her?). Yes, she's a co-host of "The View" now and all that.
But this is also the same Elisabeth (Filarski) that we watched sweat through a season of Survivor Australia to finish in fourth place.
Who could have thought she'd go from getting eaten alive by flies in the Outback to an audience with the Queen?
Just goes to show that life is funny sometimes... and there's no way to know what's coming next.
when the party's over...
My beloved Sharks managed to lose in the second round of the playoffs (again). This, after being up two games to one in the series against the Red Wings.
I was at the game last night, and it seemed like after the initial 15 minutes of trying to score, the Sharks, as a team, shrugged their collective shoulders and gave in. It didn't help that we were sitting in front of a couple obnoxious some-time fans of the game (see Left Coast Mom's description of the experience), but it was still great to get in one more game at the Shark Tank this year.
So, the 2007 Stanley Cup will be won by the better of the Ducks/Red Wings or the Sabers/Senators. Don't even know whom to root for in those matchups.
And, after a day or two of beating up the Sharks in the local papers, hockey will be relegated to its usual 4 column inches per week in the Mercury News.
On the bright side: only four more (hot) months until preseason starts!
I was at the game last night, and it seemed like after the initial 15 minutes of trying to score, the Sharks, as a team, shrugged their collective shoulders and gave in. It didn't help that we were sitting in front of a couple obnoxious some-time fans of the game (see Left Coast Mom's description of the experience), but it was still great to get in one more game at the Shark Tank this year.
So, the 2007 Stanley Cup will be won by the better of the Ducks/Red Wings or the Sabers/Senators. Don't even know whom to root for in those matchups.
And, after a day or two of beating up the Sharks in the local papers, hockey will be relegated to its usual 4 column inches per week in the Mercury News.
On the bright side: only four more (hot) months until preseason starts!
Monday, May 07, 2007
name change or revised history?
Courtesy a kottke.org link, I discovered this Air & Space article on the First Photo from Outer Space.
Turns out that shortly after WWII, scientists launched a V-2 missile into outer space from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The rocket had on board a 35mm motion picture camera, and it reached an altitude of 65 miles at its apex. The missile crashed to earth, and the camera broke (as you'd expect) but the film survived in its steel case.
Several of the film stills were stitched together to form a panorama that showed over a million square miles of the Southwestern United States. More specifically, of New Mexico, a state I grew up in.
And beyond the golly-gee-willikers nature of the shot, I'm amazed to see that the Jemez Mountains, the mountains I grew up at the foot of for ten years, are called out in the panorama as the "Valle Grande Mts."
Huh. I'd always known that the caldera that makes up the vast interior of the Jemez Mountains was the "Valle Grande" (and more specifically, "Baca Land" after the family that owned the vast expanse).
Granted, the photo was taken when the city of Los Alamos was freshly emerging from its secret-squirrel status as home of the Manhattan Project. But when did the name change? Or was the person in charge of labeling points of interest on the photo a little loosey-goosey with names?
Looking over at Wikipedia's entry on Jemez Mountains, I see that what I knew as "Valle Grande" is referred to by others as the "Valles Caldera." Wikipedia contribution, here I come!
Turns out that shortly after WWII, scientists launched a V-2 missile into outer space from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The rocket had on board a 35mm motion picture camera, and it reached an altitude of 65 miles at its apex. The missile crashed to earth, and the camera broke (as you'd expect) but the film survived in its steel case.
Several of the film stills were stitched together to form a panorama that showed over a million square miles of the Southwestern United States. More specifically, of New Mexico, a state I grew up in.
And beyond the golly-gee-willikers nature of the shot, I'm amazed to see that the Jemez Mountains, the mountains I grew up at the foot of for ten years, are called out in the panorama as the "Valle Grande Mts."
Huh. I'd always known that the caldera that makes up the vast interior of the Jemez Mountains was the "Valle Grande" (and more specifically, "Baca Land" after the family that owned the vast expanse).
Granted, the photo was taken when the city of Los Alamos was freshly emerging from its secret-squirrel status as home of the Manhattan Project. But when did the name change? Or was the person in charge of labeling points of interest on the photo a little loosey-goosey with names?
Looking over at Wikipedia's entry on Jemez Mountains, I see that what I knew as "Valle Grande" is referred to by others as the "Valles Caldera." Wikipedia contribution, here I come!
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
use wordpress or blogger? blogger wins
Those following along know I'd started a new blog a week ago to track our progress as urban chicken farmers. I've used Blogger for over a year to publish this string of posts, and having blogged on the WordPress platform a few times as a guest blogger, decided to try something new.
After just five posts on WP, I've now moved the nascent Urban Chickens blog back to this platform. While you can still find the blog at http://urbanchickens.net, the domain now forwards here to myurbanchickens.blogspot.com. I'll be deleting the old WP blog this weekend.
Why did I pick Blogger over WordPress? for several reasons:
After just five posts on WP, I've now moved the nascent Urban Chickens blog back to this platform. While you can still find the blog at http://urbanchickens.net, the domain now forwards here to myurbanchickens.blogspot.com. I'll be deleting the old WP blog this weekend.
Why did I pick Blogger over WordPress? for several reasons:
- Knowing as much html and CSS as I do, it's easy to customize the Blogger template. To do the same on WP, I'd have to pay (literally) for the privilege. When I start creating artwork for the design, it'll be easy to add here on Blogger.
- WP disallows all advertising and anything more than a few, relatively low-key affiliate links. I've got designs on building up enough niche traffic to Urban Chickens to warrant at least token advertising and affiliate income (enough to pay for chicken feed). Here on HVY TK, I've earned upwards of $10 in the last five months without really trying.
- I'm comfortable with the Blogger interface. I know where to click to find things. I lived through the starting this blog pre-Beta and then moving to the now no-longer-Beta interface. Starting a new blog here on Blogger is incredibly easy.
- I use Statcounter to track traffic, and WP didn't allow me to add it to my blog there. Here, I've just added the Urban Chickens blog as a new project. Piece of cake!
- Finally, what I thought would be the deal clincher on WP is no longer a value-add: I can add guest bloggers (like left coast mom) to the Urban Chicken blog in a snap.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
WWO: walking to work everyday
(I'm participating in World Without Oil, and as of today, gas is up to $4.12 a gallon in this alternate reality game.)
I filled up my car for what I hope is the one and only time this month. Gas hit $4.12 a gallon, and that's up from $3.69 last week. I can't believe that it only took $0.50 a gallon to push me over the threshold, but driving a mile to work now feels like such a luxury, and one I can now do without.
No more weekend fun rides on the motorcycle -- it will stay in the garage unless I absolutely must travel to attend meetings outside the office, then I'll ride it (@ 45mpg) instead of driving the car (@ 22mpg). And if I can get away with Skype video conferences instead of face-to-face meetings, I will.
Glad I booked my June trip to Boston last week, as it looks as though airfares are shooting through the roof. And I'll take the T from the airport this time instead of a taxi. Who knows what the fuel surcharge will be at the end of the month?
I filled up my car for what I hope is the one and only time this month. Gas hit $4.12 a gallon, and that's up from $3.69 last week. I can't believe that it only took $0.50 a gallon to push me over the threshold, but driving a mile to work now feels like such a luxury, and one I can now do without.
No more weekend fun rides on the motorcycle -- it will stay in the garage unless I absolutely must travel to attend meetings outside the office, then I'll ride it (@ 45mpg) instead of driving the car (@ 22mpg). And if I can get away with Skype video conferences instead of face-to-face meetings, I will.
Glad I booked my June trip to Boston last week, as it looks as though airfares are shooting through the roof. And I'll take the T from the airport this time instead of a taxi. Who knows what the fuel surcharge will be at the end of the month?
cheep, cheep, meet the peep(s)
After much hemming and hawing and fence-sitting, we've finally got our chicks. Two Barred Rock pullets joined our family yesterday afternoon.
To spare regular readers all the bloggy details of raising chickens, I've started a new blog about them chicks here in my new blog Urban Chickens.
Only rarely will the chicken stuff bleed into this blog, and that'll only be when there's a technology or food angle to the post.
To spare regular readers all the bloggy details of raising chickens, I've started a new blog about them chicks here in my new blog Urban Chickens.
Only rarely will the chicken stuff bleed into this blog, and that'll only be when there's a technology or food angle to the post.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
TED video: why are we happy? why aren't we happy?
Had the pleasure to see Dan Gilbert talk at South by Southwest Interactive in 2006 on the same subject: what makes us happy?
If you're more into reading ink on dead trees, get his book: Stumbling on Happiness
Psychologist Dan Gilbert challenges the idea that we'll be miserable if we don't get what we want. Our "psychological immune system" lets us feel real, enduring happiness, he says, even when things don’t go as planned. He calls this kind of happiness "synthetic happiness," and he says it's "every bit as real and enduring as the kind of happiness you stumble upon when you get exactly what you were aiming for."Great 20 min video from the TED conference here. Well worth the watch!
If you're more into reading ink on dead trees, get his book: Stumbling on Happiness
Sunday, April 22, 2007
earth day: living greener in 2007
As a way of celebrating Earth Day today, I've taken inventory of how much "greener" we, as a family, are this year compared to last.
The biggest greening has come from our moving into a new home that's only a mile from my office. Not only has my daily commute shrunk from 59 miles to 2 miles, with all the carbon emission reductions that come from not having to lug my butt those 285 miles to work each week, but the house we live in now is greener, too.
Our old house was in a nice sunny neighborhood in Campbell (outside San Jose), but there was no topography to speak of. We were in a flatlands surrounded by other houses/condos/businesses, and the micro-climate of our area meant we consistently ran temperatures 10 degrees warmer than other towns around us (love those Bay Area microclimates!). Lots of trees in our neighborhood, including two huge camphor trees in our front yard, but that didn't mean it was any less hot in the summers. To help cope with the heat in our old place, we had air conditioning installed when we replaced the ancient furnace with a new energy-efficient one. While we lived more comfortably, we paid for it in our energy bills. The Springs and Autumns were the cheapest since we didn't have to pay to heat or cool the place, but we got used to shelling out over $200 a month in energy costs.
Flash forward to this year in our new home. We now live on the slope of a hill overlooking downtown Redwood City which means we get gentle breezes every afternoon and can leave the windows open most of the spring and summer to enjoy the natural cooling. Not only is the location of our home more conducive to natural climate control, but we have solar panels on the roof and an electric meter that spins both ways: when the panels generate more energy than we use, we feed back into the grid. At night and on cloudy days, we pull from the grid since the panels aren't generating anything. These solar panels have had an amazing impact on our electricity bill. Since we moved in last August, we've consumed less than $200 TOTAL electricity (compared with $200 a month in the old place). Wow.
The house we're in now is about 1,100 square feet bigger than our old home, to boot, but thanks to a dual zone furnace, we only heat the upstairs floor (where we spend 95% of our time living) and leave the well-insulated downstairs floor to its own devices.
There are other things we can do to get greener by next Earth Day, like cutting water consumption, growing our own veggies and my walking/biking to work several days a week (oh, and raising chickens!), but we've made huge strides in the last year. Here's hoping more and more of us can have similar impacts in lessening our footprint on the earth.
Happy Earth Day!
The biggest greening has come from our moving into a new home that's only a mile from my office. Not only has my daily commute shrunk from 59 miles to 2 miles, with all the carbon emission reductions that come from not having to lug my butt those 285 miles to work each week, but the house we live in now is greener, too.
Our old house was in a nice sunny neighborhood in Campbell (outside San Jose), but there was no topography to speak of. We were in a flatlands surrounded by other houses/condos/businesses, and the micro-climate of our area meant we consistently ran temperatures 10 degrees warmer than other towns around us (love those Bay Area microclimates!). Lots of trees in our neighborhood, including two huge camphor trees in our front yard, but that didn't mean it was any less hot in the summers. To help cope with the heat in our old place, we had air conditioning installed when we replaced the ancient furnace with a new energy-efficient one. While we lived more comfortably, we paid for it in our energy bills. The Springs and Autumns were the cheapest since we didn't have to pay to heat or cool the place, but we got used to shelling out over $200 a month in energy costs.
Flash forward to this year in our new home. We now live on the slope of a hill overlooking downtown Redwood City which means we get gentle breezes every afternoon and can leave the windows open most of the spring and summer to enjoy the natural cooling. Not only is the location of our home more conducive to natural climate control, but we have solar panels on the roof and an electric meter that spins both ways: when the panels generate more energy than we use, we feed back into the grid. At night and on cloudy days, we pull from the grid since the panels aren't generating anything. These solar panels have had an amazing impact on our electricity bill. Since we moved in last August, we've consumed less than $200 TOTAL electricity (compared with $200 a month in the old place). Wow.
The house we're in now is about 1,100 square feet bigger than our old home, to boot, but thanks to a dual zone furnace, we only heat the upstairs floor (where we spend 95% of our time living) and leave the well-insulated downstairs floor to its own devices.
There are other things we can do to get greener by next Earth Day, like cutting water consumption, growing our own veggies and my walking/biking to work several days a week (oh, and raising chickens!), but we've made huge strides in the last year. Here's hoping more and more of us can have similar impacts in lessening our footprint on the earth.
Happy Earth Day!
Saturday, April 21, 2007
toshiba 42hp66 HD plasma snowy picture
Disconcertingly, I'm seeing the snowy/fuzzy picture problem pictured to the right more and more frequently when I first turn on our Toshiba 42HP66 plasma HD TV.
So far, I'm able to get around it by turning the TV unit on and off a couple times seems to solve the problem and eventually the picture comes in clear as a bell.
I'm not sure where the problem might be, but I've noticed that it has the same signal processing problem whether I'm trying to watch TV (the signal from the DirecTV HR20 DVR) or access my Mac's desktop (the signal from the Mac Mini).
Since I'm getting the problem while trying to "see" both TV and Mac, I don't think the problem is due to the Harman Kardon AVR 245 I use as a switch between the devices. Rather, I think it's something to do with the connection between the AVR 245 and the TV itself. I've tested the physical connection of the HDMI cable to both the back of the AVR 245 and the TV, and those both seem fine.
I'm really hoping it's not the actual HDMI cable that's going bad. Not only because I paid the installer the unholy sum of $85 for the cable, but because the cable has been installed inside the wall so there are not unsightly wires hanging from our wall-mounted HDTV.
So far, I'm able to get around it by turning the TV unit on and off a couple times seems to solve the problem and eventually the picture comes in clear as a bell.
I'm not sure where the problem might be, but I've noticed that it has the same signal processing problem whether I'm trying to watch TV (the signal from the DirecTV HR20 DVR) or access my Mac's desktop (the signal from the Mac Mini).
Since I'm getting the problem while trying to "see" both TV and Mac, I don't think the problem is due to the Harman Kardon AVR 245 I use as a switch between the devices. Rather, I think it's something to do with the connection between the AVR 245 and the TV itself. I've tested the physical connection of the HDMI cable to both the back of the AVR 245 and the TV, and those both seem fine.
I'm really hoping it's not the actual HDMI cable that's going bad. Not only because I paid the installer the unholy sum of $85 for the cable, but because the cable has been installed inside the wall so there are not unsightly wires hanging from our wall-mounted HDTV.
san jose sharks move on
Was quite satisfying to see our hometown Sharks defeat the Predators in Nashville last night.
While I really wanted them to win the series in five games (which they did), there was just a small part of me hoping the series would go to six games (WHAT?!).
Blasphemous? not really... I'm just greedy, I guess.
See, I split my season tickets with two other parties, so we're rotating attendance at playoff games, using a pbwiki to track rotations and tabs. Since there weren't three home games in Round One, there's a remote chance I won't be able to attend a Round Two game should the Sharks sweep or win in five again.
Now I don't really mind watching the games on TV (it's cheaper, for sure), but the camera crew assigned to televise the games from Nashville couldn't follow the puck to save their lives. It looks like the rest of the markets still in the playoffs (Anaheim, Detroit or Calgary, Dallas or Vancouver) have many more years of experience under their belts than the Nashville crew ever would.
Go Sharks!
While I really wanted them to win the series in five games (which they did), there was just a small part of me hoping the series would go to six games (WHAT?!).
Blasphemous? not really... I'm just greedy, I guess.
See, I split my season tickets with two other parties, so we're rotating attendance at playoff games, using a pbwiki to track rotations and tabs. Since there weren't three home games in Round One, there's a remote chance I won't be able to attend a Round Two game should the Sharks sweep or win in five again.
Now I don't really mind watching the games on TV (it's cheaper, for sure), but the camera crew assigned to televise the games from Nashville couldn't follow the puck to save their lives. It looks like the rest of the markets still in the playoffs (Anaheim, Detroit or Calgary, Dallas or Vancouver) have many more years of experience under their belts than the Nashville crew ever would.
Go Sharks!
Friday, April 20, 2007
busy or bursty?
Interesting article over on Web Worker Daily describing the differences between what they call the busyness-oriented workers and the bursty-oriented workers. Some examples:
See the full busy/burst article over on WWD (and don't miss the discussion in the comments).
Busy: Show your face during all standard working hours.
Burst: If you produce what you need to, we don’t care when you do it or how long it takes.
Busy: Immediate response to email required.
Burst: Use better ways to communicate when available including blogs, wikis, IM, chat rooms, SMS, and RSS.
urban chickens... here we come
After several months of research and precarious fence-sitting, last night I navigated to the Omlet web site, and filled my digital shopping cart with a blue Eglu and two Gingernut Ranger chickens.
The checkout process was relatively straight-forward, until it came time to enter credit card info. A notice on the site said Omlet isn't yet accepting credit card payments, so they'll be giving me a call to get the info instead.
It's a good thing I'm getting the call back, too. Turns out my color choice isn't as popular as I thought it would be. Breakfast negotiations will ensue shortly.
I'll be creating an entirely new blog about our adventures in urban chicken farming. Will post a link to it when it's up.
UPDATE: Claire, at Omlet, called me back, and the next delivery date for chickens isn't until mid-June... given the delay, am I now back on the fence? oh, and the Eglu color negotiations settled on "green."
The checkout process was relatively straight-forward, until it came time to enter credit card info. A notice on the site said Omlet isn't yet accepting credit card payments, so they'll be giving me a call to get the info instead.
It's a good thing I'm getting the call back, too. Turns out my color choice isn't as popular as I thought it would be. Breakfast negotiations will ensue shortly.
I'll be creating an entirely new blog about our adventures in urban chicken farming. Will post a link to it when it's up.
UPDATE: Claire, at Omlet, called me back, and the next delivery date for chickens isn't until mid-June... given the delay, am I now back on the fence? oh, and the Eglu color negotiations settled on "green."
Friday, April 13, 2007
united flies better than usairways
I had to be in Canton, Ohio this morning no later than 8:30am. Seeing how I live in the Bay Area, a plane ride was called for.
To minimize the time away from family, I opted to take a red-eye from SFO to Pittsburgh on a United codeshare flight operated by USAirways and then drive a rental car to Canton (80 miles away).
It's been a long time since I've flown any airline domestically other than United. I've got almost 500,000 FF miles on United, so you know my loyalties.
It only occurred to me last night as I was arriving to SFO: I've never flown any airline BUT United out of SFO (except my international trip on KLM last month). So I've never experienced Terminal One at SFO before. I may never stray from Terminal Three again.
I was a little underwhelmed by the entire Terminal One and US Airways flight experience. Granted, SFO is a hub for United, so things are generally better all around for flying United in and out of SFO, but I didn't expect the drop off to be so steep:
Oh, and in case anyone in California cares: it's definitely not spring yet along the Western PA, Northern WV, Eastern OH corridor. The buds on the trees haven't yet opened, and it was flurrying as I drove to Canton this morning.
Glad I'm flying United back to SFO tomorrow. How'd I get so comfortable in my flying rut? Oh yeah, by flying 28,000 miles on United so far this year. eesh
To minimize the time away from family, I opted to take a red-eye from SFO to Pittsburgh on a United codeshare flight operated by USAirways and then drive a rental car to Canton (80 miles away).
It's been a long time since I've flown any airline domestically other than United. I've got almost 500,000 FF miles on United, so you know my loyalties.
It only occurred to me last night as I was arriving to SFO: I've never flown any airline BUT United out of SFO (except my international trip on KLM last month). So I've never experienced Terminal One at SFO before. I may never stray from Terminal Three again.
I was a little underwhelmed by the entire Terminal One and US Airways flight experience. Granted, SFO is a hub for United, so things are generally better all around for flying United in and out of SFO, but I didn't expect the drop off to be so steep:
- The check-in process for USAirways consisted of eight electronic kiosks (three of them were open for folks not checking bags), period. No way to approach a ticketing agent directly. You have to interact with the kiosk first.
- The TSA pre-screening tables are configured oddly in Terminal One so that the amount of table space available to stack your stuff in the bins is quite short, and the unload area is quite cramped. Lots of elbowing and hip checking once through the metal detector to get your shoes on and laptop stowed before taking the lo-o-o-ong walk down the terminal to the gate.
- No gate attendants! Wow. If you've got a seating request, I guess you're SOL. Maybe this was due to the late departure of the flight (10:30p), but I was very surprised not to see any USAirways staff until mere moments before the gate opened to usher us in.
- This was my first trip on an Airbus A319 in a long time. Small plane (but not an empty seat to be found). The flight attendants were a little on the bossy side for my tastes, but for the most part, my eyes were shut and ears were plugged to sleep as much of the 4.5 hour flight time as possible.
Oh, and in case anyone in California cares: it's definitely not spring yet along the Western PA, Northern WV, Eastern OH corridor. The buds on the trees haven't yet opened, and it was flurrying as I drove to Canton this morning.
Glad I'm flying United back to SFO tomorrow. How'd I get so comfortable in my flying rut? Oh yeah, by flying 28,000 miles on United so far this year. eesh
Thursday, April 12, 2007
shrook wi-fi access at boston logan airport
At Boston's Logan airport, there's the logan wifi network which allows minimal web-based content on the free side of the pay-to-web-surf wall.
An unintended benefit to the crippled access: using my standalone copy of Shrook (my RSS reader), most of the pictures associated with feeds download at least partially. I didn't scientifically measure anything, but it looks to be about a 12Kb limit before the wifi pay-me sphincter squeezes shut. Definitely not enough of a glimpse to see whole photos, but surprisingly enough to get logos, illustrations, etc accompanying the blog posts.
Of course, no email or web pages are allowed thru, but for some reason Shrook can rain down supplemental content for the feeds already sitting on my macbook pro. No new feeds without paying.
When I'm traveling, it's usually the feeds I'm catching up on anyway. w00t!
Oh and I see that Continental airlines is trying to offer free wifi access at Logan in their Frequent Flyer lounge. I'm sure we can look forward to seeing a lot of "your free wifi is interfering with critical airport communications" (while the pay-to-surf wifi has no such effect?!) Follow along on Google.
An unintended benefit to the crippled access: using my standalone copy of Shrook (my RSS reader), most of the pictures associated with feeds download at least partially. I didn't scientifically measure anything, but it looks to be about a 12Kb limit before the wifi pay-me sphincter squeezes shut. Definitely not enough of a glimpse to see whole photos, but surprisingly enough to get logos, illustrations, etc accompanying the blog posts.
Of course, no email or web pages are allowed thru, but for some reason Shrook can rain down supplemental content for the feeds already sitting on my macbook pro. No new feeds without paying.
When I'm traveling, it's usually the feeds I'm catching up on anyway. w00t!
Oh and I see that Continental airlines is trying to offer free wifi access at Logan in their Frequent Flyer lounge. I'm sure we can look forward to seeing a lot of "your free wifi is interfering with critical airport communications" (while the pay-to-surf wifi has no such effect?!) Follow along on Google.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
my favorite time of year (hockey!)
If you listen closely at this exact moment, you can hear Oh, Canada! and the Star Spangled Banner being sung in Ottawa's arena, Scotiabank Place.
The puck will drop in mere moments to start the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs. w00t!
You can find me watching hockey scores here for the next two months.
Go Sharks!
The puck will drop in mere moments to start the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs. w00t!
You can find me watching hockey scores here for the next two months.
Go Sharks!
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Sharks hockey playoff tickets!
It's like Christmas all over again!
Our playoff tickets were delivered to the doorstep this morning. Interesting to see the breakout of prices the deeper we go in the playoffs:
I can't wait to pay $116 to watch the Sharks win the Cup this year!
Our playoff tickets were delivered to the doorstep this morning. Interesting to see the breakout of prices the deeper we go in the playoffs:
- regular season: $38/seat
- 1st round: $48/seat
- 2nd round: $61/seat
- 3rd round: $86/seat
- 4th round: $116/seat
I can't wait to pay $116 to watch the Sharks win the Cup this year!
Monday, April 02, 2007
drm-free is like unleaded gas
With word that EMI will now be selling DRM-free songs on iTunes for a premium ($1.29 per DRM-free song v $0.99 per crippled song), I should be rejoicing, yes?
I mean, who doesn't want to be able to buy a song online and do with it whatever you want? right?
But still, something's sticking in my craw. Apple's the one who takes the original file and then alters it with their DRM code. Kinda like the oil refineries add lead to the gasoline they make.
And then I, the consumer, pay extra for them to take it right back out again so I can fuel up with "unleaded" gas. Blech.
I mean, who doesn't want to be able to buy a song online and do with it whatever you want? right?
But still, something's sticking in my craw. Apple's the one who takes the original file and then alters it with their DRM code. Kinda like the oil refineries add lead to the gasoline they make.
And then I, the consumer, pay extra for them to take it right back out again so I can fuel up with "unleaded" gas. Blech.
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