Not many people who follow me here and around the web know this about me, but I am a worrier. I blame my mother, who worries about everything and anything. I am not as bad as she is, but I do worry.
Looking back at what you worry about is always somewhat comical. Oh, in High School, I worried about X or Y - how small it feels now that I have a family and run a business.
I know many people who never worry. Maybe they don't show it, but they seem to be incredibly carefree. I personally do not worry about everything, like some people, but I do worry about things.
I check my bank accounts online almost every day. I check in more often then I use to, but mostly cause I go online to pay business bills and check deposits. In the old days, I mailed checks and I never received direct deposits from clients. Now, I pay virtually all my bills online and receive some payments via wire or direct deposit.
Recently, someone I know had their bank account broken into. Someone was withdrawing funds. He was so paranoid, until he got things switched, that he checked his bank account several times per day. Understandable!
On December 15, 2009, I announced the return of SphinnCon, a small SMX event, to Israel. In just a week, we sold half the tickets.
I am delighted, I think, to say that the event is completely sold out now. On Sunday, January 31st, we sold our last ticket. 200 seats, gone.
We still have over a month until the event - so I apologize if you are just learning about it now and you were unable to get a seat. We did open a waiting list, but I am not sure if that will open up or not.
In any event, we are now finalizing the agenda, placing speakers and so on.
I am also excited about having a few Googlers coming and speaking at the event. I was hoping for some from Bing, but they have zero presence in search in Israel (or so I am told).
Anyway, thanks for making this conference a success so far. Looking forward to seeing you all!
Jimmy posted the details of how the other RB team members initiate new members into the team - somewhat of a hazing. Here is a video of the latest initiation. But make sure to read the full story at the RB Blog named Coder Hazing: Anthony Gets Punk'd...
Yesterday, I wrote about the new feature Google Reader add to track any pages, even the ones without an RSS feed. So I got the typical retweets (RTs) on that post, but then I got this:
JETS were so close to beating the Colts, so close. I shouldn't be upset, but I was/am. To come that close to the playoffs when no one even expected them to make the playoffs - I should be happy.
Oh well - it was a great end to a season. Thanks for it!
Well over three years ago, I bought a no-brand LCD TV from Niko. The company is now out of business, but the TV is actually still very good quality. However, the Niko rebate was a scam, the TV is solid. The TV I purchased back then was the Niko OTP-3211W 32" and it was pretty expensive looking at the prices you get today, but back then, it was the best deal I could find.
In any event, for over three years, I have been trying to find a remote control that would work with it. Non of the remotes I have tried had the proper codes to work with this TV. That includes CableVision and Verizon remote controls. I tried universal remotes but failed.
That is until last night. The Philips Prestigo 12 Device Universal Remote control came via a Woot deal the other day and I set it up. Although Niko is a brand listed in the set up configuration, that part didn't work. When I went through the rolling code set up, at about 250 codes in, the TV turned off. I was shocked. I cannot tell you how many remote controls I tried to get to work and this one did it.
So there you have it, the Philips Prestigo 12 Device Universal Remote worked with the Niko OTP-3211W 32".
My Dad sent me an article from JPost named Tefillin causes bomb scare on US flight (FYI, my dad uses the email this to a friend feature). The story is interesting.
A 17 year old boy took out his Tefillin on a flight, in order to pray the morning Jewish services. The thing was, he wasn't flying to a destination that has many Jews. Typically, when you fly at certain times (Jewish holidays) and to certain places (places with lots of Jews) you are bound to see a Jewish person putting on Tefillin in the morning to pray.
You would see this all the time if you flew to Israel or into New York or Los Angeles. In this case, he was flying out from New York but to Louisville, Kentucky. I don't think there is that big of a Jewish population in Louisville. Wikipedia says:
There is a Jewish population of around 8,500 in the city served by five synagogues. Most Jewish families emigrated from Eastern Europe at the turn of the 20th century; around 800 Soviet Jews have moved to Louisville since 1991.[56] Jewish immigrants founded Jewish Hospital, which was once the center of the city's Jewish district. Jewish Hospital recently merged with the Catholic healthcare system CARITAS. On one corner near Bowman field are located the one orthodox temple, Shalom Towers, the Jewish Community Center and Jewish Family and Vocational Service.
So not huge, at all.
I am honestly surprised this doesn't come up more often. Whenever I go through security with my Tefillin, I wonder if someone will question me. They are strange black boxes with paper in them. Just seems weird, I would think.
This boy took a 7:30am flight and the flight duration was 90 minutes. I am not sure why he could not have prayed before or after the flight. I guess the 90 minute flight is a good time to do that, but still.
rushIMPRINT, a promotional product company, sent me a handful of RustyBrick branded Kippahs (also known as yarmulke or כִּפָּה). They came out pretty well and in fact, I honestly might wear them every day.
Blogging My Life...
Not many people who follow me here and around the web know this about me, but I am a worrier. I blame my mother, who worries about everything and anything. I am not as bad as she is, but I do worry.
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On December 15, 2009, I 
