Paul's Blog

Why am I going to Fargo?

2009-03-26T21:42:00.001-05:00

So about 6 weeks ago Theresa and talked a couple we know and decided to go to Fargo to visit their son at college for his birthday. That is the last weekend in March. So now we are going to Fargo tomorrow and they are supposed to have the highest crest of the red river *EVER* on Saturday. So 94 is open all the way, we are staying in West Fargo and should be far enough away from the water so it won't affect us. But it is going to be a trip to be up there when the water crests.

I have been watching the news about the volunteers that have been helping out and wish I could have been there. I had some important things going on here this week and couldn't get away. I would like to help out...by the time we get there everything will be taken care of. If I get a chance to help out while I am there I certainly will.

This will be an interesting and eye opening weekend for many reasons. I will write more when I return.

-Paul

Indy's training

2009-03-17T23:16:00.001-05:00

Well Indy's training is going very well. We are done in two weeks and I think we are going to go immediately into Intermediate obedience. They are telling me that Indy should go into agility training. I have been told by so many of the instructors that he would be wonderful at agility. Not sure yet on if I want to do that...it would be fun but it would also take a lot of time to do. We will see.

Work is going good at AT&T. I really enjoy working there and have found some great people that work there. I still find myself learning so much every day so I know I have much more to learn! It's all good!

Have a great week! I will post again soon.

Wow! What a snowstorm

2009-02-26T15:40:00.000-06:00

We are currently in the midst of the largest snowstorm we have gotten in Minneapolis this winter! We should get somewhere around 6" of snow by 10pm tonight. Hopefully that will be the last one this year...but I don't think that will be the case. :)

Indy and I are back in school. He is doing well. Indy has started to show some aggression toward other dogs. I am not sure why but I am sure it is something that I am doing or not doing. So I am working on changing that.

Other than that life is just chugging along. Hope everyone is doing great. Drop me a note if you want!

Multimedia message

2009-02-04T14:07:00.000-06:00

Well it has been almost a year since my last post. Time has really flown by. I am done with school, Indy and I are going back to school and I work for AT&T!

I will write more now that life is starting to calm down.

July

2007-07-25T22:05:00.000-05:00

Still having a really difficult time believing the summer is just flying by. Theresa and I have been working hard and having fun with Indy. Indy has been going to work with Theresa every day for the last couple of weeks. It's been very nice for Indy--He really likes it. He is sleeping on his new "couch" here next to me in the living room cause he is just wiped out.

The new job is really time consuming, but it is difficult to build an entire new organization. So I have been busy working on processes, business development and organizational design along with all of my regular network/solution design duties. It's been difficult but fun.

So in my last post I mentioned that Indy doesn't like the heat. We have found that it isn't the heat that Indy doesn't like but the hot sun. When we take him for a walk when it is hot but not sunny he does just fine, but if we take him for a walk in the sun then he will take a rest from time to time. We bought him a pool a couple weeks ago. We keep water in it for him to enjoy while we are playing in the backyard. He loves to just stand in it and play "bob for tennis balls"! It has been really hot and humid here (In the mid 90's with upper 70 and 80 degree dewpoints). We had the first day of 80+ degree dewpoints EVER on Tuesday! Indy decided he was giong to lay down in the pool. That was the first time he has done that! It was very funny.

So, I am trying to decide what I am going to do for a new car. I was going to buy a fast, really fun car like a convertible. If I get a convertible I want to get something that Indy can ride with us in and that would require a backseat. Right now I just can't justify the cost of that, so I think I am going to get a really good car that will last a long time and when it is time to get another one I will just keep this one and get something really fun! So I think I will likely end up with a Honda Accord or a Toyota Camry. I am looking at the 4 cylinder for gas mileage. With the 4 cylinder they get amazing gas mileage. Hybrid's are not for me--they cost too much today and I just don't know if all that extra cash it worth the little added benefit.

So we worked Winstock and Taste of Minnesota. The taste was a total bust. Attendence was low, people weren't buyin'. Very depressing because it used to be such a good event. I saw the Gastro on July 13th. That appointment went well but he wasn't sure waht to tell me because my symptoms were "non-specific". So I am thinking he was trying to tell me I am crazy. :) Anyway, he ordered some tests that I finished up last week and we are waiting for the results of all of those. He has sent me the results of 2 of them--they came back normal so I am really not sure what to think. Maybe my brother was right and it was just stress...but I just can't believe that stress can do that to your stomach, but who knows!

So that is what I know...more next month!

-Paul

June....gone.

2007-06-27T13:15:00.001-05:00

So June is basically gone. Wow...the summer is truly flying by. At this rate I will be only posting once per month for the entire summer!

So I am still having stomach trouble. I have never had anything like this...since April I have had some sort of stomach ailment that won't go away. My regular doctor has done all sorts of blood tests and everything came back normal. So I get to go see a specialist. The problem is the appointment they set up for me with their specialist was 10 weeks out. So I had to call and get an appointment somewhere else. I wasn't going to wait 10 weeks. So I get to go see that specialist in the middle of July. Which blows because that means the summer is going to be about 1/2 over. Ahh well...life goes on.

Indy update

So Indy is such a great pup...but you already know that. We have found he doesn't like the hot weather much. When we take him for a walk on a hot day, toward the end of the walk he wants to lay down wherever he is. It's pretty amusing. He will lay down on the street, sidewalk, grass--whatever, it doesn't really matter. He will just lounge for a few minutes and then we can coax him to start walking again. Keisha had a similar dislike for the hot weather and I am not sure if it is the breed or just our luck! I owe Cheryl a call so I will talk to her about this.

We have taken Indy camping! We had a great time but he was a handful! All the new things to do and all the new places to explore. He didn't like it much if Theresa or I left the camper for any reason. He got really worried. So we might have to wait to take him again until he is a bit older. The upside is that he loves staying at "grandma's" and we want to be sure he is comfortable there. We have also taken him to a "pet hotel" close to our house to get him accustomed to other dogs and other people. He did very well there.

That's it for now! More as I have it!

-Paul

Time Flies!

2007-05-29T09:34:00.000-05:00

Holy Cow! It's almost JUNE?!?! Where did spring go? I knew it had been a while since I posted but I didn't realize it had been THAT long!

I finished school for the Spring term and decided not to take a summer class. It's going to be nice to have some time off. I am going to test out of one class this summer but that shouldn't be a big deal...I hope! :)

Speaking of school...Indy finished up "Obedience 1" a couple of weeks ago. At the end of the last class the instructor did a "competition just for fun". Can you really use those 4 words in a sentence? Anyway, the competition was to heel your dog and walk in a circle in the big room and when the instructor says "sit" you were supposed to sit your dog. The last dog to sit was out. Then we repeated this until there was one dog left. Guess who was the last dog?!?! Indy! He made me a very proud papa!

Indy had his first camping experience this weekend. We took him to a friends "private" campground in Gibbon, Minnesota. He was beside himself with all the new people and smells. I was glad we were able to take him to a place where we knew everyone--it was easier on us and him. He was a bit shy for most the first day but by Saturday night he was getting more comfortable. It was fun to have him with us. It was cool on Friday night and pretty cold on Saturday night (I think it was in the lower 40's or upper 30's). I was glad to have a bed and a wife, dog and furnace to keep me warm!

We have a lot of things planned this summer. We are working Winstock, the taste of Minnesota, and a couple other events. We have a camping trip planned just about every month until September. It is going to be a busy summer!

That's enough for now. More later!

Stomach Flu and School

2007-04-11T21:13:00.000-05:00

Stomach ickies
Alright so I have been remiss in posting to the blog, but there is a reason for that. I have been under the weather. TWO WEEKS AGO tomorrow I got the stomach flu. It lasted about 48 hours (I think). The problem was that I have never had stomach problems. Nothing. Nada. Zlich. So I don't know how to deal with the stomach flu. So I knew I had to take it easy on my stomach and would do that for a day and then try to eat something I would normally eat. The next day I would feel like crap. Then repeat that about 3 times. I wasn't smart enough to figure that one out until I started thinking about it REALLY hard. I went to the doctor on Thursday 4/5 to be sure it wasn't something else and they told me it was stomach flu and to eat bland foods for a while and come back next week if I wasn't better. So I ate bland--didn't even have Easter dinner (except for a little turkey) all weekend. Monday I went to work and got a bagel and apple juice for breakfast and felt pretty good. Tuesday got the same thing for breakfast and felt a little funny. Now anyone that knows anything about stomach problems has already seen my mistake. Apple juice can cause diarrhea. *I* didn't know this. Remember I have never had stomach problems or kids. So I work up at 4am RUNNING to the bathroom. So today I went BACK to the doctor because I didn't know what was going on. They told me about the apple juice and told me to get out of there...so now I feel better and am doing better and expect that I will continue to improve. I hope I don't have to deal with that again...

School
So after I wrote my last post about Indy, Cheryl emailed me and told me that Indy just needed to see how things were done at school and that the second night would go better. Wow! Cheryl knows her pups! Indy was an ALL STAR tonight. We didn't have much time to practice over the last two weeks cause I felt like crap but we worked on attention and a few other things briefly over the last couple of days. Tonight Indy did great. He was very interested in all the other dogs but he was so good staying by me and listening to me almost all the time. He makes me a proud papa. There are two other dog owners that commented tonight about how good he was and that they didn't know Dalmatians were such good dogs. I thought to myself "crap, now the secret is going to get out!" :)

More next week!

-Paul

Indy Neuter Update!

2007-03-23T22:30:00.000-05:00

Indy's neuter surgery went just fine. Theresa brought him home at about 3pm yesterday and when I got home he was still pretty groggy from the surgery. He wasn't interested in eating at all--which as a guy I can COMPLETELY understand! He slept on his bed all evening and then decided he wanted to be up and moving around when we went to bed. Theresa was very concerned about him tearing out his stitches so she brought him into the guest bedroom and slept on the floor with him just to make sure he would behave. She is such a good mom!

When Theresa brought him in the day before for the required checkup (we got everything else taken care of...heartworm and the like) he was weighed and he tipped the scales at 43 pounds. I was very happy to hear that because he was a skinny boy when we got him. I think Cheryl told us he weighed somewhere in the 30's. I am going to email her to find out for sure.

Theresa has Friday's off and I worked from home today so he had lots of attention and it was a beautiful day here. Sunny and 63 degrees! In Minneapolis in March?! We'll take it! Indy and I went into the back yard and walked around a bit and then we sat on the deck for a couple of hours in the sun. Indy had a great time on the deck just taking it all in and relaxing while Theresa and I read our books and I did email and took some phone calls.

I went to the Obedience training class on Wednesday night and learned what I need to do to get Indy ready for the next class. I started working with him today and he was happy to oblige. He was so good and tried really hard! More training tomorrow!

Well, that's all for now...I am sure I will have some interesting stories from the obedience training on Wednesday. The instructors say it's pandemonium on the first night with the dogs.

Indy-pendence

2007-03-18T22:19:00.000-05:00

In the last week or so Indy has started to have the desire to be alone. Two evenings last week he went into his kennel with the door open and went to sleep while we were still in the living room. Before that he wouldn't leave our side. There were a couple of times he would sit up after sleeping in front of the couch and then start to fall asleep again...he was literally nodding off. He would then assume the position and go back to sleep. It was pretty funny.

We decided that since he is feeling more independent that we would let him use the other bed in the house like his sister used to. So we pulled out the old comforter that we would put on the bed when Keisha would sleep on it and then we let him go up there. He was MORE than happy to take over that bed. He sleeps in there when he is tired and now when the house is quiet we don't have to wonder what he is getting into...as long as he is in the bedroom!

He is doing much better on walks. Doesn't pull as much, and is a bit easier to deal with around other dogs. He is learning so much! He will now calmly sit down before he comes out of his kennel. He is working on down and come and is getting better every day! However, he still doesn't like people coming to his house. We gotta figure out how to deal with that but I will deal with that AFTER he goes through obedience training. I figure there will be more people coming around in the spring and I can get some "strangers" to help me with that.

It is hard to believe that we have had Indy for a month on the 22nd. I am so happy we were able to adopt him. It's great to come home to find Indy overjoyed that you are there and to be able to go on a walk and have him prance down the road with you like he is king of the world! We both just love having him around.

His berries (sorry...Austin Powers reference) will be removed on Thursday and I am going to our first obedience class on Wednesday to learn what we have to do. I am going to talk to the obedience instructor so they know that he is having the surgery and if they recommend we miss a week, then we will miss a week...I will still go and learn all I can and work with him as much as possible to get him ready for the next week.

More next week!

Linux

2007-03-05T12:58:00.000-06:00

Recently I have been messing around with Linux. I was looking for an operating system that would be easy to get up and running for a server I set up at the house. I wasn't sure what to use so I started talking to a couple of people that I know and asked them what I should use. Of course most of them said "Windoze!" but that sounded really expensive. I talked to another friend who told me to load Linux. It turned out to be a great idea. The server is running Ubuntu 6.06 and it works great! I am overjoyed at how easy it was to get up and running and how much documentation there is for Linux!

I liked it so much I set up one of my laptops with Ubuntu 6.10 with the GUI interface and was again impressed how easy it was to get running. The only thing I had to change to make the laptop work was to turn off WPA on my access point and turn on WEP. That's fine by me--for now. I am impressed with the ease of installation and how well it runs and works. That laptop is going to be replaced soon and once that is completed I will work on some customization of that laptop to gain more experience with Linux and to make it work better for me.

Now that I know I like Linux I am going to work on remote access to my fileserver. That way I can get to all of my files wherever I am. That will be really nice. I might even set up a media server to stream music and video over the internet. We will see how that goes...

Wheee!!!! LINUX!

-Paul

Snow, Indiana and a new family

2007-03-02T13:24:00.000-06:00

Snow
The Minneapolis area is "recovering" from another snow storm. Here in the Chanhassen area we received about 18 inches of snow over the last 2 days. From my last post you know that Theresa and I went to get our new pup Indy in Chicago last weekend and beat the storm from last week home by hours! That means we have gotten about 30 inches of snow in the last week. That is almost double what the Minneapolis area received ALL WINTER!!! But I am happy to be able to use my snowblower and play in the snow!

Indiana
Indiana is adjusting nicely to his new home. You should see him in the snow! He loves it! He jumps through the snow and wants to run as fast as he can through it but it is taller than he is in places!! We had him outside with us as I was blowing the snow off the driveway and he was playing with the other dogs in the neighborhood and meeting more of the neighbors. When we were done with the snow we took him for a walk and we met a couple of folks we hadn't met before. As puppies will be-he is very curious and very friendly. He takes to people and other dogs very quickly. He is eating like crazy! When we first got Indy he wasn't eating his food when we put it out--but now he eats every bit of his food as soon as we put it out. It is good to see him eating. We are likely going to increase the amount we give him because we are walking him between 4 and 6 miles a day.

He is starting to test us more and more but he is learning his new pack and learning the rules! Theresa and I resting on our couch right now and Indy is sleeping peacefully on his blanket right next to the sofa. He is such a good boy and we are so lucky to have him!

We have Indy scheduled to be neutered on March 22nd. We start training class on March 21st, but the first class is for humans only. I expect that he will be healed enough from the neutering to jump right into class the following week--this first class should be very easy for him.

New Family
When we thought of getting a new companion dal we knew that having a puppy would mean having a new loving companion in the house, would be trying at times and that he would need a great deal of direction, training and exercise. What we didn't expect were the friends we were going to gain. When Cheryl was leaving the hotel room she welcomed us to the family. It is clear that Cheryl is genuinely interested in how we are doing and how Indy is taking to his new home. She is even telling others about how Indy is doing. I told Cheryl about this blog and she has shared that information with her friends. I think that is great! Having a community of people looking out for Indy's best interests and for ours is wonderful. It's nice to know that Indy has a following!!!

So to all of you in our new extended family: Thank you for inviting us into your lives. We are honored to be a part of such a great group of people!

-Paul

Indiana

2007-02-25T12:29:00.000-06:00

Theresa and I went to Chicago on Thursday to pick up Indiana. We were going to stay with a friend in the Lincoln Park area but she was called out of town at the last minute so we couldn't stay with her. Theresa and I found this out at about 11:30am on Thursday. That meant we had to find a place to stay quick like so we could leave. We booked a room at the LaQuinta in Tinley Park, because it was inexpensive and very comfortable and took off for Chicago! We left Minneapolis Thursday at noon and arrived in Tinley Park, IL at about 7pm.

When we arrived in Tinley Park we called Cheryl and she brought Indy over. We met her in the parking lot and he was even more beautiful than we could have ever imagined. We went to our room and talked about all the stuff we needed to do and all of the papers she was giving us. We signed the contract and he was ours! It was so exciting! We took him for a walk that night and he was pretty rambunctious but he needed to run. He slept in is kennel all night and only barked once at a noise he heard outside.

The next day when we got up Theresa took Indy for a walk while I got ready and had some breakfast. Once I was done I took Indy for another walk while Theresa got ready. We wanted to be sure he was pretty tired before we got in the car for the 7 hour ride home. Once she was done I loaded everything into the truck and we left for Minneapolis. The drive was easy and pretty quick but we were trying to make it home before the snow storm. Theresa and Indy both slept while I drove. Indy was a very good boy on the ride home. Cheryl told us that Indy hadn't eaten much on Thursday and we know he didn't eat on Friday morning. So I was a bit concerned that he wasn't going to eat.

When we got home we unloaded everything and my sister was here with a friend. So we let Indy visit with them and then I took Indy for a long walk. 4 miles. He was pooped when we got done and came home and played a little more, ate his WHOLE dinner and then CRASHED! HARD!

When we got up yesterday he was all refreshed and happy to go on another walk. We only took him for a 2 mile walk and that wasn't enough. He was still very full of energy last night, but Theresa and I had a pretty full day and I wanted to find out what he really needed for a walk. So we know that he will need more than a 2 mile walk every day for a while. We are still fine tuning our schedule for him so I guess it will take time to figure everything out! On another note Indy is very smart. We started working on the "sit" command with him when we got home and and yesterday before we went to our friends house for dinner he had it down pat. It was amazing to see how quickly he learned.

Indy and I start obedience training on March 21st. It will be great. I know I will learn as much as he will and we will have more time to bond.--I just can't wait.

More news about Indy as we have it!

-Paul

Details of Dalmatians

2007-01-30T15:14:00.000-06:00

So I haven't posted much here since Keisha died. It was very difficult to think about and even more difficult to deal with. Theresa and I have been talking about Keisha and how much we miss her and what we should do--do we get a new dog right away? Do we give it a year? We want to get a new companion but we also want to be sure that we give ourselves enough time to grieve for Keisha. We started talking about this a couple of weeks ago because we wanted to make sure we did the right thing for us. We talked about getting a new companion sometime in March if everything works out--we were not going to rush it but we thought that if we found a new companion dog that we liked we would move forward.

I started calling the breeders to find out what our options were for adopting a new companion. Knowing that females come into season this time of the year I thought it would be good to start looking for a breeder who might have a litter whelped now so the pups would be available in March or April. At first it was very difficult. No one from the Twin Cities Dalmatian Club would return my email and there were no phone numbers listed on the website. So I contacted a couple of the breeders from their site and also did not get a call back. I then contacted the Dalmatian club of America and got the name of a couple in Stillwater who were very helpful. Since then it has been a whirlwind of activity. One of the calls I made was to a breeder in Detroit who has a 9 month old black/white male named Indiana. This pup was placed with the breeders daughter and suffice it to say that the breeder wanted to find the dog a new home. I asked her to send me pictures and tell me about the dog. What she told me about the dog and what I heard from other breeders about her and her pedigree's reputation sort of sealed the deal for me. Once Theresa and I saw pictures we immediately fell in love with him. He is a handsome feller with great bloodlines. The breeder is going to be in Chicago at the end of February and she said we could pick him up from her at that time. So we are going to pick him up at the end of February! We are so excited to have a new addition to the family!

Living without Keisha has been harder than I could imagine but knowing she isn't in pain and that she had a great life really helped us move on. We have Keisha's ashes at the house and plan to spread her ashes on Theresa's parents property in the spring. Keisha loved it out there. I hope the Indy loves it there too. Keisha will always be with us in spirit and will remain in our hearts always.

-Paul

Keisha...may she rest in peace

2006-12-28T09:23:00.000-06:00

As many of you know our dog Keisha (a wonderful stubborn 13 year old dalmatian) has been having some trouble walking for the last several weeks.

In October we took her for a walk and she wanted to run home so I ran with her. Later that evening and the next day she started limping on one of her back legs and she would hold it up. So we took her to the vet and found out that she had a torn ACL. She wasn't showing any other signs of problems of any kind so we decided to have her ACL repaired. The one thing that concerned us was the 12 week healing time. She loved to run and play outside and we were concerned that she would be bored inside for the first part of the recovery. It was tough for her for the first few weeks and then we were able to start walking her and that made her very happy!

Once we started walking her Theresa noticed a lump on her left front leg. Sorta like it was swollen but all the way around her leg. We watched it and decided that when we took her to the vet for her checkup on the ACL surgery and her yearly shots that we would have the vet take a look at it.

So on the 20th we took her in to the vet and they xrayed the leg to find out what was going on. The diagnosis was very difficult to hear. Osteo Sarcoma--bone cancer. I couldn't believe I was hearing that. She was so alive and alert and happy...how could she have bone cancer? The vet told us that they could amputate the leg and start her on chemotherapy. Theresa and I talked about it and decided that with one leg still healing and the fact that she would be 14 this February that amputation and chemo probably wasn't the answer. We decided to take her home and make her comfortable until we got a sign from her that she was ready. That sign came on Tuesday and yesterday. Theresa was carrying her up the stairs and Keisha yelped. When Theresa put her down Keisha wouldn't put any weight on the leg with cancer. Over the next several hours she got better about using it but she was still limping and putting very little weight on the leg. I kept her quiet during the day yesterday and when Theresa came home we let Keisha outside. Theresa was getting the mail and heard her crying. Keisha had fallen and hurt her leg again. Theresa came in crying and carrying Keisha. We talked about it and knew it was time. So I called the vet and set an appointment and we just sat with her and pampered her for about an hour. We took her for her last ride in the car and brought her to the Chanhassen vet clinic. They were awesome. They made us all very comfortable and talked to us about the procedure and made sure everything was very clear. Keisha's passing was very peaceful and quiet.

All in all her death was one of the most difficult things I have been involved in. If you think it is easy to make a decision about what to do with a loved pet you might be surprised to find out how difficult it really is. The thing that I notice the most this morning is that she isn't here and the house is very quiet.

Theresa and I love Keisha very much and we know she is not suffering anymore and playing in that heavenly dog park. It's still very hard to know she isn't going to be around anymore--but we have lots of great memories and lots of pictures so she will live on in our hearts...

Cell phone carrier ratings

2006-12-06T13:22:00.000-06:00

Well, it's out again... Consumer Reports has issued its findings about cellular phone carriers. Guess what?! Carriers scored a D+. Go figure. It seems that carriers can't do anything right--that is if you listen to the people who are trying to sell magazines.

What amazes me is that people look at that and take it as gospel. Because of that people actually believe that carriers are horrible and that carriers are actually trying to do things to tick off their customers. But rather than trying to fix the problem Consumer reports is trying to capitalize on the issues and fuel the fire.

The question I ask is: Do people REALLY TRULY understand what services carriers are trying to provide? Do people REALLY TRULY understand what a wireless service can do? I am not saying that it is the fault of the consumer---completely. But consumers have to realize that it is up to them to find information and learn about the services they use and get that information from reliable sources. If consumers rely on message boards and other forums to try to gleen information they will usually come up with an answer that is partially from someone who is trying to help but doesn't have all the information.

People complain of dropped calls and poor customer service. I have had poor customer service from many technology companies including Microsoft, XM Radio, Dell, Nikon, HP, etc. How did I get through that? Did I complain? No…I kept working on fixing the problem. It took some time but I got it resolved and they went above and beyond once I found the person that could fix my problem. Carriers are the same way.

I look at these articles and think of the people that responded to the survey. For example, I know people who are complaining of dropping calls near their home and then going to the city council meetings and say things like: "You can't put a tower near my house!! Oh no! I won't have it!". How does that fix anything?

Carriers could fix every problem in coverage and customer service if consumers weren’t demanding continually cheaper service. I know some people who think it is a game to try to switch carriers and get the new carrier to eat the contract fee—just to get 50 or 100 extra minutes a month. This costs the carrier money and YOU pay for that.

Some reputable publication should talk to the carriers and get them to explain the reason that the problems persist and how they are working on the problems. If people understood the real reasons there are customer service issues and dropped calls—if people understood how the technology worked I can guarantee that the consumer reports scores would increase.

I think it is very disturbing that consumer reports continues to position itself as there for the consumer when all they really want is to make money and not really help to fix the problems.

-Paul

Mobilecasting or Podcasting

2006-11-13T23:46:00.000-06:00

So I have been doing an experiment for the last couple of days. That experiment has been with podcasting. I don't own an iPod. I am not sure I want to buy one. I like the thought of being able to use a receiver or satellite service to listen to the music that is new and then old stuff or listen to talk radio or whatever...I really like music and audio and I don't want to have to buy it all.

So that being said one of the things I like about iPods is the ability to use them as a podcatcher. For those of you that don't know about podcasts they are audio blogs--if you will. Many of them have become advertising vehicles which sorta sours the format in my opinion. It's designed for the masses and for anyone with an opinion they want to share.

Anyway...Someone has defined podcasting as mobilecasting and that has sorta stuck with me because podcasts are designed to be used when mobile. I want to be able to download something new when I am mobile. You can't do that with an iPod. You can with a smartphone.

So I have a Palm Treo 700wx that I am trying to use as a podcatcher for mobilecasting. I have a 1 Gig SD card (shoulda gotten the 2GB card) and I am trying to find a podcatching client that works good. So far I haven't found a single podcatcher for windows mobile that works well. So far they are either very complicated to configure OR cause massive problems with the device OR will not auto update. It's very frustrating. Right now I am using Voice Indigo--which is a beta and requires you to browse the files with Pocket IE on the windows mobile device. It works pretty good and the cool thing is that they resize the files so you don't have have some rediculuous 50 meg file for an hour worth of SOMEONE TALKING about stuff! With Voice Indigo that same file will be a 6 meg file. Yeah, voice quality isn't amazingly awesome but it works good. The only thing I wish they had was a client for the device...which they say is coming.

Now I just have to figure out a good way to record podcasts using my PC and produce it so I can start a podcast! I was on another podcast called Wireless Walla--It had a whole 7 episodes. :) The guy that was producing it can do amazing things with audio and video and it was very well produced but the 4 guys on the show couldn't find the time to record it. We tried to find other ways to record the broadcast but didn't find a way to make it work. I had a blast doing that and would love to do it again...but more on that later.

-Paul

2006-11-01T10:12:00.000-06:00

Politics as usual

I have been noticing the volume of political advertisements for the upcoming elections that are in the media. It is amazing to me the amount of money that candidates spend to be elected. Last night while watching the news just about every ad was political in nature. Many of them back to back bashing each other. It was sort of amusing. We all know that most of the ads this close to election focus on negative information about other candidates and mostly blur the facts to try to paint a bad picture of someone else. I am sure there is some study that was completed that helps the campaign managers understand what works in a campaign of this sort and most of them just run the playbook and this is why we see the negative ads.

I would guess that most people are not well informed about candidates and their TRUE colors. I would guess that most people don't have any way to get accurate information to make a good decision when voting and frankly that scares me. Alot.

There are websites whose mission is to inform voters about the candidates in current elections. One such site is www.vote-smart.org. They claim to be a group of volunteers that do not have political affiliations. However, if you have taken Psych 101 you know that your filters will color anything you do or say. This means that the information cannot be totally objective. Also they ask candidates to take a quiz or a survey. That being said I think sites like this are the closest thing we are going to get to pure information on candidates and the service they provide is invaluable in a sea of mis-information and bashing. It is important to vote and make an informed decision based on your beliefs and what the candidate has done historically in order for us to elect people who will do our bidding. Make sure to take a look at websites like this and make decisions based on as much information as you can get your hands on.

Sprint Mobile Broadband

2006-10-24T21:21:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Todd called me and told me he was pissed at Mediacom and wanted to get rid of every service he had from them. He told me he ordered Direct TV and asked me about Sprint's Mobile Broadband service. I gave him some information including that the service was going to be slower than his cable modem and that it was likely more expensive but he would be able to use it everywhere. So there was some upside and some downside to making the switch. I told him that when Sprint launched the new Rev A service that I was going to get rid of my cable modem. Later in the day Todd called me again and told me he bought a Sprint mobile broadband card. It turns out that when he called Mediacom to tell them he was canceling the TV service (because he purchased Direct TV) they told him the price of his cable modem was going to go up to $70. The Sprint Mobile Broadbad service starts at about $60 and with Todd's corporate discount was much less than that. He told them to cancel the cable modem too and went right to the store and bought a mobile broadband card.

After talking to Todd about his situation I realized it was time for me to make the switch to Sprint mobile broadband at home. I turned off my cable modem and access point and purchased a Linksys WRT54G3G-ST mobile broadband router. I am amazed at how well this works. It feels very much like a DSL connection--and this isn't even the higher EVDO Rev A speeds!

Sprint launched the EVDO Rev A service in San Diego, CA today. It won't be long until the Rev A service comes to a town near you.

I will be canceling the service from Comcast by this weekend...

-Paul

Keisha's Surgery

2006-10-19T10:24:00.000-05:00

So 1 week ago Keisha had to have surgery on her right rear ACL. She tore it on a jog home while we were on a walk last week.

It's tough being 13...

Theresa and I didn't know how seriously she was injured so we didn't do anything about it at first. It appeared that she just was favoring the leg and that she wanted to keep her weight off of it. She has done this in the past when one of her legs hurt her because of arthritis. But after about 3 days of her favoring this leg Theresa and I decided we needed to take her to the vet. The vet looked at her and said "Looks like a torn ACL to me". We needed x-rays to be sure. The x-rays showed that she had arthritis and a torn ACL. So last Thursday she had ACL surgery...the doctor says she will run marathon's again....kidding. She also had a skin tumor removed that the doctor said wasn't likely cancerous....it was...so I thank God that we were able to get her in to get that removed.

It has been very trying for Theresa to watch her baby go through this and it has been hard on me too. I want to help out but I don't know how much I should do for her. I don't want to give Keisha too much help for fear that I will lengthen her recovery, but I don't want her to get injured again either. It's tough when she can't tell us what she wants or needs.

So the recovery is supposed to take 10 weeks. We are 1 week into this and she is starting to use the leg for balance and to put some weight on it. Stitches come out on Tuesday--if they last that long.

ATV Rides

2006-10-15T21:07:00.000-05:00

So Jay, Rick, Mike, Andy, Mark and I went on an ATV ride last weekend. 6 guys out in the wilderness. It was great. When we arrives at Spider Lake there were alot of people there. More than I had seen before. We saddled up and took off for a ride as soon as we arrived at about 9am. I had gotten a new set of Mudlites on Castle Rock wheels. They are awesome. It was my first ride at Spider Lake with them. I had them during another ride we had in Park Rapids and I noticed how much more traction I had and how much more stable the machine felt. it was awesome.

So 5 miles into the ride we were bombing down this trail and all of a sudden my handlebars jerked to the left and into the woods I went. I grabbed the brakes and the next thing I knew I was getting kicked off the machine to the right as it started to roll. I made an attempt to leap from my machine to ensure it didn't roll over on me. When I hit the trail my tailbone hit a large rock shaped like an egg and my helment hit the ground a couple of times. But the machine didn't roll over on me.

I survived with a bruised tailbone and a bruised ego and the machine was fine too. Just broke a mirror. It turns out that my big wheels and tires hit a stump at the edge of the trail that caused my wheels to turn hard left. I am still not 100% sure why my machine rolled. So the thing I learned was to be careful and be prepared for anything--even when you are on trails you know. The safety equipment helped me and I will always wear it. I will also be more careful on the trial. new equipment changes the way your machine rides.

So be careful out there and remember to ride with respect and remember:
"Ride as if everyone is watching. Talk as if everyone is listening."

-Paul

Perceptions of the Police

2006-10-04T20:16:00.000-05:00

Most of you that know me know that I was a Police reserve for the city of Bloomington, Minnesota for 9 years. The experience that I gained through that job were some of the most rewarding and eye opening in my life. It is an experience that I wouldn't trade.

Because of my relationship with a police department I have many people ask me questions about the police and want to tell me about their situation. I have found that there are people that have very skewed perceptions of the police and what the police can and cannot do. Some of the stories that I am told are far fetched at best--stories in which the person telling the story has done nothing wrong but the police treated them without respect or actually were verbally abusive. These stories suprised me because every cop I know is a regular human being who uses the appropriate amount of respect in every situation. The difference is that a police officers job is to remain in control of the situation and they will only exert just enough "force" to remain in control of that situation--no more.

Most police officers I know will put up with an attitude from someone for a short period of time then they will put a stop to it. Imagine that while you are working some of the customers you deal with are treating you poorly simply because you are doing your job. How long would you let that continue?

The police have a demanding job. Remember when dealing with the police that they are normal human beings. My experience tells me that if you treat a cop with respect, they will treat you with equal respect. If you were speeding or ran a red light just pay the ticket and get on with your life. Cops don't pull people over and give them a ticket unless it really happened--they have better things to do!

-Paul

Company Policies and Customer Focus

2006-09-12T10:56:00.000-05:00

Lately I have been noticing how little companies that I do business with, both personally and professionally, appear to care about their customers. OH! They say they care about their customers but when push comes to shove or there is a problem it takes an act of congress to get anything accomplished.

For example: My XM2GO radio needed the replacement battery because of a recall. They told me they were sending one for EIGHT MONTHS but every time I called they told me that I would have it in 10 weeks (Every 10 weeks, I called them). Finally I called the presidents line at XM and they couldn't even help me. I finally called back in to their main number and had to talk to a guy in their product department to get them to send me a battery! Why did it take me calling every 10 weeks? Why couldn't their presidents line help me? Why did it take so long to get my replacement battery?

The bottom line is that business has become so complex and so competitive (which by the way is supposed to be good for the customer) that margins are very thin and in order to compete companies have to cut costs. Companies have stretched themselves so thin and developed processes that work for the 80%--then they ignore the other 20% or don't create a "bucket" to catch those people when they fall through the process. What companies do not understand is that by provided better customer service and just taking care of the customer that many people will pay a premium just to know they don't have to deal with the issues.

This has created much frustration in industry and people mostly have a very poor perception of companies that have historically had a very good reputation. It's a very sad state of affairs and I am not sure what to do to fix it other than to tell companies to empower their employees to help their customers. If they don't they will lose their customers.

-Paul

Gas prices! News Media?

2006-09-06T20:19:00.000-05:00

Gas Prices
So it appears that gas prices are dropping and will drop significantly. All the news reports I hear talk about gas prices in November around $2/gallon. So who is predicting this? The same people that predicted $4 and $5 per gallon for the summer of 2006? Should we believe them now?

It seems clear to me that you can't simply use history to predict the future. But it appears that is what the "experts" are doing. Why are they scaring us with gas prices that appear to be out of this world and then during election time the gas prices drop. I don't know if the price of gas this fall will be related to politics but I do know that I will enjoy the prices drop!

News Media
It seems that the United States news media is less and less professional as time goes on. Overall the news reports that I am seeing (see above) seem more and more outrageous. The entire gas price thing makes me crazy--Why is that news? It's gas prices. Either we can pay for gas or we can't the world isn't going to end. We are all going to figure out how to get along without it if it comes to that. Oh and by the way don't you think that the U.S. government and private enterpise is going to find another way for it's citizens to have vehicles? When gas really becomes out of reach there will be another business there to pick up the slack. Quite possibly not all the slack right away but I believe that life will go on.

I received an email from a friend this week about a video from hotair.com. The video was talking about how factions in the middle east are using ambulances to get into areas "undetected" and do crimes and killing. Now I am not sure if this is fact or fiction but what I saw in the video was how the media outlets are taking video from freelancers and the explanation that the freelancers give at face value without looking into it to verify validity.

This makes me very feel very uncomfortable with the news outlets. How can they broadcast something they have not verified? Why would they report that as fact when they can't even prove that facts of the case?

Politics and news media. Things are getting very murky...

-Paul

Weekend Camping

2006-08-21T12:43:00.000-05:00

Weekend Camping
We went camping this last weekend. Had a blast! Rain was in the forecast but we didn't see a drop. It was cool and cloudy on Saturday morning but turned out to be a great weekend. We went camping with Al, Barb, Grant and Leah. Andy, Julie, Cody and Chandra came up on Saturday and floated down the cannon river with us. It turned out to be a nice relaxing weekend.

Stiftungsfest
This weekend August 25th-27th, 2006 is Stiftungsfest in Norwood-Young America, MN. This is a weekend we get together with our friends and cut loose listening to music and going to the car show. It's always a blast. Check out information on the web at: http://www.stiftungsfest.org/. Come on out and have a good time with everyone!

ATV's and Stuff

2006-08-16T18:49:00.000-05:00

ATV update
Last weekend I bought some new toys for my toy. Er...yeah...

I added new wheels, front bumper and handguards. Ready for more riding and some deep mud holes!!! This is a picture of the updated beast. We are planning a fall ATV trip to Spider Lake. I am also going to visit a ATV club in Shakopee tomorrow night to see what they are all about. Should be a good time.

Stuff
I am finally done with summer term at school. Man that was a pain. Remind me not to take 2 classes that are really difficult for me at the same time in summer. I had to write papers just about every week and some of them were with a group of people which obviously adds complexity to the mix. Anyway that is all done as of last Friday.

Theresa and I are going camping this weekend. We are going to Zumbro Falls and should have a great time. We are going with 4 other couples and are going to relax and float down the river and the like.

More next week!

Work and stuff

2006-08-01T22:13:00.000-05:00

One of the things I am very frustrated about right now is my work environment. Things are not stable and have not been that way for a long time. There is also very little room to move into another position and I am starting to feel pretty trapped.

I have been passively looking at other options but have made this more active lately. So the search is on. I am not sure I will find anything that can compare but I may not need that if I have a way to advance my career at a new employer. We shall see what happens.

Theresa and I have had a great summer. We have been playing as much as we can in the motorhome we purchased from her parents. We have used it several times this summer and have plans to use it several more times and are having a blast! We are both too young to own a motorhome but what the hell!

Jay and I have been 4 wheeling only once this summer. I have been pretty busy with school and have had a hard time finding a way to fit anything else into my schedule. I plan to take another couple of trips this fall and will post some pictures soon.

That is what I have for now! More as I have it!

Current events

2006-08-01T22:02:00.000-05:00

Well I have been watching the situation in the middle east and specifically Israel for the last few weeks and that is a pretty scary deal. Everyone is condemning Israel for what they are doing but it appears to me that they are only protecting their citizens. Without their ability to protect themselves in the middle east they would quickly be overtaken.

I have a friend who is from Israel and she is great. She is a very smart and strong woman and has taught me a great deal about Israel. She has told me that her country will not stop fighting until their soldiers are returned to them. Here is a link to information she sent to me about the situation in Israel:

http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/457/743.html

One of the biggest issues we have in the world today is the corrupted influence politics on everything in the world. Politics in and of its own isn't bad but it seems that politicians believe the way most people think. That is to say that most people want a quick fix to every situation and it appears that politicians want that too. Also it appears that the United States is becoming a society where no proof is needed for people to believe someone. This causes many problems because people do not do the research to ensure they have accurate information before they act. It is starting to appear that President Bush didn't have accurate information on the WMD's in Iraq before he acted. However, I still believe that Saddam needed to be removed from power based on all the corrupt things he did while in power.

So I am not sure when the world will learn to all get along but we need to all realize that we are here to stay and that even though we have differences we need to learn to love others and realize that differences are a good thing and embrace those that are different from us.

-Paul

First post

2006-08-01T21:58:00.000-05:00

Well...this is my first post! Blogging has been going on for a while but this is something new for me. I am going to try to keep my posts relevant and frequent.

One of the exciting things that Theresa and I did this summer was to add a third garage stall to our house so we have more garage space. This is a picutre I took from my phone once the driveway was put in. We still need to get it painted and get grass to grow but it is pretty much done!

To me a blog is like a journal about life the universe and everything. I hope you enjoy!

-Paul