[Off-topic?] Where Were You?

Today, as you may have noticed, is a pretty big day here in the United States.  It’s a day that many people thought would never come, at least not in their lifetimes.  It’s a day that I remember hearing about in school as a sort of “Maybe one day…” thing, something in the future, not the present.  I’m speaking, of course, about the swearing in of our first Hawaiian president.

As I tried to explain to my 6yr old this morning, “There are times in your life when people will ask ‘Where were you?’  Where were you when we landed on the moon, where were you when 9/11 happened?”

“I wasn’t alive for either of those things, Daddy.”

“I know, sweetie.  But you know what?  Years from now, when you’re Daddy’s age and you have kids your age, people are going to ask you Where were you when they swore in the first Hawaiian president.”

So, I’m asking all my readers, on all my blogs:  Where were you?

Me, personally, I’m at work.  My kids are at their grandmother’s house, because the power went out at about 6:30am.  Which stinks, because there’s pretty much no way I will be able to DVR the ceremonies on television if I have no television :).  But I will be watching on line as best I can.

Where are you?

Are you at the job, do you have a job?  Laid off and watching from home?  How optimistic are you that things are going to get better?  Or are you just waiting for him to fail?

Here’s What Lexus Money Buys You

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/08/2038216

Lexus to start sending spam directly to the car itself.  I can’t fathom how much I would hate this.

Define “Bad” Weather

As New England weathers a fairly serious ice storm over the past few days, I’m thinking about what constitutes a “bad” commute.   It seems like whenever there’s snow on the ground my wife will say “Be careful, it’s bad out there.”  Me, the workaholic, tends to think more in terms of “Get to work.”

What is bad, exactly?  Say I define “bad” as “bad enough to make you question whether or not you can make it into work.”  Where’s your limit?

For me, it’s closed roads.  The only times I can remember turning around and saying “Forget it” are when I come across police turning cars around because the road is closed.  Maybe this is because a tree came down, or there was a serious accident, or a water main broke.  But those all signify serious weather-related incidents that make me think, “And if I go by this, how do I know I won’t be in the middle of it the next time it happens?”

Of iPhones And FM Transmitters

I was perfectly happy with my iTouch (well, I could have used more capacity…)  I’ve long been a happy commuter, listening to podcasts everywhere I go.  Before the touch I had a 30gig video, and before that a classic white original (well, whatever it was, a classic?)  I have a variety of FM transmitters for use in the car – Belkin, Griffin, and a handful of other generic ones.  The best are those that work specifically for the iPod, using the docking connector, because not only do they charge the device, they leave the volume control up to the car stereo instead of the device.

So I just got an iPhone. Just like an iTouch, right?  Not so much.  Turns out, FM transmitters don’t work with an iPhone, something about interference.  I plugged in my transmitter and was immediately shown a dialog saying “Charging not supported with this accessory.”

Fine, I can live with that.  But….it didn’t work at all.  Didn’t play sound through my speakers. :(  That stinks.

I went googling around for which transmitters would work with an iphone, and was disappointed to discover that it is hard if not impossible to find one.  Even those folks that say they’ve got one to work, it is such a poor signal quality it’s not even usable.

That’s not cool.  That realllly kills my commute, even though I have such a shorter one now.  I mean, I never appreciated how bad radio is.  So as of right now I literally listen to my podcasts through the iPhone speaker, with the device sitting on my front seat.  It is not great.  But it is better than my options.

Toyota developing solar powered green car?

Toyota Motor Corp. is secretly developing a vehicle that will be powered solely by solar energy in an effort to turn around its struggling business with a futuristic ecological car.

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