OMGOMGOMG!!

I pick up the mail from the receptionist's desk yesterday afternoon, and there was a lot. In fact, I had to take the entire bin up with me. While sorting through it, I lifted a stack of legal sized envelopes and saw a smallish box underneath. Now packages aren't that unusual around here, but then I noticed it was addressed to me.




And then I saw it.

Hong Kong.

/Giggity

I think my nipples got hard.

I left the rest of the mail there to sort itself, and dived into my office.


...


Ye gods.


It's huge.


It's heavy.


It's AWESOME!

(Does NOT do the picture justice)

The rest of the day I spent thumbing through the manual, waiting for it to charge (Yeah, my boss can bite me. I have a NEW TOY, DAMMIT!).

The Engrish was wonderfully bad, and the instructions were vaguely reminiscent of something that might be useful.

(Click on pic for full size)

Ummm, what?

The interface instructions would confuse the non-geeks out there, but who other than nerds would own this?

Me. I would.

And I do.

The troubleshooting section is worth noting as well

As far as I know, this isn't available for retail in the US, so maybe only a handful of these are in this country. That's a weird feeling. All of us in the upper echelon of geekdom.

So the picture is surprisingly clear. I converted and uploaded Spiderman 2, and it was very watchable. (Converted to 160×128 at 20fps, the file size was only 220MB.)

The sound is good, the games on it kinda suck (simply because you have to use the buttons on the side, and they're not very intuitive), and the clock isn't customizable. Other than that, it's beyond my expectations. I'm looking into selling these.

Lillith was having a "need-a-coffee-after-work" kinda day yesterday, so I met her after I got off. She looked at me, saw the kickass gear on my wrist, shook her head, and said, "B, you truly are the KING of all geeks."

She's right, ya know.



/flex

Look Out, Dick Tracy!

I ordered a watch a couple of weeks ago.

No big deal, right?



I was surfing, and came across this online.



No big deal, right? Kinda cool (in a geeky sorta way. The face IS rather large).



COMMA


Then I saw this and peed in my pants a little.

That's right. 8GB MP4 capable.

Must be heavy as hell though, since it's stainless steel. Also, probably not the best looking thing on the petite. Lucky for me, I have a fairly nice set of meathooks.

The price was well within my range (at the time), so I set out finding where to order it. Not an easy task, as it's not yet available in the US. However, I did find a wholesaler in China that would ship here.

It did take a little bit of time to jump through hoops regarding payment, import of electronics, shipping, etc. After originally ordering it on 3/12, I finally got my tracking number and am proud to say that as of yesterday, it has left Hong Kong and is on its way.

I'll keep you up to date.

I'm in Awe

No matter what you drive, it will never be as awesome as this:




And yes, it's got a hemi.

Shock Resistant My Ass

Almost a month ago I decided to upgrade my phone. T-Mobile lets you upgrade your phone once a year at (near) new account promo rates. All you have to do is sign a new 2-year contract. Looking online I found the Nokia 5300 XpressMusic which kills two birds with one stone. I was looking at mp3 players anyway, and this gives me a 1GB MicroSD off the bat. I won't bother going into a review, since PCWorld, CNET, etc have already done a bangup job.

I will say this though. The slider seems a little loose, and I would've liked to have the SD slot a little more accessible. Other than that, Its capability and looks far exceeded my expectations.



Anyway, I jumped online and found that I could get it at an "amazingly low price" of $179.99!

$20 off? That's it?

Unacceptable.

I wanted to call them anyway for some minor tech specs, plus I needed to upgrade my texting plan to unlimited (you know who you are!). The rep was wonderful, and she told me about the shock-resistant case, the data interface, the software, etc etc.

Plus, I was able to get a deal on the phone for $79.99. Muy bueno.

I wasn't eligible, but I also filled out a $50 rebate form I found on their site. If it works, I got this for 30 bucks. And THAT'S what a cheap bastard like me is looking for. If it doesn't, then I still think I got a helluva deal. But don't tell anybody... Shhhhhhh

Like normal, I was like a kid at Christmas when it was delivered. New Toy! New Toy! I played around with it, made some playlists, was pretty much oblivious to the rest of the world for that evening. I had already bought a hard acrylic case for it, and spent most of that time trying to figure out how to put it on.

Fast forward to last weekend. ChaCha and I were going to the movies (and yeah, all the issues are pretty much worked through... Pretty much). She swung by my place, and I needed to get something out of my truck. As I reached in, the phone fell out of my hand and hit the pavement. I wasn't too concerned. After all, it was only a three foot drop, I had a hard case for it, and as the TMobile rep said, "It's designed to be bounced around a little." So we headed to the theater. On the way there I got a text message, so I hit the action button and saw this on my screen:

You got it.

My brand spankin new phone now has a cracked LCD.

From a friggin three. foot. drop.

Words cannot describe how I was feeling at that moment.



Bear in mind, I HAVEN'T EVEN PAID FOR IT YET.

Anyway, we ended up having a great time anyway, and Monday morning I strode right into the local T-M store. Maybe they could help me out. Y'know, talking face-to-face. Mano y mano. one on one.

So, the rep looked at me like a cow looks at an oncoming train, and then says, "Sure! I can get you a replacement phone for $164.73."
"Is that the best you can do?"
"Well, I can get you the number to Nokia..."

So let's refresh. The $200 phone that I got not one, but TWO great deals on, has now cost me in excess of $245.

Unacceptable.

I get back to the office and call T-M cust care. I get a poor lady with a sinus infection, and explain in great detail as to what happened. I guess I can be charming when I want to be, because she said, "Here's what you do. Put the SIM card back in the broken phone, and call tech support. Have them go through troubleshooting with you."

So I did just that. Apparently she had put in some notes on my account, because the tech rep I spoke with told me to power cycle the phone, then she set up an exchange. The new phone arrived on Wednesday, and tomorrow I'm returning the original replacement to the store.

And ChaCha, THAT'S why I'm still with T-Mobile. Now the new... Oh, wait, it's still T-Mobile.

And I'm still waiting on the rebate.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Don't be afraid to make some calls or ask around. You might be surprised as to what you can get accomplished if you're nice about it. I worked in customer service for over a decade, and you truly catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

For Allie

Since we haven't figured out a way to drink coffee in the shower...

Caffinated soap.

Fuh Friggin Real.

Clicky

NO DISASSEMBLE #5!

As a child of the 80s (cringe), I remember quoting Short Circuit, the appalling Short Circuit 2, and the best out of the bunch, Short Circuit 3.14159265358979323846.

And now, for a limited time, you can OWN JOHNNY #5!

That's right, the last original surviving robot is for sale on eBay.
For a low, low price of $100,000.

Clicky

Talk to you soon, off to buy a lottery ticket.

It Was Only a Matter of Time

Here's a shout out to my Geeps.*

Someone out there managed to get World-Of Friggin-Warcraft to run on his iPhone. Obviously there are issues, and it seems to take forever to actually accomplish anything. But all shortcomings to the iPhone notwithstanding, I am impressed by the capabilities.

Regardless, you HAVE to be impressed. Maybe a little?




*My own brand-spankin' new word. Means "Geek Peeps." Copyright pending.

iPhone Blues

To everyone that waited in line and spent the Gross National Product of Zimbabwe for an iPhone, I received a verrrrrrry interesting email on the subject from a reader (Thanks, Ric!).

Here's the deal. Your battery starts going south, as all rechargeable batteries are wont to do. So what do you do? Send the phone to Apple along with $85+, and they'll replace the battery within three business days (Side note: you lose ALL data and settings saved).

Sorta makes me all weepy. Of course, when I read that I had to laugh hysterically until I nearly passed out.

If you don't believe me, Click Here.

10 Best Educational DVDs

Thinking about my Dad yesterday made me think of the things we DO have in common. One of the key things we have always been able to connect on is the passion for nature and science. We used to always watch PBS together (cable was never available where we grew up), especially Science and Nova.

Learning new things, especially how our universe works has always been a passion. Some of these are fun, some are downright amazing productions. If you want to buy them I've provided a link on each one (Just click on the picture. BTW, Shift-clicking on the picture will open the link in a new window). And if you want to buy ME a copy of any of these (hint, hint), shoot me an email and I'll let you know where to ship it. :D


So here's my list of the top 10 Educational DVDs out there.

10. Who Killed the Electric Car?- Most of us that grew up in the 80s remember the EV1 or the LeCar, two electric-only vehicles. Now, with gas prices soaring and fossil fuels depleting, the electric car is nowhere to be found. Not as entertaining as it could be, but the film is poignant and well done. Worth renting.

9. Super Size Me- Ok, so the educational aspect is a little stretched here, but this is a wonderful documentary on obesity and fast-food corporate policies. It took me about a month after watching this for me to eat fries again. Morgan Spurlock shows off his talent for information with great voracity.

8. Schoolhouse Rock- I HAD to throw this in here. Schoolhouse Rock was an iconic series that most of us grew up with. Honestly, that's why I know the preamble to the constitution. Now sing along with me, "Conjunction Junction, what's your functiooooon..." I STILL watch this. The DVD set is WELL worth it.

7. In the Womb (National Geographic)- Visually stunning. Using cutting-edge technology, you can follow the birth of a child from conception to birth, literally watching the development. A must-have for new parents, and also IMHO a great tool for explaining the Birds and the Bees to little ones.

6. An Inconvenient Truth- One of the most controversial documentaries of all time. It takes the issue of Global Warming and translates it to real examples. Who'd have thought that a Powerpoint presentation by Al Gore would be watchable? Regardless of your politics, this is a film everyone should watch.

5. What the Bleep Do We Know?- Ever wonder the meaning of Quantum Mechanics? Well, this movie (which actually showed in theaters for a short period) delves into this strange world in surprisingly understandable language with very entertaining visuals.

4. The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns- Not everyone is a history buff, but this is arguably the best comprehensive view of an era I've ever seen. Be warned, this complete set is eleven (!) hours, but it's still hard to NOT stay enthralled, even to someone with ADD like me. My favorite thing about this series is it takes the story of the Civil War objectively, showing both sides seamlessly.

3. Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series- Simply the best science/nature series ever. Plus, it's narrated by David Attenborough. 'Nuff said. It makes you love our planet, and you leave with a sense of awe.

2. Walking with Dinosaurs- For all the CGI fans out there, the BBC has developed an amazing series called walking with Dinosaurs. I got this for my nephew last Xmas, as he is a certified dino FREAK. This ain't Jurassic Park, y'all. You will be so visibly stunned that you'll forget you're learning.

1. The Elegant Universe (NOVA)- This award-winning series on PBS explains (quite well, I might add) about Albert Einstein's dream of the "Theory of Everything." If you ever wanted to know about what people mean when they discuss String Theory, this is a DVD you can't pass up.


Honorable Mention: Another one that is not yet available on DVD is a history series on HBO called Assume the Position. I strongly recommend it for anyone like myself that enjoys the "story behind the story" in history. The second in the series is coming out July 7th on HBO. If your cable service has HBO On Demand, you should be able to pick up the original at the current time.