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:
After leading the Cardinals to another World Series title, Tony LaRussa has announced his retirement. One of the very managers to go out while at the very top. Usually when I see a manager go, it has been due to a mid-season shit-canning (usually well-deserved). On occaision, I’ll see news of one retiring, but it’s usually after one losing season too many in The New World Order (Mind-Control Division), I just want to know, since he’s a Cardinal, if he’ll be allowed to wear a mitre and take part in the next concave…
Ok, since I have Apps2sd on my phone, when I uprgraded my memory card, I had to reinstall everything on my phone (my apps are installed onto a hidden partition on my memory card). My first attempt at this was a dud, since I set the second partition at 4 Gb (I have a 32 Gb card now, so space isn’t an issue). When xda-developers says to use 2 Gb at the most for your ext3 partition, there is usually a good reason for it. So after repartitioning, reformatting, and re-copying everything to my card again, I had to re-flash my ROM again. I thought seriously about giving Gingerbread anither try, but I decided to go with my highly modified CMYLXGO ROM. Yes it’s Froyo, but it’s stable, and it does the job. At this point, I don’t think there’ll ever be a reasonably stable Gingerbread ROM for the HD2.
Anyway, long story short:
Today’s lesson is patience. If you don’t let your ROM settle after you install it, you’re going to have issues…
So the Sounders FC lost 3-0 tonight. They can still pull it out. They have one more chance when Real Salt Lake come to town. It’s difficult, but it’ll be possible….
OTOH, I got to see the Huskies game tonight. Defense needs some serious work. And there were a couple of questionable calls by the officials. But they got the job done, with timely turnover and a lot of touchdowns…
Sounders FC vs. Real Salt Lake. In Salt Lake City. I like the MLS playoff structure, where each they play a game in each team’s stadium, with the winner decided by cumulative goals. This way, every team is guaranteed at least one home game in the playoffs. On like some other professional sports promotions, MLS knows what side the bread is buttered on, and that without the fans, they’re fucked. The NHL is still recovering from it’s last labor dispute where they lost an entire season. The NFL almost lost the season, but cooler heads prevailed in the nick of time. The NBA is going to find out really quick that loyalty is a two-way street. If they don’t show loyalty to their fans, then the fans won’t show up. They won’t buy tickets, and they won’t buy the merchandise. Lose the ego, people. Your fans won’t take it lying down…
Day off today. Normally, I’d sleep in (especially since I have to be at work überearly tomorrow morning). But I had to get up early today, and keep watch at the door. Last week, I ordered some probably useless crap from Worst Buy, and both items were supposed to arrived today.
First item to arrive was the wi-fi card. I like the Netgear WG-311v3, but the driver installation can be a bit tricky. And it’s darn near the only wi-fi card that I can find that has a Win9x driver for it (come to think, I’m probably going to end up just parting out the other tower I have, but in the rare possibility that I use it, I’d like to have a compatible card for it). Looking around, I noticed that Worst Buy is going from pci Wi0Fi adapters to usb (which I don’t like, as components like this sometimes tend to throw you rude comments when you pull them from one port, like during system maintenance, and then put them in a different port. Besides I have enough of a cable jungle as it is…). On the website, they had a deal for a factory refurbished Linksys WMP600N, so I went for it. A glance at google shows the possibility of Linux dirvers for it too (though that is not a high priority now).
The second item was a microsd card for my phone. A 32 Gb one. Meaning I can sync my entire music library over, and still have plenty of space for my hidden data partition, and several ROMs at once. And it’s a class 4 (might not be workth bragging about, but it is replacing a class 2…).
Nothing much. I’m not going anywhere. I’m just moving my cell phone’s files (basically the ‘kitchen’ where I cook my ROMs) from the laptop to the tower. While I like the laptop for it’s portabiltiy and (mainly) the fact I can surf and tinker around from the easy chair in front of the tv in my room, I do appreciate the dual-monitor display that the tower offers, which make’s it far easier to manage windows.
I really don’t cook ROMs. I just drag and drop files. Most of the Android ROMs for the HD2 are Clockwork Mod recovery type. Meaning that they’re .zip files. If you unzip them, you can then delete the files you don’t need, and add some of the programs and/or other files, that you have to have (I do have quite a few ringtones that I use). Just rezip and you can then flash your ROM, with your ‘tweaks’ cooked in…
I explained this to my boss when he had me root his LG G2x, and then he started downloading new ROMs for it. After a phone call to me (which I reminded him to be in the T-Mobile forum, lest he get a $500.00 battery charger. BTW, it’s easy to flash a clockwork ROM on a LG G2x. I should know. My boss can do it. BTW, he now has the latest Samsung Galaxy S II, and the LG is now for sale. Given his modus operandi, the new phone will be for sale in about three months. Not that I have anything against it. That’s how I got my first T-Mobile Shadow, and my HD2 (which I still use).
