CCNA Journey

This week I have decided I will be rebooting my life and dedicating all of my extra time towards a CCNA instead of Starcraft 2. I had trouble finding information on other people's experiences, but I found out it was actually me trying to procrastinate. There are tons of websites about Cisco related certifications. I have yet to find a community I can ask questions on a regular basis, but I feel like I'm getting closer! You should check out FreeCCNALabs. This website has a ton of information related to the CCNA.

No respect for Lifehacker

Sometimes I find an article on the internet that just brings my spirits down. Today, I ran across this article on Lifehacker.com. The article is a bit old and Digsby has corrected the "sneakiness", but the author of the article says some really retarded things in the article (and the comments are worse.) Well, let's start off with this:

They are paying up to $1 for every new user that you refer to them through their affiliate program. If they can pay that much money for every new user, they aren't just paying the bills anymore.

Their entire business model is centered around MORE and MORE users. I guess they should waste tons of money with Google adwords (that market isn't too saturated). I actually think marketing a social networking tool through social networks is a pretty good idea. Offering a REALLY good incentive ($1 per refer) makes me wish I would have had this setup when I referred everyone to it. Next Quote:

Except in this case, that argument is completely bogus. Digsby sends out "Announcements" containing ads or, in at least one case, requests for you to vote in a poll of the five best instant messenger clients. As far as I can tell, there's no way to switch off this behavior, and while they might not be abusing it too badly right now, if they are willing to try and sneakily use your computer, you can bet it's not going to stop.

In the 6 months I've had Digsby, I've probably experienced 4 "ads" like this. Everyone of them I received said "If you like Digsby, please vote for us" at some random award ceremony. Clicking an "X" on a popup window 4 times a month is much better than staring at ugly, moving, laggy flash ads on the side and top of a web page EVERYDAY, but of course, lifehacker.com wouldn't know anything about that. God forbid you roll your mouse over this section of the webpage. Bells and whistles go off, fireworks explode, a marching band appears at my doorstep with a used car salesman. Last Quote:

The only way you are definitely going to avoid greedy software developers exploiting you is to stick with open source, make sure to donate to your favorite open source projects, and stop installing software with bundled crapware.

It's time to end the reign of bundled crapware. Uninstall Digsby.

This comment makes angels fall from the skies. Kittens to explode in thin air. This is why monkeys are going to reclaim their supremacy over us oneday very soon. Why would a software company trying to make money off software they put hard work into GIVE their software to a community of developers that want it open source. That's like saying "Google, can you make adwords free." I'll give an example for the non techies too. That's like saying "Colonel Sanders, can you make your value meals free?". That's like asking The Bush's Baked Beans dog for the secret. In my opinion, I think Lifehacker.com should take off all the ads on their website. I will end this topic on a good note: Someone needs to hire this guy in their marketing department. He's a genius.

Random Mcafee Secure Alerts

This is going to be completely off topic and it may be a bit short, but Mcafee Secure is getting to be outrageous. I recently cleared all of our website vulnerabilities from their Mcafee Secure and PCI Scan (this was on a Monday). Tuesday, we had 0 vulnerabilities; Wednesday we had 2; Thursday we had 3. The next Monday I came in, we had 4 vulnerabilities. I decided to login to their website to see what was going on. This is when my blood started to boil.

Apparently posting "TCP Timstamps" is a vulnerability. From their website "The remote host implements TCP timestamps, as defined by RFC1323. A side effect of this feature is that the uptime of the remote host can sometimes be computed." I don't even know what to type to make this claim more retarded (Maybe I should of said most dumber? That'll get the job done) Seriously, can someone explain to me what this information would make me vulnerable to? Maybe if I advertised 100% uptime and it wasn't true? Please, someone leave a comment to explain this.

Another vulnerability was because I allowed auto completion. Mcafee, did I mention, I love you? The other two vulnerabilities were because I allowed SSL v2 and there was another vulnerability that went hand-in-hand with SSL v2.

What is a Pandora Battery

I should have started off by explaining what a Pandora Battery is, and the purpose of it (Hey, I'm not good with introductions. I'm more of a steak guy, and I skip the whole salad stuffers). A Pandora Battery (JigKick or TOOL) is a modded battery for the PSP. It's normally used to boot the PSP into restore (service) mode to restore the PSP to the original firmware or install custom firmware. You can go the HARD way and do it yourself, or you can easily order a TOOL battery from many online vendors. Just make sure you get the correct size. Currently they have PHAT and SLIM TOOL batteries.

If you choose the HARD way, make sure your battery is compatible to do the Pandora trick. The following batteries are compatible:

• Sony Slim "standard" Li-ion 1200 mAh
• Sony "standard" Li-ion 1800 mAh
• Sony PSP-280 2200mAh
• Datel, PSP Battery 3600 mAh (X2)
• Datel, PSP Battery 1800 Max Power
• Datel, PSP Battery GO MAX

Also, make sure your PSP motherboard is compatible. I will write a post about how to check the motherboard compatibility later.

Now, go ahead and ask me why you would want to restore the original firmware or install custom firmware. The reason you would want to restore to the original firmware is if somehow you downloaded music, video, or some file that corrupted your PSP firmware and you could not boot your PSP. Also, many people brick their PSP by installing custom firmware incorrectly. A bricked PSP, means your PSP will not boot or function.

Custom Firmware is installed on the PSP to play homebrew games, to run homebrew applications, and to play PSP games on a memory stick, which GREATLY increases the performance of the game. Imagine playing a game with little or no loading screens at all. The main reason I installed custom firmware on my PSP is so I could backup my current games to a memory stick, and give the PSP to my daughter and not have to worry about her losing the games. I really got tired of having UMDS full of sand and other random trash. Also, she had a tough time getting the PSP slim's UMD disc tray open. A big benefit to having a modded PSP is sharing older game titles with the younger generation through emulation. I recently downloaded a NES emulator and it feels great to let my daughter feel the joy of playing Spy Hunter and Dr. Mario.

Pandora Battery Part 1

If you want a challenge, try making a Pandora battery for a PSP 2001 battery. That is VERY fun . Cutting the trace is the easiest part about making the Pandora battery. The hardest part about this process is opening the battery. Most people recommend not using anything metal or sharp to open the battery (Ohh, let me use a plastic knife or maybe a wet napkin). I tried everything from a broken cd case to a butter knife. The battery is sealed with some kind of rare space element glue. It's almost impossible to get the freaking thing open.

I didn't follow the rules and used a razor blade to get through one of the seals. After I got it started, I just stuck my fingernail in there and slid it around (luckily I drink milk). It still took about 10 minutes of prying and wiggling with my fingernail to finally get the battery open. Finally, after I broke the seal all the way around, I could get to work on the chip. I was so nervous about cutting the trace on the board because it was so much work to get the battery open. I think it took me a total of one hour just to get the battery open. Any ways, after a long cigarette break I decided I'd go for it. i took my utility knife out and cut the line. I was really worried I would break the circuit board applying pressure to the trace, but the trace broke very easily.

Frustration in Paradise

Yea yea yea, I know I guaranteed I would post hi-res pictures of me replacing my PSP LCD, but the camera I was working with was such a PAIN. I couldn't get any clearer pictures than people had already posted online. The replacement of the LCD screen was a piece of cake, as long as you have patience and don't force any of the parts out, it's about as easy as putting a Thomas the Train train set together.

One thing I learned about replacement PSP LCDs. It's IMPOSSIBLE to get a flawless LCD. I bought 1 and sent it back 4 times trying to get one without a dead pixel. All of them came with multiple dead pixels or giant patches of them. The first LCD I received only had 1 dead pixel in the top right-ran corner, BUT at the time I wanted it perfect so I sent it back. The next one had a patch of them in the bottom right. I couldn't take that, so I sent that one back. The next one I received didn't even work, I guess the backlight was dead. The last one I received has 1 dead (red) pixel in the EXACT center of the screen. How lucky am I? After going through so much time and energy, I just said forget it and stuck with it. I tried to use one of those pixel fixer videos. Yea, that worked great..... It killed about 5 more pixels all around the screen. Luckily those pixels are black and not BRIGHT FREAKING RED.

If you decide to take this journey, good luck young one, and if you get a perfect LCD, I HATE YOU, but please post a comment with the URL where you purchased it. I got mine from Joystores.com . Their service is decent and shipping is fast, but it takes them forever to get back with you. They kept replacing my LCD, even though I had to eat shipping costs each time. It's not their fault the LCD manufacturer sucks.

Replacing a PSP LCD

This girl at work was telling me she had an extra PSP. She told me it's brand new, but her son broke the LCD. She told me it's 1 year old and nothing is wrong with it other than the broken LCD. When I started looking for a LCD screen, I noticed there are two types of PSP's (the original and the slim). I've been trying to figure out how you tell the difference between the two. They look exactly the same from the pictures I've seen online. I'm hoping the serial number will help me with that part.

I've googled tutorials on how to replace the LCD, and it looks pretty simple. I'm pretty sure the guy writing the tutorial has done it many times, so he doesn't look at it as being difficult anymore.
Does anyone have any hands-on amateur feedback on this? Is there any parts of the procedure I should be extra careful with? Also, does anyone know a good, reliable source to buy these parts from?

Happy Hard Times Holiday

Jefferspet.com has recently updated their website. Jeffers carries pet supplies for dogs, cats, birds, horses, cows, goats, reptiles, and almost every other animal. I'm trying to find my dog a unique bed and some new toys. I'm just lucky my kids can make wish lists, because I have a hard enough time trying to find dog toys.

Dog days

I recently attained a level 7 beagle. I'm finally glad to own something that is actually calmer than I am. The last dog I owned was more of a meth addict than a best friend. I guess I should have introduced myself before I started going on about my pup. Well, I'm married and currently have two kids. That's pretty much all the information I'm giving out on this first date. Anyway, the dog is getting spoiled already. We've already purchased a bed, kennel, feeders, waterers, bones, chews, toys, and anything else we could lay our hands on. The sad thing is we haven't even stepped out of our house. We've been ordering things online at www.Jefferspet.com. I'm actually surprised at how fast their shipping was. The order process is extremely user friendly and my items arrived a couple of days later. Looking around on their website, we've found possibly anything we would ever need for our pup. Exploring their site makes me want to purchase more animals.

Our floor is already littered with rope toys and fresh rawhide bones. The poor pup hasn't even had time to adjust to his new environment, so none of the toys have received any attention. Our beagle occasionally walks up to a toy, sniffs, and continues to be on his way. I don't know if he'll ever decide to let his guard down and play with them. I can't wait until he gets older. I really want to buy some Dingo treats. After reading up on them, they make me hungry. He's a real snuggler, so he spends most of his time cuddling around my feet or licking my son on the cheek.