Musings of John Milner

Taking a salad to work sounded like a good idea, but was a logistical pain. Sure does taste good though.

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:17:29 -0700

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Sent from my iPhone

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A shot of Dulles the other night at about 1am

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 17:43:27 -0700

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Thought my diet coke tasted different. When did @UnitedAirlines start serving coke light from Austria on my domestic IAD-SFO flight?

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:03:29 -0700

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My fortune cookie tonight. If only it were true.

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:40:19 -0700

As I'm still sitting in the office finishing up carry out wondering when I'll make it out of here.

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Stupid GPS

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 06:45:08 -0700

The last couple of days I've been testing the TomTom iPhone SatNav app with traffic, looking for an alternative to the NeverFound devices I always end up with while traveling. Since I'm not traveling now, I've been playing with the app on my normal commute, and this morning, TomTom pulled a SatNav classic (one I was hoping it wouldn't do). While on my normal commute the traffic service said there were delays, yes it's rush hour in DC Metro. While on the freeway the app told me it had found a route that would be 6 minutes faster with traffic if i exited the freeway now. I was unfamiliar with where I could go from this exit, but considering i didn't have to be anywhere, I'd give it a try.

So how was TomTom going to save me 6 minutes? by getting right back on the freeway. Yes, the app pulled a classic get off and get right back on, but the "alternate" route didn't save me 6 minutes, it added about 10 due to the surface street congestion getting through three lights getting back on. Stupid SatNav!

Overall I'm a little under impressed with the TomTom app, it works like most standalone GPS units, but seems a bit more touchy than others. Will it be helpful while traveling to have everything in one device, yes (so long as i can keep it charged). The interesting thing I've found is that with the TomTom app running, my car kit (A griffin kit) is not able to keep up with the power draw of the iPhone so over a long road trip the app would actually drain my phone. Maybe I just need a different car kit, but still not the best.

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Light wind on the bay today but it's refreshing out!

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 12:52:22 -0700

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Sent from my iPhone

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Just got my corporate laptop back after ~20 hours...

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:09:18 -0700

Where was it for nearly 20 hours you ask? With our IT department being upgraded. No physical hardware was upgraded but I was "finally" upgraded from XP and Office 2003 to Vista and Office 2007. Yes, its July 2010 and Windows 7 is out as in Office 2010, but enterprise IT spent so much time rolling out Vista that we are still a generation behind. That's nothing new. The upside to this "upgrade" was 1) i got a fresh install of Windows (always a good thing after a wile) and 2) I can now open a lot of those excel files people keep sending me!

Besides for Microsoft Office, which I use all day long and at this point can not be replaced by any could offering, the only software I've needed to install for my personal use is Chrome (ok, there were a lot of chrome extensions too, but that I just copied the profile over). Just about everything that I do, outside of work, can be done over the web (the two caveats being photo editing/ management and iTunes).

One day I hope that enterprise computing will be platform agnostic much like most individuals computing is today.

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Wow it's still bloody hot out! It 91 and feels like 93 at 10pm!

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:14:13 -0700

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180 South

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 19:40:56 -0700

Finally got around to watching this film tonight, highly recommend it. http://www.180south.com/

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4th of July in Washington DC fireworks from courthouse Arlington VA

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:47:19 -0700

Download now or watch on posterous

IMG_0014.mov (51170 KB)

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And the drinks continue at Leopold's. Great Saturday!

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 14:36:45 -0700

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And the damage continues!

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 13:22:08 -0700

Sent from my iPhone

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The beginning of the end on this beautiful Saturday.

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 13:11:31 -0700

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A great way to start last night. A little Campari & soda.

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 08:44:58 -0700

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The gloriousness of the garden blend burrito w/ guac! So craving some chipotle

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 11:27:30 -0700

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Nice sky this evening over Tysons

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:09:27 -0700

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Humm. I don't think my iPhone calendar should look like this.

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:08:10 -0700

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Thoughts on reading on the Kindle vs. iPad

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:55:56 -0700

Now that I’ve had some time to play with my iPad I’ve spent some time reading books on the device, but I still prefer reading books on my 1^st generation Kindle. First, my Kindle is MUCH lighter which is huge, especially when sitting for a long period of time. Sure you can rest the iPad on a table/stand or sit in a way to rest the iPad on yourself, but holding the device the Kindle wins.

Second, the screen, e-ink is just so much easier on the eyes than a backlight screen in any light. I also prefer the size of the screen on my Kindle 1, it feels right. Reading on a Kindle is a pleasurable experience, there’s a certain warmness that accompanies it.

However, the Kindle app on my iPad provides better organization of my books and it’s an all in one device. The benefit of the lack of multi-tasking on the iPad allows me to concentrate on the book I’m reading and not be distracted by incoming emails, txt, and other alerts (since I don’t really have any push alerts setup) which I really didn’t expect to be able to do. I welcomed surprise.

Given a choice, I would take the Kindle any day, and it will remain on my bedside or side table for casual reading. However, for most travel and being mobile the iPad wins. The ability the use the vibrant screen for other content makes it a winning all-around device, there’s now no reason for me to travel with my Kindle (expect in a few rare cases). The best part is, with Kindle books, I can sync my place in each book across all my devices so no matter where I am, I can use the device I have with me, which is hopefully a kindle, but if not my iPad or even iPhone will do.

At the end of the day these devices have actually gotten me to read more books than I had previously, which I’m surprised and happy about.

Zemanta helped me add links & pictures to this email. It can do it for you too.

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Where are people moving?

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:57:00 -0700

This has been making the rounds today, but I find it a really cool use of IRS/ government data. It's interesting to see migration from my home in Gallatin County, Mont. to where I am not in Washington DC and Arlington Country, Va.

via: forbes.com

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Food matters - Mark Bittman

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 04:37:52 -0700

A good overview of Mark Bittman's book, "Food Matters"

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