Synology DiskStation DS214

Synology DS214Let’s try this again …

I was having way too many problems with my new Buffalo Linkstation LS420 so I sent it back and decided to give a different brand a try. It was slightly more expensive, but I selected the Synology DiskStation DS214 2-bay NAS, populated with two 3TB Western Digital Red NAS hard drives (purchased separately as the NAS itself comes without drives). Wow, am I impressed!

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Back in “jail” (upgraded to iOS 7.1)

broken Reminders appI ran into a problem last night where the Reminders app on my iPhone 4S stopped updating with the Reminders in iCloud. Figuring it was just a typical sync issue I turned off the Reminders syncing, planning on just turning it on again to fix the problem. When I turned them off, I let iOS delete the local reminders on my phone (since they were still up in iCloud).

But after turning the sync back on, my Reminders app was completely broken: the default list was missing and I couldn’t add one because the plus (+) button was grayed out! The “Default List” under the Reminders settings was also missing, and Siri couldn’t add new reminders either.

Perusing Google and the Apple support forums, it appeared that of course, a complete reset of the phone might fix the problem. I didn’t want to do that, though, because I would lose my iOS 7.0.6 jailbreak when the phone would update itself to iOS 7.1.

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WIJFR: Katabasis

The death of the fearsome Ögedei Khan has brought the Mongol invasion of the West to an abrupt halt. Exhausted, plagued by uncertainty and self-doubt, and reeling from betrayal by one of their own, the surviving Shield-Brethren struggle across a frozen, shattered wasteland to return home after their desperate battle in Mongolia. Their mission is complete—Christendom has been saved—but new and terrible questions haunt each member of the company: Are they heroes or villains? Or just pawns in a larger game, trapped in a world gone mad in the wake of the unspeakable devastation visited upon it by the Mongol horde?

When I started reading “The Mongoliad” last year I thought it was a trilogy, so I was surprised when I reached the end of Book 3 only to find the story hadn’t wrapped up. In fact, this part of the Foreworld Saga is five books and I just finished “Katabasis” by Joseph Brassey, Mark Teppo, Cooper Moo, and Angus Trim (no Neal Stephenson anymore).

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Buffalo LinkStation LS420

Buffalo LinkStation LS420DBack in 2006 I purchased my first NAS, the 250gb Buffalo LinkStation. Three years later I quadrupled my NAS space by replacing the LinkStation with the 1TB Buffalo LinkStation Live. It’s now been five years since my last NAS upgrade and this time I decided to finally go with RAID. Sticking with Buffalo (I have yet to have a problem with Buffalo storage devices), I selected the LinkStation 420.

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Spring Training 2014: Recap

Just like the first day, the last day of trip starts early.

My brother had a 6:30am flight so we got up at 4:45am. The early start was another reason we chose to stay in Tempe, closer to the airport, than further away like we had on previous visits as it gave us more time to “sleep in.” Within 20 minutes we had checked out of the  hotel, drove to the airport, and then parted ways at Terminal 4. I dropped my brother off so he could get through security and then I drove the car back to the rental car center and took the shuttle back to the terminal. By the time I had checked my bag at the US Airways counter (lots of people in the wrong long due to codeshare confusion!) and made my way through security, my brother had already boarded his plane. I still had three hours to kill …

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Spring Training 2014: Day Three

We got up early this morning (5:45am MST!) so we could get breakfast at the hotel as soon as it opened and then be on our way to Camelback Mountain for our annual hike. This year we decided to do the Cholla Trail, instead of Echo Canyon, since we hadn’t been on that trail since our first trip and didn’t make it to the top.

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Spring Training 2014: Day Two

One thing that bugs me about Arizona not following daylight savings time: it gets light early! My brother woke up early to go for a morning run around ASU (alma mater of Indians infielder Jason Kipnis) just down the road from where we were staying. We had breakfast at the hotel (which was surprisingly good) and met some nice older ladies who were also in town for baseball. One was a lifelong Cubs fan (evidenced by every piece of clothing she had on). She said she knew Sandy Alomar personally and had babysat his kids when they were smaller.

After breakfast, we drove over to the Goodyear Ballpark Complex to watch the Indians’ morning practice.

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Spring Training 2014: Day One

“People ask me what I do in the winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” —Rogers Hornsby

My brother and I had to skip our annual Spring Training trip out to Arizona last year due to the arrival of his first-born child (priorities, right?) 🙂 but this year we’re heading back to the Cactus League for three days of spring baseball with our hometown Cleveland Indians.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 EditionA few weeks ago I got a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition (whew, what a mouthful!) at work to replace my aging (stuck on iOS 5.1.1) first generation iPad. We’re considering switching from iPads and Windows laptops to Android tablets for our mobile users and so those of us in IT are getting a first crack at evaluating these new devices.

This isn’t my first isn’t my first experience with Android (we evaluated a Toshiba Thrive 10 a few years ago and also support a few Galaxy Note phones in the office), but coming from a long history of iOS usage, my initial out-of-the-box experience with the Galaxy Note 10.1 has been frustrating. I’m hoping it will grow on me as I continue to use it as my iPad replacement …

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