iBook, iMac, iBlog...

[March 29, 2001]

Migraine

I had something happen last night that hasn't happened in nearly 20 years. Whoa. I didn't realize I was old enough to say that.

TWENTY years.

And this last happened in high school.

So, where was I? Oh yeah, I had what I'll call a migraine headache. I don't know if it would truly be classified as such, given that the pain involved is not significantly more than an average headache. What is different is difficult to describe. This is what happened last night:

As I was driving home I thought my glasses were dirty as the bottom right corner of my vision was slightly blurred. So I washed them when we got home. I washed them three more times while giving our daughters a bath before I realized what was happening - it wasn't my glasses, but my right eye was slowly losing sight. It is kind of like seeing stars, but confined to a small area that grows. In the worst cases I would end up with tunnel vision in both eyes, almost completely blind.

It started in junior high, typically brought on by too much exertion in PE, followed by sitting under florescent lights, which tended to exacerbate things. I can remember sitting in Algebra class and not being able to add two simple numbers. It continued into the first year of high school, always brought on by running or riding too far. The doctors thought it was related to my breathing patterns - that I would hyperventilate. Regardless, after getting a hernia that summer I stopped exercising so vigorously and the episodes stopped.

Until last night.

I'm not sure what brought it on. I didn't exert myself any more than usual. I was under florescent lights, but not when the migraine started. This time I took some ibuprofen (600 mg), which helped the vision problem, but the headache was still there when I went to bed.

Hope this was the last episode...

[March 28, 2001]

Biker babe

So I'm sitting at the bus stop, watching traffic go by and I see a coed riding a scooter of some sort, wearing a red helmet. No leather, no obvious cleavage, and no long-haired boyfriend to hang onto. But she did sport a tattoo - a small butterfly just above her ankle...

Can a Harley be far behind?

[March 27, 2001]

The OS X family tree

If you are confused about the relationship between Unix and OS X, this diagram should clear things up :) [via MacObserver]

Scroll down and to the right to see where Mac OS X fits into this family...

I probably shouldn't have done this...

...but I just went to the University Bookstore to see if they had any new Apple gear, and, well, they had a TiBook. Wow. It's incredible - clearest screen I've seen on any laptop, and is it huge!

Now I really want one...

'Cause I'm sure they're there...

If you are "beta testing" the new IE 6 (windows only...), and need to know where to report the bugs you find, you can do it here.

I'm just happy to provide the service...

My Mac OS X

I don't have OS X (and don't plan on upgrading for a while yet - I just got 9.1...), but I can see how others are modifying it to fit their style, courtesy Apple...

[March 26, 2001]

It's satire, folks...

"Said Nils Overmars, director of the Molecular Virology Lab at Leiden University: 'It's not that we don't trust the research, it's just that as scientists, we are trained to be skeptical of any finding that flies in the face of established truth. And this one flies in the face like a blind drunk sparrow.'"

Champions!

My wife and I run the Awana Club at our church, and Saturday was the Southern Arizona Olympics competition. We had three teams entered - a K-2nd grade team, and girls and boys 3-6th grade teams. All three took first place!

I'm still tired...

[March 23, 2001]

Cleaning up...

As we prepare for the possibility of putting our house on the market we are packing things away and getting rid of as much clutter as we can. The many magnets on our refrigerator were no exception, including the one that contained this picture of our Pride and Joy...

[March 22, 2001]

More on OS X

As the 24th approaches, Apple is turning up the PR on their new OS. See QuickTime movies of OS X in action...

Junior Zoo Keeper

A couple of weeks ago our 8 year old daughter Jordan participated in a junior zoo keeper program for a morning at our local zoo (one of the benefits of membership). She went behind the scenes with several other kids and fed some animals, cleaned some cages, looked at an x-ray of a turtle who wasn't laying eggs, and did all the kinds of things the keepers do. Since we homeschool, we had her write up her experiences in a story, and asked her to illustrate it. To the left you see her picture of a giraffe.

Yeah, I said 8, and no, she didn't trace it.

And yes, I am proud...

[March 21, 2001]

Getting ready for OS X

OS X ships on Saturday. Are you ready?

It can be done!

Eric Costello is doing CSS makeovers of some web sites, taking their complicated nested tables and replacing them with DIVs. Amazing! First up was Noah Grey: before | after (hint: they're supposed to look the same...)

Sore...

Yesterday was spent weeding the front yard. Kim was called in for jury duty (she ended up being let off early, and she didn't even have to use any of my tips), so I stayed home with the kids and weeded. We're thinking of selling our house and moving down the street [Mom, Dad, now you know what we want to talk to you about tomorrow night (if you're reading this)...]. The yard looks great now, and my back is sore. In Tucson it's so dry that when you sweat the water evaporates almost immediately. It's more like sweating little tiny salt crystals.

Last night's shower sure felt good...

[March 19, 2001]

Waiting...

I just submitted my third abstract/proposal to speak at the WEB2001 Conference and Exposition. I am hoping this one, by far the strongest, might encourage them to pick up one or both of the other two sessions. I'll be surprised if this third one isn't picked up by the committee - not because I'm so brilliant, but because I am smart enough to ride on the coat-tails of others. I just can't say who's yet.

So you get to wait, too...

What to do with old PC shells...

It seems old Mac shells aren't the only subjects of repurposing. Of course you don't really want to showcase your old IBM cases... [via mathowie at metafilter]

[March 16, 2001]

More updates

I've updated the iFAQ, Archive, and Web Design 2000 photos to get rid of tables and use CSS for layout. I also streamlined the Skins JavaScript based on a suggestion from Erik Barzeski. View source if you want to see it...

[March 15, 2001]

Ain't standards fun?

I finally did it. I put my money where my mouth is. I've just converted this page to not only be fully standards compliant, but it uses CSS for all the layout - that's right, there are no <table> tags on this baby! Real separation of structure and presentation...

Mad props to Eric and his CSS Layout Techniques page, as well as the Layout Reservoir at Blue Robot for getting me started.

And the skins still work! And they are backward compatible with the archives!

NN4.x users, and others with non-standards compliant browsers may want to consider upgrading. You still get a useable page, just ain't as purty...

Has it been a year already?

Hard to believe it has been 365 days since my first post to this blog...

[March 14, 2001]

Change is in the air...

Some changes under the hood makes this document validate (HTML 4.0 Transitional), as does the CSS (Classic only, for now). Other changes modify the look just a little bit...

[March 13, 2001]

Maccessibility...

Joe Clark, of NUblog, continues his excellent series of articles on accessibility and the Macintosh.

[March 12, 2001]

More convergence?

It seems that Nissan has taken a cue from the Pathintosh and developed a concept car that uses two G4 Cubes. The boxy design of the "Chappo" is also reminiscent of our favorite underselling computer...

View Quicktime video of the Chappo, including an interview with Stephen Simula, Associate VP for Fitch, who discusses how the two G4 Cubes are used in the car. [56K version] [T1 version]

Convergence?

We've seen the Macquarium, the KleenexCube, the Pathintosh, and now the RCA/Mac.

[March 8, 2001]

Add corduroy

While looking for some good corduroy links on Google, Dictionary.com and Amazon, I came to the conclusion that corduroy is one of those words that loses all meaning and even sense the more you say it or see it.

corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy, corduroy

See what I mean?

Vvvvttt, vvvvttt...

Call me Corduroy Man! I am wearing corduroy pants and a corduroy shirt. I won't be sneaking up on anyone today 'cause I'm wearing squeaky shoes. You'd think it'd be due to the legs of my corduroy pants rubbing together as I walk, but you'd be wrong.

No, I'm much too bowed of leg for that...

[March 7, 2001]

Rip. Mix. Burn.

Apple's new ad in QuickTime...

[March 6, 2001]

Public Transportation

I was planning to rant about how poor our public transportation system is here in Tucson. Yesterday the bus didn't even slow down, flying past us, as we stood at the stop waving our bus passes. I had a few choice words for the occasion. But, this morning the bus waited for me as I had to cross two intersections to get to the stop, even though there was no one at the stop, and no one was exiting the bus at that stop. Most bus drivers wouldn't have noticed me as they continued on their route. This one just smiled as I thanked him for waiting. Took the wind out of my sails, I tell you.

I like it when my faith in something gets restored that way...

[March 5, 2001]

SET!

My 8 year old daughter did today's puzzle in 56 seconds! Her mom took 1 minute and 50 seconds and her Dad (that's me) took 1 minute 53 seconds.
*sigh*

Good things come in small packages

Like 5k (or less) packages...

In case you were wondering...

Mac Speed Zone lists the specs for all the iMacs from the current flowers and dots to the original Bondi Blue beauty that started it all...

[March 2, 2001]

Kleenex Cube

I'm just surprised that someone hasn't done this sooner...

Monthly Updates...

The new month brings the regular updates to the archive and the iFAQ. I only mention this so that my new readers (both of you...) will be encouraged to discover all the little nuances to this site (like where the permalinks are, and what those skins are, etc.). Otherwise - business as usual...