The Occasional Blog

I saw a review of Waze in a blog post by The Unofficial Apple Weblog and while they were a bit cool on it as a navigation app, it is free and has an interesting take. I picked up a Kingston windshield mount which replaced where I had my GPS so am in the market for a GPS app for my iPhone. The reality is, however, that in spite of my frequent time in my car, it’s really just to and from work (all 500+ miles per week). Obviously, I know how to get to work so I can’t justify a significant expense. Since Waze is free, it was a clear choice to give a spin.

The program uses a map that is fed over the phone’s data connection and is community driven. Anytime you drive on a road that hasn’t been traversed before, you “munch” dots much like Pac Man which verifies the geometry and your speed and is uploaded to their servers which is then fed back to others as traffic information for routing alternatives. You can also point out specific traffic problems, speed traps, or even just “chit chat” which can be viewed by other users. As you munch roads, provide updates, or just confirm traffic, you get points and your points determine your ranking. I never thought that driving around would count for anything.

The website allows you to view your routes or edit the dynamic map (presented much like Google’s) to add new roads and update other aspects (house numbers, name, road connections, etc.).

The downside, is that currently the maps have some trouble with accuracy but that presumably will improve as more users use it and especially if they update it from the website. The navigation app is a little rough as well with its presentation but that’ll hopefully improve as well.

It’s a decent little app and a creative service. Back to road munching. I wonder how many points are needed for an extra life?

Three years ago when I got my car, I purchased a iPod integration from USA SPEC which I wrote about at the time. When I recently upgraded and got my iPhone 3G S the integration still worked but it no longer would charge my phone while connected. Unfortunately, while the original iPod and most subsequent revisions were charged by FireWire and later ones charged by either FireWire or USB, the iPhone 3G S has dropped FireWire compatibility for charging (it’s never worked for data).

I contacted USA SPEC and ordered a replacement cable that basically moved the pins providing power from the ones used by FireWire to those used by USB. The problem came when I replaced the cable. It worked initially and just when I was going to clean up and put the tools away, there was the distinct smell and vision of the magic smoke. I quickly disconnected my phone and killed the ignition but the damage was done. Both the integration and the phone recognized they were attached to each other, but audio only came out the built-in speaker on the phone which one could hardly consider “integrated” with the stereo.

After another call to USA SPEC and the tech identified that most likely a resister was fried and that I needed to send both the unit and the cable for repair. Since it was long out of warrantee, it would cost me to fix it but he was unable to provide an estimate without seeing it first. I got an RMA number and shipped it out. While waiting for them to contact me with an estimate, I was stuck with using some cheesy battery-powered speakers. That was fun.

A week later, I got email confirmation that it had shipped back to me. No call, no communication, no fix? It arrived yesterday and was in-fact, a replacement unit. No invoice. I installed it today and it works like a charm.

I am always impressed with companies that dispense with “the rules” and are willing to do something nice to truly serve the customer. If you are looking to hook up your iPod/iPhone to your car, consider USA SPEC. They deserve it.

No, this is not about the national or world economic “crisis.” This is far more important. I am writing about my work, my job, and my ever-illustrious team of guys at work.

As you have seen in previous posts, tweets, and if you read between the lines, the lack of them, things have been quite stressful at work. Video games, being a luxury, are subject to soft sales when people are worried about their jobs which results in a “do more with less” mantra which can be especially frustrating in IT when things cost what they cost and doing without only works in the short-term. I have also had a position open since February which really was needed to be filled back when I was promoted to manager last November.

While the ink isn’t dry, I am happy to say that a fifth member will be joining our elite team of geeks. I can’t tell you how pleased I am that shortly, we won’t need to be doing things part-way due to the workload. We’ll finally be able to get to all those things we know we should but always seem to never address.

Other changes at the office include just that, offices. We’ve moved around and while the current configuration is less-than-ideal, we are working towards a “center of excellence” which will allow us to work more closely with colleagues of another group which will end up making each of us better as a result.

Hope is a good thing, but only if it is realistic. You can dream all you want, but if there is no way to get there, there is no drive. No passion. Not only will things be different a year from now, they will be better and we’ll be stronger, smarter, and most definitely better looking.

In all sereousness, stress has been a frequent companion for most of this year. If it wasn’t for the skill, dedication, and flexibility of my guys, the moral support of my wife, and the strength of my savior, Jesus, I don’t think I would have been able to hold it together. Thanks to all of you.

A colleague at work shared this and I just had to pass it on. Craig Ferguson nailed it with this routine:

Life has been busy for me at work. In fact, I can’t remember being this busy ever before. Sure, I have a position open that will help with the load but that has been proving hard to fill so things won’t be improving anytime soon. I also have been trying to keep myself organized so that I can manage all the tasks I have to worry about. David Allen‘s Getting Things Done method makes a lot of sense and I have been using The Omni Group’s OmniFocus which has kept me sane as I don’t have to sorry about forgetting things (if I’m good about capturing them).

The problem is that there is so much to do, too little time, and enough unexpected things that come up, my productivity is seriously disrupted. It gets so bad that the due dates I set on tasks to try and keep priorities set are becoming past due more and more often. What does one do? Do I simply keep pushing the due dates forwards until they start stacking up and becoming even more useless? Do I drop drop due dates from anything not truly essential and risk not ever getting to it?

There are several blog and forum posts on strategies that I’ve been meaning to read, but I’ve been so busy I haven’t made the time. Perhaps I have to take the time to make the time.

I’m not overly into music but I do have bands and artists I enjoy, both past and present. However, a few recent events involving two of my favorite ones have been quite curious and has me asking “what is a band?”

Early this year, Steven Page, one of the founding members of Barenaked Ladies left the group to persue a solo career. His contribution to their catalog of songs and their sound is without question, as is both his and their future. The four remaining members released a live album recorded in March with Keavin Hearn stepping up his vocal efforts along with Ed Robertson, Jim Creeggan, and Tyler Stewart as well. They are all talented musicians so I have no doubt they will be able to develop a new style and voice and look forward to the fruits of their labors.

Separately, one of my favorite bands, Information Society, set up a Twitter account (along with the rest of the globe, btw) to communicate with their fans on upcoming events and other info. Personally, I think that kind of use for Twitter is quite valuable and I follow several sources who use Twitter similarly.

The part that got weird is the fact that “they” followed me back. That is normal etiquette in Twitter but it was a bit surreal when I received notice that I was being “followed” by a “band” I have enjoyed for over twenty years. It’s a strange fusion of old and new. Of course, the account is managed one of the members (my guess is Kurt Harland) but it’s still a bit odd. Now if I could only get them to come out here since I haven’t seen them in concernt since 1987 at Disneyland grad night at the Tomorrowland Café.

So, is a band a brand and is only measures by their product or are they identified by their individual members and creative contributers? Will BNL still be BNL without Steven? Of course. Was InSoc the same group when it was just Kurt and Paul Robb had moved on? Yes (albeit with a different sound). I will say their newest album, Synthesizer, which marked the return of Paul Robb and James Cassidy, is my favorite and I blogged about it before. Ultimately, I suppose it doesn’t matter. I’ll most likely keep following both of them no matter what (or who) they’re made up of.

Update: In my old post that I referenced, I said that I saw InSoc in 1989 and not 1987. I went to grad night both years (once for my graduation and once for Becky’s). It must because I’m 40, but I’m not not sure which year it was. Was it even them?

I know this is the Occasional Blog, but posts have been too far in between (the Twitter posts don’t count). Please forgive me. I’m not dead, just busy. For the sake of an update here are some highlights of the last several weeks.

• I’m trying to find a Senior Systems Administrator at work (you’d think that Sony Playstation would have stacks of resumés)
• My daughter turned twelve and after today’s haircut, she looks ready for high school
• The pond got its spring cleaning a few weeks ago and looks abfab. Too bad the heron got all our koi and we’re left with only 4-5″ feeders
• We took a family vacation to San Francisco to coincide with spring break and a business meeting
• The MacBook Mini is working out quite well especially after adding 2G of RAM and an 8G SDHC card
• I will be going to both E3 (definite) and WWDC (very likely) so June will be busy as well

I’ll do my best to do an actual post soon, but until I can find a candidate, things will still be busy.

I was happy to receive shipment confirmation on my Dell Mini 9 order on Thursday and it showed up Tuesday afternoon. After quickly archiving the SSD (I had considered evaluating the pre-installed Ubuntu Linux setup, but ‘eh, I’ve used Ubuntu before), I proceeded to install OS X Leopard (10.5).

My initial attempt didn’t work directly off of the install DVD (the easy way) so I had to resort to the more mucky copy-install-DVD-to-external-drive solution. On the plus side, the install proceeded fairly quickly as it was not hampered by the slowness of installing from DVD.

After a few reboots and updates, I now have this:

I must say that it is the cutest and coolest little laptop that I’ve used in a while. I’ve been able to install the apps I want to use (Firefox, OmniFocus, 1Password, iStat Menus, Growl, and Adium) as well as the VPN software for work so I can respond to any issue that might come up. After purging items mentioned in my last post, I have 4.5G free on the 16G SSD (formats to 14.03G).

It isn’t all paradise, however. Getting used to the keyboard is proving challenging. Not surprisingly, the keys are about 80% normal size, but I can live with that. The part that’s really strange is that the ‘/” key which is normally to the right of ;/: is now below ./> but the really annoying thing is the right shift key is half size right next to the up arrow. More often than not I end up moving the cursor up a line whenever I try to capitalize something.

While I will opt for my work MacBook or the family MacBook Pro for anything really serious, the Mini 9 is a great little “goof around” Mac that Apple never made. After our budget digests the purchase in a month or two, I’ll pick up a 2G DIMM as I’m noticing the slowdown of OS X on 1G. I’ll also get a 8G SDHC Flash card for scratch and I’ll be ready for anything.

If you follow me on Twitter or read my previous Twitter posts, you saw that yesterday we decided that we could afford to buy a Dell Mini 9 for my birthday. I’m kinda excited as I’ve been wanting a netbook for a bit and the Dell is able to run OS X with no significant compromises (aka Hacintosh). Since I think it will be a bit before Apple decides to play in the netbook arena (if ever) and, if they do, will not be likely targeting sub-$400, this will be the best way to get a mini Mac laptop on the cheap.

Of course, the challenge of getting OS X running will be fun in-and-of-itself. Will it be the perfect laptop? No. I know the screen is small, keyboard cramped, and the processor is on the modest side, but I will be able to carry it almost anywhere and will have a full browser, mail, and programs with me. With the SSD disk, it should be silent, too, which is nice.

I’ll be ordering it tomorrow morning and while it won’t make it in time for my 40th birthday on Wednesday, it will hopefully be in before too long. I’ll let you know how it goes and what the experience is like.

I really enjoyed Electronic Arts’ Mirrors Edge developed by Digital Illusions CE. It’s a first person platformer that has a very nice look and a unique gameplay.

While the PS3 version is cutting edge in many ways, a recently produced 2D flash version does a great job of duplicating the style of gameplay while being unique in it’s own right. What I like most is that the animation is very reminiscient of the original Karateka which I loved playing as a kid twenty-five years ago (ugh).

Give it a spin, it’s quite fun.