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Monday, January 31, 2005
Wouldn't You Like To Know The Title Of This Entry
Not only is Sarah back on the air
Foolproof — The Festival Cut
This can't be right
Animal Behavior
Battle Boats
"On the typer, not on the talker"
Monday Morning Dream Crushing
Saturday, January 29, 2005
It's about time!
I haven't been keeping up with my Commodores updates recently, but until today, it didn't matter, because they lost FOUR CONSECUTIVE GAMES. But tonight, the loser finally had a win. And he even had a big role in it, scoring 11 points during his 18 minutes of play.
Final score against Ole Miss was 73-51, Vandy. Picture is from vucommodores.com.
Wysz, The in Print!
Never ever tell anyone if you have a car at school
Friday, January 28, 2005
Incredible Cue — Confirmed!
Google Gets Answers
2nd of the 2 Ones, and the 59th Complaint in Wysz's Thoughts v.Awesome
2nd of the 2 Ones Part 2
Product Placement
So you can understnad understan d
1 of the 2 Ones
Emergency? Don't Call 911; Google it!
John's Thumb Gets Famouser
From Macworld, on Best Buy selling the Mac mini in its stores
This one isn't either, but it is a good introduction to the next one, which IS one of the ones.
Update just to update, and I have at least 2 more on the way in the next few minutes, even though I've forgotton what one of them is going to be
This isn't one of the two that I promised
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Photoshop Part 3, and nothing to do with Adobe or JourneyEd
I've been awake for about 24 hours, it's too risky to sleep before class, and class isn't over until 4, so it's gonna be a long day.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Google Video Search
Haven't done this in a LONG time, but
iLife '05
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Photoshop Part 2, And Probably Not The End
What is bowling?
Monday, January 24, 2005
http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=shkenblke
Speaking of updating those feed URL's
Attn: All RSS subscribers who aren't reading this
502 Error: Awesome Overload
When you're too tired to fight back
I'm doing that thing again where I just quote everything
Sunday, January 23, 2005
I should just start commuting
Just Doing My Job
I needed a good Blake quote
One of these days I'll learn how to type
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Re: .Mac System Status
.Mac System Status
HDV
Fighting Like A Girl
Typing Is Hard
Friday, January 21, 2005
Will I EVER Have Photoshop?
Just don't taste their food.
Who lets these people into Hopkins?
Panic Attack
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Trip To New York
John's On Gizmodo!
Lost Album Art On Your iPod photo?
Also
Monday, January 17, 2005
Pepsi iTunes Music Promotion v2
Honesty Is The Only Way
Making it official and all
Saturday, January 15, 2005
The Fence
Living in Two States is Rough
Friday, January 14, 2005
A Message To Trevor
Thursday, January 13, 2005
"It's All Mission: Impossible-ly"
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Shopping is Random
Candypants P.S.
2 Quotes
I never considered the possibility of someone taking my article seriously
Trying to get things straight on Blake's blog
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Breaking News From MacWorld
Good Night
Stuff I'm Probably Going To Order Within 24 Hours
Random Job That Might Be Fun
Procrastination = Big Savings
Monday, January 10, 2005
What 1.4 exabytes really looks like
Notice
Nerd Humor
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Now My Computer Has Insomnia Too
Friday, January 07, 2005
You'd Think It's A Joke, But It's Not
Easy Way to Help
Every High School Graduation Speech Ever
iTunes Pro
Prepared For Anything
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Catching Up
If You're Looking For A Shirt To Buy Me
Seeking Random Advice Via My Blog
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Tall Guy On T.V.
More TV Fun
I Guess This Is How They Advertise In Baltimore
MacWorld Excitement
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
It's About Time
Saturday, January 01, 2005
Best Cake Ever
First Quote of 2005 — ME!
Wouldn't You Like To Know The Title Of This Entry
Wouldn't You Like To Know The Name Of Our Show
returns TONIGHT on WHCL sans
DJCJ. Listen in to Sarah Griffith and some guy named John every Monday from 6-7
PM. I can't wait to hear some good
music. As always, I will be requesting Mahna
Mahna.
Click here to listen.
Click here to listen.
Not only is Sarah back on the air
It's also 5:55!
Foolproof — The Festival Cut
Thanks to the musical talents of Brendan Houle, a
new all-legal
monophonic
version of Foolproof
is now available for your viewing pleasure.
This can't be right
I'm taking 17 credits this semester, and I'm
looking forward to all of the classes? Wow. Betcha all feel pretty stupid now
for laughing at my "sign up for random stuff like 'animal behavior' during
registration and then sort it all out on the first day of classes" registration
technique.
Animal Behavior
Reneelet (10:48:49 AM):
i hope you arent really taking animal
behavior
Reneelet (10:49:12 AM): its boring
Skier Wysz (10:49:27 AM): i would make it exciting
Reneelet (10:49:32 AM): i doubt that
Reneelet (10:49:44 AM): i was hoping it would be about dogs doing tricks and stuff
Skier Wysz (10:49:53 AM): haha
Reneelet (10:49:55 AM): but intead, its a lot about bird migration
Reneelet (10:50:05 AM): and why animals kill each other
Reneelet (10:50:24 AM): and throw in a little bit of bee dancing
Reneelet (10:51:49 AM): last year when i took the class, i could have watched a bee dance, and then gone and eaten all the food it was talking about
Skier Wysz (10:52:42 AM): haha
Skier Wysz (10:52:48 AM): did you
Reneelet (10:54:45 AM): no, bcause i also learned that bees and people dont eat the same things
Reneelet (10:49:12 AM): its boring
Skier Wysz (10:49:27 AM): i would make it exciting
Reneelet (10:49:32 AM): i doubt that
Reneelet (10:49:44 AM): i was hoping it would be about dogs doing tricks and stuff
Skier Wysz (10:49:53 AM): haha
Reneelet (10:49:55 AM): but intead, its a lot about bird migration
Reneelet (10:50:05 AM): and why animals kill each other
Reneelet (10:50:24 AM): and throw in a little bit of bee dancing
Reneelet (10:51:49 AM): last year when i took the class, i could have watched a bee dance, and then gone and eaten all the food it was talking about
Skier Wysz (10:52:42 AM): haha
Skier Wysz (10:52:48 AM): did you
Reneelet (10:54:45 AM): no, bcause i also learned that bees and people dont eat the same things
Battle Boats
Reneelet (11:09:50 AM):
brendan, omar, and i were thinking about
starting a business/realityn tv show in the inner
harbor
Skier Wysz (11:10:02 AM): good luck
Reneelet (11:10:21 AM): you know how they have those little paddle boats?
Skier Wysz (11:10:26 AM): yes
Reneelet (11:10:52 AM): well, what do you think of BATTLE BOATS!!!
Reneelet (11:11:04 AM): its kind of like capture the flag
Reneelet (11:11:13 AM): with the flag being at the bottom of the harbor
Reneelet (11:11:33 AM): and if no one wins after 5 minutes, we shoot cannon balls out of the old ships in a sudden death round
Skier Wysz (11:11:47 AM): ummm that could be cool
Skier Wysz (11:11:54 AM): but paddleboats sound tiring
Reneelet (11:13:42 AM): well brendan decided they should all have jets on the back
Reneelet (11:13:56 AM): i thought that might open us up to a lot of liability issues
Skier Wysz (11:14:08 AM): and the cannon balls wouldn't?
Reneelet (11:15:31 AM): that was brendans idea too
Skier Wysz (11:10:02 AM): good luck
Reneelet (11:10:21 AM): you know how they have those little paddle boats?
Skier Wysz (11:10:26 AM): yes
Reneelet (11:10:52 AM): well, what do you think of BATTLE BOATS!!!
Reneelet (11:11:04 AM): its kind of like capture the flag
Reneelet (11:11:13 AM): with the flag being at the bottom of the harbor
Reneelet (11:11:33 AM): and if no one wins after 5 minutes, we shoot cannon balls out of the old ships in a sudden death round
Skier Wysz (11:11:47 AM): ummm that could be cool
Skier Wysz (11:11:54 AM): but paddleboats sound tiring
Reneelet (11:13:42 AM): well brendan decided they should all have jets on the back
Reneelet (11:13:56 AM): i thought that might open us up to a lot of liability issues
Skier Wysz (11:14:08 AM): and the cannon balls wouldn't?
Reneelet (11:15:31 AM): that was brendans idea too
"On the typer, not on the talker"
Stowington (10:12:15 AM):
the new powerbooks can connect to the
30" apple
display
Skier Wysz (10:12:24 AM): yep
Skier Wysz (10:12:30 AM): dual link dvi baby!
Stowington (10:12:33 AM): so get me one
Skier Wysz (10:12:43 AM): no, you have a powerbook, get ME one!
Skier Wysz (10:12:48 AM): get me FIVE
Stowington (10:13:00 AM): I already gave you your four cookies
Skier Wysz (10:13:29 AM): hmm you do when have a strong argument
Stowington (10:14:33 AM): that is not a sentence
Skier Wysz (10:14:48 AM): haha you're right
Skier Wysz (10:14:57 AM): i don't know where the "when" came from
Skier Wysz (10:15:11 AM): in my defense, i was talking to ted last night
Skier Wysz (10:12:24 AM): yep
Skier Wysz (10:12:30 AM): dual link dvi baby!
Stowington (10:12:33 AM): so get me one
Skier Wysz (10:12:43 AM): no, you have a powerbook, get ME one!
Skier Wysz (10:12:48 AM): get me FIVE
Stowington (10:13:00 AM): I already gave you your four cookies
Skier Wysz (10:13:29 AM): hmm you do when have a strong argument
Stowington (10:14:33 AM): that is not a sentence
Skier Wysz (10:14:48 AM): haha you're right
Skier Wysz (10:14:57 AM): i don't know where the "when" came from
Skier Wysz (10:15:11 AM): in my defense, i was talking to ted last night
Monday Morning Dream Crushing
Skier Wysz (7:26:18 AM):
do you have a telephone in your
apartment
quint55 (7:26:46 AM): only cell phones
quint55 (7:26:48 AM): why?
Skier Wysz (7:27:13 AM): ugh, i was hoping that "Eh, Steve" could join "Wysz, The" in the greater baltimore white pages
quint55 (7:27:20 AM): haha
Skier Wysz (7:27:21 AM): thanks for crushing my dreams
quint55 (7:27:24 AM): that would be humorous
quint55 (7:26:46 AM): only cell phones
quint55 (7:26:48 AM): why?
Skier Wysz (7:27:13 AM): ugh, i was hoping that "Eh, Steve" could join "Wysz, The" in the greater baltimore white pages
quint55 (7:27:20 AM): haha
Skier Wysz (7:27:21 AM): thanks for crushing my dreams
quint55 (7:27:24 AM): that would be humorous
Saturday, January 29, 2005
It's about time!
I haven't been keeping up with my Commodores updates recently, but until today, it didn't matter, because they lost FOUR CONSECUTIVE GAMES. But tonight, the loser finally had a win. And he even had a big role in it, scoring 11 points during his 18 minutes of play.
Final score against Ole Miss was 73-51, Vandy. Picture is from vucommodores.com.
Wysz, The in Print!
Never ever tell anyone if you have a car at school
muzikgoddss (6:40:04 PM):
wysz are you going to
superfresh
Skier Wysz (6:40:51 PM): is john making you ask
muzikgoddss (6:41:04 PM): yes
Skier Wysz (6:41:11 PM): ughghghghghghghghghghhghghhhh i knew it
Skier Wysz (6:41:22 PM): he thinks that i wont take him
Skier Wysz (6:41:27 PM): but maybe if a girl asks
Skier Wysz (6:41:30 PM): he'll have better luck
Skier Wysz (6:41:33 PM): nice try john
Skier Wysz (6:41:39 PM): what time should i pick you up
Skier Wysz (6:40:51 PM): is john making you ask
muzikgoddss (6:41:04 PM): yes
Skier Wysz (6:41:11 PM): ughghghghghghghghghghhghghhhh i knew it
Skier Wysz (6:41:22 PM): he thinks that i wont take him
Skier Wysz (6:41:27 PM): but maybe if a girl asks
Skier Wysz (6:41:30 PM): he'll have better luck
Skier Wysz (6:41:33 PM): nice try john
Skier Wysz (6:41:39 PM): what time should i pick you up
Friday, January 28, 2005
Incredible Cue — Confirmed!
As
promised, Adrian confirmed that the change-over cue in The Incredibles
is in fact their logo. He also notes that the image is stretched because the
film is in CinemaScope format, which is anamorphic. Since you're seeing a
picture of the actual print rather than after it's been stretched by an
anamorphic projection lens, it looks squeezed. So, when projected, the circular
cue is actually an oval, and the characters put on some
weight.
If you're ever in South Australia, head to Riverland Drive In Cinema in Barmera. I haven't been to a drive in since the last millennium. Australia's warmer than the US, especially this time of year; maybe I'll go...
Anyway, here it is, the cue at the end of reel 3:
If you're ever in South Australia, head to Riverland Drive In Cinema in Barmera. I haven't been to a drive in since the last millennium. Australia's warmer than the US, especially this time of year; maybe I'll go...
Anyway, here it is, the cue at the end of reel 3:
Google Gets Answers
I just noticed that Google is now linking to
Answers.com instead of Dictionary.com for its
definition feature on words or phrases in searches.
2nd of the 2 Ones, and the 59th Complaint in Wysz's Thoughts v.Awesome
Here at Hopkins, like every school, we have ID
cards that let us do things like eat in the cafeteria, and buy things at certain
on-campus and close-to-campus locations. Ours is called a
J-Card.
From a letter dated January 24th, 2005, which yes, I know is Macintosh's 21st birthday:
It recently came to the attention of the university that two files containing the names and personal information of Homewood undergraduate students enrolled in the spring of 2003 had been maintained on an individual's server that, though obscure, was accessible through the Internet.
One file contained the names, birthdays, and J-CARD numbers of some 4,000 students who were eligible to vote in a Student Council election that spring. The other contained the names, partial J-CARD numbers, and last four digits of Social Security numbers for 1,500 of these same students.
As soon as the existence of these files was reported, the university moved swiftly to have them deleted from the server. The university also proceeded to have all references to the files removed from any known Internet search engine cache files and indexes.
There were no links to the files elsewhere on the Internet. There is absolutely no evidence that anyone ever used these files for any inappropriate or illegal purpose. There have been no reports of any unauthorized activity or of any compromise to any J-CARD account as a result of this information being potentially available...
...the swiping of a physical J-CARD is necessary for every J-CASH transaction. Moreover, the physical card has additional encryption that is not revealed by the card's number. Thus, there is very little reason to believe that possession of a J-CARD number alone would permit fraudulent purchases or other illegal or inappropriate activity.
4,000 = all undergrads.
Social Security numbers are not supposed to be used for identification, and Hopkins has its own official policy against them being used for this. However, Social Security numbers are used for ID all the time at Hopkins (and outside of Hopkins), and many web services at JHU use the last 4 digits as authentication. Unfortunately, replacing a J-CARD will do nothing to help any possible problems caused by the leak of partial Social Security numbers.
If there were no links to the files, how did the search engines find them? I know this can be done (referral URL's, perhaps a search service on the server that held the file, etc.) but still, I am suspicious.
I read an unconfirmed report that the magstripe actually contains no other data than the number printed on the card. Hmm.
From a letter dated January 24th, 2005, which yes, I know is Macintosh's 21st birthday:
It recently came to the attention of the university that two files containing the names and personal information of Homewood undergraduate students enrolled in the spring of 2003 had been maintained on an individual's server that, though obscure, was accessible through the Internet.
One file contained the names, birthdays, and J-CARD numbers of some 4,000 students who were eligible to vote in a Student Council election that spring. The other contained the names, partial J-CARD numbers, and last four digits of Social Security numbers for 1,500 of these same students.
As soon as the existence of these files was reported, the university moved swiftly to have them deleted from the server. The university also proceeded to have all references to the files removed from any known Internet search engine cache files and indexes.
There were no links to the files elsewhere on the Internet. There is absolutely no evidence that anyone ever used these files for any inappropriate or illegal purpose. There have been no reports of any unauthorized activity or of any compromise to any J-CARD account as a result of this information being potentially available...
...the swiping of a physical J-CARD is necessary for every J-CASH transaction. Moreover, the physical card has additional encryption that is not revealed by the card's number. Thus, there is very little reason to believe that possession of a J-CARD number alone would permit fraudulent purchases or other illegal or inappropriate activity.
4,000 = all undergrads.
Social Security numbers are not supposed to be used for identification, and Hopkins has its own official policy against them being used for this. However, Social Security numbers are used for ID all the time at Hopkins (and outside of Hopkins), and many web services at JHU use the last 4 digits as authentication. Unfortunately, replacing a J-CARD will do nothing to help any possible problems caused by the leak of partial Social Security numbers.
If there were no links to the files, how did the search engines find them? I know this can be done (referral URL's, perhaps a search service on the server that held the file, etc.) but still, I am suspicious.
I read an unconfirmed report that the magstripe actually contains no other data than the number printed on the card. Hmm.
2nd of the 2 Ones Part 2
Part
1
Bill just informed me that in his Physical Security Systems course, they scanned a J-CARD, and it does, in fact, only contain the number printed clearly on the front of the card. So, anyone who accessed that database and has a magstripe writer could have done some damage.
Bill just informed me that in his Physical Security Systems course, they scanned a J-CARD, and it does, in fact, only contain the number printed clearly on the front of the card. So, anyone who accessed that database and has a magstripe writer could have done some damage.
Product Placement
Stowington (11:11:15 PM):
I just watched that new
show
Stowington (11:11:21 PM): "NUMB3RS"
Skier Wysz (11:11:25 PM): and
Stowington (11:11:47 PM): the math genius guy was thinking about minesweeper in relation to the problem he was working on
Stowington (11:11:54 PM): and playing it on a 15" powerbook
Skier Wysz (11:12:09 PM): yeah there are os x versions
Stowington (11:12:14 PM): yeah I know
Stowington (11:12:21 PM): it's always nice to see some diversity
Skier Wysz (11:12:26 PM): haha
Skier Wysz (11:12:37 PM): macs get excellent product placement
Skier Wysz (11:12:43 PM): i see them all the time
Stowington (11:12:51 PM): well they had a sticker over the apple logo on the lid
Skier Wysz (11:13:56 PM): ugh yeah they do that on joey
Skier Wysz (11:14:02 PM): umm the friends spinoff
Skier Wysz (11:14:07 PM): that my sister watches
Stowington (11:14:12 PM): got it
Skier Wysz (11:14:13 PM): when i happened to be in the room
Skier Wysz (11:14:22 PM): ok
Stowington (11:11:21 PM): "NUMB3RS"
Skier Wysz (11:11:25 PM): and
Stowington (11:11:47 PM): the math genius guy was thinking about minesweeper in relation to the problem he was working on
Stowington (11:11:54 PM): and playing it on a 15" powerbook
Skier Wysz (11:12:09 PM): yeah there are os x versions
Stowington (11:12:14 PM): yeah I know
Stowington (11:12:21 PM): it's always nice to see some diversity
Skier Wysz (11:12:26 PM): haha
Skier Wysz (11:12:37 PM): macs get excellent product placement
Skier Wysz (11:12:43 PM): i see them all the time
Stowington (11:12:51 PM): well they had a sticker over the apple logo on the lid
Skier Wysz (11:13:56 PM): ugh yeah they do that on joey
Skier Wysz (11:14:02 PM): umm the friends spinoff
Skier Wysz (11:14:07 PM): that my sister watches
Stowington (11:14:12 PM): got it
Skier Wysz (11:14:13 PM): when i happened to be in the room
Skier Wysz (11:14:22 PM): ok
So you can understnad understan d
BuffyPrep5 (4:57:15 PM):
why'd you ask what store that
person was from...how do you know they were from a
store
Skier Wysz (4:58:15 PM): from the screen name
BuffyPrep5 (4:58:28 PM): it was just a .mac address
Skier Wysz (4:58:34 PM): ars.060.20 = apple retail store #60, computer #20
BuffyPrep5 (4:58:40 PM): oh hm
BuffyPrep5 (4:58:42 PM): i get it
BuffyPrep5 (4:58:48 PM): you should explain that
BuffyPrep5 (4:58:52 PM): in your blog
BuffyPrep5 (4:59:02 PM): because i bet most people won't understnad
BuffyPrep5 (4:59:04 PM): understan
BuffyPrep5 (4:59:06 PM): d
Skier Wysz (4:58:15 PM): from the screen name
BuffyPrep5 (4:58:28 PM): it was just a .mac address
Skier Wysz (4:58:34 PM): ars.060.20 = apple retail store #60, computer #20
BuffyPrep5 (4:58:40 PM): oh hm
BuffyPrep5 (4:58:42 PM): i get it
BuffyPrep5 (4:58:48 PM): you should explain that
BuffyPrep5 (4:58:52 PM): in your blog
BuffyPrep5 (4:59:02 PM): because i bet most people won't understnad
BuffyPrep5 (4:59:04 PM): understan
BuffyPrep5 (4:59:06 PM): d
1 of the 2 Ones
This happened
yesterday:
AIM IM with ars063.20@mac.com
1/27/05, 6:08 PM
ars063.20@mac.com: hey beautiful?
Michael Wyszomierski: what store is thes
Michael Wyszomierski: this
6:10 PM
Michael Wyszomierski: towson
And this happened today:
AIM IM with ars063.20@mac.com
4:22 PM
ars063.20@mac.com: hi
Michael Wyszomierski: hello towson
Michael Wyszomierski: who is this
ars063.20@mac.com: ummmmmm
Michael Wyszomierski: you don't know?
ars063.20@mac.com: no
Michael Wyszomierski: you don't know who you are
ars063.20@mac.com: yea
ars063.20@mac.com: this is some 1 else
ars063.20@mac.com: sry g2g
ars063.20@mac.com: bibi
AIM IM with ars063.20@mac.com
1/27/05, 6:08 PM
ars063.20@mac.com: hey beautiful?
Michael Wyszomierski: what store is thes
Michael Wyszomierski: this
6:10 PM
Michael Wyszomierski: towson
And this happened today:
AIM IM with ars063.20@mac.com
4:22 PM
ars063.20@mac.com: hi
Michael Wyszomierski: hello towson
Michael Wyszomierski: who is this
ars063.20@mac.com: ummmmmm
Michael Wyszomierski: you don't know?
ars063.20@mac.com: no
Michael Wyszomierski: you don't know who you are
ars063.20@mac.com: yea
ars063.20@mac.com: this is some 1 else
ars063.20@mac.com: sry g2g
ars063.20@mac.com: bibi
Emergency? Don't Call 911; Google it!
Message from:
Ann
"I just wanted to let you know that Google may well have saved my life. My sons and I were walking home from having eaten out. A half block from my house, I felt this pressure building in my chest. Immediately, I thought, 'heart attack' and ran through how I'd been feeling that the day (I had been nauseated). My first thought was, 'confirm suspicions,' and immediately, upon arriving home, I went to Google and typed in 'heart attack.' I kept thinking, 'you only have minutes...' I found a site that listed symptoms. Indeed, I was having a heart attack. I was at the Albany fire station within minutes. Five baby aspirin later, and a few squirts of nitro and I was in the ambulance on my way to the hospital. The good news is, I have no residual damage. My heart is back to normal. Thank you for providing the Google search engine. I'm sure my recovery was complete because of the speed within which I was able to get help."
The help would have come a little faster if you didn't waste time on the computer, Ann.
Link
"I just wanted to let you know that Google may well have saved my life. My sons and I were walking home from having eaten out. A half block from my house, I felt this pressure building in my chest. Immediately, I thought, 'heart attack' and ran through how I'd been feeling that the day (I had been nauseated). My first thought was, 'confirm suspicions,' and immediately, upon arriving home, I went to Google and typed in 'heart attack.' I kept thinking, 'you only have minutes...' I found a site that listed symptoms. Indeed, I was having a heart attack. I was at the Albany fire station within minutes. Five baby aspirin later, and a few squirts of nitro and I was in the ambulance on my way to the hospital. The good news is, I have no residual damage. My heart is back to normal. Thank you for providing the Google search engine. I'm sure my recovery was complete because of the speed within which I was able to get help."
The help would have come a little faster if you didn't waste time on the computer, Ann.
Link
John's Thumb Gets Famouser
Skier Wysz (4:53:52 PM):
thinksecret linked to your
thumb
Stowington (4:54:06 PM): awesome
Stowington (4:54:24 PM): but not to your exclusive pictures
Stowington (4:54:34 PM): oh I never gave you a picture of the winning cap
Think Secret
Exclusive Pictures, now including the winning cap
Stowington (4:54:06 PM): awesome
Stowington (4:54:24 PM): but not to your exclusive pictures
Stowington (4:54:34 PM): oh I never gave you a picture of the winning cap
Think Secret
Exclusive Pictures, now including the winning cap
From Macworld, on Best Buy selling the Mac mini in its stores
"The popular retailer had a falling-out with Apple
in 1999, when the computer maker insisted that the company carry all five colors
of the original G3
iMac."
Link
Link
This one isn't either, but it is a good introduction to the next one, which IS one of the ones.
Skier Wysz (4:27:17 PM):
mr.
stowingtons
Stowington (4:27:26 PM): yes
Skier Wysz (4:27:28 PM): when you sent me messages from the towson apple store
Stowington (4:27:33 PM): yes?
Skier Wysz (4:27:52 PM): did you forget to remove me from the buddy list?
Skier Wysz (4:28:08 PM): because i've received 2 IMs from that store in the past 2 days
Stowington (4:28:13 PM): wow
Stowington (4:28:22 PM): I'm pretty sure I did
Stowington (4:28:25 PM): but it was a long time ago
Skier Wysz (4:28:58 PM): yeah probably wasn't your fault, cause this getting IMs from towson thing is new
Stowington (4:29:09 PM): I'm telling you
Stowington (4:29:14 PM): you have fans out there
Stowington (4:27:26 PM): yes
Skier Wysz (4:27:28 PM): when you sent me messages from the towson apple store
Stowington (4:27:33 PM): yes?
Skier Wysz (4:27:52 PM): did you forget to remove me from the buddy list?
Skier Wysz (4:28:08 PM): because i've received 2 IMs from that store in the past 2 days
Stowington (4:28:13 PM): wow
Stowington (4:28:22 PM): I'm pretty sure I did
Stowington (4:28:25 PM): but it was a long time ago
Skier Wysz (4:28:58 PM): yeah probably wasn't your fault, cause this getting IMs from towson thing is new
Stowington (4:29:09 PM): I'm telling you
Stowington (4:29:14 PM): you have fans out there
Update just to update, and I have at least 2 more on the way in the next few minutes, even though I've forgotton what one of them is going to be
csvroomfondel (4:22:10
PM): I'm somewhat surprised that your blog
has not been updated
much
Skier Wysz (4:22:26 PM): yeah i know i've really slowed down
Skier Wysz (4:22:39 PM): i still update more than you
csvroomfondel (4:22:47 PM): that's not hard to do
csvroomfondel (4:23:04 PM): so it's not really much of an accomplishment
csvroomfondel (4:23:12 PM): but a good point, none-the-less
Skier Wysz (4:22:26 PM): yeah i know i've really slowed down
Skier Wysz (4:22:39 PM): i still update more than you
csvroomfondel (4:22:47 PM): that's not hard to do
csvroomfondel (4:23:04 PM): so it's not really much of an accomplishment
csvroomfondel (4:23:12 PM): but a good point, none-the-less
This isn't one of the two that I promised
csvroomfondel (4:28:52
PM): it's a good thing IM conversations are
a staple of your blog
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Photoshop Part 3, and nothing to do with Adobe or JourneyEd
Part
1
|
Part
2 | This is Part
3.
Armed with an RA#, I was ready today to ship Photoshop/Illustrator back to JourneyEd in an attempt to get my money back. I looked up the hours online for the Gilman Post Office, which also does UPS shipping, and found that window transactions (where you do UPS) were only available from 2-4, which happened to be the exact same time that my class was scheduled. However, I knew that class would get out early, since nobody wants to talk for two hours, so I brought the box with me.
Class ended around 3:45, and I headed straight downstairs, as the post office is in the same building. I figured I was just fine arriving more than 10 minutes before they closed, as shipping only takes a couple of minutes. When I got to the window, which was open, there was nobody there, and I couldn't see anyone in the back. I knocked a few times, and no luck. At about 3:55, I saw one of the employees walking down the hall. He saw me waiting at the window, and kept walking without acknowledging me until I called for his attention and asked if I could ship my package. He told me of course not, I need to get there by 3:30 at the latest to ship UPS. I pointed to the sign next to the window (and also next to a large UPS logo) which said that the window hours were 2-4, and suggested that they update it. He looked at me like I was an idiot, and said, "Think about it," followed by an explanation that they close at 4, so there has to be some prep time for getting all of the UPS packages ready at the end of the day for pickup, meaning that they can't help any customers after 3:30. I understood his explanation, but pointed out that the sign says "Window Hours." His response: "Well, that sign was put up way before we started handling UPS."
I ended up walking in the cold to Kinkos and shipping via FedEx.
Once I get new ink cartridges, my first print job will be an updated sign to post outside the Gilman Post Office.
Armed with an RA#, I was ready today to ship Photoshop/Illustrator back to JourneyEd in an attempt to get my money back. I looked up the hours online for the Gilman Post Office, which also does UPS shipping, and found that window transactions (where you do UPS) were only available from 2-4, which happened to be the exact same time that my class was scheduled. However, I knew that class would get out early, since nobody wants to talk for two hours, so I brought the box with me.
Class ended around 3:45, and I headed straight downstairs, as the post office is in the same building. I figured I was just fine arriving more than 10 minutes before they closed, as shipping only takes a couple of minutes. When I got to the window, which was open, there was nobody there, and I couldn't see anyone in the back. I knocked a few times, and no luck. At about 3:55, I saw one of the employees walking down the hall. He saw me waiting at the window, and kept walking without acknowledging me until I called for his attention and asked if I could ship my package. He told me of course not, I need to get there by 3:30 at the latest to ship UPS. I pointed to the sign next to the window (and also next to a large UPS logo) which said that the window hours were 2-4, and suggested that they update it. He looked at me like I was an idiot, and said, "Think about it," followed by an explanation that they close at 4, so there has to be some prep time for getting all of the UPS packages ready at the end of the day for pickup, meaning that they can't help any customers after 3:30. I understood his explanation, but pointed out that the sign says "Window Hours." His response: "Well, that sign was put up way before we started handling UPS."
I ended up walking in the cold to Kinkos and shipping via FedEx.
Once I get new ink cartridges, my first print job will be an updated sign to post outside the Gilman Post Office.
I've been awake for about 24 hours, it's too risky to sleep before class, and class isn't over until 4, so it's gonna be a long day.
Skier Wysz (12:02:59 PM):
i like your joke on the vocal chords
page about dropping a
shotput
Skier Wysz (12:03:02 PM): did you make it up
Skier Wysz (12:03:08 PM): it makes me smile every time
Stowington (12:03:15 PM): it is a stowingtons original
Skier Wysz (12:03:19 PM): wow
Skier Wysz (12:03:32 PM): so you didnt adapt it from an existing joke?
Stowington (12:03:55 PM): not knowingly
Here's an excerpt from John's bio:
Favorite excuse for being late to rehearsal: I dropped a shotput on my toe
Favorite excuse for being early to rehearsal: I dropped a shotput on my coach's toe
Skier Wysz (12:03:02 PM): did you make it up
Skier Wysz (12:03:08 PM): it makes me smile every time
Stowington (12:03:15 PM): it is a stowingtons original
Skier Wysz (12:03:19 PM): wow
Skier Wysz (12:03:32 PM): so you didnt adapt it from an existing joke?
Stowington (12:03:55 PM): not knowingly
Here's an excerpt from John's bio:
Favorite excuse for being late to rehearsal: I dropped a shotput on my toe
Favorite excuse for being early to rehearsal: I dropped a shotput on my coach's toe
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Google Video Search
My newest toy is Google Video Search. Like most
Google features (or so it seems), it is in beta. Hey, that's what happens when
you innovate. It indexes the closed captioning of television programs, and
associates the text with images, times, channels, and programs. I just realized
that as its database grows, it will be the ultimate source for finding that
exact quote from a TV show or movie that's been broadcast. Right now you can
only find stuff that's aired since late December 2004, but after a full season
of indexing and a few more channels, I think this feature will really grow in
popularity and utility.
Haven't done this in a LONG time, but
iLife '05
After my lengthy JourneyEd/Adobe complaints, AKA
"This is why I don't like people," I figured I should post something happy, but
also appropriately geeky. I got to go to the Apple Store in Towson today and buy
iLife '05. I mentally prepared myself for the visit by repeating reminders to
myself while walking through the mall: "No, I will not buy a Mac mini. No, I
will not buy an iPod shuffle. No, I will not buy a 30-inch display. No, I will
not buy
two
30-inch displays." Don't get me wrong, the Apple salespeople aren't pushy (they
don't get commission and I've never been approached with anything other than,
"Do you have any questions?"), I just really can't resist Apple products. I know
it's pathetic, but it's a fun kind of
pathetic.
I had a coupon for $10 off of any purchase $100 or more, so I was able to pick up an iLife Family Pack for 90 bucks, and I'm proud to say that I made it out of the store without buying anything else. I'm going to install it in a few minutes, and I look forward to taking advantage of iPhoto 5's new editing capabilities, especially since I don't have Photoshop. I tried it out in The Computer Forum over the weekend, and it looks pretty impressive. I think I will also be using iDVD now that it has the OneStep DVD feature.
I had a coupon for $10 off of any purchase $100 or more, so I was able to pick up an iLife Family Pack for 90 bucks, and I'm proud to say that I made it out of the store without buying anything else. I'm going to install it in a few minutes, and I look forward to taking advantage of iPhoto 5's new editing capabilities, especially since I don't have Photoshop. I tried it out in The Computer Forum over the weekend, and it looks pretty impressive. I think I will also be using iDVD now that it has the OneStep DVD feature.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Photoshop Part 2, And Probably Not The End
As I mentioned in
Part 1: Will
I EVER have Photoshop?, I figured
that I should probably contact Adobe first, since the box was shrink-wrapped,
and therefore JourneyEd probably didn't stuff it with the wrong
product.
So, I called the long-distance support number for Photoshop, which I found on Adobe's website. After several minutes on hold, the representative, who was very nice, (everyone was polite at Adobe) listened to my story and said, "Oh, man, that's crazy," and then told me that he couldn't help me, but Adobe Customer Service, who has a toll-free number, could. I thanked him and called the number he gave me.
After a few minutes on hold, I gave my story to the customer service representative, who said, "Oh, man, that's crazy," but he Adobe couldn't help me because it was an educational purchase, and they wouldn't be able to take any returns or make a replacement for that type of purchase. He told me to call JourneyEd, who would be able to make the return through their Adobe contacts.
I thanked the Adobe guy, and called JourneyEd's customer service. After a few minutes on hold, which didn't have music like Adobe, but instead had some stupid recording about their policies, along with the occasional "we are experiencing high call volume," a woman answered and listened to my story. Her immediate and brusque response was, "Call Adobe." She didn't say, "I'm sorry, but we can't help you, you will have to call Adobe. Would you like the number?" She just said, "Call Adobe." Of course my first reaction to her surly tone was to yell, "No!" and then explain that Adobe told me to contact JourneyEd. She told me that she couldn't do anything, so I told her that Adobe couldn't take the return because it was an educational product, and that JourneyEd is supposed to work with Adobe to take care of this. She then asked me, in an accusatory tone, which number I called at Adobe, as if she was expecting me to admit that I had actually made up the entire story about talking to them. I read back the number, and she said, again in a very rude manner, "That's the wrong number," as if I were some sort of idiot. She then gave me another number to call at Adobe before we had to part ways.
After this encounter which furthered my dislike of JourneyEd.com, I was eager to talk to a polite Adobe person. I called the new number, and after several minutes on hold, I got to tell my story, which was getting quite long, for the fourth time and heard the usual "Oh, man, that's crazy," from the representative, who politely put me on hold again. He came back a few minutes later, and passed on an "oh man, that's crazy" from his supervisor, which I'm starting to assume is a compliment at Adobe Systems Incorporated, and then explained that since it was an education purchase, they couldn't do anything for me. He was very apologetic, and seemed to feel sorry for me that JourneyEd runs such a shady business. He suggested that I order from AcademicSuperstore.com next time (which Google has been running ads for on Part 1), or check Adobe's website for a list of authorized education resellers. JourneyEd, by the way, is on the list. As for taking care of my problem, his only suggestion was to contact my credit card company and have them cancel the charge.
Just before going to dinner, I decided to try JourneyEd again. I called the customer service number, and after several minutes on hold, fortunately was connected to a different representative than the first time, giving me a chance to switch tactics. I told him that I wanted to to return Photoshop. He was much nicer than the woman I talked to earlier, and asked if the box had been opened. I admitted that it was, but let him know that nothing inside had been removed or opened. He gave me an RA # and also did a one-time waiver of the usual $45 "restocking charge," so I should get all my money back, minus the return shipping. He also suggested that I use a trackable shipping service, which I will do.
Of course, I know that this isn't the end of the story. Since it is an "open box" return, JourneyEd will undoubtedly open the Photoshop box and find Illustrator inside. Hopefully they'll be dumb enough to not notice the difference, but I have a feeling they'll be calling me and asking what kind of scheme I'm running. Actually, based on my previous experiences with JourneyEd's inaction, they won't call me, but I will hear the question when I call to ask why the charge hasn't been cancelled yet. I am considering including a letter with the return to explain the presence of Illustrator, but I might try to bank on their incompetence first and see if I can get away with the return. The only moral problem with this is I will be setting up another poor customer for a similar experience. Oh well, maybe they'll send it to the child of a lawyer, who can do more damage than some college student with a blog.
To be continued...
So, I called the long-distance support number for Photoshop, which I found on Adobe's website. After several minutes on hold, the representative, who was very nice, (everyone was polite at Adobe) listened to my story and said, "Oh, man, that's crazy," and then told me that he couldn't help me, but Adobe Customer Service, who has a toll-free number, could. I thanked him and called the number he gave me.
After a few minutes on hold, I gave my story to the customer service representative, who said, "Oh, man, that's crazy," but he Adobe couldn't help me because it was an educational purchase, and they wouldn't be able to take any returns or make a replacement for that type of purchase. He told me to call JourneyEd, who would be able to make the return through their Adobe contacts.
I thanked the Adobe guy, and called JourneyEd's customer service. After a few minutes on hold, which didn't have music like Adobe, but instead had some stupid recording about their policies, along with the occasional "we are experiencing high call volume," a woman answered and listened to my story. Her immediate and brusque response was, "Call Adobe." She didn't say, "I'm sorry, but we can't help you, you will have to call Adobe. Would you like the number?" She just said, "Call Adobe." Of course my first reaction to her surly tone was to yell, "No!" and then explain that Adobe told me to contact JourneyEd. She told me that she couldn't do anything, so I told her that Adobe couldn't take the return because it was an educational product, and that JourneyEd is supposed to work with Adobe to take care of this. She then asked me, in an accusatory tone, which number I called at Adobe, as if she was expecting me to admit that I had actually made up the entire story about talking to them. I read back the number, and she said, again in a very rude manner, "That's the wrong number," as if I were some sort of idiot. She then gave me another number to call at Adobe before we had to part ways.
After this encounter which furthered my dislike of JourneyEd.com, I was eager to talk to a polite Adobe person. I called the new number, and after several minutes on hold, I got to tell my story, which was getting quite long, for the fourth time and heard the usual "Oh, man, that's crazy," from the representative, who politely put me on hold again. He came back a few minutes later, and passed on an "oh man, that's crazy" from his supervisor, which I'm starting to assume is a compliment at Adobe Systems Incorporated, and then explained that since it was an education purchase, they couldn't do anything for me. He was very apologetic, and seemed to feel sorry for me that JourneyEd runs such a shady business. He suggested that I order from AcademicSuperstore.com next time (which Google has been running ads for on Part 1), or check Adobe's website for a list of authorized education resellers. JourneyEd, by the way, is on the list. As for taking care of my problem, his only suggestion was to contact my credit card company and have them cancel the charge.
Just before going to dinner, I decided to try JourneyEd again. I called the customer service number, and after several minutes on hold, fortunately was connected to a different representative than the first time, giving me a chance to switch tactics. I told him that I wanted to to return Photoshop. He was much nicer than the woman I talked to earlier, and asked if the box had been opened. I admitted that it was, but let him know that nothing inside had been removed or opened. He gave me an RA # and also did a one-time waiver of the usual $45 "restocking charge," so I should get all my money back, minus the return shipping. He also suggested that I use a trackable shipping service, which I will do.
Of course, I know that this isn't the end of the story. Since it is an "open box" return, JourneyEd will undoubtedly open the Photoshop box and find Illustrator inside. Hopefully they'll be dumb enough to not notice the difference, but I have a feeling they'll be calling me and asking what kind of scheme I'm running. Actually, based on my previous experiences with JourneyEd's inaction, they won't call me, but I will hear the question when I call to ask why the charge hasn't been cancelled yet. I am considering including a letter with the return to explain the presence of Illustrator, but I might try to bank on their incompetence first and see if I can get away with the return. The only moral problem with this is I will be setting up another poor customer for a similar experience. Oh well, maybe they'll send it to the child of a lawyer, who can do more damage than some college student with a blog.
To be continued...
What is bowling?
parec02 (5:54:07 PM):
it's kind of like baseball, except you
don't swing a bat, and you don't catch the ball, and you don't wear a glove, and
there's no defense. but you use a round ball, like in baseball
Monday, January 24, 2005
http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=shkenblke
Speaking of updating those feed URL's
Chris Smith (no, not Juicy) has once again
redesigned his website,
and with that redesign comes a new RSS feed. In fact,
his new blog, with only four entries so far, has six RSS 2.0 feeds. There's the
main feed, a
comments
feed, plus a separate comment feed
for
each
entry.
My favorite entry to date is Microwave Soap, which is just a picture of melted soap in a microwave with no other commentary.
My favorite entry to date is Microwave Soap, which is just a picture of melted soap in a microwave with no other commentary.
Attn: All RSS subscribers who aren't reading this
For a short period last night, all pages hosted
on .Mac were redirected to http://www.mac.com/maintenance/, including my RSS feed. If
your news aggregator is not showing the latest
Wysz's Thoughts
v,Awesome entries, please make sure the feed
URL has not been set to the maintenance page. The correct URL is:
http://homepage.mac.com/wysz/iblog/rss.xml
Steve Jobs apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Steve Jobs apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused.
502 Error: Awesome Overload
csvroomfondel (1:13:20
AM): i was getting a 502 error trying to
visit your site
yesterday
Skier Wysz (1:13:40 AM): they were doing maintenance on .mac
Skier Wysz (1:14:10 AM): they had to upgrade their servers to handle the incredible amount of traffic home of the wysz has been drawing
csvroomfondel (1:14:42 AM): how nice of them
Skier Wysz (1:14:55 AM): now they have an xserve dedicated to each individual blog entry
csvroomfondel (1:15:14 AM): that seems like a waste of power
Skier Wysz (1:15:38 AM): no, it is actually barely adequate
Skier Wysz (1:15:57 AM): they wanted to shut me down
Skier Wysz (1:16:03 AM): but steve is such a big fan
Skier Wysz (1:17:02 AM): man, drugs are awesome
csvroomfondel (1:17:18 AM): i'm a fan
csvroomfondel (1:17:25 AM): which one is your particular favorite?
Skier Wysz (1:17:54 AM): i don't know, i wasn't really planning on taking that joke any further than "man, drugs are awesome"
Skier Wysz (1:13:40 AM): they were doing maintenance on .mac
Skier Wysz (1:14:10 AM): they had to upgrade their servers to handle the incredible amount of traffic home of the wysz has been drawing
csvroomfondel (1:14:42 AM): how nice of them
Skier Wysz (1:14:55 AM): now they have an xserve dedicated to each individual blog entry
csvroomfondel (1:15:14 AM): that seems like a waste of power
Skier Wysz (1:15:38 AM): no, it is actually barely adequate
Skier Wysz (1:15:57 AM): they wanted to shut me down
Skier Wysz (1:16:03 AM): but steve is such a big fan
Skier Wysz (1:17:02 AM): man, drugs are awesome
csvroomfondel (1:17:18 AM): i'm a fan
csvroomfondel (1:17:25 AM): which one is your particular favorite?
Skier Wysz (1:17:54 AM): i don't know, i wasn't really planning on taking that joke any further than "man, drugs are awesome"
When you're too tired to fight back
ShkenBlke2 (12:54:48 AM):
u havnt updated ur blog in
awhile
Skier Wysz (12:55:10 AM): sorry, i dont have anything to say
Skier Wysz (12:55:18 AM): i can't update just to update
ShkenBlke2 (12:56:10 AM): yes
ShkenBlke2 (12:56:12 AM): yes u can
ShkenBlke2 (12:56:36 AM): u could put sum random thought on life
ShkenBlke2 (12:56:58 AM): or post a link 2 my blog as a post
Skier Wysz (12:57:09 AM): fine
Skier Wysz (12:57:21 AM): let me get the old iblog fired up
ShkenBlke2 (12:57:29 AM): haha
ShkenBlke2 (12:57:30 AM): YES
ShkenBlke2 (12:57:37 AM): I win
Skier Wysz (12:57:48 AM): congratulations
Skier Wysz (12:53:52 AM): if the steelers played i'd want them to win
Miltime63 (12:54:04 AM): um why
Skier Wysz (12:54:41 AM): everyone in my family except for my generation is from pittsburgh, so i've kinda been brainwashed. plus pittsburgh has better fans
Skier Wysz (12:54:52 AM): nobody likes philly fans
Miltime63 (12:54:54 AM): ah ok
Miltime63 (12:55:04 AM): thats a terrible statement
Miltime63 (12:55:20 AM): just b/c no one likes eagles fans doesnt mean they r bad
Miltime63 (12:55:46 AM): philly has the best fans in the nation period
Skier Wysz (12:55:59 AM): whatever, i dont care enough to argue this
Skier Wysz (12:56:09 AM): so i'll concede
Miltime63 (12:56:11 AM): cause im right. yup
Skier Wysz (12:56:16 AM): yeah
Skier Wysz (12:55:10 AM): sorry, i dont have anything to say
Skier Wysz (12:55:18 AM): i can't update just to update
ShkenBlke2 (12:56:10 AM): yes
ShkenBlke2 (12:56:12 AM): yes u can
ShkenBlke2 (12:56:36 AM): u could put sum random thought on life
ShkenBlke2 (12:56:58 AM): or post a link 2 my blog as a post
Skier Wysz (12:57:09 AM): fine
Skier Wysz (12:57:21 AM): let me get the old iblog fired up
ShkenBlke2 (12:57:29 AM): haha
ShkenBlke2 (12:57:30 AM): YES
ShkenBlke2 (12:57:37 AM): I win
Skier Wysz (12:57:48 AM): congratulations
Skier Wysz (12:53:52 AM): if the steelers played i'd want them to win
Miltime63 (12:54:04 AM): um why
Skier Wysz (12:54:41 AM): everyone in my family except for my generation is from pittsburgh, so i've kinda been brainwashed. plus pittsburgh has better fans
Skier Wysz (12:54:52 AM): nobody likes philly fans
Miltime63 (12:54:54 AM): ah ok
Miltime63 (12:55:04 AM): thats a terrible statement
Miltime63 (12:55:20 AM): just b/c no one likes eagles fans doesnt mean they r bad
Miltime63 (12:55:46 AM): philly has the best fans in the nation period
Skier Wysz (12:55:59 AM): whatever, i dont care enough to argue this
Skier Wysz (12:56:09 AM): so i'll concede
Miltime63 (12:56:11 AM): cause im right. yup
Skier Wysz (12:56:16 AM): yeah
I'm doing that thing again where I just quote everything
csvroomfondel (1:18:34
AM): i felt it had
potential
Skier Wysz (1:19:20 AM): "man, drugs are awesome" = "i think that steve jobs goes to my website because i'm on drugs"
csvroomfondel (1:20:41 AM): while the non-sequitur of "man, drugs are awesome" was amusing, the continuation of the joke in that form is not as humorous
Skier Wysz (1:21:06 AM): whatever, i'm awesome
csvroomfondel (1:21:46 AM): I could dispute that, but I find it easier to just agree
Skier Wysz (1:22:17 AM): that seems to be the theme of the night
csvroomfondel (1:22:30 AM): why is that?
Skier Wysz (1:22:48 AM): read "when you're too tired to fight back" on my blog
csvroomfondel (1:23:15 AM): this is just a way to drive traffic, isnt it?
Skier Wysz (1:19:20 AM): "man, drugs are awesome" = "i think that steve jobs goes to my website because i'm on drugs"
csvroomfondel (1:20:41 AM): while the non-sequitur of "man, drugs are awesome" was amusing, the continuation of the joke in that form is not as humorous
Skier Wysz (1:21:06 AM): whatever, i'm awesome
csvroomfondel (1:21:46 AM): I could dispute that, but I find it easier to just agree
Skier Wysz (1:22:17 AM): that seems to be the theme of the night
csvroomfondel (1:22:30 AM): why is that?
Skier Wysz (1:22:48 AM): read "when you're too tired to fight back" on my blog
csvroomfondel (1:23:15 AM): this is just a way to drive traffic, isnt it?
Sunday, January 23, 2005
I should just start commuting
I have to drive to America's Dirtiest City™
today. Based on my previous observations of how they deal with snow, I should be
able to find a parking spot sometime in early February, and the sidewalks will
be cleared by Easter, assuming we don't get any more snow this
year.
Just Doing My Job
ShkenBlke2 (1:44:05 AM):
i figured that was gonna get
blogged
ShkenBlke2 (1:44:34 AM): haha
ShkenBlke2 (1:44:49 AM): u always manage 2 make me look absolutely retarded
ShkenBlke2 (1:44:34 AM): haha
ShkenBlke2 (1:44:49 AM): u always manage 2 make me look absolutely retarded
I needed a good Blake quote
ShkenBlke2 (1:40:45 AM):
i cant help it that all these people
find me so
attractive
Skier Wysz (1:40:56 AM): hahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahhahahhahahahhahhahahahaha
Skier Wysz (1:40:58 AM): sorry
ShkenBlke2 (1:41:17 AM): which comment were u laughing at?
Skier Wysz (1:40:56 AM): hahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahhahahhahahahhahhahahahaha
Skier Wysz (1:40:58 AM): sorry
ShkenBlke2 (1:41:17 AM): which comment were u laughing at?
One of these days I'll learn how to type
Skier Wysz (2:25:48 AM):
ok i've run out of away messages to
check so i'm gonna take a break and get a
popsicle
ShkenBlke2 (2:25:59 AM): im going 2 bed
Skier Wysz (2:26:02 AM): ok
Skier Wysz (2:26:05 AM): later dudrer
Skier Wysz (2:26:08 AM): eudyred3
Skier Wysz (2:26:09 AM): dyere
Skier Wysz (2:26:10 AM): duder
ShkenBlke2 (2:26:18 AM): u aight there buddy?
Skier Wysz (2:26:23 AM): i'm awesome
ShkenBlke2 (2:25:59 AM): im going 2 bed
Skier Wysz (2:26:02 AM): ok
Skier Wysz (2:26:05 AM): later dudrer
Skier Wysz (2:26:08 AM): eudyred3
Skier Wysz (2:26:09 AM): dyere
Skier Wysz (2:26:10 AM): duder
ShkenBlke2 (2:26:18 AM): u aight there buddy?
Skier Wysz (2:26:23 AM): i'm awesome
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Re: .Mac System Status
Yeah, I'm an idiot.
.Mac System Status
I've been using my iDisk and updating my blog
tonight with no problems, even though .Mac is supposed to be down for
maintenance from 1 AM to 9 AM EST today. I just tried to log in via
their website, and all of the web-based services are up and running, and the
system status says everything is just fine. I like the way Apple does system
upgrades.
HDV
iMovie and Final Cut Express now
support HDV, so why hasn't Final Cut Pro been updated
yet? I know that HDV support is coming, but are they really going to make us
wait until NAB?
On a related note, if anyone wants to buy me one of those nice Sony HDV cameras, be my guest. And if you're feeling really nice, get me one of the expensive DVCPRO HD cameras so I can do HD in Final Cut right away.
On a related note, if anyone wants to buy me one of those nice Sony HDV cameras, be my guest. And if you're feeling really nice, get me one of the expensive DVCPRO HD cameras so I can do HD in Final Cut right away.
Fighting Like A Girl
Reneelet (12:38:56 PM):
oh yeah. that was pretty
neat. i never knew that michael bloomberg is
short
Skier Wysz (12:39:10 PM): he is, i could beat him up
Reneelet (12:40:29 PM): i dont think that you should
Skier Wysz (12:41:07 PM): but i could if i wanted to
Reneelet (12:42:00 PM): yeah
Reneelet (12:42:10 PM): me too then
Skier Wysz (12:42:33 PM): you fight like a girl
Reneelet (12:42:42 PM): thank you
Reneelet (12:43:15 PM): if you took lessons, i bet you would be able to fight like a girl too
Skier Wysz (12:39:10 PM): he is, i could beat him up
Reneelet (12:40:29 PM): i dont think that you should
Skier Wysz (12:41:07 PM): but i could if i wanted to
Reneelet (12:42:00 PM): yeah
Reneelet (12:42:10 PM): me too then
Skier Wysz (12:42:33 PM): you fight like a girl
Reneelet (12:42:42 PM): thank you
Reneelet (12:43:15 PM): if you took lessons, i bet you would be able to fight like a girl too
Typing Is Hard
BuffyPrep5 (1:25:59 PM):
whats
up
Skier Wysz (1:26:56 PM): it's snowig
Skier Wysz (1:26:57 PM): hg
Skier Wysz (1:26:58 PM): gh
Skier Wysz (1:27:00 PM): hga3
Skier Wysz (1:27:01 PM): soing
Skier Wysz (1:27:03 PM): snowoing
Skier Wysz (1:27:04 PM): snownig
Skier Wysz (1:27:06 PM): swnng
Skier Wysz (1:27:07 PM): snowing
BuffyPrep5 (1:27:13 PM): that was fun
Skier Wysz (1:27:28 PM): it was alright
Skier Wysz (1:26:56 PM): it's snowig
Skier Wysz (1:26:57 PM): hg
Skier Wysz (1:26:58 PM): gh
Skier Wysz (1:27:00 PM): hga3
Skier Wysz (1:27:01 PM): soing
Skier Wysz (1:27:03 PM): snowoing
Skier Wysz (1:27:04 PM): snownig
Skier Wysz (1:27:06 PM): swnng
Skier Wysz (1:27:07 PM): snowing
BuffyPrep5 (1:27:13 PM): that was fun
Skier Wysz (1:27:28 PM): it was alright
Friday, January 21, 2005
Will I EVER Have Photoshop?
I recently began a mission to scan all of our
family photos at 300 dpi to preserve them digitally on the computer, where they
can be easily backed up and organized. Many of the older photos are scratched
and the colors have faded, and the albums themselves have not always been kind
to the prints. For the ones that go beyond iPhoto's editing capabilities (iPhoto
'05 is a wonderful upgrade by the way), I want to fix them in Adobe Photoshop.
My current version of Photoshop is 5.0.2, and lacks features such as the healing
brush that would help to restore these old pictures, and the ability to deal
with non-square pixels which would help with my video work. Also, it only runs
in Classic, and tends to freeze up on layer
effects.
I decided to finally suck it up and buy Photoshop CS, which runs about $300 with educational discount. To get the discount, I had to purchase it through an authorized education software reseller, which severely limited my options, and didn't include any of my usual sources. I decided to order from JourneyEd.com, where I had ordered Photoshop for my sister last year. I know I could just install her copy, but I'm a good citizen, and there's a very good chance that we would both try to run Photoshop at the same time while connected to the same network, and I don't want to have to deal with that.
Anyway, I placed the order for Photoshop after electronically verifying my status as a student. The item was listed as $299.98, and I went with the cheapest shipping charge of $17. That's right, I still had to pay for shipping on a $300 order. I was taken to the order confirmation screen which listed these prices, but the order number and grand total fields were left blank. I let it go, and waited for the confirmation email. I didn't have to wait long to receive not one, but two confirmation emails, each from a different address! The best part is, while the order number was the same (I didn't order two copies), one email listed shipping as $17, and the other said that the shipping was free. The grand total, displayed in bold red text at the bottom of each message, differed by $17 in the two emails. I was a bit worried that their ordering system was flawed, but I really wanted Photoshop, so again, I just let it go and patiently awaited a shipping notice, which I expected soon since the product had an estimated ship time of less than 24 hours.
A few days passed, and I received no notification. I checked the order status online, and it had changed from "waiting for management" to "waiting for customer." I called them the next business day, and explained my situation to the woman, telling her about the two emails, the order status, and the fact that the item was now listed on the website as selling for $30 less, so I had no idea how much I would be charged. The representative calmly informed me that I couldn't buy it since I had already ordered one. I then remembered that I had ordered my sister's copy in my name because I had a student ID and she didn't yet, so I accepted the answer, but I don't appreciate JourneyEd's actions. The "Purchase Requirements" section of their Photoshop page mentions an academic ID, but says nothing about the one copy limit. Whatever. But then why did they let me order it? Again, whatever, their computer system sucks. What really bugs me is that instead of calling or emailing me, they just put the order out in "waiting for customer" land, which is some sort of order purgatory. Who knows how long they expected me to wait until calling them. Anyway, I told the representative to cancel my order and I hung up.
I then asked my sister to return the favor and order a copy for me. She went through the order process, and provided what she thought was necessary to verify her academic status. When I asked her to check on her order, it too had been labeled "waiting for customer." She called, and they asked for her letter of acceptance because her ID wasn't dated. Again, the fact that they waited for her to call them instead of the other way around is ridiculous. Anyway, within a couple days she received a shipping notification, and I was happy. Until today.
I got back from New York to find that the package had arrived from JourneyEd. Tonight I opened the shrink-wrapped Adobe Photoshop CS for Mac box to find a manual and CD for Illustrator CS for Windows. Wonderful. I must be fair and say that this is probably not JourneyEd's fault. While the box is clearly for Photoshop, the UPC label is for Illustrator. Now I have to decide if I should contact JourneyEd or Adobe first. Both only offer support M-F, so in either case I'll have to wait until Monday, when I'm supposed to be concentrating on driving to Baltimore. Ugh.
This has nothing to do with Photoshop, but I don't want to be one of those people who uses his blog to talk about his cats, so I'm writing this here. Potter, who never goes in my room, just walked in, picked up one of my socks, and took it out of my room. It's a dress sock, so I won't need to find it until Thanksgiving.
I decided to finally suck it up and buy Photoshop CS, which runs about $300 with educational discount. To get the discount, I had to purchase it through an authorized education software reseller, which severely limited my options, and didn't include any of my usual sources. I decided to order from JourneyEd.com, where I had ordered Photoshop for my sister last year. I know I could just install her copy, but I'm a good citizen, and there's a very good chance that we would both try to run Photoshop at the same time while connected to the same network, and I don't want to have to deal with that.
Anyway, I placed the order for Photoshop after electronically verifying my status as a student. The item was listed as $299.98, and I went with the cheapest shipping charge of $17. That's right, I still had to pay for shipping on a $300 order. I was taken to the order confirmation screen which listed these prices, but the order number and grand total fields were left blank. I let it go, and waited for the confirmation email. I didn't have to wait long to receive not one, but two confirmation emails, each from a different address! The best part is, while the order number was the same (I didn't order two copies), one email listed shipping as $17, and the other said that the shipping was free. The grand total, displayed in bold red text at the bottom of each message, differed by $17 in the two emails. I was a bit worried that their ordering system was flawed, but I really wanted Photoshop, so again, I just let it go and patiently awaited a shipping notice, which I expected soon since the product had an estimated ship time of less than 24 hours.
A few days passed, and I received no notification. I checked the order status online, and it had changed from "waiting for management" to "waiting for customer." I called them the next business day, and explained my situation to the woman, telling her about the two emails, the order status, and the fact that the item was now listed on the website as selling for $30 less, so I had no idea how much I would be charged. The representative calmly informed me that I couldn't buy it since I had already ordered one. I then remembered that I had ordered my sister's copy in my name because I had a student ID and she didn't yet, so I accepted the answer, but I don't appreciate JourneyEd's actions. The "Purchase Requirements" section of their Photoshop page mentions an academic ID, but says nothing about the one copy limit. Whatever. But then why did they let me order it? Again, whatever, their computer system sucks. What really bugs me is that instead of calling or emailing me, they just put the order out in "waiting for customer" land, which is some sort of order purgatory. Who knows how long they expected me to wait until calling them. Anyway, I told the representative to cancel my order and I hung up.
I then asked my sister to return the favor and order a copy for me. She went through the order process, and provided what she thought was necessary to verify her academic status. When I asked her to check on her order, it too had been labeled "waiting for customer." She called, and they asked for her letter of acceptance because her ID wasn't dated. Again, the fact that they waited for her to call them instead of the other way around is ridiculous. Anyway, within a couple days she received a shipping notification, and I was happy. Until today.
I got back from New York to find that the package had arrived from JourneyEd. Tonight I opened the shrink-wrapped Adobe Photoshop CS for Mac box to find a manual and CD for Illustrator CS for Windows. Wonderful. I must be fair and say that this is probably not JourneyEd's fault. While the box is clearly for Photoshop, the UPC label is for Illustrator. Now I have to decide if I should contact JourneyEd or Adobe first. Both only offer support M-F, so in either case I'll have to wait until Monday, when I'm supposed to be concentrating on driving to Baltimore. Ugh.
This has nothing to do with Photoshop, but I don't want to be one of those people who uses his blog to talk about his cats, so I'm writing this here. Potter, who never goes in my room, just walked in, picked up one of my socks, and took it out of my room. It's a dress sock, so I won't need to find it until Thanksgiving.
Just don't taste their food.
DanJDavies0001 (3:29:34
PM): http://www.groundhogchase.com/
DanJDavies0001 (3:29:49 PM): a great american advert there
Skier Wysz (3:30:30 PM): haha
Skier Wysz (3:31:03 PM): it is for pennsylvania too
Skier Wysz (3:31:06 PM): that's where i am
DanJDavies0001 (3:31:14 PM): coool
Skier Wysz (3:31:34 PM): yeah i don't know if i should be proud or embarassed
DanJDavies0001 (3:31:58 PM): i like it
DanJDavies0001 (3:32:03 PM): and im british, i have taste
Skier Wysz (3:32:18 PM): of course
DanJDavies0001 (3:29:49 PM): a great american advert there
Skier Wysz (3:30:30 PM): haha
Skier Wysz (3:31:03 PM): it is for pennsylvania too
Skier Wysz (3:31:06 PM): that's where i am
DanJDavies0001 (3:31:14 PM): coool
Skier Wysz (3:31:34 PM): yeah i don't know if i should be proud or embarassed
DanJDavies0001 (3:31:58 PM): i like it
DanJDavies0001 (3:32:03 PM): and im british, i have taste
Skier Wysz (3:32:18 PM): of course
Who lets these people into Hopkins?
THEFT (By Trick Using
Internet)
–
Off-Campus,
Nov. 2004 – Jan. 20 2005 (Reported Jan.
20, 3:30 PM). Money transferred out of a grad student’s bank account
without authorization after email response to an offer from a company
“FreeLotto.com”, allegedly based in London, England. Baltimore
Police responded. Investigation continuing.
Panic Attack
Skier Wysz (10:58:20 PM):
it doesnt matter just skip and stop
talking about the
conversations
Skier Wysz (10:58:21 PM): son
Skier Wysz (10:58:23 PM): sp\n
Skier Wysz (10:58:25 PM): coinrn.
BuffyPrep5 (10:58:28 PM): ?
BuffyPrep5 (10:58:31 PM): are you on crack
Skier Wysz (10:59:49 PM): no, i had a typo, i meant to write "conversation" you know, singular, but i didn't know how to quickly remove the "s." if i wanted to add it, i could have just sent an "s" IM immediately following, but i panicked and couldn't figure out how to deal with the removal situation.
Skier Wysz (10:58:21 PM): son
Skier Wysz (10:58:23 PM): sp\n
Skier Wysz (10:58:25 PM): coinrn.
BuffyPrep5 (10:58:28 PM): ?
BuffyPrep5 (10:58:31 PM): are you on crack
Skier Wysz (10:59:49 PM): no, i had a typo, i meant to write "conversation" you know, singular, but i didn't know how to quickly remove the "s." if i wanted to add it, i could have just sent an "s" IM immediately following, but i panicked and couldn't figure out how to deal with the removal situation.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Trip To New York
This week, I went to New York City as part of a
course about the entertainment industry. Here's some stuff I did, but in an
outline format so I don't spend all night writing about it and thinking of funny
ways to say things:
NYC TV:
• Met in the "Blue Room" of City Hall, where there mayor holds press conferences.
• Cool place to work even as an intern, because you can have lots of creative freedom if you're driven.
• While in City Hall we also got to see Hopkins alumnus Michael Bloomberg, who is short.
Court TV:
• Learned a lot about marketing/advertising and the cable industry in general.
• Saw a couple of on-air people who nobody would ever recognize.
• Went in Master Control, which was really cool until someone spilled coffee on the console, taking out the entire Pacific feed.
Sheraton New York:
• Like most elevators in New York, were able to take me from the 1st to the 40th floor (including wait time) faster than it takes my apartment elevator to take me to the 3rd to the 1st. It could probably go up 100 floors in the time it takes the Gilman elevator to go over one.
• Not a bad hotel, but has zero noise insulation. I could hear everything in the hallway, and in the rooms next to, above, and below mine.
MTV:
• Good discussion about the industry.
• MTV will launch own music service (I'm not the first to report this.)
• DVD market huge, next generation (HD) will be big.
Hello Deli:
My third time seeing Rupert in person. I was completely untouristy this time, and didn't even call him by name, so he probably thought I didn't know who he was. I ordered a Shryer and ate it in the deli because it was freezing outside. It was fun listening to what I assume was the regular lunch crowd coming in to talk with Rupert. And yes, I do recommend the Shryer.
Hairspray:
• Features Bruce Vilanch dressed as a woman, and his ad-libs to the audience were great.
• Fun set, with a cool track system for setting/striking pieces remotely.
• Backstage tour.
Networking Reception:
• Met one of the producers at Rockstar Games, who worked on San Andreas and is working on Midnight Club 3. She explained that she has to write lines such as, "Hey, man," and, "That's awesome." She was class of '03 and remembered that I helped her on a project when I was a Freshman. Yeah, I'm unforgettable.
• Met a reporter for The Times (I'm assuming that's cool industry lingo for the NYT, but I didn't want to ask.)
• Met someone who works for the ad agency that does the Aflac commercials. She previously worked for TBWA\Chiat\Day, the ad agency for Apple's most famous ads.
McDonald's:
• Still happy to serve me at 2:30 AM in Times Square.
TV When I Couldn't Fall Asleep:
• 20 minutes of random surfing.
• 2.5 episodes of Law & Order SVU on USA with predictable outcomes and that cool Law & Order sound effect.
• 50 First Dates. I was hoping it would put me to sleep.
CBS News:
• Discussion with a few executive producers.
• CBS News studio was cool. Saw where Dan Rather sits, learned that all three cameras are controlled by one person, because they're robotic and can automatically move to preset positions based on floor position, height, pan, tilt, zoom, and focus. Floor position is based on number of wheel rotations and angle, and is reset for each broadcast by returning to a specially marked "Home" position on the floor.
• The empty studio where they used to shoot some soaps was interesting to see. All of the studios feature complete acoustic isolation, and the floors are on springs.
• CBS Sports studio was fun too. I'll have to get a copy of the picture we took at the desk.
• In April, a mobile control room will park outside of the Ed Sullivan Theater and run The Late Show for four months while the old control room is completely renovated and outfitted for HD. Dave will be in high definition in September. (I'm not the first to report this.)
• CBS Sports control room was awesome and fully digital. Again, the awesomeness was severely depleted when someone spilled coffee on the main switcher.
Bloomberg:
• Brian Sullivan made a crack about my name so I messed up his hair.
• Some radio guy spoke to us. His voice sounded familiar.
• Charlie Pellet demoed how the Bloomberg Professional service works. We have a terminal in the library, so I might try it out next time I'm on campus.
• An H.R. guy talked to us about internships and jobs; I may apply.
• The environment was really cool. Lots of fish tanks, fun colors, computer and TV monitors everywhere (including one in the floor), and food. All of the walls were glass to promote openness, but I think glass walled restrooms was taking the idea a bit too far. We were in their old building, but they are moving into an even cooler one that will have a circular escalator.
• Their control room is tapeless, with everything going direct to video servers encoded in MPEG-2.
• Lex Fenwick (CEO since Mike left) talked with us for a bit. He left school when he was 15 and never went to college. He had some really cool ideas about how to run a corporation, and I appreciated his dislike of meetings that do nothing but waste time.
NYC TV:
• Met in the "Blue Room" of City Hall, where there mayor holds press conferences.
• Cool place to work even as an intern, because you can have lots of creative freedom if you're driven.
• While in City Hall we also got to see Hopkins alumnus Michael Bloomberg, who is short.
Court TV:
• Learned a lot about marketing/advertising and the cable industry in general.
• Saw a couple of on-air people who nobody would ever recognize.
• Went in Master Control, which was really cool until someone spilled coffee on the console, taking out the entire Pacific feed.
Sheraton New York:
• Like most elevators in New York, were able to take me from the 1st to the 40th floor (including wait time) faster than it takes my apartment elevator to take me to the 3rd to the 1st. It could probably go up 100 floors in the time it takes the Gilman elevator to go over one.
• Not a bad hotel, but has zero noise insulation. I could hear everything in the hallway, and in the rooms next to, above, and below mine.
MTV:
• Good discussion about the industry.
• MTV will launch own music service (I'm not the first to report this.)
• DVD market huge, next generation (HD) will be big.
Hello Deli:
My third time seeing Rupert in person. I was completely untouristy this time, and didn't even call him by name, so he probably thought I didn't know who he was. I ordered a Shryer and ate it in the deli because it was freezing outside. It was fun listening to what I assume was the regular lunch crowd coming in to talk with Rupert. And yes, I do recommend the Shryer.
Hairspray:
• Features Bruce Vilanch dressed as a woman, and his ad-libs to the audience were great.
• Fun set, with a cool track system for setting/striking pieces remotely.
• Backstage tour.
Networking Reception:
• Met one of the producers at Rockstar Games, who worked on San Andreas and is working on Midnight Club 3. She explained that she has to write lines such as, "Hey, man," and, "That's awesome." She was class of '03 and remembered that I helped her on a project when I was a Freshman. Yeah, I'm unforgettable.
• Met a reporter for The Times (I'm assuming that's cool industry lingo for the NYT, but I didn't want to ask.)
• Met someone who works for the ad agency that does the Aflac commercials. She previously worked for TBWA\Chiat\Day, the ad agency for Apple's most famous ads.
McDonald's:
• Still happy to serve me at 2:30 AM in Times Square.
TV When I Couldn't Fall Asleep:
• 20 minutes of random surfing.
• 2.5 episodes of Law & Order SVU on USA with predictable outcomes and that cool Law & Order sound effect.
• 50 First Dates. I was hoping it would put me to sleep.
CBS News:
• Discussion with a few executive producers.
• CBS News studio was cool. Saw where Dan Rather sits, learned that all three cameras are controlled by one person, because they're robotic and can automatically move to preset positions based on floor position, height, pan, tilt, zoom, and focus. Floor position is based on number of wheel rotations and angle, and is reset for each broadcast by returning to a specially marked "Home" position on the floor.
• The empty studio where they used to shoot some soaps was interesting to see. All of the studios feature complete acoustic isolation, and the floors are on springs.
• CBS Sports studio was fun too. I'll have to get a copy of the picture we took at the desk.
• In April, a mobile control room will park outside of the Ed Sullivan Theater and run The Late Show for four months while the old control room is completely renovated and outfitted for HD. Dave will be in high definition in September. (I'm not the first to report this.)
• CBS Sports control room was awesome and fully digital. Again, the awesomeness was severely depleted when someone spilled coffee on the main switcher.
Bloomberg:
• Brian Sullivan made a crack about my name so I messed up his hair.
• Some radio guy spoke to us. His voice sounded familiar.
• Charlie Pellet demoed how the Bloomberg Professional service works. We have a terminal in the library, so I might try it out next time I'm on campus.
• An H.R. guy talked to us about internships and jobs; I may apply.
• The environment was really cool. Lots of fish tanks, fun colors, computer and TV monitors everywhere (including one in the floor), and food. All of the walls were glass to promote openness, but I think glass walled restrooms was taking the idea a bit too far. We were in their old building, but they are moving into an even cooler one that will have a circular escalator.
• Their control room is tapeless, with everything going direct to video servers encoded in MPEG-2.
• Lex Fenwick (CEO since Mike left) talked with us for a bit. He left school when he was 15 and never went to college. He had some really cool ideas about how to run a corporation, and I appreciated his dislike of meetings that do nothing but waste time.
John's On Gizmodo!
Check
it out, John's picture of a Pepsi bottle made it to Gizmodo, and he had his name
mentioned for credit. He should have noted that I reported the tilt technique
way
before it suddenly became a breaking news story during the last
promotion.
John purchased the bottle (he only had enough cash to buy one) at Levering Market on the Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus in Baltimore, MD. This also happens to be where I purchased my first iTunes bottles and discovered the tilt technique almost a year ago.
Gizmodo only published one of John's pictures, but I have more, including an exclusive one not submitted to any other site.
John purchased the bottle (he only had enough cash to buy one) at Levering Market on the Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus in Baltimore, MD. This also happens to be where I purchased my first iTunes bottles and discovered the tilt technique almost a year ago.
Gizmodo only published one of John's pictures, but I have more, including an exclusive one not submitted to any other site.
Lost Album Art On Your iPod photo?
After upgrading to iTunes 4.7.1, my
iPod photo stopped
displaying album art. I followed the instructions in this
article from Apple, and now I have album art. Some songs still lose it
for some reason, but I haven't really looked into why yet.
Also
Stowington (11:15:31 PM):
oh also of
note
Stowington (11:15:58 PM): I specifically said that I didn't know yet whether the tilt technique works for sure and that he shouldn't say anything about it until I go back to levering tomorrow
Skier Wysz (11:16:51 PM): ok
Stowington (11:17:26 PM): yet he said right up front that it will work
Stowington (11:15:58 PM): I specifically said that I didn't know yet whether the tilt technique works for sure and that he shouldn't say anything about it until I go back to levering tomorrow
Skier Wysz (11:16:51 PM): ok
Stowington (11:17:26 PM): yet he said right up front that it will work
Monday, January 17, 2005
Pepsi iTunes Music Promotion v2
As Tony, John, and several of my news feeds have
informed me, Apple and Pepsi will be running a new promotion in which 1 in 3
caps of 20 oz. or 1 liter bottles contains a free song code for iTunes. 1 in 6
wins a free bottle of Pepsi.
New for this promotion is a chance to win an iPod mini. Each song code also counts as an entry in the iPod mini giveaway, in which one iPod mini will be given away each hour from February 2nd to April 11th, and a final drawing on May 2nd. The minis will be engraved with a Pepsi logo.
200,000,000 songs will be given away this time around, twice the number as last year's promotion, although it was reported that only 5 million songs were redeemed in the last giveaway.
New for this promotion is a chance to win an iPod mini. Each song code also counts as an entry in the iPod mini giveaway, in which one iPod mini will be given away each hour from February 2nd to April 11th, and a final drawing on May 2nd. The minis will be engraved with a Pepsi logo.
200,000,000 songs will be given away this time around, twice the number as last year's promotion, although it was reported that only 5 million songs were redeemed in the last giveaway.
Honesty Is The Only Way
BuffyPrep5 (11:20:25 PM):
if i threw a dinner party would you
go
Skier Wysz (11:20:38 PM): probably not
BuffyPrep5 (11:20:46 PM): ok
Skier Wysz (11:20:38 PM): probably not
BuffyPrep5 (11:20:46 PM): ok
Making it official and all
Skier Wysz (11:38:54 PM):
hmm i'm gonna take credit for
macminute's posting of the .mac outage, since i forwarded them the email about
20 minutes before they posted
it
anthonut (11:39:18 PM): I would make sure to stake your claim on the blog. Make it official and all.
Link
anthonut (11:39:18 PM): I would make sure to stake your claim on the blog. Make it official and all.
Link
Saturday, January 15, 2005
The Fence
I'd like to take a moment here to use my blog as
a vehicle to pimp "The
Fence" by Evan Vanderveer. It's a documentary about the security fence
being built by Israel and its effects. It is the only film available about the
security fence itself.
Living in Two States is Rough
In a continuing effort to fill up my PCI slots, I
purchased a FW 800 card from The
Computer Forum so I can take full advantage of my Lacie d2 drive. The
installation was predictably painless on my Quicksilver G4 (still the
best-looking Mac tower in my opinion) and it is recognized by System Profiler.
Unfortunately, I was unable to fully test the card because I forgot to bring the
power adapter home for the Lacie drive! I won't go back to Baltimore until a
week from Monday, so I have over a week of waiting, and can only run my nightly
backups to my iPod.
Friday, January 14, 2005
A Message To Trevor
I was wandering around the Internet sometime
after 5 AM when I came across this
article on MacWrite.com about the MWSF 2005
Stevenote. The thing that caught my eye was the headline which claims that the
"keynote wrap-up" (I don't know why a full rebroadcast is a "wrap-up," but I'll
let that slide) was presented in HDTV. I read the article, and sure enough, the
author claims that he experienced an HDTV stream of the event! Obviously he
couldn't have; the amount of bandwidth required even for a compressed HD format
would be incredible, and of course all the Mac news sites would have reported
this fact by now. I'm pretty sure he simply noticed it was streamed in
widescreen, and assumed it was
HD.
Anyway, I sent him a message about the mistake, but it bounced back a few minutes later. I had to spend about 20 seconds Googling for some info, so I decided to post the message here due to the amount of time involved in creating it. So, Trevor, if you're listening:
Hi Trevor,
I believe you may have a mistake in your article about the MacWorld SF 2005 Keynote. As Steve mentioned at the beginning, the keynote was the first to use HD projection. However, the keynote was as far as I can tell, not streamed in HD.
I don't think it would be possible to stream HD over today's Internet, due to the high data rate of high-definition video. To check out what format Apple was really streaming in, I set my QuickTime connection speed to Intranet/LAN so I would receive the highest quality stream, and loaded the keynote. Its frame size is 448 x 252 pixels, which is a 16:9 widescreen resolution, but definitely not HD, which has a resolution of 1280 x 720 (720p) or 1920 x 1080 (1080i). Also, it only played at 15 fps, while HD is 30 fps.
Perhaps when you wrote "HDTV," you simply meant "widescreen."
There was a bit more "but besides the mistake your article was pretty good" stuff here, but no need to post that. I hate to be so critical since it seems like MacWrite only publishes about 1 article every month or so, but when somebody claims that Apple streamed the keynote in HD I have to say something!
Anyway, I sent him a message about the mistake, but it bounced back a few minutes later. I had to spend about 20 seconds Googling for some info, so I decided to post the message here due to the amount of time involved in creating it. So, Trevor, if you're listening:
Hi Trevor,
I believe you may have a mistake in your article about the MacWorld SF 2005 Keynote. As Steve mentioned at the beginning, the keynote was the first to use HD projection. However, the keynote was as far as I can tell, not streamed in HD.
I don't think it would be possible to stream HD over today's Internet, due to the high data rate of high-definition video. To check out what format Apple was really streaming in, I set my QuickTime connection speed to Intranet/LAN so I would receive the highest quality stream, and loaded the keynote. Its frame size is 448 x 252 pixels, which is a 16:9 widescreen resolution, but definitely not HD, which has a resolution of 1280 x 720 (720p) or 1920 x 1080 (1080i). Also, it only played at 15 fps, while HD is 30 fps.
Perhaps when you wrote "HDTV," you simply meant "widescreen."
There was a bit more "but besides the mistake your article was pretty good" stuff here, but no need to post that. I hate to be so critical since it seems like MacWrite only publishes about 1 article every month or so, but when somebody claims that Apple streamed the keynote in HD I have to say something!
Thursday, January 13, 2005
"It's All Mission: Impossible-ly"
When I came back from class today, I noticed that
the access door on the top of the elevator was open. My first instinct, of
course, was to grab my camera and blog the
incident.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Shopping is Random
CUPERTINO — Apple Computer Inc. announced
today that its online music service, the iTunes Music Store (iTMS), will be
adding two new features next
Tuesday.
"Essential Shuffle," as part of iTMS's "iTunes Essentials" collection, will instantly create a playlist of random length and content, with selections being drawn from its extensive catalog of over one million songs and nine thousand audiobooks*. "We think this is going to be really big," said Apple's CEO Steve Jobs at a press event earlier this week, "there is so much great content out there, and we wanted to give customers a way to discover it. iTunes Essentials was designed to do that, and our newest 'Essential' playlist ensures that every track, no matter how obscure, can be found by a potential new fan."
During a demonstration of Essential Shuffle, a list of 1,042 items was created, beginning with the jazz classic "Your Feet's Too Big" performed by Fatts Waller, and concluding with "Jump" by Van Halen.
"Price Shuffle" allows users to escape the monotonous 99¢ per track** pricing of the iTMS. By enabling the optional feature, users will be charged a random price, which is not displayed to the user until the purchase is complete, for downloading each track or album from the store. "This is actually really fun," said Jobs, "it makes even the payment process fun, and none of the other guys are even close to offering something like this."
With Price Shuffle, individual tracks will vary in price from free to $5. Albums, which generally sell for $9.99, but with many exceptions, can cost anywhere from one half to 1.5 times the regular price when using Price Shuffle. Due to legal limitations, Price Shuffle will only be available in the US Store, and is not available to customers with a billing address in FL, VT, or RI.
To show off the feature, Jobs invited Bono of U2 to give it a try. The Irish musician decided to have fun and use Essential Shuffle to choose his track. The first song in the list was "Silence," four seconds of complete silence performed by Candypants. Price Shuffle charged $4.38 for the download. "This is a demo account, right Steve?" quipped Bono.
The iTunes Music Store is currently available in 15 countries, including Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and excluding all others.
* Catalog figures refer to the US. store.
** Most individual music tracks sell for 99¢ each in the US and Canada, 79p in the UK, and €0.99 in the other EU stores.
"Essential Shuffle," as part of iTMS's "iTunes Essentials" collection, will instantly create a playlist of random length and content, with selections being drawn from its extensive catalog of over one million songs and nine thousand audiobooks*. "We think this is going to be really big," said Apple's CEO Steve Jobs at a press event earlier this week, "there is so much great content out there, and we wanted to give customers a way to discover it. iTunes Essentials was designed to do that, and our newest 'Essential' playlist ensures that every track, no matter how obscure, can be found by a potential new fan."
During a demonstration of Essential Shuffle, a list of 1,042 items was created, beginning with the jazz classic "Your Feet's Too Big" performed by Fatts Waller, and concluding with "Jump" by Van Halen.
"Price Shuffle" allows users to escape the monotonous 99¢ per track** pricing of the iTMS. By enabling the optional feature, users will be charged a random price, which is not displayed to the user until the purchase is complete, for downloading each track or album from the store. "This is actually really fun," said Jobs, "it makes even the payment process fun, and none of the other guys are even close to offering something like this."
With Price Shuffle, individual tracks will vary in price from free to $5. Albums, which generally sell for $9.99, but with many exceptions, can cost anywhere from one half to 1.5 times the regular price when using Price Shuffle. Due to legal limitations, Price Shuffle will only be available in the US Store, and is not available to customers with a billing address in FL, VT, or RI.
To show off the feature, Jobs invited Bono of U2 to give it a try. The Irish musician decided to have fun and use Essential Shuffle to choose his track. The first song in the list was "Silence," four seconds of complete silence performed by Candypants. Price Shuffle charged $4.38 for the download. "This is a demo account, right Steve?" quipped Bono.
The iTunes Music Store is currently available in 15 countries, including Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and excluding all others.
* Catalog figures refer to the US. store.
** Most individual music tracks sell for 99¢ each in the US and Canada, 79p in the UK, and €0.99 in the other EU stores.
Candypants P.S.
Bono didn't note this, but the Candypants
album actually has 15 consecutive tracks of silence, available for
99¢ each on the iTunes Music
Store.
You kids remember this?
You kids remember this?
2 Quotes
BuffyPrep5 (11:12:02 PM):
you're an enigma
wysz
BuffyPrep5 (11:38:17 PM): your blog is always really funny
BuffyPrep5 (11:38:23 PM): but you've been too hung up on the apple stuff lately
Skier Wysz (11:38:37 PM): umm, yesterday was the keynote
Skier Wysz (11:38:41 PM): of course it's apple stuff
BuffyPrep5 (11:38:45 PM): you need to get back to the heart and soul of this blog
BuffyPrep5 (11:38:51 PM): the idiocy of your friends
BuffyPrep5 (11:38:17 PM): your blog is always really funny
BuffyPrep5 (11:38:23 PM): but you've been too hung up on the apple stuff lately
Skier Wysz (11:38:37 PM): umm, yesterday was the keynote
Skier Wysz (11:38:41 PM): of course it's apple stuff
BuffyPrep5 (11:38:45 PM): you need to get back to the heart and soul of this blog
BuffyPrep5 (11:38:51 PM): the idiocy of your friends
I never considered the possibility of someone taking my article seriously
Pez Man40 (2:49:38 AM):
i don't like tis random
pricing
Skier Wysz (2:49:47 AM): it is optional
Skier Wysz (2:49:58 AM): you dont have to use it
Skier Wysz (2:51:16 AM): you think it will be used a lot?
Pez Man40 (2:54:02 AM): not sure
Pez Man40 (2:54:15 AM): i don't think people like getting charged 5 dollars
Pez Man40 (2:54:20 AM): alright i have to go to bed
Pez Man40 (2:54:27 AM): i have a 8 tomorrow morning
Skier Wysz (2:54:30 AM): ok you tall, loud, GULLIBLE loser
Skier Wysz (2:54:33 AM): ewww
Skier Wysz (2:54:36 AM): get sleep
Pez Man40 (2:54:43 AM): gullible?\
Pez Man40 (2:54:44 AM): whatg
Pez Man40 (2:54:46 AM): i am lost
Skier Wysz (2:54:49 AM): haha
Skier Wysz (2:54:56 AM): i wrote the itunes things as a joke
Pez Man40 (2:55:00 AM): oh
Skier Wysz (2:55:05 AM): yeah, it is a wysz original
Pez Man40 (2:55:14 AM): it sounds real
Skier Wysz (2:49:47 AM): it is optional
Skier Wysz (2:49:58 AM): you dont have to use it
Skier Wysz (2:51:16 AM): you think it will be used a lot?
Pez Man40 (2:54:02 AM): not sure
Pez Man40 (2:54:15 AM): i don't think people like getting charged 5 dollars
Pez Man40 (2:54:20 AM): alright i have to go to bed
Pez Man40 (2:54:27 AM): i have a 8 tomorrow morning
Skier Wysz (2:54:30 AM): ok you tall, loud, GULLIBLE loser
Skier Wysz (2:54:33 AM): ewww
Skier Wysz (2:54:36 AM): get sleep
Pez Man40 (2:54:43 AM): gullible?\
Pez Man40 (2:54:44 AM): whatg
Pez Man40 (2:54:46 AM): i am lost
Skier Wysz (2:54:49 AM): haha
Skier Wysz (2:54:56 AM): i wrote the itunes things as a joke
Pez Man40 (2:55:00 AM): oh
Skier Wysz (2:55:05 AM): yeah, it is a wysz original
Pez Man40 (2:55:14 AM): it sounds real
Trying to get things straight on Blake's blog
Skier Wysz (11:44:52 PM):
wait frickb100 is whats her face
right?
ShkenBlke2 (11:46:06 PM): no, thats bailey
Skier Wysz (11:46:20 PM): oh
Skier Wysz (11:46:36 PM): hmm but i thought i said bailey sounds like a girl's name, but it wasn't
Skier Wysz (11:46:59 PM): who was that?
ShkenBlke2 (11:47:00 PM): thats his last name
Skier Wysz (11:48:26 PM): oh oh ok, i get it. frickb100 is ___ bailey, who also happens to be a guy, which is funny, because you refer to him as bailey, which sounds like a girl's name.
ShkenBlke2 (11:50:32 PM): sure
ShkenBlke2 (11:50:33 PM): whatever
ShkenBlke2 (11:50:40 PM): would it help if i called him chris
Skier Wysz (11:50:52 PM): no, bailey is funnier
ShkenBlke2 (11:51:18 PM): ok
Skier Wysz (11:51:58 PM): besides, chris has too many other connotations, plus it can also be a girl's name, even spelled that way.
ShkenBlke2 (11:46:06 PM): no, thats bailey
Skier Wysz (11:46:20 PM): oh
Skier Wysz (11:46:36 PM): hmm but i thought i said bailey sounds like a girl's name, but it wasn't
Skier Wysz (11:46:59 PM): who was that?
ShkenBlke2 (11:47:00 PM): thats his last name
Skier Wysz (11:48:26 PM): oh oh ok, i get it. frickb100 is ___ bailey, who also happens to be a guy, which is funny, because you refer to him as bailey, which sounds like a girl's name.
ShkenBlke2 (11:50:32 PM): sure
ShkenBlke2 (11:50:33 PM): whatever
ShkenBlke2 (11:50:40 PM): would it help if i called him chris
Skier Wysz (11:50:52 PM): no, bailey is funnier
ShkenBlke2 (11:51:18 PM): ok
Skier Wysz (11:51:58 PM): besides, chris has too many other connotations, plus it can also be a girl's name, even spelled that way.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Breaking News From MacWorld
Rumors indicate the following iPod-inspired
products will be announced by Apple in future
Stevenotes:
Repeat
"It'll grow on you."
Steve Jobs once said that you may listen to your favorite song a thousand times in your life. Now you can. Load up your Apple Repeat with the song of your choice, and listen as many times as you want. Available June 2005.
Fast-Forward
"Life is short."
Plays your songs at 2x, or 4x for an additional $50. Available February 2006.
Play
"Once is enough."
Plays a song. Once. Available Fall 2006.
Repeat
"It'll grow on you."
Steve Jobs once said that you may listen to your favorite song a thousand times in your life. Now you can. Load up your Apple Repeat with the song of your choice, and listen as many times as you want. Available June 2005.
Fast-Forward
"Life is short."
Plays your songs at 2x, or 4x for an additional $50. Available February 2006.
Play
"Once is enough."
Plays a song. Once. Available Fall 2006.
Good Night
After an exciting day of Apple-related
announcements, plus the start of my first Intersession and some fun dealing with
UPS, I'm finally going to sleep after 31 straight hours of
consciousness.
Stuff I'm Probably Going To Order Within 24 Hours
1. iLife
'05
2. iWork
2. iWork
Random Job That Might Be Fun
The guy in a rap song who just has to randomly
say things like "What?" "Yeah" and "Come on."
Procrastination = Big Savings
I want to get prints of the good pictures in my
iPhoto library, which will probably end up being at least 1,000 (out of my over
2,700 and growing). I was planning on doing this over break, but put it off,
deciding that I should wait until I have cleaned them up in
Photoshop.
Today Steve Jobs announced that 4x6 prints are only 19¢ each, instead of 39¢. For such a large number of pictures, it will make a considerable difference. If I order 1,000 4x6 prints, I will be saving 200 bucks!
A $99 iPod, a $499 Mac, and prints for 19¢? Must be a gas leak in the apartment... this cannot be real.
Today Steve Jobs announced that 4x6 prints are only 19¢ each, instead of 39¢. For such a large number of pictures, it will make a considerable difference. If I order 1,000 4x6 prints, I will be saving 200 bucks!
A $99 iPod, a $499 Mac, and prints for 19¢? Must be a gas leak in the apartment... this cannot be real.
Monday, January 10, 2005
What 1.4 exabytes really looks like
Update: John sent me a screenshot, using the
command-shift-4-space command (window only) that I thought didn't exist in OS X,
but it turns out it does; the spacebar replaced
caps-lock:
Notice
Due to unexpected events involving JELLO,
napkins, and styrofoam, I will not be traveling to Baltimore this evening.
Unfortunately, I will still make the journey to America's Dirtiest City™
tomorrow.
Nerd Humor
Stowington (5:11:15 AM):
ugh my hard drive did its little
corrupty thing
again
Skier Wysz (5:11:54 AM): get a new one
Skier Wysz (5:12:01 AM): we can go to the apple store
Stowington (5:12:07 AM): I have a spare waiting
Skier Wysz (5:12:09 AM): what is its SMART status
Stowington (5:12:21 AM): eh?
Skier Wysz (5:12:31 AM): in disk utility
Stowington (5:12:58 AM): whoa
Stowington (5:13:14 AM): it's listed as a 1.4 EB firewire drive
Skier Wysz (5:13:31 AM): what's an EB?
Stowington (5:13:44 AM): Total Capacity : 1.4 EB (1,580,121,300,875,100,000 Bytes)
Stowington (5:14:00 AM): Etabyte or something like that
Stowington (5:14:05 AM): it's big
Skier Wysz (5:14:23 AM): maybe you got a prototype that you're not supposed to have
Skier Wysz (5:14:40 AM): exabyte
Skier Wysz (5:11:54 AM): get a new one
Skier Wysz (5:12:01 AM): we can go to the apple store
Stowington (5:12:07 AM): I have a spare waiting
Skier Wysz (5:12:09 AM): what is its SMART status
Stowington (5:12:21 AM): eh?
Skier Wysz (5:12:31 AM): in disk utility
Stowington (5:12:58 AM): whoa
Stowington (5:13:14 AM): it's listed as a 1.4 EB firewire drive
Skier Wysz (5:13:31 AM): what's an EB?
Stowington (5:13:44 AM): Total Capacity : 1.4 EB (1,580,121,300,875,100,000 Bytes)
Stowington (5:14:00 AM): Etabyte or something like that
Stowington (5:14:05 AM): it's big
Skier Wysz (5:14:23 AM): maybe you got a prototype that you're not supposed to have
Skier Wysz (5:14:40 AM): exabyte
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Now My Computer Has Insomnia Too
I just installed an Orange Micro FireWire PCI
card in my Quicksilver G4, and now my computer won't go into deep sleep. The OS
sleeps and the hard disks spin down, but the fan remains on. Fortunately, the
system wakes with no problems. Any nerds out there know what I should do? I went
to Orange Micro's website, and the latest driver update I could find was from
2000.
Friday, January 07, 2005
You'd Think It's A Joke, But It's Not
Please, for the love of good design, do not give
these people your
money.
I came across this page after I saw this unnecessary and confusing intro for a local restaurant I'm off to in about five minutes. There is one that is even worse out there, it was for a police department, but I can't remember where it was or how I found it, so forget it.
I came across this page after I saw this unnecessary and confusing intro for a local restaurant I'm off to in about five minutes. There is one that is even worse out there, it was for a police department, but I can't remember where it was or how I found it, so forget it.
Easy Way to Help
This blog doesn't normally comment on current
events, but I noticed that like Amazon, Apple, via the iTunes Music Store, is
now providing a way to donate to the American Red Cross (International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies from the non-US stores) for a
simple way to assist in the Tsunami relief
efforts.
So, if you have an Amazon account, go to their website and look for the Red Cross logo on the front page. If you have iTunes, click here or launch the Music Store and look for the Red Cross logo on the main page. It's easy, so give it a try.
Please note that as of this posting, donations made via iTunes will not deduct from your gift card/certificate balance if you have one; they will be charged to your credit card.
So, if you have an Amazon account, go to their website and look for the Red Cross logo on the front page. If you have iTunes, click here or launch the Music Store and look for the Red Cross logo on the main page. It's easy, so give it a try.
Please note that as of this posting, donations made via iTunes will not deduct from your gift card/certificate balance if you have one; they will be charged to your credit card.
Every High School Graduation Speech Ever
I got angry simply because I was thinking about
how annoying it is when people make speeches about writing a speech. I didn't
hear one recently, and I don't have to sit through one soon; I was just thinking
about it, and that was enough to make me
mad.
Maybe I'm angry because I had just spent some time writing a letter, then decided not to mail it. Or, maybe I'm just awesome.
Maybe I'm angry because I had just spent some time writing a letter, then decided not to mail it. Or, maybe I'm just awesome.
iTunes Pro
What film and video producers
want:
Step 1: Choose song. (free preview)
Step 2: Choose rights. (broadcast, DVD, etc.)
Step 3: There's no step 3. (Ha.)
It's possible. Apple would just have to make a good deal with BMI and ASCAP to get things rolling. The songs should also be delivered in uncompressed AIFF format (or Apple Lossless for easier server loads).
Just a random thought I had this morning. Maybe I'll post more later when I've actually thought about it for more than three minutes. Most of that time was dedicated to making the graphic.
Step 1: Choose song. (free preview)
Step 2: Choose rights. (broadcast, DVD, etc.)
Step 3: There's no step 3. (Ha.)
It's possible. Apple would just have to make a good deal with BMI and ASCAP to get things rolling. The songs should also be delivered in uncompressed AIFF format (or Apple Lossless for easier server loads).
Just a random thought I had this morning. Maybe I'll post more later when I've actually thought about it for more than three minutes. Most of that time was dedicated to making the graphic.
Prepared For Anything
Our power went out last night around 3 AM, so I
got to experience the first real-world test of my APC UPS
system. Everything in the room went dark, except for my trusty Quicksilver PowerMac G4, which remained
on and politely informed me that is was running on reserve power while the UPS
beeped once each minute. I was able to gracefully quit my applications and shut
down the computer, with plenty of time to spare. Once the computer was off, I
was completely in the dark, so I navigated to my crazy party light shown below.
By the way, cell phones and iPods are excellent emergency
flashlights if your trusty Maglite isn't
within
reach.
Living out in the woods, we have a generator for emergency power. It doesn't power any lights in my room except for the bathroom, but it does power one outlet, which happened to be the one that I plugged this colorful light into when we moved in, since I didn't know which outlets were powered during outages. So, every time the power goes out, I illuminate my room with a colorful spinning light show.
I called the power company and then relaxed to some battery-powered music on my iPod until I drifted off into my beauty sleep, which was ended four hours later when I was asked why we didn't have Internet access. My next step is to get a UPS for the cable modem, Airport, and router downstairs, which will hopefully cut down on the need for resets (and the need for me to get out of bed) by providing a more consistent supply of power.
What's with all the unnecessary links in this entry? I don't know; I was on a roll and couldn't stop.
Living out in the woods, we have a generator for emergency power. It doesn't power any lights in my room except for the bathroom, but it does power one outlet, which happened to be the one that I plugged this colorful light into when we moved in, since I didn't know which outlets were powered during outages. So, every time the power goes out, I illuminate my room with a colorful spinning light show.
I called the power company and then relaxed to some battery-powered music on my iPod until I drifted off into my beauty sleep, which was ended four hours later when I was asked why we didn't have Internet access. My next step is to get a UPS for the cable modem, Airport, and router downstairs, which will hopefully cut down on the need for resets (and the need for me to get out of bed) by providing a more consistent supply of power.
What's with all the unnecessary links in this entry? I don't know; I was on a roll and couldn't stop.
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Catching Up
I'm pretty sure I missed a few games, so I just
thought I would let you know that their record is 10-4, in case you're too lazy
to look it up elsewhere.
If You're Looking For A Shirt To Buy Me
Look no further than here.
Seeking Random Advice Via My Blog
Please email
me if you have any advice on the following
products:
• I need a solution for connecting an iPod to and controlling it from a car stereo. I want something that can be put in a Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo (2000). The output from the iPod must be connected directly to the system via the dock connector or headphone jack (dock connector preferred), not transmitted via FM or a cassette adapter. Also, I want to control the iPod from the head unit or steering wheel, not the iPod.
I know of the Alpine solution, but I have heard very mixed reviews, and am worried about the slow navigation and song limit on playlists, artist listings, etc.
Pioneer has something coming out in March, and I hear that Kenwood is supposed to announce a solution later this month.
I don't need anything too fancy, and definitely nothing too expensive; I just want the requirements stated above. Something in the $500 range would be acceptable, but if I can go cheaper than that, it's even better! Thanks for your advice.
• As I get into bigger DVD projects, I would benefit from the use of a DLT drive for creating my masters. It will be connected to a PowerMac running DVD Studio Pro. I want to know which type I should get to ensure maximum compatibility with the replication services. If FireWire models exist, that would be perfect, but so far I'll I've seen is SCSI. I hear these things are pretty durable, so I wouldn't rule out the idea of buying one used. If you know of a reliable model, and/or where I can get one for a good price, I'd like to hear from you.
• I'm now 21. What's a good alcoholic beverage, and where's a good place to gamble in or between PA and MD? I do slots, and only slots, because I'm an idiot.
• I need a solution for connecting an iPod to and controlling it from a car stereo. I want something that can be put in a Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo (2000). The output from the iPod must be connected directly to the system via the dock connector or headphone jack (dock connector preferred), not transmitted via FM or a cassette adapter. Also, I want to control the iPod from the head unit or steering wheel, not the iPod.
I know of the Alpine solution, but I have heard very mixed reviews, and am worried about the slow navigation and song limit on playlists, artist listings, etc.
Pioneer has something coming out in March, and I hear that Kenwood is supposed to announce a solution later this month.
I don't need anything too fancy, and definitely nothing too expensive; I just want the requirements stated above. Something in the $500 range would be acceptable, but if I can go cheaper than that, it's even better! Thanks for your advice.
• As I get into bigger DVD projects, I would benefit from the use of a DLT drive for creating my masters. It will be connected to a PowerMac running DVD Studio Pro. I want to know which type I should get to ensure maximum compatibility with the replication services. If FireWire models exist, that would be perfect, but so far I'll I've seen is SCSI. I hear these things are pretty durable, so I wouldn't rule out the idea of buying one used. If you know of a reliable model, and/or where I can get one for a good price, I'd like to hear from you.
• I'm now 21. What's a good alcoholic beverage, and where's a good place to gamble in or between PA and MD? I do slots, and only slots, because I'm an idiot.
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Tall Guy On T.V.
I got to see the second half of the Vandy-Alabama
game on ESPN2 tonight. It was fun to see Ted and the other guys on TV,
especially since the were
winning.
The announcers kept mentioning Ted's ability to foul, but later admitted that
having a guy like him on your team is
important.
He's still not good enough for my team. I like to see more hustle.
He's still not good enough for my team. I like to see more hustle.
More TV Fun
Lee
was on earlier today, but I didn't watch. Emily spotted him while waiting for a
table at The Outback. I always assumed that I would someday be able to recognize
people I knew on TV, but I think it's funny that they turned out to be
basketball players. The Wysz and sports? It's a crazy world. I still plan on
being more famous than Ted.
Oh, and I guess Matt is the most well-known of them all, but I probably said about four words to him in school, so he doesn't count. Ah, yes, now I remember, "You shouldn't eat that." (Biology class)
Oh, and I guess Matt is the most well-known of them all, but I probably said about four words to him in school, so he doesn't count. Ah, yes, now I remember, "You shouldn't eat that." (Biology class)
I Guess This Is How They Advertise In Baltimore
Actual message left on my answering
machine:
MacWorld Excitement
Skier Wysz (9:37:34 PM):
so are you excited about
macworld
Skier Wysz (9:37:48 PM): $500 imac and iwork and such
Skier Wysz (9:37:54 PM): free candy possibly
Stowington (9:38:20 PM): that'll be sweet
Stowington (9:38:28 PM): except I won't be able to afford any of it
Skier Wysz (9:39:35 PM): well i'm hoping that the "headless imac" will be $19.95 with edu. discount, and come with a free "headless imac riding a horse, you know, like the headless horseman" poster
Skier Wysz (9:40:50 PM): ok so i just went to quote some of this conversation, and i hit command-c about 10 times. why do i always do it more than once? and why do i do it at all? i could just drag and drop
Skier Wysz (9:41:03 PM): alright since i'm adding this part i'm just gonna drag and drop
Skier Wysz (9:41:10 PM): dragging and dropping...
Skier Wysz (9:37:48 PM): $500 imac and iwork and such
Skier Wysz (9:37:54 PM): free candy possibly
Stowington (9:38:20 PM): that'll be sweet
Stowington (9:38:28 PM): except I won't be able to afford any of it
Skier Wysz (9:39:35 PM): well i'm hoping that the "headless imac" will be $19.95 with edu. discount, and come with a free "headless imac riding a horse, you know, like the headless horseman" poster
Skier Wysz (9:40:50 PM): ok so i just went to quote some of this conversation, and i hit command-c about 10 times. why do i always do it more than once? and why do i do it at all? i could just drag and drop
Skier Wysz (9:41:03 PM): alright since i'm adding this part i'm just gonna drag and drop
Skier Wysz (9:41:10 PM): dragging and dropping...
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
It's About Time
I downloaded
Adobe Reader 7.0 yesterday, and launched it once, which ran a quick
configuration script. I didn't know what it was doing, so I simply let it run
and then forgot about it. Just a few minutes ago, I clicked on a PDF link, and
it opened in
Safari. Finally, a PDF plug-in!
Saturday, January 01, 2005
Best Cake Ever
For years, I had this cake
for every birthday I could remember. Several years ago, we started getting
different cakes for whatever reason. I remembered this cake, and asked for it on
my birthday, but my suggestion was either overlooked, misunderstood, or
forgotten. Last year, I even went on a mission to see if the cake still existed.
I went to Friendly's and went on their website, but I couldn't find it anywhere,
and assumed that they had discontinued
it.
Well, on my 21st birthday, I was again complaining about missing the cake at lunch. My family didn't say much, and after shortly before Regis counted down to 2005, I was presented with THE CAKE. Here it is...
Well, on my 21st birthday, I was again complaining about missing the cake at lunch. My family didn't say much, and after shortly before Regis counted down to 2005, I was presented with THE CAKE. Here it is...
First Quote of 2005 — ME!
From the previous blog
entry:
"after shortly before Regis counted down..."
What?
"after shortly before Regis counted down..."
What?