05.04.02
Rocky Trek
I’m still waiting for someone to come up with cross-over Rocky Horror Picture Show / Star Trek Fan Fiction.
Original Series only, please.
Frank and Spock can trade eyeliner tips…
05.03.02
Question of Added Drives
I’m wondering if I can easily attach this to my Blue and White G3. I think it should simply attach to the IDE cable that’s inside my case already, but I’m not sure:
45GB IBM DeskStar 75GXP 7200RPM 2MB ATA/66 HD. (IBM07N3931)
Isn’t an ATA drive compatible with IDE?
04.27.02
Irony Is
Irony is not ‘a free ride when you’ve already paid.’
From Jamie Zawinski’s DNS Lounge weblog, this is irony:
“I think they really made the right decision in opening before doing any major remodeling of the place. I just kept looking around and noticing things that made my heart sink; it took me back to 2000 when our contractors and inspectors were telling us just one expensive thing after another that we were going to have to do before we’d ever be allowed to open. But as I looked around at Transmission, it was like I was able to see the invisible maze of consequences connecting everything. Like, if they ever want to change this thing over here, that’s going to trigger the need to make that thing over there “accessible”, and once they try to get a permit for that, they’re going to find out that they need to pass just one little noise inspection test… And they can’t pass that with the front wall being a wooden garage door. And suddenly it’s two years later.”
“Our big mistake here at DNA was definitely, definitely, definitely that we closed at all. We should have stayed open the whole way through and found a way to do our improvements in stages, no matter how complicated that seemed at the time.”
“Ah, hindsight.”
JZW was one of the main guys behind Mozilla when it started. Go back and substitute ‘Mozilla’ for ‘DNA’. A complete rebuild. It takes time.
04.16.02
Notes to a Future Ross
Make sure you find *all* of your forms and reciepts before you send in your taxes. That includes cleaning off your desk to find all those thing you knew you needed to deal with. The “Deal With” pile must be cleaned out once a month!
Fun on PBS
I just watched this episode: http://www.pbs.org/kcet/shapeoflife/episodes/ultimate.html It was great! I’m not so much up on the production value, but the timelaps photography of the predators known as starfish or sea-stars is just fascinating!
04.14.02
The Real Question
The real question of the Tax season:
“Is my iPod Tax Deductable?”
(Procrastinating? Who me?)
04.08.02
Music Prediction
Here is my prediction:
One day a band will release a CD Jewel case. It will be available in stores. It will have a beautiful set of inserts. The Liner Notes will be well written, the lyrics layout will augment the vocalizations. The case itself will be textured in that ‘oo lemme touch it’ kind of way.
There will be no CD.
There will be a slip of paper that tells you exactly where you can download the music.
There will be a sticker, maybe even a set of stickers, that you can put on the face of your home-burned CD-R(s).
The package will still cost $14 – $18.
04.05.02
Office Folklore
1) Flies or bees bothering you? Spray them with hairspray and they will take a quick dive.
2) Use air-freshener to clean mirrors. It does a good job and better still, leaves a lovely smell to the shine.
3) Use Empty toilet paper roll to store appliance cords. It keeps them neat and you can write on the roll what appliance it belongs to.
4) For icy door steps in freezing temperatures: get warm water and put Dawn dishwashing liquid in it. Pour it all over the steps. They won’t refreeze.
5) Crayon marks on walls? This worked wonderfully! A damp rag, dipped in baking soda. Comes of with little effort (elbow grease that is!).
6) Permanent marker on appliances/counter tops (like store receipt BLUE!)rubbing alcohol on paper towel.
7) Whenever I purchase a box of S.O.S Pads, I immediately take a pair of scissors and cut each pad into halves. I have noticed that the scissors get sharpened this way!
8) Opening brand new jars can be a feat in itself. Well, I have found a way to make it the easiest thing to do. Instead of banging a jar of jam, pickles, etc., with a knife until it loosens up, I simply reach into the drawer and pull out the handy nutcracker. It adjusts to the size of the jar and I simply give it a good twist and off pops the lid!
9) Blood stains on clothes? Not to worry! Just pour a little peroxide on a cloth and proceed to wipe off every drop of blood. Works every time!
10) Use vertical strokes when washing windows outside and horizontal for inside windows. This way you can tell which side has the streaks. Straight vinegar will get outside windows really clean. Don’t wash windows on a sunny day. They will dry too quickly and will probably streak.
11) Spray a bit of perfume on the light bulb in any room to create a lovely light scent in each room when the light is turned on. Place fabric softener sheets in dresser drawers and your clothes will smell freshly washed for weeks to come. You can also do this with towels and linen.
12) Candles will last a lot longer if placed in the freezer for at least 3 hours prior to burning.
13) To clean artificial flowers, pour some salt into a paper bag and add the flowers. Shake vigorously as the salt will absorb all the dust and dirt and leave your artificial flowers looking like new! Works like a charm!
14) To easily remove burnt on food from your skillet, simply add a drop or two of dish soap and enough water to cover bottom of pan, and bring to a boil on stovetop.
15) Spray your Tupperware with nonstick cooking spray before pouring in tomato based sauces and there won’t be any stains.
16) When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won’t be any white mess on the outside of the cake.
17) Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.
18) When boiling corn on the cob, add a pinch of sugar to help bring out the corn’s natural sweetness.
19) Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.
20) Don’t throw out all that leftover wine: Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.
21). To get rid of itch from mosquito bites, try applying soap on the area and you will experience instant relief.
22) Ants, ants, ants everywhere … Well, they are said to never cross a chalk line. So get your chalk out and draw a line on the floor or wherever ants tend to march. See for yourself.
23) When you get a splinter, reach for the scotch tape before resorting to tweezers or a needle. Simply put the scotch tape over the splinter, then pull it off. Scotch tape removes most splinters painlessly and easily.
24) Now look what you can do with AlkaSeltzer.
* Clean a toilet. Drop in two AlkaSeltzer tablets, wait twenty minutes, brush and flush. The citric acid and effervescent action clean vitreous China.
* Clean a vase. To remove a stain from the bottom of a glass vase or cruet, fill with water and drop in two AlkaSeltzer tablets.
* Polish jewelry. Drop two AlkaSeltzer tablets into a glass of water and immerse the jewelry for two minutes.
* Clean a thermos bottle. Fill the bottle with water, drop in four AlkaSeltzer tablets, and let soak for an hour (or longer, if necessary).
* Unclog a drain. Clear the sink drain by dropping three AlkaSeltzer tablets down the drain followed by a cup of Heinz White Vinegar. Wait a few minutes, then run the hot water.
A day off and another day off
Tuesday was a personal day off. I went with Amy to a dental appointment and then worked on the materials for my class. (Authoring Digital Media, at Portland State). The day off was nearly a necessisity because of the stress of developing this project. TownPartner is looking good, and I’m quite happy with where it’s headed, but it’s still got a lot of polishing to go through.
By Tuesday night however, I already felt a cold coming on. That sore throat and aching feeling was starting to hit. I made it through Wednesday and the first class, but by 9:15, I was dead on my feet and ready to head home. I went into work on Thursday as well, but only made it through a half day.
And this morning, I had *no* energy left at all. So I’ve stayed home. I brought my laptop home, but forgot the power cord, so I’ve only got 3 hours of time that I can use, unless I get out and run by work to pick up the cord, which I might do here soon.
This cold couldn’t have come at a worse time. Well, maybe it could, but this was pretty bad timing. However, I should be glad that I’ve only had two colds this year, so I’m doing pretty well. Let’s hope this one clears out soon. Afterall, my brother is expecting me to watch his kids at 7am tomorrow morning!
04.01.02
Virtual Network Computing
The technology keeps coming as I’ve now installed VNC on my G3 for a server and a client on my Laptop from work. I can now use all of my favorite Mac tools and utils (including BBEdit). It’s quite a way to get the feel of having an Apple notebook without the actual having an Apple notebook. I like it.
I like it a lot. The only thing I’m missing is the Command and Option keys. Even the shift keys don’t work in conjunction with the arrow keys all that well. However for basic word processing and even straight text editing it’s quite effective. I’ll have to figure out some tweaks to get things operating smoothly. Like I’ve reset my Mac screen size to 800×600, but I’m not sure I like it. I may go back to 1024×768 simply because I can run that size at full screen mode.
Oops, almost forgot the linkage: VNC Stuff