[August 31, 2000]
Tomorrow... ...I'll be adding a new entry to the PowerBlog, and adding a new inversion. In case you were wondering...
I shaved my goatee last night I didn't really have it for that long, but it just didn't fit me. I have curly hair and the beard was coming in at all directions. And I had about five different colors - including gray - coming in. But most importantly my wife didn't like it. She gave me quite a "Thank You" last night... [August 30, 2000]
The bane of ownership Repairs can be a real pain. I took my car in for repair yesterday - it was leaking oil. Fortunately all that was needed was a new o-ring, so the cost was low (for a car repair!) - only $75. That was $2 for the o-ring, $5 for stuff like grease nad replacing the lost oil. That leaves $68 for labor... [August 29, 2000]
"RIP" William "Bill" Nye One of the premiere Science Guys, Bill Nye, passed away in a vinegar and baking soda experiment gone awry. This is great fun, courtesy The Onion... 
I touched a cube It was beautiful and elegant, even sitting, as it was, smashed against an iBook, which itself was shoved up against a PowerBook. In fact I didn't even notice it at first, but there it was - Apple's Cube, connected to the new 17" CRT (an incredibly flat and crisp display, btw). It was not as hot as our iMac (with a fan), but that makes sense because the CRT is separate. I must admit I had my doubts when I first saw images on web sites, but I am convinced now. This is a work of art.
Maybe I'm being insensitive... ...but I just saw a blind man walking down the sidewalk on the university campus, cane swaying back and forth in one hand, and cell phone attached to his ear in the other hand. I'm thinking this isn't good. It's bad enough when sighted people are running into things while talking on their cell phones, but effectively removing another sense from a blind person... [August 28, 2000]
I don't usually do this... I have been doing some thinking about writing on the web - mostly wishing I was better at it. I guess that is why posts have been few and far between recently. So as I was thinking, I was also reading. And now I'll be linking:An Entirely Other Day: Greg knows how to write. Succinctly. Effectively. Clearly. Humorously. Read his stuff - it's great writing.I Really Must Insist You Leave: Patti's recent post about being sick was some of the best prose I've read in a while. It pulled me in, and made me think. Well written and a perfect story for the web.NuBlog: Joe Clark and the rest of the gang at Contenu.nu continue to amaze me with their well thought-out comments on content. Who'd have thought that you could find web content that expands your vocabulary. Great grasp of the written word.Jeffrey Zeldman: Whether he's writing about his life or the philosophy or technical details of the web, he is always worth reading. And I get to hear him next month at Web Design 2000 in Denver!Glassdog: Lance Arthur has been wowing me with his "wit and wisdom" for several years now (I started reading when he won the High Five award back in October of '96).
Happy Birthday Mom (in-law)! 'Cause I know you read this... [August 24, 2000]
Inversion of the week
[August 22, 2000]
Too busy (with real life) to blog... That's a good thing isn't it? My parents took the family up to Mount Lemmon on Saturday. We had breakfast at the ski lodge and then rode the lift to the top of the mountain. Great views of the valley. We met a lady from our church who lives up there, and visited her cabin in Summerhaven. She told great stories about her youth in Scottland, her friend whose great aunt was friends with Abe Lincoln, and how her husband had helped build many of the buildings up in the mountain. Our girls were so well behaved that my parents took us out for dinner, too. Sunday was busy, too. At church my wife and I run the Awana kids club, which starts this week. We had our final registration day and have been spending a lot of time getting ready for a new year. Sunday evening we had a good time with my in-laws, celebrating our youngest's 1st birthday. At work I've been busy working on redesigning our top page, which looks like it hasn't been redesigned in about 4 years... [August 18, 2000]
Take a ride on the "rumor" rollercoaster... This is fun. Read this "rumor" from the Low End Mac site. Then take a look at this thread at Slashdot. Then read the response from Low End Mac. Wheeee...
Mark "outs" himself It's not what you think - just the latest post to the PowerBlog. Read it and let me know what you think... [August 17, 2000]
12 years ago... I was surfing some mac sites today and came across this old Apple ad (circa 1988) on the Fly on the Mac web site. Near the end of the ad it talks about the Knowledge Navigator™, and comes up with this quote:Desktop video, for example. Imagine being able to create and edit multimedia presentations as elaborate as a Super Bowl halftime show without leaving your desk. We're working on it.12 years later, it's a reality!
Happy Birthday Bethany! One year ago today our 3rd daughter was born. This year has gone by fast! [August 16, 2000]
Nautilus That's the name of Eazel's new Linux interface, which promises to bring useability to the Linux OS. If anyone can do that, it's the people at Eazel, since many of them started at Apple and designed the original Mac. Take a look at the screenshots - looks promising. I was checking things out since I'll likely be inheriting a PC laptop. I want to make it into a dual boot Win/Linux machine to check my web work (we have a lot of scientists=*nix users that use our site...).
Inversion of the week
Happy Birth Day, Kaeden At 9:41 last night little 5 lb. 6 oz. Kaeden made his entrance into the world. We weren't expecting him for another 6 weeks. Congratulations to my bother-in-law and sister-in-law! [August 15, 2000]
I'm a visual learner I've been thinking a lot about the way people learn recently. We homeschool our kids, and one of the advantages is that we can tailor our kids' education to the way they learn much easier than can be done in the classroom (I know, I taught for over 6 years). My wife and our oldest are musical learners. Put anything to music, and they learn it quickly, and it stays with them. They are also both very verbal. Our 3 1/2 year old is very kinesthetic. When she was sick recently she came to me with her bottle of medicine syaing, "Here's my medicine, Daddy. I already opened it for you." So much for child-proof caps... And me, I am a visual learner. None of this is to say that we can't learn any other way, just that we learn best in certain ways. In the past couple of days the fact that I learn best when I see it has been driven home a number of times. On the bus home yesterday a woman was talking, and talking, and talking... Thank goodness she wasn't talking to me. I would have lost patience. It was bad enough to hear her prattle on about meaningless drivel to anyone who was polite enough to listen. And then there was this morning. For some reason a date popped into my head - August 20, the deadline for a newsletter article. I knew it was five days away, but I turned and looked at the calendar on the wall so I could see the five days I had before the aticle was due. My point in all this is that knowing how my family learns best helps me communicate with them more effectively. As unnatural as it may be for me to sit down and really talk with my daughter, a good conversation with her will really communicate to her that I love her. Same with my wife. Our other daughter would prefer us to rub her back, and neck, and shoulders, and legs... And when we teach them, we know how to reach them too. So what about me, the visual one? I guess that's why I do web design for a living... [August 14, 2000]
Think Different This is a cool time-lapse quicktime movie of a 12 story mural that Apple put together for the Democratic National Convention in L.A.
Out of the mouths of babes... Observations from a 3 1/2 year old: "It doesn't smell good in here when I go poo." [August 11, 2000]
Tucson Sightings Reading others' blogs have brought me to a couple of Tucson sightings. It's kind of wierd to be reading along and see your town mentioned. I hope you enjoyed your stay here, Glenn. I wonder if I ever ran into Jonese when he was here...
Feast or famine... It seems like I've either not posted anything, or posted way too much around here recently. So today we'll do both - I'm introducing a new blog of sorts. Back when I grabbed iBlog from Apple, I also registered as PowerBlog, intending to blog both the consumer and professional offerings from Apple. This blog proved to keep me more than busy, and I let PowerBlog languish, until now. PowerBlog is where I will post longer bits of writing, of a more personal and thoughtful/philosophical nature. I have hesitated for a while before posting these because they are more personal, and expose more of myself. But I look forward to getting feedback on these pieces. I have several of these essays, if you will, that are basically ready to go. I'll probably add one a week, on Fridays for a while, but the update schedule will be irregular, as will the topics. I'm actually pretty happy with the design - particularly how the pop-up programming worked out. If you are into that kind of thing, try clicking the feedback | about | toc links with and without javascript enabled. (It does require a version 4+ browser to work...) And while you're on the feedback page - send me some! And don't forget to tell others about it. The first (truthfully it's the second one, but the first in the new format) piece is called Love Life. Enjoy... [August 10, 2000]
Embarrassed I received this email, and since I really do know the people involved, I thought I'd share it with you. Feel free to pass it around. I hope both the mom and her son get it forwarded back to them someday... Anyway, here it is as I received it. Very funny!This is dedicated to everyone that has been embarrassed by a child's words or actions.Have you ever asked your child a question too many times? I hope you remember my story when they start getting frustrating!My three-year-old son had a lot of problems with potty training; and I was on him constantly. One day we stopped at Taco Bell for a quick lunch in between errands. It was very busy, with a full dining room.While enjoying my taco, I smelled something funny, so of course I checked my seven month old daughter, and she was clean. Then I realized that Matt had not asked to go potty in a while, so I asked, and he said "No". I kept thinking, Oh, Lord, that child has had an accident and I don't have any clothes with me. Then I said, Matt, are you sure you did not have an accident? No, he replied. I just knew that he must have, because the smell was getting worse. I asked one more time, Matt, did you have an accident? This time he jumped up, yanked down his pants, bent over and spread his cheeks and yelled, "See, mom, it's just farts!"While 100 people nearly choked to death on their tacos, he calmly pulled up his pants and sat down to eat his food as if nothing happened. I was mortified, but some kind elderly people made me feel a lot better, when they came over and thanked me for the best laugh they had ever had.
Snicker I just said "Hooter's" 5 times - oops, make that 6...
Hooters I recently met my wife at a doctor appointment so I could watch our 11 month old daughter. I was carrying our daughter out to the car in her car seat. As I exited the office complex I saw an old lady who could have been the model for Hallmark's Maxine character - curlers, pink fuzzy slippers, cigarette, and crabby attitude. "Hey, do you know where the entrance to Hooter's is?" she asks, pointing at the Hooter's restaurant across the parking lot. Apparently men carrying babies in car seats is the new Hooter's demographic. "I don't know." I stammer, "If you can't see it from here, I'd guess that it's on the other side of the building." I continue on to my car, mentally shaking my head and wondering why she needed to know how to get into Hooter's. Maybe she wanted to apply for a job as a Hooter's girl... [August 9, 2000]
Inversion of the week I used to be a science teacher... [August 6, 2000]
On a happier note I received confirmation of my registration to Web Design 2000 in Denver. Hope to meet Zeldman, maybe Todd Purgason. If you're going, let me know and we can meet at one of the lunches.
Sick Not me (yet), but the rest of my family. Spent the afternoon in urgent care and picking up prescriptions. Hope to get back to normal in the next few days. [August 4, 2000]
I suppose it could be worse... Beware the clause "and other duties as assigned" in your job description. Yesterday I was asked to arrange flowers for a coworker's birthday. I don't know if it was because my job title has the word designer in it, or because my shirt was about the same color as the flowers. The trick, I learned, is to do the job well enough to get by, but not well enough to be asked to do it again... [August 2, 2000]
Inversion of the week
Like deja vu all over again Looking through Joe Utsler's photos and I came across this one of an orange that looked a lot like something I did back in May of '98. I know this one is a case of great minds thinking alike... 
Hmmm... On July 10 I published an article on my Keeper of the iBook site explaining how to use Apple's Date and Time control panel to connect to an internet time server and synchronize it's internal clock. The next day Macinstruct posted a very similar piece (their's is a tip about some shareware that does the same thing as Apple's Date and Time cp). Monday of this week I posted an article about configuring Apple's Application Switcher. Today I see that Macinstruct has an article about the Application Switcher on their site. They actually included a few more tips (that I had forgotten to include in my article) than I did. The two articles together provide a better picture of the Application Switcher than either one does alone. I hope this is simply a happy coincidence.
iFAQ updated I've made some minor updates to the iFAQ, this site's imaginary Frequently Asked Questions, because (most of) the questions have never been asked...
Just be glad... ...I am not subjecting you to pictorial documentation of the evolution of my seven ice skating blisters... [August 1, 2000]
Ice Skating and Baseball I spent 5 hours on the ice rink Saturday with my girls. They have what amounts to little walkers for kids who are just learning. My 3 year old insisted that I skate with her, stooped over the EZSkater for all 5 hours. Needless to say, my back aches and my ankles have blisters (still, three days later). Was it worth it? Absolutely! Sunday night we went to the local farm team baseball game. Our library sponsors a reading program each summer, and every kid who read for 2000 hours (or more) gets tickets for their family to go to the game. It's a challenge to get people out to watch a Triple A ball game, so they've made the park real family oriented. We sat in the grass behind left field to watch the game. I don't know if the girls watched much at all, but they sure had fun rolling down the hill. I noticed a lot of other families leaving at the 7th inning stretch, too... Mark Newhouse is the Web Designer for the public outreach arm of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories in Tucson, AZ. He has been using Macs for over a decade, and sometimes gets Distracted. |
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