Ben Ostrander.com - Blog

Quick Thoughts on Olympic Events

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:40:00 -0400

Michael Phelps is the man. I’m sure everyone agrees
Synchronized diving is lame.
The boxing is surprisingly uninteresting.
That U.S. - France Men’s 400m Freestyle final was amazing. Probably the most exciting part of the olympics for me so far. Jason Lezak was fantastic. What a comeback.
Too much screen time is devoted to beach volleyball.
Badminton would be so much more fun to watch if the camera angle changed.
The kayaking should be shown on TV more.
Fencing and Shooting should also be shown.
Gymnastics do not really interest me. But the U.S. Women fell so many times it is amazing they got a medal at all.
Track and Field events couldn’t start soon enough.
Team Handball may be fun to watch.
Hearing, “Final Round in the Men’s 3 meter synchro” does not excite me one bit.
What the heck is Rhythmic Gymnastics?
However, the moving camera that follows the divers down is sort of cool.
I definitely want to go to China more than I already wanted to.
I wish more of the Olympics were broadcast on TV. Two channels (at least two channels that are in HD) are not enough.
U.S. soccer is not so good.
It would be simply incredible if Phelps pulls off the impregnable octet.
Lip-syncing during the opening ceremonies? Seriously? In a country of over one billion people the organizers could not find a litter girl that they believed to be both cute and talented enough to sing on the national stage?
The U.S. basketball team had better pull this one off.

Twittering

Sat, 2 Aug 2008 11:20:18 -0400

I signed up for a Twitter account a few months ago. I just started using it today. The jury is still out as to whether I will keep using but if anyone out there wants to sign up and get more regular and short updates about what I am thinking and/or doing go ahead and sign for Twitter and follow me (you can just use my email address to follow or shoot me yours and I’ll follow you).
I am certain that many of you do not know what Twitter is. I am still not completely sure what it does or what its purpose is. Basically, you send text-message length messages to all your contacts on Twitter and they can follow up on what you are up to what you are thinking about. Its a form of micro-blogging I suppose. Or if you have a large following of friends or family you can let them know what’s up and where you’re going. For example, when you leave work and are headed home you can just post to Twitter rather than making 3 phones calls or sending a text message.
Anyway, if you’re interested in setting up an account, please do and let me know. Below are a few articles I found on Twitter, so check them out.

From Many Tweets, One Loud Voice on the Internet
Wikipedia
If You Can’t Let Go, Twitter
Twittering Away Your Life With Social Networking
In Defense of Twitter

If you know of any other good articles on Twitter, please let me know.

iPhone Game Reviews

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:59:14 -0400

I’m sure that pretty much everyone out there has heard about the new iPhone 3g. Perhaps you have even heard about the new iPhone Application Store. I am not going to talk about the iPhone itself (Apple does not allow me to) but I will discuss some third-party applications I have enjoyed.
The first is a game called Super Monkey Ball. The picture above is from that game. Monkey runs smoothly on the iPhone and it is simply incredible. It uses the iPhone’s accelerometer to move a monkey in a ball around an obstacle course. Tip the iPhone forward and the ball rolls forward. Tip it right and it turns right. You get the idea. There are approximately 100 levels (I think). Each with varying difficulty. This game is actually pretty difficult. It can be frustrating but if I could beat it on the first try it really would not be that fun. It was definitely worth the $9.99 I spent for it. Here is a link to a YouTube video showing the game in action.
The second game I love so far is very similar to Monkey Ball. Its called Labyrinth. It is the same basic idea as Monkey Ball except it is an iPhone version of that game with the wooden board with holes in it in which you move a marble through the obstacles without allowing the marble to fall through a hole. It too is pretty tough. But its fun. I recommend that game for iPhone users too.
In future entires I’ll try to review some more applications I have found myself using. Stay tuned.

Honeymoon Photos

Tue, 1 Jul 2008 22:30:20 -0400

I have been going through my honeymoon photos over the last week or so. I have uploaded them to my Flickr page. You can follow this link to see the wedding weekend and honeymoon photos on Flickr. I also made a web gallery for the honeymoon photos that can be accessed if you follow this link.
Please enjoy them. The only thing I ask is that if you visit my Flickr page, please comment on the photos you see. Please let me know what you like or dislike about them. I’m also interested in why you like or dislike certain photos and what you think I could do to improve any of them.

Back to Reality

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:46:15 -0400

Yuck. I am going back to work tomorrow. Life was much better while I was on my honeymoon in Jamaica. That’s where the above picture was taken. You can check out my Flickr page for more pictures from the trip and the wedding in the coming days and weeks. I also set up a collection where you can easily find all the images I took, they are (or shortly will be) organized by event. I have thousands of pictures to sift through. Wish me luck trying to get into my office with the piles of cases that await me.
By the way, I am probably 35 percent used to wearing my ring. I expect to near 75 percent by week’s end.

My Hometown in the News

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:44:55 -0400

Some of you news hawks may have read about the recent affecting Iowa. There have already been tornadoes. Now the flooding starts and it’s bad. People have to leave their homes. The flood waters are causing unprecedented damage. This is worse than the flood of 1993, if you’re familiar with that. Best of luck to everyone at home. The picture above is from CNN and you can see the island in the middle of the Cedar River with the buildings on it surrounded by the river. Its amazingly high.
Anyway, I just wanted to bring this to your attention. It is now time for me to keep getting ready for tomorrow.

Photos to Share

Thu, 5 Jun 2008 22:22:10 -0400

First, I would like to apologize for the entire lack of updates to my blog. I have plenty to say and share but I do not have the time to do it. Unfortunately, work is killing me right now. I have effectively been on trial for the past three days and it looks like tomorrow will not be different. Oh well, I enjoy and have had some good success in it so far.
Anyway, I wanted to point you to my Flickr page where I recently uploaded some photos similar to the one above. I decided to use one of my paychecks from my second job (at the Apple Store on Boylston St.) to buy a new lens for my camera. I got the Canon 17-85 f 4-5.6 IS lens for my Digital Rebel XT. I love it.
Don’t expect too much as far as updates go in the coming weeks. I’m getting married in the next week or so and I have a ton of work to do at work and to get ready for the wedding. Then I am out of the country for a bit. So, sorry.
P.S. the picture above was taken at Chandler Pond in Brighton, MA

Bummer in the Airline Industry

Sun, 25 May 2008 10:34:04 -0400

As some of you may or may not be aware, American Airlines recently changed its policy on checked bags. They will charge passengers $15 to check a single bag. I think its an interesting move. I do not begrudge them for trying to make a buck or two to recoup fuel costs. Especially since this could be a way to charge passengers for the amount of fuel they are responsible for using. Essentially, it seems what American is looking at doing charging passengers for the extra weight of a checked bag. That extra weight being responsible for more fuel usage. Again, this is an interesting idea but one that should be implemented a little further.
I think what a better idea might be is to charge passengers for the amount of weight all their carry-ons and checked baggage encompass. Please note, I’m not saying that passengers should be charged based on their body weight. That would open a whole new barrel of issues and problems that I do not think it is fair to consider. But if passengers are charged a flat fee per pound of baggage, it would be far more fair and it would most likely help in alleviating what is sure to be a huge headache in trying to secure overhead bin storage space. If you thought those bins were full now, wait until you see what its like when passengers carry-on all their bags.
The implementation of this bag fee could also exacerbate some issues that are already a problem in the airline industry. Namely, lines to check in a pay for the checked baggage and lines at security as more people, including infrequent travelers, carry their bags through security. Longer security lines and travelers who may not be familiar with carry-on rules, especially as they relate to liquids, could certainly increase security line wait times.
I do not think the procedure to actually pay for the checked baggage needs to be overly complicated. In fact, it can probably be completed at the check-in kiosks (or at least it should be). When you check off the option to check a bag, the computer can ask you for your credit card and charge you the $15. Or it could automatically charge the credit card you use to swipe to tell the computer how to find your name and reservation. As for the weight-determined fee for all baggage, it could be something similar. Have travelers approach some slee-looking scales, place their bags on it and weigh them. Then on the boarding pass, print out the number of bags weighed, their combined weight, and total fee based on weight. Of course, this may also increase check-in time but it would more fairly distribute the cost in fuel due to baggage weight.
Well, those are just common-sense thoughts I had on a good implementation of this policy and a way to bring it a little further. If anyone from the airline industry finds themselves here, please take a look. Also, you could give me a free flight or two if you decide to use my ideas! Hahahaha.