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I haven’t posted to my blog in months, but my latest encounter with the TSA has to be documented.

I’m not a frequent flier, I usually fly about 5-10 times a year. Most of the time I’m travelling for extended trips, so I usually check my bags. This week I had a quick business trip to Pittsburgh.

You would think that the Philadelphia to Pittsburgh flight would be a very affordable ticket. There was a brief time when that was the case. A few years ago Southwest came in to Philly with great fanfare and had very affordable flights to Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, a few months ago Southwest stopped the PHL -> PIT route, and US Airways subsequently jacked the ticket price to $700 round trip.

Fortunately this was a business trip, but regardless of the reason for air travel we all have to go through the TSA. Tonight was a slow night, so there was no line. I walked right up with my boarding pass and my ID. After getting through that checkpoint, I went through my bin ritual as well.

After I walked through the scanner, a TSA employee asked me if I had anything in my pockets. The scanner did not go off, but I had my wallet. He then told me that my wallet would need to go through the bag scanner. He also told me that my buttocks would need a pat down from where the wallet was removed. He then told me not to move, as he wanted to swap me for some sort of explosives test. He also told me to look away towards the scanner as he was swabbing my hands and clothing.

After going through all this nonsense, the bag scan operator flagged my suitcase. Another TSA agent had to hand search my bag. She opened it up and went straight for my toiletry bag. I usually check my bag, so I’ve never bothered with this plastic bag idiocy.

She informed me that all my toiletries were the correct size, but I needed to get a plastic bag from the information desk. She then informed that I needed to place the toiletries in the plastic bag, leave the secure area with a TSA escort, then re-enter the security line and go through the ENTIRE process again.

I wasn’t sure that I really understood her, so I echoed back what she wanted me to do. She then mentioned that it was the process, and if I wanted to I could speak to her manager. I usually never do such a thing, but I said that I would LOVE to speak to your manager. The manger repeated the same line, that it was standard process. I literally had to go through the entire process again.

I hope everyone feels safer knowing that my toiletry bag is now in ziplock bag.

Since I started cycling a few years ago, I’ve really enjoyed the challenge of climbing hills. My home region of Northeastern Pennsylvania has some great climbs for the mid-Atlantic region.

Giant’s Despair

Giant’s Despair is the most severe gradient I’ve ever ridden. Don’t let the 6% fool you, there are long sections of 20% make this the toughest climb I’ve ever ridden in PA. I would highly recommend compact gearing and big cassette.

Red Rock Mountain
Red Rock is a tough climb because there is simply no place to rest. Its a straight climb with a headwall averaging 15% for at least a mile.

Plymouth Mountain
Plymouth mountain is a convenient climb since its easily accessible from the greater Wilkes Barre area. Coming from the valley is a challenging climb that averages 9%.

Bunker Hill
Close to Plymouth Mountain is Bunker Hill, which is not as severe as Plymouth but a very enjoyable climb.

I recently decided to pick up a Thinkpad X1. The X1 is a great blend of high performance in a compact form factor. Sub-4lbs, 2.7ghz core I7, 8GB of ram, USB3, 13in screen, HDMI, miniDisplayPort, and user replaceable storage are unmatched specs.

Naturally, I immediately wiped the included Windows7 OS to install Ubuntu Linux 11.04. The install was actually painless, but I had one big problem. If I plugged a miniDisplayPort cable in, the GUI locked up completely.

Getting Displayport to work

The fix for getting a functional miniDisplayPort is simply to upgrade to the linux 3.0 RC kernel. This guide provides a quick HOWTO and links to the kernel repository. Once you reboot with the 3.0 kernel, simply plug in a miniDisplayPort cable and use the monitors app in Ubuntu. In many cases the screen will automatically adjust without configuration.

VMware Workstation

The downside with the 3.0 kernel is it breaks VMware workstation, which I use for my job on a daily basis. This fix will solve the issue with VMware not being able to install modules on a 3.x kernel.

General Observations with the X1

Overall, I’m very happy with the X1. The form factor is great, and the power is amazing considering the size. The keyboard is probably the best laptop keyboard I’ve ever used, and I’ve had numerous Macbook Pros and previous Thinkpads. There are a few areas where I see room for improvement.

The battery life is pretty bad. Now this might be an issue related to Linux config, but I’m getting 2 hours of battery life. The glossy screen is highly annoying. Its almost unreadable on a sunny day. Finally, the X1 is loud. It might be related to Linux config and the I7 processor, but its way louder than any of my previous laptops.

Overall, I’m very happy with the X1.

The other day I was having a conversation with a few friends who were talking about smartphones. The topic came up because my friend’s daughter keeps asking him for an iphone. His response was to show him his ancient cell phone and proclaim that he doesn’t need an iphone so why should his daughter get one?

For luddites, the question of necessity is always the first objection to any new technology. Necessity is always a relative thing. Luddites always question the value of a new technology by proclaiming that they don’t need it. But what technology do you actually need?

If you ask most people today, they will probably declare that they need a cellphone. Twenty years ago, if you asked the same people they would probably claim that a cellphone was completely unnecessary. The same is true of the computer, ATM cards, the automobile, electricity, running water, plumbing, etc, etc, etc. Back in the stone age I’m sure there people who claimed that horses were unnecessary.

Parents questioning the need for a child to have a smartphone reminds me of my own childhood experience. Way back in 1993, I was a 15 year old who wanted to have a pager. Back then pagers were only associated with doctors and drug dealers. A few of my friends had pagers, and I wanted to get one too. I scrounged up enough cash to buy a “used” pager down in Philly and brought it back up to my hometown to get activated.

My parents were not happy that I bought a pager. They associated pagers with drug dealers and didn’t understand why I needed a pager. As with any technology, the question of need was brought by those that oppose the new technology. After a heated discussion, I was able to keep my pager.

A few days later, I was out with friends and my parents needed to get ahold of me. They tried calling my friend’s house, but I wasn’t there. So what did they do? They paged me, and a few minutes later I called them from a pay phone. At that instant, my parents saw the value of the new technology and no longer objected to the pager. In fact, they loved the idea of the pager since they could reach me no matter where I happened to be.

Luddites are people who constantly object to new technologies by questioning the need, but really they are just people who don’t understand the value. There are always going to be people who irrationally object to new technologies, but for most people once you communicate the value, the question of need is no longer an objection.

The Garmin Edge 800 is Garmin’s latest GPS enabled cycling computer. I decided to pick one up last fall when they came out, after being the satisfied owner of two previous Garmin cycling specific models. (Edge 305 and 500) Garmin tends to always release new products in the Edge line with beta quality firmware at best, which I totally understand. However; the Edge 800 firmware can’t even be called beta, its more like alpha at best. I’ve owned the Edge 800 now for 5 months, and Garmin has had one lousy update. All of the rave reviews somehow missed the major bugs with some of the most basic use cases for the Edge 800.

One of the most basic features of the Edge 800 is the ability to give you turn by turn directions with a map card installed. Plot your course on mapmyride.com, export it to the Garmin, and you’re on your way. Amazingly, this feature is completely broken with the Edge 800. Turn by turn directions do not work without doing a laborious workaround.

Another basic use case that’s completely broken with the latest Edge 800 firmware update is plugging your device in to a computer. With the 2.1 firmware version, plugging the Edge 800 into a mac does not initiate USB drive mode. The workaround is to hold the reset button while plugging in the USB cable, then releasing the reset button.

How such a bug got through the most basic level of QA is beyond me. Many users are experiencing rides where suddenly the Edge 800 reports that they went 3000+ miles. I experienced this the bug the other day ruining the data from my ride.

I think the Edge 800 has a lot of potential, but the current firmware is just too buggy to actually recommend the device at this time. Garmin’s lack of timely updates to their flagship cycling device is simply inexcusable.

Today, as I prepare to buy the Ipad 2, I want to revisit my orginal Ipad rant titled “Why the Ipad will be synonymous for failure.” A year later, the Ipad is obviously not a failure. So lets look at some of the points from my previous post.

The Kindle is a Superior E-reader

This is still true to this day. The Ipad is not a good book reader. Most people I know with Ipads also own a Kindle. At the time of that post, there was no Kindle application, and no indication from Apple that competing e-reader applications would be allowed.

Why buy an Ipad when your smartphone already has the same functionality?

I made a really stupid assumption. The assumption was that human beings are logical when it comes to making purchasing decisions. The fact is, people buy things based on appeal and desire, not left brain analysis. The world economy is driven by illogical purchasing, and I’m just as guilty as anyone else.

Lack of multitasking and user profiles makes it a bad product

Apple fixed the multitasking issue for the most part, but the user profile concern is still valid. However; most people don’t care about such a feature and Apple sure as hell doesn’t want to promote people sharing Ipads. Steve wants to sell more Ipads.

There is no camera, there is no video out, there is no usb port

The camera issue is fixed with the Ipad2, and there is a video out adaptor. I prefer the built-in hdmi adaptor on the Xoom, but I’m not sure I have a use case for video out on my tablet. A USB port would be nice, but Apple doesn’t want to sell the Ipad as a computer and they don’t want expandability. I expect that to change as the competition from Android matures over the next two years.