Greg In The Desert

I am setting at PDX (Portland International Airport) near my gate for a flight that leaves later today. I arrived this morning for quick work related business. Somewhere at the security checkpoint at Phoenix International Airport and boarding the plane to PDX I lost my ID.

I didn’t find this out until I was in my Rental car getting everything ready to drive off. It turned out to be a very stressful day. Obviously rental car companies will not allow you to drive off without a drivers license. I have to thank my good friend Mustafa for coming down to the airport to get me and take me to where I needed to do my official business.

He brought me back and I approached the TSA officer and told them I lost my ID at Phoenix. They took me aside, teased that the rubber hoses were over there, and asked to look at what I did have.

I pulled out everything in my wallet with my name on it, he looked it over and then I found my Costco card that had a picture on it. A crappy picture but it was something. That was it. No further pat down, not special baggage checks. I supposed bad guys don’t walk around with worn out credit cards, Costco cards, voter and library cards. He also quizzed me on some items in my checkbook.Despite the bad reputation TSA gets, I have never had a bad experience with any of the officers.

If they didn’t find my drivers license in PHX, I have a real pain to go through to get a replacement. That’s a story for another blog post.

16GB iPhones released today. Took Apple long enough. If the retail Apple Stores have them, I will be buying one today.

Update 10:15 am: I was at the Chandler fashion mall Apple Store at 10am. They had them but had not processed them yet. They said come back in a 1.5 – 2 hours.

Update 02/06/08 6:19 am: I got the phone yesterday and have been playing with it all day. I was especially impressed with the box. The whole process of setting up an account and transferring the phone number from T-mobile was a terrific experience (I assume T-mobile will automatically cancel my account?) Yes, i know this is old news. I’m late to the iPhone game after all.

I have 3.61 GB left, therefore I was right in thinking I needed to wait. I’ve also watched some video podcasts which I didn’t think I would do much of. Maybe I should have waited for the 32GB iPhone?

Popular Mechanics tests Compact Florescent bulbs..

The results surprised us. Even though the incandescent bulb measured slightly brighter than the equivalent CFLs, our subjects didn’t see any dramatic difference in brightness. And here was the real shocker: When it came to the overall quality of the light, all the CFLs scored higher than our incandescent control bulb. In other words, the new fluorescent bulbs aren’t just better for both your wallet and the environment, they produce better light.

Nothing specific about dimable CF bulbs. I’m still saying they are bad for Home Automation because of the noise potential and they don’t seem to always last as long as it’s claimed, at least from my testing.