We will never attempt to dine at Tortilla Jo’s again.¹

Last Wednesday, I went to the House of Blues (Anaheim) for Scream It Like You Mean It featuring Silverstein and Emery. We got there a bit early to grab dinner before doors open.

We randomly chose Tortilla Jo’s.

There weren’t many customers, so we were seated quickly. The host gave us menus, someone else brought us chips and salsa, and…that’s it.

About 5-7 minutes later, the host that sat us asked, “Are you done looking at the menus?”

“Yes,” I replied.

He took them and walked away. There wasn’t an employee that offered us water or took our order. I counted at least twenty times where an employee or manager² walked by our table. Nobody acknowledged us.

After being there for 23 minutes, we left. (I know the photo shows 18 minutes, but we were there for about five minutes before I started my stopwatch.)

I didn’t want to say anything because of principle. We waited until after the concert for In-N-Out (La Mirada) on our way home — six hours later.

We will never attempt to dine at Tortilla Jo’s again.

Comfort

I could use them for several hours straight.

When using them for an hour while riding on the Metro Gold Line and Purple Line, the area covering the ear pads got warm and I broke a slight sweat. Air circulation helps.

The coiled cord minimized snagging when moving around.

Audio quality

I’ve listened to a dozen MP3 albums from my iPod with these headphones. I’m not sure if the bass is mixed low in the production/mastering process, but switching the EQ to bass booster gives the sound what it needs without being too much.

I’ve also played Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC) for “several” hours. The surround sound is amazing.

While setting up a few channels on my Line 6 Bass PODxt Live, I was pleased with its output. When it came down to plugging into my actual bass amp, my tone basically sounded the way I wanted.

Awareness

These aren’t noise cancelling headphones.

While riding public transportation, all sounds around me were ridiculously muffled. The only sounds that got through were the unusually piercing loudspeaker announcing each stop on the Gold Line.

Bulk

The cord is really long, so walking around with these headphones is a bit cumbersome.

Recommendation

I wouldn’t hesitate. Get it.

Sony MDR7506 Professional Large Diaphragm Headphone

Sony, Electronics, Too low to display

I opted for USPS Parcel Post ($11.57) for the 3 pound, 15 ounce box, along with Delivery Confirmation for $0.80. The website estimated its arrival in 7 days.

Here are the tracking results:

• Acceptance, April 07, 2010, 2:29 pm, TEMPLE CITY, CA 91780
• Arrival at Unit, April 09, 2010, 8:51 am, SHEPHERDSVILLE, KY 40165
• Delivered, April 09, 2010, 9:15 am, SHEPHERDSVILLE, KY 40165

It traveled 2,100 miles and arrived at its destination in 1 day, 18 hours, and 46 minutes.

In comparison, USPS Priority Mail would’ve been $15.30, or $3.73 more than Parcel Post.

My point? If you’re mailing something that isn’t time sensitive, you don’t need USPS Priority Mail.

Side note: USPS offers free Priority Mail supplies. But, is the difference saved – when using First Class Mail or Parcel Post – negated when buying your own supplies? I suppose you would save money if you’re reusing boxes. Keep that in mind.

I requested RMA service with the cross ship option (just for kicks).

Time line:

• 3/22/2010 8:04 PM – Requested RMA number
• 3/26/2010 1:33 PM – RMA request processed
• 3/26/2010 4:34 PM – Memory shipped via UPS Ground from Anaheim
• 3/29/2010 11:40 AM – Memory delivered

Summary:

• It took three business days for my RMA request to be approved (the RMA page said it’d take two business days).
• Kingston Technology shipped my memory locally, so that only took one business day.
• I didn’t need proof of purchase/receipt since Kingston’s ValueRAM has a lifetime warranty.
• The new memory stick is a bit shorter.

Other than the extra day waiting for my RMA request, the whole process was painless. If I went with standard replacement, it’d take a few more days waiting for them to receive my defective memory. I didn’t mind the temporary hold on my credit card.

I think it’s safe to say that you can be confident when buying Kingston Technology system memory.

That’s when I finally realized that my reputation was on the line. These photos had to be perfect.

A few weeks before the weddings, I finally bought a monitor color calibrator. Brian Auer showed me the Pantone huey MEU101 while Silas and I were hanging out at his place. At under $70, I was convinced.

The huey makes it really easy to calibrate your monitor — it only takes two minutes. You can set the small program to run silently in the background, compensating for room light changes at preset intervals. The base of the stand is 2.5 inches in diameter, and the device is 4 inches long with the width a bit wider than a pen.

Not too long after that, I ordered some of my own 4″ x 6″ prints. They matched up with what I saw on the monitor — very cool. I have no fear ordering 19¢ prints through Zenfolio/Mpix².

Get it.

Pantone huey MEU101

Pantone 2006, Electronics, Too low to display

Disclaimer: I bought the Pantone huey MEU101 with my own money. While I’m not being paid for this review, I’m an Amazon.com Associate.

I knew I’d be taking a hit in quality, but I just needed to isolate myself from the sounds of the subway, light rail, and people chatting loudly on their cell phones.

Once I stuck them in my ears, I was able to zone out just like before. Wailing babies? What babies? I can’t hear the random preacher on the subway. The sounds of Nine Inch Nails, The Mars Volta, or Rx Bandits engulfed me.

Verdict: the Sennheiser CX300 earphones are a fantastic, cost-effective, and necessary replacement to basic earphones supplied with MP3 players.

Sennheiser CX300-B Earbuds (Black)

Sennheiser, Accessory, $14.00

Components:

• AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor
• OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
• Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive – OEM
• Samsung DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223L LightScribe Support – OEM
• Microsoft Windows Vista Business SP1 64-bit for System Builders w/ Tech Guarantee – OEM (includes free Windows 7 upgrade coupon)
• Microsoft Gift – Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 x64 64-Bit – OEM

In case you’re about to build a new system based on this, you need to know something.

For the Shuttle SA76G2, the CPU power consumption (TDP) has a maximum of 105W. We actually ordered the AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor.

Why? The Shuttle SA76G2 specifications at Newegg doesn’t list this. I didn’t find out until I and saw the sticker on the CPU socket. Now we have to return the 125W processor and order the 95W processor.

It gets worse. At Mwave, you can configure the system with a AMD Phenom II X4 920 2.8GHz processor — but that runs at 125W!

Newegg, Mwave, and other resellers that sells barebone systems and motherboards that have a CPU power consumption (TDP) maximum: please add that specification to the item page!

Alright, so I don’t have too many thoughts about this system yet. Aren’t you glad I shared this information before you got an incompatible processor?

Give me until Tuesday Wednesday for more thoughts on this. Hopefully the replacement processor arrives Monday and gives me the chance to finish putting the parts together. If I’m somehow wrong with all this information, please leave a comment and explanation. Thanks.

*****

Update 2009-08-10 — At Mwave, they let you configure a Shuttle SA76G2 barebone mini-PC with the OCZ OCZ2RPR10664GK 4GB Kit.

The problem is that the heat spreaders for the memory sticks are too tall for the case. How would they have tested the system? Why is it an option?

Two strikes on Mwave.

So, the beastly memory kit is heading back and the OCZ Fatal1ty Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2F10664GK will hopefully arrive tomorrow.

If you follow me on Twitter, I was griping about something else. An error on my part is that I forgot to buy thermal compound. Fortunately, Radio Shack had Arctic Silver® 5 and Arctic Silver® Céramique. I went with Céramique.

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound, 3.5 Grams

Artic Silver, $2.95

Arctic Silver Ceramique Premium High Density Thermal Compound 2.5g

Arctic Silver, $3.95

*****

Update 2009-08-10 3pm — Wait, the barebones system did come with thermal compound! Stars Heatsink Compound, to be exact. It was hiding behind the CD. Oh well, it’s cheaper stuff that definitely wouldn’t perform as well as Arctic Silver®.

I am idiot.

Update 2009-08-12 5:30pm — Memory came in two days later because he went with Egg Saver (free) shipping.

I snapped the two sticks into the motherboard, plugged in the hard drive and DVD burner, and powered on the computer.

The Windows install — from partitioning the hard drive to Windows desktop — took about 15 minutes.

A detail (Mwave) overlooked is that the Shuttle SA76G2 only supports memory types DDR2 533/667/800. Buying DDR2 1066 was overkill. Fortunately, there isn’t even a price difference. Of course, it runs fine at DDR2 800. Nothing to worry about.

Windows 7 didn’t need me to install additional drivers. Nice.

My friend is taking the system home tomorrow because he won’t get a chance to use his new computer tonight. Then, he’ll run it through the paces. (He’s a graphic designer.)