Carlos Randolph

IT Pen Junkie!

Yes, as I mentioned earlier this week, I’m a Bag junkie. But then I realized this, I’m a Pen junkie too. I’m very loyal when it comes to Pens and I like very specific styles. My favorite pens come from a company called “Retro 51”. I specifically like their Tornado Poppers.

The pens write incredibly well and have the perfect amount weight for my liking. And like my bags, they come in a variety of styles that make them all unique. I have flat black ones, character ones, retro gaming ones, etc. I even have a couple of limited editions ones that I’m very proud of.

If you want a pen that looks great and writes well, visit Retro 51. Also check out Fahrney’s Pens, who is a great online seller of Retro 51 pens.

Why so French???

Those of you who know me know that I’m very partial to France and the French in general. But I’m not sure if anyone really knows why.

First off, I’m very partial to the European style of living. They take time to enjoy the things that are important, really important.
The cuisine is incredible! I especially love Vietnamese food where you can taste the influences of the French.
The language, the sound of it, is intoxicating.
On my first trip to the Caribbean, some of our favorite spots were French.
I was very fortunate to take my first trip to Paris during World Cup!
What else is there to say, the country itself is beautiful.
Monaco GP, Cannes, Tour de France!!!

Don’t get me wrong, America is great, beautiful and free! There is as much to love in this country as any other. I just identify and like the French and their culture. That’s the great thing about being American, I’m allowed to do that. 🙂

Good Job Amazon!

I’m in IT, books and Google are just part of my life. I subscribe to Safari Books Online because and I use it a lot. I’ve got both a Kindle and my iOS devices and I have books across both. But one in awhile there are books that I want to own. I call/categorize these as foundational books. These are books that I want to refer to often. Then there are topical books which I refer as needed.

I was looking for a couple of “foundational” books on Amazon and found one that I wanted. So I paid the $28 dollars and was on my way. But what I really liked was at the end of the purchase, Amazon presented me with an option for getting the eBook version for $2.00. $30 bucks for the pair. Which I ended up doing so I could start reading it on the spot. Great way of promoting/marketing the physical and virtual!

Dear LinkedIn, you suck!

I’m at work today and I get a notification from LinkedIn. It was from someone who used to work at my company who I knew but didn’t work that much with. Any way, the endorsement was from them and they endorsed me on my “Visio” skills. LOL Now I know that LinkedIn presents people to you when you are on the site but this whole “Endorsement” thing is pointless.

Unique Games…

“It’s happening all around you. They aren’t coming. They’re already here.”

I was introduced to Ingress (ingress.com) a couple of weeks ago and I was amazed. First, I was amazed that I hadn’t heard of this. Second, I was amazed because they took game play to another level. Think capture the flag, with a lot more flags, more gadgets/play and the game board is the entire world.

Take the platform of Google Maps and overlay the game. So to visit and play you have to physically be there with your smartphone/tablet. I work in the day in downtown Chicago which is very interesting. One, there are lots of game play areas. Two, there are lots of people playing all the time.

Go check it out… Join the Resistance!

IT Bag Junkie!

What can I say, I love bags. I’m in touch with my feminine side and believe that our accessories define who we are and represent us. All along I’ve always picked out bags that are unique and represent me. Some bags cost more and some are really inexpensive… but they are all me. Some of my favorites:

Jack Spade bags – these are my more expensive and classier bags
Waterfield – not inexpensive and very unique. I have a lot of these and they are built great!
STM – unique bags, not to expensive and love they focus on Mac products.
- Side note: STM are the initials of the Apple II emulator for early Macs

Some of ones I refuse to own. Not because they are “bad” but because everybody and their mom owns one:

Targus
Ogio
Timbuktu

My latest purchase. Found a good deal on eBags for this one. This is my 2nd STM bag. Can’t wait for it arrive!!!!

How’s it going with no Facebook?

A few months ago I announced to my FB friends that I would stop using FB. I was simply burnt out on it and I didn’t know why. I have a memorial site for my wife who passed away, so I’ve stopped in to post some things on that but nothing for me. The one exception was on my birthday in June where a lot of people still passed on good wishes and I responded.

So why did I get burnt out? What went wrong? I think it simply comes down to people. There is a “tax” to connecting with too many people. And let’s be honest, there are some people you didn’t get along with in the past and you still don’t even now. But it’s hard to “unfriend” them because you don’t want them to feel bad or for yourself to look like an jerk. So you don’t, thinking that it won’t hurt. But the reality is that it does hurt. You start to see messages, posts and what not from people and it starts to grate. I’m sure there are people who friended me that don’t want to hear what I say as well.

So what have I learned? While “social media” seems to be a lot different, there are still a lot of similarities to the real world. Friend and interact with people you want to interact with. If you don’t want to interact with someone then don’t. If you see something from someone and more often then not you find yourself irritated, then stop.

Social media sites like FB should be fun, social and drama free. Will I go back??? I have to work on my list of friends. The cheap way would be for me to publish my tweets and Instagram stuff to FB. But I feel that it’s wrong. People want to comment then you should be there to hear the comments.

Disney and the DVC

Just got back from Disney World and had a wonderful trip. If you go then you will see kiosks and setups for the Disney Vacation Club (DVC). So what is it? Basically it’s Disney’s timeshare. If you buy points, you can use them to stay at Disney Resorts, Disney owned locations, Disney’s Cruise Line, and for those that want to step out of the Disney zone they can be exchange with RCI’s timeshare group to stay at locations around the world.

So you can buy points for a specific hotel, for example I did Bay Lake Towers at Disneyworld, and that is your home hotel. At your home hotel you can book rooms before anyone else starting at 11 months out. You can also book elsewhere but at 6 months out. So your chances of getting the room you want at your home location is better than the others. I chose Bay Lake Towers because the rooms are my style and I can book a room with a view of the Magic Kingdom (Fireworks show every night).

DVC members also get some perks like 10% off all shopping at the resort. If you have kids clamoring for toys then this will come in handy. At the same time I’m a DVC member, I’m also a Chase Disney Premier card holder. So all my purchases through the cards racks up Disney Rewards that I can use at the park. I also use the card at the park because you get extra reward dollars.

The DVC points are not cheap. They only really work out if you are willing to take the time to travel. Some resorts cost more points than others. Bay Lake Towers costs more points than Saratoga Springs. Depending on when you want to go, there are three or four seasonal adjustments as well. So going Xmas and New Years costs more as well. And then there is the size and view of room. Bigger rooms costs more. At Bay Lake Towers you can room view of the Parking Lot, Lake or Magic Kingdom and they cost is progressively more.

Don’t get me wrong, you can get a great set of points to use at good price depending on the options you want. For me, when I visit the Magic Kingdom, I want the ability to stay at one of the best resorts. But I also have the flexibility to book other spots and have more travel times. Right now I basically travel every 2 – 3 years and go all out. So if you have your DVC membership and book your room, what else do you have to pay for???

Dining plan. Get a dining plan. You can get the basic plan or ones with more options. You will use them up, we get the regular plans which includes a sit down meal and a quick meal for the day. One kid loves Lucky Charms so we brought a box and got a milk and used his quick meals for other stuff.

Park tickets. Last time I just got two days of park tickets with no options and went to Animal Kingdom one day and the Magic Kingdom the next day. This time we stayed longer and I end up buying two days of park tickets with both the hopper and the water park options. The hopper allows you to visit multiple parks on the same day. Because we stay in front of the Magic Kingdom, we went in at night for the parade, rides and fireworks. But during the day we went to other parks. The water park options is awesome because for the price of 1 day at Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon, you get access for two days. So two days at the parks and two days at the water parks. The water parks are awesome! And don’t forget to do the FastPass for the parks!!!

Hannah and her prying eyes….

I was sitting with my (8) year old she asked me if I quit Facebook. I was caught a little bit off-guard because it’s not something I told or would tell her. After all, she’s eight and not on Facebook. So I asked her how she knew that. She replied, I saw it on CarlosRandolph.com… In that brief moment my head started rifling through all the posts I could recall… I hope I didn’t say anything offensive.

While this is not a case of saying something in public that you regret… It is a case of now having to remember what I say in public is visible to my kids. 🙂 Are you reading this Hannah?

Heated bed for PrintrBot Simple

So a month or so ago I purchased a Simple (kit) from Printrbot. Built it and it has been great! The one thing I didn’t like was blue printers tape everytime and that the printout really stuck were “interesting” to remove.

I was on Printrbot’s site and saw they had a heatbed upgrade for $30 that allows you to use ABS plastics in addition to PLA. But most importantly, it replaced the printers tape with Kapton. $30 bucks is really inexpensive but consider this; you need a Power Supply. So I dished out about $60 bucks for a nice power supply and another $30 for Printrbot metal stand/PS holder.

The upgrade was easy enough to do and I got my first printouts going in no time. My daughter and I are having fun both designing and printing some online models now. My suggestion to you is that if you are thinking about this printer, just get this upgrade up front and build it in.