Ok, so maybe its a little misleading to say I’m branching out. Its not like I’m venturing in to uncharted territories of WindFarming or talking about the quality of Seiko watches. No, I’m staying close to home with the new site BlackBerry Hack

My goal here is to help you make the most of your Blackberry and get it to work for you not against. I’ll be drawing on many resources from around the net, my contacts at AT&T Wireless, plus my experience administering both Blackberries and the iPhone. I won’t bore you with a lot of the same “look whats coming” type posts of some of the other mainstream Blackberry sites, but more with this is what I’m doing with my blackberry and here’s how you can do it too.

If this sounds like something you might be interested in, check it out!

While the misses and I were out Christmas shopping Friday night, we bought some stuff for ourselves as well (Toys R Us was having some good deals and we had a ton of coupons!). We picked up the fourth wiimote as well as three nunchucks for the wii so that we can make best use of our console. Now two of us can box at the same time. We also picked up a new game, wii Music. You’ve seen the commercials (at least you have if you watch tv for any amount of time) and after a bit of research Amy and I were both excited about the game (you can play both the hand bells and banjo, no not at the same time). Plus, its a game we can play with the girls (Emma and Grace are good at waiving the wiimotes around), family and friends.

I’ve looked at RockBand for the wii, but everything I’ve read says that the wii version does not come anywhere close to that of the xbox 360 one, plus, now that Guitar Hero World Tour is out, I may have to reevaluate. Anyways, back to wii Music.

We picked this game up as a “christmas” present for ourselves and as such we haven’t played it yet (it wouldn’t be right to play it before christmas!) but I’ve done some more research and I’ve come across a bunch of unflattering reviews of the software. It theory and from the commercials, it seems like a really cool game that makes excellent use of the motes, but according to the reviews, its not all that. I guess we’ll have to see for ourselves. Has anyone had the chance to play it yet?

Also, I have marioKart and I’m always looking for more people to race against, if you have Mario Kart as well for the wii, let me know and we can trade “license numbers” so we can race!

Gone are the days of writing down your mileage and gas stops in a paper book. With Blackberries and iPhones and other smartphones reproducing daily, it only makes sense to do it the web 2.0 way, online. Right? Thats where the cool tool of MyMileMarker comes in to play. The site offers free accounts and two ways to update your mileage and fill ups. Online through a traditional web browser, or via your web enabled smartphone and their mobile (mymilemarker.com/m) site.

Granted, the mobile site is little more than a form you can fill in, but you can list multiple vehicles and specify which one you’re gassing up at the time. Its a pretty handy little thing. BlipSocial offers something similar in its blackberry app, but there isn’t any outcome of it from what I can tell while MMM actually helps forecast your future usage as well. Its kind of cool to be able to see the trend in gas prices (especially over the last couple of weeks) and locations, as well as mileage. One of the things it lacks is a way to differentiate between city and highway miles (which can vary greatly).

I had signed up for this a while ago, but I haven’t had a chance to use it as I completely forgot about it until I was going through the list of people I’m following on twitter. You can bet, I have already bookmarked the mobile site on the Bold and will be trying it shortly. I do wish there was a native Blackberry app that made it a little nicer to use (but then I’m a little picky). Who knows, maybe this will help me save money on gas by keeping a better eye on my fillups leaving some extra money in the account so that my golf clubs can actually get used sometime this decade (no, I wouldn’t call what I do playing…).

Does anyone else out there track your mileage? If so, how do YOU do it?

M3 is in beta

So I’ve had the Bold less than a week and I have already tricked it out with a pretty cool theme and some much needed software (such as Rove Mobile’s Mobile Admin). I’ve been a fan of the iBerry themes from bPlay for a while (I had the iBerry Today Plus theme on my curve) and I came across the
iBerry Neo Today Plus theme and I have to say, apart from the background I like it a good bit. The fact that you get the messages, calendar and the call log on the main screen as well as your top Apps rocks. Even cooler is the fact that the app menu on the home screen stays hidden until you roll over it is a big plus (that way you don’t loose any real estate on the main screen). The icons it comes with are pretty cool too.

One of the other things I was delighted to see the Bold come with was Sudoku. I started playing this game a while ago online and I wanted to find a good version of it for the Curve. I found Sudoku by Magmic at bPlay as well and I have to say its a good, challenging game. I finished all the easy level games and have been slowly working on the medium level games. They’re a good bit harder, but if you’re a wiz at the Sudoku, then they shouldn’t be a problem at all. You can find the game for about $4.99 and its worth every penny.

What games do you like on your BlackBerry??

There was a fair tax Rally in the ATL yesterday, and apparently it went over rather well. From my limited knowledge of the Fair Tax (yes, I’ve read the book) I think it would be an excellent way to help the economy get back on track. Not only that, but *EVERYONE* rich, poor, legal, illegal would pay taxes. You can’t beat that with a sharp stick.

Since the election, the stock market has done nothing but continue its wild roller coaster ride. More stores are closing and more people are putting their small business for sale. Its a sad state of affairs these days, but it still remains to be seen if the new administration is going to be able to take care of the problems. So far it doesn’t seem like it.

An interesting thing to note from the Rally this weekend is that the state insurance commissioner, John Oxendine is starting a movement to get a Fair Tax Constitutional Convention (which is needed to repeal the 16th amendment). Maybe something will happen after all.

Having kids is a lot like being a member of the mafia. When you think you’re done, you’re pulled back in. Grace is 5, Emma is 2.5. I was looking forward to being done with diapers, when we learned in September that we’re expecting number three. For those that wonder, yes, I am pulling for a boy this time, just to offset some of the pink and princesses we have ALL OVER the freaking house. Its a little overwhelming at times. BUT, if its another girl, things will be good as well, after all, I already know how to raise girls (at least to the age of five…).

One of the things this added blessing has done is thrown a wrench in our plans for the upcoming year. We were going to work on saving up and paying down some debts. Possibly working on redoing the basement (I found some cool home theater seating that would have been perfect for a movie/game room) and relandscaping the front and back yards (something that will probably be slowly done anyways). Now we’re looking at repainting one (if not two) of the rooms upstairs, moving the two older girls in to one room and relocating the guest room. We would have left it at one room per child, but with Amy’s parents living in Chicago we need a room where they can stay when in town.

So, the work is going to be refocused. When Grace came home, we were living in the townhouse, and the plumbing decided to flood, so we were displaced for a week with a new born. Emma came home to having the flooring done upstairs in her room and the rest of the upstairs. For this one, we are aiming to have everything done before the arrival, but that means a ton of painting on my part…. Anyone want to help? (I pay in beer and pizza!)

• @jason_small you suck!! I think I’m going sunday… #

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One minute I’m in Jamaica and hours later I’m back in the ATL in some bad Phentermine induced coma trying to work my way through a work week that I really did not want to face. But thats life eh? The only thing thats been good so far is the fact my New Bold was sitting on my desk when I came in Wednesday (does anyone know why Wednesday has that first d?) morning. I haven’t been able to stop playing with it!!

More work was dumped on me this week and things are not looking like they’re going to slow down any over the course of the next couple of weeks. Not to mention the fact that the holidays are around the corner and I have to start getting things ready for that at home… bah. We’re supposed to go Christmas Shopping tonight. Whatever happened to waiting until the last minute?

I got my first blackberry curve a little over a year ago. It was one of the original 8300’s at&t let out in to the wild. I quickly upgraded it to the 8320, the version with the GPS and I loved that tool. I won’t call it a phone, because RIM (research in motion) made it so much more than that. I could administer my Windows servers and Linux Boxes from it. I could chat with my friends via gtalk, aim, facebook, twitter. I could even record video with it (after I upgraded the firmware to a beta version). It took a lot for me to give it up. Until RIM came up with the BOLD. Granted, its not an iPhone, or the yet to be released in the states Blackberry Storm, but the BOLD is everything an admin or executive could want and more.

It came while I was out of town (I received notice via email on my curve) and I had to wait until today to get at it. It was quickly unboxed and up and running. I even managed to wait most of the day before I put the latest beta release firmware on it. Needless to say, the speed enhancements between the 3G and the wi-fi make this phone perfect as it is. The fact that it has GPS built in is even better. I’m still working on finding the perfect theme for it, and installing all the must have apps, but so far I have AIM, Gtalk, mobileAdmin, gpsed, viigo and some others installed. I haven’t purchased the iPhone Theme for BlackBerry yet. I had it on the curve, and I’m not sure if I want it again. It was a nice theme, but it doesn’t feel right.

I’m working on finding the rove screenshot tool again, but I haven’t had any luck yet, I don’t know if I can rescue it from the old laptop, but I’ll try. As soon as possible, I’ll post some screenshots, and maybe some video.

It started off a normal trip for us. Our ride was coming to the house to pick us up at 5:30am for an 8:40am flight out of Hartsfield-Jackson to Montego Bay, Jamaica. Which would have been great if I hadn’t slept through two alarms and woken up at 5:20. Luckily we packed the night before so all we had to do was brush teeth, shower and pack our toiletries. I was waiting for pops as he pulled in and Amy was finishing up. I had checked the weather earlier in the week and I knew that we could be expecting rain, I just didn’t know how much.

We made it to the airport and got through security with plenty of time to spare. The flight to Jamaica was uneventful and the trip through customs there was the same. They’ve done a lot of work to the airport in MoBay since we were there in 2001 and its almost a big time airport. Nice thing about the way they sheapard you through there is that you miss most of the wholesale fashion jewelry shops that are waiting to tempt you on your way out of the country. Anyways, we made it out of the customs area to the new waiting area for the resorts. It seems that most of the big resorts now have their own lounges in the airport which is nice. I was able to have a red stripe while we waited on the other couple that would join us on our ride to Couples Swept Away.

The ride to the resort was fun as usual, Jamaica is a place where it is better to forgo the rental car and just take the bus or taxi and let someone else worry about the road. We made it to the resort in about an hour and a half (you can see the route at gpsed) and was about like I remembered it. Couples Swept Away is one of two Couples resorts in the Negril area, and perhaps the more laidback of them. Upon disembarking from the van, we were ushered to the check-in desk and handed a glass of champagne. Check in was painless and we were given the keys to our room.

We were shown to the room by a bellman and we were not disappointed. We had an Atrium Villa, which gave us a nice private balcony and a hammock. Despite the fact that we were in the “garden” area we still had a view of the ocean through the trees. It worked out rather nice for the weekend. The room was nice and big, big shower, nice king size bed, and no TV! Couldn’t have asked for better.

We freshened up a bit and made our way down to the beach where we walked along to the Patois Patio for lunch. Amy had a nice salad and a smoothie, I had a Spicy Jerk Chicken Pasta dish and a drink called a Snake Eye (as well as a rum and coke). Things were good. We spent the rest of the afternoon finding our way around the resort and did dinner at the Cabana Grille later in the evening. The nice thing about all inclusives is that you can usually find something to eat and drink 24 hours a day. Thursday night Amy had a hard time sleeping as the sounds of nature were all around. It was pretty cool.

Friday morning we woke up to a down pour. To our west and north, Hurricane Paloma was busy doing her worst to the Cayman Islands with her sights set on Cuba. It rained most of the day. But we were able to stroll down the beach to Margaritaville for a cheese burger in paradise. We spent most of the afternoon lounging on our porch in the hammock or on the bench and we picked up a deck of cards in the gift shop and spent much of the evening playing rummy. We did go to the “Beach Buffet” which was held in the Palms and we watched the Steel Drum Band and the other entertainers that evening. We went to bed Friday night and all was well (mostly) with the world.

Saturday morning we woke up and went out. It looked like the place had been hit bad. Up and down the beach, where there used to be path, there was nothing but sand. Needless to say, most of the water sport activities were canceled for the weekend due to the surf and mess in the water. The beach was ruined. We spent most of the day lounging by the pool instead of the beach. Saturday night we headed to Feathers for dinner. I had the Grilled Tenderloin while Amy enjoyed the Lobster. It was a good day despite the weather.

Sunday we were resigned to head over to the spa for a couples massage (Couples gave us a $50 certificate for the gift shop, and a half hour massage each since we were repeat guests) and then back to the beach for the rest of the day. The staff was hard at work clearing the debris and the weather was actually nice. We were able to go in the ocean, find some nice looking shells. We even saw a couple of starfish that kept washing close to the shore no matter how far out you took them. Things were beginning to get back to normal in paradise.

We did dinner at Feathers again Sunday night, simply because we liked the menu and we packed our bags. We looked in to staying one more day, but it was going to be too expensive once we changed flights. In all, we did ok. We were up by 7 the next morning and waiting in the lobby area for our bus back to Montego Bay. I think we’ve decided that 4 nights is too short to go to Jamaica and will try from now on to do nothing less then 7. That way, if you do have bad weather, at least there are more chances for good weather. We’d highly recommend the couples resorts to anyone looking to get away. The staff has been nice and the food and service excellent at both couples resorts so far.

If you want to see more photos, check out the gallery.Take the

• Listening to the rain fall in jamaica! #
• Sitting under a straw hut @sweptaway watching the rain and the surf #
• http://twitpic.com/kj4g - IMG00035.jpg #

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• @ the airport. Walked right thru security! #
• GPSed Track URL: http://gpsed.com/track/b5xWF0zz1nYJiT4qWQBQtycxAqoyPdl4rnvj9ZJfFjzaVgKlz9 from montego bay to negril #

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• Fedora 10 Preview Uploaded : http://tinyurl.com/5ht448 #
• Damned twitterers
  Quit hogging the twits! #
• Maybe now we can get back to the important national dialog, you know, who got kicked off the amazing race last week… #

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Thats right. I think I said it a couple of days ago, however, i wanted to let you few souls who visit this blog sporadically know, we’re going on a trip. Amy and I that is. the girls are staying in Georgia. The wife and I are going to an all you can drink resort. How cool is that?

We looked at Disney cruises for the whole family, but we decided that we needed something for just the two of us. Good thing too with the third one on the way. Anyways, if there are no posts from me until next tuesday, thats why, I’m in jamaica and I have better things on my mind. No worries though, we’re taking three digital (one’s an underwater) cameras with us and plenty of flash cards. I’ll have photos and posts to let you know what happened on the trip!

Twitter is everywhere. Its on my phone, its on my laptop. It helped decide the election (don’t believe me, go search twitter for election, obama, biden, mccain, palin, vote or anything else to do with the election this year). It helped people find gas in Atlanta when we had a shortage. Now, its helping get the word out about the latest uploads to Linuxtracker.org.

Yesterday, I managed to cobble together some code (from some that I found online) that automatically posts to the linuxtracker twitter account *EVERY* time a new torrent is uploaded. It posts the name of the file as well as a link to the torrent details page. Its a pretty simple piece of code that actually uses the php_curl library to do the heavy lifting. The part I stumbled with was getting it to post the whole damned URL. Luckily I stumbled upon it.

I’ve posted the code below for anyone to use, mind you, I changed the names to protect the innocent, and I won’t answer any questions about it. I just wanted to share!

//Twitter Update!

$email = "USERNAME";
$password = "PASSWORD";
$status = "This is the status message here. Duh.
";

$url = "http://twitter.com/statuses/update.xml";

$session = curl_init();
curl_setopt ( $session, CURLOPT_URL, $url );
curl_setopt ( $session, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_BASIC );
curl_setopt ( $session, CURLOPT_HEADER, false );
curl_setopt ( $session, CURLOPT_USERPWD, $email . ":" . $password );
curl_setopt ( $session, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1 );
curl_setopt ( $session, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt ( $session, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS,"status=" . urlencode($status));
$result = curl_exec ( $session );
curl_close( $session );

?>