Posts (page 2)
AT&T is back to the old monopoly AT&T lame. A week to not fix a DSL line. The DSL line that is supposed to be 3mbits but my EVDO card from Verizon consistently outperforms (2.5mbits common, kewl).
This is somewhat ironic, but AT&T loses money on every iphone sold. It couldn't happen to a nicer company.
Almost makes me want to get an iPhone except Steve and AT&T sit around an upside down pentagon and wear ramshead helmets while holding hands.
I am going have to give a VoIP provider a shot - I have been stuck with needing a fax that works 100% of the time.
If you have a way of extracting your fair share, vs their fair share, of value from AT&T I would love to hear your story.
So, I haven't written in a while so I'll just blab a bit about what's happening lately.
Aimee is pregnant with child 3.0 who will be my 3rd daughter... Due potentially, exactly on my birthday (Jan 11). Aimee is a trooper, still working and dealing with 1.0 and 2.0 very well. She is quitting her job in a couple weeks, which should give her a bit of a break. Aimee really got into her job and they love her. But, I finally experienced what it's like to be on the other side of a workaholic. I am not being paged or emailed in the middle of the night, but last night at 1am, I went to the kitchen for some grub with Aimee and she jumped on to the kitchen computer and then the keyboard starts going clackety clack. I said to her, 'Yeesh, leave that thing alone until tomorrow' but she was not ok with that. Kind of an eye opener. Regardless, I am glad Aimee will be done with her gig soon, seems like her job gets more of her than they deserve.
We are all going to Hawaii on Oct 18th - 29th. It is the last time we'll be able to get our vacation on for a while so we are grabbing the opportunity. I am assuming that when we get there, Maui will officially be a ghost town.
I will try not blab on too much about economy, but sadly, no bottom in sight and it has hurt me in some particularly lame ways. I ran to the hills with bonds just as everyone else and I did it a little earlier than most. However, some things I missed along the way were my kids' college 529 plans. I seeded their 529 accounts with essentially what they would need for college and assumed it would grow slowly. It was really just a place to park their college money and have a good feeling of 'Ok, that's taken care of'. I have not received my oldest daughter's (Lauren) statement yet, but I did for my youngest one (Jennifer). Down over 35%. That's just plain ass. I can only assume Lauren's is in equal shape. College money is not supposed to disappear like that. Argh. The other stuff is the other stuff; the college money is what bums me out.
If Mutual Funds are 'managed' why can't the 'managers' liquidate to bonds, gold, t-bills, whatever. Doesn't seem very managed to me.
Vivaty launched and we are starting to see some traction. We have adopted an 'agile' (lame word) development process. The net good thing about that is we are releasing new server and client software every two weeks. It keeps us nimble and scheduled. We have some interesting deals in the hopper but one that is public is we are a premier plug-in for the AIM client (the latest version). AIM is about to force the upgrade vs. the early adopters of the client. I hope that it cranks some traffic.
Vivaty continues to be a great place to learn and be hands on. It's me and Les who deal with all of production and IT. Many, many times if something needs doing, I will have to do it. Therefore, while I've managed large teams of hands-on people and understood pretty deeply the technology/effort, etc - I now have no choice but to sit down and learn it so I can do it. Sometimes it is frustrating because the balance of learning vs the need get it done gets out of whack, but in every case it is good to learn.
I continue to dig the MS scene - I understand a lot about backend Unix systems, but I have to say, there is a lot of deep shit with MS servers/backend stuff. I've gone to the point of becoming a certified 'Small Business Specialist' partner and even got my reseller license (if you want a Dell or Lenovo, let me know.. ;-)). Windows Server 2008 is particularly cool. I would not mind having the server software be my main OS on a laptop for example. You can turn on the Aero interface and install the 'rich media client' and it then feels and acts like Vista, but has all the powerful stuff under the covers. I still contend that folks who dismiss or hate the MS really do not know it.
On that note, I am an Apple hater, but I am pretty sure I know enough about them that I can say that. I do not think I'm missing some technology understanding that doesn't allow me the freedom to be an Apple hater. ;-) They have done only two things right. Their hardware is great. Put boot camp on a Mac Book Pro and install Vista and you have a nice machine. Licensing Active Sync for the iPhone from Microsoft was huge - finally an Apple product could sit in a corporate environment and work. Sure small companies, startups, and people that hang out at Starbucks, Macs are great. If you want to have any type of structure, control, or decent collaboration (another word for exchange) the Mac is still ass.
I am now an avid motorcycle rider and I have two seriously kick ass bikes. When I was shopping around for a bike, I was thinking about getting the Honda VFR, a nice bike for sure. A friend of mine, Dan Nater, found a killer BMW '04 R1100S on Craig's list and I had to have it. I have had it a while and there are many pictures in Vox of it. Recently I bought another bike - BMW K1200GT. Amazing. 152HP with heated seats, grips, and cruise control. It's this amazing touring bike that happens to be fast as hell. I'm really glad I didn't trade in my R1100S though. Both bikes are great in their own ways.
One problem the bikes have caused is hurting my ability to play Guitar Hero/Rock Band. I guess the clutch lever or something, but my pinky finger is jacked and if you do not have that finger working, you are useless as a guitarist. Sigh. I need to figure that one out. Can you go to an orthopedist and say 'Can you help me because I need to be able to play rock band?' What kind of surgical procedure would that be?
Well long enough update…. A journal entry I guess. I hope that anyone who reads this is employed, has their money safe, and has their health. One thing I have been working on is to stop watching Bloomberg and go outside. Living day by day instead of way into the future is key.
I can't really say a lot more than what this picture says. This has to be a new low.
A little history - I have a Yellow Lab, her name is Riley, she is 8 years old, she has useless hips, and for her entire life, she has been 'Big Boned'.
She is also like any other lab in that she will eat anything; one of her favorite things is to eat are entire loaves of bread. There are no crumbs of evidence. When you walk into the kitchen, nothing has been disturbed and there is no sign of a struggle to get to the loaf of bread. Unfortunately, in the living room, the crime scene is there. You might think it would be a mess of crumbs considering an entire loaf of bread would be hard for someone who weighs 200 pounds to eat, let alone a dog who only weighs 75 pounds. (Remember, Big Boned)
Sadly - the crime scene only shows the remainder of the plastic bag for the bread. There is only a very small remainder of the plastic bag - Riley is not particular about bread or plastic. However, this starts the cycle of fun that makes me go “We have a dog again, why?” I will not go into all the gory details, but when you own your own carpet steam cleaner, it is not a good thing.
She is also is not really into her dog food. It was food to fight the need of the steam cleaner. I could tell she hated it. It is rare to see a lab turn down food. So, I stopped feeding her normal dog food and I started grabbing the trader joe’s precooked frozen rice bags. Stab the plastic bag, microwave for 3 minutes, and feed the dog. Pretty darn convenient for a while but I figured, if a human could not survive on rice alone, a dog could not either.
I did a little searching around the web and there is no shortage of hoovy groovy hippie BS food that claim to be ‘all good’. After reading up on things, I concluded that if you can buy it from Petco, there are chunks of horse heads, cow butts, and poop; you know only the finest for animals. There are some foods out there that look like someone was trying, but they came in these giant, non-frozen logs of expensive chopped up ‘stuff’. Better than pebbles of clay called dog food, I guess.
I figure, if the rice thing was working, why not just figure out a way to complete the group of amino acids necessary to be complete proteins. Looked around some more on people that were making their own. There were some weird recipes out there. There was a lot of seasoning, garlic, herbs, and other wack stuff a dog just does not need. I found a super simple recipe and I thought it might just work. Simple deal: 4 cups uncooked rice, 2 pounds ground turkey, and 2 pounds of carrots. I also stumbled on a cool way to cook rice - 1.5 cups per 1 cup uncooked rice. Bring water to boil, put rice in the water, and bring to boil while stirring a little. When the water is boiling, turn off the heat and leave it alone for 20-30 mins for jasmine or 45 mins for brown. One time, in the middle of the waiting - stir once. It is awesome, no burnt rice, no rice cooker, about as low maintenance as it gets.
Tonight was my second time making the grub for the dog. The first batch only made 5 days worth of food. I thought that it might be better to make a lot more food and change her meals from 4 cups a day to 3 (Big Bones). My recipe was not exactly right, but I cooked up 5 pounds of shredded carrots (the kid’s first time using a Cuisinart), 6 cups uncooked brown rice, and 5 pounds of ground turkey. That turned out to be a lot of food to cook! That took five burners of six and some giant pots and pans.
After everything was cooked, I had two skillets of turkey, two skillets of carrots, and a big pot of rice. I also had no place to mix this all up. Scrambling I went to the garage (thereis always something in the garage) and found a big plastic storage bin. Threw all that in there and mixed it up. Aimee helped me bag it up and fill the freezer. Here is a pic of my masterpiece. Now I have to find a big kitchen where either I can cook it up big style or have them cook it up for me. Riley loves this stuff btw…
The car is in mint condition. Dinan Engineering used the car in his catalog for pictures. The car has 19,000 miles. Single Owner, Serviced Meticulously.
My car was in a comparison exercise against the new BMW M3 and the video is here:
http://www.webridestv.com/videos/bmw-shoot-out---dinan-335i-vs--stock-m3-79736
Listen carefully for the differences in time; they are miniscule. Please note the prices in the video are for a base model 335 and do not include the price of the wheels.
Here are factory specs:
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2007 BMW 335i Coupe - 6 Speed Manual Transmission
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Alpine White Exterior, Black Dakota Leather Interior with Brushed Aluminum Trim
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Sport Package
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8-way adjustable front sport seats with adjustable back bolsters with Drive Memory
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2-way headrests and manual adjustable thigh support
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Optional Dinan Engineering 19” Lightweight Wheel Set – Price $4,000
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265/30/19 front, 275/30/19 rear Michelin Pilot Sport 2 Tires Brand New – Tire Rack Price $1,800
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Premium Package
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BMW Assist, Bluetooth
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Lumbar Support
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Auto Dimming Interior and Exterior Mirrors with Digital Compass
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Universal Garage Door Opener
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Ground Lighting in Door Handles & Front and Rear Ambient Lighting
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Dual Power/Heated Exterior Mirrors
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Tilt/Telescopic 3 Spoke Leather Sport Steering Wheel with Finger Tip Controls
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Heated Seats Front Seats
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Active Steering
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Logic 7 Premium Audio System
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Sirius Radio
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IPod/MP3 Player input
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Single CD/MP3 Player
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DVD Based Navigation System
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Stability Control
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Traction Control
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Anti-Lock Brake System
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Dual Front and Side Air Bags
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Moon roof
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Air Conditioning
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Power steering
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Power windows
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Power Door Locks
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Cruise Control
Dinan Engineering Additions – Dinan Engineering is the only Factory Authorized Tuner for BMW. All of his products are available for purchase directly through BMW dealerships as dealer-installed options. Dinan Engineering does not void the BMW warranty and Dinan Engineering adds 4 years and 50,000 miles from the date of install.
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Stage III Performance Engine Software Upgrade
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Stock power is 300hp/300lb ft upgrade to 406hp/460lb ft – Price $1,999
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High Capacity Oil Coiler System – Price $1,999
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Free Flow Exhaust – Price $1,749
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Dinan Intercooler upgrade - $1,900
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Stage III Suspension System – Price $2,248
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Camber Plates to add +1/2 degree of negative camber on front wheels
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Performance Spring Set
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Koni Adjustable Struts and Shocks
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Front Anti Roll Bar with 2 new sets of bushings
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Rear Antiroll Bar with matching bump stops
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Limited Slip Differential (Quaife) – Price $1,695
Listen carefully for the differences in time; they are miniscule. Please note the prices in the video are for a base model 335 and do not include the price of the wheels.
$48,595 Car Sticker Price
$4,000 Wheels
$1,8000 Tires
$1,999 Stage III Engine Upgrade
$1,999 Oil Cooler
$1,900 Intercooler
$1,749 Exhaust
$2,248 Suspension
$1,695 Differential
$64,085 Total
$45,000 - Asking Price
Jon Prall - jprall@gmail.com - 650-465-8405
My car picture taken from Dinan Engineering’s website, and advertising shots
Long time coming. I haven't been able to finish expert on any Guitar Hero game to date. Even Rock Band has taunted me with that dang Green Grass tune that I can't finish. 90%, but that doesn't bring home the bacon.
So GH III:Aerosmith, more fun than I thought, but easier than I thought... BTW, the credits song is the best, an old favorite..
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In the wild off the coast of Lanai
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Rock Band and Guitar Hero I, 80's, II, and III have completely sucked me in. I like to bounce back and forth between the two games, but I have a secret love for GH III as a better game. There are a lot of variables in being a good game. Rock Band is really fun, and awesome with lots of people, but GH III still just put together really well. Rock Band has one thing going for though and that's new content. As I write it's a 129 songs of which I have 125 taken care of on expert. Great new song called Shockware by Black Tide is currently holding my attention. Here are some shots. First one is Green Grass - a song that for a very long time now has kept me at the same exact percentage number of being complete. It's really dirving me nuts. I feel like if I figure this song out, no other song will be hard. Second shot - uh, yeah, my living room. No real explanation needed here, I have issues. Last is just a little proof of me putting my time into this and taking it seriously. ;-) Oh yeah, my avatar - I look just like that.
