Lenovo Brings +1 Happiness

My Lenovo T60p is about 18 months old. It’s holding up very well, but there’s a new model that I’m really interested in buying… Core 2 Duo vs Core Duo, 802.11n, etc. A moderate bump, more or less, but I think they’re getting rid of their 14″ standard sized notebook models, which means I’m on borrowed time. And that I’m slated to sell the old one before I can get a new one! *g*

One of the odd things about ThinkPads is that I very often find that the letter decals on the keyboard wear off over time. A weird trait for them or I’m using the thing way too much. Either way, I said “Hm. When it was IBM, I was able to get parts… I wonder if Lenovo’s support is as good as IBM’s was.”

I went to the product’s web page, filed a request for service which said, “I need a new keyboard because of wear and I can install it myself.” The thing is still under warranty so no credit card number was in play. Within 5 minutes I got a phone call confirming it, and telling me I should expect the part in 1 to 3 days.

Beat every other notebook company that I’ve ever worked with, including Apple, Sony, and Dell.


Rock Band: The First 5ive Minutes

If you work with me, please ignore this post because there is no way that I would take time out of my busy test casing schedule to play a video game. Obviously, this is a guest post, put here for the masses and in no way reflects my actually life. If you don’t believe me, please check my Xbox LIVE profile! Just because I have no LAN connectivity to my 360 due to floor construction wouldn’t have anything to do with missing status. Nope. No way!

I finally caved. Waded into my electronic-assploded kitchen, grabbed my 360, video cable, and power supply. Hooked it up to a lackluster 20″ LCD and dropped in Rock Band. After all, it’s been in the house for almost 11 hours – thought I’d take a look.
Continue reading Rock Band: The First 5ive Minutes

Even Broken Clock

Scoble gets blasted by Mac fanboys, while trying to prove a valid point, which in and of itself is a nice change of pace. No spin or “head in the sand” opinion this time. Just a small post – or what was once a small post – about problems he has been having with his Mac hardware and the loyalty of the Mac fan base. I’m particularly amused by this, given the latest “I’m a Mac” commercials… they are all about “record breaking sales” while tacitly ignoring that Mac’s market share hasn’t broken 10%. Or the fact that Vista sold more copies in it’s first quarter than an entire year of OSX and Mac hardware. But whatever creams Jobs’ twinkie and makes for a snappy commercial, I guess.

I also found this clash with Apple’s PR department funny. It seems that the words iTunes, iPhone, and monopoly trigger a combustive PR reaction, which of course is the reality: I can’t imagine what you’d do with an iPhone without iTunes, especially if you don’t activate the phone at the store.

Anyway, my original point: even a broken clock is right twice a day.

TRAPPED!

For reasons that remain unclear to me, I decided to have some carpet replaced with hardwood in my house. The work was originally supposed to be done in October (during the quiet caused by the reorg) but there was a delay getting the parts in stock, so it was rescheduled to start this coming Monday. Spur of the moment thing, the installer asks me if they can start on Ssaturday instead. I say OK, figuring that the installation might go long anyway – why not start early? After all I had prepped most of the den – couldn’t move the furniture from the other rooms until that floor was done first: gotta put the couch (which also got repaired this weekend) somewhere and it won’t fit anywhere else… it’s sorta like all of the joys of moving, except you don’t go anywhere, to be honest – what a pain in the ass.

Aside from two runs for coffee, I’ve been in my house – which has whole rooms emptied for work and other rooms over flowing with extra crap – for the last 48 hours. I have about 1/8th of my den floor sporting hard wood now – they haven’t even started on the living room or dining room. They planned to work on this Mon-Wed – now I wonder if it’s going to bleed into the weekend after Thanksgiving…

At least the ‘net, 360, cable, and TV are all still active – otherwise I might have consumed my own spleen by now.

Ho-Yo-Yo?

Hartford Courant: […] that was the story out of Australia Thursday, where a firm that trains Santa Clauses reportedly told recruits to avoid “ho, ho, ho,” in part because it conjures American slang for a prostitute, according to The Daily Telegraph newspaper in Sydney.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

SharpMT 4.0 – Released To CodePlex GitHub

GitHub: SharpMT is an offline Blog writer that is designed for MovableType based systems. There are three versions of the application: desktop, PocketPC, and SmartPhone, all of which share the same file format for offline drafts. The project files included have three different versions – one for each platform – as well as installation and help system project files.

It’s alive!

Home page: SharpMT’s GitHub home page

Binaries: SharpMT 4.0

Discussions: SharpMT forum
Continue reading SharpMT 4.0 – Released To CodePlex GitHub

CodePlex

I’m not sure if I’m going to do it or not, but I’m thinking about it… and I may actually have some free time this weekend (as I’m stuck in my house, waiting for repairs to get done and stuff) but… well. It’s been over a year since I’ve had an update to the products in question…. maybe it’s time.

I’m thinking of putting the source code for SharpMT, Pocket SharpMT, and Phone SharpMT on CodePlex.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Violent, fat stacks of cash, and good in bed

Hit Reset!: From Guys & their games… – MSN Dating & Personals […] Q. And what does the Xbox divulge about its owner? […] Satterfield: These guys tend to like extremely violent, visceral games, as well as the social aspect of connecting with friends online. […] Xbox 360 fans tend to make good money and like to spend it. These guys are passionate about gaming and that transfers into the bedroom as well.

w00t.

Uh… Wha?

Gizmodo: In an effort to combat rampant piracy in China, Paramount and Warner Brothers have begun selling legitimate DVDs there for only $3. And these titles are not some bargain bin Steven Segal DVDs either, rather new releases that are only two months out from their theater debut in the US. The $3 price tag is still over twice as high as a pirated copy, but the studios hope that customers will learn the value of the legal versions.

Lemme get this straight… the nation has piss poor control over their citizens so piracy runs rampant – and has since the 80’s* – and now they’re getting retail DVD’s for $3 and faster than we get them????

Maybe once “they learn the value of legal versions” they can explain it to us Yanks since we are paying $10-$20 per movie, $20-$40 for seasons of TV shows (that run in syndication) and $60+ for some box sets like The Sopranos. Right now? Right now, I’m not seeing this supposed value.

* and I quote a friend’s father who used to go to Singapore and Hong Kong all the time for business circa 1984, “Eh? Yeah, they have E.T. on VHS!** They have everything on VHS – you just have to ignore the subtitles!”

** E.T., originally released in 1982, came to VHS for the first time in 1988 (and one of the first priced around $20 – all new movies at the time were going for $90/tape, mostly to both encourage rentals and extort cash from independent rental stores (Blockbuster was both small and new at this point.)

Vista Tip: Dragging URL Shortcuts From Address Bar To Desktop

This is really just a repeat of the permissions issue I had a while back when I relocated Documents, Desktop, Downloads, and Temp, but it’s worth repeating: after scouring the interwebs for help on this I’ve realized that most people don’t know about the fix…

And what happens if you only reset the permissions on three out of the four directories in question after installing Vista on a new machine…
Continue reading Vista Tip: Dragging URL Shortcuts From Address Bar To Desktop

Android

Android: Welcome to the Open Handset Alliance?, a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies who have come together to accelerate innovation in mobile and offer consumers a richer, less expensive, and better mobile experience. Together we have developed Android?, the first complete, open, and free mobile platform.

No more “gPhone” it seems. I mean, did anyone get why a search engine company was making a handset? Either way, having seen this announcement, I have to that I’m rather underwhelmed by this latest news…
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Dating Sucks. Still.

Seems that a previous Rant about how dating sucks has been highly ranked by the major search engines. What I mean is that if you search for “dating sucks” using any of the three biggest search engines, you’ll end up here.

I’m not sure how I felt about that… I mean, do I want to be known for my cynical [yet accurate] view of dating?

Then I re-read the post. Then I considered some of the recent tribulations I’ve had during my most recent dating adventure. And the weekend that a fellow bar patron scared off a woman while trying to “help” me along. And the angst I had during the week from all of the drunken couples at the local bar on Halloween.

Meh.
Continue reading Dating Sucks. Still.


Randy No Arms' ongoing commentary on life, gaming, and the rest of the world