Archive for September, 2007

Top of the falls

Friday, September 28th, 2007


Here’s one more shot of the Loyal Readers hanging around in the river at Clark’s Fork. You can see a little bit of waterfall in this one.

Well, the RAZR works in the real world, so I’m happy. I spent some time with my handy copy of Motorola Phone Tools this evening, creating and uploading several ringtones. I probably won’t use any of them much, with the possible exception of the Chipmunk Christmas song. That’ll be on there in December. My new charger shipped today. I’ve also discovered that the phone charges when it’s plugged into a computer’s USB port. Options!

It was a cloudy, cool day today. I took the Miata to work anyway, expecting the cool morning to turn into a warm, sunny afternoon. Alas, it was not to be. The drives were both comfortable anyway, with the heater on in both directions. Blow a little warm air in the face and the crisp autumn air feels pretty good. I definitely like open-air motoring best in the fall.

Loyal Reader Number Five decided today not to take the job at the accounting firm. She was supposed to start on Monday. They like her so much at the university where she’s temping that she’s decided to stay, on the theory that they’ll hire her permanently Real Soon Now. I think she made the right decision and just hope the permanent job works out. The money’s better and the benefits will be better when she hires in. Plus, they love her there.

I used the Bluetooth headset in the real world a couple of times today, and it’s even better than I expected. My cheapskate unit works just great. Its only weakness is that its LED is green and red, rather than the immensely popular blue. For the price I paid, I can live with that. And now I too can walk around looking like a lunatic talking to myself. No change at all!

Loyal Readers Numbers One and Two have gone on a scout overnighter and waterskiing trip. It’s not going to be as warm tomorrow as they previously predicted (current forecast: 78 and sunny), so I hope they don’t freeze in the water. If they do, it’s been nice knowing them both.

See you on Monday.

Tree hugged readers

Thursday, September 27th, 2007


Here are Loyal Readers Numbers One, Two, and Four being hugged by a tree. Way to turn the tables on nature (link warning: 70’s commercial sound and video), Loyal Readers.

The RAZR’s here! I’m both delighted and disgusted with it. First, the disgusted part. Upon opening the box, I discovered it’s a grey market phone from Singapore. That’s really no problem, though, since at least they speak English there. It’s localized with UK English, but that’s okay too – only a couple of words are different and it’s kind of cute that way. However, the charger is quite another matter altogether! It’s a European charger with an incredibly chintzy (pre-broken!) US adapter that pushes the charger about two inches out from the wall, where it sags and nearly falls out of the socket. Not acceptable. Before just returning the phone, I decided to look online for the proper charger. They had them at Amazon for $1.39 (plus $5.95 shipping!), so I ordered one and decided to be happy. It should get here sometime next week, and I’ve super-glued the stupid adapter for now. If I ever start traveling back to Europe again, I’ll be prepared.

On the good side, the phone is really cool. It looks great, it works right, the camera works, and I already have it nearly set up. I’m still reading the manual, so I don’t quite know everything it will do. Don’t worry, Loyal Readers, I’ll know by tomorrow.

I got a nice leather holster-type case and the cheapest Bluetooth headset I could find with it. The headset works perfectly and the holster is great too. I discovered the phone can transmit pictures and videos to Bluetooth-enabled computers, so I’m going to have to try plugging my $5 Bluetooth USB connection into the Mac – if I can find it. Wait a minute; I’ll check.

– Time passes –

I’m back. I found it and plugged it in. Not only can I transfer photos to Curly, but it also synced my address books and calendars. I can also browse the phone from the computer and transfer files back and forth. Cool. Very cool. I’m kind of sorry I opted not to spend the extra few dollars having Bluetooth installed in Curly at the factory. I just never thought I’d want it.

Now that I have the hip, with-it phone from 2005, I’ll finally start getting the respect I deserve.

I stayed up way too late last night – was still trying to get the stupid Ruby on Rails application working right. It’s almost right, but I can’t get it all the way there. Sometime over the weekend, I’m going to delete everything I’ve done so far and start over. It’s my only hope.

Speaking of the business, Loyal Reader Number Five came up with an interesting product idea this morning. I need to spend some more time talking to her about it and also read the comments the other partners tell me they’ve left. They’re on my work email, so I won’t see them until tomorrow. I think she may have something good there. I’ll tell you about it later.

In the meantime, I need to get some rest. See you tomorrow.

Look up

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007


Here’s Loyal Reader Number Twelve, as promised yesterday. This picture isn’t exactly recent, but she looks pretty much the same. She’s standing on her own now – dancing, in fact. When somebody sings something, she stands up and swivels her hips and really gets into it. Very cute. I’ll have to try to get some video.

Not much writing time again tonight – it was meeting night and it’s already almost 11:00. Sigh.

I got a look at Loyal Reader Number One’s phone late last night. It really is a cool little gadget. I don’t think I need one right now, but I sure like his. Maybe I’ll inherit it when he leaves on his mission. Although I’m sure Loyal Reader Number Two probably has first dibs. If he can afford it.

LRN1 was able to get a prepaid plan from AT&T. He has no credit yet, so he didn’t exactly pass their credit check. This was what we wanted, of course, so he’s not tied in. Good deal.

Another open-air motoring day. It was at least 90 degrees here in Lardville – almost too warm for comfort. I struggled through somehow. I’m still not sure which car I’ll take tomorrow. It might be that two consecutive Miata days are enough. Or maybe not. Aren’t you just on pins and needles, Loyal Readers?

Did I mention that Loyal Readers Numbers Five, Six, and Twelve postponed their move date into the new apartment by a week? Well, they did. They’re anxious to get into the new place and we’re delighted that they’ll be living nearby, but we won’t be seeing LRN12 quite as frequently, so we’re also a little bit sad. There’s another week and a half left, though, which we’ll enjoy.

Time for bed. See you tomorrow.

Dos Reis campground

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007


Here’s a look at the campground at Dos Reis. I have no idea who owns that trailer; I just like the Great Art. New pictures of Loyal Reader Number Twelve coming Real Soon Now.

Not much time to write tonight, once again. I stayed quite late at work – absolutely had to get a couple of things finished. They’re done now, and it only took 1:15 to get home. I just finished dinner and it’s just about 9:30 now, so the night’s a-wastin’.

Loyal Reader Number One is trendy, as of this afternoon. He’ll finally start getting the respect he deserves. I, on the other hand, won’t get two-year-ago trendy until Friday or so. Sigh. LRN1’s out at battle-axe lessons right now, so I haven’t seen the Sacred Artifact yet.

As promised yesterday, here’s the weekend report: It was fine. I’m struggling to remember what happened, though. Let’s see . . . the choir performed on Sunday; the song went very well. Now we can really start concentrating on that haunting Thanksgiving song. It was raining on Saturday, so we didn’t do any outside work. Loyal Reader Number Four and I went to the library, and that was about it.

The Pool People came over yesterday and worked on our underwater vacuum yet again. They replaced the reverse gears for the second time in about three months. They’re accusing us of being hard on the vacuum, but the truth is quite the opposite, of course. I think it’s just a piece of junk and now that it’s out of warranty, we’ll have to find a better one somewhere. Those things aren’t cheap, though. Everything around here is falling apart all at once. And it all went out of warranty a month ago. Sigh.

I took the Miata to work this morning with the top up. It was 52 degrees here in Lardville when I left home, and I decided that was just a little cooler than I wanted to deal with. Besides, it’s easier to hear the podcasts with the top up. Put the top down for the trip home, though, and it was perfect open-air motoring weather – probably the low 70’s. The full moon hovered just over the windshield for the eastbound portions of the trip, the freeway moved at full speed, and it was very pleasant. I got home in a more relaxed state than usual.

Have a great evening and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Lobby horse

Monday, September 24th, 2007


Here’s another work of art in the lobby at the Phoenix Art Museum. They must have dug some junk up when they were putting up the building and needed to find something to do with it. Looks great.

Today turned out to be a very sad one. Roy, Loyal Readers Numbers Five, Six, and Twelve’s cat died this afternoon. He had been suffering from some kind of skin problem, and LRN6 took him to the vet, where he got a couple of shots. He was behaving strangely when they got back home, although his behavior was consistent with what he normally does when he has to go somewhere in the car – sick to his stomach and breathing heavily. He was confined to the bathroom to get his bearings back, and died very shortly thereafter. He was discovered a couple of hours later. We’re all very sad about his death. Roy was a good pet and will be greatly missed by his family.

Otherwise, not a very remarkable day. I had an unusually long commute this morning, so the evening drive was a little shorter than normal. Work was uneventful. I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked, but the essentials got taken care of. We had a nice dinner and a pleasant Home Evening. We played Guesstures for activity, which is always fun. Everybody else is already in bed, so it’s apparently time for me to be there too.

I’ll talk about the weekend tomorrow. See you then.