fireMEN or fireBOYS

I live in a very rural area and outside of my hometown, there are miles of back country roads that have fallen into severe disrepair...more so this year than in the past. The people of my community have had a couple meetings with the township road crew voicing their concerns & complaints over the road conditions.

Our town's fire dept. (volunteer) in recent years has become comprised of some very young guys with very differing attitudes from the firemen of our past. They hold a sense of entitlement & a desire for attention and recognition. I call these types of people glory hounds. You see, I don't care how important of a service you provide a community, wrong is wrong no matter who you are.

They've recently announced that they've been instructed, by their fire chief (who himself is fairly young & a newly appointed chief) not to drive fast on these rough country roads when responding to a call. I have a problem with that, a BIG problem. Someone's house is burning or worse case scenario, a life is at risk, and you tell me you're not going to respond as fast as you can because you don't want to drive over bumps & potholes? There are times in a fire or accident when seconds could be the difference between life & death and their decision to slow down their response could mean death for the victim. Apparently they're willing & able to live with that with no remorse. Personally, it disgusts me.

Another problem I have with this is that it seems no one else has a problem with it. Everyone is too concerned about getting their road fixed and using the firemen as an excuse to prove the roads are in horrible condition to notice that our firemen (I use that term loosely) announced that they will no longer be performing their duty to their fullest abilities.

Don't send a boy to do a man's job.

Guess the doodad

I was surfing around last night and happened across a site with instructions for what I hope to be a useful little DIY doodad.

Can you guess what it's made from? It's something almost everyone has laying around the house...a paperclip.





Can you guess what it's for?

I can't say that I watch a lot of movies or videos on my iPhone, but I'm hoping this little stand works for taking photos. I'm trying out a new time lapse photography app and hoping the stand comes in handy.

I made this one today with very little time & effort. As you can see, it works with an iPhone 4 and also worked with my case ON too. I bring that up because the blog post below is over 2 yrs. old and the person is using an iPhone 3G/3GS.

It's cheap, it's easy and it works. Here are detailed instructions on how to make one yourself. iPhone paperclip stand

French Star Wars

What do you get when you cross a video of a few pissed off, old French guys with a Star Wars nerd who has some video editing skills?

Pinecone Research

Join the PineCone Panel and get paid $3 for each product survey plus entry in sweepstakes to win additional cash prizes.

PineCone Research is a free survey-taking panel that pays you $3 via PayPal for every survey you complete. On average, I get around 3-5 surveys from PineCone each month.

I've even gotten a few product trials through them. If you're unfamiliar with product trials, if you qualify, you'll be sent a new product not yet on the market. You try the product yourself then PineCone will send you an additional survey to review the product. For example, I've done product trials on Trident Layers gum before it was sold in stores as well as one of the Tyson Anytizer chicken nuggets products. You get paid for the initial survey in addition to trying the product.

PineCone doesn't offer an incentive program for referring new members, so this doesn't benefit me in any way. It's just a simple way to make a few extra bucks and maybe even try out some new products once in a while. A PayPal account is required in order to join & receive payment.

Per PineCone: REMEMBER THAT ONLY ONE PERSON PER HOUSEHOLD MAY REGISTER. Multiple registrations of the same Household will void all registrations.

Sign up for PineCone Research here

Reasons NOT to buy the Verizon iPhone

I'm an iPhone 4 owner through AT&T. I've been with them for 3 years now and regardless of all the flack they take, I'm quite satisfied. Their service in my rural area beats Verizon and will only get better with the addition of a new tower in my hometown (hopefully to be completed this summer). The iPhone 4 is my first iPhone, my first Apple product period (so you can't call me an "Apple Fanboy"). I think it's a great phone, does everything I need & more, and is easy to use. I've messed around with a couple Android phones and to be honest, I just don't care for the user interface. I'm happy with iPhone and unless Steve Jobs & Apple do something to turn me off to it, I can see myself owning more in the future.

But what about the Verizon iPhone? Are you considering buying one but still up in the air whether to go through with it or not? Here's a few things you may want to consider...

1) Current iPhone's are 3G phones, meaning they are not yet capable of working on any of the "4G" networks carriers are introducing. Rumor has it that Apple won't make a 4G capable iPhone until 2012. So if you're looking to take advantage of 4G service now, the Verizon iPhone 4 isn't for you. Keep in mind, though, that Verizon's LTE network (what they consider 4G) is only currently available in select major cities.

2) Verizon's 3G service is slower than AT&T's 3G service. It's not just an ad gimmick, when AT&T claims to be the "fastest 3G service nationwide," they're speaking the truth. Preliminary tests with the Verizon iPhone prove that while surfing the net using their 3G service, they are considerably slower than its AT&T counterpart.

3) With Verizon, you are still unable to talk & surf the web at the same time like you can on AT&T. This is because the current 3G network Verizon uses (CDMA) is unable to transmit both voice & data at the same time from your phone. This will be remedied with their LTE (4G) service, but again, the iPhone is not a 4G capable phone...yet. The ability to talk & surf at the same time is actually quite handy. I've come across plenty of times when I was talking to friends or family and wanted to look something up during the conversation. But if it's something you don't think you'll need, then it's not a concern.

4) Last, but probably not least, is the iPhone 5 (whatever it may be officially named). Since 2007, Apple has released a new iPhone every summer. This year will probably be no different, with the exception that not only will it release on AT&T's network, but Verizon's as well. So if you want to wait and see what the latest & greatest iPhone will be, it's a good idea not to buy the iPhone 4 now and rope yourself into a contract.

These are a few things the savvy shopper should consider if you're still thinking about going out & buying the iPhone 4 for Verizon. Weigh the pros & cons because remember, you'll be stuck with it for 2 years.