Coffee Shop Revolution

I just switched to Movable Type 3.2…and so far so good. You as a reader shouldn’t notice too much difference, but it’ll definitely make my life a bit easier Ok, thats all about that!

Just tried out the new Google Talk chatting program. Frankly I was disappointed–I think they released this to market way too fast. Google keeps making their beta releases, but for the first time, I think they should have spent more time on this, and added some of the common features to this before releasing. I will admit there are some very cool and innovative features, but maybe my expectations were too high!

Anyway, the point of this post is, this new messenger (which uses Jabber) works at my workplace (the other 3 are blocked). So if you want to talk to me when I’m at work, download and use Google Talk! You can also use any other Jabber client.

And if you have a gmail account (which you probably do), then thats all you need to use Google Talk, no extra registration or anything! And if by chance you don’t know MY gmail address, please visit my contact page

Ok thats all, later!

In case you haven’t figured it out already, Internet Explorer is horrible. It is a user’s and web developer’s nightmare. User’s because of the security and spyware problems. Web developer because of the non standards compliance problems. This post was inspired by a webpage which details and demonstrates many bugs that are found only in IE. Some of them are quite funny and they all demonstrate why IE SUCKS! Someone should forward this page to Microsoft.

What is worse, there is news that even IE 7 will not be standards compliant. Maybe Microsoft is in their own little world. Maybe they think they are already doing their users a favor that they are including “tabbed browsing” in the browser. The user experience in IE hasn’t significantly changed since like IE 4. Horrible!

Anyway, if you are looking for an alternative, which you should be, then I suggest Mozilla Firefox. There are several reasons for making the switch–and being nice to your computer, is only one of them! Do yourself a favor, and STOP using Internet Explorer.

I didn’t inform you guys yet, but I recently purchased a new phone…a Nokia 6230! So far it has been a 85% good experience with the phone. There few things to gripe about, but for the most part it’s been awesome. I have also gotten a new number, which I will not say here, but you should know that if you still have this number: 270-929-9###, then you have my old number. Contact me for my new number. Anyway, here are a few pics of my phone and Bluetooth headset:

Some highlights (PROS) about the phone are:

• Very light
• Keys are small, but not hard to press…they are elevated slightly to help with that
• Looks good
• Nice Camera…takes pics at 640×480
• Video camera
• Comes with a 32 mb MMC card (can be upgraded to 128mb) that I can attach to my computer to download the pictures and music
• Plays mp3s out loud! Sounds like a decent laptop speaker.
• Has an FM Radio & Voice recorder…two features I haven’t tried yet
• and last but not least…Bluetooth!

Some CONS I have found are:

• A little small for my large hand…but not much
• Reception not as good as my old Motorola V400
• Battery life not as good as my old Motorola V400 (supposed to have 2.5 hrs talk time)
• The middle joystick/button (you have to see it to know) is a bit annoying, but I’m getting used to it

So not too bad…aaaand as if having a wireless phone itself wasn’t enough, I now also have a bluetooth wireless headset too. That just came in yesterday. I got the Logitech Mobile Freedom Bluetooth Headset, which so far has been AWESOME. You can read more about it at the Amazon reviews Ok chal, I better finish lunch and get back to work!

I am making this post just to show off my Gmail delete button! How can you get one too you ask? Well here is what you need to do:

1. Get Mozilla Firefox
2. Install the Greasemonkey Extension for Firefox
3. Install the Gmail Smart Delete Button script into Greasemonkey!
4. Make a post on your own blog showing everyone how cool you are

The main problem here I’m guessing is that most of you are using Internet Explorer. You should really think about switching to Firefox. ok I’m gonna go delete some mail.

Just got a new theme for Windows XP called Blue Royale. It is actually pretty damn sweet It was originally released for XP Tablet, but people have converted it to work for standard Windows XP. You can get an installer for it from the link above. Take a look at a screenshot of my desktop below:

Sa-weet!

Yaah, so the computer gods smiled on me today as I finally got my first CVS repository working. The skies are looking bright and blue for “this project” now

I am using TortiseCVS as the local client, I found it to be very easy to use (and more than powerful enough for what I need) for a CVS beginner, compared to WinCVS which is powerful but a bit rough on the learning curve.

In other news…I’ve been addicted to Mohe Panghat Pe from Mughal-E-Azam ALL morning! The tabla in that song is just brilliant.

I’ve been spending a lot of time working on a project at home lately. Most things have been moving well, except for one annoying problem I just discovered. On my local machine, I have MySql 4.1 installed (the latest version)…whereas my silly host is still using 4.0. Big deal you say right…what difference can there be?

Well there is a big difference. Turns out 4.0 doesn’t support subqueries! What the hell is up with that? I thought subqueries were innately a part of SQL…and Mysql JUST starts to support them? Anyhow, turns out I have a few queries in my code that use subqueries. Here is one example:

SELECT TeamName,TeamID
FROM team
WHERE TeamName NOT IN
(SELECT TeamName
FROM team,teamaffiliation
WHERE teamaffiliation.TeamID=team.TeamID
AND teamaffiliation.FanID=7)
ORDER BY TeamName

So I have to now figure out how to write this query without using Subqueries because it doesn’t seem like my host is planning on upgrading anytime soon. Sounds nice, but I haven’t been able to figure out exactly how to do that yet. MySql has posted a page about this exact problem, but their examples are too simple for my case. I’ll have to work on this more tonight, maybe get some help from some SQL gurus somewhere or read some old notes from my college database class and see if those help.

If by some chance YOU know how to do this, please don’t hesitate to raise your hand. Okay thats all

The problem: The wireless router in my house in KY is placed on the bottom floor in one end of the house (because the cable internet wire runs in there). We bought a new computer, which we want to place in our semi-living room (a section of our kitchen with the tv and sofas and stuff). This semi-living room is pretty much at the other end of the house!
The possible soultions: There are a few possible soultions.

1. Move the existing router near the center of the house, or move the new computer near the router. This obviously we didn’t want to do.
2. Add a repeater (range expander) near the edge of the network.

Obviously, I went on to try the 2nd option. So I went ahead and bought the Linksys Wireless-G Range Expander…and this is where this story goes down hill…

(more…)

Recently there have been a wave of networking issues affecting my life. Do you remember how the ethernet port on my desktop was blown? Well I installed a new PCI network card yesterday, and that’s doing well for now. But we’re not done yet…

Yesterday, for some reason, my Belkin 802.11g wireless router just stopped booting up. When I put the power plug in, the lights would blink for a bit as if they were running some checks, and then the router would automatically shut off. I tried everything from hitting it to switching power plugs, but nothing seemed to work. So I called the friendly staff at Belkin for technical support (this router afterall has a lifetime warranty!).

Other than the initial hold time (25 minutes), I had a fantastic experience with the support guys. Within 5 minutes they told me that my router will be replaced. Not only that, after I told them I’ll be going to vacation soon, they upgraded the shipping of the new router they were going to send me to overnight ! So now I’m just waiting for my new router.

Then this morning, I saw a Belkin 802.11b Access Point for $5 after rebate at CompUSA! Whoa I thought, this is exactly what I’m looking for (for my house in KY, because the wireless router doesn’t have a large enough range to cover the entire house, and I think these access points have built in repeaters that extend range). However, this item was only for in-store pickup, and the only store that had it in stock was in Nashville. Luckily, Ami and her friends are going to Nashville tomorrow to watch Andy Roddick play tennis! So they’re gonna pick it up for me

So, so far so good with my networking issues. Let’s see how it plays out.