May 2006 Archives
A few of us have organized a Johnstown chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals. We will be holding monthly meetings with guest speakers dealing with all types of IT related topics.
If you're interested in learning more, check out AITPJohnstown.com or just let me know.
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From the looks of the demo, this app actually works.
With the new house, we faced the dilemma of whether or not to sign up for traditional phone service. Since we could not get DSL at the new house, we would have to switch back to cable TV in order to have broadband service (at the other house, we had Dish Network, Verizon DSL, Verizon local phone service, and a cell phone). I was a little skeptical about signing on with Verizon again for landline phone service simply because I viewed it as an uneccessary monthly bill. Why have a landline when you have good cellular coverage and can use VOIP services such as Skype as your backup?
However, Colleen felt that we should still have the landline, mainly because of the convenience of having multiple phones in the house and for 911. I could see her reasoning, especially since we have at least 2 nice and fairly expensive cordless phones that we wouldn't be using under the cell phone only scenario.
So I did some searching for something that would let me use my existing "wired" phones over my cellular phone. What I found was Phonelab's Dock-N-Talk. I was a bit skeptical, and couldn't really find any reviews (positive or negative) for the device. I decided to purchase one and give it a go.
After it arrived, the first thing I had found out was that it was not compatible with my existing LG cell phone (had I checked on the website beforehand, I would have realized that). However, this wasn't a real big deal because Ethan had dropped our phone in the sink, where it sat submerged for two hours. As you can imagine, ever since then, the phone has been acting a bit goofy.
I looked at the list of supported phones and did some searching on eBay. I decided that my best bet would be to go with a Bluetooth phone and get the Bluetooth adapter for the Dock-N-Talk. I eventually won an auction for a Samsuch SCH-A950 phone and finally had all the gear to set the system up yesterday.
After switching my Verizon service over to the new phone, I began configuring the Dock-N-Talk. Setup was extremelly easy, just have the phone search for the Bluetooth connection on the Doc-N-Talk, enter a password on the phone, connect the corded phone to the back of the Dock-N-Talk and you are pretty much done.
All in all, I'm impressed with the system. Voice quality is good from the headset, and all you have to do when you want to connect the cell phone is place it within 6 feet or so with the unit (you don't have to manually establish the connection each time). I still haven't wired it into my home phone lines, but there are instructions on how to do that and I should have that done by this weekend. By the time I bought the Bluetooth adapter the system was up to about $150 (not including the new phone, but I needed that regardless), however I figure I'll make that up within 4 months of not having a phone bill.
I'm not quite sure where we stand on the 911 issue, but the phone does meet the GPS requirement that was mandated a few years back and I think that we put the charger near an unobstructed window, it should be able to get enough GPS coverage.
All-in-all, the Dock-N-Talk is one of those devices that is easy to set up, apparently good quality, and a real money-saver in the long run. We definately could go without it and just use the cellular headset, but with 2 little kids and a larger house, I think we will benefit from this system in that we won't have to carry the phone with us all the time, and it won't be a mad sprint when the phone rings.
The Tube City Almanac has a good article up today about PA's Senate race. I'm in agreement with the author. Democrats had better look beyond Casey's pro-life stance if we want to oust Santorum. The more I look into Casey's political stance, the more I like him.
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Describes how to set up TiVo for 30 second skip
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zon Wireless 866‑251‑9611 Direct to human.
After the 2004 presidential elections, I really felt disheartened by this country's political process. It had become apparent to me that the country was incapable of electing someone who could change the course that we are currently on. I still feel that, but today some of my faith has been restored.
In our own quiet nook of Central Pennsylvania, some real change has happened, John Eichelberger upset a perennial powerhouse by defeating Bob Jubelirer for representive in Harrisburg. Now other than the payraise fiasco, I really have nothing againist Jubelirer. He been instrumental in bringing a number of good things to Blair County including the Altoona Curve and Interstate 99. In fact, I was really torn in who to vote for up to about 3 weeks ago.
It was then that I started receiving flyers in the mail EVERY SINGLE DAY urging me to vote for Jubelirer. He was obviously spending hundreds of thousands on the campaign and that really irked me. These flyers told me that he really was the pawn of big business and it was then that I decided my vote.
Do I really think Eichelberger is that different? No, not really. He says he's for smaller government and term limits. But I think those ideals change quickly in Harrisburg. However, I'm glad that we as a collective region stood up and told at least one politician that politics should not be a career and that we want change. Hopefully this attitude will continue into the November PA Senate Race (but I'm still not quite yet counting on it :))
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Online service to automatically backup a blog on a routine schedule.
Yes. It is really very, very free. There's no prepayment, no minimum use, no subscription, no monthly fee, no nothing. You just download and install Skype and then you start calling. Both the caller and the number called must be in either the US or Canada. There are no strings attached.
read more | digg story
Pictures of the new house are finally up on Flickr.
A month ago I reported that I bid on and won on my first Prosper loan. Well, today was the first payment due date and I'm just reporting that the money did come in. I'm pretty happy with the service so far. I do wish that I could immediately reinvest the balance of my account, but since I only have $100 in the system, I didn't make the monthly minimum for bidding.
There have been a few more loans I would have liked to bid on, but I'm going to wait another couple months before investing any more money into it.
With the new house, we had the fun task of finding a mortgage company. I generally hate dealing with these companies, it's very difficult to compare offers because nobody uses the same terminology and they like to talk in circles. We even had one company order an appraisel for the house well before I decided to go with them. It truly ended up being a huge pain.
We stared out with LendingTree.com. There were two companies from there that gave us offers and the one looked pretty decent. However, this ended up being the guy that ordered the appraisel after I specifically asked him not to until I got one more comparison offer. I would have probably gone with him had he not done that.
At this point, I was pretty frustrated with the Internet offers, so I started looking local. Citizen's Bank gave us a decent rate and costs, so again I was nearly ready to sign off with them. However, a buddy from a NASIOC message board told me about Atlantic Federal Mortgage and that he was in the process of closing a house in the eastern part of the state with them. He gave me their number, and I gave them a call. In a weird twist of fate, it turns out that they are actually headquartered in Altoona. Once I gave them the details of the Citizen's bank offer, Atlantic Federal gave us a slightly better deal, and they seemed very professional. Their assistance thoughout the closing process has been fantastic.
Now that we are done with the closing, I can reccomend Atlantic Federal with no qualms. They serve all of Pennsylvania and can be reached at 1-800-728-5374.
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Lists winning bids from priceline, etc...
This weekend we moved out of the borough of Hollidaysburg into a new place about 2 miles outside of town. Thanks to everyone who came and helped, we truly appreciate it. I'll have pics up on Flickr soon, I honestly haven't had time yet to even take a photo of the front of the place. All in all, we are very happy with the new place, it gives us a good bit more room for the kids as well as a nice finished basement which neither Colleen or I have had at any point in our lives. I'm sure we will be living out of boxes for a while, but we will eventually get settled.
I'll get some photos and more info posted soon.
