Various & Sundry IV

  1. Check THIS out. Yikes! Bad lil Badger bandies.
  2. Hey, OJ. Lightning rarely strikes twice.
  3. I had a great time with BoomR last night, with another one to come tomorrow morning. Yay!
  4. I need to get little Sean R. a birthday present.
  5. I missed Bob’s birthday. It was on the 2nd. Crap.
  6. Clutch the friggin’ PEARLS. A pro athlete might actually go to jail.
  7. I froze my rat tail off at the game last night. Our guys fought hard, but got smoked. :-(
  8. I hate doing research outlines. Really.
  9. I wonder what Mavis is up to today. She needs to come over and make me a cup of coffee. (*Poof* There, you’re a cup of coffee.)
  10. TRO – how’s your weekend, luv?
  11. Why I will hang with my old-school Razr for awhile longer. Or at least until iPhone decides to release the choke-hold on AT&T. Or vice-versa.

Ok, back to work. PK’s pictures will appear later.

And here they are. I, um, couldn’t use them all. Family blog & stuff, you know. But these are silly:

Funny #1

Funny #2

Funny #3 (my favorite – it’s just so bizarre)

Fink out(lines are my life)

6 thoughts on “Various & Sundry IV

  1. Kody

    I’m convinced that the iPhone was only made to drive everyone without AT&T insane. It’s a government plot, probably thought up by the Republicans. I’m just saying… if we would of elected John Kerry president last election, I think the iPhone would be on Verizon. I have no factual evidence to back that up, but I don’t think anyone has factual evidence to say I’m wrong, either.

    Reply
  2. BoomR

    I really doubt that you’ll ever see a Sprint/Verizon version of the iPhone. Slicker-than-snot-on-a-hemorrhoid user interface not withstanding, Apple is REALLY trying to drive this product heavy into business channels now (enter 3G data rates, world-class Cisco security/encryption & VPN, and enterprise email-capable with Outlook/Exchange Server support, and THANK GOD: GPS!!). And what do business travelers do a s*itload of? TRAVEL.

    Seen the latest wave of AT&T commercials that feature customers who missed important calls abroad because their US carrier didn’t have service in the country they were in?? Yup. AT&T & T-Mobile use a technology called GSM. It’s the same technology that continues to keep Europe, South America… well, basically over 200 countries worldwide connected via their mobile phones. The only real BIG difference between US GSM technology & the rest of the world is the frequency (850/1900 MHZ in N. America, and 900/1800 + 2100 for 3G in the rest of the world).

    I love the fact that I can sit in the McDonalds in downtown Helsinki or at the KFC on Oxford St. near Marble Arch in London & all people had to do was call my Dallas cell phone # and my phone would ring (don’t I eat in classy places when I travel?).

    Why? Because I had a tri-band (and now quad-band) GSM mobile phone coupled with a feature called “global roaming.” With these 2 things, GSM business-class phone users (or basically anyone with a tri- or quad-band GSM phone) can be reached pretty much anywhere outside the US.

    I actually had a conversation with a really nice family (father, mother, 2 adult daughters) sitting next to me about 4 years ago on a business trip to Paris, France. I was talking with my better half on the phone whilst sitting in the Jules Verne restaurant, located on the 2nd platform high atop the Eiffel Tour. When the call was over, the father asked me, “if you don’t mind me asking, were you talking with someone back in the US?” I replied: Sure was! His next statement: “We’ve all got a Verizon family plan & our phones don’t work here in Paris.” I gave them the somewhat abbreviated version of the previous paragraph & they commented that they would be switching carriers when they got home.

    Sprint & Verizon use a technology called CDMA. Sure, there are some nice benefits to CDMA (some call quality advantages, plus for a carrier, lower TCO because you can cover the same area with fewer towers). But the down side is that they’re latecomers to the game and therefore the lack of CDMA coverage outside the use is pretty grim. PLUS, unlike the big happy GSM family, CDMA carriers don’t have really attractive roaming agreements for when customers roam onto someone else’s CDMA network, unlike their GSM counterparts.

    CDMA is actually starting to make a push in China & India (see note about TCO – total cost of ownership – covering more area with less towers = less $), as well as big in Brazil (Brazil also has GSM – don’t worry!). Yes, you’ll also find CDMA in random spots in Russia & China (Canada & Mexico don’t count, because they’re North America). Other than that, if you have CDMA & don’t travel to these CDMA areas, you’ve got big problems. (…and don’t even get me started on the dual-mode GSM+CDMA cell phones that CDMA carriers are trying to push on their international business travelers…)

    Having said all that, the chipsets for CDMA technology are way more expensive. Thank you, Qualcomm (Nokia worked for YEARS to develop their own CDMA chipset so they wouldn’t have to be so dependent). Until the competition in the CDMA chipset market cranks up so the cost is more competitive, you won’t be seeing a business case for making a CDMA version of the iPhone. That & the CDMA network penetration worldwide vs. GSM penetration.

    That sort of sounded dirty, didn’t it?

    Can’t wait to see you RF!

    Boom…Boom…Boom…Let’s go back to my room…

    Reply
  3. BoomR

    Oh, crap! I also forgot to mention CDMA in Israel!! I hate old age & not being able to remember important trivia!!

    Reply
  4. Rat Fink Post author

    Ok, so that was interesting. So if I go A T & T…it shows that G3 is not covered in my area. Does that mean a G3 phone won’t work for me?

    Reply
  5. BoomR

    There is no 3G network coverage in this area (3G = Universal Mobile Telecommunications System and now sometimes also referred to as HSDPA – High Speed Downlink Packet Access). BoomR geeks out again…sorry!

    BUT that doesn’t mean the phone won’t work. When you want to use any of the Internet services (web browsing, email, etc), the phone falls back to EDGE (Enhanced Datarates for GSM Evolution). The phone will work JUST fine, except for the lack of 3G data. Then, when you visit us in Dallas, instead of seeing the little “E” icon in the status bar, you’ll see “3G”!!

    And the best part? Free mobile-to-mobile minutes between you & I – so we can talk for hours! :-)

    Boom…Boom…Boom…Let’s go back to my room…

    Reply

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