What a day, or week. Oh who am I kidding, what a month! It's not that things have been hectic. Quite the contrary actually. I think the problem is me. I feel "out of sorts" again. My sleep patterns are off again. My wife has drawn the correlation between my sleeping habits and the time I spend playing Star Trek Online (STO). I will not deny that there is a connection, however I really feel that she has the relationship reversed. My sleep has been off since before I was playing Star Trek Online and of the time I spend awake at night I don't spend nearly as much playing as she thinks.

Honestly if you subtract the game from the equation something else would just take its place. It's in the quiet hours of the night that my mind seems to be the most restless. Without distraction my mind just seems to wander aimlessly from subject to subject. Think of it like dreaming when you are awake. It doesn't sound so bad but the caveat is that it makes it incredibly hard to sleep. My brain just won't shut down. Many times the whole situation makes me chuckle. The harder I try not to think about anything, the more my mind jumps from subject to subject. Apparently thought is the arch nemesis of sleep.

Perhaps its my sleeping habits that are making everything else seem so blah during the day. I'm not tired in a way that I could sleep but I am for lack of a better word "thin" or "spent". My wife has suggested before that they weather plays a part and I believe her. It seems the gloomy days are affecting more than just myself. I'm not depressed myself but I can feel it in the air. The best thing about the low points is they signal high points in the future.

Science my ass

There are times when it seems to me that I am the only one who notices certain things. On a planet populated with over a billion people I find it hard to believe that I would be so unique. You find generic statements and claims made and repeated everywhere. People accept them as fact. To even question an established idea seems preposterous. After all why would you question what "everyone knows" is correct? The fact is I don't think "everyone knows" what everyone knows, as a matter of fact I don't think "everyone knows" a damn a thing.

I'll give you an example. In several places stated as an accepted fact you find this little gem: Sperm counts in men tend to be higher in the morning. What a fantastic statement! Lets dig a little deeper however and ask why, or perhaps well start with an even easier question and ask about how the results were arrived at. Why does it matter? I'll show you!

I'll assume for the moment that someone used the scientific method if indeed this was tested at all. So we will have to assume that several people were tested over a period of months or years, with samples given at different times. How many of the people had 9 to 5 jobs? Does the question seem irrelevant? Look deeper. If the majority of the people tested had normal 9 to 5 jobs or simply simply kept a 1st shift schedule then morning for these people is shortly after they get out of bed. If this is the case it might suggest that sleep is the influencing factor for increased sperm count and not in fact the time of day. However if subjects on a different schedule were tested shortly after they awoke without the same results then it might suggest that sleep is not a factor at all and in fact the sunlight may be a causal factor.

One simple statement seemingly tested and completely accepted without any real understanding of the factors behind it. I am often accused of being suspicious of things. I have been told I don't tend to believe things unless they are proved to me. To me however it seems a grievous folly to accept things at face value. If I accept something as fact on faith then I have to trust that the source of this information has been as diligent as I would have been and all to often they have not.

Question everything! "They" say a lot of things. "They" tell us what is true and false, what can and cannot be done. If you follow the herd you will always end up where the herd is going. Think for yourself and you may find the herd is following you!

January - A month in review

The first of 12 months flew by so heres a recap of what you might have missed.

1. I made a bunch of resolutions and realized two weeks into the new year that I suck at keeping them, so made some adjustments.

2. Star Trek Online, overall it seems to be a pretty good game.

3. I am a sugar addict.

4. Movies:

• District 9 - Great Movie, I strongly recommend it!
• Avatar - If you haven't seen it, see it. Its well worth it.
• Surrogates - It looked promising but I really felt like it failed to deliver.
• Fame - So so for a musical.
• Primer - I think its good, but it was a little hard to follow. Perhaps I was looking too hard.
• Skeleton Key - I was really surprised how good this film actually was.
• I can't remember what else I've watched.

5. I want to have a baby! Not me personally but you get the picture.

6. Jason sux!

7. My wife is pretty darn smart!

8. I got my friend hired on where I work.

9. Work has started to mellow out.

I can't think of anything significant off hand. I'm having a review later today though so wish me luck!

IPad

Theres been a lot of hype lately about an Apple Tablet. They finally released the details of this new product yesterday. It is called the IPad. I have no idea what the marketing team was thinking when they named this. I was relieved to see the general population had the same thoughts I did when they heard the news. Nintendo had a hard time when they called their new console the Wii, but the name caught on and most of the grumbling went away.

I personally don't believe Apple will have the same luck as Nintendo. Twitter has been a buzz with names like the IMaxi and the IPeriod. Women seem to consider the name insensitive or disgusting. I can only begin to imagine the jokes the first time someone accidentally sits on one. Putting the name aside for a moment I watched a few of the videos to get a better of idea of what this new thing really is. A lot of people have been billing it as a tablet PC. It is definitely not.

The IPad is essentially a bigger IPod. The design is the same but larger and so is the OS. The device itself seems to offer no functionality that was not already available on the the IPod and in some cases even less. The videos constantly touch on "the best browsing experience" and "the best email experience". The problem is this is no more true than it was on the IPod. Yes you can read a newspaper online and surf basic sites. So can the IPod, and just like the IPod the IPad does NOT support Flash or Silverlight. Hopefully you weren't planning on visiting Facebook, Hulu, Netflix or any other non basic site.

The larger screen is nice to watch videos on until you remember that the only comfortable way to get those videos is from ITunes. You have a DVD you want to watch on your IPad / IPod? Sorry. You'll need to buy or rent it from ITunes or buy some extra software to try to Rip your DVD to a special Apple supported format. Another feature they have introduced is the new IBookstore. The feature itself is not specific to the IPad as much as it is ITunes. It will allow you to rent, buy, and read books. Weee...

From reading this you might think I'm not a fan of Apple's products. In reality I am. I really loved the IPod and I own a Nano and a Touch. The problem I keep running into the ways in which Apple wants to control the use. When thousands of people routinely buy your product and immediately seek a "hack" or "jailbreak" to unlock it so that it will do what they are wanting to do, you have a problem. I understand why they don't want to allow Flash or Silverlight. The fear is that this will cut into the App Store market share, but even though I understand this it doesn't make it any better. I'm still left holding a product that I essentially have to "break" to use the way I want to.

The biggest reason I support and favor the Android over the IPod is that I have more control and options both as a consumer and as a developer. If you ask an Apple Zealot about these issues the response will usually boil down to: "If Apple says it should work this way then it must be so. Question not the ways of the Apple and the prophet Jobs." Well that's what it seems like anyway. In the end the consumers will decide.

Star Trek Online

I've been looking at Star Trek Online recently with some friends of mine. Some time ago I promised a friend that when it came out I would play it with him. I have been playing the beta and found it to be interesting and enjoyable. It has its problems not unlike any other MMO, but many of them are being resolved or haven't seriously impacted game play.

I think my biggest gripe would be not having enough information about what things are or how things work. Some of this of course I attribute to beta, but with the game so close to the release date I assume the details of core principals of the game have been pretty firmly established. You have 3 classes, Science, Engineer, and Tactical. There are also three different types of ships, cruisers, escorts, and science vessels. Any class can pilot any type of ship but nothing really outlines what the advantages or disadvantages of the combinations are. I also don't feel like there is enough information on the skill trees and how they impact your character.

My initial issues centered around the handling of the ship. When start you are given a Cruiser class vessel. The ship is a decent starting ship but as a cruiser it doesn't give you quite the control I was hoping for. It wasn't until I tried piloting an Escort class ship that I felt pretty comfortable. I also tried out the Klingon ships. The handling of Klingon vessels far exceeds that of the Federation ships and you can really feel the difference in the game play. As I have come to understand this factor and its affect on the game I have come to appreciate it more.

I was disappointed that they did not implement cloaking on the Federation ships. With the changes in the storyline there is no good reason the cannon shouldn't support it. In the end I believe a lot of the anxiety around cloaking will depend on the interaction during game play. In general I had been leaning more toward the Federation but the superior handling of the Klingon ships and ability to cloak has caused me to seriously consider aligning myself with the Klingon's. I have always enjoyed speed and stealth over brute force.

It seems STO will also offer a Lifetime Subscription option a limited time. This option will cost $239.00 but it is a one time fee and you can play for as long as the game is around. At $14.99 a month it would take just over 2 years of play before you would come out ahead on your investment. The cost is a little steep but is it smarter in the long run. Not to mention the more serious question: How do I get a thumbs up from my wife?

Resolutions - progress so far

So far this year I feel like I've made practically no progress towards my goals / resolutions. I suppose I am cussing less than usual but I am sure I could make a better effort than I have been. Part of my problem has been that I am tired. It seems like I am more tired more often. My wife thinks it may have something to do with the sunlight. It seems like I don't sleep very well and I can barely get up in the morning. Where as I used to get up and go in the mornings I feel like its all I can do to drag myself out of bed and shuffle around for a few hours.

Perhaps I just need to give myself a kick in the pants. I have changed my diet recently. I am trying to really cut back on my sugar intake as well as increase the amount of water I drink. I don't drink very much in general and what I do drink is usually not water. I've started working out for at least a half hour every other day. My arms were already sore before a started so I've been trying not to life to much weight at once. I need to get all the gym equipment in order so I can actually do a real full workout again.

Valentines Day

I'm going to gripe for just a moment, but honestly please chime in if you don't agree 110%. V-day is still a ways off but I got a an email the other day with various offers. Before relegating it to the archive I decided to take a look. The site had a few things that caught my eye so I decided to look at a little more detail. The problem with almost single bouquet is that the description has been carefully crafted to not tell you what I would call pretty significant details.

When you buy flowers especially roses what are the first two questions that come to mind? (assuming you already know the price) How many roses are there? What kind of roses are they? Most of the selections will show you a pretty arrangement and never mention either of these details. When they do tell you how many the description reads similar to: from 15 to 33.

From 15 to 33?!? Excuse me but last time I checked they was a pretty significant difference between those two numbers. Is it $50 for 15 roses or $50 for 33? One of these deals is not like the other, one of these deals is bad! There is no other product that comes to mind that is sold in this manner. You wouldn't pay $5 for 15 to 33 doughnuts, or apples. To add a insult to injury the site offers two upgrade options; deluxe and premium. These two features add an extra $20 or $40 to your purchase. What are you getting for this extra dosh? The helpful link they provide for an explanation simply alludes that the order will contain higher quality flowers. Higher quality? What quality are the ones that the arrangement started with?

I suppose the lesson to be learned here is to avoid online flowers all together. If someone wants to sell you something without telling you exactly what you are getting they are trying to rip you off. Otherwise they would be upfront and make a point of telling you what a great value your getting. Find your local florist, tell them what you want or better yet what you expect for your money.

Just my 2 to 15 cents...