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Sunday, November 19, 2006
Quick Tip - USB Audio I have a USB headset that I use with iChat,
Skype, and iMovie, and sometimes I have trouble getting the audio output to come
through the headphones when I first plug it in. A simple solution if you have
trouble with your USB audio device is to plug it in, go to the
Sound
control panel in System Preferences, and then simply check and then uncheck the
Output volume's
Mute
checkbox.
Also, I used to make posts about time. The other day I looked at the clock and it said
4:24. I thought to myself, "That doesn't sound like a real
time!"
For some reason it sounds pretty normal right now. Oh well, I'm posting this anyway. Good Old Days... Ugh. Remember when my blog was just a place for me to
vent my complaints about small things that didn't really matter but felt good to
complain about? You know, like back in 2003 when I realized
that I had a blog? Well, those days are back, at least for
tonight.
This weekend's frivolous complaints: Last week while listening to TWiM, I learned about Podcamp West in San Francisco. I figured it would be fun to attend, since I'm trying to take advantage of being in the area. I decided that since I couldn't devote a whole day to the event, I would just go to Alex Lindsay's sessions on green screen techniques, which started at 4. When I've driven to SF in the past, it hasn't taken me that long, so I left with what I thought was plenty of time, but got stuck in horrible traffic entering the city. I finally did find my way to the venue, but by that time the session was just starting and I had no idea where to park, so I turned around and went back to Mountain View. I figured I could still save the day and be entertained by a movie, so I went to the movie the friendly neighborhood multiplex, which was incredibly crowded. I scoured the parking lot for over 15 minutes before I finally found a parking space, which I don't even think was in the state of California. After I got to the ticket window and waited in the long line behind some kid didn't have enough money to pay for his date and a couple who wanted to know where they could find a good Chinese restaurant, I decided that this sentence was getting too long and was told that my movie was sold out. Since I was already in the car, I headed to the grocery store, complete with three shady characters that made me consider changing stores. On the way back to my apartment, I figured I would at least treat myself to a nice dinner at a restaurant I had been thinking about trying. It was expensive and gross. Today, I started off by getting a haircut that I'm still not sure if I like or not. It seems like they never believe me when I tell them that yes, I want it to be shorter than it was when I came in. I don't get how I can sit there for 20 minutes, with scissors flying around my head the whole time, and not look any different when I leave. When I turned on my PowerMac to check something for my sister and possibly finish up a video that I've been working on, I found that my secondary hard drive had stopped working, so now I have to deal with that. Disk Utility couldn't fix it, so I decided to try TechTool. However, I needed to make a bootable CD to do this, and I didn't have any CD-Rs, so I went to Best Buy. While I was there I also picked up an external hard drive, since my backup drive is running out of space now that I have two computers. I looked in the blank CD section and found a 5-pack (with cases) for three bucks. It was the cheapest thing they had, and I really only needed one disc, so that's what I got. When I got back to my apartment and looked at the box, I realized that I had somehow picked up a box of DVD+RW discs! First of all, I wanted CDs, not DVDs. Second of all, I'm into the DVD-R format, not DVD+R. And they were rewriteable, which I also have issues with! On top of all that, the cases were all broken and the plastic was already half-open. Hopefully I can give them away at work, you know, to someone who needs DVD+RW discs. Who doesn't? Oh, and no luck with TechTool. I still haven't decided if I'm going to pay for more software to attempt a rescue or just consider it gone. Alright, enough complaining. I might have something to whine about after I travel this week, but it's going to be during the night before and morning of Thanksgiving, so I'm sure everything will go smoothly, as nobody else could possibly be as stupid as me and try to get somewhere at that time. Prop Last week I saw a bumper sticker that said, "NO
ON YES." That pretty much sums up my political views.
Saturday, November 04, 2006 Chax Chax is the enhancement to
iChat that you probably haven't heard of, but also probably want. It's
free.
A few of the many features: • Tabs (You don't have to wait for Leopard!) • Auto-accept text chats • Send auto-reply once per conversation • Auto-resize buddy list How to be a Megastar Tour 2.0 Last night I got to see Blue Man Group's How to
be a Megastar Tour 2.0 performance in San Jose. I've been a huge fan of the
Blue Man for years now, but
this is only the second time I've seen them live. It was a lot of fun, and had a
perfect blend of great music and silliness. Now I really want to see their show
in Vegas.
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