Thursday, July 10, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
Happy 4th!
It's 20 minutes till 10 pm and we're sitting at the park fountain, waiting for the fireworks to begin. We travelled extremely light this time, not lugging any chairs or coolers or wagon. We planned to watch a movie and then go to the park with just an hour to kill or so. We ended up catching Wall*e about 40 minutes earlier, mostly because we didn't know what to do about dinner. But a couple sandwiches and the dinner problem is solved. Although the tough hoagie sandwich hurt my teeth.
Wall*e is a phenomenal movie, essentially a truly visual movie that isn't cluttered with filler dialogue to move the plot along, just action and visual gags. The characters are wonderfully endearing, with Walle infused with a kind of nurturing Chaplinesque quality who is brave without any traditional heroics. Eve on the other hand, drives the action and the heroics. She's the one using the tradtional male type conventions to get results, saving the populace, rescuing Walle. Of course, it geeks me out big time that when Walle boots up after a solar recharge, it's the same chime as a Mac booting up. Walle's a mac!
We're having a pretty good day today, even though we are spending quite a bit of money on overpriced food. Oh well, what good is it if you can't spend it? I was tempted to get a bluetooth keyboard so that I could pair it up with the ps3 and the laptop, but not for 80 bucks. Too spendy.
___
Well, the fireworks are over and although we were the first wave of folks in our cars, we were immediately stalled in traffic. Took about five minute before I just reparked and got out. We are now sitting outside a closed Red Robin, waiting for the traffic.
Rented the Spiderwick Chronicles and Rambo on Blu-Ray, as well as Assassin's Creed. That PS3 on my table is now getting tons of use. Of course I'm still playing GTA IV and repicked up Half Life 2, which is fun but hard as hell. Talk about a total lack of direction, which relies on the player's curiosity and common sense to get from point A to B.
Anyway, the waiting continues.
Wall*e is a phenomenal movie, essentially a truly visual movie that isn't cluttered with filler dialogue to move the plot along, just action and visual gags. The characters are wonderfully endearing, with Walle infused with a kind of nurturing Chaplinesque quality who is brave without any traditional heroics. Eve on the other hand, drives the action and the heroics. She's the one using the tradtional male type conventions to get results, saving the populace, rescuing Walle. Of course, it geeks me out big time that when Walle boots up after a solar recharge, it's the same chime as a Mac booting up. Walle's a mac!
We're having a pretty good day today, even though we are spending quite a bit of money on overpriced food. Oh well, what good is it if you can't spend it? I was tempted to get a bluetooth keyboard so that I could pair it up with the ps3 and the laptop, but not for 80 bucks. Too spendy.
___
Well, the fireworks are over and although we were the first wave of folks in our cars, we were immediately stalled in traffic. Took about five minute before I just reparked and got out. We are now sitting outside a closed Red Robin, waiting for the traffic.
Rented the Spiderwick Chronicles and Rambo on Blu-Ray, as well as Assassin's Creed. That PS3 on my table is now getting tons of use. Of course I'm still playing GTA IV and repicked up Half Life 2, which is fun but hard as hell. Talk about a total lack of direction, which relies on the player's curiosity and common sense to get from point A to B.
Anyway, the waiting continues.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Seniority with less than a year's experience.
In about a week, I would have been working at my workplace for a full year, though deceptively so since I was a contractor for about half the period. Nonetheless, I have ascended somewhat unwittingly to the "leader" of my shipping department, which is a relatively dubious title since everyone in my section has either been shuffled away or got fired or quit. So basically, I'm the leader just because I'm the only one left. Even the guy who was there before me got moved, much to his disappointment. I didn't really have much to do with it, and it's hard to ignore the productivity of our shipping department since his departure.
Anyway, all this roundabout dealio has to do with my special status. I had to go in today to finish shipping something that was meant for Monday. But you know, it's my department, so that was pretty much my responsibility. And I am just exhausted today. I was a little cranky and out of it the much of today when we went to the Strawberry Festival, where food is obscenely overpriced. With 5 dollars in your pocket though, everything is overpriced. But 15 bucks for a flat of strawberries, and 5 bucks for a corndog? Are you joking? Anyway, I came home and died on the couch, just exhausted from my long work week.
The good news about this week is that I finally received my CD copy of DiskWarrior in the mail, and was able to retrieve my data somewhat from my iBook, so it was 99 dollars well spent. I wasn't quite sure at first because it didn't seem like very good software, and because it can't run natively on the drive it's installed in, and runs better off a CD, it can be a little frustrating trying to figure that out. But the iBook drive is toast, but DW managed to pull all my vacation photos and apps off of there, so it's just sitting there on my external. Rescued from the abyss.
I spent about a couple hours last night disassembling the iBook. Even though there were step by step directions with specific labeling and photos online, it was still a little nerve racking. But everything went well, only had one extra screw that I swear came from nowhere. Now I'm attempting to install some type of OS onto the iBook, seems like all my install disks are either missing or outdated. To my surprise, people have been inside the iBook before and they have messed up a few of the factory installs. About three screws were missing, the shield was a little beaten up, and some of the stuff was obviously moved. Not sure if it was the previous owner or if it was Apple technicians, but that settles the idea that I won't buy a used piece of hardware again.
Allergies have been driving me crazy lately, causing me a lot of grief in my nose and eyes department. Alex is already suffering from some allergies, his eyes itch so he goes on a scratching campaign that ended in him somehow poking his eyeball.
Wanted to mention this dream really fast. The other night I was dreaming that I was in some type of Apple city, whereby the products were abundant and the cit asethetics were very Apple-like, and I didn't think much of it until the whole city turned to the right, as if the whole enviroment around you just took a sharp 90 degree turn. Well, the city was actually mobile in some sense, so it was like some type of floating city or something. Anyway, I decided to travel someplace else, so I took a cable car from Apple City, and went through Qatar, and then to the snowy borders of Manhattan, which I guess looks a lot like Vancouver B.C. I remember trying to take some skyline photos, but the scenery wasn't the typical NY skyline, so I stopped. Before my virtual tour could come to a fantastic end, the alarm sounded and life continued.
Anyway, all this roundabout dealio has to do with my special status. I had to go in today to finish shipping something that was meant for Monday. But you know, it's my department, so that was pretty much my responsibility. And I am just exhausted today. I was a little cranky and out of it the much of today when we went to the Strawberry Festival, where food is obscenely overpriced. With 5 dollars in your pocket though, everything is overpriced. But 15 bucks for a flat of strawberries, and 5 bucks for a corndog? Are you joking? Anyway, I came home and died on the couch, just exhausted from my long work week.
The good news about this week is that I finally received my CD copy of DiskWarrior in the mail, and was able to retrieve my data somewhat from my iBook, so it was 99 dollars well spent. I wasn't quite sure at first because it didn't seem like very good software, and because it can't run natively on the drive it's installed in, and runs better off a CD, it can be a little frustrating trying to figure that out. But the iBook drive is toast, but DW managed to pull all my vacation photos and apps off of there, so it's just sitting there on my external. Rescued from the abyss.
I spent about a couple hours last night disassembling the iBook. Even though there were step by step directions with specific labeling and photos online, it was still a little nerve racking. But everything went well, only had one extra screw that I swear came from nowhere. Now I'm attempting to install some type of OS onto the iBook, seems like all my install disks are either missing or outdated. To my surprise, people have been inside the iBook before and they have messed up a few of the factory installs. About three screws were missing, the shield was a little beaten up, and some of the stuff was obviously moved. Not sure if it was the previous owner or if it was Apple technicians, but that settles the idea that I won't buy a used piece of hardware again.
Allergies have been driving me crazy lately, causing me a lot of grief in my nose and eyes department. Alex is already suffering from some allergies, his eyes itch so he goes on a scratching campaign that ended in him somehow poking his eyeball.
Wanted to mention this dream really fast. The other night I was dreaming that I was in some type of Apple city, whereby the products were abundant and the cit asethetics were very Apple-like, and I didn't think much of it until the whole city turned to the right, as if the whole enviroment around you just took a sharp 90 degree turn. Well, the city was actually mobile in some sense, so it was like some type of floating city or something. Anyway, I decided to travel someplace else, so I took a cable car from Apple City, and went through Qatar, and then to the snowy borders of Manhattan, which I guess looks a lot like Vancouver B.C. I remember trying to take some skyline photos, but the scenery wasn't the typical NY skyline, so I stopped. Before my virtual tour could come to a fantastic end, the alarm sounded and life continued.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Waiting for the Genius Bar now to get them to look at the iBook. Not really sure what miracles to expect, but just another brain working on the problem is a good thing. Even brought my external drive in case they could extract the old data. But right now, its not looking too especially hot. Damnit.
So I've been comtemplating switching jobs, mostly because the schedule can be rather brutal to the soul. I was actually supposed to be working right now, a 58 hour work week, but there was problem so the production and shipping operations have been stopped. The co-workers are pretty good, the work is inane but certainly no strain on the brain, though the labor does get tiring. But I was called into the review and got a slight bump on my hourly, and all that does is make my wanting to quit a little tougher. Boo.
So I've been comtemplating switching jobs, mostly because the schedule can be rather brutal to the soul. I was actually supposed to be working right now, a 58 hour work week, but there was problem so the production and shipping operations have been stopped. The co-workers are pretty good, the work is inane but certainly no strain on the brain, though the labor does get tiring. But I was called into the review and got a slight bump on my hourly, and all that does is make my wanting to quit a little tougher. Boo.
I'm generally not one to believe in streaks of luck, good or bad. That said, it hasn't been in our favor as of late. Its nothing terrible or life-changing, but just enough of a kick to offset the stability.
The latest thing is a rather sad one. Alex was born 7 days after the school cut off date, which means kids who were born 5 years ago will be going to school this fall. Alex was out of that range so we had to pay 75 bucks to get him tested for early enrollment. If he was an only child, we wouldn't care, but since Zoe is 11 months behind, that would mean if the school would have it, they'd be going to school the same year. Either that or we'd hold her a year behind so they have that separation. Anyway, we got the results today and he didn't pass. That bummed us out and we had to tell Alex, who didn't make much of it. He just said, "Oh man," and moved on to something else. Now the big decision is whether to hold Zoe back or not.
The latest thing is a rather sad one. Alex was born 7 days after the school cut off date, which means kids who were born 5 years ago will be going to school this fall. Alex was out of that range so we had to pay 75 bucks to get him tested for early enrollment. If he was an only child, we wouldn't care, but since Zoe is 11 months behind, that would mean if the school would have it, they'd be going to school the same year. Either that or we'd hold her a year behind so they have that separation. Anyway, we got the results today and he didn't pass. That bummed us out and we had to tell Alex, who didn't make much of it. He just said, "Oh man," and moved on to something else. Now the big decision is whether to hold Zoe back or not.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Rotten Apple
Damnit all to monkey hell.
The Mac Mini usually just runs all day, and sometimes it does go for days without a reboot. Anyway, either this neglect or some other gremlin induced phenomena has caused the mini to be sluggish. I took it to the mac shop, spent 99 bucks on diskwarrior before finally deciding that it was all moot and I would just reinstall the OS. I hooked up the iBook, and then the iBook decided, well, screw it, that looks like fun.
So my iBook is now wacky, doesn't even advance beyond the startup screen. This is causing considerable grief for me because the Mac Mini is mostly for casual use, but my iBook has all my shit on it. Disk Warrior can't even read the drive, neither can that firewire target mode. I might possibly lose a lot of important files, including a chunk of photos from San Fran that I hadn't uploaded to Flickr yet. So I'm just sitting around the house. Moping and a little angry. I'm going to the Genius bar tomorrow in hopes of a miracle, but I have strong doubts about a positive outcome. Sigh.
The Mac Mini usually just runs all day, and sometimes it does go for days without a reboot. Anyway, either this neglect or some other gremlin induced phenomena has caused the mini to be sluggish. I took it to the mac shop, spent 99 bucks on diskwarrior before finally deciding that it was all moot and I would just reinstall the OS. I hooked up the iBook, and then the iBook decided, well, screw it, that looks like fun.
So my iBook is now wacky, doesn't even advance beyond the startup screen. This is causing considerable grief for me because the Mac Mini is mostly for casual use, but my iBook has all my shit on it. Disk Warrior can't even read the drive, neither can that firewire target mode. I might possibly lose a lot of important files, including a chunk of photos from San Fran that I hadn't uploaded to Flickr yet. So I'm just sitting around the house. Moping and a little angry. I'm going to the Genius bar tomorrow in hopes of a miracle, but I have strong doubts about a positive outcome. Sigh.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Despite or perhaps I'm always harping Macs as the greatest things since shaved chihuahuas, my mac mini decided this week to act really freaking slow. Took it into the mac shop and his diagnosis was not very promising - either my disk directory was corrupted and needed repair, or the drive itself was on its way out.
I tried the first of three options he offered, to archive and reinstall the os and hope that its all good. But that didn't work, so I had to go to option B, which involved spending 99 bucks for Disk Warrior, supposedly either a supergreat utilty app or an overpriced coaster. Anyway, I've got my macs hooked up now running the darn thing. Hopefully this will fix the issue.
Alex's speech has caused some concern with my wife, she suspects that he might have a hearing problem, while I'm guessing its just his scattered attention. But we've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow for a hearing test. I don't imagine its anything serious. I think he slurs his speech because we let him. His words all meld together so sometimes hetalkssomethinglikethis. I think the biggest issue is we need to specifically acquire his attention before we talk to him.
I tried the first of three options he offered, to archive and reinstall the os and hope that its all good. But that didn't work, so I had to go to option B, which involved spending 99 bucks for Disk Warrior, supposedly either a supergreat utilty app or an overpriced coaster. Anyway, I've got my macs hooked up now running the darn thing. Hopefully this will fix the issue.
Alex's speech has caused some concern with my wife, she suspects that he might have a hearing problem, while I'm guessing its just his scattered attention. But we've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow for a hearing test. I don't imagine its anything serious. I think he slurs his speech because we let him. His words all meld together so sometimes hetalkssomethinglikethis. I think the biggest issue is we need to specifically acquire his attention before we talk to him.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Father's Day
Assorted kites are casting unique shadows on the wind swept grass, and the kids are shouting indiscernable commands and squeals to each other. Alex is running around, likely playing an entirely different game than the rest of the kids, and Zoe is speaking in a whiny, draggy drone. She's probably a little hot, bored, and thirsty. My wife and I are just sitting here in the sun, chilling.
I have to say that I'm not one of those kite flying types - the constant challenge of trying to keep something in flight while its natural inclination is to do otherwise isn't meditative or carefree in my eyes. I don't have anything against those who do, I just don't think much of it. Unfortunately, neither do the kids. They got bored with it rather quickly and decided to do other things.
I got to sleep in a little this morning and we went to dimsum, and I have a whole book to go through that the kids and wife made for me, and we dropped off my mom before coming to gasworks.
I have to say that I'm not one of those kite flying types - the constant challenge of trying to keep something in flight while its natural inclination is to do otherwise isn't meditative or carefree in my eyes. I don't have anything against those who do, I just don't think much of it. Unfortunately, neither do the kids. They got bored with it rather quickly and decided to do other things.
I got to sleep in a little this morning and we went to dimsum, and I have a whole book to go through that the kids and wife made for me, and we dropped off my mom before coming to gasworks.
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