Wednesday, April 29, 2009

emissions

I don’t really commute by bus/bike because it’s better for the environment, but it’s a good bonus.  For the 27 mile commute (round trip), I think I do about 6 miles on bike and the rest on a bus that’s 3/4 full.

Gotta love SUVs.

climate-CO2byMode-med[1]

Saturday, April 25, 2009

iphone update

The good news:  The iPhone is jailbroken, which means I can install all sorts of apps that aren’t available in the App Store.  Sure, they range from useful to amusing to worthless.  Useful would be SBSettings so I can quickly jump to other apps without (slowly) returning to the Home screen.  Amusing would be iSutra.  Worthless would be most of the crap that’s out there.

The bad news:  Battery life is terrible.  It seems like I regularly reach the 20% battery warning.  If I actually use the phone for calls or music the battery is almost guaranteed to die before nightfall.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

seattle

Spotty rain and sun in the morning
Sunny in Bremerton, rainy in Bainbridge
A violinist performing outside my grocery store
Two dogs patiently waiting outside Coastal Kitchen for their owners to
finish dinner
A random 130 pound dog riding the bus
The bus driver asking his passengers to wait a few minutes as he runs
out to grab a coffee
Drinks downtown for no apparent reason

Monday, April 20, 2009

needlessly complicated

I’ve never had trouble zipping up after going to the bathroom, but apparently some people have serious problems with getting their stuff back in order after doing #1.  I just witnessed a fellow who was clearly doing it wrong.  Some pointers:

  1. Continue facing the wall
    There is no reason to take a step back and turn to face the door and any unsuspecting person like myself so that we can see what you’re up to.  It’s embarrassing to everyone.
  2. Don’t worry about your shirt
    With practice, you’ll be able to find your zipper and slide it up without having to lifting up your shirt and holding it there with your chin.  After a few years of practice, you should be able to do this without looking.  If you have no feeling in your fingers, I apologize.  That must be rough.
  3. Keep your boxers in your pants
    Pulling your boxers as far out of your pants as possible is the exact opposite of what you want to be doing.  In order to close the zipper, you can’t have your boxers or anything else in the way.  If you do that so that no one can see you while you’re doing the act, then consider facing the wall while you do this whole operation instead of showing off each time so we can see how good you are at what you do.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

cold hearted snake

I just got back from having dinner up in Canada.  For the first time, coming back into the US was easier than getting into Canada.  The guy just asked me where I live, what I was doing in Canada, if the car is registered in my name, how long I had the car, how come I have new license plates, what I do in Seattle, and "so you work with Bill?"  Friendly, and reasonable considering my car is filthy and my plates are shiny.  Coming into Canada I ran the gauntlet with the customers officer.  She was kinda cute, but she had no soul.

Why I was visiting Canada?
Where I was going?
Where I am coming from?
What I do here?
Exactly what do I do here?
How long will I be here?
Will I be staying overnight?
Who am I meeting?
Where am I meeting them?
Where do I know them from?
College?  Did I go to university in Canada?
Where are they from?
Why are they in Vancouver?
Is she my girlfriend?
Am I bringing anything into the country?
What do I have in my car?
What specifically do I have in my car?
Is the car registered in my name?

I am not sure what she was getting at, but I was actually questioned TWICE while leaving the US.  I had to talk to a US guy on the US side first.  Usually no one has to do that.  Something must have been up.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

iphone’s second coming

A couple days ago my iPhone fell.  At first it seemed OK.  Then I tried switching apps by using the home button…

Nothing happened.  The only way to get back to the home screen was to reboot the damn thing.  After few reboots (which takes forever, by the way), I gave up and went on my way.  I was biking home that day (which is glorious), so I didn’t want to spend time troubleshooting my phone while standing in the hallway by my bike.

After getting home I looked into the issue online.  Apparently it’s a common problem.  And the fix?  No easy fix.  The culprit is likely a loose cable that’s behind the guts of the phone.  Nice.

I hesitated.  Taking the phone apart is no joke.  It requires blades, prying, care, and a hell of a lot of patience.  I wasn’t really looking to do something like that.  Maybe I could deal with rebooting the phone each time I wanted to do something different, I thought.

That’s when I realized that it wouldn’t charge anymore either.  The injury was deep, and the phone was basically paralyzed from the waist down.  Anything “down there” was all jacked up.  No home button, no syncing, no charging, and after a while the speakers starting making random noises.  Fun.  Intolerable.

Since the phone was worthless – can’t use it, can’t charge it, and can’t even save my data, I figure I might as well risk totally destroying the thing.  After all, I’ve been hating on the thing for the past half year for it’s absurdly unresponsive UI.

Step one:  Get the black piece off.  After using a sharp knife on the edges, I was able to get it off.

Step two:  Get the back panel off.  This took forever.  Some more blade and some screwdriver was able to get the job done.  If I spent a few more hours on it I probably could have gotten it off with less scratching, but I wasn’t going to sell the thing anyway, so whatever.  I’ll save myself the effort and use the screwdriver. (-:

Step whatever:  Figure out WTF is the problem.  The thing is tightly packed.  From reading online, I knew that the culprit cable was behind the battery, but after fiddling with it I got no results.  I kept at it though.  Eventually after working at it from multiple angles and reconnecting everything that disconnected itself, I got the thing working.

It’s amazing how easy things inside the phone get disconnected.  Simply gravity was enough to get the camera to fall off.  The same weak connector is also used to connect the side buttons and the screen.  What does this mean for you?  Don’t drop the thing, or it will die.

Drop it on it’s bottom, expect to get what I got.  No home, no sync, no charge.

Drop it on it’s face, and the screen is likely to get disconnected.  This one would also be a complete pain in the ass to fix.

Drop it on it’s back, and camera and/or side buttons are likely to go on you.

For best results, drop it on it’s head.

IMG_1472

Thursday, April 02, 2009

official

I think I'll make this official. My new preferred method of getting to/
from work is the bike shuttle in the morning and the connector in the
evening. After doing that in a "winter storm" while wearing jeans I've
realized that no matter how bad it is, I'm still ok with it.

Now the question is, should I get some more bike stuff? This bike
home option intrigues me.

Sent from my POS iPhone.