Geek

Geek Time.

For the past 24 hours or so my iPhone and iPad have been going crazy with app updates. I probably have around 50 apps on my iPhone and 100 apps on my iPad and I would say that half of them have been updated in preparation for the big release of iOS 7. For those not familiar with iJargon, iOS 7 is the latest iteration of the operating system used on the iPhone, iPad, iPod and Apple TV. iOS 7 brings a paradigm shift in look and feel of the OS and also brings along a whole bunch of new, nifty features.

Android fanboys will tell you that Apple is catching up with Android. Apple fanboys will tell you that Android is just a copy of iOS. People will snarl, people will yell and I will close the window that contains the conversation because as the outdated saying goes, “Ain’t nobody got time for that.”

One of the features of iOS 7 is AirDrop, which allows you to select something on your iPhone or iPad and magically, breathlessly beam it to another person with an iDevice. You can confine AirDrop to folks on your contact list or you can make AirDrop be wide open so anyone can beam a file (a picture or a document or whatever) over to your phone.

The possibilities are endless!

I kind of like the idea of AirDrop, in fact, I used it to beam the photo of my iPad that you see above. Long, long ago I used a similar feature on one of my Palm devices to send my phone number over to another passenger on the T in Boston. I was single at the time but he never called. At least I hope I was single at the time. Hmm.

Oh the way I kid. Earl and I shall laugh about this little bit of kidding this evening over supper. We’ll have a nice laugh together.

I mentioned on my Facebook stream yesterday that folks should go ahead and update to iOS 7 when given the opportunity. Though I have an iPhone 5 and an iPad 4, I’ve heard good things about the new operating system on older devices, though if you have an iPhone 3GS or an original iPad, you’re out of luck.

Now, I’m going to confess right here and now that I have been toying with the idea of switching to an Android device, more specifically, a Moto X. I’ve read great things about it. I’ve heard great things about it. But I’ve touched it and while it is quite nice, it’s still not as solid feeling as the iPhone 5 that I currently have. I’ve become accustomed to technological perfection through Apple’s attention to detail and while Apple does stumble from time to time, you can’t deny the polish that their iDevices have. I like solid. I must have solid. I hear the new iPhone 5c, in its polycarbonate shell, has a metal frame which will help maintain that solid feeling that so many of us Macboys enjoy.

So I’m still on the fence about moving to the Moto X and if I continue to feel the way I feel today, I probably won’t do anything of the sort because my iPhone and iPad are behaving wonderfully with the new iOS that comes out shortly for the masses.

Awwwwwwww geek out! Le geek, c’est chic!

18 September 2013 by J.P. Geek 0

AM.

So I just got back from a ride in the Jeep. When I was a baby, my Mom and Dad would drive me around in their Volkswagen Beetle in an effort to make me fall asleep. I guess I wasn’t the best of sleepers when I was a wee lad. I wonder if I crawled in my sleep. Hmmm.

It’s a beautifully clear night here in Central New York. Like earlier today, the air is crisp. As I turned on the radio and realized that Sirius/XM is playing the exact same songs in the order that they played them in six hours ago, I started punching buttons on my stereo and landed on the AM band.

Remember the AM band?

As I slowly spun the dial, carefully landing on each available frequency to see if there was anything other than static available to the listener, I instantly noticed that there’s not a lot of music available on the AM dial. This is OK, because music on the radio these days is mostly crap, in my opinion, unless it’s something nostalgic.

Making my way down the dial brought back memories of sitting in my bedroom at age 14 looking for Dr. Ruth on a Sunday night. Even back then I was a huge geek and I would opt to listen to Dr. Ruth on Rock 102 out of Buffalo instead of listening to her on the much closer Y94. I have always found it so cool that at night (and during thunderstorms) you can tune in some distant stations on a good radio. This works on both the FM and the AM band.

During my ride a few moments ago I listened to WBAL out of Baltimore. I also tuned in a station that never mentioned its call letters but it talked about Sudbury and North Bay. Since I know a radio engineer in that part of the woods, I’m not surprised that his transmitters might be cranking out the amount of power required to reach my ears. It’s a cool way to connect.

The AM radio band is pretty much forgotten in today’s digital age. Spinning the dial around the three and four digit frequencies relaxed me enough to know that I’m going to get a good night’s sleep.

Sometimes it’s good to be nostalgic.

17 September 2013 by J.P. Geek 0

Restoration Project.

This clock has shown the time as 8:27 for many years. I’m thinking of letting a local school know about my clock geek skills and offering to get this outside clock working again. It seems like it would be a fun little project as long as I don’t have to play with any mice or anything. I’m curious if this stopped clock is something that only I notice or if anyone else in the school district would be interested in seeing the clock work again.

I think I’ll reach out to the district this week.

9 September 2013 by J.P. Geek 1

Distractionless.

So as I was sitting at my desk this morning, getting ready to jump feet first into this experience we lovingly call Monday, I was about to fire up Microsoft Lync on my work Mac. Now, there is nothing unusual about this, being a WFH guy (work from home guy) or telecommuter, it is important to use as many tools possible to remain connected with your co-workers. When you can’t collaborate in person you must do so electronically. It’s all logical.

The downside to Lync and Facebook and Google+ and Twitter and text messaging and Instagram and all that stuff is that it is really a boatload of distraction. Whether these tools are used for work or play, when not managed properly they can take you out of the moment. Your “here and now” is actually elsewhere. At work, a Lync popup can pull me out of my coding zen space because when I hear that “message!” sound I feel compelled to see what’s up. When I try to get back to my coding I think I had started where I left off, when in reality, all lines of code start to look alike and I didn’t really leave off at the particular point. I then think that I’m being productive when in reality I’m just breaking something because I have left some unfinished code lingering where I really left off.

I hate it when I do that.

When a message pops up on our phones or whatever, it takes us away from the moment. I noticed that I checked my phone on a couple of occasions between courses at dinner the other night. That was rude of me and I am publicly apologizing to my husband right here and now for that. I don’t know that he noticed because he was checking his phone at the time. By the way, we’re not awful, we don’t check our phones during a meal or in lieu of a conversation, only in lulls of activity, but still, I guess I was being a little rude and I don’t like that. My I should strive to be less lulling. I think it’s important to set a good example. Maybe one in a million will notice and do the same.

Another thing that has kind of been getting on my nerves lately is the number of people taking selfies in front of important things, like visiting the Queen of England or sitting between Abraham Lincoln’s legs.

Well I do take my share of selfies and I share them via Instagram and all things connected to that, it’s not something that I want to do. The analytical side of me wants to know why I’m doing this. What need does posting yet another photo of myself fulfill? I have no idea.

So in an effort to be a little less distracted I made a couple of adjustments to my iPhone this morning. First of all, I deleted Google+ and Facebook right off of my phone. If anyone needs me immediately they can send me a text message; they know how to get a hold of me. Now, I’m not committing to this forever, I am going to try to go FB and G+ free for a week. I still have Instagram and I still have Twitter because well, truth be known, Twitter is my favorite of the the social networks and I do like looking at all kinds of photos on Instagram. As a quick aside, if Facebook gets ad crazy with Instagram, I will dump it like a hot potato in an instant and go back to Flickr.

I can’t do much about Lync at work, I just need to train myself better in not being distracted when that awful “new message!” Lync sound rings out from my MacBook. But I can be vigilant about making sure my status is up to date and sharing with the world when I’m in that zen worker bee space.

I think the most important thing that I’d like to figure out this FB and G+ free week is how to be in the moment with the people I’m in the moment with. I think I might have lost touch with that a little bit. If it’s worth sharing, I’ll share it when it’s appropriate and most likely via my blog.

Let’s see how this goes.

9 September 2013 by J.P. Geek 1

Pedestrian

A few years ago, Earl and I went to Dublin to attend the wedding of my brother- and sister-in-law. When we arrived in Dublin and made our way to the city center, I had an immediate sense of familiarity, even though that my first occasion to leave the North American continent. There was something that felt very comfortable, very grounding. It just felt right. Somewhat surprised at this, I realized that among other things, Dublin was a very pedestrian friendly city. People were walking about the city center. It was a very normal, standard, everyday thing but I was struck by the number of people walking around.

Now, naturally I don't need to travel off of North America to experience this. The United States, while a very automotive-centric society, still has millions of people walking their city streets at any given moment. However, being in a foreign land and thus having my senses heightened a bit, I was more aware of my need to be able to walk.

Living in a relatively rural area of Upstate New York doesn't really afford me the opportunity to enjoy an urban stroll. Even to get to the closest Dunkin' Donuts is a mile walk along a county route that has no facilities for pedestrians aside from a small shoulder wedged between the pavement and a four-foot deep drainage ditch. The posted speed limit on the route is 45 MPH but that is rarely obeyed or enforced. The bright side is, cycling is a no-brainer in this area, but walking can be a challenge.

Spending the Labor Day holiday weekend in Chicago has given me the opportunity to do a lot of walking. We are walking everywhere and if we are not walking we are utilizing mass transit. Luckily my cyclist legs are enjoying this change in exercise without complaining too much. I know that I am enjoying this change of pace immensely. The idea of walking to Starbucks or to the market or to the Apple store or wherever is highly appealing to me.

I know that if my husband and I relocate we have to move to a place that affords us a much better pedestrian experience. While there are many things that I love about living in rural Upstate New York, there are many things that we miss out on, including the experience of not having to drive any and everywhere.

I think one of the things that might be plaguing the general health of Americans is the reliance on our automobiles. And now that I think about it, not only does it plague our own personal health, but it's affecting our environment and it isolates us from being around other people. I think an important element of a strong society is being a society that spends time physically around one another. Even in the carpool lane, our cars isolate us.

Relocating to a specific urban center would have to feel right for us and our adventure this weekend has shown me that one of the things I need is to be in a place that is very pedestrian friendly.

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1 September 2013 by J.P. Geek 5

Cut The Cord.

We have officially cut the cord. During the week I canceled our DirecTV service (which he had since the late 90s when Primestar converted us over to DirecTV). The monthly cost of the service vs the amount of time we spent actually watching television made the a logical step for us. Plus, there’s a heck of a lot of crap on television these days and we’ve got better things to do.

We went with the Antennas Direct ClearStream 2V.

The antenna easily mounted to the existing DirecTV J-Mount once the dish was removed. We even used the existing DirecTV wiring to bring the signals into the house.

When all is said and done, we are receiving 23 channels from as far as 52 miles away. The only station we are not receiving is the CBS affiliate. I’m still looking into that, because we were able to receive CBS via an indoor antenna a couple of weeks ago, so I don’t know why there’s a change.

I’m amazed at the guide functionality built into our Samsung 46-inch television, because we used to just use it as a monitor to the DirecTV DVR. The setup is brilliant and it’s going to save us a bunch of money.

25 August 2013 by J.P. Geek 3

Inversed Speed

This sign is so old it's faded to the inverse of where it started. Kind of nifty.

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23 August 2013 by J.P. Geek 3

Before I Die I Want To…

While walking around in Louisville, Kentucky these other day, I spotted an entire storefront covered in chalkboard with the header "Before I die I want to __________________". All of the blanks had been filled and some had written where the wasn't a blank. I was happy to see the participation.

I didn't get a chance to write on the board because I couldn't find a piece of chalk. So here it is:

Before I die I want to live without hesitation.

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12 August 2013 by J.P. Geek 2

Day 5: Ankeny, Iowa

People have asked me, "Why on earth would you want to live in Iowa?" 99.9% of the time the people that have asked me this have never been to Iowa. The other .1% did live in Iowa but he was kind of surly.

We don't live in Iowa. We don't have plans to live in Iowa. I once considered taking a programming job (building radio station automation software on Linux and then installing it in radio stations) in Emmetsburg, Iowa, but that was a long time ago. It wasn't the fact that it was Iowa that prevented me from taking that gig.

Today we drove halfway across Iowa from Appleton, Wis. Most of our day was spent driving, though we did have lunch and supper at locally owned eateries as we passed through little towns. I checked on Earl a few times to make sure he was still awake as we made our way across US Routes 20 and 65. I'm kind of happy that we avoided the interstates on this leg of the route as it gave us the opportunity to see some small towns and to do a little bit of exploring here and there.

We did discover that Frank Lloyd Wright's "Walter House" and "River Pavilion" in Quasqueton are both closed at 4:00 p.m. on a Monday afternoon. This was disappointing as we are both big fans of his architecture. When we win the lottery we are going to have one of his institute graduates design us a nifty place to live.

Driving across Iowa in August one will notice that there are four main sights to see: corn on the left/soybeans on the right, soybeans on the left/corn on the right, corn all over, soybeans all over. I still love every moment and every mile. Everything has that wide open feeling. I dream of having a house in the middle of a few trees, surrounded by 10-20 acres of farmland that we'd let someone else farm. We'd stock up on groceries so that we didn't have to run to town everyday and we'd have a quiet, peaceful existence.

The Philly boy in my husband shudders at the thought. Green Acres isn't his place to be.

Nevertheless, I find the countryside to be beautiful here, and it has been a wonderful day.

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5 August 2013 by J.P. Geek 4

Day 4: Oshkosh, Wis. (EAA AirVenture)

I find it kind of interesting that while celebrating my 12th blogoversary today I realized that my first blog entry ever was about flying with my Dad in his then brand new Acro-Sport II, the first plane he had ever built in its entirety. The reason I find it interesting is because we traveled to Oshkosh, Wis. to attend the dedication service of the newest members to be added to the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) Memorial Wall on the museum grounds here in Oshkosh. Today was also the last day of AirVenture 2013.

I attended what was then called the EAA Convention and Fly-In back in 1984 with my grandfather and Dad. The three of us made the drive out here to spend a few days chatting with other pilots and plane builders, seeing the sites and watching airshows. My dad was energized during that trip because he loved flying and airplanes so very much. The trip is most memorable for me because it was the first time that as a teen I felt really close to my dad and that I really "got" his passion for aviation. We'd flown together many, many times and it was always apparent that he loved piloting a plane, but I really saw his passion during that trip. It was impressive and I learned a lot about him those few days.

Since my Dad passed on doing what he loved the most, my sister and I felt that it was only fitting to have him remembered by being included on the EAA Memorial Wall. The ceremony was very nice and respectful. The playing of Taps, followed by the missing man formation overhead, was very touching. I felt really close to my Dad again, though he's been gone since the end of 2011. I knew that he was smiling.

My sister and Mom and nephew and cousin needed to head back home right after the ceremony, so we said our good-byes and then Earl and I headed back to the Jeep, changed into shorts and headed over to the AirVenture grounds. Earl had never been to a "Fly-In" before, and AirVenture is the grand-daddy of all Fly-Ins. It was as I remembered it but much bigger than it was in '84. Earl and I spent the afternoon looking at the displays, watching the planes take off and land and Earl listened to stories of the times I spent at the airport as a kid and all the times I had gone flying with my dad and friends. He's heard the stories before, but he still feigns interest.

The airshow was quite a sight. It amazes me what a talented pilot can do with his airplane or helicopter: planes flipping over tail over nose, pilots maneuvering in seemingly impossibly tight formation, helicopters flying backwards, men skydiving at unbelievable speeds and one man strapped to a four jet engines and a wing to become "JetMan". Awesome stuff, indeed. I think I might have mentioned to Earl at least a dozen times that I really need to get my pilot's license. I try to shrug off this desire to fly, since I think it's just a lingering wish from my teenage years, but I can't shrug it off. The idea of flying us somewhere in something like a Cessna 182 is amazing to me. I get very excited just thinking about it; it brings a grin to my face that my Dad would find to be quite recognizable.

AirVenture is fun for anyone with even a passing interest in aviation and if you're inclined or in the area, I highly recommend the experience.

You'll see lots of people grinning from ear to ear. You'll know they have aviation fuel in their blood.

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