Author: Scott Gruby

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San Diego Weather

I just finished walking the dog and was a bit too warm with a sweatshirt on and a light jacket. We’ve had a little bit of a warming trend lately where the weather has been in the mid 70s during the day. It’s hard for me to imagine this being winter and even harder to remember what it’s like to live in the cold. Last time I lived in the cold was almost 7 years ago when I lived in Portland, OR. That was a pretty miserable time (I only lived in Portland for a year, but prior to college, I had lived in Boston for 5 years).

The weather plays such a huge factor in my happiness that I couldn’t even think of moving to somewhere cold. I love talking to people who have to shovel snow and point out how warm it is here!

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Samsung A900

I’ve been using my Samsung A900 cell phone for a few weeks now and am pretty pleased with it with one notable exception. The size is great, screens are great (internal/external), sound quality is acceptable, having a flip phone is great, being able to send contacts from my desktop is great and the phone has a good feel to it. The one huge problem with it is that Bluetooth headsets start beeping at random times. I’ve tried 3 headsets and Samsung has admitted a problem. I’m sure that this will get fixed as I’m not the only one reporting it. I did my part to report it by calling Sprint, going into a Sprint store, and calling Samsung just to make sure that I was complaining to the right people. (I see a lot of people complain about technology things, but tell the wrong people and are real mad when their problems aren’t fixed.)

In a few weeks (I hope), when the Bluetooth issue gets fixed, I’ll be pleased as punch.

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Spy on this!

Our wonderful president has admitted to spying on Americans and has called it legal. OK, whatever you say Mr. Bush. One of the ways that he says that the government has spied on Americans is by monitoring phone calls from/to foreign countries by individuals listed on computers and cell phones. I’m glad I never call foreign countries (OK, my wife sometimes calls a friend in Canada, but I consider Canada just another state, eh.)

Do I really believe it is legal? Of course not. Do I believe that it has made it safer? No. Do I think it needs to continue in its present form? No. There are safeguards in place and I’m sure the government could have gotten wiretap permission from that secret court in a hurry if they really needed it.

The president, in my mind, thinks he’s above the law. I hope that someone really studies the law and brings charges against the president. We have lost even more credibility with the international community because of this flap and all the other recent Bush moves.

How did we elect this moron to office? Some have told me that they didn’t like Kerry and that’s why they voted for Bush. That doesn’t seem like a very informed decision. We’ll be paying the consequences for a few more years. (I saw a countdown timer the other day that showed how many minutes under Bush was out of office.)

(I am exercising my first amendment right to publish this blog; don’t put me on any government/military watch list.)

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Switching to new blog system

I was using RapidWeaver’s blogging system up until today, but found it quite limiting and frankly slow at creating new entries. So I’ve decided to try GeekLog as it is a more full featured system. Unfortuantely, I have to move all my old entries to the new system. I’ve moved about 25% of the entries over. Slow process, but I think it will be worth it.

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Sprint’s weird billing practices

I checked my Sprint account yesterday to see if I was credited for the phone I returned (due to them ordering the wrong phone). Well, I had a huge credit, so I call them and after awhile on the phone, found out that they charged my credit card, then issued a credit on my account then bill the phone to my account. I already knew they did this weird stuff; so when I originally ordered my new phone, I didn’t put in my Sprint number so that they couldn’t do this game. Of course, that failed because they sent me the wrong phone. So I checked my credit card statement and found a credit for the original phone. I’m now completely confused and will see what happens when my bill comes. Why can’t Sprint just bill my credit card and not touch my account? Is that so hard to do? Also, why can’t they list detailed charges prior to a bill being generated so that I could see the charges and credits instead of just seeing a -$605 balance? Uggh.

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Soon going to be illegal to be an illegal alien

Last night I heard on the news that lawmakers are working on a law to make it illegal (a felony) to be in the country illegally. Am I missing something here in that isn’t being here illegally already illegal? (OK, maybe they’re going to stiffen the penalties, but it really sounds stupid to make something that already is illegal, illegal.)

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Trademark violation by the local paper

Our wonderful local newspaper, the San Diego Union Tribune, needs to do a little research when stealing clipart to use for different sections. In yesterday’s paper, I see a symbol called the Star of Life which is used by paramedics, EMTs, as well as on ambulances. I recalled that this was a registered trademark registered to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that could be used only by paramedics, etc. Also, the registration was set to expire in 1997. After a little research (look for serial number 73033491), I found that the trademark was renewed in 1997 and the US Patent and Trademark Office had a note on the registration that said:THE CERTIFICATION MARK IS USED BY PERSONS AUTHORIZED BY APPLICANT TO CERTIFY THAT EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE VEHICLES MEET U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION STANDARDS (CLASS A), THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE PERSONNEL OPERATING THE VEHICLE HAVE BEEN TRAINED TO MEET U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION STANDARDS (CLASS B), OR BOTH.So, as a certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), I’m allowed to use the mark. The newspaper, however, isn’t. I sent the paper email telling them to knock it off.

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Chopper Drivers

I almost fell off my chair tonight watching the NBC Nightly News. They had an interview with President Bush and without a script, the President sounds really dumb. He praised the Coast Guard “chopper drivers” when talking about Katrina. In case you think I made it up, check out the clip.

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CERT Helicopter Training

Last winter I took training to become a member of CERT which is Community Emergency Response Team. I figured maybe someday I can put my EMT skills to use (I’ve been an EMT for 12 years, but never worked as one). Today was the second part of training for an add on module where we were able to learn about the San Diego Fire Rescue department Air (helicopter) Operations. It was pretty neat learning about the helicopter and how to work around it. I took a bunch of pictures and we even got to spend taxpayer dollars by flying all of us around for a few minutes (there were about 30 of us, so we had to fly in shifts).

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Las Vegas

This past weekend, my wife and I went to Las Vegas for a family gathering on her side. (Why we went to Las Vegas, we’re still wondering; her family sits around and watches football all weekend. Can’t we do that in California without the smoke, gambling, and crowds?) I’m amazed at how much money is in Las Vegas and how much people spend. A large majority of people lose money (otherwise Las Vegas wouldn’t have money). I just can’t understand how people can afford to drop so much money. I was watching one lady playing 2 $1 slot machines stuffing them with $100 bills and just hitting the button. She wasn’t really winning and just kept feeding it. Seems to me, she lost a few hundred bucks in a few minutes. To me, it just seems like flushing money down the toilet. My wife had a good time playing the penny slots. I had no luck and lost about $5 in the penny slots in a matter of minutes. She played for a few hours on about $3.

I hate smoke and don’t drink, so Las Vegas isn’t the place for me. However, I had a good time watching my wife play the slots. It was also good to get away. When we got home, we went into the decontamination chamber (the garage where the washing machine is) and washed all our clothes immediately even before getting into the house. Smoke really penetrates everything. Yuck.