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?”
Hilarious Optimism
NWMLS has pretty optimistic requirements for their users’ web browsers:
This website is best viewed
with Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher.
I think that if you’ve got higher than Internet Explorer 6 then you’re probably higher on crack.
42.
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
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
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?
Updating Software
As a small business it is often difficult to keep up with client work let alone software changes and updates. One thing I run into is the problem of software version conflicts. Recently one client needed files sent to another contractor who was doing some outside graphic work (I am working on more coding than graphic design at this moment) and the Illustrator files were not compatible. I am using Adobe Illustrator CS and he was using Illustrator 10, which is the previous version. I had to save the files in an Illustrator 10 format. If your budget allows for it always upgrade your software to the latest version so that you can be backwards compatible (most of the time, I know there are exceptions) but also handle anything that your clients throw at you. I know this can be expensive, but keep your customers in mind, if it can be worked out with ‘accounting’ then get it worked out and keep up to date. The benefits of the new software may prove useful feature wise and looking up-to-date to the customer can’t hurt!
I Book
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
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!
Review: Revenge of the Sith
Well, I finally saw Star Wars: Episode III | Revenge of the Sith. Well, not actually. Actually I am just writing this review ahead of time to save time later for more important things. Sure, I’ll actually watch the movie some time, but I find the latest additions, the prequils, to be highly undertaining. I can’t believe that they make that much money with that little script quality. I know that they spend oodles of money on the computer generated graphics, I know they spend a lot of money on digital video camera’s, catering and sand removal services. However, the script is probably the cheapest part of the whole investment. I think they use some program that generates random quotes and they keep hitting the ‘refresh’ button until the line sounds like it’s related to the previous line.
I’m sure that others will hate me for this review, mostly because it’s so snooty, but frankly, the review is based on the simple fact that unless everything else changes, including George ‘Jorge’ Lucas not directing, Natalie Portman not playing a brick Queen Amadala, and Jar-Jar Binks not playing Michael Jackson.
Oh, and my review for the movie is: go see it. Mostly because I know you’re going to anyway.
Happy Birthday Nolan!
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.