Yeah–It’s A Crackberry

I was so foolish. Stefanie was so right. I have a Blackberry now… a Crackberry… and the experience is magical

blackjack-w250.jpgFor the last year and a half I’ve been using a Samsung Blackjack. i wanted to be digitally complete. When I got it the word was it was a pretty good smartphone.

I was so foolish. Stefanie was so right. I have a Blackberry now… a Crackberry… and the experience is magical&#185. The Samsung was so clunky in comparison.

Transitioning from one phone to another isn’t easy. Here’s where Google gets involved. I set up a new email account gfthrowaway@gmail.com. I then sync’ed the Blackjack with Gmail. My phonebook flew through the air and into the Googleplex. Next I re-sync’ed, this time sending my contacts from Gmail to the Blackbery. Painless!

I wanted to continue to keep a calendar, but now I had a problem. The calendar and contacts had to be associated with the same email address. A little mumbo jumbo and the new Gmail account was incorporating the calendar from my main account (if there can be such a thing for someone who truly has around 2-dozen email addresses!).

Everything seems to be working fine. The email/SMS setup on the Blackberry is quite well thought out. In fact everything seems quite well thought out. I can’t get Pandora to work–a problem they admit is theirs. Shozu is also a little recalcitrant at the moment.

I pulled the micro-SD card from the Blackjack and inserted it into the Blackberry. How can a billion bytes of data get squeezed into a space so small?

The Blackjack is now, sadly, on the table top upside down, battery, SIM and mini-SD card removed. It’s like the carcass of an old subway car getting ready to be dumped in the Atlantic as an artificial reef. It’s sad really.

On Twitter Jim Heem said, “I’m really surprised this is your first blackberry.” Coolmoomama chimed, “.i REALLY want a blackberry.” Stef is just gloating.

A few days ago my friend Peter said researchers who’d asked about the iPhone and Blackberry got surprisingly different responses. iPhone users talked about the coolness while the Blackberry crowd kept mentioning utility and usefulness.

I’d like to say it’s not that big a deal, but I think it is.

&#185 – I have added Crackberry to the spell checker in my browser. It is now officially a word for me.

Ticket And Tow Hearing Awaits

This is like Alice’s Restaurant. I have photos and copies of state regulations

Tomorrow is my hearing day, so I’m a little frazzled. I will present my evidence that New Haven improperly marked a no parking zone and so illegally towed my car.

This is like Alice’s Restaurant. I have photos and copies of state regulations. Helaine is going along so she can kiss me goodbye should they decide to take me away in shackles. My friend Peter, an attorney, is coming for moral support though not as my attorney.

The city offered to drop the ticket if I paid the tow. Pretty smart on their part. It’s a tough choice–double or nothing.

I will report back on the outcome.

Everyone’s At Ikea

“What do you do with your photos,” I’ve been asked? Considering I’ve taken around 25,000 shots with my Canon, it’s a reasonable question.

For a while, I did nothing. Then, this fall and again a few weeks ago, I had picture books made. I’ve also had some shots printed. I was well over 10,000 shots taken before that began.

I started with 5x7s and 8x10s. They seemed reasonably large. After all, a ‘regular’ photo print is 4×6 and 8×10 is four times larger than that!

Then I visited my friend Peter in Ventnor City, NJ.

Peter has a few immense prints on his wall and they look great. Some he took at the Jersey Shore. Other shots came from Hawaii.

I stood and stared and, quite honestly, was envious. They really did look great.

Today, I drove to Ikea in New Haven to find some frames, so I could hang my soon-to-arrive larger sized prints.

Ikea is a chain of large warehouse-like home furnishings stores. The home office is in Sweden, the stores are found worldwide and most of the merchandise is made in China.

The secret to Ikea’s success is very clean, simply styled, inexpensive stuff for your home or apartment. It’s mostly unassembled, so you can carry it home in your car. With Ikea, there’s no longer a need to have that brick and board bookshelf!

Though the store is a warehouse, it’s very inviting. Picture frames are hung. Fixtures are lit. Furniture is displayed in partitioned off home and apartment sized rooms.

I got off I-95, turned into the parking lot and gasped. It was Sunday afternoon at 4:00 PM and Ikea’s lot looked like the mall on the last shopping day before Christmas!

I may be a guy, but I do ask directions. I might still be wandering around if I hadn’t.

I was disappointed they didn’t have everything I wanted. All my frames are simple and black. I wanted more of the same.

I bought a few 16x20s and a 5-photo frame which displays 5x7s. I wanted some 12x16s and more 8×10 frames, but there were none to be found in black. I can go back or try them online.

On my way back I stopped at Michael’s to get a matte cut. One photo from my last batch was oddly sized.

I uploaded and ordered more prints tonight. I’m now ready to attack the two walls set aside as my gallery. It’s pretty exciting and a lot of fun.

And, on top of that, I hit Ikea and Michael’s in one afternoon! How many guys will admit to that?

Bad Night For My Eagles

For a card playing trip, I haven’t played a lot of cards. Just that one tournament at the Hilton. I have, however, been enjoying Atlantic City.

The three amigos went out for dinner last night. We (meaning I, with their understanding) didn’t want to miss the Eagles game. No sweat. Most public areas have large plasma TVs hung high.

We went to Wolfgang Puck’s place, where I had a very tasty little pizza with prosciutto ham and goat cheese. I’m a sucker for goat cheese.

My appeatizer was a bowl of clam chowder, which was good, but the smallest bowl of chowder I’ve ever had. Actually, the bowl was sized fine, but only filled about 40% of the way.

Wolfgang – is that what you want me to write about? Fill the bowl. Especially for your prices – fill the bowl.

It goes without saying, the restaurant itself was beautiful. In fact, everything in this hotel (Borgata) is nicely done. It also has the youngest, best looking crowd I’ve ever seen in a casino.

While Rick and Dennis went scouting gambling opportunities, I headed upstairs to root on the Eagles. Though they were competitive, they could never stop the Saints, and lost. Season over.

I didn’t want to prolong the agony, so I didn’t call home after the game ended.

By the time the game was over, Rick was back up in the room crashing.

Here’s what I’ve found by my roommate experience – Others snore! I’m not alone. Dennis isn’t too loud, but Rick… holy crap! His wife is a sainted woman for living with this for 37 years.

Truth is, I can sleep through snoring. I had a decent night’s sleep before showering at 7:25 – an ungodly hour for me.

This morning, my friend Peter is joining us for breakfast at the buffet. After breakfast, we’re heading to the House of Blues Casino for a few tournaments.

Aloha.

We’ve Arrived

Greetings from Atlantic City. We got here around 8:00 AM. I had hardly any sleep in the car, courtesy of good conversation.

While Rick and Dennis went searching for a card game, I called my friend Peter to ask if I could crash on his sofa… which I did. Am I a wuss, or what?

Actually that worked perfectly, because after my nap, Peter and I walked around his neighborhood – meaning along the Atlantic Ocean and on the Ventnor City Boardwalk. The skies were partly cloudy and the temperature hovered in the low 60s. It’s January, so the beach is deserted.

I met up with the boys at the Hilton for a 2:00 PM tournament. It was a small buy-in. That’s my plan. There’s no necessity to play for a lot of money to have fun.

We also had a little side bet going, paying the man who lasted longest before busting. I lost in the tournament and side bet! This win goes to Rick.

Our room at The Borgata is very nice. We’ve got a view of the Atlantic City skyline, which is reasonably impressive.

I’m sure there will be more card playing later, but right now it’s football. The early game is on and the Eagles get started at 8:00 PM.

Oh – there is one problem. I can’t get the wired Internet in the room working, so I’ve come down to the “Living Room” (where two little kids are currently running around, screaming at the top of their lungs) to use the wireless access.

I took nearly 300 pictures this afternoon. They’ll have to wait.

Aloha.

Blogger’s addendum – I originally called the Living Room the Library. Oops.

I Leave In Four Hours

No sleep yet. Barely home from work. I leave in four hours.

Where? Somehow, I’ve been included in a trip to Atlantic City with a few friends. For them it’s an annual event. It’s my first showing. It promises to be a poker marathon.

I would kvetch about the lack of sleep and ungodly departure time, but they’re older than me! Thank God someone is.

There might not be much time for blogging, but I am bringing my camera should there be anything to document. And, I’ll have a chance to visit with my friend Peter, who lives at the Jersey Shore most of the time.

The charge I’ve been given by my family is, “Smoke ’em.” I intend on coming home a winner. Really. Honest. I’m not kidding.

C’mon… stop laughing.

Blogger’s note – The chip pictured above is my design and only exists in graphic form. In other words – it’s not real.

Computer Problems – Business As Usual

As a special welcome home, Helaine’s computer decided to suffer a near death experience today. It was one of those things that can happen to anyone.

She turned on the computer, but forgot to plug it in the wall. Having been away for nearly two weeks, and with an elderly battery, there wasn’t more than a minute or two of juice. It was just enough to allow it to die while booting!

When she plugged the laptop in and tried to boot again, it got to the first Windows ‘splash screen’, churned its disk drive for a while, briefly flashed a ‘Blue Screen of Death,’ and began the boot cycle all over again. Uh oh!

I was called in for my technical expertise. You like to think in a situation like this you can just boot to the ‘Safe Mode,’ restore the computer to an earlier time, and merrily resume computing.

If only it were that easy.

Attempting to get to the ‘Safe Mode’ produced exactly the same result. I told Helaine it was possible her emails and bookmarks, the things she really wanted, might be gone. she wasn’t thrilled.

I called for tech support – my friends Peter and Kevin. They had some suggestions and I plowed on.

With Windows XP you should be able to put the original Windows installation CD in the disk drive and watch it repair itself. Good idea, but it didn’t work.

Since the ‘splash screen’ came up, I assumed the drive wasn’t a total failure. Maybe there was a way to read this laptop drive in my desktop?

They are normally incompatible, but sure enough, there was a cable for sale at CompUSA to allow them to talk. I’m trying to think if there are any good circumstances when you’d want this little device? No.

This was too easy. It’s a 25 minute drive to CompUSA and the cable was around $8… and they had it in stock&#185!

In order to use it, I had to remove the drive from Helaine’s laptop, physically open my desktop’s case, free up an IDE port (I unplugged the CD and DVD drives), hook everything up and fire up the PC.

I crossed my fingers and pressed the button.

My desktop booted very slowly, as if it knew it was entering uncharted waters. Finally it flashed a screen saying the “H” drive (that was where the laptop drive ended) needed to be checked.

I gave my permission and watched the errors fly. Four clusters were unreadable, an index file was wrong, some corrections were made and a small section of the disk was being marked as bad. It was bad, but it could have been much worse.

When Windows finally finished its booting, I tried to move all of Helaine’s files to my PC for safekeeping, but got an error message. What had looked promising a few seconds ago now looked bleak.

Kevin suggested I just take the semi-repaired drive out of my PC and put it back in the laptop. I did, booted, and watched the disk warning again – this time with a few different files.

Then a strange thing happened… the laptop finished its disk check, ran through its boot sequence and worked! Helaine was overjoyed.

You know, in the movies the geek never gets the girl. Maybe we should?

&#185 – Interestingly enough, there were two of the needed cables on a hook at CompUSA. The one in front had obviously been used and poorly repackaged. I passed on it for the other. The next purchaser gets to be their guinea pig.

Southwest Airlines – May I Kiss You On The Lips?

I am writing this, sitting on a cold faux marble floor in our bathroom at the Holiday Inn, just outside of Baltimore-Washington Airport. It is 5:00 AM and I can’t sleep. In order not to disturb Helaine and Stef, I have adopted this as my temporary office.

The free wireless access works much better here than in the actual room!

That we are here is some sort of minor miracle. If you fly on airplanes and are used to being treated like fecal material, please read this story, made even better by this email from meteorologist Bob, in Florida.

gon, wst (westerly ri) both went to snow last hour

dad went to snow 5 mins ago.

good thing you left when you did.

The GON he mentions is Groton/New London Airport, arguably Connecticut’s airport most likely to report rain when others are seeing snow! His dad is in North Branford, also less likely to see a quick change to snow.

Yesterday morning, when it looked like we’d be seeing significant snow, sleet and freezing rain, and knowing we had to get to California now or miss our cruise ship, I called Southwest Airlines. The best way to summarize the opening of the conversation is to quote Rick Springfield’s, “Don’t Talk To Strangers.”

“I’m begging you, please”

Though I explained my situation, the agent couldn’t help. Southwest Airlines had policies in place.

I pleaded my case for a few minutes before asking, nicely, if I could speak to a supervisor. I tried everything, including the option of moving us to Islip, a 2:30 hour drive. The supervisor listened to our plight (Linda from Albuquerque. “I’m not the bilingual Linda in Albuquerque.”) but wouldn’t budge.

Finally, she broke down. She understood the fragility of our cruise plans and that Southwest was booked solid, should our flight be canceled. They would move us out of Connecticut Monday night and we could pick up the rest of our itinerary on Tuesday.

Quickly, Helaine went to hotwire.com and found a hotel at Baltimore-Washington Airport. Last minute, Holiday Inn – under $70.

When I told my friend Peter, someone who had racked hundreds of thousands of miles over the years, mostly on United, he said he was amazed. Southwest had done the right thing for me and for Southwest, but he had never heard of it happening before.

Let me add, this is not because I’m “TV-boy” in Connecticut. These operators were in Albuquerque.

Now the real test began – we weren’t packed. Helaine, our ‘packing supervisor’ and all around ‘logistics specialist,’ would have to compress 24 hours of planning into six! And she did.

This was one of those times when Helaine’s incredible organizational acumen took over. She was worried we wouldn’t make it, but she faced the task and moved forward.

There were chores out of the house she needed to do, and things for me to do while she was gone. I made a list. I am not a list maker. I understood today had to be different.

I’m not going to take my usual cheap shot about how much baggage we finally brought. It’s a lot. At this point how could I mind?

We got to Bradley Airport in Hartford to check in. The change of plans left me with a legit ticket, but Helaine and Steffie (both flying non-revenue) with nothing on paper and some cobbled together exceptions that the computer couldn’t handle on its own.

Donna from Torrington was our customer service agent at the ticket counter at Bradley. When she read the notes on her computer she stopped. She said she hadn’t seen anything like this before… and neither had the computer. It refused to issue Helaine a boarding pass (though it had for Steffie, and had hours ago for me).

She called the help desk to get some assistance. The person on the other end also commented on how unusual the remarks with our reservation were.

Because of Helaine and Steffie’s late re-booking, their tickets were marked for extra screening by the TSA. No problem. At this point we were way ahead of the game. Screen on.

So, here we are at the Holiday Inn at BWI. We had a lovely ride on the courtesy van with a bunch of airline employees and four drunk folks from Cleveland, kicked off their flight to sober up!

Our flight from BWI to LAX doesn’t leave until this evening. Based on what I’ve seen of the Northeast’s weather, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were open seats and we made it out of Baltimore a whole lot earlier.

We are not in Los Angeles yet, but we are much closer than mileage alone would imply. And, a huge burden has been lifted from our shoulders.

If we were home right now, hoping to make our scheduled flight, we’d be out-of-luck. No one in bed in Connecticut now will make that Wednesday cruise.

I think I’m going to try to go back to sleep.

The New Era Of Communications

I got this email today:

We are in panama we just went thru the locks. all is well we are having a great time mom and dad

What do we have here? Well, certainly, for his next birthday I’m buying my dad punctuation marks and capital letters! More than that, a check of the originating IP address shows he sent this from on-board ship.

My mom and dad are cruising, but the Internet is there with them.

I remember when Helaine and I took a cruise many years ago. We stopped in Puerto Rico and rushed to a pay phone to check in with everyone back home. Same thing in St. Thomas (in fact, I can still picture the pay phones to the left of the main door of the St. Thomas Post Office).

It wasn’t that there weren’t phones on the ship, but it was ridiculously expensive.

Yesterday, my friend Peter left for three weeks on Maui. I spoke to him as he went to the airport. I spoke to him in San Francisco, waiting for a delayed flight. I spoke to him once he got to his Maui hotel. Each time I dialed the same South Jersey cellphone number.

Each of my calls were included in my cell plan with no additional charge… in fact, with no meter even clicking off the minutes.

Calling Hawaii, like making a call from a cruise ship, used to be expensive. No more.

I also played around a little, calling my friend Bob in Austin, TX using Skype. The quality was great, using my laptop on the sofa in the family room and a cheap headset. Of course the call was totally free.

This ability to communicate, whether by computer or phone or a combination of the two is amazing – something we in the 21st century share with no other moment in history. It is, unfortunately, limited to the wealthy.

A little clarification. In this case wealthy applies to the vast majority of people in the United States and many more around the world, who are included in a global middle class. They are only wealthy in contrast to those who are dirt poor – and there are many who fit that category.

Now, maybe there is hope for them to benefit from this communications and knowledge explosion, fueled by computing.

I saw Nicholas Negroponte with Charlie Rose on PBS. Negroponte heads MIT’s Media Lab, a communication and information think tank

In its first decade, much of the Laboratory’s activity centered around abstracting electronic content from its traditional physical representations, helping to create now-familiar areas such as digital video and multimedia. The success of this agenda is now leading to a growing focus on how electronic information overlaps with the everyday physical world. The Laboratory pioneered collaboration between academia and industry, and provides a unique environment to explore basic research and applications, without regard to traditional divisions among disciplines.

That’s some of the least explanatory prose ever written by otherwise educated people.

Negroponte was on to talk about a project I’ve been following for a while – a $100 laptop, to be produced in bulk and distributed for free to students around the world.

If this is the first you’re hearing about this project, please go to their site and read more. It’s really an amazing undertaking.

Wedding Crashers – Review

The day was sunny. The temperature warm with low humidity. It was a holiday. What better day to go to the movies?

OK, it’s not your conventional movie going day, but it was good for us.

Helaine asked me to decide between Wedding Crashers and 40 Year Old Virgin. Neither of us wanted to make the choice. On the phone, my friend Peter made it for us. “Wedding Crashers,” he said, and that’s what we saw.

Good choice Peter. This was the best movie I’ve seen in years.

By now (the movie’s been out for some time now) you probably know the story. Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn crash weddings in order to pick up women. Everything goes well until they go to one wedding and both fall in love. That’s not what wedding crashers are supposed to do.

There is nothing in this script you haven’t seen before. There’s no plot turn that isn’t predictable. It makes no difference. You don’t care. The movie transcends the plot.

The success of this movie is all about Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. Their chemistry is as good as any I’ve ever seen on screen. And, they are both very likable.

Their back-and-forth, often praising, often denigrating, was effortless and seamless. Some of that goes to well written dialog, but I don’t really think you can coach or direct this kind of repartee. It’s more organic.

The rest of the cast was pretty good as well, especially Christopher Walken, Rachel McAdams and Henry Gibson.

Recently, Gibson has made himself a good living playing Henry Gibson. Good for him.

Not in the credits, but heavily featured, the currently overexposed Will Ferrell. I understand why he was there. I just don’t approve. And though I like Henry Gibson playing Henry Gibson, I’m not happy with Will Ferrell doing the same&#185.

At about two hours, this movie is too long. Unfortunately, nearly every movie is too long.

Note to Showcase Cinemas… If I see the Charlie Sheen pre-show short about movie theater restrictions one more time, I will march up to the screen and start reciting along with the actors as if it were the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

&#185 – Before the movie began, we saw a trailer for “The Man,” starring Samuel L. Jackson and Eugene Levy. Levy, whose work on SCTV ranks among television’s all-time best, may be approaching the saturation point in playing Eugene Levy. Samuel L. Jackson has earned a lifetime pass after “Pulp Fiction.”

Steffie Goes To College

Every life has milepost days. Yesterday was certainly one of them, as we took Steffie to college and helped her move into the dorm.

Make no mistake about it. This has affected me. But whatever I’m feeling pales in comparison to what Helaine and Steffie are feeling. I can claim to understand, but I can’t.

Our day started very early. It was supposed to start just early, but Helaine couldn’t sleep. When I woke up, a few hours before my scheduled time, she was already out of the shower.

We planned to leave the house at 7:30 and were pretty much on schedule.

If you’re reading this, waiting for the moment when the wheels fell off the wagon, you might as well stop now. This day went exceptionally smoothly. Nearly everything went as planned and the college was shockingly prepared and organized.

Is this my life we’re talking about?

The trip to Long Island took around two hours. There is a ferry available, but it only makes sense if you are going to far Eastern Long Island – not us. We headed down the Connecticut Turnpike which becomes the New England Thruway at the New York State line.

As we passed over the Throgs Neck Bridge, I realized that at some time Steffie would be making this trip on her own. I wanted to let her know about some tricky exiting.

An hour and a half into a two hour trip is too late to start. The best way is to let her drive it some time, with me in the passenger’s seat.

As we pulled on campus, a uniformed guard moved toward the car. Before Steffie went to her dorm, did she have her 700 number?

Sure, it was under a room and a half’s worth of stuff!

Steffie and I set out for the Student Center. This was actually a good thing, because she was able to get her student ID, which she would need for virtually everything else.

Next stop, the dorm. Steffie’s room is on the 6th floor of a 13 floor tower. The building is poured concrete, with some brick and cinder block. I would suppose if you’re going to build a structure to hold hundreds of 18-22 year olds, you’d want to make as little of it flammable as is possible.

The concrete looks like it was poured into wooden molds, so the grain pattern of the wood is still visible on the building’s exterior. I’m sure some architect somewhere will wince when he reads this, but I like that look. At least dull, drab concrete is given some modicum of texture.

Another campus cop, dressed like a park ranger, was near the dorm, directing traffic. He asked me if I could squeeze into a spot, which I did. The rear hatch of the Explorer was poised at the edge of the sidewalk. Perfect.

We walked inside where Steffie registered for the dorm, got a sticker added to her ID and a key for her room (don’t lose it – replacements are $150). Then we moved back outside for the surprise of the day.

The college had a small fleet of wheeled bright orange carts. Instead of hand carrying a car’s worth of stuff, we filled up the cart (twice) and rolled it to the elevator and then the sixth floor.

Steffie’s room was ‘prison modern’. It’s small room, with large window. The floors are some sort of easily cleaned, plastic derivative. There were two desks, each with a hutch, two dressers and two large standing hanging closets.

Near the door was the outlet for high speed Internet and telephone access. It, and the cable TV/phone jack, were the only real mistakes of the room. In order to bring the Internet to the desk across the room, you’d need to run the school supplied Ethernet cable across the floor… or go out and buy a fifty foot cable (which is what I did).

I thought Steffie had overpacked… and maybe she did… but she managed to squeeze everything into her half of the room. Once she put some photo montages and other personal touches on the wall, the room began to look homey.

While Helaine and Steffie fixed the living space, I tackled the electronics. Her computer quickly connected to the school’s network. Her two speakers and subwoofer sounded great on her desk.

At one time a student would pack up a small stereo system for a dorm room. There’s really no reason to do that anymore. Steffie’s laptop will serve as her stereo. It’s loaded with all the MP3’s that are in her iPod, and then some. Plus, it will play CDs.

All this time, while the unpacking and set up was going on, Steffie was alone. Her roommate, coming from Kansas, had not yet arrived. Half the room was warm and fuzzy. The other half was Cellblock-G sterile.

Being on the sixth floor and facing west, the room has a great view. The building in the center of this photo is North Shore Towers (where my friend Peter’s parents once lived), about eight miles away.

As the afternoon moved along, we realized there were a few items we had forgotten, so we headed out, looking for a ‘big box’ store to load up.

When I went to college, there was an old black and white TV in the common area in the basement. With its rabbit ears antenna, we could only get a few fuzzy signals. The was Boston’s Back Bay, where even a rooftop antenna brought ghostly signals and where cable wouldn’t be introduced for at least a decade or more.

Today, there is cable TV in each room! Steffie has multiple channels of HBO. Hey, we don’t have that at home!

We had decided to wait on getting her a TV until we got there. And, quite honestly, there wouldn’t have been room in the car.

First stop was Best Buy. It must have been a cold day in hell for me to walk in there, because Best Buy and I just don’t get along. I don’t want to go into the whole story, but my last trip to a Best Buy, much closer to home, ended with me screaming at the manager, “OK then, call the cops.”

We found an off brand 20″ TV for… Oh, go ahead, guess. I’m waiting.

The TV was $87.99. How is that humanly possible?

Forget the labor and parts. How can you ship a weighty box halfway around the world and build a Best Buy on the profit from this thing? I’m not sure how is possible. The TV has remote control and input jacks for a DVD and/or VCR.

The remote came with batteries!

We also picked up a little DVD player. Sure, the computer can play DVDs, but this is what she wanted… and again, it was dirt cheap. The DVD player was $31.99.

Here’s what I can’t figure out. How can this TV/DVD combination sell for less than the frames for my eyeglasses? There’s some disconnect here… or the ability to make a boatload of money producing cheap frames.

The TV fit nicely on top of Steffie’s dresser. The DVD player needed to be turned into one corner. It’s not optimal, but it will do. It’s a dorm room, after all.

Next stop for us was the theater for a lecture on fire safety. I had already given Steffie my own cautionary tale about fire alarms and dorms. It will go off often. She still needs to leave. She can’t take the chance it will always be a false alarm.

There was another paragraph here about the lecturer, his demeanor and his warmth. I have removed it because I don’t want to be sued. ‘Nuff said.

Evening was approaching and Steffie’s roommate was still a no show.

At the lobby of the dorm there was a short list of who wasn’t there. The list grew shorter as names were crossed off. Not this one. She was top of the list and still missing in action.

We went to a barbecue on the intramural field. There were previously warm hot dogs and cheeseburgers (with unmelted cheese on the burgers) and we ate away.

Time was running short. Helaine and I had to return to Connecticut. We didn’t want to leave Steffie before the roommate arrived, but we had no choice.

Our goodbyes were tearful. Steffie put on wide sunglasses, but tears still poured out. Helaine was no less emotional.

After being with Steffie virtually every day for 18 years, we would be separated. Helaine will be seeing her in a month. It will be longer for me.

If you would have asked me how Steffie would fare in college a year ago, I wouldn’t have had a ready, positive answer. It’s different now. This last year has seen her mature a lot.

She has said, and I believe her, that she’s ready for college and the college experience. I think she is.

It will be interesting to see how she ‘plays with others’. As an only child, Steffie has had her own bedroom, bathroom and playroom. Now she’ll be sharing a room with one girl and a bathroom with a floor of them.

There are so many things to learn in college. Classroom work is only one part of a very large experience.

Blogger’s note: Steffie’s roommate arrived, alone, right after we left. She had packed light with more being shipped over the next few days.

Discovering Skype

Earlier today, I got an email from my friend Bob Wood in Austin, TX. He’s having a computer problem, as Windows XP fights with an application written in the ‘golden days’ of computing.

I picked up my cellphone and gave him a call. We ran through the typical trouble spots and found nothing.

As we went through a list of programs in msconfig, I looked at the cellphone and saw we were already 20+ minutes into the conversation. Hey – I’m not made of minutes!

I think it was then that Bob mentioned Skype. Skype is a VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) service.

VOIP isn’t a new concept. In fact, we already use a VOIP service at home as an extra phone with unlimited Connecticut calling.

What makes Skype so different is its excellent integration into your PC. It took under 5 minutes to download, install and activate my Skype account. From that point forward, I was talking to Bob PC-to-PC. In that mode, Skype is free!

There are also ways to use Skype to call an old fashioned phone. That’s what my friend Peter did while traveling through France. Calls from a PC to a telephone cost a few cents a minute – even when calling from Europe.

The voice quality was excellent. There is no noticeable lag. Bob said radio stations could conceivably use Skype for remote broadcasts. I agree.

Where Bob and I disagree is his contention that Skype is a telephone killer. It’s good, but it’s not convenient. You need to be near your computer. It’s not portable.

It’s an adjunct, not a replacement. However, it’s a pretty darn good adjunct.

Greetings From Ventnor City

I’m writing this from the kitchen of my friend Peter’s condo in Ventnor City, NJ. Honest, there is a Ventnor City, NJ… just down the road from Atlantic City. The people here call it Ventnor.

My journey started after work Friday night. Knowing I have no organizational skills, or willpower, going home after work would have just meant an extended period of putting off going to bed… so I set out for Peter’s house, in Cherry Hill, NJ at 11:35 PM.

That was a good idea because traffic was light and I made it in just under three hours. Not bad. EZ-Pass is good on the NJ Turnpike, making the trip even easier.

I didn’t relish the idea of a long drive but I had my cell phone along with the earpiece I seldom use. I knew if I got my Cousin Michael on the phone from California… well, let’s just say Michael is never at a loss for words.

That’s a good thing because I enjoy talking with him. Between Michael, Melissa and Max (their son) I kept busy through the Bronx, over the George Washington Bride and well into New Jersey. Finally I gave up because my ear was getting sore.

I also decided to run a ‘science experiment’ during the drive. I put my laptop in the front seat, powered by an inverter, working off the car’s battery so it would last the whole trip. The laptop had a wireless network card and GPS receiver hooked up and ran a free piece of software call NetStumbler.

As I drove along, sometimes every few seconds and sometimes only a few times an hour, a little sound went off and the computer would log the presence of a wireless access point. Some were password protected while others would have gladly (OK – gladly is overdoing it) allowed me to connect to the Internet or anything else behind their firewall!

After I return to Connecticut I’ll try and publish some lists and maps to show you what got logged. It was very interesting to me and I tried disparately not to look at the computer screen as I sped along at 70 mph.

I made it to Peter’s house around 2:30 AM. For me that’s the shank of the day. For Peter, it’s the middle of the night. He woke up and let me in. He even nuked a few burgers for me!

Saturday morning started with a visit to his nephew’s baseball game, breakfast at a deli and then a trip to the Jersey Shore. Peter recently bought a 2005 Acura RL and we felt it was necessary to test all the buttons&#185.

Some parts of the car, like the XM Satellite Radio, were interesting. Peter and I agree the XM ‘decade channels’ play too many marginal songs (not hits) – probably an effort to avoid repetition and there’s no real ‘oldies’ channel as such. I did find the comedy channels interesting and am envious of his ability to hear every baseball game… though as a non-sports fan he will listen to none.

When a car is packed with gadgets, as this one is, there are things which seem superfluous or a little over the top. If, instead of touching a button, you’d like to wait five or ten seconds and hope your command is understood, you can tell the car’s climate control system to turn down the fan or adjust the temperature. Using the button is easier!

Mostly this is a sweet car and I enjoyed the ride to the shore.

Though sunny, today was blustery and cool. Still, we decided to take a walk down the boardwalk. The water was rough with spray coming off each breaking wave. The beach, as you might expect for April, was empty.

As we walked the beach, we ran into a flock of tiny birds. Though they do fly, most of the time they scamper on the sand, chasing the waterline in and out with the waves. They’re looking for food, I’m sure, but they were fun to watch because they’re totally in sync and choreographed perfectly.

There is no outward sign of communications between these birds, but they must know what the others are going to do. They change direction on a dime and never bump into each other!

Tonight we had dinner at the Tun, near the Atlantic City Convention Center. I’m on Atkins (again), so I told my waitress I’d rather not have the potatoes with my meal. Could she substitute something else? “How about French Fries,” was her reply.

The steak was very good and there was plenty of it. There was no Splenda for my coffee (a recurring theme of late), so I pulled a pack from the stash in my wallet. This is what 54 year old guys carry in their wallets instead of condoms.

After dinner we went to the Tropicana to see a comedy show. The Comedy Stop at the Trop has been there for at least 25 years. Recently it moved to nicer quarters in the hotel’s new wing called The Quarter. In fact the whole addition is very nice, somewhat reiniscent of the shops at some Vegas casinos.

We stopped in the Spy Store where I found some items going for many multiples of what the same thing sells for on EBay. I wasn’t expecting bargains, but this was a little ridiculous.

The comdey show itself was good and the comedians fine… at least that’s my impression from the audience reaction. Maybe I just wasn’t in a comedy mood tonight?

&#185 – There is a button that Peter just can’t figure out. If you have any idea what the “DISP MODE” button does, drop me a line.

Who Will Support This Tech Supporter?

When it comes to computers, I provide tech support for my family and friends. I enjoy it. I’m pretty good with it. The secret here is, most computer problems are fairly easy to solve and involve the computer user shooting himself in the foot.

Sorry – it’s true. They’re mostly self inflicted.

But what do I do… who do I turn to when I have problems? Mostly it’s my friends Peter and Kevin. The funny part is they often lean on me too! Sometimes just a different perspective is valuable.

Unfortunately, I have a problem on my main PC and I don’t think either of them can help me. The problem isn’t in knowing how to troubleshoot this PC. The problem is the sheer volume of possibilities that will have to be searched.

A month or so ago I started getting spontaneous shutdowns of the Windows XP operating system and, what computer geeks call, BSOD or Blue Screen of Death.

No matter what glitch or bug or error you get, there is nothing more sinister than a BSOD. By the time it is on your screen the operating system has stopped… well, it’s stopped operating.

There are a few cryptic clues like a reference to a specific error which is often associated with the computer’s software drivers. Great – there must be hundreds, maybe thousands of those. And each time the BSOD occurs the screen points in a slightly different direction.

I wanted to take a screen shot to post here, but once you get a BSOD your computer is pretty much dead in the water.

Luckily, this isn’t the only problem of late. Note the error message on the left. I have tried searching ever source I know… and come up blank. There’s nothing I’ve changed recently which should have caused this USB error. I’m guessing it’s related to my scanner and it very well might be related to the BSOD problem.

Please, don’t feel sorry for me. I collect computers like Steffie collects shoes. There are backups available (though I still don’t back up my data – another weakness of mine) and I have used them in critical situations, like taking tests for school. A computer crash there might be incredibly costly.

So, why am I writing this? Well, my friend Steve (who has received his fair share of tech support) was wondering why it wasn’t here. I had originally decided to wait until I solved it before writing about it – but that might never happen.

The Computer As An Auto

I am a computer hobbyist. This is neither good nor bad – just a fact of life. I’ve been attracted to them since my first touch of a keyboard in high school circa 1967. This computer I’m typing on, and the one next to it, were built on my floor from parts – some ordered for the projects, others that I had lying around.

I remember my friend Jerry Emdur in Cherry Hill, NJ, who owned an Imsai 8080, a very early personal computer. It really couldn’t do anything – but it was very cool.

For years, I have subscribed to Computer Shopper. It was, at one time, the great builder magazine, published every month. I used to feel guilty when the mailman delivered it. It was heavy as a brick and as thick as the Manhattan Yellow Pages… OK, almost as thick.

Back then the ads were for little specialty houses. Some sold custom built computers, others components. There were even actual designers and manufacturers selling down at the retail level. All these people knew we were on to something that would be big. They all wanted to be involved.

I’m not sure if he advertised in Computer Shopper back then, but this was the age when people like Michael Dell could start a company in his college dorm, correspond to customers via CompuServe – and sell a PC to my friend Peter in New Jersey.

Dell is huge, but so many of those companies are no longer around. It’s very sad.

Today, the Computer Shopper is a shadow of its former self. I just got a 166 page issue today. If I remember correctly, they were often 10 times that size. There are more articles, or at least they stand out more without the deluge of ads. Most of the editorial content is how to and hobbyist, versus business, oriented stories.

Missing are the page upon page of ads. Often they were long lists in tiny type of things I just had to have – but wasn’t going to get just yet.

I suspect most of those companies failed during the dot com bust. Many have probably just moved to EBay, where the cost of doing business is much lower.

I miss the ads.

Hey, this isn’t TV. I’m not getting a random mix of adult diaper and Viagra spots. These were targeted ads for products I was interested in. And, I figured the more ads, the more non-advertising content. That wasn’t necessarily true.

The problem with this kind of magazine today is that computers are commodities. You get one right off the line. They’re made to be mass produced. You can buy off-the-shelf hardware that’s fast enough for any application and buy it for less than you’ll pay to build it yourself!

I won’t be surprised if some day soon my ability to build my own machine is taken away, victim of digital rights management or some other tough to control power of the PC. When it’s just an appliance, in every sense of the word, I’ll feel we’ve lost something.