My pretty, glowing liver

My HIDA scan…radioactive stuff injected while you glow for the scanner to check gall bladder function. That’s bile going from my liver into the intestines. But my gall bladder is apparently in stealth mode…

Start me up!





Start me up!

So we were moving some furniture at work and viola – mystery laptop appears!

So I took it back to my office to see what it was….holy smokes! This
thing had Windows 98 on it. It must have been sitting down there all dusty
and lonely for a decade or more.

But it still works! Curiously, the laptop doesn’t seem all that slow –
just goes to show you that for as much as hardware gets more powerful there
shall be bloated software and operating systems to fill the void 🙂

Greetings from flight level 330





Greetings from flight level 330

Over Idaho on the way to DFW enjoying WiFi Internet on my laptop from
33,000 feet..first time I’ve had the opportunity. I know this has
been around for a while now, but I’m old and it still gives me a big
WOW factor that I can browse the net from 33,000 feet while traveling
at mach 0.80 on a tiny little netbook at connection speeds I would
have sold my soul to have 10 years ago.

It’s really cool.

When a downgrade “upgrades” your iPhone…

I did like some features of IOS 4.x, but holy cow did it slow down my 3G. It became intolerable. 15 seconds to open the messages app (I timed it!) Another 5 seconds to start a new message. That’s an eternity.

So I downgraded my iPhone 3G to the 3.1 software version and viola! It’s like new again. And yes, I restored the phone, reset the thing, etc — tried all the tricks before the downgrade – no luck.

So if you haven’t upgraded — I suggest you don’t if you have a 3G! The 3Gs and, of course, the iPhone 4 will probably be OK.

Meet Junior…





Meet Junior…

He’s there on the right next to his brothers of various ages – isn’t
he cute?

I had wanted a smaller device to use while traveling and while
watching TV (it’s fab to lookup stuff/stars/stats while watching!)

I had high hopes for the Apple iPad but the first version that came
out a few weeks ago just didn’t meet my needs or expectations (no
flash player Apple? Come on now…that’s just dumb no matter what)

So I finally got a "netbook" – and it’s pretty neat. One inch thick
and about 2.5 pounds. 10 inch screen running Windows 7. Intel Atom
N450 processor (the very newest Atom processor) and 2 gigs memory.
Keyboard is more useable than it looks. It’s a sweet little dealie
and performs great.

Oh, and here’s the fun part… It’s a Gateway. Yep, remember them
cows? I was going for the highest rated and reviewed HP netbook but
found this little gem that just came out while researching for the
others. The specs beat the others and price was right so I got it.
Hopefully this little guy will continue to perform.

YAY – new toys!

A decade of blogging

I’ve been blogging for a decade. 10 years already… huh!

While this is certainly an interesting point in a time line, it’s really only an electronic analogue to a diary. I’m sure many people have been keeping diaries for longer. Nonetheless I’m kinda tickled to meet this milestone. I started “blogging” before “blog” was even a noun or a verb; indeed before it was even a popular catchphrase. Indeed I had my first web page back in 1995 (See my “Deep Archive” link above)

That’s a lot of time and bandwidth (timewidth?) dedicated to my own banter. What have I accomplished in that time?

As it turns out quite a bit. I became a true adult (still out for some debate). I had a successful consulting company (official corporation even!) and then transferred clients/closed it after my clients became successful and got gobbled-up by other, bigger corps in what became the dot com bomb. I moved to California and back. I bought a house. Got cats. Sold a house. Bought a condo. Used five different types of blogging software. Stumbled into a great relationship. And generally observed what made me laugh and ranted upon the stuff that irritated.

As I look back at some of my entries it makes me smile and laugh a lot. Also I cringe a lot…was I THAT shrill, really? Or was I THAT stupid, really? But that’s the deliciousness of time and becoming older — the cumulative benefit of your experiences always makes you wiser and wiser.

So what will the next decade have in store? Who knows….That is what is fun, and worth living!

-Garrett

1998:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/1998/

1999:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/1999/2/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/1999/3/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/1999/

2000:

http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2000/1/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2000/2/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2000/3/

2002
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2003/1/

2003:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2003/2/

2004:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2004/1/

2005:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2005/1/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2005/2/

2006:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2006/1/

P.S.: I’m going to attempt to add these old entries to my database. So if you subscribe to the RSS feed you may see a slew of new entries. I’ll be careful to set the date in the posts properly, but I’m unsure if they will appear in the RSS feed because they are “new” entries as far as the database is concerned…

Hangin

Waiting for a more modern day server project of mine to do it’s thing, I decided to play around with Virtual PC and see how old I could go back in PC time. Of course there is always DOS, but that installs fairly easily — although it took me a minute to figure out how to make MSCDEX to work in autoexec.bat & config.sys again!

I’ve previously run a Commodore 64 emulator, and that was nice, but without the software it wasn’t particularly interesting (Anyone remember GEOS?!)

No, the real fun was re-visiting those tried-and-true Windows versions I remember from College. So I whipped out my old CD drawer and what did I find

The Return of Rabbit Ears

I like TV. Quite a bit. I’ve been a cable or satellite user since nearly birth. It’s always given the clearest picture and tons of channels

But damn, cable and sat service is getting pricey! As I get older I’m finding I view TV less and watch movies and Internet videos more. Actual “TV” is only for live events and local news. And with KOMO and Dish Network feuding over some asinine reason (So KOMO got dropped from my sat feed) there is even less of a reason for me to partake in the whole package. The only reason I pay for cable/sat is because I thought that was the only way to get a clear signal….until know.

…Enter the digital TV switch into the proverbial picture….

So with the recent brew-ha-ha of the digital TV switch/delay/etc. I decided to just see what I could get and see what the fuss was about. Being at the top of Capitol Hill, I practically stare at the Seattle TV station broadcast antennas from my deck only 2 miles away. My plasma TV has both the old analog and new digital tuners built-in, as mandated several years ago. So having not used an antenna in decades I attached a simple 6 foot length of coax cable to my TV antenna input and had the TV search for channels…

Holy smokes!

It found them. Not only the new digital channels for all the main stations (ABC, NBC, CBS, WB, CW and some others), but it also found some of the old analog channels still broadcasting. This enabled me to do a complete side-by-side comparison.

Rarely am I impressed, but what I’m seeing on my HDTV on the digital channels (with a complete ghetto “cable” antenna nonetheless) is nothing short of amazing. I’m floored. Full HDTV and stereo surround sound on all major networks. The analog channel equivalents still come-in, but are that lovely snow-storm of interference we’ve all come to know and love, but now are glad to get rid of. It really is that spectacular. I’ve never seen reception and picture quality like this from OVER-THE-AIR broadcast in my life. The comparison is really that striking.

So now I mull some thoughts….If a 6-foot length of coax dangling from the back of my TV can get excellent DTV (and, might I add, *FREE*) reception, what could a modern little antenna pick-up? My mind is full of thoughts.

Could this be the end of a $100/month bill and the beginning of a post-modern rabbit ears revolution for me? It makes me giggle with glee.

So for all the hype it’s been given, if you live close to town, or have a good antenna, The DTV switch is totally worth it. Proven by a small, 10-minute experiment I never thought I’d do.