More pictures in my Flickr set

Here’s what the old 2-column layout looked like:

1. Create a new, empty calendar.
2. Connect your iPhone and open up iTunes.
3. Click on your iPhone in the Devices list in iTunes.
4. Go to the Info tab.
5. Check “Sync calendars with” and select Outlook.
6. Check “Selected calendars” and check your blank calendar.
7. Uncheck “Do not sync events older than” and I put 0 days just in case.
8. Scroll down to the Advanced section.
9. Under “Replace information on this iPhone”, check Calendars.
10. Click Sync or Apply and you’re done.

Here’s some screen shots for visual reference (it’s what I’m seeing anyways).

Who should I vote for for president in 2008?

You match up well with…

	Barack Obama - 57% match You must be ambitious and idealistic, like Barack Obama. Obama is a liberal democrat who, unlike his rivals, opposed the Iraq war from the start. With only 3 years in the Senate, his inexperience worries some and sometimes reveals itself in the debates, but he also has the charisma and popular support that the others lack.
	John Edwards - 55% match John Edwards is a progressive democrat with little legislative experience (6 years). He has noble goals accompanied with detailed plans of how to accomplish them. He believes that resources are best spent on poverty alleviation (in the U.S.), universal health coverage, and addressing global warming than on reducing the budget deficit or continue funding an unpopular war. He is the most populist and protectionist of the candidates and is the only one willing to admit that his plans will require more- not fewer taxes, but the bill will still be less than what the Iraq War is currently costing.
	Chris Dodd - 54% match Dodd is a liberal democrat who is a well-seasoned policy-maker. He has been in Washington since 1975 as a U.S. Representative and Senator and consistently receives thing between a 95-100% approval rating from Americans for Democratic Action and the National Committee for an Effective Congress. Unlike his Democrat counterparts, he believes that same-sex marriage and civil unions should be an issue left to states and supports free trade agreements. As a legislator, he is known for his work on expanding health care coverage to the uninsured, particularly children.

Take the test.

Or D) None of the above. I think the questions were a bit liberally biased, but, meh. None of those are getting my vote. The Whistler isn’t getting my vote, either.

It looks like EPB Chattanooga is starting to push their fiber to the home (FITH) initiative and start to generate the marketing buzz. And, being a geek, I’m very interested. I perused their (painfully) flash-only web site (http://www.epb.net/fiber) and one thing was adamant — contact them if I had any questions. I did and received a response within 24 hours! Here’s the Q&A:

Me: Will residential customers have real-time (or close to it) access to their electricity usage? Preferably through a web site or maybe even a “customer interface” on the power meters.
EPB: Yes, we fully intend to utilize the communications components of our Smart Grid for functions like Time of Use functions and programs that will give our customers greater control over how and when they use energy. Both website access and direct in-home customer interface have been discussed as viable options.

Me: Will there be any power outages associated with this service? Will customers be notified?
EPB: There will not be power outages associated to the deployment and construction of the fiber optic infrastructure. In the instance of a storm or unplanned outage, customers on EPB’s Fiber to the Home will be affected the same as cable users are today - but one added advantage of a fiber optic Smart Grid is that it will give us the opportunity to respond even quicker, and in some cases even preventing, when an outage occurs.

Me: Do you have an estimated or projected timeline for each area of town? Will this be publicly available? If so, where?
EPB: At this time we have not finalized our deployment schedule. Right now we are building the fiber infrastructure that will make up the backbone of the Smart Grid and engaged in negotiations with content providers and equipment vendors. We will begin to serve our first Fiber to the Home customers early next year (2009). We will go to the areas with the highest density of people first, and then work out. We are planning for a 5 year total buildout - We will build out to 80% of our customer area in the first 3 years, and customers in the most remote parts of our service area by 5 years.

Me: If you are not using a shared or oversubscribed bandwidth model, does that not raise the prices?
EPB: Our current take rate projections do not forecast an increase of bandwidth need higher than what we have accounted for in our business model. Of course, as time progresses we will evaluate our entire system and make the appropriate changes to ensure our customers are not challenged by bandwidth constraints.

Me: Who and what capacity is your upstream bandwidth provider? 50 Mbps is a lot of Internet bandwidth even by today’s standards. Even if customers have a fast connection to EPB, will EPB be able to sustain that connection through the upstream provider? Otherwise, why switch from a service such as Comcast where I have never had a problem spiking my maximum bandwidth capabilities?
EPB: We will provide simultaneous upload and download speeds, and you are correct, that would be speeds up to 50 Mbps if a subscriber chooses that tier of broadband offering. But it also depends on the end users constraints in terms of upload speeds as well. Across our network, both parties will see the benefit in a high upload speed but if you are sending a large file to a friend in New York that is still on dial up, they would not see the benefit in your fiber service. But we can only expect that the backbone of the internet will only get stronger, so those differences in upload/download speeds between users should decrease.

Me: What will the channel line-up be? Will the HD programming be equivalent to or better than Comcast?
EPB: Right now we do not have finalized details on our channel line-up; we are in negotiations now with content providers to decide those specifics. We will offer more channels and more HD channels; And, with a dedicated fiber directly to the customers home that, unlike copper, will not be subject to degradation due to radio interference, superior picture quality.

Me: What sort of set top box do you plan to use?
EPB: Right now we do not have finalized detail on our set top boxes; we are in negotiations now with all major equipment vendors.

Me: Will FITH ever have a non-flash site? It’s difficult to scroll through the text without having to hold the mouse button down and drag the slider. Also, it doesn’t do well for search engine crawlers. Why not let everyone know about FITH instead of just those places where you publish links!
EPB: We are in the process of vendor negotiations for website redesign as well - I will pass your thoughts on to those involved to ensure we have an even more user-friendly website.

I’m not thrilled with the response about their upstream provider. I’m sure they just don’t know for sure yet, but, in the past, they have been known to use less-than-optimal carriers with several problems. However, this is much bigger than any of the EPB Telecom stuff they’ve done in the past, so I’m sure they’ll consider a good provider to stay ahead of the curve.

[UPDATE] I have received word from an a reliable source that EPB’s bandwidth does not suck and should have no problems with FITH. [/UPDATE]

The process is fairly simple. Take the top bowl off the bottom pot. I filled the bottom pot about halfway with water. I used 2.5 AP scoops of Guatemalan decaf (since it’s evening!) at a coarse grind (like a French Press). Put the grounds in the top and cap it. Then put the top bowl back on and put it all on the stove. Turn the stove on high and let it boil until there’s about 1/4 of the original water left. Turn off the stove eye and remove it from the heat. It’s hot, so don’t put it on anything heat-sensitive! Take the cap off the top bowl (to help it cool) and let everything cool for a bit until you can handle it safely; the heat of the glass or the steam can burn! It comes with a stand for the top bowl and tube, so you can just set it there. Then pour the coffee!

It’s not the best coffee I’ve ever had, but it’s pretty darn good. I don’t know if it was because the bean is 2 months old or what, but when I have the time to let water boil, I’ll definitely be using this as my preferred method.

The best part about it is the show. It’s cool to see the grounds in the top bowl start to get soggy from out of nowhere! After a while, the water in the top bowl will start to boil too. And when you remove it from the heat and the coffee in the top bowl starts its way back down, the water in the bottom pot starts to boil again! I wonder if the coffee increases the boiling point of the water so that when the coffee water meets the water in the bottom, it causes it to boil again.

Here’s some pictures as things progressed. No, the eye is not purple, but the iPhone 3G camera would have you believe so!

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