A Clean Gadget is a Safe Gadget

ZAGG Gadget Foam

So if you have any mobile device that you carry with you by know you are more than aware of how oily and dirty it can get.  Especially if its a touch screen device like a phone or tablet.  The way a touchscreen can have so many fingerprints and oil streaks on it is boarder line magic.  And unless you carry a microfiber cloth around with you at all times the screen never gets completely clean.  You just push gobs of oil from one side of the screen to the other.

What's worse is when you add kids to the mix.  I have two boys. And they both love stealing my Motorola Xoom tablet to play games and watch You Tube videos about Mario and Sonic games.  But as you know little boys are not the cleanest lifeforms on the planet.  Always digging up their nose and not washing their hands after they go to the bathroom.  And after this last cold and flu season I was tempted to boil my tablet for five minutes.  No Bueno.

ZAGG Antibacterial Gadget Foam


So yesterday I'm in Target and browsing around for Puss and Boots on Bluray for the kids (they only had it on DVD the bastards).  So as me and the youngest are wondering around I find this stuff.  ZAGG Antibacterial Gadget Foam is like hand sanitizer for your gadgets. And having the little guy with me was great motivation as to why I needed it. It seems like no matter how many times I wipe his face his nose just automatically crusts up again. I mean we have the technology to make a vibrator dance to an iPod but not to keep a kids nose clean?  Where are our priorities as a people. Anyhow I digress.

Just a Pump or Two

All you need is a microfiber cloth. Just use a pump or two of the gadget foam and spread all over the screen until all the bits of for lack of a better word "gunk" are clean.  Then you just turn the cloth over to the dry side and remove all of the streaks.  Then TaDa your done.  No more nasty bacteria on your screen just waiting to make you sick.

That being said I did notice the next day that the screen seemed to get a oily a lot faster. But that could have been me just noticing the screen getting dirty from it being so clean for like the first time I've had it.  Either way it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep a microfiber cloth handy just for maintenance dry cleaning. And remember. Walmart has a good brad of microfiber cloth packs that they sell. And Amazon carries them to.

Uncle Tommy and the S#!t He Says

Google + has given birth to many things. Circles, hangouts, lack of sleep. But one of the lesser known of them is a legend. The legend of Uncle Tommy.


You see Uncle Tommy isn't a horror movie character.  He also isn't like anyone you have ever met in live either.  Its like if you took a little bit of Barack Obama and mixed it up with a little Warren Sapp then wrapped it all around with a bunch of A Pimp Named Slickback. Sounds crazy but what is sick is how accurate that really is.  What's worse is Uncle Tommy only comes out in the late night hours.  Clothed in nothing but and Xbox 360 controller and his magical Rape Blanket he takes on friend and foe alike with either his game or his insight on the human condition I like to call "Shit Uncle Tommy Says".


Shit Uncle Tommy Says is like a fortune cookie that spend five years fighting in the middle east.  Its off the wall, blunt and mind boggling.  And strangely I feel like I understand life a bit more every time I hear it.  So to spread the love I'd like to share a few of my favorite quote from Uncle Tommy.


Been in a street fight with two dude with my pimp cup and never spilled a drip. HoDoKen my ass. My brew got cheat codes.


Rolled over my minivan and "got" five stitches from busting out. Obamacare and brains ain't free. BELIEVE!!!


If her kitty smell like coconuts she gotta have AIDS. Summers Eve don't come in Tropical Flavors Son.


Easier than brains in the back of a Buick with bucket seats. Six Flags baby. Tell your moms to keep driving.


I make a dude run into a wall and his home room teacher take sick leave. Water faucets bring more than rain


I'm done with skinny girls. Too easy. Give me a muffin top 40lbs over weight. Make me earn my title.


Crying Game? Won't see me in the shower crying with a bottle of scope. Real dudes check for adams apples and Popsicles.


Ariel from the Little Mermaid is the devil. Don't trust no woman who is happy when she is dry and talks to fish.


Ghost riding in green slippers while you trying to swag surf in 2012 is not hot in the streets.


And my all time favorite:


Only difference between Jersey and Anime is subtitles son. Keep your lights on.


So my friends if you are ever feeling lost in life and need some guidance and you favorite fortune teller is booked, do a search for #shituncletommysays . I promise it will all make sense afterwards.

Google+ Trending Down? Reply Hazy, Try Again

The Famous Magic 8 Ball

I don't know if I'm just a weirdo (which I probably am) or just super uncool (Which again I probably am) but are all the uncool kids really on and only on Google+?   I mean I keep reading articles about how Google+ is trending down and I have to say honestly I don't see it. I get how people say usage is trending down. And that might be so.  But I would like to point out a few things.

Age Restriction


Google lowered the minimum age for a Google+ account not so long ago.  I know for a fact a lot of people I communicate with started posting more posts to limited Google+ members as a result.  I'm not saying that people under the age of 17 shouldn't be on Google+.  I am just saying that no one wants to even deal with a teenager reading a post of theirs where the language may be a little crude and the subject matter may be a little mature.  And that's to say nothing of the comments some people of that age range may make.

Private Life


I love Google+.  I've met more people one here and made what I think are more real friends than on any other social network I've been a part of. But to say Google+ is clique incubator would be an understatement.  I mean a direct synonym for Circles would be clique. Most people post directly to specific circles.  And its not always to be exclusive to how your communicating with. I know personally I use Google Reader and Google Currents a lot. When I find a story I think is of interest I post it.  But unlike the mistake I made on Twitter not so many moons ago, I post most my news articles to a circle of people who don't mind that many posts.  More than one person, include myself, have been unfollowed because of over posting.

But really it is more than that.  People who use Google+ everyday look at it as a community.  They become deeply engaged with the people they interact with.  So sometimes as I have found out it becomes hard to remember to expand your circles and accept new people.  I have a big circle that I speak to most people with.  I try to add new people into it so I can expand my circles a bit.  But here is the problem.  While the number of people I follow on Google+ is way higher than any other social network I've been a part of, so are the number of everyday people I speak with.

On Twitter where everything I said was in public all the time at most I had like 400+ followers and spoke to maybe 7 at least once every week.  On Google+ I speak to at least 10 to 15 different people at least once everyday.  And that's an average.  On a topic heavy week it can be as much as 20 to 30.  And that's just regulars.  Passers by on comments can get crazy.  So that leads me finally to my point.  If outsides say Google+ is dean on arrival (DOA) and users think it is a live and kicking as ever what can be done about it.

Living in Public: The Seven Day Public Challenge

We are spoiled.  Google has created such a controlled social network that we have forgotten that a public posts are the backbone of any social experience.  So since we are all familiar with the video challenge this and question challenge that I propose a seven (7) day Public Posting Challenge.  For the first seven days in March (March 1-7) post just three public posts a day.  And it doesn't have to be a big blog post.  Post a picture of your phone.  Or tell us what your favorite color is today.  Just something to show people that Google+ is being used.  Then go to the "What's Hot" section on Google+ and comment on three posts there for seven days.  And then the hard part.  On the seventh day (March 7) create a circle of at least three new people you think are cool and publish it (of course to the public).  That way your friends who are interested can add some newbies to their circles.

So again from March 1-7 do the following:

• Post three public posts a day.
• Comment on three posts in "What's Hot" a day

And then on March 7th

• Make a circle of at least three cool new people you have interacted with and publish it to the public.

Happy Plusing Folks.

The Walking Dead: Rick vs Shane

Forgive me for my bluntness but Rick Grimes the F'ing man. Case in point. His best friend in the world Shane leaves him for dead, screws his wife and may be the father of the unborn child he believes is his. What does he do to this guy who everyone thinks is the basest thing in this damned zombie world that they live in? He pulls dude out when no one is around and tells gunshots my woman, my son, and my child. And if you don't want trouble you gonna live with that. That may not be thready solution. May not even be threaded one. But it is the manly and honorable one.

This episode more than the ones before show the difference between Shane and Rick. Shane is built for the end of the world. He is animalistic. Kill or be killed. A unaware dictator who believes he is doing the great or good by making sure his Alpha Male status is always recognized and revived. Rick is a community leader. A true law man. He is more than willing to anything that has to be done. But he is fighting for more than survival. He is fighting for the preservation of civilization. To Rick its not just enough to live. The choices you make to live are supposed show you what you are living for and why. The ironic thing about it is as right or wrong as you may think either one is, both approaches work. At least in the short term.

The interesting thing about Shane and Rick being a fan of the comic is Shane is the person that Rick from the comic trying not to be so often. The animal guarding his territory. Willing to rolling over and kill any and all who get in his way. It is interesting to see how the two Rick personas at odds with each other. I am not sure if Kirkman designed it that way but I think it is a treat for hard core fans.

Who Do Voodoo? Not Me!

1Weather App

So I suck at casting spells and curses.  The Knicks fell to the Miami Heat. They weren't destroyed, but they also won't be having any fond memories of the game. Have to admit it was weird seeing Barron Davis run the point for a while. Also sad to see Dewayne Wade just run circles around him and Jeremy Lin.  Anyhow its the All-Star break so I have a few days to forget about that loss and look at some people I would never pay to see play basketball shoot three pointers and slam the ball.  Liquid excitement folks.

1Weather


As I always say in my blogs I'm an Android fanboy.  Even with my internal storage issues on my phone I try to test out as many apps as I can. Weather apps were always an issue because the big ones like Weather Bug and The Weather Channel are great apps. But they would hog resources on my phone to no end. Wunderground was better on resources but was a little slow. Plus to get all the featuers you had to play for an annual Wunderground account. Not a big deal but I wasn't happy enough with the app to totally go in with it.  Then after listening to a All About Android on TWiT I discovered 1Weather.

1Weather doesn't do anything that the other weather apps don't already do. But it does enough of the things they all do without making my phone run slow as hell to make a difference.  Plus it has to be the prettiest app of them all.  The bonus is that they added notification bar display of the weather. Well actually it tells you what the weather feels like.  But its still useful.  And again its not a resource hog.

Friday


Once upon a time before responsibilities on a Friday after work I would come home, take a nap, and wake up about 8 or 9 and see what there was to do.  Now weekends are not for me. OH NO MY FRIEND!!!  Weekends are for preventing pseudo beings from burning down the house and spending just enough money to keep them from driving me crazy.  This recent weather in the lovely state of Maryland isn't helping either. Its warm enough outside that they should go out.  But with the rain and the pollen being so high for this time of year I don't have enough layers, cold medicine, or allergy pills to keep the kids from runny noses, muddy jeans, and sore throats.  I'm tempted to stack the couches on their sides in the corner and just have them go at it. Maybe the would get so tired running in a circle for an hour that the two of them would go to sleep on time.  Actually what am I saying?  Those two spawn from the energy galaxy would want me to play with them.  And after my second heart attack and third stroke I would be defenseless.  Looks like popcorn and a movie again.

The Tooth Fairy

New Member Big Boy Club

 There is a new big boy in town. And his name is Chris.  Outside of stealing his father's Xoom tablet and killing its battery playing games and watching howto videos on Youtube about Mario and Sonic games he like to run, kick, and spit at his father when he is trying to pull his loose tooth.  Nothing says love like a kick to the gut and spit as my friend Nay would say (Right in the Eye).

This brings up another topic. Why don't five year olds know how to gargle?  I mean dang. Is it that hard to swish liquid around in your mouth?  I couldn't find the step stool so I had him spit the water into the toilet. And he got at last 45% of it on target. Considering this is way above his peeing average I guess I should be happy. Maybe I need to get this boys eyes check or something?

And of course as is tradition with all children that loose their teeth the Tooth Fairy had to make an appearance.  Even better though is this joker called his payment. He kept saying "I get a dollar I get a dollar".  How the hell does that work.  What happened to a quarter per tooth?  Its not like there is a black market for baby teeth I can hit up to recoup my costs here.  If I was smart I would have pulled a Donald Trump and got the money out of his piggy bank.  Sad really when your kids savings is in better shape than yours.

Anyhow fare the well to you all this weekend.

Please Knicks Please

Do Fried Chicken Bones Count?

The only thing that is worse than being bad is being OK.  Sounds weird right?  But its true.  If your a sports fan and your just bad for no reason and you get beat by a good team you expect it.  You justify it by saying you don't have good players or a good coach or general manager.  You watch the first couple minutes of your game, look for some chips and then find out what on the other channels or pull out your phone/tablet/computer to see who is on your social network of choice.  But when your OK and you could actually play with a good team but can't beat them, there is nothing worse.  Hence my comedic attempt at a voodoo curse on the Miami Heat.

Miami is in a rare position in the NBA this year. It looks like they don't have a slow gear at times.  All they do is run, score, and laugh all game long.  No they aren't undefeated.  But no team in the league wants to play them that is for sure.  And Lebron James looks like what the Greek Gods would have created out of marble and leather if they needed a demigod of basketball. So now that New York has a good cast of players that are actually starting to play well as a team its really scary to have them play the Heat right before the All-Star break.  Right when the Heat are going to want to make a statement before the break.  In Lin Knicks trust I hope.  Because if the Knicks do win the smile on my face won't go away until the playoffs.

Jeremy Lin


I love the fact that the Knicks lucked into finding Jeremy Lin.  And I love the fact that he is having a breakout season when no one thought he would.  But I admit I am one of those that his background was being made into a story way to much. I mean he is of Asian decent but he is from California.  Why would his heritage make for such a fuss other than being background?  Well as ESPN.com showed us we shouldn't assume anything. For the person who wrote the headline to say no racism was intended shows how in denial we are about matters of race and sensitivity towards them we are.  If Lin was African-American and the headline was "Lin gets Blacked Out" how would that go over?  That's really my rule of thumb. If you can put your racial epithet and still not be offended then fine. But I accept the news outlets making a big deal about his race now because we obviously need some education about it.


Google Docs


For the longest time Android has had a Google Docs application that was almost useless.  The writer app was basically a text editor at best.  Since this week though that is all different.  Now you can format text and do tables and such.  All we need now is to be able to insert photos.  Nice to have a real free office suite on Android. Even though the spreadsheet app is still much to be desired.

Valentines Day

Butch & Sundance 

Aren't they cute. Adorable even. They are my pride and joy. Its only though the miracle of having kids that you truly begin to understand nature. That the deadliest of creatures have defense mechanisms to put you off guard just to strike and finish you. Children are no different. What's worse is they law has drastically tipped the advantage to their favor. You can't just drop them off at a church or Aunts house for 4 to 12 years anymore. No you have to love them forever now.  Its unfair I tell you.

Case and point. Today. Valentines Day.  These two happy fakers right here.  The youngest one seems to have given his old man a cold after waking up one early morning recently to a five year old coughing and dripping snot onto my face.  Good image huh.  Well as a result all weekend my voice has been squeaky.  So being the loving pair of spawn they are all I hear is "Daddy lost his voice so he can't yell at us!".  Those little...  But I digress.

So its all I can do to get these two little ... bundles of joy out of the bed and to start eating breakfast.  Of course since I don't have my full Daddy Voice of the Gods I can't deliver the full strength "HURRY UP" I usually do when they start slacking.  I swear to you they were eating so slow I could could how many times they chewed each bite.  And after making sure the youngest had his shirt and underwear on in the right direction (He just caught on to the old Kris Kross style a bit late) I got them dress and their jackets on and ready to go.  Almost.  Of course today is Valentines Day.  They start arguing over who's class Valentines are better and how they want the others.  Its like they would play with me to see how close I could get to the door before the pulled me back from it. Then it hit me. Payback.

I was never a morning person. I hated my alarm clock with a passion. And upon more than one occasion I did put the pillow over my head and try to act like I didn't hear it.  Its then I knew that a 60 year old black lady in New York was hovering over a pot of chicken bones and frog legs with a voodoo doll singing ancient chants dedicated to my continued morning frustration and agony.  So I would like to give a special warm and heart felt Happy Valentines Day to my mother.  Love you forever.  And most of all, payback is coming back.

Happy Valentines Day to all.