GTACM officers with Ben and Richard from Engadget HD

Richard and Ben of Engadget HD dropped by to give a short talk and a long Q&A session with Tech students and local Engadget readers. They’re in town for the CEDIA Expo (which I’m hoping to drop in on tomorrow–we’ll see). The talk was held in the Klaus computing building at Georgia Tech and was sponsored by GTACM.

During the informal talk, Ben and Richard chatted about what it’s like to write for Engadget HD, how the writers only ever actually see each other at trade shows, and a range of other topics from sound systems to emerging entertainment technologies to working 20 hour days at CES. I’m still sitting in the talk as it’s winding down, and it appears that they may have brought some friends from the expo who have some fun giveaways. Before the talk began, I snagged a pair of Z-Buds earbud headphones, which admittedly, I’ve never heard of, but they’re pretty nice looking, and they look like they might actually be comfortable. I’ll give them a try and report back.

The talk continues, so there should be more to come!

Edit (9:30 p.m.): Ben and Richard chatted some more with the audience before we called it a wrap, including a couple of funny anecdotes about how the supposed rivalry between Engadget and its competitor Gizmodo doesn’t really exist. Then some representatives from ZAGG (the guys with the headphones) had a few more giveaways, including some $25 gift cards. They seemed to have enough for everyone who wanted one, so I snagged one myself so I can see what they’re all about. (Hey, give me a break. I’m a grad student without an assistantship during a hiring freeze. I’ll take all the free stuff I can get!)

Ben also offered to post links to the blogs of the people who attended the talk, so it’s entirely possible that the fragile little server this blog is sitting on (along with my internet connection) could come to a screeching halt very quickly. I’m self-hosted, so please be kind! Will blog for better hosting.

Before

After

I decided to try my hand at downsizing a couple of oversized polo shirts that I have in my possession, and I found that my experiment in tailoring was surprisingly successful. So I decided to post a photo tutorial of the process I used to Flickr. I’m not the greatest seamstress or tailor, but I can do most basic things, given enough time. The process to convert a shirt from circus tent to stylish takes me about 2 hours, but that’s probably because I don’t sew very much. My 1970s-era Kenmore sewing machine gets hauled out maybe about five or six times a year, at the absolute most.

The procedure could probably also be adapted to downsize other styles of shirts, as well, but it probably is best suited to polos and T-shirts. The entire process could also probably be sped up by using a Serger instead of a regular sewing machine, but a regular sewing machine is what I (and most other people) have, so that’s what I’ve got to work with. If anyone decides to try this with a Serger, let me know how it goes. Likewise, if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to comment here or on the Flickr set.

Most of my provisions for Dragon*Con 2008, including my con box, cooler and some food.

Conventions have a certain quality of being overwhelming; that is, there nearly always seems to be too much of everything and not enough time for it all, but there’s one, perpetual exception: con food sucks. It seems that regardless of the size or location of conventions, one recurring theme is that nobody eats well. It’s entirely possible to survive solely off of fast food and food from the consuite (if there is one), but by the time the show is over, you’ll feel the effects of your poor diet for days, if not weeks. And if you have any special dietary restrictions (like you have severe food allergies, you’re vegetarian or you keep kosher), not only is it nigh impossible to eat well, most find it difficult to even eat enough.

Dietary restrictions aside, if there’s no consuite (and sadly, consuites seem to be a dying tradition), feeding yourself during a convention can get really expensive. Restaurants near convention centers and large hotels often have inflated prices, and after a whole day of walking around and navigating crowds, you’ll find your appetite to be a bit larger than usual. Bringing some of your own food to, at the very least, supplement your diet will save you some serious coin, especially if you can take what’s left over home with you.

Whether you’re living out of a hotel room or your car, your solution and convention food savior will be a cooler with plenty of ice. So let’s start there. Most conventions are held in hotels, and whether you’re actually staying there or not, you can probably access one of the ice machines. My cooler doesn’t have a drain plug, so I put the ice in gallon-sized freezer bags so that it’s easy to change out the ice without having to empty the contents of the cooler every 12 hours or so. But what if you don’t have a cooler or can’t bring one because you’re flying in? What if the convention isn’t in a hotel and you can’t get ice? Most convenience stores and grocery stores will hold your solution: styrofoam coolers and bags of ice. The styrofoam coolers do the job just as well as the pricier ones, and you can afford to leave them behind. For that matter, if you’re flying in, you’ll want to find a grocery store at your destination, anyway, as you’ll need to do some shopping for food, anyway.

When building your shopping list for the convention, take into account what conveniences you will have on hand at the convention. Some hotel rooms have refrigerators, which significantly reduces your need for a cooler (though they’re usually small, so they don’t entirely eliminate it) and increase your options for the kinds of perishables you can bring. Some even have microwaves in the room or available in the hospitality room, which further increases your options. Consider yourself lucky if the place you’re staying provides these, because in most cases, you’ll have neither. The following food suggestions are based mostly on the assumption that the only things you will have at your disposal will be the cooler of ice that you’ve brought and a small coffee maker (which really doesn’t do you much good, come to think of it, unless you don’t mind pouring coffee-tainted hot water over your ramen noodles).

When shopping for food to bring to the convention, you want to try to maximize the nutrition that you can get while minimizing the amount of things that you have to buy, as you have limited space. Below is an example shopping list, based upon my own experience and some good ideas that my mom had last year at Dragon*Con that I didn’t consider. I am not a vegetarian, nor do I adhere to any special dietary restrictions, so some of the suggestions below might not work for you if you do. However, I still think it’ll give you a place to start.

Non-perishables (or doesn’t require refrigeration)

• Bread
• Peanut butter and jelly (the kind that come together in the same jar)
• Canned fruit (don’t forget a can opener in your con box!)
• Pop Tarts
• Cereal (something that can be eaten as breakfast or a snack–Cheerios is a good one for this, as are Kix, Cocoa Puffs and Reeses Puffs)
• Aseptic cartons of milk such as these from Horizon. They don’t require refrigeration, but if you like your milk cold, you can keep them in your cooler without having to worry about keeping them cold enough. Powdered milk is another option, but I personally can’t stand the taste.
• Canned or pouched tuna or chicken (mix with mayo and make a sandwich or toss with the bagged salad for a more substantial meal)
• Mixed nuts, trail mix and/or dried fruit — these are typically a nutritionally dense food that you can easily carry around in a small zip-top bag in case you need a pick-me-up.
• Beef jerky
• A flat of bottled water
• Juice and/or soda
• Sweet and salty snacks of your choice — a bag of chips, a bag of pretzels, some candy…whatever floats your boat.
• Condiment packets (like the kind you get at fast food restaurants). Staples include ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and soy sauce.

Perishables (requires refrigeration/cooler)

• Deli meat — I recommend the kind that comes in the plastic storage containers.  As long as you keep the ice changed out, this can be stored in a cooler for several days with no ill effect.
• Cheese — sliced, sticks, cubes…whatever. If you’re keeping it in a cooler, keep the ice changed out and the cheese in a water-tight bag or container. Wet cheese is gross.
• Fresh fruit/veggies — only get things that don’t require elaborate preparation. Baby carrots, apples, oranges, bagged salad kits, pre-cut broccoli florets, grape/cherry tomatoes, bananas and grapes are all good options.
• Pre-made cold pasta or bean salad — buy it in the deli section of the grocery story or make it at home beforehand. Keep it in an airtight container in your cooler. Unless you have a real refrigerator at your disposal, stay away from anything containing potatoes, eggs or mayonnaise.

If you have a microwave available (some can be made with hot water from the coffee maker, if you don’t mind a little coffee-flavored contamination)

• Ramen/Cup o’ Noodles
• Easy Mac
• Hamburger Helper singles
• Canned soup
• Chef Boyardee (or similar)
• Any other self-contained, boxed, just-add-water food with microwave instructions. Take your pick.

Of course, with nearly all of these, you’ll need to remember to bring bowls, plates and utensils. Fear not, these and much more will be in your Con Box, which will be the topic of Part 3!

Have any additional suggestions? Leave a comment!

“I don’t think the media has a liberal bias or a conservative bias so much as it has a bias toward overreacting to short-term trends and a tendency toward groupthink.”

That’s pretty much the long and short of it. Except for maybe Fox News. They’re just shameless.

When you're at a con, sometimes you just need to relax and regroup.

With convention season in full swing, and having seen a number of comments about certain difficulties and annoyances about attending a crowded, days-long convention lately, I felt that now might be a good time to provide my own contribution to the body of knowledge (and yes, there is one) regarding con survival. I intend this to be a multi-part series, with this part being mostly an overview of some of the things I’ll talk about in more detail in later parts.

Being of somewhat limited means, I don’t attend many conventions, but the ones that I do attend are fast-paced, crowded, tons of fun, and when I go, I go balls to the wall, if you’ll excuse the expression. I make it a point to attend at least two conventions in the Atlanta area every year: Dragon*Con, which is held downtown in the Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton and Sheraton hotels over Labor Day weekend; and MomoCon, which is held on Georgia Tech‘s campus in March, the weekend before the beginning of the school’s spring break. I have attended both conventions since 2005, which was MomoCon’s inaugural year. I have worked on staff at MomoCon for the last two years, and this year will be my first year working on staff at Dragon*Con. MomoCon is the largest free anime and gaming convention in North America, with an estimated 7,000 attendees in 2009. Dragon*Con is significantly larger and significantly more expensive–membership costs have ballooned in the five years I’ve attended to a whopping $100 for a 4-day pass purchased at the door–and it makes MomoCon look like a small family gathering. Estimates of attendence range from 30,000 to 50,000 for the four-day weekend.

I suppose this brings me to my first piece of advice: if memberships are limited to a certain number (as is the case for many conventions, particularly trade shows) or increase in price the closer you get to the con (like Dragon*Con does), buy your membership early, especially if you know for a fact that neither wild horses nor a natural disaster could possibly keep you away. Even if you wind up not being to make it, most conventions will let you transfer your membership to another person, usually for a small fee, which you can often make up by getting your transferee to pay the cost. (If it’s close to the convention, odds are they’ll still be getting a better deal from you anyway.) Joining the staff of the convention (the process of which differs from con to con, but it usually involves attending a number of meetings and signing up to work for a portion of the convention) can also be a good way to go to cons on the cheap and/or give you access to some extra benefits and amenities that will make your life a lot easier. Check out the convention’s website and look for information about staff meetings or contact information for volunteer coordinators. If you can get in touch with someone about volunteering, the coordinators and directors are most likely more than happy to have you, even if (and especially if) it’s a large convention and/or you have special skills. A/V operators, technical support, licensed EMTs and off-duty law-enforcement are often in great demand, but even if you’re not among these groups, it’s very likely that there’s still a place for you. So ask! Many cons will discount or comp your membership if you agree to work a certain number of hours.

Another good tip is to make and bring a  con box. A con box is a portable, carryable, durable box that holds your convention survival necessities. Consluts.com has a wonderful series about con boxes, but I will devote a part of my series to these vital apperatuses, as well. I honestly don’t know how I survived without one. It is also an insanely good idea to bring a cooler and your own food. I will devote another part solely to the best kinds of foods to bring to a convention. Let’s face it: it’s really hard to eat well and eat cheaply at a convention, especially if you have special dietary requirements. Vegitarians probably have it the worst, as most of the quick, convenient food vendors do not have a lot of vegetarian options. One particular guest at Dragon*Con told me that if he never saw a cheese pizza again, he wouldn’t much feel its loss. Though I suppose that might be an extreme example. Having a con box and/or a cooler and your own food is somewhat dependent on your having a place to store them, so this advice assumes that you have a hotel room, car or some other place near to the convention premeses to keep them. Much of my advice will be tailored to those staying in a hotel during the convention, but as I have also done the con thing without a hotel (as I live very close to both of the conventions that I attend, and MomoCon isn’t even held in a hotel), I will have advice to provide to those staying off-premesis or living out of their car, as well.

Speaking of hotels, sharing is caring. Unless you’ve got a lot of money to throw around (and face it, who does these days), you’ll probably want to split the cost of a room with friends. Staying in a convention hotel can get expensive, but if you split the cost with four to six friends, you may be able to get by spending under $100  for lodging for the entire convention. I’ll probably write up a short entry about that at some point as well. But what you should probably know right now is that, as with your convention membership, you should act early. Convention hotels fill up obscenely fast for big shows.

In addition to the above, I may touch on a few other things that come to mind, including costuming, scheduling and money management. If you have any questions, advice you would like to provide or ideas for topics in this series, leave a comment, drop me an email or get in touch with me on Twitter (@lamenta3).

Image credit: raleighwoman via Flickr

I live in the middle of Atlanta, and as a responsible citizen and individual, I subscribe to my neighborhood’s email group so that I can remain informed about neighborhood events, construction, traffic detours (which are happening a lot lately with the bridge construction) and crime trends. This post is in regard to a particular crime trend which, in the six years I’ve lived in this particular area of Atlanta, you’d think that people would start learning from others’ misfortune. The crime trend I speak of is car break-ins.

As times get tough (as they are now), theft and property crimes tend to increase. But even in good times, if you live in or even spend any amount of time in an urban or densely-populated area, there is always the risk that, one day, you’ll return to your car and see one of the windows smashed in. I read reports of this on a daily basis; most of them occur either on Georgia Tech campus or in the expensive, new development to the north of me which is mostly occupied by suburban transplants. There is the occasional car break-in the heart of my neighborhood, but I’ve noticed that since the local police precinct has stepped up APD’s  “clean car campaign,” that number has gone way, way down. About half of the ones I see occuring on campus report “no items taken,” which is good because it means that the victim really didn’t leave anything of value out in their car, but bad because there was probably something still setting out in their car that gave the criminal the impression that there might be something valuable worth looking for. Nearly all (close to 80 percent or more, I would estimate) of the break-ins that I read about that occur in Atlantic Station report stolen particularly valuable items such as laptops and currency.

I can only hypothesize that the reason that the campus area and Atlantic Station seems to see many more car break-ins than central Home Park (which lies between the two) is that both are populated with individuals who are not entirely accustomed to living in the city, and as a result, either easily forget or don’t realize that leaving anything that appears to be remotely of value visible in one’s vehicle, even for a brief period, is generally a bad idea. This is why I propose that, no matter where you live, it’s just a good habit to get into not to leave a lot of things laying around in your car, even if it’s not particularly valuable stuff and even if you think that no one in your town or neighborhood (where you might not even lock your doors at night) would even think about breaking into a car.

Why? Well, think about it: how many times have you gotten in a friend’s car, and had to move a mess of clothes, books, papers, shoes, fast food trash, etc. just to be able to sit in one of the passenger seats? What did that make you think of the quality of their car? Did you perhaps wonder, “what else could they possibly have in here?” Criminals wonder the same thing, and they’re hoping that the answer is something valuable. If they’re wrong, you’ll wind up having to pay for a broken window for their trouble. But break-ins aside, every single loose item in the cabin of your car can turn into a projectile if you ever get into an accident. So if your car is constantly full of junk, you increase your risk of injury (and injury of your passengers) should you get into an accident every time you get behind the wheel.

If there are things that you really need to keep in your car and have handy, put them in the console, the glove compartment, or any other discreet storage places inside of your car. If you don’t need to have them at hand all of the time, put them in your trunk. The same goes for things that you may need to store temporarily in your vehicle. Need to stop by the store on your way home from work, but don’t want to carry your briefcase or laptop bag in with you? Don’t leave it on the backseat, put it in the trunk. Out on a shopping trip and you need to leave the parcels from the last stop in the car? Put them under a seat (if you can) or in the trunk. The more that it appears that there is nothing of possible value in your car, the safer you will be from break-ins. The more that it appears that there is nothing of possible value in anyone’s car, the safer everyone will be from break-ins.

So can you leave anything out in your car? Sure. There are some things that are typical, non-valuable items that can generally be safely left visible in a car, provided that your car is otherwise uncluttered on the inside. These items include a pen, a (cheap) water bottle, a blanket (and possibly a small car pillow), a sun shield, an atlas and an umbrella. However, for safety, these items should still be stored in your car as neatly and securely as possible (perhaps in the pocket on the back of one of the seats or in the console).

What are some things that you may think it’s safe to leave visible, but it’s probably not a good idea? Car chargers for cell phones come immediately to mind, as do shoes, clothing and any kind of bag (like a gym bag, tote or even a shopping bag in some cases), whether it’s empty or not.

Recently, I discovered something shocking: my allergies really aren’t that bad. In the past year or so, I’ve been able to stay off of antihistamines entirely, with the exception of the few weeks in late September/early October and the March-May period that see pollen counts that really make me question the standard scale for pollen counts. (For those of you not familiar with Georgia’s allergy season, it’s not unusual to see pollen counts in well in excess of 1,000, when the standard scale starts counting “very high” at 151.) Even crazier than my ability to tolerate life without the daily regimen of obscure prescription allergy medication that has been the only thing that’s kept me functional during allergy season since 2003, I can suddenly tolerate most days during pollen season whilst taking Loratadine, which I’d thought stopped working for me when I was 15.

It occurred to me that on days where the pollen count is on the low end of “very high” (you know, the regular “very high” of maybe 200-300 that most other places see for a few days each year), I’ve never felt as bad as on days where the pollen count is in the range of “omgplantorgy.” That said, my allergies probably aren’t that bad. I’d figure that just about everyone would feel like death warmed over on a day where the pollen count exceeds 2,000. Nonetheless, I still suffered episodes of allergic rhinitis during periods where the allergy index was low until very recently.

So what changed?

I thought long and hard about this for about the past year, trying to come up with significant differences in my lifestyle and environment that were a possibility, and tested them where I could. The best explanation I could come up with was secondary allergens, particularly, mold. Now, I’ve known for years that when the mold count is up, I feel like crap. But again, it hadn’t been affecting me nearly as badly recently as it used to. I considered the idea that I was just growing out of it until I spent a night at my parents’ house, where I lived from the time I was 9 until I was 18. Though the allergy index was low, I woke up feeling like hell. I honestly hadn’t woken up feeling like that in quite some time, at least not in the middle of December. Then it occurred to me: the places I’d been living until about 3 years ago all had mold problems.

So what insight does all of this provide for other people with seasonal allergies (or chronic allergic rhinitis)? First of all, I would consider the idea that you’re being double- or triple-teamed with allergens. If you can eliminate or significantly reduce one, you might feel a lot better. I can also offer a number of other suggestions that really help me during allergy season:

1. If possible, any time you come inside from being outside for more than a few minutes (this includes if you’ve been in a car), rinse your face with cool water, focusing on rinsing out your nose and eyes.
2. Irrigate your sinuses as needed with saline nasal spray or a neti pot.
3. Invest in some allergy eye drops. Use as directed.
4. Find at least two allergy medications that work for you and figure out which is the more powerful one. Save that one for when you’re going to be inundated with multiple allergens (like pollen+mold or pollen+animal dander, assuming you’re not getting double-teamed all the time), and take the weaker one the rest of the time.
5. Drink lots of water. It’s good for you anyway, and there’s no point in making yourself feel worse by being dehydrated.
6. If the pollen count is high enough to bother you, don’t sit on upholstered furniture or lay on your bed in clothes you’ve been wearing outside. Likewise, take your shoes off while you’re inside. You don’t want to track more allergens into your home than necessary.
7. If you can, get an air purifier. They make all the difference in the world, even the cheap ones and the ones that reportedly “don’t work” like the Ionic Breeze and similar.

(Keep in mind that the above is based on personal experience only. I am not a doctor and this is not intended to be taken as medical advice.)

So, the things that I could have (and should have) written significant posts about include (but are probably not limited to):

1. Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia) giving a talk at Tech
2. Yahoo! Hack Week at Tech (Though I did create a page for the project I worked on.)
3. The Facebook TOS debacle (which was remedied by restoring the old version, and now they’re voting on a new system.)
4. The FIRST Lego League state competition for Georgia, which is hosted at Tech’s student center
5. MomoCon
6. Spring 2009 GT Gamefest
7. The Macon Cherry Blossom Festival
8. The FIRST World Championship at the Georgia Dome and GWCC

The last of these, since it just ended on Saturday, I may yet still post about once I’m through with finals. There are pictures from most of the events listed on my Flickr, if anyone is interested in the visual accounts.

So give me until about May 4 or so, and I’ll have more free time.  Until then, please enjoy the picture of the robot, taken at the FIRST World Championship.

So, to get down to specifics, the zipper that they replaced the original with is a heavier-duty zipper than what was on the bag to begin with. I think that at some point in the last decade, they switched over to using these heftier zippers on all of their bags due to the propensity of the zippers like those on mine to get zipper disease. So, on one hand, the zippers don’t match anymore, but on the other hand, it’s a lot less likely I’m going to have this problem again. Also, the zipper pulls on the new zipper don’t have the spiffy ‘JS’ that the rest of my zippers have (and that the old zipper had), but again, I’d say that the minor aesthetics are a small price to pay for a fully-functional backpack. The zipper pull that they replaced on the front pocket, however, does match the old ones, and that is more important than the main compartment zipper pulls matching, as the one on the front is most visible. In addition, they tied new leather bits to the ends of the replaced pull and one of the pulls on the new zipper, so when it was returned to me, it looked more-or-less the way it would if I’d bought it new in the store (except mine has decorative patches on it ).

I am also incredibly happy with the new straps. I honestly don’t remember the original straps being this nice. Again, I’m thinking that the straps have beein improved on Jansport bags in the decade since I bought mine. The foam is thicker and firmer than I remember the original straps being when my bag was new. The adjustment clips on the straps are different than the original ones as well — they have a more rounded profile. Again, likely a change/improvement in their bag construction. I also find the way that they replaced the straps to be interesting. I suppose that since they had to open up the top seam where the handle is to put in the new straps, they put in a new handle as well. The old one was just fine, in my opinion, though it was a little worn from having been used to hang my backpack from the latch on my locker in high school. What they did leave as original, however, were the lower mesh adjustment straps, which makes sense since there was nothing wrong with them, and they’d have had to take the whole bag apart just about to replace them. So their repair process is quality and efficient.

So, in short, I highly recommend Jansport’s warranty repair service for anyone who has a Jansport or Eastpak bag that needs to be fixed. Their turnaround is just about exactly what they say it is, the work is just about perfect, and it’s about as low-hassle as it gets. They don’t require receipts, product registration, proof-of-purchase…nothing. I am incredibly happy with it. I just can’t say that enough.

However, it probably wasn’t the functional product of this pen that first endeared me to it. Frankly, it was cute, and I LOVE cute things. (Give me a break, I’m a girl. I’m allowed.) The style of the design on the barrel of the pen looks Japanese. And let’s face it, the Japanese made an amazing discovery that you can put a face on just about ANY inanimate object and automatically make it cute and endearing. I mean, really…if they can do it with poo, they can do it with anything. But I digress. This pen has a happy-looking little coffee mug and equally happy-looking to-go coffee cups. It also has a bear that looks a lot like the San-X Happy Memorial Sky Bear character, though I don’t know if the pen came from that line, as I have not been able to find anything that looks even remotely like this pen, which brings me to the point of this post.

The ink in this pen ran out about a year ago. I found a technical replacement — a Zebra Technoline 0.4 mm retractable ballpoint pen from Jetpens.com — but aesthetically, it’s a boring pen compared to the cappuccino pen. What I’d love is if I could find a proper-sized refill for it. However, I’d be satisfied if I could either find a pen that takes the same refills or even an identical pen. Throughout this post, there are images of what the pen looks like (that link to larger versions), with measurments and identifying information on the pen visible. The pen in a retractable ballpoint pen, about 14 cm long. The pen refill is about 10.5 cm long and has a 0.4 mm nib. The top of the pen is shiny silver plastic molded to look like the top of a soda can, which is yet another detail that I find really endearing about this pen. (All other details aside, if I could find more pens just with this little detail, that’d be really cool.) Below are some detail/measurement shots of the pen body and the refill:

If anyone recognizes this type of pen, if you know what kind of refills this pen would take (and where to get them), or if you know where I can find a pen like it, please leave a comment!