2002 July

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It's official: Gretchen, Sprocket, and I will be moving in a few weeks. Not too far, though. We'll be going deeper into the city of San Francisco starting on the first of September. Lori and Norm were here over the weekend (for a photo shoot); in between sets, Gretchen invited them to join her hunt. They came upon a house located in one of the busier parts of town. With only street parking available, I wasn't too thrilled about investigating the property. However, my wife seemed optimistic. We kinda knew what we were looking for in a residence (and its neighborhood), but also knew we'd have to make certain concessions in the process. We parked (literally) up the hill and found our way to what would turn out to be our future home (at least, for the next year or so). It has lots of usable space – which is a premium here. Plus, the landlords are extremely dog-friendly. Winner! The pictures and videos will come, never fear.

Read more on We're A-Movin' On Up…

Admiral's log is brillig.

I just received this disturbing bit of news: “Please tell Chris that one of his first fans died last weekend of a heart attack at home. There will be a visitation at 6 to 8 on Friday at Dunn's Funeral Home. On Saturday, there will be a memorial service at 1:00PM (again, at Dunn's).” I first met Jon at an Apple user's group meeting a few years ago; he looked a lot like a beefier Robert Beltran. What makes his death really a shocker is this message he sent to his president a couple of months ago:

Read more on Thanks, Jon Snyder…

If there can be a Friday Five and a Monday Mission, then I'm staking Wednesday for Humpday Happiness, damnit. We all need a pick me up in the middle of the week, right? So, fill in the blanks, you funny-faced freaks:

Read more on Humpday Happiness…

1. And your crybaby, whiny-assed opinion would be…?
2. Do I look like a people person?
3. This isn't an office. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting.
4. I started out with nothing & still have most of it left.

Read more on Overheard Today…

One should not make more assumptions than the minimum needed.

Exercise extends your life by ten years, but you spend 15 of them doing it.

I need a four-day weekend every month. Can you help me with that? Great. Thanks. I certainly appreciate it. This “time off” will be far from productive, mind you. Sure, there are always tasks in dire need of completion, but most hours would be spent perfecting breathing techniques. In and out, in and out – that about covers it. Latest cool discovery? A free program for OS X that converts ICNS resources to Windows icon files (true-colored, alpha-blended, multi-format). I made 20 megabytes worth (!) in a few minutes (thanks to the UNIX 'locate' tool and a GUI front-end). Now, before you start slagging the other white meat, Apple's RealBasic programming language can compile binaries for “us” and “them” at the same time. In fact, you'll probably start seeing more cross-platform utilities showing up in future issues because of that reason. Nice, eh? Yeah, so don't be so quick to iJudge. Perhaps one of these days I'll start writing code again? It's been a while. Gimme a few more four-day weekends and we'll talk.

Read more on Time Bandit…

Now this is what I call testing.

Gretchen is the proud owner of her FIRST digital camera! As odd as
it may sound, I had to do most of the shopping for her. Well, it's
not like she forced me to do it; I really wanted to help her find
the right one, baby. I've been extremely happy with my
PowerShot
G2, and assumed that anything else from
Canon's lineup would be just as impressive. After reading a few
reviews, seeing some sample pictures, comparing features, and
balancing prices, she wound up purchasing the
Canon
S200. My initial impressions (as she hasn't
had much time to break it in) are positive. This thing is small! I
guess that's why they call it an Elph? The movie mode can capture
an 640×480 AVI @ 20fps (compared to my G2, which maxes out at
320×240 @ 15fps); total time seems to be vary between 3 and 10
seconds, though. While low-light scenes aren't its strongest suit,
the S200's overall “still image” quality beats the heck out of her
old analog device. [One hour film processing? What's that?!] I'll
encourage Gretchen to post the first snapshots to
her blog so you can judge
for yourself. It comes with a measly 8MB CF card, so I suggested
the 128MB upgrade (at CompUSA, where they had a $30 rebate on a
Lexar 4x). I also finally picked up that
Dazzle
6-in-1 Digital Media USB reader (with a $20
rebate, also from CompUSA). It was a good day for shopping.

Read more on Camera Trickery…

The GnomeSTORE now carries TechTV's Computer Basics, an hour-long VHS cassette hosted by Kate Botello and me. It's perfect for the computer dummy in your family! Features include: Getting to Know Your Computer; Starting Up Your Computer; Basic Computer Interactions; Using Windows; Istalling & Opening Programs; Running Programs; Working with Files and Folders; Using the Internet; E-mail & Instant Messaging; Security; Settings & Shutting Down. Like I said, it's probably perfect for your mom and dad (assuming they're afraid to turn the damned machine on). Don't go looking for it on Amazon – it's not there.

Read more on Computer Basics Video…

I… I don't know what to say. It was an honor just to be nominated. This means more to me than you'll ever know. Yeah, I had to choke down a few gallons of Maduro to get it, but it was well worth doing. The Kenya kept me going. Thank you, Kenya blend! I'd like to thank my wife, who would often (at a moment's notice) run out to get a cup for me. A big thanks to my viewers – without whom, none of this would be possible. And I'd like to thank the servers behind the counter at the Potrero Hill Center store – you know who you are! Thank you to Horizon Dairy, for providing the fine heavy cream which complimented my Sierra Dorada. We made it! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I just can't say that enough. You've all been so wonderful to me this year. I promised myself I wasn't going to have more than two cups, but… what the hell?!

Read more on Thanking The Academy…

From the dude who shares his life with you: Hey, I just saw the Gnomedex t-shirt entry on your blog this evening. (very cool, by the way) It reminded me of something I thought of the other day. I was editing some photos from a recent trip to Gatlinburg, TN and when I got to one where I was in Gatlinburg wearing my Gnomedex 2001 T-shirt I thought, “Dude, after Gnomedex 2002 we should have some sort of online collection of pics just of people wearing their Gnomedex tshirts with a listing of where the pic was taken or something”. Could be a sort of fun way to keep the “Gnomedex Spirit” alive throughout the year, no? I like the idea – but I say people should do it with the Gnomedex 2001 shirts they already [should] have. You've apparently got a starter snapshot, Mike. *G*

Read more on Unbirthday Suits…