Zune over America
Here I go again. My kids are embarrassed by my repeated Zune musings, but I can’t help it. Last month, I was flying from LA to NY for a family event and I spent about a good two hours digging into the rich content available on the Zune.
Here’s my main point. What makes Zune so much fun and so different from the competitors is the supporting information that is back loaded onto your Zune device in addition to what you specifically asked for. By supporting information I mean photos, bios, and related artists. All that other stuff. This happens to be done wirelessly during the sync process, but that’s a whole different awesome story.
Here is the scenario. My family doesn’t really like “my” music. I tend towards jazz and classical, and they towards Top 40 or Indie. Aside from my collection of ripped CDs, standards, and a constant rotation of new artists via Zune Pass, I also subscribe to the Top 40 and Billboard channels. This allows me to call up a pop playlist whenever we are travelling together. It’s a safe “go to” playlist. It’s nothing that I would purchase on a regular basis, but with the Zune Pass I already and always have access to most current pop hits.
So today, 30,000 feet over America I start shuffling through these top 40 tunes. As I played each one I tapped on the artist name and then skimmed through accompanying information (photos, bio, related). That’s amazing. That’s the backfilling that I was talking about. When you download or sync a song not only are you getting that song, but you are also getting a whole bunch of information that describes, enriches, and related this song/artist to others both on your device and on the marketplace. It makes the Zune a participant in the discover of music. It’s not just a passive player of music. Think about that for a second and think about what’s going on there. It’s a pretty nice sophisticated software package.
Unfortunately when I first introduce this device to others I usually don’t get to go that far. I usually get stopped shortly after its basic audio and video playing capabilities. It’s hard to build excitement when the recipient of my marketing pitch has really never thought about the possibilities of a media player as a media hub beyond just buying a song or video. Job one is to get them to ask the question, “why shouldn’t I have access to everything.” They need to question the standard purchase model before they are ready for subscription model. I recently actually convinced an illegal downloader to consider the subscription model. His issue was necessarily that he wanted his songs for free and much as he was unaware that there was a realistic alternative to the buy/own model. I continue to refine my presentation for the future.
What I like about Windows Mobile 6
Did I just say what I think I said….yes.
I have a Windows Mobile 6.1 based phone and for each feature that I hate about it, there is probably another feature that I really like. I’m excited about the upcoming Windows Phone 7, but I’m also scared about the “Version 1” syndrome and really am not looking forward to dealing with some of the functional areas that are bound to take a step backwards.
To make this relevant, I must include context. I am an IT Pro so I have specifically tailored an environment to support the Windows Mobile platform. That’s hugely important in the WM6 world. I use Outlook/Exchange 2007 and have a single address book and calendar within Exchange.
Here are a few features that I like.
- Voice dial. This makes my life easier and, as soon as I learned how to talk to it, it made my life safer by enabling a complete hands free environment in my vehicle.
- Spell check. I use it in all of my emails, text messages and other communications. It makes my mobile device “as functional” as my desktop. It’s just not quite as convenient.
- Exchange Server search. I have almost 7 years of Sent Item data on the server that is not on my mobile, but is accessible via Server Search. That’s a tool that ultimately makes me more productive and makes me look smarter. That’s why I use a tool.
- I use the Task List and rely on the fact that it’s sync’d with Exchange.
- I like the fact that if I really need to get a piece of info from here to there, there’s probably a way to do it. It may require a deep dive and it may not be pretty, but it’s there.
That last item is what scares me about Windows Phone 7. I’m not against its arrival. Like I said earlier, I’m excited and will probably get one. I’m just not looking forward to giving up “real” productivity in favor of cool looks. My hope is that real productivity will soon follow and, if that is the case, it will be a good thing.
Whirlpool Water Heater Pilot Light Problem
I recently had a situation where my Whirlpool water heater model FG2J504OT3NOV, product number 073082 stopped heating. This is a 50 gallon gas heater manufactured in early 2004. Diagnosis revealed that the pilot light would not stay lit. An Internet search showed that this is a known issue on this an other Whirlpool water heaters. I called the number on the front of the water heater and the operator confirmed my water heater product number and immediately offered a replacement part with free overnight shipping.
Others had mentioned on the various forum sites that the replacement part did not solve their problem, but I would like to report that it did fix my problem and was easily installed.
This whole scenario played out at the end of July/early August 2010.
Let the situation dictate the moment
![4644155222_7fcb1a9529_b[1]](http://www.baerst.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/4644155222_7fcb1a9529_b1.jpg "4644155222_7fcb1a9529_b[1]")
The image above is of my daughter Kacey and her high school dance team. I went into this shoot with one idea in mind and came out with something completely different. That was the beauty and the learning opportunity.
I had intended on using an 80-200mm f2.8 with the intention of shooting wide open from midway back in the theater and doing a lot of isolation shots. I never announced my plan to my wife, but that’s usually where we sit. I’m not sure if it’s because I announced at dinner that I didn’t want a “fat head” sitting in front of me or whether Peg was intent on seeing Kacey up close, but when we arrived at the theater, Peg headed for the front row.
So much for the 80-200 unless I wanted pictures of Kacey’s inner ear. I was literally within 20 feet at any moment. I had two other lenses in my bag, a 24-80 f4.5-5.6 and a 50mm f1.4. What I was really interested in was using the available light so I chose the 50mm f1.4. The 24mm would have given me some added frame coverage, but it didn’t seem worth it given the variability of the light.
I don’t shoot with the 50mm enough. It’s a really fun lens. It’s a little sassy at times, but when it hits, it’s like it’s in 3-dimensions. Sometimes using a fixed lens is really liberating because I get to just forget about zoom and stick with frame and exposure.
To quote an overused saying, “Luck (or success) is when preparation meets opportunity” aptly describes this picture. I really enjoy this form of photography. It’s fast moving, you only get one chance, you have to use what you have, think on your feet and keep your eyes open to what’s going on. Time really seems to fly by when I’m doing this. Sometimes when I shoot arranged shots I bog down in minute details and lose sight of the big picture. It gets a little overwhelming and scary. With this form, time is moving on with or without you. It’s your choice whether you are part of it or not.
Admittedly based on my inexperience, I spent the first half of the show working on exposures and for the most part being dissatisfied. There was this pivotal moment when everything started to come together and I realized that my choice of metering modes was the culprit. I was thinking furiously about focal points, speed, f-stop, and at times ISO, but I just forgot what was being considered in the camera’s metering choices. I was matrix metering. The camera was doing its job to bring the frame to neutrality. That meant that the curtains turned out a nice grey and all of the performers were overexposed. I switched to spot metering and, POW, everything changed. The background fell off the spectrum and the performers soaked up the available light and the colors began to pop. It’s was really an “ah-ha” moment.
Luckily there is a second performance tonight so I’m headed back to shoot with my added knowledge from the beginning. My plan tonight is to sit in the front row so I’ll probably bring my tripod to give me that little extra piece of stability. It should be fun. Who knows, maybe something unexpected will happen and everything will change.
2009 Recap
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our family and friends!
Oh-nine has come and nearly gone, but it is not without some great highlights! Here are a few…
Kacey (age 17) became a licensed driver last February, was chosen to be co-leader and a competition soloist for the Dana Hills Dance Team, and is currently a Sen10r! She has sent in her college applications and looks forward to graduating in June and moving out in the fall. Her favorite TV shows are So You Think You Can Dance, The Office, 30 Rock, and SNL.
Kyra (age 20) is in her third year at SDSU as a Public Relations major with a Political Science minor. She was elected Pan-Hellenic delegate and Academics Chair for her sorority, Delta Zeta, and is living in the sorority house this year. She will study abroad at Oxford University in England over the winter quarter and leaves the day after Christmas. She loves reading and anything related to Twilight and/or vampires.
Peg was promoted to Principal of Kinoshita Elementary School and absolutely LOVES her job, her staff, and the sweet students! She continues to build relationships with her two newly found biological sisters and cousins. She enjoys running, Starbucks, spending time with girlfriends, and retail therapy. Year to date highlight was seeing Coldplay in concert with Kyra!
Andy still works for MCHP as VP of Information Technology. 09 has been a tough year for the real estate sector, but thankfully MCHP is weathering the storm. He continues to manage our rental properties with a firm hand. Somehow he still finds time to assist a handful of small businesses and non-profits with their computer needs. He enjoys seeing bands perform in LA from time to time.
The girls took a trip to San Francisco in the summer with our neighbors the Lepores, we all “road-tripped” to Fresno to see the Jonas Brothers in concert, and Peg and Andy celebrated 20 years of marriage with a week long getaway on the island of Maui!
Looking forward to 2010 and making lasting memories with all of you! Blessings to all!
Love,
The Baersts
MOSS 2007 Evaluation Version Expiration
I ran across a situation today that presented itself one way, but in reality was something completely different. I’ve had a working MOSS 2007 implementation for over a year including Team Sites and My Sites. Following server patches last week and a subsequent reboot, the mysites side of the installation stopped working and presented the following error message:
The evaluation version of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for this server has expired.
Mind you, I’ve been running this installation for some time and am pretty certain that the installation is not an evaluation version.
A quick search of the usual sites returned a few possibilities. The most common is outlined in Joel Oleson’s SharePoint blog, but another possibility can be found here. The first involves granting permissions to a few WSS groups. Upon inspection, my permissions were already set correctly. The second solution was simplistic, but ultimately ineffectual and the problem remained.
Upon further inspection using the SharePoint Central Administrator, specifically looking at the Content Databases for the affected sites, it turns out that the databases were offline. Setting the database back to “Ready” and performing an iisreset brought the sites back to life and did away with the evaluation expiration error. In fact, the error never had anything to do with an evaluation version directly.
Peggy Baerst promoted to Principal of Kinoshita Elementary
This fact has been Facebooked at length (nice verbing of Facebook) (nice verbing of verb, eh?), but I felt that it deserved a post for the record.
Peg was recently promoted to Principal of Kinoshita Elementary School here in San Juan Capistrano, CA. Kinoshita is part of the Capistrano Unified School District. I personally am so proud of Peg and really admire her path to this position. I have faith that she will be a fantastic Principal and will become a real asset to the school, district, parents, and children of the area. Congratulations Peg.
Here's a link to the school's website.
Melissa Lansing Eviction
I just finished off an Unlawful Detainer action (aka Eviction) at one of my properties in Hemet, CA.
Melissa Lansing was the tenant. Melissa is a single mother approx 35 years old with two teen-aged boys. Melissa chronically did not pay her rent and habitually lied about her intention to pay rent. In addition, once the Unlawful Detainer suit was filed, Melissa took just enough action to ensure that the case carried through to trial even thought the Unlawful Detainer answer had no merit. This tactic caused the Unlawful Detainer action to extend by at least 21 days beyond the 10-15 minimum number of days required for a default action. I would not rent again to Melissa Lansing nor would I recommend her as a tenant.
Here is a link to pictures of how Melissa Lansing left the unit upon her exit. The electricity had been turned off due to non-payment, she broke five windows, stole light fixtures, left an entire refrigerator of rotting food, left furniture, and a large mess.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/baerst/sets/72157622124986263/
In addition to the tenant's tactics, I also made a mistake in this proceeding that caused me to initially lose my case and have to re-file to correct my error. My initial 72-hour "Pay or Quit" demand letter did not contain language specifically required in the State of California. This language required explicitly states that if the demand is not satisfied, legal action will be pursued. My initial demand letter was a generic national form and only mentioned potential effects on the tenants credit and ability to rent if the demand was not satisfied. In other words, the original demand inferred action, but did not explicitly state action. It was a minor point, but enough for the judge to rule for the defendant in the first go around. In my second filing I used a specific California form and easily won my case.
I highly recommend Nolo's "The California Landlord's Law Book: Evictions." In three Unlawful Detainer filings, it has given me accurate and complete information. I've even had situations where I was confused and requested information from the county court clerk, but the information that I received was contradictory to the information in the book. In each instance the books information turned out to be correct.
I'd also like to thank Paul Goodwin for his help. Paul is a landlord/tenant attorney in the Inland Empire. I didn't actually use Paul's services because I was representing myself, but on both of my case dates, Paul was also representing client and he was more than generous with his knowledge and experience when I was confused on an issue. I wouldn't hesitate to call on him or his firm if I found myself in need of a real estate attorney.
Accurate versus Relevant
I received an email from my daughter’s school this afternoon announcing free cardiac screening for all athletic participants. No problem there, I think that’s a great idea. The note goes on to say that sudden cardiac failure is the #1 leading cause of death in America. Hold on a second. What is that statistic doing in this announcement? A quick check of from the CDC website and the National Vital Statistics Report (2002) will confirm that, as stated, sudden cardiac failure is the #1 killer in America for all age groups. Of course the issue here is that we are talking about screening high school student only. Using the age band from 15 – 19, cardiac failure drops to fifth. Here are the top six.
Causes of death for age band 15-19
| Cause | Total | Percent |
| Accident | 7,137 | 51.7% |
| Assault (homicide) | 1,893 | 13.7% |
| Intentional (suicide) | 1,513 | 11.0% |
| Cancers | 723 | 5.2% |
| Cardiac | 405 | 2.9% |
| Congenital Malformations | 248 | 1.8% |
| Other | 1,894 | 13.7% |
Every one of those deaths is a tragedy, but using an accurate statistic in an irrelevant or misleading manner seems like a bit of a tragedy as well.
“Sudden cardiac failure is the fifth leading killer of children ages 15 – 19, so bring your kids to next week’s athletic cardiac screening. Oh, and by the way, please remind your kid to wear a helmet while skateboarding because, according to the stats, there’s a way better chance of being killed in an accident than from cardiac failure.
Just to be true to the data, it would be interesting to break out the 15-19 numbers and categorize individuals who participated in organized athletics. Maybe the number would be higher or lower.