Category Archives: News

Things, Goings On, and Stuff I write

When Two Year Olds Are Quiet

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If you’re a parent, then you’ve experienced the fun of children doing the unexpected (unless of course you have an infant who is imobile). This evening at around 4:55 we discovered that Abby had climbed into the bathtub and managed to empty most of her blueberry shampoo and some of her milky-white-make-you-clean soap into the bathtub and also all over herself. To make matters worse she was clothed. So I had to strip her, removing a wet pull-up, and then get bath water running.

I’ve got video footage from shortly after the discovery of the explorer. It’s in QuickTime format (since Mac’s rule).

PodCasting: Not Just for MP3 Junkies

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Nick Bradbury released the latest beta of FeedDemon which does something that no other person I’ve read talks about: PodCasting without the iPod. Maybe I missed something before, but I thought that to use PodCasting you had to have one. However, to clear up any misconceptions, I’m going to say it officially: With FeedDemon you don’t need an iPod. Or any other MP3 toting device (though it would rock if I could get them into my Nokia 3300 MP3 friendly cell phone, but I digress). What is so cool is that FeedDemon will suck the RSS enclosures onto your machine and it will add them to playlists for your Windows Media Player or iTunes!

So, here’s what you do

  1. Buy FeedDemon if you haven’t already
  2. Download the beta
  3. Setup the FeedStation (Tools | Open FeedStation)
  4. Subscribe to feeds that have Enclusures (included in the beta, make sure you subscribe to the PodCasting Channel Group)
  5. If you set FeedStation to download the files at some time you’ll have to wait until they’re downloaded, otherwise once the downloads are there the playlists will be available in their respective players. No iPod or Rio needed!

Rock on Nick!

Fruity

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This morning I gave Abby a bath. Then I put this ‘tutti frutti’ lotion on her. Now I smell fruity. I think I shall have to wear latex gloves to avoid any girly smells so that when I come in contact with people throughout the day they won’t think, “Whoa! Fruit. Is he… a produce manager?”

42.

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is being turned into a movie. I haven’t read the book but it has influenced a lot of people I know. I suppose I should read it before the movie comes out so that I can either rave about how good the movie was because it followed the book, or rave about how insane they were for corrupting the genious of the original.

Daily Technology

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When I find a new tool that I love to use I often blog about it, but sometimes I forget. However, I thought I’d list the software that I use on a daily basis that is not just work related (Like Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0, which I use because I have to, not because it’s great – it gets the job done). Software can cost money or be open source, but either way, if it is excellent then I recommend it to others. If you’ve seen my root site you’ll see that I link to four pieces of software:

  • FeedDemon
  • TopStyle
  • Firefox
  • MDaemon

Why do I use the above software? Necessity in part, and brilliance, too. The software listed there is, I believe, the best on the market. If I didn’t have that software I’d be using other software, or possibly multiple programs to get things done that these programs do by themselves. Of course these are not useful for all of my readers, I do believe that the first, FeedDemon is the most usable for the largest audience.

FeedDemon
FeedDemon is for RSS and Atom feeds. If you don’t know what those are the simplest way to describe them is that they’re files on a web site that allow you to check out the latest headlines or posts on the web site. Practically speaking I think this saves me around two hours of time a day if I was checking web sites individually for new content. However, I won’t lie, FeedDemon has caught me off guard more than once by distracting me from what I was supposed to be doing by exposing me to new sites, new content and new information. However, all of those things are great and I know keep track of 121 feeds [note: 121 is a palindrome].

The usability in the latest version of FeedDemon is incredible. Nick Bradbury has taken user feedback, his own intuition and experience and rolled one of the finest pieces of software on Windows. If you haven’t tried it yet, download the 30 day trial at it’s home page.

TopStyle
TopStyle is a CSS and XHTML editor. Sure, that sounds simple enough but this software does almost everything I could want to do with both of those types of documents including allowing me to edit other text documents. In fact I find myself using it with JavaScript regularly and sometimes XML and XSLT as well. This tool is well rounded, feature rich, and with powerful shortcuts and utilities I maintain this site and do other client work with it. Standards Compliant sites are easier to build with the validation toolset as well as the auto-complete wizard that only offers suggestions that comply with the Document type you’re using. Find out why you should be using it by downloading the thirty-day trial.

FireFox
As most readers of this blog know I’m a FireFox junky. I use it exclusively except for when I test my work on other browsers to make sure that they render well. FireFox blocks pop-ups, has tabs for keeping track of multiple pages in one browser (rather than lots of browser windows), and allows you to add plugins and utilities that are being created and added to by other users. Open Source at its finest. Without FireFox I would probably still be scratching my head using Internet Explorer for Windows.

FireFox integrates usability with functionality and comes out far ahead of its competition. Check it out.

MDaemon
OK, so most people don’t have control over what email server they use, or what email their company uses, or their ISP. However, if you’ve got control over that, use MDaemon. I must confess that I worked at Alt-N for three years, and now I consult with them. I may have a biased opinion but let the following attest to it’s effectiveness against viruses and spam:

  • I have never ever had an email borne virus infect my computer [in four years].
  • I get one or two spam messages a day at most. Sometimes I go several days without spam.

What software do you use without fail that makes your life easier?

Shop ‘Til You Can’t Shop No More

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Last night Jessica and I dropped Abby off at my parents and went to finish our Christmas shopping for everyone but Elvis who mysteriously stopped coming to family Christmas gatherings after Christmas of 1976. We got mostly done except couldn’t make our last stop at Target because it was getting late and Abby was probably either insanely whiney or super-duper-extra-lots-over-the-top hyper from my dad’s nearly super-natural ability to get kids wound up like no one else I’ve ever met. When we arrived at their apartment to pick the Abigator up, she was wound up. So we got her home, in bed and then promptly crashed into bed ourselved.

However, while out shopping we went to seven stores in two and a half hours. That is a personal record for shopping outside of a mall. In fact, mall shopping should not be counted for consecutive store shopping because it allows for convenience. So, with convenience in mind we planned out our path so that we could hit all of the stores in optimal order, and furthermore we had to improvise as certain items we were looking for (*cough* presents for people who read this blog) at certain stores (*cough* certain stores that carry very bizaare gifts that I can’t mention) were not available. However, I’m pretty sure my brother-in-law will enjoy his electric toenail clippers and his wife will like the Hickory Farms Sausage and Cheese (that’s a joke Becca, I wouldn’t do that to you).

And to top it all off I found myself in Khol’s or Kohl’s or Shlok or however it’s spelled rubbing elbows with people who were walking to close to me and making me feel really uncomfortable. In the end though we found a really nice set of sheets for Abby’s new bed (which hasn’t come to the apartment yet, but is on the radar) which when purchased with a coupon ended up costing only $8.00. What a great deal! Why she’ll be sleeping in comfort, class and cheapness. Which makes me wonder if Martha Stewart would have been able to smuggle sheets from her ‘exclusive line’ at ‘the mart’ into the prison. Or does she sleep in sheets that she hand-wove and sewed in an earlier episode of Martha Stewart Living?

I Book

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I’m writing this from an iBook. Max OS X is so amazingly simple and cool it makes me want to jump for joy.

I am pleased to say that our trip home yesterday was almost completely uneventful unless you count the fact I had to drive through Kansas and hit some snow before we made it to Colorado. There’s snow on the ground here and I can’t wait to go play with Abby in it!

OK, gotta get back to work, I just wanted to give you a heads up.

Oh, and don’t worry Windows users, I’m not going to ditch Windows for Mac yet, but I must say this little laptop packs a punch.

Snow Trip

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Tomorrow we drive back home and enjoy the wonderful snow that has been falling for the last week (off and on) in Colorado. This means that I’ll get my first chance to try out the new tired on the snow. Also, I’ll get to try out my patience with the trip through Kansas again. It’s a beautiful thing and I’m glad for the time with my daughter and bride (or bride and daughter).

Pray for our safety and I hope that sledding begins next weekend!

Happy Birthday Nolan!

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Happy birthday Nolan, who is three. That’s a long time if you consider the life span of most flies, which is about 24 hours 🙂 Nolan loves Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and swords. That is all.