Posts from — July 2006

So, I’ve been a happy Treo owner for quite some time. I started with the 600, and now have the 650. I’m fortunate to have an unlimited data plan on the device, as I use it for my corporate email while I’m on the road. Well, at a conference yesterday, I sat next to a guy who told me that I could use it as a wireless modem on my laptop. Using a utility called PDANet, I could connect to the Internet either through my HotSync cable, or even through Bluetooth, with the utility shuttling everything back and forth through the Treo’s GPRS connection.

Its not quick – only 384 Kbps, but it gets the job done. For some reason, it actually seems to work a heck of a lot better than the connection does with the phone’s internal browser – Blazer. But, that could just be Blazer, which has long been regarded to be the armpit of all known software.

Thanks to PDANet, I’m posting this as I sit in the American terminal in St. Louis… Cool! Even better, PDANet is only $35!

OK. A bit of a rant here… At the airport, watching CNN (only because I can’t change the channel) and they are covering the story of Americans being evacuated from Beirut.

These people are actually complaining about how they were evacuated – it wasn’t quick enough, it wasn’t organized enough, etc.

Um… Hello! YOU are the morons who chose to live in Lebanon! Now that taxpayers are paying to haul your rear out, NO BITCHING PLEASE!

And that is another thing – the whole hubbub about the ‘loan’ document they were made to sign. That’s been part of the law for decades! Nothing new. Oh today, its a novelty, because it hearkens back to a time when people actually believed in personal responsibility.

“Oh, I chose to live in a notorious hot spot of terrorism and strife. Maybe its my responsibility to get myself out should things not go well. Oh, you are going to do something to help me? Gee, I’d be grateful for ANY help…”

CNN actually had the balls to say that some of the people that had been evacuated to Cyprus weren’t being taken care of because they didn’t have credit cards and couldn’t buy a ticket home – off-handedly blaming the State Department for not fixing things.

Oh yeah, I have a ton of sympathy for someone who goes halfway across the world (nevermind to THAT part of the world) and DOESN’T bring a credit card. Maybe we should have the National Guard follow them everywhere they go as well, just to make sure they look both ways before they cross the street.

Don’t get me wrong – I can empathize. That’s why it pisses me off so much. I would be grateful for whatever my country saw fit to do to help me out of a difficult situation I had largely gotten myself into. And, I’m sure there were plenty of folks who WERE grateful, appreciated the help that they were receiving and didn’t want to bad mouth our government. Of course, CNN would never put THEM on camera though…

*SIGH*

There, I’m done. Sorry for the rant.

Well, silly fu**in’ me. Apparently, the Windows Genuine Advantage Validation program is actually about protecting ME and not Microsoft!

Who knew?

This quote found on Fox News (emphasis mine) -

“This [suit] distorts the real objectives of the [WGA] program and obscures the real issue, which is the harm to consumers posed by software piracy,” Jim Desler, a Microsoft spokesperson, said of Johnson’s lawsuit.

See, and here I was thinking that it was because Microsoft had been spending too much time with their DRM buddies, the RIAA folks, and had decided that infringing the rights of their customers is OK as long as it puts a few more bucks onto the MSOFT stock price.

See now how I over reacted to spyware being pawned off as a Critical System Update that was automatically installed on my PC?

It was really all to protect me from the evil software pirates.

Schwew.

Well thank you very much Mr. Desler! In return for you so kindly “watching my back” for me, I’ve gone through a lot of trouble to arrange a very special hunting trip for you and my good friend Mr. Cheney, as a token of my true appreciation. Enjoy!

I know I will…

So, my mouse is finally dieing – I’m using an ancient Microsoft Intellimouse Exporer from *GASP* around 2001 (?) or so. Its an optical mouse, so that is good, but the thing is haggard and hurting. Most of the finish has worn off in the pattern of my hand, and all of the buttons kind of stick when you press them a certain way.

Now, many of you are thinking – gee, my mouse is about that old too. But, remember, I use this thing at LEAST 12 hours a day. 12 hours a day x 5 days a week (to even out my play time and work time) x 50 weeks a year (just to be conservative) x 5 years = 15000 hours of mousing! At 10 left clicks a minute (again, conservative), that’s 9,000,000 clicks this poor left mouse button has gone through. That’s roughly 104 DAYS of constant non-stop clicking, with no time off for bio-breaks.

Now…

***SHHH***

Come a bit closer – I don’t want to say this too loudly for fear that my current mouse will hear me say this and deliberately throw in the towel before the good old boys in Brown can bring in the reinforcements…

The old Intellimouse will soon be replaced by a beautiful new Logitech G5 Laser mouse. This beauty sports the following features:

• Tracking Resolution: 2000/800/400 dpi (user selectable)
• Image Processing: 6.4 megapixels/second
• Max. Acceleration: 20g
• Max. Speed: 45—65 inches/second (depending on surface)
• USB Data Format: 16 bits/axis
• USB Report Rate: 500 reports/second
• Sleep Mode: Disabled

I know, I know… You are probably thinking “Why isn’t he going wireless?”

Well, maybe you aren’t thinking that, but I’ll tell you why anyway. Really, its three simple reasons.

1. I don’t need a wireless mouse. My desktop position is well established and the cord never bothers me.
2. Corded mice don’t have batteries that need recharging.
3. I have WAAY too many wireless devices frying my brain cells already, and I really don’t need another.

So, anyway, I’ll let you know how it goes, once the cavalry arrives.

As a quick aside – you do know about Newegg, right? They are simply the best online retailer for all things PC related that I’ve found. Usually they are the best price, though occasionally someone will beat them by a few bucks. Trust me though, their speed and reseller rating is more than worth the occasional $2 extra over other retailers.

Not that there aren’t other good ones out there, but Newegg is consistently fantastic, and other than a quick MySimon, PriceScan or Pricewatch sanity check, I rarely do any further shopping around.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/

Oh my goodness – SPAM is attacking my blog! Thank goodness for the Akismet Spam filter that distributes with WordPress. I received over 300 spam comments in the past week, and Akismet only asked me about one of them. Nice work.

Anyway, so as you can probably tell from my lack of posting, life has gotten in the way lately. I think most of you know that I’m a Sales Engineer (actually, a Sr. Technical Account Manager for those keeping score…) – and end of the quarter can get rather busy for those of us charged with roping in the greenbacks and bringing them back to the company barn.

But, my absence had started before that as well, so I can’t blame it all on my job. Truth be told, it is more of a slump in opinion due to distraction on the home front. The clouds of change seem to be gathering in the air, and my lovely wife and I are waiting to see where the good Lord takes us… I learned several years ago that it is best to want God’s will for any situation rather than any specific thing. Oh, you can have preferences to be certain, but ultimately (believing that God is the wellspring of all things good) what He has for us is much better than we could ever imagine on our own. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean, richer or happier or luckier, or anything like that. It doesn’t even mean that there won’t be big bumps in the road. But it does mean that after all is said and done, His design will be made evident. And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Rom 8:28)

The task is simply to be open to WHATEVER that call is upon me – and the only way I’ve found to do that is by wanting His Will more than my own. I’ve learned to call being in “that place”, as being in God’s Rest, and it is a good place to be.

Anyway, the long-winded, right-wing, overly conservative blather may continue at any point in the future, so consider yourself warned.

God’s best to you!

God bless the men and women, present, past and future, that keep our country strong and free! And may God continue to bless America with men and women such as they…

Happy Birthday America!