Thursday, March 19, 2009

IT Question

I guess I wanted to post a quick question out in cyberspace to anyone who is listening. I work in the IT department of a medical facility. Granted it is just myself and the IT director but we get a lot of stuff done.

Early this week, I set up a department to get them ready to have a online training session with another company. This just involved logging into the web conference site for them and logging in to the telephone part of the conference. Every day they would ask me to set it up for them. Today, I showed one member what to do.

My question which I kind of know the answer to but I would like some feedback is:

Should I care if they now know how to do this? or should I just be glad that I do not have to deal with this single issue anymore?

I would go for the latter.

WHY? Because now it frees me up to do other things that need to get done.

Ok well thanks for listening.


Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Ipod Shuffle 3 gen

As most or all of you know by now that Apple has released the 3rd generation ipod shuffle. What is a shuffle you may ask? First off it is Apple's low end ipod that doesn't include a screen just controls. The biggest draw in my opinion was the fact that you could add any songs you wanted into the shuffle or you could have itunes randomly put songs on the shuffle. I like the 2nd option because who wants to hear the same old songs over and over again. With a large library of songs sometimes it is hard to listen to all your songs. This way, you can get a random pick of your songs and if you don't like them you can skip them.

Onto the new ipod shuffle. It is small by the pictures around the net. Compared to the first and second generation it is smaller than both but it still retains the clip of the 2nd gen shuffle. You will notice however, there are no buttons to be found on the shuffle except for the slider/button that either turns the shuffle on and switches between random songs or playing the songs down the line of the play list. To change the volume, skip back/forth or play / pause the song, all those controls are built into the headphones that come with the ipod. There have been lots of discussions about the build of this shuffle.

Maybe Apple was looking to go minimalistic with the no button approach. If that was their intent, congrats. You have made a very simple inexpensive ipod the looks like a piece of gum. The downside about the controls on the headphones is the controls on the headphones. I have used the ear buds that come with the ipod. That is not a big deal to me. However, most people dread using the included buds and they prefer their own headphones. Yet if they plug in their headphones it will not work with this shuffle. There is an authentication chip in the ear buds that allows the ipod to play with the buds. So, if you wanted to use your own headset you are SOL.  You will have to either use the ones provided by Apple or wait and purchase 3rd part ear buds that will cost as much or even more than the shuffle itself.

There is another feature that Apple included in the new shuffle. When you press a button on the ear buds a voice will talk to you saying the name of the song, artist and or play list. You will have to load this software from itunes and itunes will create the voice and insert it into the shuffle. A good idea, but I usually don't edit my play list names, so it will be interesting to see how the voice handles my list.

To buy or not to buy.

For me, if I had $79 to play with, I would actually buy this shuffle. Why? Because I collect ipods. I like new shiny toys and I am a sucker that way. I use my 3rd gen ipod in the bathroom connected to a radio. I play movies and games on my itouch2. I'll listen to my music on my 2nd gen nano. I'll work out, if i get that started again, with my 2nd gen shuffle. And my 1st gen touch sits on my shelf collecting dust. I really do not want to pay $10 to upgrade the OS so that it can use the App Store. But never say never. BTW,  this is how frivolous I am. I had the first gen itouch, and the only reason why I got the 2nd gen itouch was because of the external speakers. I really wanted an iPhone, and part of me still does. However, with the external speakers this is as close as I can get to having an iPhone.

Ipod Shuffle 3gen

Comes in Silver or Black.
4GB of Storage.
Comes with ear buds and usb cable.

Monday, March 16, 2009

My Watch Team

My obsession has hopefully stopped. What am I talking about? My watch collection will have to be put on hold for a while even stopped permanently. My baby girl put a stop to my crazy ass spending habits especially on my watch collection. I really do not blame her. She is right. I not only buy watches but I get them a week or so apart. This means that I'll wear the new watch for a few days and then when the other watch comes, I switch and wear the new watch. I really have a problem. But I gave my girl my word so my last watch purchase is the Casio G-Shock Mudman 9000A-1 I believe. This will be number 8 or 9 of the Casio G-Shock line. My collection has grown so much. Here is a list of the watches that I have:

Citizen SST Promaster II.
4 Invicta Watches.
8-9 Casio G-shock watches.
Casio Pathfinder watch
Seiko Pro Divers Watch
Swiss Army Pocket watch
An engraved Pocket watch from My boo
Fossil Watch
Armintron Watch

I am sure that is all. I will post the models as soon as I get a chance.

All i really want now is a case to display these watches. Maybe if I am really good I can get one.































All the Small Things...











Good Morning!

Today is Thursday and the sun is coming up through the clouds. There have been a lot of things going on this week that I would like to address. Just some small things that I want to list down.

First off, I went to dinner last night to a Thai place close to where I live. My girl and I went. Her taste buds were in need of flavor. The place is called Little Orchid. It is literally 5 mins from my house. Any ways, I read some reviews online and the place even had a Zagat rating. When we arrived the place was empty. We sat down at a corner table facing the window to the street. My girl looked at the menu online so she had an idea of what she wanted. My girl is from Laos and her family mostly cooks Thai food. So who better to go to a Thai place than someone who naturally eats Thai food. So she ordered papaya salad and laab with chicken. Or Chicken laab. I ordered pai thai and chicken satay. Everything except the pai thai came out quickly. I do not claim to be a food expert but usually when I have tasted something that I like I remember the taste. I tried her laab minus the spicy flavor and it tasted the way I remembered it. The chicken satay was OK. I usually get this I do not know why. The chicken is always kind of dry. But I ate this with some rice. The pai thai finally came out and I mixed the noodles and put some on my plate. Granted I don't usually eat pai thai but this was some how sweeter and stronger in taste than what I excepted. The sweetness of the dish was so strong that I actually had to put a spoonful of rice to absorb some of the sauce. Her take on the food was not as good as mine. She said the papaya salad was not up to par with her tastes and  that the laab was too bitter. All I could really do is shrug my shoulders and go with it. She also said that the pai thai was too sweet and strong. During our dinner, a pair of women came in and sat next to us by the window. My back was facing them but I was close enough to where I could hear their conversation. They ordered some thai ice cream for dessert. When it came, there was some interesting dialogue. Apparently their ice cream had freezer burn. That is when you leave something in the freezer for a while and ice builds up on top of the food. They flagged one of the waitresses and told them their issue. The waitress responds by saying oh it is just frozen from the freezer. Did you want me to put this in the microwave for a little bit? The girls for obvious reasons said no thanks. We then promptly paid our bill and left the restaurant. I do not think we will go back to that place, ever.

I have a growing obsession with collecting things lately. This time it is watches. I have had a number of watches in my possession before, but it was not until recently that I have purchased a whole lot more. I am actually waiting on my last purchase to arrive this week. It is a Casio Pathfinder. I can't wait to get it and try it on. I think my next purchase will be a case to display and hold my watches. Right now, the newer watches are in their respective boxes but my older ones are out in the open in a drawer. It will be nice to have a central place where I can keep all my watches together. I am not sure if I will pick up other watches, but with my nature I highly doubt that I can stop. I just have to look around for some great deals and obtain watches that do not break the bank. I am still in saving mode if you can believe that. So I need to try to save some money for our trip to Hawaii.


I have also found myself trying to get rid of a lot of junk that I do not need. When I say junk, I mean a lot of unused, unseen items that tend to pile up in my room / place of chilling. What I started to do was write down certain projects that need to get done around the house. I have given each project a goal and certain projects even have steps to accomplish the goals. I did not add a time frame because I do not want to be tied down. But in order to accomplish each goal I may have to set myself limits. For me, I find it hard because I am lazy. I have my mind set to do something at home after work, but as soon as my shoes come off and I am in my comfy clothes I am out for the count. This has to stop but when? I do not know. I may take one project at a time and the little steps first. Because as the saying goes, "You cant start to walk until you know how to crawl." or was it, "baby steps first?" Any ways, it all about the small things!!

Have a good day.