PSP Thumb, Ouch!

So, I fly. I fly, A LOT! SFO-DEN, SFO-LAX, SFO-ABQ, SFO-BOI etc etc. Because I do fly so much I have a variety of gadgets to keep me occupied during boring waits at the airport or en route to a meeting. I have the ubiquitous iPod (my 5th. I had the very first 5GB model which my brother-in-law- now uses), a PSP, my Laptop (of course) and a blackberry.

They allow me to watch a movie or two, listen to music, Surf the Web, answer email, and play games.

Until today (where I had a long wait for my co-workers to arrive) I never realized the strain the Blackberry and PSP put on my thumb. I mean, "OUCH!" I am in pain. That damn Star Wars Lego II game has a snowspeeder scenario and I am dyin'. Then I had to pause to answer an email with the trusty BB and now I can barely type on my laptop keyboard.

They (whoever "they" are) should make these new tiny gadgets more ergonomic. If I had to hitch hike right now I would get a ride quick due to the increased size of my thumb due to swelling but I would be hard pressed to actually use it for fear it would explode.

T-Mobile WPA (Without nasty client sw)

I finally found a tip on the Internet about using t-mobile with WPA without the nasty t-mobile connection software. Those groovy geniuses at TheShmooGroup have a member who did it. The post follows from their forums.

Jouni Malinen jkmaline at cc.hut.fi

Sat Sep 3 13:33:19 MDT 2005
Some time ago, there were couple of questions on how to use wpa_supplicant with the WPA-enabled version of T-Mobile wireless network.
Finally, I had a suitable chance to test this a bit while waiting for my flight at SFO and the connection is indeed working fine. As a proof, this email is actually send over the WPA encrypted T-Mobile network ;-).
The SSID for the network is tmobile1x and it is configured for WPA-Enterprise with TKIP. Authentication is done using EAP-TTLS/PAP using the normal T-Mobile username/password. It was enough to just complete WPA authentication, i.e., no need to go to any web portal page. It took me some time (maybe five or so scan attempts) to find tmobile1x SSID even though I saw six or so APs with tmobile SSID at the same time. Anyway, once the correct SSID was found, association and authentication went through fine.
This network block worked fine (at least at SFO) with madwifi:
network={
ssid="tmobile1x"
key_mgmt=WPA-EAP
scan_ssid=1
identity="username"
password="password"
eap=TTLS
phase2="auth=PAP"
}
--
Jouni Malinen PGP id EFC895FA


I got this working with the Intel ProSet Wireless supplicant. Here are screen grabs of the setup, Insert your own T-Mobile username as required. Also, feel free to click the image for a larger version.

What I believe

NPR has a show on Mondays
called, “This I believe.” It is based on a 1950s radio program of the same name, hosted by acclaimed journalist Edward R. Murrow. In creating This I Believe, Murrow said the program sought "to point to the common meeting grounds of beliefs, which is the essence of brotherhood and the floor of our civilization." The makers of today’s version of the show say their goal is not to persuade Americans to agree on the same beliefs. Rather, they hope to encourage people to begin the much more difficult task of developing respect for beliefs different from their own. The show features a new guest speaker every week. Sometimes the speaker is a movie star or other famous celebrity but mostly the guests are average citizens of the planet.


I have often thought about what I would write given the opportunity. I think I could condense what I believe into 3 items. My own version of, “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”

• The importance of science. It is our best hope at finding the answers to our biggest problems.
• The importance of people. Our family and friends. They are our greatest asset. Take care not to take them for granted.
• The importance of work. Life is most fulfilling when we do good work and take pride in our accomplishments.

If you are interested in more about me and my life and family please take a look at any of the links to the left.