Standing On Boxes

The title to the red car. All paid up. Yeah! Now if only the ‘warrantee resellers’ would stop calling me! I bought it used from a wholesaler w/97K miles on it. Never had a warranty on it in the first place.

• Sony has this little gadget they sell for iPods. The TMR-BT8iP – A Bluetooth adapter. (Nope, the touch has no Bluetooth. Only the iPhone has that.) Uses the iPod dock port and gets power from the iPod (We’ll see how that affects the iPod battery) It works with the touch though it isn’t listed.
  Nothing fancy – a button and a blue light that flashes occasionally. And warnings in the user manual about power drainage. Apparently it is always on. Even if you use regular headphones. So – unplug it when not in use.

• So… I needed bluetooth headphones to use with it. The only thing Best Buy had (other than a Logitech headset/bluetooth adapter for generic MP3 players was another Sony gadget. The DR-BT22 (Actually a headset (includes a microphone and a bunch of other features for use with other Bluetooth gadgets like a phone or stereo – I wonder if it’ll work with the PS3?), not just headphones. Used a coupon. Works great – so far. Battery life is a question (And the unique battery charger that isn’t meant to travel (the plugs don’t fold back -ouch!))
  Other than that… like the iPod adapter, it uses lights to communicate so pairing it with my iPod and Powerbook was “interesting”. But it works. I’m using it now. When used with an ‘audio device’ you can skip/fast forward songs or reverse. And the sound is controlled by the headphones not iPod.

• Found an iPod case. The style I wanted (a ‘flip-case’ like the one for my Nano) BUT it has an orange stripe running along it length-wise. Very UT. And the inside leather is also orange. Makes it feel less fragile. The same manufacturer had one without the ‘flip-lid’.
  Cost more than I wanted to pay because it came with something else. But that was the only way to get it.

Okay…. the lens (not as flimsy as reviews had indicated.) and UV filter showed up on Tuesday (Surprise!) One from PA, the other from Kentucky. The UV Filter suffered damage during shipping due to a manufacturing defect (the ring that help the glass in place wasn’t seated properly so it was loose and got chipped. Amazon overnighted a replacement to me and I sent the bad one back. They must have lost money on that one. It was only a $10 filter. But that kind of service did make up for the weirdness in the shipping.
The camera bag showed up on Wednesday. Very nice. Small. But more than enough room for my stuff. Only issue — it is designed for a DSLR with a long/zoom lens attached. It’s a little top-heavy with the 50mm lens attached. Need to figure something out there.

Just catching up on tv episodes on the DVR

• 3 episodes of “Private Practice” (Still watching it. But only because I can DVR it. Way too many commercials (for other ABC shows) to watch it “live”.
  • The one where Addison buys a shower massage gadget. And has to deal with a conflict of interest thanks to Naomi and Sam’s daughter Maya.
  • Charlotte shows up looking for an insomnia cure.
  • AKA ‘Addison has pizza’ and ‘Don’t taunt the pregnant lady with the gun!’
• 3 episodes of “Bones”
  • Halloween episode. Booth expresses his ‘clown fear’ (Fic idea – Maybe Booth isn’t Angel reincarnated. Maybe he’s Xander? And he looks like Angel – sort of – because when the reincarnation opportunity came along – Xander thinks Buffy wants someone who looks like Angel?)
  • Somebody kills an intern at the Jeffersonian. Unhappy squints as a result.
  • The retro computing episode – Some computer wiz gets killed and stuffed into his high school class time capsule.
• 3 episodes of “Torchwood” (still watching – 1 to go.)
  • Suzie comes back from the dead. Poor Gwen. (And what was with the “Hex” commercial? Scenes from the 2nd series that I missed?)
  • Eugene had a glass eye… and Gwen wanted to know what happened… (And this is the 3rd episode in a row (??) with Gwen’s boyfriend missing. Or does she still have a boyfriend after the whole Own thing several episodes back?)
  • ??

Not really in the mood for details. So copied them from something I wrote elsewhere.

I’ve had an iPod Touch for a couple months. Other than being a video capable iPod (that also does Wi-Fi and lets you use it to view videos on YouTube and purchase music from iTMS (iTunes Music Store)) it’s been more promise than anything else.
Sure, you could edit contact info and sync that with Outlook or Mac OS X (and Yahoo at some point) and you could download your calendar from Outlook or iCal to it.
And surf the internet…
But basically, it’s an iPhone without the phone, camera, or bluetooth parts. An internet capable mini tablet. Like one of those Nokia things if they made iPods but from Apple
Adventurous people have figured out how to hack them. How to do non-Apple things to them (the iPhone and iPod Touch are running a version of OS X so there is a lot of potential.). How to write software for them. Unsupported/discouraged by Apple.
(Personally, I’m waiting for the mythical Apple iPhone SDK before I jump in THAT pool. I have some ideas for interesting things to do with an iPod touch but… I would rather not play the ‘oops, an update killed my iApp’ game the iPhone/touch hacking crowd is in the middle of. We’ll see what happens here. )
Okay… last night/today, Apple released a firmware/software update for the touch and iPhone. V1.1.2. It fixes the security hole in the iphone/touch that the hacker-types were using to get “into” the gadget. (But they’ve figured out a way to get around that – assuming you apply the hack ( “jailbreak” in the vernacular) to V1.1.1 before updating. Or downgrade to 1.1.1 first.
Anyway…
What did iPhone/touch firmware V1.1.2 give us?

• It enabled the data entry feature of the calendar (so it is like the iPhone’s calendar. Mostly.)
  
• Fixed the TIFF security patch (see above)

• Added an ability for iTunes to know the battery state (It shows up next to your iPod’s name).
• Unknown bug fixes.

The calendar thing… is probably the only thing I would hack my iPod touch for. Nice to have it officially supported.
What’s left to make me happy?

1. I want an eBook reader. (PDF,html,Palm) Something better than the Safari bookmark hack you have to use now to read eBooks offline. Integrate it with iTunes and make me happier.
2. Some kind of text entry – something better than the notes fields in the Contact/Calendar applets. (Even better, bring back iPod Notes and allow me to edit THOSE.)

Those are the basics.
Other things that would be nice that I don’t see happening:

• An iPod dock to USB adapter+software that lets me use one of those cheap USB GPS units that don’t have their own display.
• An iPod dock/memory card adapter that fits “under” the touch.(it could even have an extra chargeable battery in it.)

There are times when it can be “fun” to do the on-line banking thing.
And then there’s today.
It’s been an expensive week. Car got a tune-up (spark plugs and gas line filter), new rear brakes (rotors and pads), new fan belt, and tires. It got an oil change 2 weeks ago.
Approx. $1,000 when it was all done (and that was actually cheap – I was expecting $500 more but the tires were cheaper than expected and the rear rotors were much cheaper than the last time (fronts)).
One of the perils of owning a BMW is high maintenance costs. Some years I spend more on my car than myself.
Happened to be checking one of my credit cards today (on-line). I used it for the majority of the cost of the tune-up. My credit card company has that one transaction listed as both “pending” and approved/paid. So it figures into both my current balance and pending transactions. Which affects the available credit. Argh!
Not a huge deal… except I went to an optometrist this morning, and ordered new glasses at the friendly store next door. Oh, the choices – of both glass, glass coatings, and frames. And then I also ordered prescription sun glasses (I’ve been planning on doing that for years. I hate clip-ons.). So basically, 2 sets of lenses. And two pairs of frames. By the time I’d gotten out of there? I’d spent almost as much (85%) on glasses as I did on my car two days before. Boy am I gullible. Of course a store like that would have ‘designer’ frames for a little more than I paid 5 years ago in NH.
Actually, it was the lenses that were the $$$ killer. On sale at 50% they cost as much as the frames.
All together… my little adventure in eye-care cost me twice, per pair, what I paid 5 years ago. But I don’t think I’ll get 5 years out of these. Hopefully two – if I’m lucky.
Feeling kind of poor right now… and I haven’t even bought ANY Christmas presents yet.

Ordered a couple camera things from Amazon today (a cheap lens, a UV filter for the lens, and a cheap camera bag.)
The camera bag, not really from Amazon, is shipping from some camera store on Long Island. I paid extra $$ to get it by the end of next week (Extra = 50% of the cost of the bag. Can’t believe I did that… good thing the bag was cheap.) Not sure when it’ll show up. When I ordered it, Amazon said it would ship on Monday. When they “confirmed” my order they said it would ship on Tuesday/Wednesday (Either way… I should get it by next Friday.)
The filter and the lens… are a different story. Note – I paid for 2nd day shipping.
- The filter, a cheap thing I could have gotten for the same price at the local Best Buy, was supposed to ship today. I ordered it from Amazon ‘just because it made sense at the time’.
- The lens (a low end Canon 50mm f1.8)… was supposed to ship Monday. Show up by Wednesday.
Okay… so 2 hours later… I get a shipping notice from Amazon….
They shipped the LENS this afternoon, not the filter.
BUT they shipped it UPS Ground and it’ll show up next Friday. Maybe.
Why am I paying extra for 2 day shipping when the one thing I really wanted, the lens (I’m not a fan of the ‘kit’ lens that came with my Canon DSLR – wanted a non-zoom lens) — is going to take 5+ days to get to me?
WTF!?! (as the saying goes…)
Oh… I know… that UV filter ($9.99) is getting the 2 day shipping so it shows up before the lens or the camera bag.
Argh!!!! (Maybe if I’d ordered Dr. Who Season 3 also they might have rushed it?)
There’s a reason I only buy things from Amazon once or twice a year (and since I buy things so infrequently… they tend to cancel my account and I have to re-register every time.) Their brand of customer service? So not worth the hassle….

Can I just say I’m not a fan of the stuff?
I’ve got a nice pair of Sony ‘in-ear’ headphones – the $40 ones (I think they’re Sony MDR-EX51LP’s – Amazon has them for $25.). The best sound so far from any of my iPods. (Sure I could get much better ones but I had a coupon and one of those Best Buy Rewards credit things). But they collect ear wax and every couple of weeks I need to clean them.
Yuck!
I don’t wear them at work. I have a worn out pair of ‘over the ear’ headphones (Sony also – MDR-V150′s ) that I need to replace.
I’ve tried the ‘ear-clip’ style but haven’t found a pair of those I like.
The nose-cancellation earphones are interesting but I don’t really want to pay $100 or more for them. Maybe if I started spending more time in airports/planes again I would.

Okay, I posted the prologue to ‘Runaway’ to TtH (but nowhere else). Originally it was the middle of the story but it worked better as a beginning. Then we’ll drop back a couple months to show how Willow ended up in Minnesota. And then forward from there.
This bit has gotten the highest response/review count vs. hits of any of my stories on TtH in the first 24 hours it was up. I’ve got stories that have been on TtH for several years with less reviews. Of course, that could be because it’s a Stargate crossover and the main character (more or less) is Willow (Well… it’s ABOUT her. But it’ll include other characters like her slayer sidekick Buffy and a few folks from SGC (Jack, Sam, Janet, and Cassie at least)).
I’ll probably switch the POV back and forth between a few characters. Jack for the prologue, Buffy for the first chapter, Willow some time after that. Not sure who else.
The first chapter is nothing like the prologue… I’m curious to see what the reaction to it’ll be (based on