How to end a ten year relationship

If you clicked this link, thinking that it was about a physical relationship, it is but not the type you're probably thinking about. My relationship with Sprint PCS started approximately ten years ago and it was, as all relationships are in the beginning, awesome. It was cheap, reliable, all of my friends & family liked it and it fit my needs at the time. 

As time went by, as in all relationships, things changed. Sometimes for the good, like when they had the premier program is what I think they called it and I was able to upgrade every year as opposed to the industry standard of two years. Then sometimes for the bad like when they ended the premier program and decided to go with 4G WiMax instead of LTE. From a short term point of view, the decision to roll out with WiMax as opposed to LTE at the time meant that Sprint would be first to market with 4G speeds and technology. Ruling the beginning of the 4G era within the United States with their flag ship device the HTC Evo 4G (Which I owned and loved), not to be confused with the Evo 4G LTE. But once everyone else locked in on LTE which was the true next generation technology, Sprint's grasp on possibly being a power player in the wireless communication business within the United States really begun to slip. 

During all this, I was an avid believer in the dream that Sprint would pull through and even though they were not the cheapest solution anymore the service provided was not any worse than anyone else out there. the relationship continued to sour when SoftBank purchased Sprint and amplified the picture of discord and no clear vision of the future. To highlight the mayhem even more was the fact that carriers were beginning to think outside of the box in regards to contracts and phone upgrades.

This is where I get to the point where I unceremoniously dumped Sprint for another carrier that was able to meet my needs in not only technology, pricing and services but in the way they decided to give their customers the option to upgrade whenever they wanted in order to always have the latest technology in a fair and economical way. This breakup was well deserved as all friends and family that liked Sprint in the beginning, slowly migrated away, in truth I was the last to say Good Bye. It was not bitter, it was in frustration and pain that I had to end this long term relationship. 

3D Printing research

I've found two books that I've been reading over the last week. Learned a lot as far as the software and from concept to reality is concerned. There is basically three software stages. Modeling, Slicing and Fixup. The three separate process are sometimes combined in some way or form depending on the software being used and not all users and or software refer to the different stages as these names. 

I won't go into the details of each section as I am only concentrating on the basic knowledge and know how at this time. My ultimate goal is that anyone will be able to start reading my journey from start to finish and not feel over whelmed with the prospect of diving into 3D printing. Once I finish reading the books that I found. I will probably complete a short review on them and then my readers can decide if they want to use these books as I have. 

On another note, I have also rethought the printer picking process. I think I might get a used one as opposed to a new one for 2 reasons. 

1. It will definitely be cheaper. Early adapters out there that bout one early on and now want to upgrade will probably want to get rid of an earlier model.

2. By getting a used 3D printer, the previous user and support forums will have more tips and content for me to utilize while learning about 3D printing.

Finally, I want to close out today's post with a new 3D printer that I saw via my twitter feed this morning. The Micro might truly be the break out 3D printer of the year, meeting its kickstarter goal in just 11 minutes!!!! Can you say WOW? If they are able to deliver, they will definitely give Makerbot some real competition in the entry level 3D printing space. Santa might have a lot more requests for 3D printers next holiday season.

Post Degree 3D printing

Now that I feel that I have caught up with the world of TV since I graduated last year and my reading hiatus is almost at an end I feel the urge to start learning about new stuff again. In preparation for my 3D printer purchase later this year, I will start reading and learning about everything in the world of 3D printing until then. I will also chronicle my process of learning and mastering the 3D printing world.

Today I will start with narrowing down software to design 3D stuff. I will also utilize thingiverse as a place where I can get files that are completed and use these as examples while I experiment. Remember I will be picking one of these 3D printers within the next 2 to 3 months so recommendations are welcome.