The World According to Mike

High Basketball IQ

mike — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:38:45 GMT

With the return of the NBA after the lockout and the free preview of NBA league pass, I have been watching a lot of basketball. Normally, I would only get to see the nationally televised games and the Warriors games but with the League Pass, I get to see every game. This is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. It's good in that I get to see games and teams that I would normally never see. It is bad because I get to hear announcers that I would normally never hear.

I have always ripped on the Warriors play by play announcer, Bob Fitzgerald. He comes off as a company man way too often. He has managed to tone it down a bit recently but you can still tell that he is desperately suckling at Joe Lacob's teet. Well, he might be suckling but compared to the announcers for some of the other teams that I have seen lately, they must be nympho maniac sex slaves to their team's management. They will argue every call that goes against their team and try to convince people watching that their players never make a mistake. They will praise even the most routine plays. They will scrutinize the opposing team's every move and give undue credit to their team as often as possible. It's down right disgusting. I have had to watch some games on mute to actually enjoy the game.

One of the things that has bothered me over this past week of watching NBA games is how the announcers will use the the term "High Basketball I.Q." to refer to a players ability to know what to do on the basketball court. This is total bull$h!t. Basketball is a simple game. You don't have to be a genius to play it. If you learn the basic fundamentals of the game, the only thing left is to hone those skills to a higher level. The game itself is not complicated at all. In fact, I can explain basketball and most every sport using just one word; position. It's all about where you are in relationship to the opposing players. For example, the easiest shot in basketball is the layup when a player can get as close to the basket as possible without the interference of a defensive player. How is this done? It's done by positioning yourself in the right spot. If you force the defense out of position, you have an advantage and the ability to get into a superior position. If you get the ball into the middle of the lane, the defense is forced to collapse to prevent an easy shot. Players get out of position defensively and leave open shooters on the outside.

It works the same with football. If a receiver gets behind the defense, the quarterback can make the pass over the defense to the open receiver for a touchdown. In soccer, they created a rule to keep players from taking advantage of position and making it too easy to score called the Off Sides rule. A player is not allowed to be behind the defense and receive a pass. He must be parallel or behind the defense when a pass is made. They specifically made a rule for this because they know it is all about position.

You might argue that there were great basketball minds like Phil Jackson that came up with the triangle offense and it's many different possibilities and you would be right. But I would argue that the many different possibilities of the triangle offense are all basically the same. The idea is to get the defense out of position so that the offense can take advantage. There are hundreds of different plays that can be run from the triangle but all rely on the same basic principle.

Let's get back to the "High Basketball I.Q." cliche. I have heard it been said so many times recently and it usually refers to a player that is not living up to his potential. A player is not producing statistical numbers that are common in basketball such as points, rebounds, assists or steals but the announcers come up with the "High Basketball I.Q." moniker to convince the audience that the player is contributing in a way that cannot be measured. The idea is to give fans hope that the player that the team has invested so much in isn't a total wash up and that team management hasn't made a huge mistake. It's just another way of lying to the audience to give them a false sense of hope.

My request to NBA announcers is this: Please treat the viewers with respect and present the game in an unbiased and honest way. Praise a player or the team when they do something right and don't be afraid to chastise them when they do something wrong. You spoil the game when you do otherwise and you treat the fans as though they are idiots who don't know the game. Considering the lockout drama disenchanted all the casual fans and only the die hard fans are watching basketball right now, you don't need to put on a show. Call the game as a fan of basketball itself and not as a fan of the team that is writing your paychecks.

The Real World Ruined Television

mike — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 23:56:26 GMT

I am old enough to remember when MTV used to play music videos and that was about all they ever played. Then someone at MTV came up with this idea for a television show where they would get people from conflicting backgrounds and put them up in a nice big house somewhere and watch them tear each other down. It was a great show if you looked at it from a scientific, psychological perspective but the truth was that they chose the people that they thought would create the most conflict. This show ended up being a huge hit and changed television forever. It was the first "reality" TVshow.

Many shows then followed suit. From Survivor to The Bachelor to American Idol. They added in contest and prizes to make things a bit different and more exciting. The reality part of reality TV was all there. There was nothing real about a bunch of strangers plunked down on an island and forced to boot one person of the island each week. There was no reality when a man that claimed to be a millionaire had dozens of beautiful women fighting for his attention. But the phenomena caught on and people started watching. The ratings went through the roof and television studios loved it. They spent very little money on these shows and got huge returns in advertising in return.

Because of the incredible return on investment from reality television shows, other fictional shows became much less appealing from a monetary perspective. Action adventure television shows like 24 and Lost were hugely expensive in comparison and brought in similar or lower ratings. I can't blame TV studios for not continuing these TV shows when they can spend that money on something more profitable but I don't like reality TV. I don't want to watch Jersey Shore. I watched it for about 10 minutes and I felt my IQ dropping with every minute I watched it till I couldn't stand it anymore.

Television is supposed to be entertaining. It's supposed to take you to another world or place. It's not supposed to take you to a night club in Jersey City with a bunch of idiots on the verge of steroid rage. It's not supposed to take you to Orange County to be part of a social event with housewives with nothing to do but criticize their neighbors plastic surgery. Television is supposed to involve my mind and not force me to shut it off.

For God's sake TV executives, please spend the money on television shows that are compelling to watch and make me want to tune in each and every week. I want to see shows that have actual substance. There is more to television than just making money, isn't there?

My Knee

mike — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 18:54:33 GMT

Back in February, I hurt my knee pretty significantly. I was playing basketball during lunch at work when I drove to the basket. I left my feet just inside the free throw line and made a sweet pass to a team mate for an easy lay up. When I came down on my left knee, there was a sharp pain. The best way I could describe it would be to imagine that a dozen knives where inside my knee and trying to poke their way out. I kept my weight off of it for a few minutes and started to walk it off. The pain subsided to the point where it was bearable and I tried to play some more. There was some pain whenever I landed on my left leg as I ran but nothing that would have kept me from continuing. The big problem was when I tried to move laterally. When trying to make a move to the side to stay in front of a player that I was defending, I could feel my knee separate and the pain was extreme every time it would happen. After a couple of times, I decided that it was better if I just walked off the court before I did any more damage to it.

For the following week, I couldn't walk without a limp. A couple weeks after that I could finally begin to walk without any pain. The logical thing would have been to see a doctor and have the knee checked out. I called my insurance to see if that sort of thing was covered. They basically told me it was but it wasn't. I had to incur $5000 worth of expenses before they would begin to pay for any treatment. Anything above the $5000 would only be covered by a certain percentage which I can't recall. Needless to say, once I heard the $5000 number, I figured I would just let it heal on it's own.

Now it's late June and I haven't been doing much exercise for the last 4+ months. I've easily gained about 20 lbs. and I don't feel very good about my health. I tried playing basketball a few times but each time I didn't feel the knee was strong enough to really go for it. Last night, I went out and played and it was the first time that I felt that I could run up and down the court with a bit of confidence. I am still no where near 100% yet. The knee is probably closer to 60% of normal and most likely will never be 100% healed but it was good to get out there and score a couple of baskets. I figure by this time next year, I will be back to my old self. I just need to work off this extra weight and continue to exercise to get that knee and leg strong again.

European Vacation

mike — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 05:02:18 GMT

I've been talking about how I'm going to buy a BMW and take delivery of it in Europe for as long as I can remember and I still haven't done it. I am sure that everyone that has heard me talk about it probably thinks that I am full of crap and I wouldn't blame them. To be honest, I was beginning to think that I was full of crap.

Well no more crap! I've ordered my car and booked my plane tickets. My wife and I will be spending 2 weeks in Europe in September. Since I've been talking about this forever, I've already got a pretty good plan for our driving tour. We'll start in Munich and then work our way south through the Alps into Italy with a couple of overnight stops along the way. We'll spend 2 days in Munich, 3 days in Venice, Florence and Nice and 1 day in Bolzano, Lake Grada, and Portofino. I'll be keeping a running journal of our trip and the planning as I go.

Egypt's Revolution

mike — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 17:57:00 GMT

Egypt is in the midst of a political revolution that began a couple of days ago. Yesterday afternoon, President Mubarak said that he has fired his cabinet and will appoint a new one the following day. The people want Mubarak out of power. He has been president of Egypt since Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981. Mubarak was his vice president at the time and was present at the time of the assassination.

Here is a video report of Sadat's assassination:

Last night the local news came to St. Antonius Coptic Orthodox Church to speak with members of the clergy and congregation for their reactions to what is happening in their homeland.

AT&T Sucks!

mike — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:07:00 GMT

My wife broke the iPhone that I gave her when I upgraded mine so for a while now I have been trying to get her a new iPhone. She doesn't want to pay more than $50 for a new iPhone so we waited. Recently AT&T began to offer the refurbished 16GB iPhone 4 for $100. I convinced her that it was worth the extra $50 to get the newer phone. The last thing that you want is to sign up for two years with a phone that is already a year old. It will feel ancient by the time that 2 year commitment is done.

Great! I log in using her login for her AT&T wireless account and start the upgrade process. Once I log in, I find that the refurbished iPhone 4 is no longer an option. Only the 3GS is available in a refurbished model and it's out of stock. I immediately realized the situation and that AT&T were being butt holes and making the refurbished model only available to new subscribers. I figured I would try to talk to customer service to see if they would allow it. Before I even click the "Contact Us" link, a pop up opens asking if I would like to chat with a representative. I click on OK and the transcript below is what resulted.

Thank you for your patience! An AT&T sales representative will be with you shortly.

You are now chatting with Natlee, an AT&T sales representative.

Natlee: Welcome to AT&T online Sales support. How may I assist you with placing your order today?

Nardeen: I would like to upgrade my phone.

Natlee: I'd be happy to assist you today

Natlee: Do you have a phone in mind already?

Nardeen: I want to get the iPhone 4 16GB refurbished model.

Natlee: Thank you for your interest in our refurbished devices. Due to temporary inventory constraints, refurbished devices are not available for upgrades or when adding a line to your account. You may, however, select from a wide variety of new devices. We value your business and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Nardeen: That isn't completely true. The iPhone 3GS 16GB refurbished is available for upgrade.

Nardeen: Why can't I pay the additional $50 to get the iPhone 4 model instead?

Natlee: Okay, well you're quite welcome to take advantage of the phones and devices offered to you on your site, but when you're logged in and the refurbished iPhone 4 does not show, it is not available for upgrade

Nardeen: Okay, so I understand that it is not available for me but what I don't understand is why I can't get it but a new customer can.

Nardeen: It seems that if ATT really valued me as a customer, they would give me at least the same options as a new customer would get.

Natlee: You will notice your Upgrade prices should be very close (if not the same) as the Phones and Device prices for new customers without Package deals as well.

Nardeen: Yes, expect for the phone that I want.

Nardeen: You say that ATT values my business but it doesn't seem like ATT wants to keep me as a customer.

Natlee: I see, well the advantage that the new phones have is a 1 year warranty versus a 90 day warranty and so you may want to consider the new phone instead anyway

Natlee: In all fairness, we do offer some packages and deals to joining customers to help offset any costs or inconvenience switching to our family. While the packages and deals are offered to help us bring these new customers to our calling family, these are similar to the packages that should have been available to you when you joined us as well.

Nardeen: Wouldn't it make business sense to keep your existing customers? I am most likely going to switch to Verizon because of this.

Nardeen: ATT has made little effort to keep me as a customer.

Natlee: I see, well there are some differences in their iPhone that may have you think twice about that

Nardeen: Like what exactly?

Nardeen: I'll be able to make phone calls with the Verizon iPhone?

Natlee: Yes you sure will

Natlee: Verizon will carry iPhone 4. However, While AT&T competitors may now offer iPhone, ATWith &T is still the best choice for customers who want an iPhone. It will perform better on our network due to AT&T having the Nation’s fastest mobile broadband network, ability to talk and use data simultaneously, broad international coverage, as well as access to AT&T’s nearly 23,000 hotspots nationwide, at which qualifying customers get access to AT&T Wi-Fi Basic at no additional charge. Additional detail will be provided as it is made available to AT&T.

Nardeen: I would rather have a phone that works well all of the time than a phone that works really well only some of the time.

Nardeen: The least ATT could do would be to allow me to buy the refurbished phone at a discount if I have going to have to deal with their spotty coverage for 2 years.

Nardeen: I don't think that is too much to ask for.

Natlee: Right, well there is nothing we can do here online

Nardeen: Are you implying that there is something that can be done elsewhere?

Natlee: I do apologize for the inconvenience, what is offered, and the price shown cannot be changed or edited or adjusted

Natlee: I am just saying that we do not have the capability to do anything here online, nor do we have access to customer's accounts

Nardeen: Then I guess there is nothing left to be done.

Nardeen: I'll just wait till February 10th.

Nardeen: Thanks for the information. You have helped to make my decision much easier.

Nardeen: Have a wonderful day.

Nardeen: Goodbye.

Natlee: You're quite welcome

Natlee: Thanks for choosing AT&T

Natlee: Have a great weekend

Nardeen: HA HA! "Thanks for choosing AT&T"

Nardeen: classic!

Of course I tell them that if I don't get the discounted price, I will just leave for Verizon. That doesn't seem to phase them at all and she gives me a copy and paste message that they apparently have for their customer support reps in case someone says that they will get an iPhone with Verizon instead.

Now, I am not some billionaire entrepreneur but I do know that one of the best adertisments is a happy customer and and one of the worst is an unhappy customer. With much more competition on the way from Verizon in the next month, you would think that AT&T would be doing everything possible to keep their customers. Instead what the customer service rep gave me was basically a tough luck message. February is going to be a bad month for AT&T.

Fantasy Football

mike — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 01:32:00 GMT

I play in a fantasy football league with some guys that I work with and a few of their friends from outside our office. Last year, I dominated during the regular season only to lose in the first round of the playoffs. Even before we started this year's league, one of my co-workers and I were already trash talking. This season I started off by losing my first two games by a very slim margin. I came back and finished the season with 10 wins and 2 losses for a total record of 10-4 and in first place in the league.

The one co-worker that I talk the most trash with I had already beaten twice during the season and we were matched up against each other for the first round of the playoffs. We had been talking smack to each other every week of the season. I even changed the name of my team a few times specifically to taunt him. Now the stakes were raised with a playoff matchup. The trash talking jumped to a higher level and as you would expect, the winner would be gloating quite a bit once he won. Well I managed to win rather convincingly and I wanted to do something funny and creative to gloat about my victory beyond just changing my team name. I decided to create a youtube playlist of some scenes from movies and tv shows. Here is what I came up with:

I then posted a link to the youtube playlist in the message board of the fantasy football league as well as change the name of my team to "I BEAT SO-AND-SO AGAIN!" (I don't like to use names in my blog.) Now only people for the fantasy league can see the message and the link so it's not like the whole world knew about this. (I guess they will now that I posted it on my blog but who cares.) It was clearly a joke and I didn't see how anyone could have interpreted it as anything other than some meaningless fun. As it turns out, I was wrong.

The very next day, I get an email from the co-worker I was gloating about beating saying that I took it too far "publicly" and that I upset others, tarnished my name and made myself look conceited. (Who knew a joke could do so much.) But the thing was that it wasn't public. It was only for the people in the fantasy league. At first, I thought that it was my co-worker that was offended. I know that he can be a pretty competitive person and doesn't like losing. I emailed him back with this text:

Are you serious? It was obviously a joke. I haven't seen nor heard anyone having a problem with it.
It is FANTASY football after all. It's completely meaningless. If people are upset over that stupid joke, then I definitely do not want to play in this league again. I apologize if I somehow hurt your feelings but I thought it was a creative way of having fun. If there are people in this league that can't take a joke, then I want no part of this league."

After a little emailing back and forth, I accepted that it was not him who was offended and that it was someone else in the league. I was pretty sure I knew who it was. There is one guy in the league that clearly cannot take a joke. Earlier on in the season, I was trying to make a trade with this guy. I offered him a QB in Brett Favre for his #2 RB, Ahmad Bradshaw. In this league a QB scores 2-3 times as much as a RB. This guy had 2 very bad QBs so I felt that I was definitely offering him an upgrade. He apparently thought it was an awful trade but "accidentally" clicked accept instead of decline. He then posted a message in the message boards asking to have everyone veto the trade. I personally thought it was not an accident and that he suddenly felt buyer's remorse and took to the only resort that he had left to cancel the trade. Of course, he wouldn't admit to that and I had no proof of it either. It was no big deal to me either way. If he wanted to back out of the trade that was fine with me. I just didn't like the way he made it seem like I was trying to rip him off. I responded by using my humor in the following post:

I normally would not reply to such nonsense but feel like I need to make a point and defend my self since I am being placed in the position of being the bad guy in the deal. I will do so in my unique and extremely sarcastic style. It is all meant in good fun and not intended to offend anyone. Here goes.....

Yup, you caught me! I was trying to trick you into clicking the wrong button on a trade and it almost worked. I thought I was going to be like George Clooney in Ocean's Eleven and be the mastermind behind the heist of the century. Clearly, I am not that intelligent.

The truth is that I really need Ahmad Bradshaw because I am doing so horribly in this league with all the horrid QBs that I have. I've only won 5 in a row and my two losses came by less than 5 points total. If only I could trade one of my QBs for a mid range RB that consistently scores half or less points per game, is currently losing goal line carries to another player and has a bye this week. I only have 3 players on bye this week and really wanted to add another one.

And you don't need a QB. You have great QBs like Jason Campbell and David Carr (who is being benched in favor of Troy Smith). Why would you need a QB that just got one of the best receivers in the game in Randy Moss, Percy Harvin who is coming back into form and Sidney Rice who should be back on the field soon. Favre is a guy that has played in every game since 1993 and still has a decent chance of playing this week. Why would you want Brett Favre who might play when you can have David Carr who definitely won't play? What was I thinking?

In a Tuesday column, Sports Illustrated's Peter King spoke with a top NFL team orthopedist who said the ailment shouldn't snap Favre's steak of 291 consecutive games played. "I think it's extremely misleading to say he has two ankle fractures and leave that impression," the orthopedist said. "Technically, with what I have read, he does. But you are not playing an NFL game with two fractures in the sense that we think of fractures." The nature of the stress fracture seems to be especially inexact. The orthopedist said: "It's a glorified ankle sprain." And with the avulsion fracture of the calcaneus, or heel area, he said a simple injection can help cover the pain. "I don't believe [the calcaneus] is a critical structure at all." In all, the orthopedist thinks Favre will be able to play Sunday in New England and that if this were a playoff week, most NFL QBs would suit up with Favre's injury.

I think I have sufficiently made my point. Thank you for taking the time to read my rant.

I thought I was very clear in my post that I was having fun with the situation but this guy thought that I was serious. The guy was taking this whole fantasy football thing way too seriously. If there was anyone in the league that was going to be upset over my video montage, it was going to be this guy.

Later that night, he posts something in the message board with the title of "Total classless act". Here is what he posted word for word minus the names:

"I really have to say that. Beating NAME and crowing is one this but Dude your an ass with no freaking class what-so-ever. To the rest of you guys it was fun, enjoy next year, I'm out."

If you're going to insult someone at least have the decency to use proper grammar. He should have used a comma after "that" instead of a period. "Thing" is not spelled "this". Beating shouldn't be capitalized but I guess if you place a period in the wrong place the auto-correct will capitalize it so I will give him a pass on that. My name is not "dude" and since it's not a proper name nor a title, it should not be capitalized either. Back in 3rd grade when I was taught about contractions, the contraction for "you are" is "you're". "Your" is the possessive. So I guess my "an ass" is the one with no freaking class. Also "whatsoever" is one word and does not need hyphens.

I really don't understand why he got so upset. Firstly, the gloating was not directed to him at all. Secondly, it's was pretty clear to me that it was a joke. He has no idea who I am but he has quickly cam to the conclusion that I am a classless ass. His opinion means nothing to me but I am surprised that this guy takes his fantasy football so seriously. It's a pretend football game. Fantasy football is pretty juvenile and that is coming from a person that plays it. It is solely meant for fun. There is no money involved in our league and there isn't even a prize. The only thing that a winner of the league gets is the pride in winning and what good is that if you don't get to have some fun with it.

Why is he so upset? Did I somehow hurt his feelings? Could it be jealousy that I ended up in first place and he ended up in 9th place in a 10 team league? I just don't understand why he is so angry. The only conclusion that I can come to is that he has no sense of humor. Maybe Santa will bring him one for Christmas. I doubt that he will. He's been naughty this year.

Let's ignore the fact that this man is upset for seemingly no reason. Let's say that he is genuinely upset. He didn't need to make it personal by saying that I have no class and that I am an ass. By doing so, he stepped across a line that you just don't cross. I was extremely tempted to reply back and rip him apart. He made things personal so I was going to do the same but he isn't worth it. I'll just vent through my blog.

This fantasy football league is a joke and I don't need it. Next year, I will not be playing in this league. Instead, I will play in a league with people that take it for what it's worth and have fun with it. Games are meant to be fun. Fantasy football isn't even a game. It's less than a game and anyone that gets upset over it is just plain stupid.

Fall TV Shows

mike — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 20:53:58 GMT

Disappointingly, all of the good shows that I used to watch have now been canceled. Lost had a rather lack luster ending but at least it was expected. Two of the other shows that I watched religiously were 24 and Heroes. Both were canceled. There are still the Thursday night shows that my wife and I watch like The Office and Community but there isn't anything that at the end of each show makes we wait in anticipation for the next show.

A couple of new shows out this fall seem to have potential to step into this missing space. One of those is Undercovers on NBC. It's about a couple of former CIA agents that quit the CIA to get married and have a normal life but are recruited back into the CIA to work together as a team for special missions. It's from the same guy that made Alias and Lost but so far has not lived up to those shows. It seems to be more of an action comedy and is rather cheesy. I've watched the first 2 episodes so far and it's the same scenario. The female character uses her "God given talents" to lure the suspect and the male character watches angrily and gets into some sort of fist fight in the process. They catch the bad guy and all is well. Of course there is a tag along, nerdy type of character that is thrown in for comic relief. There is also the typical boss type character that always seems to be angry with everyone and everything. Overall the show is cheesy and more comical than I was hoping for. I'll watch it because it's on Wednesday nights and there isn't much else on at that time. You can tell that this show is made on a budget. They supposedly travel to exotic locations but it's all completely faked with CGI used to try to make it look like they are at the foreign location. In the first episode, they are on the roof tops of Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background and it is clearly CGI. In the second episode, 2 Cadillac Escalades are driving down a dirt road in Pakistan and it looks like a video game that I have played on my 386 computer in 1987. I guess times are tough on TV studios too.

The other show that has caught my interest is called "The Event". This show seems to have more potential. They teased us in the ads before the pilot show about this unknown event and I have to admit that it got me interested and I watched the first 2 episodes despite it running opposite of Monday Night Football. Thank God for DVRs. The show stars the son of John Ritter, Jason Ritter, and so far I like him. He has a believable regular kind of guy look to him which makes it more engaging to watch. The problem with this show is that it seems like it is trying to hard to fill that void left by 24 and Lost. I don't want to ruin it for anyone but in the first episode a plane is hijacked and is trying to crash into the President of the United States at his Florida home. To try to trump 24 which had a African American President and a woman President, this show has a Cuban President. Without spoiling it, the plane doesn't crash into the President's home and things get all X-Files by the second episode. It's not exactly on the same intensity level as Lost or 24 but at this point, it's the best thing out there.

Jailbreak Your iPhone

mike — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:34:01 GMT

I was seriously considering getting an Android phone. I figured I would give
the iPhone 4 a shot before giving up on the format and going with Android. I
didn't jump in and pre-order an iPhone 4. I took my time and waited it out.
After about a month from the original release date, I called the local Apple
store and they put me on a waiting list for the phone. I still had not
committed to buying one yet. I had 2 major concerns regarding the phone.
First was the antenna issue but since I rarely use the phone as a phone to
make phone calls and they offered free cases, that concern was mostly
eliminated. The second one is still a problem to this day and that is the
fragility of the phone. With glass on both the front and back it really
concerns me. Yes, the glass is supposed to be scratch resistant and so far
it is but making the glass harder to resist scratches also means that the
glass is more brittle. One drop could be all that it takes to shatter the
glass. Eventually I got an email from the Apple store saying that the iPhone
I was on the waiting list for was ready for me and I had to pick it up
within 24 hours or my reservation would go to someone else. I went and
picked it up the next day.

Before I go into my experience with the new phone, I want to talk a little
bit about my iPhone 3G. The 3G is a great phone. I've had Blackberries and
Windows mobile phones but the iPhone 3G was by far a better phone than both
of those. Over the time that I had the 3G, I felt like it could do so much
more. I tried to jailbreak it a couple of times to release the potential of
it but it failed and I was afraid of bricking it. I didn't want to go back
to the blackberry or my old iPhone 2G. Eventually, I got it to jailbreak and
the already poor battery life got 10 times worse (a bit of an exaggeration
but it was pretty bad). I restored it and didn't bother with it again. I was
quite frustrated. Here I had a phone that was clearly capable of doing some
great things but it's hampered by Apple's restrictions and freeing it up
made it useless in terms of battery life. I decided that if jailbreaking
wasn't going to work well enough on the 3G, I would upgrade to the new iOS4.
That was a bad move. The phone turned into a pile of crap. I would click to
open Google Maps for example and nothing would happen. I would click it 2 or
3 more times only to find that it was already starting from the first click.
It was just so slow to open that I thought my click didn't register. I
finally got fed up with it and searched the internet for some help. There
were plenty of others complaining about the same problem. I found a method
to downgrade the phone back to 3.1.3 and left it at that.

My frustration with Apple and the iPhone was growing and pushing me toward
Android. It's like having a Ferrari and having the car's speed limited to
only 35mph. You know it can do so much more but you just can't unlock that
extra potential. Would the iPhone 4 be just more of the same?

To begin with, the iPhone 4 doesn't really add that much more. The first
thing that you will notice that is different is the screen which I have to
admit is spectacular. If I look back on the screen of the 3G, it's miles
beyond it. It's faster which is very important thing. If it was not leaps
and bounds beyond the 3G, I wouldn't even bother. The battery is much
improved which is also a big selling point. The front facing camera is a
joke. Facetime is a waste of time. It's fun once in a while to show off with
your friends but since so few of my friends have an iPhone 4, it's pretty
much useless. For me, it's a novelty that wears out after one or two uses.
The rear camera is actually usable now. The 3G's camera was for occasional
snaps when quality wasn't very important. The 4's camera is actually a
decent camera. It's still not as good as my Canon point and shoot pocket
camera but since I always have it with me, it gets more use. The video
feature which was absent on the 3G is quite nice. I have already used it to
take videos of my dog being stupid and uploading them to youtube. For those
with the 3GS, this is nothing new but it's something that I think should
have been included in the 3G a long time ago.

Even with all these improvements, I was still apprehensive to go with the
iPhone 4. I picked it up anyway knowing that I could return it in 30 days
for a full refund if I wanted to. I also though that even if I decided to
get rid of it after the 30 days, I could easily sell it on Craigslist and
get an Android phone for less than what I could sell the iPhone 4. I had it
for about 2 weeks when the Jailbreakme.com jailbreak came out. I figured I
would give it a try. It was the simplest jailbreak ever. I had jailbroken my
2G and my 3G and both of those were very involved in comparison and neither
of those went smoothly the first time. On the 4, the jailbreak took about 3
minutes and was totally painless. My concern about the battery life with the
jailbreak was unwarranted. Battery life was unchanged. Maybe the jailbreak
method has something to do with the battery life that caused the problem
with 3G. Either way, this was much better. I then started loading jailbreak
apps. Pretty much everything that I had wished for from the 3G was available
now with the jailbreak.

Once of the biggest reasons why anyone would want to jailbreak their phone
would be to download cracked apps which are basically the same apps that you
would buy from the App Store but without paying for them. I don't condone
downloading cracked apps but I can understand why someone would do it. I
have paid for a few apps only to find that they are total piles of crap and
delete them. Cracked apps provide a try before you buy experience. If you
like the app and find that you get use out of it, I strongly recommend
buying the app to support the developer. In the Cydia store, most of the
paid apps include free trials. This is an option that Apple should start
including in their App Store. Of the jailbroken apps, there are a few must
have apps.

1. MyWi - This a tethering app. What it does is turn your iPhone into a
mobile wi-fi hotspot. Connect your laptop, iPod, or other wi-fi capable
device to it and you'll be able to have internet access wherever your
iPhone gets signal. This is already built into iOS4 on the iPhone but AT&T
charges an extra $20 per month for it and makes you downgrade to the 2GB
data plan. There is no way in heck I am giving up my unlimited data plan.
Even if they allowed tethering using the unlimited data plan, I still
wouldn't pay $20 extra per month for it. I rarely use it but when I do, it's
a lifesaver. If you are on a 2GB data plan be sure to watch your usage so
you don't go over your limit. If you do, it's not as bad as it used to be
with the new plans. I believe they charge an additional $10 for 1GB. If you
are on the 200mb plan, upgrade to the 2GB plan if you want to use this
feature.

2. My3G - This application fools your phone and any of the apps running on
it to think they are connected to wi-fi when they are actually on 3G. There
are a few apps that require you to be on wi-fi to use them including
Facetime. This removes that restriction.

3. LockInfo - This application adds useful information to your lock screen.
Without unlocking my iPhone, I can see and read any new emails, check the
weather forecast, read any SMS messages, check my calendar and RSS feeds.
There are other plugins that add more functionality if you want them. There
are other variations of this app that do exactly the same thing. It's a
matter of preference. LockInfo works for me so I am sticking with it.

4. SBSettings - I hate having to dig through tons of menus to adjust a
simple setting on my phone. This app corrects that easily. I quick swipe of
the status bar brings it up and I can turn on or off all the various radios
as well as adjust other settings on the phone.

5. SMS - I don't have a recommendation in this area just yet. I am going to
try out a few apps that look good and see if they solve the inherit problems
with Apple's SMS application. Right now I am looking at biteSMS.

6. Google Apps - Apple and Google seem to be in a war now even though when
the first iPhone came out, they seemed to be united together against
Microsoft. Apple refused Google Voice and Google Latitude. If you jailbreak,
you can get unofficial Google apps. These aren't the apps that Google
submitted to Apple that got rejected but they are equivalent. There is GV
Mobile which provides an interface for Google Voice and Longitude which is
an automatic Latitude updater. There is the web based versions that come
directly from Google but I personally prefer an app even though they don't
provide all the functionality.

I am pretty happy with the iPhone 4 to this point thanks mostly to the
jailbreak. I am stuck with it now because I gave my 3G to my wife and she
seems to have a death grip on that thing now. Coming from a dumb phone, she
has seen the light. She used to make fun of me constantly pulling out my
iPhone. Now she is just as bad as me. :)

Blind Date

mike — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 04:00:06 GMT

I just got back from Safeway were I picked up a drink. I sat down at the Starbucks in Safeway and typed up the previous blog post from my phone. As I sat there, I could help but hear and older couple that sat near by. They were both quite loud. Apparently they met on the Internet and were on a little meet up at the Starbucks.

The guy thought he was so smooth but he was no where close. I actually heard him say, "I wouldn't mind getting married for 60 days just to try it out." I literally put my face in my palm when I heard him say that. As I peered through my fingers I could see the woman that he was attempting to woo with a look of shock on her face and her face quickly turned red. In a total of 8-10 minutes, he managed to totally drive her away. She gracefully ended the meeting and they walked out. I managed to snap a photo of them before they left but I've decided not to post it.

Sleep Cycle Alarm iPhone App

mike — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 03:33:14 GMT

About a week ago I downloaded this alarm clock app for my iPhone called Sleep Cycle Alarm. I was skeptical at first. How different could it be than the alarm that's already on my iPhone? It turns out that it's pretty darn good.

What it does is use the accelerometer in the iphone to sense your movement while you sleep. The less you move the deeper the sleep you're getting and the more you move the closer you are to waking. It keeps track of your sleep in a graph.

The best part is the alarm clock part. You set it for a certain time and in a 30 minute window before your alarm time it will wake you when it senses that you are close to waking. I didn't think much of it till I woke up a couple of mornings and noticed that I felt more refreshed and didn't feel the need for some sort of caffeinated stimulate to get me going. If it doesn't sense you waking in that window it wakes you at your specific time. It does it with a choice of a few melodic tunes that come on gradually instead of all at once which makes a big difference.

Here is the statistics from my best night's sleep.

Sleep statistics for 16 - 17 Aug (Tue).

Went to bed / woke up: 10:17 PM / 7:00 AM
Total time: 8h 42m

Analysis made by Sleep Cycle.

My sleep graph for the entire night:

Burgers, Bikes and Bickering

mike — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:01:00 GMT

Today was an interesting evening. When I got off work and started the long trek to my car because the building that I work in is no where near the parking lot, I said to myself, "Dang, it's really nice out today." I thought about either going out and riding my bike and making the most of the weather or going to In 'N Out. Once I got home, I came up with brilliant idea. Why don't I do both? I'll ride my bike to In 'N Out and earn my burger.

My wife is in Monterey visiting her family and she took our puppy dog with her. I just fed the cats and the fish and got my bike ready for the ride. I grabbed my cinch up bag, loaded my keys, wallet, and bike lock in it. I decided to try out Google's new bike routing on Google Maps. It gave me a route that included going down the Iron Horse trail which is understandable and tried to keep me on roads with bike lanes. I ended up taking a slightly different route. The total mileage for one way was 4.6 miles and Google estimated it taking 27 minutes. The return trip was estimated at 32 minutes. There is a really steep hill on the way I set up the GPS on my phone, loaded some tunes, and I was off. This will be first good ride of the year for me.

I arrive at In 'N Out in 22 minutes and I'm pretty gassed. I'm clearly out of shape. Whatever, it's time to eat. I only had a small bag of Doritos and a soda for lunch so I was pretty hungry. I ordered 2 cheeseburgers animal style, well done fries and water instead of soda. I sat down and started digging in. It was so good to have an In 'N Out burger. I really missed it during Lent. I sat at the bar stools facing the cash registers. As I was eating, I noticed a group of young people come in; 3 guys and 2 girls. The guys go up to the register and order while the girls go to the bathroom. The guys were clearly flirting with the girl working the cash register. The guys make their order and sit at one of the booths. The girls come out of the bathroom and one of them goes to the line to order while the other is clearly ticked off. She goes to one of the guys and starts yelling at him about how he should have waited for her. She has a point but she starts yelling and cursing at him so that everyone in the place can hear her. He tries handing her some money so that she can order something for herself. She refuses a couple of times and then he throws the money on the floor at her feet which I thought was extremely rude. She picks up the money and throws it right back at him. She refuses to sit with the rest of them. They all get up and move to another table so that they can sit a little closer. She decides to be a big baby and sit at a table much further away. It was rather entertaining dinner theater.

I couldn't finish eating my food so I asked for a bag to take the second cheeseburger. Normally, I could eat 2 double doubles plus the fries and a soda without even thinking about it. I guess it's a good thing that I am not eating so much.

I head back to my bike which I had locked up as securely as I could and am relieved that it's still there in one piece. I gather my gear and mount up. I never like exercising on a full stomach. The last time I did that, I nearly puked and in the past, I have actually puked. I took it pretty easy on the way back. I still had my cup of water in my hands so it wasn't easy to ride without spilling it all over myself. I finished it quickly and dumped it in the nearest garbage can. There are cans every so often along the trail.

After dumping the water cup, I decided that I should push myself in bursts.I'll pedal as fast as I can for about 2 minutes and then take it easy for a bit. I blasted down the trail and hit a top speed of about 35 mph. Before I knew it, I had reached the steep hill on Bollinger that I call Mt. Cornelius. I took my time going up the hill and I was still extremely winded. I shouldn't expect to be in middle of the summer shape at the beginning of spring. After the hill, I rested up for about 30 seconds and then it was time for another burst. This time there is a section of straight but not too steep down hill with only one light. I started my run and managed to time the light perfectly so I didn't lose any of my momentum. The GPS clocked me at maximum speed of 41 mph during that stretch which was the fastest I had every managed to get going on the bike. I knew I was going pretty fast even before checking the GPS because as I blasted past the cars at the light, I was more than half way to the next light before the first car was able to catch up to me. I looked over at second driver that caught up to me in the nearest lane and he had a look of astonishment. That made me feel pretty good. Riding that fast is a total adrenaline rush. This is why I love riding my bike.

Who Am I?

mike — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:33:00 GMT

The 2010 census has started and a letter went out from the 3 bishops of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United States asking all members of the church to enter their race as Coptic. Some people disagreed with the idea and started a petition asking that we should enter our race as White or Caucasian. This got me thinking, who am I?

Some people believe that since Egypt is part of Africa, that we are African American. I think a lot of people used this to their advantage when there was affirmative action order to take advantage of the situation. If I stand in a group of African Americans, I will not blend in or be mistaken for a fellow African American.

Another possibility is to consider myself to be White, Caucasian, or Anglo Saxon. Some people consider anyone from North Africa to be in this broad category. When I look at myself in the mirror, I don't see a white person staring back at me. I don't consider myself to be anything remotely related to white.

Why not just call yourself an Egyptian? Well, there is a problem with that too. Egyptian doesn't really refer to my ancestry. Egypt, at this present time, is primarily an Arab country. Just because Arabs control the country doesn't mean that I am one of them. That's like telling a Native American that they are white because white people came and conquered their country. My last name means "The Egyptian" and I don't think that name got to me because I am descendant of an Arab that took over Egypt. I have that name because I descended from the original inhabitants of Egypt that later converted to Christianity and are now known by the name Copts. Egyptian has a connotation of being Arab and Islamic. I am neither of those things. I am a Christian Egyptian and the word that best describes who I am is Coptic.

Now you might be asking, why does this matter? The Census requests that you choose a race. Since the United States consists of pretty much every race on the planet, this is useful information. Let's say for example that the US government after the census now knows that there are 10 million Copts living in the United States. (10 million is just a made up number that I chose for this example) Now let's say that something happens in Egypt and 7 Copts are gunned down after the Nativity Liturgy. Normally, the US government wouldn't give a crap about any human rights violations toward Copts in Egypt. But if they knew that there was a fairly significant Coptic population in the US, they might take some action.

Another problem that I have is the idea of coming out and saying that the 3 leaders of the Coptic church in the US are wrong by creating a petition. These men didn't get to be leaders of the church by chance. They were chosen by God and should be granted some level of respect. By coming out and saying that they are wrong, a line is crossed.

Getting a Haircut

mike — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:45:00 GMT

I hate it when my hair gets too long. I have been wanting to get a hair cut for the past couple of weeks and finally decided to get one during my lunch break at work. I headed over to the Supercuts near my house instead of the one closest to work. The last time I went to one closer to work, there was this Vietnamese guy who was obnoxiously gay. I don't have anything against homosexuals but this guy so gay that he made sure that everyone knows about it. But that's a subject for another blog entry. I wanted to avoid this guy not because he was overtly gay but because he has a super thick accent and I can't understand a thing that he says. When I finally figure out what he is saying, he acts like I'm stupid for not knowing in the first place. To add to that, he did a pretty lousy job on the haircut and was kind of violent with me, pushing my head back and forth and left and right.

I get to the Supercuts next to my house and there is no one waiting. The lady at the front desk has me sign in anyway and then the other lady comes to the sign up sheet and calls my name. I was the only customer in the building. Whatever, time to get my haircut.

The young lady that cuts my hair is blond but she's Asian and it's looks very odd. She has bleached blond hair but her eyebrows are dark brown.

She asks me how I want my haircut and I let her know how I like it. Now comes the part that I hate the most about getting my haircut. The person cutting my hair always seems to think that it's necessary to make small talk with me. They ask me what I do for a living and if I'm off work. They start talking about the weather or ask me how my weekend was or talk about some current topic in the news. I am horrible at small talk and I really do not like giving out personal information about myself to complete strangers (unless it's in my blog) so I find the whole thing pretty uncomfortable. To make matters even worse, this girl is rather well endowed in the chest area (She's got big boobs) and she's wearing a low cut shirt. Instead of moving around me to get at different areas of my hair like you would expect, she leans in closer and reaches around placing her cleavage directly in my face. When she doesn't reach around, her boobs rest on my shoulder or back. It almost seems as though she was doing it intentionally. Was this some kind of peep show to go along with the haircut? Did she expect me to give her a bigger tip because her boobs were in my face? I ended up giving her a normal tip of $3 for a $16 haircut but I bet her "technique" probably gets her big tips from most men.

New and Improved Domino's Pizza

mike — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:54:00 GMT

Domino's Pizza has always tasted like crap. You bought Domino's pizza because you were looking for cheap pizza and not necessarily good pizza. Now they claim to have totally changed the way they make their pizza and improved upon by leaps and bounds. My wife and I ordered a couple of pasta bread bowls and a medium pizza last night. I have to say that I wasn't impressed.

The only thing that I could tell that was different was the pizza crust. It's the same bread that they use for the bread bowl and it's pretty tasty. It tastes fresh even on the day old pizza that I had for lunch today. The seem to sprinkle some garlic powder over the crust which makes it even better. But other than the bread, nothing seems to have changed. The sauce and the cheese still taste just as bad as it ever has. We didn't get any meat on the pizza so I can't attest to the quality of the meat products but the veggies were pretty much the same as they have always been. I think that Domino's should stick to their original strategy of being fast and cheap. That's the only way they are going to be able to make a good profit.

iPhone Issues

mike — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 01:56:08 GMT

I was in a conversation on Google Buzz about the Nexus One and the iPhone and I stated my opinion on Apple and their overlord authority and my displeasure with it. I figured I'd post it on my blog as well so here it is....

Steve Jobs is a like a drug dealer. He pulls you in with the fancy new toy that you just have to have and before you know it, he's got you by the balls. You want to use that cool new iPod that you bought? You gotta get iTunes to load any music on it. You want iTunes to work on your computer? You gotta install Quicktime. That's all good and dandy until there is an update for iTunes and Apple slips in Bonjour and the Safari browser onto your computer. (Wasn't there an Antitrust suit filed against Microsoft for forcing Internet Explorer on users by packing it in with the Windows operating system?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft)

Now you use iTunes to get music on your fancy new music player and you what do you know, there is the iTunes music store constantly in your face when you open it up. It even has those stupid arrow links to buy music that you already have in your library. Isn't that convenient?

Then Apple comes out with a phone that incorporates the same cool music player that you are so attached to and you grab it up. Now your signed up for 2 years of servitude to His Royal Jobsness.

You're locked into this phone so you figure you want to use it to do some cool customization. Jobs let's you change the background photo but that only shows up when the phone is locked making it pretty much useless. At least they let you move the icons around. Okay fine.... install some third party apps so you can do what you want with it. Well Apple controls that too. You can only install apps that Apple says you can install. Do you want Google Voice? Apple doesn't allow it. You want to use any VOIP software? Can't do it. You want turn by turn navigation on your GPS equipped phone? Pay $10 a month to AT&T for their crappy app or pay $100 for a real navigation app. Google builds turn by turn navigation into the maps app but Apple won't let you do that. They make money off you buying an app for that.

Apple and AT&T set how you can and can't use the phone that you paid for. Would you buy a Dell computer if Dell told you that you can only install software on it that Dell allows? As long as you want an app that makes fart noises, shaking babies, cutting up kittens, drinking beer, making high pitched noises or brandishing a light saber, then there's an app for that. 100,000 apps and most of them are totally useless.

Time to circumvent Apple and AT&T. Jailbreaking! They call it jailbreaking because it's literally getting your phone out from under
the shackles of Apple. Now your phone becomes a powerful machine and allows you to do so much more, that is up until Apple releases an OS update which slaps the cuffs back on your iPhone. Now you're just like the guy in Shawshank Redemption getting butt raped by Apple and AT&T. You wanna watch Hulu on your iPhone? Apple doesn't support flash so if you want to watch that episode of Heroes that you missed last week, you're out of luck. That is unless you are willing to pay Apple and buy it from the iTunes music store.

The whole world is addicted to Apple's toys and now they come out with a new one. It's an iPhone but bigger and with no voice capability. It's useless. It's been done before and failed but it will sell because everyone is sipping on the Apple Kool Aid.

The accessories are a joke. Apple disables accessories left and right. Update your OS and suddenly you'll find that your third party car
charger doesn't work. It's not "Made for iPhone". You have to get "approved" accessories. How does an accessory get approved? The
manufactures has to pay Apple to get approval. Cha-Ching! $$$ More money for Apple.

Don't get me wrong. I love my iPhone. It's a revolutionary product but it could be so much more if only it were my phone and not Apple's
phone. I guess that is what the "i" in iPhone stands for. It's Steve Jobs saying "I" determine what you can and cannot do with "MY" phone. It looks to me like the Nexus One addresses a lot of the issues that I have with the iPhone.

Google Buzz

mike — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:45:00 GMT

Google Buzz just came out a couple of days ago. It's kind of hard to describe. It's sort of a mix between Gtalk and Twitter with location information built in. It's cool that I can talk to my friends using it but I've had plenty of ways to talk to my friends. There's Gtalk, Text messaging, Email and the good old fashion phone call. I'm sure the buzz around Buzz will die off soon.

The Muppets

mike — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:24:00 GMT

When I was a kid, I used to come running home from school to watch afternoon childrens programming. One of the shows I used to watch was the Muppet Show. It was mostly re-runs from the late 70s and early 80s and I had no idea who most of guest stars were and frankly I didn't care. I was more interested in the muppets themselves.

One of my favorite characters was Beaker. He is the scientist's assistant that always get put in harms way. He doesn't speak. All he ever says is "me". I came across this video of Beaker performing "Ode to Joy". I think it would make for a great ringtone.

I'm not full of it

mike — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 03:47:00 GMT

Back on Thanksgiving, I was visiting my wife's family in Monterey. I told my wife's sister and her husband that I could tear a phonebook in half. I knew that I had done it once before and thought I could easily do it again. I was pretty much bragging about how I could do it. Then came the time to put up or shut up. We found the phonebook and I spent the next 20 minutes or so making a fool of myself. I kept trying and trying but I couldn't do it. Everyone was laughing at me. Especially my wife who was present the first time I did it and knew I could do it. I made an idiot of myself.

Recently, we got the 2010 phonebooks. In my neighborhood, instead of delivering them to each individual house, they placed a bunch of them next to the mailboxes. A week went by and there was still a pile of them at each mailbox. No one uses phonebooks anymore. Everyone just uses the internet. All the phonebooks were just going to get thrown out anyway so I figured I would make another attempt at tearing one. I picked one up and tore it pretty quickly. I was so excited that I grabbed a bunch more and started ripping them apart. I made a video of myself tearing one so that I can show it to those that laughed at me as proof that I'm not completely full of crapola.

Warriors get Robbed

mike — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:07:00 GMT

That wasn't much of a foul. Usually they let you get away with murder in the final seconds of a game. To make a call like that knowing that it would decide the game is just awful. If you make that call, it better be very obvious that it was a foul. Needless to say, I don't agree with the call.

The Warriors got robbed. Not only do I feel like there was too little contact to justify a foul being called but the fact that J.R. Smith was throwing up a desperation shot with 2 guys on him at the last second of the game makes it even harder to swallow. I have seen guys get body slammed trying to make a last second shot and no call is made. This one determined who would win the game. The officials decided this game and not the players. That is a win for the officials and not the Nuggets if you ask me.