I'm posting almost exclusively to Google Plus nowadays. But there's an RSS feed available of my postings - feel free to subscribe to it.

http://googleplusrss.nodester.com/112659624466139657672

We're taking the homeport servers offline for emergency maintenance on the power. Downtime should be relatively short (an hour or two tops). Sorry for any inconvenience.

I'll be posting updates on my twitter feed.

https://twitter.com/#!/planetg33k/

We're working on it.

Until G+ can manage to cross-post, I'll just drop links here when I post longer articles on plus...

https://plus.google.com/112659624466139657672/posts/7LjLoXriwRx

This post is ALL ABOUT TALKING ABOUT THE SERiES - You really don't want to read this if you're reading the series now, and have NOT FINISHED the A Dance with Dragons.

I absolutely want to yammer and chat about this - so here's the LJ-CUT.

Seriously, dont' click through, spoilers are RIGHT on the other side of the cut!

( Read more.... )

Still not sure of the best way to get messages to Facebook and LJ - but I'm doing most of my posting over on Plus now. I just posted about today's bike commute:

https://plus.google.com/112659624466139657672/posts/8eBRVYZHgvF

After leaving my last job, my iPhone account with AT&T is going to get transferred back to me, and knowing how AT&T does these things, I betcha dimes for dollars they'll want to re-up the contract.

I checked with AT&T, and I can terminate the contract now for $102, leaving me open to go elsewhere or else-phone.

The pros and cons are high on both sides. My biggest reasons for jumping to another platform (at least for a while) is that I feel that I'm getting too blindsided by the Apple kool-aid. I can't even think of things I can't do on my iPhone, mostly because i've never been exposed to a smartphone platform (excluding PalmOS) that I can use for comparison.

Getting down to brass tacks, here's how I see the pros and cons of switching from iPhone to android...

iPhone pros:
* Solid, stable, well known
* Well supported in the industry
* AppleCare
* "Just plain works" - at least for mail
* Apple Appstore + iTunes store

iPhone cons:
* "Apple Kool-Aid"
* Bluetooth support is abysmal
* Locked in functionality - Can't go beyond what Apple says I can do without Jailbreaking, which has it's own not insubstantial risks
* Calendar syncing is still a nightmare [*]
* I can't write apps for it
* No expansion capability - storage is fixed
* iTunes is a horrible horrible nightmare
* Tethering is very very limited (and costs extra? Huh?)

Android pros (specifically thinking of the HTC Evo 4g or 3d)
* Modern platform that has very high performance hardware available
* Large format screen
* Open development platform
* I can develop for it
* Calendar syncing 'just plain works'
* "Not Apple" - gives me a perspective on the industry I feel I need.
* If switching to Sprint, FINALLY support for tethering and mobile hotspots!
* SD Slot in most phones. User expandability!
* Music management is an exercise for the user - ability to do 'what works'

Android cons
* No end to end support, no matter what happens support, ala Applecare and the Apple store
* Android is not as polished and clean as iOS. Serious yak-shaving potential
* Would likely mean switching carriers to Sprint - fear of the unknown coverage maps
* Limited support for some apps (Netflix comes to mind)

I think in the end, the Sprint change would be a net gain in cost (AT&T and Verizon are much more expensive, from what I've seen).

Lastly - which phone? :) I like the HTC Evo 4G - the kickstand is awesome. But the current model seems to be the 3D - I have no interest in the 3D aspect of the platform, but the dual-core CPU would be awfully nice. I don't want a 'slider' (ala, integrated keyboard). I'm okay typing on the screen.

So, what do folks think?

ETA[*] - qwrrty's link to using CalDAV on a new link seems to have cleared the calendar syncing problem. I'm irritated that I 'sorta' had things working, and it was silently failing, and switching it all up has 'fixed' it. I don't know what the problem was to begin with! But thanks Tim. :)

The homeport cluster is currently offline. We're investigating. Sorry for any inconvenience.

I think most folks know I recently accepted a job at CBS Interactive (Yes, that CBS - Eye of Sauron jokes may now commence). So far I'm enjoying it - it's a pretty high end sysadminny job, and the environment is large and complex and there's a lot of people involved - but it's also well established, well documented, and run by wicked smart people.

My office is in Somerville, right on top of the somerville theater. A pretty awesome location all around, except for the one small problem.

It's 38 miles from home.

Now, even that I could tolerate. If it weren't for Boston's completely screwed up traffic and mass transit system, coupled with the fact that I need to be 'online' with my employer later in the day (they're primarily based in San Francisco), it would be workable. But the last week has been a fascinating and at times excruciating exercise in trying to find the 'best' methodology for getting into the office. (and before folks ask, I really can't WFH yet - it's hard to do that as a new employee. I hope to do more in the future, but this is my current situation).

Here's what I've tried and learned so far.
* There's a commuter rail line that goes to Porter Square - it goes through South Acton and Littleton. South Acton is about 20 minutes away from home, that would work fine. Littleton is closer, but has a very difficult schedule (only two inbound trains in the morning. 7:30 and 7:40. wtf?), and limited parking. South Acton would be perfect, except for the fact that it's lot fills up by 7am every day. Fills. No parking at all. So much for that.

So, I need to drive...
* It makes no sense to leave the house before, say, 9:15. The Concorde circle will eat any time saved.
* If I drive in, the best pattern seems to be leave by 9:15, drive to Alewife, take the train from Alewife to Davis Square.
* Driving out - DO NOT attempt to leave Alewife station before 6:30pm. Last night I spent half an hour just trying to LEAVE the parking structure. The drive after that was fine.

With qwrrty's help, I may have found a happy medium.

There's a small parking lot in Arlington next to the bike path. If I leave home at 9:15, I get there a little before 10 - I can pop the bike off the roof of the car, and have a nice 2 mile ride into the office. My bike comes upstairs with me, and I'm all set.

Riding back to this lot will let me avoid the Alewife Clusterf**k, and hopefully I can have a leisurely drive home, assuming I don't leave the office before 6.

What this does is give me a good 'leg up' into commuting on my bike. If I can do this for a few weeks, I'll try and find a parking lot further out on the bike path, and increase my ride(s).

My ultimate goal? Being able to bike from home to either South Acton Station, and train in, or to Littleton station, and train in.

All in all, if I can keep up a regular daily bike ride, it'll help my sanity and my body a lot.

Hey journalers - sealgray wants to do silks in JP, but I can't find the schedule or details on location - can someone send a pointer so we can check it out?