The View From Space

Christmas is coming 3 weeks early for Hawaiian Trekkies.  The Star Trek Convention in Hawaii will kick off the 45th Anniversary Celebration.  For more information check out the official website .

One downfall of being an avid Android geek is feeling the inherent need to continually upgrade ROM’s and Kernels. In a never ending quest for speed and capability I’ve gone through at least 10 ROMs and 3 different kernels for my Samsung Vibrant.
My latest combination is the Bionix Fusion 1.1 ROM with JACs Overclocked (OC) / Undervolt (UV) Kernel and Voodoo LagFix.  Will this be my last flash?  Probably not, when the Devs come out with a better, faster, cleaner ROM I’ll be standing in line to download and upgrade.

Whether you’re looking to enhance your Android or Win smartphone with just a cool theme or if you’re adventurous enough to do a full ROM/Kernel change,  http://www.xda-developers.com/ will have something to suite your tastes.

While in San Diego my wife and I had the pleasure of attending a local production called miXtape.  It’s playing at the Horton Grand Theater through December 19. 

The cast and crew take you on a nostalgic journey through the 80′s via the entertainment tool known back then by teens as the mixtape.  It was basically a cassette tape with a mix of one’s most important songs merged into a nonstop entertainment train. 

The women in the cast were incredible singers but the guys were the ones who stole the show.  While their voices weren’t as smooth as the women their antics and facial expressions really got the crowd hooting and howling.  From Duran Duran to CHiPs they had the crowd dancing and singing along (also having one of the male leads come running onto the stage in his whitey tighty’s ala Tom Cruise in Risky Business surely helped their cause). 

So if you happen to be in San Diego before December 19 I wholeheartedly recommend saving a night to watch miXtape.  The Horton Grand Theater is located just a block away from the Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego, so you can make it a night out on the town with dinner, a show and dancing (oh and dont forget dessert at the Ghirardelli ice cream shop).

Techno Geek heaven can be found a mere 40 miles or so north of San Diego.  Fry’s in San Marcos stands head and shoulders above their 2 other stores that I’ve frequented.  The San Diego Fry’s so far ranks on the bottom of my list, the store is old, dirty and they have a poor selection of items.  The Las Vegas store is 10X better, much better stocked and they have much more “shopping cart” deals (you geeks out there who’ve visited know what I’m talking about).

Topping the list (albeit short) is the Fry’s located in San Marcos, CA.  Well stocked, very clean and nicely organized.  The first thing you notice is that the store’s decor is done in an Atlantis theme.  Upon entering you’re greeted by 2 lifesize deep water divers in tanks and a HUGE circular saltwater tank.  To the right the customer service department is flanked by bubble filled water walls.  To top it off they have a rocking cafe with 4 large saltwater fish tanks making up the front and side walls of the area.

So what does all this have to do with Technology and Geekware?  Absolutely nothing.  But you gotta admit, it is really cool!

While taking a shopping break at the Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego I nearly made a most horrifying mistake.  I almost walked into …. gasp ….  a Microsoft Store.  You’ll forgive my near mis-step once you see the pics below.  C’mon, not only did the Microsoft store copy the Apple store-front design of an all glass facade, they even went so far as to do the single logo on a white background across the top.

Jeez, you’d think that a multi-billion dollar company could come up with a unique design … oh yeah they did … APPLE’S!

While in San Diego on business, had the opportunity to attend the Miramar MCAS airshow over the weekend.  Thought that watching the Blue Angels at the  Kaneohe MCB Airshow the week prior would prepare me.  However, I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the event, easily 3 – 4 times bigger than the one in Hawaii.  Here’s just a glimpse of what went on.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any pictures or videos of the high speed fly-by’s.  I was always in the wrong place at the wrong time when the F-18′s made supersonic passes.  Watching them approach and not hearing them until they passed you with a boom was amazing.   Seeing the cone of condensation around the plane as it hit supersonic was just too cool.

But boy was it HOT!  Like the Hawaii show people were camped under the wings of display aircraft waiting for show.  And because it was so hot I left before the Blue Angels performed.  At least I got to see them at the Kaneohe MCB airshow

Before and after photos of North Island/Coronado taken from Point Loma.  Early morning fog obscures the entire island.