Apr 01 2009
You gotta love Google — they never disappoint on April 1st, and this year’s no different. Just take a trip over to their “Introducing CADIE” page @ http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/cadie/index.html (accessible from google.com). Hmm, sounds enticing… 
Then there’s the tech specs page which includes a nice rendering of Rene Descartes, “noted philosopher” — love that one!
Mar 16 2009
iPhone 3.0 to get copy/paste feature!! Wow!!
Um, okay…well, while it is about time the iPhone got this very basic smartphone feature, I really don’t see what the fuss is about. I mean, something this basic (which should have been included since the first version) is hardly newsworthy material.
While I’m no fanboy for Redmond, I’ve been able to do this since the first WinMo smartphone. It’s such a basic feature that it’s still difficult for me to believe Apple is just now spoon-feeding this to the masses. Amazing what a good marketing/PR campaign can achieve, isn’t it.
Then there’s the other Apple-related news item that the headphones for the new shuffle include a propriety chip, which, of course, means more $$ in licensing fees for Apple… Suckers.
As for me, I’m looking at Android for my next cellular platform. 
Feb 26 2009
I finally wound up calling HP tech support which resulted in me sending them my unit for repair. Thankfully I had already done all the troubleshooting before calling or that might have ended up being a very lengthy call (or multiple calls before they would accept the unit for repair).
In the end, they replaced the motherboard — nothing else left to do. The repair service was prompt, and I received my machine back unscathed. Before shipping my system to them, I pulled anything that wasn’t attached (pen, remote, and batter). I also pulled the HD. I left the optical drive and the original RAM.
Jan 15 2009
Okay, I guess I’ve taken enough time off. I’ve wrapped up the final semester for my B.A. and taken some time off for Christmas and New Year’s. Now it’s back to work…
I recently read that Steve Jobs will be taking some time off from work (in addition to not attending MacWorld this year). I’m not an Apple fanboy, so why do I care? Well, I worked in a Mac-based office for about six years, but that’s not why. Not being a fanboy, I don’t really keep up with Apple or Jobs. But the recent happenings are a big deal in the world of Apple; Steve Jobs is Apple. When I first read about his decision to bail on MacWorld, I knew something was up. When I read some other related news items and saw photos of Jobs, my first thought was, “Hormone imbalance? I don’t think so. Cancer maybe — specifically pancreatic cancer.” Maybe because I recently lost my father to cancer, and Randy Pausch (if you haven’t seen his “Last Lecture,” you should) has been in the news so much in the last year…
Dec 17 2008
Well, I thought I had solved my problems with my HP TX2110 notebook. Nope. After replacing the HD and RAM, the problems persist. I really suspect it’s a hardware fault, but as a last ditch effort on my part before, GULP, calling it in to tier I tech support and sending it in…I’ve put the original drive back in and done a restore — hoping that perhaps there’s just some software-based issue… fingers crossed!
Dec 17 2008
So, I have a free Flickr Pro account because it’s tied in with my ISP — it was a bonus as part of choosing to take my business to this particular ISP. I finally started using it just a few months ago, and when I logged on a few days ago, lo and behold, now wait for it, I was met with the following message:
Dec 17 2008
Well, I’m glad that semester’s over. Whew! Eighteen hours of upper-level English classes…can’t recommend that to anyone. There’s just not enough time to spend on each component (each text, each paper, etc.).
I entered into this semester with a 4.0 GPA for my entire time at the university — and I was pretty sure that this semester would blow that number: One class I was confident of my grade, one I had no idea (because there was almost zero feedback from the professor) — but I felt should be an A, three classes were borderline (low A’s going into the final exams/final papers), and one which I thought would probably wind up being a B. It’s so difficult to tell with English classes sometimes because so many of them tend to be back-heavy (most of the grade weight comes at the very end of the class with final exams and papers).
Anyway, I’m not sure how how I pulled it off, but I’m sure glad it’s over with. Now, on to grad school…
Dec 11 2008
Three more finals done! Two on Tuesday, and one yesterday. Now I only have two left — and they’re for online classes. Both are, of course, writing assignments. But I just don’t feel like I have much left to give…it feels like the very end of a marathon when the runner sees the finish line, but his legs just don’t work anymore. That’s my brain right now. Major assignments, but my brain’s just flat worn out…
Dec 09 2008
Well, finals are in full swing now, and graduation is on Saturday. Finally. But I’m not thinking about Saturday (well, I am, but only as a daydream to escape all the turmoil of my finals — thinking about the calm after the storm)… Unfortunately I don’t really have much time to think or daydream right now because of the school load.
One final ended yesterday. Actually, I turned that in last week and just had to pick it up yesterday (thank God it was due last week rather than this week). I also knocked out a paper yesterday that’s due…today as a final. Yech, I’m not at all happy with the quality, but that’s what I had time to produce. Fingers crossed on that one. I just have to give a short presentation on the paper today (no problem). Next up is a comprehensive final tonight. Not looking forward to that…but, then half my finals will be over. Yeah!
Then tomorrow will be another final (probably the toughest for me) and another paper I wrote over the weekend. Again, I’m not thrilled with the quality, but c’est la vie… After I finish that, I have two more finals to complete — both are online and due the next day. Both are comprehensive, and both are writing assignments. One would almost — almost — be fun to write except for time constraints. The other is…nuts. More on that one at a later date.
LOL — At this point, I think I can liken my relationship with English to that of someone who really likes, say, pizza, and gets a job at a pizza place. At first it’s really great because he can take home all the pizza he wants. However, after a while of eating and eating and eating, and smelling, and seeing PIZZA…it’s not so appealing anymore. Right now I feel if I never read another line of poetry, it’ll still be too soon!
Dec 06 2008
I have another funeral to go to today… This will be the seventh in five years. That’s right, seven deaths in five years. And six of these are within the last year and a half. Six deaths in less than two years… Are you kidding me?! I’m sick and tired of sickness and death.