Mon, 31 January, 2000

X-Files Last Night

Posted in General at 9 pm

Jan 31 Mon (09 AM)

Last night I believe was a re-run episode of the X-Files where the creator’s other series, “Millennium” was wrapped up.

Frank Black was neither frank, nor black. Discuss.

I had stopped watching the show because our reception for the local Fox broadcast was so bad. At times it looked like Amy and I were doing calisthenics, rather than simply tryng to improve the reception as to make out what was lurking in Chris Carter’s dark sets.

However, I was surprised at how quickly the single episode wrapped up the Millennium story line. I figured it would take at least a couple of shows.

However, I think Mulder actually died when he was trapped in the cellar with the zombies. That would be the way to get rid of him…

 

Fri, 28 January, 2000

Personal Observation

Posted in General at 12 pm

Jan 28 Fri (12 PM)

I’m slowly catching up with stuff. I’ve got these little bundles of files, folders, e-mails and papers that I’m constantly digging through. My home e-mail is down to 25 mails in my inbox (some of them quite old, but getting there), then there’s the inbox at work, currently at 13 mails. Then I have my ‘files pile’, stacks of icons on the left side of my screen at home and at work. This has documents to read, to write and to file away properly. On Wednesday I made some progress on that front at home. It’s down to 5 or 6 icons. At work I’m holding steady at 6.

Then there’s the paper piles. The actual physical manifestation of Things I Have To Do. That’s the part I’m least proud of. Christmas and Birthday cards to respond to, plus Tax information, pay stubs, receipts, warranties, magazines. This is the goal: Clean out all the piles before they overwhelm you.

But when I do, I hate it when the slightest, smallest thing gets put into my mail, in my icon stack or my paper stack. So I’m left trying to keep just enough in there that when something gets added it doesn’t depress me, but taking care of enough things that the pile is small enough that I think I can handle it.

 

Tue, 25 January, 2000

Cable Follies

Posted in General at 11 pm

Jan 25 Tue (11 PM)

So Amy and I broke down and decided to order cable TV. We’re both very interested in getting BlazerVision, the Trailblazers home games channel.

So this morning I call AT&T Cable services (nee <http://www.tci.com> ) and ask to sign up for the expanded basic server (includes the Discovery Channel). They ask for name, credit card number and…

“Address?”

I give her my address, wait a bit and hear,

“Pardon me sir, but we already have that location as having a subscription and activation.”

…

So it turns out that for three years, clear TV reception has been but a 32″ coaxial cable connection away. This is only the second time I’ve ever had cable access in the place I’ve lived. This will be the true test of my self-restraint, because I know just how easily I slip into that TV stupor.

Wish me luck!

 

Sincere Flattery

Posted in General at 12 pm

Jan 25 Tue (12 AM)

I had been looking at it for quite a while (well, since it was introduced in early January) but tonight, I finally decided to do some creative surgery on Apple’s web site and their plans for the new MacOS interface.

Comments? Use the form at the bottom of this page.

 

Mon, 24 January, 2000

Trips to the Bookstore

Posted in General at 7 pm

Jan 24 Mon (07 PM)

Recently Amy and I have made a number of trips to the bookstores locally and I’ve been picking up a few great pieces. Saturday night I finally got a hold of a Flash book that more than just re-hased documentation. Flash 4 Magic follows in a long line of ‘Magic’ books and I’m so far very happy with this one, though I have yet to really push my way through it.

<http://www1.fatbrain.com/>

As a matter of fact, I’m just about to finish reading Steve Levy’s ‘Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution’ which is my mythology, a look back at the people who really developed the roots of the culture that I find my career immersed in today. I read this for the first time in about 1990, and recently saw it on the shelves at <http://www.powells.com> and had to pick it up. I highly recommend it for any one who really wants to know where the computer industry came from in the first place.

<http://www1.fatbrain.com/>

 

Mon, 17 January, 2000

Shower Thoughts

Posted in General at 9 pm

Jan 17 Mon (09 AM)

After 10 years, I think I’ve finally figured out Particle Man.

Yes, They Might Be Giant’s “Particle Man” has followed me around like a nasty hangnail but after many attempts, I think I’ve worked out it’s deeper meaning and who the cast represents:

Particle Man = Scientific Thought Person Man = Humanistic Thought Triangle Man = Religious Thought Universe Man = Reality

Following this lead, it’s easy to see who is doing what to whom, and that none of it actually affects reality.

<http://www.tmbg.com/melody/lyrics/particle_man.html>

 

Sun, 16 January, 2000

Two Houses Approach an Intersection…

Posted in General at 2 pm

Jan 16 Sun (09 PM)

Yesterday was a wash. I think I got about nothing accomplished, except 20% more of Spyro 2 on the Playstation. I’m up to 60% so I should be done with in in a few more weekends.

Fortunately today was a different matter entirely. Amy and I got up pretty early and to watch the Benson House being moved 7 blocks through downtown Portland. <http://www.pp.pdx.edu/benson.html> It was quite a sight.

Last night, on Amy’s suggestion, we went downtown to see where it was at. They had already moved it off it’s foundation and onto the two of the three lanes of 11th street. Following the parking meters that had been covered up to prevent cars from being parked along the street, we found the route that the house was going to use. It was an inverted ‘J’ that brought the house through some amazingly wide streets and ended up having the house in precisly the perfect orientation, with it’s balcony overlooking the outer corner of the new block it is on.

<http://www.teleport.com/~samc/bike/benson.html>

This morning we got there just as the house was nearing it’s final destination. It was supported on three massive sets of wheels, making it a tricycle. It was quite amazing watching this massive two story wooden house move a couple feet at a time till it was in position.

Amy and I then had lunch at Swaggat, our favorite Indian food resturant, followed by a trip to Powell’s <http://www.powells.com> and getting of more dead trees and ink.

A few things to do tonight, including writting Christmas cards. A very relaxed weekend concluded.

 

Mon, 10 January, 2000

It’s about Time

Posted in General at 6 pm

Jan 10 Mon (06 PM)

It seems like it’s about time one of the net companies actually tried to use it’s over-valued stock to purchase something that makes more that just computer bits.

I’m still impressed and horrified at the size of the deal.

<http://www.wired.com/news_drop/palmpilot/story/0,1325,33535,00.html>

However, my local, Portland, Oregon take on this is: What happens to me? PDX is the thorn in AT&T’s butt. We’ve said that as a public monopoly, they have to give open access to ISPs other than their own @Home service. The city, county and regional governments all agreed on this and stopped AT&T from having the final piece of the TCI/AT&T merger go through. So AT&T sued the city, saying that puny little Portland could not stand in the way of the multi-national communication corporation.

AT&T lost. But they appealled, and now it’s up to higher courts.

However, Portland doesn’t have the budget to pay for a protracted court battle with Ma Bell. So they got some help from a little company called AOL.

Now that AOL is part of a big cable owning company <http://www.pathfinder.com/corp/about/pubarchive/websites.html#cablesys> what will their response be? Will they leave Portland in the lurch? Will they hold true to the selfish capitalistic view they held before or will they switch to a new selfish capitalistic view.

Then again, does it really matter?

 

Fri, 7 January, 2000

Dreamy Time

Posted in Life at 12 pm

It’s great. I’m better rested than I have been in months. It’s amazing what a new bed can do for you.

The bed that Amy and I have had was a hand-me-down from my sister-in-law’s grandfather. It was in the guest room of the place he lived, and must be close to 20 years old if not older. The boxspring was a joke and the mattress itself was lumpy… like sleeping on coconuts.

<http://www.monk.com/placestogo/portland/pdxtom/wake.up.html>

But after short visit with a local celebrity we have a new bed by Englander <http://www.englandersleep.com/> that is the cat’s pajamas.

Speaking of cats, one of the nice things about the new bed is that Simone no longer leaps up into the bed simply to roll around and nap. It’s difficult for her get her 17 lbs. up to the top of the new bed, so she only launches that effort when I’m sleeping there for the night. (She’s very attached to me and seems to love sleeping right next to my ankles.) Amy and I are already noticing the smaller amount of cat hair that’s in our clothes, hair, etc.

Now if I can just reduce the recently elevated stress level at work. Then I’ll get a good night’s sleep and not have such a great reason for not getting out of bed.

Thu, 6 January, 2000

New Mac Stuff

Posted in General at 1 pm

Steve Jobs and Apple came out with the new User Interface for MacOS X, Aqua yesterday. I’m loving it, and I’m starting to see it as simply the next step towards truly 3-D interfaces. Each time Apple moves the OS’s interface forward, they continue to add more and more ‘dimension’ to the look.

And the animation of the interface is going to be the part that most elates and irritates the users. From what I saw, the dynamics of the animation for sizing up a down the windows and moving them into the dock will be quite dramatic.

Although it looks like we might be losing Windowshade. :( That’s a big loss for me. I started using it way back when it first came out as a seperate piece of sharware. I’m sorry to see it go, if indeed the Dock is supposed to replace it.

Let’s hope that Apple also sees fit to develop a better Launcher to go with the Dock. DragThing has been a constant companion for me and I hope it will eventually become part of the OS.

One nice thing about the announcement is that the late local news, <http://www.kgw.com> had a small one minute piece on the announcements, though it focused on the video production technologies that Apple’s pushing. It was nice to see some local coverage on Apple’s moves after the coverage on the release of Win95 and Win98 back when MS introduced them.