Heather, On Tech

What Credit Crunch?

The economy is "bad".  There is a "credit crisis".  Blah, blah, blah.  If I hear any more gloom and doom or bullshit about the election I'm going to go postal.  I liken the whole McCain/Obama crap to Microsoft/Apple crap.  Shut up already, they both have their good and bad, they are both liars (they are, after all, politicians!), and, just shut up.

So, I went out and bought a new car.  I couldn't resist.  David and I traded cars to put more miles on the older Hyundai Sonata we had (he is now driving the Quest), and it was basically just unsafe and I didn't want to spend the next six months in and out of the shop until we gave in and bought a new car.  And behold, the local Nissan dealership announced a sale!  Yippee!

So, you're wondering what I got, I know you are!  It's a 2009 Altima.  It lacks leather and the garage door opener on the mirror, and that's it.  It's not a hybrid.  Bose stereo with satellite, which is cool because I've never checked that out.  Aux jack for my iPod.  Push button start.  Bluetooth.  And I. Love. It.

But, now I'm like everybody else.  The car is silver - I would have liked blue better...

SCUBA with Your iPod

Are you an avid SCUBA diver?  Love your iPod?  According to Ubergizmo, now you can take your iPod diving with  you, even if you do crazy stuff like dive deeper than 60 feet!  It seems as though iDive has come out with a waterproof housing (complete with over-the-ear speakers) that will keep your iPod dry up to 300 feet deep.  Whodathunkit?

The speakers will strap onto your mask or fit tucked inside your hood (which would be my case).  It looks like it has push-button controls for the click wheel so you can even control your iPod in the usual way.  Wow!

This baby will set you back almost $350, but if you love your tunes while you dive, it will be well worth it.  My dad never would have thought that one day people could watch movies while they decompressed!

The iDive 300 is brought to you by H20 Audio.

Life Lessons From Football

Isn't it funny how every year, there are roughly two or three weeks during the football season where most of the top 5 teams lose?  Everyone moves down or up (depending on your team) and we start all over again.

Isn't it amazing how a team that starts out the season really strong and looking really good always loses to an unranked opponent who has something to prove (see the previous paragraph - it seems that often those top 5 teams are beaten by an unranked opponent within their own conference)?

And, isn't it amazing how the team who lost to that unranked opponent (and deserved to - let's face it, they were beaten, or didn't show up to play, or whatever) can come back and look pretty good the next week, and two weeks after that loss beat the living snot out of...a top 5 team (even ranked in the top 15)?

What does this mean?

Sometimes you get beaten, whether it's football, life, business, whatever.  Sometimes you are not as good as someone else - and sometimes you make too many mistakes and the other team/person wins.  Take that loss and turn it into something.  Learn from it.  Improve your skill, pay better attention to stop making mistakes, or change your priorities, or change your goal.  Don't sit on your ass and whine about it.

But of course, you already knew that, as do most of us.  We just all need a reminder once in awhile.  Mine comes every football season when the Gators lose to whichever Mississippi team they play...and then a few weeks later kick the snot out of highly ranked LSU, or Georgia, or Ohio State (for a National Championship).  But then, now I sound like Captain Kramer (Robert Stack) from the movie Airplane!: "When the chips were down..."

New Search Engine MSE360

A friend sent me a link today, with no other text in the message.  Being a trusted friend, I clicked on the link (http://mse360.com/).  What I found was very interesting.

The site isn't much to look at, but you can customise it some.  This search site does things I wish Google would do: display images, results, and other information all at one time.  I realise money has to be made somehow and the ads help Google make their money, but you know, they're very annoying sometimes.

Unlike Cuil, the first time I tried MSE360 all the search results were relevant and correct.  Cuil has since corrected some of their problems but the first time I used it I just laughed and decided I'd never use it again (and I haven't, although while writing this I did try my search again and the first two pages were indeed relevant).

I've been using Google for years, mostly because I never could settle on an engine before that.  I tried Alta Vista, Excite, Yahoo...but I never seemed to be able to find what I was looking for.  Google solved that problem, but I want more from my search.  It looks like MSE360 just might provide that.  The results are displayed in a three-column approach.  The left side is images.  The middle is links to relevant data.  The right is a combination of Wikipedia results, paid results, and blog results.  Yowza.

MSE360 is self-funded, which you might have guessed I like, being a struggling wantrepreneur and all.  They are based in London and are looking for feedback if you're willing to give it.  And in case you're wondering, MSE stands for "Multi Search Engine".  I kept thinking of MST3000 when referencing the name MSE360.  They are nothing alike but the letters and numbers were similar enough to make me giggle. :) 

Still More House T-Shirts

10 March 2009 Update: Check out this post for more information about Lincoln Mayne t-shirts!

Since more people have requested even more information on House, M.D. t-shirts, here's some more information for you.  If you want to spend crazy amounts of money on t-shirts, here are some places to get some like Greg House wears on the show.  Note that many of these shirts cost upwards of $100.  Personally I believe that cheaper is better - and I buy a LOT of t-shirts.  I like to buy mine at Buckle.  They have a similar style to what House wears, but not so expensive.  They have some really bitchin' ones, too.

But, here are some links I've thrown together for you so you can maybe find some of Greg's shirts online:

• http://www.omnipeace.com/home.html
• http://www.lmaffair.com
• http://www.teeshirtsrock.com/vintaget-shirts.aspx (I couldn't find anything on here but they are a similar style)

That's all I've found so far, but I'll keep looking.  If you find any out there, please let me know.  I wish they would post this stuff in the Q&A section on the Fox web site.  Maybe we should all send emails and bombard them with the same question?!

House Has a New Friend

I miss Wilson on House, M.D.  I'm sure House and Wilson will work out their differences eventually, but I hope it doesn't take all season to do it.  I've always liked Robert Sean Leonard, ever since I saw him in Dead Poets Society, but that's not why I miss Wilson.  I miss him because he keeps House in check - and probably actually makes House happy in some warped way.

This P.I. guy is an interesting fellow.  He's weird.  He's smart.  He's conniving.  And, he's becoming House's friend.  Have you noticed that?  Scary thought.  And, it's in a very different way than the House-Wilson friendship.  Maybe it's because House is actually paying him, I don't know.

I like the new characters fine, but I miss the old ones a lot.  The Cameron-House thing was always fun to wonder about, and I loved watching Cameron and Chase interact.  We get to see plenty of Foreman, and that's good.  I wish there were a way to have them all in the show more often.

But I definitely miss Wilson the most.  I was always hoping he would have more time on the show, more time hanging out with House or more time doing diagnoses.  I'm pretty sure he's not going anywhere, but man, hurry up and get back to Princeton Plainesboro, willya?

Oh, and for the record, having to record House on DVR is still not the same as watching it live.  Before we had a way to reliably record shows, the anticipation of "having" to be there to watch it was somewhat exciting (dorky sounding, I know).  Now, I can help get the boys to bed, fall asleep even, and I know that whenever I want to, I can go watch this week's episode of House.  Not that I'm complaining that it's recorded; I just miss the "I have to get out of this room so I can go watch House" feeling.  But I will say that the picture with a DVR and HD cable is a million times better than digital cable using a 10-year old VCR!

And for the record, House is the only show I care about missing - it's the only one I record and the only one I watch on a regular basis...except maybe the original CSI (LV).