On Demand

According to Bill Gates life as we know it is going to change drastically. Well at least the way we view TV is going to change. Although I don't generally put a lot of weight on the words of Bill Gates, in this case I'm on the bandwagon. I'm certainly not claiming to be on the cusp of cutting edge technology but since I bought my iPod the way I view TV is totally different.

Actually, maybe it wasn't my iPod that did it but rather my wanting to listen to the KQ92 and 93x morning shows. Although I'm listening to them a day late I can pause, rewind, fast forward anytime I'd like. Listening to these Poscasts has me somewhat addicted to Podcasts now. I've tried to fill my iPod with enough Podcasts to get me through the work day. More and more video podcasts are being released and some of these video Podcasts are TV shows like "The Family Guy". Apple has it setup perfect for podcasts to charge money. I'd be more then happy to cancel cable if I can just subscribe to my favorite shows and I'd be more then willing to buy the AppleTV box to view these shows as well. I guess I'd be missing out on sports in real time but the Internet is going to take care of that sooner then we think.

I'd list my Podcasts that I currently listen to but it's been an experiment and after I have the list somewhat settled I'll post them. For the time beings check out the Podcasts the Ben listens too. I have subscribed to most of them to see what they're about.

SR-71 Blackbird >= Mach 3

All those days I spent bored wondering what to do and I never thought to go see my favorite jet that was on display less then three miles from my house at the Air National Guard museum. The SR-71 Blackbird was recently moved from the museum to the CIA head quarters for their 60th anniversary. I'm not sure if it will ever be back but I certainly missed a golden opportunity to see it. I read about it in the book Skunk Works and ever since I've been in awe over it. Now I'll have to travel somewhere to see it. Hopefully I can catch it at an air show or something while I'm in Cali. Check out a video of it on youtube.

Bath Time

One of Hayleys favorite activities is bath time. She'll run into the bathroom and stand next to the tub and repeat over and over "Bath".."Bath" while shaking her head yes. It's pretty funny. So why is this worth blogging... Last night during her bath she was playing around. Then her face got red and she "Pinched a loaf" in the tub. I knew kids did this but I never thought about it. Thank God I caught her in the act and I was able to stop her from playing with her turds. I cleaned and sanitized the tub and gave her another bath without incident this time. Hopefully we have no repeats of this event.

Go Colts!!!

The Colts vs Pats game last night was one of the best ever. After swallowing the Bears winning it was great to see the Colts win. Now if they can crush the Bears all will be well. I hate the Bears. They're the worst team to ever make it to the Super Bowl. Except for maybe the '85 Patriots.

Work and not much else

So I've pretty much been working and sleeping. It's been a super busy month and I'm trying hard to meet some deadlines this week. Today I left work frustrated cuz our simulator wasn't working so I finished what I could and headed out. I plan on being back super early tomorrow. Hopefully the simulator is back up and running.

When I get a brief second I've been subscribing to podcasts to listen to at work. I'm very happy with my iPod and glad I swapped the Zune for it. It's a a lot more user friendly and the iTune integration is really nice. I also like the option of watching some video before bed to unwind. Although Jen didn't like me using her arm as a prop to hold it up.

Hayley has been doing good since we got back. She hasn't got sick yet so after a 4 month fiasco of fighting through ear infections and colds this is a nice break. Keeping her away from daycare is paying off big time. She really wants to get out side more often. I wish the temp was about 15 degrees warmer here so we could spend more time outside.

Hayley did the cutest thing the other day. When Jen tried scolding her for pushing her nicknack's off a shelf Jen told her Naughty, Naughty while pointing her finger at Hayley. Well Hayley spent the rest of the day repeating what Jen did. It was the funniest thing. Kids are so fun.

Media Center Weekend

So after the excitement died down with the new iPhone I decided to get an the 30 gig iPod with video capabilities. I figured I wanted something with more memory and I didn't want to use AT&T (Cingular) as my provider. I had a bad experience with them in the past so I'm not switching just because they got a cool product. I'm sure down the road other providers will get it and then I'll re-evaluate my options. Hopefully the price will have gone down by then also. So now that I have an iPod I've been spending a good chunk of the weekend converting my cd's to mp3's.

The other product announced at Macworld was an Apple TV. The Apple TV would be kind of cool. I figured it'd almost be worth it to cancel Blockbuster and use that money towards buying movies and TV shows. If there were enough TV shows offered online I would even consider cancelling cable TV and just downloading the shows I want to watch. I thought about it for a while and then decided to try out my XBox as a media player. I've never really thought about using it as a media center. However, since I've had Hayley it's pretty much just collected dust. Guys at work use the XBox all the time and stream media to their computers so I figure why not give it a shot. After spending 4 frustrating hours trying to figure it out and almost giving up I decided to check the cable connections. It was agonizing to find this was the problem. The cord connected to the XBox was loose. Soon after reconnecting cord to my wireless router I got wireless streaming media going to my XBox. Cool stuff. So now the XBox is a media center instead of a gaming machine.

It's Arrived!!!!!!

A while back I posted about wanting an iPod but with more features. Well the device I've been craving has arrived. CHECK IT OUT!!!! I'm really happy I didn't keep the Zune.

Macworld

In a few hours I should know what my next gadget is. Is it going to be a video iPod, an Apple phone, or some other gadget being announced by Apple. Steve Jobs gives his annual key not this morning at Macworld. This is one of the most interesting conventions I've kept track of. (Actually it's the only one) I've been tracking it because there's so much speculation about what Jobs is going to announce. So many insiders have predicted on thing or another. We'll shall see...

Weekend Recap - A Golden Gate Experience

So we got together with some fellow Eaganites who wondered out to CA to work on some Satellites. Michelle, Mike, and Aubrey are braving the traffic and decided to move to San Fran. Chad, Jen and I headed over there to check out their apartment and visit the Golden Gate Bridge. Their apartment is three blocks from AT&T stadium, where the Giants play. It's a great location. (And the monster trucks are there next weekend. We're pulling the mullets out) So we took the public transportation to the Golden Gate Bridge. It's about 7 miles from the apartment and it took about 1.5 hours to get there. OK maybe it wasn't that long but it felt like it. The bridge was pretty cool but it was just a bridge. Here's some pics from the site seeing trip. There's some great pics of the bridge, Alcatraz, and a look back and San Fran, as well as some other landscape around the bridge. After the site seeing adventure we went to Michelle and Aubrey's apartment to grill out. They have an outstanding community area on the roof with a hot tub. We'll probably grilling there a lot this year.

Sunday was Jens B-Day. "Happy B-Day again Jen". We didn't do much other then buy a trailer for the bike and we went for a bike ride. Nothing to exciting I guess. Now it's back to work.

Signs from the Golden Gate Bridge

Apparently missles are common place around San Fran.

Crisis counseling on the bridge?

Explains the first sign above.

Don't turn around on the bridge.

Zune Review

Well I finally decided I wanted the Zune instead of an iPod. My wife called santa and had it delivered it a couple days early. The deciding factors in choosing the Zune over the iPod were

1) FM radio - I gotta have my morning show fix so why not buy a device with FM built in
2) The bigger screen - Although it's the same resolution as the iPod, I figure on using the video feature a lot when traveling so the bigger screen would be nice.
3) Video output - I thought it'd be nice to output video to the tv. I could load Hayleys movies on it and not have to worry about bringing dvds everywhere we go.
4) Ben said so

I was pretty excited until I started using it. I really can't add much more then Ben already said in his Zune review. But here's a few items that stick out to me.

- It really bugs me that there's a lack of support for podcasts. If I have to fire up iTunes to download my podcasts then I might as well buy an iPod in the first place.
- I don't like the hookiness of having to let the Zune software scan my computer for songs. I'm not saying it's bad for all users but I'd rather save the time and just drag the music/vids/images onto the device. The software took forever to scan my computer and everytime I sync it scans for changes again.
- I can't remove songs from the Zune. I have to manage everything through the computer. Hello, I don't want to depend on the friggen computer to manage my device.
- I have .avi files I want to transfer to the Zune. Microsoft developed the avi format, they could at least support it on the Zune. The Zune media player should be able to do everything x-box media player does. Either that or the software should convert the videos as it does images. I don't mind converting videos but I don't want to pay another $40 bucks for the software. There's a ton of Freeware that does this for the iPod.
- My thumb is ready to fall off from pushing so many buttons trying to create play lists. Apple got it right with the click wheel. Again I'm in Little Falls away from my computer which is why I was using the Zune to create play lists and not using the computer.

I think Microsoft should put Ben on the Zune team. I feel like the current Zune team hasn't used a portable mp3 player before.

So you may be asking yourself "why not return the Zune if you're so unhappy with it?" Well I was planning on it but Jens brother loves it, so I sold it to him at a discount as part of his x-mas gift. He didn't really like the Command & Conquer box set I got him.

Now I'm back in the market for a media player. I'm going to wait until after Macworld next week to get one. Maybe Apple has something new up their sleeve.

Back to Normal

My stomach finally feels normal again. I was beginning to wonder if I should see a doc or something. Stomach bugs suck. That's the second time in a year I've caught a stomach bug and hopefully the last. I can't remember the last time I caught a non self induced stomach bug.

We made it back to Sunnyvale with little trouble. I was really surprised at how well Hayley handles flying. I figured she'd be all over the place kicking and screaming to move around. But for the most part she just sat on our laps and played with the window shade. It's amazing how little things like a window shade can keep a toddler entertained.

I got a HHR again for my rental car. I'm kind of disappointed, I was hoping for a Chevy Impala but I guess it's considered full size. I'll probably change it up this Saturday when Avis gets their inventory full again. Being back home made me realize how much I love my Mazda. It's a great car, I wish I would've got the six cylender though. Four is just not quit enough power for my liking.