Knowing when to throw in the towel a.k.a. networking sucks

I like to think that I know my way around a PC, as well as home networking equipment. I've gone through a couple of cable modems and 3-4 wireless routers over the years. I had a wireless gaming adapter hooked up to my DirecTV DVR, but it crapped out many months ago. One of those plug it in but none of the lights come on moments. I lived without it but finally decided to get another one when I wanted to use on-demand again. This began the loss of my saturday.

I got a Linksys WGA600N on Amazon. I plugged it in, had to connect to it manually because the wizard didn't work and started setting it up. It was pretty straightforward, setting the SSID for the router, adding the MAC address into the router allowed list, etc. However, it wasn't working right away. After about an hour I finally found that the router could see the adapter, but it wouldn't give it an IP address. I had a vista laptop, a windows 7 laptop, an ipod touch, an iPhone, a wireless printer, and 2 XP machines connected with IP addresses served from the router's DHCP. But the gaming adapter showed an IP of 0.0.0.0. I tried calling Linksys, and for the low fee of $9 they offered to take over my laptop remotely and configure the adapter. I laughed and hung up. They had a live chat feature, so I sat on that for about 2 hours with 2 different people that walked me through tons of redundant steps. They finally came down to saying that I should reflash the firmware on my router. So I did that, and still no luck. After about 4-5 hours of total time I gave up, packed it up and printed the return labels for Amazon.

So the lesson learned, is that I should have thrown in the towel much earlier. I ordered a new bridge adapter made by D-link, and hopefully it will connect to my D-link DIR-655 router. This time, it gets 2 hours tops.

Current scams that make me laugh

I have attached images of two of the latest scam emails I have been receiving lately. I get the IRS one a lot, something like 15-20 times a day. Outlook's junk filter grabs them right away, but I always look in there for false positive hits, as Outlook will occasionally put very valid email in there (don't get me started on that rant).

The first one you see is the IRS one. So I'm supposed to believe that the IRS owes me money, and to get it all I have to do is click that link. In case you didn't know, you can hover your mouse over a link in Outlook (2007 at least) at it will show you the URL for the link. When you do that in this email, the URL starts with www.irs.gov, which they do to try to sucker in the casual observer. However, they then continue the URL with .gewssr.com plus other directory information. So the full URL is www-dot-irs-dot-gov-dot-gewssr-dot-com. I haven't gone to gewssr-dot-com because it will most likely start infecting my computer, therefore I recommend that you don't do this either. As a general rule, don't follow links in email, even if it comes from someone you trust, as they may have a virus that sends email to everyone in their address book to try to spread itself. At a minimum, be sure the link you're following is a valid URL, and not a weak trick like I described above.

The other image is a new scam (for me at least). I'm supposed to believe that Microsoft, in its super giant company generousity has decided to give me $1.9 million dollars. And this is obviously real, due to the awesome use of the English language, but not to mention the word doc attachment that is likely riddled with macro viruses. I really have to wonder who would fall for this, but I may be both surprised and shocked.

Windows 7 Lessons Learned (so far)

So being the geek that I am, I was very excited to start playing with Windows 7. I put the release candidate (RC1) on my laptop a couple of months ago. Everything worked quite smoothly, and I was very impressed. However, when the release to manufacturing (RTM) version came out, I backed up my data, and installed the RTM as a fresh version. I thought everything would be just as awesome, but there have been a few issues I've had to work around.

UPDATE: Apple released iTunes 9.0, which now works correctly on Windows 7 without any special settings, so you can ignore the paragraph below (don't use iTunes 8.x on Windows 7).

Firstly, iTunes and Windows 7 don't seem to play together well, at least not with my iPod Touch or iPhone. I spent many hours recovering my apps (it freaked out and deleted everything...yes, suck-o-rama), and then had to experiment quite a bit. I was getting errors ranging from "verifying device" hanging forever, to it wanting to repeatedly delete my apps and data. Finally, I got it to work by telling it to run as administrator when it starts (which causes a pop up asking if that's ok) and then also running it in XP Service Pack 3 compatibility mode (iTunes has a pop-up for this one saying for optimal performance not to run it in compatibility mode). After getting through the pop-ups, iTunes will sync with my devices. Phew. However, this causes major issues with trying to burn a CD, pretty much not working. The solution? I have two versions of iTunes pinned to my start bar, the one that runs in XP mode, and the one that runs normally. I just have to know which to start based on what I want to do. Simple eh?

My iTunes problems also exposed another problem. When I was trying to listen to music, it would occasionally freak out and slow way down, stuttering through a song. I figured it was another symptom of XP mode, but then it showed itself in the normal version. I used task manager to see an svchost.exe process sucking up CPU (and fighting iTunes for cycles, maxing the machine at 100%). Now, svchost is simply a container that windows uses to run "stuff" in, so who knows what it was doing right? Wrong. You need to have task manager show you the PID (Process ID), then you go to the services tab and see what service is using that PID. Oh, and you may have needed to show all processes in order to see the offending process (requires administrator permission). This svchost was running windows defender. I have no idea why it was freaking out, but I right clicked it, and stopped the service. Problem solved, although now I guess I'm susceptible to spyware. I thought this fixed everything, but 5 mintues later it started stuttering again. ARRRG!

audiodg.exe. What is this process you ask? Well, apparently it was introduced in Vista, and is an out of process way to mix/handle audio. It apparently has some benefits of allowing applications to pass off processing and do cool/special things. I'm guessing that making iTunes plaback sound like a slow-motion stutter-fest is not an intended cool thing. After some googling, I learned to go into the properies and tell it not to do any "enhancements". After doing that, no more stuttering.

I ran the windows experience ratings test, and was shocked to see my 2.0 for Aero Graphics staring at me. Um, no, not cool. Under Vista I had decent scores for that. Hmm, this explains why the very cool transparent/glass effects were leaving trails like I had just done several hits of acid. After MANY hours of messing around with drivers, I finally got the score up to a respectable 3.5. It's still lower than all the other scores, but is about as good as I can expect from the card I have in my laptop (verified against video card expected ratings). Turns out the NVidia "approved" driver for Windows 7 did not do well for who knows what reason. However, I was able to get the Dox Optimised 180.84 driver to work, and it's great. For optimized NVidia drivers, check out laptopvideo2go.com. If you have never messed around with video drivers before, you're treading into somewhat dangerous territory, so you may want to rethink doing it.

Windows loves its services. When you get a fresh install of either Vista or Windows 7, you'll have lots of services running that aren't necessary. They shouldn't really affect you, unless you're geeking out and just want to make sure there aren't any cycles being used on things you don't care about. However, there is a service you will want to know about. By default, the Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service will be running. What this does, is basically start shouting out across whatever network you're on that it has media files and who wants to see/hear them?! If you care about privacy, you're going to want to disable this service. I discovered this in Vista when my DirecTV DVR got a software upgrade, and then all of a sudden told me that my laptop was no longer connected when I turned it off. Imagine my surprise that my TV is telling me it knows about my laptop, and I hadn't done anything to make this happen. If your computer is only ever on your home network, and behind a firewall (likely built into your router), then you may think this is super cool. However, if you use your computer at work, do you really want everyone watching your home videos?

Last thing, is more of an annoyance than a big deal, but for some reason they removed the standard stock gadget that was in Vista. It was even in the Windows 7 RC1, but in the RTM it mysteriously vanished. Whatever, but it was a slick gadget.

Hopefully this info will help if you find yourself with Windows 7 and strange symptoms.

Overall though, Windows 7 is the best OS Microsoft has put into the market to date. Once you get it running smoothly, you're going to love it. (I expect that once Windows 7 goes GA, Apple will put out a new version of iTunes that fixes my problems).

Creatures of habit

Humans by nature are creatures of habit, myself especially. When I find something I like, I stick with it. That means going to the same restaurants, choosing the same things off menus, buying the same wine at the same store, and doing the same workout. My workout was very consistent - run for 30 minutes on the treadmill while watching an old Star Trek episode that the DVR grabbed for me (apparently Girls Gone Wild has a huge audience with the Star Trek Voyager following, as evidenced by the 90 second commercial they play on EVERY break - thank you 30 second skip). This run became very routine, and even though I knew that you should mix it up in order to keep your muscles from becoming used to a workout, my habit won out.

Last week I decided to go for a run outside. I have no idea why I was suddenly insipred to do this, as I have always preferred running on the treadmill. I did a very easy out and back / loop combo that was only 2.4 miles. Even though it was pretty much completely flat it totally kicked my butt. I also got to run around the lake by my house while the sun came up, shining across the perfect glass surface with the flatirons in the background. I was sold. So Saturday I lost my mind and added the Davidson Mesa out and back in as well doing 5.4 miles, which is way longer than my normal 3 miles. Today I did 4.5 and while there's no doubt that I had a hard run (legs are sore), I'm not writhing in pain on the floor.

My new routine feels great, and now I have to figure out how to keep it from becoming a habit again...

Facebook, you finally got me

I have been resisting Facebook for years now. Some of my friends have been pushing me toward it, but I held my ground firmly. Clearly if you're reading this blog you can see that it's not a resistence to technology. I embrace technology, web 2.0, blah blah blah. The reason I've been resisting Facebook is partially because I felt facebook was for teenagers and pedofiles, but also because I didn't see the point. I should have realized that this has happened for me before. When I first learned of Twitter, I really didn't get it. My first tweet was something like "Working for a software company in Boulder". It wasn't until I started following people that I understood it really meant it when it said, "what are you doing RIGHT NOW?". I've tried lots of other "web 2.0" technologies and most didn't stick. Twitter did, and now facebook has as well. Part of the clincher was that Becca was on it and honestly that really surprised me. She's not a big fan of technology in general, so if she found value in it there must really be something there.

So, I created a facebook account and started filling out my profile info. Then I searched for the people I knew were on facebook (as they were the ones giving me grief about not having an account). Soon I started getting accepted friend requests. OK, cool, so now what? Hmm, let's look at their friend list. Wow, so-and-so is on here. Friend request sent. Hey, look who else is here. Friend request sent. Oh look, on my info tab I can click on my high school name. Whoa! There's some people I haven't talked to in 18 years. You get the picture.

So I quickly became hooked and started finding people I haven't spoken with in many years. I still haven't caught up with emailing everyone I've found (or have found me), but I'm getting there. I'm trying hard to not let Facebook interfere with my job, which is tough, because I sit in front of a computer all day. It's just way too tempting to keep checking it. Yea, another computer thing to suck up my time. Becca will be thrilled...

Poorly placed space bar usage

Sometimes I type too fast for my own good. When I was in high school, they offered typing classes. I took 2 semesters of it, and although it was tedious (we actually typed on typewriters believe it or not) it has been a fantastic skill to have. I've timed myself on programs that measure that type of thing and can get between 80 and 100 words per minute.

However, sometimes my typing speed is to my detriment. I have noticed that I tend to use the same phrases quite often when I write, as I'm sure most people do. A phrase I use a lot is "about it". An example is, "I would like to hear about it." In and of itself, this is a perfectly normal, mundane phrase. However, when I get into speed typing mode, at least half the time my thumb decides to hit the space bar at the wrong time with those two words. So instead of "about it", I end up typing "abou tit". A simple mistake, but resulting in a somewhat embarrasing situation (especially when IMing to a woman, and you can't hit the backspace to correc tit before she see sit). :)

Your weight changes like Oprah!

I have joked a lot with friends and family that my weight fluctuates like Oprah. It's funny to me at least, and is definitely a way to make me feel better when I gain a few pounds. In the picture I captured the graph of my Gyminee weight tracking. I joined Gyminee in October of last year when I heard of a challenge posted by Brad Feld which he called his weight jihad. I joined the Boulder Boys weight loss challenge, and it worked pretty well. I lost about 12 pounds in the three months we had the competition. You can see from the graph that I lost a lot of weight right away in a very short period of time. That's what I call my obsessive period. Then, you can see that it starts to fall apart, going up and down and for the most part staying flat (or maybe even creeping up at a small incline). That's what I call my post-obsessive period.

Typically, after the post-obsessive period, I have a gluttony period. For whatever reason, I work out hard and starve myself for a few weeks, or even a month. Then I just can't take it anymore, and I start eating the things I have been depriving myself of. For me, that's essentially chips (potato chips, corn chips, etc). I can go on in that mode still working out hard, telling myself that I'm "maintaining" now. Then I'll say things like, "this must be my natural body weight, because I'm not losing any more." Being completely honest, that's all a load of BS. If I would just "maintain" a healthy eating and workout plan, then I likely wouldn't lose my mind from deprivation and binge on a family size bag of Doritos.

So, right now I'm back into an early stage, but I'm trying not to be too obsessive about it. I realized that I started getting into the gluttony period a few weeks ago, and I cut it off before it could do serious damage. I'm trying a new plan I'm calling obsessive maintenance. With this plan I still hit the treadmill, and I still eat healthy and small portions for the most part. However, I'll let myself have a snack size bag of chips every few days, and a couple of cheese and crackers, etc. I'm hoping that by using portion control and not complete deprivation I will stem the post-obsessive phase and stick to my guns this time. If I can maintain this for a few months, the hope is that it will become natural habit, and much easier to continue.

The big gap in the data points on the graph was me entering the gluttony period and then back into obsessive. I don't know what my weight climbed back up to as I decided I didn't want to know until I had tried lowering it again for a while. I'm psyched that I'm back on track and the lowest I've been since I started tracking it. Wish me luck and strength of will, and soon enough I'll reach my goal.

The Masters

I'm not a big golfer, so much so that I play maybe once every couple of years. However, it was still unbelievable to walk onto the course at Augusta. This has to be one of the most beautiful courses I have ever seen, and the organization and number of people is unbelievable. I got a few shirts as souvenirs and I'm still waiting for the picture of Tiger (he hasn't appeared as of this post).

So this week the bizdev plan is:

1) Shmooze at the Masters

2) ?

3) Profit

Playing Roulette on airplanes

So whenever I'm on planes I play roulette with who is going to sit beside me. It used to be that it was unusual if the middle seat wasn't empty. Back in the good old days there were a lot more flights, and they didn't get full. Now they've cut back enough that every plane is oversold, and therefore completely packed.

So, I end up playing "who will sit next to me" roulette. I am one of the first people on a plane, having status. So that lets me make sure I have space to put my bag in the overhead and get settled in my seat. Then, as I sit there I watch all the people coming on the plane. Since I now know that the odds of having an empty middle seat are close to zero, I hope for a "small person". I don't care if the person is male or female, tall or short, but what I do care about is width. I want someone without wide shoulders, and especially without a wide middle. Bottom line, I want space so I don't feel like I have to lean away from them.

As people walk onto the plane, I'm watching them and in my head saying, "no, no, please God no, liveable, no, yes - bummer, no, no, no, liveable, liveable, no". You get the picture. Clearly, I have no real choice in the matter, but it's my little game I play in my head and it makes me feel like I have some bit of control.

Today, I got liveable twice in a row for each of my flights. I'll take it. So as you walk on planes, watch the people watching you and see if they're mouthing anything to themselves. Hopefully you get a yes when they look at you...

"BizDev" is pretty cool

So this year I added yet another hat at work: business development. At first it was a little confusing as to what I was supposed to do. However, I've been on a roll lately meeting and greeting with the best of them.

Last night I attended Intel's Nehalem launch event held at the NASDAQ Times Square building. While "networking", they were filming Fast Money below us. There were some definite big players in attendance, and the catering and wine stations were supurb.

So I have to say that bizdev is pretty cool. As far as I can tell it's lots of shmoozing, lots of talking, and lots of asking. I need to engage phase 2 soon: somehow increase our revenue because of the shmoozing. It makes me think of South Park:

1) Collect underpants

2) ?

3) Profit!

Or in my case:

1) Shmooze

2) ?

3) Profit!

Once I figure out the ?, I'm golden.

Stuck in Aspen

The family and I headed up to Aspen for spring break on Saturday. We were planning 2 days of skiing, and the rest of the time I either had to work (it's the end of the quarter) or we did other activities (like the awesome Aspen rec center). So I looked at the weather report and changed our tuesday/wed. ski plan into Sunday/wed. I thought a nice warm day of skiing would be great for everyone. Boy was I wrong. They hadn't gotten any snow in a very long time, and it was either solid ice in the shade, or total slush in the sun. Bad call on my part. However, they got a big storm tuesday night, and wednesday skiing was some of the best I have ever had. There were times I had powder up to my knees, which is very cool except when you fall.

So now it's thursday morning, and our plan to drive back to Boulder is shot. We saw last night that a big storm was coming, but we thought we could get up early today and beat it. No such luck, as it's already beginning to hit here, and will be in full force on the front range by noon. We're talking up to almost 2 feet of snow in a matter of hours. Not worth the risk of being on the road. So, alas, we are stuck in Aspen until late Friday or Saturday. I guess I will just have to suffer.

Nathan Fillion rocks

Ok, going to geek out for a bit here. My first introduction to Nathan Fillion was in Firefly. As soon as I saw the first episode, he became a favorite of mine. Since then, I've seen him in Serenity (the movie based on Firefly), Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog (truly amazing web show) and Desperate Housewives. Just to clarify, Becca watches Desperate Housewives while I play games on my laptop, and because it's on in the background I can't help but hear all the lines and glance up and see what's going on. Yes, it can be funny at times, but I digress.

I set up the DVR to grab Castle last week (after seeing that Nathan was starring in it), and all I have to say is WOW! Not only is that a very well written show, but Nathan brings the perfect touch to it. I'm already hooked and look forward to being able to watch many episodes to come.

I have realized recently that there are 4 actors that have played roles that seem to have a theme to them that I very much enjoy. They are Nathan Fillion, Richard Dean Anderson, Ben Browder and Joe Flanigan. They have all played characters that are tough, yet very sarcastically funny. 3 of the 4 were in Stargate shows, which sure doesn't hurt since I love that franchise. If you know of other actors that fit into this grouping, please let me know and I'll pick up their works.

In the meantime, we need more of the other guys in new shows. I hear rumor that Stargate Universe may actually happen, so hopefully I'll get weekly doses of a few of those guys, plus bonus for David Hewlett.

Speaking of scifi, are they going to create another Star Trek show or let the franchise wither into dust? Yeah, the new movie is coming out, but I want to be back in the nirvana of 3 trek shows on the air at the same time. Having STNG, DS9 and Voyager on was mucho happiness.

If it smells like poo outside, cold weather is coming

It's a well known fact for those of us that live in the Boulder area that if you go outside and get the overwhelming smell of poo, bad weather is coming. When the wind shifts and blows from the north, it brings with it the smells of northern Colorado. Now, I don't want to rag on northern Colorado too much, but dude, it stinks up there. There are a lot of farms, and Greeley is the epicenter of bovine slaughterhouses.

So, much like how old people say they can feel the weather changing in their bones, we of the Boulder area know the weather is changing when the air smells like poo. Yes, I had to say poo yet one more time.

Poo.

P.S. Poo

iPhone 3.0 OS cometh!

Rock on Apple. Massive chocolately goodness coming to the iPhone. Read the details on TIPB.

Google "interest-based" advertizing

I just received an email from Google telling me that I need to update the privacy policy on my web site. Since "my" web site is Blogger, owned and run by Google, I figure I'm ok.

The disturbing part is why it needs to be updated. Google is now going to track where users go and build up a database about them. It will then assign a type to that person. The example they give is if someone visits a lot of sports sites, they will be labeled as a "sports enthusiast". The reason they are doing this is of course for advertizing. The more specialized person that Google can promise to see someone's ads, the more they can charge for them.

This reminds me of the early days of Tivo. There was an article from back in 2002 in the WSJ (subscription required for the link, sorry) about a man who's Tivo thought he was "gay". Turns out he had the audacity to give a thumbs up to shows like Will & Grace. Tivo decided to start recommending (and recording automatically) anything they had labeled as "homosexual".

That can be somewhat funny and annoying when it's only happening on your personal Tivo. However, in this instance, we're talking about major privacy infringement. Lots of people have Google accounts, so it's not like Google won't know who is visiting which sites. Heck, I clearly use Google and I have a my account page with my name, age, etc. Google may claim they aren't associating this data together, but it's all there and would be very easy to do.

Google will learn quickly that I'm a geek, and I expect to start seeing lots of ads for Star Wars the Clone Wars, technology gadgets and the like. What do you think? Is this going to make the ads more appealing, or is the privacy infringement simply too much? What happens if you are incorrectly labeled?

I have a feeling Google's biggest label category will turn out to be "porn enthusiast".

Largest, most un-reliable 3G network

OK, firstly, I stole the cool death star image from wired.

The point of this post though is to pontificate on AT&T's 3G network. I am truly baffled by the behavior I have seen with my iPhone. Of course, being completely in love with the iPhone, I blame all the problems on AT&T, and will continue to do so until proven otherwise.

Problem 1: Phantom incoming call

This issue has to do with a scenario which keeps happening lately. I will have my phone sitting on my desk, mere inches from my hand. If I glance at it at any particular moment in time, it will show me somewhere between 2 and 5 bars of 3G connectivity. However, said phone will all of a sudden play the standard iPhone voicemail sound seemingly for no reason. I think to myself, "What? I can't have new voicemail, my phone didn't ring." I look at it and low and behold, I have new voicemail. I think, "wait, how can this be possible, I didn't miss a call did I?" Looking in the recent calls list confirms that no, I didn't miss a call. My phone had no idea that someone was trying to call me. So for whatever reason, the network didn't have my phone registered for the exact moment of that call.

Problem 2: Network strength all over the place

Possibly the cause of problem #1 is that the signal strength will vary greatly, even without moving the phone. Let me emphasize that the phone is 100% stationary, but I can watch the signal strength go from 5 bars of 3G, to 4 bars of edge, to 2 bars of 3G, to no signal, to 5 bars of edge...you get the picture. Now, how can the signal possibly be changing like that when the phone isn't even moving? I'm guessing that the "no signal" times are what are making me miss calls.

Problem 3: 3G data not working

There are times when my signal changes from edge to 3G where the data doesn't work. The phone will say it has plenty of 3G chocolately goodness, but any data app I try to use returns an error. If I change the settings to NOT use 3G, then things work. However, if I want 3G speed I have to cycle the power on the phone and then 3G works again. What the heck is the deal with that?

Solution: I found that if I leave my phone on edge all the time, I don't miss calls, the signal doesn't go up and down like a yo-yo, and I can consistently receive data (VERY slowly). Obviously this is not ideal, as edge speeds really suck.

So, the real solution is that AT&T needs to clean up their "largest, most reliable 3G network" to actually be reliable. Come on AT&T, I know you're not motivated to do squat for me considering that I have no other choice than to use you if I want my iPhone, but don't you still want your customers to be happy?

International networking at the Dean's home

I attended a great IBCircle event last night at Dean Ahlburg's home in Boulder. I met lots of new people, and have some very interesting conversations. Some of the topics included organic wine requirements/creation/distribution, green energy options and solar legislation, semiconductors, the real estate market, New Zealand, and others.

I truly enjoy talking with the members of this group, as their insights and global awareness make for very stimulating conversation.

New tech meetup / reunion

Last night I attended the new tech meetup once again. It was a great crowd, and some really good presentations with some solid ideas. As an added bonus, there were several people from the old Rogue Wave crew on hand. I had a great time catching up and realized that with Boulder being such a small community, Rogue Wave has been home at one time or another to quite a few tech people over the last 14 years.

I'm thinking that a Rogue Wave alumni reunion is in order, for both past and current employees. I'll send a feeler out on the linked in alumni group, but also comment here or email me if you're interested.

Starbucks happiness

OK, I'll admit that I'm a bit of a Starbucks junkie. This situation only worsened when my local Starbucks closed down in lieu of the new one built down the street with a drive-thru. It is simply too easy now to stop there on my way to work and make sure I get my venti skinny caramel latte.

One thing I noticed right away though with the drive-thru was the way they greet you. When you pull up to the little speaker-box, you are greeted with something very much like, "Good morning and welcome to Starbucks, how are you today?"

At first, I was very irritated by this greeting. I wanted them to ask me what I wanted, not how I'm doing. I blamed my grouchiness on the fact that I didn't have my morning coffee yet, so of course I couldn't possibly respond in a friendly manner. However, after discussing this with my wife, she suggested that I "go with it" for a week and see what happens.

I did just that, and low and behold, I actually enjoy it now (yes, my wife was right, which she usually is about these types of things). Since I see the same people there several times a week, they recognize me and it makes for a more pleasant experience. So now instead of being irritated that I have to make nice with the coffee people, I get to start out on the right foot with a smile and cordial greeting to some genuinely nice people. Slowly but surely my gruffness is being eroded away. Pretty soon I may not even recognize myself...

Nah, don't get your hopes up.

Losing the desire to blog

For some reason my desire to write new posts dried up a while ago, and the one that I did was more of just a complaint than anything else. I've been thinking about why this has happened, as I used to really enjoy blogging.

My only conclusion on the matter is simply that I was overwhelmed, overworked, and just plain stressed about too many things. I recently got back from a week-long vacation in Mexico with my wife (just the 2 of us for 3 days) and lots of sales people from my company. It was a fantastic week off, and just what the doctor ordered.

I'm going to start posting again and hopefully enjoy it like I used to.

More to come...

The unfriendly skies

United has definitely been going downhill. They canceled the direct flight from Denver to Heathrow 3 months after starting it, and now they've started using 767s a lot. If you haven't been on a 767, it's an old plane with very small overhead space (standard American size carry-on suitcase barely fits in sideways, definitely not end-in). The flight I just took from Denver to Chicago actually had one of those 3 color projection TVs with a big screen that pulled down to project on. It flickered, had incorrect tint and stopped working for several mintues at a time repeatedly.

Come on United, I know the times are tough, but even though oil is amazingly cheap now, your prices haven't gone down. Step it up and keep your frequent flyers happy.