SugarSync is pretty sweet

I've been looking for a file syncing service for a while. I have many backups of my data at home, but I'd like to have an additional backup elsewhere, and have access to it from anywhere.

There are a number of free ones, like Microsoft's OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) and Google Drive, both with options to pay for more storage. But they all seem to require that you put all the files in their special folder. I like to keep my files where they are on my system.

I discovered SugarSync. The free account only gives you 5GB for a limited time, but they let you choose data from anywhere on your computer and tag it to by synchronized onto their cloud without having to move it to a special folder.

I decided to subscribed to their 60GB plan for a year for $75. Since I'm new, they gave me 50% off that for the first year.

I've been using it now for a couple of weeks and have a few different computers all sync'd to their cloud, and so far I'm very pleased with the results. It did take almost a week for my documents and photos to upload from my home computer, but now I have access to them from work and from my iPhone using their mobile app.

Check it out, and if you decide to take the plunge please use this link so I can get a referral bonus:

https://www.sugarsync.com/referral?rf=e7ow8fewosx6d&utm_source=website&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=referral&shareEvent=7392661

Learning to fly... again

I picked up a new hobby a couple of weeks ago.

That's not me, but I now own a helicopter capable of such stunts.

About seven years ago, I started flying planes. I used to post videos on my YouTube channel.  For no particular reason, I stopped a few years ago. Helicopters have also interested me, so this year I decided to take the plunge and picked up a Blade 450 3D.

Since the weather has been pretty shitty, I haven't been able to take it out for a spin. I considered flying it in my basement to get my feet wet. I only planned to hover, obviously. It's a good thing I didn't try it.

While I was waiting for the weather to improve, I picked up Real Flight 7. I quickly learned that I greatly underestimated the difficulty involved in flying an R/C helicopter.

I'm sure the software paid for itself in the first five minutes. It was frustrating. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I switched to a Piper Cub, which was similar to my Super Cub, and took it for a flight. My flying skills had clearly diminished over the years, but I had more success with it than a helicopter.

What did I get myself into?

Over the last week, I've spent hours practicing flying a helicopter in Real Flight 7, slowly making a little progress each time. For the first time last night, I was able to fly in a clockwise direction. I tried counter-clock-wise and failed. But it's progress, and that's giving me confidence, and one day — probably not any time this year — I'll hopefully master the controls and be able to fly like the guy in the video above. Or at least flying in a counter-clockwise direction. ;)

Pebble E-paper Watch Update

Here's an update about my Pebble watch.

I did eventually receive a reply requesting photos for the RMA. I submitted them and a short time later received an email advising me that the replacement had shipped.

This surprised me because the RMA email advised me that I would receive an email with a shipping label to send the old one back. I never received such a label.

It wasn't long before the tracking advised me that it had been shipped overseas. It sat at customs for a couple of weeks and this week it arrived in my city and at my house at the same day.

I'm pretty happy that I didn't have to spend anything to send the old one back. I wonder if that was because it's a "Kickstarter Edition"? Maybe they thought I'd like to keep it as a souvenir? I don't know.

Regardless, I now have a functional watch and I hope it lasts longer. :)

Pebble E-paper Watch Display Problems

Last year, on April 27, I wrote a review of the Pebble E-paper Watch that I got through their Kickstarter project. You can read that posting here.

Since that time, there have been a few firmware updates, all providing additional features and functionality. I love this watch, up to now.

In December, I clicked a button to get into the settings and the settings menu had a little bit of display corruption. It cleared up quickly simply by backing out of the menu and going back in.

Sadly, it was not the last time it happened.

Since then, it has also occurred for various notifications, as well as the default watch faces.

Option, Settings, Display menu.

Settings menu.

Options menu.

A default watch face?

Another default watch face.

Notifications.

Default watch face immediately after turning
the watch on, I think.

A Google search brings up quite a few hits from others experiencing the same problem. Oddly enough, most of them appear to have occurred after the last firmware update. I concur.

From what I've read, the only solution is to contact their support, provide requested photos indicating the corruption to get an RMA, and get the watch replaced.

I contacted their support, via the iPhone app as someone suggestion, on January 1, 2014. To date, I am still waiting for a reply. I did get an automated reply the same day, telling me that someone would be contacting me "soon".  I guess their idea of "soon" is a little different.

I should note that the display corrupt does clear up after a few button presses, and the watch face remains clean for the most part, so it's not entirely useless — it's just very annoying.

Coincidentally, Pebble has recently announce their "Pebble Steel" for $249. The firmware update that will accompany it looks pretty sweet, but until these display issues are resolved I'm not interested.

This last photo is kinda funny... they tout the original Pebble as having a "scratch resistant lens". Click the photo and you'll see exactly how scratch resistant it is. :)

The scratch resistant lens after normal
daily wear.

An update can be found here.

A new year, but more of the same...

This is the mandatory new year blog posting, where I post everything I'd like to accomplish in the coming year.

That list isn't much different than past years.

• Lose weight — Maybe this will finally be the year I hit 199lbs? Might be a tough one, considering I put on extra weight over Christmas. I was supposed to lose weight since my last annual physical exam to get my cholesterol back down. I failed. But so far this year, I've been pretty active, and returned to riding my bike on the trainer in the basement, despite how boring it is. I've had more shoulder issues since the summer as well, but with my "good" shoulder. It's only begun to feel a little better in the last week, but the mobility is only about 50%. I'm afraid to try the Nike Kinect again since the pulled calf muscle incident.
• Pick up my camera more often — I've felt very uninspired in the last year or so. As much as I love photography, and the challenge of getting that one awesome shot, I don't feel the same inspiration as past years. I'm not sure how much that will change while it's still winter, but we'll see what happens when spring rolls around.
• More cycling — Last year I rode my bike to work often. I hope to do that again this year.
• Continue to brew beer — And learn more about it. I got a couple of books for Christmas.

There we go. One boring blog post.

50,000 views... soon

My blog is 20 views shy of 50,000. :)

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to visit, and comment on my mindless (and sometimes useful) posts!

Biking withdrawal, health, and music

I'm going through biking withdrawal. I think it's been over a month.

I can't even bring my bike inside and put it on the trainer because our basement is a disaster, packed with boxes, while we await the foundation repair guys to fix the leak in our basement.

My "good" shoulder is doing bad. I'm still convinced it's bursitis, but haven't had it checked by my doctor yet. Changing my pillow and doing some of the physio exercises that I used to do for my injured shoulder seems to help a little. I guess if there's a good time for it to be bad, now is the time and I can hope that it improves before next spring.

About two years ago, I got Rocksmith to try and help me learn to play guitar. While it was fun, the cumbersome game interface became too much of a hassle to keep it fun. I played it on and off since, but probably didn't touch it in the last year.

Recently, Rocksmith 2014 was released. I picked it up and have been playing it pretty much on a daily basis since. The interface and usability has greatly improved.

Ubisoft has something they call a 60-day challenge. Play the game 1 hour per day for 60 days. In typical Ubisoft fashion, their tracking web site still isn't ready to actually track your progress properly. It's "coming soon".

We'll see how long I stick with this one. :)