On Bluetooth Headsets

    I have really come to appreciate a bluetooth headset as an accessary for a cell phone. I detest not having both hands free to drive with, but find talking on a cell phone no more distracting than arguing with talk radio. Perhaps I should get rid of radio as well, but I’m not one to abdicate all responsibility just because something might happen. So I’ve always used a headset for my various cell phones when driving, but found the wired kind were too awkward for use when not driving, and often awkward when driving. They also would wear out every couple of months due to broken wires, so even replacing them with the cheapest I could find was costing money and a regular effort. I thought that maybe a wireless headset might resolve that problem. I started with a Motorola HS850 I bought from eBay, used with my old Nokia 6130i, and found it not quite what I was hoping. It seemed to lack oomph, and was a bit flaky. After it ended up on the wrong end of a bit of road rage, I tried a Motorla H700. I liked the folding boom concept, and I read that older models weren’t great, but the newer B revs were. I ended up with a B rev, and found it much better. It was lighter, and I found it so comfortable that I would wear it all day and forget I had it on.


    I enjoyed it for close to a year, and then a month or so ago, it started acting up. It would drop it’s connection to the phone at random times, and sometimes reconnect right away. It started to refuse to connect, which got really annoying just before a long con call. Googling the web for how to reset turned up repeated suggestions that plugging it into it’s charger for less than 5 seconds was supposed to reset it. Sounds like an odd way to reset particularly when it seems like a not unlikely thing to happen by accident. Anyway, it did not seem to help my situation any. I tried deleting the pairing from the phone, but got exceedingly frustrated trying to get the headset in pairing mode. Even when I did manage to get them paired again, it still acted flaky. I thought a power removal reset was my last hope, but since it has a built in rechargeable battery, that was not going to be easy. I decided to try leaving it on until it ran out, and then, as if to taunt me, it worked without any problems for 4 days before it finally ran out o juice. Made for some interesting explanations, as I started a day or 2 before I went camping at a state park with some friends, and ended up with it on most of the trip.

    A full recharge later, and it still wasn’t better, so that’s when I started researching for a new headset. I also decided to try taking it apart, which didn’t seem easy, but here is the result. After carefully putting it together again, being careful in replacing the little rubber piece which acts as the switch for the boom, it seemed to be it’s old self again and worked flawlessly for a week. Then, I took it off to go play basketball at lunch, and when I came back it didn’t want to connect with my phone anymore. Meanwhile, my research had me leaning towards a Jabra headset. I didn’t want to pay as much as a Jawbone would cost, despite it’s high praise, and I wanted to get it at a local store like Best Buy, so I could try it for comfort before completely committing to it. While the Jabra BT250 got good reviews, I was concerned about the form factor. I was convinced that fit and comfort where likely to be the most important aspects of a new bluetooth headset, as I expected the quality level to be closer than the previous models I had used. I scoped out the Best buy website, as I didn’t want to spend a lot on a new headset either, being the cheapy I am, and spotted the Jabra BT5010, which also seemed to get good ratings and looked cooler and hopefully more comfortable than the BT250. Since I am seriously ‘addicted’ to the ease of use of my bluetooth headset, I didn’t waste much time toodling off to my near by Best Buy.

    Although it looked like a good size store to me, the selection did not include the Jabra BT5010, which the sales clerk said was because they were a smaller store. I didn’t want to leave without a replacement headset, so I reluctantly decided to try the Jabra BT250. I got it home, carefully opened the package, since I wanted to return it if it was uncomfortable, and set it to charging. I did try it for a few days, and while it worked well, with particularly strong sound if you got an ear tip that fit snugly in your ear, it was just too darn uncomfortable. I always knew it was there, and it started to get annoyingly painful after an hour or so. A couple of days later I found myself in the Framingham area, so I stopped in to the Best Buy in Shopper’s World. Sure enough, they had the Jabra BT5010, so I bought one and brought it home to try. Charged it over night, again being careful of the packaging, and gave it a try. OK, it was more comfortable than the BT250, but still not quite as comfortable as the H700. I could go most of the day before it started to be annoying.

    Perhaps I was too used to the H700, but I found the BT5010 took a bit of getting used to. It has a sliding boom microphone, which is one of the features I liked when I saw it, as I thought that would help me sound better when speaking. Unfortunately, if the boom mic slides back up even a little bit, it disconnects the call. I lost count of how many times I had to apologize for dropping a call due to that, from sneezes, moving my head while my hand was near, scratching, coat collar, etc. Also, since it has a moldable ear hook, I was often trying to get it snug, and being unused to the button at the top for disconnecting calls, would again end up dropping a call when trying to push the headset on tighter. The sliding boom picks up and drops calls, but does not power it off like the folding boom on the H700. To turn it off and on, there is a tiny button on the back, which is hard to push when you put the headset on your ear and then remember it isn’t on. Heck, it’s not that easy to push even when it’s off your ear. It functioned OK, but it still wasn’t as easy to use or comfortable as the H700. It was more comfortable than the BT250, the the BT250 went back to Best Buy. Back to eBay.

    On eBay, I found H700s going for as low as $20-30 in auctions, although there where warnings in some about making sure you get an original. Not paying much heed, I successfully won an auction for an H700 for around $20 including shipping. I had the BT5010, so I wasn’t in a rush, and when it came set about charging it fully. Even a cursory glance, having owned one for a while, I could see it didn’t look quite right. I was sure it was a fake, but as long as it worked and was comfortable, I didn’t really care. It did work fine, and although the ear hook was stiffer, I swapped it with the one from my original and was fine. Problem was, it only worked fully for a few days. Then I went looking and found the person I bought it from was de-listed from eBay. Bad sign. I tried emailing him. Bounce. Another bad sign. I was ready to give up when he actually replied to my email, and explained he was de-listed while they verified his business, and that he would be back on eBay shortly. He was willing to take it back, but I had been burned before on a low cost item where the shipping was more than the item, so I was hesitant that I would end up with pretty much nothing.

    I decide to try a more safe means of purchasing an H700, and found that Amazon, through a partner, was selling real ones for $40. The Amazon page had a guide from Motorola showing how to tell a fake from and original, further confirming the status of the one I got from eBay. I purchased one from Amazon, which turned out to be an original, and which I am happily using to this day. During my research, I saw hints that Motorola was stopping making the H700, so I will try to verify and get an extra or 2. When I get comfortable with something, I get cranky when it breaks or gets lost and I can’t get a new one. 🙂 Besides, I may convince my wife to get one. She has already tried the BT5010, and wants to try the H700. She isn’t as big a fan of headsets, but does see the benefit for con calls, which she is doing more of these days. BTW, it looks like what killed my first H700, and partially killed my second, was a suspect wallwart. Don’t know if it is a fake or not, as it looks real, but I made the connection after the fake H700 started having problems, and I remembered that sometimes my RAZR showed fully charged but seemed to wear down quicker than usual. Further testing confirmed that one of my Motorola USB chargers was not providing proper charge. Interestingly enough, the one that came with the fake didn’t even work at all. Should I get a spare from eBay? \^_\^

Old eyes and new flashlights

    Looks like it’s confession week here on the old blog. I’ve always had a thing for flashlights, probably stemming from my wee little days when I wanted to stay up later than my parents let me. I’ve owned quite a number of interesting flashlights over the years, including one from the 80s which included 3 LEDs in the side to tell you the battery strength. I didn’t think that was such a compelling idea, and avoided buying one. Then one day, while partaking in a common habit of mine to browse stores during clearance sale times, I wandered into an American Eagle Outfitters and found said flashlight on clearance sale. Feeling generous, and loving a bargain, I bought one and soon discovered that while I did indeed find the LEDs rather a waste, the flashlight itself was surprising powerful. That was one of my favorites, until I lost it. 😦 They stopped making them even before I bought mine, so getting a replacement was out of the question.

    Before I digress into more war stories of my flashlights, which may make another blog entry sometime, I’ll move on to my eyes. Today being Thanksgiving Day, one of the things I give thanks for are my eyes. Most of my life I have had better than 20/20 vision, and my eyesight was one of the few things the Navy found worthwhile back in the ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’ days when I tried joining the Navy flight school program. Suffice it to say that I didn’t make the program, and went on to live a productive life anyway. As I age gracefully, \^_\^ , my eyes have started to weaken, so that I am learning new habits, like trying to always have a pair of reading glasses at hand. Darn frustrating to not be able to read things I used to read with ease. Oh well, I’m well stocked with reading glasses, and I’m slowly getting used to it.

    The other night I went out for a bite and a night out with my best friend. We checked out a ‘super buffet’, and despite buffets being a weakness of mine, we enjoyed the food, didn’t eat too much and did much chatting. We would have probably done more chatting, but the wait staff seemed to be wanting us to move on, despite the abundance of empty tables. Earlier in the day, my youngest had put his hand through a window pane, and ended up with stitches between 2 of his fingers. My wife called to ask me to pick up some antibiotic ointment for him, so my friend and I stopped by CVS, a local drug store chain. I don’t get out shopping as much as I did in my youth, for a variety of reasons, so when I do and I’m not rushed, I often browse. While doing so at CVS, I saw a 21 LED aircraft-grade aluminum small flashlight. It was packages to let one try it, and upon trying it I found it was bright. It was only $10, so I couldn’t resist. I didn’t really have a compelling reason for it, but I bought it anyway. Turns out it’s been handier than I thought. I’ve already used it to distract and entertain my youngest when he was getting close to being fussy. And it’s strong, very white light came in handy at church on Sunday.

    Despite my best efforts to keep reading glasses in as many handy places as possible, I was fighting a cold and was a bit spacey in the process and ended up at church without reading glasses. Our church does have a large print order of service, but those old hymnals can be tough on the eyes. While resigning myself to humming the hymns, I recalled the flashlight, currently in my pocket, and how extra light often helps me read. Sure enough, the bright white light helped. That and holding the hymnal at a readable distance allowed me to sing along and handle other reading that came up. Since it was an intergenerational service, meaning the kids stayed in the service instead of going to Sunday School, I again used it to distract my youngest, who had stayed up front for the story for all ages, and had been quiet though restless for a while and would soon likely start making noise. I finally caught his attention, showed him the flashlight, and he made his way back to our pew. Now I’m thinking about getting another one, as I inevitably loose things I use a lot, and may never find this model again if I don’t get one now. Hmmmm, I wonder if CVS is open on Thanksgiving Day.

Dude, you’re getting Solaris

    I’ll start right out by admitting to being a big fan of the Muppets. I love the Muppet Show, although I’m approaching the age where I could do the role of Waldorf or Stadtler, the elder hecklers from the private box. It should come as no surprise that I have seen most of the Muppet movies, including Muppets from Space. In this movie, there are a couple scenes in which a Muppet bear tries to calm his human boss in a secret government agency by suggesting ‘baby steps, sir, baby steps’. I like using that line myself to remember that success doesn’t have to come fast or in big strides.


    By now you have probably heard that Dell to carry Solaris 10 on PowerEdge servers as noted by CNET, and noted in Jonathan’s blog. Based on a CNET News Blog from last year, Dell: No Solaris until it’s a standard, looks like Solaris is making progress, at least in Dell’s eyes. Not too long ago we announced that IBM is doing the same thing, selling and supporting Solaris on their x86 servers, with another Jonathan blog about it. More progress for Solaris.

    Even more exciting is the availability of a developer preview of Project Indiana, an OpenSolaris binary distribution with the look, feel, and tools of a standard Linux distribution. The best of both worlds, available in a Live CD to test out and provide feedback on as it moves forward. The way I look at it, Solaris is doing as the Muppet bear suggested, and making great progress in manageable ‘baby steps’. Or as the young man from the old Dell commercial might say “Dude, you’re getting Solaris”.

A short holiday in Portland, ME

    Just came back from a short trip to one of my favorite places, Portland, Maine. My wife and I first went to Portland when my oldest was a baby, while my wife attended a conference. That was when I first had a lobster omelette at the IHOP next to the hotel, and I’ve had them often since. Not much can compete with fresh Maine lobster, and it’s not often you can get it for breakfast. Man, there was a lot of lobster in that thing.

    We have been back many times. We started a Christmas tradition of going up so the kids could ride the Maine Narrow Gauge RailRoad Company and Museum train, which would have holiday lights set up along it’s route. The kids loved it, despite it being darn cold. It was a great time to get some holiday shopping done. Haven’t done that in a while though. 😦


    The old port area by the waterfront has a wonderful selection of shops and restaurants, and makes for nice casual walking and browsing. Another of our favorite attractions is The Children’s Museum of Maine. This is one of the best places for kids, with play exhibits for every age and interest. My kids always love it, and this trip was no exception. I was there with them for 3.5 hours, and they still weren’t bored. There is a play fire engine, pirate ship, space shuttle, LL Bean camping area, grocery store, veterinary, car repair area, toddler area, dress up theatre… If you have kids and you are with them in the Portland area, you have to take them there. It’s a bargain at $7 per person.

    We stopped by the L.L. Bean Outlet Store in Portland to get my oldest a new winter jacket. Not quite the selection of the 7×24 L.L. Bean store just up the rud a piece in Freeport, ME, but we managed to get him something. I always find Portland one of the more relaxing cities I visit, and it’s on the ocean. Bonus.


    Another nearby attraction that the kids enjoy is the Desert of Maine. This is an interesting glacial geological phenomenon, and the kids really enjoy going there, but it is closed at this time of year. They have a campground, so we usually make a camping trip out of it, with the requisit tent and s’mores. Reminds me, I’d better pencil in a weekend for that trip next summer, as it may be hectic.

    You know, this post didn’t start out as an advertisement for Portland, ME, but is sure looks like it turned into one. I’m not one to try gratuitously promoting businesses, etc. but I do like for folks to have easy access to more details about stuff I find interesting or important. The L.L. Bean link is borderline, but the 7×24 store does make for neat late night holiday shopping trips. When I dated a girl from Wellesley college, they had a yearly bus trip late at night for just that reason. Honest. \^_\^.

Comments are back, I guess.

    Apparently, although I have always had comments turned on in my settings, they haven’t been working for a while. A friend of mine recently asked why she couldn’t comment, and since I thought she should be able to, I checked the setting. It was set to allow comments, but I unset it and reset it to see if that resolved the problem. It appears to have done the trick, as several folks have now been able to comment. Not that I necessarily have a lot of content worth commenting on, but feel free to indulge. Also, feel free to let me know if comments aren’t working. 🙂

Mr. Hai Karate

    Not long ago, I was at a friend’s parent’s house. I had brought my oldest for the birthday party of my friend’s oldest son, and there was much pool and other fun, including much enjoyment of birthday gifts. It was a nice warm day, and all involved had fun.

    Towards the end of the day, the number of kids dwindled, and I was hanging out with the few adults there. As I recall, the discussion worked it’s way to theater, i.e. doing performing arts, and my friend’s father mentions that he did Hai Karate commercials. Suddenly he starts looking familiar. Being the geeks that many of us are at this party, one of my other friends brings up YouTube on a handy gadget and does a quick search. Sure enough, he discovers this, amongst others.

<!– not used, same as other but with added tie-ins to uploader Hai Karate – vintage TV commercial –>

    And yup, it is easy enough to recognize my friend’s father. I’ve seen some of these ads, not when they originally ran, but in re-runs and a few years back when I picked up a cheap, at the time, CD of old TV commercials. Brings back memories of my childhood TV watching days. I always thought the Hai Karate commercials were fun, and was thrilled to find out the star is someone I know, who is a friendly, down to earth person. In a word, cool. He made several, although not all of the, ads for Hai Karate, but I haven’t found any of the others he was in.

    I did some searching for that CD, as there were other fun commercials, but so far I haven’t found it. I remember uploading it to a server at work, but I think that server died a few years back, so I doubt I’ll find them there either. Makes me wonder how many other secrets are out there waiting to be discovered and enjoyed. \^-\^

Thumbs up to Jim’s Deli

    I recently presented to a customer in Portsmouth, RI, and since this was an early afternoon presentation that was a bit of a drive away, my co-workers and I hustled down to make sure we avoided traffic delays. We then had a few minutes to grab a quick bite of lunch and get to the customer. As we continued down the road past the customer site, we kept our eyes open for something quick and reasonably healthy. I remembered having gone to a deli nearby, and we pulled in, having found nothing else by then.

    We ended up in Jim’s Deli, which was the same place I had gone before, but new management. I don’t often pay much attention to places like this, but this one is different. They had signs on the wall for each of their menu items, with easy to read fonts for us aging boomers, and a wide selection of items. They were very friendly and helpful, prices were good, and they even had a mission statement. For a small deli, they were tops in customer service, which impressed me enough to write this post. If you are ever in the Newport/Middletown/Portsmouth RI area looking for a quick bite, I highly recommend Jim’s Deli (957 W Main Rd, Middletown, RI 02842). I had the ‘Big Cheese’. \^_\^