Cocktail Confessions

(iGrill Probe)

With Father’s Day almost here, I’d like to think there are plenty of wives, daughters, and girlfriends putting some serious thought into their man’s gift.  But if you have any semblance of the life and relationships I do, that’s wishful thinking.  I’m sure my step-daughter will forget me on father’s day as she did on my birthday, and my wife will probably get me the standard bottle of Maker’s Mark…if I’m lucky (she didn’t get me anything for my birthday either). 

Yeah, that little bit of information may seem bitter and trite coming from me, but in all honesty (since this is Cocktail Confessions), I AM STILL bitter about that.  Lord knows I try my hardest to put some thought into their gifts for their special days, but hey, I still believe in family and traditional roles…so call me stupid.

ANYWAY…..it’s been a while since I talked about gadgets around here as well, so I got something that may be right up your mans alley, especially if he’s a techie as well.  It’s called iGrill, the progeny of taking an iOS App (read: iPad, iTouch, iPhone) and mating it with our favorite backyard sport of grilling. (*Android users will have to be patient…it was supposedly going to hit 2nd quarter 2011 and so far it hasn’t).

Starting at $99 (which includes a thermometer, probe and the ‘app’ itself), and coming in either white or black options, iGrill works via long range (200+ ft) Bluetooth technology. In a nutshell you stick your probe into your meat which is connected to the Bluetooh thermometer, and wirelessly monitor your BBQ or Grill via your iPad, iPhone, or iTouch.

Now via your electonic device you can monitor upwards of two seperate probes, review recipes and tips, use it as a kitchen timer, monitor by temperature (upwards of 400 degrees), and more.  Thier website even has a section called iGrill University which has some cool tricks of the trade that are applicable year round.

(My wireless probe - $35)

All in all, it’s a pretty cool idea if you don’t already own a traditional wireless temp probe (I actually do) and like cool techie animations and detail to wow your friends, but the price is a bit steep in my opinion. 

My own remote basically does the same thing but only cost me about $35.  The only really new thing they introduce here is a slick front end GUI and the ability to monitor two probes at once, (but if you’re an Apple fan…you’re already used to paying top dollar for stuff you can buy at half price anyway).  Still, I won’t deny, when it come sout for Android….I may take a second look.

Yeah, it’s a little late in the making, but today’s a great opportunity for an update and catch up on recent activities due to the rainy weather.

I’ll be working on a new entry dedicated to my sausage making shortly (maybe even later today).  I just off-loaded some pictures from my Droid phone that I took while in the kitchen while making them, and they turned out pretty good for not having touched a meat grinder in over 5 years.

Work has been slow….mind numbingly slow…so slow in fact, I’m fantasizing about other careers.  The good news is (and don’t tell my boss), it’s allowed me to start reading in earnest again and I’ve been able to finish a true crime book in about two weeks, and I started a new science fiction novel two days ago and I’ve already been able to get through the first 100 pages…just at work (albeit most of it has been during lunch breaks).  I’m getting more and more interested in buying an Android tablet (when the price is reasonable…they are just too expensive right now for a 10″ tablet) and start carrying digital books around, much like a Kindle.

My diet is still plugging along, although this past weekend I cheated a bit more than I would have liked to have and it affected my Sunday weigh-in for sure.  Saturday I spent the afternoon with a few friends ‘beering’ at a local brewery, Cismontane, and had a few pints of some heavy handed beer.  This included a rare chili-cheese dog for lunch.  Dinner that evening consisted of having a ‘sausage’ party (Yeah, I can hear all the jokes right now).  I grilled 4 different types of sausages for my friends and neighbors and this was followed by a little Jack Daniels drinking and some Oreo cookies.  But when it was all said and done, I came in the next day at 224.8 lbs, still slightly down from the previous week.  However, earlier in the week I did have two days where I was 223.8 which had me excited, but it didn’t last. 

Speaking of beer, I’m still on track to go to Brew Bakers with my friend Brian on March 12th, about 2pm and we’ll be brewing and tasting some beer.  My friend Joe had an excellent play on words for a beer, and after massaging the idea a bit and brainstorming some visuals, he came up with an excellent mock-up picture for the label.  I liked it so much that I’m going to give him a few suggestions to tweak, and I’ll end up using it for my own.  I don’t want to reveal it hear just yet, but I am excited to debut it later…it’s pretty damn funny and a collaborative effort, but Joe for sure came up with the spark.

Finally, I also started my train benchwork layout after many months of sitting idle. 

Two weekends ago I bought most of the wood, except the actual table top as Home Depot’s arm-saw was broken (I’ll go back at a later date), and other hardware.  This past Saturday I got up and started measuring, re-measuring, and then triple-measuring before I made cuts with my miter saw and began the first stages of assembly.  I ended up with a 3.5′ x 6.5′ butt-joint assembled frame (pictured) .  That’s a pretty decent beginner size for a N-scale (1:160) train layout.  I’ve already cut the legs too, at 3.5′ tall when fully assembled.  I’ll attach those this weekend and maybe get the side bracing done, then finally back to Home Depot to get the actual top.  From there, it’s trying to find sheets of pink extruded insulation foam, and then the real fun/project begins.

We also got a new TV about a week back as the old plasma died.  Well, it’s finally mounted on the wall and had Cox Cable come out and got a new DVR (more storage and HDMI compatible).  This has allowed me to ditch some cables and finally get rid of my VCR as well, so we’ve freed up some space and got rid of about a third of the cables.  I have an idea to hide the rest of them, but that’s a project for another day.

Overall, not too shabby of a start only a month and half into the new year.  Big items left to tackle is getting involved (volunteering) at an animal shelter in the area, actually take a few days for a mini vacation, cleaning out a bit more of the house and purging stuff we don’t use anylonger (there’s been a discussion of a neighborhood garage sale in the coming weeks), and a few other smaller things (like a new podcast entry).  But so far, so good, but I still feel like I need another day in the week to catch up for everything I either want to do, or just rest because the other days seems so busy.

Ahhhh….two of my favorite things are coming together this October 3rd at the Fiesta Gardens just outside Austin, Texas.  The marriage of good ole smokey Texas style BBQ and the sounds of fidgeting pocket protectors of all us techno weenies who are proponets of Google technologies, namely the Android OS.  Unfortunately, and to my utter dismay I will not be attending.

I didn’t want to doctor up their own advertisment too much, so here’s the cut and paste promotion from the dudes over at Android and Me:

This October marks the two year release of the G1, the first Android device many of us came to know and love. Soon, it will also mark one of the largest, wildest, most beef-fueled, community-organized gatherings of Android fans ever attempted. The Big TX Android BBQ will be thrown on October 3rd, at the Fiesta Gardens in Austin, Tx. The event is being hosted by the likes of Android Swag, Android Guys, @thedroidguy, @bigkeivan, and of course, Android and Me. 

For a measly $25 (until Aug 15) you get all-you-can-eat BBQ, a totally rad free tee (designed by our own Angie Strickland), all the Android fellowship you can handle, and maybe some special guests. Aaron from Android Swag has been wheeling and dealing trying to land solid entertainment and guests for the BBQ but so far has been keeping his surprises close to his chest. 

To make it as easy as possible to attend, Aaron even lined up a discount code for those flying Continental. Using the code ZJE9896123 will get you a cool 10% off flights and we are still working on lining up some hotel (or even some camping) discounts for people who want to spend a few days here in Austin.

For more attendance info, go ahead and check out the offical site here.

If any of you do attend, I’d love to see some pics.  Feel free to send them to me here: cocktails1@hotmail.com and I’ll post them and give you credit as well (.jpg format please).

Oh, and by the way, there is official rumor that the long awaited Adobe Flash 10.1 will be available sometime today (Aug. 24th) for Android based smart phones.  You may have to do a search over at the Android Market Place for “Flash 10.1″, but it seems our wait is just about over.  But don’t yell at me if it is delayed a day or two,…they’ve done it before, but this time looks like it is legit.

Okay, kinda a mish-mash here of quick things:

My next Droid may not be the Droid X or Droid 2 afterall.  With Droid 2 coming in the next 2 weeks (and a $199 price tag to boot), I was seriously considering an upgrade to my smartphone.  My Droid turns 1 in November.  However, those chaps over at Android and Me are hinting that a new ‘rumor’ may infact be the unofficial leak of the Droid Pro.  So, what are the hilights of the Droid Pro? I’m glad you asked:  Could be boasting a new 1.3GHz CPU (fastest yet), a 4 inch screen, and global roaming (taking advantage of the LTE Verizon network perhaps?)!  No other details at this time, other than it may be debuting in November, 2010.  I’ll share more as more info becomes available.

It’s also being reported that Netflix has signed a deal with EPIX, Lionsgate, and Paramount meaning that very shortly a whole new library of movies and television shows will be available via Netflix streaming.  I use this feature on my XBox 360 all the time.  I’ve recently been watching Sparticus, Weeds, Dexter, and many other shows through my Xbox and loving it. 

Speaking of XBox, I’m not overly “wow”-ed by yet by the newly announced MS Kinect.  It’s listed at a street price of $149 and will launch with 11 titles.  I just read a synopsis of the titles in the Sep ’10 issue of OXM, and none of them really stand out for me.  This may be one of those things where I’ll have to wait and see the reviews and reception of the titles first before I’m an andopter of the peripheral at all.

I still have a video I need to edit and post here on preparing a beef brisket, and I still have 2-3 podcast episodes saved on my hard drive I also need to edit and post as well.  I really need a day off in my normal life to work on this.

So I came across a new app today for my Droid phone.  Well, it’s ‘new’ to me, but I am to understand this app has actually been out a while now.

Iheartradio is a ‘free’ application you can download from the Android Marketplace and allows you to stream live clearchannel stations directly to your smartphone.  Since I live in the Los Angeles market, that means I can turn my phone into a virtual AM/FM tuner and get hundreds of stations, not just here, but all over North America.

It’s really great for those that like AM radio.  It streams stations directly from the source and it sounds just like a podcast of FM station, meaning, it’s crystal clear and sounds so much better than what yoru car radio can supply.  So within just seconds of downloading and installation, I am currently listening to the John and Ken show, from KFI, AM640!!

Awesome!

Well, for right now I’m holding off on getting a new Droid phone.  As much as I would like to get the Droid X, my current Motorola Droid (gen 1) is only 9 months old and I can’t justify in my mind spending the money on a new flavor just to say I have the latest and greatest.  I’d personally feel more grateful internally if I can last a whole year before I actually upgrade, and I may even get lucky and get the Droid X at a slightly cheaper price anyway.

But as these things go, I suppose as soon as I get the Droid X, a new Android phone will be announced that will even be better.  On the bright side, the long awaited update, Froyo (aka 2.2), is supposed to drop OTC this week which mean Flash is just around the corner.

And despite all those people that have the iPhone, a report was issued today stating that in North America, out of all the smart phones, that the Android OS is the most widely distributed.

Doesn’t Lady Gaga look like Marilyn Manson?  I don’t know why, but in this pick I can’t help but think that she does.  I don’t think she’s all that great looking, but she has a new spread in Vanity Fair this month, and it’s the best I’ve ever seen her (BTW: this isn’t one of the pics).  Me thinks she had plastic surgery in the past…..in the nose region.

Had a wonderful smoked brisket this weekend.  It was a lot of work, but my friends seemed to enjoy it pretty well and gave me accolades for my efforts.  It’s definitely a social thing though, and would benefit a group of guys hanging around sharing a case of beer and stories all day than doing it solo.  I took plenty of video’s and pictures of the process, and I hope to have those up soon here and on YouTube.

Speaking of which, my friend Brian made an excellent potato salad with blue cheese, chipotle, and smoked paprika amongst other ingredients and it was delicious.  He said he’d give me the recipe and I’ll post here in the future as well.

Er, why does Lindsay Lohan get released after 14 days of her 90 day sentence?  If it were any Joe Blow or Jane Doe, we’d serve the full time.  Pisses me off, this double-standard crap that so-called spoiled celebrities get to take advantage of.  It’s crap on all levels.

Worked on a HO structure model this Sunday during my personal down time.  I love my hobby of model building for trains.  It’s fun and relaxing, although it can be a long and arduous process.  Wish I had a bit more money so I could start my benchwork for my layout.

Started a new book: “The Art of Racing in the Rain”.  It’s a novel whose story is told through the eyes and soul of a 13 year old yellow Labrador.  Very touching and moving.  Dare I say I’ve already been moved to tears after the opening chapter?  I’ve been reading more books lately based on animals and have been enjoying them immensely.  I just finished ‘Dog Town’, based on true account of the Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah.

Finally, I really need to start my diet as of yesterday.  I have approx 2.5 months to drop close to 15 lbs for a wedding in which I am the best man.  I had an excellent meal and beer fest this past Saturday, so the last two days I’m just drinking water, coffee, and ice tea.

possible Droid 'Shadow' seen in the wild.

It’s been a little while since I last did a technology posting here.  As a matter of fact some of my recent free time has been occupied by my continual research into ‘share & shoot’ flash camcorders (but that’s another post).  However, I was squealing like a little school girl today when a few ‘leaked’ images of the upcoming Droid II surfaced on the web today as well as some of its rumored specs.

Now, first and foremost, remember, the keywords here are ‘rumored’ and ‘leaked’ and may not be the final product released.  As happens many times, there are pre-production prototypes shopped around and tweaked before things go golden and make it to the public, but everything I see so far looks very promising.

The only major drawback is that I just got my original Droid back in the late November or early December time frame making my device only about six months old.  When I got my phone, I signed a new two year contract which makes me ineligible for a free upgrade for at least 18 months as of this writing, unless I want to pay a small penalty and upgrade when it does come out ‘possibly’ this summer.

Just when the HTC Incredible made me green with envy, the new Droid, aka ‘Shadow’ looks even more impressive than the current hard to find HTC.  So without further ado, let us all begin to salivate on Droid’s upcoming big brother:

• 4.1 or 4.3″ TFT screen (this replaces Droid’s current 3.7″ screen).
• Possible that the current prcessor will be dropped for either a 1GHz Snapdragon or a 720MHz OMAP3630 which is an upgrade from the current Droid 3430 (this new chip will reduce overall power consumption).
• It’s rumored to be 9mm thick which indicates the physical keboard will now be gone thus making it lighter.  Not sure I like this myself as I tend to fat-finger using the touch screen and often find myself using the slide out keyboard out of habit now.
• Motorola Motoblur will be included which is an intergrated front end UI that melds many of the popular social networking services (Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, etc) into one sign on account.  Also look for an optical trackball like the newer HTC models are sporting.
• It will most likely launch with Android OS 2.2, codenamed Froyo, but if you have a regular Droid or like phone most everyone will be getting this upgrade OTA in the coming weeks anyway, so it’s not really a selling point to me.
• Kinda vague, but I’ve seen reports of anywhere between 2 and 8 GB of internal memory.
• The camera will be upgraded from 5 MP to 8 MP with 720p video recording.
• An exciting new feature is the ability for 1080p output via a HDMI port.

*Note HDMI port and overall thickness.

If it indeed released this summer (meaning next 2-3 months) that will make my current Droid only about 8 or 9 months old.  It’s a pretty significant upgrade and I feel like I was one of the last people to jump on the smart phone bandwagon.  I use my Droid and many of its built in apps daily, especially the maps and GPS functions.  I like Buzz and gmail contacts and messaging a lot, so do I dare spend the money?  But as these things tend to go, and more and more often than before, whatever current flavor of the month is, it will soon be made obsolete by the newest and slickest phone just around the corner.

Anyway, your thoughts?

As technology constantly evolves, as do widgets and plugins, so must this website if I want to maintain something relevant. 

Thus, as I do on occassion, came a time for a routine patching and maintenance to the site.

For those that are interested, you’re either as geeky if not more geeky than myself, or you are so utterly bored and pathetic at this very moment, you’re desperately still reading this as to fill some void in your life undoubtedly caused by unresolved mommy issues.  If it is indeed the latter, and you’re still reading this without being insulted, then my friend….stop what you are doing right this instant and grab yourself a strong drink.

Maintenance notes:

• Upgraded WordPress to current version 2.9.2 from the previous 2.7.1.  Kinda a big deal, but only to allow other plugins and widgets to operate normally.
• Blubrry Powerpress: Now v1.07.  Still need to incorporate more functionality into this site, but at least I have a place to possibly host future podcasts and video casts and register them properly with iTunes…if that day ever comes.
• NextGen Gallery: Now v1.5.3 that adds additional features and interface for picture galleries, slideshows and the like.
• Tweetable: Now v1.1.8.  This wouldn’t work previously with the 2.7.1 version of WordPress, but will now.  I haven’t activated yet as I need to register the application with Twitter, and place a widget in the margin to accept incoming Tweets.  Oh, and as of right now, you can still follow me on Twitter @alonedisciple.
• YouTube: Registered for a channel under the name ‘jaysonolson33′ that I have uploaded a few videos I plan to embed here if they are not a direct vodcast.
• GoWalla: A mobile social check-in application on my Droid phone that has the ability to also be tied into Twitter.  You can see where I am at if I happen to check in.  Also under ‘jaysonolson33′.
• Google Buzz: Once again, created under the moniker ‘jaysonolson33′, you can find and follow my Buzzes (many with pictures).  I hope the WP plugin ‘Socialable’ adds this soon enough.

More often than I would care to admit to, the usual way our department treats is weekly Friday departmental lunch selection for is like trying to figure out who Paris Hilton is dating this week.  So many times, with all us accepting the ritualized anarchy that is our decision making process, we all stand up from our veal pen like cubicles like prairie dogs and stare blankly at each other as we all begin to say “So, where are we going today?”

It rarely ever comes together smoothly, and there is always someone who inevitably will drop out or complain they don’t like the place we all hoo-humingly decided upon.  “Not that place again.” “Didn’t we just go there two weeks ago?” “Ugh, the lines are too long and I don’t have enough cash.” are just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to the myriad of complaints and excuses we all throw out in trying to agree on a single place.

I get frustrated with this practice a lot as I generally don’t care where we go, or develop an attitude that I must partake in this tired indecisive banter every week.  Sometimes we spend so much time talking over each other throwing out names of tired and not so true places that we end up wasting a good solid ten minutes of our allotted 60 minute window.

Today, we all agreed upon trying a new selection tactic.  Something revolutionary, and yet so simple in practice.  I like to now call out, “Let’s let the wheel of fate decide.” in a determined and stoic voice, my Droid smartphone held up high in the air like Moses bearing the stone tablets before his wary people. “Let us look upon the written word that is (drum roll for effect) URBAN SPOON!”

My friend Brian introduced me to this fine little gem of an app that he had previously downloaded to his phone.  Currently available on both the Android (v2.0 OS and up) and iPhone platforms, Urbanspoon, is like the old Magic 8-Ball sooth-saying toy you had as a child.  Based upon your current location (thanks to the GPS coordinates of where you are standing) you shake your phone to activate the internal accelerometer.  Like a nickel slot machine at an Indian casino without smallpox, three simulated wheels rapidly spin and soon begin to settle upon the categories: city, genre, price.  City is self explanatory, genre is the cuisine type (Japanese, Indian, German, etc), and price is ranked from $ thru $$$$. 

We all agreed today that the ‘Wheels of Fate’ would dictate our lunch plans.  We all huddled in silent anticipation around my Droid, our eyes locked and wide as I shook the phone.  Clickity, clickity, clickity…..the simulated sound began to gradually slow. 

1st up: Tustin.  2nd wheel: Italian.  Finally price: $$  Urbanspoon had selected the “Pizza Shack”….and to our mutual acceptance and nods, we all agreed, no questions asked.  The ‘Wheels of Fate’ had spoken!

With address, phone number, and a 83% favorable review, we drove off to our dictated eatery.  And surprisingly, we all enjoyed it.  Seven of us attended todays outing, each one of stating we had never once been to the Pizza Shack before albeit it was only a mere two miles from the place we had all worked for years.  Sharing four medium pizzas with traditional toppings in an atmosphere not unlike a low rent college sports bar, we all commented on how good it actually was.  Not just the food per-se, but the atmosphere as well.

With this little tale all told, I thank my friend Brian for the the suggestion and highly recommend that if your smart phone can handle it, go ahead and download Urbanspoon.  A little shake of the wrist and a little random luck can break the doldrums that is choosing a place to eat and may lead you to something new and exciting.

Update on my Ford Sync and Droid issue…

Well, the Internet is a smart thing and after a brief perusing of some forums, I see that I wasn’t the only one having issues ‘sync’-ing there new Droid with MS Sync in Ford cars.  It appears this is a know issue and various reports share that there is a ‘rumored’ fix coming Dec 11 in the form of a patch.

However, after a bit more digging, I did discover there is an alernate Motorola pairing code that uses four digits instead of Sync preferable 6 digits.  The good news?  Well, after fiddling with teh menu option on my steering wheel, I discovered a ‘Special’ PIN number on my Ford Edge, and once entered into my Motorola Droid…..VOILA…it works!

Granted, I’ll feel much better when both the Droid patch comes out in a few weeks AND I get Ford to upgrade my Sync firmware to what it actually should be, and not the version that is currently installed when I bought my car two years ago.  But for now, it appears I got the Bluetooth to now work.