Cell Usage Spreadsheet

So I’ve been keeping a spreadsheet that tracks my usage per month so I can change stuff on my phone’s account ahead of time based off trends calculated from previous months. It predicts what I might use the next month and if it shows that I’ll go over my minutes or messages to the point where it gets expensive, I can bump my plan up a notch so that I avoid some of those outrageous charges (like $75 for 400 messages in ’08 – could have saved $70 by switching to unlimited). So here’s the figures for this month…

Minutes (450 min + 4109 rollover min + 5000 night and weekend (no rollover))
Minutes Predicted: 299 min
Minutes Used: 269 min
Error: 10% (down)

Data (unlimited)
Data Usage Predicted: 269836 kb
Data Usage Used: 136808 kb
Error: 49% (down)

Messages (1500 text + MMS)
Messages Predicted: 1202 messages
Likelihood of exceeding 1500: 45.15%
Messages Used: 1069 messages (1067 text, 2 MMS)
Error: 11% (down)

So let’s analyze this.

I really don’t use the minutes I’m alloted for by AT&T. Almost nobody I know makes calls any more. Most of my calls are to home. If AT&T had a low voice plan (200 min or so) for non-seniors, I would jump on that quick. That or I need to find more people to call. Case in point – since January 2008, the most I have called was 400 minutes in August. I got 50 rollover minutes from that.

Data usage is going down from summer. This is mostly due to the university having wireless everywhere on campus and wireless at the apartment. I rarely, if ever, go to 3G except when in Starkville. The predicted numbers should start falling in the next few months, bringing the 49% error rate down close to 10%.

Messaging is getting more accurate by the month. 11% down is very acceptable when talking about 1k messages.

So the equations aren’t perfect yet – I need to tweak them one more time, but they are fairly accurate based off past months.

A Future Project Maybe?

So, looking at what I can do with an old analog LCD TV I have, I found this little number. A computer in an Altoids tin. Possibly a fun project for the future? $75 (or I can just buy the board and find the parts myself) and I have myself an Altoids computer. I’ll probably even convert it to run off battery rather than wall power.

Look At What I Did To My iPhone

My friend Jeff came up to Starkville for the weekend. He didn’t come for Bulldog Bash (which was extremely fun), but to work on an architecture project (long story short, Jackson’s campus had a non-working laser etcher). I found out Saturday he was here, so I headed on over to the Architecture building to chill with a friend who I haven’t seen in months.

After a little while, he comes to me with an idea. Why not etch my phone while we have access to the machine? It was a simple procedure, practicing on a piece of acrylic before putting the laser to my phone. Needless to say, it came out extremely pretty (albeit not centered – but that works, though).

Defending The Nation, Stuff In General

Found from Gawker, this is a definitely interesting image of the president showing off his Jedi skills. No matter how you look at him, Obama is an interesting person.

School’s been on and off interesting for me. Even with 16 hours, the work-load isn’t as light as I had hoped it to be. Comes with being an EE I guess. Still better than the load I had with 19 and 18 hours. I can’t imagine doing that again. Either way, I can’t let myself slack off too much. I need to really kick work into high-gear. I’ve got EcoCAR, labs, and class all at the same time. Trying to throw a job into that will definitely be a juggling act.

Job. MFJ never contacted me back, so I’m going to be looking at housing for a source of income. I hear they have a shortage of IA staff for odd hours. Excellent for me (being a night-owl and all). That and being an IA is not all that difficult. You have to exist and not ignore everything. Hours upon hours of doing homework and occasionally signing somebody in or for a package. Gonna stop by housing this week and see if I can snag a job.

Obama’s Message To The Kiddos

Opposed to him or not, you’d have to be blind to ignore his message. To sum it up, he basically told the kids to “Stay in school, go to school, work hard, respect your teachers, and do good.” Nothing political, nothing controversial. The only thing “controversial” is the decision by some schools to not air the speech and for some parents who, for one reason or another, decided to not give their students permission to listen to this speech. In my opinion, this speech, no matter who delivers it, has a lot of meaning. Had it been W, Regan, McCain, or Gore, I would had listened to it. The message is important, not the speaker. I’m just mildly annoyed at the political polarization we see with this – a view that Obama is not our leader, but our enemy. A view that discounts everything he has to say as nothing of importance, even if it is. A view that discounts every decision, proposal, program, and bill that comes from his administration. Just as with any leader, everything must be first reviewed in whole without bias, then a decision can be made. Sometimes even leaders that you disagree with will produce something you can agree with. Likewise, leaders that you like may produce something you’ll disagree with. Nobody is perfect, nobody is absolutely terrible.

Stop being polarized, America. Subscribe to no single party. Think though everything and form your own opinions and decisions, not those of a political group.

Oh, and read the transcript of Obama’s speech before you continue spreadin’ the hate.