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I just finished the ninth chapter of the Training from the Source book which puts me half way through. Of course a lot of the first part was refresher, using Flash Builder, starting a project, View states, Using controls and so forth. Eventually it started to get into some areas I was not so familiar with in Flex such as the Event Model, Using XML Data, E4X, creating classes , Data binding and collections, and then started creating components and classes to develop a better architecture for the application. After completing the ninth chapter I took a short test with the ATTest program and scored a 50%, a little better than I figured since I still have quite a bit to cover, but it makes me feel confident that I should be able to take the certification test in August. I am planning on doing one of the ATTest tests every week from here on out to give me an idea of where I am at.

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My first Android phone was a G1 when they first came out, eventually, I got tired of waiting for TMobile to get around to upgrading the OS and followed a path others blazed in hacking the G1 to Android 2.1. It worked well and showed improvements in speed and stability.

A little less than a year ago I upgraded to a Galaxy S Vibrant, it was a good phone, but once again updates from the vendors fell behind Android releases. TMobile finally released an update to Android 2.2 that was not an over the air (OTA) update, but had to be downloaded and installed though the Samsung Kies program. I went through that process, and it ended up making my phone run worse, and killed some programs such as the Contacts and Messaging apps. I found work arounds, but was not happy with the update.

Today I decided to break down and hack my phone with the most current Cyanogen mod. Unfortunately  as it did last time, using my Mac seemed to be a bit of a pain. I used the instructions provided for Vibrant’s on the Cyanogen wiki. First the Heimdall program used to flash the rom, wouldn’t start up because of a problem with the QT library it used, I was able to fix that by downloading and installing the QT library here.  Unfortunately while trying to flash the new rom, my phone locked. I was finally able to get it active again using Odin and the info from this page, and borrowing my daughters Windows laptop. I tried to flash the phone again from my Mac but the Heimdall program could not see my phone, so I ended up using my daughter’s  laptop to flash the rom and get the new OS up and going.

Once I got the new Android Gingerbread 2.3 OS up and going, it seems quite responsive and faster than the Kies based 2.2 update, and even than the original 2.1. I will post an update here after I have had a week or so running my refreshed phone.

Image by QuintanaRoo via Flickr

Tomorrow is my 49th birthday, and I am sitting back looking at the past year.

I have been dealing with the residual effects of a minor stroke I had in February, mostly occasional numbness luckily, but I have also been dealing with weakness and lack of energy, probably from meds I am on now. Even with this I have not let it slow me down on my goals. I am attending ASU online and I have finished my 3rd semester at ASU, and am managing to keep a good gpa, even with work and dealing with kiddo and her activities. Though I have figured out I do have my limits, mainly I can’t handle work, kiddo, school and a relationship. The relationship seems to be the kicker, once I got out of my last one, things became more manageable. During my summer break I am working on trying to get my Adobe Certified Expert for Flex, something to keep my mind in gear and also advance myself professionally.

My goals for the coming year are to complete two more semesters keeping a good gpa, get my Adobe certification and to see my daughter graduate high school. Oh yea, and try to stay healthy .

also to have access to more current shows. I have to say after a week of use I have decided to drop the Dish Network and go all internet. Even my teenage daughter is happy with it. Cost wise it is great, the Roku boxes I bought cost me $60.00 and $80.00 each, the subscriptions to Netflix and Hulu cost me about $20.00 a month, so a big savings over the $76.00 a month I was paying for the Dish Network service. Though Dish network is getting me one last time before they let me go, they are charging me $15.00 shipping for each set box I am returning to them, so it will cost me $30.00 to get them out of my hair, but after that I am free of them.

I do have to say that going internet all the way might not work for some people, if you have to keep right up to date on any shows it probably isnt a way to go, but if you usually watch a few days behind original airing, then it might work out for you.

Image via CrunchBase

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I will be trying to catch up some more posts here over the next few days, as long as things stay like they are…

I have a video of my daughters cheer team, some pictures of our new family member and some other things to post on.

Mousie’s Hunt

Enjoy

Go check it out, you might get some good advice.