fritz update

After an hour on the phone with DELL, the determination was that my hard drive has errors on it. They're sending me a new one and it'll arrive in two days. Until then, thanks to my roommate (Dustin) for the use of his computer.

And now a moment of silence for all the programs lost due to my fallen hard drive.

Oh yeah... and let's not foget all the porn. (j/k)

tip(s) of the day

I know a few people who have the very popular iPod made by Apple. I also plan on purchasing one in the next couple months. I recently read an article that gave some tips to maximize the life of your battery for not only the iPod but any other device that uses Li-Ion (lithium ion) batteries for power such as laptop computers.

Tip #1: Leave some gas in the tank.
Letting a Li-Ion batter run all the way down is a bad idea. It reduces the overall life of the battery and can trigger a protective cut-off circuit that may prevent the battery from being recharged at all. It is ideal to discharge 80% of the battery's capacity before re-charging and to recharge frequently.

Tip #2: Store at 40%.
Never store fully charged Li-Ion batteries for any length of time. The self-discharge of lithium-ion is about 5% per month. Once the charge level, cut-off circuitry kicks in, and the batter goes to sleep and quite often cannot be woken up unless you have special equipment.
For Notebook computers - it's recommended that the user removes the battery from the system anytime the machine draws power from the wall socket, other wise the battery stays in a less-than-ideal 100% charged condition at all times. Only top off the batter before you go on trips, when you know you'll need the extra juice.

Tip #3: Keep your cool.
Hot temperatures can significantly reduce the lifespan of a Li-Ion battery, and exceedingly hot temperatures can cause the battery to leak or even explode. Keep your battery packs or iPods in a cool place (59' F or lower) when ever possible. [note from Scott: so don't leave them in your car on a hot day, after all they're made to be extremely small and portable, and chances are that your pocket or purse will be much cooler than inside your car] For products with removable batteries, take the battery out whenever possible when using them on AC power to avoid heat and over-charging issues that can reduce the lifespan of the batteries.

Tip #4: Beware of old age.
Because of their chemical makeup, Li-Ion batteries deteriorate as time passes, and there is nothing that can be done to prevent this process. Over a period of 18 months to three years, the capacity of the battery slowly diminishes until finally it won't accept a charge, at which point there is no way to resuscitate it.

Tip #5: A couple of solutions.
- 1) If still under warranty AppleCare only charges $29.95 for shipping and handling. Out of warranty: Apple's Battery Service costs $99 plus a $6.95 S&H (total of $105.95).

- 2) iPod ResQ - cost $79. Service: ship a padded box to customer via overnight with prepaid overnight shipping back to the company, technicians switch out the battery that day and box it and send it back to the customer via overnight.

- 3) Two others to check out: PDA Smart.com and iPod Battery.com.

The Article Recommends: Use Apple or iPodResQ


Websites to check out for further research and information:
iPod's Dirty Secret
CE Tips.com
Cadex Electronics
Battery University

Hope this is useful to everyone. Send feedback!

update

I'm home from NY, but my computer is still on the fritz... so you'll just have to wait for the whole story. Sorry.

A bite out of The Apple - Update

Yeah, I haven't had the chance to do an update everyday. I've been going and going and going, and then I get "home" and I crash... hard.

When I return home, I'll make sure I post a bunch of pictures for your enjoyment. Until then, I post pics in my PhotoBlog in the sidebar, and you can click on the images to see larger images, so go there until I return!

Exploring a new place is tough work.

A bite out of The Apple - Day 1

Okay, so I've had my first official day in New York. What a beautiful city! Today, I visited Rockefeller Center, Central Park, and saw CBS and NBC Studios. Pretty cool. I don't really feel like writing too heavily in the blog for the next few days or so, but I will be taking pictures and posting them to my PhotoBlog, so make sure you check it out to see what I'm up to on kind of a day-to-day basis while I'm away. And look forward to a really big post when I get back with better photos of my time in New York.

Miss you all... well, not really.

... end transmission.

great stories

I have some really great stories and pictures to share with everyone from this past weekend... unfortunately, my computer doesn't like me right now, and I can't do anything with it. I'm on my roommate's computer right now, just so I can check my e-mail and give this quick update. By the time I have my computer back in working order, I'll hopefully have even more great tales to retell. Here's some things to look forward to:

- Hiking/Rock Climbing Trip to Red River Gorge
- Holocaust Remberance Day (this one's a bit tricky)
- Trip to NY for a Wedding and Site-seeing

Hopefully DELL will be able to help me get up and running quickly.

insomnia and early mornings

Yep. It's 3:30am. I'm up, and awake... unfortunately. All attempts at sleep have failed at this point. Normally, I wouldn't mind AS much, except my small group is going hiking/climbing tomorrow... or correction - today. I have to be awake in three hours in order to make it to church by 8:00am. I just wish my body would work with me here. I've been getting up fairly early to try to impede the progressively later and later nights. I've stopped drinking a lot of caffine, and I exercise during the day. I just don't understand.

inside the matrix?

Josh Wilhoit... Then - actor/singer/musician. Now - Agent Smith.

This kind of thing almost makes you wonder if we really are inside the matrix or not. And if Josh actually is an agent or not. Could that explain some things?

video

I found this link on Dave Barry's blog... check it out, it's a japanese commercial.

I sure would love to know what they're advertising... any guesses?

show me the funny

10 seconds of awkwardness... with Mr. T.

...

...

... Genius.

tequila sunrise - sans card night

As some of you may know, pretty much every Wednesday night, my roommates and I have a few friends over to play cards, hang out, watch a movie, or whatever else makes us happy. Yesterday was a good friend of mine's last card night. Alas, she (Rose) and her husband (Josh) are moving to L.A. in about a week. There were very few of us there last night (in fact, just me, one (out of two) of my roommates and our friend. So we decide to make it a tequila night. Now I realize that this may be a side of me most people don't know about... but I actually like the taste of tequila. It's definitely my liquor of choice (on the occassion that I drink). So we have a couple of shots of some crappy tequila to finish that bottle off, and then decide to walk to the liquor store right down the road from my apartment to get (duh duh duuuuh) the good stuff, Jose Cuervo.

A few more shots later and her husband was finally able to come over, and we watched this REALLY weird Anime movie called Wicked City. Now, I like anime, I'm not hardcore into it or anything, but I've seen my fair share. Vampire Hunter D, Akira, and most of the series that's been played on Cartoon Network's [adult swim]. I don't know if it was just that I was tipsy or what, but that movie was one of the wierdest movies i've ever watched... it was also difficult to follow since I probably zonked out once or twice.

I'm going to miss them. Rose is a good tequila drinkin' buddy.

cursed computer

I just realized what time it is. I kind of got sidetracked experimenting with some CSS... working on making a webpage totally out of it, and I kind of lost track of time. I'm going to bed now...

I must sleep.

skipthehero

Hey gang. I just wanted to give everyone a quick heads up. I've got an almost completed webpage up and running that runs alongside this blog and this blog has been integrated into. Feel free to check it out - there are navigation links to it at the bottom of the blog posts. Feel free to send me some feedback on the pages and all that jazz.

Enjoy! - [ skipthehero.com ]

link of the day

if you do nothing else today - goto: www.homestarrunner.com.

It's a website made entirely with Flash and Flash Animation and it gets updated pretty regularly, usually once a week. I suggest you start out by clicking on the button that says "First Time Here" and then go directly to the Strong Bad E-mails. Some of the best to start out with are the ones titled: sibbie; dragon; guitar; lures & jigs; i love you; and trevor the vampire.

Make sure you have sound on the computer you're viewing it - otherwise it looks kinda silly... y'know... like little characters just kinda bouncing around on the screen... and stuff.

So.. Check it out. I mean... y'know, I like it.

the onion statshot

A Look at the trends that shape your world.


image from theonion.com

there are worse things

As I see it at this moment; the only thing worse than coming home and seeing everyone all happy and cuddled up with someone - is coming home to an empty apartment ... on a Saturday night ... at 7:30pm.

This blows.

no fools

Well, April 1st has come and gone - alas this year I did not pull any pranks. The only ones I kept coming up were really mean, and could be quite a bit distasteful. So instead, I watched the 14 hour marathon of MXC on Spike TV. A couple of the "pranks" I thought about were:

- calling someone and telling them their refrigerator was running, then hang up.

- call someone and tell them I was from the clinic and that their test came back positive... then later when they were getting worried, double check what their name was - when I found out - I would apologize and tell them to have a nice day.

- call someone I know - have a normal conversation with them (while sitting in my car). Then at one point I would yell out something like, "Oh My God", or "Oh Shit"... fumble the phone around a second and then hang up like I was in an accident.

There were others, but I'm not up to writing them down right now, and plus, they really just got meaner from there.