I tinkered with digital photography beginning in 2001. I got my hands on a decent camera and started to explore. I liked it, but I wanted to perfect it; I wanted to make the pictures what I saw in my mind. I’m a perfectionist, I admit it, OK?

Well a few years go by, and next thing I know I have purchased a DSLR, and I’m a step away from professional quality equipment, teaching myself to take photos that I see in my mind. And I actually do this for the better part of 5 years. Yay me! It’s been fun for that time, but truth be told, if I pour over my portfolio, certain things stand out to me.

Namely, “I’ve seen that flower before…” Yes indeed, I took a picture of that same photo last year. And probably the year before that. You see, I think what’s happened is I’ve hit that point where it’s like “I’ve taken that picture already.” And some that don’t read this might think “Well take different pictures,” and while that would alleviate the issue, I don’t want to take different pictures. I wanted to take the pictures I took. That’s my style. That’s what I find beauty in.

But now, my photography has become that old guy that tells you the same story about when he was a boy your age… Yeah. It gets old. We’ve heard it. We’ve seen it.



What I’ll probably be doing
Something similar to what The Girl is doing right now. Namely, carry around a point & shoot, and shoot the moment simply to share it. I’ll go to photography as a storytelling medium now. Sure there’ll be some beauty in some of the shots, but mostly it’ll give a sense of feeling to where I’m at and what I’m doing. Because honestly, it’s not as though I’m printing up posters or anything; I’m posting them on the web for friends and family – like you – to not look at on the web!



Came to this decision fast, did you?
Yes & no. I have contemplated it, but today was sort of the last example I needed to experience. We both took our cameras out on the same walk, but I didn’t see much worth pulling out my camera for, because I had shot that already, and the thing’s just big and a pain to carry around and pull out for that one shot that I already got.

She, however, got some decent ones today. Because her camera is small enough to be there at the ready when she sees something and wants to try it out on film (er, digital media card). I can’t do that. It’s too bothersome to pull out the biggie, get the right lens on, get all the settings good, then shoot and hope that all the conditions were right to get a shot that may look good.

Basically, if I want to continue on the path I have started and be happy with my output, I’d need to dive deep into it, with better camera, lenses, bags to carry them around in (and make them more accessible), and I’d need to do this all at once. Because getting the bag to make my equipment more accessible won’t cut it; my equipment won’t take the shot quite right anyway. But having just the right camera & lens? Well if they’re not readily available, then I won’t even be able to get it out in time to take the shot.

By the time all is said & done, I’d have to shell out thousands upon thousands of $$ just to take photos that are so good, no one will ever look at them.

Or I could get a nice point & shoot like The Girl’s for a couple hundred $$, and take pictures that aren’t quite as good, and no one will still look at them.

Yeah, seems much cheaper & easier to go with the latter. Sold.


Peace.

Tags: women, Photography

OK, so who’s itching to buy me presents? Anyone? I have a wish list over on amazon, if you’re interested.

Anyone? Hello? Somebody?



Yeah, me too
Hey I love the holidays, but the presents? Not so much. See, here’s how I figure it: If I buy you a present, and you buy me a present, then we both spent money but didn’t get what we wanted. Wow that sorta sucks, huh? I’d much rather have spent money and gotten what I wanted to get. Which is actually why I created my wish list; not for others, but for me! I keep things there as my list of things to get myself, a reminder of the particular things I want.

But hey, if you feel really inclined, go ahead and buy me things off my list until you’re just silly. Just don’t expect much in return. Bah-humbug. (btw, “bah-humbug” is perfectly acceptable according to spell-check. Who’d have thunk, huh?)

But honestly, it just seems like too much importance is put on the gifts. Look, if you're over 18, don't expect presents, that's the way it should be. If you're an adult, you can get a job and work for the things you want. If someone happens to get you a small something? Well fine, but if you are expecting things, you suck. Because you're ruining X-mas, dammit! And my bottom line!

This is why I think Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday. No gifts, no pressure, no nothing but a moist, juicy turkey or savory, honey-baked ham. Unless you're at my mother's house. Where it's either dry turkey or undercooked ham. Love you, mom!


And the Winner is… CHILD!
So you know the answer, but you’re probably wondering the contestants, right? Well, this particular case was a race/battle between parent & child. Yesterday at work, there was this middle-aged, dim-witted woman with a child who I guess was about 4-5 years old. I found them on the toy aisle as I was heading to the back, and as I walked down the aisle towards them, I see the child make a mess all over the floor, pulling out toys off the wall.

I made sure to walk by and make my presence known, sort of a silent “Hey I saw that, uh, maybe you should police your child and pick up this mess?”

But being the Manager on Duty, I couldn’t stand and watch them as calls come frequent, and soon I was off to help in the Photo Department. I got stuck over there for longer than I had wanted to be, and after a while I hear a loud screech, followed by the pitter-patter of little feet scurrying past me at double-time, running across the front of the store, then down the back aisle towards the back of the store. This was followed in short order by the clump-clump of a dim-witted spectacle of a mom trying to catch a runaway child. Ho-Hum, I think to myself, hopefully they’re leaving after this is over.

I was right on that count, it was just a matter of it actually getting to over. Because not 40 seconds later, the same screech, the same pitter-patter, the same hellion running across the front, down the stretch, and around the back. Followed again by the clump-clump of the dim-witted. Yeah, this is getting old already as you can imagine.

I finally break away from the Photo Department to take care of a refund elsewhere. On my way across the store, I come across the dim-witted mother (I’m going to call her that every time), and she asks me if I can tell her child – who’s now laying in the middle of the candy aisle, 20 feet from her mom – that she can’t have the ball she’s clutching. Sure thing. Can I teach her some manners, too? Maybe balance your budget? Go to her next recital? WTF?! Isn’t that your job!? *sigh.* Fine.

So I get up to the child slowly – think Crocodile Hunter sneaking up on a large lizard – and explain that she can’t have the ball. She tells me it’s only a couple bucks and she wants it for her birthday. I distract her with talk and grab the ball, then her hand, then walk her to her mom while she’s concentrating on what I’m saying (“you’re a pox on humanity! Yes you are! Yes you are! Oh, you’re so cute! You little pox on humanity, you…”).

I don’t need kids, I’m raising enough of them at work.



“Insert Typical Follow-up Question Here”
That question being “Where’s the parents?” Unfortunately, mom was right there with her child. That was running laps around my store and screaming. Right. There. In. The. Store.

I told the relieving manager about the incident, to which she replied that if her granddaughter ever tried to pull something like that, she’d beat the tar out of her.

“Yeah, but your granddaughter would never do that. Because she probably knows that you’d beat the tar out of her.” Which was the problem. In the horse race above, between the 35 year-old and the 4 year-old, the 4 y/o should not have the power. But that’s how it was. She had no fear of her creator; She was the jockey in that relationship.

And just that fast, corporal punishment in schools looks very appealing. We shouldn’t let kids bring guns to school, we need to let the teachers & administrators bring them instead.

Oh and the toys all over the floor? Still there after they left. Sweet.



Patriots almost lose
Hopefully last night’s close call is as close as it gets this season. Because one loss is not history. Horseshoes & hand grenades, right?

Peace.

So yeah, no accidents barred our attendance last night, and thus we actually got to see the movie this time. Yay! Just so you know, it’s long. It’s a long flick. I heard it was a long movie, but when we got out, it was 11pm and I was ready for bed. Of course, some of the delay was due to the fact that their online time slots did not coincide with the posted times at the theatre…. Grrrr…

We expected the movie to begin @ 7:45, but we get there and it’s not listed until 8:10. Oh well, I chalked it up to the internet being faulty on this occasion. But then when we get down to the actual theatre, they have 7:45 posted there. I was a little irked and asked which it’s supposed to be, to which a young woman replied “well have you been in there?” “not yet.” “Well if it’s 7:45, it’ll start then.” “Yes, I’m aware of that, I’m asking when it IS supposed to start, because you have two different times posted.” “Oh, I see….” Yeah, that was a difficult question I suppose. ?

Anyway. The movie was pretty good. It was well-acted, based on a true story, and filled with quality names. It wasn’t perfect though. I mean, it really could have stood to spend more time delving into the how’s and why’s of Mr. Lucas’ (Denzel) rise, his operations, and the hardships he had to overcome. They sort of gloss over the more interesting story points to focus on a couple inept cops that sort of stumble onto the case. Overall, I’d say it garners a B- grade. It’s good, not worthy enough to warrant any awards though, and what you’ve read elsewhere about it – namely that it’s sort of cliché, all-been-done-before stuff – is accurate enough. Don’t go expecting a never-before-seen adventure, and prepare for a standard cops & robbers crime drama, and you’ll enjoy it for what it is. That, uh, being a cops & robbers crime drama.



Are. You. Kidding? Please?
Preview seen while waiting for the Feature Film: Rambo 17. Or maybe 24. I’m not sure. Whatever it is, it’s a few years too many. Yes, Sylvester, you’re far too old to be dawning that cape. And your face is far to droopy to pull off the angry warrior look anymore.

And it’s not like totally obvious that he’s been hitting the ‘roids or anything, right? I mean, the guy’s almost 60 years old and he’s twice the size he was in his prime. His freakin’ forearms are bigger than my damn thighs, OK?

Shit. So now rambo looks like a ‘roid freak OD-ing on sedatives. Complete with drool out the corner of the mouth. Yes! Can’t wait. Sigh.



About that silent site change….
So you may have noticed that navigating to www.randombob.net now takes you directly to the blog page. What happened to the front page, you say?

I deleted it. On purpose. You see, it was a page that either didn’t change enough to relay to visitors that other parts were changing, or to accomplish that required that I update it more frequently than I wanted to. Sort of making it a mini-blog in its own right, and then it would be too much hassle.

So I figured rather than have a blog and a mini-blog letting visitors know that things like the blog have been updated… I just skipped step b-y, an went straight to z. Visit randombob’s online home of wonder & fulfillment (yes I’m a dreamer), see the most-frequently updated stuff immediately.

Because I know you suffer from ADD. And that extra click was killing you. So take care, knowing I thought of you. Because random bob, a.r.c. Cares.



Oh and uh, Happy Thanksgiving
Yeah, for those of you who celebrate it. I hope you enjoyed turkey day, a day in which I had pork chops. Yum!

Peace.

Yes, it’s true. No, I didn’t get a phone call or a strange visit to inform me that some little munchkin sprung from my loins. Just saying that it hit me today while I was rolling around on the floor with my dogs, that they really are my kids, and I’m daddy to them much the way I’d be daddy to a child. I’ve said it before sort of off-hand and joking-like, but this time I’m pretty serious. I think I’d be a good dad, if I wanted real kids.

But I’m fine with my fake, hairy kids instead. I think they’re better, actually, because I get to parent the way I want to parent. Think about it: Would I really be able to put a collar on a real child? No. With the dogs, I can collar them, and it’s perfectly acceptable to just put their name and home phone on a tag around their neck. I can put a leash on them and yank on them when they’re bad. When they poop, I can swat them with newspaper. I only have to feed them once or twice a day.

I don’t have to change diapers. I don’t have to compete for breast time. I don’t have to take them to school. I don’t have to buy new clothes all the time, nor bathe them frequently. Nope, I’m pretty sure that this is the type of parenting that I was cut out for; doggy parent. I think I’ll put that on my business card. Random bob, a.r.c: Doggy Parent extraordinaire. It’s true.



Off to see that damn Movie. For Reals
OK, so now that the plumbing issues are out of the way, we’re off to actually see American Gangster. Better be good, too, because at this point it’ll be a $207.35 movie. Better. Be. Good. I’ll let you know at a later date. But for now? That’s all, folks. Random bob must get up and get un-naked to go out tonight.

Yes, you just read words that saw me naked earlier. Contemplate that for a minute.

Peace.

Tags: Animals

Have a Mighty Mouse? Don’t try this at home
I have one of them fancy-schmancy Apple Wireless Mighty Mice. I like it actually, simple yet elegant solution to mousing that it is. But the ‘revolutionary’ scroll ball mechanism they use has a tendency to get gunked up. I’m an oily (some say greasy) Italian, so mine got there eventually. I usually just turned it over and ran it really fast across the sofa or something. This worked well, up until a handful of days ago. Then for some reason, the gunk became too much for my lil’ scroll ball to overcome, even with the help of the sofa.

I went to the internet looking for answers. Kinda like moses & the mountain, only I’m not jewish and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t god that responded. And if it was? Well he gives some bad advice, his holiness.

I read this hint about how a simple cleaning solution was to pour high-percentage alcohol down into the unit with it unplugged, then let it dry. The alcohol evaporates quickly, and as it does you don’t have to worry about it sitting around and shorting things out when you plug it back in later.

Now while this may be true, I can tell you from personal experience that it will likely make a small irritation a major one. I went from having an intermittent non-scroll issue to an intermittent scroll issue, coupled with a middle-click function that no longer worked. Gawdammit.

Well the mouse cost me about $50 and I had no intention of going back to a mouse not as full-featured, nor shelling out an additional $50 for a new mouse. At least until I completely broke this one. So then naturally, I got busy seeing if I could thoroughly break my currently broken unit completely, or fix it, whichever came first.

After finding a video on youtube (geez, that place again), I learnt how to get under this mouse’s skin. After that, it was trying to track down my particular issue, which at first I thought might actually be a short circuit somewhere, damn the luck. Fortunately for me, after about 10 minutes of examination, I found the culprit: corrosion. Yes, though the alcohol had dried fast enough to prevent any shorts, it managed to corrode the contact patch of the middle-click function so that attempts to use it resulted in nothing. Sweet.

Taking the thing apart really isn’t that difficult. The hard part really is the first step, getting the grey ring pried off without A) stabbing yourself silly with a very sharp razor edge – which I almost succeeded at, and/or B) snapping the grey ring while prying it off, which miraculously I managed to avoid entirely.

Bottom line? Don’t shortcut it, it’s not worth it. You’ll end up taking it apart anyways, so just start there if you must, and clean it all properly, huh?



Fannie Mae’s Brother takes a Dump
The Federally-backed program, Freddie Mac, posts a $2-BILLION loss. So that housing slump? Looks like it’s gonna continue for a minute or two longer.

Good. Maybe someday I’ll actually be able to afford to buy a house without having to have kids. So I can sell them. Cuz, uh, that’s what I’d do.



Have I mentioned Michael Vick Sucks? Good.
So uh, yeah, Michael Vick went to jail already or something. Phew! Now my dogs can go out safely again.

My only remaining question is this: When does Clinton Portis go on trial? Surely being that dumb and ignorant is a felony, no?



Recently Downloaded: Daft Punk
After having watched too many videos on youtube with people dancing to Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, and also hating how Kanye West ruined it by opening his mouth and attempting to ‘rap’ on this track, I decided to shell out the 99¢ necessary to get a copy of the real thing from iTunes.

Yea, now as I dance through the valley of death, I will fear no, um, no… hidden cameras. OK I’m lying; I fear the hidden camera. You should too. Me dancing? Causes immediate blindness. If you get an email and it says anything about “dancing” and mentions “random,” “bob,” or even maybe “idiot” and/or “weirdo,” I’d recommend passing. Perhaps for the safety of all that I love, I should stick to the whitey head-bob.

Check.

Peace.

Tags: housing Crisis, hate

Anyway. I liked the way that Indy played on the offensive side of the ball. They were a well-oiled machine, and I wanted to see them succeed because of it.

The Pats? They’re all that and more this year. They have the goods, they show up every Sunday and get to work putting points on the board, dominating teams like I would if I were an NFL team… So what’s not to like? They’re playing the game I like to watch. So I watch when I can. And I enjoy it. What’s wrong with that, huh? Lack of loyalty? So what. “My Team” sucks. I’ll root for them still, but there’s 30 other teams, and one of them plays football that makes my mouth water.

The Pats are getting so much guff for running up the score…. So what? This is a game where the winner is decided by who has the most points at the end of the game. So score points! And what’s more, I say that if you’re 42 points better than your opponent, you better prove it. If you don’t score 42 points more than them, then you’re simply not that much better than them. You want to be far and away the best? You better play that way, ever down. You should be putting the points up that show the world how good you really are.

And one more point about that: I actually think it’s insulting that a team would ‘quit’ somewhere during the course of the game. It’s akin to your dad playing easy on you when you were a kid. You hated it, right? You don’t want to be babied; you’d prefer not to be coddled, right? So why don’t teams feel that way? I mean, if the Pats just gave up in the 3rd quarter, why wouldn’t a team feel like they were being babied, that the Pats were just keeping it close to “make them feel better?” Are they not men enough to take the loss as it’s earned? In its entirety?

So I say, go Pats go. Put them points up. Go undefeated. Because honestly, I wouldn’t mind seeing history in the making. And if any team is going to redefine what it is to dominate a team sport in my lifetime, I think they’re just as likely to be it as anything I’ll ever see. Undefeated? Dominating? Sure. Give us all something to shoot for. Rewrite the record books. That’s what they’re there for.

So yeah, I guess that’s how I feel about that. Weather's pretty nice where I'm at.

Peace.

So today was the first day that the rain actually interfered with my plans for the day. I wanted to get up early, make some hot tea to go, and take the dogs to the beach, where I we could walk calmly while sipping hot tea.

However, I didn’t wake up until about 9am. I wanted to be there by 9am. So that was kinda out of the question at that point. But I got up, got everything going, figuring after breakfast, we could go for a while. Next thing you know, as The Girl is getting ready to go, the rain comes in. Sweet. Now I don’t mind walking in a slight mist, but I’m not about to go prancing about at the beach in a downpour either. So that plan was shot. Poor dogs.

And if you’re going to try and put the blame on ME, for waking up late, well I’m just not going to listen.



And then the rain went
Luckily for us, the rain subsided not too long after it began, and we made it to the beach. And great thing for us that we made the journey too, because it was beautiful. The sun poked out through the soft, fluffy, leftover clouds, and the water was blue, white, and magical. The dogs thoroughly enjoyed it of course, and thus so did I. Except for one thing.



Miles! Pay the F**k attention!
I don’t know what’s up of recent, but he’s not watching the ball anymore. See, I love to take the damn dog to the beach because it’s great exercise for him. He’s officially 11 years old this month, and the more frequently he gets out, the better condition he stays in. If he goes hiking 8 miles a day, then he’s fine every day. If he goes hiking 4 miles once a week, he’ll be sore for a few.

Anyway, the beach is great because of all the swimming and fighting of the waves. I throw the ball out there, he swims, two hours later he’s gotten more than 2 hours-worth of exercise. Very convenient for me, usually.

Except that for the last two weeks or so, instead of keeping an eye on the ball and rushing out after it, he just takes off into the general direction of the waves, and hopes it lands somewhere in front of him. This is a great head start technique, provided you run the right direction. When you don’t, which he doesn’t often enough, it’s a great way to lose track of a ball. Which sucks and is quite irritating, because the game of fetch is best when the part of fetcher is played by Miles, not me, but since I actually see the ball into the ocean, I usually end up tracking it to shore, and retrieving it from there.

I don’t recall this being a big issue except for the last couple of weeks, but man is it getting irritating. WATCH THE BALL, MILES!



Found elsewhere, entertaining enough for here, too
OK, I can’t claim that this little gem was my find, as I only found it because I frequent this other blog (though I don’t remember why anymore). However, I implore you to take a gander at this youtube video. Yes, a youtube video. Might not ever see me linking to one ever again, so take this chance while it’s there.

Now, you have to wait until about 1:30 into the skit for it to get good. But it’s pretty impressive after that. Corny, but impressive nonetheless. What are you waiting for? Go watch!

Peace.

Tags: Animals

Well, make that some $75 dollars I wasted on a problem I was not going to solve with the tools I had. The plumber came by, and for the cost of about $18.35 (remeber that $200 limit I put out there?), we got him to snake the entire house line from the kitchen to wherever the damn blockage was, about some 70-100 feet beyond the cap (the cap I couldn’t get off). Yeah, so much for that 15’ auger I had going for me.

So I took a shower, finally. Smell me later no more! Them pipes ‘r a-workin’ ma!



So what was the deal, anyway?
Hairball. Pretty sure it was a hairball. The stuff out of the pipe contained numerous things that were just sitting there, including calcium buildup, rust, rice, egg shell, and unidentified “gunk.” It was all very gross and pretty smelly, but in particular there was a hairball in the middle of everything that came out. I remember because my first thought was “is that a dead rat?”

No, it’s just The Girl’s hair. Yikes.



In Semi-Related News
So you’ve all heard about the writer’s strike, right? No new films or something. Yeah well, don’t you worry. Random bob, a.r.c. Just so happens to not be a member of the guild. You could probably tell by the meager skills presented (mad skilz, yo) in the blog. Yes, it’s true – random bob, a.r.c. Is just a hack.

Basically what I’m saying is that although I’ve been absent of recent, it’s been more a case of busyness (business?) in my real life, as opposed to participation in the strike. As time permits, I’ll still subject my loyal readers (all two of you) to the torture that is my blog & webpage. Yay. It's been sparse, but it comes in spurts, and you take what you can get. Take it! TAKE IT!

Peace.

OK, word on the street is that I’m not a plumber. True. This is true. Look up random bob, a.r.c. In your phone book and you’ll not find plumbing services listed. I know, I checked before I wrote this down. Every phone book. Ever made. Even yours, yes.

BUT, I’ve seen a plumber or two on TV, so I thought I’d tackle the problem, see if I couldn’t get things flowing again, so to speak. I mean, it seemed to me that all I needed was two fat, hairy cheeks that don’t fit into a pair of pants, one of those snake things, and a wrench. So off I went to Ace Hardware.

Just so you know, they’re not really called snakes, and Ace doesn’t sell hairy cheeks. Not that there’s none there, they’re just not for sale. But, if you go to Ace Hardware and ask for a snake, they’ll look at you funny and inform you they don’t sell pets. Cool. Got two of my own (three if you count… oh never mind). I just need a big pipe unclogged. A Drain auger, you say? Now we’re in business.

One trip to Ace and back, I spent $40 to tackle this problem. Only problem left is, the wrench I got is big enough to open the main, and I can’t get the auger down two of the best-situated pipes in the house. Damn. Well crap, back to Ace, to get a real pipe wrench that’ll fit the plug on the house (I have two, according to my eyes).

Two trips to Ace and back, and I spent $75 to tackle this problem. Yes, the proper wrench was about $35. Sweet. Now of course, the problem is that I cannot actually get the cap off. It's way too tight for me. Probably rusted. Sweet. So not wanting to have wasted all this money for nothing, I get under the kitchen sink and get to work pulling pipes off so I can put my auger down and get to work!

Except that I couldn’t get the auger to make the 90º bend from the sink pipe to the main pipe. Sweet.

Plumbers really aren’t tied to much as far as price, are they? I mean, you’d think in a given market, prices wouldn’t vary that much, but man was I quite wrong. I got quotes starting at $85-150 all the way to one that said it was $150 the first hour, then $100 every hour after that, then $200 to check with a camera to make sure it’s unclogged. Hey, I’d have thunk that stuff draining was a sure sign of that, but I’m not a plumber right?



Onto This morning
So yesterday passed, ending with a call to a local old friend who happens to be working on a plumbing contractor’s crew. He had said that he might be able to get the bosses tools and get it for me, but that was the last I heard from him. He was going to call me “right back,” as I recall. I hope the alligators didn’t get him or anything. I can’t tell if he’s being flaky or being an ass, as he’s done the whole “I’ll call you” thing a good number of times recently. I have a history with women where that basically means “I WON’T call you,” but I’m not sure if it translates over to the same thing when a man does it to you.

Anyway, getting quotes that sucked and being especially poor this month after a couple egregious purchases, I decided to try my luck again. Except that this time, luck was on my side. Well, sort of.

I managed to wiggle the head of the auger down into the main just as I was about to give up all hope. So we had success with getting it down there, but alas, with only 15’ of snake (auger), we didn’t have luck clearing the main blockage.

So now I sit, waiting for a plumber to come by and take a look, give me an estimate, and try to get this done ASAP. Even if it’s a little high (think $200 or so), I’ll probably have it done. I don’t want to wait until Monday for $85, I don’t think. I mentioned yesterday that it’s all backing up to the lowest point in the house – the tub – right? Yeah. No shower for going on 3 days now, and I don’t want to make it 6.

Smell ya later.

Peace.

Because, instead I spent the night plunging my bathtub. The only one I have. That’s got things in it from the laundry wash. And the garbage disposal. Yeah, gross. Talk about a long way from the movies. Frig. How do you go from all dressed up to wrist-deep in gunk in under 5 minutes? Clog your main, that’s how.

Peace.

OK so it turns out that while Leopard is mighty, it’s not going to rewrite my computing experience. Hmm, how best to put this?

It feels a little half-baked. They had some great ideas to increase usability, but they didn’t really put it through the paces from an end-user’s standpoint. And in other arenas, it would seem that they gave up on increasing usability to add flash. The Dock springs to my mind, though honestly I don’t think that it’s nearly the bother that everyone else makes it out to be; I think by and large there’s a lot of people that are just resistant to change. I kind of like the new looks, honestly, though I would agree they went flash before substance on it.

My biggest complaint is how it connects to other computers on the same network. Wait wiat wait, let me rephrase that: how it doesn’t connect to other machines on a network. Yeah, that’s better.

On our old machines with the older OS, it wasn’t as easy to see other machines on a network, but you could connect to them even if they had firewalls up for safety reasons. In the new OS, even though it’s easier to find the machines to connect to, if they have a firewall up for protection, absolutely cannot connect to them.

Seems Apple farced something up somewhere. To me, that’s kind of a big booboo. We tell people that they should have the firewall to protect themselves on the internet, but then when they set that up, we break functionality they were expecting… They need to fix this!



So, uh, Yeah, got the little beast
Might have forgot to mention it earlier, but I both ordered & received my new laptop. Decided on the black model of the MacBook because I figured it would wear better, as well as have a higher resale value later. They’re fast, they’re sleek, but MAN! Do I wish it was easier to move things over just the way you want. I spent the better part of last night moving everything and making it just the way I wanted – Fresh, but with all my old documents, mail, music, etc.

It seems they make it easy enough to start fresh, and easy enough to keep all your old stuff, but not easy enough to do both.



Almost sold the old Big Beast
So the nice thing about a laptop & wireless internet is that I can go about anywhere to do these things. So last night as I was getting hungry, I decided to drop into The Girl’s work and have her serve me some free food. I do this often.

No point telling you about much else, other than I was computing on newbie, getting it all set up, and The Girl comes and asks how much I want for the old one. Yay, right? Well not really.

The guy who wanted it has a background which I will share a bit of. He’s a freaking drunk (guess he didn’t used to be, but we’re all here & now, baby) bartender, and about 3 weeks ago decided it would be a good idea to stick a finger in MY Fiancé’s mouth. Yeah. So needless to say, once I find this out, the Big Beast is no longer for sale. I’m not one of those people that forgives & forgets. Well, let me clarify: I can forgive & forget, but there needs to be acceptance of wrongdoing and the attempt to make right. This jerkoff has done neither, instead just sort of ignoring his actions. Look, you don’t get to be a freaking prick and then just pretend nothing ever happened, and be all chummy-chummy with the peeps you wronged. Not with me, anyway.

So yeah, I’m not your buddy, I’m not your friend, I’m not going to smile & wave politely, and I’m sure as hell not going to sell you one of my prized possessions, because as far as I’m concerned, your money isn’t worth my toilet paper, shithead. I wouldn’t sell you ice in the desert. I wouldn’t sell you firewood during winter. I, uh… let’s see… I wouldn’t sell you my laptop if you wanted it.

So maybe that title was bit misleading, ‘cuz I guess I wasn’t even close to selling it. Who’d have thunk?



So wait, he did what? And you’ve done…..?
Nothing thus far. See, I’m new here, it’s a small town, and I would like to continue living here. Somehow, I don’t think I could beat up some asswipe on one side of town, and then keep my job smiling at old people on the other side of town. I don’t see it happening, unless properly provoked.

And for those of you that think his actions constitute “properly provoked,” I on one hand agree, but realistically, I can’t just walk in two days later (the next time he worked) and reach across the bar and slap some fool. Well I could, but the cops would scream premeditation, and thus I wouldn’t be keeping my job smiling at old people.

Funny though, last night I had a chance to make him a smear on my tire. As I left, I guess he didn’t get the hint that it wasn’t for sale, and ran outside to try and flag me down.

[cue bad western music]
...and there I was, in an old west-style showdown, me in the 4runner on one side of the row, him in some ugly-ass shoes on the other side, looking like a drunk prick standing on a mountain of Jell-O during an earthquake…. Draw, pardner…
[/bad western music]

But again, I don’t see how I can hit & run a PERSON after the fact, and still keep my job smiling at old peeps.

Damn old peeps….

Peace.

Tags: women, Apple

This very day, the MacBook arrives. Lo-and-behold, I think Mikey likes it. Except that I’m playing the part of Mikey. But I really do like it. And wouldn’t you know, it actually runs the photo editing program I use rather well! I loaded a trail copy and put it through the paces – I think it’ll be able to handle the demands of Aperture just fine…

No, it’s not quite super-fast or anything, it’s not redefining what photo editing is, but it’s still about instantaneous on almost every adjustment. So with it’s capabilities known, it really makes justifying a new MacBook Pro very very difficult. Because, for the extra $1,700, what would I be getting? A better video card, backlit keys, and a larger screen. All nice things mind you, but almost two-grand–worth? Yeah see, I’m not seeing that. At that price, I could seriously just get a 20’ iMac to do in-depth photo editing on a larger screen if I just can’t make it through on the MacBook. And it'd be larger & faster then anyways.

And this is only an issue because Aperture is supposedly very intensive on the graphics card, making the MBP a more logical choice on paper. But like I said, it seemed to do just fine overall on the MacBook, real-world case and all.

Yes, the internal debate begins once again. Though this time, I’m not trying to justify the bigger, badder version, I’m trying to write off its few remaining selling points. Damn, I think I’ll just order the new little beast now, that way there’s nothing to debate anymore.



Downside to the Newly-Lusted Machine
The screen IS smaller. Photo editing is more cramped. But pixel density isn’t all that much different actually, so while I see almost the same amount of stuff, it’s a good ratio smaller. But it keeps me from hunting with my eyes, which I guess is good. Yeah, after playing with The Girl’s new MacBook while she was at work, then getting back on my behemoth 17” PowerBook, it just felt too large.

Never thought I’d say that. But there you go.



Freakin’ Gadgets! They got Her Too! NNNOOOOOO!!!!
The Girl got all her Birthday presents yesterday. ALL of them. So in the span of about 2 hours, she got a new CD (not really a gadget, but it arrived in the same box as…), a new Canon ELPH, and the aforementioned new Laptop. As I was perusing the web yesterday before they all arrived, she’s on the old computer looking up videos on Apple’s site about how to use the new iPhoto. And now, after a couple years of watching me do what I do with camera & computer, and thinking me weird, she finally gets it. She’s telling me about all these cool things that she can do in iPhoto, like tagging pictures and creating events, and it hits her: She’s heard all of this before.

And I have to tell her, Yep, it’s official; you’re a gadget freak now, my dear. Welcome. For there is no turning back, only smaller gadgets to behold. And hold. And hold…



Leopard First Impressions
Now I haven’t been playing with the new kitty too long now, but so far so good for the most part. It feels nice and fast. I like how the new Finder connects to other computers & devices, for one. But with only one computer to test it out on, I’m not able to try some of the nicer things about Leopard I was looking forward to, such as screen sharing. Oh well, with time, my new laptop should be here any day now…. ☺

But there’s other things that I just don’t think I’ll make use of, really. Spaces, for one. I mean, yeah I get it, but to me their “Exposé feature sort of makes Spaces just more a nuisance than anything. Now I have to hunt down a new SPACE when I switch programs? Let’s see, where did I put that window…. Space 1? Space 12? Damn.

I’ve seen people talk about keeping programs with great full-screen support in their own space, but it just doesn’t make sense to me. It’ll be full-screen when you’re using it, so does it matter whether there’s nothing or something behind it? It’s all the same to you at that point, right? So just use the one Space, that way when you go away from that program, all your stuff is still right there, and you don’t have to hunt spaces to find it.

Eh, to each his own I guess. After all, I’m the one who wants the 30”, pocket-capable supercomputer. Can’t complain too much. Maybe just a lil’.



In Otherwise Unrelated News…
A family-member-of-sorts of mine just got onto city council! Yay! Good news, since I heard through the grape vine that some candidates were running a smear campaign against him.

See, he has a retarded daughter. She’s a ward of the state & lives in a home. Someone found this out and used it in some pamphlets to basically state that he “dumped” his daughter, and if he can’t raise his poor little girl, how is he qualified to help lead this little po’-dunk town full of drunkards and morons?

Wow. Politics. Just, wow. Damn, and he takes really good care of her, too. Brings her home all the time to visit, takes her places… I guess it sounds good on paper, but the reality is – having met her – she’s not the type of retard you leave around the house unattended. This ain’t Life Goes On. This is full-fledged, crap my daughter’s only 2 years old mentally, 30 years later, and oh crap, now she’s having another seizure. Crap. But somehow him doing the best that can be done for her was spun into some schtick about his abhorrent parenting abilities. Wow, Just… wow.

Guess I’ll never be getting into politics! Too many people to kill to cover up my past. And hey, I’m not that kind of Italian. Or at least that’s what I tell the authorities… ☺

Peace.

Tags: Photography

So today’s the big day. Yeppers, today’s the day I pulled the trigger, and jumped on the Leopard bandwagon. And got a new computer, all in one shot.

Got up late this morning, made some warm chocolate, browsed the Mac-related websites I’m prone to browsing, and lo-and-behold, I find that Apple updated their MacBook and MacBook Pro lineup. What’s THIS, I thought to myself… I don’t even need to wait until next year to get the latest & greatest! Apple must read my blog!

Sadly, ‘tis not the case entirely, as the MacBook Pros, the lineup I’ll probably be getting, will actually cost more, as the changes I’ve been waiting for are an additional cost above and beyond the normal retail price. Nah, I’ll just wait until they put those changes in at the old prices, thanks, and add other features I’m waiting on (like LED backlights on the 17” model).

So then how did I manage to pull the trigger? Well, The Girl’s computer is in dire need of updating. Especially since her B-day is fast approaching and one of the gifts she begged and pleaded for (that’s not all she did, btw) was a new Canon Elph camera. They take pretty big pictures (a whopping 7.1 Megapixels), and she also needed the added headroom of a larger HDD. So two birds with one stone later, she’s got a new MacBook on the way, and I have a testbed to try out the performance of that lineup.

Because the thought is, if I could do the MacBook for most of my needs, then we could get a decent Desktop machine and come out cheaper than getting the MBP 17” model that I want/need. Yes, it would be cheaper to buy a nice Top-of-the-Line iMac & the MacBook than it would be to buy the Top-of-the-Line MacBook Pro. And the desktop would still be faster than the MacBook Pro. Which is a real conundrum, because I’m sure the next MacBook Pro update will make it faster than the iMac, so there you go.

But see, I hate going down this route, because I already know that I’d do most everything on the laptop to begin with, but then I’d be irritated at the small screen. But then I would be irritated at having to sit at a desk to do some of the simpler things I use the computer for (see blog). Sigh. Why is perfection so unattainable? All I want is a 30” laptop that folds up into my pocket and is faster than a super-computer, and lasts 3 weeks on one battery charge while only costing around $1K; Is that so hard to make?



Can I have your old iBook?
No, you may not. Depending on what I decide to do for myself in the computing sphere, the possibilities are endless. I may make it a rudimentary file server for our lil’ household, or maybe like a wireless backup drive, by hooking up a large external storage device to it.

If not, like for instance we go and get an iMac and that becomes a moot issue, then we could always sell it on the ebay to recoup a good $400-$500 of the cost of the new one. Because “doing well financially” does not equal “money? Who needs money?” We could definitely use money.

So um, for christmas? How bouts sending a check this direction, huh?

Peace.

Tags: Apple, Photography