I was checking out the ads for the local office supply and electronics stores during my lunch hour and I saw that Office Depot was selling the ViewSonic VX2235wm for $259-- the same price as I paid for the hunk of junk Samsung. I plugged it in to my laptop and IT JUST WORKED! Everything is crisp, clear, perfect!

The installation experience went like this: I plugged in the monitor to power and my laptop. Vista asked me if I wanted the display on the left or right of my primary display (right) and then I was in business. This is NOT what happened this weekend with the Samsung.

So far, I've adjusted nothing on the monitor. I'm so HAPPY that this thing works. ViewSonic is just a better monitor manufacturer.

One other thing-- my 1st grader, Angie, introduced me to Pivot. Here's a nose picking, butt scratching stick figure that I created tonight to get a laugh out of the kids.

This last weekend, my wife bought a 21.6" Samsung SyncMaster 223BW monitor for me for my birthday (happy 36th to me!) so that I could bask in dual monitor goodness when working on projects at home. I attached the monitor to my PC over the analog hookup (because I don't have an digital port available on my laptop). I know this port to be very good for other projectors. I used this laptop to teach at a number of locations over the past few years and have never had a problem when connecting to a fancy overhead projector. It worked great on several projectors at Microsoft when I worked there, it worked fine when I taught for Wintellect last year, so I know this wasn't the issue (though I did think 'hmm-- could the port be goofy?').

The images I got from the monitor were crap. I tried every adjustment, got the latest drivers for the monitor, etc. I just couldn't get the monitor to generate clear, crisp text. For someone who processes lots of code when sitting at a machine, this was an absolute deal breaker. If you do get one of these monitors and plan to use an analog (D-SUB 15) connector, then just pick something else. Right now, you can pick these things up at Sam's Club for about $260. Mine goes back today.

I think I'm going to go with a ViewSonic-- I've always been happy with their stuff though I never like the fact that I have to pay extra. Hopefully, I'll have a good experience to post about for that one tomorrow.

Just some random thoughts while reading the news over lunch. Nielsen Rating apparently released their numbers for websites for January 2008. According to the numbers reported at http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/venture/archives/131937.asp, Google got the most eyeballs in January. What I find interesting is that the numbers for time spent on the web site implies a different ranking. I whipped out Excel for some simple analysis. The results? The top 4 companies in terms of eyeball hours are in the exact wrong order. Companies are presented in order of unique audience #s, measured in thousands (000). I added the 'Person Hours/1000 people' and 'Rank on Person Hours' columns.

Usually, FSB is entertaining. Today, the guy running the FSB blog is hilarious. The post isn't much until the last line. I won't spoil this for you but, if you have 30 seconds, go here now and read. Hilarious!