Well, it was a pretty degrading way to get a sponsor's exemption in the first place.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
THESE GIRLS ROCK
Well, it was a pretty degrading way to get a sponsor's exemption in the first place.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
AND SOMEHOW, I KNOW THEY WANT TO
I love Facebook. Now the girls I was too shy to ask out in high school can keep tabs on the girls I was too shy to ask out in college.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
UBUNTU VS WINDOWS 7 - ULTIMATE SMACKDOWN
Yeah, I know you want my take on this. You who never read this.
First, Ubuntu. I love the idea of Ubuntu, but the execution is lacking. The interface is great, installing is great, and the features that come with it are great (OpenOffice, FireFox, a huge library of open source software). Unfortunately, there are three very important things that it can't do for me. One is to recognize and take full advantage of my Asus motherboard with integrated ATI HDMI graphics and sound. When I hook up the Ubuntu PC to my TV, I get no sound. I tried looking for updated drivers, but there were none. There is no version of the ATI Catalyst Control Center that runs on Ubuntu. I can use the alternate speaker output and hook that up to a receiver, but that's not what I wanted. I bought an HDMI motherboard, and I want HDMI, dammit!
Secondly, I can't run Quicken on it. No chance, forget it, na gon do it. Intuit has not signed on to the open source revolution and never will. They have tethered their rope to Microsoft, and that's the end of that. I tried running an old version on one of the many Windows emulators you can download for Ubuntu, but it kept crashing. I gotta have that fresh new feature-rich version of Quicken. Actually, I'm sure I can find a passable alternative in the Ubuntu library, but I'm so used to Quicken and the way it can connect to my bank and download transactions flawlessly that I doubt that anything open source will work as well or as easily.
Thirdly, I am a Strat-O-Matic gamer, and Hal Richman and the incredibly customer-averse boys and girls in Glen Head can't even spell Ubuntu, let alone design a game for it. Windows or Mac are my only options, and why should I spend out the ass for a Mac? I'm not getting an HDMI Mac for under $1,000, while the PC I just bought was $600.
That leaves Windows 7. Wow. Can I repeat that? And more loudly. WOW. Now this is cool. There were absolutely no problems finding the Asus Motherboard drivers during installation and the HDMI worked perfectly the first time. I loaded the ATI Catalyst Control Center from the CD, and it worked fantastically well. I now have 42" of pure Windows 7 satisfaction, baby! If I wanted to run Quicken or Strat, I'm sure I could, although I haven't tried yet. I have those apps running on another Windows PC in my home office right now, and they will probably stay there.
I loaded iTunes and some, er, uh, other software that I use to get movies, and I downloaded a few. I fired the latter up on the new Windows Media Center. The picture and sound were amazing. This is a really nice movie and TV watching system. There is no Boxee for Windows yet, but the one for Ubuntu isn't exactly there yet either, so I'm not missing much. In fact, Boxee for Ubuntu caused my wireless keyboard and mouse to disappear when I tried it.
Probably the best part was when I got MLB.TV running. Come to Jesus! I can now watch the Mets in what is essentially the SNY or WPIX-11 High Def feed. It's virtually indistinguishable from the real thing, aside from some slight pixilation every so often. It'll only take me about 5 years for the computer to pay for itself when you factor the difference between MLB.TV and MLB Extra Innings on cable. Of course, in 5 years, you'll have the option of having MLB.TV beamed directly into your brain, or at least we can hope.
I've been playing around with the rest of Windows 7, and I really like it a lot. It's still Windows, with all those Gatesian annoying quirks, but man is it pretty and fast. You can load little gadgets that have the weather or sports scores, similar to what Ubuntu offers, and personalization is much easier than previous Windows versions. It's completely integrated into the Internet - almost everything you can click takes you to a web site somewhere for help or to download something. The dockable taskbar is way cooler than XP, and I really like the new file explorer. So far, it has run everything I've thrown at it, except for one thing - antivirus and security software. Norton, which is my provider of choice, only has free trial versions that will work with Windows 7, and they expire every two weeks. I glanced at some other options, but I don't want to have multiple subscriptions. I'll just keep uninstalling and installing the trial version until a real version is available. It's a minor inconvenience that I could do without, but at least it is free. This is probably the biggest disappointment so far, and one which Microsoft better get fixed fast, given their horrendous security track record and how entwined Windows 7 is with the web.
Verdict - if you have an HDTV, get a new computer, and get Windows 7. It works with every imaginable kind of hardware, it's super fast and reliable, and Windows Media Center is great. And grab an old laptop or a netbook and run Ubuntu to do your main surfing and e-mail so the viruses can't get you.
First, Ubuntu. I love the idea of Ubuntu, but the execution is lacking. The interface is great, installing is great, and the features that come with it are great (OpenOffice, FireFox, a huge library of open source software). Unfortunately, there are three very important things that it can't do for me. One is to recognize and take full advantage of my Asus motherboard with integrated ATI HDMI graphics and sound. When I hook up the Ubuntu PC to my TV, I get no sound. I tried looking for updated drivers, but there were none. There is no version of the ATI Catalyst Control Center that runs on Ubuntu. I can use the alternate speaker output and hook that up to a receiver, but that's not what I wanted. I bought an HDMI motherboard, and I want HDMI, dammit!
Secondly, I can't run Quicken on it. No chance, forget it, na gon do it. Intuit has not signed on to the open source revolution and never will. They have tethered their rope to Microsoft, and that's the end of that. I tried running an old version on one of the many Windows emulators you can download for Ubuntu, but it kept crashing. I gotta have that fresh new feature-rich version of Quicken. Actually, I'm sure I can find a passable alternative in the Ubuntu library, but I'm so used to Quicken and the way it can connect to my bank and download transactions flawlessly that I doubt that anything open source will work as well or as easily.
Thirdly, I am a Strat-O-Matic gamer, and Hal Richman and the incredibly customer-averse boys and girls in Glen Head can't even spell Ubuntu, let alone design a game for it. Windows or Mac are my only options, and why should I spend out the ass for a Mac? I'm not getting an HDMI Mac for under $1,000, while the PC I just bought was $600.
That leaves Windows 7. Wow. Can I repeat that? And more loudly. WOW. Now this is cool. There were absolutely no problems finding the Asus Motherboard drivers during installation and the HDMI worked perfectly the first time. I loaded the ATI Catalyst Control Center from the CD, and it worked fantastically well. I now have 42" of pure Windows 7 satisfaction, baby! If I wanted to run Quicken or Strat, I'm sure I could, although I haven't tried yet. I have those apps running on another Windows PC in my home office right now, and they will probably stay there.
I loaded iTunes and some, er, uh, other software that I use to get movies, and I downloaded a few. I fired the latter up on the new Windows Media Center. The picture and sound were amazing. This is a really nice movie and TV watching system. There is no Boxee for Windows yet, but the one for Ubuntu isn't exactly there yet either, so I'm not missing much. In fact, Boxee for Ubuntu caused my wireless keyboard and mouse to disappear when I tried it.
Probably the best part was when I got MLB.TV running. Come to Jesus! I can now watch the Mets in what is essentially the SNY or WPIX-11 High Def feed. It's virtually indistinguishable from the real thing, aside from some slight pixilation every so often. It'll only take me about 5 years for the computer to pay for itself when you factor the difference between MLB.TV and MLB Extra Innings on cable. Of course, in 5 years, you'll have the option of having MLB.TV beamed directly into your brain, or at least we can hope.
I've been playing around with the rest of Windows 7, and I really like it a lot. It's still Windows, with all those Gatesian annoying quirks, but man is it pretty and fast. You can load little gadgets that have the weather or sports scores, similar to what Ubuntu offers, and personalization is much easier than previous Windows versions. It's completely integrated into the Internet - almost everything you can click takes you to a web site somewhere for help or to download something. The dockable taskbar is way cooler than XP, and I really like the new file explorer. So far, it has run everything I've thrown at it, except for one thing - antivirus and security software. Norton, which is my provider of choice, only has free trial versions that will work with Windows 7, and they expire every two weeks. I glanced at some other options, but I don't want to have multiple subscriptions. I'll just keep uninstalling and installing the trial version until a real version is available. It's a minor inconvenience that I could do without, but at least it is free. This is probably the biggest disappointment so far, and one which Microsoft better get fixed fast, given their horrendous security track record and how entwined Windows 7 is with the web.
Verdict - if you have an HDTV, get a new computer, and get Windows 7. It works with every imaginable kind of hardware, it's super fast and reliable, and Windows Media Center is great. And grab an old laptop or a netbook and run Ubuntu to do your main surfing and e-mail so the viruses can't get you.
Monday, May 18, 2009
WHEN WILL THEY EVER GRADUATE? AND WILL THAT HELP?
Overheard from the guy who spends all day in the hallway on his cell phone counseling his kids at college:
Dropping a class at this point...
All the summer classes are full.
After my first year...
This is what John would do, he'd take the summer and transfer the grade, kna' mean?
It's a long summer, grant you, but it gets two necessary classes out of the way...
You gotta do it, you gotta do it...
It doesn't have to be next summer, but it'll be some summer.
When he gets it done doesn't matter.
Literature probably doesn't matter either way.
He's got six of those.
Any two literatures, doesn't matter.
It's the right thing to do.
Not five weeks of overlap, kna' mean?
"I've seen it, OK, I've seen it, OK."
Same book, same lab, plus what you got, plus what you kept, kna' mean?
"I gotta have it."
If for some reason, the ball isn't going your way, you don't get all six...
It's already been approved.
I know, but so what? So what?
You understand my point, though?
etc.
I hope this kid doesn't need marriage counseling in a few years.
Dropping a class at this point...
All the summer classes are full.
After my first year...
This is what John would do, he'd take the summer and transfer the grade, kna' mean?
It's a long summer, grant you, but it gets two necessary classes out of the way...
You gotta do it, you gotta do it...
It doesn't have to be next summer, but it'll be some summer.
When he gets it done doesn't matter.
Literature probably doesn't matter either way.
He's got six of those.
Any two literatures, doesn't matter.
It's the right thing to do.
Not five weeks of overlap, kna' mean?
"I've seen it, OK, I've seen it, OK."
Same book, same lab, plus what you got, plus what you kept, kna' mean?
"I gotta have it."
If for some reason, the ball isn't going your way, you don't get all six...
It's already been approved.
I know, but so what? So what?
You understand my point, though?
etc.
I hope this kid doesn't need marriage counseling in a few years.
Friday, April 24, 2009
NORTH TO...ZZZZZZ
I just stepped off a red-eye flight from Honolulu to Anchorage, the two most dissimilar cities with regular air service in this or any other possible universe. I'm sitting in the Ted "Free At Last" Stevens International Airport at the Era Aviation gate, which is about as comfortable as getting waterboarded by Henry Rollins. The hard, unforgiving plastic chairs are one thing, but the instrumental music that sounds like the soundtrack to a Kirk Cameron-directed remake of a Sergio Leone movie brings things to a whole other level.
Ha! I just noticed the "Monetize" tab in Blogger. If I had had that back in 2002 when this here web-a-log started, I might have, oh, 27 cents by now. It's a good thing I have an engineering degree. If I had to live off writing, I'd be...well, I probably wouldn't be sitting in a Marquis De Sade-designed airport waiting area in fucking Anchorage. Maybe I should do some rethinking.
The wilds of Kenai await! And that's just the Safeway. Those people in there are crazy.
Ha! I just noticed the "Monetize" tab in Blogger. If I had had that back in 2002 when this here web-a-log started, I might have, oh, 27 cents by now. It's a good thing I have an engineering degree. If I had to live off writing, I'd be...well, I probably wouldn't be sitting in a Marquis De Sade-designed airport waiting area in fucking Anchorage. Maybe I should do some rethinking.
The wilds of Kenai await! And that's just the Safeway. Those people in there are crazy.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
MAUKA FRONT BLOGGING
Yeah, they put me facing the mountain this trip. I'm here in Oahu over the weekend, staying until Thursday night. I just got done with a turnaround here, and then I take a 6 hour flight to Anchorage and work another turnaround in Kenai. Finally I get to go home on May 8th, where my wife has something landscaping-related that is as bad as a turnaround planned for me, I'm sure.
Disney is busy building something here, which I can see out my window. It's right where the Pro Bowlers used to practice before Commissar Goodell moved the game to Miami. Apparently, it will be a hotel and condo development to compete with the JW Marriott Ihilani and the Marriott Beach Club. Cool! I hope we get a rate decrease, though somehow I doubt it. I'll definitely have to try it, assuming the rates are similar, and there's no reason they shouldn't be. Mickey don't get no premiums in Hawaii, brah.
We'll be moving into our new building in June. It has a Starbucks. I may be broke (and leaking hazelnut syrup from several orifices) by 2010.
"Little Dorrit" continues on PBS tonight. And I came 4,000 miles to see it!
Disney is busy building something here, which I can see out my window. It's right where the Pro Bowlers used to practice before Commissar Goodell moved the game to Miami. Apparently, it will be a hotel and condo development to compete with the JW Marriott Ihilani and the Marriott Beach Club. Cool! I hope we get a rate decrease, though somehow I doubt it. I'll definitely have to try it, assuming the rates are similar, and there's no reason they shouldn't be. Mickey don't get no premiums in Hawaii, brah.
We'll be moving into our new building in June. It has a Starbucks. I may be broke (and leaking hazelnut syrup from several orifices) by 2010.
"Little Dorrit" continues on PBS tonight. And I came 4,000 miles to see it!
Monday, January 19, 2009
OCEANFRONT BLOGGING
I am back at the Ihalani for like the 12th time. I now have enough Marriott points to buy a Sony Blu-Ray surround sound system with wireless speakers, but I will probably end up listening to my wife and blowing it on a vacation to the new JW Marriott that they are building two miles from my house. That pretty much sums up my life in a broad stroke. "We don't even have to board the dogs!" Yes, I know, honey, we don't have to board the dogs. Sigh.
The estimable proprietors of this here resort have seen fit to honor me with an ocean view room. This is the best room I've ever had here. I can see the main lagoon and parts of the other ones, plus the pool. If only it was a tad lower, the better to gawk at the wahine, but I shouldn't complain. Maybe I'll go to WalMart and buy some cheap binoculars.
I am still getting over my colorectal whatsis surgery, which still hurts like a mother when certain waste products pass through it. I took the remaining Vicodin from my surgical prescription with me just in case, but I haven't taken any. I'm thinking of going down to Waikiki and seeing what the tourists will pay me for it (and then buying some really good binoculars, perhaps).
Tomorrow my colleague and I undertake the task of loading the world's most confusing software on the control system out here. I'm scheduled for a week, but I am secretly hoping it takes longer now that I am in this room. Whoops! Missed a step, have to start all over! Damn!
Maybe I will post some more. Maybe not. Refresh often! Or don't!
The estimable proprietors of this here resort have seen fit to honor me with an ocean view room. This is the best room I've ever had here. I can see the main lagoon and parts of the other ones, plus the pool. If only it was a tad lower, the better to gawk at the wahine, but I shouldn't complain. Maybe I'll go to WalMart and buy some cheap binoculars.
I am still getting over my colorectal whatsis surgery, which still hurts like a mother when certain waste products pass through it. I took the remaining Vicodin from my surgical prescription with me just in case, but I haven't taken any. I'm thinking of going down to Waikiki and seeing what the tourists will pay me for it (and then buying some really good binoculars, perhaps).
Tomorrow my colleague and I undertake the task of loading the world's most confusing software on the control system out here. I'm scheduled for a week, but I am secretly hoping it takes longer now that I am in this room. Whoops! Missed a step, have to start all over! Damn!
Maybe I will post some more. Maybe not. Refresh often! Or don't!
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