I am a lifelong Wheel of Fortune fan and was excited to see a Wii version of the game mentioned on the TV show. It was released on November 2, 2010 and was a great gift for my girlfriend's birthday which was the next day.
This game is a near perfect adaption of the TV show. The casual observer may just think that you were watching the show while you are actually playing the game. Almost everything is true to the TV show - Pat, Vanna, Charlie, voices, sound effects, music, audience cheering, trips, etc.
The puzzles offer the usual goodies such as mystery wedges, trips, the Jackpot round, toss up puzzles, and the final bonus round. The game is true to life in that once you get too greedy, you will get hit by the Bankrupt wedge. There is no shortage of Bankrupts or Lose a Turns....
This game is compatible with Wii Voice, which allows you to audibly call your letters out to the Wii system. I do not have this device so can not give my opinion on how well it works.
Each game takes about 20 minutes to complete. Again, just like the TV show.
My list of criticisms:
There is no Internet gameplay option. This is a weakness in many Wii games and this one is no exception. It would have been a lot of fun to play against friends, family, and strangers in online competitions. There could have been contests for real prizes and money, etc.
There are a few glitches with Pat Sajak's speech. This is a pretty common problem with most games that attempt to emulate characters who speak conversationally. The glitches are not horrible but when you play enough, they do get a little annoying.
Even in "Hard" mode, the computer opponents are not much of a challenge. It is rare that I lose a single round.
There is no way to get a big picture view of how much money each player has accumulated for the entire game. You can see how much they have accumulated for the round, but I have not found a way to see the total of their winnings. Unlike playing against opponents which watching TV, there is more to the game then just solving the puzzles. You need to earn more money than your opponents did for the entire game in order to advanced to the final round. Sometimes this means you need to get greedy and go for that extra spin. Without knowing what everyone has, you don't know if you need to take that chance.
The opponent and audience Mii characters do not look like typical Mii characters. They are more lifelike and seem more like "Mii 2.0". I would have preferred the opponents and audience members to be from the Mii gallery on my system which is pretty standard for Wii games that uses Mii characters. There is not much variety in the computer opponents or audience members.
Not so much a criticism but "something to be aware of" - there may be long, frustrating periods where you don't actually "get to play" while computer opponents are spinning the wheel and solving puzzles. It is not constant action that all revolves around you. For someone who gets bored easily and has a short attention span, this may be an issue.
Wheel of Fortune for the Nintendo Wii is a must have for any "Wheel Watcher". It makes a perfect gift and is a great way to "play a game" yet keep your mind sharp.
About a month ago, I was going through my mail and found a coupon for a new steakhouse in Port Jefferson called Cattlemen's. I remember visiting a similarly named steakhouse in Kissimmee, Florida and I thought highly of the food. It turns out the place in Florida is CattleMAN's, not CattleMEN's. Oh well...
I have been searching for reviews ever since and have not been able to find ONE. Well, here it is... what I believe to be the first ever online review of Cattlemen's Steakhouse in Port Jefferson. They do have another location in Lindenhurst which has gotten mixed reviews.
This restaurant is located at the end of a strip mall on 112 in Port Jefferson. Over the past 10 years, this location has been a Spare Rib, Singing Canary, Rib City / Big City (that's a long story), and now Cattlemen's. For some reason, restaurants just do not last long in this location.
The discount steakhouse to beat in the area is J&R's. They always offer a consistent value and good quality food. Coupons are always available on their website. It is not considered a "prime steakhouse" but it is a casual family steakhouse at a good price.
We arrived at about 3:30 on a Saturday afternoon and the place was pretty dead, with only a couple of patrons in there. The setup at Cattlemen's is pretty much the same as Rib City. The big differences are the additions of a couple of cheesy cowboy themed decorations. The hostess and waitresses wear cowgirl hats and tight jeans. No complaints there....
We were seated in the "party room" which is usually either too drafty or too hot. Today, the temperature was decent. Our server was Anna.
The menu had the typical offerings from burgers to steaks to ribs. Prices were inline with what I expected. My girlfriend ordered the cheeseburger and I ordered the "Steak and Cake" which was a combination of a 14 oz. Porterhouse Steak and a jumbo crabcake. I ordered the steak medium and marinated, which Anna recommended. "All of her customers like it." The entrees were served with two sides, but no bread basket or salad.
The food arrived in good time and had decent presentation on blue oval plates. The cheeseburger had a backyard BBQ flavor and was cooked perfectly. However, the bun was a little too "supermarket like". I prefer the bun to be grilled and firm. The steak was mostly perfectly cooked except for a small chunk of it which was more medium-well than medium. The flavor, texture and quality was about the same as the J&R steak I typically get. That means it is very fatty and salty. There is usually a nice chunk of fat and nerve left behind on the plate, and this was no different. The marinade was very good, but not quite as good as J&Rs. I even ordered some on the side for a direct comparison. The marinade from J&Rs is very chunky, with bits of whatever on the bottom. Cattleman's marinade had much smaller bits and had a stronger soy sauce flavor.
I was pretty disappointed with the crabcake which just tasted "too fishy". I am far from a crabcake connoisseur, having only had a few in my day, but this one just did not excite me. It was firm, dry and blah...
The sides were pretty good - sweet potato with cinnamon butter, onion straws, steak fries, and cole slaw. No complaints there.
The men's bathroom was clean but needs some maintenance. The door to the stall did not lock properly, the "hot water" was lukewarm at best and the faucet was not mounted tightly to the sink.
Prices:
Cheesburger - $9
Steak and Cake: $17
Soda: $2
We forgot the $5 coupon at home. :(
Bottom line:
Decent food for a decent price. 6 out of 10. I would probably try again with a good coupon if I was in the area. I don't think I would crave it, like I did for Rib City's ribs.
I finally got a chance to try the new Diamandi Diner in Coram, NY this weekend. My expectations were pretty low and I was pleasantly surprised.
This location used to be a Pancake Cottage and I went there once. It was nothing special and I don't really remember my visit. The shopping center is not in a great part of town and they are sandwiched between a couple of very popular diners - Cookroom in Middle Island and Coram Pond Diner. Cookroom is only opened limited hours for some reason, so maybe Diamandi will get their overflow.
I went Saturday morning for breakfast and ordered scrambled eggs soft, crispy bacon and french fries. My girlfriend ordered eggs over medium and well-done corned beef hash. Their breakfast specials come with a (very small) orange juice, which is a nice touch compared to other diners who act like orange juice is a fine imported wine.
The food came in a reasonable time and we were both surprised with its quality and quantity. I remember the menu saying "large eggs" and they were not kidding. The bacon was actually cooked perfectly crispy, which is very rare. I usually end up with rubbery bacon even after specifying I wanted it crispy. The corned beef hash was well done on the outside but pink inside. My girlfriend would have preferred it cooked more thoroughly. The toast, fresh fries and hash browns were all great. No complaints there.
Total damage for a very hearty breakfast was about $18 + tip.
They advertise lunch specials for $6.95 and dinner specials for $9.95. They include salad and dessert.
The next day I went for lunch and ordered the Philly cheese steak. This was good, but not great. It seemed to be missing some zest. The roll, fries, and cole slaw were good though.
The service both days was good, but not great. The waitresses were friendly, if a little dry. They tended to be a little slow with the check.
The place was not very busy at all during either visit. I bet most people have no idea they are there. They are as good as the local competition and I hope they can survive. I recommend you give them a try.
Diamandi Diner
9920 Middle Country Rd. Coram, NY 11727
P. (631) 320-1293
I tried to go here for breakfast this morning and they are closed. There is a for sale sign up and no signs of life. I ended up going to the Coram Diner and it wasn't as good. I wonder if they were a victim of a lousy economy, bad area, or something else. I will miss Diamandi.
I had not gone to The Spare Rib in a while. It used to be one of my favorite restuarants but I just never seem to get there lately.
I recently started a new job pretty close to The Spare Rib so I decided to go there one night for dinner with a friend last week. I put myself on the call ahead list to make sure we wouldn't be standing around for too long waiting for a table. We arrived at about 6:50 and there was no wait anyway. No need for the call ahead list.
When we were seated, we were given the corner booth upstairs. Usually I like a table like this. I call it "The Captain's Table". I can look out and see everyone, which is just how I like it.
It took a few minutes to see any sign of the waitress. When she finally came, we gave her our orders and had a feeling something just was not right about her. She had kind of crazy eyes and an odd delivery. Maybe medication, maybe just tired, maybe a little nutty. Whatever...
My friend ordered some salmon dish with barbecued potatoes and I ordered the chicken and ribs with barbecued potatoes. We both got water with lemon. Gotta keep the bill low. Besides, who needs the poisons of soda? I eat enough crap all day.
Our bread and salads came out in a reasonable time. It was the usual stale Spare Rib bread and bitter salad. The water came out with no lemon and no straws. I asked her to bring both. She only bought the lemon. Oh well.
My friend and I sat talking about our usual nonsense while we waited for the food to come. After about 15 minutes we started to mention among ourselves that it was taking a while that night and there was no sign of the waitress. She finally emerged a couple of minutes later. She did not have our food, but instead came to take the order for another table. She did not acknowledge us, bring refills, nothing. We were invisible.
Another 10 minutes goes by and I told my friend that I am ready to walk out whenever he is. He was going to be embarassed by this and told me to wait a couple more minutes. I waited around another 5 minutes. By now it was about 7:45 and I had to get going. By this point, we were so disgusted that we didn't even want the food. We just wanted to leave. So we did just that.
Most people blame the waitress when the kitchen is slow. I don't blame HER, but it is HER JOB to at least check on us, tell us the kitchen is a little slow that day, refill our drinks, etc. She was nowhere to be found. I also coluldn't find anyone to complain to since we were sitted in the loser zone. Besides, I try to usually NOT complain too much at a restaurant. You never know who is handling your food and what they may do to it.
It will probably be another long while before I pay The Spare Rib another visit. Shame too, since they are so close to my new job. And their ribs are really hard to beat. When they actually come, that is.
Do you ever feel like the time is just ticking away and you can't believe how quickly it is all passing you by?
I think about this all the time and came up with some pretty interesting calculations.
First, how much time do we spend sleeping? We are supposed to get 8 hours nightly but most people get less, so I will assume 6 hours a day.
Weekly: 6 x 7 = 42 hours
Monthly: 42 x 4 = 168 hours (7 days. An entire week per month spent sleeping)
Yearly: 42 x 52 = 2,184 hours (117.25 days. Almost fourth months per year spent sleeping)
Second, how much time do most people spend commuting back and forth to work daily? I will call it 1 hour, but for most people it may be less. Or a lot more.
Weekly: 5 hours
Monthly: 5 x 4 = 20 hours
Yearly: 20 x 12 = 240 hours (10 days per year spent on commuting back and forth to work.)
Third, how much time do we spend eating and preparing meals? Just using round numbers, assume an hour for breakfast and lunch and another 45 minutes for dinner.
Weekly: 1.45 x 7 = 10.15 hours
Monthly: 10.15 x 4 = 40.6 hours
Yearly: 40.6 x 12 = 487.20 hours (2.03 days per year spent eating.)
Fourth, how much time do we spend in the shower and bathroom daily? Just using round numbers, assume an hour per day. For some people, it is much more. For some people, less.
Weekly: 7 hours
Monthly: 28 hours
Yearly: 28 x 12 = 336 hours (14 days per year spent in the shower and bathroom)
Fifth, how much time do we spend at work? I will assume an 8 hour work day, 5 days per week. Many people these days work much more than this. I will leave out 2 weeks for typical vacations.
Weekly: 40 hours
Monthly: 160 hours
Yearly minus vacations: (160 x 12) - 80 = 1,840 hours (77 days per year spent at work.)
So, let's do one more simple calculation adding all of this up:
117 + 10 + 2 + 14 + 77 = 220 days, or 7.3 months per year are spent doing these activities: Sleeping, commuting, eating, shower/bathroom, and working.
If you extrapolate these numbers over a 10 year period, we have spent 2,200 days / 73 months / 6 years doing these activities.
Everyone's lifestyle is different so apply these basic calculations to the typical patterns in your life. You may be surprised by how much time you waste every day, month and year. There is not much most of us can do about this, but we should all at least be conscious of it and try to make the most of the time that is under our control.
Now, where does all the time go? Pretty depressing if you ask me..
"I wasted me time, 'til time wasted me."
- Savatage, When the Crowds are Gone.
In March of 2009 I bought a Blackberry 8220 flip phone from a local T-Mobile store. I chose that model because I liked its compact size and incognito look. I did not like the other Blackberry models since the keys seemed so cramped and the phones looked so wide. The keypad on the 8220 was surprisingly spacious and it had a comfortable feel. It was my first "smart phone" and a major upgrade from my previous Nokia. For someone who is in the tech industry it was about time I stepped up my phone.
I was not happy that I had to carry a Blackberry data plan for an extra $25 a month but that is typical. To soften the blow, T-Mobile gave me a $100 Visa gift card. No complaints there.
Since I am with T-Mobile, an IPhone was not an option and the Sidekick's keyboard felt clunky. I chose a Blackberry because I wanted to experiment with Blackberry app development. I believe cellphone apps are the future of software platforms and that is being proven more everyday. After reading a little bit about Blackberry development, I was turned off by the complexities of it and I never really got into it.
I found the Blackberry app store to be pretty lacking and I never downloaded many apps. The only two apps I ever downloaded were Opera and a weather app. Opera was awesome and a great replacement for the sluggish Blackberry browser, especially when configured for mobile mode. The weather app never quite worked right but I left it installed.
Fast forward about a year later. My Blackberry kept getting an "App Error 200" and had to be reset. This happened a couple of times a day. I went to the local T-Mobile store and they couldn't help me. They told me to call 611 or RIM.
I called 611 and they suggested I use the Blackberry Desktop Manager to remove all the applications and then reload them with the same utility. I asked the rep if I should back up my data first, and she gave an oops, and told me that would be a good idea. I backed up my data and reinstalled the phone, and the problem went away for a little while.
A few days later, the phone started to reboot for no reason. No more "App Error 200", just spontaneous reboots. This happened maybe once a day. It was a nuisance but I could deal with it, knowing that T-Mobile will just read from their script and tell me to reload the apps again.
This problem progressively got worse until one Saturday when the phone kept rebooting in a seemingly endless cycle. I would get the white reboot screen with the clock icon and that would sometimes stay on the screen for 1/2 hour. This was not acceptable; neither was reloading the apps to get another couple of days of normalcy.
Back to calling T-Mobile. I spoke to a rep who was not able to offer any assistance other than telling me to wipe out the phone again. Oh, by the way, my warranty apparently ran out a week ago. No matter that I first reported the problem when it was under warranty. I asked if they had a phone number for RIM since they may be able to offer more advanced support. The rep offered to transfer me to RIM, and I waited on hold.
The person who answered from RIM was basically a message taker and told me that it would cost $49 just to speak to a technician. She also told me that T-Mobile should have transferred me, stayed on the line and given their carrier code so I would not have to pay. She wasn't surprised they just dumped me into the system since it happens all the time. So I had to call T-Mobile again, and go through the story again.
Would you believe they did it AGAIN? I was dropped blindly into RIM's system and was told I would have to pay $49 to talk to a tecnician. Yes, I had to call T-Mobile a third time and go through the same saga! I was really starting to get steamed and the night had just begun.
I finally got through to a technician at RIM. What did he want me to do? Yes, wipe out the phone again... this time with an updated version of Blackberry's Desktop Manager. He had me open a WebEx session so he could watch my screen. Desktop Manager would not launch and he had me go to a command line and run the utility with a -nojvm flag. I hate JAVA.
During the wipeout, my phone kept rebooting and each reboot would take several minutes. While the phone is booting, the computer can not communicate with it and it took a couple of HOURS for Desktop Manager to do its thing. When it was done, the phone rebooted again and the welcome screen never appeared. I had to do a battery pull and hope for it to boot again. It never booted to the login screen and the technician put me on hold.
When he came back on the line, he had another rep with him on three way. This rep confirmed that my warranty had just run out and gave me a couple of options:
1. Send the phone to them and pay $150 for them to repair it.
2. Pay $250 for a refurbished phone.
Neither one of those options were acceptable to me, considering I originally reported the problem when the phone was under warranty. I was also not going to pay for a refurbished old phone. This rep recommended I call T-Mobile again to see if they can do anything for me.
So back to T-Mobile where I sang my song again, exhausted and frustrated by this point. The T-Mobile rep told me that I was eligible for a phone upgrade, but would have to pay $150 for it. I calmly asked for him to speak to a manager considering the situation, since I did originally report the issue while under warranty. I waited on hold for a couple of minutes and when he came back he had some good news.
Since I originally reported my issue while the phone was under warranty and because I was such a valued customer, he can offer me a free upgrade to the myTouch 3g. Not being that much of a phone geek, I was not very familiar with it, but I knew it was an Android phone. I am not a fan of touchscreen phones but it was the only acceptable option they offered me, so I accepted. He told me that the Motorola Cliq is comparable to the Mytouch but it also has a hardware keyboard. Unfortunately, that phone was out of stock. If I wanted the myTouch, I would need to renew my contract for 2 more years, and I would have a 14 day buyer's remorse period. If I did not like the phone, I can return it. Fair enough.
After a few days, the phone arrived and I dug in. Pretty nice screen, good web browser, lots of free downloadable apps to play with. I did not find the phone to be very fast while browsing. Opera on the Blackberry felt faster to me. So much for all the 3g hype.
I was really not comfortable with the touchscreen keyboard. I found that I was able to type reasonably fast on an IPhone, but this keyboard was not as accurate for some reason. I then discovered the phone had Swype which is just plain awesome. It makes typing on the touchscreen pretty quick and quite pleasurable. I highly recommend this app. Check it out on Youtube:
Even though I accepted touchscreen typing, there were still a few things that were really annoying me about the myTouch:
You must tie the phone to a Gmail address. Once you do this, you can not add another Gmail address to the Gmail app. Most people I know have lots of email addresses and this restriction is just too limiting. I understand the latest Android update allows for more than one address, but T-Mobile doesn't know when that update is coming.
Their notification sounds and vibrations are short and only play once. You can not configure them to repeat. If you happen to miss the first chirp, you are out of luck.
There is no way to configure email filtering, similar to how you can with Blackberry. This means that the phone keeps feeding me spam, bacn, and automated emails I would rather not receive on my phone. The best solution I have found for this is at this link: http://androidforums.com/htc-hero/33457-best-email-configuration.html In quick summary, you consolidate all your email boxes into one, filter there, and then configure the Android to pull emails from that account via the Work Email app. Doing so will cause it receive emails via push and that should help battery life. This is a creative solution, but I don't think someone should have to go through all this and it still does not solve the need to use Gmail services with multiple accounts.
You can not change the from address from the default Email app. To get this feature, you need to download another app called K-9.
The battery life was terrible. Even with Wifi, GPS and email polling disabled, I was lucky to get about 20 hours out of a lightly used device. This seems pretty weak to me. What is the point of having a phone with all these features if you have to cripple them to supposedly save the battery?
There was no support for WMA music files that I had ripped from my CDs. Yeah yeah, I know... evil Microsoft and their proprietary technology. But the Blackberry handled these files fine.
The phone was always covered with fingerprints. There is no way around this with a touch screen device, and this is a pet peeve of mine.
This is not to say that the Blackberry is a perfect phone - far from it. If it was perfect, I would not have had the Android in my hands to begin with. I am just used to certain, basic things that my older Blackberry did well. Complain all you want about its slower web browser, Blackberry is a mature messaging device and that is mostly what I use the phone for.
A search of the phone geek sites shows lots of people with the same Android complaints. I find it amazing how the largest software companies leave basic features out of their products and go silent when customers ask for them. I honestly think it is just a way to have you come back every year and buy their latest model. They give you incrimental improvements, and leave you hanging on for the next version.
So after playing with the Mytouch for about a week, I decided it was not for me and called T-Mobile to see what my return options were. They do not make any Blackberry flip phones anymore. I guess it bombed. From the research I did, it sounds like the Blackberry 9700 would be a strong choice. The biggest expected weakness is the web browser once again, but I would probably use Opera anyway. I have also read complaints from several people about the phone freezing, resetting, being forced to do battery pulls, etc. Some things never change.
I was told that I could return the myTouch and get a Blackberry 9700 instead. Perfect. The rep told me I can go to the local Blackberry store to make the exchange. I asked her to verify this so I do not waste my time going there. I was placed on hold and when the rep returned, she reassured me that I can do this. Sounds good. Off to the T-Mobile store I trek...
I had a feeling this would not be an easy exchange. The rep cut me off and told me they could not accept the return of a phone that was sent through the T-Mobile corporate warehouse. He looked up my account and saw that I was indeed told by a customer service rep to go to the store and exchange the phone, but told me he would not able to honor that. He then asked the manager and she told me the same story. I don't appreciate having my time wasted. I was pretty steamed and asked him to call customer service for me and see if they can override, considering the fact that I was just following their instructions!
He called in front of me and went through my story. He then handed the phone to me and all the phone rep can tell me was that he was sorry that I was given the wrong information. He told me to go to a UPS store, ship back the myTouch and return to the store with the tracking number. Once they have that in their system then I can get the Blackberry from the store. One problem: the UPS store was closed and T-Mobile was closing soon as well. I slammed the phone down so hard the other customers looked at me. I think there was steam coming out of my eyes, I was so furious. I stormed out of there grumbling every curse I could think of. Nothing peeves me worse than incompetence and this saga is full of it.
Now it was time to go home and go another round with T-Mobile. I fought my way through the IVR and got connected to a woman. I swear this is the one I talked to earlier who told me to go the store to exchange the phone. I told her my story and that I was very angry and want to know what I need to do to exchange this phone. She put me "on hold", and then disconnected me!
You have got to be kidding me!
I called them back, refraining from screaming, and had to tell my story again. This rep was pretty helpful and took my home phone number just in case we get disconnected. (A great customer service move that all companies should employ!) She told me that my best bet would be to send the old phone back to them and they will send me the Blackberry 9700. She can tell I was annoyed by the whole situation and put me on hold to see if there was anything she could do to speed up the delivery of the 9700.
When she came back on the line she told me that she can have the 9700 sent to me even BEFORE I send the myTouch back to them due to all of the hassle I have been through, I just need to make sure I send them the myTouch or I will be charged for both phones.
The next day, I did a factory reset on the myTouch, and sent it back to them. A day later, I received a text message from T-Mobile with a UPS tracking number for the 9700. ItwassupposedtobedeliveredonMonday, butasofFriday morningthe
status was “Out for Delivery.” Three of my favorite words.
So the phone arrived and I have been playing with it for the last day. It has an updated OS from my old Blackberry Flip but most of the options and menus are the same. The phone is fast and the screen is razor sharp with outstanding colors and depth. I knew the browser would be weak going into it, but it's not horrible. My biggest complaint? They keyboard feels way too cramped. After all this mess, I think I like the touchscreen with Swype much better. :)
In March of 2009 I bought a Blackberry 8220 flip phone from a local T-Mobile store. I chose that model because I liked its compact size and incognito look. I did not like the other Blackberry models since the keys seemed so cramped and the phones looked so wide. The keypad on the 8220 was surprisingly spacious and it had a comfortable feel. It was my first "smart phone" and a major upgrade from my previous Nokia. For someone who is in the tech industry it was about time I stepped up my phone.
Back to calling T-Mobile. I spoke to a rep who was not able to offer any assistance other than telling me to wipe out the phone again. Oh, by the way, my warranty apparently ran out a week ago. No matter that I first reported the problem when it was under warranty. I asked if they had a phone number for RIM since they may be able to offer more advanced support. The rep offered to transfer me to RIM, and I waited on hold.
When he came back on the line, he had another rep with him on three way. This rep confirmed that my warranty had just run out and gave me a couple of options: 
I am not a fan of touchscreen phones but it was the only acceptable option they offered me, so I accepted. He told me that the Motorola Cliq is comparable to the Mytouch but it also has a hardware keyboard. Unfortunately, that phone was out of stock. If I wanted the myTouch, I would need to renew my contract for 2 more years, and I would have a 14 day buyer's remorse period. If I did not like the phone, I can return it. Fair enough.
