Category Archives: Technical

Thoughts about hardware, software, or the internet

Thoughts about Yahoo!

Posted on by
Reply

Yahoo! has been in the news a lot lately. They were the first search engine and website that I used regularly in the mid 1990s and they seemed to have a fairly strong presence until the early 2000s. I was a happy Yahoo! mail user at a time when getting 250 megs of webmail for free was almost unheard of. And although their site was cluttered, I visited it daily and even used their IM service. In 2004, Google launched the beta for Gmail, offering a gig of space to users… four times what I had… all while offering a nice, simple, and clean interface. That’s when my journey with Yahoo! ended.

In the 9 years that have passed, Yahoo! has kept afloat but I honestly have no idea what they even do anymore. As a programmer, I’ve always been tuned into their web development tools and resources like YSlow, YUI compressor, and their Best practices for speeding up your web site guide. They’ve compiled a ton of valuable information and made it available for free, similar to how Google has put together amazing resources for optimizing your site’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization). While this is great, at the end of the day they’re a public company and are supposed to be returning value to the investors. I know that Yahoo! threw in the towel a few years ago on search and now powers that using Bing (which is a great search engine by the way). They also own Flickr (a photo sharing website) and they seem to be pretty involved in content. I enjoy writing and was pleasantly surprised when I found out about their contributor program. But as an outsider, I don’t really see a huge cash cow.

Google might do Android, Gmail and search, but their bread and butter is advertising… making as much as 97% of their income from ads. Intel has proven itself year after year to be an extremely successful semiconductor company, beating down AMD and now working towards recapturing the mobile market. Microsoft has been such a successful software company that the Department of Justice and other regulators world wide have had to step in and shut them down. Apple (Computers) has raised themselves from the dead after Microsoft bailed them out and have turned themselves into the dollar bill printing machine of the hardware world, setting a record for highest market cap for a publicly traded company. People seriously throw away their perfectly good iPhone and re-buy the new one because they love the brand that much.

Where does Yahoo! fit into this picture technology-wise? Unlike the companies above, there hasn’t seemed to be a clear area of focus. It’s almost felt to me like they’ve been trying to do an acceptable job at a ton of things instead of doing a killer job at a select few. With the recent news about Yahoo! partnering with Twitter and (just today) acquiring Tumblr, it’s starting to look like they’re really focusing in on content (and the advertising that goes along with that). Users out there are generating massive amounts of content and sharing it online. Google and other advertising companies have been struggling to find a way to be successful at advertising on mobile devices. Yahoo! is definitely an underdog, but I think they have a real shot at coming back here. I think Marissa Mayer has made a great impact in her short time there and I’m looking forward to seeing how it all plays out

Setting up an avatar for your WordPress blog

Posted on by
Reply

I’m pretty new to WordPress; the older versions of this site used a custom application I wrote using .NET which I just didn’t have time to maintain anymore. I started porting over all my posts and comments and noticed it always shows my profile as the default “unknown” icon.

First step to fix this is to sign up here at Gravatar. You create a profile using your email as your unique identifier and upload the picture to use. After you do that, you can verify access which allows the blog to display this picture of you. You go to Edit My Profile > Verify Services, then pick “WordPress” and click add. Put your blog URL and the credentials to login and that will do it.

Just one last note: you’ll need to have XML RPC support enabled for this to work (you may have gotten an error in step above if it’s not enabled). You can enable support in WordPress under Settings > Writing > Remote Publishing. Here’s a link to a great article by Go Daddy that explains what enabling XML RPC support does.

Cisco VPN Client and Windows 8

Posted on by
Reply

I upgraded to Windows 8 (from Windows 7) several months ago and one of the things that stopped working is the Cisco VPN client. As of this writing, the most recent version is 5.0.07.0440. This build installs properly but fails when you try to establish a connection. I found a solution wanted to share it since it’s been working great for over 3 months without an issue.

1) Close the VPN client, make sure it’s not running.
2) Open up regedit and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CVirtA
3) Make a backup of this, just in case. Right click the CVirtA key in the explorer and export the settings for this key as a reg file.
4) Edit the DisplayName value, stripping off the characters until “%;”. For example…
For x64 you can change the value from something like “@oem8.inf,%CVirtA_Desc%;Cisco Systems VPN Adapter for 64-bit Windows” to “Cisco Systems VPN Adapter for 64-bit Windows”. For x86, you’ll change the value from something like “@oem8.inf,%CVirtA_Desc%;Cisco Systems VPN Adapter” to “Cisco Systems VPN Adapter”.
5) Open the VPN client and try connecting again
6) If this doesn’t work, restore your original settings by double clicking the reg file you saved in step 3.

Special thanks to Raman-MSFT from this MSDN post for this solution!

Samsung PM830 SSD not recognized by SSD Magician

Posted on by
9

I bought a Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook in March with a 256GB SSD drive and I love this machine. The drive inside is a Samsung PM830 and it boots Windows 8 from scratch in less than 7 seconds (cold boot, this is not resuming sleep).

As a techie, I like maintaining my system and keeping it in order. Part of that involves making sure your disk performance is good. Everybody knows you aren’t supposed to defrag SSDs because it eats into the limited number of writes an SSD can make and also it won’t increase performance. SSDs don’t have moving parts; having the file operations sequential doesn’t seem to make a difference. I talked with my friend Bill and he mentioned a command called TRIM and recommended looking at the Samsung SSD utility which is called Samsung SSD Magician.

First thing I did was pull up a command prompt and see if I have TRIM enabled (starting with Windows 7, it should be enabled by default if you’re using an SSD). Here’s how you can check (NOTE: you’ll need to open the command line with admin privileges for these to work).
fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify

Here’s how to interpret what that command outputs (taken from the fsutil documentation):

DisableDeleteNotify = 0 means Windows WILL send the TRIM command to the SSD when a file is deleted.
DisableDeleteNotify = 1 means Windows WILL NOT send the TRIM command to the SSD when a file is deleted.

On my machine, TRIM is enabled which is great. If it wasn’t and I wanted to enable it, here’s how you’d do that:
fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 0

NOTE: If you wanted to disable it, you’d provide a 1 instead of a 0. I’d like credit this information to a post I found on the Corsair Product Forums.

From what I understand, TRIM increases write performance by enabling notifications (sent by the OS) that occur when files get deleted. Click here to read more about TRIM. Next, I went to the Samsung website and tried to download their utility. The website makes you provide a model number before you can download anything. I have no idea how to find this number; I’m guessing you’d have to physically look at the drive. After some searching, my best guess at the model number is MZ-7PC256B.

I downloaded and installed the SSD Magician program, which wouldn’t install properly in Windows 8. Not a problem- you can use compatibility mode and run it as Windows 7. That will let you complete the install and get the program up and running. When I launched the program up, it started to scan the drives. All of the sudden, I get a message box:
“No Samsung Brand SSD found in the system”

The utility still spits out a lot of information about the drive, it just won’t let you do anything (like performance optimizations, etc). Using the tool, I was able to find the firmware version for the drive (which surprised me, since I hadn’t thought about drives having firmware). The firmware version I have installed is:
CXM12D1Q

After some research, I’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t use this tool on an SSD that came pre-installed on a Dell. Other people investigating have hinted at Samsung providing a very similar version of the drive with a custom firmware, so that Dell can control upgrades to it’s firmware. Unfortunately by doing that, they also made the SSD Magician tool not recognize the drive. At that point, I gave up and uninstalled it.

Click here for information I’d recommend reading through if you’re frustrated like me (NOTE: the link is to a conversation that is several pages long, be sure to read through it all). In this post, somebody may have an inside connection to Dell and provides a link to a new version of firmware. This will let you flash from CXM12D1Q to CXM03D1T. The other users (rightly so) are skeptical about it, but the person does claim it increases performance slightly. I’d personally recommend NOT doing this upgrade, but feel free to roll the dice and try it out.

Benz on a budget

Posted on by
Reply

Owning a Mercedes can be an expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. My goal with this post is to provide you with resources so that you can (hopefully) save yourself some cash. You don’t have to be rich to own a Benz.

Going to the dealership is always a great experience for me, but it can end up being really expensive. I’d recommend finding yourself a local trustworthy independent mechanic. If you’re not sure where to go, check with your local MBCA (Mercedes-Benz Club of America) section. If you’re in the Phoenix Arizona area, I’d like to recommend MB Motors in Phoenix.

I have my independent mechanic do jobs I don’t have the time, talent, or tools for. But I will try to do as much as I possibly can by myself. One of the most important parts of DIY is finding the parts. I only use and recommend genuine Mercedes-Benz parts. Sometimes buying parts at your local dealer can be expensive, so it’s good to shop around. Here’s an alternative you can use to that.

First, you should sign up for an account with EPC. It’s free:
http://epc.startekinfo.com/epc/welcome.jsp

Click on subscribe in the left menu. Read the agreement if you want, and click “I Agree”. EPC is free for North American cars. You’ll see the 365 day subscription for FREE. Put all your information in there, including the credit card. It won’t charge you anything, but they require a card for some reason. After you put everything in, click “Continue” at the bottom and be patient. It took me a few minutes to get a response. It seriously took about 5 minutes. But it did work. There’s a confirmation screen where you confirm the order (even though it’s free). Once you confirm it, you’ll get an email which has your new user ID.

To login to EPC, you’ll need to be on Microsoft Windows and you’ll also need to have Java installed. You can get the latest Java runtime (JRE) from here:
http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp

So now you have Java installed, go ahead and log into EPC. When you do, you’ll see a link that says “Click here to launch EPCnet Online”. Go ahead and click that and then the Java program will launch. When I launched it for the first time, it was in German. If you have that problem too, use the menu and pick “Optionen -> Setup”. For Dialogsprache and Inhaltssprache, change them to Englisch and click OK.

Now you’re logged in and the program is open, drop your VIN into the field up there by Identification number. You can now search and get full diagrams for every single part on your car. Since you entered a VIN, the software should eliminate parts that aren’t compatible. Here’s an example search I did. The LEDs in my drivers side mirror are busted, so I picked the group “72 FRONT DOORS”, the subgroup “331 LEFT OUTSIDE REARVIEW MIRROR”. An exploded diagram now opens up and I can see the parts. For my particular part, the number is A 220 820 05 21.

Now that you have the part number, you can search for parts. My personal favorite is parts.com
http://www.parts.com/

On here, pick Mercedes on the left, then pick your year, then pick your model. You might have to pick the trim level if there are several types of your car (like my S430 is also offered in a 4MATIC version, so I have to pick the base model).

In the textbox there that says “Part # / Keyword Search” you can drop the part number in place. If the part number starts with an A, try stripping off that character. I’m not 100% positive, but I think Parts.com has it’s Mercedes orders fulfilled by Mercedes-Benz of Naperville. They’ve always given me great prices and the shipping has been pretty reasonable too.

If you’re weary about ordering from the internet, you can also take the part number you found in EPC and call up your local dealer. Their parts department will be able to order the part if it’s still in stock. However, parts.com can usually beat their prices by quite a bit. If you’re ok with waiting about a week, I’d highly recommend ordering online. If you do order parts from the dealer, please be aware that they give up to a 10% discount if you are an MBCA member. Show them your membership card and take advantage of the savings. This discount usually applies too for repairs at the dealer.

When it comes to doing the actual jobs (replacing the part, etc), there is a great resource online. These used to be distributed as Service Manual DVDs, but they’re all online in a system called Star TEKInfo.
http://www.startekinfo.com/StarTek/

You can subscribe to this by the day, week, month, and year. Unlike EPC, this service does cost money. However, this service is seriously worth every penny. Compare it to when you go to a dealer; they use this exact system themselves but they charge you a shop fee of $125 dollars an hour. For that kind of money, you can just buy a week subscription and try to figure it out yourself

Windows Phone

Posted on by
Reply

Not long after I wrote my last article about Tablet Computing, a really good Black Friday deal came up at the Microsoft Store. I headed over there and got two HTC Radar phones for free, both loaded with the Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) software. I had to cancel Verizon and switch to T-Mobile, but it was well worth it.

I can’t describe how great this phone is. It’s really changed the way I use computers; I end up using them a lot less. All the small tasks I would usually have to plop down in front of a PC to do can quickly be done from the phone. Facebook, emails, checking stocks, looking at website analytics. It has a great web browser and there are a decent amount of applications for it (including games).

I love how Windows Phone links together all of the information about your contacts. I can pull up someone and link all their info together by several accounts, like their Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Outlook, and then their Windows Live ID. The phone will fill in the contact’s picture automatically and then aggregate all of that person’s information on one screen. When you pull them up, you can see all their latest status updates (regardless of the network).

When I signed up for the phone, it came with two $25 dollar gift cards (one for each phone) that were good for the Microsoft Marketplace. I filled in the paperwork required for that and forgot about it. About two weeks later, my mailbox was stuffed with envelopes from Windows Phone. They must have messed up and I ended up getting $150 worth of gift cards! I’ve used this chance to buy a lot of different games and applications and see what there is out there to offer.

I personally think that Microsoft nailed it with this phone. To me, it seems like it’s just a matter of time before people eventually switch over to this (whether that happens or not is up for debate). If you read my blog, you might remember my “I hate cell phones” rant and you’d be glad to know that, as part of the switch from piece of crap feature phone to smart phone, I’ve also made sure to keep my etiquette. I don’t bust the phone out in meetings or while I’m talking to people.

Tablet computing

Posted on by
Reply

The iPad (and it’s competitors) at first seemed like a fad to me. Now I’m starting to think that they actually discovered a market that people didn’t know existed and it’s pretty clear now that tablets aren’t going away anytime soon. There have been a lot of times recently where I’ve been at home and I secretly wish I had a tablet to get comfortable and read websites with.

The amount of content available on the internet has really opened up a market for these tablets. Content on Wikipedia is living; it’s always being changed and updated. Then there’s the concept of getting news which is really subjective. You might consider “News” logging into Facebook and seeing what happened in your personal circle of friends; or maybe it’s checking CNN to see what’s new in the world. Media streaming is something that isn’t going away, whether it’s internet radio, video streaming like YouTube, or watching full length movies using Netflix.

Content is changing all the time. It almost doesn’t make sense to buy a hard copy of reference materials anymore when you can usually find a newer version online. Not only that, most of the online content is interactive to some degree; you read other people’s feedback about an article and engage in a debate. You can create your own internet content in the form of a blog post or simply a message on Twitter. If you find content is written in a language you can’t read, no problem; just run content through Google Translate.

I have no doubt that web sites are where the future will be. Right now, the web browsing experience is lacking, which is why Apple’s model of “Apps” has really taken off. With today’s technology, you simply can’t give the user the exact experience you want them to have with a website. Of course, I think that will change with HTML5 and newer technologies. Eventually, most content that’s being sold or marketed as an application could probably be done as a website.

Right now, tablets still are in that “Fad” phase. They’re new and exciting for a lot of people, to the point where it’s genuinely annoying. I get mad when I’m in a meeting and people are fiddling with their smart phone or their iPad. People seem to think that touch technology is the next big thing. It’s been around forever in the point of sale industry (think about when you’re at a restaurant). Touch screens are also pretty decent for self-checkout, like at the grocery store.

However, watching videos where people imagine everything in the future being touch screen driven is just ridiculous. I already have reservations about handling someone’s smart phone when I know they break it out on the toilet to play Tetris. Then there’s the fact that today’s PCs really meet the needs of most people pretty well. I sit at a desk and program computers for eight hours a day. Today’s keyboards work perfect; I’d feel like I’m taking a step backwards if I was forced to use a tablet and on-screen touch keyboard. Then there’s the gestures you can do on tablets, like turning a page, pinching to zoom in or out. How will any of that help you when you’re sitting down with TurboTax to file your taxes? If gaming is your thing, how exactly do you play a first person shooter on a tablet?

All that said, I still think that tablets are worthwhile. I’m not going to jump into this technology however until I can get a Microsoft Windows 8 tablet. Apple has done a great job of opening up the market, but I really think Microsoft will redefine it. I was an Apple user for years, but once I saw the support that Microsoft has for it’s developers I dumped my PowerMac 7200/90 and built a PC. Microsoft is a software company and they make world class software. Apple (in my opinion) is a hardware company. Steve Jobs was an amazing public speaker and got people so excited that they didn’t care that they’re buying almost the same device over and over again. Sit down and think about how many hardware models Apple has put out there. The first generation iPod plays songs just as well as the newest iPod touch. There isn’t anything revolutionary about the software they’re making; it’s all hardware.

Tablets can without a doubt replace most people’s personal computer usage. For most business situations you’re going to want to be sitting at a desk using a mouse and keyboard. The mouse and keyboard might not be as exciting as touch technology, but it’s more efficient. I’m really looking forward to Windows 8 and being able to use a tablet for laying in bed and reading internet content or writing small blog posts. Tablets could replace personal computers if there are good enough docking stations out there so you could use a mouse and keyboard at a desk or pick it up and go. Whatever the case is, it’ll be interesting to watch it all unfold.

Google Accounts is a joke

Posted on by
1

For being a huge corporation, some things about Google are pretty embarrassing. I originally had a Gmail account and decided I wanted to have a custom email using my domain name. Google offers a service called Google Apps that allows you to do that. Cool.

I signed up for Google Apps. I found out quickly that you can’t transfer most of your products. I was able to transfer the pictures from my Picasa collection, but that’s about it. I had to recreate my Analytics account, my AdSense account, my YouTube account, and more. This was a pain in the ass, but I stuck in there and did it anyways.

Later, I cancelled my Google Apps service in favor of using Go Daddy’s Hosted Exchange product. I love Outlook and Exchange, a lot more than Gmail. I was able to migrate all my data over quickly. A few days after I cancelled my Google Apps service, my entire Google account was wiped clean. What the hell? I thought it would have only removed my Gmail, Calendar, and Google Docs access; apps that are provided by Google Apps.

So after all my woes, here is what I’ve discovered. There are 3 types of accounts:
1) Google account not tied to a Gmail account
2) Google account tied to a Gmail account
3) Google account tied to a Google Apps service

If you have a Gmail account and you want to change your Google Accounts email, you’re screwed; it’s not possible to change the email associated to your account. If you’re a Google Apps user and decide to cancel the service, you’ll have your Google account(s) removed, even though it doesn’t say it will do that. If you have a Google account using a custom domain and then you decide to register with Google Apps, you’ll cause a Google Accounts conflict to happen which has to be fixed by their support team.

What’s funny is that I did an interview with Google a few months ago. Not because I was pursuing a job, but because a recruiter found me on LinkedIn and had sent me a few emails. I love my job at Go Daddy, but I figured I would at least do the phone interview, just for the experience. The person who did the interview (interestingly enough) was a person who worked on the Google Accounts product. Just like I anticipated, I was asked silly academic questions which I’ll admit, I didn’t do the best job answering. The interviewer was pretty upset because I didn’t answer the questions like a full time student would answer them and basically ended the interview 30 minutes in.

Now, a few months later, I have this Google Accounts experience described above. No wonder their products have huge flaws with them. They have a bunch of employees who are more interested in Academia than delivering a product that people want and love.

Software that I like

Posted on by
1

As a programmer, I’m pretty picky about what software I use. Why? Because I’m on a computer for most of the day. If I still worked in a factory and I only had to use a computer for watching silly YouTube videos of people getting in accidents, life would be a lot different.

I wanted to compile a list of my favorite programs and try to explain why I like them. You can click the title of each program below to visit the home page where you’ll get more information / screenshots.

Microsoft Visual Studio
I love Visual Studio. You can get the express editions of the software (which are fully featured) for free.

I remember learning how to write C++ on Mac OS 7 using a pirated copy of CodeWarrior 5 because I was a teenager and I couldn’t afford a legit copy. When I started college in 1999, I had already switched to PC and used my academic discount and bought Visual Studio 6 for about $150, which I thought was a bargain at the time. Now it’s free which is amazing.

To help put things in perspective, I created this website and every piece of software on the “Projects” tab of my web site using Visual Studio. If you want to learn programming on Windows, go download it.

Google Chrome
I seriously hate FireFox. It takes like 30 seconds to start up, it has horrible memory leaks, and it crashes a lot. Those reasons aside, I think the name is just plain stupid. The only thing I did like about FireFox (being a web developer) is the Firebug extension.

I was a hardcore IE user for years until Chrome came out. I even used IE on Macintosh up until version 4 (about when I switched to PC). With Google behind it, I figured I’d give Chrome a try and ended up loving it. I like how unobtrusive the browser is; it has a minimalistic feel to it. I’ve never had it crash. I keep my browser instances and tabs open for days, sometimes weeks.

(Linux people, feel free to insert a joke here about how Windows can’t go that long without a reboot)

I’ll be honest, I don’t really care about a browser’s rendering engine or which has a “better” implementation of CSS. I like using software that works. Period. Any web developer knows that you’re going to have to test your work on every browser anyways; you don’t have to pick the most standards compliant one as your favorite. Chrome uses the WebKit engine which is essentially the same as what’s in Safari. I still have to go back and use IE sometimes for sites that won’t work in Chrome but that doesn’t happen often.

FileZilla
As far as FTP clients go on Windows, this is about the best you’re going to find. There’s not much more to say other than it’s free and it works great. Before I found this in 2002, I used a piece of crap FTP program some of you might remember called LeechFTP.

mIRC
I’ve spent a lot more of my time on IRC than I’d like to admit. I first got involved with IRC on Macintosh in 1994. I used a complete garbage client called Ircle. None of my real life friends were interested in computer programming so I turned to the internet to meet people that were into C++. I learned most of what I know about programming by hanging around for years in #C and #C++ on EFNET.

mIRC is hands down the best client out there. I wrote my own client at one point using MASM (as a learning exercise) and although it worked, it sucked. I got sick of seeing the authors face pop up so I actually paid the shareware fee. It’s been worth every cent, although I don’t go on IRC as much anymore.

KeePass
It’s getting to the point where everything has a password. Want to post a comment on someone’s blog or forum? You’ll probably need to sign up and have another user/password that you’ll almost guaranteed forget as soon as you click the submit button.

I started using this program to keep track of all my passwords because it seriously got out of control. I have the program open now and there are over 80 passwords entered in here that I actively use. I like to think I’m a smart guy but because the password rules are different on every website you can’t use the same password on everything (and even if you could, it’s a horrible idea from a security perspective).

An 8-12 character password with 3 uppercase letters, 2 symbols, and that isn’t close to my last 9 passwords? I have a hard enough time remembering what I ate for lunch yesterday.

I hate cell phones

Posted on by
1

I hate pretty much everything about a cell phone. I hate the way they look, the way they sound… the fact that they interrupt your free time, going off when you’re in the middle of a nice dinner. I’ll try to explain better.

Let’s talk about the device itself and pretend that I did like cell phones in general. Nobody is close to making a good cell phone in my opinion. They are all complete garbage. I don’t want to run “apps” on my phone. I don’t want internet on my phone. That’s why I have a computer. I have pretty specific requirements in a “dream” phone:
1) Contact list (names, phone numbers, address, email).
2) Ability to call someone and talk with them.
3) Ability to turn off crap like the internet, calendar and MP3 players so they don’t show up in the UI.
4) Can close the phone, put it in my pocket, and not worry about accidentally calling someone or having the phone start the MP3 player or have it open the internet.
5) I do NOT want a camera on my phone.

You’d think that being a month away from 2011 these 5 basic requirements could be met, but it’s not even close.
1) The contact list sucks on non-smart phones. I can store home, work, fax… pick a custom stupid ringtone or picture.
2) I can talk to people without issue. Glad this works at least.
3) You can’t turn off internet or delete the included programs. If you accidentally open the internet, you get charged however many dollars per kilobit. Why can’t I turn off texting (the ability to be texted and to text someone)?
4) Manufacturers always put buttons on the outside of the folding phones. There is always some kind of partial lock feature which does NOT work. How about, if it’s closed, don’t do anything at all. Period.
5) It’s really hard to find phones without cameras. They exist, but are difficult to find.

Those are some reasons why I hate the physical phone itself. The only thing I hate more than the bare bones phones are smart phones like the iPhone or the Android. All of the same stupid problems above except you pay a lot more for them and their data plan. At least you can pay for stupid programs that make fart sounds, right?

What I hate the most is how cell phone usage is becoming acceptable in our social lives. Over the years, texting has become extremely popular. People are texting at the dinner table, texting while they are sitting on the toilet, texting while they are driving. Are we really that ignorant? It’s becoming acceptable to stop whatever you are doing and type into your phone, instead of participating in real life.

I was looking through my wedding photos and my in-laws (my wife’s siblings) were on their phone in most of the photos. They don’t need the phone for business reasons, like being on-call… there isn’t any emergency going on. Just put the phone down already. Every single day someone’s phone plays into my conversation with them. When someone is at the table eating and texting, or answering a phone call during dinner, or telling me to “hold on” during a conversation so they can tend to their phone, they might as well have told me “F**k you”.

Then of course there’s the pure obnoxiousness of a phone. Sitting at work or in the waiting room at the doctor and then hearing an ear piercing ringtone that makes me want to kill myself. Then the guy answers it and talks out loud about how he has warts on his genitals because it seems like a private conversation to him. Thanks for sharing that with everyone that can hear your conversation. Worse than anything I’ve listed so far, I’ve seen children on bicycles with training wheels… talking on a cell phone. What are they even talking about? The latest Sponge Bob episode? Why don’t they actually just go to their friends house or wait until school the next day.

The second I don’t need my cell phone for work related issues, I am going to smash it and flush it down the toilet.