An Easy Fix For the iPhone OS 4.2 Update Problem - Music Not Showing on iPod

I was an early adopter on IOS 4.2. The day it came out, I clicked "Check for update" in iTunes on the iPhone pane every five minutes.

After quickly snagging it, I quickly realized that it had caused a problem: When I opened the iPhone app, my music didn't show up! I was worried it had been deleted, but in fact it had not. I knew this because when I went to settings, general, and finally about, I showed 3302 songs.

Apple recommends a complete restore, but the problem with this is that it acquires you to go back and replace it a lot of settings on the phone.

A Simple Solution to the Problem
What I did to solve my problem as simply to go into my iTunes library and drag another song to my iPhone. This fixed the issue with little hassle and little time investment.

It's so simple that I'm surprised Apple doesn't recommend doing this first. If you try the solution, please let me know either way whether it works!

Review: Great Night at the Venetian Watching Blue Man Group in Las Vegas

A friend of mine snagged some fantastic tickets to watch Blue Man Group tonight in Las Vegas. These tickets were given to us by the folks putting on Pubcon, specifically Brett Tabke.

The Blue Man Group is by no means a new phenomenon; the original group formed in New York City in 1987. My girlfriend is quite familiar with the group through friends who have seen the group even though she has never seen them herself. To me, the group was new. I enjoyed them tremendously.

I don't live in Las Vegas, and this is the first time that I have ever been to the city. It is nice to know that there is good clean entertainment available in what is known as Sin City. This might be the best show in Las Vegas if you're looking to go to something that you know is "safe", fun, and thought-provoking.

The show is safe very little of it is spoken. There is no crude language and there are no sexual overtones. If you are an intuitive type of person you will be thrilled with the subtlety of communication. The humor ranges from extremely simple to more elaborate but there are no dirty jokes.

The show is fun because all the abstract elements that pulls on. It has the weirdness of blue humanoid creatures who are not quite human but have the sense of wonder that every human values at some level. The show is fun because of the audience involvement. I myself had a camera stuck in my mouth and zoomed down my throat. I brought it on myself when I returned the gaze of one of the blue men as they were running a camera through the front row. A sweet lady was picked out of the audience is taken up on stage to "dine" with the Blue Man Group, and another man was abducted out of the audience and put in a jumpsuit. Over the next few minutes, he was slathered in blue (is closer safe because of the jumpsuit) and launched into a canvas where he became an abstract artist.

The show is thought-provoking because of the nuance that it plays on as well as the outright parodies it does of modern rock 'n roll, advertising, and a few select romantic time. I will send more in this area because I might ruin the show for you.

I definitely enjoyed my night and left entertained. If you have a chance to see The Blue Man Group in Las Vegas or anywhere else, I highly recommend you do so.

Many thanks to the folks at Pubcon for a great night of entertainment.

Frustrating Day with Networking

Today I spent a long time struggling with what turned out to be very basic networking issue. I'm trying to move from Window's built-in VPN software to the mobile VPN software that watch guard puts out which in turn works with my XTM 505 Firebox. I'm still trying to make that move because I had to spend most of the day correcting issues with my air card which I will need next week as I travel.

For whatever reason, my laptop decided all of a sudden that it did not want to recognize the USB connector lightning AT&T provided me or the Dell wireless 5530 air card (C6807R). I tried several options to fix this issue all of which proved to be superfluous. My normal fix, simply uninstalling and reinstalling the device drivers, did not work.

What ended up working was going into the Device Manager -> Modems -> Right Click -> Properties -> Advanced Tab -> Advanced Port Settings and then looking at the very bottom of the window by the COM port number drop-down. I simply selected a different port dollars order using hit okay and like magic everything was fixed.

FYI I am using Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.

Is Your Blue Tooth too Quiet? Mine Isn't!

I've been an avid user of bluetooths (and yes, that is the correct plural for bluetooth) for a number of years. The convenience in answering speed and the safety afforded in a number of scenarios make using a bluetooth logical.

However, many of the standard earpieces left bluetooth devices too quiet - I simply could not get them loud enough. Many standard earpieces were also uncomfortable for me. I ordered an Avery Sound custom earpiece for my bluetooth and it has been a lifesaver. It is comfortable, and increases the perceived volume of my calls.

The volume is so much greater that I had a problem - it was too loud! I easily remedied this by ripping some cotton from a cotton ball, and stuffing it in the earpiece.

Will My Dell 5530 Wireless Card withT-Mobile

I purchased a 5530 Wireless card for use in my Dell Precision M4400, hoping that it would work with T-Mobile. It does - great news, which I wanted to share, since I couldn't find any resources with this information available.

BCM 50 Date and Time

For the past few years, my BCM50 has required a constant reset of the time. It would always slowly lag behind my network, which is constantly checking with time servers to make sure it is sending the right time out.

I thought I was properly pinging NTP with the BCM50, and was frustrated. However, it was not - but I've fixed it.

What I did was simple:
In element manager under the configuration Tab, I went to System-Date and Time.

The first thing I needed to change ws the Date and Time Source. I had been using "Trunk." The confusing thing was that even when set to "trunk" you are allowed to configure an NTP server address. Even though you are allowed to set these options, it does not appear to use them unless you select "NTP" as the Date and Time Source.

So, select that first. Then, make sure you have pool.ntp.org as the server, tell it to synch however often you desire, and you should be set.

Great Article on Guns by... A Hippie

I don't like hippies, but this one wrote a good article. And it's on the Dailykos... a stupid hippy liberal website that I resent.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/7/4/881431/-Why-liberals-should-love-the-Second-Amendment

Coming off a Great Week

I'm coming off a great week of vacation in Maui County, HI. That's the Island of Maui, as well as a few smaller islands.

My cousins David and Catherine invited me to stay with them here on the Island, and I'm very thankful to them for doing so. This has been one of the most relaxing weeks I've had in a long time. I would consider them "expert" travelers. Since they had been here for quite some time prior to my arrival, I got to go to the "good spots" that they had already checked out.

My flight starts boarding in about 40 minutes, and I'm hoping to catch some serious Z's on the way home to avoid being worn out at work on Monday due to the time change. East to west travel is always easy, but I've heard West to East is difficult. Whenever I've traveled to Europe, I've always fallen prey to this.

Tomorrow I also get to see Sarah, the love of my life. I cannot tell you how long I've waited for the day that I get to see her without knowing it is only for a few days. My heart is very glad right now. And despite this being what I am the happiest about, I won't say any more. ;)

Great Travel Packing Guide

I'm not very good at packing, but I found a great travel guide today while searching for help packing for my vacation next week: travel smith packing list.

When Bad Gets Worse

I've had a very, very rough week. Last Wednesday, I was in a wreck in which my vehicle was totaled, and it really changed the tone of my weekend, which in turn changed to tone of this week.

Today, while sitting in a conference, I noticed that my plugged in Dell M4400 is simply not charging. It says "plugged in, not charging." It will run on A/C power without draining the battery, but it won't charge. Long story to short, Dell is going to send a tech with parts to my hotel after hours to fix it.

I'm impressed.

Finding 64 Bit Drivers for Printers (Windows 7 64 Bit)

I recently got a new computer with Windows 7 64 Bit. I use a dell 3115CN and was having problems finding 64 bit drivers from the Dell website. There are no printer drivers on the Dell website, and the available printer driver failed miserably.

I found an thread on a forum that walked me through my 3115CN Driver Problem to a solution, which is actually quite easy: instead of trying a network install, try a local install. Click on the above link for a solution; I hope this helps someone.

I Don't Like Beer - Just Beer Commercials

Maybe, Just Maybe, I've Found a Church

When I moved to Memphis, I didn't look for a permanent church home since I didn't think I would be here long term. I've visited a lot of churches (probably over 70 since I've been here), and had one that I spent more than my fair share at, but it just didn't feel like home at any of them. Ironically, there was one that I thought about trying at first that I didn't because a girl I knew from Minnesota moved down here and went there. Silly, huh?

Well, Sarah and I tried it out today, and we're going to attend again this evening. I'm thinking of making it my church home - it is First Assembly of God of Memphis. At least I think that's what they call themselves!

Anyways, here's hoping I can get plugged in.