Remember these things? You know, those quirk handheld personal digital assistants from the late 90’s that EVERYONE had to have to keep their lives in order. More memory, power, and capability than a full desktop computer of 5 years earlier, but ultra-portable. Sounds killer, doesn’t it? So…where are they now? The PDA market is ever-shrinking, and I think I know why: First, they evolved. Like most scientists believed dinosaurs evolved into birds, these single-trick PDAs evolved into today’s smartphones. ...

Smartphones are a godsend for anyone who used to c… Jeff Roberts - May 3, 2006 Smartphones are a godsend for anyone who used to carry/wear a PDA and a phone. Now if the phone companies would loosen up and allow wireless support on more devices - they order phones without it so you have to use their data plans, but I drool a little when D.T. remotes in to his desktop at work with his Dell Axiom. ...

Happy Mother’s Day to all…yes, my 2nd favorite made-up gifting opportunity holiday (after V-is-for-Vendetta Valentine’s Day Chocolate Massacre) is Mother’s Day. This one’s actually nice, and it makes one feel good to treat the mom’s of the world special today. Whitney thought Joey and I had nothing up our sleeves, but was she wrong. She got THREE DAYS of gifts – Flowers and a locket on Friday, a “Son in Law” DVD on Saturday, and some pearl earrings & cards on the day itself. We love her dearly and it made us happy to surprise her 3 times over. ...

Okay, so you know you’re on the wagon when you’re considering swapping out your 3.73 Limited-slip differential ( 3k RPM @ 70 mph ) for a 2.93 diff from a 325e. If my autocross days are over, then switching-over to a diff less mechanical advantage would cause immediate gains in fuel economy. *** nerd factor 4 time *** Using the calculator found Here gear rpm 3.73 (stock) 3025 3.25 2636 2.93 ...

I know, I know…hypocrite! Still, I have some readers, and you never know who might drop-in.

Cool! We’ll try to keep the comments G-rated. At… Jeff Roberts - May 5, 2006 Cool! We’ll try to keep the comments G-rated. At least, we’ll try our !@#$%^-est so is this an invitation to spam? spam spam spam funny. kinda sounds like ranch. ranch ranch ranch

Out of Office anecdote I used to do that very thing, but I took it a step further: When I first hired on full-time, I’d put a “be right back” sticker on my door when I went to the bathroom. Ah yes, in those heady times, I thought as a junior, java-ignorant programmer working in a group of hardcore Java developers, that I’d better let everyone know every SECOND just where I was.

testing the comments HarryC - May 4, 2006 testing the comments I think HC has heard this one, but I once asked a mailing list whether there was a version of their product that fixed a particular bug which was KILLING our product. I received one answer, in Polish, containing a string of digits that I HOPED and PRAYED was a version number. ...

A: Cold turkey. First you realize that you have no spiritual, familial, or financial ability to do said hobby. Realize that it’s costing you money you don’t have, destroying the only car you have to get your butt to work. Moreover, understand that you don’t have the time or funds to compete at the (obsessive) level to which you’re accustomed. Realize there are more important things in this life and what comes after it to occupy your (limited) time. You have a son to raise and food to put on the table, and the coming years will likely be harder than even your history-savvy brain can imagine. ...

We have a Product Engineer (1 step above a Technical Support guy) in the field today in San Diego, so I get to be the on-call guy here in Lexington for any problems he encounters. Given that I got here at 7, looks like 13 hours today, minimum. Ahh…timezones. S’ok…I’m feeling creative. * * * I got scared last night, mainly because I had double-strength coffee around 4ish and couldn’t sleep, my mind racing to every corner of the house (literally) thinking of what needs to be done and what could be fixed. ...

Long time, no blog. Well, for me in any case Took two Benadryl last night and it had me glued to the mattress until 7:30 this morning (I’m usually at work before 8), and I didn’t get to work til after 9. Lots of changes and rearranges on my team as we try to get a new project started: New manager, new (old) second line, a new contractor, and a guy from Kolkata bowing out. ...

It felt so weird not typing ‘…in the MINI’ just now. My old car’s gone, and my old ways of autocross are gone. Well, 55 more horsepower and rear wheel drive do NOT make for a faster car, at least not without magical, R-compound race tires. There were some great moments though: - Being second in class, despite having 100 fewer hp than one of the cars (Mazadaspeed 6) and no race tires (E36 323i w/Kumho Victoracers) ...

The Bimmer just turned-over 137,000 miles on my way to work this morning, and it’s running just like a top. I’d put up some pictures, but I lack a camera-phone anymore (sold on Ebay 6 months ago) and my powerbook’s dead and we haven’t figured-out how to do pics via PC.

Well, the Frickin’ Dandelion exists, doesn’t it? I’ve seen these things grow into SOLID ROCK at Natural Bridge State Park. They grow overnight. They reproduce without having to be fertilized. They exist in all temperate zones on the planet. I’ve pulled at least a bucket of thistle and dandelion from the lawn for the last 4 days. Joy!

Post over at The Car Lounge asks how many cars you’ve owned since you started reading TCL. My count: 1995 200SX SE-R - gone 2001 VW Jetta Wolfsburg - gone 2003 MINI Cooper - gone 2001 Chevy Silverado 4.8L - gone 2004 Pontiac GTO - gone 2001 Olds intrigue 1990 BMW 325is 7 cars…geeze.

So, I’m in chruch today and the sermon is on achieving a personal relationship with Christ…then it hits me. God made people. WHY!? I mean, think about it. . .You’re the most powerful being in the universe. Omnipotent, omniscient, everywhere simultaneously. You ARE reality. You DEFINE everything we only have equations and intuition for–time, space, probability. What do you need people for? You’re lonely. I used to ask myself if God was bored. After all omniscent & omnipotent means you know all that’s going to happen, right? Also, I used to get hung-up on the whole ‘can God make an object that even he can’t move?’ ...

A few key phrases that I’ve heard regarding software development: “Ring” code: Software so bad that if you even LOOK at the code, you’re dead, like with that darn video in The Ring Coyote project: A project so bad, you’d gnaw through your own leg to escape. Guy1: “Bob is so bad, whenever he’s informed he’s wrong, he complains that they changed it from the way it used to work without telling him. " Guy2: “I’ve had days like that” Guy1: “Bob’s had a life like that.” ...

Yep…just got the call from the fellow down @ CompUSA: More than $850 just to replace the logic board on the powerbook, and that’s just for parts. Yikes. Well, I guess I’m back in the Windows world for the forseeable future. :: sigh ::

Up at 0-dark-thirty: check Long breakfast with Joey: check Beautiful, cool ride to work in the Bimmer: Check Dead Powerbook: check * * * :: sigh :: Well, my beloved laptop is in for repairs after 2 great years of service. Tea and laptops apparently don’t go well together. Paid the (up front) $140 labor cost for diagnosis, but if it’s overcostly to repair, I’ll just suck it up and use Whitney’s trusty (if slightly bruised) Thinkpad R40. ...

If you need: Todo lists, calendars, collaboration, or just to view the state-of-the-art in Web 2.0 apps, look no further: AirSet. This is the first calendaring app that’s a pleasure to use, and I’ve been there/done that: Outlook, Lotus Notes 4/5/6, iCal, Thunderbird, Palm Desktop. Thing is, I HATE schedules and being scheduled and scheduling, mainly because it turns me into an asshole, and I don’t like being an asshole. I don’t like being disappointed in myself, my teammates, and the people I love because they didn’t fulfill some arbitrary schedule. ...