Computerjargon : Rebooted
02/08/2006
09:31 AM : My Hipster PDA
If you've spent 5 minutes in a room with me in the last 6 months you know that I'm completely and utterly obsessed with the new HTC Wizard cellphone about to hit the streets. The only problem: it was supposed to be available 6 months ago. I have been waiting patiently for it since September, every day checking the normal cellphone geek hangouts reading messages proclaiming its releasing "any day now". As a Type-A personality I'm am completely convinced it will bring absolute and total order to my life.
I grow tired of waiting. I'm scatterbrained. Ideas, thoughts, lists, apointments, all lost. They are going in one ear and out the other. I finally decided I needed a solution today, I could not wait any longer. I went out and purchased a Hipster PDA, specifically a Mead 5-Star mini notebook. Its an investment in my sanity. I know, you think I'm crazy, but I swear by this thing. Let me give you a rundown of it's specs:
Size: ~3 inches W x 4 inches H x 1/2 inch thick
Processor: My writing hand and the nearest writing utensil
Functionality: Free-form sortable information, a.k.a. stream-of-conciousness. Ability to quickly output information (by ripping the pages out)
Portablity: Fits in my jacket pocket
Applications: Jason's TODO list, Jason's calendar, Jason's random lists, Jason's reminders
Price: $1.89 (Target)
I used to give a friend grief for carrying around postcards for notes. I now understand why he used them. No matter what crazy/stupid thing I think, I can write it down so I don't forget. I'm hoping it will cut down on the crazy rants Courtney has to listen to.
I'll probably pick up the Wizard when it finally arrives. But for now, I'm satisfied with my current PDA. It's working out well.
Sidenote: I also picked up a Dymo labeler so I can label and file all my crazy stuff.
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02/06/2006
15:42 PM : Thought of the Day
Current thought in my head:
"What the hell am I doing?"
I don't have an answer for that yet. I hope by the time I'm 40 I figure it out.
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07:50 AM : Nobody Walks in L.A.
In the early fall we had a minor mouse problem in our laundry room. Each morning we'd find a few "leftovers" from their feast the night before around the dog food bags. I tried a few different things to get rid of them. Sticky pads, mouse hotels.. But what really did the trick were the old fashion spring-loaded mouse traps.
Each night I would set out two traps smothered in peanut butter. For about a week I would wake up to 2 newly executed mice. One morning I came down to discover only one of the traps. I looked around figuring the poor guy must have hobbled off to die slowly with trap around his foot. I scoured the laundry room but never found the missing trap. I figured it would turn up at some point, right? I mean, how far can a mouse go with a trap around it's foot?
Four months later, I was digging around my computer cords this weekend trying to troubleshoot a problem with my internet connection. I was blindly grabbing tangled cords from underneath my computer desk trying to figure out which power cord belonged to which device. As I was reaching I grabbed onto a wooden thing. Odd, I thought, I felt it a bit more. I thought to myslef, "Hey, that's a mouse trap. I wonder what made me put one under my computer desk?" I grabbed it with my whole hand and started pulling it out. That's when I realized there was a mouse still attached to it. He was good and dead. Real dead. I admit, I screamed like a little girl.
I feel bad for the critter. I mean, he managed to get this trap thing stuck to his tail. He did make it about 20 feet into the next room. I'm honestly surprised that done of the dogs tipped us off earlier about his whereabouts. Alas, he's in a better place now, where he can eat all the dog food he wants.
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02/03/2006
20:37 PM : The Elite Repeat
The cat's out of the bag. On January 19th Courtney and I re-married. I could go into the whole history of things, but I'd rather save that for my autobiography. We celebrated our second time around the way we wanted, small and intimate, without much fanfare. I'm quite excited with what's ahead of us.
I stole a few pictures of the weekend from Courtney's camera. Enjoy!
Thanks to Chad and Tina for everything and thanks to all those well-wishers. We really appreciate all the love and support.
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01/26/2006
14:39 PM : The Tax Man Cometh
I swore last year would be my final year of coming up short on my taxes. I've been paying into "The Man" very year for the last 7 years. I know, I know, everyone pays into "The Man" and that it comes right out of my paycheck. But I've farted around a lot with my W-4 in the past which has caused me to come up short every single year. Accountants will tell you that its good to come up short because it means you've been living on the government's dime. What they fail to tell you is that you will eventually have to pay it back in a year.
After paying in the heftiest ever last year I vowed to get my act together and never have it happen again. I found some online aides that helped me determine the right number to put at the bottom of my W-4 and changed my withholdings for 2005. I submitted the form to my employer and prayed I had done it right. The frustrating part is waiting a year to find out.
I filed my taxes last night and was quite happy to find out that "The Man" owed me this year! No scrambling to save this year! w00t! The pennies can stay in the couch!
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01/25/2006
11:28 AM : The Dog Made of Gold
For the second time in 6 months we've received a phone call that our pup, Sydney, had to be rushed to emergency vet while we were away. Last time we dropped everything and rushed back home to be with her. This time, though, we were too far away and had to wait it out on a very long plane-ride home.
The first time she fell ill was in September. At the time the doctors thought it was an allergic reaction to a bee sting. Sydney had stopped producing the natural steriod that helps blood clot causing her to vomit and bleed. My parents found her passed out in the yard.
This time, it was no different. She was staying with my parents again when the same thing occured. No bees this time. The same round of treatment and the same round of bills came in. One night in the emergency room, one plasma transfusion, and lots of fluids fixed her right up.
The doctors insist that she must have eaten decon. This time they even suggested she ate an animal that ate decon. Their explanation seemed a little far fetched.
We spent the next day taking her to the regular vet clinic. They explained to us that her separation anxiety probably caused her to start bleeding, which is normal for dogs. But her lower than normal ability to clot causes a very violent reaction. The diagnosis sounded a little more believable.
We still don't know what's wrong with her. She's being put through the wringer of tests. The plastic is running out of space and I don't want to make hard decisions.
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01/16/2006
08:06 AM : Clothes Folding Revolution
Check out this video from Japan, a tutorial to
quick shirt folding. I tried this out this morning and it has changed my life.
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01/12/2006
09:09 AM : Brokeback Mountain Social Commentary
Earlier this week a local radio station was discussing the movie Brokeback Mountain . The morning show consists of 2 men and 2 women. One of the men (We'll call him #1 for the sake of argument) on the show had seen the movie. The other male host (male guy #2) began ranting about how he wouldn't be caught dead going to see a movie about gay men. #1 argued that there was no more than 60 seconds of actual homosexual sexual content and referred to the straight dude's guide to Brokeback Mountain.
#2 continued to rant, stating, "Even 60 seconds is too much." His commentary seemed a little excessive, then he opened up the phone lines. Soon, it had turned into an all out gay-bashing segment.
I was stunned that I was actually hearing this on the radio. I understand that some radio stations want an edge to their content but this is not typically one of those stations. I tried to keep my liberal opinions in check. But I still felt their comments crossed the line.
I sent the following letter:
Hello -
I was more than a little put off by your commentary about the movie Brokeback Mountain this morning. I thought it was quite disrespectful of gays. Taking calls was inviting the ignorant out to showcase their stupidity.
I don't think you would have had the same type of conversation if it were a movie involving black people. Try this next time you want to talk about homosexuals, replace the word "gay" with the word "black" and see if you're still willing to say the same thing. Would you come out on the air and state you will not see a movie about black people? If you are a decent and respectful person you wouldn't.
You are doing nothing more than perpetuating inequality and creating barriers between people. Shame on you.
Jason.
P.S. I'm straight.
Just to be fair, their form-letter response:
Thank you for your comments, and I'm sorry if you found our positions offensive.
Courtney pointed out that I felt I needed to tell them I was not gay. I was trying to make the point that if I was offended as a straight man, imagine how a gay person must feel. Does being straight make my argument stronger or weaker? I don't know for certain.
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01/10/2006
08:24 AM : A Million Little Things
I finished A Million Little Pieces over the holidays. I ranted earlier about it becoming slow and repetitive in the middle of th book. I'm here to say the last 100 pages made up for it. I still stand by the comment that after Frey's turning point (around page 140) the book goes downill. It's still good enough to read, though.
The Smoking Gun has a very interesting investigative report into the stories told by James Frey. They attempt to discredit Frey by illustrating some creative embellishments he took in the book. During one instance with the police Frey mumbles "Fucking Pig" which lands him in deep do-do with the cops. TSG pulls the police report and finds no mention of the comment and concludes that his embellishments are too much and he's full of crap. Hardly a strong argument in my mind. Of course, this comes from an admitted embellisher. :-)
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01/08/2006
22:42 PM : Stuck on Hamachi
I've fallen in love with an application called Hamachi. It is a peer-to-peer tool that allows anyone to create secure "private" networks (VPNs) over the internet. Typically VPNs are only used by businesses and the super-nerdy. Hamachi allows the common folk to easily create one.
You're probably thinking, "That's great, Jason, but why do I need this?" Well, you probably don't. But I do. It allows me to create a small, personal network of computers over the internet. Whether I'm at home or at a friends house I can access my computers as if I'm at my house. VPNs can be created without Hamachi but it's complicated. Very, very complicated.
Even better, Hamachi allows me to create more than one private network. I can create a network of friends and/or family. We can easily share our (legal) files. No more monkey business with torrents, FTP, and email box quotas.
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