A little surprise with iTunes 8

Recently installed the iTunes 8 update. The new Genius feature is pretty useless for me, as is the new visualizer. That being said, the new album view is kinda nice. Not much else changed/improved.

Except... I noticed that before updating, the icon Windows showed for my iPhone was a camera.

Now it's an iPhone. Nice.

I know it's minor, but a nice touch nonetheless.

syncmyride.com

I've been trying for a few weeks to register my car on the syncmyride.com website.

Apparently, they haven't put my car in the database of possible vehicles.

I contacted Ford, and asked why it kept rejecting my VIN. They told me it would be updated and available by the end of August.

It's September 10. No dice.

Grrr...

I bought a new car...

I had been meaning to buy a new car, and finally did it...

I bought a 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid. It has Sync from Microsoft, so it adds voice command to the iPhone, which is super sweet.

So far, I love it. I couldn't be happier. Of course, I'm going from having no car payment to having a new expense, but I will be spending about half on gas, so that'll take some of the sting off...

Vista strikes again...

I used to have two windows XP machnes in my office, and used to be able to print to their printers from my mac.

Now I've got a Vista machine, and cannot get the damn thing to connect to the shared printers.

I've tried everything, and have resorted to creating pdf files on the mac, saving them to a pocket drive, or copying them to the vista machine over the network (yes, I can see/modify files) and then printing them from windows directly...

Very frustrating.

MobileMe sucks

I just tried using MobileMe, and the first thing it did was create two calendars in my Outlook, labeled "Work" and "Home". There's just one problem. I use the default calendar and keep everything there. Lame. I cancelled it immediately, so I didn't have to pay $60 for such garbage.

My XBOX 360 finally got the Red Ring of Death

Well, it's finally happened. It got the Red Ring of Death...
Shipping box is on it's way...

iPhone 2.0.1 firmware update helps, but...

The 2.0.1 firmware update released last night seems to help a little:
- faster backups and sync
- most things on phone respond faster
- phone seems a bit more stable

My biggest gripe about the sync process is that it doesn't seem to confirm changes to Outlook data. That being said, it seems to be making those decisions correctly.

So far, I'm very happy.

iTunes 7.7.1 improves backup

I just installed iTunes 7.7.1. It seems to speed up the backup.

I don't know if it improves anything else...

Got an iPhone, but...

I just got an iPhone 3G!

Overall, I'm loving it!

But, I want to use it for my calendar and to replace my Pocket PC.

It's supposed to synchronize with Outlook 2003 out of the box.

Initially, it seemed to do just that. However, apparently there's at least a few hitches. It looks like there's a problem with recurring appointments (like birthdays).

I've already had to clear it out and restore it from scratch. I'll be watching very closely over the next few days.

Let's just say I'm not gonna be selling my Pocket PC just yet.

iPhone 3G lines...

I want to get an iPhone 3G, but I don't want to wait on line.

It's been on sale for about 3 weeks, and there's still CRAZY lines at every Apple Store in the area.

Grr...

The Act Of Being Politically Correct Has Gone From The Sublime To The Ridiculous

By: David G. Hallstrom, Sr.

There was a time that being politically correct meant speaking and acting in a considerate manner to others. Now it means speaking and acting in a manner acceptable to the Hollywood and politically left wing Elite who have appointed themselves as the arbitrators of what is proper and what is not proper.

For instance Christmas is a legal holiday and was made a legal holiday in order to celebrate the birth of Christ. It is now, however, politically incorrect to say Merry Christmas because you might insult non Christians and atheists. We are told that the correct greeting is now Happy Holidays. Department and other stores that make most of their money selling Christmas gifts now advertise Holiday gifts, wish us Happy Hoildays and play Holiday music that does not mention Christmas, Christ or God. God forbid they should insult anyone and lose a sale. It doesn't matter that they are insulting Christians, because Christians, by nature of their beliefs, are forgiving. Teachers are teaching young students to say Happy Holidays because many teachers now believe that it is politically incorrect to bring religion into school and that it is okay to deny God but it is not okay to irritate atheists.

A janitor is now a custodial engineer and a garbage hauler is now a sanitation engineer even though neither has an engineering degree. An American Indian is now called a Native American. A person who is deaf is now hearing impaired. A blind person is now visually impaired. A handicapped person is now physically impaired. A fat person is now called weight challenged or weight impaired (I am fat but I am not challenged nor impaired and I resent the use of those words. I don't mind being called fat, after all, it's the truth, but I do mind being told that I am less than others because I'm fat.). A pet is now called an animal friend. A person who is slow to learn is now mentally challenged. Orientals are now Asians. Anno Domini (AD) is now Common Era (CE). A prison is now a House Of Corrections. An illegal alien is now an undocumented immigrant or an undocumented worker. Terrorists are now called insurgents even though the definition of an insurgent is a rebel and a rebel does not usually kill innocent people. Punks and deliquents are now called environmentally challenged youths. People are no longer laid off, they are now downsized. Merry Christmas is now Happy Holidays. Happy Thanksgiving is now Happy Turkey Day. Even Valentines day is now being called Friends Day.

Don't say "under God" when saying the Pledge of Allegiance, because you might make an atheist uncomfortable and then the atheist might sue.

It's funny when Whoopi Goldberg, Barbra Streisand, Jay Leno, David Letterman and others insult President Bush and call him stupid, but it's not funny if you make fun of Whoopi Goldberg. The fact that President Bush is the elected leader of this country and that when they insult him they are insulting the Office Of The President and thereby insulting this country, doesn't seem to matter. The fact that their insults are read and heard by people in other countries who use the insults as fodder to justify their dislike of us, doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that they don't like President Bush and they hope that if they insult him enough, people will start believing that the insults are true facts and not just jokes.

Drug addicts are victims not criminals, even though they broke the law by using illegal drugs and even though they are aiding drug pushers by giving them money, because many of the Elite also use illegal drugs and they don't consider themselves to be criminals.

Don't call God a him, because certain women will be angered. The fact that no one has ever actually seen God and the fact that no one really knows if God is a he, she or it, doesn't matter. The fact that Christ is alledged to have said that God was his Father, doesn't matter. All that matters is that certain celebrities and activists don't like to hear God called a he and since they don't like it they feel insulted.

It's not only okay, it's comical, to lump all Priests together and label them pedophiles like Jay Leno does, but don't you dare say a teacher might be incompetent. If you do, a teacher's union will jump down your throat. It doesn't matter that the vast majority of Priests are kind, caring and honorable men or that a large percentage of teachers can't teach their way out of a paper bag. All that matters is that Priests won't fight back so it's okay to lump the good ones with the bad ones and make fun of them.

We are no longer Americans, we are now African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans, Italian-Americans and a whole bunch of other -Americans. How can we hope to remain 'one country, under god or not under god, indivisible' if we are already dividing ourselves by ethnicity and prior nationality. I am solely an American. My ethnicity or the nationality of my ancestors does not effect my being an American. I can be proud of my ancestry without hyphenating my Americanism. My wife was born and raised in Mexico. She says that she is an American of Mexican decent. She is proud of her Mexican heritage but since she is now an American citizen she answers to American or American of Mexican decent not Mexican-American. And what is with this African-American bit. According to most biblical scholars and most scientists, the human race started out in Africa. If that's true, then all of us are decended from people who lived in Africa and all of us could be called African-American. Additionaly, what do you call a person, of African decent, who lives permanently in this country but is a French citizen and not a citizen of this country. You can't call him an African-American as he is not an American. Do you call him an African-Frenchman or do you call him an African-Frenchmen who resides in America? You can't call him a Black because no one is actually black. What if he is dark brown or light brown, do you call him a Brown. I am called white but in actuality no one is white and some so called whites are darker than some so called blacks. Why do we need to use color or ethnicity in order to tag people. I can see using complection, ie: pale, dark brown, olive, etc. as a person's description, but I can't see using it as part of their identity.

Political correctness is fine to a point, but like anything else, take it too far and it becomes ridiculous. We have taken it too far and it is now ridiculous. Stop listening to the Hollywood elite and start thinking for yourself. Don't be stupid. Oh; I apologize, should I have said don't be mentally impaired? Be kind, be polite and have empathy for others. Don't, however, let others tell you what to think and say.

About The Author

David G. Hallstrom, Sr. is a retired private investigator and currently publishes several internet directories including http://www.resourcesforattorneys.com a legal and lifestyle resources directory for attorneys, lawyers and the internet public. For more lifestyle information see http://lifestyle.resourcesforattorneys.com, the Lifestyle directory from Resources For Attorneys.

This article was originally posted on December 8, 2005

Vegans

I just went to a graduation dinner for my cousin Seamus. It was at a VEGAN restaurant called "Real Food Daily". Apparently this is because his girlfriend, Lauren, is vegan. No one else in attendance is vegan. Only Lauren.

I ordered a diet coke. No dice. I ended up drinking some raspberry ginger ale, which was nice enough, but not what I wanted to drink.

I ordered pasta. It was described in the menu as having "parmesan sprinkle". I asked the waitress if it was parmesan... Nope. It was a walnut something-or-other.

By the way, instead of making a simple tomato sauce, they put some ridiculous fake meat sauce crap on it...

My other cousin, Darcie, ordered a "Grilled Cheese Sandwich" for her 5 1/2 year old daughter. She took one bite and declared it "yucky." Darcie took a bite and agreed. Lauren took a bite and said "Yeah... it's different." Ya think?

When the waitress was reciting the dessert offerings, she mentioned at least three items that were chocolate-whatever... Of course, I had to ask if it was in fact chocolate. The waitress replied that it was "mocha", and then further described it as cocoa powder. So technically NOT CHOCOLATE.

The classic end to the evening was when I ordered a double espresso. When it arrived, I asked the waitress for sugar. You guessed it - NO SUGAR!!! (What's wrong with "Sugar In The Raw?) She brought out a shaker of "Maple Crystals", which were so clumped up I had to open it up and break off chunks...

BOO!!!!

The whole thing is a fraud. The common justification for a "vegan" lifestyle is to prevent cruelty to animals. Of course, this is Los Angeles... Many of the other diners had leather products (purses, shoes, etc.) and got into cars (and some BIG SUV's) with LEATHER seats.

Moby (the musician) was there. I've known he was vegan, but I've never bought his albums... I digress.

Anyway, the fact that she (Lauren) would make all of these people (10 not including her) go to a VEGAN restaurant seems at least a little bit self-absorbed. It was pretty clear no one (other than her) enjoyed it, except maybe for the (non) chocolate cake...

Seamus seemed to suggest to his dad that they'd have similar food at the wedding. If that's the case, I may either boycott the reception or have pizzas delivered... I'm serious.

GTA IV on XBOX 360 is horribly broken

Better than 50% of the time, if I try to get into an unranked deathmatch, it'll hang at "Starting Game".

I know that others are affected by this, since when it's happened to me, I've heard other people who were just as stuck.

Boo...

The only way to get out of it is to go all the way back to the dashboard, and then re-load the game, and wait through all the intro crap.

Why couldn't Rockstar (and others) just get Bungie to do their multiplayer matching? Seriously. The way it works in Halo 3 is perfect. I know the games are different. I'm just talking about the multiplayer interface.

Hahahahahha

Saying that Hillary Clinton has Executive Branch experience is like saying Yoko Ono was a Beatle.

"Still Alive" from Portal (end credits)

I GUESS THE CLINTONS NEVER STOP LYING! by Dick Morris, former political advisor to President Bill Clinton

If you happen to see the Bill Clinton five minute TV ad for Hillary in which he introduces the commercial by saying that he wants to share some things we may not know about Hillary's background . . beware . .As I was there for most of their presidency and know them better than just about anyone, I offer a few corrections:

Bill says: "In law school Hillary worked on legal services for the poor."

The facts are: Hillary's main extra-curricular activity in law school was helping the Black Panthers, on trial in Connecticut for torturing and killing a federal agent. She went to court every day as part of a law student monitoring committee trying to spot civil rights violations and develop grounds for appeal.

Bill says: "Hillary spent a year after graduation working on a children's rights project for poor kids."
The facts are: Hillary interned with Bob Truehaft, the head of the California Communist Party. She met Bob when he represented the Panthers and traveled all the way to San Francisco to take an internship with him.

Bill says: "Hillary could have written her own job ticket, but she turned down all the lucrative job offers."

The facts are: She flunked the DC bar exam, yes, flunked, it is a matter of record, and only passed the Arkansas bar. She had no job offers in Arkansas, none, and only got hired by the University of Arkansas Law School at Fayetteville because Bill was already teaching there. She did not join the prestigious Rose Law Firm until Bill became Arkansas Attorney General and was made a partner only after he was elected Arkansas Governor.

Bill says: "President Carter appointed Hillary to the Legal Services Board of Directors and she became its chairman."

The facts are: The appointment was in exchange for Bill's support for Carter in his 1980 primary against Ted Kennedy. Hillary; then became chairman in a coup in which she won a majority away from Carter's choice to be chairman.

Bill says: "She served on the board of the Arkansas Children's Hospital."

The facts are: Yes she did. But her main board activity, not mentioned by Bill, was to sit on the Wal-mart board of directors, for a substantial fee. She was silent about their labor and health care practices.

Bill says: "Hillary didn't succeed at getting health care for all Americans in 1994 but she kept working at it and helped create the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that provides five million children with health insurance."

The facts are: Hillary had nothing to do with creating CHIP. It was included in the budget deal between Clinton and Republican Majority Leader Senator Trent Lott. I know; I helped to negotiate the deal. The money came half from the budget deal and half from the Attorney Generals' tobacco settlement. Hillary had nothing to do with either source of funds.

Bill says: "Hillary was the face of America all over the world."

The facts are: Her visits were part of a program to get her out of town so that Bill would not appear weak by feeding stories that Hillary was running the White House. Her visits abroad were entirely touristic and symbolic and there was no substantive diplomacy on any of them.

Bill says: "Hillary was an excellent Senator who kept fighting for children's and women's issues."

The facts are: Other than totally meaningless legislation like changing the names on courthouses and post offices, she has passed only four substantive pieces of legislation. One set up a national park in Puerto Rico. A second provided respite care for family members helping their relatives through Alzheimer's or other conditions. And two were routine bills to aid 911 victims and responders which were sponsored by the entire NY delegation. Presently she is trying to have the US memorialize the Woodstock fiasco of 40 years ago

Here is what bothers me more than anything else about Hillary Clinton. She has done everything possible to weaken the President and our country (that's you and me!) when it comes to the war on terror.

1. She wants to close GITMO and move the combatants to the USA where they would have access to our legal system.
2. She wants to eliminate the monitoring of suspected Al Qaeda phone calls to/from the USA.
3. She wants to grant constitutional rights to enemy combatants captured on the battlefield.
4. She wants to eliminate the monitoring of money transfers between suspected Al Qaeda cells and supporters in the USA.
5. She wants to eliminate the type of interrogation tactics used by the military & CIA where coercion might be used when questioning known terrorists even though such tactics might save American lives.

One cannot think of a single bill Hillary has introduced or a single comment she has made that would tend to strengthen our country in the War on Terror. But, one can think of a lot of comments she has made that weaken our country and makes it a more dangerous situation for all of us.

Bottom line: She goes hand in hand with the ACLU on far too many issues where common sense is abandoned.

PETA = Hypocrites

PETA Killed 97 Percent of 'Companion Animals' in 2006

Read the following:

http://sev.prnewswire.com/publishing-information-services/20080111/DC1129510012008-1.html

Classic. Hypocrites.

10 Good Reasons You May Not Want to Have Kids

1) They are Noisy
I am not saying that all of them are, but the fact is that most of them will be constantly mouthing off about something. They have questions coming out the ass every day, day after day. No single thing is too small to be worthy of comment, no problem too insignificant to whine about, and then there’s the nagging. They nag. You give in once and after that they never let up.

2) Social Responsibility
You are not supposed to leave them alone for extended periods of time according to law, so you have a commitment to always providing people for them to be with, and sometimes to be with them yourself. You have to watch them in stores, keep them in sight wherever you are, and you absolutely cannot be mean to them in public for fear of winding up before a judge. How your child behaves will reflect directly upon you and your character. They say one curse word and people assume that you speak in 2 Live Crew lyrics.

3) They Are an Economic Drain
Food, clothes, school-supplies, tuition, school-projects, toys, fast-food, prescriptions, not to mention having to pay for a large enough living space for two adults plus however many of them those two adults choose to have. If you rent, then there is always the potential of them destroying something that you will have to pay for.

4) You Have to Teach them Things
You may or may not have figured this out: They are born knowing nothing. A blank slate. This means that you have years, possibly decades before they have anything insightful or interesting to say. But still, you will be a bad parent if you don’t listen to them. You are obligated to listen to all kinds of nonsensical irrelevant crap, all kinds of worthless interests and recaps of the Hannah Montana marathon they had on TV last weekend. You are obligated to tell them about life, sex, how to spend money, hygiene, calculus etc.

5) The TV Shows and Books you will have to Endure
A big part of knowing nothing is poor taste. Taste is a product of experience and therefore there will be a considerable length of time before they like things that make sense. You are obligated to read stories to them unless you want them whining about it when they grow up, you are also obligated to surrender at least one of the TVs in your house to the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon for several hours each day.

6) Their Friends
If your kids are normal they will at some point make friends, which means that you will not only have their presence to endure, but an assortment of other people’s failures as well. They will, perhaps, invite them home, at which point you may have to feed these other children, and endure their noise.

7) Constant Illness
Kids, especially when small, are walking petri-dishes. Nothing guarantees repeated stomach-flus, colds, and assorted random illnesses like being in the presence of a small child for hours at a time. Have a co-worker who is always sniffling or running to the bathroom? They either have a cocaine problem or they have a small child.

8)They Attract the Ill-Will of Strangers
Nothing in the world will get you more dirty looks than a poorly trained child. For some reason whole segments of the American population either have not yet had children, or will never have children, these people will not be sympathetic to your plight. Children to them are mere annoying strangers being inflicted upon them by you.

9)Once they are Born you are Pretty much Stuck with them
Under normal circumstances anyway. You don’t get to give them back, you don’t get to pass them on to somebody else short of going to prison or dying. If they are ugly or stupid, you will have to endure them for a long time to come.

10) They are Ungrateful
Kids in America grow up with a sense of being entitled to good parenting, as if it were something they earned in a previous life and have now come to collect. No parent, however is good enough, and they usually cannot find it in themselves to see how much worse it could be. They feel entitled to your time, the contents of your wallet and the remote control. And what do they give back? Maybe you will get to see your grandkids every now and then, and maybe, just maybe, they will pick a good nursing home for you when you are too old to take care for yourself.

Taken from:

http://dirtyword.byethost12.com/wordpress/?page_id=120

Strange and sad news...

I got a phone call from a buddy, who told me he had news about a guy we both used to work with. I'll call him "Bill." Way back when, I spent quite a bit time with Bill outside of work, and considered him a friend. I hadn't heard from him in a long time, but attributed that to just being busy.

Apparently, Bill's life went off the rails. Big time.

It seems that at some point he sold the Financial Planning practice he inherited from his father. This was a VERY mature practice with at least 50 million in Assets Under Management, and easily generated at least $300,000 in annual revenues. Apparently, he ran it into the ground, and most of the clients left. By the time he sold it (for $200,000) there was basically only a handful of remaining accounts.

In September of 2004, he was arrested for misdemeanor DUI, and felony drug posession. He pled guilty to the misdemeanor, and got the felony dismissed. He paid a fine, and got 3 yrs probation. Essentially a slap on the wrist.

On New Year's Eve 2006/2007, he was arrested for Kidnapping, Rape, Assault and Robbery. Yes - all FOUR charges in one fell swoop. He's currently in prison in lieu of 2.2 MILLION DOLLARS bail. He's done. His life is over.

In retrospect, he was a pretty messy drunk. Acting really stupid, etc. I just never would have imagined he got that bad.

Springdoo is COOL

UPDATE: Springdoo was cool. They no longer offer the service I was talking about.