Friday, December 11, 2009

Asus EEE 1005HA review Pt 3

So far I've had the 1005HA for about a month and I am pleased with it after the initial power supply problem. The replacement power supply is holding up very well though sometimes I find that it and the netbook get pretty warm. I've left XP on the system though I am being careful with what sites I visit. I've tossed a bunch of my tools such as Groovy, IntelliJ (I'm real happy with the 8.1 IntelliJ editor on Linux and Windows - woo-hoo, 9.0 was just announced). The primary use of the netbook has been browsing the internet, reading my books, a little multimedia and light application use. Video is choppy but that happens on all my machines so it's probably an access problem (too much latency?). Over all I am very pleased with the unit. The battery really does last a long time (6+ hours) when put into the correct mode. Hopefully I won't need to have any service done in it as that seems to be Asus's weak point.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

And life goes on ...

No, no one in my life has died but I've been very busy. In August I finished my BS degree and my employer has informed me that I need more which means a MS. Basically they want more of an engineering degree with 16 university level math credits, at least 8 science credits and a curriculum that has that as a pre-requisite. I'm looking at Pace University and NJIT. I like what I see with NJIT and I'll be attending a Graduate Open House there in a week. In addition to putting me in the whole for an addition $40K I need to get 8 additional math credits (Calc III and Statistics and 8 science credits to replace my college level course). I'll need to study for the Graduate Placement Exam which I should pass but I am nervous about. I may also need to review the GRE. Overall I am excited about learning.

I have been busy riding my bike. I've actually written several blog entries but I never posted them. The new Giant TCR Advanced frame is fantastic! I've slowed a bit because my ribs still hurt at various times. I think I cracked a few rib and maybe my shoulder. They really get sore with weather changes but are fine the rest of the time. I've been using my lighting system to get out and ride. It's fun riding at night but it's a bit hard to find low traffic areas to ride in.

Lastly, I've had my first experience with bad internet business service from Nostalgia Films (www.nostalgiafilms.com). I will never do any business with them ever again! Since October 31st I've attempted to contact them about an order I've placed. I have not received it and I have not received any reply to any of my emails (I've tried 3 different email addresses). They claimed to have filled the order pretty fast but that was the last I've heard from them. They use Yahoo Store to accept orders but I've been unable to issue a complaint to Yahoo Store also. So I won't be doing business with any more Yahoo Store businesses either (what good are they, they provide for reassurance). So if you are interested in doing business with Nostalgia Films I recommend you don't.