Archived News starting from 06-14-2007 and earlier
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Tonight I was given the opportunity to go to Cleveland for some focus group testing for my work. It was my first experience with a 2-way mirror and was a little creepy. Volunteers shuffled into the "bright" room and were asked various questions, then shown some fatheads, then asked more questions. Meanwhile we were in the "dark" room with cheese snacks, candy, soda, and even beer to enjoy while we watched the moderator interview everyone. The volunteers were told about the 2-way mirror and camera taping them, but after a few minutes they ignored it and we could watch every ones reaction to the fatheads. It was interesting to see how many people had heard of Fathead, and how they reacted once they saw one up close (they weren't told what they were going to be reviewing prior to arriving). It felt good to know I work for a company that makes a universally "cool" product, that everyone wanted once they saw it up close. The creepy part was seeing and listening to someone for an hour and then realizing they had no idea who you were when you walked past them in the hallway.
Last night I reloaded my
Windows Home Server to upgrade my primary drive from a 40GB to a 120GB (and test the "primary drive failure
recovery" in the process). After spending an hour with the recovery lastnight, I should not have been surprised to see the
RC1 release, which requires a complete reinstall, was now available. Happier about the RC1 release than I was frustrated about the wasted CTP reload, I quickly downloaded and did a fresh install, which also requires reinstalling the connector software on all my computers. 2 hours later the only difference I can tell between RC1 and the CTP is an install DVD that is 100MB smaller, and about a half-meg larger install for the connector software. After my 3 hour CTP to RC1 odyssey, I'm content to let Home Server secure my data quietly without any love from me. At least until the final release is available.
With summer here, my number of planned weekend events far exceeds the number of Lisa's available weekends. The solution: a second girlfriend. A loophole in international law allows me to be engaged to Lisa in the United States, and have a girlfriend in Canada. Melinda accepted the girlfriend contract and was nice enough to drive me to the
annual Niagra Falls trip since Lisa had to work the weekend. After some time practicing of first aid in the
imaginary and actual pools, we braved the 90° weather for dinner, the arcade and a visit to the falls. After a night of flatulence and shenanigans, we were off to the park for the annual picnic where we managed to feed a seagull to the point it could no longer fly. Another successful trip with our record of no arrests still in tact.
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Riding to work today a cop stopped quickly to turn right and instead of running into him I went around him on a yellow light. He of course immediately turned on his lights and pulled me over. He asked why I ran the yellow light and I told him so I didn't end up in the back of his car. After going back and forth a few times he eventually started telling me about his motorcycle and the conversation switched to motorcycle models. He ended with "nice to meet you" and let me go without a ticket. Had I been in my
Cougar he would have written up the ticket before even leaving his car and simply handed it to me. Needless to say my motorcycle is now my primary transportation option.
Lisas plan to take over my house got one step closer to completion today when she demanded I move her furniture into the bedroom. Since she has expensive taste, the furniture is naturally heavy italian wood that is impossible for one person to lift. Lisa was conveniently at work when she scheduled me to move the furniture, so who to turn to? The
Morlock of course. I summoned him from below and he agreed to assist in exchange for a laser mouse. I'm assuming the mouse will control a bone-grinding machine or some other morlock device. My now patented
wheelbarrow moving technique was a great success, although the Morlock refused to grant my request for a wheelbarrow ride.
After a planned trip to Florida with coworkers failed to happen, Lisa decided she'd
take me and go anyway. Flattered that she thought of me after her coworkers, and that she remembered I love Florida, I agreed. Since Joseph moved back to Michigan, my resident welcoming committee was notably absent this year, and we had to brave the harsh Whorlando airport by ourselves. Once we arrived at our Cocoa Beach destination, a strict schedule of beach and sleep was implemented immediatly, interrupted only by trips to
Kennedy Space Center and
Medieval Times. Lisa was
very excited about visiting NASA for the first time. She took me on the
Up Close tour which was cancelled due to terrorists last time I visited so this was the first time I got to see the shuttle launch pads from 500 feet. Lisa was upset neither pad had a shuttle ready to launch due to a recent hailstorm, but rolled her eyes in excitement after I assured her we would come back again and again until she saw one on the pad. After a full day of calming Lisa down from the space center, we went to Medieval Times where Lisa enjoyed the soap opera which I had previously ignored. Apparently all the talking they do between the fighting and jousting actually creates a storyline. The absence of the Josephs from the greater Whorlando area definitely tuned down the fun factor, but being on a sunny beach with a hot woman helps make up for it.
I've been
eyeing the
Motorola Q ever since I got my
free Treo 650 almost two years ago. The recent price break to $200 was enough incentive for me to make my move. The thinner profile and Mobile 5 OS were the two most attractive features to me and both have proven to be worth the upgrade. I find myself checking to make sure my phone is still on me it's so flush to my belt compared to the Treo. The Mobile 5 OS enables me to write my own software (easily) and once I installed the
.NET 2.0 compact framework on my phone I quickly had a homemade crappy RSS reader written and installed on the phone. "Myrone Detector" is in the works, so if you've got a Mobile 5 phone you won't have to fear
Myrone sneak attacks much longer. Despite
Keith's recommendation of
CodeWallet, I decided to go with
Password Manager for my password keeper since I was able to find an older free version online, and CodeWallet is overkill for me. Owning a phone that can't play
DiVX is embarrassing, so my next install was
TCPMP which I also used on my Treo. It was thankfully ported to Windows Mobile. I recently got Lisa to move from a paper calendar to
Google Calendar and since she decides what I do and when I do it,
GMobileSync was my next install which flawlessly downloaded my life for the next 60 days.
Google Maps Mobile looks and runs much better and faster on the Q compared to the Treo, despite the fact that the Q doesn't have a touch screen. A visit to
FreewarePocketPc.net rounded out my installs with a few games and utilities. The
EV-DO network is noticeably faster than the
1x my Treo had when connected to my laptop, but the latest Q firmware
prevents Bluetooth DUN so I'm stuck with a USB connection for now. There are some downsides though; I miss the longer battery life and touch screen on my Treo, and it's noticeably slower and more complicated to do things compared to the PalmOS (both phones have a 312Mhz processor), but as
Stavos pointed out it shares a name with a
Star Trek character, and that alone compensates for the shortfalls.
My work took the entire company to see
Spiderman 3 today. Getting paid to watch a movie is just the latest in a long line of perks for working at a media company. The trip was officially for "market research" into our new
Spiderman Fatheads which are now hanging on the wall next to me at work. I'll rank this latest movie on par with #2, but below #1. It felt like the same level of effects and storyline as #2, but the dreaded singing scene turned out to be the funniest part of the movie. News of the free movie was the perk clencher for
EternalOne who was hired in shortly before. Unfortunately that means getting vacation for
Cougarfest is now that much more difficult.
So, not too long ago we discovered we have a groundhog living under the deck in the back yard. We haven't seen it in a while and thought it relocated to Florida for nicer weather. (Do groundhogs migrate?) But much to my surprise, while I was chasing the cat out of the bathroom window, I saw the groundhog again on the back patio making a clucking noise. I just happened to have the camera in my hand for something else and snapped a
couple pictures. I tried to go outside and get closer so it could bite me, but it heard me unlock the patio door and ran away. The end.
- Story by Poopy
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Tonight I was given the opportunity to go to Cleveland for some focus group testing for my work. It was my first experience with a 2-way mirror and was a little creepy. Volunteers shuffled into the "bright" room and were asked various questions, then shown some fatheads, then asked more questions. Meanwhile we were in the "dark" room with cheese snacks, candy, soda, and even beer to enjoy while we watched the moderator interview everyone. The volunteers were told about the 2-way mirror and camera taping them, but after a few minutes they ignored it and we could watch every ones reaction to the fatheads. It was interesting to see how many people had heard of Fathead, and how they reacted once they saw one up close (they weren't told what they were going to be reviewing prior to arriving). It felt good to know I work for a company that makes a universally "cool" product, that everyone wanted once they saw it up close. The creepy part was seeing and listening to someone for an hour and then realizing they had no idea who you were when you walked past them in the hallway.
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