The Seattle Sounders FC’s 40th season is almost about to get underway. I guess I know what I’m going to be doing for the next 90 minutes or so….
Yes, I know that they’ve only been in MLS for 5 years, but there was also this whole North American Soccer League….
Edit: as per the Standard Operating Procedures when facing Sporting KC, it went into the 4th minute of stoppage time before the game was decided. This why we dint give up, people....
Or a peice of Key Lime Pie. I was rather disappointed that Google decided to name the current version of Android Kit Kat rather than Key Lime Pie. I’m saying this because the Android upgrade for the Sprint HTC One has be released. And I decided to bite tonight, I was running the 420 Jelly Bean ROM singe I got my phone, and I was pretty happy with it. Enough that I stayed with Jelly Bean for a couple of weeks even when there were new ROMs coming out (applying a lesson learned not to leap straight into upgrades, especially when what I have already works). Then the 420 Kit Kat ROM came out, and I decided to try it out today. 8 hours later, I’ve given up on it, but I found a new rom: ViperOne. So far, I’m happy with it. There are a lot of tweaks (kinda like the LeeDroid tweaks in Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich I had when I was running my EVO 3D). Also a plus is it’s easier to manage blinkfeed (I went with 420 because it was a Sense 5.0 Jelly Bean ROM that had blink feed disabled by default).
Kit Kat is good. Although I should add that I’ve said that about Jelly Bean, Ice Cream Sandwich, Gingerbread and Froyo…
By At work, there is a policy with regards to cell phones. Namely, don't use them. So I keep mine tuned off and in my locker. Abd so it was last night. I got off work abd I turned my phone back on. Abd it just kept boot-looping ad naseum. Normally this would be cause for concern, but I figured it was an issue the kernel I flashed, and I would just reflash the ROM as soon as I got home. I get home, turn the computer on, and guess what. No boot. It did turn on, abd wishes loaded. It just wouldn't load the desktop. So i ended up having to wipe the tower, reinstall Windows just so I can flash the ROM on my phone (owing to space constraints, I haven't been keeping a copy of my ROM on my phone. I may visit that policy soon...)
But so far, everything appears back to normal. I got all the settings restored back to my phone. Now I just have to reinstall everything back on my tower. Again. Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for my 1 tB usb back up drive...
Edit: I hope I've nailed the problem with the tower not wanting to load. It appears to have been an issue with my Bluetooth adapter. After installing the software/driver for it & pairing my devices with my tower, my wireless keyboard stopped working. Upon rebooting, again the desktop didn't load. Until I pulled the Bluetooth adapter out...
Ok, the Denver Broncos brought the #1 offense in the NFL to the Super Bowl. And the Seahawks brought the #1 defense in the league to the game. Abd there is a reason why defense is what wins games. From the opening play safety too the interception taken to the house, Peyton Manning got his head handed to him on a silver platter. But enough about the Seahawks trouncing the Denver Broncos...
I had to work today. I thought about calling out (unlike previous employers, this one offers paid vacation and sick leave, abd I had accumulated enough of both that I could've called out. But I have these damn ethics, and so I showed up for work. Fortunately, my assigned post was near the tv, so I was able to catch most of the game...
One ring to rule them all, abd the Seahawks have it. For once, Seattle has a professional sports franchise that can not only make it the post season, but they can also not completely choke it...
So if you haven't heard, there's this little football game going on today. The Seattle Seahawks are paying the Denver Broncos. Hopefully this years' Super Bowl week go better than the last time they made it.
The two states with legalized pot are playing in the Super Bowl. No wonder it is so foggy today.
Go Hawks.
I just filed my taxes. Like I've always done. With my previous employer, my withholding was screwed up so I didn't get enough withheld. And I ended up paying for it every spring. But this year, I had stated a new job, and I had the withholding correctly set up. I'm getting a refund. Or if not a refund, then I expect the slate between me and the IRS to be wiped clean. You won't get into as much trouble if you file and don't pay (that's just being late) than if you don't file at all (that's tax evasion, a crime. A serious one. As in that's what got Al Capone put away). Though I strongly encourage you to pay, or to set up an installment plan...
Edit: the IRS accepted my tax return that same day, and I just checked, and my refund has been approved. Albeit reduced as to a past due tax obligation. Which is fine with me. I'll admit that owed them money. But the slate is now wiped clean, and I have money coming back still. I'm a happy camper...
Truth in advertising: I'm writing this post about mainly my computer, but I'm writing it from my tablet....
In less than three months, The Anti-Christ will discontinue support for Windows XP. Which means if you're using xp, upgrade now. What Microsoft wants you to do is go out and buy a new computer and/or a new version of the latest incarnation of Windows. But the problem is that when it comes quality, Windows trends to skip generations. Windows 98 was good. Windows ME was Crap (that's probably why I became so computer literate. My very first computer had ME on it). XP was good. Really good (I upgraded as soon as it came out). Windows Vista was called Windows ME, Service Pack 1. Windows 7 was really good (came with my laptops). And Windows 8 is essentially Windows ME, Service Pack 2. Basically they tried to put the touchscreen experience on equipment that doesn't have touchscreens. Abd I'm not to thrilled with the ui experience. If you're absolutely forced to upgrade, look for Windows 7.
As for me, tonight, I'm doing one last system wipe. I'm sticking with XP to the bitter end. I think my next Windows upgrade is going to be when I buy my next computer. But I have my reasons for sticking with XP. All of my hardware is compatible with it abd I have drivers. But the real reason are my games. Some of them are really old, and XP is the most advanced os they'll run under. I don't think security will be an issue, as my Tower sits behind a NAT firewall, and Google Chrome will still support XP for while. Besides with two 1 tB hard drives, there's plenty of space for my new primary os: Linux. It's free, and unlike Windows 8, kde stills has the start menu...
So a chronic problem I've had living in my apartment has been the bathroom fan. Specifically it has worked more often than it worked. It worked fine when I moved in, but then it died. Went to the office, told about it, and the maintenance guy came in and replaced it. Couple of months later, abd it dies again. This time, I went to the office and nothing happened. It took a couple of times, but then somebody finally came out. Two weeks later, it dies again. Maintenance guy was out troubleshooting another issue, abd I told him about it. Abd I was told that he needed a work order from the office. So I went to the office again right away. And it was ignored. A few weeks later, there was another issue abd this time I ended up on the phone with the home office of the real estate company who owns the building, and I made a passing comment about the fan always going out. Very soon after that the fan was replaced (this time, I was told that it had to be special ordered). Soon after that, the fan started rumbling (but it still worked), and it came loose in its mounting (like it was going to fall). And I now noticed The Drip. Want much, just a nuisance. But it was still a leak. Fast forward to Tuesday night when I went to take a leak, and I was hit with a bigger steam than what I was releasing. Finally I sent an email to the apartment office again, abd this time he was there early in the morning. He told us the leak is a roofing issue, and it'll be a week to fix it. Again the bathroom fan is on special order. This morning, I heard some very loud stomping on the roof, abd I hope it was the roofer. I've seen a little bit of a drip, but nothing like before. Now I just hope we get our fan back. I think I'll get it fixed. I did tell my apartment manner that I'm ok going without one, but she'll be the one dealing with the mold when I move out....
I should be going to bed right now. But I can’t. I’m too wired & and watching the Grammys. Here’s the best new artist:
Historically, the best new artist grammy can be considered the kiss of death for a musician’s career (remember Men at Work, anyone?). I hope this doesn’t follow the trent. I actually like Macklemore…
The Seahawks are back in the Super Bowl. Eight years ago, when I started this blog, they were on their way to the Festivus Maximus as well. This year, I think they've better chances than when went up against the Steelers. I'll be rooting for them, even if I can't catch the game....
We're going up against Denver, in New York. Two west coast teams playing on the east coast, about as close to neutral territory that I can see. It could be worse. We could've been facing Indianapolis (who defeated us at Indianapolis) or Cincinnati. Or God forbid, the Patriots. Then again that would've been a chance to give Tom Brady a very much well deserved beating. Though a Manning took care of that for us. Now we just have to take care of a Manning....
It's basically going to be the best offense verses the best defense. Offense sells tickets, bit defense wins games (like the last play interception last night).
Go Hawks.
So I got my phone a couple of days ago. Rooting it initially wasn't that hard. I just simply went to the HTC dev website and followed the instructions to unlock my boot loader, abd then flashed su and a recovery. I then flashed a couple of ROMs and found one that I liked. The ed a problem last night with it, though. My boy lost relocked itself, So I had to go through the whole process of relocking & unlocking again. This time I ran the rumrunner tool & abd got S-off so my phone will stay unlocked.
As for the ROM that I'm running, it's a slightly modified version of the Team 420 ROM that posted to xda. It's still a work in progress (I'll need to make a couple of more modifications to it, but I think I've found my daily driver).
What I like about my phone (for those of you who don't know, it's the Sprint HTC One):
The LTE. My previous phone had wimax, which was a separate radio. And I had issues with battery life with it. With LTE, I dint see as much battery usage, abd coverage is only going to get better I hope.
The partitioning. I can't put an an external memory card in it, but because the /data partition expands dynamically, I also don't need a third party app (like link2sd or a2sd) to link everything to a hidden partition on my sd card. Managing space may become an issue down the road, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
The power. 2gB's of ram, and a quad core processor. Yeah, she's fast enough for you. And since I've finally got it rooted and unlocked, I can probably over-clock it if I wanted, to.
And there's also the Beats audio, the aluminium, unibody construction, the 4.7 inch display, the camera...
So I was at Spamazon this afternoon and noticed I could get an HTC One for only a penny if I renew my contact. I figured why not? I had been upgrade eligible since October, and while my EVO 3D had served faithfully, I'm now only getting two hours' worth of charge before I had to recharge it (I had to get av external battery for it). So long story short I'm committed to Sprint for another two years...
2013 is about to leave, and 2014 is about to begin. My resolutions this year:
Happy New Year to you. If you’re drinking, then please don’t drive. A DUI is a lot more expensive than a cab…
If you can see this, then I've succesfully installed OpenSuSE on my tower. Still can't get blogilo to work, but Firefox still works, so I can blog from the website. Blogger still works from my phone and tablet, so it's not really a big deal. And let's not forget Windows Live Writer.... I'm not yet that advanced to go full Linux yet (and to be honest, I still have concers about my tv tuner, and my game controllers), but I have two 1 tB hard drives (plus a third as an external back-up), so I can still dual-boot with Windows XP (yes, I'm still running XP)....
Edit: my t.v. tuner now works. Reception is little spotty, but I think that's because I have use a splitter (because I have another tv card I use in Windows).
About three years was the last time I tried running OpenSUSE on my tower. I eventually have up because I couldn't get my t.v. tuner to work with it. Since then, I've put a few upgrades in with my hardware. So I'm now giving it another try. I still have the same tuner card that gave me fits the last time, so I don't think I'll be watching tv in Linux anytime soon. But everything else works (even my printer and wifi card)...
So far, so good. And I still have a working Windows install so I can do with Windows what's it's best for: Flight Simulator X....
The government shutdown is over. The US won't default on it's debt. I'm not going to bother posting links, just go to your favorite news site, it should be all over the headlines...
Obamacare is still in force, despite all attempts to stop it (in fact, this shutdown was a result of trying to tie the defunding of it to a spending bill which would've kept the government running).
Basically, the losers of this shutdown were the same people who lost the last one: Republicans. The biggest threat the Republicans have come from the Tea Party. Abd the Democrats know it...
This just happened a half hour ago. So I get to the Parkland Transit Center. I see a bus in the 410 bay about the time the 410 is about to leave, but it's sign is out. So I assume that it's a 410, like a reasonable person would, and the driver doesn't say anything otherwise about it being another route. The bus pulls out, and it turns turns out that it's the 204, which goes in the opposite direction. And, of course, the driver has nothing but excuses about the bus not being able to start and/or his sign not working. But that doesn't answer the question about why shit-for-brains parked in the wrong bay to begin with. Needless to say, I'm not going to get to where I'm going on time, and I'm not happy. But this is Pierce Transit we're talking about. They're more about maximizing revenue, while minimizing service...
I know that calling it in won't do any good, and supervisors will just ignore it; so I'll just remember this the next time I see a ballot measure for Pierce Transit.
And I give a special regard to Lynn Griffith, the CEO of Pierce Transit: you're an incompetent jackass.
A year ago, I posted that Tavaris Jackson should be cut, and I made some smartass comment about sacrificing Tim Tebow. Fast forward to today, abd Tim Tebow is cut, and Jackson is still a Seahawk...
Them 'hawks went 4-0 this year in preseason, and I think they'll make the playoffs again. After all, we did it last year. With a rookie quarterback.
The Sounders FC have also had their best August in club history. It's nice to have a professional sports team the great northwest that can post a winning record in the summer. Unlike a certain other team (The New World Order (Mind-Control Division) confess to mind...
So the verdict came in yesterday. Not Guilty. To be honest, I don't agree with it. He called 911, and was told to confront him, but he did. Abd an innocent life was taken. Yes, I think George Zimmerman is guilty. But I want on the jury. I didn't see all the evidence. And he got his due process of law. So ready the only course of action is to accept the verdict and move on.
The legal system is flawed, but in the long run, I would rather see the occasional guilty person go free rather than one innocent person go to prison.... The system is flawed, but it's still the best one available.
Much ado has been made in the headlines about Paula Deen getting shit-canned by the Food Network for using the n-word. Here are my two bits:
One upon a time, it may have been acceptable to use the n-word. Then again, it was also acceptable to publicly burn people alive just because somebody decided that they might be a witch...
But times and society have changed. We no longer have public Autos da Fe in the town square. And slavery is no longer practiced. The n-word is no longer an acceptable weird to use. Period. It might have been okay when you were growing up to use it, but not anymore. I think what has happened here is a failure to adapt. Now if she did happen to use it back on a time when it was politically ok to use it & and she hasn't used it since, then I can be ok with that (people can change). However, at age 66, she had spent most of her adult life in the civil rights era, and should've known better. As harsh as it may sound, I would've shit-canned Paula Deen as well.
Once upon a time in some parts of the country, you could be denied fundamental civil rights just on the color of your skin. And to this day, there are people who would still do so. I've seen out both ways. I've been called the n-word myself (and I'm a stereotypical white guy...), and I've seen people play the race card just because things weren't going there way, or they were caught red-handed. But I try to be colorblind in my speech. I try to avoid even mentioning one's race (to paraphrase Martin Luther King, it should be about the content of one's character, not one's skin color).
No one should use the n-word. Ever. It doesn't matter who you are, how you were brought up, or what color your skin is.
Of late there has been a new UFO sighed in the western Washington sky of late. It has been very bright, enough to make me want to open the window and install the Wally World air conditioning (cheap window fan). It has been bright enough that I've had to pull out the 'shades on my walk to the bus stop. I've heard some conspiracy nuts say that this mysterious object is called the 'sun' but I know better. This so-called Sun is nothing more than an internet fueled rumor. In Washington state, we're more likely to be invaded by extraterrestrials than to have sunny weather.
And I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords....
When I've purchased paid apps for my phone or tablet, in the pay I've always bought them through Spamazon, mainly because when I flashed a new ROM, they'd be available to reinstall without any fuss. Last Saturday, I noticed that the Swype keyboard was out of beta, and available at the Google Play store for only 99 cents. I had been using the public beta on both my phone and my tablet (yes it can pre-installed on my EVO 3D, but there were more features on the beta), abd I was sufficiently impressed with it to buy it. But it was only available on Google Play for now. So I figured what the hell, I put my credit card in (ordering it from my computer) abd it was pushed to both my devices.
And I'm impressed. Especially on the tablet (it will work on both the phone and the tablet). It is now my default keyboard. I highly recommend that you buy it....
It started with my tablet (read about it here). I was originally on the Wally World website to get socks and boxers, and I just had to get it (an a 32 gb memory card, the real reason why I updated my tablet being I was running out of the 8gb memory). So I told my co-workers I spent $300.00 on socks and boxers. Anyway I was at Spamazon, and I realized that my tower was a socket 775 motherboard (I learned this a couple of years ago right when I bought my first laptop, and I knew how to change the processor (if you can take the processor out to clean off excess thermal paste, then you can probably replace it). So I searched, and I found a used Intel Core 2 Quad-Core to replace my Pentium 4. And I upgraded the video card, too (still the budget end, but it’s a definite improvement over what I was running).
WIth the upgraded tower and my new tablet, I’m thinking about selling my laptop. It still runs well, but I feel it’s now redundant. I can’t take it to work, as it’s a 17.3” display, and I just don’t have enough space in my locker. I’ve had a couple of people express interest, but if this goes like all my other attempts to sell my electronics, I’m probably just going to end up giving it away.
I had a Kindle Fire. My brother gave it to me. It has served me faithfully, but from the point of view of a tablet, it sucks. It does kindle ebooks pretty well, and you can Netflix on it, too. But beyond that, you're going to have issues. So I was was at the Wally World website last week too buy socks and underwear, said I ended up buying a Samsung Galaxy Tab II 7.0. What can I say? It has Jellybean (the Kindle has Gingerbread), 2 cameras, GPS, and a slot for a memory card. And it has the Google Play store on it (I had to root the kindle to get that installed), as well as the Amazon appstore & kindle app (and I didn't need to root it to get them installed either).
Rooting it was very difficult, but I got it rooted somehow. I'm right now not interested in running a custom rom on this device (which is good, as I could never get a recovery installed). Unlike all the other android devices I used, the /data directory is sized dynamically, so I can use the full 4 gB to install my apps without having to use a 2nd partition on my memory card (which I do for my phone). The email client is the same as my phone (in fact I like the email on the tablet better than the phone because of the bigger screen size...). Netflix is a piece of cake (I was watching little bit of Star Trek last night).
App-wise, it runs more apps than the kindle fire. If I have any regrets about the galaxy, it's that the paid apps that I bought for my kindle aren't compatible with this. But then again, I've more apps available from both Google Play and the Amazon Appstore, so there's a lot more versatility.
All in all, I heartily endorse this product. Please go out and buy this. And unlike the iPad mini, you can still keep your man card while using this...
Edit: good tech doesn't need to go waste. My kindle fire will find a new home with my father ...
Give to Ray Lewis, and tell him not to let the door hit him on the way out. The Ravens won the Super Bowl, and I can think of no better way to go out than on top. A while back the Cardinals won the World Series, and right after that, Tony LaRussa hung up his mitre.
On a not so related story, I think the name ‘Redskin’ is racist. So I will no longer refer to the Washington Redskins as the Washington Redskins. From henceforth, they shall be referred to in this blog as the Washington Colin Mochrie. It’s far more politically correct to make fun of a bald Canadian improv player than it is to use a pejorative term towards Native Americans.
;
And you wonder why I picked him…
Apparently, yesterday Jim Nabors married his partner. I never knew he was 'out' until now. Well, I think it's great that Gomer Pyle knows the difference between teal and fuchsia as well as Marine issue od green....
Of choose this is yet another example of how I have absolutely zero functioning gaydar. And to be honest, I really don't care either, aside from wishing Jim and his partner the best...
Since we’ve had NHL Hockey back. Personally I’m of the opinion that if the NHL cancelled the entire season like it did in 04-05, it wouldn’t have recovered. The players would’ve found work elsewhere (there are professional leagues in Europe). And the fans would’ve moved on to other sports, like The New World Order (Mind-Control Division). In the end, the NHL would’ve only hurt itself. But cooler heads prevailed, and they got back to the rink.
In a semi related story, the Sonics might be coming back. Oklahoma City poached the Sonics, and it looks like we’re going to poach the Sacramento Kings. Finally, Seattle will once again have year-round professional sports. Though, to be honest I usually end up watching whatever is on Fox Soccer Channel. The one sport that I want to see more of is Cricket. My previous employer was from India, and apparently cricket is to India and NASCAR is to Charlotte….
I'm at home right now. I could've blotted about so much the past three months, but I stayed silent. There was a reason. Here's the story:
Throughout the last year, I had on occasion noticed that the time sheets at were being edited. And sometimes it was mine that were being changed, usually to knock 15 minutes off. I didn't question it at the time, until the day after labor day when my coworker mentioned that the owner did that whenever we weren't doing our jobs. He never told me what I was doing wrong, or that I was even in error.
So the next day, I asked him about it and he confirmed it. Problem is that it's illegal to alter the time card if an employee has worked the entire shift. I pointed that out, and was promptly pink slipped, told that I would no longer be needed after the holidays. So I started job searching immediately. In November I just stopped posting here. Throughout this time, I held my peace, trying to amicably resolve my differences wig my boss. He still insisted that I was gone. So in December, I formally requested a copy of my time card from both stores that I worked at during the past year, and I indicated that Washington State Department of Labor and Industries would be hearing about this. That got my back pay in question returned, but I was still gone.
So fast forward to New Year's, and I'm now unemployed right when most retailers are dumping there holiday temps. I put a resume on monster, registered with snagajob, started trolling Craigslist. In Washington, when you register for unemployment, you have to be actively searching for a job (the minimum is 3 employer contacts a week). I was dropping about 8 to 10 a week. I saw an ad for an opportunity up near the other store, and so I went up there to inquire about it, and saw a former coworker. We discussed my job search for a bit, and then I left. Owner's wife saw me leave, and asked about what I was discussing with coworker. I got on he bus to go apply at this job (before deciding to pass, as I had also gotten a call for an interview closer to home). While on the bus, the owner called wanting to know what I had said. I told him basically that I no longer work for him, and he can go felate himself. The resulting text from him said I was now persona non grata at his stores. His company was 2 franchises. So I fired up Facebook, and I told them the truth. One of the companies hasn't responded back, so I'm going to folllow up with them. The other one took a week and half to respond, but the shit has hit the fan with the other. They said that it's between him and me (basically lawyer up), but they're doing there own investigation because apparently breaking the law is breaking the franchise agreement....
While all that was going on, I was applied at another retailer and scheduled an interview right away. The morning of that interview, I got another phone call from another application wanting to interview over the phone. So I had a job interview while not wearing pants. Went to the first interview, and got the standard rejection line, and he rejection email to my phone before i had even left the building. Next day, second company called, wanting me to come in for an in person interview (this time with pants on). From that interview, I was sent out for a drug test. That usually means you got the job....
As for the circumstances leading to my original dismissal, I'm reporting them. First to corporate, then to the Labor department. What happened there was illegal, and I was retaliated against for complaining about it....
So there's the story. Hopefully I have a job now. And for the purposes of this blog, all that I will say about where I work is that I'm employed. Nothing else....
The Seattle Sounders FC have gone past the first round of the MLS playoffs… Sorry, Real Salt Lake, but the LA Galaxy seriously need a Tom Brady Well-Deserved Beating (at least somebody needs to beat the sock out of David Beckham’s shorts…), and it’s going to come in Rave Green….
If you haven’t noticed it yet, Barack Obama won another term. And unlike 2000 he did it without having to carry Florida (as of right now, Florida is still counting). Some people are rejoicing, some are in mourning, but the most have accepted it and are moving on. I’m encouraged by the fact that there are now calls from both sides of the aisle to compromise. This election was very close, and that indicates that America doesn’t need just one party’s idealogy, or the other party’s. America needs unity. We need to cooperate. When Obama leaves office in 2017, both democrats and republicans will have had equal time in the White House since 1961. If your party/candidate doesn’t have the White House/Capitol Hill today, don’t be discouraged. It will average out in the long run.
And Donald Trump is a right-wing birther nutjob. And it wouldn’t surprise me if he got some extra attention from law enforcement (namely, the Secret Service) for some of his tweets….
Many years ago, I saw this video (I can’t even remember where. Could’ve been MTV, VH1, or PBS…). And very recently, I remembered it, and searched youtube for it. I like it so much I bought it from Spamazon. I don’t have an iPod (I like my Man-Card), and digital music from Soamazon isn’t drm’ed, so I can back it up locally, and copy it to my phone. BTW, this isn’t the first time I’ve bought music:
Apparently, only Flight Simulator 2004 and Flight Simulator X will play well in WIndows 7 64-bit (what my laptop runs). My tower normally runs Windows XP 32-bit, and everything runs fine in it, so I had to put it back together today. Which means I need to buy another SATA hard drive for my usb hard drive enclosure (which is really good for sneaker-netting backups)….'
In a moment of wrath late last night, I also wiped my laptop, so today, I was ‘moving in” into two different systems today (this post is being written from the laptop). This is a serious pain in the arse right now, but in the end printing will be easier, since I keep the printer on the tower, and I can network it (it’s a lot easier for me to turn the tower on and print through the lan than to fight the printer cable and plug it in…).
On a more political note, I noticed the address was off on my absentee ballot (to be precise, my apartment number was one letter off). Since last Monday was the last to register to vote in person at the county auditor’s office, I called to make sure, and I was told not to worry, my vote would still count. She even made a specific note about the address, and confirmed my correct address (which surprisingly was correctly listed on my voter registration card). So, I dropped my ballot off (there’s a drop box at the library), and they picked up my ballot last Wednesday. So you can stop campaigning now….
I was in Worst Buy today. I ended up buying a hard drive enclosure. So, I've pulled my terabyte hard drive from my tower, and I'm going to use it as a USB drive for my laptop. I spent the past couple of weeks trying thing out with the tower, but in the end, my laptop is faster and it's capable of doing anything my tower did (except for the two monitors & and the Tv tuner). I really don't need to crt monitors, and they now have USB Tv tuners (to be purchased later).
So, as I've already mentioned, my p4 tower has been retired. I'll give it one last wipe and reinstall WinXP. I've already found a home for it, and maybe I'll get paid for it…
Absentee ballot came in the mail today. Some of the issues involve a lot of controversy. Here’s my positions:
And now some of the candidates:
These aren’t all the issues I voted on this year, and they may not even be the most important. But my voice will be heard…..
This time of year, it doesn’t really matter how you lean pollitcally. What matters is that you vote….
My brother had a kindle. Then he upgraded to a kindle fire. And so he gave me his kindle. Which I used to download and read Aesop's Fables. And then it went into my drawer. He decided he wanted his kindle back (he said it was lighter). And so we traded. I tried to root it, but there were some issues with the adb drivers (namely I thought I downloaded them, when I didn't). But after unbricking it, I now have a kindle fire. And I'm impressed.
This won't be an ipad killer by any shot, but I have kindle on it (obviously), and have the overdrive media console. So I can read all my books on it (even from the library). Ive also got netflix on it, so I can catch a flick if I can get wi-fi. It's not going to replace my phone but it'll come in handy when I don't want to pull the laptop out.
Ok, you get a fortuitous first and goal thanks to a near goal line apss interference call. Then you get a referee’s blunder in your favor, and you get a fourth time-out. And what do you do? You throw four incomplete passes in a row! But, it’s only the first game of the season, and a rookie quarterback. Just don’t fail me again, or I shall have to be complelled to call for you to be telekinetically strangled…
But on the bright side, Seattle’s other football team is doing pretty well, beating Chivas USA 2-1…
And now it counts. They shit-canned TO (imo they should've never signed him to begin with. They got rid of T-Jack, reading him to another team where he can warm the benches with pride.
And now it starts for real. The 'Hawks first opponent will be the Cardinals. They may be a good opponent, provided they wear their helmets and not their mitres...
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE87O0B020120825?irpc=932
Neil Armstrong has passed away. He was an inspiration, even though his ground breaking trip happened before I was born. I may not have grown up to be an astronaut, but I could still dream...
So the Seahawks are 3-0 in the preseason. It looks good. But then again, 5 years ago, the Detroit Lions went 4-0 in the preseason, and then they went 0-17... But I'm impressed with our second stringers. I think the best football in the preseason comes from these people. The starters have there employment lined up fur the season, but these are people looking for work, and they're leaving it all on the field. And the fact they're administering a Tom Brady Well-Deserved Beating to other teams' starters says something.
TO is a washed-up man-diva. During the Broncos game, all we saw were drops. During tonights game, there was one good catch, but there were also too many drops. If he wants to stay, there better be the performance. I may be a little too hard on him for your tastes, but in previous years, his antics of the field have over shadowed his on the field performance. How many bridges has he burned in other teams?
T Jack is gone. The writing is in the wall. I've heard that if he's trade they'll get no more than a fifth round pick for him. I say cut him. Shit-can his ass. Send the message to the team that your job has to be earned, not handed to you....
And would somebody please sacrifice Tim Tebow fit crying out loud? The Ram's blood is going to spoil....
Rule of thumb, when you have to get up at the butt-crack of dawn (at 5:30, to be precise), perhaps a little bit earlier than 2:00 would be a good time to go to bed….
So I get up at bright and early in the morning. Because I had an eye appointment. So I get there, and find out I still have 20/20 vision (the eye doctor said that about my age is when bifocals start getting prescribed (I have a brother who already has them). In fact, I’m the last of my siblings who doesn’t need corrective lenses (I needed them growing up, as I was near-sighted in one eye, and far-sighted in the other eye)…
But that’s all a side track. This was mainly a diabetic eye exam. Which means I had to have my eyes dialated. On a very sunny day. Even with sun-glasses, it was an adventure at the very least trying to get back home….
OK, it’s been over a month. But I’m back for now…
Yesterday was my birthday. My brother celebrated with pizza. And then the Mariners, the Seahawks, and the Sounders FC won there respective games. All in all, a good day despite the fact that I had to work.
Felix Hernandez threw a perfect game. Those who follow The New World Order (Mind-Control Division) would know that the Mariners had a perfect game thrown against them earlier this year. And if you can take it, then by all means dish it out. Felix Hernandez is awesome. He told Chuck Norris, Red Foreman, and Sergeant Hartley to go fuck themselves, and thus homosexuality was invented….
I voted in the primary this year (usually I just abstain the primary election, and concern myself with the general election). To be honest, I don’t know who I’ll vote for this year for President. JP Patches passed away, and that was my usual write in candidate… I’m looking for a candiate who will promise to have the Tea Party deported to France, and (most importantly) have Arnold Schwarzenegger tarred and feathered… Although I am going to declare my endorsement for the state Superintendent of Public Instruction: Randy Dorn. Yes, I make fun of him on Facebook. A lot. Mainly because of his DUI. But he was responsible enough to own up to his actions. But as an elected official, he makes the bed, he has to sleep in it, and the ridicule is my right, my privilege, and my duty… Besides whenever I crack open an ice cold ‘Adult Beverage’, part of the experience is posting that it’s Randy Dorn time on Facebook.
Speaking of JP Patches, here’s what he did to Harry Wappler:
Newscasts are always better with a clown.
Kathi Goertzen also passed away. With her anchoring, Wayne Cody on sports, and Harry Wappler on weather, the afterlife now has a full news team.
Went to the local Comcast kiosk today and asked about Xfinity Streampix. Basically, I was told that it was über-on-demand. Whereas normal on-demand on Comcast usually only has a few episodes from a given series, Streampix will allegedly carry the entire series (basically a cheap imitation of Netflix...)...
It was only about $5 a month. We'll see how it goes....
This happened about a week ago, but I was busy (boss was out of town, and co-worker called out on me. Twice), and I still wanted to comment on it.
Jerry Sandusky was found guilty of 45 out of 48 counts against him. And while the jury was deliberating, his son came forward with further allegations. Penn State is probably going to get taken to the cleaners over this since civil lawsuits are much easier to win when there's a criminal conviction. But you can expect that when you try to cover it up.
Normally when a person is accused of something like this, I hold my tongue. They're only accused, and they have a right to a day in court (to this day, I'll hold the line that Michael Jackson was innocent because that's what the jury said). But in this case, they came back with a guilty verdict. He did it. Even with a minimum sentence, he'll probably spend the rest of his life locked up. In solitary. Some have said they hope his cellmate Bubba has certain issues that he can work out on him, but u call that cruel and unusual punishment. Why should Bubba, who's trying to turn his life around, have to spend any time at all with him. I'd say, out him in the general population, and let the other inmates handle the matter. Some people are probably calling for a (New Testament) Christian approach, and that is completely appropriate, too. Though I have no idea where one would find a millstone...
I'm now on Twitter again. My handle is @ogre1500. My three previous attempts all lasted about two hours. Together...
So for so good...
And I think even LeVar Burton liked this version, too.
But the message is clear: get a book and read it…
I know I haven’t been posting as often as I used to. I mainly Facebook now, though I’ll still use this as my original soapbox in the Internet. With Facebook’s IPO royally tanking, and talk of Facebook’s eventual decline (a la MySpace), I may come back to this blog. I’m not abandoning it. I just may not be as active on it…
Having said that, I went to my doctor’s office last week. As a type I diabetic, every check-up comes with an A1C blood test. 10 years ago, when I was initially diagnosed, this test was done with a full blown blood draw (they did a finger-stick in the office to check my sugar at the time, too). Ususally, they also did a full work-up (ie cholesterol, liver, thryoid, etc), which is also how I was diagnosed 4 years ago with hypothyroidism (which runs in my mother’s family). Nowadays, they can do the A1C on a fingerstick, too. This was the first doctor’s visit in a while where I could get away with not getting bled. But I was told to lose weight….
This is where all the trouble I went through to get s-off on my phone paid off (you may read that tale here. Hmmm, I think it’s been awhile since I posted here…). Anyway, Sprint pulled the HTC EVO 3D from its online line-up a while back. And there’s a reason for that. It’s going to Virgin Mobile (don't believe me? You can pre-order it from Radio Shack here). But on Virgin Mobile, it’s going to have Ice Cream Sandwich. With Sense 3.6. And somebody leaked the ROM update. Which a bunch of idiots when and promptly flashed, and they’re idiots because it included a firmware upgrade specific for Virgin Mobile and it’s network (while it does use essentially the Sprint network, there are enough differences that you can be seriously fückered up and not have a way of getting out). So I waited. And the developers at XDA Developers did their magic, and Sprint specific ICS sandwich ROMs have now appeared. And I’m running one now. Right now, I’m running MikVirgin. And I’m sufficiently impressed with this phone that I’m using it as my daily driver. I’m sure that it’ll only get better when a Sprint specific version is leaked/released. Maybe the Energy treatment could be possible?
Ok, so Sunday was Mother’s Day. My boss bought his wife a shiny new MacBook Pro (actually I work at 2 locations, and at 1 I work for the husband, and I work for the wife at the other location). Anyway the husband bought a brand new MacBook Pro for his wife, which meant their ca. 1 year old laptop was on the market. I was at Worst Buy when the husband bought the laptop, and I was impressed with it (it's spec’ed to be a desktop replacement). A few months later, my WinXP tower started having issues, and I bought my own laptop as a hedge against it dying. It never did (just some dust that I took care of). SO I put my laptop on the market, and I found a buyer, and my boss offered me terms that I could afford for his ‘old’ laptop. And now it’s mine. With the really big display and hard drive, it will become my new default computer. My windows XP tower, with it’s 1 Tb drive, will become my storage & and backup server. And there will probably be some games on it that won’t get installed on the laptop (there are just some games that Windows 7 won’t take…).
Boss had a baby boy about three weeks ago, and I’ve been working a lot. In and of itself, that’s wouldn’t be a problem, but I’m the one who gets the calls from my co-workers whenever something goes wrong, and that gets old real fast. I guess that’s what I get for being there for so long. But that also means less posting here. Though to be honest, I’m more into Facebook…
Ok, that was only because I wanted to post a video. To be honest, I never heard this song when it first came out (IIRC Love and Rockets was originally an alternative band, and they weren’t on the radio stations that I was listening too. The very first Love and Rockets song i heard was So Alive, and at the time I hated it….
(I'm on my phone, I'll post the web-links later). I have an HTC EVO 3D. I love it. The Sprint 4G may be a bit spotty in some places, but it does the job with ease. My previous phone, the Sensation, I unlocked it with the Revolutionary tool. Then I installed recovery and went from there. That wasn't the case with my EVO. When I got it, it had hboot 1.5, which was locked. To unlock it, I had to use the HTC Dev tool. Which unlocked it so I could flash a recovery and install a custom ROM. But because the bootloader was locked, I couldn't flash a new kernel from recovery (most if the custom ROMs use different kernels), so I have to pull out the laptop and use the fastboot command to do it.
But there was an xda developer who wag just as annoyed by it as I was. And he figured out how to revert the hboot from 1.5 to 1.4. It's not for the faint of heart. I'd you don't know what you're doing, you'll end up with a $600 battery charger/paperweight. Long story short, I had to relock my phone, reflash a stock ROM, and then intentionally brick it. Then I had to boot into Linux, and run a special downgrade tool. Then I had to flash another stock ROM, and then run the Revolutionary tool.
But it's worth it. I'm now s-off on hboot 1.4 running my custom ROM.
Well, yesterday was the Godless Pagan Holiday (Spring). I would've offered the customary human sacrifice for it were it not for the fact the ram's blood is so expensive (and there's the whole it being illegal part, too...). But the rain is gone for now, and our extraterrestrial overlords are now flying that big yellow UFO in the sky (it is more likely for for us to get invaded by aliens than to have sunny weather in western Washington...). This marks the first day this year that I can put the heavy coat away and go with a sweatshirt...
My boss had been pregnant for about the last nine months or so. Emphasis on the past tense. Thursday night/Friday morning, she had a baby boy. I don't know too many of the particulars, I just saw the pictures on Facebook, and they're not answering the phones (and I'm not calling them, either).
First, the first political ad officially posted on my blog:
I really try to stay out of political issues. Yes, I have my opinions, and you have yours. Just because they’re not the same doesn’t mean that either of us are equal. I grew up conservative, but gradually turned towards the liberal side of the spectrum. But not all the answers are going to come from either the left or the right. They’re going to come from both sides. But neither the democrats or republicans can seem to work together. And we’re going to lose because of it. The government almost went into default last summer because they couldn’t work together, and that would’ve royally fucked the country. Maybe the politicos should put aside the Party Dogma, and start talking to the person across the aisle. A house divided against itself cannot stand. And partison politics in DC is in essence dividing the house against itself…
Well, the No Fun League has dropped the hammer on Sean Payton. Suspended for the entire 2012 season. And Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams have gotten even worse, with an indefinite suspension. Meaning, at season’s end, he still may not have a job. The Saints also lost some draft choices, and were fined 500k. I completely disagree with Roger Godell’s handling of this. He was way too lenient. They both should’ve been shit-canned outright, and they Saints should’ve forfeited games (basically suspending all the players).
In the NHL, they can call ‘attempting to injure’. It results in an automatic ejection from the game and the offending player has to have a long and awkward conversation with the league prior to returning to the game. Perhaps the NFL should consider this rule as well. Or another angle the officials in the NFL could try is a page from MLS’s book. A yellow card means your first, last, and only warning from the official. A red card would mean you wouldn’t have to worry about your choice of soap in the shower. Yes Football is in and of itself a violent sport, but there is no place for deliberately attempting to injure your opponent. I guarantee you that if you’re not pulling a 7-8 figure salary, you’d have your ass thrown in jail for assault if you pulled this shit off anywhere else.
In other news, Tim Tebow was traded to the New York Jets. As Jay Leno put it tonight, perhaps we have thrown a Christian to the Lions. I am disappointed. I know have to return the Ram’s blood and tear down the altar. Though I think Denver is taking too big a risk in signing Payton Manning. He’s missed an entire season due to neck problems/surgery, and I’m not sure he’ll be able to perform again. And what if he reinjures his neck?
The Clipboard Jesus is back in San Diego. The Seahawks signed Matt Flynn, formerly the backup to the Green Bay Packers. You may remember the previous Packers backup we signed, Matt Hasselbeck…..
I get off work, and head to the bus stop, which is on a major arterial. While I'm waiting, a car stops, and asks me for help (I'm thinking they want directions), but no, they're panhandling me. *From* their car. Sorry guys, bit of you can afford a car, then you should be able to afford gas. If you can't, then don't panhandle the pedestrians. Join them and walk...
I just realized that there is one villian that James T. Kirk couldn’t defeat: Damon Wayans…
Yes, it is dated. In Living Color ran this sketch years before George Takei came out of the closet…
Ok, the calendar says spring is eminent. But the weather that we’ve been having of late has been more reminiscent of January/February/Winter. I got off work on Sunday, and on the way to the bus stop, saw snow coming down. It wasn’t sticking, but it was snowing. Tuesday, on my way to work I noticed that it had snowed, and it stuck until afternoon. Owing to Pierce Transit being run by a bunch of incompetent clods, when I work late, I have to walk an extended distance to catch a bus home. Fortunately, one of my co-workers has a car and she’s been more than generous in giving me a ride home when the weather turns ugly.
My boss is due almost anytime know.
So my already erratic schedule is shot to hell. But, you can only be pregnant so many times, so I’m not going to complain….
Yes, I know have’ve been slacking off in posting. But other things are coming up that need my attention. And I’ve got Facebook, too. But I’m not going to give on my internet soapbox. Then again, there’s so much I want to say, but I hold my tongue because this is a public blog, and it’ll come back to haunt me. I’m no fool. I’ve seen what’s happened to Rush Limbaugh (although I will say that I didn’t need to see the current controversy to know he’s a drug-addicted, misogynistic bigot)….
With my last post about T-Mobile, I said I went to Sprint. When I left the T-Mobile store Saturday after returning my HTC Sensation, I walked right across the mall concourse to the Sprint Store and started asking question. I knew Phil wanted an iPhone, and I had an idea about what kink of phone I wanted. The clerk ran my credit, set my account up, and said that I was pre-approved for up to 5 lines without a security deposit (a needless redundancy since I only need two). anyway, I didn’t get them then since I had to settle a few affairs. After being told how much the phones were and that I was preapproved, my brother texted back that he could pay for them himself.
So next Wednesday, we were in the Sprint store in the South Hill Mall in Pukeallup, picking out phones. I was going to get an EVO 4G, mainly because of it’s similarity to my HD2 (I knew that there were Energy ROMs being for it, and that there was a2sd support for it). But they didn’t have any in stock (it’s actually been discontinued/in the process of being discoe’ed). So I went with the EVO 3D. I’m glad I did. With the announced release of HTC’s ‘One’ series, it may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer anymore, but it’s still got what counts. When it comes to internal phone memory and processor, it’s essentially a Sensation, so there’s no real surprise there. Even though it had a gB available to the user, I can still run out of space really quick, but liberal use of apps2sd attenuates that problem. Compared to what I was running, it just zips along. Even a reboot after wiping the Dalvik cache take less time than it did for my HD2 to do a normal reboot (reboot after wiping the Dalvik cache took over 30 minutes on my HD2). Add that to the one gigabyte of RAM, and it has more power than my first computer (which was capable of running windows XP).
So I get my phone, and I find I have to do the official HTC unlocking in order to root it (what’s the point in getting Android if I can’t root it?). It took a few tries (ended up having to download the RUU and reinstalling it in order to get it to unlock). For about 3 days, I just ran the stock ROM. Out of the box, it runs Gingerbread on Sense 3.0 (just like the Sensation). Saturday, I discovered that the stock ROM is compatible with UOT kitchen, so I can change the icon sets (mainly I wanted to change the battery indicator). Sunday night, I finally worked up the courage to wipe it and flash a custom ROM (a difference from when I had the Sensation. With that phone, I had the custom ROM downloaded, tweaked and ready to flash before I bought it). I finally found a Sense 3.5 ROM and downloaded it Sunday. It wasn’t an Energy ROM (he doesn’t cook for the EVO 3D), but I gave it try. Installed all of my apps and moved into it Monday, and it crashed and burned on me Tuesday on my way to work. So Tuesday when I came home from work, I decided to try my hand at a Frankenstein ROM. So this time, I took a few elements from the Energy ROMs that I’ve downloaded from my phones and cooked them into my ROM. And I’m pretty impressed with it.
But there was drawback: space. My memory card had a second, hidden partition for a2sd (which I used on my HD2). None of the a2sd scripts I used would work on this phone. Then I saw one the on of the xda fora someone mention link2sd. It’s free and available on the market. Installed it, and it recognized my ext4 partition. So I can install all my 300+ apps on a phone that has the horsepower to run them. The main drawback to having your apps installed on your sd card is that you just pull your sd card (with windows mobile, the sd card was hot pluggable). But the again, I have to pull the battery out to get to the memory card on this phone.
All in all, I think I’m going to enjoy this phone. And there’s a forthcoming upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich due shortly, too (there are a few ice cream sandwich builds out there, but I’ll wait for the official HTC one first). Did I mention that my brother paid for this? And he willingly surrendered his man-card?
Ok, so I had my nice shiny new HTC Sensation 4g, and all was well, as I had posted previously. I got the phone on Saturday, and I was told that T-Mobile’s system was down, and my sale/contract renewal was done with an ‘off-line’ sale. The clerk went over all of the terms with me, I thought, and my boss was there to provide his credit card (the promotion at the time was that the phones were free after rebate, and my boss would simply get the rebate). I took the phones and then left the T-Mobile store.
The first red flag should’ve been raised the following Sunday. I got a call from the T-Mobile store saying they had charged my boss’s credit card the wrong amount, and would actually be charging it for $20 more than what was supposed to be the charge, I thought. But due to my erratic work schedule, I wasn’t able to get back to the store till the ensuing Wednesday. I get there and the manager pulls out my paperwork and hands it to me. I then saw that not only was I on a two year contract, but I was also on an equipment installment plan, which no one had said anything to me before! So, not only was on a contract, but I was going to pay full price anyway. The next Saturday, I returned my phones. I had my HTC Sensation 4g for only one week. When I returned my phones, I was told that I had to pay a $50 restocking fee per phone. I simply told the clerk that I would eat the loss.
What happened here was fundamentally wrong on a few points.
So, being a reader of The Consumerist, I knew what had to happen. I deployed an Executive Email Carpet Bomb (something I’ve had to do before, with Pierce Transit). A couple of days later, I got a call from Christopher Lowe at T-Mobile. Basically, he said T-Mobile was right, I was wrong, but he was going to offer to credit my account for the restocking fee in question. I declined. I don’t need to fucking freebie if you’re going to talk down to me. Having checked my account online prior to the call, I also saw that my phone line was still under contract, even though I had already returned the phones. I made sure that he set my account as not under contract. I hung up, and I thought I might still give T-Mobile a chance.
While all this was happening, I talked to my brother about switching to Sprint. The day after I got off the phone with Christopher Lowe, Philip and I were in Puyallup to celebrate our parents’ birthdays when we came by a Sprint store. We went in, and picked our phones out, and at this time Philip told me that when I talked to T-Mobile executive care, his data service was cut off. That was enough for me. I dumped T-mobile. My brother got an iPhone 4s, and I got an HTC EVO 3D. Basically, a Sensation but with a different radio, and 3-D camera.
T-Mobile is a royal cluster-fuck when it comes to customer service. There were at least two (possibly three) occasions where T-Mobile could’ve kept my business. All they had to do was not be total incompetent clods. I’m now starting to get collection calls from T-Mobile about my last balance. I’ll probably pay it. But I think a complaint to the FTC and the state attorney general’s office is in order, too…
Ok. So I renewed my phone contract yesterday. T-Mobile had a sale, where any smartphone they had was free after rebate. And my boss was willing to lend me the money. So I went top the local corporate store and got the HTC Sensation. It was unrooted with the stock ROM. And that lasted all of abøøt an hour and a half once I got off work. To be honest, by the time l bought the phone, I had already downloaded and tweaked the latest ENERGY ROM for. It is essentially the same as the one for the HD2. So I have good comparison for the hardware.
And all I have to say is that it's lightning fast. I guess a 1.2 GHz dual-core will do that. And the Ram (768 mB), meaning I don't have to mess with a swap file or zRam (both are more trouble than they're worth on the HD2). I guess running Android on a phone that's designed for it (with proper drivers) makes a difference (remember the HD2 original came with WinMo 6.5, putting Android in it is kind of like putting a Corvette engine in a Mustang: you'll very the performance, but there will always be issues).
There are a couple of drawbacks to it. While all the literature I saw about it advertises that it has 4 gB of internal storage, only 1 gB is available to the user. Ok, I thought. But I soon realized that no one had implemented A2SD for the Sensation. And currently there is no way to repartition the NAND. So I'm making very liberal use of the move to SD. If I don't need a particular app for a widget, it'll get moved to the sd card...
But overall, I'm impressed. Right now, I'm running Gingerbread. But they have Ice Cream Sandwich coming right around the corner....
And did I mention that in the 10th and Commerce test, I can pull about 5 megs? Not too shabby. A short while ago that passed for broadband speed....
Saturday, I was at work, and when I got off, I noticed one of the employees at the business right next us had an HD2 like me. He told me he wanted to Netflix on his phone, and the only way to do that is either put windows phone 7 or Android on it. He still needs WinMO, so i told there was a way to run Android off the sd card (which I did for a while), and he said he’d be back so I could (I have all the necessary files on my laptop).
So I show up. At my work on my day off. And the id10t stands me up….
Ok people, if I’m willing to fix your techie items, then you need to show up when I say meet me. I didn’t buy a bus pass this month, and I have to eat the loss for the round trip bus fare. Fortunately, A co-worker called out, and I can make some use of my time here. But still, this is something to consider when you decide to no-show….
The Giants won a football game yesterday. You may know of it, but I won’t mention it because the No Fun League are total assholes when it comes to anything even remotely close to it…
Yes Eli Manning deserves the MVP and the obvious Ring that goes with it. At least until Frodo decides to throw it into a volcano…. But the title if this is about Tom Brady. He got a Well-Deserved Beating yesterday. And if there is anyone in Football who deserves a Tom Brady Well-Deserved Beating, it’s Tom Brady. His wife was asking everyone to pray for him and the Patriots during the game.during the game. There are many things that I may pray for. For one team during a professional sports event is not one of them. If I were to invoke a religious ritual for an NFL game, there is but one option: sacrificing Tim Tebow…..
And my tower is next. I thought I addressed the issue of my laptop freezing when I nuked Firefox, but they persisted. So I took the nuke from orbit approach and wiped it. I wasn't looking forward to it, but it was necessary. With my laptop almost literally going everywhere I go, I decided this approach would deal with any malware, if it was the cause. If it's a hardware issue, them I'm fückered...
While I'm doing this, I also backed up my tower for a wipe and reinstall. I think it's time for that, too. I had to turn off the automatic updates when the last round of updates caused my computer to stop being able to make new folders.... And while is safe for now behind a NAT router, It's something I should probably address...
In a semi-related story, I've discovered I like FS 2004 better than FSX. I don't have the fastest of computers, and I probably will never be able to afford one, and FS 2004 runs pretty decent on what I have....
And apparently its: All your base are belong to us. And there's no way to opt out. A lot of people have a problem with. I'm one of them. The only way to not have all of your information tracked everywhere across the Internet, is to delete your Google account. I don't think it'll be that bad really. To be honest, I don't even think it'll survive the extra-special attention the State Attorney General's office will inevitably give it. Nor will I think the FTC give them a free pass over this.
Also I should add that I don't see any personalized ads in the future. Something about all my computers and even my Android Powered HD2 all having a HOSTS file...
Paula Deen and I have something in common. We’re both diabetic. Yes, I know there is a fundamental difference between what I have (type I) and what she has (type II). But as she says, it’s not a death sentence. I’m coming up on 10 years of insulin shots (and needles still scare me) this year, and I’m not dead yet. I can’t go ape-shit on sugar anymore, and I should watch what I eat, but the world still goes around.
People are sure to rise in condemnation about this, especially given the food that she is known for cooking. but I won’t. The responsibility doesn’t lie with the chef who cooked your meal and put it on your plate. The responsibility lies with you. You ordered it. You’re eating it. And you should know better….
I think I now know the secret ingredient in Frosted Flakes: dynamite. That’s how I’m explaining the white stuff I see on the ground. Or is it raining cocaine? The roads haven’t been all that bad today (I live along Pacific Avenue in Pierce County, and that’s usually one the first roads to get de-iced/sanded when it rains cocaine). I take the bus to work, so that leaves me no excuse to call out. However, certain shifts I work fall outside of Pierce Transit’s operating hours, and I’m not too particular about walking upto 4 1/2 miles home in the snow. But I’ll discuss that with the boss… According to the weatherman, the worst of it will hit on Wednesday which is fine with me. I’m off that day….
There’s a portrait studio next to work. And I’ve become acquainted with the manager (it’s a small business). I noticed he had two computers on the front counter: one for actual production , and he had a second one with internet access that he just used to watch youtube. Last week, he did something stupid and downladed a ‘screensaver’. He then asked me to clean up after his misadventures on the internet. Even booting into ‘safe mode’ wouldn’t work. I thought I could try to fix it, but I’ve come to the conclusion that we need to ‘nuke it form orbit’. There is no virus that can survive the ‘format c:’ command. Maybe the next time I go up there (I’m off for the next couple of days), I’ll give it another crack, but I’m just waiting for the owner to bring in his windows disk. I burned a live cd (OpenSuSE KDE), but it didn’t work.
There was another business who wanted me to look at a computer, saying that they needed a cpu or a motherboard replaced (evidently I was a second opinion). I advised them to just replace the whole computer (with the way hardware is evolving, that’s probably the best bet)…
And on to my house: my tower (the WinXP box suddenly wouldn’t let me rename folders). I fixed it temporarily by using to system restore to go back to last week’s windows updates. When I’m not as busy, I have a feeling that a wipe/rebuild is in order. Ugh. I used to do it on a weekly basis when I had my pIII (running both WinME, WinXP, and SuSE). Now it’s just a PITA just to do one.
My laptop has had some issues of late freezing. Going on a wild guess, I unistalled/reinstalled Firefox, deleting all the user data (the only thing I kept were the bookmarks). I then reinstalled my extensions. No issues, so far….
On may way to work this morning, it dawns on me: this was the first Christmas in ten years that there absolutely no candy canes in my house. Even being a diabetic hasn't kept me away from them...
But this year was a cane free Christmas. Maybe I can find some at Wally World today..
If i haven’t said so before, I now prefer to use the Energy ROM for my Android powered HD2. The phone is old, and mine is starting to show it’s age (I hove about 10 blocks in my phones memory that are going bad), but it still soldiers on, and it can still run software that’s designed for phones that are coming out today. In fact the version of Android and HTC Sense on my phone are my advanced than even what my brother has on his HTC Sensation (btw, there’s and Energy ROM for the Sensation, too….). Team Bluedroid also publishes a pretty decent Sense 3.5 ROM (in fact it was the first Gingerbread ROM that I had for more than 2 hours). Also of mention is mwakious. When it comes to the overall look and feel, I like Energy. The issue is that while Energy has the looks, it doesn’t have all the features I’m looking for, so I take elements from the other ROMs (like Flikr, laputa, etc. Usually from the Bluedroid), and incorporate them into the ROM (not that hard to do, since all the ROMs are .zip files, and you just have to unzip them, make your changes, rezip them, and flash). 9 times out of 10, this goes well. Even up to the December 14 ROM. When he release the December 19, I downloaded it and installed it. And then noticed that it wasn’t rebooting. In fact, it was on the boot animation screen for 4 hours while I was at work (at the most, it should be a half hour, even after I wipe the Dalvik cache). My quick and dirty workaround was to reflash the ROM whenever I needed to reboot. A pain in the ass, but Energy ROMs are generally stable enough that you don’t normally need to reboot everyday… When the December 25 version, there was still issues. Finally the December 26 version came out, and this version was supposedly address the rebooting issue. When I tried it, I found I could hot reboot the phone without any issues, but whenever I powered off the phone, or pull the battery, there were issues. The December 28 version came out, and it had the same problem. If frustration, I switched all the way back to CMYLXGO. Then acting on a hunch that it was an issue with the kernel in the ROM, I redownloaded the kernel and recooked it into the ROM before I flashed it. No more problems. So far.
Went to my sister’s for Christmas Day. Texted my nephew to have the Altar and ram’s blood ready for the human sacrifice, and I was disappointed. Food was served, and there was a lot of it. To confess, I forgot my insulin at home, and I did over-indulge in sugar (but as soon as I got home, I immediately took a shot, though). But the food was good, and I got to see the brother that I hardly ever see (in Christmases past, we had the tradition of the Christmas Mule, where one brother did his Christmas Shopping, and the other was the bearer of the back-pack (the shopper had to pay for lunch…), But we’ve gone our separate ways. It is nice to see him and his girlfriend, though.
Eventually, it came time for the distribution of the loot. My parents gave me a gift card to Wally World, which is what I requested. I don’t necessarily need stuff right away, but with the gift card, when I realize what I need, I’ll be able to get it then. My aforementioned brother and his girlfriend gave me a big bucket of popcorn, and some sugar-free candy. I promptly regifted the popcorn (and one of the bags of candy) to my nephew (after explaining that I really don’t have the best of teeth, and I don’t do nuts that well, and the popcorn is just months of hyperglycemia). The armor-all gift set I got last night I regifted to my brother-in-law. My brother-in-law (and my sister) gave me a new coat, which has a removable liner (which can also be used by itself). I also got a hat and some gloves.
The gifts are irrelevant. I really don’t care about what I receive anymore, or even if I receive anything at all. It’s about family, friends, and having a good time.
Well, it’s that time of year. The Godless Pagan Holiday (Winter). This year, I got Christmas Eve off, a simple gesture from my boss, but greatly appriciated. With those incompetent clowns at Peirce Transit cutting service to the bare bone and then some more, it would’ve almost been impossible to get to Grandma Bryant’s for Christmas Eve. I was originally planning to overnight there, and so I packed my laptop, the power cord for it, and the usb cable for my phone (so I could charge it from the laptop when I plug it in. I only forgot my phone at home. Phil and I decided to give Dad (he lives with Grandma Bryant) the old WiFi router that I replaced a last October. And I set it up as a Christma present to him.
We do a modified Secret Santa, where you buy the present, and they’re distributed by lottery. Usually there’s the one present that’s chosen by the one person that results in a big laugh. A few years back, it was a cousin who got a kid’s photo album (at the time, they were very definitely not having any children, she and her husband). This year, my name was called, and it was my turn to pick a presnet from under the tree. I picked one, and I heard a cousin try to dissuade from picking it. As I opened it, I realized why. It was a car detailing kit (in the big Bryant family, I’m the only non-driver). A good laugh was had by all, including me. It’s not about the present. I won’t be using it in the near future. But a good time was had by all, and that made it all worth it. I brought a Target gift card (my line of reasoning is if I don’t know who’ll end up recieving it, then I might as well get them a gift card. If they can’t find what they want at target, then they don’t deserve a Christmas present…). This year, the same cousin who brought the car detailing kit grabbed the gift card. She also grabbed the gift card I brought last year.
Well, tomorrow, we’ll have Christmas at my sister’s. But right now, I’m doing in my own Christmas tradition: watching midnight mass on TV. I’m definitely not Catholic, but I do have a couple of friends who are, and I figure this is one of the things we can do together…..
What I’ve learned in the past week:
BTW, yes I did finally get smart and wiped the drive on my laptop. I don’t have all my programs installed yet, but I have enough for now. I’ll finish the rest later….
Spelling mistakes are left here on purpose….
Kim Jong Il is dead. Maybe his replacement will have more sense. What’s the point in acquiring weapons of mass destruction (with his nuclear weapons program) when your people are starving? The scary part about his is the unknown. Who will succeed him? Granted you can’t go that much further off the deep end that he was, but that is also a possibility. But it also brings hope. Hope that his replacement will have more sense. Or at least two neurons and the ability to rub them together…..
Tonight the Seahawks are playing host to the St Louis Rams. At the Clink. While both teams royally suck, theSeahawks should do well. Historically, they have the best Monday Night record.... And in nationally televised games, they usually never do too shabby, either. Note if they could only win the non-national games...
When I last blogged about using Gingerbread, I was using bluedroid. And the next day when I went to work, I had to reboot the phone to swith from Wi-Fi to 3g. And then I had to reboot to get back on W-Fi when I got to work (one of my employer’s unwritten perks is I’m allowed to use the company’s Wi-Fi for my laptop and my phone, as long as it doesn’t interfere with my job). So, as soon as I get back home, I switched back to CMYLXGO’s Froyo. I don’t know what it’s been, but ever since I got my 32 Gb card, I haven’t been able to finish setting up that ROM. I can install it and start setting it up, but usually before I finish moving in, something happens, and I end up starting over….
Anyway, it’s been a month or so since I tried Gingerbread, and a lot of progress has been made. I’m now using Energy. The only drawback is that it doesn’t have all the widgets that I’m used to in other Sense 3.5 ROMs. No problem. Some trial an error, and I copied everything I needed from the Bluedroid ROM I downloaded. Some things that I’ve noticed:
Compared to Froyo, this biuld seems to be more stable. Then again, I haven’t finished installing all of my apps yet. This ROM (which is rooted, as all the others ROMs I’ve used) comes with Titanium back-up cooked in already. So, I’m doing a back-up every night to save my work. It’ll also make it that much easier when NRGZ28 puts out the next version.
BTW, did I mention that when I first bought the HD2, the first WinMO ROM I put on it was an Energy ROM. And it was also my preferred ROM when I had my Rhodium.
I will be finishing up my contractual obligations torwards T-Mobile in the very near future. Then I can upgrade. I’m debating between getting a Sensation, or an Amaze….
I Just saw the Seahawks game tonight. Vince Young is going to have a terrible time taking a dump tonight. With all 11 pairs of Seahawks’ shoes up his ass and all….
Seriously Vince, Seahawk defenders are not your wide recievers. Granted, I (and most likely the team) really don’t mind that you give us the ball consistently, but that’s probably not the way you want to play. Try throwing it to your teammate, next time.
If it wasn’t for the interceptions, this game would’ve been close. Possibly an
Eagles victory. Offense sells tickets. But it’s the defense that wins games…
Never really used it. Between YouTube, Netflix, and the uber-high speed wi-fi (now that I figured out how to configure my router to the ‘n’ standard), I never really used it till now. Netflix doesn’t have all the movies I want to see, and I’m not going to pay extra to rent a dvd.
Cue the Pierce County Library. They have DVDs. And a pretty good selection, too. And the 1-week loan is longer and cheaper than blockbuster. So, I’m watching Battle Of The Planets. I remember seeing this growing up, and Ted Turner did a version of it a few years back. You can tell that it was obviously an adult anime edited down and redubbed into essentially a Childrens’ show…
The original series must’ve been good, but trying to watch it through the editing is a bit tedious….
For those of you who chose to do The Airing of Grievances and The Feat of Strength, you jumped the gun…
Went to my Aunt’s for thanksgiving. Turkey was served. Along with the usual sides, and what I could’ve swore was Soylent Green… Although I did appreciate the effort she went through to bake the no-sugar added pumpkin pie.
I got my flu shot a week and half ago. So why am I still getting sick? I guess its part for the course that get sick during the holidays. Last Christmas I had a very passable Brian Johnson voice. Hopefully this year, it won't be so bad...
I filled out the absentee ballot today. This is an ‘off-year’ election, where the main issues are the initiatives. There were also a couple of miscellaneous candidates, most of whom were running unopposed. I had some fun with those. I wrote in JP Patches, Gertrude, and Brakeman Bill. On the initiatives, I voted this:
Finally, I found a Gingerbread ROM for my phone with tolerable issues. Yes, they all have problems, but this is the first that I feel comfortable with. I’m going with Blue Droid. Right now, they only have posted the version for the European version of the HD2 (which uses an ext partition on your SD card, to overcome the only 512 Mb of space on the phone which is not good when you’re trying to shoehorn HTC Sense into it). The CMYLXGO Froyo ROM dies have it’s advatages, and I’ve also updated my version of it, but I like this ROM. I know NRGZ28 updated his ROM recently, but I’ve had too many issues with it. I’m also doing a few things differently with this ROM:
