Friday, October 28, 2005
Comments actually work correctly now
Sorry about the error messages before. I didn't have things configured correctly on my end. You may now post comments to entries without any error messages.
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Are cell phones worth it?
I have a lot of friends and family that have cell phones. Sometimes it feels like they are trying to pressure me into getting one. I suppose I am basically the last one to not have one. I feel like I have some good reasons for not getting one. I'll list them for you:
1. Cell phones are too expensive. From what I have seen, the lowest monthly bill is about $40, and that's if I don't go over on my minutes! That's just too much for me. I currently have a Vonage VoIP phone and I only pay $24.99 a month no matter how many minutes I use and no matter what time of the day it is. I can call anywhere in the Unites States and Canada without any additional charges on my bill. The only way I would ever pay more than $24.99 is if I made international calls to say, Brazil, or somewhere outside of the US and Canada.
2. Peak and off-peak times are just stupid. Why should I have to wait until 9:00 pm to make calls that don't count against my minutes? Why can't I have a cell phone account that is like my Vonage account where I don't have to worry about what time of the day it is to make calls? Give me an unlimited account for $40 a month where I don't have to think about overage charges and I will reconsider...
3. Text messaging... I don't get it. Why would you type a message to someone that takes you two minutes to type when you can just call them and say the same message in 20 seconds? Okay, text messaging does have its benefits. Like, when you are in class you can text message people without being disruptive. My real problem with text messaging is that I am charged for RECEIVING messages from people. Why should I pay 5 cents per message that my cousin keeps sending me, even though I tell her not to? Ridiculous. Yes, I know I can block her from sending me messages, but what if it turns out to be something that is actually important? Plus, I can't block every single number out there from sending me messages...
Those are my main reasons why I don't have a cell phone. Yes, I do have reasons for getting one too, but they don't outweigh my gripes with them. Here are some...
1. Emergencies. What if I get stranded in my car somewhere? What if I get kidnapped? Hasn't happened yet... If either of these scenarios did happen I probably wouldn't be in cell range anyway.
2. Finding people in crowds. Have you ever gone to a sporting event, concert, or amusement park and had a hard time finding the people you were supposed to meet there? I have, but I've always eventually ended up finding them without a cell phone. A cell phone would have made it a little more convenient, though.
3. People can conveniently get a hold of me wherever I am. Well, usually I go places so that people CAN'T get a hold of me. I like to get away from everyone sometimes...
Those are my reasons both for and against cell phones. Anyone else have any opinions to share to convince me to get one or to keep me strong in resisting and not getting one?
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1. Cell phones are too expensive. From what I have seen, the lowest monthly bill is about $40, and that's if I don't go over on my minutes! That's just too much for me. I currently have a Vonage VoIP phone and I only pay $24.99 a month no matter how many minutes I use and no matter what time of the day it is. I can call anywhere in the Unites States and Canada without any additional charges on my bill. The only way I would ever pay more than $24.99 is if I made international calls to say, Brazil, or somewhere outside of the US and Canada.
2. Peak and off-peak times are just stupid. Why should I have to wait until 9:00 pm to make calls that don't count against my minutes? Why can't I have a cell phone account that is like my Vonage account where I don't have to worry about what time of the day it is to make calls? Give me an unlimited account for $40 a month where I don't have to think about overage charges and I will reconsider...
3. Text messaging... I don't get it. Why would you type a message to someone that takes you two minutes to type when you can just call them and say the same message in 20 seconds? Okay, text messaging does have its benefits. Like, when you are in class you can text message people without being disruptive. My real problem with text messaging is that I am charged for RECEIVING messages from people. Why should I pay 5 cents per message that my cousin keeps sending me, even though I tell her not to? Ridiculous. Yes, I know I can block her from sending me messages, but what if it turns out to be something that is actually important? Plus, I can't block every single number out there from sending me messages...
Those are my main reasons why I don't have a cell phone. Yes, I do have reasons for getting one too, but they don't outweigh my gripes with them. Here are some...
1. Emergencies. What if I get stranded in my car somewhere? What if I get kidnapped? Hasn't happened yet... If either of these scenarios did happen I probably wouldn't be in cell range anyway.
2. Finding people in crowds. Have you ever gone to a sporting event, concert, or amusement park and had a hard time finding the people you were supposed to meet there? I have, but I've always eventually ended up finding them without a cell phone. A cell phone would have made it a little more convenient, though.
3. People can conveniently get a hold of me wherever I am. Well, usually I go places so that people CAN'T get a hold of me. I like to get away from everyone sometimes...
Those are my reasons both for and against cell phones. Anyone else have any opinions to share to convince me to get one or to keep me strong in resisting and not getting one?
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Why OpenOffice.org is not a good alternative to Microsoft Office
OpenOffice.org 2.0 has just been released. It was a very anticipated release, as a product that could possibly give Microsoft Office a run for its money. I tell you now... don't bother with it.
It has not been thoroughly polished and has a few bugs that I have noticed already. For example, try to open an office document from a webpage. OpenOffice.org will crash.
OpenOffice.org also feels VERY slow compared to Microsoft Office. OOo runs on top of the Java runtime environment. Java is slow, end of story. Here are some number comparisons on the actual performance of OOo compared to Microsoft Office:
OpenOffice.org takes up more system resources than Microsoft Office, by a long shot. Here are some numbers to back me up:
Maybe someday we will have a product that can perform on par with Microsoft Office, but that time has not come.
(Numbers taken from George Ou's blog at ZDNet)
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It has not been thoroughly polished and has a few bugs that I have noticed already. For example, try to open an office document from a webpage. OpenOffice.org will crash.
OpenOffice.org also feels VERY slow compared to Microsoft Office. OOo runs on top of the Java runtime environment. Java is slow, end of story. Here are some number comparisons on the actual performance of OOo compared to Microsoft Office:
| Calc 2.0 ODS | Calc 2.0 SXC | Excel 2003 XLS | Excel 2003 XML | Excel 2003 ZIP XML | |
| Create | 179 sec | 184 sec | 1 sec | 13 sec | 18 sec |
| Load | 141 sec | 161 sec | 2 sec | 38 sec | 47 sec |
| RAM used | 234,496 KB | 232,932 KB | 89,164 KB | 41,980 KB | NA |
OpenOffice.org takes up more system resources than Microsoft Office, by a long shot. Here are some numbers to back me up:
| Application | Memory footprint | Processes measured |
| Write | 37,660 KB | soffice.bin & soffice.exe |
| Calc | 37,544 KB | soffice.bin & soffice.exe |
| Impress | 44,788 KB | soffice.bin & soffice.exe |
| Base | 36,036 KB | soffice.bin & soffice.exe |
| Word | 9,812 KB | WinWord.exe |
| Excel | 7,102 KB | Excel.exe |
| PowerPoint | 6,884 KB | PowerPNT.exe |
| Access | 7,302 KB | MSAccess.exe |
Maybe someday we will have a product that can perform on par with Microsoft Office, but that time has not come.
(Numbers taken from George Ou's blog at ZDNet)
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Chicago White Sox win the 2005 World Series... so what?
Image courtesy of mlb.com
The White Sox just won the World Series. Yay. I actually stopped caring about baseball a long time ago. It is way too boring to watch. Although, I forced myself to watch the last out of the bottom of the ninth inning just so I could tell people that I saw the White Sox win. I sometimes wish that we could associate "America's Pastime" with something else more entertaining.... no offense intended to all of you baseball fans out there.
Where's all my MSN buddies?
Not too long ago it seemed like whenever I got on a computer there was always at least one person on MSN that talked to me. Today everytime I get on everyone is away. Where is everyone? I guess I need to go and find some new MSN buddies. :P
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Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Should you be friends with your ex?
So, I have had three girlfriends in my very long life. I have tried to remain friends with two of them over time. I am currently pretty good friends with one of them.
Should you have a friendship with your ex boyfriend or girlfriend? Is it a good thing? I don't see the problems with it. Maybe I haven't seen it the way that others see it, though.
I have stopped being friends with my last girlfriend because, uh, well, things just didn't go right. We were engaged and it didn't work out. It is a little more complicated in that situation, I think.
Does anyone else out there have an opinion on this matter?
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Should you have a friendship with your ex boyfriend or girlfriend? Is it a good thing? I don't see the problems with it. Maybe I haven't seen it the way that others see it, though.
I have stopped being friends with my last girlfriend because, uh, well, things just didn't go right. We were engaged and it didn't work out. It is a little more complicated in that situation, I think.
Does anyone else out there have an opinion on this matter?
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