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February 28, 2005
Is there anybody out there?
Two people have mentioned that comments haven't been working. Can someone (anyone) reading this please try posting a comment and let me know (by email) if it doesn't appear?
Posted by dberger at 5:51 PM | Comments (5)
February 25, 2005
It's the Software, Stupid
After 4 months trying to become a happy Mac user, I'm officially throwing in the towel on "my" powerbook. It's driving me insane, and I'm giving up and going back to intel/linux.
This morning I wrote an email, with my tail between my legs, thanking my VP for bending the rules and approving the powerbook purchase 4 months ago, and asking if I could give it to someone who would be better suited to it and get a Dell (the corporate standard) instead.
The last straws were the performance of Eclipse and the lack of availability of JDK 1.5 on OS X.
I hated writing that email for a number of reasons - not the least of which is that the PB hardware is nice. The form factor is almost unparalleled in the PC world (certainly Dell doesn't have anything that comes close) and the fit and finish, well - let's just say that Apple builds the BMW of the notebook world.
I've written before about some of the reasons the powerbook and OS X have annoyed me, so I won't rehash them here. There are a few things I'll miss, though.
Continue reading "It's the Software, Stupid"
Posted by dberger at 3:45 PM | Comments (0)
And the flowers are still standing!
Two extra points if you get the movie reference.
A while back I had an "issue" during a Moveable Type upgrade and while things seemed to be working, some stuff was slightly borked. (Yes, that's a technical term.) I think (hope) I've sorted the last few wrinkles - so if you notice anything strange happening, please let me know.
If you had previously signed up for email notifications, that's been lost, I'm afraid - and I haven't found the snippit of configuration to make it a self-service operation, so drop me an email and I'll put you back on the list.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...
Posted by dberger at 3:38 PM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2005
These Boots Aren't Made for Walkin'...
I made a tactical error when I left the house this morning - I wore my Doc Martins.
When I was in High School, Docs were all the rage - you had to have a pair. Of course, I didn't - spending that much money on a pair of shoes just wasn't a point of discussion; and I never even asked.
I bought this pair of 10-hole steel toed Docs last year some time - they were on sale, and I was in the market for a new pair of boots (Dawnise got her red ones at the same time). I mostly wore them riding. I'd get on the bike in the garage, ride to campus, and walk from the bike into the lab. Occasionally we'd walk to lunch somewhere, but I never really walked in them.
So walking the mile and a quarter from the ferry station to the office this morning was almost certainly the longest distance I'd ever gone in these boots.
And my feet are telling me that was a mistake.
I had thought about walking up to the library this afternoon on my way to the ferry (ok, it's not on the way, but our library is really cool, and they have a DVD on hold for me) - but I've decided I'll do that tomorrow, when I wear the right shoes.
People rage about how comfy Docs are but, they all say, you have to break 'em in. When I bought my Wolverines there was no break-in period - they were comfortable from the first time I put them on.
Guess it's what I get for giving into (much delayed) peer pressure.
Posted by dberger at 2:33 PM | Comments (0)
Time Marches On, People...
The bus was empty this morning.
Not sparsly populated. Empty - as in I was the only one on it.
The ferry commute is working pretty well so far - even if the WiFi went away I think I'd enjoy the time to read, think and generally not be driving.
Dawnise, on the other hand, is not doing so well - she's been sick since Monday. Monday's "blah" turned into Tuesday's "blech" and she's been pretty much sleeping since. Stuffed up head and sinus, low grade fever, and generally unhappy. I made her matzo balls and soup the other night, and she's had soup of one form or another since Monday night.
I finally sorted the problem with the TiVo - seems that the original quantum drive was starting to flake - drawing more power than the little TiVo power supply could reliably provide. I bought two new 120G Maxtor's and as of the time I left this morning, the copy onto the new drives is about 60% complete.
The news that Apple may be consdering acquiring TiVo kinda worries me - I like nearly everything about TiVo - not the least of which is their attitude toward the hacking community (essentially - "you own the device, do whatever you want, just don't steal"). This attitude is diametrically opposed to the company that brought you the iPod ("all your music are belong to us"). Time will tell...
Posted by dberger at 8:25 AM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2005
Qwest DSL
The Good:
We're online from the house again, Huzzah!
The Bad:
These Actiontech modem/routers are a first class P.O.S.
The Ugly:
Qwest uses PPPoA (ATM) - so it's either Actiontec or a Cisco which is 4 years obsolete.
'course, at this point Comcast swears they can get service to the house given a couple weeks, so I'm renting the modem from Qwest for the first month and plan to send it back once the cable modem is hooked up.
Posted by dberger at 9:14 PM | Comments (0)
Miscellany
Vince and Donna (and Ari) came up again over the weekend - Donna's getting setup to get the WA "endorsement" on her Real Estate brokers license, so this was ostensibly a business trip.
Eleven (and a half) of us descended on Ipanema Saturday night - the food was good, the service was gawd awful. I'm really disappointed. The Passadores seemed to go out of their way to avoid our table - and talking to the head waiter and the hostess didn't rectify things. Strike one. We'll give it another try, with a smaller group - but it's a shame, as the Brazilian BBQ format should lend itself really well to large gatherings...
The rest of the weekend was good, though Dawnise got sick and wasn't doing terribly well on Monday.
This morning I came in to work and found that Ian had brought a french press in and was willing to share - I find it terribly ironic that the only way to get drinkable coffee in this building (in the middle of Seattle) is to make it...
Posted by dberger at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)
February 15, 2005
Here's Looking At You, Kid...
Last night was so cool. Dawnise told me she had a surprise for me, and that I needed to be on the 6:20 ferry home and quick off the boat. Apparently we had somewhere to be at 7:30 - and probably wouldn't have time to eat dinner 'till 9:30 or so. And, she said, I should wear my trench-coat and one of my fedoras.
I had my suspicions - there was a film festival on the island this past weekend, and that combined with the 2 hour dinner delay screamed "movie" (or play), and the trench-coat and hat suggested a period piece, but my suspicions couldn't prepare me for what was coming.
Dawnise picked me up from the ferry, and started driving - I had no idea where we were going, but as we got "close" she asked me to close my eyes. She led me out of the car, eyes cast to the ground, around a corner and finally said I could look.
I scanned up - not sure where to look for clues - and then my eyes settled on the movie marquee - and I did a double-take...
Continue reading "Here's Looking At You, Kid..."
Posted by dberger at 8:20 AM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2005
Life in a Northern Town...
A Salvation Army band played
And the children drank lemonade
And the morning lasted all day,
Oops, sorry - 80's flashback.
Dawnise and I now officially live in a small town. She stopped at the local hardware store to pick up a few things, and a voice called her name. Turns out one of our neighbors works there and recognized Dawnise from the progressive dinner the other weekend. Kinda cool. Nothing to be concerned about.
Then we stopped at the animal hospital to get their phone number and hours (ah, the joys of having no internet connection or phone book) and you'll never guess who was sitting behind the receptionists desk. Ok, you guessed it - another (different) neighbor.
If we ever have kids we'll have to leave the island - I do not want my kids to be known everywhere they go. I'm a firm believer in giving them a fair chance to screw up without their parents knowing about it - and they can't very well do that if the whole bloody town know their names...
Posted by dberger at 4:28 PM | Comments (0)
February 11, 2005
Granian's Comin' to Town
I've mentioned Granian before - he's a talented musician and a great performer (two traits that don't necessarily coincide).
Next week, on the 16th of February, he'll be playing (with Scott Andrew) at the Conner Byrn Pub in Ballard.
For those not in the greater Seattle area, he'll be in LA on the 14th, and in SF on the 18th, and in a whole bunch of other places at various times.
He's got a couple freely downloadable tracks available - check 'em out, and if you like 'em, check him out.
Posted by dberger at 6:24 PM | Comments (0)
Interoperability
http://go.theregister.com/feed/2005/02/11/hakon_on_ms_interroperability/
Posted by dberger at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)
February 9, 2005
Still Sick...
Stayed home yesterday and slept. In the middle of the day we went down to the Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce and got the vehicles registered - the total for both cars and all three bikes was under $400 - and they handed us our plates and tags on the spot. Not bad, all-in-all.
While I slept, Dawnise kept working on getting the kitchen put together. It turns out that we have significantly less cabinet space in the new kitchen than we did in the old one, so finding places for things is proving tricky. We're probably going to look for some sort of island for the middle of the kitchen, and a side-board for the dining room.
Came into work today, despite my better judgement, and almost certainly shouldn't have. I've got a sore throat, cloudy head, and feel generally lousy.
Posted by dberger at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)
February 7, 2005
Move-in Update
I'm sick. :-/ Been fighting a cold for several days, and yesterday afternoon I officially lost. A fair bit's happened over the last few days...
On Saturday Dawnise brought the cats over to the house from the apartment, and Fabrice lent his assistance (and his SUV) moving the majority of the stuff left in the apartment. That afternoon Dawnise and I worked on putting the kitchen together 'till it was time to leave for the progressive dinner we were invited to.
We hoofed it up the hill and met a number of our neighbors (and even before I felt sick I'd forgotten most of their names). Dinner was good, as was the company - we were one of two young couples present, and the only one without kids. The party moved around (as progressive dinners do) and broke up around 9:30. We got home, found the sheets, made the bed (it had been delivered earlier in the day - and for the first time since I was 14, I don't stick off the end), and pretty much collapsed.
Continue reading "Move-in Update"
Posted by dberger at 8:14 AM | Comments (0)
February 5, 2005
Going Dark
This is it - we've moved just about everything over to the house - gotta bring the cats, and the last load or two of boxes (we've only been in the apartment for 3 months, but you'd never tell by the amount of stuff we have here).
Still haven't completely sorted the broadband issue, though it looks like I'll be calling qwest today and ordering local phone service and/or DSL.
Dawnise will have very spotty access 'till we get up at the new place - so if you need to reach her, call her cel.
Posted by dberger at 9:00 AM | Comments (0)
February 4, 2005
Please excuse our dust...
Had a bit of an "oops" this morning - and spent more time than I'd care to admit putting Movable Type back together (let's just say that their database upgrade scripts should do more sanity checking before they start dropping tables).
I think I've stitched Frankenstein's monster back together correctly, but if you notice anything strage going on, let me know. One known issue is that the self-signup for email notifications is gone at the moment, once I remember/find the magic to put it back, I will.
Posted by dberger at 11:25 AM | Comments (0)
February 3, 2005
Moving day
The movers arrived at the house around 9 this morning - two big trucks, plus Dawnise's car. They left around 5:30pm, having unloaded all our worldly goods into the house. Most everything arrived (two missing items, neither of which seem terribly important) in good condition (they broke a half-dozen things, including some cosmetic damage to the TV, a turn signal on one of the motorcycles, and a couple less relevant items). Can't complain about the crew - they busted their asses moving Dawnise's fabric down stairs, and did a respectable job of not tracking the mud around the house onto the new carpet.
Watching the stream of crap, er, stuff, come off the truck, I was struck repeatedly by the fact that we've lived without all that for three months, and with very few exceptions, I really haven't missed it. I'm going to make a point of inspecting items I unpack with a critical eye.
In the midst of all that chaos, a few folks arrived to do last minute touch-ups on the house - fix a door that wasn't balanced, seal a leak in the rain gutters (which they don't seem to have actually fixed), and survey the site for cable.
Oh, yea, cable.
Continue reading "Moving day"
Posted by dberger at 8:53 PM | Comments (0)
February 2, 2005
New 'phones
Realizing I'd soon be commuting by Ferry, I decided it might be a good idea to get some headphones for my jukebox. I generally listen to it through speakers - either in the car or in the office. When I do use headphones, I'm generally on a plane, and I have a (rather large) set of noise-canceling 'phones that make the white-noise almost disappear.
I did some shopping around - I wanted something small and discrete, with good sound quality, but I wasn't interested in spending a fortune. I ended up with a pair of Sony MDR-EX51LP's. They're an in-the-ear design, with three sizes of soft baffles. They aren't noise canceling, but after selecting the correct size, they block a good amount of background noise. The sound quality is pretty good, especially the base (typically the hardest thing to get out of ear-buds).
I haven't yet worn them for a long period, so I may change my mind, but at the moment, I'm pretty happy with them.
Posted by dberger at 9:19 PM | Comments (0)
Going Dark in T-3...
I called Comcast the other day to schedule activation of cable modem service. They insisted (on their website) that you had to have the modem before you call, so I had waited patiently 'till the modem arrived, and then got on the phone.
Turns out that the address (being new construction and all) doesn't yet appear in their billing system, which means they have to go out and actual connect the cable - a process which takes "between 8-10 business days." Then, once that's done, I have to call them back and schedule cable modem activation - which takes another several business days.
So the end result is that once we leave the apartment on Saturday, we'll be off-line for about two weeks.
Talk about separation anxiety.
I'll continue to have access at work, of course, but Dawnise will be sorta stuck.
While contemplating this, I realized that the room where I plan to put the TV and TiVo is pretty much the only room in the house that's not wired for cable and telephone.
'Course we don't have a telephone yet, so the TiVo will be generally pissed off. I've hacked it and it'll happily make calls over the broadband...
Never mind.
Makes me wonder if the DirectTV guy showing up on Sunday will actually be able to successfully complete the installation. We'll see, I guess.
Posted by dberger at 9:11 PM | Comments (0)