The 7 Deadly Sins...of Waking Up For Work

I was considering doing this as a fun, jaunty image and posting it on Facebook but then I though, nah let's give it the full on blog treatment.  Oh and if you don't think this is geeky enough I'm using images from Full Metal Alchemist (and fair warning I'm using the characters from the 2003 anime).

SLOTH

Sloth is your natural state when you're in bed.  Yeah you know you should get up like RIGHT NOW so you can be on time for work...but the bed is just soooo comfortable.  At this point you've already hit the snooze button on your alarm like 10 times already and may have even gotten as close to waking up as touching a foot to the ground.  Since this is your natural state, in order to wake up you have to replace it with another sin.

GLUTTONY

BREAKFAST!!!! Gotta have breakfast NOOOOOWWWW!!!  I remember in my college days getting up early was an eternal battle been sleep and food.

LUST

Um, I think this one is self-explanatory.

GREED

Gotta go and make that money!  Cash rules everything around me.  Greed will get you up.  Especially if there's something special you were looking to buy sometime in the near future.

 

 WRATH

There are some days you show up to work just because you know it'll piss somebody off to see you.  Some days you just want to get to the office and show those idiots at the office how it's REALLY done.  Anger can be a great motivator.

ENVY

Envy is a much trickier one to use.  I find that sometimes to get up I have to convince myself that there's a better resting place somewhere else in the house.  For me that's a struggle between the bed and the couch.  The couch easily loses this argument.  So when I'm in bed I really REALLY have to convince myself that the couch is better.  Of course as I get up to seek the other resting place, instinct kicks in and I end up in the bathroom brushing my teeth instead.

PRIDE

Pride is almost as bad as envy.  Pride usually involves to desire to show off.  Think of it as a tamer version of wrath.  You want to get to work and show off your stuff not for the satisfaction of a job well done but to stroke your ego.  You can also substitute this for wanting to show off some clothes ensemble (this works better for the ladies; although I have been known to strut a bit when I show up wearing a tie).

 

 

 

 

5 Things I've Learned About Budget Tablets

Like most good lessons, I learned this one the hard way.  A few months ago I bought my mom a budget tablet from Walmart.  I knew it wouldn't be great but realizing she doesn't need top of the line equipment to check email and play Candy Crush Saga I figured she'd be ok.  So when I finally got it I realized why it had the price tag it had.  I'm here to impart you with the knowledge I have earned so you don't make the same mistakes I did.

1.  If the budget tablet is under $150 and it boasts a certain amount of memory, chances are you can't readily use all of it.

This one can be a bit misleading since you NEVER have access to all of the memory advertised.  Usually it's negligible.  Budget tablets do something FAR more insidious.  They divide your memory into the base memory and NAND memory then add the two for advertising.  So what does that mean?  Well sifting through the technical mumbo jumbo that even I'm not sure I understand it comes down to this: You'll have around 1 GB for the Android OS and apps and whatever the remainder is in free space.  Now if you're running the most current version of Android you can probably move apps into that free space using certain apps but you're bound by around 750 mb of "slack" space.  To see if you're device is configured as such you'd have to try before you buy.  It's best if you do this in the store.

2.  Not all budget devices are Google approved.

This is a big one.  Google approved devices have access to the full slew of Google apps like Youtube, Chrome, Gmail, etc.  The most important app though is Google Play.  Google Play is the app you use to get more apps.  Granted there are alternatives to Play but it makes the experience of owning a tablet less enjoyable.  You'll also find you have to sideload a lot of popular apps since you can't install them directly from Play.

3.  They're made from cheap materials.

You'll feel it the minute you pick one up.  They don't feel "solid".  They actually feel like toys.

4.  The screens are terrible.

They're so blurry!  They remind me of old GameBoy screens.  To be fair though, I'm used to using this bad boy:

5.  No bells and whistles.

Among the list of things to expect a budget tablet NOT to have: Bluetooth, dual cameras, ANY camera, good sound, no microSD port, no microUSB port, GPS, and a recent version of Android.