Lets take a peek at the magic of the internet, package tracking. 3000 miles away in a warehouse sits my lovely new toy, I want it at my door as soon as possible. I've ordered it, and off it goes. United Parcel Service is the carrier, and it is amazing to me how for a measly 80 quarters, three days later the package arrives at my door. If I flew myself, it would cost thousands, if I drove it could take weeks. Plus all the information is available on the internet, keeping me up to date. Now if they only said what time they would deliver it.

PACKAGE PROGRESS
Date Time Location Activity
Jan 24, 2003 6:58 A.M. HENRIETTA, NY, US OUT FOR DELIVERY
5:27 A.M. HENRIETTA, NY, US ARRIVAL SCAN
3:02 A.M. E. SYRACUSE, NY, US DEPARTURE SCAN
Jan 23, 2003 11:08 P.M. E. SYRACUSE, NY, US ARRIVAL SCAN
4:01 P.M. PHILADELPHIA, PA, US DEPARTURE SCAN
Jan 22, 2003 5:43 P.M. PHILADELPHIA, PA, US ARRIVAL SCAN
2:29 P.M. DES MOINES, IA, US DEPARTURE SCAN
10:34 A.M. DES MOINES, IA, US ARRIVAL SCAN
5:30 A.M. OAKLAND, CA, US DEPARTURE SCAN
3:26 A.M. OAKLAND, CA, US ARRIVAL SCAN
2:31 A.M. ONTARIO, CA, US DEPARTURE SCAN
2:17 A.M. ONTARIO, CA, US DEPARTURE SCAN
Jan 21, 2003 10:39 P.M. ONTARIO, CA, US ARRIVAL SCAN
9:38 P.M. CERRITOS, CA, US DEPARTURE SCAN
8:35 P.M. CERRITOS, CA, US ORIGIN SCAN
7:22 P.M. US BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

posted by Bryan at 1/24/2003 09:20:00 AM

www.deathclock.com. You know you are going to die? A person my age can only expect to live to around 75. Thats its. A blink of an eye in our existence. I wrote about this a long time ago, but I went back to take a peek. 1,526,547,852 seconds left. Since the last time I looked I've lost 65,000,000 seconds. This time instead of talking about the future though, I'd like to remind you to live in the present. Since one never knows what is around the next corner, make sure that this moment now is awesome. If you arent doing something you like, stop, go and find something that you can. If you are loving someone, think about taking it to the next level. We have precious little time on this little corner of the universe, we might as well have some fun, be kind to others and live life to the fullest. I like doing webpages, and since I've made a resolution to try to keep up with my blogs, I've found it kinda exhilerating to come up with a new topic to chat about every day. Drop me an email let me know some good ones. ttyl.
posted by Bryan at 1/23/2003 03:03:00 PM

NAS, Network Attached Storage. The problem I've found is that my linux box is nice, but its a tad complicated for the simple things of making files available to me from home. I mean I know linux, and its just a matter of scripting it in the right way, but its a tad time consuming for me when I'd rather spend my time elsewhere. Windows is super quick, very easy, yet as we all know is unreliable. Windows will lock and crash within 3 days of me leaving the computer on. Then what? NAS. Although they are a tad pricey, they will eventually come down in price, and everyone will want them in their homes just like 802.11 wireless networks. So what is a NAS device? Well its basically a computer, without the computing. It has an operating system, hooked up to huge hard drives, and a few network cards. It does practically any file sharing you can think of, ftp, samba, cifs, http, etc... and it never crashes. Open the box up plug it in, and you are off and running. Simple as can be. I've found that the cheapest ones are from LinkSys but the better ones can be found by doing a little research at StorageSearch. Enjoy.
posted by Bryan at 1/22/2003 10:31:00 AM

The new orange juice containers... with the little hole, and cap. Arent they cute? Sure beats taking the few moments to open them the other way. And of course recycling them, well now we have paper and plastic mixed together. How do they separate that? Ugh... because the idiots in the world cant open orange juice successfully, nor not spill it or something, so they put the cute caps on them. Wasting more of the environment, and also making me mad. Why you ask? Well how about because I cant get the last few drops of orange juice out of the container. The hole is not on the edge, so when you want that last little bit, and its the best part you know, you cant get it, unless you shake the box tons and tons. So improvements... 1) move the hole closer to the top of the bottle. 2) Still offer non plastic lid orange juice containers. Like the milk, we can get it in metric if we want, or not. I think thats it, but this same thing applies to many other aspects of life that are wasteful, and the only reason is to make it easier for the idiots in the world. Lets focus on making the planet better as a whole, and not just making it easier to life in. Do both at the same time. It can be done.
posted by Bryan at 1/21/2003 12:34:00 AM