The Daily Tangent

Taken with instagram

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 22:51:00 -0400

Taken with instagram

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 22:49:45 -0400

Taken with instagram

Moments before the cat strikes.

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:08:27 -0400

Moments before the cat strikes.

Photo

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 19:05:17 -0400

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Thu, 24 Mar 2011 19:04:29 -0400

FYI: This exact same thing is true at Otters Hockey games (or at...

Sat, 08 Jan 2011 16:18:03 -0500

FYI: This exact same thing is true at Otters Hockey games (or at least was in years previous, haven’t been yet this year).

Verizon Dry Loop update.

Sat, 08 Jan 2011 16:07:11 -0500

I have successfully transferred over from a roughly $40 phone bill to a $9.99/month plan.

I never even had to talk to Verizon, by Jan. 6th my number was succesfully transferred and I still have my old number.

Call quality is excellent, no one knows it’s VOIP.

Now, I didn’t get away scot free. Blasted Verizon is no dummy and saw my dry loop maneuvers coming and decided to raise my DSL rates from $36/month to $45/month for their “dry loop plan”. Meh. Whatever, still a huge savings.

Now debating the switch to a different DSL provider but I’ll save that for later.

Dry Loopin' DSL and switching to Vonage.

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 13:31:00 -0500

I’m feeling gutsy with the new year approaching and have decided to attempt a covert operation on Verizon.

I’ve been a slave to mama bell since forever, shelling out about $40 a month for a landline (my friends laugh when they learn I still have one, some call it out of novelty). I also give them about $35 for DSL.

I always thought my home phone was a monkey I couldn’t shed off my back because of my DSL internet. They want you to think a home phone is required for this gateway to the interwebs known as DSL.

However, that same very interwebs tells me that since I pay both bills separately, I should have an easy time at converting to what they call a “dry loop” or “naked” DSL configuration. I guess not everyone can do dry loop but I can, there are sites that can pre-qualify you if you want to check yourself (see below for extreme dsl link).

Given that my accounts are indeed separate and not part of any bundled nastiness *and* I’ve been out of contract with Verizon for a few years now (paying about $4 more than you contracted folks) all I think I need to do to go “naked” is sign up at Vonage and have them switch my current phone number.

Just like when you transfer a cell phone number from carrier to carrier, your new carrier will do the nasty job of contacting your old carrier to cancel. So Vonage is currently attempting to cancel Verizon for me and get my number switched over.

At that point my DSL *should* continue to work (hope, hope, hope) and I will essentially have completed a dry loop DSL connection with very little effort.

If there’s any interest I can update this blog with how it works out.

I went from $40ish a month down to a $9.99 plan and got to keep my number (at least until the 814 goes kaput).

The next brave attempt may be to fully dispose myself of Verizon and attempt a “takeover” via Extreme DSL or another dry loop DSL provider. What I pay about $35 for a month Extreme DSL wants to give me for $25. By the way, you can use their “qualify” tool on the site to see if your DSL will qualify for dry loop or not.

Edit: Working so far! Bwaaaahaaaahaaaahaaaa!

Google Voice Leaves Beta, Now Open to Everyone

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:17:10 -0400

I’ve been using this service for well over a year now and I LOVE IT.

It just recently went “live” and you can now sign up without any invite required. Go and claim your new local number!

There was a real shortage of LOCAL ERIE area numbers in the past but no longer… there is a bevy of 314 numbers available that are a local dial for most Erie County residents.

I used to have an odd 732 number for my business but now proudly sport (814) 314-WEBS which you can call and reach Erie Simple Sites.

Do you need a website or other technology for your small business? Feel free to reach out to me, I’ve got tons of ideas like using Google Voice that can help you accelerate your business on the cheap!

Warning: GoErie.com is also with the h4x0rz shakes head

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:17:14 -0400

Jeeesh. I’m not even surfing the web that much today and Chrome is again trying to save my skin (thanks Google!).

This time it’s GoErie and their obituaries. That is the only portion of the site showing any ill effects.

This is an illustration of what can happen when you “farm out” parts of your site. The obituaries for GoErie are actually powered by Legacy.com (http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/erietimesnews/), I wager other news agencies leveraging Legacy for their obits are getting the same warnings out of Google Chrome and other “aware” browsers.

Want a malware free site for your business that’s affordable? Check out my services and prices at ErieSimpleSites.com.

Warning: GlobalErie.com is the h4x0rz...

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:34:36 -0400

Lookin’ like GlobalErie.com might need to check their comments and other commonly injected areas for some nastybits.

Report from Google Safe Browsing doesn’t sound too awful, and it’s definitely not intentional. Some less than decent folks are injecting potentially bad scripts into GlobalErie without their consent.

Need a website for your business that doesn’t suck? Check out my locally owned and operated ErieSimpleSites.com…

Local Review: Uptown Browns for Pizza

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 22:06:51 -0400

Girlfriend and I tried out Uptown Brown’s tonight after she read the great review on GoErie.com by Andrew Kochirka.

Lived up to his description, we had a great meal. Andrew was also spot on in my opinion on Mama Mia’s Pizza on Peach too.

We got both the chicken bacon ranch and the philly style pizza’s, both were great. Service was good, one of the owners stopped over and chatted with us. Very welcoming atmosphere!

Recommended, we’re gonna go back for sure, they have daily specials and a decent website (tough to find though). The owner recommended the pepperoni pizza, she says it’s top notch and that she gets the pepperoni from out of town… no further excuse needed for us to get there again soon!

Uptown Browns

264 East 30th Street
Erie, PA 16504-1020
(814) 455-8696

Have FirstEnergy electric? Get some free stuff!!

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:59:29 -0400

Have FirstEnergy electric? Get some free stuff!!:

If you participate in the Home Energy Analyzer over at First Energy’s website they will send you a “Energy Conservation Kit”.

I didn’t even realize that you got bonus gifts and did the survey last month just on a whim… When I returned home from a business trip I found a box on my porch about the size of a beagle.

Inside were 2 (two!) power strips which feature that cool “master power” plug that will turn off all the other devices attached to the strip. Several (like 8) compact fluorescent light bulbs, two LED motion-detecting night lights, and last but not least 3 low flow faucet taps.

To ship all that crap to my house must’ve at least cost them $7-10 bucks!

The LED night lights are really cool too (it’s this exact model). They have a both a motion detector and a light sensor in them so they only turn on at night and only when someone is in the room walking around… The packaging states that they’ll cost about $0.25 a YEAR to run and have a lifetime warranty on the bulb.

Where to learn about the politicians...?

Mon, 17 May 2010 17:14:19 -0400

So I would like to vote tomorrow but have little to no opinion on these PA candidates. Anyone recommend a good unbiased site to easily digest each candidates platform? I tried factcheck.org but after two seconds of looking didn’t find what I wanted.

Any strong opinions out there?

YourErie.com fixes their menu system!

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:23:01 -0400

ZOMG.

YourErie doesn’t explode all over my Chrome browser anymore. Still a clunky relic of 2002 but it works a little better now!

Desktop organization succeed

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:19:50 -0400

Desktop organization succeed:

Awesome.

Millcreek Township Website is Down

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:14:00 -0400

Ruh-oh… someone wanna tell Millcreek that the site is down?

I can only hope it’s down for good cause, like a redesign.. current site kinda blows chunks.

BTW, still have gotten ZERO response on my question about Google Fiber from both the City of Erie or any Millcreek supervisor. Way to be responsive to your citizens!

Google Fiber for Erie: Day Three, no gov't response.

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:31:07 -0500

Not much to say. Day three since sending off e-mails to local gov’ts with no response.

Google Fiber for Erie: Day Two, no gov't response.

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:08:00 -0500

Well it’s been a little more than 24 hours since I dropped an e-mail off to the City of Erie via their website, Erie Regional Chamber, and e-mails to every Millcreek Supervisor.

Local Gov’t: 0

Erie Regional Chamber: 1

Kudos to the Erie Regional Chamber who responded within minutes and informed me that they’ve done their part and submitted a response as an organization/group..! This is great!

Boo and hiss’s to both the City of Erie and Millcreek, haven’t heard a word from either of them.

We did create a Facebook group to attempt to measure the response in Erie, you can join in the conversation by clicking here!

On the group’s page a member is reporting that they heard from Laura Schaff at the Mayors Office who reports that they are working on a response. I’ve yet to hear back myself. Let’s hope they get it in before the due date at the end of the month! Once I get any sort of an official response I’ll update my site accordingly.

If you have a website you can show your support by including this HTML somewhere:

If you haven’t done so, please write in to Google using their form and let them know why they should choose Erie. If you are reaching for reasons to include in your letter, look at these great ideas also coming from a Facebook group member:

Erie is home to 6 colleges and universities, including the largest medical school in the country (in terms of enrollment) and the largest Penn State branch college.
Erie’s academics-focused Hamot Medical Center has consistently been ranked as one of the best hospitals in the country.
The School of Engineering at Penn State Erie is currently among the best undergraduate engineering programs in the nation, according to U.S.News & World Report. - Erie is an emerging center for biofuels and environmental research, producing over 45 million gallons of biofuel per year.
Geographically, Erie intersects 3 large metropolitan areas: Cleveland, Ohio; Buffalo, New York; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Erie’s primary internet provider, Time Warner Cable, is ranked 1.5/5 stars according to Google Maps reviews and is consistently cited for providing abysmal service in terms of reliability, price, advertised speed and customer service. Time Warner is my only option for wired internet service.

Fiber Race: 'Topeka to be Google, Kansas'

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:48:00 -0500

Fiber Race: 'Topeka to be Google, Kansas':

We aren’t doing enough obviously….

I’ve written to the Mayor’s Office and Millcreek Township supervisors to see if any action has been taken at the local government level to submit an application. We’ll see how long it might take to get a response (if any).

If you haven’t done your part yet please fill out the residents portion available here.

Update 1: Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership is on the ball! Matt over there wrote back to me quickly and informed me that they went ahead and filed their request as an organization!

We’re still not sure on local governments… I’ll update this post if I hear more.

Update 2: I’ve gone ahead and created a Facebook group to try and capture some momentum up and gauge if we can get more than a few dozen members to show some support!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=336279869369&ref=nf

You can show your support by placing this code somewhere on your own website:

It will make one of these:

The Daily Tangent

Taken with instagram

Taken with instagram

Moments before the cat strikes.

Photo

Photo

FYI: This exact same thing is true at Otters Hockey games (or at...

Verizon Dry Loop update.

Dry Loopin' DSL and switching to Vonage.

Google Voice Leaves Beta, Now Open to Everyone

Warning: GoErie.com is also with the h4x0rz *shakes head*

Warning: GlobalErie.com is the h4x0rz...

Local Review: Uptown Browns for Pizza

Have FirstEnergy electric? Get some free stuff!!

Where to learn about the politicians...?

YourErie.com fixes their menu system!

Desktop organization succeed

Millcreek Township Website is Down

Google Fiber for Erie: Day Three, no gov't response.

Google Fiber for Erie: Day Two, no gov't response.

Fiber Race: 'Topeka to be Google, Kansas'

Warning: GoErie.com is also with the h4x0rz shakes head