Random thoughts, organized and categorized for your consumption.
Archive for year 2007
The Hoopty DTV Antenna
Dec 15th
If someone ever wanted to know what lengths I would go to in order to get high def TV programming, this is it. With a large helping of PVC pipe, fittings, caps, a half mile of coax, an indoor FM antenna, a UHF/VHF combiner, some bolts, wing nuts, washers and a bonafide real antenna (DB2) I have produced this monster eyesore on my patio deck.
It points toward Sutro Tower where most of the Bay Area’s HDTV transmission antennas are located and it doesn’t do half bad, considering I’m more than 50 miles away. It’s reasonably weatherproof and it doesn’t cost More >
Grape bar goodness
Dec 2nd
Since I always seem to be writing about flying, I thought that I’d deliberately throw in one post that has nothing to do with that. I have determined that my life is not complete without a Dreyer’s natural grape fruit bar. Sure, I’ve written about it before, but I now now that I really badly need to have a box of these goodies in the freezer at all times.
It is made of grapes, so it has to be healthy, right?
The Earthquake
Nov 1st
I can now say that I’ve fully lived through an earthquake. This week a 5.6 magnitude trembler rolled, quite literally, through the house at around 8pm. Furniture moved, things swayed, and dishes clanked. And it was all over in about 30 seconds. I’ve certainly been through earthquakes before, but strangely never at home and not one this big.
Nothing was ruined and only a few items fell out of place. Best of all there wasn’t a sense of real panic or desperation, just a feeling that something was going bonkers and that I should probably find a spot where things won’t More >
AT&T / Cingular: The Final Insult
Oct 1st
Today, as if things weren’t just swell enough (said with tongue firmly in cheek) AT&T ships me a bill for cellular service that took place in September. Funny how they conveniently forgot that I canceled that service on September 3rd. Funnier still, seeing as because their deliberate degrading of the wireless network knocked me completely offline for the entire month of August and most of July.
The sad part is that they wanted another $40 just to part company with them, even though I had already done all the paperwork at the store back on September 3rd. After a lot of More >
Enough Already! Calm Down Apple Fanboys
Sep 5th
I realized today, for about the hundredth time, that there is just way too much hype, marketing, and slickness and not enough reality around Apple and its products (and storied product launches). I mean for crying out loud, this is a computer company that is at 5% world wide market share. 5%! To put that into perspective, how much do you care about Via’s CPU’s (about 1% share), SiS’s GPU’s (about 3% share), or Polaroid’s HDTV’s (about 4% share). These are all examples of others who play third fiddle in their respective markets, just like Apple does in the PC More >
PT Cruiser; Verdict: it sucks
Sep 4th
I really should just end a review on the title, as that says it all. I was rented one of the little PT Cruiser’s today and I honestly don’t know who would want to own one. Window controls on the center console? Terrible ergonomics where you have to lean into the passenger seat to change the stereo? A completely unusable adjustment for the seat height and steering wheel positions? And don’t even get me started on the sadness that is the engine (I call it the little engine that can’t, but wishes it could).
Granted, all of this is just from More >
AT&T Sucks (and so I'm done with them)
Sep 3rd
I finally found the final straw, the thing that sent me over the edge and made me get rid of AT&T after so many years of suffering. AT&T (the wireless provider) decided that…
1. my phone no longer will work on their network
2. that my calling plan is not what they want to provide any longer
3. that the new plan they wish to offer should cost much more
4. that I should pay for both a new phone AND a two year contract for the privilege of keeping their company
This, then, would be the final chapter in the long and torrid tale More >
The Bourne Shakey Cam Express
Aug 19th
I just finished going to the theater (what!?!) to see The Bourne Ultimatum with Steve, April, and Steve’s dad, and man does my head hurt afterwards. Evidently the new “in thing” for movies is to shoot them hand held guerrilla style and make the moviegoer dizzy or sick. Another great example of this technique shown this summer was Transformers, a Michael Bay epic that was full of robot vs robot fighting (yay!) that would have looked great, if only the camera would have been still for more than 3 seconds.
While this is the 3rd and last in the series of movies, it More >