rawspot’s blog

I have always been a fan of The Prodigy and little did I know until about a week ago that a new album, Invaders Must Die, was released in March 2009.  After a week of listening to this album, I must say I enjoy it a lot.  My favorite album has always been The Fat of the Land until now.

On Invaders Must Die I hear sounds from both The Fat of the Land and Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned.  The tempo, beat, and sound vary between each song making the album very rich and not boring at all.

I highly recommend anyone who has enjoyed one, some, or all of their previous albums to take a listen.

I read this and laughed for a good five minutes.

Happy Friday!

Last summer when phone manufacturers were scrabbling to create a competitor to the iPhone, I got caught up in it and decided as a Sprint customer to get the Samsung Instinct.  I must say that after 9 months of owning the Instinct, I’m quite disturbed by the quality of the work that went into the phone.  I know there are much worse phones out there, but I feel the Instinct does not live up to the hype given to it prior to and during it’s launch.  The fact that many very useful features (such as a keyboard within Java applications) were not included on the device at launch and many other features of the phone just plain sucked (web browser).  I find it very humorous that Sprint is now including the Opera Mini web browser on the new Samsung Instinct m30 phone.  A clear sign that even after two browser updates, their own browser is not worth a damn and a third party browser is now included by default.

I now have another chance to grab Sprint’s next big device coming out.  The Palm Pre has the same hype and praise (if not more) as the Samsung Instinct did one year ago.  Will the phone be as well developed and convenient to use as Palm claims?  I guess we will find out before long.  I personally would love to see a device that will give Apple and the iPhone a good run.  So far the Palm Pre feature list is quite extensive.  I look forward to using their synergy system that links contacts, email, IM, and calendars from multiple sources into a single collection.  The multitasking “cards” look like a great way to use multiple features of the phone at the same time.  The idea of flicking through the “cards” and flicking them off screen to close the application seems to be a very nifty approach to quick navigation and access of resources.

For many months and still today, Palm nor Sprint have given a definate release date.  This has got under the nails of many who are anxiously awaiting the release.  I see this as good idea of Palm and Sprint.  Don’t release a product until you are done with its development and testing.  It was quite clear that Samsung and Sprint did not follow these guidelines when they released the Instinct.  I hope this was a lesson learned and problem not to be repeated with the Pre.

It feels so good to be home.  Christmas with my family in Portland was great.  I enjoyed the foot of snow even though I wish I could have gone out and finished my Christmas shopping and was not stuck at my parent’s house for most of the week.  It was nice seeing family I had not seen since last Christmas as well as finally meeting a cousin for the first time.

Flying out to Portland was not bad.  I had a 3 hour delay flying from Seattle to Portland due to the weather but got there still fairly early in the day.  Flying home on Sunday was not as fun.  I got thrown around from flight to flight due to mechnical failures and weather delays.  Two flights and 6 potential flight numbers later I finally made it back to Dallas just a tad under 6 hours late.  In all it could have been much worse.  In the various airports I got to wait in, I was able to meet many people who had experienced the much feared 2 to 3 days of sitting in an airport, sleeping on the ground waiting for a flight to their destination or next connection flight.

For a few hours I did fear my checked luggage had been lost.  What I found out once in Dallas is that my luggage made it to Dallas from Portland before I did and on a different carrier.  Why couldn’t I have been on those flights?  Lucky suitcase!

Well it’s that time of the year again.  I have a couple parties this weekend which should be quite entertaining and I’ll be going to Portland, Oregon next week to see some family I have not seen since last year.  I’m looking forward to visiting the Pacific Northwest again.  I must say I tend to enjoy myself being up there and meeting up with old friends when I can.  Weather predictions are showing it to be snowing when I get there, so that looks positive for a White Christmas and the not so positive flight delays associated with it.

I would like to wish everyone a Happy/Merry Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and so on and a safe New Year.

Remember: Don’t be like this jackass this holiday season.