Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

Happy Summer! This brings us one step closer to Winter again!

The plan for today was to draft a pattern on junk fabric for the viking apron dress I want to make for Pennsic.

Unfortunately, the video card in my desktop went kaput sometime over night. For the record, a Mac desktop tower is very heavy. Carrying it through the Mall was rather foolish and I have the bruises on my forearms to prove it. It turns out the Apple Store has a loading dock - I’ll use that next time, really. Anyway, so the Mac Genius confirmed my suspicions about the video card. Unfortunately, there are a limited number of cards still available for my Mac since it’s 3.5 years old. They’ve ordered one for me and expect to have my Mac all happy and fixed within the week, but probably later rather than earlier. *sigh* Luckily my laptop is almost as cool and I have back ups of most of my data so I can do almost everything on the laptop until I get the desktop back.

I admit, I almost didn’t repair it. I’m saving for a new desktop but, as with every major purchase in my life, I’d been having 2nd thoughts because my desktop really is chugging along nicely for what I do on it. I just can no longer do as much at once. I think if I slap another 2 gb of RAM in it though… and maybe another external hard drive… Much cheaper than any new Mac.

To console myself for the loss of my Mac and most of my afternoon, I came home and made a plate tomatoes and mozzarella with basil.

Alas, I do NOT have a backup of my photos for the past month. I need to take a lot of photos of Mr. Paw this weekend to ensure I have enough material for the next 5 or 6 episodes of Monster Cat. Luckily, I didn’t have any plans for adorable kitten flashbacks again until late summer.

I did plant a rosemary plant I’d picked up earlier this week. I also got to play with the hose and water the raised beds. And I cleaned my desk a bit and vacuumed my office. These things were technically in my plans for the weekend, so I guess the day isn’t a total loss.

tags: apple, computers, monster cat, powermac g5, repair, saturday derailed, video card, weekend

UserFriendly provides today’s comic-to-share of the day. So very true. There’s such an addictive quality to Blackberries that sometimes it’s hard to let go.

Which is why I don’t have a Blackberry.

I did get a new phone last week though! I have a new Samsung a737 with orange racing stripes! (The racing stripes make it faster! Okay, the 3G network support makes it faster, not that I use it.) I blew through the last of my roll-over minutes in January and February making a new plan with more minutes necessary. Since this landed me with a new 2 year contract anyway, I took advantage of the opportunity to get a new, mostly-free phone. My old phone was starting to behave badly after almost 2 years of vaguely faithful service, so it was probably time anyway.

I like my new phone. It’s orange. It’s also a slider phone and locks itself (well its keys) appropriately. I think it’s slightly bigger than my old LG flip phone, but not so much that I’ll actually notice. It still fits in my little cell case so I’m happy.

Yes, my criteria for cell phones are very basic. I don’t care if it does six million cool things. I want it to work as a phone and fit in my pocket. The orange racing stripes are a great bonus though.

Eventually, I will get an iPhone. Probably when it has 3G support. (Because I don’t need my phone to surf the web but when I do surf the web from my overpowered phone, I’ll want it to be fast!) There’s no discount on the iPhone when you renew a contract, so I can keep waiting.

In other news, it was almost 70 degrees out today. With the sun hitting my windows and the door closed, it hit 78 degrees in my office this afternoon. Fun stuff for early March. I’m not going to get winter this winter, am I?

tags: cell phones, heat, iphone, smartphones, user friendly, weather

Another fabulous Sinfest today.

The week is half over, more than that really. Thank goodness.

Random free music. (US iTunes required.) And by “random” I mean really really random. I haven’t heard of most of these bands but it looks like the kind of randomness that could result in a new favorite or two. There’s quite a spectrum in terms of genre so it will be an entertaining mix to try out if nothing else. So far it’s entertaining.

If anyone knows how to keep iCal from crashing (which it has been doing within 60 seconds of starting up since I upgraded to iLife ‘08 on Mac OS 10.4.11), please let me know. My Google-fu has provided no good leads. (But if you’re having this problem in 10.5, this seems to work for most people:
1. Open /user/Library/Caches/
2. Move /com.apple.iCal/ folder to your desktop
3. Launch iCal
Not that it works for me on Tiger… I’m not ready to move to Leopard on the desktop machine yet. That would mean giving up CivII forever!)

tags: , comics, ical crashes, mac, music, random

For the second Saturday in a row I felt like crap and succeeded in not doing anything at all. I had a properly crappy day. Annoying to say the least. Well, I did successfully pack for my trip up to Connecticut. I was ready like a whole 24 hours before my flight. A new record, I believe. So now I’m in Connecticut, settled into my hotel for the week and stuff. I’m not all that excited about this trip for various non-work reasons, but it’s promising to be productive. I fly back home Thursday afternoon. As a side note, my new awesome bag of doom is not ideal for carrying two laptops. I’ll need to switch back to my backpack next trip. Or I need to buy a new MacBook Air. Air, baby, AIR. I think I’ll just swap to the backpack - much cheaper.

The Philly airport was about what I expected today - busy and populated by stupid people. The ID screeners have a new little tool - a blue light that confirms the legitimacy of your state photo ID. Kinda neat and faster than checking the other security features of most photo ID. The security line was long. There were a bunch of bag checks and carry-ons put back through the x-ray machine because apparently folks don’t understand that the signs pertain to them too. I don’t mind full flights or kids on the plane. I don’t even mind the fact that the plane ran half an hour late. It’s the stupidity that bugs me. Even when I’m prepared for it, get there early so the stupid people don’t make me stress about being late, and generally brace for the idiocy, stupid people can still be annoying.

Today’s oblivious moron award goes to the woman ahead of me in the security line who didn’t understand that everyone was taking off their shoes and coats because security had been announcing that we had to do that. The airport was not suddenly too hot when we arrived at the x-ray machine… No deafness to excuse her. She also didn’t seem to grasp that she needed to put all her liquids and gels in the quart-sized zip bag, not just the things that would have been in her toiletry case. The perfume, hand lotion and water bottle in her purse apparently slipped her mind. Hmm… because… when the security person asked you if you had any liquids or gels and if you had them all in your zip bag you forgot about the 32 oz bottle of water in your hideous faux lizard purse? See why she gets the oblivious moron award?

Airport security isn’t really all that secure, I know, but at least play along with them.

Speaking of the MacBook Air (because I can’t purely rant)… it looks awesome. I can’t wait to see it in person. So light, thin, tiny, cute… It’s not perfect, but it tries. *happy sigh* I don’t want one yet, but it’s a beautiful little package and will be my next laptop. Eventually. The desktop is next on the shopping list, but probably not for a while yet.

tags: airport security, airports, apple, macbook air, oblivious morons, travel, work

I know… this is unprecedented! Three episodes of Monster Cat in ONE WEEK! My brain isn’t fried for the year yet, what can I say?

Many of you know I work from home. I have an (un)tidy little home office and an L-shaped desk that is home to my personal desktop, personal laptop and the pesky IBM laptop I use to access all the super-secure places for work. Or something like that. In the absence of his usual spot on my desk (due to a growing pile of “books to read” that won’t fit on my “books to read” shelves), Monster cat has taken over the tiny spot behind my work laptop as his home on the desk. He is larger than the spot. It’s quite amusing to watch him settle in, which of course I must watch because he’s doing it behind the laptop I’m trying to work on and bumping the screen a bit as he does it. He doesn’t quite fit but he makes due. I’m sure he also gets a lot out of the presentations up on screen while I’m on conference calls.

There are worse officemates to have. Sure, Tennyson sheds everywhere and wants his share of attention, but he’s pretty darned cute while he does it. At least he doesn’t have intensely personal phone calls in the office or play bad music or eat incredibly stinky lunches at his desk. (We’re a “No Wet Food” household, thank goodness!) He does occasionally try to steal my lunch and he’s quite vocal about getting the last bit of milk from my cereal bowl, but that’s about as bad as it gets.

Geek note: Featured in the center-left photo is a dearly loved 12″ Powerbook, now in the hands of one of my technology enablers… best Apple laptop format ever. I’m really hoping for that sub-compact Apple notebook rumored to be in the works. I love my newer, faster, cooler 15″ MacBook Pro, but it’s heavy and big compared to the wee little 12″ Powerbook.

All the Monster Cat episodes: The Chronicles of Monster Cat

tags: apple, cats, comics, mac, monster cat, powerbook, tennyson, work, work at home

Too many interesting links this week… time to corral them into a neat list! They’re really really random this week. I blame the heat.

Weather Happiness: It’s a beautiful day today… meaning that when I went outside to take these photos this morning it wasn’t 95° F already nor was the sun glaring down with its angry rays. This made me really quite happy. Other things that make me happy include my cat, my car’s starter getting replaced under warranty, and the fact that the guest room not only looks like a room again but will probably get a coat of paint today.

In all seriousness, I’m happy for the gray, dark morning and brighter gray afternoon. I got enough sun and heat yesterday!

Gardening and the Evil Vine of Doom: Yesterday after work I spent about 40 minutes clearing the Evil Vine of Doom. The EVoD is a trumpet vine that got out of control and tried to eat the garage. And by eat the garage I mean completely consume it with its ever-spreading greenery. The vine was covering most of the side and half the roof when we tried to remove it 2 years ago. I cut it down to the ground first. Then the roots got pulled and dug up.

Alas, this didn’t work. This vine has running roots… and those roots run along the side of the garage and into the corner behind the rhododendron. It comes back each time I pull it up. Hence its moniker as the EVoD.

So I’m letting the trumpet vine eat the corner of the fence but I’m trying to keep it from devouring the garage again. I planted my rose bush approximately where the vine had started so when the vine tries to come back, it hangs out with the rose bush. Unsurprisingly, I procrastinate weeding, especially when it’s hot, so the rosebush and the trumpet vine were rather intertwined. My wielding yielded a garbage can full of EVoD and a lovely view of my rosebush.

I also took a bunch of indoor gardening photos which I’ll post separately because… well… I can.

Philly Mayor in line for an iPhone: On a random note… slyppi just sent me this great link to Philadelphia Mayor John Street sitting in line for the iPhone. On one hand, go him for doing it himself. On the other hand, if he’s not filing for the vacation day, I hope he gets caught. Yes, the mayor of the 6th largest city(formerly 5th and boy are they sad to have been bumped by Phoenix!)… right, let’s start over. The mayor of the 6th largest city in the U.S. is spending his Friday sitting in the rain for an iPhone.

Oh wait! In an update on Philly.com: Street’s place in line is being held by an unidentified male aide. Street sounds a bit defensive though, don’t you think?

Before he left at 11:30 this morning - he was third in line of about 15 people waiting - he defended himself and declared:

“I’m taking care of my business. By 4 a.m., I sent my first e-mail to my chief of staff. I was doing my job while the city was sleeping. I have my Blackberry with me.”

[…]

“How can you sit here with 200 murders in the city already?” [22-year-old Larry West of Mount Airy] asked.

Street announced that “I’m doing my job.”

Perhaps it’s just the sleep-deprivation making him cranky - Street got in line at 3:30 this morning. But seriously, what was he thinking?

Edit: Hanging out on the sidewalk at 3:30 a.m. is an excellent way to get shot in Philadelphia, regardless of location. There were better ways Street could have done this that would have made him look good rather than make people question him. This would have been a great opportunity for positive PR!

tags: evod, gardening, gardens, iphone, john street, murder, philadelphia, philadelphia mayor, photographs, photography, roses, trumpet vine, yellow

For those of you hiding under a rock, tomorrow Apple releases the much-touted, marketed, anticipated, drooled over and discussed iPhone. The rate plans, from AT&T/Cingular, aren’t too bad, especially if you already are with that carrier (which I am). I’ll end up paying $17 more than I am now. This will get me twice the text messages I have now as well as the unlimited data access. If all goes well and there are no hidden catches, I’ll end up paying about $15 less a month than the new plan price for the same features. I can deal with that, I think.

The raves and rants about the iPhone are already flowing - AAPL has been bouncing around in about a $6 range for the the past couple weeks. The iPhone has been so hyped that apparently there’s some nervousness that it might not live up to Apple’s promises. I expect it will be the new status symbol of the summer.

I don’t actually have plans to go stand on line or get an iPhone tomorrow. I’m not saying it won’t happen, but I’m not actually planning to do it. If we happen to end up at the Apple Store and I happen to touch one and want it really badly, I might end up with one if there are any left. It would be really handy to have at Pennsic, for one. While I’m not currently expecting to have to keep track of work stuff at War this year, nor to do conference calls from my yurt, it would nice to have compact computer capability. Of course, the last thing I want to worry about is losing or damaging it. So… yeah. I’m being a bit zen about it and leaving my iPhone purchase up to fate. And by “zen” I mean “indecisive”. I still want one but I’m already hearing about improvements to network performance for the second generation (but no prediction on when we’ll see G2).

It’s a cell phone but it’s also an Apple product so I expect it to be a solid piece of hardware that I’ll be happy with for about twice as long as the average comparable hardware by another manufacturer. (I’m still quite happy with my 3rd generation iPod too… and the batter still works!)

I honestly won’t be stunned if I want an iPhone as soon as I play with one… but I think I’ll need to touch it first to be completely convinced. Really, I’m resisting… can you tell? ;) Will I be successful? Oh, probably not.

tags: , apple, at&t, cingular, iphone, technology

I am waiting for packages. I had forgotten how exciting that could be - there are things in the mail that I am excited to have arrive so I can play with them! Yes, this is positively silly, but I’m happy about it so here I wait, changing my mind every couple hours about which box I want to have arrive first!

Some random links from my open tabs:

• Jon posted about “The truth about auto fuel-saving devices”. The truth is, of course, that none of them work and the EPA did the testing to prove it. A better way to save fuel? Clean out the trunk and/or backseat - the excess weight reduces your car’s fuel economy.
• Speaking of Eco - ecogeek has the top 10 list of environmentally happy sky scrapers. A couple are actually in the US! (Note how many are in or planned to be built in the oil-rich Middle East too…) #10, the Urban Cactus in the Netherlands, really appeals to me though… If I were to move to Rotterdam, I’d totally want to live in the Urban Cactus. It’s a fun list (with pictures!) that shows just how innovative architects are getting when it comes to alternative energy sources and green design.
• Apple’s iPhone is set to launch at 6 p.m. on June 29th, giving eager fanatics all day to line up to get the first of the iPhones. Also, Safari is in Beta for Windows - you can now run Apple’s browser on your PC! Of course, I’m a FireFox girl myself… but that’s still pretty awesome!
• The Pennsic University site has the schedule of classes posted for this Pennsic. Now I can start planning which classes I want to go to even though I will inevitably miss most of them!

tags: apple, environmentalism, iphone, packages, random, random links, safari

Friday Flowers

Sometimes the light is just right and sometimes I’m lucky enough to get the shot. Sometimes the light is just right for just one shot. This is one of those photos - the follow-up shot I took a fraction of a second later lacked the glorious filtering of the sun through the tree. (I encourage you to click on the thumbnail for a bigger version of this photo - it’s one of those photos that you miss the details and effect at this size.) This tree is one of the older trees just inside the wall. The trunk is twisted and gnarled, the major branches have been taken off, but it has fresh young branches growing from its trunk and it is blooming with all its might. It’s also a far paler pink than the other trees, more a blushing white than pink.

The other photo is a close-up of some of the blossoms from the same tree. I love how the soft sunlight filtered through the tree onto these flowers. The close-up was actually taken before the full tree photo - the sun was playing hide-and-seek with me that whole walk.

Work, laptop and technology fluff

I am waiting for the new work laptop to arrive. While the only problem was a bad hard drive, my Thinkpad was old enough that the IT group didn’t want to support it anymore. (Oh darn?) So they successfully retrieved my data and loaded it onto a brand new Thinkpad. Shucks, and I didn’t get them anything! I’m optimistic that this laptop might be lighter. Please let it be lighter!

So I’ve been without a computer most of the week but I was able to get work done anyway. Logging into Outlook web access every 30 seconds is a small price to pay for a new lighter, faster, cooler laptop. I’m really glad I did a full sweep of my mailbox recently. It would be really annoying to be going over my pitiful mailbox quota on top of everything else this week!

Speaking of work, WebEx is a very cool thing and appears to be working quite smoothly on my fabulous Mac. We’ve started using it for our bigger meetings instead of NetMeeting because NetMeeting just can’t handle gracefully the volume of users we need to stream simple presentations to. I think I’ll use the Mac for all future WebEx meetings too - it’s nice to be able to multitask and still see the presentation (much bigger screen here). It helps since, in the case of today’s presentation, I spent 2 or 3 weeks working with the project team on the presentation (and we did a full practice run-through Wednesday morning) and tend to zone out if I’m just staring at the presentation. Amazingly, it’s easier to pay attention if I can divert some of my focus to babbling here.

Apple & iPhone fluff

The date is getting closer… the iPhone approaches. A little over a month from now we’ll be able to order it if all goes well. Though I’m not usually an early adpopter, I’m hoping to have one in my hot little hands by the beginning of July at the latest. I can’t wait to play with it! Apple’s stock has been doing very well lately. I hope the iPhone release happens on time and drives it up even further. I’d love to see another stock split by the end of this year.

If you are amused by the Apple “I’m a Mac.” ads, the UK ads are also available on the UK section of Apple’s web site.

Also, Steve Jobs came published another missive - this time about what Apple is doing to become a greener company.

tags: apple, cherry blossoms, flowers, iphone, laptops, spring, technology, webex, work