At Home On Piety Hill

Denise may be an efficient office manager at LRR, but she’s also a stylish and sassy one! Just check out all the latest gizmos in her home workstation and you’ll know what I’m talkin’ ’bout. If it’s any indication of what she’s got going on at her pro gig… well, then it’s no wonder that she has proven indispensable to her employer.

Let’s see; we have a bill holder, an address/phone contraption, a stand for her eyeglasses, a pen/pencil holder, battery charger, field guides for bird watching, binoculars and, of course, her name plaque from her former employer, AAA. 

You may have noticed that I haven’t blogged about Maine for about a week. That’s not for lack of material, but time. I should be back on it this week and will continue until our next trip downeast in about a month. I would also like to get a couple posts out during the current election, but truth be told, I’m not that enthusiastic about it.

Because now, with a little bit of broadband, I can take a trip down memory lane and watch a lot of my favorite bands/artists from the past. For example, Living Colour on the Arsenio Hall show performing Cult of Personality. I once heard Living Colour referred to as the black Led Zeppelin… LZ wishes they were this heavy. Rock, funk, punk, noise, rap, African, reggae, metal, industrial, free jazz… they have it all and stage presence!

I think this is a first for me… I’m blogging while watching a film — Schindler’s List. I’ve already seen it once, but that was years ago. Anyway, I was thinking about getting iListen for dictation and transcription. I do most of my best thinking in the morning, while I’m commuting and doing production/deadline work. I’ve tried a cassette dictation machine ten years ago, but that just didn’t work. I started looking into iListen to use with my computer at home, comparing it to other dictation/transcription software and hardware solutions. Then, it occurred to me… I have a video iPod. I would want to get a microphone for it and use it away from home. Then I got a better idea… I’ll just get the Belkin TuneTalk and use my iPod for dictation. I will transcribe the file myself. I’m fairly proficient at typing and it’s mindless work — I can do it when I’m exhausted at the end of the day. If it doesn’t work out, then I’ll go ahead and spend the extra $130 for iListen. Any tips from you seasoned dictation/transcription-ists out there?

I had another living room epiphany last week. But, before I go on and you get all excited and ask me to come work my interior design magic on your place, remember that I only do this for pleasure… no silver will cross the table.

We looked into putting an insert into our fireplace, but new regulations made it prohibtive, both in cost and efficiency. So, I sat gazing at the center of our living room, the locus of fellowship in our home and thought, “now what?” Should we put a large flower arrangement in front of it? Or, pile up a bunch of

candles inside the fireplace, like the hipsters in Rocklin do? Then, it hit me like a ton of bricks (get it?). I ran in and logged onto eBay… r-e-t-r-o c-r-a-c-k-l-i-n-g l-o-g and enter!

I found a few promising auctions, but they sold for way too much. That sent me onto the web, where I found a number of companies that manufacture some very nice fake burning logs. These were also too pricey, but then I happened onto a pile of faux embers I’d seen advertised for around $100 over at Penney’s Home for $49. It came in a couple of days and I got it right into the fireplace. Denise even had to admit I’ve got a real eye for design. So, what do you think?

That’s the vista or view of Julio Ojeda-Zapata in his review, Vista’s pretty, but it’s a shameless Mac OS X imitator Bottom line. He sums up Windows Vista this way:

Get a Mac with OS X unless your home-computer needs are Windows-specific, or if the fine Media Center is a must for you. You likely won’t regret a Vista-PC purchase, but I’m betting you’ll enjoy a Mac much more.

An amusing tongue-in-cheek video by David Pogue covers the same ground in a more creative fashion. I have to say that I use Windows XP at work and I really don’t mind it that much. It does some things pretty well and I just recently began using my Dock like I use the Taskbar… it works for me. On the other hand, Explorer really bugs me and, if I were to advocate a boycott or some action to pressure Microsoft, it would be to advise everyone to use some other browser like Firefox or, for Mac users, Camino or Safari at home. At work, where they are forced to use Explorer, they can access their .asp stuff on the intranet, which usually looks pretty crappy anyways. But, on their own time they would be using a standards compliant browser to visit commercial and recreational sites on the web, sending the stats for competing, standards-friendly browsers off the charts. That should get their attention.

There was a lot of screaming about Senator Barak Obama’s (D-Illinois) green hypocrisy a while back. It seems he was playing the perennial Democrat global warming panic and fear card to a town hall meeting, preaching on the eeeevills of the SUV and was seen leaving the scene of his scolding sermon in one of those humungous gas-guzzlers. His handlers attempted to deflect criticism by lamely pointing out that the vehicle burns a an e85 blend. But, that hardly cools the controversy or the atmosphere, for that matter.

Then you have this editorial exposing Al Gore’s (D-Planet) appetite. Sure, these guys are hypocrites but that’s not really the issue… you can find plenty of double-dealing in politics, religion, the office, the classroom… I wish these guys were that benign.

What really bugs me in all of this is their Animal Farm approach to foist a radical green revolution upon the rest of us. You see, Mr. Gore (let’s think of him as the Napoleon character in the book) has discovered that the planet is being destroyed by human prosperity and consumption. He acts as though he made this discovery, in much the same way that he claims to have been a pioneer in the formation of the information superhighway (just like the appropriation of Snowball’s plan for building a windmill in the story). He assures us in his Green Seven Commandments that we are all equal and we are all forbidden to drive gas-guzzling SUVs (on the Animal Farm, “all animals are equal”).

In the end, Al and Barack’s green revolutionary society looks more and more like an environmentally friendly version of Animal Farm, in which “all citizens of the planet are equal, but some are more equal than others.” Those privileged few are free to drive or fly whatever to wherever they please, while the rest of are forced to buy the type of vehicle they decide suits our needs and station in life. You see, Barack and Al fancy themselves responsible global citizens, who possess knowledge and sophistication the rest of us commoners lack. They put these “bad” machines to good purpose, while the rest of would only squander precious fuel and resources in the vehicles of our choice.

These sham environmental crusaders will do whatever they can, legislatively and culturally, to deny us choice in the kind of vehicle we buy, as they herd us into the mode of transportation that suits their utopian ideals. But, if that comes to pass, it will only happen because we ceded that power to the pigs in Washington. And, I doubt these elitist, finger-wagging, moralizing hogs will stop at deciding merely what type of car is appropriate for us.

I found a bloggers home away from home at Panera Bread and it’s habit forming. Denise likes to do her shopping in Rocklin and I like to spend time with Denise, so we drive down, she drops me off at Panera and she does her thing, while I do mine. Then, we usually get a bite to eat at a taqueria or barbecue joint.

Denise and I learned to love Panera when we visited Emma in Chapel Hill. Because it was overcast or raining the entire time we were there and Emma worked all day, Denise and I spent a considerable amount of time in the comfortable environs that are Panera, catching up on email, eBaying, blogging or just chatting over a hot, caffeinated beverage.

Panera’s baked goods are way better than our local fare at Flour Garden, the coffee is almost as good as Java John’s (still the reigning king) and the WiFi is free. Our local Starbucks is a bit cramped and they only offer TMobile. The music is usually good, but Panera is always playing my kind of jazz, the termperature indoors is just right and, if it’s a beautiful day, I can get reception out on the patio. Well, that’s about it… I have to get up to refill my mug.

This just in… it’s cooled down to about 85º, so I’ve moved outside and getting 5bars… this place is awesome. I’ll try after hours sometime to see if I can log on.

Levi at Culturezoo has come up with a smart and sassy little blog accessory: It’s called Audiozue and it tells your readers what you’re listening to on iTunes, displays the album art and provides a link to purchase the music. You can customize Audiozue to display up to fifty songs and you can build your own skin to match the stunning design of your blog. If you look at the sidebar, you will see it in action.

Oh, and by the way… check out this great photo titled “Macintosh Repair Tool Kit.”

Denise and I are enjoying our .Mac account and we have two new slideshows up. One records our trip to Disneyland and the other is a collection of Birthday, New Year and Christmas photos. I really like the ease of sharing photos through iPhoto and .Mac. The greeting cards are great, too. I think the feature I use most often is Backup, to schedule incremental backups to a 250gig hard drive and rewritable DVDs, kept off site. My next project? Create an easy to use FTP site for our families to share photos, music, etc.. Peace!

Well, it finally arrived! About a week ago, I began the rigorous process of having my old 867 MHz Titanium PowerBook certified as a bona fide Apple System and today I received the coveted brushed aluminum certification plaque. It wasn’t easy, but you could never put a price tag on the prestige that accompanies such recognition from Mr. Jobs himself. I’m a little nervous going to Macworld in San Francisco this week… I mean, what if he calls me up during the keynote address and makes a big deal out of this whole thing?

More lawmakers back U.S. control of Internet
Fri Oct 21, 2005 1:13 PM ET

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives called on Friday for the Internet’s core infrastructure to remain under U.S. control, echoing similar language introduced in the Senate earlier this week.

The resolution, introduced by two Republicans and one Democrat, aims to line up Congress firmly behind the Bush administration as it heads for a showdown with much of the rest of the world over control of the global computer network.

‘Turning the Internet over to countries with problematic human-rights records, muted free-speech laws, and questionable taxation practices will prevent the Internet from remaining the thriving medium it has become today,’ said California Republican Rep. John Doolittle in a statement.

Does anyone else think its a bad idea to hand over internet addressing and networking to countries like Iran and China? I like things the way they are… relatively free and open.

What an exhausting week. I actually stuck around work for a couple hours to catch up and now I’m listening to the Cowboy Junkies at a respectable volume. I’m one of those oddballs who, after a stressful day, will relax by hammering myself with some really loud music… it feels like getting tenderized.

The week started out well enough with barbecued ribs and beef brisket. Our trip to North Carolina inspired us and we had a hankerin’ for our kind of barbecue. I suppose I would classify it as Kansas City Barbecue or something along those lines. I’m not an expert… I just know I like it all. These ribs were smoked with maple from the tree behind me in the next photo.

Michele found me a wonderful apron for making smoke and searing animal flesh — I wear it with pride. Ryan, Natalie and Andrew brought Sadie and Dan over for a down home suppah’. Sadie brought punkin’ pie… she’s a country girl at heart

The table was set with plenty of sides. We had corn bread, brown bread, slaw (white), green beans, homemade applesauce and the blue crock holds Maine baked beans… yellow eye beans. Denise likes to use Jacob’s cattle beans, but hasn’t found them outside of Maine.

Later this week, I had to go to training down in Sacramento. They served lunch and it was, you guessed it, barbecue!!!!! I have to tell you, it was delicious and Chef Jake from Moveable Feast was there, so we exchanged strategies. He prefers cherry and apple wood over mesquite and hickory. I told him about my maple and occasional walnut. His tri-tip was perfect and had a great herb crust on it. I didn’t try the chicken, because… well, I get enough chicken.

It’s fall and Denise has created a holiday tree like the one my grandma Louise had at her house in El Monte (Emma Louise’s namesake). Denise started decorating with pumpkins and added fall leaves later. Grandma Louise had firecrackers on the tree for 4th of July and my dad would light them off under tin cans. That was sure a big deal back then.

I’ve been trying to spend a little more time alone with the Lord lately, walking or getting off by myself. Last Saturday I went searching around town for a taste of fall and I found it. I like the light and contrasts of fall; particularly the radiant, warm colors of the leaves against the cold, darkness of the bark on the maples and liquidamber.

This is the maple that borders the property with our neighbors. It can be spectacular in the fall, as long as it’s had enough water and doesn’t get too hot during October. It’s been a good year for fall in Nevada City. There was no color in North Carolina two weeks ago and our friends in Maine told us they just got their first frost today. This is very late for them.

We got our new iMac G5 about a month ago. We waited until the iLife suite had matured, particularly iPhoto. It is truly wonderful and it’s fun to have a computer that does anything you like, after struggling through the 80’s and 90’s — seeing the potential, but never realizing it. I have fond memories of Sam using Strata Studio, creating a 3D character and pushing the render button at about 10PM. We would wake up in the morning and it would just be finishing it up. Although we waited to get the iMac, we wanted to get it before our warranty ran out on the Powerbook. The optical drive in the iMac was DOA, so I called Applecare and a guy showed up in two days and swapped it out in about ten minutes. I was impressed. The drive is a dual layer DVD burner.

We have semi-retired the Powerbook. I will use it with Keynote for presentations and trips and such. Denise will use it around the house. Her computing habits were totally revolutionized by our wireless network. We had Camille’s old Presario notebook and installed a wireless card. Next thing you know, we had two laptops wireless with Emma networked via Ethernet and I even got my old Yosemite up. I toyed with the idea of turning it into a print server, but ran out of energy and time. Anyways, Denise enjoys the Powerbook very much, but it didn’t last too long…

I took the Powebook to work, sat down and got the screen open about .5 inch and the hinge popped and shot a piece of the monitor across the keyboard at me! Evidently, it was frozen and even cracked the case a bit. The hinges on the TiBooks are a known issue and I thought I’d escaped the scourge. I called Applecare, but got quite a different response than with the iMac. The agent told me a broken hinge is a cosmetic problem and not covered by the warranty. I became indignant, in a restrained way, and reminded him that it was a known issue and that the Apple discussions on their support site are full of accounts of people getting their hinges replaced. He checked with his boss and said they would repair it. Let’s hope this doesn’t turn into a saga… I don’t need another one.

Goodnight, friends.

Now, here’s something you don’t often find. But, our friend, (we’ll call her “Jay” to protect her identity from blog trolls and design stalkers), is always showering us with bits of thoughtful vintage technology. This is a rare 1958 prototype of the device, which would iterate and reiterate into the modern PalmPilot. Most people are unaware that personal digital assistants or PDAs (as those of us in the industry refer to them) have been around for some time. Originally, “personal” referred to the fact that you could keep them in a purse or pocket and “digital” denoted the method of searching through the tiny contact cards with your fingers or “digits.” Later, when the miniaturization of transistors and digital (as in 1s and 0s) consumer electronics really took off, makers of these handy gadgets were thrilled to be able to retain the original “digital” label for the “mobile Rolodex.” The interface moved over time from contacts being hand written on durable card stock, to information recorded on interactive touch screen LCDs. Most busy professionals and “techies” embraced the newer technology, but there remains a loyal following of Luddites, who prefer to record their important personal information with a Sharpie on a ‘58 Palm.

No account of the evolution of the modern PDA would be complete without mentioning that Palm was actually the “Johnny come lately” to the conception and original design of these wonders of technology. Two prominent PDA pioneers were Go Corporation and Apple Computer (Apple’s iNewton is pictured with the familiar logo). The iNewton was the first PDA ever to go into production, but it was plagued by ink “blotting” and smearing of the contact records, due to an inferior finish on the contact record cards. Apple sunk millions of dollars into the development of the iNewton, but it was doomed from the start. When Palm entered the market, they were able to build upon the foundation laid down by Go and Apple. Some say that the ‘58 Palm bears an uncanny resemblance to Apple’s first entry into the market and maintain that the Palm is nothing more than a cheap iNewton knockoff. iNewton users continue meeting in user groups, where they exchange custom accessories for their aging PDAs and speculate about how and when Steve Jobs will transform the humble iNewton into the PDA of the next millenium.