Thursday, July 24, 2008

Twitter

I posted the link to Twitter a couple of days ago. Twitter is pretty cool if you get into the whole social networking side of the inter-tubez. I'm probably not going to share my deepest, darkest secrets, but it still is neat to post little blurbs about what is going on. But if no one follows, then what's the fun? So, I have this little add-on for Firefox that signals that someone I'm following posts a Twitter update. I hadn't gotten an update all day and usually a couple come through from EricVon (one of the three Regular Guys). I checked out my Twitter page and all the people I was following and all my followers (what, a couple) were gone. I've had to go back in and add those that I was following.

In other words, if you're using Twitter, check out your settings and make sure your following and followers weren't cleared out.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Interesting - Happy Flu

From Tam







Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Lazy, hazy days of summer?

Actually, a lot has been going on! For one, the past few weeks, I've been working to finish a pretty major repair to the house that Andrew, Neil and I did. Due to a couple of factors, one of my exterior walls pretty much had rotted to nothing. July 4th I decided to do some excavation and see if the damage was more extensive than just siding. Um, yeah, just a little bit! We ended up having to demolish about a four foot wide by 10 foot high section of exterior wall down to the interior sheetrock. We had to replace structure from bottom to top. Luckily the sill plate was still intact on the foundation and the floor joists had not completely rotted away. We were able to sister 2x10's to the existing joists without having to jack up the structure. That was a pretty big "whew" moment there! Next we had to replace the actual sill and sub-floor construction along about a 5 foot section, allowing us to replace three wall studs to a height of about 10 feet. We actually got the insulation and sheathing on in one complete day! All that was left for me to do by myself was to install the siding and replace the trim, caulk and paint. I finished painting the wall and just have the trim to left to paint.

What caused this? You know how they say that water is your house's biggest enemy? Well, they're right. First, the flashing was installed incorrectly on the foyer addition. The flashing along the roof-wall join ended about 2 inches above the gutter. This caused water that flowed down this area to seep between the roof eaves on the front of the house and the foyer wall. Secondly, the idiot who lived in the house before me neglected the shit out of the house. According to my neighbor, he can't remember the previous owner ever cleaning the gutters! I guess you never know what you're going to get when you buy a foreclosure!

I have pictures of the process that I'll post as soon as I get them off the camera.

Also! Take a look at the link underneath my picture over there -> . Occasionally I'll update what I'm doing on Twitter. I think it's a pretty cool little application! Why don't you try it out?

Monday, July 21, 2008

slacker

I've been quite the blogging slacker for the past week. Work has been keeping me way busy and I've been playing with my iPhone on the little bit of downtime that I've had. I should have a bit more of a post together tomorrow.

Monday, July 14, 2008

iPhone 3G so far...

I am thrilled! Before I get into what I really like, let me get the bad out of the way really quickly. I only have a couple of gripes about the iPhone 3G, the keyboard and the battery life. Neither are deal breakers by any stretch of the imagination, more inconvenient if anything. The keys are a little close together for us with larger digits!! With more use, I'm getting more and more used to where I need to tap to get each letter. Like I said, not really a big deal. Battery life is inconvenient, but again not a deal breaker. I'll be getting a car charger though, just in case. With heavy data use, especially on the 3G network, the battery tends to drain pretty fast. I think I could pretty easily make it through the day without having to charge the phone, especially after some of the new has worn off it! *G*

Starting off, the iPhone is a phone. Yeah, it does a bunch of other really cool stuff, but if the phone doesn't work, what's the use? Well, the phone works and works well. Reception is as good as I ever got with my Nokia and better than I ever got with the Motorola V3xx.

I love the UI. The Apple UI runs circles around everything else. I find the OS works and works well. No crashes and hardly any slow-downs. The home screen is easy to understand and use, a qwerty keyboard is a breeze to use, and multi-touch rocks! I have used most of the applications and downloaded a few free apps from the App Store and am pleased with how well they work. Maps uses the GPS and WiFi to show a Google map with your location. Use Google to search for anything and pins will drop to show you where to find whatever you're looking for. Tap a pin and you can get directions. Drive and you see your progress on the map. So far, we don't have turn by turn spoken directions, but Tom-Tom is reportedly working on an App already. I have Email set up to work with my Exchange account at work and it's awesome! My favorite App so far has to be Remote. As long as my laptop and my iPhone 3G are on the same wifi network, I can control my iTunes on my laptop from the iPhone. Sounds trivial? I thought so at first as well, but if I combine this with an Airport Extreme, I can broadcast my iTunes to any stereo or other wifi device in the house, controling it all with my iPhone. The possibilities are awesome!

This is a really concise review, but I hope it conveys how truly happy I am with the purchase.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Happy happy joy joy

Got the iPhone today and have put it through a little bit of its paces. So far, I'm loving it! Unfortunately, Apple's going to take a bit of flack for their server problem during activation, deservedly so if you ask me. But, that aside, the iPhone looks like it'll live up to my expectations. I'll post more of a review after a bit more use.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Neat questionaire

1. Where is your cell phone? Desk
2. Your significant other? Everything
3. Your hair? Changing
4. Your mother? Denial
5. Your father? Brilliant
6. Your favorite time of day? Any
7. Your dream last night? None
8. Your favorite drink? Beer
9. Your dream goal? Security
10. The room you're in? Office
11. Your ex? Friend
12. Your fear? Loss
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Same
14. What you are not? Patient
15. Your Favorite meal? Steak
16. One of your wish list items? Land
17. The last thing you did? Yawned
18. Where you grew up? Atlanta
19. What are you wearing? Flip-Flops
20. Your TV is? Big
21. Your pets? Dogs
22. Your computer? Rocks
23. Your life? Crazy
24. Your mood? Mellow
25. Missing someone? Nah
26. Your car? Topless
27. Something you're not wearing? Jeans
28. Favorite store? Gadget
29. Your summer? Work
30. Your favorite color? Green
31. When is the last time you laughed? Today
32. When is the last time you cried? Unsure
33. Your health? Better
34. Your children? Good
35. Your future? Unwritten
36. Your beliefs? Steady
37. Young or old? Young
38. Your image? Easy-going
39. Your appearance? All-American
40. Would you live your life over again knowing what you know? Absolutely

Found here

Wednesday, July 02, 2008