Mickey Mouse

Today we caught a little mouse with our trap and let him go at school. He's pretty cute and has eyes as round and black like a lobster.

If it was white, it would be even more cute.

A Surprise!

A friend of mine went to Japan for a week and came back with a surprise! Here it is:

It's a secret until Monday. Can you guess what it may be? For people who really DO know, please don't give it away.
I really wish I can go visit Japan one day. I hear so many good things about it. I have almost 2 weeks of vacation stored up so it could be a reality.

Rewarded

After the many trips to Ohio I get rewards with this!

Now what does this mean and what do I get? Well I get special hotel cards when I live there but I really don't get anything. It's just a dumb interim step to Platnium where the real rewards start happening!!

Restaurant Differences

As most of you know, McDonald's BBQ sauce is different in the US compared to what you get in Canada. US BBQ sauce tastes like BBQ while we get some sweet sauce. I've grown to like what we get in Canada. But apart from that, did you know that KFC is different on the other side of the border?
Here's a pic:

I didn't take a close up picture because I'm sure the staff would think I'm crazy. Their menu resembles what you get at Popeyes with biscuits, wings, mashed potatoes, and pie. This is what I had for dinner that night:

Those are BBQ wings on the left side. They're like 5 for $2 if you get them as a side. Notice the coleslaw isn't the radioactive green we get in Canada. If I liked KFC more, I'd go more often but too bad it's bad for health.

New Cable Modem

I like getting new gadgets and this weekend started with a letter from Rogers Highspeed about getting a new DOCSIS modem when I return my old Motorola modem. I had to go to the Rogers Store at Bridlewood Mall (Warden and Finch) since it was one of the listed participating locations. I haven't been to this mall since Towers shut down. Towers had the best toy prices with GI Joe figures at $3.99 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at $4.99. So at the Rogers store, a line at already started:

I looked at cell phones while I waited. They had a lot of featureless phones such as the The LG 4015, Motorola V180, Samsung X426, and Nokia 3120. Thankfully it was fast since most people were there for the same reason as me and no talking was required.
Here's my new Motorola SURFboard SB5100 DOCSIS modem:

I think it's rated at 3Mbps while my older modem was at 1.5Mbps. I got a new IP address from the Rogers DHCP servers and it did seem faster.

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The airport used Windows and that ran out of virtual memory, what else can happen? This is a sign in the Easton Mall in Columbus:

That's not the blue screen of death, but what is it? Here's a close up:

I'm scared about technology controlling my life.

The Power of Bluetooth

Some friends have asked me questions about Bluetooth, like what's so good about it?

Controlling my laptop from my bluetooth enabled phone

I'm sure everyone has seen a bluetooth headset on someone's ear. One of the most popular headset is the Motorola HS-810 since Rogers stores carry them.

So with bluetooth you can use a headset without wires, but what else can I do?
Let me tell you some of the common uses of bluetooth with your phone.

You can transfer files to and from your phone

Surf the internet using a shared connection

Control your computer (Great for navigating PowerPoint presentations)

Print images on your phone to a bluetooth enabled printer

Share videos, music, and photos with other bluetooth enabled devices

Synchronize data from your phone to your computer like Outlook e-mail and calendar

Play competitive games against other people over Bluetooth

There's a lot more possibilities with Bluetooth but it's up to companies to develop the Bluetooth profiles that will benefit the consumer. The main hurdle with Bluetooth is consumer awareness of the benefits and the lack of phones supporting Bluetooth. Currently, only Rogers and Fido carry phones with Bluetooth (V3, V551, 6620, T637, S710, P910) and these phones are relatively expensive compared to non-bluetooth enabled phones. This is slowly changing as you can get the 6620 for free on a new 3 year contract. Bell and Telus have been shying away from Bluetooth phones as they allow file sharing, something they don't want you doing as it circumvents their data and email services. If they do have a Bluetooth enabled phone like the V710 on Telus, the file sharing profile has been disabled or restricted. I recommend Rogers to all my friends unless they live in the states. It would be nice to be able to send my contact to a friend, play a game of snakes against them, and even let them browse my phone from their phone for ringtones they like. I hope your next phone will have Bluetooth.