You're Over The Line!

Kimmel on Miss Teen So Co

Exchange Has Built-In Viruses?

This image is from Microsoft's Exchange web site. Unfortunately it's been removed now but you can see clearly from the picture that Microsoft is very realistic about how virus and worm prone their piece of crap Exchange server is. Thank god the state of Nebraska is spending $5 Million (or 10) to switch over to it!


Link

Red Shell Diaries Update

Speck products was true to their word. The replacement shell they sent arrived last night and it is a lot better than the first one I received.

Thanks for making it right Speck.

Zune Logo Sdrawkcab

Helpdesk Humour - Not So Funny

I've seen these types of things before and while they are funny I'm of the opinion that in the long run they hurt morale and customer service. I also find it quite funny that the helpdesk people (who typically have the least amount of experience and are in an entry-level IT position) are so well qualified to determine who should be set on fire and who shouldn't.

Wonderful and Creepy Chernobil Pics

I found these pictures of Chernobil quite moving, something about man's power (or lack thereof) against nature I think. One of the comments on the page was that it looks a lot like City 17 in HL2. I concur.


Link

The "Offending" Code

This little snippet is actual code written by an actual person who actually thinks they are an actual developer. Cleaned up for readability and to make it at least somewhat anonymous the "offending" bit is still in there.

If doc.fieldValue(0) <> "" Then
    ' if the field is NOT blank then the
    ' task is complete (increment by 0)
    intNC = intNC + 0
    strLast = strLast & ", " & doc.fieldValue(0)
Else
    ' if the field is blank then the
    ' task isn't complete (Increment by 1)
    intNC = intNC + 1
    strLast = strLast & ", " & doc.fieldValue(0)
End If

The AQ (Autism Quotient) Test

I'm not sure what to think of this one... I took the test and ended up with a 42. 50 Is the max score, 32-50 is considered "very high" with the comment "most people with Asperger Syndrome or high functioning autism score about 35."

Take the test and tell me how normal you are...

Test Link

Speck Products Update

Hopefully I am nearing a resolution on my RedBook(tm) issue that I posted about earlier. I sent another E-Mail to Speck this morning and I received this back a few minutes ago.

"Hi Matt,

Thank you for contacting Speck!

We sincerely apologize for the delayed response. We do response (sic) to all emails. Please provide your mailing address to receive a replacement.

Thank you,

[ed: name removed]
Customer Service"

Hopefully I will get things all fixed up in the very near future - thanks to Speck for the quick response to today's E-mail.

Red Shell Diaries

Recently I purchased a red "shell" for my MacBook Pro from Speck Products. I was very excited to add some color and additional protection to my beloved MBP and I could hardly wait until the thing showed up so I could slap it on. The package was delivered on 8/13/07 but unfortunately there was a minor problem with the right side of the bottom piece. It wouldn't quite "snap" onto the corner of my MB and there was a very rough edge on that side as well. (You may have to click on the picture below to resize it so that you can see the rough edge.)

I was disappointed but I thought, "hey, no problem - any company that is cool enough to make a cool product like this will be cool about customer service, they'll probably just apologize and send me out a replacement!" Sadly that has NOT been the case so far and that is the reason for this blog post. I E-Mailed them the morning of 8/14/07 with this message:

"Hello. Yesterday I received my much anticipated red shell for my 15" Core2Duo MacBook Pro. Unfortunately it seems like there may be a defect in the lower half of the case. It won't "clip" on to the right side of the laptop and there is a very rough edge along that side as well. I was hoping that you might be inclined to send me a replacement. I have attached a couple of pics of what it looks like."

So far I have not received ANY response. Not even what would be an extremely frustrating "return it where you bought it." This has started me thinking about how I paid $40 for two thin pieces of colored plastic and wondering why exactly I figured that Speck products was such a cool company. I am always very irritated when companies give E-Mail lower priority than other forms of communication.

I'm currently very bummed out about this situation. My hope is that they will make things right with me but whether they do or not I will write a post here about it.

UPDATE: All is well.

My MacBook is Cherry Flavored!

Thanks to the awesome shell from Speck Products my MacBook pro is now cherry flavored!


And it's even Digg-ified...


Sweet.

Pissed Off Priest

I knew there was a reason I wanted to be ordained. This guy is a model for all of us!

Skater Fall Go Boom

Kids these days! Man when I used to shred and I would fall down like that I would never ever lose my shoes.

Helpful Windows Warning

I think this is Windows' way of telling you that you are about to have a very, very bad day.



Thanks Chad!

DIY iPhone Headphone Adapter

I know I'm not the only person in the universe saying "WTF, OVER?" about the iPhone's recessed headphone jack. I probably have a dozen assorted pairs of headphones and none of them will work in the iPhone. (If you're wondering why I don't just use the ones that it came with it's because... I don't like them.) This afternoon I decided to do something about it and you can too - it's very simple and you only need a couple of inexpensive items to do it.

The first thing you need to acquire is some type of inline headphone volume control cables. Any one would probably work but I chose the Radio Shack Gold-Plated Volume Control Cable for Stereo Headphones catalog number 42-2559. They had a ton of them on the shelf at my local Shack for $7.99/each.

The next item you will need is either an xacto knife or a single sided razor blade. I had the blade so I chose to use that but either one should work. I recommend a new blade though since it will make it easier to do clean cuts.



Now you're ready to start cutting. Gently make a circular cut around the base of the plastic piece that surrounds the headphone plug. Try not to get too deep, we can always make it deeper later. Once you have that completed start carefully making vertical cuts parallel to the heaphone plug itself around the area that is keeping us from plugging into the iPhone. Take your time and if you didn't cut far enough in when you made the very first cut you can remedy that now. When you're done you should have something that looks like this.



If there are any small pieces of plastic still hanging on use your blade to trim them up and make it look nice. (After all you ARE going to plug this into your Jesus Phone, right?)



Now enjoy your tunes with whatever headphones you want!

Chatty iPhone?

It's just a thought... But why can't iPhones talk to one another when they're in range of the built-in Wifi? Palms have been able to exchange information over IR for a long time and it would be a pretty nifty way of sharing contacts, Safari URLs, iChatt-ing...

Maybe in an update someday (when they hopefully add MMS!)

When It's Nothing

Today I was scrolling through the bulletins my "friends" on MySpace have posted and for some reason I decided to read one with the title "SO SAD!" I wasn't prepared for the montage of images of our troops and some of the hardships and heartaches that they experience every day compared to the things that can sometimes seem like the end of the world here in the States. I was moved by the words and the images but I must say that it was the music that really pushed me over the edge.

I don't really support the war, I wish that "our boys and girls" weren't over there getting killed every day because of a bunch of religious power hungry zealots (in the White House and in Iraq.) I do support our troops and the sacrifice that they are making for us. For those of you that are reading this that have served or are serving our country I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I cleaned up the HTML a bit and posted the page to my server. Some of the linked images are missing and no doubt more will go away as time goes on but I believe it will still convey a powerful message. Take a look at the link and next time you are at a sporting event and the national anthem is being played look at the flag and think about all of the mothers, fathers, sons and daughters that gave their lives so that we can enjoy our cushy stateside lives.

Link

OJ Doesn't Mind Prank Callers

OJ Simpson Prank Calls - Watch more free videos

Strange ReadyBoost Experience

Today I thought I would try out my spankin' new (ok, new to me) SanDisk Cruzer Micro U3 with ReadyBoost (RB from now on) on my Vista laptop. I disabled RB on the existing drive (a tiny 1 gigger) and removed the device, then plugged the new bad boy in and assigned it the same drive letter as the previous one. (Technically this is skipping when I had to plug the drive into an XP machine to remove the probably-useful but nonetheless irritating U3 stuff but that is ANOTHER story.) After the drive was mounted I noticed that Vista did not prompt me to use RB. A quick peek at the properties for the Cruzer revealed that Vista didn't think the drive met the minimum requirements for use with RB. This seemed strange to me because on the packaging for the Cruzer it clearly says "Enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost." I thought maybe there was something screwed up with the drive so I ran HD Tune and the benchmarks were way above the RB minimums. This was becoming a bit of a puzzler - time to engage the extra brain cells...

Or not. The next thing I tried was changing the drive letter. As soon as it recognized it the RB dialog popped up. FIXED.

First iPhone Post

And boy is it cool...