All posts by jmartinez

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No Wait to Vote

God was nice to me. My wife and I did not have to wait to vote. We walked right up. There was one person

Los Angeles Area Polling Place
Los Angeles Area Polling Place

signing in ahead of us and open voting stations. I snapped a photo with my phone and one of the volunters scolded me for taking a photo. Oops. My bad. I just wanted to remember the day.

My polling location in Southern California was in somebody’s dining room. Very strange. I am used to it being in a school or church, but here in the LA area I guess they use homes. Well, lucky me, no lines. In the photo of the outside of the home I blotted out a person walking out and the house number, in order to protect the innocent.

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iPod Touch

Last month I got a free iPod Touch with the purchase of my MacBook Pro. I decided that this would be a good test to see if I could handle the switch from a Palm Treo to an iPhone. I upgraded to the 2.0 software and installed the enterprise profile I created for my Exchange server.

So far here are the items holding back from switching.

1. Keyboard is lousy for fast two thumb typing. It takes me a lot longer to type out an email.
2. No cut and paste. I use that feature all the time on my Treo.
3. No search function in mail, like what you have in Good mesaging for Palm.
4. In ability to create a meeting invitation during a calendar entry.
5. No bluetooth dial up networking.
6. No Microsoft remote desktop.

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Sony Vaio VGN-TZ195N/X Problems

I purchased a Sony Vaio VGN-TZ195N/X for the head of our school. It ran so slow and crashed all the time, even though it was brand new and had 2GB of RAM and a Solid State harddrive. The solution. Wipe it clean and do a fresh install of Windows Vista from our school’s volume license CD’s. Everything went great. The Microsoft install was fast. I downloaded and installed a series of drivers from the http://esupport.sony.com page for my Vaio. The machine flew. I could not have been happier.  That is, until I tried to connect using the internal Sprint broadband card. It would not work.

 I called Sony. They said the reason is they do not have publicly available drivers for the Sprint Broadband card and they do not have a copy of the SmartWi program that switches the power from the Wifi card to the broadband card. Actually, the first Sony tech support guy did not know anything. He just kept saying, “that is not in my database”, whenever I suggested other solutions. The second guy, said I should not have done a clean install and that I had no options and had to do a system install. The third tech was a Sprint tech guy who was very helpful, but could not solve my problem, but he gave me a different Sony tech support ph#. That lead me to a very helpful Sony tech who was able to diagnose the exact issue and was willing to go off script and try installing other drivers from the TZ 190. So what was the end result. The lack of the exact SmartWi program, which switches power from the Wifi to the Broadband card, was preventing me from using the Broadband card. The solution, restore the machine, created a Dual Layer dvd recovery disc, reinstall Windows Vista, and then extract the drivers and programs I need from the recovery DVD. I will let you know if it works

Tennis

Dreaded Tennis Elbow

I had been 20 years since I played competitive tennis on a consistent basis, but I finally started playing at least 2 times a week. Unfortunately, it looks like age has caught up with me. I have developed a nasty case of “golfers elbow”.

What is the difference between golphers elbow and tennis elbow? The side of the elbow that hurts. Mine is on the inside or pinkie side of the arm. I took a few weeks off, but I could not resist the call of the courts. I went back out and played and hurt my arm again. I have figured out it is my service style that is killing me. I hit it with a ton of top spin. I have made a change and have started working on a more traditional style and I am also working hard to use more leg power than arm power. Also, I am told by all that my favorite racket, the Wilson Pro Staff Original, is most to blame. It is a beautiful weapon, but very unforgiving. I am looking at replacing it and so far I have not come to terms with having to give up this racket.

I will give an update after a couple weeks of rest.

Tennis

Tennis Anyone

About a month ago I started playing tennis again. I had palyed since I was 5 until I entered college. It was my favorite sport and the one I poured all my energy into. I forgot how much I loved it until I went out and hit with my DBA, a former high school player as well. Now I wonder why did I ever stop.

I have gotten my wife and kids out on the courts with me as well. They are all pretty good. Hopefully, I can instill the same passion for tennis in my boys.

Football

Madden 2007

In March my boys bought me Madden 2007. I just really started playing it 3 weeks ago and I love it. I had Madden 2002 prior to this and wven though I made it to the Superbowl in my first season, I found it much harder than 2007. I love the running capabilities in 2007. I was pass only in 2002, but now I have a small running game, which helps when you are on your opponents 5 yard line. So far my team, the 2007 Vikings are 8-0. Hopefully we can pull off a Superbowl win.