Greetings From the Handbasket!

6:26PM - It's getting dark, too dark to see...

( Yet another diatribe against the color grey and hostile user interfaces, behind the cut to shield your delicate eyes )

The upside: the new guy is fast. Web pages load quickly. (It really isn't supposed to take 5 minutes for Facebook to load? Who knew?) And iMovie '09 took my malfunctioning iMovie4 project that mysteriously dropped its last 20 minutes of audio the minute it was sent to iDVD and spat out a perfectly functioning disc.

12:23AM - Shiny Happy Techie Toys

Yay! After days of noodling around with trying to get some things from point A to point B, I do finally have a contacts list in my iPhone (and on Lestat) that work wonderfully. I'm going to give it a rest before I tackle the iTunes segment of this little adventure. I've got a lot of music and want to make sure I don't scramble something when moving from one Big Cat to another. 25,000 songs run amok would make me cry.

One thing I noticed while docking my iPhone to Lestat was that it carried the generic moniker of "Maureen M. McCarty's iPhone". Hm. Gee, it's such a rockstar little gizmo that living out its days merely as someone's device seemed a bit sad. I've never named a cellphone before, but decided this guy needed a name. Alexander came to mind (hey, not a big stretch there but it did seem to fit him), so now I have Alexander and Lestat sitting on my desk, possibly having some silent conversation between them that only they understand. I'm likely better off not knowing. If I mention "my personal assistant, Alexander, handles all my appointments" and then someone realizes it's an iPhone they'll think I'm barking mad - which amuses me and makes the whole thing seem like an even better idea.

Confused technology reared its head today when I was driving to the other side of town and Nigel (the GPS for those of you new to the blog) got disoriented and tried to get me to take an interstate exit that wasn't there. It wasn't there because.... well... it wasn't there. It used to be, but they're moving exits and roads around here faster than the navs can keep up - and definitely faster than I can keep up. I cling to my little back way to the interstate a few entrances away from those nearest me because those have been jackhammered into dust and aren't there now. The ones they have rebuilt farther north look like I've landed on Mars.

And a sad tech note: I think Morpheus is terminal. I keep having to do power re-sets on him and he doesn't like to wake up. Sometimes when he is awake, he nods off and I can't rouse him without extreme measures. Now granted, he's 11 which I think translates into old even moreso than dog years, but I'm very attached to that particular machine and am waffling about what to do.

Yeeesh. 1am. Time for bed.

10:35AM - Dear Apple - Bite Me

So... I've got my updated technology sitting here (for a week now) and have finally got all those niggly little doodad incremental updates installed. Leopard is now current, at least for the next 5 minutes.

Earlier this week I made a tech support call about being unable to leech off Luxo's internet connection, though Lestat merrily gallivanted through the neighborhood sucking connections (albeit for short times only) from wherever he could find one.I'm not sure if he's a predator or a slut, but in either case he apparently feels he's too good to associate with Luxo, whose OS is out of fashion.

I stumped tech support who blamed the issue on my using DSL rather than a static IP via cable. It took me another hour on my own, but I finally figured out they weren't right about that, plus the directions on how to make these two talk via wireless that were presented online were useless. If you want anything done right.... you know the rest.

So anyway, after hearing about how it's so easy-peasy to move your old Mac stuff to your new Mac, I thought I was home free with merely needing to move my address book. My old applications are much too old to move, so there's no worry there, but with 200 contacts that I spent 2 days updating and making nice little photos for their photo boxes so they'll look as cool on my iPhone in real life as they do in the ads, I want my damn address book.

Luxo, which runs 10.3.9 and has version 3.1.2 of the address book is apparently not good enough to associate with the aristocratic Lestat (his name really does fit)who has 10.5.6 and an address book of 4.1.1

C'mon Apple... I can understand if I was trying to go back to 10.1 or somesuch but for craps sake, going back 2 versions of the OS (and apparently 1 version for the address book) is too much for you? What happened? You used to be user-friendly. Are we now held hostage to upgrading to every damn version of the OS, shelling out hundreds for the smaller things, and thousands if it requires new hardware? Are you nuts? Or am I nuts for playing along?

A call to tech support again yielded a "sorry, can't help" so I kept futzing with it and have come up with a "kind of works" solution, but one which will probably consume most of my day (unless some kind soul takes me barhopping, which is likely what I need at this point). What I'm doing: exporting as a vcard and verifying that data didn't get twisted along the way (because that's happened before). Then one-by-one dragging alllll those pics out of each entry and into a folder so I can drag them back into the new address book. One. By. One. The vcard refuses to export the picture. It also won't export my groups so I get to create those all over again.

I'm sooooo looking forward to docking my iPhone and having it magically update. Jeez.... can't wait to see what happens with iTunes. *shudder*

7:21PM - Dear Apple

I love you. I really do. We've been in a relationship since 1992 and I've not strayed at all.

But.

Why so gloomy lately, sweetie? The color has slowly drained out of you and with the introduction today of the black / white 4GB Shuffles I'm afraid you're going to fade away into the shadows altogether; not to mention that at first glance it appeared you were hawking a feminine hygiene product. If that Shuffle was blue or pink or purple or any of the other lovely luscious colors that make up a wee tiny portion of your products I'd have thought right away "new toy!" instead of "WTF are they selling?"

I suppose I must snag an old Shuffle in girlie pink before they're gone.

I beginning to think all this grey technology is to blame for the economy. Things were great when we had candy-colored iMacs and aqua interfaces. Now it's grey like a cloudy day or old underwear.

I'm going to go hug my new-but-discontinued black Macbook now... I would've sprung for a 17" Macbook Pro but you don't make them in black. Or Pink. Or Blue. Or *anything but grey*. Pop some anti-depressants and get back to me, okay?


xoxo
Me

3:04PM - Photoshop CS 4

Who's using Photoshop CS4? Anyone? Class? Bueller?

Ram recs on the Adobe page are for 1GB (512 minimum, but that's just laughable). I'm comparing 2 Macs, both Intel duo core with minimal difference in processor speed (2.4 vs 2.66). One maxes out at 4GB, the other at 8GB.

If you're using, is 4GB comfy for print resolution size graphics? Or do you walk the dog waiting for that 800MB file to open?

3:03PM - It's a *what*?

The dictionary confirms my first thought upon seeing the word streetwalker on my monitor this afternoon. If we were playing a word association game, and you said "streetwalker", I'd likely respond with prostitute, hooker or ho, but camera bag would not occur to me.

There are StreetWalkers, and StreetWalker Pros, the latter which seems a bit redundant to me given the more common meaning of the word. I've got no problem telling people I'm schlepping a Tom Bihn bag when asked about the backpack I have, but would feel a bit weird about saying I was carrying a StreetWalker on my back.

Just sayin'.

12:58PM - Appapalooza

Jeeeezus there are a lot of apps out there for iPhone. Right now I'm looking through the free ones, though may consider a paid one if it's really that useful. I've added the Facebook and MySpace apps (both in the top listings for freebies), and am looking for LJ options and also for Twitter options. If you're using, please comment with your thoughts because more input is helpful (restaurant finders, sushi-specific finders (not iSushi because it got too many bad reviews), and movie schedule apps are also on my "find a really good one" list).

I mostly cruised the app offerings on Luxo since he's got a 17 inch screen and the iPhone-with-no-name (I've not named a cell phone yet... not sure if I'll start now) has, well, an iPhone screen. The eyes voted for Luxo. Once I found one I wanted I just located it on the iPhone and downloaded. This worked well until I ran across a large-ish app that informed me that since it was larger than 10MB I needed to dock or use wi-fi. Hm. No dock yet... let's try wi-fi.

I don't know a lot about wi-fi connections since my attempts at using it with my last printer (which was *supposedly* compatible) turned out to be a joke and I wound up with a huge plastic box tethered to Luxo. Still... I knew I had Airport, and wondered if by just turning it on I could make Luxo and the iPhone have a little chit chat.

I was not in the mood to RTFM for this unexpected roadbump and thought I'd wing it. I poked through the menus of the iPhone, turned off the 3G, picked the Luxo network and in a minute it figured out all those numbers it wanted by magic (OK... by some programmer's ace programming skills but I didn't have to type in a bunch of numbers so it was good). Bonus points for ease-of-use.

I returned to the app, tapped install, and despite the fact that I could see iPhone was definitely on wi-fi (and easily surfing on it) it still balked at downloading and told me to use wi-fi or a dock. Hmpf. Does it not like Chanel? There was no Dolce & Gabbana app to see if it's just making a vote on fashion, or if 20MB was just too doggone big for it to swallow without a dock.

It may be that it was being bitchy and noticed that Luxo runs 10.3.9, not the desired 10.4.10 minimum and therefore has decreed that wi-fi coming from such an out-of-fashion Mac is sooooo five minutes ago and has landed me on the Worst Dressed list and I've been banned from downloading the Chanel app now or ever.

I don't know. And right now I'm recharging the little beast because I've worn him out. I may call tech support later and ask, or I may forget about it and just wait for a new Mac and try again with a dock. It's not like I'm shopping for Chanel right now, but I sure do like to look at their offerings.

8:30AM - First Impressions

I'll update this throughout the day as I notice things, but this is mostly a "first impressions" entry as I unpack and get to know my iPhone. I did spend about 3 hours just noodling with it yesterday, no manuals involved, since it really is stupendously intuitive. But I'm definitely an RTFM girl because then you learn the new / odd / hidden features that you didn't know about.

I chose to buy it at my local (within spitting distance) AT&T store mostly because I had questions about the service plans and transferring my old number that wasn't really within the scope of the Apple Store employees. I've not only changed phones, and generations of phones, but service providers as well.

They were very helpful with getting things set up, dumping my old phone numbers into the iPhone until I can sync it, and translating into Normal Human English the details of the service plan. I was also shown how to scoot the Stocks button over to another page, though apparently it's not delete-able.Bummer. I guess the designers couldn't imagine a person who doesn't do stock.

The box is pretty: matte black with shiny silver foil lettering. It's almost like something in which you'd get jewelry.

I was more than surprised to find white cords and plugs lurking underneath the upper tray of the box. White? For a black phone? Oh, Apple. Come on! It doesn't much matter for the earbuds since they'll stay pristine new in the box as I already have a 3rd party pair for my old iPod - and ones that fit my ears at that. I've always wondered whose ears they had in mind when making their earbuds - they're huge! They don't fit my ears at all. The plug-in is another kettle of fish. I'll round up some 3rd party black one and use it. I'm just puzzled over the choice of white accessories for a black model when Apple is so design oriented. *shrug*

Hmmm... anything in this cardboard insert? It looks like an envelope... hey, it IS! Oh cool! More Apple stickers. Something black carefully placed in a plastic sleeve... what is that? Hm. Don't know. Will figure it out later. Ah! Manuals. There you are.

Finger Tips booklet (erm, perhaps too clever there, it made me roll my eyes). OK... mostly stuff I know but... I wasn't aware of the click once to silence it and click twice to send to VM trick. For the totally lost this does make an excellent intro.

I see it's capable of multi-tasking: email and websurfing while talking on the phone. Too bad this user isn't capable of that. Seriously - if I'm on the phone I cannot write, or else I say what I'm writing or write part of the conversation. Maybe I can get that chip embedded in my brain and I can be as multi-tasky as this little gadget. I sure would get more done.

Most of the stuff in Finger Tips I had already figured out yesterday. Still, it's nicely written, laid out in a *legible* way and illustrated well. It's printed on sturdy-enough paper that makes it easy to handle and read. That's much more than I can say for the Important Product Information Guide. Guys, if it's THAT important, for Pete's sake make the thing readable. I mean really. It's 4 pt. type in a dark grey color (not even black!) on thin paper (so the words on the other side bleed through) and the trim size is smaller than 3 x 5 inches. Do you try to fit War and Peace on the head of a pin in your spare time? The logo and iPhone 3G title are the only legible things about this little booklet. It is otherwise useless since I can't read it (and I can read small type). I know they call details "the fine print" for a reason, but taken to this extreme while also calling it "important" is nuts.

Fortunately, the documentation is available at Apple.com where I will pop open the pdf file and read it comfortably on my 17 inch screen. So, off to do that. Back later.

7:07PM - I do!

Yes, the iPhone charmed its way into my hands today, and I found myself unable to put the crazy thing down for most of the afternoon, despite not being able to sync it yet (Luxo is just too old).

It came with reading materials, but my eyes are saying "enough already!!!" so I'm giving them a break and calling it a night.

3:58PM

So yeah... my old cellphone is pretty old.

My first cell phone came into my life in the spring of 1992, after The Buick From Hell left me stranded across various states out west on a weekly basis during 1991. Out there it was a looooong walk to a payphone and visions of roadside serial killers always danced in my head during those treks, between murderous thoughts toward GM for sticking me with the Lemon-Mobile.

( Why it's so doggone hard to make up my mind about a stupid phone, extended dance version )



And if you don't want to read all that behind the cut: I'm still trying to wrap my head around their claim I can call anyone else on the AT&T network anytime and it doesn't count against my minutes. Anyone know for sure? Oh! And rollover minutes - what a concept!

10:33AM - Markup voodoo is still better than plumbing

Kudos to danguyf for keeping me from developing a knot on my forehead from repetitive head-banging on my desktop.

Is there some awkward planetary alignment going on? Because my brain pipes were seriously clogged with junk info before the webgoblin introduced me to Firebug. Woah. Lightbulb moment!

There is also a serious clog in the traditional plumbing, which just sent a plumber with 11 years experience fleeing from the house with a promise to send someone else to tackle it. Hm. The kitchen sink has long housed some vocal poltergeist who wailed and moaned when a tap was turned. Now water rises up out of the drain and falls away like the tide. No one seems sure where it's coming from. All other plumbing in the house is happy and healthy. If I were a real-estate agent, I'd call this an "indoor water feature" meant to instill serenity by watching the water gently flow in and out.

I'm not entirely convinced that this wasn't ancient Indian burial grounds before it was farmland (and now sprawl).

12:49PM - Quiz time!

I am now at the point where I've Twittered my question in addition to posting on the WP board in order to find an answer, and am typing this mostly to avoid banging my head on my desk.

I've got a footer in a wordpress template. It's all good, except the text is aligned top-center. I want it bottom-center. I don't find the value to change to make it do that.

I've built an entire custom template swapping out values for pixels, colors, images, yadda yadda, yet this one little bit has been unchangeable for THREE days now. It's sick.

valign: bottom; --> suggested by someone but didn't work (isn't that just a pure html command?)

vertical-align: text-bottom; --> courtesy of a css tutorial site didn't do it either.

WTF am I fucking up?

10:57AM - Always the bridesmaid, never the bride

I've been working on updating my website. It's mostly behind-the-scenes at the moment since there is quite a bit to do. The learning curve reminds me of one of those signs on a mountain road depicting a path both steep and extremely curvaceous.

It's not enough that I'm on friendly terms with the angle-bracket gang from HTML. In the 11 years since I first staked out my domain the web has evolved and now the kids from the PHP and CSS neighborhoods have moved here and are the "in crowd". It's a whole new generation of lingo that I must learn to speak.

It's slow going. I'm doing research only on the web since it's free and thus in my budget. I usually use a book to learn things and when I saw this contest for a free copy of one that looked useful I thought I'd give it a go. No guts, no glory, and all that.

I put together an entry and sent it off. Alas, it was not to be. Apparently there are 5 people out there who are in even more dire straits than I, but I was at least sad / entertaining enough to be a runner-up (for those unfamiliar with my quake-waxed cellphone which surely gives me away, I'm entry #2: B, I and BR are my friends). Frankly I'm bummed to see that the squirrel person didn't get a book either. If their squirreldominiums ever took off, perhaps the yard wouldn't be overrun with the little rodents eating my plants.

12:10PM - The search engine that cried wolf

I've been tweaking and fiddling with things I know little about, and using Google to search for info is invaluable.

Until this morning.

I googled for some tech info was was told that "this site may harm your computer" for every search return. What the?!?

When I clicked on the link, my options were listed as:

1. Return to the previous page and pick another result
2. Try another search to find what you're looking for
3. Or you can continue to (URL here) at your own risk.

I love that 3rd one. No shortage of FUD there.


I searched my own site. Woah!! Visit me at your own risk. I checked others, including Amazon. Danger, Will Robinson! The internet seemed to be a toxic cesspool of malware.

Puzzled by the sky is falling nature of my default search engine, I wandered off to chat with some friends and got distracted. Upon my return the message was gone.

What Google has to say about it

I can totally sympathize with them. I've been tripped up by /s and ?s and (s the last few days, but fortunately without the world as an audience.

8:37AM - Starling Smackdown

I am enduring Day 3 of The Great Starling Rumble outside one window. I don't know what's up with these bird-brained birds, but they are certainly making their presence known.

The feeders I have there are either unusable (by design) or unattractive to starlings, however there is the suet cage which is easily accessible and that's the problem: one suet cake and a dozen starlings.

Unlike the cardinals, chickadees and sparrows who seem to be much more civilized about pecking orders and taking turns, these squabbling hellions fight beak and claw with gusto. Starting about 8am I am treated to a starling smackdown as, instead of eating the suet, each bird seems intent on just keeping the other guy from eating the suet. I hear wings flapping, protests being screeched and heads bouncing off the window as they get into the bird version of a shoving match.

At Day 3, with this many birds, that suet cake should be long gone. It's still 3/4 intact because there's more fighting than eating.

11:53AM - Today's Foxtrot

If I hear the phrase "the value of x", my mind will first go to the book by Poppy Z. Brite rather than algebra, possibly for the same reason I would think of a comic strip rather than food if I heard "peanuts". It's just how my brain works: the more familiar data registers first.

So, how many people will think today's Foxtrot is funny because Paige is an airhead mall-shopping teen girl who isn't too bright? And how many will laugh because it's a perfect example of why so many people are confounded by math?

When I read the strip in the paper this morning, part of my brain was trying to do the "2x + y" part and I couldn't do it. As soon as I read Jason's bubble about sweaters and shirts, the number popped into my head and I had Paige's answer before I'd read it.

And just like Paige, I still don't know how I got the answer. I just know you could plug in 80 and 100, or 20 and 25 instead of 60 and 75, and each time it works and the difference between those two numbers is the same as "the value of X", but what happens when you're trying to do it for a weird combo of, say, 32 and 51? Or do you just not shop at places like that? :P

3:00PM - Do not drive with this in place

Reading the notes and docs that come with tech things can sometimes be amusing:

These classes can create a file for you which you can send to a Dutch Bank. Of course you need also a Dutch bank account.

I'm willing to bet someone at some point *has* tried to use that without a bank account and called tech support.

And does this mean the fabled secret Swiss bank accounts are now "so yesterday" and Dutch is the new kid on the block? Not that I have any money, but gee, if I ever do I can put some in a Dutch bank account.

9:38AM - Conquering Invisibility

I seem to be cursed with the need to tinker. It's probably an occupational hazard of being a creative type; I just can't deal with an out-of-the-box anything. I've got to paint it, sew something on it, or otherwise embellish it and make it "mine".

My dogs have it so much easier. They accomplish the same by just lifting their leg on an object; the trouble is, that really won't work for me. Peeing on my Mac would definitely void the warranty if it had one; at six years old, Luxo is elderly and has no guarantees.

2009 finds me fiddling with a geekier server, but my brain is still in 1999 tech mode. I'm working on that, but Luxo isn't helping. Actually, OS X isn't helping. Using the easily-accessible Help Menu in the menu bar, I asked politely for assistance in renaming an invisible file and it basically told me to use a Windows box.






Did they hire Microsoft to write their documentation? What the?!?

Imagine my dilemma: I have an invisible file on my Mac, visible by name in a search, but untouchable otherwise. I can open it to read it. I can write to it. I can drag it to the trash and get rid of it. But heaven help me if I need to rename it other than "Save As".

OK. Fine. I'll "Save As" without a dot so I can see it. If I want to rename it to the dotname the other page is looking for, I have to put it on the server (which is also a Mac, but not an elderly one) and rename it there. Again, OK, I can do that. But now I have an invisible file running loose on my desktop. Invisible files are like fairies and goblins: just because you can't see them it doesn't mean they aren't there ready to do something unexpected. I drag it to the trash.

But wait! Trash doesn't want it. It seems that since I'd done the same thing 5 minutes earlier with another invisible file, there was already one in there with the same name. I couldn't see it - and Luxo didn't offer me the option of emptying the trash to get rid of it because there was "nothing" in there. Hm. This is not exactly the easy Mac-user experience.

Assuming that "help" wouldn't be terribly helpful, I thought about it and decided to try placing another item in the trash to see if I was offered the option to empty it. Yes!! Score!!

But how clumsy and inelegant. And surely I'm overlooking some simple thing? But "help" isn't going to tell me. It's going to tell me all about Windows.

10:36AM - Christmas - gone to the dogs

3:36PM - Threee!!! Wheeeeee!!!!

On Solstice Day in 2005, Robin Goodfellow joined us on the planet. When I went to meet him a month later, he was a quiet, subdued little guy who was content to sit and be photographed. His mother was busy playing tug-o-war with another dog,and his dad was a perpetual motion machine bobbing up and down nonstop behind a dog gate in the next room. When someone picked Robin's dad up so I could take his picture, he squirmed and wiggled and twisted, reminding me of one of those dancing blow-up figures that flail in front of store grand openings, nothing at all like the quiet little puppy on the couch.

Little did I know that would be the last time he'd sit quietly for a photo. He inherited the perpetual motion gene of his father, and it really kicks in when the camera comes out. I have more nose-in-the-lens shots of that dog than you could imagine. Out of 24 shots today, I got 2 1/2 useable ones (the ball shot is a bit fuzzy, but the pose was cute so I kept it). Robin is the sort of dog that requires a multiple frames-per-second type of camera, not an auto-focus "um, let me think for a half-second" type of camera. In that half second the cute face shot is gone and I've captured a stubby tail rushing off to the next interesting thing that caught his eye.

Happy birthday Robin!

( Birthday Boy Pics Behind the Cut )