mupromo cracks 10k sold

10,000 people have bought the mupromo. That's pretty impressive. Half a million dollars spent on Mac software, which, if bought at full price, would be more than $6 million.

FAU in a bowl game

Florida Atlantic University is playing Memphis in the New Orleans bowl. I think FAU started playing football about 5 years ago, so that is quite a feat. Actually, it FAU started playing football in 2001, so it's been 6 years, but that is still impressive.

Soccer season ends

The soccer playoffs ended last night. Most of the games ended in ties, went into overtime and then were decided by penalty kicks. It didn't look like many of the teams had done any preparation for penalty kicks though. I think it would have helped because most kids either missed the goal entirely or kicked it right at the goalie. I think the overall make rate on the penalty kicks I saw was around 25% or less. Otherwise, the games were very exciting and well played.

Soccer

In our U-12 game we tied it up in the last quarter on a penalty kick. We got the call when one of our players went down on the ground as he was defended by two players in front of the goal. I thought he was going to get a good shot at the goal and the opposing team had been pushing quite a bit during the game, but I didn't see the foul. I know that the referee in the game is one who rarely calls anything and it usually requires a player on the ground for a call.

Suns - Lakers

I turned on the Suns - Lakers game last night near the end of the third quarter hoping to see the Lakers close enough to make it a game down the stretch. It was a real shock that they were up by more than 20 at that point and then as many as 33 in the fourth quarter. The Lakers looked good and the Suns didn't. I don't know if you can learn anything from that game or not. I don't expect it to happen again the next time they play.

Celtics will be tough to beat in the East

I don't know how good the Wizards are, but they were a playoff team last year and Boston handled them very easily tonight. It's just the first game, but the Celtics look like a real contender in the East. There are not too many teams with three scorers like they've got, so they will be tough to beat.

Halloween pictures

I took pictures of the trick or treaters who came to our house last night. The pictures look good and I hope to get them online tonight. What surprised me was that no one said no to having their picture taken. I don't think I would have gotten the same reaction without the costumes. The other surprise was actually how few kids were out last night and how few houses were participating. There seemed to be fewer of both -- maybe the fires or maybe the foreclosures had something to do with it.

Air is getting close to normal

They said on the radio today that the air quality today was moderate, so that's a step in the right direction. I think it will be another week at least before it doesn't look smoggy, but today we had some fog and a little bit of precipitation and I'm sure that helps clean things up a little. Fires are still burning not far away, so things could change, but it seems safe to resume outdoor activities. I've seen more people walking the past few days and even though the schools have not resumed PE, I think it's time to get back outside. There may even be some good sunsets with all the particulate in the air.

AntiRSI

I have had lots of time with sore fingers, wrists and shoulders in the past few months due to my excessive use of a Macbook Pro. The laptop keyboard isn't so great when you are using it 8 hours a day. I get worn out by the end of the week and would like to take a break to save my body.

I came across the freeware applicaton AntiRSI which is a little program that reminds you to take breaks while you are at the computer. It is set up with a short - 15 second break -- every few minutes and then a longer break (3 minutes) every 50 minutes or so. Those might not be the exact numbers because I changed the settings and don't remember the defaults, but it seems like a good idea and it does seem to help. I don't know if there is any science behind the timing or duration of the breaks, but I like stopping every so often and I think it has helped. I've still got some soreness, but it's not as intense.

More bad air in Temecula

I hear people mowing lawns this morning, but I don't think the air is any better. The sky is still very gray and there's not much sun coming through. It looks like another day to stay inside. The forecast is for cooler weather starting today, but not by very much. What we really need is rain and that is not in the cards right now.

Leopard coming soon

I'm not planning on buying Leopard for my iMac tomorrow, but I am getting more interested in some of the new features. I think the Time Machine backup deal is going to be good, but there are a few others I'd like to have too. Usually these updates are no problem, but every once in a while there's a problem and you end up wasting a few hours fixing things. Better to wait and see what happens to others who are more eager.

Bad Air leads to school and soccer cancellations

No school tomorrow. No soccer on Saturday. Those make sense to me with the terrible air quality here. I just wonder how long they can keep the schools closed. It seems like even after the smoke goes away and the fires are out, whenever that may be, the air is going to be bad for days and days unless it rains. It's not likely to rain though, so the air quality should be bad for some time. I'd like to know how that decision is made by the school district because I suspect that students may end up back outside too early.

Red Sox - Rockies

Tonight's game is much better than last night's but I think the Rockies are going to come up a little short. Boston isn't going to score only 2 runs, but the Rockies don't look like they can do anything against Curt Schilling. I don't think Colorado can take 3 in a row at home, but I bet they win 2 and then Boston closes it out in the 6th game at home.

TemeculaWeather.com

TemeculaWeather.com says the index is 139 today. I'm not sure how that number differs from the 180 particulate number, but both are not good. They say conditions may continue to be bad through Saturday.

Particulates in the air -- how much is too much?

If the most polluted city in the world has an average particulate matter measurement of 169 micrograms per cubic meter (Cairo, Egypt), we are in bad shape here in Temecula. We have a reading of 180 today and some of the nearby cities are even as high as 220 or more. I wrote to the City of Temecula to ask what standard is used to determine whether people should stay inside -- is there one? What standard is used to close schools or cancel outdoor activities? I know the air is bad -- I can feel the burning in my throat even though I've been inside all day. I wonder what the long term effects of extended exposure to this are going to be? I wrote more about the measurements on my other blog. I'd like more information but I don't know where to get it.

Soccer season may have to be extended

I can't actually find out what kind of measurements are being used to determine how bad the air is here in Temecula, but since school is closed for 2 days and there hasn't been any soccer practice the entire week, it's got to be bad. I can smell the fire in my yard and I am many miles away, but I'd like some sense of just how bad it is. Particulate counts or whatever measurement is used would be helpful. I'd also like to know how long it takes for that stuff to go away. We have been getting headaches and irritated sinuses and throats, and we can't see too far. I wonder if there is some kind of home kit to measure air quality.

So if it's bad enough that you can't practice on Friday evening, how likely is it that you can play a game on Saturday morning? Not very likely, in my mind, but I'd like to have a way to quantify that. Considering that the main fields for the U-8 and U-10 games are being used as an evacuation center right now, it might be hard to play soccer unless everyone has cleared out by Friday.

Two weeks left, lots of photos to go

I usually create a DVD for each soccer team using the photos I've taken during the season. The past couple of years I also put together a poster which I've given to the coach. I've done the slideshow on DVD for several years now and they are starting to look very similar. I need some new ideas to make them look better, but I'm not sure what's out there short of moving up to Final Cut Express and customizing everything. I think there are better options on Windows, but my Windows PC probably won't run the software.

Kobe trade options

Marty Burns discusses five trade possibilities for the Lakers to dump Kobe Bryant. None of them are going to happen. Jerry Buss made this mistake with Shaq and that's why the team has been what they've been the past 2 years. He won't do that again.

Photojojo tips for fall photography

Photojojo is a great site for anyone with a camera. They've got 12 tips for fall photography this week. Lots of stuff about leaves. All of my neighbors have removed the trees from their front yards, so if they need any leaf pictures, they'll either have to come to my yard or wait until my leaves blow into their yard.

ESPN.com still irritating

I have stayed away from espn.com for 3 months now. Not even a peek at it and I never missed it. I got very tired of their autostarting video which offers no option to shut it off. It's still there and still as irritating as it was 3 months ago. I won't be back until next year. I can get my talking head sports news on ESPN using my television.

Soccer season winding down

We only have 4 games left in the season. Our U-10 team is looking like a good bet for the playoffs with a 5-1 record. The U-12 team needs to win a few in a row to have a chance, but they are playing better and looking pretty good. I always miss it at the end of the season and it seems like a long time until spring soccer starts in March. It's actually more than 4 months, which is a pretty long time. This year, we will try to train instead of just sitting around playing video games.

Watch that t-shirt on Southwest

I think it's interesting that Southwest Airlines doesn't have a dress code. Someone needs to tell the employees about it because they apparently don't know about it. There needs to be some limit as to what you can wear, but it can't be easy to decide what's offensive enough for the person to be told to change their clothes. What do you do if you've only got the clothes you are wearing?

Red Sox - Angels

The Angels are a local team, but I'm not much of a fan. I enjoy watching the Red Sox because they've got so many good hitters and they play in a unique ballpark. They look unbeatable at home right now and we'll see what happens in Anaheim/LA. I like their chances of making it to the World Series this year and maybe they'll play the DiamondBacks if they stay hot.

One thing I don't get is why they have to play the east coast games so late. It was about 1 AM in Boston when the game ended and I'm sure it takes some time to get out of there and to their plane. So they end up in California around 6 or 7 AM and then what happens? Do they sleep until 2:00 and then practice at 3 or do they just rough it on limited sleep and catch up the next night?

There was an interesting article about Manny Ramirez in the LA Times today. His workouts sound very interesting and really effective for a hitter.

Check out a Cardiff Bed and Breakfast

There's a Cardiff close to where I live, but the one in Wales is much more interesting. It's the home of the National Assembly of Wales as well as a famous castle. There are lots of nice hotels in Cardiff, but when you visit, you might prefer to say in a Cardiff bed and breakfast where you'll get nice accommodations with breakfast included. Prices are good and you'll usually get great service with a personal touch. Enjoy your visit to Cardiff even more in a B&B

PayPal plugin for RapidWeaver in beta

Something that is a real challenge is selling stuff on your website without giving away a huge cut of your profits. At least, that's what I've seen with most of the solutions out there. There's a new plugin for RapidWeaver which might make this much easier. Payloom is a PayPal shopping cart creator which works with RapidWeaver. You can check out the beta version right now.

With PayPal's 30 cents per transaction plus 2.9% fees, and the Payloom plugin, you could have a functioning online store set up very quickly. I just need some stuff to sell.

Canterbury B&Bs

If you are heading to Canterbury, you'll really enjoy the Canterbury Cathedral. I've been there myself and it's an impressive building and should be on your list of places to visit when you are in England. And while you are there, you should plan to stay in a Canterbury bed and breakfast like the Bulltown Farmhouse. It's only £30 per night for adults, £25 for 3 nights or more, and of course, breakfast is included. They've only got 3 bedrooms, so make your reservation early and don't miss out.

Jim Rome impersonation

I was changing channels last weekend when I saw the Frank Caliendo segment on one of the NFL pregame shows. I thought it was hilarious. He has the lingo and the mannerisms down pretty well and the intonation. Hilarious! I wonder how that goes over with the clones?

All day soccer

It's nice that we don't have any overlapping soccer games this season. We usually end up with one Saturday when both games are played at almost the same time a few miles apart. It makes it hard to watch both and to get both guys there on time. Tomorrow we have the opposite. The first game and the last game. One at 8 AM and the other at 3:05 PM, so our whole day will be involved with soccer. I think I will go out and get some pictures of referees for fun.

Try a B&B in Harrogate

Bed and Breakfasts aren't as common in the US as they are in England, which is too bad. I had some great experiences in B&Bs in England. It's a nice way to meet real people and it's a more personal experience than staying in a hotel. Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, is a town with a rich history and the architecture that goes with it. If you are thinking about a trip to Harrogagte, check out a Harrogate bed and breakfast before you go. It will make your trip a memorable one!

MacSurfer is empty - what happened?

MacSurfer is a great site. It collects Mac-related links every day and organizes them into categories. This makes it really easy to find any Mac/Apple items. The site has changed how it's organized over time, but it's still an excellent resource. It's blank today, though. No links, no nothing. What happened.

Cal could be #1 in 2 weeks

Two of my alma maters could work together to put one of them in the top spot in college football. If Florida can beat LSU tomorrow, and that is a big if, and then Cal can beat USC in two weeks, Cal should be #1. I don't know if they've ever been #1 before, certainly never as long as I can remember. I think it's going to take some luck for Florida to beat LSU and Cal's defense is going to need to play much better to beat USC, but it could happen.

Cal moving up

Cal was ranked #6 at the start of the day and since #5 and #3 have lost, they should be 4th. However, my other team, the Gators, is in trouble. They're #4, so if they lose, and I hope they don't, Cal could be #3. That would be about as high as they've been ranked as far as I can remember. I know they were up pretty high a few years back when they got a raw deal from the BCS, but I don't know if they were #3. I think I'd rather see Florida at 3 and Cal at 4.

How many menu items are there?

I called the attendance hotline to report that my son was staying home from school today. Usually you get a recording that says, press 1 for help, press 2 to leave a message, etc. This one said "press 1000 to leave a message", then on that one it said "press 1500 to record your message". Were 1-999 already used? That is ridiculous and not user friendly.

Mets look done

With all the talent on the NY Mets, it's hard to understand how they have faded so fast in the pennant race. I didn't think there was any way they wouldn't make it to the World Series this year, but it looks like they won't even make the playoffs. I heard that this would be the 2nd biggest collapse in baseball history -- maybe they can win their last two games and pull it out, but I think things may be out of their control at this point. They need some help from somebody else to get the wild card or the division. It may not happen.

School Food -- junk food is still around

Our local school banned any outside food for parties last year as part of the push for healthier food at school. Not everyone liked that, but I think it was a good idea. There's still room for improvement, but at least they don't serve a soft pretzel as an entree for lunch any more. That was one thing I never understood. Who eats a large pretzel for lunch?

I was talking with someone yesterday who does catering for events and he said he was thinking about selling food at fairs and that the kind of food most people preferred was junk food. That sells the best.

SFGate says that the state regulations on school food still allow lots of room for junk food, but that's only because the junk foods have had some fat and sugar taken out. A loophole that keeps the junk food producers happy along with the kids.

"The industry is committed to providing products that promote health and wellness," said Robert Earl, senior director for nutrition policy at the Grocery Manufacturers Association, a trade group. "Companies are doing everything from portion packs to baked chips."

In order to adhere to California nutrition requirements, snacks sold in middle and high schools can have no more than 250 calories; in elementary schools, snacks must be 175 calories or less. No more than 35 percent of the snack's calories can come from fat and no more than 10 percent from saturated fat. Sugar is limited to 35 percent by weight.

Fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes, nut butters, seeds, eggs and cheese are excluded from the regulations, as is food brought from home.

Individually sold entrees such as pizza, burritos and hamburgers can't be more than 400 calories, with a maximum of 4 grams of fat per 100 calories. The law does not limit how many snacks or entrees students can buy at a time.

In addition, half of the drinks sold on high school campuses must be juice, water and low-fat or non-fat milk. In 2009 all soda will be banned (it already is banned from elementary and middle schools). The sale of sugary athletic drinks is still permitted.

Women's World Cup

The Women's World Cup games I've seen have been very exciting. I only wish the games were on a little later here in California. At 6:30 AM I can catch the last part of the 2nd half. Brazil looks unbeatable, but Germany hasn't given up a goal yet, so the final should be a good one. We have our own soccer game at the same time, so we'll have to settle for watching the highlights.

Chargers not the same team

The Chargers had the Packers with about 2 minutes left and should have beaten them. You can say don't blame Norv Turner all you want, and that it's really a problem on defense, but the offense isn't the same. They've got almost the same guys, and their primary playmakers are the same, but the results aren't there. Norv Turner is the guy who calls the plays and something is just not working so far. It's a long season, and the next three games should be wins, which would make them 4-2 with some momentum. We'll see what happens.

KPCC - This American Life

I was in and out of the car and in and out of radio reception tonight, but I heard parts of a really interesting program on KPCC. It must have been a segment of This American Life based on the schedule. I never heard the title or ending but it was a kind of personal family history done by the daughter of the dad who was the focus of the story along with his many children and wives. I want to go find it and listen to the whole thing.

Two defeats in soccer

We had losses in both soccer games for the first time this season. After our 2-0 defeat this morning in the cold and rain to the second place team, I was surprised we didn't get rained out in the second game. Unfortunately, we lost that one 4-0, with 2 cheapo goals among the 4. Not a good day.

Rainy Day Soccer

It rarely rains in Temecula and I can't remember much rain at all during September in years past. It's raining today though, and our 8 AM game was played mostly in the rain and cold. It was less than 60 degrees during the game. The slick ball didn't help as many of the kicks didn't go far and there were some balls slipping through the goalie's hands. We suffered our first loss, 2-0. The game was close, with no score at halftime. The other team came through with a couple of goals in the 3rd quarter. One seemed to be helped by the wet ball and on the other one, it looked to me like an offsides call was missed. We didn't have many shots, and the other team played well. They will now move into first and we should drop down to 4th or so. It's a 10 game season and we'll be in the playoffs at the end, I'm confident.

Some politicians are criminals

It seems like these guys who live in one town and claim to live in another town are everywhere in the Bay Area. If you really live in Oakland, why not say so? It's hard to find a place to live in Berkeley, but if you don't live there, you shouldn't pretend that you do. What's the problem with moving to the city you represent?

(09-21) 14:32 PDT OAKLAND - Berkeley rent board member Chris Kavanagh was hauled out of an Oakland coffee shop in handcuffs today and charged with fraud and perjury for allegedly claiming a false residence in Berkeley to hold office there.

Kavanagh, 49, was booked into the North County Jail in downtown Oakland on $100,000 bail, while Oakland police and Alameda County district attorney's investigators armed with a search warrant rummaged through his rented Rockridge cottage in search of evidence.

Alexa rating - how does that work?

While my Google page rank for my other weblog has stayed at 3, my Alexa rating has gone from 300,000 to 1,700,000. That's the wrong direction! I don't really understand the value of the Alexa rating at all. It seems to be pretty arbitrary or at least very misleading.

Barry Bonds moving on

It can't be any surprise that the Giants aren't going to sign Barry Bonds for next year. He broke the home run record while the team went down the drain, so they need to make changes. Barry would make a great DH in Yankee stadium, but since he lives in SoCal, maybe the Angels would like to have him. I don't know what other options he might have -- Detroit with Jim Leland. Probably not the Oakland A's.

Soccer photos using Polaroid theme

I set up a couple of galleries with the Polaroid theme (here and here). They look pretty good and it was easy to do. I'd like to customize it a little bit more but haven't had time to do that yet. A kitchen table background would be a nice change, I think, and I'd like to use a different font. I've changed the font but still looking for a formica desktop/wallpaper to use.

Fun photo gallery

The Polaroid Gallery is a nice looking, interactive Flash photo gallery. It's pretty easy to set up and fun to use, although you'll need to have your own server and edit the xml file to make it work. It puts your images into a Polaroid looking frame and spreads them out on a wood-like background, as if they were laying on a table. You can move them around and click through them. Developed by Christopher Einarsrud, you can find it here.

Slideshow Pro gallery working

I finally got Slideshow Pro working properly. There are still a few things to work out, but overall, I was able to create a gallery and add 4 albums. Just in time for the update to the software which will change how it works quite a bit, but at least I won't be lost completely. There seems to be a little more control over things available in the update. That's a good thing. They are also switching to a more secure installation where you can only use the application on one server. That's enough for me, and if I was able to find someone who wanted me to set one up for them, $25 for the software isn't too much.

Who would pretend to be a priest?

Priests in the Catholic church have gotten their share of bad publicity in the past few years. They've earned most, if not all of it with various scandals. However, I guess being a priest is still impressive enough to some people that it will get you into a Notre Dame football game for free. Where did he get the uniform?

Hard drive power supply just quits

I had a nice hard drive case I bought a couple of years ago -- it holds two drives and was very quiet. It was so quiet that I didn't notice that it wasn't even running any longer. Either the power supply just quit or maybe the power cable went bad, but either way it's not working and one of the drives had most of my music on it and the other one had quite a few pictures. Time for another case.

PhotoReviewer 2.1

I took about 550 pictures yesterday. Many of them weren't good for technical reasons -- out of focus, missing heads, nothing interesting in the shot, etc. Loading all those bad images into either iPhoto or Lightroom is time consuming and slows down the whole process of working with the good shots. PhotoReviewer 2.1 is an application which is designed to solve that problem. I like the way it works -- you can either use the Veto or Approve method to rate all the images, or you can set up specific folders and send images to those folders. The second method is an easy way to pick and organize the images you want to keep at the same time. I hadn't tried the application until today because I figured being able to rate the images in the photo organizing application would be good enough, but as I'm accumulating more images, the amount of space taken up by bad ones becomes an issue. And if I move up to a 12 megapixel camera, those bad shots will take up even more space.

Disappearing referee

During one of our soccer games yesterday a weird thing happened. At halftime the head referee left the field and went somewhere. And she didn't come back when the game should have resumed. No one knew where she was, so after waiting about 10 minutes, they moved one of the side judges to referee and got another side judge and started the game. A few minutes later the referee came back and she took over at the start of the last period.

Alpha 700 shots

There's more images and discussion about the new Alpha 700 at the PhotoClub Alpha site. A detailed discussion of the hardware is included, along with close up shots. I like the lens discussion, which also is in-depth. More images to come.

Lifeknot - Why not?

LifeKnot is a social networking site based around common activities. If you are looking for a companion for your next hike or ski trip or whatever you like to do, check it out. Browse activity profiles at Lifeknot.com and you may find a friend or someone special.

Rick Ankiel story

I was thinking last night that the Rick Ankiel story has to be one of the most unbelievable comebacks in sports. The guy went from a pitcher who couldn't deal with the pressure to a slugger who is just hitting the ball like crazy. Unfortunately, it seems like HGH may have played a part in his quick transformation. Since it wasn't outlawed by baseball when he got it and there is probably no proof he used it, I don't think anything will happen. I'd like to get more information about how long the impact of taking things like HGH and steroids last. Do they wear off after a year or is it just a matter of building up your body more quickly during that time and then keeping that? It does seem like some guys are smaller, like Sammy Sosa and Pudge Rodriguez, but who knows?

Apparently Ankiel says it was all prescribed stuff from a doctor. Time will tell.

Traffic hasn't changed

I was away from work for 5 weeks, but going back gave me a rude reminder of how little I enjoy the commute. The last 3-4 miles to work are just brutal and then those same 3-4 miles are much worse when I leave for home. The freeway construction doesn't seem to make much progress and there are more and more cars and trucks clogging the road. I'll bet that once the construction is done, the road will be similar to the way it is now -- very very slow during commute times. I need to negotiate for more telecommuting time with my new boss.

Sweating while you work

It's 100 degrees outside today. No sign of thunderstorms or much in the way of clouds. Very uncomfortable. Inside, people have the lights off to stay cooler, but since the hallways are not air conditioned, it's very warm moving from A to B. Even the bathrooms don't have A/C. Not a relaxing environment.

Sphere links

I added the Sphere plugin to my other weblog since they have one for self-hosted Wordpress sites. It creates a list of other blogs and sites which may be relevant to an individual blog post on your site. It doesn't take up much real estate and everything is automated, but I'll have to see how useful the links are. It seems geared towards politics since they give you an option to include liberal only or conservative only links as well as all kinds.

What is Sphere?

Sphere has something to do with the blogger links available now on CNN.com. I signed up for their free widget and got an email back saying they were so busy it might take a few weeks for them to get back to me. A few weeks? Sounds like they need more employees. I'm still not sure what they do other than "connecting mainstream and social media," which sounds like a good thing.

109 degrees

The high today in Temecula was 109, which is probably as hot as it's been during the eight years I've lived here, although there may have been a few 110 degree days at one point. Either way, it was very hot and it's still 94 degrees about 90 minutes after the sun went down. It feels like Palm Springs, but it must have been even hotter there today. Looks like it's going to be a long, hot Labor Day weekend with most of the daylight hours spent inside.

I went for a walk today at around 9 AM and it was almost unbearable. Not sure I'll be trying that tomorrow.

First day of soccer

We had a very hot first day to the youth soccer season with the temperature close to 100 degrees for the afternoon game at 1:20. By 3:00, things were cooling off fast and our second game was much more comfortable and successful. We lost the first game 4-2, but won the second 9-0. No games next weekend due to Labor Day.

In a first for me, I have my photos from both games online on the first day of the season, this time, in two forms. One is in the Gallery photo album format here while the other two are here and here using Simple Viewer. I prefer the Simple Viewer interface, but the size of the images is smaller and there is more work involved in putting that one together. It may be time to try out Slideshow Pro which creates a very nice photo browser.

iPhone unlocked

I heard this story on the radio this morning and also just saw it online. The iPhone has been unlocked, meaning you could buy one and use it with whatever carrier you choose, not just AT&T, and not just in the US. You wonder if Apple will try to stop it through software updates or legal action, or both. I don't have an iPhone and don't plan to get one due to my lack of interest in phones in general, but I might be more inclined to consider one if I didn't have to continue to go with AT&T. My contract expires next month and I look forward to getting poor service from some other carrier for a couple of years.

pe.com and new media - not a good impression

Newspapers have to adjust to changing times and competition from television and the web. Some do it better than others. PE.com is a local paper which has added some new media elements to their website, but you have to wonder what they were thinking. I checked out their video clip -- 10 questions with Stanford's Toby Gerhart. The video starts with a short and loud car commercial for Corona Chevrolet which is readable and has some motion graphics which look fine. Once the interview with Toby Gerhart starts however, we enter the dimension of overcompressed video which is so overcompressed that some of the questions, show in white on a black background, are completely unreadable. It's also impossible to see Toby's face because of the compression artifacts. The video is such poor quality that I wouldn't go back and watch another one. At least it plays directly on the web page.

The other new media feature on pe.com which is poorly done is the "podcast" feature available for every story. The first time I saw this I wondered how they could afford to create podcasts for all the stories each day. The answer is that they don't. The "podcasts" actually use speech synthesis to read the text of the story. Not something I'd go out of my way to listen to, but it might serve a purpose for someone who is visually impaired. Better than nothing but not much better.

Bathroom conversation

Last week we took a trip to Catalina island from Dana Point. Expensive and short, but it was fun. However, I had an encounter in the restroom prior to the boat ride which was very bizarre. I was in the only stall in the men's room and the bathroom was otherwise empty. Some guy came in and tried to open the stall door by shaking it. Then he said "I guess someone's in there" to himself. He waited about 30 seconds then announced loudly, "hey can you speed it up in there?" I ignored him only because I couldn't imagine that he was talking to me. 15 seconds later he yelled again "you need to speed it up in there! People are waiting." I don't think I've ever spoken to someone from a bathroom stall before, but I said "I've been in there for 2 minutes. Wait your turn." I left about a minute later and shook my head as I walked past him. I'm assuming that he had some issues which were not going to be resolved through any discussion I could have had with him.

White supremacists have to pay up (maybe)

Eight years ago I was on hold on the telephone waiting to talk with a real estate agent in Temecula when the local news came on. It mentioned that a number of local men were arrested in a white supremacist attack on a black man. Hearing that made me wonder if I really wanted to move to Temecula. Today, eight years later, that case was in the news again as the convicted attackers and their families have been ordered to pay the victim restitution. Who knows if he'll ever get the $5.6 million, but I hope he does. Fortunately, there have not been too many more cases like this around here recently, although there have been some.

Oakland Crimespotting site

I don't live in Oakland any more, but I still think the Oakland Crimespotting website is a very interesting use of technology. This is the kind of things that police departments or departments of public affairs could do in large cities to keep citizens informed. I know that I would like to be able to get an RSS feed or email updates related to crime in the places I live and work.

Gothscene.com for goths looking for dates

Where I live, in Temecula, there isn't much in the way of subcultures, just lots of conservatives and their families. Goths are few and far between, so if I was a goth looking for goth dating, I think it would be tough to find suitable goth guys or girls. Gothscene is a dating site for people looking for goths. It's free to join and to create a profile with a description and image and contact information. Check out the descriptions or photos and you can send a message or a flirt when you find someone interesting. The descriptions on this site are much more interesting than the ones I see on other dating sites I've looked at. I don't know if that has to do with the goth theme or not, but the people here are interesting and you may not run into them every day, but you can easily find them online at gothscene.

Deposition Day tomorrow

Tomorrow morning I have to give a deposition in a lawsuit my wife and I filed in regard to an auto accident 2.5 years ago. We tried to negotiate with the insurance company but they never made a reasonable offer to settle the case considering the medical bills and other costs associated with the accident. That was a big disappointment. Now we have lawyers involved and more money. I'm not sure what to expect tomorrow and I'm trying to make sure I have all the facts straight from something that happened a relatively long time ago. Since the deposition is given under oath, I want to be sure I don't contradict anything I said in the statement I already submitted.

PC laptop

We have almost all Macs in our house -- 1 Dell PC I bought 4 years ago is the exception. I think we have 8 or 9 Macs although not all are in use any longer. My sons like to play Runescape on the PC, so one of them decided he wanted a laptop. The lowest end Macbook would be close to $1000 new, so that didn't seem like a good option. Another possibility is to replace the hard drive in a 12 inch G4 Powerbook. I already have the drive, so there would only be the time involved in doing the work, something I've been putting off for months. A third option is a PC laptop. There are quite a few of them at around 500 - $600, but in most cases they don't seem like they would do a whole lot more than the G4 laptop. The other thing is that these PC laptops don't seem to come with much in the way of software. Most have Windows Vista Home Premium, although some have the Basic edition. Added to that is the trialware and usually a limited version of Microsoft Works. Not much of a deal. I think you get more with a Mac laptop, although I could download freeware/OSS like Picasa and Open Office and get what would be reasonable on the PC. It just seems like you don't get too much for the low price.

Souplantation vs Fresh Choice

Souplantation and Fresh Choice are very similar cafeteria style restaurants. They offer salad, soup, pizza, bread and desserts for one price. Eat as much as you like. At one time, both had locations in Southern California, but at that time, I lived in Northern California. Around the time we moved to SoCal, Fresh Choice closed all their SoCal locations, so now we only get to go there on visits to NorCal. While they were very similar a few years ago, at least in my memory, now there is a huge difference to me. Fresh Choice has more choices, better quality food, and a nicer eating environment. Souplantation has fewer choices and they've raised their prices regularly without adding much to the menu. For vegetarians, Fresh Choice is much better. The only problem is that the closest one is 350 miles away.

Runescape obsession

Online role playing games are very open ended, so they lend themselves to lots and lots of time spent playing the games. World of Warcraft, of course, is the biggest, and seems to cater to a more adult audience. Runescape has a younger set of players, including both of my sons. I think they would play it 24 hours a day if they could, as would many of their friends, all of whom are male. What's been different this summer with Runescape is the number of real life friends who have tried to scam my sons as well as the bad luck they've had trusting anyone who they've met online through the game. It doesn't surprise me that people try to trick others to get ahead in the game, but the outright stealing and dishonesty among real life friends does bother me. Dealing with people online in an environment where it's difficult to establish trust is an invitation for people to be dishonest if they are so inclined, but when the people are known to you in real life, it's a different story.

iMovie 08 tutorials

Jim Heid may have more to write about on his blog now that iLife 08 is out. Or maybe he'll be too busy working on his book. Either way he's got an insider perspective on what's new and what's out in iMovie 08. Plus he helped with the tutorials on the new version.

iMovie 08

I read David Pogue's review of iMovie '08 in the NY Times. He says it should be called something else since it's not an evolution of iMovie but a different application which serves a different purpose. Reading the comments on Pogue's article and elsewhere, there do seem to be quite a few people who really like the new iMovie. It works with hard drive and flash media based camcorders and does seem to be aimed at a more casual kind of user who wants to put something together quickly. Others have pointed out the lack of audio editing and timeline features and maybe it is the case that Apple wants people to use Final Cut Express for those features. For me, the ease of use with iMovie kept me from spending any time on Final Cut Express. I could do what I wanted to do, for the most part, with iMovie, so I never bothered to learn FCE.

Fake Steve Jobs aka that guy at Fortune magazine even chimes in with some commentary about the Pogue review. It does make you wonder if Pogue will continue to get the insider stuff from Apple. He should, because at least he's honest with his opinion.

Mattresses from galleryfurniture.com

Furniture stores tend to be very large because they have to display lots of items to attract lots of customers. My town has very few furniture stores, but shopping online is a nice alternative. Lots of choices that you can browse through very quickly makes it a good experience. If you are looking for a mattress, the Tempur-Pedic brand is one I recommend. I've had a Tempur-Pedic mattress for about five years now and I really like it. The memory foam has a unique feeling to it and although it's heavier than a regular mattress, I find it to be much more comfortable. I've gotten so used to it that I sometimes have trouble sleeping on hotel beds which are often very firm. Gallery Furniture has a wide selection of Tempur-Pedic mattresses as well as lots of other furniture for any room in your house and they offer same day delivery within 100 miles and next day delivery within 500 miles of their stores! That's pretty amazing. At most places I shop for large items I'm happy to get my stuff within a week. You can also order from them if you live even farther away and they'll deliver on purchases greater than $20,000. If you are interested in Houston furniture, visit the Gallery Furniture store in person.

iMovie plugins

Among the many strange choices made with iMovie '08 is the lack of plugins for the program. I have a few plugins for previous version of the program and always wanted a few more if I could afford them. It's not clear whether or not there is a way to create plugins for iMovie '08 or not. The other thing I'm not seeing is a price cut on the plugins for the older versions of iMovie. If that software isn't going to work with the new version, the customer base for the plugins probably isn't getting any larger, so a nice discount on the plugins might spur some sales.

Educational price of iLife 08 not such a bargain

Maybe my memory is failing me, but I recall paying about $49 for previous versions of Apple's iLife with the educational discount. iLife '08 came out recently and the list price is $79 while the educational price is $71. Doesn't seem like much of a deal really. The same is true for the iWork package.

It sounds like you can purchase iWork for $49 by downloading the trial version and then buying a serial number. I think I will wait and see if they carry the boxed versions of this software at the campus bookstore when I go back to work in a couple of weeks. In the past they have offered an even better deal than the educational discount.

What happened to sports?

There is hardly a professional sport in the US right now that doesn't have some kind of scandal. Baseball has the never ending steroids issue with Barry Bonds getting ready to break the home run mark. Basketball has the cheating referee and football has the Michael Vick dogfighting. The Tour de France has its own doping scandals, with riders dropping out daily it seems and even the UFC had a steroid scandal, as did the WWE which may technically not be a sport but it's an athletic entertainment event at least. NASCAR has issues from time to time with modified engines, although the drivers don't take drugs to do better. Golf seems okay. I don't know about tennis. Maybe this is a good time for soccer to become more popular in the US, with David Beckham arriving and no scandals so far.

Simple Viewer

I like the slideshow that you can create using Simple Viewer. It looks good, works well and is easy to use, plus with the right tool you can customize it to a certain degree. It's free and the free version does the job very well. I saw it first on the Oakland Tribune newspaper site and was a little surprised that they use the free version. Actually I was a little more surprised that the Oakland Tribune was still around, but couldn't they afford to pay the $45 for the pro version and add some custom features?

Year round football

I never noticed it until this week, but pro and college football don't have any weeks off on ESPN now. They have the NFL Live show on all year. It seems like the NFL draft was way overblown in terms of coverage, but after that it hasn't slowed down. You have mini camp, trade talk, the lead up to the pre-season and then the season and playoffs. It pretty much never ends. I guess the same is true with the NBA and with soccer worldwide.

Tire pressure

My tire pressure was way too low on the front two tires of my Civic Hybrid. I inflated the tires this morning and although I seemed to get better mileage before I got on the freeway, the overall result wasn't that different. I got 58 mpg on the 40 mile trip to work. I think I should be closer to 70 on the way home, assuming I can find a truck to draft behind.

Matt Barnes

Matt Barnes is playing like an all-star for the Warriors. I know he bounced around with a few times and played for the Clippers for a little while, but when did he get so good? It may just be that he fits in really well with the crazy style the Warriors play, but he sure has done well for them. I like his hustle and he's really become a good three point shooter.

Where'd my photos go?

My photo site seems to have been down lately - http://www.temeculatalk.net/photos. It's running today but maybe that's what I get for my $20 for the first year of service. It does always seem to be slow to load.

Suns will go all the way

I think this may be the year the Suns get to the finals and win it. I hope so. Dallas does not look good and is struggling to get out of the first round. The Suns look hard to beat when they play their game and I think they can deal with the Spurs and the Mavericks and then whoever wins the East. If I had the money, I'd drive to Phoenix just to see a playoff game.

Online Memorials at Registry of Life

Many people put so much of their lives online now in social networking sites, blogs, web sites, photo sharing sites and more. Using the web as a place for memorials is a nice way to keep important memories alive and available for others to share. Registry of Life is an Online memorial site which lets you create a nice web page with lots of information, photos, links, a timeline and a guest book. There is a one time fee of $49.95 when you set up your memorial.



Press Release:

Seattle, WA. – The passing of a loved one is difficult but can bring many an opportunity to find meaning and strength. Registry of Life.com – a new Web site developed by clinical psychologist Dr. Wayne Dees – provides an interactive way to share memories, stories, and photos of loved ones long after they are gone.

Registry of Life.com is an online memorial honoring and celebrating the lives of loved ones who have passed away. Providing a link from the past to the present, the Registry provides a legacy in words, pictures and even music accessible by family, friends and future generations.

www.registryoflife.com allows members to create a personal URL for their loved ones and is an easy and beautiful way to continue the legacy of those closest to their hearts. Members can create a customized Web site that includes a photo album with slideshow, a life timeline, music, customized design templates, and a guestbook. It also provides optional password protection to allow personal memories to stay personal. The one-time fee opens the door to a lifetime dedication and allows families and friends to upload memories, share stories, and find strength together, forever.

“As a result of counseling many grieving individuals and understanding how difficult it is for many to tolerate the painful emotions of mourning – it’s wonderful to have a place where families can honor their loved ones, share their memories, and continue their legacy,” explains Dr. Wayne Dees, creator of Registry of Life.com.




Registry of Life.com also features articles on bereavement and loss as well as recommended reading to help individuals cope with the normal but often difficult emotions that arise when dealing with loss: shock, denial, anger, guilt, sadness, and depression, while also helping the griever to move on through awareness, acceptance, and hope.

Registry of Life.com includes suggested readings that can help individuals find a productive means of coping, and more importantly, help their loved ones live on forever through their memories and images. Using the Registry can also be a great tool to help educate future generations about their family’s history.

“The Registry can help individuals in coping with the grieving process and to tell the life stories of their loved ones in words, pictures and music,” adds Dees. “We want people to have the opportunity and ability to commemorate the accomplishments and memories that celebrate life rather than focusing on loss.”

About Registry of Life.com:
Registry of Life.com is the creation of Dr. Wayne Dees, a clinical psychologist licensed in the state of Washington and a member of the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Bereavement. Dr. Dees has worked extensively in the areas of bereavement, grief and loss. He holds a masters degree in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, CA, and a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Spalding University in Louisville, KY. The American Psychological Association approves both programs. Dr. Dees provides individual, couples, and group counseling in Seattle, WA. The Registry of Life.com is $49.95 after free 14-day trial period. For more information about Registry of Life.com, please visit http://www.registryoflife.com/ or email info@registryoflife.com.

Adobe CS3 options a little confusing

I'd like to upgrade my copies of Photoshop and Flash and get Adobe Lightroom. Adobe has an offer for Photoshop and Lightroom and another one which includes Flash and Photoshop, but the only way to do what I want is to probably buy the Photoshop & Lightroom deal and then buy Flash separately. When you do that, you pay so much money that it seems better to buy one of the package deals and purchase Lightroom by itself. That might be the better move, but there are too many deals and packages that it's all a little confusing to me. And some of them aren't available yet, which makes it even more confusing.

Too busy for blogging

I haven't gone so long in between blog posts in about a year. I got busier at work and at home with the start of soccer season and I'm also enrolled in a photography course, so there's not much free time lately. I think I've got things a little better under control, so I hope to get back to a more regular blogging schedule.

OS X 10.5 not coming until Fall

I guess it's not a big deal, but the next major update of Mac OS X is delayed until October. It seems odd that the reason is that so many resources have gone into getting the iPhone ready for release in June, but Apple isn't really so big that they've got enough people to manage all these products at the same time. At least that's my guess. I'm disappointed a little bit because this will also delay the purchase of new hardware unless they offer a free upgrade on the software. It will also delay the new version of iLife and possibly other software. Six months isn't that long, but in technology time, it's a whole generation.

False precision

I think the thing that bothered me about my experience with the chiropractor was the false precision involved in some of the discussion. Saying that with a pinched nerve I was at 45% function didn't impress me. No x-rays, no real way of knowing what was wrong other than my own description. And then saying that it would take exactly 57 visits to cure the problem and it would just happen to cost $4000 seemed pretty dubious. That plus the application to finance the bill over 5 years wasn't what I had expected when I went there.

Putting ice on my back several times a day and stretching has really improved things to the point where I can move around without too much pain, although I can't sit for extended periods without my back getting tight.

Bad back

I did something to my back on Monday morning and wasn't able to stand up straight for two days and I still am having trouble moving around. I can't drive and can't do much of anything. I visited a chiropractor today, and that helped a little, but I'm not sure I've got the money to go back 57 more times, as was recommended. That was a pretty surprising recommendation based on the little bit of consultation involved. I've had good luck with chiropractors in the past, but they were also covered by my health insurance. Now, I don't have any coverage for chiropractic and I don't think I can spend $4k on that.

Florida - Ohio State

I picked Florida from the start and figured they would play Ohio State. I think Ohio State has a slight edge at point guard with Mike Conley and if Greg Odom plays well they could do well inside, but the Gators have too much for them. I think the experience will also make a difference if the game is close. I don't expect it to be very close though.

More Apple TV

One thing that is clear from using the Apple TV is that it's helpful to keep your iTunes library organized. I've got too many playlists and too many videos which won't play back on the Apple TV. I'm not sure that converting them is going to be a good idea because of the decline in quality.

It also looks like you can get access to your iPhoto library or your Aperture library, but not both at the same time. You could turn off one or the other, but not have both active at the same time. Not sure I like that feature either.

Apple TV first impressions

I finally set up my Apple TV today. It was easy to get it up and running, although even though I have used iTunes since it came out, I was not familiar with the Devices list, which is just a way of saying the column on the left side of the screen. Once I figured that out and entered the right info, everything worked pretty well. I had some trouble with accessing a few of the movie trailers -- they either loaded very slowly or not at all. Others loaded quickly and played fine. I watched some TV content -- free stuff from the iTunes store. It wasn't in HD, but it looked fine from across the room, just not close up.

My chosen podcasts seemed to fill up the entire Apple TV, so I turned that feature off and just streamed them which worked nicely. I did load 450 photos I took yesterday from my Aperture library and wasn't as excited about that as I wanted to be. The images can only be viewed as a slide show which has no manual advance feature, so it doesn't work well as a way to review images. Even if it had manual advance, it doesn't allow you to rate the images. That would be great since it's nice to see the pictures on a big screen. I do like the idea that I can look at things I've produced without creating DVDs, so that alone should make the Apple TV something I'll use quite a bit, along with the podcasts and easy access to the iTunes library.

Apple TV Hacking

I haven't even set up my Apple TV yet, so I'm not planning on any upgrades or software modifications, but it's nice to know that other people have figured out quite a bit in the short time the Apple TV has been around. Dan Frakes at MacWorld has a very detailed step by step guide with photos on how to swap the hard drive. It's not quite as easy as just replacing the drive, but it looks like it's a reasonable thing to do if you've got the time -- it takes about 16 hours to copy the disk image from the original to the new drive...

I'd just like to get mine hooked up and working this weekend.

Phoenix - Golden State

I don't think there has ever been a Don Nelson team which was known for defense and although they outscored the Suns 45-33 in the first quarter tonight, I'm still picking the Suns to win. The Suns have already cut the lead in half and they can get hot and really put up the points quickly. The Warriors were hot but I don't expect them to stay hot like that all game.

Confirming the info

Last week a neighbor told me that a rape had taken place just a few minutes before I drove past a swimming pool about 2 blocks from my house. I had no way to confirm this so I waited to read about it in the newspaper. I finally found the article today and it turned out that a woman was assaulted while jogging about 1/2 mile from my house and was able to fight off the guy and run away. The attacker was later caught. So the facts were a little different than the neighbor had gotten them. Maybe he listens to a police scanner, otherwise I have no idea how he would have known about it.

Food Bloggers

Blogging about food is pretty popular. SFGate says that some restaurants don't appreciate some of the amateurs who post reviews. Personally, I'd rather hear from a few regular people who offer a balanced review than from a professional who may or may not be able to relate to people who don't eat in restaurants all the time.

If you think restaurant critics from mainstream newspapers, television and magazines are tough on the food industry, you haven't spent much time in cyberspace. Online message boards, gossip columns, city restaurant guides and food blogs are proliferating and having a profound influence on where consumers spend their eating dollars. The once-genteel discipline of restaurant reviewing has turned into a free-for-all, celebrated by some as a new-world democracy but seen by others as populist tyranny.

Gators still rolling

I am sticking with my pick of my alma mater, the University of Florida, to win the NCAA tournament. It's not going to be easy, but I think they have the best starting five and the most experience, which should be enough to win it again. Ohio State would be a tough opponent, but Florida has the inside and outside game to beat them. I don't think either UCLA or UNC or Georgetown can beat Florida, but anything can happen in one game and all the remaining teams have the players to win. I think that depth has been the difference between the teams that almost beat the #1 seeds and those teams that won, but at this point, experience will matter more.

Soccer season starts

The spring soccer season has started for our family. It's co-ed in the spring and usually the girls are a little better than the boys on these teams. It seems to be that way, anyway. One of my sons is on a team with 7 girls and 4 boys. The other guy's team is split 6 and 6, I think. Games start in about 9 days. It looks like one team may be competitive and the other one may be in it for the fun.

Lakers moving up

I'm not sure that the Lakers can win in the long run with Kobe Bryant scoring half their points every game, but they are looking much better now. With Lamar Odom and Luke Walton in the lineup, there is much better ball movement as well as two other guys who can score. And Kwame Brown is playing good defense and rebounding, so the team looks more like it did early in the season. Maybe it was just the injuries that caused them to lose so many games recently.

Candace Parker

I don't watch a lot of women's basketball, but I did see some NCAA tournament highlights this morning. Candace Parker looked very good -- she had 30 points, 12 rebounds and seemed pretty dominant. I think she was the same player who won the high school dunk contest a few years back. Ian Thomsen says she may be able to turn pro early, which would be interesting. I thought the WNBA only drafted women who had completed their eligibility, but apparently that's not the case. When I saw the headline I thought maybe she was leaving early for the NBA, but I guess we'll have to wait a little longer for that to happen.

No glitter on Twitter

I don't get the whole Twitter thing. I have no desire to be connected all day long and updating every little thing that I am doing. I can see some use for it, but it seems ridiculous in most cases. If you had a device that updated your location and that could be shared with a group of people, that might have some use, but not if I was an employee and my employer was tracking me. Maybe not if I'm a child and my parent wants it either. So maybe it's not clear to me what use it has.

Ohio State - Xavier

I don't understand why CBS keeps putting up a graphic which shows the history of the games between Ohio State and Xavier. They've played 3 times since 1933. The last game was in 1984, 23 years ago. They've established that Ohio State doesn't want to play Xavier, so they don't put them on their schedule. What else is there to say about it? Those games have no relationship to today's game. There's no tradition and the only rivalry you can cite is because Thad Motta used to be the coach of Xavier and is now coaching Ohio State.

Given that, it's nice to see Xavier leading in the game and giving Ohio State all they can handle.

Lakers fading fast

The Lakers are not looking like a playoff team any longer. They've tanked since before the All Star break with no signs of that changing. With a few more losses, they'll be looking up at 8th place and trying to hang on. Maybe they should just play the younger guys and wait for the lottery. Things started out great this year but they could end up worse than last season. I have lot interest in watching them now and would rather wait for a Suns game.

GTD apps on OS X

There seem to be lots of to-do managers and Getting Things Done applications on OS X lately. iGTD, which may have the best name, or at least one that's very easy to remember, seems to get 2 or 3 updates a day this week. It's free, but so is Actiontastic, which is also now open source. I need one of these which will allow me to access my things to do from two computers. It sounds like Actiontastic will do that eventually, but not yet. Maybe I can store the info on a thumb drive for now and do it that way.

Temecula getting smoggy

I looked on the Best Places to Live site and was surprised at how low Temecula was ranked. The one thing that stood out was air quality. Now, I chose Temecula over Riverside because the air quality is quite a bit better there. I can visually see the difference most days and let's face it, Riverside has some of the worst air in the U.S. and that's not going to change anytime soon. The brown layer I see as I drive to work is not appealing at all. But maybe Temecula's air is getting worse. I have noticed more smog lately and I didn't see it before. More cars and people might make a difference, but there is usually a nice ocean breeze around 3 PM to cool things down and clear it out. What happened?

Gators should win again

Stanford is out, Cal never got in, so I'll have to go with my other alma mater, the U of F, to win the tournament. They've got the same starters as last year and just like last year they are hot at the end of the season. I think they can do it again. There are some other good teams, but I'm betting on the Gators.

Tournament starts tomorrow

I know they had that play in game yesterday, but that's kind of a gimmick. The winner gets to lose on Friday. Stanford is actually playing in the first game against Louisville. Cardinal against Cardinals. I'd like to see Stanford win but I don't think they have much of a chance. Their team is a little young and if the big guys get in foul trouble they will have problems. Louisville is a better team and should win with no problem.

10.4.9 update

Apple released what should be the last OS X update before the next big update, 10.5. I'm waiting on this one because the last time I jumped on a big update, I didn't have smooth sailing. This one seems to include a lot of photo related stuff, which is nice, but I think I will wait a few days before I go ahead. At least I do have my laptop backed up, so it wouldn't be too bad if it went wrong.

58 mpg

I was able to get 58 miles per gallon on the way to work today. I'm not sure what the temperature was, but it was pretty hot, so driving without the A/C wasn't ideal. I'm not sure I can do that during the summer. I'm not sure where the extra two miles per gallon came from. The only thing I did was wash the car over the weekend. Still need to check the air pressure and the oil needs to be changed.

Poker Tables at CardroomSupply

Do you need a nice poker table for your weekly poker games? Cardroom Supply sells poker tables with free shipping on orders over $100, but they've also got gaming supplies and poker chips. Their selection of poker tables is tremendous, the prices are low, and 90% of the tables are in stock and ready to ship the day you order or the next day. Check out their March Madness sale and save 5% on your order. Cardroom supply is the place to go if you are serious about setting up a nice poker room.

A few similarities

I was watching the highlights of the Pac-10 men's basketball tournament where Bryce Taylor made all 11 of his shots, including 7 3-pointers. It got me wondering if he was related to the New Jersey high school player Brian Taylor. Turns out that he is -- Brian Taylor is his father and is now the principal at a charter school in Los Angeles. Brian Taylor was a star at Perth Amboy High School and I went to several of his games with my father, who was a sports writer for the Perth Amboy Evening News. Oddly enough, Brian Taylor and I have some things in common -- same first name, both born in June in Perth Amboy and both with a son named Brice (mine) and Bryce (his). That's where the similarities end though. He was a pro basketball player with several teams while I was fortunate enough to make my high school team. For a long time, he held the New Jersey high school record with 84 points in a game.

LA Times article on PayPerPost

Friday's LA Times had an extensive article about PayPerPost in the Business section. It was on the front page of that section in the lower half and included two photos. Most of it featured the top earner on PayPerPost, Colleen. I don't think it was a balanced article. It was similar to the one I was part of a few months ago where you are interviewed and you provide examples and respond to questions, only to find that you are portrayed in a negative light in the article. I guess that's the way it goes, but in this article, there are quotes from two critics of PayPerPost, which is good to provide balance, but the writer has a biased slant against it also, and that comes through in the way he describes the two PayPerPost bloggers who are part of the story.

Some of their fellow bloggers are critical, saying the industry is polluting the blog world and misleading consumers by blurring the line between advertising and unbiased opinion.

"The problem is the advertisers are trying to buy a blogger's voice, and once they've bought it they own it," said Jeff Jarvis, a City University of New York journalism professor who writes about technology at BuzzMachine.com.

"PayPerPost versus authentic blogging is like comparing prostitution with making love to someone you care for deeply. No one with any level of ethics would get involved with these clowns," said Jason McCabe Calacanis, an entrepreneur who co-founded Weblogs Inc., a network of blogs that includes popular technology site Engadget.

The problem with this quote is that the "fellow bloggers" quoted aren't really the same kind of bloggers as the ones who participate in PayPerPost. Jason Calacanis started weblogs, inc., which consists of a bunch of sites which have paid bloggers writing about specific topics such as electronics, video games, Apple, and more. Each of these sites contains lots of ads -- under the header, in the sidebar and in between the posts. I like these sites and check them frequently, but there is no disclosure on these sites like Engadget about what kinds of relationships exist between the writers and the products they write about. Jason Calacanis has frequently criticised PayPerPost in regard to disclosure, and he also has ads and endorsements on his personal blog with no disclosure. In fact, he attacks PayPerPost based on the LA Times article on a post on his own blog. I have to agree with the idea that disclosure at the top of each post is the way to go. I have done this with most of my posts and have tried to go back and correct the others. I do need to develop a better system to make it easier to do that.

Jeff Jarvis is a former reporter, a professor and not the typical blogger. He does have a very extensive disclosure on his site though.

There is no disclosure I could find on Jason Calacanis' site, just a bio written in the third person.

NoCal knocking out SoCal

It looked like both of my schools, Cal and Stanford, were going to take out the LA schools, UCLA and USC in the Pac-10 tournament. Cal did well and Stanford was up big at halftime, but then faded in the second half and allowed USC to tie it. Overtime is not looking good for Stanford which seems to lack the court leadership they need in games like this. I say put both of those Lopez guys in there at the same time and take away the inside from USC. We'll see what happens, but if Stanford doesn't pull it out they probably are not going to get into the NCAA tournament.

Shopping for Brilliant Diamonds?

Buying diamonds requires some serious shopping. Diamonds have a special meaning associated with them, and in some cases, a special price, too. Brilliant Diamonds is a site where you can find Diamonds For Engagement Rings as well as wedding rings, earrings, and necklaces. Brilliant Diamonds can help you learn about diamonds before you spend your money -- check out their 10 part audiocast on the ten things you should know before buying a diamond. The audiocast has a nice casual style and hits the important points. They tell you up front that when you are about to invest thousands of dollars in a diamond, you need to be informed. Their Diamond Buying Guide is also a good place to start if you don't know where to start. Once you are informed about diamonds and are ready to start looking, take a look at what's available from Brilliant Diamonds. This site is a one stop shop for learning about and buying diamonds, so if you are looking for a diamond for a special gift, put Brilliant Diamonds at the top of your shopping list.

Photography assault

Last night was our final class in the night photography course. People had some nice images to share and discuss, but there was one disturbing story. One of the guys in the class had been taking photos yesterday of some buildings in downtown Riverside near the jail. He had his camera on a tripod and his backpack was nearby with a can of spray mount in the outside pocket. The way he described it, three sheriffs who work in the jail completed their shifts, exited the building, and walked past him on the sidewalk. They walked a little farther, then turned around and came back and tackled him and held him on the ground. They claimed that he had tagged a building and was taking pictures of it. The problem with that idea was that he didn't have any spray paint and what they thought was spray paint was the spray mount he had with him to mount his pictures for class. He yelled at them and they threatened to handcuff him but eventually let him go. Given Riverside's dismal record when it comes to policing problems, even though these guys were not police officers, it's a very scary incident. They gave no warning and had no evidence. The guy was a photography student, not a tagger and he had done nothing wrong. He seemed willing to let it go, but if there are members of law enforcement in Riverside going around assaulting citizens on the street, someone should know about it.

night photo class ends

Tonight is the last meeting of the night photography class. It was only 6 weeks and I was sick one week and missed that class, so it has gone by quickly. At first I wasn't sure what I was going to learn that might be useful, but it ended up being very interesting. I was happy with what I learned and the assignments were very useful. I think I got way more out of it than I expected.

Dick Vitale for Basketball Hall of Fame

Bob Knight is campaigning for Dick Vitale to be selected for the Basketball Hall of Fame. I didn't know those guys were buddies, but I think it's a good idea. Dick Vitale is Mr. Positive and has done his share to promote college basketball. He is a little over the top at times, maybe most of the time, but he seems like a good guy to be around. I'd vote for him!

CS3 will be good for Apple

Blogger is not treating me well. I had my whole post disappear when it caused Firefox to disappear. According to MacWorld, Apple may gain close to a billion dollars in profits from sales of high end Macs to people waiting for the release of Photoshop CS3 later this month. I am not sure if I'll be buying CS3. I don't use it much, but it sure is faster on my MacBook Pro than CS2 and maybe with my new interest in HDR photography, it will be worth the upgrade. The academic price for CS2 is around $289, so if CS3 is similar, it might be something I can afford. I don't like buying expensive software that I don't use much, though, so I'll have to think about it.

Night photo

This was one case where combining images to create an HDR image didn't improve things. I think it was too dark and there wasn't enough variation. This is the Fire Station in Old Town Temecula. It looks old, but I don't know how old it is. There are separate sleeping quarters in an adjacent building. I think it's worth going back and getting some shots during the day, although the traffic will be an issue.

HDR prints

I picked up my prints of the HDR images. They were accurate since I used the printer profiles at Costco, so I didn't have any surprises, but the sharpness and lightness that you get on screen isn't there on paper. Maybe I could get better results at home with my Epson printer where I can more easily adjustments.

Phoenix Glass Repair

Driving can be hazardous to your car's windshield. Little rocks fly up, hit your windshield and you've got a chip or a crack, just like that. Well, if that happens in Phoenix, give Phoenix Auto Glass Company a call. They know everything about auto glass repair in Phoenix and are certified by the National Glass Association. They can take care of chip repair or if that won't do it, they'll replace your windshield or door glass. They are approved by all major insurance companies and are available 24 hours a day. There's no extra charge for their mobile service, so they'll come to your home or workplace and do the job there so you don't lose any time waiting. They offer a lifetime guarantee on parts, labor and materials which is good as long as you own or lease your vehicle.

Who's going to PostieCon

There should be a big crowd at PostieCon in Orlando in June. I'd like to go but I think think that's going to happen. If you go, I recommend a side trip to Celebration. I spent about 3 months there doing research for Apple when it first opened.

HDR photos

I ended up with a small number of HDR photos that I liked. There were a few which didn't turn out to be anything special. It seems like a wider range of aperture settings produces a better HDR image, even if you are only using 3 images. In some cases, I had 7 - 9 pictures and there wasn't enough range in there to produce anything interesting. The fact that most of mine were shot at night didn't help. The ones that looked best were shot at twilight.

Ready for a day off on Monday

I don't think I've ever adjusted to the new work schedule my wife has. She works every weekend as well as other days during the week. So for me, the weekend isn't a time to relax. It's a never ending grind of washing clothes, yard work, cleaning the house and more. By the time Monday comes around, I'm ready for a break, but it's time for me to get back to work. It feels like more and more things are not getting done that should be getting done and there is less time to do them.

California STAR Writing test

One of my sons is in fourth grade and will be taking the STAR Writing test this week. They get a few hours to read and respond to a story in a chosen format -- summary, friendly letter, etc. I think the test is more important for the school than for an individual child, although there is certainly some importance for both. What surprises me is how much my son knows about constructing an essay and responding to literature. He knows things that I didn't learn until my last year of high school. Whether or not these things have been taught because of the test or not, I think it's good to have that internal structure of an essay or letter and to develop as a writer over time. He seems to be off to a good start.

Lakers fading fast

I didn't expect too much from the Lakers this year, but they got off to a very good start with all those home games and things were looking pretty good. Then the injuries started and although they hung in there, right before the all-star break, they really hit the skids. They lost too many of their big men, plus with Luke Walton out of the lineup, they didn't have as many good passers. I think the lack of an experienced point guard also hurt at that point. It looked better when Lamar Odom came back, as he slowly got to where he was, but now he's out again and even though the Lakers are in sixth place, I think they are going to continue to fade. If Luke Walton gets back in the lineup and plays well, they may pick it up a little bit, but otherwise I don't see them moving up.

Best Buy secret web site

This kind of thing makes me reconsider whether or not I should ever shop at Best Buy again. I don't go there much but if I ever wanted to bargain with them based on a price on their web site, this would not make me happy. Best Buy maintains a secret web site with higher prices than you find on their public site, so when a customer comes in and asks for a price reduction based on what they saw online, a Best Buy sales person accesses the hidden side and shows that the allegedly lower price doesn't really exist.

From the Hartford Courant (via BoingBoing):

Under pressure from state investigators, Best Buy is now confirming my reporting that its stores have a secret intranet site that has been used to block some consumers from getting cheaper prices advertised on BestBuy.com.

and

This is not the first time the giant electronic retailer has gotten into trouble misleading customers. The firm, based in Minneapolis, operates more than 1,100 electronic retail stores in the U.S., Canada and China. It has more than 125,000 full-time employees.

Attorneys general in New Jersey and Ohio have accused Best Buy of deceptive sales practices, repackaging used merchandise and selling it as new, and failing to pay rebates and refunds. It paid $135,000 in New Jersey three years ago to settle that state's suit, which was based on hundreds of consumer complaints. The Ohio case is ongoing.

More night photography

I went to Old Town Temecula to photograph some buildings at sunset. Old Town does have some historical significance, and there are some buildings which are actually old, but many of them are just made to look old for the sake of tourism. It was interesting to be there as it got dark. I was able to get some good shots of a new building which is the home of a law firm. I wasn't sure if someone was going to run out and threaten to sue me for taking pictures. Across the street is a building which actually is very old. It had no lights, so my pictures there may not be as interesting, but the building has been sold and is going to be moved. I tried to shoot enough shots for some high dynamic range images. We'll see how that turns out. I think I should be using a heavier tripod to insure that the camera does not move at all.

NBA MVP

Kelly Dwyer at CNNSI says Dirk Ｎowitzki is the clear choice for MVP. He's a great player on the team with the best record, and maybe he will win the award this year, but my choice is still Steve Nash. Phoenix is the most exciting team, and Nash is the reason they win. He might not be the best player on his own team, but Ｉ think he's still the most valuable player. In another poll I saw, Nash was number 1 and Dirk wasn't even in the top 4. We'll see.

Ｓaving disk space

Ｗhen your hard drive is close to full, performance suffers. Ａpplications like to have room for virtual memory as well as to store temporary files and when you get down to just a little free space, it's a bad deal. Ｉ was reading an article today on the ＭacＷorld site about ways to get back some disk space that isn't really being used. Ｔhe author suggested Ｍonolingual for removing the many languages which are installed as part of ＯＳ Ｘ but which may never be used. Ｉ figured that was a good place to start and Ｉ saved 5 ＧＢ on my laptop and about 9 on my iＭac. Ｓeemed great until Ｉ went to actually use my laptop and found that Ｉ may have done something wrong and deleted the key layout or something. Ｎow Ｉ can't type a dollar sign -- Ｉ get this： ¥ -- and my text entry is in a strange font where the spacing is not right when Ｉ use capital letters Ｌike Ｔhis. Ｈmmm. Ｉ hope Ｉ don't have to reinstall the ＯＳ...

Ｐhotographing buildings at sunset

Ｉ spent some time taking pictures of the Ｂell Ｔower at ＵＣ Ｒiverside this evening. Ｉt was interesting how quickly things changed as the sun went down. Ｔhe Ｂell Ｔower is a nice structure to photograph, especially from the side in front of Ｒivera library where you can include the scalloped roof segments which repeat along with the columns along the walkway leading to the library. Ａnsel Ａdams took the same shot when he photographed ＵＣＲ in the early 1960's. Ｈe did a better job, but Ｉ did my best to get some interesting shots.

Ｓuper Ｄuper

Ｉ broke down and bought Ｓuper Ｄuper today. Ｉ figured Ｉ would back up my laptop with it. Ｎot so fast. Ａfter about 3 hours, it was only halfway done backing up the 80 ＧＢ drive. Ｉ'll have to do it overnight at that rate. Ｉ think Ｉ need to read up on how it works a little more before Ｉ start using it all the time, but at least this is a step towards regular backups.

The Cult of the Amateur

Dave Winer has a preview of the upcoming book, The Cult of the Amateur, by Andrew Keen. He read the first half of the galley of the book and doesn't have too many nice things to say about it. I was hoping this book might have an interesting perspective on the rise of blogging and related online activities, but it doesn't sound like it's that book at all.

MyPublisher BookMaker 2.0 for Mac

MyPublisher is a service to help you create your own books. I've read both good and bad reviews in terms of the quality that you get with their printing. I haven't tried this service myself. Yesterday they came out with a standalone application for putting together your book on a Mac. The PC version had been out for some time. I'll have to give it a try, but I think that Lulu and Blurb offer more printing options than MyPublisher. The advantage of MyPublisher might be that there are lots of coupons which bring the price down.

My Life as a Child

I was really looking forward to watching the new TLC series, My Life as a Child , on Monday night. Twenty children age 7 to 11 were given video cameras to document their lives over several months. They also recorded video diaries to go with the footage they shot. It sounds like a great show and even got a positive review in the LA Times. Unfortunately, the LA Times review also said the show was on at 7PM on Monday. It was, as long as you were in the Eastern time zone. In California, it was shown at 4 PM, so by the time I turned on the television, it was long over and they were showing some goofy show about video clips of kids doing goofy stuff. I'm sure the first episode will be shown again, so I'll look for that.

support for online learners

I attended a presentation by a couple of people from a company which provides 24/7 support for online learners. It was very interesting and certainly seems like a good business to be in considering the growth in online courses. What surprised me was that many of the support calls deal with logging in and managing passwords. In some cases, it can be 70% of the calls. I guess that's a good sign that you have a bad system and may need to do more usability testing. That kind of problem isn't going away until more people are comfortable doing things online.

phone moves

I went back to work today and found that my phone had been moved to my future office. I wasn't sure where to work, but when I checked the future office, I saw that all I had there was the phone. No chair. No desk. I figure in about a month or two I'll be able to move into the new location...

Palms for better test scores - dubious way to spend money

A "low-performing" school district in St. Louis has thrown their money at the Palm T/X in an effort to raise test scores. I found this one a little hard to believe. At $400 each, the T/X does cost less than a computer, but is there really any evidence that using one of these can improve test scores? Is there any software to help students with the tasks which are being tested? Is that even a good strategy to begin with?

A Jennings administrator acknowledged that the recent purchase was a gamble.

"We're rolling the dice on this," said Steven A. Schmitz, 53, the district's technology director. "It's unknown whether they'll raise test scores. But we're assuming."

Students in grades three through 12 are scheduled to begin using Palms in summer school.

The graphing calculator on the Palm is cited as the most useful feature for the students, but there's no research which supports a connection between this and test scores. The bigger issue is that it certainly is going to take years for teachers to adopt and integrate these devices into their teaching, and by that time, the test score issue will probably be a moot point. I don't think anyone is going to be happy waiting 3-5 years to see better test scores. This was a bad move. The million dollars would have been better spent on additional teachers, tutors, better instructional materials for math and reading or many other things which would have produced results in a shorter time frame than a hand held computer which has little or no software designed for students. Certainly there are successful projects like the HI-CE effort at the University of Michigan, but these use a totally different model of learning than one which would emphasize improving test scores.

BitTorrent goes the way of Napster

Napster never had much success becoming a paid service. I think it's hard to convince people who got things for free that they should start paying for the same things. Bittorrent is trying the same approach with their new service starting today. I believe their files use Windows Media DRM to allow for "renting" and of course that excludes non-Windows users. I think that's the same thing Wal-Mart is trying to do, with little success. I don't think this is going to be successful.

Another go with GoGoer

We bought some Runescape gold from GoGoer a few months ago. They advertise on their site that you'll get your loot in 15 minutes to 24 hours after you pay. In our case, it took 10 days and several email message and eventually some threats from me to write a bad review about their service on one of my blogs. After that we did get the money. I'm hoping there won't be any problems this time, but we'll see.

The blogging class that wasn't

Today would have been the meeting date for the blogging class I was going to teach. Only one person signed up, so the class was canceled, but we have another one scheduled in a couple of months. I will get started preparing for that class soon. There are already some people signed up for that one, so chances are better that it will be held. The one scheduled for today was supposed to meet at a satellite campus which may have had something to do with the low enrollment. The next one is at the main campus and is scheduled for the evening during the week.

new Mac models

It has been some time since Apple updated their computer line. With so much focus on the iPod and iPhone, it's easy to forget that Apple, Inc. is still primarily a computer company. I'm waiting on an update to the Mac Mini. Adding a Core 2 Duo would be enough for me to buy one and hook it up to my tv. I might need to get the Wireless N router also to go with it. says there may be a black iMac. That might be nice http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifalthough I am content with white. If it's like the Macbook and you have to pay more for black, I'll pass on that. Nice marketing gimmick, however. When something only comes in white and then you offer black and charge a little more for it, I think you've pulled a fast one on people.

New Blogger bug remains

There is a bug in the new version of Blogger that is still there, a couple of months after I first saw it and reported it. I run into it every day at least once, but there is no pattern to it. I select some text and go to create a link using the link button. Instead of a link, I get a reference to the gif file which makes up the link icon and the link code isn't inserted. Plus, it erases part of the text that was selected, so I can't undo it. Normally when I re-do it, everything is fine.