Category Archives: Personal

Personal posts about me.

Vacation Week

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I had off this week from work to use up some of my vacation time, so I thought I would take some day trips.
I started my vacation week of day trips with a visit to the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum on Sunday. I haven’t been there since I was in the Cub Scouts (probably 6-8 years old), but some of it seemed familiar. I didn’t get a chance to see the Concorde while I was there but hope to maybe see it soon.
On Tuesday, I drove up to Cooperstown to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame. This was another place I haven’t been to in a long time so some of it did seem familiar but some of it seemed new to me. While there, I also stopped in to see the Wax Museum which is down the street from the HOF.
On Wednesday, I went down to Philly to check out Eastern State Penitentiary. I went there last year for their Terror Behind the Walls haunted house and decided I wanted to go back and tour it during the day. I also walked around the outside of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and saw the infamous Rocky statue.
On Thursday, I got to tour the new Yankee Stadium. :) I got to visit Monument Park (the one in the old Stadium was better), the Yankee Museum, and the Yankee dugout. If they Yankees were on a road trip, I would’ve also been able to visit the locker room. I’ll definitely go back next year when they’re out of town so I can check that out. I just wish I had toured the old Yankee Stadium while I still had the chance.
I ended my vacation week of day trips with a visit to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The last time I was at the Statue of Liberty, I was probably in middle school. I do remember that we were allowed to go up into the crown then and the stairs were very narrow. We were in a constant line, slowing going up the stairs to the crown.

 

Losing Interest

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I hardly post to this blog anymore since I’ve been using Twitter. A lot of other people I know (not personally), have also severely cut down on quantity of blog posts and are using social networking site like Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook to say what they need to say instantly. Over in the sidebar, I have my last five tweets and the last three photos I’ve uploaded to Flickr. I really don’t have much to write about anymore that I can’t do in under 140 characters.

 

My New iPhone 3GS

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11 months after purchasing my iPhone 3G, I purchased the new iPhone 3GS today at the Apple Store at Fifth Avenue. I reserved the phone through Apple’s website about 2 weeks ago when it was announced. I got a little concerned yesterday when I got an email from Apple reminding me about the reservation and I read the fine print – “Reservation does not guarantee iPhone availability at an Apple Retail Store. iPhone is sold on a first-come, first-served basis.” This made me think there was a possibility that I would have to wait even longer to get the new iPhone. I could either drive into the city with my Cobalt (not really something I wanted to do since the car is only 2 years old) or take the earliest train I could (4:45AM arriving in NYC at 6:15) and pray that the line wasn’t so long that I wouldn’t get a phone. I got to the store at 6:30AM and they had two separate lines, one for people who reserved a phone and one for people who decided to camp out. I walked into the store about 7:10 and by 7:30, I was walking out with my brand new 32GB black iPhone 3GS. I had to pay $499 instead of the $299 other people got to pay because I wasn’t completely eligible for an upgrade. To offset the extra $200, I sold my old iPhone 3G to a coworker.
I’ve played with it a bit today. It’s not much different than the iPhone I had, except for video recording, compass, and voice controls. I also wanted more storage so I don’t have to carry an iPod anymore.

 

Lack of Updates

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My recent lack of updates to this blog are mostly because I have been micro-blogging on Twitter. You can read my Twitter updates in the sidebar or click on the link to follow me. I wanted to make this post to make sure I had at least one post for May 2009.

 

Wii Fit

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I was lucky enough to purchase a Wii Fit from the Nintendo World store in NYC last week. They’re even harder to find than the Wii is (which I also got from the Nintendo World store). I tried it out and it’s a lot harder than I thought it would be. There are 4 categories; Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobics, and Balance Games. You get “Fit Credits” for every minute you spend using the Wii Fit. After you bank a certain number of “Fit Credits”, you’ll unlock additional exercises or have the ability to increase reps on certain exercises. Surprisingly, I actually like the yoga. One of the more fun games is the Super Hula Hoop. I have a hard time trying to go counter-clockwise though. I’m going to try and do 30 minutes every night like they suggest but I’ll be happy with 4+ days each week.

 

My New Crackberry

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I purchased a new Blackberry Curve 8330 from Verizon last Wednesday for work. They’re reimbursing me for the phone and any accessories (up to $200 total) and up to $110 per month for the phone bill. I went with Verizon because I have my iPhone 3G on AT&T. I figured if I didn’t have coverage with one, I’d have it with the other. I’m still getting used to the crackberry but I still like my iPhone better.

 

Limbo, Loopt & Whrrl

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Since I got my iPhone last week, I have signed up for 3 new social networking services. Limbo, Loopt, and Whrrl are mobile social networking services that use your current location to show you where your friends are.
Limbo describes their services as:

Limbo amplifies your social life – giving you quick and easy access to more activities, people and places.

Loopt goes a little more in depth when explained their service.

Loopt shows users where friends are located and what they are doing via detailed, interactive maps on their mobile phones. Loopt helps friends connect on the fly and navigate their social lives by orienting them to people, places and events. Users can also share location updates, geo-tagged photos and comments with friends in their mobile address book or on online social networks, communities and blogs.

Whrrl’s description is similar to Loopt’s.

Whrrl is a location-based social utility that helps you answer questions like, “Where should we go for dinner tonight?” or, “What fun stuff can I do around here?”, whether you are in your home town or traveling. Whrrl organizes everything you and your friends know about people, places, and events and puts that information at your fingertips. You can use Whrrl on a Web browser, via SMS, or as an application on your mobile phone.

I’m still figuring out if I’ll use all three or if one of them does everything I would need.

 

My New iPhone 3G

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I went to the AT&T store in the Bridgewater Commons mall yesterday at 6am to get in line for the iPhone 3G. I wound up being the 15th person in line and about 2 hours later, walked out there with a 16GB black iPhone. I played with it so much yesterday, the battery was almost dead by 6pm. I also downloaded and installed a few interesting apps to it like Phone Saber, which turns the iPhone into a light saber, Funambol, which is like Plaxo for the iPhone, and Rotary Dialer, which allows you to dial phone numbers as though you were using an old rotary style telephone.

 

Mii And My Wii

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After picking up a Nintendo Wii for a friend of mine’s daughter and playing it a couple of times, I decided to purchase one for myself. The only place that seems to have any is the Nintendo World store in New York. I set it up the other night, hooked it up to the Internet and started playing. I can purchase and download some original NES, SNES, Nintendo64 and Sega Genesis games. There are a few games I plan on buying and downloading (Super Mario Brothers 1-3, Super C, Legend of Zelda) but there are still others (Contra, Paperboy, Rampage, Duck Hunt, Spy Hunter) that I wish were available.

 

Going Green

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I’ve decided I’m going to start going green in order to help the environment. This won’t be easy since I’m into technology but it’s still a step in the right direction. After the failure that is Windows Vista, I am done with Microsoft products. I am currently running Windows XP on 2 of my computers. If I ever decide to get rid of Windows completely, I’ll replace it with Linux. I currently run Linux on 3 of my computers. I can download it legally for free from the Internet and burn it to one DVD. I don’t have to purchase a package where I’m going to throw out most of the packaging just to get to the install DVD.
I’ve also started printing straight to PDF, using Cute PDF Writer, to go as paperless as possible. All of my credit card bills, bank statements, and other financial documents are all done electronically. I do all of my bill paying online. This not only saves the paper used to make the checks and envelopes but also saves me time and money (no postage).
I’ve also signed up at Green Dimes to help stop junk mail for the next 5 years. When I signed up, I had the choice of getting $1 sent by postal mail (kinda goes against the idea of going green), plant a tree, or get a trial issue of a magazine about green living. I chose to have a tree planted. I also registered with the Direct Marketing Association’s Mail Preference Service to opt-out of mail offers. I also signed up at OptOutPrescreen.org, which allows me to opt-out of credit card and insurance offers. All of these should reduce the amount of junk mail I receive considerably.
Once I get my own place where I get to make more decisions, I would do a few more things like composting, using solar energy for exterior lighting and opting to have the electricity come from renewable resources.