tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58100482012-01-21T10:08:42.516-05:00This is where Josh Turiel deposits his blather about things he's not really qualified to speak of. Those topics typically include technology, politics, professional wrestling, economics, security, business, and parenting. He owns a small business providing IT support, has a young son, is a card-carrying Bright, and could stand to lose a few pounds. So that's where he's coming from. Right now he's running for office, so he's more opinionated than usual.jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comBlogger10621100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-58142415225535082822012-01-21T10:08:00.000-05:002012-01-21T10:08:42.524-05:00

So the MBTA, crippled by the additional debt assigned to it from the Big Dig, is now proposing significant service cuts as a partial solution to their chronic deficits. Public transit serves a public good, yet it is almost never profitable on its own. Should a public service be run like a business? Thousands of people depend on the MBTA for access to jobs and shopping, many more use it for

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-90151391353533974892012-01-15T11:46:00.000-05:002012-01-15T11:46:48.337-05:00

Swearing-in was in January 2nd. Pretty cool, and well-documented online via my Facebook account, Salem Patch, and all sorts of other sources. Won't go much further with that. We've had a couple of meetings and votes, mainly routing things. I've got a few constituent issues I'm working on now as well (and had one issue out of my ward that I got called about by an out-of-town landlord who didn't

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-91940208524966751372011-12-30T19:47:00.000-05:002011-12-30T19:47:36.409-05:00

So 2011 was one of our more interesting years, as readers of this space may have noted. It started on a sad note with the passing of Jane's father, right after we had visited them for the holidays. He had had health issues for a number of years but it was still never something you expect to have happen, and he was the first of David's grandparents to be lost. Hopefully he won't lose any more for

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-9290911429003270202011-12-29T09:19:00.000-05:002011-12-29T09:19:34.936-05:00

Well, I'll talk about the personal year in another day or so. This is about technology. Yeah, I know it's not thrilling, but I have a pretty good track record of predictions here - way better than most of those who call themselves pundits. Then again, maybe it's because I do this for a living. Go figure. First - Apple will introduce an iPad 3 sometime in the February-March timeframe. Done deal.

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-19652006392919799092011-12-14T08:54:00.000-05:002011-12-14T08:54:23.433-05:00

A week ago, my server died. I raced up to the office, grabbed a spare MacBook Pro I was about to give to my new employee (so he had to wait a little bit, oh well), and in about an hour I'd transferred the whole system over to the laptop and had it all running again. Try that with Exchange! Then this past Sunday, armed with a rebuilt server i was back up there again and transferred it all back up

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-3086684643993762392011-11-16T21:44:00.001-05:002011-11-16T21:47:55.306-05:00

One more thing for the moment: I had a post back in June predicting the next iPhone. I missed that they would keep the RAM the same (512MB) and that they wouldn't support VoRA. other than that? Nailed it. Even said it would be probably called the iPhone 4S. I am patting myself on the back in congratulations now.

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-45335976513680715272011-11-16T21:41:00.000-05:002011-11-16T21:41:55.122-05:00

So as those of you who have followed me through any other media (Twitter, Facebook, my website, or local print/online news) know by now, the election is over and I won my race - the vote was 466-288 in my favor and I will be taking office on January second. I've gotten a lot more local attention than I really expected with the win, and I've used all the other places I post to thank my wife, Matt

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-26346557822300971612011-11-01T09:15:00.000-04:002011-11-01T09:15:06.582-04:00

As I write this blog entry, there's exactly one week remaining in the campaign. Election Day is on November 8th. We've survived another Halloween season here in Salem, the police logs are still being tabulated but as far as crowds go, the nor'easter on Saturday night combined with a non-weekend Halloween to lower crowds a little on the final weekend. Still busy, but not as insane as the last few

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-34683538187214892482011-10-13T08:19:00.000-04:002011-10-13T08:19:12.547-04:00

I've been running the Mac OS 10.7 Lion since release as my main OS. And I've been working with all the ensuing developer betas as well. I adopted the encrypted file system early in production, but when I migrated to a bigger SSD a few weeks ago I had to disable that to efficiently migrate over. Well, yesterday I tried to re-enable it. Didn't go so well. The encryption process failed and left me

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-25260704488919176392011-10-05T09:36:00.000-04:002011-10-05T09:36:35.242-04:00

So once again, Apple's done an incremental update instead of a radical one. Millions of dollars have been lost - mainly by case makers who got faked out on the design. Why did Apple just release an incremental upgrade to last year's iPhone? Well, that depends on your perspective: First of all, it's not really incremental. The outer shell is basically identical. That's it. Oh yeah, the screen

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-82988079685721504122011-09-25T12:50:00.000-04:002011-09-25T12:50:39.426-04:00

So after a little over 2 months as a politician wannabe, here's where we are at: For starters, the campaign seems to be going better than I expected. My opponent has just begun getting signs out (I've counted 2 so far), compared to over 30 from my supporters. Obviously he's got more supporters than that - he won handily 2 years ago to win the seat in the first place. But he's not distinguished

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-74160151660731283592011-09-10T16:45:00.000-04:002011-09-10T16:46:29.742-04:00

Everyone else out there has written a 9/11 post. Here's mine. 10 years ago, I was at Interop in Atlanta with my friend Jim. We'd flown down on Friday night, and stayed with my friends who lived down in Alpharetta. Played golf all weekend, then went in on Sunday evening for registration and to get our rooms at the Marriott downtown. Monday was a day of classes. I still have all the curriculum

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-45300177122473396412011-08-21T09:28:00.000-04:002011-08-21T09:28:19.156-04:00

So there's been a massive controversy here in Salem about a proposal to put a single wind turbine up at Winter Island. It would be a little less than half a mile from the nearest houses (there's a few houses on Winter Island Road), near the shoreline by the Harbormaster's office. It's big (to make power usable you have to be big), and I'm a little skeptical as to how much power it will actually

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-87913987466615692882011-08-18T23:42:00.000-04:002011-08-18T23:42:47.517-04:00

The mobile dominos are toppling fast. This week, Motorola comes off the market with their purchase by Google (not sure how that's going to pay for itself) and now HP had pulled out of the tablet/phone market entirely - only about 6 weeks after entering the tablet market in the first place. Go figure. Meanwhile, Apple's the only company in the hardware biz with sales increases. What's the secret

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-67314307891153853832011-08-12T20:45:00.000-04:002011-08-12T20:45:55.124-04:00

So I'm a month into my candidacy. If you follow me on Twitter (@joshturiel) you see regular updates - I've converted it mainly to follow the run. My old vanity site (joshturiel.com) which had bare-bones info about me is now a full campaign site with news updates, position statements, and a photo gallery. A month in, there will be no primary (I'm the only challenger in Ward 5), so it's full-on for

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-27413316607675869982011-07-07T23:14:00.000-04:002011-07-07T23:14:40.395-04:00

So I have been getting progressively more and more fed up with the state of the City Council in my lovely seaside town of Salem. I live in Ward 5 - and when long-time Councillor Matt Veno stepped down in 2009 he had two people vie to replace him. Both were local attorneys, Jerry Taché and the other John Ronan. John lives down the street from me, and seemed like a fairly reasonable fellow (and he

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-130433232051239432011-06-22T23:02:00.000-04:002011-06-22T23:02:01.091-04:00

I finally had a vacation a couple of weeks ago - we spent 10 days on the Vineyard. Delightful, and I miss the crap out of the place the second I drive onto the ferry to leave and look out at the harbor behind me as the boat pulls away from the dock. Business has been respectable, though not fantastic. New clients are coming on board pretty regularly and there are some opportunities that seem to

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-27335528002971213092011-05-23T08:41:00.000-04:002011-05-23T08:41:25.240-04:00

Just as a follow-up, I re-did the New York Times' "You Fix the Budget" interactive puzzle this morning, just to re-remind myself of how to be responsible. Here are my choices: I have a couple of other ideas that would likely take care of the rest of the long-term issue as well. Domestic Programs/Foreign Aid - Cut foreign aid in half - Eliminate farm subsidies - Reduce the number of contractors

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-8754211496562624792011-05-23T07:23:00.000-04:002011-05-23T07:23:43.362-04:00

Our beloved local newspaper, The Salem News, is pretty reliably right-wing in the editorial section. And beloved libertarian crank Barbara Anderson is one of our most reliably nutty contributors. Sparring with her was fun back in the day when you could comment anonymously on the boards there, but since they went to a "Real Names Only" policy I've stayed away (as have the vast majority of posters)

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-77673104679817614592011-04-10T23:51:00.000-04:002011-04-10T23:51:55.557-04:00

I was thinking about the previously mentioned ongoing death of k5, and I started to also reflect on some aspects of my Geek Life from days past. Here's some of my geek memories: - The Geek Pride Festivals (for 2 years here in Boston) that were held at the old Armory. I still have some goodies from them. - Related to that, I remember meeting the folks from the now defunct NewsTrolls site (

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-61349465409159641152011-04-09T10:16:00.000-04:002011-04-09T10:16:18.590-04:00

Back around the turn of the last decade, the website kuro5hin.org was a popular place, with a diverse community posting about technology and social issues. There was a proto-blogging feature (diaries), some very skilled and verbose posters, and the site was well-managed. I was a regular there (posting as "the original jht". At the time it looked like k5 (the nickname most folks had for it) would

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-62380649735030205622011-03-14T08:41:00.000-04:002011-03-14T08:41:56.611-04:00

First, we have the editorial board: "Taxes are bad. Government projects are good. Salem needs more of them." Then, regular columnist Brian Watson: "Why can't (Israelis/Palestinians) (Junkies/Residents) (Anyone/Opponent) just get along?" Add to that resident one-noter Barbara Anderson: "Why does anyone here even vote for a Democrat anyways? Can't you see they're EVIL?" Plus regular

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-79337505440050880672011-01-17T12:02:00.000-05:002011-01-17T12:02:30.577-05:00

This is in the wake of reading today's announcement that Jobs is once again taking a medical leave of absence due to health issues. First of all, I wish him well. Steve is a man with billions of dollars but he's also a man with a family and the CEO of a company that thousands of people work for. For the sake of all of them (but especially the family) I hope he gets better. How important is

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-35216313107858036662011-01-17T08:46:00.002-05:002011-01-17T09:11:25.415-05:00

True, I rarely write about stick & ball sports (I do write about NASCAR once in a while), but after the Patriots blew up their season last night I thought I should twist it around a little more before officially going into "anyone but the bleeping Jets" mode for the rest of the no-longer-interesting to me playoffs. The game started really well, forcing the Jets into a 3 and out on the first

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-57313066709859928962011-01-12T19:29:00.000-05:002011-01-12T19:29:52.865-05:00

Verizon now has an iPhone. Hot rumor today is that Sprint will get their own in February. LTE has been slow enough rolling out to make it worth Apple's time and effort to build a CDMA version of the iPhone. So here's what I see this meaning over the remainder of 2011: 1 - I no longer think that the iPhone 5 will be an LTE device. AT&T doesn't have anything live yet, and Verizon is really

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-71783139213016655852010-12-31T16:02:00.000-05:002010-12-31T16:02:36.367-05:00

The good: My business recovered and even kinda improved. Health has been good for all three of us. I was able to get my act together and lose over 30 pounds through hard exercise and eating less. We're done with expensive home renovation projects for a while to come. The bad: A lot of health issues in our extended families. Particularly my wife's. Between that and work, we didn't get to

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-75190668801301743922010-11-13T15:50:00.007-05:002010-11-13T15:50:00.226-05:00

Back in August the Twelve Tribes had their ship "Peacemaker" moored in Salem. They offered free tours (indeed, it's a magnificent ship) and used the ship as an opportunity to quietly proselytize their somewhat offbeat Messianic Christianity. We visited Peacemaker on a Saturday - being a Messianic group they follow mainly Jewish customs and accordingly avoid commerce and most activities outside

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-37202417087302101492010-08-15T08:02:00.000-04:002010-08-15T08:02:08.751-04:00

At the beginning of the year, the term "bridge year" was the buzzword. But looking at the payroll, it seemed like the usual instead. Well, the bridge mainly refers to the lack of homegrown talent coming up this year (or that was expected to make it up in a year or so - this is part of the problem). Remember, the Yankees just went through their own bridge a couple of seasons ago, and look where

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-68091103381341226462010-07-12T20:05:00.000-04:002010-07-12T20:05:08.000-04:00

I have not personally had any issues using the iPhone 4 for calls. I also haven't been able to kill phone calls through the left-corner "Grip of Death". That said, I also haven't gone nuts trying to replicate it, either. I have tried a few times, and if I hold it just so, I can make the displayed bars drop a little. However, why I'm not having problems of my own: - I use the Apple bumper on

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-71569399991456470442010-06-29T14:47:00.000-04:002010-06-29T14:47:48.080-04:00

Yes, I got one. On launch day. Fortunately, I have sufficient connections that I was able to avoid a lengthy wait, but it was still a launch day spectacular. First of all, let me address the biggest question: Yes, there is a potential antenna issue. Here's, as far as I can determine thorough my non-scientific test methodology, the exact circumstances that will reproduce the issue for you: -

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-68646794239137468592010-06-06T09:17:00.000-04:002010-06-06T09:17:03.330-04:00

Oh yeah - Safari 5. Book it. All the goodies in the Webkit nightlies, wrapped up in a pretty bow. More seriously, there won't be a MacOS release this year, so it's good timing for a standalone Safari release (after all, browsers are the computing experience to a lot of users). Plus Chrome is right now pretty much the canonical WebKit-based browser and has a lot of mind share. WebKit is

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-91851660486448564892010-06-05T17:54:00.000-04:002010-06-05T17:54:29.410-04:00

As you Apple fanbois know, WWDC is this coming week, and it's the only major public conference/event left that El Jobso performs a Stevenote at. No more Apple Expo, no more MacWorld, and all the other appearances he makes are special press events - like the iPad announcement and the OS 4.0 announcement. Real Stevenotes are rare. Apple is focusing tightly on the iPhone OS at this year's WWDC -

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-62232952660537512882010-06-03T09:03:00.000-04:002010-06-03T09:03:36.707-04:00

I sent this to Gruber at DF this morning, but I thought it was worthy of converting to a blog post as well. Hence the tone. But otherwise the points here are very useful, and also put into perspective just how much wireless voice and data costs nowadays (thank goodness it's cheaper!) I own an IT company with 5 employees. Right now, just to take my own requirements, here's what I have today (

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-34804625442282130572010-05-08T21:32:00.000-04:002010-05-08T21:32:57.374-04:00

So I've had an iPad for a week now. In fact, I'm typing this blog post on it. I'm pretty happy with it so far. What I see now as the obvious market opportunity is basically this: since there is no direct support for server filesystems (SMB or AFP), it creates an opening for a basic editing app that connects to a cloud service, caches files locally on the iPad (within the limited filesystems

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-84117941953989794792010-04-30T22:36:00.002-04:002010-04-30T22:36:36.718-04:00

I am in the process of setting up my new iPad. It was actually set up hours ago - in fact, I did it quickly while I was at a client's office this afternoon. That fast and that easy. Really. However, it's taken me a little while to get "HD" versions of my apps (most were free, and I spent about $15 on upgrades), and to find a cloud-based Office suite for the iPad (I went with the $7.99 "

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-66728869624614716492010-04-28T20:14:00.000-04:002010-04-28T20:14:10.738-04:00

HP has come to the rescue of struggling Palm - but I think it's doomed anyways. Sure, WebOS is a fine accomplishment. In the year+ since the original WebOS device (the Pre) was announced the OS has matured nicely. And if the Pre had come out in early 2008 instead of mid 2009 Palm would probably be riding high again. Problem is, Apple and RIM had already gobbled up all the mindshare for

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-41614827628255135762010-04-27T22:14:00.000-04:002010-04-27T22:14:54.656-04:00

I've set up a few. I'll have one myself soon. Now that it's out, I see a lot more practical value than I originally did. Typing on it is actually pretty good. But here's the missing links to it right now: - No direct printing. There are a few workarounds and 3rd-party print methods, but no Apple-sanctioned way to get print output to even a small group of supported devices. I don't think OS

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-79757700819789098412010-04-12T21:13:00.000-04:002010-04-12T21:13:21.563-04:00

I read "The Year of the Cock", by Alan Wieder. To save you time, here's the synopsis: - Moderately successful reality TV producer gets a case of ego, leaves long-suffering wife. - Moves into apartment, starts screwing a diverse array of women. - Decides his dick is too small after seeing Fred Durst naked. Goes off on obsessive dysmorphic streak and freaks out. - Flies to NYC to win back

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-63198506517155794602010-04-11T16:10:00.000-04:002010-04-11T16:10:09.558-04:00

The day I turned 14, I don't remember. I'm pretty sure it involved a sparsely attended birthday party (I wasn't the most popular youth), and my hormones bubbling over. The day I turned 24, I went out for drinks and food (but mostly drinks) with my girlfriend and a few of my friends who lived around Boston. Went to work at my crappy dead-end pseudo-sales job that I had back then (I was making

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-55673243188784336552010-03-15T00:02:00.000-04:002010-03-15T00:02:34.125-04:00

The iPad comes out in just under three weeks. Pre-orders began this past Friday morning. The wifi version will be delivered on Saturday the 3rd of April if you pre-order, and the version with 3g can also be pre-ordered though you will not get it until late April (date TBD). I have a large number of clients participating in the pre-order. Quite a few of my fellow Apple nerds are doing it as

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-86046040645948783822010-03-14T00:37:00.000-05:002010-03-14T00:37:21.821-05:00

These are all mine: In 2000, George W. Bush was awarded the Presidency by a bitterly divided Supreme Court after a razor-thin winning margin was established in Florida by a count rigged as best as possible by a virtually all-Republican state political hierarchy. Post-election analysis established clearly that had the count been allowed to proceed, by virtually all measures Gore would have won

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-37308077621943518752010-03-13T08:41:00.000-05:002010-03-13T08:41:01.633-05:00

This fine list was compiled by Slashdot user "Boronx".  I copied/pasted it with a couple of typo corrections.  Democrats believe occasionally weird things, but this goes way over the top of anything mainstream Democrats think: Republicans believe: That there were WMD, but Saddam moved them to Syria. That there weren't WMD, but we had good evidence he did. That even if we didn't have evidence,

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-12727719137089854642010-03-08T07:33:00.002-05:002010-03-14T00:17:16.541-05:00

Looks like NASCAR's in a box now. They said that drivers would police themselves. Well, Carl Edwards just did. Granted, the end result was a flying crash, but what if Brad's car had stayed on 4 wheels and just spun out? Then we're talking about payback and nobody's calling for Carl's head. That's the problem. If they can hit and wreck each other, you can't really talk about the way the

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-71756161592695730532010-03-04T12:00:00.000-05:002010-03-04T12:00:02.200-05:00

I'm not a Certified Science Nerd.  On the other hand, I've read a lot of data, and I have a good solid understanding of basic physics.  I work in a technical profession, and I can do math.  So that's the extent of my qualifications.  So without further ado, I will now do my darndest to clarify Global Warming for the layperson. First of all: despite some data that is incomplete, or has had fudge

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-45205872830388000322010-02-28T23:46:00.000-05:002010-02-28T23:46:38.127-05:00

Any day now I am expecting both Snow Leopard 10.6.3 to be released along with a new lineup of MacBook Pros.  Maybe not the same day, but real soon.  Hopefully this week.  I'm really hoping for a mobile i5 from Cupertino, especially since I need one and also I've got a lot of customers getting antsy. Besides those, in the next few weeks we should get the official announcement of iPhone OS 4.0 -

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-70636013135982135992010-02-28T20:49:00.000-05:002010-02-28T20:49:56.779-05:00

I watched a pretty good hockey game this afternoon.  Other than that, there was something taking up all the NBC channels for the last two weeks but I can't really recall what it was.  Oh well.  At least NASCAR started their season this month.  Now just let Jimmie Johnson have some mechanical issues and I'll be happy. Or maybe this is just what's left of my mind after three days of dealing with

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-30147710367646098812010-02-03T08:12:00.000-05:002010-02-03T08:12:21.913-05:00

I mentioned this on my Twitter yesterday, but I thought I should use more than 140 characters to elaborate slightly.  In the last week, most of the folks I've talked to about iPad don't quite understand it - but that's because they already travel with a phone and a laptop.  I've had a Kindle for a couple of months, so I get it a little better. iPad isn't for the people who need to take a laptop

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-52497530514458543782010-01-27T19:29:00.000-05:002010-01-27T19:29:26.234-05:00

So iPad is now official, and available in waves over the next 60-90 days (WiFi only in 60, WiFi + 3G in 90).  It shows the maturity of some of Apple's strategies, the development of the iPhone OS, and brings us the first fruit from the PA Semi purchase (the CPU is a custom ARM design built by PA Semi's team and manufactured for Apple's exclusive use).  My initial thoughts: - iPad is reasonably

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-60721070270866124712010-01-17T23:26:00.000-05:002010-01-17T23:26:10.183-05:00

Here in Massachusetts, a Senate race that wouldn be in most cases a blowout for the Democrat (as usual) has turned into a nail-biter.  The result on Tuesday is completely up for grabs.  Looking at the two candidates, the Democrat (Attorney General Martha Coakley) has a solid track record of accomplishment and the Rebublican (State Senator Scott Brown) has a history as pretty much a speedbump. 

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-12925303525537477722009-12-31T16:44:00.000-05:002009-12-31T16:44:57.096-05:00

2009 has been one of those years.  And how.  The first three months of 2009 I spent wondering first if I'd have to let people go, and second if I'd have to close the doors and look for a real job elsewhere.  The six after that was treading water business-wise - only the last few months have seen anything resembling growth or security.  I'm not where I was in 2008, but I'm still open for business

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-70680213457313783552009-12-21T23:28:00.000-05:002009-12-21T23:28:37.414-05:00

I'm still using an Eee 901 I bought last year, upgraded with a 16GB SSD and 2GB of RAM.  It is running Windows 7 Professional and does a perfectly adequate job for me when I need cheap, light, and long-lasting.  I didn't replace it this year for a few reasons - first, I'm watching the company expenses as carefully as I can, but more importantly there's nothing really new or worthy this year in

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-57682067488367467702009-12-21T09:54:00.000-05:002009-12-21T09:54:14.696-05:00

There's a post today on TUAW that breathlessly speculates that Apple's WWDC has booked Moscone from 6/28 through 7/2 (likely - they always book dates anonymously until it's actually announcement time) because that way they can announce an iPhone for Verizon and/or other US carriers (not likely). Let me repeat myself one more time: Until the move to 4G (which may begin this coming year), Apple is

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-50897146106440469052009-11-18T08:37:00.000-05:002009-11-18T08:37:21.890-05:00

I did a little household survey to figure out which of the non-computer gadgets is the house favorite.  I polled all the residents and spent about a minute tabulating the data (I voted along with my wife and child - the cat declined to comment and asked to be taken off our polling list).  Here are the top 3, in traditional pageant format: Second Runner-Up: Roomba.  We have to at least pick stuff

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-84269917138006223002009-11-13T08:08:00.000-05:002009-11-13T08:08:07.975-05:00

First of all, if there was a Verizon iPhone on the horizon, would Verizon be trying so hard to piss off Apple with their Android push?  I think not. Second, Verizon likes to re-brand everything.  Apple has established that they don't play that game.  Verizon's never caved on that point for any handset maker to date. Third, Verizon and AT&T have roughly equal US market shares.  Apple sells a

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-69600168675608652962009-10-18T23:24:00.000-04:002009-10-18T23:24:02.263-04:00

Sure, Verizon has the best 3G coverage nationwide.  They're about 2 years ahead of AT&T in deployment, and they have virtually all of the nation blanketed with signal, especially since the Alltel integration.  In that regard, the Verizon network has all sorts of advantages.  But there's catches to it, as well: • Verizon's EVDO 3G doesn't handle voice and data simultaneously.  Check the web, your

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-757233768256269442009-10-07T09:10:00.002-04:002009-10-07T09:13:35.803-04:00

Amazon cut the price of the Kindle 2 by $40 today, and introduced a GSM-based version (on AT&T's network) that will still cost $20 less than it did yesterday (new prices are $259 and $279, respectively - down from $299). I'm getting closer to Want status.The magic point for me will be when it drops below $200 and gets native PDF support. Then I'll use it as a repository for all my tech manuals

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-46389105873522585232009-10-05T23:39:00.002-04:002009-10-05T23:56:49.616-04:00

Apple may or may not at some point come out with a tablet computer. So what? Maybe Steve Jobs is playing chess while I'm playing checkers, but I just can't see virtually any tablet device that would be more than a niche device. Sure, tablets are useful in some industrial and commercial settings, but that's never been Apple's game. Apple plays consumer ball nowadays - along with their

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-42604708180688138522009-09-25T23:07:00.001-04:002009-09-26T00:08:29.893-04:00

Yes, I know Apple's only supported MMS since the release of the 3.0 software this year. Yes, I also know that MMS has been on many phones since the beginning of the decade when the first crappy camera phones came out. And yes, I know I'm also arguably an Apple fanboi.But you know what? The last phone I had before my iPhone was a Verizon Treo 700p. It had MMS, and I could send pics when the

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-20371405143952253492009-08-30T23:13:00.002-04:002009-08-31T00:25:51.624-04:00

I got it and installed while I was on vacation last week (work never rests). Here's a few quick tidbits:• Installation is faster than traditional OS installs. A lot of it is preloaded to HD during the initial phase - unlike previous versions of OS X the Snow Leopard installer is meant to run from your prior OS and do the preload.• Total installation time - about 45 minutes. That included the

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-22923601744586236772009-08-25T17:21:00.003-04:002009-09-13T00:13:17.977-04:00

Cape May is a desolate place. And I say that without a trace of malice - I actually like it here. It's desolate in the sense that it's the end of the line, literally. Except for our rental house (a 1980's "Italianate" aka "Miami Vice" beast) the entire 2.5 miles of beachfront consists of old Victorian and/or Shingle homes that are all looking a little run down from the weather. There's some

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-3540495208463997432009-07-31T23:52:00.002-04:002009-08-01T00:00:15.823-04:00

Chrysler announced today that the PT Cruiser has gotten a reprieve and will no longer be discontinued after this model year.Dumb move, though I understand why they made it. There's nothing else in the Chrysler or Fiat lineup that can realistically replace it this late in the game. But the car itself is a big bucket of meh that hasn't aged well, hasn't gotten any significant updates in years to

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-8836437690910748102009-07-30T14:28:00.002-04:002009-07-30T14:38:41.864-04:00

I don't care if A-Rod did them, or Barry Bonds, or anyone else, for that matter. A lot of folks were on the juice during the era from the early '90s until about 2003, when MLB finally got serious about testing. Some were on them briefly, some were long-time users, but damn near all of the players used at one point or another. We all knew it, too.Here's the thing: I don't really care about then

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-66119509655937581652009-07-29T07:32:00.002-04:002009-07-29T07:49:15.210-04:00

Domino #1 - Talented underachiever Martin Truex Jr. gets out of the moldering corpse of DEI (Earnhardt-Ganassi) and goes to take over the NAPA rida at Waltrip.Domino #2 - DeWalt drops #17 sponsorship - a surprise after 10 years. Former series champ and current Daytona champ Matt Kenseth loses his sponsrship.Domino #3 - Crown Royal moves from the #26 car to the #17, leaves Jamie McMurray out of a

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-48366970159807225172009-07-28T22:39:00.002-04:002009-07-28T22:42:12.668-04:00

All the other candidates will have to do to reduce Sarah Palin to an afterthought is play her farewell address. On TV. Unedited.Wow, what a profoundly inarticulate moran.

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-31410276657647945212009-07-27T23:47:00.002-04:002009-07-27T23:51:46.589-04:00

I want iPhone 3.1 software to ship now! They've held off on the traditional .01 release this time in the hopes of more functionality, but I really want the battery life improvements and new BT stack that's in the betas. I could get them through the dev program but I really don't want to...This week's tone: Optimistic. Lots of pretty good stuff happening at the office.David finished 1st grade

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-61006378937037046812009-07-21T22:26:00.002-04:002009-07-21T23:59:40.944-04:00

The weekend away was a lot of fun, though hot & sweaty. I got to schlep air conditioners around for my folks, but in the process got to install 2 bonus units. So we got to sleep well. But from the time I got home from work (in a high-speed run from Cambridge on Friday afternoon) to the time we finally arrived home late Sunday it was non-stop action - even if the action consisted of all

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-83377253258148876092009-07-15T21:54:00.002-04:002009-07-15T22:02:08.525-04:00

I have my 25th high school reunion this weekend - I do recall a much larger turnout for the 10th, but this one will be more interesting to me, though many of the people I liked (or at least respected) aren't on the list. Enough are to make it worthy.At the 10th reunion, many of us were still the people we were at 18. At 43, we're all truly grown up now. Pretty much all of us who will have

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-40933192967018135952009-07-15T00:16:00.000-04:002009-07-15T00:29:13.813-04:00

I suspect that most males born before the late 1970s (who would remember when magazines were popular and when Playboy was a significant print icon) either use or would understand this measurement system. Mind you, I haven't read a print copy in years (literally - I think the last time I bought one was in the early '90s) so I don't have that much actual biographical info to go by other than

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-48527939591023767882009-07-09T17:57:00.002-04:002009-07-09T18:09:43.288-04:00

First of all - I absolutely love the Amazon Kindle. I've held them and read on them, and I think the current generation is a terrific device. Battery life is outstanding, the screen is a marvel, and the form factor is lightweight and easy to work with. Now that they cut the price, it's even better.But I won't buy one. Still. And the reason is simple. The feature set of the larger model (the

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-92055465611182274662009-07-06T17:43:00.002-04:002009-07-06T18:27:52.082-04:00

So I haven't blogged in almost a month, since WWDC while I was on vacation, in fact. I mainly have been using Twitter since then, and I think the main reason is that Twitter is pretty much frictionless - while blogging requires actual thought and planning. Is microblogging the future? I dunno, but it is what I've been doing lately and there may be a reason. We're also about to finally put the

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-30035583446019857172009-06-11T23:10:00.000-04:002009-06-11T23:54:25.633-04:00

Using the Verizon dongle (with the ensuing VZ Access Manager clusterfark in switching locations and messing up all my VPN configs) is enough of a pain in the arse while on vacation that I'm really looking forward to when tethering is live on the new iPhone OS. Of course, AT&T will find a way to screw it up - guaranteed. But so long as they price it under $60 per month it'll be a no-brainer.Of

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-50058213617303000672009-05-25T23:39:00.002-04:002009-05-25T23:46:32.485-04:00

This weekend my son turned seven. So we spent this afternoon hunting the majestic wild fish - much fun was had by all, much mud was flung and worn by all (we were working the flats by Kernwood on the ebbing tide), and the fish eluded our onslaught.I didn't see anyone else having any luck, either, though. And I'd say that the cast/exploring the shore ratio for the two of us was particularly low.

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-79701217151745566012009-05-14T23:05:00.002-04:002009-05-15T00:24:54.080-04:00

I don't actually expect the folks at NASCAR to take anything resembling advice from me, but here's what they ought to do to fix sagging TV ratings and track attendance:- Like I've said before, instead of the top 12 in the Chase, put the top 10 (or 12) plus anyone within a certain point threshold. I think 500 or 600 points is good. And/or any driver who's team has made every start and won at

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-35964011636994942322009-05-13T23:31:00.002-04:002009-05-13T23:40:20.619-04:00

I didn't mention it before, but we saw Watchmen in Imax a few weeks back. Cool movie, very dark, worth the trip for Imax. Of course, I read the book about 25 years ago. Hated Silk Spectre's wig - it looked way too fake. Rorschach was, as reported by most critics, awesome. The ending change wasn't bad, considering that it would have been tough to create the monster, even with CGI - plus it

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-5630228167449830572009-04-30T09:00:00.002-04:002009-04-30T09:24:33.325-04:00

First, the correction: Right Guard is no longer a P&G product - they divested it when they bought Gillette. I'd forgotten.Now, to add in a theme of mine (and annoy my folks - heh), as those of you who read this blog are aware, I'm a motorsports fan. In particular, I like NASCAR (the other stuff I'll watch but it's the stock cars I'm into). Unlike most, though, I have drivers I like but no

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-72513984542754143252009-04-30T07:44:00.002-04:002009-04-30T08:01:37.351-04:00

P&G profits are down... at least part of that is because of us, so I'm proud.More seriously with that thought - we don't boycott them entirely (even though that's my wife's ex-employer) but ever since she got her notice almost a year ago we've generally tried to buy the alternative/generic product in any category where we'd otherwise be buying a P&G product. What's amazing is just how many

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-87901402042513062682009-04-20T10:45:00.002-04:002009-04-20T10:46:05.757-04:00

I went to the MIT Flea yesterday. That's when spring really starts. Everything else is just a warmup.

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-66348073128920139252009-03-30T20:13:00.002-04:002009-03-30T20:18:41.473-04:00

The major afternoon project - I went out and upgraded my Time Capsule to take a 1TB drive.Cost of a Time Capsule: $299Cost of a 1TB Time Capsule: $499Cost of a 1TB WD Caviar Green drive: $110Leftover 500GB Caviar Blue (what was in my Time Capsule before surgery): Useful.It was pretty easy - You do need to peel off the rubber bumper on the bottom first, but there will be enough glue left over to

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-25549001762509062242009-03-29T14:38:00.002-04:002009-03-29T14:48:08.350-04:00

So Microsoft's agency (Crispin Porter) is now directly going after Apple. Great. Don't you think they could have found something better for "Lauren, who is a real person" (but is also an actress and has a union card)?The flip side is that there's plenty of areas Apple doesn't compete well in - and the low point of the market definitely is one of those areas. Though the HP she picked is a turd.

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-33645733281932172532009-03-28T23:29:00.001-04:002009-03-28T23:30:28.632-04:00

I was off by a week, but the iPhone software 3.0 announcement was pretty much right on track with my earlier comments. Neener.

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-7273428758785502962009-03-06T08:30:00.002-05:002009-03-06T08:37:46.867-05:00

From this Bloomberg article:“Think about it -- If you bought the first iPhone, you bought it because you wanted the coolest product on the market,” said McNamee, 52. “Your two-year contract has just expired. Look around. Tell me what they’re going to buy.”(Roger McNamee is with Elevation Partners, the major investor in Palm)Uh, maybe another iPhone? Probably the 2009 model?Because they like

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-75737669411150302672009-03-05T15:04:00.002-05:002009-03-05T15:07:10.656-05:00

I ordered Jane's Valentine's Day flowers through ProFlowers. Well, the price wasn't bad and they arrived in good shape. But had I realized that I'd get email from either ProFlowers or one of their affiliates virtually every day since, and that "unsubscribe" doesn't seem to get noticed by them, I might not have bothered ordering the flowers online at all. They are pains in the ass of a high

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-39964425800583329792009-03-03T11:06:00.002-05:002009-03-03T11:22:27.411-05:00

Apple updated almost everything this morning. New Mac Pros, new iMacs, new minis, all pretty much as expected. They also added a few other goodies. The 15" MacBook Pro had its processor speed bumped up a tiny bit in the middle configuration, 256GB SSD is now available for the MacBook and 15" MacBook Pro (it was initially only available on the 17"), and there's a new wired keyboard sans numeric

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-49530032569164214252009-02-02T08:10:00.003-05:002009-02-02T08:17:18.555-05:00

Two teams I didn't care about. Commercials that weren't that interesting. The game itself was OK, with a pretty good second half and a wild finish, but I will say that every possible call went the Steelers' way. I still would have called the INT return down at about the 1-foot line, because it seemed clear to me that his body touched before the ball crossed the line. I also think the final

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-34329452550437701332009-01-26T09:54:00.002-05:002009-01-26T10:07:53.738-05:00

Downloading pirated software from a BitTorrent feed is likely to infect your system with a trojan. Even if you have a Mac. Don't do it.Keep using your Mac for your pirated music, movies, tv, and porn, though. Media piracy is safer on a Mac. Believe it or not, though, the only thing I do that even vaguely breaks the rules is I take my legitimately purchased DVDs and rip them to .MP4 files so I

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-51669169154864628642009-01-20T13:09:00.002-05:002009-01-20T13:11:36.747-05:00

We now officially have a non-suckass President.  It's been 8 years since we had one of those.  Boo-yah!That, and David lost his first tooth this past Saturday.  That's got more immediate impact upon my life, but having Obama as President'll help too.

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-18912239501446451772009-01-09T23:33:00.002-05:002009-01-09T23:42:12.306-05:00

So my holiday gift from Jane was an Apple TV (well, actually it was a gift card to buy the Apple TV because she thought an Apple TV was an actual TV set and figured she couldn't carry it). I set it up yesterday, immediately hacked it to add Boxee, and then I embarked on a project.The project: take my DVD collection and put as much of it as I can on the Apple TV (I got the 160GB version).

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-10947240848406795252009-01-08T22:34:00.000-05:002009-01-09T00:05:08.324-05:00

The economy's diving into the crapper, the peak energy prices from last year, and the collapse of the auto industry have combined to give motorsports a big kick in the teeth in 2009. F1 isn't coming to North America at all this year (their only trip to the Western Hemisphere is the Sao Paulo race in October), NASCAR's truck series had to get a discount sponsor (Camping World) after Sears pulled

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-7833202024753562372009-01-01T23:32:00.002-05:002009-01-01T23:58:35.488-05:00

In March, my company will have made it to 5 years in business. I'm not sure if I expected to make it there, but that's sobering. When I worked at the insurance company, I only was there a few months past 5 years before getting laid off (in the last downturn), and I was at the company before that a hair less than six years. So this is historically about my shelf life, except this time I should

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-60210656935694809292008-12-23T23:39:00.002-05:002008-12-24T00:23:38.054-05:00

I heard from my agent that the Yankees are about to offer me a $4 million contract if I don't rip them here, so I won't. Why not take it? After all, they're operating in a financial realm that no other team - not even the Red Sox or Mets - can fathom, apparently. They can afford it, it seems.As much of an advantage as the Red Sox have over almost all the other teams (the Mets, Angels, and

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-57724983791722012872008-12-23T23:24:00.002-05:002008-12-23T23:29:33.144-05:00

C'mon everyone, pay your bills!Weekend down the CapeHalloween party!America is back, baby!Ahh, vacation...David takes Manhattan!Sick of crappy headsets!Lots of new customersSnow, ice, bleh.In-laws come to visitHurry up and wrap the gifts!And that brings us up to date...

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-12031938040355334882008-12-07T23:02:00.002-05:002008-12-08T00:23:59.979-05:00

Not me per se - I'm cool right now.  My cry is for a Bluetooth headset that doesn't suck in any way at all.  I've tried damn near all of them, really I have.  Here's the (short) list of features I want:- Reasonably lightweight.  It doesn't have to be so small people mistake it for a vitamin tablet.  Just light enough so it doesn't hurt my ear.- No need to stick in my ear.  My ears don't hold

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-25661842909665276322008-11-05T00:21:00.001-05:002008-11-05T00:23:05.502-05:00

I feel like our country just took a nice, refreshing shower. We're clean again. The dirt of the last eight years is starting to swirl down the drain.

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-49801203104818387352008-10-22T22:33:00.002-04:002008-10-22T22:37:19.121-04:00

Undecided voters?Read this Davis Sedaris New Yorker column...To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”To be undecided in this election is to pause for a

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-88454254064152946982008-10-20T00:10:00.002-04:002008-10-20T00:13:13.697-04:00

Nice job - you guys earned it.  It's nice to have a real rival besides the Yankees.  The kid Longoria seems a little bit on the cocky side, but on the other hand a lot of folks say that about our second baseman.At least now I don't have to stay up late to watch games, and maybe the duckboats'll get a little rest.

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-50807352699211198052008-10-18T23:17:00.002-04:002008-10-19T02:49:22.839-04:00

First of all: I live here. I really like it here. I make a good living. And I don't enjoy paying taxes that much.OK. Now that that's out of the way, I think it's past due time to raise our taxes here. Which one, you ask? Well, our transportation infrastructure is falling apart. And tolls are high on our roads with (the Mass. Pike including the harbor tunnels and the Tobin Bridge) further

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-12745463320500802612008-10-14T23:47:00.004-04:002008-10-15T00:11:35.811-04:00

Disclaimer: I haven't gotten my hands on one of the new MacBooks or MacBook Pros yet. I may not have time to for a while yet. This take is based entirely on published specs and reviews, along with the announcement info.First - the price-reduced MacBook (plastic) for $999. It's simply a re-pricing of yesterday's $1099 model, but breaking the psychological $1000 barrier is important. This holds

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-86756051423722412892008-10-14T08:02:00.002-04:002008-10-14T08:16:21.837-04:00

First of all - the reasons the Sox will win this series and ultimately the World Series: Very good, tested starting pitching. 1-5 in the batting order. Very strong defense. Papelbon.Why they'll lose: Too many injuries. No Mike Lowell (instead of Lowell/Youkilis you have Youk/Kotsay). They probably won't be pitching Lester again unless we get to 7 games. Beckett isn't Beckett this year (he

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-47690273499211982322008-10-06T23:35:00.002-04:002008-10-06T23:35:57.232-04:00

Jon Lester is the freakin' MAN! Wow. And the bullpen almost blew it, but held on enough to get the win. Onto Tampa!

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-25769031235795285082008-09-14T11:38:00.002-04:002008-09-14T11:56:52.440-04:00

I loaded my iPhone 3g with the new 2.1 software the moment it became available (well, not quite - but I did go home for lunch just so I could do the update).  Here's a quick take on what was broken before, and how it is now:- Camera incredibly slow to load: Well, it's a little better, but still not as good as in the original software.- Contacts app slow to load: Fixed.  At least for my 500ish

jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.com