So I was flipping through popsci in the bathroom the other day (The only place I get any reading done) and they had this article that caught my attention about using a verizon wireless internet card along with some other equipment to make a mobile wifi hotspot in a backpack…

This is all nice and everything, but what good will it really do?

So someone will pick up a signal for about 10 seconds as you drive by their house? Or someone else will be able to browse the internet at your favorite no-wifi cafe until you decide to leave, then they’re stuck with no internet and in the middle of some project or picking up someone for a potential ‘hookup’ that evening. That’s plain cruel!

I guess it’s useful if you and a group of your friends want to sit out at the park or somewhere else that doesn’t have wifi – that way at least it’s being used and it’s more of a group decision when to cut it off and head home.

I still think a better alternative would be to approach the managment of that establishment and inform them of not only your desire to see wifi access there, but of the approximate costs involved and how to set it up. Even offer your assistance if they are interested. This way, not only are more places online and sharing their internet from a static location – it also saves you the $80-100 per month for the wireless card and service

I spent the day trying to finish the Houston Crime Statistics site that I started last weekend, and now have it online. I’m proud to announce the google-look-alike page that allows you to search crime stats near your address!

Houston Crime Stats

Now to go grab dinner and enjoy a fun evening of more Star Trek! Which reminds me, I need to post my NetFlix queue on here too… Ahh, another project for tomorrow.

-Kris

My eyes have been getting worse and worse, so I finally gave in and made an appointment to see the eye doctor and get glasses again. (I’ve known I needed them – I just never replaced the last ones I had) but it’s very interesting trying to see when your eyes are dilated. After she put in the drops, I went back out to the lobby to wait for it to take effect. After about 10 minutes I’m thinking “This isn’t working, I should be noticing something by now!” So I picked up a magazine to relieve some of my boredom, and to my surprise, it was all out of focus. Strain as I might, I was unable to make out all but the largest print and that was at arms length. Aparently I’m very far-sighted, so at a distance everything is in focus, but I have to strain to see up close.

With owl eyes like this, you can imagine how hard it was to focus on things. On a side note, this picture does a great job of showing the loss of pigment in the skin above my eye…

My eyes have started going back to normal now, after all I can at least half-way see in order to type this – I’ll blame my usual bad spelling and grammer on my bad eyesight today.

Now, to finish the Houston Crime Stats page I’ve been working on

I had heard about the Google Maps API, but have not had the chance to play with it until last weekend. It’s very easy to do, and fun to play with. But I was struggling to find a purpose for its use – until I came across the City Of Houston Crime Statistics data, which is free to the public.

After obtaining and processing the data from them to get it into a MySQL database, and geocoding as many of the addresses as possible (Houston’s streets are so confusing, even the police officers don’t know how to enter the correct street names and addresses) I’ve gotten a very basic working model of the crime stats linked to a map – so you can search for crime stats near your address for example.

When I get a few more bugs worked out, and a slightly more appealing interface for it, I’ll stick it online for anyone who’s interested to take a look at. Due to the addressing errors, geocoding takes out about 10% that can’t be matched to coordinates, but overall the result should be a semi-usable reference to crime stats based on geographical location.

Kris

So they tell me this is Wed, but it doesn’t feel like it.

Monday felt like Saturday, and I slept through most of yesterday… even though I was at work, I don’t remember much of it. I couldn’t go to bed early cuz I had laundry and watched Star Trek (Can’t stop watching Star Trek once you’re on a roll!)

This morning, after running over a curb and almost rear-ending someone because my mind was somewhere in lala land, I decided I needed coffee… So after almost being late, waiting 10 minutes in the lobby for one of the 2 elevators that are working today, I get my coffee.

For some reason, the water is about 10 times hotter today than usual (either that or I’m just impatient) so my caffine intake has been delayed for the last few minutes. Thus I am still not awake, and all the more irritated that I can’t drink my coffee!

On the bright side, my new phone should be here tomorrow and I have an eye doctor appt this weekend. Hopefully some good glasses will help me see what I’m doing and relieve some of the headaches I get from straining so much.

Speaking of the new phone… they shipped it Fedex 2 day on the 4th. Fedex shows it picked up on the 5th (Which is understandable) and delivering it by the 7th. If it’s 2 day, shouldn’t it be here by the end of the second day, not the third? They picked it up at 6am Tuesday in Ft. Worth, so they have all day Tues and all day Today… why couldn’t they have it here tonite?

In my opinion, 2-day service is actually 3-day service in this case!

Ahh well, my coffee has cooled down now, so I’m gonna see if that helps me get things going.