Category: Unrelated News

Magnets and iPhones

I was preparing this post in my mind and did a little googling last night to get some information on the problem. I was very surprised by what I found.

I previously mentioned some problems I was having with my phone. If you read the update I wrote at the end, you will see that I traced the problem to a phone case I have which has a magnet in it. The phone has absolutely not locked up since I stopped using that case. The only thing I can trace the phone problems to is the magnets which hold the flap shut.

I have read pages that talk about how AT&T employees are telling customers to not use cases with magnets. Some of the reasons are bizarre and totally impossible. Such as the magnets messing up the video or erasing the hard drive. There is no traditional hard drive in an iPhone. Magnets will effect a CRT monitor but not an LCD. I think these are reasons made up by the individual employee to explain why not to use a magnet in the iPhone cases.

I have also read where people have said there is no way a magnet could negatively affect the phone. There were some reports of problems, while not the same problem as mine, which are consistent when magnets are involved. I can verify that the magnet is definitely the culprit of my phone locking up.

All that to say, while there is inconsistent data, it does appear that magnets can affect the phone negatively. How strong of a magnet? What will the symptoms be? How long of exposure to the magnet? Those are questions I cannot answer. But I can say that if you are having problems with your iPhone and you have a case with magnets, then try some testing to see if the case is indeed the problem.

Clueless

I ran by this manhole cover a few weeks ago for the first time. Since then on every run over 10 miles I have run down this road. When I saw it today I knew that I needed to snap a picture of it. Later this morning I was picking up an entertainment center that I found on Craig’s List and drove right by the manhole. I pulled out the phone and snapped a quick picture.

Of course what makes this interesting is the little orange sign by it informing you that it is a manhole. It even has an arrow to point you to the right direction in case the distance of 1 foot was too far to make the mental connection.

Actually, as you run farther down the road you begin to understand the sign, but this was the first one I had seen labled like this. As you get farther along the manholes move away from the road, but the little orange signs are there on the road in an easy to spot location so that you can know where the manholes are. Some of them are quite hard to see. With the bright orange sign workers are able to easily know where to begin looking for the manholes.

Funny at first glance.

Squash Soufflé

This is the recipe my wife uses for squash casserole. One of my twitter friends was looking for a recipe, so I thought I would write this up for her since I like it so well. Might as well share with others.

  • 2 pounds sliced yellow summer squash
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3 tablespoons melted butter
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
  • seasoned salt and pepper, to taste
  • buttered bread crumbs

Combine squash, onion and salt in a large saucepan; cover with water and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain; mash well. Add milk, eggs, melted butter, flour and cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake in a buttered 1 1/2 quart casserole dish for about 30 minutes at 350 deg F. Top with crumbs and bake for about 10 more minutes. Serves 4.

Mike the photographer

When I went on my medical trip to the city of Valladolid this spring, I met Mike the Dentist. He and I ran together several days during the week. We have casually kept in touch since then. He has given me race reports on his recent half and full marathon races. I look forward to reporting to him on my running of the Indianapolis Marathon. When we were together I was still planning to make a spring 2009 marathon my first full mary, but have since decided on a fall race.

He was snapping some great pictures of a girl in a tortilla factory. I jumped in front of the camera and got shot too.

If you are looking for someone to follow on flickr, Mike tends to have great shots in his photostream.

Parque Plaza Sesamo

Plaza Sesamo is the Mexican version of Sesame Street. I am not sure if Plaza Sesamo is used in other countries, but it is filmed in Mexico City and is quite popular here. In Monterrey is a theme park that is based on Plaza Sesamo.

We arrived at the park Saturday morning shortly after it opened at 10:00, but since we did not have a printed copy of the online promotion, we either had to find an Internet shop to print the coupon or pay an extra $30 for the family to enter the park. The promotion we saw online did not say we needed a coupon and therefore we thought it was just a standing promotion. I spent almost an hour running up and down the streets near the theme park looking for an Internet cafe to be able to print the coupon. Since I went through all the work, I printed a couple of extra ones and handed them out to others in line.

The theme park itself is pretty small and it is geared towards young children as you would expect. We were a little disappointed that every time we saw one of the Sesame Street characters walking around they were walking with a handler who was trying to rush them off to a show or something. The characters never had time to stop for a photo. It was not until after we were leaving the park that we saw a few characters who had time for a photo shoot. Then our kids were not interested in getting a picture with them. Our daughter was scared by the larger than life version of the Muppets and our son is too old to be interested in a photo with them. I felt a little awkward getting my picture taken with them by myself, but at least we have a photo to show the kids later.

There were only a couple of rides that were of real interest to us as older people, but our daughter was thrilled with just about all of them. One of the neat things that they have done is make the rides accessible to all ages. We were able to ride the majority of them with our daughter. We did not have to stick her on a ride by herself with the exception of a couple.

The water park section of Plaza Sesamo was great for all ages. We spent the majority of our 7 hours in the park playing in the water. They did a great job in building play areas for small children as well as having a good amount of thrilling water slides. Though we are in the middle of the summer, it did not seem that the crowd was as large as they could handle. Some of the areas were packed, but many of the lines were very short. Much shorter than they were prepared to handle.

Our one major disappointment with the park centered around the difficulty of finding information on the website. It would have been nice to know that I needed to print out the online coupon to get the good price which would have saved an hour walking the streets looking for an Internet cafe. We also specifically looked on the site for the clothing requirements in the water park but did not find them at the time. Unlike the general public, we prefer not to run around mostly nude. We always wear a shirt and shorts at the beach to protect our white little bodies from the sun as well as maintain a bit of modesty. My wife and daughter were not allowed in the water with a shirt on. My son and I ditched our shirts at the bottom of the stairs and slipped them on after each ride. We ended up having to buy a suit for our daughter and I gave my lycra shirt to my wife. The lycra is permissible, but not cotton. Every time she wanted to get in the water she had to prove to the life guard that the shirt was not cotton. All of that could have been avoided if they would put their clothing requirements on the website in an easy to read manner. The requirements are there, but they list the rules for each attraction separately instead of just giving a general set of rules. By the time you read through several pages of rules for a bunch of rides and you finally get to the water park rules, your eyes glaze over and it is easy to miss. But there is no mention in the rules that lycra is a permittible form of clothing.

All in all it was a very fun day. We have not been able to see as much of Monterrey as I had hoped, but we certainly feel like we have had a great vacation. Even though we are here for a reason, it has been nice to be here a couple of days early to relax and enjoy a few days as a family.