Sleep has been the big topic this weekend, me and my pillow have been chatting quite frequently, and I think in a minute or two I am going to go back and do it some more but in between the naps I have been looking at the iPhone & iPod Touch, there is a part of me that thinks “Overpriced, Under Featured, No Expandability” etc. I have not been a fan, I mean as a buzz item, it is cool, and the mobile web end of things is very nice - but as a user of PalmOS and PPC/WM I am used to the idea I can go out, find a app, and bingo, ready to go, sadly even with the release of the SDK it appears that Apple won’t allow any ol Joe to download and create.
That is my worry, while the iPhone would be handy for Email & Web, that’s really about it - even recent reports have noted that nearly +40% of iPhones are used primarily for data access, so that pushes me towards the Touch, but no camera, no mobile data, only Wifi - so no easy pick, and on top of that with a possible 3G version of the iPhone looming it may be wise to wait, but I have been looking at options from all camps with no real show-stopper, Palm seems to of gone the cowardly lion route and scaled back what used to be big bold moves at the pressure of the few, Windows Mobile, clunky, expensive TCO, and on that end for a more complex WM phone, usually larger, bulky, non-form-factor-friendly.
So needless to say I am looking still, I am sure there are those out there who could give me all the benefits for the iPhone, the part that is the “nail in the coffin” so to speak, is AT&T (Formerly Cingular) - never cared for their service, their CS in the past was a pain, and that “may” of changed, but not sure how their coverage locally has, so who knows - Verizon has told me they can get me a 1yr contract on a modem for Mobile “Broadband” but the thing I hate is everything else has gone unlimited with them, but their data has a 5GB cap, not that I’d use it, but for that rough month, it could be a pain, plus $0.49 per MB? If they made it GB I’d say “We have a deal!”
Anywhoo - that’s my rant, I have a bit of gadget fever, just with trying to be more flexible and mobile I am finding more road-blocks, the next area I am going to look is Verizon USB capable UMPC form factor systems, granted it’d be windows, BUT, I do own Outlook, and I’m not afraid to use it! Have a Blessed Sunday, and if your in the Bakersfield area, check out the Picnic in the Park - free goodies, fun, followed by service in the park as well - heck if you come find me, we may goto Carrows/Cindy’s/Denny’s afterwards and hang out (we do that sometimes… were cool lol) - Night Folks!
So if the blogging increase is any measure of my stress level, it is true, things have calmed down, with taxes done and paid for, finances leveling out, a case of seasonal Gadget Fever, and of course finally getting my Christmas present from my bro ($50 @ thinkgeek) I did what any person trying to unwind would do… buysomenerdystuff for no other reason than you can Actually the mini-maglight kit and the wallet were two of my main purchases, the candle I wanted to try, as for my apartment I want to limit power, see how they work.
All in all though things are getting better, not perfect, still a LOT to do. This next week I start open talks about email, I had previously hoped to have it online, but the company started to make me nervous, their solution was overly complex, and I want something 1) Clean 2) Easy to Use 3) Fair Resale Rates - so the ball is in motion on that, and this next week calls will be made, and ideas will be formed.
The speeding ticket is getting interesting, apparently my court date is moved, as my ticket was barely entered into the system on the 4th, so I am going to call again on Friday and then again on Monday if no valid answer arises, I am going to simply go in and get a printed/signed proof of the date change as I have no desire to get a bench warrant out for me over a silly ticket - so I am going to do it right and get it going and done with.
Had dinner with the boys tonight, went to Cindy’s and had some grub, good chats, good time, I was also invited to another gather next Friday with a fellow PK and his friends, few I know at least 1 other guy he hangs out with, but had a good chat today as his company does some IT services locally, and would do wonders for us, so probably going to work with him to get them helping us re-structure the entire IT setup at work, so time will tell how that all goes, but if nothing else, more friends to hang out with.
Anywhoo - approaching midnight, and I want to get some sleep, of course I may drop in a movie, but I think even if I do, I am going to just pass out, but thanks to everyone for their continued check-ups on me and their prayers, it’s all getting there slowly but surely, and to anyone who wants to if you want to hit me up on IM during the day, feel free, I am not always at my desk, but my system is locked so no random person will start chatting with you - but I’ll get back to you sooner or later, just means I am wandering between buildings so with that said I am off, happy Friday’s Eve!
Kinda, sorta, not really - okay maybe. I got home earlier, and just crashed out. Dead to the world I needed sleep, I woke up about 2 hours ago, but I am about to crash out again - just wanted to do something for lil ol me, aka upgrade the Blog.
I had read mixed thoughts/feelings about the latest upgrade to Wordpress, some liked it, some thought it was too sparse, some thought it mucked up things - honestly? I like it. Light, simple, some options aren’t exactly where I would think to find them, but such is change.
At some level I think the trade off of features/fixes should of given folks more to try, but as usual plugin conflicts for some were their un-doing - but a nice feature of the new system is live updating, which I know many groups will complain about the security of the concept, but it’s no different than that of Windows / Mac Update systems, you use / trust that product enough to do updates, why not your blog?
Anywhoo - all in all I think it’s pretty slick, it was a simple upgrade, sent my DB backup to Gmail, and uploaded the files, easy peasy - but for now, I am going to wrap up, and goto sleep, meeting @10am tomorrow, last day of “freedom” so to speak, as the boss-man comes back on Thursday, and I am sure he’s gonna have a pile for me. So I’ll say goodnight, and Happy Fake Friday!
Last night as I worked on my taxes, things were too quiet, the classics of my long nights played out, un-needed worry, strange fears, etc. - I have switched so much to a “normal” schedule it is very hard to work late late, but none the less I got things done and I am mostly alive… granted another 2 hours of sleep would of been handy, but none the less I am awake, taking my bosses panic’d calls as he is in NY and it seems his cables, pointer, and clicker for his presentation were all missing from his bag, so it’s been a interesting morning, thankfully it’s slowly rolling into afternoon/evening in NY, so he’s slowed in his calling.
Things with Me as of late. Tired. I seem to be always on the move, Home -> Work -> Play -> Work -> Sleep (repeat) of course there is the occasional meeting directly after work, or the straight to coding bit as well, keeps me going going going, I miss being able to take a afternoon nap, a photo friday, or the 2 hour lunch hanging out with fellow small business owners, but the check comes in handy, most days I enjoy my time here, but as the big “sales” meeting looms, folks are just plain cranky, short fuses, not everyone, but it’s starting to get more and more noticeable, but a local IT firm has contact me with some good solutions, I meeting tomorrow @ 10am with them to discuss some options, hopefully we can come up with something good.
If I were less out of it, and not actively fighting to stay awake, I would write more, but for now I think I am going to go look at a email issue, then hit the printer issue after lunch… or something.
So yes, it’s 2am. I finished the last bits of my final number crunching, and I have come to a conclusion, it is so time for accounting software and taking the time to learn it. TN has been growing slowly, nearly 10k more in this past year, and about another 1k in actual profit made, and of course, this year is going to be no different, with costs lowered on my end, and in turn also offering more to customers, I see some growth, but then also this calendar year I have a W2 coming, fun fun. In the end I paid more than last year (which I expected) the total was $282 (about $100~ more than last year), and as usual, state is no refund, nothing due. PTL.
Lots of prayer during taxes, TurboTax always scares the crap out of me every year, as it keeps a running tally of Tax owed, then after areas adds in the new deductions - so at one point I had $1,925 in taxes, and just started praying as I went over numbers again and again, (I need sleep) - only to run thru things, and finally say the classic “Your will be done” as over the last week funds have been coming in very steady, so I figured God was preparing me for taxes, well after hitting next to go into the new area, it re-calculated and it was less, then I got EIC and we arrived, lots of prayer tonight, and really a lot over the last few days, stress at work, taxes looming, and the upcoming court fun of my ticket, going to call the courts today from work and see what they say, if I can just pay it and do traffic school, so game.
Sleep is nearing, just HAD to get taxes done, and with the e-File it’s already post marked today, but again as I say every year, I want to do next year better, and I may form a LLC for ThrustNet and go from there, not 100% sure, but it may be time for an accountant as well - but with work in under 6 hours, I should probably wrap it up.
Anyhwoo - I’ll hit up the blog tomorrow from work, just been busy, tad crazy, and in this job I feel like I am re-living my first year of businesses as I am once again having hassles with what used to be Arrival, but at some level it’s not their fault, and yet they aren’t working with us either, long story, more later I am sure, but for now — thanks for all the prayers, thanks to folks who IM’d me tips on dealing with my court date if I indeed have to go, good stuff, much appreciated - but I must sleep, winds finally lived up to their purpose and brought the temp from 80F->52F lovely. Night folks. More later. Wheeeee!
What a weekend thus far, Sunday should be fun too - a round table discussion @ The Hub which goes over the last few weeks of study we have done, it will be my first, missed last time, but I have been there for each lesson this time so should be interesting.
Had a very tasty dinner, after seeing Pizza Hut had added Pasta, I had to try their Alfredo - delish! I think I would definitely get that again, my mom helped and we at over half of it, very very filling - I’d recommend it to anyone, and to anyone who takes that recommendation, please invite me to join you
Taxes have gone well, probably be done by Monday no later, Sunday I am going to do even more number crunching, trying to dig up all of my purchases, most of the general figures are done, just trying to lower my total payout - as it stands more money came in this past year than the year previous, so pretty excited, this year should be even more funding as for 11 months out of 12 I will be employed thus a W2 & my Business, and if things go well with my review, and I get the raise after 90 days I’ll be even better, plus have health benefits.
Which leads to my other weekend favorite, sleep. Did a lot today, of course in 90F weather, so got some healthy sweating lol - but I have been re-fueling on fluids, but it’s a clear sign that summer is nearing very soon, as it’s 70F right now at it’s midnight - so may be time to get going on that AC for my room again this year or maybe it’s time to fill out the app and get my apartment rolling, of course I’ll know for sure on all of that after the 23rd, as that’s my court date for the ticket, never got a notice, just a court date on my ticket of 4/23 which is coming up very soon, so we’ll see what happens - once that and taxes are done, I’ll have a better picture of where I stand, if I have first and lasts month, I may make a go at it.
Anywhoo - thanks to everyone who has continually checked in on me over IM, nice to know folks are out there, if you don’t have me on IM, drop me a line, I’ll get you my screen names for stuff, but for now, I am going to go try to cool down a bit in the other room as my bedroom is still about 90F on it’s own (stupid computers!) so have a blessed Sunday!
So tomorrow is the dreaded bi-weekly meeting… 830am I go into a meeting that I don’t honestly know why I must attend - but I do, I of course try to stay awake, but I make no promises - but I have a lot to do, I have about 5-6 more slides for the bosses presentation to get (got them just before the end of the day), last bits of taxes, figure out my ticket, launch 2 sites, fix up some billing, tweak some configurations on the server, and something else I am sure
I will note I am trying a second outsourced email provider, so far I like the webmail, I like the speed, performance, etc. the only thing I am not too keen on is the price. Granted for the price I get quite a bit, 10GB of storage per account, IMAP/POP/SMTP access via SSL/Secured so even nicer, compatible with Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Windows Mail (Vista), Outlook, Outlook Express, etc. etc. so far it’s more compatible than the last, but not as affordable on their reseller plan, with the other it was basically something I could really just absorb at some level into the cost of hosting, here were looking at the $1-$2 per account, but again 10GB of MAIL STORAGE.
Needless to say my brain is going about 30 different directions, allergies are killing me off of course I think the meds I took earlier for them are working quite well, except it’s removing the discomfort I was having, thus sleep is rapidly approaching! So little time anymore, seems like I get home, catnap -> eat -> work -> sleep -> shower -> work -> etc. and I forgot to gas up my car, grrr.
Anywhoo - probably a good time to call it a day, maybe run get gas… really only need about a half a tank, over 300 miles on this last tank, round abouts 342 miles on a single tank, quite lovely - so for now I will say “Good Night” I hope you all have a great Tuesday.
but in between the naps I have been looking at the iPhone & iPod Touch, there is a part of me that thinks “Overpriced, Under Featured, No Expandability” etc. I have not been a fan, I mean as a buzz item, it is cool, and the mobile web end of things is very nice - but as a user of PalmOS and PPC/WM I am used to the idea I can go out, find a app, and bingo, ready to go, sadly even with the release of the SDK it appears that Apple won’t allow any ol Joe to download and create.
