Hello there

A friend of mine texted me today and said that she was interested in starting a blog because she wanted to write, and asked if I knew where she should begin. So I gave her a few options and, as I type this, she is currently creating a home.
But her enthusiasm reminded me that, once again, I have neglected my own blog. For clarification, I do still write, and create, but my last post for public consumption was June 2011. Thats 7 months ago. No delusions from me though, the "public" is not demanding I change my ways either, although I still get the regular visit from various people around the world. Literally.
Just an opinion, or a theory, but I think my apathy towards my blog can be traced to the rise of Facebook and then followed by Twitter. Everyone was blogging without even realizing it. Including me.

But, Ill hop back on this horse, and see how far we ride this time.

So, Ill see you again next year.

Wait! No! Thats not what I meant! Dammit!!!

10 years - part 2

So today marks 10 years. Seems like yesterday, seems like forever.

Miss you Mom. :(

10 years

Happy Mothers Day Mom... miss you :(

Life Of A Battery: Intermission

Well, today was the day when I expected to start Part 3 of the battery test, but we seem to have run into a little problem: the new battery hasnt shown up yet.

I ordered it from Amazon on January 6th and this is what the tracking information shows:

January 6th: Arrived in St Louis, MO at 11:06pm

January 7th: Departed St Louis, MO at 8:07am

Estimated arrival date: January 11th

Thats it.

Today is January 12th and not only do I not have the new battery, but if the tracking information is to be believed, nobody else has had possession of it since the 7th.

Amazon, you have some 'splainin to do.

-- S --

Update #1: As I was typing all of them previous words, my battery "officially" arrived in Chula Vista. So...

January 12th: Arrived in Chula Vista, CA at 8:25am

Even though its sitting at the post office that literally touches my back yard, Im going to have to wait at least a couple more hours until the mail dude drops it off.

Update #2: Went to get lunch, came home and the battery was waiting for me on my doorstep. Currently charging, my fingers are crossed

-- S --

Life of a battery: Part 2

Me again --

Today is my day off, so I woke up a little later than normal, so instead of unplugging my phone at 5:00am, I unplugged it at 6:30am. So, adjusting for the extra hour and a half, I shall stop my test at 7:30pm. Or 9% battery, whichever comes first.

6:30am to 7:30am I sent/received 1 text.

Battery is at 93%

7:30am to 8:30am I sent/received 4 texts

Battery is at 80%

8:30am to 9:30am I sent/received 38 texts

Battery is at 60%

9:30am to 10:30am I sent/received 37 texts

Battery is at 33%

10:30am to 11:30am I sent/received 28 texts, and made 1 phone call that lasted 1 minute

Battery is at 15% and it JUST yelled at me to recharge it

At this point, Im gonna guess I wont be making it to 7:30pm. So, it looks like 9% battery will be the end point for this test. Guessing that will be pretty soon.

11:30am to 11:50am I sent/received 8 more texts

Battery hit the magic 9% life mark, so we can officially end this test and do a recap.

Over the course of 5 hours and 20 minutes, I sent/received 116 texts and made 1 phone call. I had no apps running, did not surf the net, played no games, had nothing running in the background, took no pictures, nothing. Again, a very rough estimate is that my battery went down 1% for every text message sent. Thats absurd!

As a direct result of these two tests, I ordered an extended battery for my phone. It came to $53 and included free shipping, and based on numerous reviews, its supposed to ridiculously increase my ability to use my phone, even with heavy usage. Some reviewers have been getting DAYS out of the battery, which is amazing, because at this point I cant really do anything with my phone because the battery tanks so quickly.

Once the new battery arrives, I will be doing a Part 3 to this. Id say a week for the battery to arrive, another week-ish of usage, and then Ill post another update.

-- DBW --

Life of a battery: Part 2

Me again --

Today is my day off, so I woke up a little later than normal, so instead of unplugging my phone at 5:am, I unplugged it at 6:30am. So, adjusting for the extra hour and a half, I shall stop my test at 7:30pm.

6:30am to 7:30am I sent/received 1 text.

Battery is at 93%

7:30am to 8:30am I sent/received 4 texts

Battery is at 80%

8:30am to 9:30am I sent/received 38 texts

Battery is at 60%

9:30am to 10:30am I sent/received 37 texts

Battery is at 33%

10:30am to 11:30am I sent/received 28 texts, and made 1 phone call that lasted 1 minute

Battery is at 15% and it JUST yelled at me to recharge it

At this point, Id call the test complete, but in Part 1 I ended the test with 9% battery, so Ill continue until I reach that number as well.

From 11:30am until 11:50am I sent/received 8 more texts and hit the magic 9% battery life mark. So we can officially end this test and do a recap.

Over the course of 5 hours and 20 minutes, I sent/received 116 texts and made 1 phone call. I had no apps running, did not surf the net, played no games, had nothing running in the background, took no pictures, nothing. Again, a very rough estimate is that my battery went down 1% for every text message sent. Thats absurd!

As a direct result of these two tests, I ordered an extended battery for my phone. It came to $53 and included free shipping, and based on numerous reviews, its supposed to ridiculously increase my ability to use my phone, even with heavy usage. Some reviewers have been getting DAYS out of the battery, which is amazing, because at this point I cant really do anything with my phone because the battery tanks so quickly.

Once the new battery arrives, I will be doing a Part 3 to this. Id say a week for the battery to arrive, another week-ish of usage, and then Ill post another update.

-- DBW --

Life of a battery: Part 1

Hola --

I have a Droid, its Incredible. Ha! Little joke there. Anywho, whats not so "Incredible" about my Droid is its battery. Basically I get 12 hours out of it before it starts yelling at me to charge it. Thats ridiculous considering 99% of my phone usage is just for texts. I cant even imagine how quickly my battery would drain if I did other stuff, like music, navigation, or... gasp... making phone calls.

To show you what I mean, I will give you a recap of my days phone usage, so you can see exactly what I mean.

5:05am - unplugged my phone from the charger and left the house for work, arriving at 5:20am.

During that time my phone went from 100% charge to 97% and all I did was ride to work. My phone was not "in use" at all.

From 5:30am until 10:30am I sent or received 3 text messages

During that time, my battery dropped to 78% - again, nothing else was in use on my phone.

I went to lunch at 10:30am and got back at 11:15am. During that time I sent/received 18 text messages, nothing else.

My battery dropped to 64%

From 11:15am until 2:10pm I was working and didnt do anything with my phone.

My battery dropped to 55%

I left work at 2:30pm got home at 3:00pm, not using my phone once.

My battery dropped to 49%

From 3:00pm until 4:00pm I sent/received 38 texts and 1 picture.

My battery dropped to 33%

From 4:00pm until 5:00pm I sent/received 12 texts.

My battery dropped to 20%

From 5:00pm until 6:00pm I sent/received 17 texts.

It is now 6:05pm and my battery is at 9%

So a quick recap, over the course of 13 hours today I sent/received 88 text messages and 1 picture and lost 91% of my battery. Thats slightly more that 1% of battery life per text message. Ridiculous!!!

I JUST went into my phones settings and checked to see if I had any programs running, and I didnt. But I did notice I had the "applications can send data at anytime" box checked. Unchecking that supposedly extends battery life, so I will try to conduct another test tomorrow and see just how much my battery improves.

To be continued.....

-- DBW --