smartphone

I'm in the middle of trying to figure out what smart phone to buy. I am leaning toward the iPhone. However there have been some interesting developments. Apparently the antenna is at the bottom left of the device and it's fairly easy to short circuit the antenna and drop calls. The answer from Apple is "You are holding it the wrong way". This is a stupid answer. Now it appears that Apple is hiring 3 new Antenna Engineers. Maybe it's just me, but if you are creating a phone, it would be better to hire an Antenna Engineer before creating the phone rather than after. They are probably hiring replacements for the Engineers they just fired for their design of the current antenna.

This does affect me as I primarily use a cell phone for an actual phone rather than a toy. And I was planning on using it for work. However I am left handed and the way to short out the antenna is to hold it in your right hand. But it still makes me nervous. A guy at work has a Droid Incredible and it's very nice. But it's Verizon Wireless only and Miranda refuses to switch. AT&T does have a Back Flip and the HTC Aria and I may go with one of those. I don't know though.

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party

Last night we went to the IBS dorm where Tony and Brenda Smith had made hamburgers. There were quite a few people there and we really enjoyed ourselves.

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King's Quest

A new company is creating a new King's Quest series. I think it's going to be free too. The first one we played was King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella. I remember Mom jumping/screaming when the snake popped up as Rosella was jumping to the island. Those old games were a lot more fun than the new games.

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sign

Here's a sign in Vienna, Austria. Someone chose the wrong graphic for the word "monitor". I'm guessing English isn't their strong point.

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computer

Since the downfall of my computer, the replacement computer really hasn't been able to do a whole lot. It's not big enough to run games with any complexity and if you run a few applications it bogs down terribly. So I've had gaming withdrawals. Well it turns out that the iPhone can run quite a few games. Some big name games too. So I'll have to try a few of them out.

A guy at work showed me the TN5250 emulator on the iPhone and it works. Doing anything takes forever but it would still be handy to have if you are 30+ minutes away from the computer.

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Patrick

Miranda asked Patrick if he was ready to go to Bartlesville to go shopping. Patrick said, "You go ahead and go by yourself".

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weekend

Tonight we are going to Patrick's VBS.

Tomorrow we are going to Bartlesville. "Last minute" shopping for the trip and what-not.

Mom and Dad came up yesterday afternoon to spend time with Patrick and Nellie. We all had a great time.

15 more days until our vacation.

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update

It's been a hideous week. Very hectic at work. Plus an acquaintance at work died. He was late 20's. Still not sure what happened. Very sad and very terrible. Sorta has a way of putting things in perspective. The trick is that you can't say: "Forget everything, I'm going to die someday anyway" because you still have to eat, live, etc...

16 more days until the cruise and I could use a vacation.

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weekend

Crazy weekend. Traveled to Scammon and Vinita. Finally back home.

Tomorrow I have to go to Monett again!

My eye is clearing up finally.

Miranda is taking the children to the Independence VBS. She is going to drop them off and we can spend the rest of the evening hanging out here.

Dad has told us that he wants to take us someplace nice to eat sometime. I'm guessing Tulsa will be the best. It's been a long time since I've been to the French Hen and that sounds really good but not sure. It's been a long time since I've had a nice steak so that would be Ruth's Chris, Charleston's or Fleming's. Any would work right now as I'm starving.

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yesterday

Yesterday I went in to Monett. We had our General Meeting with the CEO. Good news and bad news. Good news is that we have a new Direct job and we are the only company in our field that hasn't laid off. Bad news is that the market is down 50% and times are still tough.

Here's our new Direct job.

We went to the Brewer's house last night and played games and chatted. It was a great time.

I think I have an eye infection of some kind. My eye is really red. I've had something like this before and had to have eye drops. It looks really bizarre.

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Patrick

A couple of funny stories about Patrick:
1. Last night during our bedtime prayers, he prayed for "Bill" instead of Dad or Daddy.
2. He asked for some tea and Miranda said "What's the magic word?". He said, "Hocus Pocus".

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nuclearcowboy

You know about my liver issue (doesn't everyone now). There's hope for me. Liver transplants coming soon.

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sports

Gabriel Heinze scored for Argentina and is listed as one of the top World Cup scorers. This is fairly funny as he's a defender instead of a forward. Why am I telling you this? Because he's a defender with the GREATEST SOCCER TEAM IN THE WORLD.

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blog

Yet another change to the layout of the blog. There have been several new layouts added and they don't cut off the right side of YouTube videos. They still look slightly odd but they are viewable. Plus the new layout gives the text more of a formatted look.

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update

We have had some interest in our house and it is supposed to be shown today. So both sets of Realtors (ours and the previous buyers) have been trying to contact the current "renter" (and I use the word "rent" very loosely here). Either she is at National Guard or avoiding calls. There have been several calls, emails, text messages, and basically every other attempt to contact her with no results.

There is no telling how the inside of the house looks and we are hoping for the best. We are also hoping that it works for the people looking at the house but completely understand if it isn't what they want as well.

That last part may seem strange to most people, but one of my readers is tangentially involved. Now I know you have a few questions. "Who is it?" and "What in the world does "tangentially" mean?" are probably the two biggies. Well life is full of unanswered questions.

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weekend.

Very quiet weekend. We just stayed around here all weekend except for church. Our pastor, Albert Schaper, preached a good (if somewhat terrifying) message. He is a pilot and was preaching about standing in judgment before God. He said (paraphrasing) that no matter how good your teacher praises you, what matters is how well you handle matters when the "chips are down". He then proceeded to give an example of pilots crashing, burning, dying. You will note that in 26 days we are getting ready to get on a plane and fly to Montreal. I'm not exactly Johnny Frequent-Flyer so I'm a bit nervous about it anyway. I teased him about this after the message.

People always say that you are more likely to get killed in a car accident than die in a plane crash. Like this is supposed to make me feel better about life???

The last time I flew was about 3 years ago when I had some training at San Jose. Nothing major happened except our plane was very late in Dallas/Ft Worth and it was midnight. Needless to say, there is nothing to do in the Dallas/Ft Worth airport at midnight.

Miranda was going to take her laptop on our trip but there have been several incidents of Customs/Border Patrol seizing laptops and keeping them for extended periods of time (year or more).

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economics

Here's a smackdown on Keynes by none other than F.A. Hayek. The last half is a must-see

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funny

Glenn Beck hyped a book called The Road to Serfdom by none other than the Austrian School economist F.A. Hayek. The book is now the #1 best seller on Amazon.com. So here's a repost of the Keynes vs Hayek rap.

"The focus on spending is like pushing a thread."

Here's the comic book version of The Road to Serfdom.

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sports

The World Cup Celebration Concert kicks off tonight and the World Cup officially kicks off tomorrow. I can watch part of it at ESPN3. Oddly enough, they aren't showing England vs USA. I'll have to find that one somewhere else.

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economics

It's been awhile since the last economics update. Yay! (I hear you saying). Shame on you.

Apparently the stimulus package didn't work.

Surprise, surprise.

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vacation

30 more days until our cruise.

Yesterday, Miranda went to the travel agency and since I'm working, Patrick and Nellie tagged along. They came home with a Disney vacation and Patrick keeps asking if we are going on the vacation. He isn't talking in the future tense either. He is asking if we are driving to see Mickey Mouse. Assuming we go next year, it's going to be a long year. He doesn't forget stuff like that.

We would like a take a bigger vacation with the children next year since Miranda and I are taking a big vacation this year.

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wondering

In case you were wondering... Yes there are AS/400 Programming jobs in Quebec City.

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pager.

RE: my last post about pager duty.

One of the nice things about the iPhone (and maybe other smartphones) is that you can run a 5250 terminal emulator on it and I could handle error messages where ever I am (in theory). Since I would be buying/using it for work, I can take the expense off on my taxes as well (I believe). Unfortunately it's a bit of expense.

You have your usual cell-phone plan, plus the data package ($15/month), plus the text messages (200 for $5/month). So I would be adding an extra $20/month to our cell phone bill. Miranda could do her Weight Watchers on it, I could use French dictionaries, and a variety of other stuff. Decisions, decisions....

For those that clicked the link to the 5250 terminal emulator above, that's right... that's the technology that I work with every day. That's why I'm on the cutting edge. That was the first one that I started programming in RPG with. The keyboard was awesome. It had 24 function keys (your computer will have 12). Plus the keyboard was fun to type on. It made a clicky-clacky sound. Here's the actual computer that we work on. It will blow away the computers that you and I are sitting at combined. You can open the computer, remove the hard drive, plug a new hard drive in, and it won't miss a beat. It will even copy the data to the new hard drive for you. Try that with your new fandangled machines (actually don't, as you will be buying a new computer).

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work

After a few years of rest, I'm returning back to pager duty. In the computer biz (especially support), you have to be available to answer error messages and fix problems. At EFCO, it is (was) optional and you were paid extra. I would rather have the extra time than the extra money. However with the downturn in the economy and the need to save money, they are removing the money and it's going to be mandatory for everyone.

You have to be available for a week at a time and be able to sign on and fix issues as they happen. It's not nearly as bad as my previous job (all-nighters weren't uncommon and you would at least be paged from probably 2:00AM - 4:00AM at least 2-3 times). I think they may get 2-3 a week here at EFCO.

Anyway... as we go to church quite a ways away from our house, that will crimp my style for the week that I'm on duty (either go here in town or no church at all). It will also remove any long distance travels for that week/weekend.

I will have about 5-7 weeks out of the year for pager duty (about 1 every 1 1/2 - 2 months).

I really dislike pager duty but it pays the bills. You know how that goes.

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vacation

Here are our flight times:

Leaving:

Tulsa - Detroit: Leave at 6:00AM and arrive at 9:28AM

Detroit - Montreal: Leave at 10:20AM and arrive at 12:10PM

Returning:

Boston - Chicago: Leave at 3:38PM and arrive at 5:19PM

Chicago - Tulsa: Leave at 8:10PM and arrive at 9:59PM

Notes:

1. A 3 hour layover in Chicago. Yuk!
2. I love how they have it to the minute on the times. Like they can be that accurate. If they are within 1-2 hours I'll be impressed.
3. We are getting back pretty late.

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looking up.

Every time I'm outside and standing in clover, I always look for a 4 leaver. I found one today. At least I think it's clover. My knowledge in horticulture is somewhat lacking.

And here I am, Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover (boo! terrible joke).

I never post pictures so here are some latest ones of the children (Patrick's graduation).

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doctor

I went to my allergist follow-up appointment and I mentioned that the doctor had said that if I lived in Phoenix, then I wouldn't be having these problems. He said that was incorrect. He has a friend that is an expert on grass allergies and he moved to Tuscon. Apparently they have imported all kinds of grass and it grows year round. So it would actually be worse. He said I would have to move north... like Quebec City. Miranda just moaned when she heard the news. Lafayette is history, Quebec City is the future.

Downsides... Currently it's 61 degrees. That's correct. 61! They get approximately 4 meters of snow each year (12 feet). Average temperature in January is 10 degrees.

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Nellie

On Saturday night, we spent the night with Paul and Jane. They have a huge King size bed that we sleep in. Nellie slept with us (Patrick fell asleep on the couch so we just left him there). So we are lying in bed and Miranda says something to me and I reply back (can't remember what). About that time Nellie pipes up and says "HUSH!". They aren't allowed to talk at nap-time at school. It was very funny.

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quiz.

Can you pick out the IT guy at this company?

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toys

I'm getting old. I read Engadget and Gizmodo every day but I literally see nothing that I have a use for. Seems like all the toys these days are smartphones/tablets. I have no use for them as they require monthly data packages. I don't understand how anyone can afford toys like that. I guess I could afford it but why would I want to spend $15-$30/month just to access the Internet from my phone?

I also love hearing people talk about how their tablet is a replacement for books. So let's say you're on a flight from Tulsa to Marseille (imagine that). It's about 11 hours from New York to Marseille. The battery on the iPad will last about 10 hours but probably less with active use. After the battery is dead, then what? Sitting there looking at the top of the travelers head that is sitting in front of you while they are sleeping. Yay!

I also didn't realize that it was 11 hours from New York to Marseille. That's about the same distance to Hawaii. Of course, Hawaii doesn't have the greatest soccer team in the world!

Here's some more trivia for you... Kansas is further South than Marseille. The latitude is 43 degrees North (approx) while Wichita is 37 degrees North. Here's an interesting map.

Anyhoo... enough of this rant... It's time to go. More stuff to gripe about when I get back from the family reunion.

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weekend.

We are off to Scammon today for the McCormick family reunion.

We are going to spend the night at Paul and Jane's tonight as that will cut down traveling tomorrow to church. However we may negate that by going to Joplin tonight. Not sure yet.

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project

I think I found my new project. I want to build one of these. It does nothing but it looks like a lot of fun.

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Nellie

We were singing Frère Jacques and Nellie kept saying something about being wet because I was listening to her in English. She was wanting Alouette. Silly me thinking she was speaking English.

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house

As everyone is aware, we have our house up for sale again. Of course, now that it's up for sale, housing is going to "double dip".

Reminds me of a joke a guy told me:

Dan: Ask me the secret of my success.

Me: What's the secret of your...

Dan: (interrupting me) My timing.

I have that same timing. In 2008 I decided to play a little bit in the stock market. I put in my money and literally the next day, the stock market crashed. I am not joking either.

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summer

I think Miranda is already bored of summer vacation. She feels like she isn't getting anything accomplished. Welcome to my world.

However she is going to paint the bathroom and kitchen this summer so it will start getting a bit busier.

Today Stubby goes in for the operation. Tonight is Patrick's t-ball practice. He's doing a lot better apparently. Miranda takes him to practice and I stay home with Nellie. We tried taking Nellie to the park but that affected Patrick's practice because he wanted to be at the park also.

This weekend is the McCormick family reunion. Police will be on standby. Just kidding.

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Stubby

Stubby has a growth on his lip that has been there for a couple of weeks. We took him to the vet. It is a tumor. The vet acted like it wasn't a big deal but a operation is needed to remove the tumor and he goes in tomorrow. The vet said that his lungs and heart sounded great. So it appears that Stubby is going to be around awhile longer (much to my dismay).

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economics

The current world economy in a nutshell. Very funny and thought provoking.

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