The ByteMonkey Chronicles

Super Friends

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:26:00 +0000

Hunting for DC Universe Classics

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:52:00 +0000

Over the last week, I have become obsessed with collecting DC Universe Classics action figures. I've been running around town and visiting all the different stores to see what kind of figures they have.

To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what triggered this obsession. I just remembered waking up one morning and thinking that I needed to get them. Maybe I'm going through a second pre-mid-life crisis. Either that, or I am quickly going insane (which is probably what really is happening).

I'll post some pictures once I get them organized. I've been practicing my macro shots, so they should be somewhat interesting.

Losing to the Battery Man

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:27:00 +0000

Well, just as I predicted. My eBay fiasco has ended badly. The seller doesn't have the missing caps nor do they know where I can get them. They decided to give me a refund of $3 for my trouble. I demanded that they change their eBay descriptions to say that they do not include the missing end cap. They had no response to my request and I doubt they'll update them.

eBay Fails Me

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 07:33:00 +0000

Last week, I bought a replacement battery for one a laptop that I am fixing. In an effort to be thrifty, I decided to buy the battery from eBay which in hindsight was a dumb thing to do. Now, I'm stuck in customer service hell.

Normally, I have had issued with eBay sellers not shipping in a timely manner. This time, the shipping was quick, but the it was missing the end cap that snaps the battery into the case and prevents it from falling out. So, I contact the seller and tell them about this, and they tell me that the battery doesn't come with a cap. Annoyed, I took pictures and drew diagrams of what was missing and replied back to the seller. They then apologize and offered me $3 for inconveniencing me. Yes, they offered me $3 for selling me what is essentially a defective product. I ask if they would take it back and give me my money back. They said they would do minus a restocking fee and that I would have to pay for priority shipping for the return shipping, which cost as much as the battery. To say the least, I will not be doing a return.

I asked if they would sell me the missing part. At this point, I'm willing to pay for the missing part. They replied back asking me why I couldn't use the original end cap from he original battery. I couldn't do that because the laptop was already missing to begin with. The only way to get that part is to get a new battery. But it irks me that these people didn't answer my question. They just fired off their own questions to where I now have to fix their defective product with my own parts.

I'm still trying to figure out how to respond to them. I just know that this will drag on and I'll still end up losing. *sigh*

Ubuntu on Everything!

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 03:38:00 +0000

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been busy at work and a couple of side projects.

On a techie side note, I managed to successfully install Ubuntu on an "old world" beige PowermacG3 at work. It took me two weeks of tinkering to get it to work, but I actually did something that everyone around me said was a lost cause or a waste of time. I guess those people don't know how determined I can get when I have my mind set on something. So, what was essentially just a doorstop, is now a fully functional and useful Linux box.

That little adventure inspired me to put Linux on a couple of older machines that I keep for sentimental reasons. One of the laptops already had a different type of Linux on it but it didn't have a lot of applications that worked with it leaving me mostly frustrated with it. The other old laptop that ran Windows XP. It was having some major performance issue because the hard drive was starting to get really full from all updates that Microsoft keeps pumping out to correct their sloppy programming. Both laptops are doing pretty well under Ubuntu. In fact, I'm writing this post on the former WinXP box.

Using Linux, especially Ubuntu, is not scary or hard. In fact, it's insanely easy and it's very similar to what you're already familiar with. It's not some kind of "matrix" screen that some non-computer literate people think.

For me, running Ubuntu is like having all the protection and flexibility that Mac people brag about but without having to become a pretentious, tech-bling toting, douche-bag. Plus, I'm saving the environment by preventing these computers from ending up in some landfill. Can you say the same thing when you buy a computer? How many trees died to make the box, manuals, and advertising inserts? How much pollutants were released into the environment when you made all that new shiny parts of your new fancy computer?

Just because your computer is not the latest or greatest, or whether it has significantly slowed down from all the crapware you unknowingly picked up along the way, it doesn't mean that you have to chunk it and get a brand-new one. Do yourself a favor. Consider using Linux/Ubuntu to bring your computer back from a state of being obsolete and unlock it's true potential. Trust me. Your wallet and the environment will thank you.

Save a tree. Learn Linux.

New Life for an Older Netbook

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:15:00 +0000

One of the reasons that led me to replacing my Asus Eee PC 901 XP netbook for a newer model was because I was running out of hard drive space as Windows XP with all of its updates, kept on using up all the space of the minute 4GB SSD drive.

It reached a point where the whole device was unusable as kept asking to update and hitting an "out of space" error. Many times it would install updates halfway and get stuck as the system didn't have enough room to unpack the downloaded files.

For months, the netbook sat unused on my shelf. It wasn't until a few days ago that I decided to do something about it. I did some heavy on-line research and discovered that I could either reinstall a stream-lined version of WinXP or install a version of Linux that was designed for netbooks.

Already having too many Windows boxes on my netowrk, I decided to make an attempt to install Linux. On this path, I discovered that there were several versions of Linux that one could choose from. After reading various reviews, I decided that I would try Easy Peasy, formerly Eee PC Linux, which was designed specifically for Eee PC netbooks.

It didn't take that long to install the new OS on the device. Backing up my data actually took longer than the installation process. All in all, Easy Peasy has given my netbook a second chance at life. It is amazingly usable now and I'm am surprised at how stable it is. For the most part, this post was completely composed on it and that included picture processing.

So here's a pic of my older netbook running Easy Peasy

Slingers!

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:59:00 +0000

Here's a teaser for a possible show in 2011. Think of it as a mixture of Cowboy Bebop, Ocean's Eleven, and Firefly. I really hope it gets made.

SLINGERS from Mike Sizemore on Vimeo.

Cheat Sheet for Tech Support

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:30:00 +0000

http://xkcd.com/627/
I guess my secret is out. LOL.

Suddenly Poor

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:12:00 +0000

I'm suddenly feeling poor after some miscommunication between my doctor's office, my pharmacy, and my prescription insurance carrier. The carrier is not going to cover my new prescriptions because I just refilled my old prescriptions last week. Apparently, my carrier has some kind of monthly limit that I was not made aware of. Instead of normally paying $100, I have to pay $378 if I want to get my new medication.

Should I pay the pharmacy to get my pills and be broke? Or should I wait three weeks to resubmit my prescription, pay less but become sicker than I am now?

At this point, I'm going to have to return some Christmas gifts that I bought this morning. That should get me part of the money that I need.

Lion Voltron Disappointments

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:21:00 +0000

Today has been a day of disappointments.

After having a bad morning at the doctor's office (Is there really a good day at the doctor's office?), I spent most of the work day anticipating the arrival of what should have been a "Mint-In-Box" Trendmasters Lion Voltron that I had won on eBay. As I watched the tracking data plot it's course from one side of the country to where I lived, I was deliriously excited when it said it was on my front porch.

At first, I was impressed at the amount of packing material used by the seller. (I think a forest may have been cut down just to fill up the over-sized box). Later I realized that it was likely an attempt to hide something. When I opened the box, I noticed some big scratches and a couple of cracked pieces on the Black Lion. Then, I found that the tip of the Blue Lion's tail had been broken off. This was obviously not "Mint-In-Box." I've been a collector for a very long time and I can say that this Voltron is probably a "C5" or lower on the C Scale.

Lessons Learned: Ask lots of questions to the seller about an item and look at the pictures closely before making a bid. Don't hesitate to ask for more pictures or demand more details about an item especially if the item is pricey. Contact the seller and eBay if you feel you've been deceived. Beware of no return policies. (Unfortunately, my purchase had a no return policy)

All in all, this Voltron will be okay as a display piece although anyone with a functional eye will be able to see the broken parts. I'm considering putting this in my office since it's already damaged. At least I won't have to worry if my co-workers break it.

Below is a picture of the 1998 Trendmaster Voltron next to a 2009 Taiwanese LionBot. They're pretty much the same size with some stylistic differences. I'll write up an more in-depth review and comparison at a later date when I'm a little less pissed off about being scammed.

Vehicle Voltron Arrives

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:02:00 +0000

I wasn't expecting any packages today. So when I found a box on the porch, I was brimming with excitement. I knew it was going to be one of the giant robot figures that I ordered but I didn't know which one it was going to be.

This package apparently contained a 1982 Matchbox Vehicle Voltron. It's vintage and not a knock-off. Being more than 25 years old, I was not surprised at its condition. It has a lot of play wear and some parts were broken but it's overall in good condition. It's perfect for display as the figure will probably not hold up to any kind of heavy play.

Vintage Vehicle Voltron circa 1982

Twitter Addresses Problems (Spoof)

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:40:00 +0000

Time lapse video of Voltron Painting

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:51:00 +0000

The Quest for Voltron

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:03:00 +0000

In 1984, Voltron was introduced to the world, and eventually, thousands of children begged their parents for a Voltron robot for their birthday or Christmas.

I was not an exception to this phenomenon, but the reality was that my family couldn't afford the luxurious toy so I never actually owned one. Instead, my parents would take me and my brother to visit the toy at the department store while they did their shopping. I remember staring at the toy from behind the display case glass and imagined how awesome it would have been if I could own and hold the mighty robot my hands.

Some time later, the store on the street near my house actually had a Lion Voltron for sale. I remember that it was still very expensive, and I went to see it almost everyday after school for what seemed like months.

I remember going to the store with my friends and we would stare at it for hours through the store window. We bullshitted about who among us would be the ultimate owner of the toy. As it turned out, none of us would as our families could not afford them. As time marched on, our Voltron craze would be replaced by other childhood infatuations such as yo-yos, G.I. Joes, and BMX bikes.

As I grew up, I kept my eyes out for my chance to buy a Voltron robot but something always got in the way. Either, I didn't have enough money to buy one or the toy was just simply out of season and unavailable. I recall the last chance I had to get a Voltron was in 1994 and I missed it then because I had spent my money buying a CD player.

Eventually, the Internet would be created and web sites like eBay would make the quest for such hard to find collectables less epic. Despite being available online, Voltron still escaped my grasp since the prices of what people were selling them was way too high for a just anyone to buy.

And now that I have a decent job and this year being Voltron's 25th anniversary, I have decided to fulfill my childhood ream and purchase a Voltron figure. Now, I'm not sure how I will get it , but I made a promise to myself that this will be the definitive year.

Looking back, the yearning to own a Voltron robot never really died in me. For 25 years, it has been floating in my subconscious, influencing how I think, what I say, and sometimes what I do. This has been a hole in my soul for far too long and I truly intend to fill it with the real thing and not some kind of substitute.

My quest for Voltron helped me learn three things: 1.) You need to work hard to get what you want; 2.) There are things in this world that you can't have no matter how hard you work at it; 3.) Sometimes, life will give you a second (and sometimes a third) chance with things.

It may sound silly, but if I had a chance to find my long lost childhood friends, I would like to buy each one of them a Voltron robot. Sure, it's highly unlikely that this will ever happened, but one thing is for sure. At one point in time, a handful of kids in the poor section of the Philippines all had the same dream of owning a Voltron robot. This dream gave them something in common and brought them together in their friendship.

What about you? Do you have something that you wanted as a kid but never did get? It may sound foolish, but I hope you know it's not too late. Live your life without regrets!

What's Wrong with Halloween

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Foamy took the words right out of my mouth.

How To Survive a Bear Attack

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:13:00 +0000

How To Survive a Bear Attack on Howcast

Just in case you didn't know.

The C-Monkey

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:24:00 +0000

Here's a classic story I found in my archives:

A tourist walks into a pet shop in Redmond, WA and is browsing around the cages on display. While he's there, another customer walks in and says to the shopkeeper, "I'll have a C monkey, please."

The shopkeeper nods, goes over to a cage at the side of the shop and takes out a monkey. He fits a collar and leash and hands it to the customer, saying "That'll be $5000".

The customer pays and walks out with his monkey. Startled, the tourist goes over to the shopkeeper and says "That was a very expensive monkey - most of them are only a few hundred dollars. Why did it cost so much?"

"Ah, that monkey can program in C - very fast, tight code, no bugs, well worth the money."

The tourist looks at the monkey in another cage. "That one's even more expensive - $10,000 dollars! What does it do?"

"Oh, that one's a C++ monkey; it can manage object-oriented programming, Visual C++, even some Java, all the really useful stuff."

The tourist looks around for a little longer and sees a third monkey in a cage of its own; The price tag around its neck says $50,000. He gasps to the shopkeeper, "That one costs more than all the others put together! What on earth does it do?"

"Well, I haven't actually seen it do anything, but it says it's a contractor."

Credit Card Companies Gone Wild

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:13:00 +0000

This morning, I was reading the USA Today's web site and I read an article that has made me somewhat furious. Basically, the article explained that some credit card companies and banks may start to charge you a fee if you pay off your credit card completely each month or if you don't carry a balance from month to month. It's apparently their response to new legislation that will limit their ability to raise interest rates in February 2010.

This means that honest and hard working people, like me, who responsibly manage their credit and minimize their debt in order to get a good credit score are going to be penalized by the credit card companies. The article says that our only options against this is to complain and ask to have the fee removed, or to cancel your account which could have negative repercussions if you're dealing with a credit card that you've had for a long time.

Well, don't take my word for it. Here's a link to the article: http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2009-10-19-bank-of-america-card-fee_N.htm

Disrespected by a Weirdo

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:15:00 +0000

While eating lunch with my coworkers today, we encountered a weirdo who decided to loudly play her music from her laptop while she ate. For a while, she ate her salad without any utensils despite being on the table for her to use.

Now, I'm all for listening to music while your eating. I have found that that music sometimes helps with digestions, but do keep your music to yourself when you're dining out at a public restaurant. Some people, like me, just want to have a peaceful and relatively quite lunch break.

For God's sake, this is the exact reason why we invented headphones and ear buds so as to not bother other people with one's music. If you're reading this, Ms. Weirdo, please consider using them next time.

I'm not usually for picking on people, but this whole thing rubbed me the wrong way. I understand people's right for the pursuit of happiness, but your rights are now infringing on my rights. So now I have to invoke my right of expression to let you know that you're actions are irking the rest of the world.

Now, if you're mentally handicapped or neurologically damaged then I'll let you slide because those are the only two excuses I'll accept. If you're socially underdeveloped (or your momma didn't teach you no frakking manners), then perhaps you should get some psychological help. Maybe, you should consider getting a life coach, or maybe just consider getting take-out or delivery.

To sum up, keep your annoyingly loud weirdo music to yourself.

Adding Ringtones for LG Spyder II 840

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:07:00 +0000

If you're wondering how to add your own ringtones to the LG Spyder II 840, you'll need to realize that this phone doesn't use standard MP3s for ringtones.

The phone uses QCP files. Which means that you'll need to convert your MP3 ringtones to QCP which turned out to be quite simple because OCP files are basically the same thing as WAV files. So all you need to do is convert your MP3 ringtone to WAV file and then change file extension to QCP. After doing this, you can now load to your phone via an microSDHC card. Just remember to place the files in the "my_audios" folder and not the "my_music" folder on your memory card. Also, you'll discover from the phone prompts that you'll need to copy or move the QCP files to the phone's memory before you can assign them as ringtones.

If you were planning on using a MIDI file, then you shouldn't need to convert the file. The phone will recognize MIDI files just fine.

If you need a program to edit/convert your MP3s into WAV, then I recommend using Audacity. It's free and it works and did I mention FREE.

Overall, the instructions in this post has been tested to work on an LG Spyder II 840 that is offered by Cellular South. Other cellphone service providers may have added special blocks or placed other limitations to keep you from adding your own ringtones, but you're more than welcome to try my method to see if it works on your phone.

Leave me a comment if you find out if this method works or not for you. It might be useful for others who are trolling the web for information about this issue.

A Dog's Breakfast

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:53:00 +0000

A Dog's Breakfast was the first film written and directed by David Hewlett who most of Geekdom know as Dr. Rodney McKay from Stargate SG1 and Atlantis. The movie is about a guy named Patrick (played by Hewlett) who is having trouble dealing with sister Marilyn's (played by David's real-life siter Kate Hewlett) new tv star fiancé Paul(played by Paul McGillion who is best known as Dr. Beckett from SG Altantis). Also, Christopher Judge(Teal'c from SG1) and Rachel Luttrell(Teyla Emmagan from SG: Atlantis) are also in it.

So, if you like Stargate like me. This movie should be highly entertaining to you. For more information about this movie visit www.adogsbreakfastmovie.com. For the wiki entry for this movie, click here.

Optimus Prime does the Evolution of Dance

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:04:00 +0000

Virgin Mobile LG Rumor 2

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:32:00 +0000

It looks I'm going through a LG Electronics phase.

After upgrading my primary post paid mobile phone to the LG Sypder II 840, I decided that it was also time to upgrade my backup prepaid mobile phone which has become quite outdated. (I did buy the thing back during in 2004 during Hurricane Ivan).

So, armed with a little info from @VMAngel, I decided to grab the LG Rumor2 from Virgin Mobile. As you can see from the picture, it's one of those full QWERTY keyboard messaging mobile phones. The main feature on this phone is it's ability to group your text messages by sender and display it much like an online chat session.

The phone call quality is pretty decent and messaging features are pretty cool. It supports MicroSD cards and Bluetooth. It has a 1.3 megapixel camera for picture messaging which is perfect for photoblogging.

Overall, I love the LG Rumor 2 as much as I love my LG Spyder II. Visit the Virgin Mobile web site if you want more details about this phone.

PhotoSketch: Doom for Graphic Designers?

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 04:13:00 +0000

PhotoSketch: Internet Image Montage from Tao Chen on Vimeo.

Remember how document layout designers and type setters got pissed when desktop publishing empowered untalented people the ability to create their own crappy documents? Well, it's the graphic artists', designers', and Photoshop masters' turn to gripe. Look at this video which describes a very early technology that promises to let allow anyone to create digital compositions based on sketches and keywords.

Piano Stairs

byte@byte-monkey.com (ByteMonkey) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 03:45:00 +0000

See more funny videos and Technology Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Here's a social experiment to see if there was a way to make people use the stairs more than the escalator at a subway station in Odenplan, Stockholm (Sweden). See what they did and what happened.