I think nobody got the Niska/Crow thing. Anyways... Thursday I took a day off from work to go to a continuing ed class down in Eagan. Got to learn all about the effects of different levels of electrical power on the human body and what will have what effects such as killing a person and how fast. Also what's allowed, all the fun new regulations about not using ceiling tile supports, having to rip out abandoned cable, and how ground rods are no longer the preferred method of grounding. It was actually a pretty interesting day. Now I just need to buy stamps so I can mail in my license renewal. Unfortunately some things still don't allow completely electronic communication. :(

Nothing too eventful happened Friday. I did go to Qdoba though (my mom got another 2 for 1 email from them), and my little sister drove, which was interesting (I tried not to teach her any bad habits). Nor over the weekend. No movies, as I was too busy reading and analyzing stuff. Stumbled across an older but still funny/disturbing thing here (warning - is flash). Josh Lewis also posted a piece on email forwards and Bcc. I should keep that link around so I don't have to re-explain it so often. Also found a funny article in the strib about stuff discovered over 30 years ago. Apparently people some people hadn't heard about that before? I realize anyone older than about 40 probably didn't have it in school, but... Unfortunately I think the people who freak out the most about outbreaks won't even read an article like that. Oh well.

I'm reading up on phones and continually find it amazing how little the tech sites even understand about the tech. Came across one funny quote, "Unfortunately signal strength seems to bear no relation to call quality." Um, and that's news to who? I miss my old phone that reported strength in Ec/Io (energy of the correlated (desired) bits over total channel energy, basically the CDMA equivalent of S/N ratio since some signal counts as noise). Anyways, apparently they eliminated that because people didn't understand waves and interference patterns and were confused that inches could mean the difference between a fully usable signal and nothing. I say we need to push basic physics classes a bit more.

As for the reason I'm looking at phones is due to a combination of reasons. First is my phone has been technically working great (in the sense it holds a signal as well as ever), but the keypad and display are a little flaky after it went swimming with me in the St. Croix about 7 weeks back. The keypad had been slightly flaky before that, but it's shifted a key now, and it requires pushing hard to get it to see that key. Second is the signal quality thing at home. Within about a block north and about 3 blocks south of my house the quality is iffy. Everywhere else it's great. The signal strength is fine, and geography could mean a lot of reflections. Given that the whole move-your-head-6-inches thing usually helps, the problem persists across handsets from 3 manufacturers, is unidirectional (the other end doesn't usually notice it), and using the older IS-95b instead of 1xRTT as the air interface (combines I&Q subchannels - effectively halving the usable RF channels, but providing twice as much access to the data on the air) eliminates it, it's probably an issue with excessive reflections and interference and extracting the desired bits. So in short I want a phone with a better signal processor. Third is in a week I can upgrade for free (unless I choose some crazy very expensive phone).

So anyways, the one I'm currently looking at is the Motorola E815. Yea, unfortunately it's a flip, but it seems pretty much everything out there is. It also has a camera which sorta sucks, but again that seems to be standard these days (hopefully once more execs and government people start needing new phones that'll change). I don't care much for useless features, and pretty much just want a phone that does voice and basic text well, and hopefully has decent call management (can handle ignoring non-in-phonebook, etc.). This one supposedly is one of the only ones that can compare to my current 3589i on RF, so it's the preferred candidate for now. Stuff like a calculator and alarm clock can be nice, but not necessary. Has anyone had any personal experience with this phone, or can point me to direct information good or bad? I've already spent my time on sites a la hofo and phonescoop, so now it's just looking for personal references. Anyone?