Ham Radio License

On Tuesday evening I went with my youngest son Nathan to take my Ham radio test. We both passed the technician portion and I also passed the general. That means we are both licensed Ham radio operators.

The FCC currently has three levels of licenses for amateur or Ham radio: Technician, General, and Amateur Extra. The first level is Technician and allows you to get your proverbial feet wet. The next is general and opens up several more frequency levels. Amateur Extra opens up all of the frequencies set aside for Ham radio.

The tests are fairly easy if you study the correct material. When you are done taking one test, the administrators hand you the next level test that you can take without paying any additional fees. If you pass all three, you can save yourself some money. The problem is that there is a lot to learn. I will probably study for the next two months and try to take the "Extra" test at the end of January.

My son and I came home and were very pleased that we both passed the tests. All we needed to do was wait for the FCC to enter our information in their database and assign us call signs. The government is not known for being efficient and with the Thanksgiving weekend, I didn't think we would see our call signs until next week. Even though we have passed our tests and have a radio, we can't transmit anything until our names and call signs show up in the FCC database.

Wednesday afternoon I felt optimistic and logged onto the FCC website and did a search for my name to see if my call sign was available. It wasn't. I did a bit more work and spent some time with the family. Before going to bed, I thought I would give it one more shot. Rather than searching for my name, I searched using my FCC Registration Number (FRN) that I signed up for several weeks ago. Surprisingly, I found my license and call sign properly recorded. I was amazed.

Next I had to find my son's information. I tried doing a look up on his name but didn't find his record. Next I did a look up on our zip code and last name. There it was located with mine.

Before the Internet became a household utility, it would take weeks to process Ham radio licenses. It took my son and I less than 30 hours to get our licenses and be able to start using our radio. I think that is awesome and an example of one huge that the Internet has provided for our day-to-day lives.

Lose It

I just found a new free app for my iPhone. To borrow a line from Charles Dickens, "It is the worst of apps, it is the best of apps." It is called "Lose It" and is sort of an electronic weight watcher's program.

The idea behind "Lose It" is to help you record the food you eat and the exercise you do every day. When you first start the application, it asks your weight, height, and gender. It then asks you your goal weight and gives you a safe estimate of how long it should take to get there. You are then ready to start inputing the food you eat as you eat it. Since I always have my iPhone with me, I just enter the information while I am chewing. Otherwise I might forget. Today I had some left-over Cashew Chicken with rice. While it was reheating in the microwave, I found a similar recepie in the program and had it calculate the calories.

The great thing about the program is you can see your calorie count as you go through the day. I started using it on Sunday and was 7 calories under my daily budget. Yesterday I went skiing for an hour at lunch and watched an additional 500 calories get added to my alotment. I only used a portion of them and went to bed with calories to spare.

You can probably see why it is the best of apps. As for why it is the worst, I feel hungry all day long. Given the temptation of snacking, it is too much work to enter the snack in the program and so I have cut down on those extra meals. I also am more careful about what I eat. The kids all had donuts and hot chocolate this morning for breakfast. I ate a donut but had to pass on the cocoa as I didn't want to start my day with too many calories used. Instead I drank water. What fun is water and donuts?

I love to eat and it probably shows a bit too much. My hope is that I can actually get down to my goal weight by April. Several of my cycling buddies have been using the program for a couple of weeks now and they have all lost weight. I probably should thank them for showing me the app, but I'm hungry and my next meal isn't for a couple more hours. I really hate those guys.

Apollo 13

One of my favorite movies is "Apollo 13." It is an engineer's movie because they are the ones that safely get the astronauts back to earth.

One of the critical scenes has the engineers trying to figure out a way to power up the spacecraft so they don't burn too much power. Turning something on draws more power than once you get it going. The idea in the movie was to find the correct order to power up all the systems and not go over a specific number of amps. On Friday I had a problem that reminded me of "Apollo 13."

My Dad owns an advertising agency and wanted to show a new client something that he did for a previous client. Unfortunately the old information was stored on an Iomega ZIP drive. Back before flash drives, there were floppy disks or CD disks. Floppy disks were limited to 1.44 megabytes of storage. If you had a large file to give someone, you either had to burn a CD or split it up onto several different floppies. Then along came Iomega with a removable disk that could hold 100 megabytes. It was a great solution at the time and it seemed everyone had one.

As luck would have it, I still have an Iomega ZIP drive that is connected to a computer. The computer is on its last leg and so it stays turned off most of the time. It is an old Mac still running Mac OS 8.6. I powered up the dinosaur and was able to read my Dad's ZIP disk just fine. Then came the problem of getting the files from the old Mac onto something a bit more modern.

The Mac has FTP software that works pretty good. Unfortunately I don't have a computer in my office that still uses FTP. All of my servers have been locked down tight for security reasons and require secure FTP or SFTP. I tried openning up a firewall on one of them but was unsuccessful.

There were too many files to just e-mail and so that wasn't an option. The Mac has a CD ROM burner and so that was the method we decided to use to transfer the files. The only problem was that everything had to be turned on in the correct order or the machine froze. I shut down the computer, turned on the ZIP drive, and turned on the computer. Oops, I didn't eject my Dad's disk from the ZIP drive and so the machine hung. I ejected the disk and hit the reset button.

Now the computer was telling me it wasn't shut down properly and so I had to turn off all extensions and try to restart it again. I did what it told me and then restarted the machine. Oops, restart no longer works on that machine. I have to shut it down and then turn it back on manually. So I hit the reset button again and had to go through several iterations of turning on and off the computer.

Finally I got the computer to boot propery. It was time to burn the files to a CD. I identified the files to burn and clicked on the "Burn" button. The drive ejected its tray and asked for a blank disk. I inserted one only to have the computer hang. My CD burner was so old that it didn't recognize the new blank disk. Time to hit the reset button and go through several more iterations of turning off and on the machine.

I have some old re-writable CDs that came with the burner when I bought it close to a decade ago. I gave one of those a try and it finally worked. My Dad had his files from his old ZIP disk. Now that I figured out the sequence, I should try and copy all my old information off several zip disks before my system stops working completely. Judging from the hoops I had to jump through to get it to work, it probably won't be that long.

Travel Day

I am on the road again today. I woke up this morning to catch an early flight to the Bay Area and will be on a flight back home later this evening. I prefer to do a one-day trip as opposed to spending the night in a hotel. There is something very comforting about sleeping in your own bed.

I bought my ticket on Tuesday and so the cheapest airline was Southwest. Those that fly a lot know that Southwest doesn't have assigned seating. You are basically assigned an order that they use to load the plane. The sooner you check into your flight, the sooner you get to board the plane. This makes Internet check-in a very useful tool. The only rule is that you can't check into your flight earlier than 24-hours before it departs. That means if you flight is at 7am MST on Thursday, you can't check in until 7am MST on Wednesday.

I had a conference call yesterday morning when I could have been checking into my flight and so I had to wait until I was done before I could get on the Internet. I was still in the early boarding group and so I was happy with my plane boarding order. Last night when it came time to check in, I was at a Snowbird Ski Team Board meeting. I thought about using my iPhone to check in during the meeting. The only problem was that I needed my confirmation number and I didn't have it with me. I had to wait until I got home. When I finally did check in, I was stuck in the second boarding group.

This morning's flight out was not very full as there were only 60 people on the whole plane. My hope is that the flight home is equally empty. Unfortunately, I don't think that will be the case. Thursday afternoons are huge travel times. In any case, the secret to getting a good Southwest flight is to be on the Internet 24 hours before your flight leaves. And don't forgot to have your flight confirmation number with you.

Don't Sell Yourself Short

This morning I had to get up at the crack of dawn for a conference call that involved people from around the world. For the past couple of years I have been involved with a company that created software to quantify how salespeople are successful. Once you know why, you can then coach your other salespeople to be more like them. This morning's call was with our management and the management of another large company interested in buying us.

I sat in my office watching a Webex demo of our software thinking how glad I was that it was someone else giving the demo. I have watched plenty of software demos using Webex or GotoMeeting but have never had the pleasure of starting the demo. I'm sure I could figure it out, I just have never done it.

The whole experience made me think back to a spreadsheet I once saw at a friend's house. I thought I was a big Microsoft Excel user until I saw what my buddy was using to keep track of his daily bicycle rides. The spreadsheet was a work of art. There were lots of different colors with graphs showing day-over-day performance increases. I knew Excel could do all of that but had never seen anyone use all of those features.

Amazingly the person giving this morning's demo and my friend with the elaborate spreadsheet don't consider themselves as knowledgable computer users. Given the choice of rating themselves as novice, intermediate, or expert, they would both choose novice. I think they deserve better.

Anyone that uses a computer daily deserves more than a novice self score for computer proficiency. You may only use your computer for e-mail or writing a BLOG, but that gives you some experience. So if you see yourself as a computer novice but are a frequent user, then don't sell yourself short. The next time someone asks you about your computer skills, confidently reply, "I'm a BLOG reading expert."

We Learn by Doing

My first job was working at a ski shop in high school. It was a fun job where I was around something I loved. Unfortunately it didn't pay that great and so when my Dad got me a job working for a small computer software company, I jumped at the chance. Little did I know that the company would grow become one of the largest software companies in the world. The company was Oracle.

My first year at Oracle was spent doing data entry. I had taken several typing classes in school and was a fairly fast typist. By the end of that first year on the job I was typing 120 words per minute. When you spend four hours a day typing, you get to be pretty fast.

Towards the end of the first year, I was getting pretty tired of typing all day and so the company moved me into Technical Support. That meant I answered a phone all day long and helped people with their computer problems. The only issue was that I was answering questions about Oracle on Unix and I had never even used Unix.

I shared an office with another technical support guy and he would listen to my half of the conversation. Then he would give me pointers on how to help the customer. It was a system that helped me learn both Unix and the Oracle database. For my first couple of phone calls, I would repeat what my more experienced co-worker told me. He then suggested that rather than repeating, I should also try some of the commands I was passing onto the customers. I gave it a shot and was amazed at what I discovered. I could now see the answers to some of the other questions I was being asked.

This past week I was given the task of teaching a quick course on how to use a new software program. There were several people in the room and one was a complete computer novice. I had her sit in the driver's seat as I gave instructions. Experience had taught me that having her control the computer would teach her more than if I input the information. I don't think I was completely successful in my instruction, but I'm sure she learned more than if she had simply watched.

When someone shows you a neat new feature or you see one of those Windows 7 ads, you might want to experiment and play around on your own computer. As Captain Kirk once said in an episode of Star Trek, "We learn by doing." That is especially true with computers.

Solving Problems

Today was one of those days where everything seemed to go wrong with my computer projects. Some of the problems were real and reared their ugly heads today, while others were just old problems that I put off solving until now. By the end of the day, I got tired of researching problems and just wanted to get one solved.

One can only take so much lack of progress before it is time to sell the computer and start entering pie eating contests. I grabbed my screwdriver and headed to my wife's sewing room. She has a light that hasn't worked in a year or so and so I was determined to fix it.

I unscrewed a few bolts and removed the light fixture from the ceiling. It took about a minute to figure out the problem. Moisture had gotten into the wiring causing excessive corrosion. Eventually it built up enough oxidation to stop working. I had a spare light fixture from remodelling my kitchen last year and replaced the old one. Ten minutes after I started, my wife's light was working correctly.

There is a certain satisfaction that comes from solving a problem. It pulls you out of that frustration caused by too many dead-ends and reminds you that you are not a moron. It also makes it easier to go back and attack those nasty problems.

If you find yourself getting frustrated with your computer, push the keyboard away and see if there is another problem you can quickly solve. Sometimes I will clean my desk or take the dog for a walk. Then sometimes it seems cold fusion has a simpler solution than the problem I am trying to solve.

A Good Notebook

Recently I was cleaning out my office and found a bunch of notebooks from college. In the engineering program, each class has you purchase a notebook with graph paper sewn in. Each page is supposed to be numbered. If you wanted to spend a bit of money, you could buy the notebooks with the numbers already printed at the top of each page. I didn't mind writing the numbers myself and saved some cash.

In school, the professors wanted you to keep detailed notes of everything you did. We were supposed to write everything down and part of the class grade was based on your notebook. If you tried an experiment and it didn't work, make a note of it and try again. If things did work the first time then there was a lot less writing. When I was done with school, I continued keeping notebooks. It was, and still is, a great way to keep track of information.

While cleaning out my basement, I also found a bunch of 3-ring binders from school. I immediately threw out the insides and put the binder in my "for the kids" pile. Sometimes I will need a binder and pull from the pile as well.

When I started my latest project, I decided to use on of the 3-ring binders instead of a notebook. I am such a perfectionist that I have grown tired of printing out important e-mails, trimming the margins in the paper cutter, and gluing them into my notebook. I thought it would be much easier to print out the e-mail, 3-hole punch it, and put it in my binder. It turns out, I am saving an incredible amount of time. The downside is that I might be putting too much information in the notebook now.

Today my notebook has helped me tremendously and here is why. If you have a problem once, it is important to write down the steps used to help solve it. Chances are that you will have the problem again and don't want to recreate the solution. Then keep your notebook by the computer so you don't have to go looking for it. A problem I had solved earlier came up again today. All I had to do was look at my notes and I had the solution in a matter of minutes.

Big Monitors

I had a friend come over last night and I gave him a quick tour of my home office. He was surprised by how many computer monitors I have on my desk. I have five but they only go to three different computers. As someone who sits in front of a computer all day long, I need to keep track of a lot of different things. Most home computer users can survive with a single monitor.

This morning I am working on a software development project that requires a lot of screen real estate. As fate would have it, I am using the smallest monitor for this task. So what can I do to change that?

Two of the computers on my desk have dual monitors. The third computer is my laptop and the machine I am using to work on this morning's project. Most laptops have an external monitor connection. It is generally added to laptops in case you need to give a presentation and need to connect to a projector. So all I need to do is connect my laptop to one of the monitors on my desk and I will have more space.

That will actually work well in theory because one of my computers is off right now and so I can borrow a screen to share with my laptop. When I am done, I can reconnect it with the computer where it originated. Unfortunately the extra monitor is on the other side of my desk and I really can't see it from my laptop. I already have trouble figuring out which keyboard goes with which monitor and this would make it worse.

My two primary monitors actually have two inputs each. One is an HDMI (the same as a high definition TV) and the other is a standard VGA as found on most older computers. Instead of moving monitors around for today's project, I can actually run a second cable from the monitor to my laptop. I can then use the switch on the monitor to change inputs. When I want to see my desktop screen, I use the HDMI input. When I want to see the laptop screen, I use the VGA input.

My first computer came with a ten-inch monochrome display that was 80 characters wide by 24 down. Now I have desk full of monitors that are vastly superior. However I pretty much do the same thing now as I did back then.

New Software Installation

On November 24th I will be taking the test to get my Ham radio license. While it is no longer required, I thought it would be fun to learn a little Morse code. I figure there have to be some software programs out there to help teach it. Then when I see someone use Morse code in a movie, I will be able to understand what they are saying. Perhaps it will match up with what the message is supposed to be or be an encoded message like, "these actors are morons."

I have three different types of computers that I use: Linux, Windows, and Mac. My Windows machine is at another desk in my office and I really don't use it much. Unfortunately most of the searches for Morse code tutorials turned up software for Windows machines. So I refined my search to look for tutorials on Linux. There were a bunch of them.

Normally you install software on the Red Had flavors of Linux using a program called "yum." If you want to install the QT user interface framework library, you simply run the following command:

yum install qt

The computer automatically finds the software on the Internet and automatically installs it. If you already have QT installed, it says, "it is already installed and is the latest version." You don't have to download anything nor do you have to answer very many questions related to the installation.

You'll notice that I used the word "Normally." Not all software for Linux is so easily installed. A lot of people write software for Linux but not everybody packages up their software so neatly. None of the Morse code tutorials were and that made my life a bit more difficult.

I downloaded the first tutorial. It was a bz2 tar file. What is a "bz2 tar file?" It is just a bunch of files packages into a single "tar" file and then compressed using the "bz2" algorithm. It is similar to a .ZIP file. I uncompressed and broke the files out so I could see what was included. There were some instructions on how to do the installation. I followed them only to get an error. It seems I was missing some important files. So I tried "yum" but it couldn't find them either. It was time to throw this tutorial away and try another one.

I downloaded the second tutorial. It had similar issues to the first one. There were a whole page of tutorials and so I had no problem throwing it away and moving down the list. The third tutorial said I just needed to run the program and didn't need to install anything. It lied. Once again I was missing some important file or library and it wouldn't run.

I was beginning to think that Windows may be the platform of choice for Morse code tutorials when I found a program called "morse." I downloaded it and was happy to see it run. I immediately figured out how to recognize the letters G, Z, and U. Once you master those, it adds one letter at a time until you have them all memorized.

Last night I could agree with Windows users thinking that Linux is just too difficult to use. It is rare that software doesn't install smoothly on Windows or Mac computers. Hopefully Linux developers will take note and make it easier to install their software.

Hammers and Tools

A few years ago everyone started using the phrase, "If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all your problems like nails." It made a lot of sense and people started re-evaluating what tools they were using for any type of job, not just home improvement projects.

At around this same time, my boss where I was working coined the phrase, "You can't build a skyscraper with a hammer." I was working for a company that had a really expensive software development tool that let small groups of programmers build really complex applications in a relatively short amount of time. The hammer and skyscraper metaphor made a lot of sense and opened several doors for the company.

Anyone who has ever worked on a seemingly simple home improvement project knows that the right tool can help keep the job simple. Not having the right tool can make it unbearably complex.

This past Friday I was working on a software project and was trying to build a skyscraper with a hammer. This meant I was going to be stuck writing a lot of code and I didn't ever think I was going to finish. Then I stumbled across several tools that made quick work of the project. Something that I expected to take a week took less than half an hour to complete and I could move on to other tasks.

So as you are working on your computer and seem to be running into a brick wall, remember to check your proverbial toolbox and see if you don't have a better tool to help with your task. If that doesn't work, you can always borrow a brick out of the wall you seem to be running into and smash your computer to bits. While it may not accomplish much, it can be very therapeutic.

Sneakernet

Yesterday I had both of the computers on my desk going at the same time and it was great. One of my computers has two monitors and so I hardly ever run out of screen real-estate making it a rarity that I actually need to use both computers. However yesterday was one of those unique times where I actually needed both machines.

My primary desktop is a Linux machine and is good for about 90% of the work I do. That other 10% is relegated to my MacBook laptop due to software being unavailable for Linux or for when I am traveling. Yesterday I was using Remote Desktop Connection on my Mac to work on a Windows machine located in San Francisco. I was putting together some documentation that required me to take some screen shots and include them in a technical paper. Since I like to do all of my image editing on Linux but word processing on the Mac, it required a lot of transferring of files.

To complicate things, My Mac was using Juniper Networks software to create a virtual private network (VPN) with the office in the Bay Area. Sometimes that means I can't access any of the computers in my home office without turning off the VPN. Since that slows things down a lot, I decided to resort to an tried and true method of networking: sneakernet.

Sneakernet is basically copying files to a removable medium and walking to the computer where you wish to copy that file. When sneakernet first got its name, people used floppy disks to transfer data. Now we use flash drives, CDs, or DVDs. If anyone ever needs to sneakernet data from here to Hawaii, I'm more than willing to be the one carrying the data.

Since my desktop and laptop are within easy reach of eachother, using sneakernet to transfer files didn't involve using my sneakers at all. I could copy from one computer to the other without even getting out of my chair. I transfered files all afternoon and was thinking I had an elegant solution and was rather smug. I didn't quite dislocate my shoulder patting myself on the back, but probably came close.

At the end of the day I decided to try a little experiment. I had been using sneakernet because I though the VPN would make it impossible for my Mac to see my Linux desktop. I thought I would give the network connection a try anyways. I assumed it was going to give me an error and wanted to know what that looked like in case anybody ever asked me, "What does this error mean?" Much to my surprise it actually worked. It turns out that both myself and the office in San Francisco had configured our networks in such a way that computer IP addresses remained unique.

My smugness quickly disappeared and I regretted not making the simple test earlier in the day. Now I know and can put away my sneakernet until the next time it is needed.

Technical Books

Lately I have been working on a new software project that involves SQL Server Integration Services or SSIS as it is more commonly known. While I have extensive experience using Oracle and PostgreSQL databases, my SQL Server knowledge is somewhat shallow.

Yesterday I decided to make a quick run to the bookstore to see if there was a book or two that I could use to help me with one or two details on SSIS. I drove down and found two books. One was 400 pages and the other was 700. The difference in price was only $5.00 and so I did a quick scan of the index. I'm not sure if the larger book had a more comprehensive index or if it truly contained that much more material, but it seemed to be the better purchase. I was then back home with the entire roundtrip taking less than 30 minutes.

I got home and used the index to find the component of SSIS that I was working with and eagerly read. The book was a disappointment. It had no more information that I could figure out on my own by looking at the computer screen. There were no tips or tricks on how to get the tool to do more than what I was already doing. I was sad.

I used to love going to the bookstore and pick up technical books. In my office, I have three floor-to-ceiling bookshelves filled with computer-related books. Some I have even chapters chapters or been the technical editor. One I even wrote myself that was published by SAMS.

Yesterday was my first time back at the bookstore in quite a while and my experience with the SSIS book helped me understand why. Now that the Internet and World Wide Web have grown in size, it is generally where I go when I want to learn something new. With a few quick searches at Google or Bing, I can almost always find out what I need to know. When I couldn't find what I was looking for in the SSIS book, I did a quick search and found an example of what I was trying to accomplish.

Books are still a great place to get technical information. They are easy to carry and don't require an Internet connection to read. However, I think it is tough to compete with automated searches and up-to-date web sites. I still have my receipt so I think I will see if I can't get my money back on this SSIS book.

If Engineers Ran the World

I often joke with my wife about writing a book with a title along the lines of "What if Engineers Ran the World." Unlike politicians, engineers look at problems and try to come up with the most elegant solution without regard to emotion or who will be offended. We recognize the complexities of certain situations but also understand when some arguments can be ignored.

Unfortunately this straightforwardness makes it impossible for engineers to get elected to any major public office. When a constituent asks about a special project the benefits a minor segment of the population, the what-a-waste-of-time-and-money answer alienates more than just the person posing the question. Then there is that whole pocket-protector and nerdy glasses image that doesn't help either.

One example engineers and politicians using different approaches is healthcare. I think everyone can agree that healthcare has gotten incredibly expensive and something needs to be done. Politicians feel that by spreading out the costs of healthcare, it will lessen the impact for those that are truly sick. An engineer looks at the problem and wonders why healthcare costs are so high to begin with. Maybe we should attack those problems such as the spiraling cost of malpractice insurance and significant tort reform. Besides, if someone is going to streamline our healthcare system, I don't think it is going to be the government. "Federal Government" and "efficient" are generally never heard in the same sentence without the word "not."

Another example is the economy. Politicians seem to think that deficit government spending was what rescued us from the Great Depression. What they don't realize was that money went to infrastructure programs that helped ignite the economy and build our country into what it is today. An engineer would look to emulate this spark for the economy instead of paying overinflated bonuses to bankers, airline executives, and automobile manufacturers that have already proven they are incompetent.

Yesterday was election day and I exercised my right to vote. I used it to give my current city council the proverbial finger. You see, my property taxes increased 70% this year to help cover the budget shortfall due to a down economy. Judging from the election results, I wasn't the only one upset by the tax increase. Now if we could only get more engineers to run for public office.

Professional Computer Problems

This morning I met with a major computer company with an online service that anyone can use to back up their home computer. My meeting took a back seat to a problem they were having. It seems that one of their servers was experiencing a hardware problem. It was a non-critical system but had a ripple effect on the rest of the service. It got me thinking about what happens when even the professionals have problems.

Previously I wrote about how I don't trust computers to help me keep my daily journal. However you can't always print everything and so you have to rely on some way of keeping your computer data safe.

There are many different options. You could back it up to CD or DVD disks. However I have used them in the past only to try to retrieve data and discover that the files were corrupted and the important information was lost.

You could use one of those flash drives that are becoming more popular at the same time they are increasing in size. So far I have yet to lose any data on one of those. However there is always a first time and I am sure they have a finite shelf life.

Then there are the online services like the one I was visiting this morning. However they are not imune from problems either. While they provide money-back guarantees, can you really put a price on your family vacation photos?

I still maintain that paper is the best way to go. If that isn't possible, then might I suggest a multi-prong approach. The online services really are fairly reliable and so would definitely try to incorporate one into your backup strategy. I would just be sure to include another medium as well. Then hope you never have to use it.

A Tale of Two iPods

A little while ago I had a very good contact at Apple Computer. He was my counterpart while I was working for one of their software partners and was a very nice guy. Every time I would visit him, he would take me to the employee store and tell me I could get anything I wanted using his significant discount. Most of the time I didn't want to impose upon his generosity and so I left empty handed. However once I felt it would be good for company relations if I made a token purchase. I decided on a top-of-the-line iPod.

I had always wanted an iPod even though I had an MP3 player. I opened the box on the flight home and inspected my new toy. It was really quite the bargain but still wasn't in the family budget. I couldn't expense it even though I only purchased the gadget as a goodwill gesture between Apple and my company at the time. I decided that the best tactic was to tell my wife I got it for her. If she didn't want it, then I had a new toy.

Little did I know that my wife had wanted a new iPod as well and was happy with the gift. She put her music on the device and left me the task of making it fit in the family budget. With a little creativity, things worked out and I didn't have to sell one of the children.

Then my wife got a new Samsung mobile phone that doubled as an MP3 player. She thought this would be great because she could put all her music on her phone for those jogs with the dog. My oldest son saw this as an opportunity to get a free iPod. As soon as my wife started using her phone, he promptly wiped out my wife's music and loaded it up with his own. I had my iPhone at this point and my son knew I wouldn't try to take it.

Unfortunately the Samsung phone isn't nearly as convenient as an iPod. My wife would buy songs from iTunes but not be able to convert them to MP3 files so she could load them on her phone. After several months, she had had enough and wanted her iPod back. Naturally my son felt victimized because he was loosing his music player. He resisted and resisted but finally decided that there were too many privileges he enjoys and doesn't want any of them revoked.

My son has the same phone as my wife and decided he would try to use that. Unfortunately the iPod has a 60 GB capacity while his phone only holds 1. His PSP can also play music and it has 4 GB of memory. Since he only has about 3 and a half gigs of music, the PSP would actually work for him. The only problem is that his battery is old and lasts about 10 minutes before dying. So he started looking at getting new battery for the PSP.

Saturday I get a call from my son who was at the local Kmart. "Dad," he said, "Kmart has the best prices on PSP batteries but it is still $30." I suggested that he look at the price for a new memory card for his phone. It might be cheaper. A half hour later he walks in the door and shows me his new memory card. Not only was it 4 GB, but it also came with a mini USB adapter so he can plug it directly into any computer's USB port to load it up with songs. It was half as expensive as the battery and so my son was happy.

As for that little problem about not being able to play songs purchased on iTunes, my son figured out a way around that. It involves creating a CD with purchased songs for use in a regular CD player and then converting the songs to MP3s. Leave it to a teenage kid to figure out how to make everything work.