morrowlife

Here’s some true Great Art. Well, at least a photo of Great Art. Taken at the Harris Fine Arts Center on the BYU campus. Part of a faculty exhibition. Reproduced here without permission. But with the best of intentions. And I’m sure my Loyal Readers know Great Art when they see it. That’s why they’re here, after all. Picture ever so slightly touched up to eliminate a perspective anomaly.

Short day at work. Which is fine with me, since it was also a free day at work. I’m not too crazy about the off Fridays I have to spend at the office. But I do it anyway. The bright point was that I got to drive my new pickup. Did I mention it yet? Did I say anything about its stunning pickupish beauty?

Spent most of the afternoon installing, updating, and configuring Windows XP under VMWare. It’s working fine, although it does seem a little less stable than my Windows 2000 installation.

The cool thing, though, is that I was finally able to install the music server for our built-in Sony music player in the kitchen. It came with the house. The software only works on XP, which I didn’t have until now. It allows you to connect a music collection on your PC with any number of music players throughout the house, of which we have one. The software’s a little buggy, but I think it’s really cool anyway. I can control it from either the PC or the wall unit, including being able to turn it on downstairs from my desk upstairs. That’ll keep Loyal Reader Number Four on her toes.

Oh, I also downloaded the new Google Chrome browser. As with all things Google, it’s simple, elegant, and cool. I have no idea how they do that.

Good weekend planned. I’ve decided to actually learn Android, which will require me to become a competent Java programmer, which shouldn’t be too hard. I also need to get familiar with the Android API, but that’s doable too. I hope to find some time tomorrow to study and maybe run through a tutorial session or two. I found some excellent Android introductory videos, which I’ve started watching on the train. Maybe I’ll see some more tomorrow or Sunday. Otherwise, plans are nebulous.

It’s way past bedtime. See you Monday.

Here’s an extremely old picture of Loyal Reader Number Twelve having a quick bite, thoughtfully provided by Loyal Reader Number Five. Can you believe how much she’s grown in such a short time? Me neither.

Extreme Short Shrift tonight. I went to my Thursday night leadership meeting and got home right on schedule, otherwise known as too late to blog.

But I do want to address Loyal Reader Number One’s question in yesterday’s comments regarding the Windows XP installation on Loyal Reader Number Two’s computer. The answer is that we haven’t tried installing it yet. LRN2 isn’t quite sure he’s ready to muck around with his computer in such a serious way. I’m thinking of installing it as a new virtual machine on my Mac first, just to see if it will work. I’ll keep my ever-curious Loyal Readers fully informed, of course. That suggests a possible new motto for the blog: “Way more information than you want.” What do you think, Loyal Readers? I’ll probably stick with “Marginal content, twenty-seven readers.”

No new controversy again today. I need Dave Barry to get home from the stupid political conventions and start doing his job. Namely, being the Official Morrowlife Controversy Research Department.

In the meantime, what do you think of this delivery truck driver? My answer: Well done, compadre.

See you tomorrow.

Here’s the new pickup, courtesy of the exclusive low-quality RAZR-cam. I’m quite sure all my Loyal Readers will agree that’s true Great Art, regardless of the actual image quality. Note the delicate lines, the majestic sweep of the fender, the timeless beauty of the wheels. Wow. Part of my famous Machinery series. But only dubiously so.

Speaking of which, maybe I need to join the Ford Ranger Club. I never joined the Miata club (although I do use their excellent tech forums often to figure out how to fix my car) or even the Accord club (they don’t seem overly enthusiastic there, do they?), but this may be different. I think I may skip this club, though. Don’t have the scooter. I like their Ranger attitude, though.

I’m recommending that Loyal Readers Numbers Three and Five join this club. Now that’s the definition of cool.

No new controversy today. I’ve looked in all my usual spots, but there’s just nothing controversial going on in the world. So I’ll have to satisfy myself with Loyal Reader Number One’s controversy from last week. I agree completely with LRN3’s take on the issue. There’s nothing like a pair of Mormon missionaries to strike fear into the hearts of the fearless. That may be the ultimate home security device.

I tried to download Google’s new browser, Chrome. Sadly, the current beta will only work on Windows XP and Vista. No Mac version yet. And my virtual PC on the Mac is running Windows 2000. So I’m not included. Sigh. Have any Loyal Readers tried it out yet?

Time for bed. See you tomorrow.

Here’s a fascinating historical marker we found in Nevada on our way to Utah last week. See if you can pick out the date this thing was posted. Picture courtesy of the famous low-res RAZR-cam. Sadly.

No posts Friday or Monday. Sorry. We had company Friday. At Loyal Reader Number Four’s brother’s house. Old friends from Virginia came over. Had a nice time, but posting was impractical. Monday seemed like Saturday and I forgot. Fortunately, good old Anon hasn’t noticed yet.

Good weekend. We got home Saturday afternoon in time to welcome Loyal Readers Numbers Five, Six, and Twelve for the weekend. Which was pleasant. We all got sunburned at the ward picnic on Monday afternoon, especially LRN12. Poor her. Get better soon, LRN12!

Things at work were pretty much unchanged today. That’s probably a good thing. The great news, though, is that my pickup was untouched by human hands. I finally got to drive it today! My Loyal Readers will be delighted to learn it’s still working perfectly.

Anyway. Things have returned to normal and life is running at its usual pell-mell pace. And we’re having a great time at it.

See you tomorrow.

Here’s a group of Loyal Readers hanging around with Brigham Young. He’s the bronze-colored guy in the back. Picture taken during yesterday’s drop-off session. Part of my famous Statue series.

Extreme Short Shrift tonight. It’s late already.

Visited Loyal Reader Number One once more. We dropped off his suit and visited for a little while. He’s having a great time, has met lots of people, and is already incredibly busy. Have a great semester, LRN1! We’ll miss you. We miss you already.

Also visited Loyal Reader Number Four’s aunt and her husband (which I guess makes him her uncle, or at least step-uncle, but since her original uncle, who passed away unexpectedly a while ago, wasn’t a blood relative either, the current uncle is just as much an uncle as the late uncle. Or something like that.) and had a great time. He’s very friendly, witty, and a genuinely nice man. She’s also a family favorite.

Otherwise, slept, ate, and relaxed. Appropriate for vacation. Worked on our hosts’ desktop computer a little more. There’s still more of that to finish up tomorrow, along with a good amount of car maintenance I hope to accomplish. We’ll see. There’s also a visit and lunch with LRN4’s dad and stepmom and LRN4’s dinner out with friends from Virginia, which I may have mentioned I’m not invited to. Sheesh.

Anyway. See you tomorrow.