Get On The Bus

Joss Stone - Bus Full Of Love

Power Support's Crystal Jacket Sets For iPods and iPhones

Power Support has a really nice line of Crystal Jacket Sets for iPods and iPhones. They’re a hard clear plastic shell that snaps together over your iPod, encasing it in (relative) safety, while still allowing you access to the click wheel and the docking and headphone ports. Plus they come with a removable belt clip/kick stand.

I’ve never been a fan of cases that hide the aesthetic beauty of the iPod, or are a struggle to get on and off, but if you don’t keep them in something, they end up all scratched up. Seems I’m not alone in my desire to see my iPod “Au Natural”, as recently there have been quite a few of these clear, form fitting cases come on the market. This one stands out though because of all of its little extras.

The Power Support Crystal Jacket Sets come with a complete set of crystal film to use as a base layer of protection. They also come with, depending on the model, either a removable belt clip/kick stand (Nano 3G), or a second back with kick stand (all other models). But wait, that’s not all! They also come with snap on dock connector covers and the casing has convenient lanyard holes if you don’t dig belt clips.

Another neat little extra on the Nano 3G model is the ability to slide the clip down, so that when you prop it on its kickstand there is enough clearance for its bottom mounted ports.

Not a bad little package for $24.95. A lot of hard shell casings available in this price range don’t even have lanyard holes, never mind all of the other extras, and a set of crystal film alone will cost you $9.99.

Bingo! I Got Bingo!

Troy Brown ended his 15 year pro football career yesterday just the way he started it, in Patriot red, white and blue, and for him (and Patriot Nation), it was the ultimate Bingo.

Troy has been the very definition of a team player. Offense, defense, special teams, whatever was asked of him, he stepped up and took it on. Not only took it on, but more often than not, excelled at it. No big talk, no big contracts, just hard work and dedication. As Belichick likes to say, “He’s a football player.”, and that’s the ultimate compliment from a coach and football historian like Bill.

I’d love to see him stay involved with the team, but whatever he decides to do; I know he will do it well. Troy Brown is a man that gets it, and that’s a rare thing.


Coverage of Troy Brown press conference.

Sox In, Yanks Out!

The Redsox clinched a playoff berth tonight and eliminated the Yankees from post season play with a 5-4 victory over the Indians. Pop them corks!

Full game coverage on redsox.com. The story of the Yankee's sad demise can be found here.

On Second Thought…

Ouch.

We got clubbed. No offense, no defense, no nothin’. The Pats always seem to have trouble with the Dolphins, but this was ridiculous. They ran all over the defense, and Porter and company came after Cassel with a vengeance. Ugly.., just ugly.

Well, we’re headed into the bye week and the Pats won’t play again until October 5th against San Fran. Which team will we see come out of the bye? For that matter, which quarterback? Cassel took a pounding today, and Belichick had O’Connell in at the end. Snaps for O'Connell, or was Cassel a hurtin' buckaroo? You never know…

Full game recap (if you can stand it…) here on Patriots.com.

Patriot Nation, You May Now Exhale.

Hey, we're 2 for 2 this week. The Large Hadron Collider didn't wipe out humanity, and the first game of the "Cassel Era" wasn't the disaster most predicted.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Belichick, and the defense, seem to own Farve, and that certainly was a big factor in the win, but Cassel did a pretty admirable job out there himself.

This is a really good team. If the kid continues to play smart and grow in the position, I should be able to cut back on the Zantac soon.

Pats 19, Jets 10. Full recap here on the Patriots website.

iTunes 8, Another Good Reason To Backup Your Files.

Along with the new Nano and Touch, Apple rolled out iTunes 8 this week. Although it has some cool features like Genius and grid view, I saw an interesting bit of information on iLounge that should be noted before you upgrade.

During the install, iTunes 8 will do some massaging and tagging of your library that previous versions of iTunes won’t like, so if you have problems and want to revert back to the previous version, you’re going to need to reload your library.

So there you have it, yet another perfectly good reason why you should backup your files. Please...

For more details and a complete test drive, check out iLounge’s “Instant Expert” article on iTunes 8.

Attention Best Buy Shoppers…

So I’m wandering around Best Buy the other day and I noticed a couple of Insignia boomboxes with iPod docks on an almost empty shelf near the end of an aisle. They were last year’s model, and have been replaced by a newer model. I’d read good reviews on the new model, so I thought I’d check out the older version and see what had changed. That’s when I noticed the price label on the edge of the shelf: $11.99

$11.99? This had to be a mistake. The tag also said: Closeout Item – regularly $100.00. I checked the model number on the box against the model number on the tag, it was a match. Then I grabbed a box and went to the nearest self service price scanner:

Bloop... $11.99

The scanner also informed me that I could purchase an extended service plan for $26.00. I don thin so, Lucy...

So I went back to the aisle, scooped up another box, and headed to the checkout. Someone’s going to get a kick ass Yankee swap gift this year!

When I got home that evening I set one up and was extremely pleased with both the sound quality and functionality. The major difference between this older model and the new one, and the reason it’s being phased out, is that the old model suffers from iCD, or iPod Continuity Disease.

There isn’t a docking adaptor for the 3rd gen nano, iPhone, or touch, although they all fit (loosely), and the video out port has been rendered useless by the recent changes that require you to use an “official” Apple video cable (or approved device) to unlock the port. There's also no telling yet about compatability with the new iPods released this week, but my guess would be that they were the final nail in the coffin for this product.

But hey, for $11.99 you get an 18 watt (total), 2.1 channel, iPod docking boombox with remote, that charges your iPod, looks good, and sounds great. Not a bad deal.

So check it out, you might get lucky. You can skip Square One though, I already wiped them out.

Brady Out For The Season

Well, our worst fears have come true; Brady is out for the season. This is a player that can take the abuse that comes with the job, and often plays hurt, so you just knew when he didn’t come back on the field Sunday that it was really bad, and it is.

He’ll need season ending surgery on his left knee for..., well, we don’t know exactly what for, but it’s safe to assume that it’s a torn ACL, MCL, or both. You didn’t think the Patriots would be a fountain of information now, did you?

I’ve been kind of in shock since the moment he went down, hoping that it would turn out to be a sprain, hell, hoping I was dreaming, but I’m not. Hearing Belichick’s press conference yesterday was sobering, and seeing a piece on the news about how we’ve entered the “Cassel Era” was downright scary, but I’ve finally started to adjust to the idea of a Brady-less season, and here’s what I know:

The team will miss Tom, the fans will miss Tom, the game of football itself will miss Tom, this is all undeniably true. The pundits will say the Pats are through for the season, but they aren’t, and that’s also undeniably true. The Patriots still have at least 15 games to play, win, lose or draw, and although I don’t expect any passing records to be broken with Matt Cassel at the helm, this is still one of the best Patriots teams I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen them all. Every last one.

There aren’t that many marquis quarterbacks out there in the NFL, most are serviceable at best, and teams still go about the business of playing week in and week out. That’s us now, a great team with a serviceable QB. The team needs to rally around him, and we as fans need to rally around them. Everyone is going to have to work harder now, the players, the coaches, even the fans.

It’s your team; you can’t and shouldn’t bail out on them now, just because one player is gone, even if he is the best player in the NFL.

The wins, the championships, the trips to the Superbowl, that’s all just gravy. We’ve still got a lot of football left, and that’s all that really matters.

Brady Out, Cassel In…

and my lunch is threatening to revisit.

Brady took a shot to the left knee area on the Pat's second drive of the game and is listed as “Questionable to return”.

It looks like the rest of the team has stepped it up a notch.

Hang on tight, this is gonna be interesting.

Keeping Your Lines Of Communication Open

With all the tropical storms and hurricanes that have been popping up the last couple of weeks, I thought it was a good time to share a little tip that might help you stay connected with the outside world the next time the power goes out.

You should always keep a corded phone on hand, as they get the juice they need to operate through line power. A standard corded phone set will work even during a power outage, while a cordless phone won’t, as it needs external power to operate.

Most of the corded phones on the market today are cheap plastic pieces of crap that you wouldn’t want to have in your house, but Crosley has some really cool ones. They’re reproductions of some of the most popular phones from the past, and they’re solid, well built and sound great.

We have a 1930’s era Kettle Classic desk phone in the kitchen and we love it. It looks great, works great, and everyone that comes in plays with it as soon as they spot it. Target has a few models in-store, if you want to check them out live and in technicolor, or you can order them directly from the Crosley Radio website.

One more thing; if you have FiOS, you should also check the fiber optic transceiver’s battery backup unit every so often. This is the device that converts the fiber optic connection to copper, and it needs power to work. The battery backup unit will keep your phone line up for about an hour in case of a power failure, and it has a nice set of led lights to indicate its status.

Not So Deep Thoughts…

Some stuff I’ve been ruminating on over the long hot summer:

I’m really excited about WEEI’s new website makeover. All the writers I don’t like on a website I don’t go to. Sweet! Had I known what they were up to, I would have donated money to go towards signing bonuses. Maybe they could have stolen Maz away from BDC…

If there was no HGTV, would my wife still want to paint anything that doesn’t move?

I’ve mowed my own lawn forever and done less damage the entire time than my new (soon to be ex) landscaper has done in a month.

Never agree to be executor of anyone’s estate!

You know you’re in for trouble when a coworker says “Everyone in my family has the stomach bug except for me”, and the next day they’re out.

Why do so few people backup their files? When your PC dies, and it will, all those digital pictures you’ve been taking, and all that music you’ve been downloading, will be gone forever, and no amount of whining or teeth gnashing will change that. Only you can prevent stupidity.

For me, the single greatest invention of the 21st century is the portable mp3 player. Having my entire music collection in my pocket is an amazing thing, and one of the most Jetson-esque things that the world of technology has brought us thus far.

You can call me a dyed in the wool homer (cause I am), but I still think the Pats will have another great season, despite their dismal play in the preseason. They need Brady on the field to coalesce as a team, and hopefully that will be happening soon. I’m beginning to believe the broken bone in the foot rumblings, although if I were dating Gisele, I’d be hard to find also. (Sorry Hon, but have you seen the happy couple’s photos on BDC?)

The Sox… Ah, the Sox. What can you say? Another soap opera season that somehow, against all odds, has begun to pick up steam again. Man O’ Manny, could they have asked for any better outcome to a really tough situation? I don’t think so. The front office has once again turned lemons into lemonade to slake the thirst of Red Sox Nation. Good job!

And speaking of Red Sox Nation… Don't be buying yourself one of those stupid membership cards. I got an email the other day warning me that “time was short to join Red Sox Nation during the 2008 season”. Being a true member is a state of mind, and has nothing to do with paying $14.95 for a colorful piece of plastic.


That is all.