Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

I've been watching a lot of ST:DS9 lately and I must say, it's really good.  It's not the same as ST:TNG, less exploration, but I really like the storyline that presents the Dominion as a lurking threat throughout all the seasons.  It's almost more like Babylon 5 than Star Trek.  It's one of the things that I always thought was missing from TNG.  The Borg was there but it didn't pay off as I'd hoped.

The first few seasons of DS9 let you get to know the characters, understand their relationships and grow to care for them, but after season 4 though, the series really heats up with the threat of open war.  I'm on to season 6 now!  I also think it's so great to have a diverse cast of lead characters.  Worf, Sisko, Dax, Quark, Odo and Kira, Dukat, all are great.  Can't wait to see how this all plays out.

I'm eyeing the next series to see, and though I've got ST: Voyager and others in the watchlist, I think I'll be diving into The Wire next.  I mean, it's only one of the best series ever, right?

TEP Wireless Hotspot

I had a recent business trip to Europe and needed internet access for email, texting via Google Voice, maps, Whatsapp, etc.  At first I tried to add it to my prepaid plan, but my plan is so cheap that it doesn't even qualify for the option to add international data and texting, even for a short period. 

Enter Tep Wireless.  The process was pretty simple and I rented it for a week.  About 3 days before my scheduled trip, I received it in the mail and fired it up and was able to connect my phone to it directly.  The hotspot was set to work in Europe, so it had no internet yet at my home until it was activated for the first day of my trip.  The package also came with an envelope to send back the hotspot when I returned home.

Pleasant surprise: The hotspot itself came in with a charger that is built with an international power plug adapter with a plug in port and a USB-out to charge the hotspot.  This came in quite handy at the hotel to plug in the work laptop.

Coverage: For the most part, data access was decently quick, ~11Mbps download, and worked in most of the places I went, certain dead zones appeared as would any mobile device would see.  Everything that I needed to work, worked.  There was a few hours where the hotel wifi wasn't working, but I was able to use Whatsapp and video call the family with the Tep hotspot without any significant slowdown or issue.  Color me quite satisfied.

Battery life: depends a little on your data use, but after about 6 hrs of moderate use the device went from 100% -> 30%.  I had my Anker Powerbank with me to charge it back and keep me connected through my workday without any problems.  When charging and using data, the device could get pretty warm, as expected.

Price: At about $9/day, the price is pretty reasonable, especially if you travel with multiple people with many devices (phone, tablet, etc).

One drawback that I noticed, the hotspot is a little slow to boot up.  Meaning, it will take a minute or two to turn on, boot up, find connection, and connect your devices.  Once I realized this, I opted to keep it on most of the time and have it connected to the power bank to charge periodically rather than deal with the wait to start it up.

Overall, this device is pretty good for travel, especially if you have multiple devices to connect and would rather not pay for adding international text and data to your cell phone plan.  I would definitely look into using this again, even for personal use.

Favorite Chips

Was musing the other day about the various salty chips/snacks that I like and came up with this list. These are my top 5.

• Doritos Spicy Nacho
• Lay's Sour Cream and Onion
• Tim's Hawaiian Sweet Maui Onion
• Ruffles All Dressed (Canadian version)
• Cape Cod Original

Fitbit Charge HR

After about a year and a half since getting a Fitbit Charge HR, the fitness tracker has given up.  I received it as a Christmas present, and was pretty happy with it.  Steps tracking was fine, HR monitoring was usually high by 10-15% but not a big deal.  Good community, I enjoyed getting cheers or taunts from my friends who also had Fitbits.  The integration with other apps is good too!

That is, until the last 6 months, when a bubbling issue in the band crept up.  My fault for not immediately contacting Fitbit about it, but my 1 year warranty lapsed before I could contact them for a replacement.  Now I know from the forums that it is a known, repeatable issue.  What I didn't know is that the bubbling would later become catastrophic for the device.  I figured I could live with it.

The band itself is attached to the tracker plastic, maybe with an adhesive.  The band is a rubber material that will expand gradually over time, with heat and exposure to daily use.  Thus, the bubbling is an inevitable occurrence.  Bad design choice.

A few weeks ago, the band had release almost entirely, revealing a slightly cracked plastic interior body of the tracker.  Bad.  Weirdly, I did not see any adhesive or cohesive failure on the widest part of the band, where more glue would have definitely helped.  Bad.  Then, last week, the last vestige of connection between the band and tracker gave up.  Again, no obvious adhesive/cohesive failure from epoxy.  Did Fitbit just press the band to the tracker together thinking this would work and last?

I tried to fix it all with Krazy Glue, which adhered the band and plastic exterior of the tracker just fine, until a day and half later where the plastic interior portion (previously cracked) also broke.

The plastic body was also attached to the PCB, see above.  Broken plastic, bent PCB, broken tracker. Wouldn't even Charge anymore.  All in all, $130 worth of Fitbit Charge HR fitness tracker is pretty much dead.  Sadly, a poor purchase choice, wish these issues were something that could've been mentioned in the review articles that I read, but long-term use is rarely a topic.  Lesson learned, check the forums for a gadget ahead of time before deciding to purchase.  This doesn't work if you're an early adopter though (which I was not.)

Looking at the Charge 2, I see similar design and would definitely not pick one up.  Would not recommend.

Initially, I'd give this 4/5 stars for the community and software integration, but with these hardware issues, I'd have to say, 1/5 because reliability and longevity have to be considerations for an item >$100.  This thing didn't even last as long as a phone.

Ready, Player One

I just finished this book, and I can say it's tons of fun.  It's an easy read, and the reviews do tell you everything you need to know to get into it.  I like the sense of adventure and virtual reality, and all the pop culture references, especially given that we're seeing more and more VR/AR nowadays.  It has some interesting commentary about the way things are in this world, and even offers a believable, if a little scary, future.

Some of the references to pop culture in the 80s were lost on me, but that doesn't really take away from the sense of fun in the book.  Many of the games are also too old for me to have any real experience playing them, whatever, this is fun.

Definitely worth reading.  5 out of 5.

Warriors Game 5

I will never forget Warriors-Cavaliers Game 5.  You see, normally, Little Ender doesn't let me watch these games, because if the TV is on, it's usually for his Youtube videos, or Daniel Tiger, or Thomas the Train.  I usually ask, "Can Daddy watch the game?"  LE will say, "No! I watch...(insert kid show.)"

Except this time, midway through the first quarter, Warriors down 6, I asked, "Can Daddy watch the game?"  LE, "Yes!"  Then he grabbed my hand, pulled me to the couch and I turned on the game.  LE said, "We clap?" and I said, "Yes!"  Now that I think about it, he probably remembered watching the thrilling last 5 minutes of Game 3 with me a few days ago, and enjoyed all the screaming and yelling that we were doing for that one.

Then we watched.  With every Warrior bucket, I clapped, or cheered, and this made LE clap and cheer with me.  We developed a little routine, big bucket, "yay!" and claps, high ten, and a hug. Gradually the Warriors made their run in the 2nd quarter, and LE followed his routine with the whole family.  It was fantastic.  He was jumping up and down and screaming "yay!"

He probably won't remember seeing any of these finals, just like he won't remember watching Madison Bumgarner and his epic World Series performance a couple years ago, or the Warriors first title run, but maybe he'll remember the feeling of excitement, of shared joy.  More of those please.

Go Dubs!

ST: TNG Measure of a Man

As I continue to plow through ST: TNG episodes, much of the 1st and 2nd season are new to me.  I got to say, "Measure of a Man" is one of my favorite episodes.  Maybe it's the technological advances in AI in recent years; how far away are we from an android like Data, centuries, decades?  Will we even last that long?  Maybe it's the political climate and our orange god emperor, who doesn't even remember the context of the Civil War, but this episode gave me the feels.  This interaction between Picard and Guinan that was the impetus for Picard's defense was great.  Whoopi was fantastic.

"Consider that in the history of many worlds there have always been disposable creatures. They do the dirty work. They do the work that no one else wants to do, because it's too difficult or too hazardous. And an army of Datas, all disposable? You don't have to think about their welfare; you don't think about how they feel. Whole generations of disposable people."
"You're talking about slavery."
"I think that's a little harsh."
"I don't think that's a little harsh, I think that's the truth. But that's a truth that we have obscured behind a... comfortable, easy euphemism. 'Property'. But that's not the issue at all, is it?"
- Guinan and Picard

This episode is about identifying the worth of an android, meanwhile, we are still struggling with attaching worth to actual humans.