I decided to bite the bullet and get a Sonos system. My kitchen and living room share a wide doorway at one end, but aren’t really connected together enough to call it an “open floor plan”. So using just the speakers hooked up to my TV to listen to music in the kitchen didn’t work out very well because you’d have to crank it louder than was comfortable. I hooked up some old computer speakers to Audio Engine’s A3 audio transmitter, which has a transmitter that you hook up to an audio output (such as the tape output on my receiver) and the receiver that you hook up to some other speakers or something. It’s a great product and super simple to use.
This site calculated that for every mile you live away from work, it costs you $795 / year to drive to work. So, if you’re so inclined, you could pay more to live closer to work and break even in the end. And possibly be happier. Of course, that implies that the place where you work is a desirable one to live near. Very interesting.
If you live in an urban area and don’t need to drive to commute to work, then car sharing may be for you. Let’s take a look at the costs of both:
Costs of Car Ownership
- Monthly payment: $472
- Monthly insurance: $92
- Monthly gas, given $3 / gallon and 6.6k miles / year: $75
- Monthly maintenance: $42
- Assuming no parking expenses
Set Lark on Sleep! Day 31
Jul 17
So, it’s been a little longer than I had thought, but here’s the completion of my review of the Lark. In short, I think it’s a great alarm clock, but I’m not so sure about it’s ability to help improve your sleep.
Mea Culpa: CDMA iPhone
Jun 11
BTW, just a follow up on my previous prediction from last fall that Apple would not release a CDMA iPhone. I was totally wrong. Money talks.
Lark Up! – Day 1
Jun 11
What Is It?
Lark is a sleep monitor / alarm clock device hardware device and iPhone app combination. The hardware is a small bluetooth pod that you wear on a wristband while you sleep and a combination phone dock / Lark pod charging station. They also include a dock which holds your iPhone and has charging ports for both the the Lark and a USB port. While there is only an iPhone app at the moment, the USB port could be used to charge any smart phone.
Hi Lo vs Whole Foods: Fight!
Jan 22
So, there’s been a huge discussion going on online about the Hi Lo, a latin american-focused grocery store in Jamaica Plain, MA, closing and being replaced by a Whole Foods. Hi Lo has been in business for about 50 years and has decided to close. They’re not being forced out but are closing by choice. They’ve decided to lease their store to Whole Foods.
I was thinking the other day about how many turkeys I’ve probably eaten in my life and decided to do some calculations. Note that for about 20 years, I ate a turkey sandwich for lunch every day. To be on the conservative side, I calculated it for 6 days a week. I also threw in Christmas and Thanksgiving meals.
Sandwich Assumptions
- 16 pound turkey
- 0.25 pounds of turkey per sandwich
- 6 days a week
- 52 weeks a year
- 20 years
Sandwich Calculations
- 64 sandwiches per turkey
- 312 sandwiches a year
- 6240 sandwiches in 20 years
- 97.5 turkeys of sandwiches
Meal Assumptions
- 0.33 lbs of turkey per meal at thanksgiving / christmas
- 2 times a year
- 30 years
Meal Calculations
- 48 meals per turkey
- 60 meals in 30 years
- 1.24 turkeys due to christmas and thanksgiving
Grand Total: 98.7 turkeys
Wow! Almost 100 turkeys. That’s kind of sad.
I was very excited that iOS 4 would include support for multiple exchange accounts. Previously, I had my phone syncing with google mobile sync as an exchange service and my work exchange account synced as an imap service. This allowed me to sync email, calendar, and contacts from google and email from work. However, when someone invited me to a meeting at work, I could not open the invite b/c of the limitations of the iPhone’s mail app when hooked into an imap account. Read the rest of this entry »
MS Office Ribbon Hero Game
Jun 15
Microsoft has released another add-in to help people use MS Office with the ribbon: Ribbon Hero. Once installed, it presents you with certain challenges to try to attain and scores you for your efficiency. I wonder how it interacts w/ the search plugin…