New Store Pictures

As promised here are some pictures of the new store taken from the inside. If you look closely at the window treatment you will notice a rail that goes across the entire window. This is to hang collateral and other signage. We were suprised at just how many poster holders were all ready being displayed. I'm sure some of them will go. The sign on the outside of the building is HUGE! And the plaza has a digital sign on out front that they allow you to display your specials one a or twice a month. Cool beans!

This is a shot from the behind the center island. As you can see the installed handset cradles still have the "claws". They won't be changed until the rebranding.


This is the kitchen area. The door you see cracked open there opens up to the hallway with the restrooms. I thought the backroom would be a little bigger but it's all good.


Here's a shot of the manager's desk. Not that I plan on spending a significant amount of time back here..... You can also see that the safe is in place. The cage is on the opposite side of the room.



This is a shot of the cash pods. I think we will have at least 4 active initially. Oddly enough there won't be a bill payment kiosk right away. Apparently we have to make a case for it. Okay, no problem there. At least I hope. Take a look at the two cash pods on the left, and notice how they are stuck togther. I'm not sure if they will be seperated, but I think I saw the condiuts in the ceiling already in place. Such a strange position for those pods. Oh well.


This is a shot of the infamous "red wall" present in stand alone T-Mobile store. If you look closely you can see me in the reflection holding up the camera. Let's hope these walls are put to better use than are now. Such a waste of space. How about hanging a plasma on it?



This is a shot of the public restroom entrance. There's also a water fountain for public use as well. Cozy!


Here is a shot of the left wall. As you can see the store is not fitted for the rebranding. It will have to be done later. That's a terrible waste of money, but there was no other way. Oh well. What's one more overnight stay until 3:30 anyway?

Movie Review: Inside Man

Summary: The Inside Man is one of Spike Lee's better efforts in a long time. Fast paced, entertaining, and full of twists and turns it's sure to please!

The Inside Man is a movie about a bank heist that's planned and executed to perfection. Clive Owen is the mastermind, Denzel Washington is the tough as nails cop with problems of his own, and Jodie Foster is the "middle man" with her own agenda. As most of you know, I'm a huge Denzel fan, and I think Jodie Foster is great too. Check her out in a little known movie called "The Accused" in which she plays a rape victim. I'm not really a huge fan of Clive Owen. In fact I'm really not sure of what other movies he's played in, however in this role he was perfect. In fact the entire casting was done very well. Willem Dafoe made a very brief appearance as well.

This being a Spike Lee "Joint" you would expect it to have some type of racial overtones and the movie doesn't disappoint. Tension is immediate as stereo types are played up right in the beginning. From the racist beat cop that initially calls in the crime to the hostage who is let go and accused of having a bomb in his brief case by police surrounding the building. They immediately thought he was in on the heist because of his ethnicity. Brilliant and funny too. I say funny because while this movie does attempt to take on some heavy topics such as racisim and stereotypes it never takes itself too seriously offering up some really funny stuff. I know I laughed a few times.

On too the acting. Denzel was great in this role. This guy is so smooth it's scary. I haven't seen one movie that I didn't like him in. Training Day may have been the one exception but only becuase I'm used to seeing him play the hero. "Why did Denzel have to be crooked to win it? Why?" I don't know. Why did Halle have to become a porn star to win hers? Don't know that either. But I do know that without Denzel playing the lead role the movie may not have worked. He is able to bring tension to a role in one minute, then comedy in the next while offering every other emotion in between. He plays a dective that's been accused of stealing money from the evidence room after a huge drug bust. While he strongly denies any involvement, we are led to believe that maybe he did have something to do with it, and Washington plays this balance to perfection. You know he isn't all good, but there is some good in him.

Jodi Foster's role is minor in this one. She plays a seedy "get anything done for the right price" type of character. She has no apparent morals, and if she does they are tied to money and power. She is very attractive in this movie, even thought there's no sexual tension between her and any other character in the film. Very sexy nonetheless. I like her in this role, as she is intelligent and doesn't take crap from anyone. Not even Denzel's character, the dectective. I wish her role had a little more to do with the heist. As it stands I guess her role could be categorized as minor in the end. Anyone else could have played this part, such as Sharon Stone or even Demi Moore. Foster did play the role she was given very well, but it wont start any Oscar buzz. Her character is cold, calculating, and all about "me", which suits her style well. Oh, by the way, she sucked in "Flightplan" as did the entire cast, crew, director, writer, and anyone else who had anything to do with this piece of rubbish. That movie was much better as "AIR FORCE FRIGGIN ONE !".

Clive Owen's character is the most interesting of them all. He is robbing a bank, but it's not entirely for money. He has a hidden agenda and for him, it's not all about self. He is a bank robber with a moral compass, and it's this compass that actually drives the entire film. In fact without it there would be no film. I'm not going to spoil the film by going into anymore detail than that, but I think you will appreciate his character after you've watched the film. During the heist it becomes evident that he does in fact possess a conscience, but he can still be a brutal "arse" when he has to get his point accross. Will Clive Owen's performance prompt me to scour Net Flix for more of his work? Probably. He did a great job in this one and I look forward to seeing him in more.

This is a very smart movie with a great ending that harkens back to the days of "The Usual Suspects" which is one of my all time favorites. The cinematography is brilliant and is typical of a Spike Lee Joint. Sweeping panoramics and a great since of style. I particularly like the effect used when Denzel's character finds out he's been outsmarted by Clive Owen's. The scene starts with a far away shot of Denzel, then it starts to zoom in as though the camera is on wheels "which it probably is" until it finally stops on an extreme close up of Denzel showing the anguish on his face! This is a trade mark of Spike Lee's movies (Malcolm X) and it's used very well here. The musical score is a little jazz with sweeping orchestral scores. Very well done.

I have very little fault with this movie. It's a great story that touches on the racial tension based on our current day culture. Stereotypes are exploited but in a humerous kind of way that pokes fun at all of us, including Jews, people of Middle Eastern decent, blacks, whites, Chinese, elderly, and even the overweight. There are some very attractive women in this one, espeically the "cell phone girl". Check her out when she is ordered to "disrobe". Thick brizzle indeed! Check this one out if you're a fan of The Usual Suspects or any other bank heist movie. I think you will enjoy The Inside Man.

DT

Ain't That Sweet

My wife drew this for me on the table at The Maccaroni Grille on Sweetest Day. I love my boo boo!

DT

Scenic View

I took this picture from the front seat of a van on the way home from Columbus today. Not bad for a camera phone. The detail in the clouds is particularly cool.

DT

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 for Xbox 360 Review

Summary: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 offers many improvements over last years version, such as double the courses and ramped up difficulty. It should provide enough challenge to get you through until next years version is released.


Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006 for the Xbox 360 left quite a bit to be disired. EA took the same route as they did with their other sports franchises. Dress up the graphics a bit and cut out most of the extra features to rush it to the stores. Well this year they devoted a little more time to the franchise than last year, but the 360 version is still lagging behind it's little brother in a few key areas. Most notably is the lack of courses in the 360 version. The Xbox game shipped with a whopping 29 courses, while 360 owners only get 12. Still that's twice more than last year, but one has to wonder why EA decided to do this. They had well over a year to work on the game so to come up 17 courses short is in my opinion inexcusable. I thought the 360 was the next gen console! Another feature left out was the difficulty sliders, which lets you tailor the game to your liking. This one isn't that big of a deal, since the 360 provides plenty of challenge even for the most seasoned Tiger Woods player.

Graphics & Presentation 8/10
Most of the graphic resources were spent on the player models, particulary Tiger Woods. If you have a High Definition tv your jaw will drop when you see how well they were able to render his likeness, as it's simply amazing. Using new technology called "Universal Capture" or UCAP. I'm not going to go into great detail about this other than to say that it uses lots of sensors on the models face to get a more accurate rendering of facial animation and bone structure. In short Tiger looks great. The other golfers? Well they didn't fair as well. They look good, and in fact better than they did last year, but compared to TW they look somewhat out of place. The animations for some of the swings aren't as smooth as they are in real life. This has been a trade mark of the Tiger Woods series for as long as I can remember. Any shot that requires less than a full swing looks horrible, and nothing like a real golfer. The putting animation also looks unrealistic. How hard is it to mo-cap a putting stroke? The courses themselves look great. If you look closely at the ground you can see the shadows of the clouds rolling by. Nice touch! My only gripe with the on course graphics are the fairways. They just don't look like they're made up of real golf turf. I think what's missing is the texture, and maybe this is a limitation of the hardware. The fairways look like that photo realistic crap we used to see in a lot of the old PC games. Mind you this is a minor gripe and in no way affects the gameplay or my overall enjoyment of the game. But if we're going to do next gen, let's do it right! The create a player feature returns and is better than ever, but its going to take some time to create that "virtual you" accurately. It took me about a half an hour and I'm still not totally happy with the results. My biggest complaint is that the black characters skin has that CG shiny look to them, as though they're made of plastic. It looks pretty creepy.

TV style presentation was promised in this years version, but I personally don't see it. They've added picture in picture after a shot, and that's about it. Some of the camera angles they switch to after a shot are totally disruptive and ruin the gameplay exeperience. Especially when putting. Too bad we don't get presentation sliders to change camera views. The commentary is rehashed from 3 years ago, which is pretty disappointing. How hard is it to get these guys back in the studio at least once very two years? Lame.

Gameplay 9.5/10
This is why we buy the game every year, right? Let's face it. Tiger Woods golf games "used" to be a push over. You "used" to be able to take your golf shots without giving much thought to where the ball eventually landed because you knew you would sink a 46' put with your eyes closed. Well not anymore! The difficulty has finally been ramped up and the game actually provides considerable challenge. There are still a few annoying aspects to the gameplay, but I will get to those later. With the new "true aiming system" the size of your target marker is based on your golfers experience level. No longer can a player just starting out take dead aim at every flag stick. The aiming circle changes in size as you change clubs and as your player gains more experience. The scoring clubs such as the SW, LW and PW have smaller circles, while the Driver and fairway woods are noticeably larger. This automatically makes the game harder and more life real golf. I watch a lot of golf on tv and I know that you can't take dead aim on every hole. You have to consider the "risk/reward" factor before taking your shot and this new aiming system makes you do just that. So even if your timing on your swing is perfect there's still no guarantee your shot will make it to within 10 feet of the hole. Just like in real golf. Yes! I'm playing my career on the "Hard" difficulty setting and it is providing just the right amount of challenge. In last years version you had the option to max out your power or accuracy stats anytime you wanted, which made the game unbalanced and too easy. In this years version you have to practice and even then the computer decides at what pace you increase your abilities. It was an ingenious way to make the game more challenging, while also giving it more replay value. Other than the True Aiming system, the next biggest change to gameplay has to be in the putting. No longer is there a 2 foot vaccum surrounding the hole. You will have to earn every putt that you make, and the greens are flat out murder! Be extra careful with those downhill putts!!!! Thank God they got rid of that stupid "Game Breaker" feature, that was essentially a gimme on any putt at any length. It really made the game feel cheap last year. While I refuse to use the A button for a power boost or spin control, it does make a return in this years game. I don't know of any golfer that's able to shape their shot by imparting spin to the ball in mid-air. This a cheesy gimmick and I wouldn't be upset if it was removed from future versions.

I do have a few gripes about the gameplay. First of all some of the shots off the tee are inconsistent. I know in real life, shots can go anywhere off the tee but distance shouldn't vary by 60 to 70 yards per shot. My golfer's driver power is a 250. Some drives go 259, and some go 202! Very frustrating when you're trying to win a tiger challenge against an opponent that consistently nails 269 yard drives. My other gripe is the "catch up" AI. I'm on my third match in the Tiger Woods Challenge, playing against Tenanaka the Japanese guy. The first time I played him he was missing putts left and right. Before the next match I upgraded my equipment, and increased my stats a little. Wouldn't you know that now he's sinking puts like Chevy Chase in Caddy Shack! It makes the game challenging but in a cheap sort of way. My last gripe is with the putting stats. It seems to me that this is a stat that shouldn't be upgraded. If you read the greens correctly you should make the putt. You should not be aided by the computer by increasing your stats. It kind of takes the fun out of it for me. Either you can putt or you can't, but it shouldn't be left up to the computer.

Overall 9/10
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 is still be the best golf game out there on any system even with 17 fewer courses than the current gen version. Providing more challenge than years past you will be playing Tiger 07' for months to come. Daily tournaments on Xbox Live is also a major plus! With only a few issues in presentation and graphics keeping it from getting a perfect score this one is a sure fire hit. Go pick it up today, and I'll see on the first tee!

DT

Nokia N73 Cell Phone Review

Summary: The N73 does most of what it set out to do very well, with only a few hiccups along the way.



Working for one of the major cell phone service providers has it's advantages. The biggest one being that we get to try out all kinds of cool stuff before the rest of the public does. However, I would much rather live in Europe or Japan where they seem to get everything before "we" do, and cell phones are no exception. The phones overseas are so much more advanced than ours that you hardly ever see them importing our US only phones. I'll bet they laugh at the specs of our stuff when compared to theirs. I've always been a gadget freak which was what drew me to the Nokia phones. The company touts them as "computers" and they are pretty close.


The N73 is one of Nokia's latest offerings. Sporting the "candy bar" form factor it fits nicely into they're already full line up of "do everything handsets". With a 3.2 mega pixel camera, Carl Zeiss optics, a built in flash, auto focus, and zoom lens the camera alone may be worth the price! The pictures are absolutely stunning, offering nice color saturation and crisp images. At 3.2 mega pixels the images are large enough to print, but I wouldn't suggest blowing them up beyond 5x7 inches. There are a few drawbacks to the camera functions. First of all the processor isn't very fast, so don't expect to be shooting pictures of Susie or Johnny taking ballet class or playing football, as these images are likely to turn out blurry and distorted. Secondly you have to hold the camera very still for about 3 seconds after depressing the shutter or these pictures will also be out of focus. Again this comes from the processor not being fast enough to record the images. However, even with these drawbacks the N73 takes the best photos of any camera phone I've every owned and I've owned quite a few of em'. The video feature didn't fair quite as well as the single shot mode. You have to be in a very well lit area or the picture will appear grainy during playback. While the "flash" or lamp does turn on, it has to be fairly close to the subject to be of any use at all. Outdoor video appeard much more true to life because of the available light. Overall quality during playback was still acceptable.


The phone portion performs flawlessly. The call quality is crystal clear (T-mobile Network) and the reception is on par with other Nokia handsets. If you have used Nokia's in the past then you already know what I'm talking about when it comes to reception. You will appreciate the stereo speakers when using the speaker phone feature, or when playing back your mp3's and movies. Navigating the phone book can be accomplished by using the joystick or the voice activation feature which works suprisingly well. No longer do you have to "train" it for each specific name in your phone book. Simply press your bluetooth talk button, say the name and boom! It finds it. From there you can press the green send button to make the call. Very nice! As far as outgoing audio quality I haven't had any complaints so I assume all is well.


Computer? Yeah, you could say that. The handset runs on the Symbian 60 3rd Edition OS. It can run office software such as word and excel, has an awesome calandar feature, can send and receive email, and can run a myriad of other software titles much like a Pocket PC or Palm OS device could. Creating documents on the small keypad might not be the ideal choice, but if you're in a pinch it will suffice. Speaking of the keypad it feels a little cheap and out of place on such a classy phone. They feel "plasticky" and too soft for my taste, but this is just my preference. I liked the feeling of the N80 and and N91 keypads much better.

You have not browsed the web on a phone until you've browsed the web on this one! This is by far the best web browsing software that I've ever seen on any phone period! It is so much better than Internet Explorer for the Pocket PC you'll wonder why this wasn't done before. Blackberry Web Browser? Forget about it. This one does it all. When you're browsing a web page you have the option to zoom out to get a full view of the page. From there you can move a small square around the screen until you get to just the section you're looking for, press the joystick in and voila! You are at precisely the spot you wanted. No more scrolling aimlessly around the page hoping you land on the spot you wanted. Try out this browser and you will never go back to another. I dare you.

Overall build quality seems very solid, if not a little too light. The camera is protected by a sliding rear door, which is something the N80 sorely lacked. I could have easily scratched the lens on the N80 because it was always exposed so I'm glad they decided to include the door on this one. If you're going to spend all that money on Carl Zeiss optics then you'd better find a way to protect that glass, and they did. Kudos to Nokia! Overall navigation is carried out by the use of a 4 way joystick that sits just above the number "2" key and in the center of the "4" softkeys. I would have designed the joystick to sit a little higher because it's too easy to press it in and make a selection when all you wanted to do was go up, down, left, or right. Still after a few days you do get used to it and all is well. The key is to "tap" the stick instead of trying to push it. Batter life is just about what you'd expect from a phone with so many multimedia features. I've charged it every two days with liberal use of the camera, webrowsing, bluetooth headset, and phone calls. I would rate battery life as "good".

I've had the phone for just over a week now, and I haven't had one lock up, freeze up or any other malfunction. The same couldn't be said for the N91 and N80. Performance has been fairly quick and smooth. I do wish Nokia would have added an "auto lock" feature to prevent the accidental button mashing that inevitably takes place while the phone is in your case or pocket. You can manually lock it, but that is such a hassle. Luckily there's a third party software title that you can download for free that solves this problem. Now this phone isn't going to be as fast as a laptop or dedicated PDA for that matter, but it is much faster than the MDA, SDA or older Pocket PC phone devices that I've used in the past. Some other cool features are the "speak name" feature during ring tones, the 2.4" 265k color screen, blue tooth, and stereo speakers.

If you're looking for a phone that "does it all" then the Nokia N73 may just be for you. The candy bar design may turn some people off, but it's classy looks, excellent camera, and huge screen will draw most people in. Check it out!


Pros -
3.2 mega pixel camera with Carl Zeiss Optics
Camera protected by sliding door
2.4" 265k color screen
Stereo Speakers
Small form factor
Excellent Web Browser
Symbian 60 3rd Edition OS

Cons-
Keypad feels a little on the cheap side
Sub par video quality in low light situations
Joystick takes some getting used to
No auto lock feature out of the box

DT

Fish Anyone?

Eaddie's on Wise Ave. opened a restaraunt and they have the best battered fish in town! And the beer battered fries are great too. Check it out.

DT

My New Digs

Here is a shot of my new store taken today. I will post some from the inside later. It is beside the Chinese buffet.

Were You Watching?

Today one of our most basic rights was signed away by the President and the Republican controlled House and Senate. For over 200 years we all enjoyed the right to a speedy trial and to be made aware of why we were being imprisoned. Not any more. The President now holds the power to hold an "enemy combatant" for an indefinite period of time without an attorney, without knowing why they're being held, and without a trial. A "military tribunal" will decide who fits the category of an "enemy combatant" and guess who decides who's on the military tribunal. If you said the President you would be correct. The military always does the Presidents bidding wether it's a Republican or Democrat. They are after all the Commander in Chief.

Some might say, "This is neccessary to fight the war on terror." I say you're a fool for trusting any President with this amount of power to wield it responsibly. Have we forgotten about the corrupt office of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan? You could even throw Bill Clinton into that category as well. There is nothing stopping Bush or any other President from holding a political opponent as an "enemy combatant" for allegedly aiding and abetting terrorists. Maybe you're the editor of a liberal news paper and you write scathing remarks criticizing the Presidents foreign policy in the Middle East. Could you be an enemy combatant? Maybe your group is responsible for some vicious ads attacking the Presidents domestic policy. Could you be an enemy combatant? Yesterday, the answer to both of these questions was "no" because there were laws in place to protect your freedom of speech. After today all bets are off. You are at the mercy of the Commander in Chief, and at his whim he could lock you up for anything he deemed a threat to homeland security. Is this really the direction the United States of America should be taking? Our forefathers are turning over in their graves. They did their best to protect and safeguard against this type of abuse, but I wonder if any of us cares? Do you? I will leave you with this: "Power corrupts, but absolute power destroys." Were you watching?

DT

Where You Been?

WTF?! No updates in close to a year! Yeah, I've been pretty busy lately. But I'm back on line now, and there's a whole lot of catching up to do! The mid term elections are right around the corner and if you don't vote democrat, then I never want to hear you complain about how this country is being run (into the ground) for the next 2 years! Please go out and vote! Doesn't matter what you vote (DEMOCRAT) so long as you vote.

I promised you guys a photo blog last year and now I'm ready to go! Got me some new hardware, the lovely Nokia N73 and it is the bomb! Expect a full review in the next few weeks. I promise. Well, that's all for now. You can expect a new picture everyday, and maybe more on some days. See ya!

DT

Me!