Triangle Trip

I recently upgraded my data card to the new Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200. I will post a product review later on, but I wanted everyone, especially other Sprint customers, to know that upgrading an existing wireless network card contract is absolutely free if you know how to navigate through the hoops. If you spend time on the road without Internet and have to pay for Internet service at hotels, this card is for you (see related post to help justify the cost with your client/management)

I noticed Sprint was offering the MiFi card for free via an online promotion, and then decided to go to a local store to pick up the card for instant gratification. When I was at the store, the clerk would not match the online promotion and wanted to charge me an activation fee.

I got on the phone with Sprint customer service and told them I had an expiring contract and wanted to cancel. The representative was very nice and offered me an upgrade to another data card. I told the rep I wasn’t interested unless I can get the MiFi card, and keep my existing unlimited data plan; new customers buying the MiFi card service are limited to 5 GB. The representative put me on hold for a minute, and eventually got approval to send me the new MiFi card.

If you currently have a Sprint data card and you have an expired or expiring contract, just call Sprint customer service and inquire about an upgrade to the new MiFi card. If your current data plan has unlimited data, do not accept any new data contract; tell customer service you want the same deal. Otherwise, they will try to put you on the new agreement which has a 5GB data transfer limit.

There are two tolls on the I-95 in Delaware.  One is the Delaware Memorial Bridge connecting New Jersey and Delaware which is unavoidable.  The other toll is the Delaware-Maryland state line toll which is easily avoidable.  There is a quick and easy detour to avoid the Delaware-Maryland state line toll is $4. Below are southbound and northbound instructions with a highlighted map to help you avoid the unnecessary toll between Delaware to Maryland.

Southbound

If you are traveling on I-95 (JFK Memorial Highway or Delaware Turnpike) southbound to Maryland, you should exit I-95 when you see Route 896 (Exit 1).  Take Exit 896 North which is South College Avenue towards the University of Delaware until you see Christina Parkway (University of DE will be to your right).  Make a left onto Christina Parkway (west) and stay on for about 1.1 miles.  You will come to a dead end which is Elkton Road.  Make a left onto Elkton Road and you will see a sign for I-95.  Stay on Elkton Road which will take you to I-95 southbound and you have saved yourself $4 in tolls for a 5 minute detour!

Northbound

If you are traveling on I-95 northbound from Maryland to Delware, get off on Exit #109 on I-95 (which is MD-279 Elkton Newark Road to MD-213).  Take Elkton Road north/east to you see Christina Parkway, which is two major intersections or about 2 miles. Make a right onto Christina Parkway and look for College Avenue which is the first major intersection.  At the stop light of College and Christina, make a right on to College Avenue and you will see signs for I-95 north and south. You have saved yourself another $4 on your return trip!

I spent the better part of my Sunday trying to figure how to best sync my calendars on my Mac and my phone.  And I think I finally found the magic formula using Google’s free services.  Here’s how to better sync your life:

Google Calendar Setup:

1) First create your calendar(s) on your Google account.

2) If you have multiple Google accounts, pick one to be central point of access and on that account add any calendars on your other Google accounts.  For example, I have a personal Google account and another one for my work through Google Apps.  I chose my work Google account to be the central account and added my personal Google Calendar via its email address.  You will first have to give full read/write sharing permissions to the central account on your other Google Calendars.  If all goes well, your central Google Calendar should list out all your other Calendars under “My calendars”.

Mac iCal Setup:

1) Download the Google Calaboration utility.  This tool helps automate the setup of your Google Calendars on the your Mac iCal application.  Before, it was a tedious process but this definitely make it a whole lot easier.

2) Open up Calaboration, sign in to your Google account, select the calendars you want to add, and click the “Add to iCal” button.  Quick, simple, and efficient.  If everything went well, you should now see your Google calendars on your iCal application.

TIP: If you have multiple Google calendars on iCal, you can easily move an event to a different calendar by dragging the event to the respective Google calendar in the Calendar List view.

Phone Setup:

1) Follow the instructions for you specific device listed here.  I, for example, followed the instructions for the iPhone OS Version 3.0.  Regarding the iPhone setup, note that you can only setup Microsoft Exchange account, hence the importance of the “central” Google account.

NOTE: If your Google account is on a different domain via Google Apps, please have your administrator enable Google Sync on the domain.

2) After the Google Calendars have been configured for your device, go to http://m.google.com on your phone.  If your Google account is via Google Apps, there’s link towards the bottom that says “Google Apps user?”; click on that link to add your Google Apps domain.

3) Click on the link labeled “Sync”.  You should now be able to manage your calendars on your device.

AND presto!  Your entire life is now synchronized.