Today I had a big first, that is, my first interview as a scientist in a morning news radio show (sorry guys, the interview is in Spanish). Mediated by my brother-in-law, I was interviewed by Javier Solorzano, a well known Mexican journalist about the current flu outbreak in Mexico. While I am not a flu expert, I am a microbiologist in training and tried to provide some input from a foreign scientist point of view. I have to thank Javier Solorzano for making the interview incredibly easy by taking a conversational tone.
Beyond the interview one aspect I thought was kind of funny has to do with perspective. I have always pictured people being interviewed on the radio as a man or woman sitting in a room holding the phone, intently answering the questions. As for me, I did during the interview what I always do when I am on the phone. That is, I spent the entire time pacing back and forth in our conference room answering the phone call.
Kind of funny how that works.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Screwing around
We are having a wonderful winter day in TN, think sunny, Carolina blue skies, and 60 degrees. Yep, just your regular winter day in the SE end of the US of A. Anyhow, I was out in the back yard screwing around with my Xmas/birthday gift and after playing around in Photoshop for a bit, I wanted to post these 2 pix. They are not all that great, but I was glad that I did something right by cranking up the Fstop and going as far as I could with the shutter speed without totally bleaching the picture. The color pictures are actually kind of boring, unless you are a pine tree aficionado, but I thought inverting the pictures and framing them (thanks Nate!) improved them some. Anyhow, these are my lame attempts at some creative photography on a beautiful day. The thumbnails are ok, but click on the image to get the full view.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
R ticles of interest
As I was doing my regular run of newspapers at work these two pieces caught my eye:
1. Mexico City trying to clean up.
2. Cutting down on cardboard boxes for moves.
The Mexico City one, in particular, caught my eye. The fact that the population needs a civil ethics crash course on not throwing trash everywhere compounded by the general view that the government should pick the trash up since they are being paid for it, through taxes, is fairly interesting. So, is the incredibly low percent of Mexico City residents that recycle (10%, compared to 77% of Americans).
In the small population sample that encompasses my family, I can say that we do not recycle...at all. I actually remember talking about recycling around 5th grade or so, as well as a big push by my grade school to start recycling and educate people about recycling. Unfortunately there is a big need for Mexican citizens to think beyond the individual, and this does not stop at trash and recycling. Some time ago a supreme court justice in Mexico posted an opinion where he suggested that the country needed a change in ethics where the Mexican individual needs to think beyond the me and now, and start thinking for the benefit of the nation and the community.
The plastic box article I thought was an interesting counter point of the greenification of the US. Besides, I know plenty of us that have moved quite a bit so I figured it couldn't hurt to pass along the link.
1. Mexico City trying to clean up.
2. Cutting down on cardboard boxes for moves.
The Mexico City one, in particular, caught my eye. The fact that the population needs a civil ethics crash course on not throwing trash everywhere compounded by the general view that the government should pick the trash up since they are being paid for it, through taxes, is fairly interesting. So, is the incredibly low percent of Mexico City residents that recycle (10%, compared to 77% of Americans).
In the small population sample that encompasses my family, I can say that we do not recycle...at all. I actually remember talking about recycling around 5th grade or so, as well as a big push by my grade school to start recycling and educate people about recycling. Unfortunately there is a big need for Mexican citizens to think beyond the individual, and this does not stop at trash and recycling. Some time ago a supreme court justice in Mexico posted an opinion where he suggested that the country needed a change in ethics where the Mexican individual needs to think beyond the me and now, and start thinking for the benefit of the nation and the community.
The plastic box article I thought was an interesting counter point of the greenification of the US. Besides, I know plenty of us that have moved quite a bit so I figured it couldn't hurt to pass along the link.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Where were you?
I know this question is going to be asked a lot, but I just wanted to ask my two or three readers: where were you January 20th, 2009 when Obama officially took office?
Me? I was laying down getting my teeth cleaned. I guess I will be the most unforgettable teeth cleaning ever. I got to hear some of the ceremony in the waiting room thanks to a dude that had it streaming from his cell phone. Lots of people at Vandy must have been trying to stream the ceremony because web access was crawling all morning.
Me? I was laying down getting my teeth cleaned. I guess I will be the most unforgettable teeth cleaning ever. I got to hear some of the ceremony in the waiting room thanks to a dude that had it streaming from his cell phone. Lots of people at Vandy must have been trying to stream the ceremony because web access was crawling all morning.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Obama on Dixie Kitchen and Bait Shop
I read about how Obama sat in this show in 2001 when he was an Illinois senator and apparently the episode never aired because, according to the piece I read, Obama was a little too good or smooth when he shot the piece. Make sure you let the clip finish and let it jump to the 2nd clip, where the prez-to-be hops on to talking about a little politcs. This clip made me think of the 60 mins interview where the Obama's talked at one point about how when they were dating Barack Obama was driving a car with a rusted out end where Michelle could see through. How does that sound for elitism?
Monday, December 15, 2008
Kidnapping expert kidnapped
Nothing says 'tis the season for giving like kidnapping an expert in kidnappings. Well, this is exactly what happened in my [not so]beloved home country recently as reported here. While I have not been a fan of my birth nation for quite some time, or a fine representative of it, I dare say that the frequent reports of kidnappings, narc killings, corruption scandals and you name it are starting to make me wonder whether things are about to get much worse before things get better. Actually, a supreme court justice in Mexico thinks the country is starting to slip from the hands of those that care for a better Mexico (article in Spanish). While on the topic, an exchange with my sister's boyfriend also yielded this news piece (sorry, also in Spanish) about a drug lord that was busted recenlty and that during a gun fight tried to call for help from two police chiefs.
Maybe I am naive in not worrying for the safety of my mom and sisters who live in Mexico City or my dad and sister who live in Ciudad Juarez and El Paso. I guess I just have convinced myself that since we are not loaded and are not narcs that we should be safe but for a robbery here or there. As far as I know, the only one in my immediate family that has been robbed at gun point was my dad a few years back while taking a cab. My oldest sister has had 2 cars stolen, but never while she was in the car.
Here is hoping that things turn around in Mexico and that Nat and I make it to and back without a hitch.
Maybe I am naive in not worrying for the safety of my mom and sisters who live in Mexico City or my dad and sister who live in Ciudad Juarez and El Paso. I guess I just have convinced myself that since we are not loaded and are not narcs that we should be safe but for a robbery here or there. As far as I know, the only one in my immediate family that has been robbed at gun point was my dad a few years back while taking a cab. My oldest sister has had 2 cars stolen, but never while she was in the car.
Here is hoping that things turn around in Mexico and that Nat and I make it to and back without a hitch.
Friday, December 12, 2008
You tell me this now...
Courtesy of one of Nat's coworkers, US News thinks this about my career. I guess this tells me I should have started my subscription to their mag a long time ago and maybe I should have listened to all the voices in my head.
Monday, November 24, 2008
I [don't] love pirates
Today while driving home from work, Nat and I saw an older Jeep Wrangler that had this I love Pirates bumper sticker. OK, that is not a fair representation of the car. The car had a NJ Devils (the hockey team) tire cover and license plate holder, a NY Giants Super Bowl Champions bumper sticker, as well as about 3 or a dozen more. While there were lots of sports related stickers, I couldn't get past the I heart Pirates sticker, at least in the sense that I thought that sticker basically symbolized the driver of the car being a female. When I verbalized this to Nat, she quickly disagreed with me and asked for my logic.
My logic? While I can see lots of guys covering the back of their car with loads of stickers, I cannot think of a single one that would willing put an I heart Pirates sticker on their car. I mean, what kind of statement is that? It is not a political statement, or a statement of loyalty to a sports team, or crazed philosophy. It's a statement of love for a way of life, that short of this being Somalia, is something reserved for Disney, it goes by the way of a lifestyle similar to those of a LARPers nationwide. In the later case, I doubt a serious pirate would put a sticker on a Jeep Wrangler stating that they love pirates.
Thus, I take my opinion to you, my loyal listeners. I do like pirate movies and even an occasional visit to a theme park, but I do not heart pirates.
My logic? While I can see lots of guys covering the back of their car with loads of stickers, I cannot think of a single one that would willing put an I heart Pirates sticker on their car. I mean, what kind of statement is that? It is not a political statement, or a statement of loyalty to a sports team, or crazed philosophy. It's a statement of love for a way of life, that short of this being Somalia, is something reserved for Disney, it goes by the way of a lifestyle similar to those of a LARPers nationwide. In the later case, I doubt a serious pirate would put a sticker on a Jeep Wrangler stating that they love pirates.
Thus, I take my opinion to you, my loyal listeners. I do like pirate movies and even an occasional visit to a theme park, but I do not heart pirates.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Election Special
"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations," Palin told host Chris Plante, "then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."
In other words, Palin wants freedom of speech rights to apply to her but not to the media. Those liberal nutjobs have just gone too far speaking their mind. If you want more on this, here is the entire piece. The best part of this, is that when a coworker told me about this, I thought it was a piece in The Onion.
In other words, Palin wants freedom of speech rights to apply to her but not to the media. Those liberal nutjobs have just gone too far speaking their mind. If you want more on this, here is the entire piece. The best part of this, is that when a coworker told me about this, I thought it was a piece in The Onion.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Joe Plumber
I actually think this video shows Obama in great light. Yes, he take a bit getting into it, but by the end he basically states what most of us on the left believe is the best way to go, tax the rich more than the poor to even out the wealth and keep the middle class strong.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Town Hall Meeting
I am going to edit this entry as things pop up during the 2nd debate, which happens to take place in our neighboring university Belmont:
1. Where are all the black folk in this town hall meeting? I see but a few out there. Were these 100 undecided townsfolk not supposed to include a nice cross-section of the population?
2. Second question from a young black man. I hate to continue the race talk, but if a black person votes for McCain will he ever be welcomed home? On a serious note, I guess it looks like it is you white folk out there that need convincing as to whom you are going to vote for.
3. Don't know if you have heard, but McCain said that the "fundamentals of the economy are strong."
4. Message to Teresa Finch: if you are asking a question in a presidential debate that contains about 10 words, I suggest that you do not pause after every 3 words.
5. I had not noticed this before, but McCain is looking a little tired and worn down and he hasn't even started the presidency. Just look at before and after pix of past prez. What will happen to McCain? Do you trust cheerleader Palin to lead your country?
6. Just as I thought we had heard it all before, because this seems more like an hour and a half of stuff we have heard before, Tom Brokaw pulls out his veto pen and asks a question of his own over an online voter question.
We interrupt this townhall meeting for a message from our sponsors (ok, not really), but this is really funny.
After 49 mins I call it quits. Hope you all enjoy the rest of the debate and go Obama!
1. Where are all the black folk in this town hall meeting? I see but a few out there. Were these 100 undecided townsfolk not supposed to include a nice cross-section of the population?
2. Second question from a young black man. I hate to continue the race talk, but if a black person votes for McCain will he ever be welcomed home? On a serious note, I guess it looks like it is you white folk out there that need convincing as to whom you are going to vote for.
3. Don't know if you have heard, but McCain said that the "fundamentals of the economy are strong."
4. Message to Teresa Finch: if you are asking a question in a presidential debate that contains about 10 words, I suggest that you do not pause after every 3 words.
5. I had not noticed this before, but McCain is looking a little tired and worn down and he hasn't even started the presidency. Just look at before and after pix of past prez. What will happen to McCain? Do you trust cheerleader Palin to lead your country?
6. Just as I thought we had heard it all before, because this seems more like an hour and a half of stuff we have heard before, Tom Brokaw pulls out his veto pen and asks a question of his own over an online voter question.
We interrupt this townhall meeting for a message from our sponsors (ok, not really), but this is really funny.
After 49 mins I call it quits. Hope you all enjoy the rest of the debate and go Obama!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
An FDIC Catch 22
I am sure you have all heard about the bail out plan ad noseum over the last week or two. I am also sure a lot of us are unsure what to exactly make out of the plan, never mind understanding where all the money could and would go and whether this is a good thing. I myself, have wavered about whether this is a good thing or not. In general, I tend to believe the economic folk in charge (I am looking at you Ben Bernake). So, if they say the economy needs this, I will tend to believe you know your stuff. After all, if you are sick, you tend to listen to what the doctor says. If you want to double check what the doctor thinks, you get 2nd and 3rd opinions. In this case, 2 big heads of the economy, Bernake and Henry Paulson say we need this. So, I tend to lean towards listening to their opinion, especially Bernake who should not care who carries the election. My only request is that we add some regulation, or at least some oversight, to the banks so that this does not happen again.
One item I do want to bring up is related to the talk about increasing the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) limit on bank deposits from $100,000 to $250,000. The reasoning behind this is to stop people with large deposits (currently anything over $100,000) in banks from withdrawing their funds. In other words, by raising the FDIC limit to $250K, people's bank deposits would be insured up to that dollar ammount. The result would, in theory, be that people with large bank deposits would leave their money in the bank so that the bank can then turn around and lend the monies to someone else, thus helping the credit situation.
One catch with raising the FDIC limit, is that since the FDIC is an insurance, raising the coverage from $100,00 to $250,000 should result in an increase in the premium charged to the banks. In doing so, the banks would have to dole out more money to pay for the increased coverage as opposed to having that money to lend it out to businesses and people. As such, there has been some talk about increasing the FDIC coverage without increasing the premiums for the banks. However, doing so could be tragic in a future economic crisis as the FDIC would likely not have enough funds to cover all the deposits.
While I now believe some federaly sponsored aid is needed, I just hope that legislators do not remove so many safeguards/oversight measures now to help banks that in a few years we find ourselves in a bigger hole that we currently find ourselves in.
One item I do want to bring up is related to the talk about increasing the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) limit on bank deposits from $100,000 to $250,000. The reasoning behind this is to stop people with large deposits (currently anything over $100,000) in banks from withdrawing their funds. In other words, by raising the FDIC limit to $250K, people's bank deposits would be insured up to that dollar ammount. The result would, in theory, be that people with large bank deposits would leave their money in the bank so that the bank can then turn around and lend the monies to someone else, thus helping the credit situation.
One catch with raising the FDIC limit, is that since the FDIC is an insurance, raising the coverage from $100,00 to $250,000 should result in an increase in the premium charged to the banks. In doing so, the banks would have to dole out more money to pay for the increased coverage as opposed to having that money to lend it out to businesses and people. As such, there has been some talk about increasing the FDIC coverage without increasing the premiums for the banks. However, doing so could be tragic in a future economic crisis as the FDIC would likely not have enough funds to cover all the deposits.
While I now believe some federaly sponsored aid is needed, I just hope that legislators do not remove so many safeguards/oversight measures now to help banks that in a few years we find ourselves in a bigger hole that we currently find ourselves in.
Monday, September 29, 2008
In case you missed it...
Monday, September 29th turned out to be Black Monday, in part driven by the House of Representatives voting down the bailout plan for the financial sector. The vote, 205 for and 228 against can be seen here. Of interest, all Republican 7 GA House reps. voted against the bill, whereas in Arkansas, 6 of 7 House reps (both Democrat and Republican), voted for the bill. In the end, the numbers fell as follows:
For:
Dems: 140
GOP: 65
Against:
Dems: 95
GOP: 133
While I am not well enough educated on the subject to say if I am for or against the the bailout plan, I am fairly certain I am confused if this is a Republican initiative or a Democratic one. I know George W. Bush keeps on pushing for the plan, and so is the Democratic Senate leader Dianne Deinstein. Then again, this sure smells like a compromise by both parties, yet it appears by the voting that the GOP has agreed to not compromise. Whatever the case the Standard and Poor's index took the biggest dive since I was in 1st grade, 1987.
Hopefully the rest of the week will go better for all involved.
For:
Dems: 140
GOP: 65
Against:
Dems: 95
GOP: 133
While I am not well enough educated on the subject to say if I am for or against the the bailout plan, I am fairly certain I am confused if this is a Republican initiative or a Democratic one. I know George W. Bush keeps on pushing for the plan, and so is the Democratic Senate leader Dianne Deinstein. Then again, this sure smells like a compromise by both parties, yet it appears by the voting that the GOP has agreed to not compromise. Whatever the case the Standard and Poor's index took the biggest dive since I was in 1st grade, 1987.
Hopefully the rest of the week will go better for all involved.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Thank You Maureen Dowd
I know a lot of you frequently read Maureen Dowd's column in the NY Times. Just in case you missed this one, go ahead and take a peek. It is depressingly funny.
I must quickly add to the column link by saying that I walked into an eye opening conversation over the weekend. We were at a party for the girlfriend of one of Nat's coworkers and at one point I walked into a conversation between a Coast Guard reservist, a pediatrician, a food industry person that went to the Cordon Bleu in Paris, and a commercial real estate lawyer. The reservist is a republican, while the other 3 are self proclaimed Democrats.
When I walked into the conversation, the lawyer was defending Obama, while the other 3 were attacking Obama for being "too liberal" and for wanting to tax the wealthy too much. The pediatrician was strongly lamenting how she hated writing her quarterly tax checks to Uncle Sam, while the reservist kept on talking about how he is tired of giving "hand outs" to the lower income folk, while saying the problem with people in the US is that there is a feeling of "entitlement."
While I have heard some of these statements before I was surprised to hear them from registered Democrats. The comment about Obama being "too liberal" stroke me as a joke at first. Too liberal? Really? Apparently Obama's fault is that he talks too much about wanting to change things. In other words, Obama's problem is that he looks at the future and talks about a better nation. That, my friends, is not acceptable since he will not be able to accomplish any of the things he talks about.
Obama is also too liberal because he wants to increase taxes on the people that make way more than the average American ($38,651.41 in 2006). Yes, taxing %40 of your income stings. Yes, government programs can be wasteful. Yes, people abuse government programs. But the thing is, if you tax 40% of the income to someone making a million, they still have $600K. I am no expert here since I make below what the average American makes, but I think most people can live fairly comfortable with that much money. Plus, in exchange for $400K in taxes you get to live in a great country with great social programs like the military forces that keep the country safe, fire and police protection (yes, they are both social programs!), subsidized postal service (go live in a developing country that has no working mail and we can talk about the USPS), public schools, and so on. Don't we all think we are better off having governement provide some of these services? Do we really think that if the government did not tax that nice people would take over and provide these services?
As for the comment of "hand outs" and "sense of entitlement", I have two things. One, I think people that grow up in wealthy families can take for granted how much easier it is to do things like go to school, high school and college, since you don't have to worry about putting food on the table because your folks are working minimum wage jobs. You can call it a "hand out", I call it giving a hand to people that have fallen on hard times so that some day they can in turn give a hand to someone else, perhaps by raising their income and paying more taxes to support social programs for those in need.
As for the sense of entitlement, I think people should feel that if they live in one of the wealthiest nations in the world they should be entitled to, perhaps, a decent education. Why is it a bad thing to feel that if you live in a civilized nation that you should be entitled for your kids to go to a decent school? How about health care, should we not feel entitled to not dying because we cannot afford to save our life? I am not saying that because I feel entitled for something I am going to stop working any harder.
I always thought that one of the great quality about this country is that people cared for the improvement of the nation above the individual. It was this notion of nation before person that pushed USA ahead of all nations in the world. Yet, when I hear people saying that a candidate is "too liberal" because he is idealistic, it just kills me. I can only hope that I lost something in translation.
I must quickly add to the column link by saying that I walked into an eye opening conversation over the weekend. We were at a party for the girlfriend of one of Nat's coworkers and at one point I walked into a conversation between a Coast Guard reservist, a pediatrician, a food industry person that went to the Cordon Bleu in Paris, and a commercial real estate lawyer. The reservist is a republican, while the other 3 are self proclaimed Democrats.
When I walked into the conversation, the lawyer was defending Obama, while the other 3 were attacking Obama for being "too liberal" and for wanting to tax the wealthy too much. The pediatrician was strongly lamenting how she hated writing her quarterly tax checks to Uncle Sam, while the reservist kept on talking about how he is tired of giving "hand outs" to the lower income folk, while saying the problem with people in the US is that there is a feeling of "entitlement."
While I have heard some of these statements before I was surprised to hear them from registered Democrats. The comment about Obama being "too liberal" stroke me as a joke at first. Too liberal? Really? Apparently Obama's fault is that he talks too much about wanting to change things. In other words, Obama's problem is that he looks at the future and talks about a better nation. That, my friends, is not acceptable since he will not be able to accomplish any of the things he talks about.
Obama is also too liberal because he wants to increase taxes on the people that make way more than the average American ($38,651.41 in 2006). Yes, taxing %40 of your income stings. Yes, government programs can be wasteful. Yes, people abuse government programs. But the thing is, if you tax 40% of the income to someone making a million, they still have $600K. I am no expert here since I make below what the average American makes, but I think most people can live fairly comfortable with that much money. Plus, in exchange for $400K in taxes you get to live in a great country with great social programs like the military forces that keep the country safe, fire and police protection (yes, they are both social programs!), subsidized postal service (go live in a developing country that has no working mail and we can talk about the USPS), public schools, and so on. Don't we all think we are better off having governement provide some of these services? Do we really think that if the government did not tax that nice people would take over and provide these services?
As for the comment of "hand outs" and "sense of entitlement", I have two things. One, I think people that grow up in wealthy families can take for granted how much easier it is to do things like go to school, high school and college, since you don't have to worry about putting food on the table because your folks are working minimum wage jobs. You can call it a "hand out", I call it giving a hand to people that have fallen on hard times so that some day they can in turn give a hand to someone else, perhaps by raising their income and paying more taxes to support social programs for those in need.
As for the sense of entitlement, I think people should feel that if they live in one of the wealthiest nations in the world they should be entitled to, perhaps, a decent education. Why is it a bad thing to feel that if you live in a civilized nation that you should be entitled for your kids to go to a decent school? How about health care, should we not feel entitled to not dying because we cannot afford to save our life? I am not saying that because I feel entitled for something I am going to stop working any harder.
I always thought that one of the great quality about this country is that people cared for the improvement of the nation above the individual. It was this notion of nation before person that pushed USA ahead of all nations in the world. Yet, when I hear people saying that a candidate is "too liberal" because he is idealistic, it just kills me. I can only hope that I lost something in translation.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Pirates
My pirate name is:
Dirty Harry Kidd
You're the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean -- not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!
Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Putting the fear of the Barracuda
In case you missed it, and I am betting the answer is no unless you leave outside of the US, John McCain announced his running mate for the presidential race, and her name is Sarah Palin. I am linking three stories to the announcement, one from BBC news, NY Times, and Wall Street Journal.
I think it is easy to see that McCain was going for the vote out women constituents, especially those Hillary supporters that are lamenting her losing to Obama. And as a pure observer in this, since I cannot vote in the election, I will say that on first glance there seemed to be a bit of panic in the voice of several Democrats I know. That said, as the dust from the announcement settles, I doubt that this will end up being as good a move as the GOP was thinking. As stated in the articles linked above, McCain's ability to target Obama for his inexperience in foreign affairs is bound to be weakend by his choice for a VP. Then again, I didn't think people would re-elect a man that sent the country to war under false pretenses.
I think it is easy to see that McCain was going for the vote out women constituents, especially those Hillary supporters that are lamenting her losing to Obama. And as a pure observer in this, since I cannot vote in the election, I will say that on first glance there seemed to be a bit of panic in the voice of several Democrats I know. That said, as the dust from the announcement settles, I doubt that this will end up being as good a move as the GOP was thinking. As stated in the articles linked above, McCain's ability to target Obama for his inexperience in foreign affairs is bound to be weakend by his choice for a VP. Then again, I didn't think people would re-elect a man that sent the country to war under false pretenses.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
100 posts
I doubt anyone is reading the blog, after all it has been almost a month since I last posted anything on here. Anyway, today I am using the 100th post of the blog to talk about my horrendous relationship with Toshiba laptop computers.
A couple of years into grad. school I bought a Satellite Pro laptop to replace the aging Gateway laptop I had carried around in undergrad. The Satellite Pro A65 was a bit on the hefty side, but it was a decent laptop. As a grad student, spending $1200 on a laptop was no easy task, but I enjoyed having the flexibility to take all my work files with me. That laptop lasted a year and 1 month. 1 month past warranty the battery leaked battery acid onto the motherboard and completely killed the laptop. I was able to recover most of my files by purchasing a USB hard drive case and spending some quality hours on Google finding out how to take ownership of my hard drive (let's just say that if you have a profile in Windows that is password protected you cannot just go back and get to files under My Documents).
So, about 3 years ago, November of 2005 to be exact, I stupidly replaced my acid-leaking Toshiba with........another Toshiba, this time a Tecra A4. Now, I should rationalize my purchase by saying that a good chunk of the decision came down to me getting good financing from Toshiba, while the folks at Dell wouldn't. I loved the laptop. Compared to the bulky Satellite Pro, the Tecra was sleek. Besides, I loved the all black keyboard and case and the silver lid. Not too fancy a laptop, but it looked efficient and rugged.
One thing I did learn from Satellite Pro fiasco was that you should get the extended warranty with your laptop, which I did. So, a year and a half into my Tecra A4, the freaking hard drive dies. And I mean dies. The computer thought the BIOS was password protected, when it wasn't. After talking to the Toshiba folks, who were quite responsive and nice, I brought the machine in to a Toshiba service center where I was informed my hard drive was dead and a new one was provided as part of the extended warranty agreement.
This leads to today. On the tail end of a horrible scince day, my laptop crashed. I plugged in my USB key to transfer some files and the thing would not restart. I spent a solid 3 hours of my afternoon getting to the point where I could simply start the machine in Safe Mode so that I could backup as many files as possible. Luckily I have 2 months left on my warranty so I called the Toshiba folk who promptly told me I should try to wipe my HD clean and that if that fails I should call them back so that I can take the computer in to a dealer.
All in all, good times with Toshiba computers.
A couple of years into grad. school I bought a Satellite Pro laptop to replace the aging Gateway laptop I had carried around in undergrad. The Satellite Pro A65 was a bit on the hefty side, but it was a decent laptop. As a grad student, spending $1200 on a laptop was no easy task, but I enjoyed having the flexibility to take all my work files with me. That laptop lasted a year and 1 month. 1 month past warranty the battery leaked battery acid onto the motherboard and completely killed the laptop. I was able to recover most of my files by purchasing a USB hard drive case and spending some quality hours on Google finding out how to take ownership of my hard drive (let's just say that if you have a profile in Windows that is password protected you cannot just go back and get to files under My Documents).
So, about 3 years ago, November of 2005 to be exact, I stupidly replaced my acid-leaking Toshiba with........another Toshiba, this time a Tecra A4. Now, I should rationalize my purchase by saying that a good chunk of the decision came down to me getting good financing from Toshiba, while the folks at Dell wouldn't. I loved the laptop. Compared to the bulky Satellite Pro, the Tecra was sleek. Besides, I loved the all black keyboard and case and the silver lid. Not too fancy a laptop, but it looked efficient and rugged.
One thing I did learn from Satellite Pro fiasco was that you should get the extended warranty with your laptop, which I did. So, a year and a half into my Tecra A4, the freaking hard drive dies. And I mean dies. The computer thought the BIOS was password protected, when it wasn't. After talking to the Toshiba folks, who were quite responsive and nice, I brought the machine in to a Toshiba service center where I was informed my hard drive was dead and a new one was provided as part of the extended warranty agreement.
This leads to today. On the tail end of a horrible scince day, my laptop crashed. I plugged in my USB key to transfer some files and the thing would not restart. I spent a solid 3 hours of my afternoon getting to the point where I could simply start the machine in Safe Mode so that I could backup as many files as possible. Luckily I have 2 months left on my warranty so I called the Toshiba folk who promptly told me I should try to wipe my HD clean and that if that fails I should call them back so that I can take the computer in to a dealer.
All in all, good times with Toshiba computers.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Lesson of the Day
I have been eating corn on the cob the same way since I can remember. That is, I douse the cob in lemon or lime, add a pinch of salt, and finish it off with a healthy sprinkle of chili powder. Today, I learned that chili powder and red pepper (cayenne) are not one and the same. While you can add a bunch of chili powder to the cob and not feel much of the heat, if you add a heap of cayenne you will be asking your dearest wife why it is so damn hot in the room and why is your mouth on fire. That said, I kind of liked the cayenne.
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