Saturday, December 31, 2005

Happy New Year

I would like to take a moment to blog a New Year's blessing to all of my friends and family who take the time to check out what I put on Japanese Telecom. I hope that 2006 brings about prosperity and gratification. I hope that you overcome fears and mental obstacles to achieve new sucesses. I hope that you are more willing to be vulnerable and just be - just be yourself.

Also, instead of making new year's resolutions - make new year's challenges. That really is the only way you or anyone can make their lives better.

And let one of those challenges be to install a WiFi network in your home, because I'm tired as f^ck that I can't get online with my own hardware when I go to your house. Seriously.

Friday, December 30, 2005

More Storage

So, last night I stayed up way past my bed time for the express purpose of learning how to rip DVD context (in last nights case, Aqua Teen Hunger Force) into an iPod compatible format and load it on my iPod 5th Gen for viewing. Everything worked perfectly using Handbrake Lite and I was able to get 1:42:00 worth of Master Shake and Meatwad onto my iPod.

Now, I want to rip a bunch more DVDs and have them available for use at any sync. Unfortunately, my PowerBook only comes with a 100GB HD and that only has about 42GB worth of breathing room left. So, I guess what I need is the Maxtor One Touch II 200GB External Hard Drive (w/ Fire Wire).

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Handbrake Lite and What I Learned Tonight

So I'm up at 11:50pm, sitting in front of my PowerBook, waiting for Handbrake to rip an Aqua Teen Hunger Force CD to my iPod. Why do I do these things? Well, at least it's given me some time to find a few interesting things on the web I probably wouldn't have stumbled across otherwise:

And who said the web wasn't education...

how not to act at Tink-A-Taco

So I'm sitting at Tink-A-Taco like I do every Thursday for ther $4.25 USD chicken fajita special. On this particular day I'm sitting alone watching an epside of Diggnation on my 5th Gen iPod. Kevin adn Alex start talking about their initial experience with Japanese toilets adn their automated cleaning features. I immediately start giggling. Than the giggle turns to laughter. Laughter to guffawing. Gaffawing into snorting. And, snorting into embarrasment. With my earbuds shoved against my eardrums and my attention on the podcast, I hadnt noticed that most of the patrons stated to notice me. I think the waitstaff was preparing to do the Heimlich on a chocking customer.

After composing myself, even though I had only eaten half my lunch, I got up, paid my tab, left a huge tip and went back to my office where I showed Ephrain the clip on my speak dock and we both laughed at the thought of ass-cleaning toilet with anime charm.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

LED Fascination

Not that long ago I read an interestesting article in *wired magazine* about the amazing life of LEDs and how they will revolutionize the world of insatiable power consumption and Ikea lighting. For Christmas, my mom got me an Owl Book LED light. Essentially, it's an LED that is attached to a clip via flexible wire. Sounds simple enough. It's friggin miraculous. I'll admit (and so will all the people who left bad reviews for it on Amazon), it's horrible for a reading utility because the LED has no discernible focal point. It's more like a lantern than a flashlight. However, I've used it for almost anything and everything else. I can clip it to the top of my PowerBook for quick lighting. I can clip it to Sophia's shelves for a late night diapie change. I can clip it on the sun visor of my car for some intense extra lighting. And I can clip it to myself and walk thru a dark house like I'm looking Tutenkamen's crapper. I totally recommend this product, just not for it's intended purpose.

Also, I just bought a new blue LED flashlight from a seller on eBay - a whopping $0.99 USD purchase. Yeah!

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Christmas

Straight from digg, PC World's list of the 50 Greatest Gadgets of the past 50 Years.

Yes, I'm biased, so I'm going to note that the only product from Apple was the iPod>

What's up with everybody? Have they forgotte that Apple makes computers too? They didn't note the Apple I or II or even the historically faulted Lisa. Actually, the Newton has a guest spot somewhere in the middle, but only some die hard folks are fammilar wiht Apple's first attempt at the ultra-popular PDA market. I, for one, can't live witout my Treo bulging through my pocket like I'm John Holmes with hypertension.

Christmas



Christas was good. It got off to a rocky start. Liz and I went to a dinner party on Christmas Eve where I ate too much sevecha(?). I was up most of the night sick to my stomach. So come Christmas morning, i was totally out of commission. I was able to hold our Sony Handicam while Sophia tore through most of her gifts. That was cool - watching my daughter open gifts for the first time. I guess I have a few more of those coming.

What wares did I reap? Yeah, I'm almost 30, but I'm still banking on some sweet Christmas swag. Probaby the highlight would be a pair of Apple license plate frames. One for my Accord and one for my Element (did I also mention I'm a Honda whore). I also got some O'Reilly goodies: Unix for Mac OS X and a training manual for Apple's technician training program. My mom also got me an awesome "Think Different" Applle t-shirt. I guess Santa didn't get my email about a new PowerMac.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Windows Vista

Even thought I am a Mac Geek 100% through and through, I can't help but to be a little curious about Windows Vista. I'm saving an old Gateway desktop that I used to run Linux on. When Vista comes out I'm going to try and get a copy from a friend a try it out. We'll see how much of Mac OS X they acatually stole.

iCurve



I've been using the Griffin iCurve for a few days now with an external bluetooth mouse and keyboard. I'm very happy with they way my desk is set up. My PowerBooks LCD is right at eye-level and typing on a full-size keyboard is very nice. And if I get bored with it, I can take my PowerBook to Starbucks and do my thing there.

Christmas Eve Eve

I planned to leave the office today no later than 3pm. What time did I leave? 8pm. Why? Because so many people are out for the holidays that I'm left holding the bag for many of my co-workers. Oh well, next year I should be sitting in the Bahamas somewhere about this time of year.

I got a chance to chat with Scott Lochman who does a great podcast called Tokyo Calling.



Yeah, I came off real cool. But I really do enjoy his podcast and with being a father myself, I can imagine what sacrifices he must have to make to get a podcast out at least a couple of times a month with three daughters. He's starting to integrate video into his podcasts which should be very cool. I can't wait to see Tokyo and the surrounding areas from the perspective of an ex-pat. Check out his blog and podcast when you get a chance.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

XBox 360...Maybe?

I've been listening to Chris Pirillo's podcast. He had a 3 hour XBox 360 Extravaganza spread over his last three shows. I almost feel like I own one now - I know so much about it. I didn't catch 360 fever. As a matter of fact, I kind of thought I might be out growing my juvenile gaming tendencies. But listening to a room full of guys talk pine over the 360, I might be leaning back to the dark side. If I do buy one I'll definitely way until they are a little more plentiful. If I barely have time to play, I sure as hell don't have time to sit in front of Best Buy with an ice chest and a cooler (picture not included).

OK, my iPod has turned into Podcast central. I've almost abandoned music completely (althought I'm probably going to download Jack Johnson's live show from Berkeley). Here are some of my can't miss podcasts:

XBox 360...Maybe?

I've been listening to Chris Pirillo's podcast. He had a 3 hour XBox 360 Extravaganza spread over his last three shows. I almost feel like I own one now - I know so much about it. I didn't catch 360 fever. As a matter of fact, I kind of thought I might be out growing my juvenile gaming tendencies. But listening to a room full of guys talk pine over the 360, I might be leaning back to the dark side. If I do buy one I'll definitely way until they are a little more plentiful. If I barely have time to play, I sure as hell don't have time to sit in front of Best Buy with an ice chest and a cooler (picture not included).

OK, my iPod has turned into Podcast central. I've almost abandoned music completely (althought I'm probably going to download Jack Johnson's live show from Berkeley). Here are some of my can't miss podcasts:

Monday, December 19, 2005

Sophia's Birthday



Today is my daughter's birthday. One year ago today, my wife was rushed into delivery after spending three anxiety ridden days in the hospital. Elizabeth was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, otherwise known as pregnancy induced hypertension. Even though Sophia wasn't due for two more months, Elizabeth's system was filling with toxins and her doctor made the decision to deliver our daughter by c-section. Sophia spent two more months, the first months of her life, in Methodist Hospital's Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit. It was a trying time for my wife and I, but the reward was being able to bring home our precious daughter.

Since then I can't say things have been easy, but hearing my daughter's laugh or seeing her squinch her face up in a mischievous smile make everything worth it. Now we're expecting our second child. Arabella Giadis Palumbo (at least that's our working title) is due in March, but Elizabeth thinks we'll be seeing her much sooner than that. I hope it's under good circumstances. I also hope Sophia gets along with Bella. I would have to have two siblings that don't "mesh" well. But I'm sure they'll get along famously.

Friday, December 16, 2005

I ThinkPad, Therefore I am

I've been lobbying for new computers for a while at work. My partner and I run CPU hungry applications to crunch all those large numbers.

Well, I placed the order yesterday for two new IBM Think Pads. We're getting the new docking stations, 20" LCDs, bluetooth mice and keyboards. Very nice. It will be a huge improvement to what we've been using.

Now, when Windows Vista comes out, we'll just need to upgrade to that immediatly...

Sunday, December 11, 2005

I Want a Widget

I've always been annoyed at iTunes inability to bookmark pages. Ultimatly, iTunes music store is just a dedicated browser inside of media manager software. Now that I've got Xcode, my first project will be to program a Widget that is an iTunes wishlist. I can list songs and shows that I want to download and when I'm ready, double-click the listing in the Widget and pop right into that artist's itunes page or that records download page. Now, the hardest part is just finding the time to get this done.

Speaking of time, I spent most of this weekend doing family stuff. Yesterday we went to my brother-in-law's apartment to celebrate his birthday. It was cool, but having so many people in a one-bedroom flat got me a little clausterphobic.

Because Phia has had a cough for a week or so we've been sleeping with a humidifier on in our room. Add in our central heating and somewhere between midnight and 3am our bedroom becomes a sauna. Last night I jumped out sweaty sheets to come into the kitchen and chug water. I ended up sleeping on the couh in the living room. I even thought about cracking open the window to let some of the dry, cold, night air in. It was very sweet that when I woke up my wife had covered me with a fleece blanket so I wouldn't get too cold.

I had every intention of going to Starbucks this morning and catch up on some of my favorite podcasts. I ended up sleeping too late and after a certain time on Sunday mornings I start hanging out with with Sophia and Elizabeth. Oh well, maybe next weekend.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

And yet another reason to love Apple

Programming has always been a hobby of mine, maybe better described as an interest. I've been tweaking and playing with the ins and outs off Mac OS X since I got my PowerBook, but lately I've got that programming bug again. I long to sit and write some quick and easy code.

First, before I continue with the initial direction of this blog, let me interject another story. I wanted to buy a second power adapter for my PowerBook. Ya' know, one to keep in my bag or in the car. This way I'm not constantly crawling underneath my desk to unplug and roll up my one and only power adapter. I pulled up the Apple Store online. I thought first I would check PowerBook page to see if they listed recommended accessories. As I as glancing at all the specs and pre-loaded softare that comes with the PBook, I noticed a program called Xcode. I ran a search for it on the apple website and got directed the the Apple Development Center. Xcode is awesome. It's an intuitive work/development environment for several of the major programming languages (C++, Objective C, multiple Java flavors, AppleScript). I pulled up my Spotlight search tab (press Command-Spacebar) and typed in Xcode. OS X found the folder in a millisecond. I extracted all the files and installed the program on it's own volume. When I opened it the first time and saw that anytime you start a new project it gives you a list of understood languages and general functions, plus script support for common OS X features (i.e. Widgets, Screensavers). Unbelievable! A development environment like this could easily be several hundred dollars if bought off the shelf.

OK, back to my original story. I mentioned that I wanted my code to be "quick and easy". I didn't want to have to pull marathon, all night coding sessions that I used to do when I was single and not father. One of my favorite objective programming languages is Python. I went to Python.org to find the download for MacPython. All they had was the source code to download and compile myself. I thought that was really odd because Python has always been friendly to the amateur programmer - folks who might not be entirely comfortable compiling source code just to install an interpreter. As I read farther, I learned the MacPython is shipped with every distribution of Mac OS X! Now let me repeat this: Apple pre-installed Python on my PowerBook!

Applel has always been touted as the people's computer - the Volks Maschine. It's ease of use, stabilit of operating system, attractive design has always made it extra-accessible, even if the marketing and price didn't. But now I know that hidden in all of Apple's products beats the heart of a real computer. One that is primed to be put into the hands of either right-brained or left-brained creativity.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Fancy Ramen for the Rich Folks

I'm a fan of Pho. Pho, for those who might now know, is a vietnamese noodle soup, Pho is promounced "Phu". It is essentially top ramen with anything and everything thrown into it. I can have ramen noodles anytime I want for about .10 a pack and 10000mg of sodium. Howeve, I find that I'm also willing to pay $5.95 to eat four packs of top ramen mixed with a large assortment of meat and vegetables in a large bowl with a large spoon. It really doesn't make sense when you think about it.

Today's phrase to decribe cold weather: Nut-Shakin'

Somnabulist

Some friends thought it would be a good idea to take me to Seattle's premiere Indian food restaurant. OK, I don't have a problem with that. I can take a Pepcid AC or something. But, it wasn't that spicy. Actually there was very little spice, my food was spiceless, sans spice. I was in need of some spice. He who countrols the spice...you get the tidea.

Even though my middle eastern meal didn't make dispepsic, it did make me absolutely sleepy. I was in hell for the rest of the day. I had to attend some classes and meetings and all the while my eye lids felt like they were made out of lead. I cut out about 2:30 and went back to my hotel to sleep.

No more west coast curry for me.

Monday, December 05, 2005

Plane Talk

"What kind of computer is that?" asked the young woman seated next to me on the Boeing seven-fo-seven.

"It's a PowerBook," I annoying replied. Not annoyed at the unwanted conversation, but annoyed at the fact that she didn't know a PowerBook when she saw one. What, did she work for Microsoft?

"It's sexy," she purred.

"Apple is a sexy company!"

She drifted off to sleep and drolled all over her jacket. It was one of the more interesting conversations I've had in quite some time.

BTW, Seattle is mutha-friggin cold right now. According to the weather information it's only a few degrees colder than San Antonio, but I don't remember San Antonio being this cold. I guess it's because I'm next to the ocean. Anywho, is it me, or does this whole city smell like an old Starbucks?

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Scott

I got some much needed mental recuperation tonight. I hung out with my friend, Scott, and his new girl, Sadie. I met Scott about 4 or 5 years ago when we both worked for a large insurance company (he's still employed with them, he didn't get fired).

Scott really is one of the geniunley nicest guys I know. I really value his friendship even though we don't get to hang out anymore.

Random Thoughts



  • After checking out Google Hacks, I guess you really have to be hacker to utilize some of those tricks

  • ER comedy where doctors have trouble translating british-english



I saw none other than The Admiral himself, David Robinson, at the La Canterra Apple Store this afternoon - damn, is he tall or what.