Android vs. Apple....

Everyone loves a winner until the winner gets a little too big. You can take your pick between Apple's fluctuating stock price, antenna gate on the new Apple iPhone 4G or the bitching and moaning about iTunes being too restrictive and totalitarian but the result is the same; let's pick on Apple.

People whine that they "have" to download their apps from iTunes and developers whine that all the apps are subjected to a rigorous certification test from Apple. The blogosphere is whining because Apple's new iPhone 4G can get poor antenna reception if you death grip the phone. Bag on Apple because they have become the new Microsoft of the 80's. They are the innovators where Microsoft once was, they are becoming the behemoth that everyone hates just like Microsoft has become. I suppose there is one difference, Apple customers are rabid. So rabid in fact that they can be referred to as fanboys.

So where does that leave us? It left an opening for Google to come in and introduce the open source free for all called the Android platform. In the Android's case applications are distributed either through the Android Marketplace (an icon on the phone's home page) or through the developer's website (scary). This link is from Phone scoop and it talks about a Chinese owned domain stealing personal information from people downloading their wallpaper Android app. Imagine that....No controls on the apps at all, unlike iTunes, so thieves go about unchecked. Give me Apple and it's controls anytime!

Here is a poignant snapshot of the Android Marketplace article:

In June 2010, a study performed on 48,000 Android market applications by SMobile Systems Inc., revealed that 20 percent of applications asked users permission for access to private or sensitive information that an attacker could use for malicious purposes, such as identity theft or mobile banking fraud. 5 percent of applications have the ability to place a call to any number, without requiring user intervention.[15][16][17]
However, while installing applications, Android displays all required permissions, so the user can decide whether to install an application whose permission requirements seem excessive or unnecessary (e.g. a game is likely to enable vibration, but unlikely to read messages or phonebook). This effectively makes the process more secure than other systems that do not ask for any permissions and instead receive full complete access.

Which phone will you buy? Who do you trust? Only you can decide but you shouldn't decide based on the phone's good looks. You should decide on many factors and being well informed is vital!

Hornworm

Oh how I hate these. Look at this huge bugger I found gobbling down one of my baby tomatoes. I put it on the garden clippers for size context. I suppose sacrifices of some must be made for the good of the whole but my goodness he's a fatty. I hope there aren't little hornworms running around that I haven't caught yet. These buggers are the ones that put the little and sometimes BIG holes in your tomatoes. If you listen closely in the quiet of the night you can actually hear them crunching. Then take your flashlight and go a picking....

These caterpillars are so big (three inches long or more) that it would seem to be easy to control them just by picking them off. And so it is, sometimes. The problem is that their pale green color provides excellent camouflage, and the nymph and larval stages are far smaller and less obvious. If there are only a few, picking them off works well. If there are more than a few, other measures may be called for. One of these is Bt, Bacillus thuringiensis, an organic treatment that can control numerous other problems as well.

Tomato Harvest #1

The first tomato harvest happened so suddenly I almost missed it. We had weeks during June and early July of marine layer cloudiness and cool temperatures. I enjoyed it but the plants weren't all that fond of it. A couple of my tomatoes even developed a case of "cat facing" which is an appropriate name for what they look like. See picture. I only have a couple like that fortunately. Catfacing is an abnormality that develops on the blossom end of susceptible tomato varieties. It results from cool weather at blossom time and causes the fruit to pucker and have deep crevices.

Here I am all proud with the days harvest. As you can see it was bountiful and there are plenty more where that came from. Dena is in the kitchen right now making some sort of tomato soup.

cite Colorado Extension

Anonymity

There's something to be said for Anonymity. Only last year if you googled my name you got millions of hits with none of them pointing to me. You see Dawn Armstrong is a fairly common name. There are literally 1000's of us out there. Today after reading an article regarding Social networking personal brand suicide I figured I'd better google myself again. I was shocked that this blog is the #2 hit. I didn't realize how much I missed that anonymity....

For awhile I was thrilled that when you googled "direct buy scam" my blog was the first hit. I was proud that I had become searchable. I've had this blog for about 6 or 7 years now and it had never been searchable until that fateful blog post in late 2008. It took about 4 months for it to climb to the top of the page rankings but it did. Today using that search term gets me at 3rd place. I'm happy now to have dropped. I don't want to be first and I don't want to be so out there on the internet.

Over the past two years I've become very cognizant of the fact that what I post will be read by too many people and some day it may be used against me. It enters my mind each time I write a blog. I have to temper feelings, delete blog posts and be careful what I write so as not to offend anyone too much or damage any career opportunities.

Have you googled yourself lately?

Today's Harvest

Spaghetti squash, red cabbage, and a few tomatoes. Soon I will be up to my ears in tomatoes just like today I'm up to my ears in squash. Spaghetti squash is different from other squashes when it grows in that once the vine bears fruit it dies, other squashes will continue to produce. I've planted peas and cucumbers in the spaghetti squash's place to see if I can get another crop of veggies. I'm sure I will as it is only July.

Red Neck Trellis

This Better Best Boy tomato plant, yes there's only one there, is so out of control I had to use a 6' ladder to prop up this side. There's another trellis on the back side to the left of the main plant because there are some 8' off shoots there bearing fruit and they are sagging from the weight. The same thing was happening on this side so what's a girl to do? Why spend money on another trellis when you have a ladder around?

Unemployment and the Federal Extension Bill

There seems to be a tremendous amount of confusion out there of what this bill in the Senate and Congress actually accomplishes. It is called the Federal Unemployment Extension Bill. To me that means that they are considering extending unemployment benefits past what is already allowed or been voted on previously. That's what I always assumed because they use the word "extension". That is not the case.

In all actuality it is really an unemployment funding bill. The unemployed people currently collecting or moving toward any form of federal extension of benefits can no longer collect anything until they pass this. If someone has remained unemployed for more than six months, typically they have moved into one of four tiers of federal extension benefits that have been available since July 2008. Without further Congressional action, unless these unemployed workers are currently collecting on the separate FED-ED extension, they can continue to collect the balance of benefits available on their current extension tier but nothing further after that.

Some of the "tiers" of extensions are only 6 weeks long. So if you happened to be in that tier while they dick around and argue about funding what they already granted then you already ran out and you haven't gotten any checks for a few weeks. People and the media often talk about the 99 weekers. These people are supposedly eligible to collect unemployment for 99 weeks. Often right wingers and people frustrated about the deficit are against unemployed people because they figure they can collect for almost 2 years so why would they go back to work? What they don't realize is that there are about 6 different applications to apply for each extension that you have to deal with and that every time congress delays on funding the extensions these people get no checks. And when/if any of the unemployed do get a job they are more than likely getting it for 25 - 50% less of a salary than they were making before.

What would you rather have? Millions of people without benefits moving to welfare, food stamps and without health insurance or fund the federal unemployment package? Which do you think would cost more in the long run? Definitely welfare.

The middle class are disappearing, write your congress person and your senator!

Information on the tiers of unemployment click me

Senator addresses click here

Congress person addresses click here

Tips on what to write and how to write a letter to a government official

Old Age - The Eyesight

I am constantly reminded of my age lately. It's getting quite annoying. Over the past 18 months or so my close eyesight has been failing me. It started with the directions on the back of pill bottles, progressed to menus in dark restaurants and has recently hit a new low with any form of reading in almost any light. I'm thinking of having Dena make me a cool chain to hang my glasses around my neck. Can glasses chains even be cool?

I've been in restaurants with my mom and she'll ask me what looks good and then says that she'll have that. I eventually figured out that she had forgotten her glasses and couldn't read the menu but now I have a new understanding and empathy. It's depressing and debilitating. Am I going to have to start carrying a purse or something? Maybe I could get away with a small messenger bag? I seem to have lots to carry the older I get. Reading glasses, Carmex, eye drops, cell phone, keys..... I only have so many pockets and the older I get the less I can do without any of these things.

Mom, I love you but bilberry isn't going to bring my eyesight back. I know you think it does but it doesn't. Maybe it helps eye fatigue, I'll give you that. Oh and mom, I appreciate all you've given me, my young looking skin, my small bladder, my thin esophagus, but you could have left off the poor eyesight gene.

First Harvest of the Summer of 2010

New Notebook Feature - SplashTop

SplashTop is a new "feature" or program that is starting to appear on some laptops and noteboooks. It appears as a Web button on the computer that you would press instead of the power button. Pushing this Web button tells the computer to boot this new special program or OS instead of going to Windows.

The benefits according to the SplashTop website are as follows:

Fast - Be online seconds after you turn on your PC. Why wait for Windows to load when you could be surfing the web right away! (True, pretty fast boot)
Safe - Surf the Web safely, immune from the malware that targets Windows. (True)
Eco-Friendly - Give your PC a rest when you do not use it. Splashtop boots quickly so there is no reason to leave your PC on all the time. (This is a load of hooey)

What are the problems? Some people have complained about YouTube issues and it seems easily corruptible. The major issue is if your computer is no longer bootable it is not supported directly from the SplashTop website but only from the OEM vendor. In the example I'm referring to, Sony Vaio uses it under the OEM name of Quick Web Access. There is little to any help available from Sony if you are having issues and SplashTop itself won't help you because they are selling the program to Sony, so you are not the customer, Sony is.

Do the benefits outweigh the pains? I believe so. If it stops working and it's beyond you or your poor computer geek friend who you rely on and abuse and don't pay, then you can just not use that button/feature anymore.

HP TechForum 2010

Well it's actually Day 2, I'm exhausted already. Last night I didn't get back to the room until 9pm, and no, it wasn't because I was gambling or at a strip club. I have to admit that HP really knows how to do it up and I know from other attendees that this is scaled back affair. Yesterday evening was the opening of the Expo and the reception. I learned so much in just that short period of time and I did it all with a glass of wine in my hand and prime rib in my belly, all courtesy of HP.

What I've learned thus far:

1. There are waaaaayyyy more geeky people than me.
2. The $20 "sandwich" is a valuable tool in Vegas where money talks.
3. 4G is not fully in Las Vegas, that's just bull$hit
4. The Luxor really does suck, just like people have told me.

For those of you not in the know, a 20 dollar sandwich is where when you have some cheap a$$ hotel in Vegas and you are checking in, you slip a $20 in between your credit card and your ID. Then you innocently ask if you could possibly get an upgraded room. Sadly, I found this trick out after I checked in. The fellow I met has a beautiful suite in a tower including dining and living rooms, me - a crappy room on the 3rd floor of the pyramid with a view of the Starbucks on the first floor and all the noise that goes with being in a major traffic area, all night long.

Tonight, I finally got dinner during this blog post. It's been a long day. I had to eat my lunch in 15 minutes between sessions. Perhaps I've just overbooked myself. Me? Do too much? Never....

The Irony of it All

The other day one of my many bosses walks into my office with his wife's new Costco laptop and a bag full of software. He says, "Dawn, can you load this up and make sure it all works". "Sure" I said, I mean, what else was I to say?

Normally any computer geek is happy as a clam to fiddle with something shiny and new. I fired up the Sony Vaio and went through the typical Windows 7 setup screen. I typed in the password that his wife wanted, very simple, Password123. I let Micro$shaft load its millions of megabytes of critical updates and then the computer was ready to reboot. Yes, please reboot yourself. Back at the log in screen I type Password123. Invalid password. What? Password123. Invalid password. I typed if very carefully - P a s s w o r d 1 2 3 ---- Invalid password. OH MY GOD! As I stared open mouthed at the laptop I felt my heart drop into my stomach and the bile rising into my mouth.

How did this happen? Wait, maybe because the keyboard is strangely skewed to the left on this model and I didn't have my fingers on the home row? I would have had to type the password in wrong twice though, as a confirmation. How could that be? One long sheet of paper and about 100 iterations of Password123 later, still no go. He's been in my office now about 10 times looking at his laptop and seeing how it is coming. I feign casual indifference but inside I'm freaking out.

Four hours later thanks to the hacker community, bit torrent and my helpdesk guy we've procured a hack to wipe the password from the laptop. I'm back in! Whew. Then I start with an older Adobe CS3 package which is not Windows 7 compatible. 8 hours later and with the help of the Experts Exchange (which I contribute to and have achieved Master status on ) I've finally beat that program into submission.

Total cost = 12 hours of labor,
25 new grey hairs,
1 sleepless night
and happy Senior VP
- Priceless.

Afghanistan Is Rich!

In report released just last week mineral reserves of copper, gold, oil and most importantly lithium have been discovered under the ground in various regions of Afghanistan. China has already won a major contract for mining copper in one of the regions. That just pisses me off. The United States goes over there and fights for over a decade trying to bring peace and democracy to the region costing untold billions of dollars and 1000's of US soldiers lives and China gets a contract. That's just horseshit. By default, a US company should get that contract and the lion's share of the others.

I'm sorry if you don't agree with my opinion but there should be no bidding it should be awarded to the US. We will share but we should be making some of the billions back we pissed away in the bloody sand in Afghanistan. It's only fair. If you're going to be the world's policeman and the world's target all at the same time I would think that you should get at least some quid pro quo. And who exactly discovered all these riches? Well, it was a Pentagon geological team. Frankly, I'm so ticked off right now that I think the USA should just kick the government out of Kabul and take over. Make Afghanistan a US territory and take over. Why pussy foot around anymore. It's obvious that it's a corrupt terrorist country that will never be able to manage this kind of wealth except to use it against the US who has saved their ass.

Two excerpts from the article:

At the same time, American officials fear resource-hungry China will try to dominate the development of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth, which could upset the United States, given its heavy investment in the region. After winning the bid for its Aynak copper mine in Logar Province, China clearly wants more, American officials said.

The corruption that is already rampant in the Karzai government could also be amplified by the new wealth, particularly if a handful of well-connected oligarchs, some with personal ties to the president, gain control of the resources. Just last year, Afghanistan’s minister of mines was accused by American officials of accepting a $30 million bribe to award China the rights to develop its copper mine. The minister has since been replaced.

More on Mitel Stock and IPO's

I love that even on a stock market up day my shitty a$$ Mitel stock drops. Down to $ 9.60 and dropping a whopping 32% since it's IPO less than 6 weeks ago. This article says it'll be bullish in about 12 months if their first Quarter public financials show profit. Mitel hasn't shown a profit for years on its quarterlies, why should this quarter be any different? The article continues to state that a long position will be beneficial to the investor with the stock price estimate at approximately $14 by year end. That's what the stock IPO's at so woohoo! I could break even after 8 months if I'm lucky. On the flip side, why sell it, I have 85% less shares that I had before they went public due to their reverse stock split.

So that's my little rant. It's highly disappointing to be sure. People talk about the hey day of the dot com boom and how so many people got rich on stock options. I think that number is probably significantly less than we like to believe.

A Little Capitalism is Good for the Soul

As some of you may know over the past 18 months or so Dena and I have been cutting back just like most Americans are doing. Only really buying the necessities, cutting where we can, not really buying any new clothes or electronic goodies (my weak spot) and generally watching what we spend. Over the past month I've just felt the urge to spend. It's been so long and I'm tired of being frugal and careful. I WANT SOMETHING NEW! Preferably shiny and bright but hey, at this point I'll take anything.

I was in Costco the other day and couldn't pull myself away from the new generation of flat screen TV's. I was mesmerized by the new LED LCD Side lit technology and the thinness of the new models. I was dazzled by the new feature of web surfing as a PIP feature. Matter of fact, I was so lost in it all that Dena and I were supposed to meet at a certain spot in the store and I forgot. She was very ticked off at me.

So this weekend after hearing some great things about these "Fit Flops" and the Reebok Easy Tone runners (Tennis shoes for you yanks) I just had to go check them out. With all my foot issues I thought these may be the ticket for me and with summer approaching who doesn't need a new pair of sandals? After trying these shoes and the fit flops on I was sold. Certainly not for the magic toning I was going to get but for the comfort. The fit flops especially were so squishy that my feet feel like they are walking on air. They also come in lovely styles that are "in" like the new roman look made popular by Sex in the City 2. I bought 3 pairs. And you know what? It felt good. It felt GREAT to spend money. I was happy for hours and even wore my new sandals home. Of course the guilt set in the next day when I realized how much my June credit card bill was going to be. I guess retail therapy is good but only in small doses.

Side note: The difference between side lit LCD TV's and Back lit LCD is size and quality. Side lit makes the panel extremely thin however, you lose the deep blacks and depth of color. Here is a great article explaining the differences in local dimming, side lit, back lit, etc. It's short and easy to understand as well as a valuable tool if purchasing a new TV.

Another Doctor's Trip

For the 3rd time in 4 weeks I went to the doctor. I had already self-diagnosed and determined that my problem was a sinus infection (from the 1st doctor's visit) that wasn't quite wiped out by the first course of antibiotics. This is because it was so severe. The 2nd doctor's visit was not with my regular doctor and it turns out her colleague is so against antibiotics that he will not prescribe them no matter what. Nice.

Dr. Vasquez confirmed my self diagnosis today with the caveats that if I'm not 100% feeling awesome after a 3 week battery of Augmentin starting today that I would be off for a CAT scan on my sinuses and probably at least another 6 weeks of antibiotics depending on the results. Since I've never had a sinus infection before and NEVER want to have one again after that incredible pain I am adhering to every letter of the law. I'm on such an extensive battery of drugs that I'm thankful for every pharmacy visit for insurance.

Advair, Augmentin, Nasonex, nasal lavage, prednisone and singulair. Impressive and a little bit scary. I look forward to 3 weeks from now when these can all go into the trash can or drawer never to be seen again. I'm am hopeful.

Frustrated

I'm very frustrated with my body today. As some of you know I had just gotten over a serious sinus and lung infection. I was on a 2 week course of antibiotics and Tuesday was my last day. Also had a doctors appointment Tuesday and received a clean bill of health. Yesterday (Wednesday) I was exhausted, so tired I could have put my head down on my desk and fell fast asleep. All night I was up repeatedly with coughing and a very sore throat (and yes mom, I gargled with melalucea).

This morning I feel like crap. I'm hacking and coughing up lovely things and I have that sick taste in my mouth. Off to the doctor I go. I will beg for another course of antibiotics because I think it wasn't quite done. I do not want to be sick anymore. I would really like to get back to the vibrant, happy, energy filled me. Is that too much to ask? Come on body. Buck up! Kick that immune system into overdrive and beat this thing.

Greece is Really Going to the Well....Frogs

Those poor people in Greece cannot get a break. First their country announces it's going broke. Riots in the streets, consumer confidence drops in the EU followed by the rest of the globe. A ripple effect to be sure. Today, frogs. The little amphibians closed a major Northern highway today as they hopped across the road. Perhaps they were in search of food, perhaps a better lifestyle (aren't we all nowadays?), we'll probably never know.

Check out the story here

Mitel Goes Public

I worked for Mitel for over 12 years. Over those 12 years there were good times but mostly bad times. There were pay cuts, many years with no raises and stock options in lieu of bonuses. Then there was the company stock purchase program. Yes, for only $1.50 and later $3.50 you could buy a Common share of Mitel stock in this privately held company to be redeemable when it goes public. We were told what a good deal this was, we would be investing in the company's financial future and subsequently ours, we could cash it all in when they went public and they would make it really convenient and do a paycheck debit for us.

Sounds like a good deal doesn't it? Well, it turns out that the rich get richer and the middle class get nothing. Mitel went public (Ticker symbol: MITL) on April 22nd, 2010. They hoped for $18 to $20 a share, it started at $14 and today, less than a month later it's hovering around $ 11.50, probably the reasonable value.

One week before they went public I received in the mail notice of a 15 to 1 Reverse split of my common shares. Basically, if you purchased 1000 common shares through the employee stock purchase program you now have 66 shares. If you bought them for $3500 they are now worth based on today's stock price, $770.22. Yes, every Mitel employee got this "deal". I'm sure not about the big wigs, they probably had something other than "common" shares (I believe they are called Preferred Shares) and probably didn't have to trade those in so I'm sure they made out like bandits.

Welcome to the middle class. Bend over.

My Garden

Spaghetti squash, oh so big, red cabbage, blackberries....yummy, yummy.....