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Mon, 26 Jun 2006 or the modern title, "Global System for Mobile Communications," is far and away the most popular form of mobile telephone service in the world. In the US, T-Mobile was the first to provide GSM service, but Cingular has established an extensive network and is slowly subsuming the TDMA remnants of AT&T Wireless Services (mostly by "upgrading" TDMA towers to GSM, thereby dismantling the old network and forcing their subscribers to move from their old cheap plans to newer, more expensive ones). Because of its worldwide popularity, cell phone manufacturers tend to make their best phones for GSM, and other services (notably QualComm's CDMA, used by Sprint PCS in the US) often don't get comparable models. This means that the cell phone hardware market for non-GSM service providers is much less than efficient—in other words, having Sprint forces you into a phone that's crappy, expensive, or both. Moreover, with GSM you can swap your SIM into another phone and you're good to go—a thoroughly awesome feature of the GSM standard. Why am I telling you all this? Because I switched to GSM, of course. Real Soon Now I'll disconnect my 617 number and replace it with a shiny new 512 (yes, I could have taken my number with me, but I know Johnston agrees with me that phone number portability is an abomination). My old number will work for a while, and I'll send out my new number to everyone in my phone book at some point, but if you don't get it from me, send me an email. And the hardware? Motorola's hot little L2, with nothing a phone doesn't need (no more camera phone for me). Exactly the phone I wanted, and it was free from Cingular. [ permalink | 4 comments ] Sun, 25 Jun 2006
no sharks were jumped in the making of this Sunday
Matt, Mike, Marissa, Dylan, and I rented a ski boat and went water skiing for a few hours today. Having elected to wear no sunscreen, I'm deliciously burned (yes, Christine, despite my protests when you claim to like getting sunburned, I actually wanted to—I'm trying to move away from the whole "day-glo white" thing). Also, as of now I claim the "best of" title—at least for this weekend. Matt must not have brought his A game, 'cause his attempts at wake jumping met with considerably less success than mine. Also, he didn't manage to show off an open-handed windmill air-asspunch. [ permalink | 0 comments (add one you lazy bastard!) ] Fri, 23 Jun 2006who do you think you are? The other day I was in Whole Foods at the self check-out machines. Two of the three of them were dead, and this guy was trying to get them to work. Some cryptic error message was coming up, and he had no freaking idea what was going on. I (correctly, it turns out) surmised that it must be because they were trying to warm-boot and failing to retrieve their previous state from the server. I said to him, "here, just... do this." I guess I'm kind of like the fairy godfather of broken computers. Also of interest: we went to Central Market for lunch yesterday, and I swung through the beer aisle on the way out. Sitting on my desk impatiently waiting to be drunk are a nice-looking Maredsous Tripel (the Maredsous "8" Dubbel is one of my favorites from the taps at the Ginger Man, though it turns out that my Ginger Man default beer, Tripel Karmeliet, is Beer Advocate's third- or fourth-favorite tripel-style beer—gotsta get me some Saint Bernardus) and my old friend, Delirium Tremens, the latter courtesy of my intern, Sid (thanks, Sid!). Lastly, I bought Blue October's new album, Foiled. You might know the single, "Hate Me," which has received lots of radio airplay (in these parts, anyway). The whole album is extremely solid vocally, instrumentally, and with respect to production. The songs are great, and several of them are really catchy. The mood of the album is well represented in the single, viz., life-on-the-edge-of-depression-and-madness (though not in the same way as The Soft Bulletin by any means). It's kind of like if Trent or Maynard decided to go with ballads and wrote the album just as they ran out of Prozac and were riding their falling blood concentration back into oblivion (what's the halflife of Prozac in the body, anyway? Too short to write this whole album, I'd say). It's not depressing, exactly, but it's getting there. Of note: "She's My Ride Home" (a strange Natural Born Killers-syle love song), "Into the Ocean" (the opening reminds me of Simon and Garfunkel, somehow), "Congratulations" (features Imogen Heap!), and "Drilled a Wire Through My Cheek" (Prozac levels falling critically low, you can feel insanity's barbwire fence cutting the insides of your elbows on this one). Forgive me if my descriptions are self-indulgent. I got to work at 7a today as part of my master plan to never hit traffic once we move downtown by coming in unconscionably early. Tue, 20 Jun 2006
the girls with the bulletproof vests
Saw Beck tonight, accompanied by Meester Hester. Bad. Ass. Highlights:
Wow. Just wow. Next week: INXS. [ permalink | 0 comments (add one you lazy bastard!) ] Fri, 16 Jun 2006I forgot to mention that as of Wednesday the 14th, I've been working at SiLabs for 2 years. Woot. I love my job. (Now I need to start taking vacation—I'm clipping 'cause I've still never used a vacation day.) [ permalink | 0 comments (add one you lazy bastard!) ] Atlanta was both entertaining and educational. This, this business of sales, is somewhat different than I'd thought, but it seems to work out in the end. I met our regional sales manager for the southeast, a fine gentleman who has previously worked with the likes of Bob Widlar. Most impressive! This weekend, who knows. The Heaviside boards came in yesterday, but I haven't started looking at them yet because Miz September and I were hanging out downtown last night. I'm sure I'll have time at some point, and I'll of course! report any significant developments (after all, I know you all wait with bated breath). revC came back the day before yesterday, and things are looking pretty good. I've made a firmware fix or two, but on the whole things look damn solid. Always good. [ permalink | 0 comments (add one you lazy bastard!) ] Sat, 10 Jun 2006Or something. I don't actually speak French. Last night, SCS and I went to this amazing show called Requiem, performed by Blue Lapis Light. Think Cirque, but actually performed in the shell of a 6-story building. There was rappelling, the giant sheet climbey things, and lots more amazing stuff. In short, holy balls! You Austin types should check it out. It's this weekend, next weekend, and the weekend after on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at 8:30. The crowd gathers in front of the gate to the ex-Intel construction site at San Antonio and 5th. Yes, this is a dance production that takes place in a construction site. That's kinda cool, isn't it? Oh yeah, also, I actually took half a day off to go to Fredericksburg (also with SCS) yesterday. That was supah coor! [ permalink | 0 comments (add one you lazy bastard!) ] Wed, 07 Jun 2006Wow. Someone decided it would be a good idea to unleash me (in my capacity as lead analog designer, not because of my awesome personality or marketing know-how, though the latter are of course self evident—now I'm really earning my last post's title) on some of our difficult customers, so I'll be going to Atlanta one night next week to meet with them. How can they fail to appreciate that I'm a danger to both the living and the dead, and as such shouldn't be allowed to venture outside my office, let alone trapse across the country to go scare the nice people who might otherwise buy our products? I guess this means I need to peruse the latest GQ (which I should have done already, given that Christina Aguilera is ruthlessly gorgeous on the cover) to learn the latest styles in summer suits. Can I get away with a khaki, or will I look like I lost my Pith helmet on safari? [ permalink | 0 comments (add one you lazy bastard!) ] Mon, 05 Jun 2006On a whim, I decided on the following title for the paper I'm writing at work: An Essay Concerning Human Understandingof Short Loop Ringing11 With apologies to John Locke, who in no way condones or endorses any particular method of ringing. It's important to entertain the well-read members of your audience. [ permalink | 2 comments ] Sun, 04 Jun 2006Quite the busy day yesterday! Some swimming and general lazing around in the sun (at least I look a little less day-glo now, jeezus, and for the record, sucks to you paleface bastards who can't take a few hours of direct sun without burning—I'm the fairest I've ever been and I have nary a touch of the stuff) followed by some general walking around downtown ending up at this nifty authentic Mexican place. A tacos al pastor and guac-made-right-at-the-table later, we were out and about again, only to stumble into some gelatto (including what's probably the strongest lemon-lime flavored shit ever—like eating concentrated lemonade powder in sorbet form). After a bit more ambulation, it was time to head home and clean up for the evening's festivities, but not before stopping by Waterloo Records and picking up entirely too many Van der Graaf Generator CDs, and one by a newish local band, Thirteen of Everything. All you prog lovers will enjoy their shit immensely—a dash of Floyd, a punch (no, not a pinch, a punch) of Genesis, and a solid instrumental foundation slathered in originality. Said festivities comprised Texas two-step (and some swing and waltz and what-have-you) at the Broken Spoke. SCS and I were joined by Marissa and Dylan, and we all had a grand ole' time (once the drama of accidentally running into The She-Devil and Sloppy Seconds blew over, anyway). Now, back to work for a little while. Little baby VoIP boxes everywhere will be lost without their ringing spec. [ permalink | 0 comments (add one you lazy bastard!) ] |
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