Sometimes you can’t quite explain why certain chains of events occur. You can try. But no matter how much effort you exert, things can’t be explained.

Well, I’m through trying to rationalize. I’ve got a new gig. And as far as I’m concerned, I have a lifetime supply of tackling fuel. Some of my friends, have never had the fortune of watching The Waterboy. Here’s a clip for their benefit.

If you’re looking for a great pair of headphones for various athletic endeavors, look no further. I’ve had some great headphones from Shure and from Klipsch. But these really make me happy because they not only sound great, but they’re wireless and they have great remote controls to change volume and songs. Now, they also do something else that my Shure’s can’t do. They can make phone calls.

If you’re like me and like listening to tunes while riding at 20mph, you might like to be able to make an emergency call if you happen to break down. Or what happens if someone needs to call you in an emergency? Well, to date I’ve had to keep my iPod in one pocket and my cell phone in another. I’ve tried some headphone attachments that add a microphone to my Klipsch or Shures, but it just creates a really long cord with a really bad microphone.

Now, the problem with these headphones isn’t with the headphones. The problem is trying to use them with an iPhone (same goes for a 2nd generation iPod Touch). Apple currently doesn’t support A2DP, which is Bluetooth’s mechanism for streaming audio to stereo headphones. So for the most part, you have to use a special bluetooth dongle that adds 1.5 inches to the length of your iPhone. Plus, the dongle vibrates loose during movement. In short, the combination isn’t very pleasant.

However, all of this should be solved with the release of the new OS update. I’m excited about that. Right now, I’m having fun working on my first iPhone apps. The SDK’s pretty cool. And this is certainly new frontier for me. But for now, I’m very excited to have a fix to an annoying problem.

Now, if you’re looking to go down such a path, make sure you get your UDID from iTunes before you try updating the firmware. Otherwise iTunes won’t be able to read the UDID from you phone. You’ll have to obtain it via Xcode instead. Just FYI.

Enjoy!

Well, what can I say about life on a farm that I haven’t already said? Anyone who has known me for any length of time has to get a good chuckle over the thought of me raising chickens. But I shall endeavor despite recent discouragements.

Two days ago, our house was hit by what I can only descibe as a serial killer of chickens. Yep! You heard me right. You see, while you might think of this as a simple act of nature– a fox feeding on chickens, I have to remain a bit more cynical. On Wednesday, we lost four of remaining five chickens in broad daylight. The culprit was a fox. And the sucker wasn’t afraid of me at all. He simply stared me down and then sauntered off, after the carnage.

But what was really wrong for the whole thing was that the chickens were in immaculate condition. There were no chunks missing. There was no blood. Last year’s fox attacks resulted in headless lumps left in the chicken pen. But not with this fox. Their chicken necks were merely broken as they were left to flop around.

Our neighbor has lost more than forty chickens to this fox, and similar, disturbing results. His show chickens were killed and left pristine, as if posed.

I’ve thought about contacting the FBI’s BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit), but let’s face it, there’s not a lot of experience to glean from. After all, there aren’t a lot of reported cases of serial killing foxes to build a profile. So, I’ve armed myself and I’m waiting. Foxes are creatures of habit. Yesterday, I stood ready and set a trap for the wiley fox. But he showed up before I could zero my scope on my Gamo rifle. I managed to get a body shot in, but it didn’t take him down. I am hoping he will come back by this afternoon so I can try to get a head shot in now that my scope’s sited. We’ll have to see.

Out of all our chickens, we only have one left– Olivia. Olivia also happens to be our oldest chicken. Well, I guess the fact that she’s the only one alive makes her the oldest. What I meant to say was that she has been with us longer than any other, previously living, chicken. Her theme song is I will Survive.

Wish me luck!

Have you ever wanted to just lose it? Well, I have and I think I’m sort of at that point today. I suppose had I never been in the military I might not care so much, but nothing chaps my hide worse than indecision. I’m convinced it results in more deaths than pitbulls, drugs, guns or DWIs. Okay, maybe I’m giving it more credit than it deserves. But hopefully you know where I stand on it.

Fundamentally, leaders lead. I think it’s implied in the word. What do you think? We lead. Now, some or most may not agree with the decision. Some may down right hate it. And let’s not forget that there’s the off chance that we can be wrong. But leaders lead. Period.

The one thing for certain that indecision brings about is a lack of confidence. And it undermines authority. In technology, it pisses away lots of money while you’re burning cash to result in no positive outcome. You can also class such individuals as fence-sitters. Or possibly even as fickle. They change their mind constantly.

This is just a rant, I know. I just had to get it off my chest. I’ve been dealing with a particular account for months and I finally had to walk away today. I simply couldn’t take it any more. It’s no so much that I was inconvenienced by it all. I simply found the behavior to be lacking of any good and decent quality. In other words, it made me sick. But I really don’t hold the messenger accountable. I’m sure he had the same pungent taste in his own mouth.

End of rant…

With an increasing number of backup solutions available, I’d like ask a question. Why are so many people reluctant to backup their data?

I see this problem all the time. Even in corporate environments, where backup is pretty much mandated, people are reluctant to use the solutions. Some go out of their way to avoid mandated solutions. But really, how many of us have been bitten over the years about losing data because our system crashed?

The bottom line is there is almost no excuse for not backing up ones data on a fairly regular basis. Having said that, I’d like to actually list some cool ideas and why I wouldn’t rely on them.

1. Apple’s Time Machine: is really a pretty cool solution, for the most part. If you’ve never tried it, and own a Mac, you should. Having said that, the problem really isn’t in using it the first time. It’s the 2nd time and after that. About the best thing Time Machine is good for is when it comes to restoration of a Mac. It will capture and restore every little thing including cookies, passwords, etc. You don’t have to worry about re-installing all of your applications either.

   The reason I say it’s not so great the 2nd time is that depending on how much you actually have to backup, the time required to determine what has changed can be quite long. While the actual backup part can be quite fast, it’s this generation of a list that can be intolerable. I suppose it’s a small price to pay for the ability to restore everything so easily.

2. Dropbox: is currently a pretty hot item in the reviews. It’s a pure software widget that allows you to upload all of your files, share them with others and it’s dead simple to install and use. The service is also pretty cheap at just $9.99 per month for 50GB.

   The problem with the Dropbox solution is time. You have to have lots and lots of time depending on the speed of your internet access and how much data you really wish to backup online. If you are with a cable provider, you may not think twice about uploads. However, if you’re in select areas where AT&T DSL is your only option, you may be in deep kimchee. This has certainly been the case for several friends of mine who only have 384kbps upload capabilities. In this scenario, backing up 50GB of data can take almost a week.

   Even if upload speeds aren’t a problem, you may find a problem when it comes to restoration of your computer from an online backup. Imagine downloading your apps, data, settings, etc. just so you can get back to functional.

3. Then there are the hybrid solutions, which place a locally installed appliance to help mediate this whole process and to provide local restoration capabilities. The trade off with this approach is cost of the service and management of some extra hardware.

   So far, while I believe this is one of the best approaches, the key question in my mind is whether or not this is worth a premium monthly service. Just to illustrate the differences in prices, let’s compare the Dropbox service with service from someone like Barracuda Networks. If we take a look at the costs for backing up 50GB of storage, we’re looking at a tenfold difference– $0.20/GB to $2.00/GB.

   Some will argue that the additional costs are to subsidize the hardware that is deployed. And that may indeed be a fair argument for some. But I know in the case of Barracuda, they charge for their appliances. Even at a reduced rate, they’re by no means losing money. Still, despite the costs, they are clearly selling their offerings to corporate accounts.

So with these types of solutions, is backing up still just too much of a pain in the butt for you? Do any of these sound at all attractive?

I fundamentally believe that there is no real reason not to protect all of your data. But for whatever reason, backup is just not a very interesting application. Perhaps we don’t backup simply because in a disconnected world of laptops usage, there’s not enough to remind us to do such a simple task.