random projects

Upgrading the HTPC:

The HTPC has served me faithfully for two years, but I felt like it was time for an upgrade. No, not rational at all. I suppose I got annoyed by waiting for Firefox to load. Sure, it's not the computer's fault, but I'm upgrading anyway. The Intel Core Duo E7300 (which is still really competent by today's standards), motherboard, and RAM have been transferred to the HTPC Midwest Edition. In other words, it's now in a nearly identical setup at my parents' house - only this time with a 2TB HD so my dad can download lots of pr0n (although honestly, why bother downloading pr0n when you can stream it?).

New parts:

- Intel i3 540

- ASSrock H55M mobo

- Last minute call to keep the old 1TB WD Caviar Green HD and add on a...

- Intel 40GB SSD (which actually will solve the Firefox issue... hopefully)

I suppose at some point in the future I may want to upgrade my desktop PC, although it's totally not worth the money. I might as well get an iPad 2 first.

Car work:

The car recently hit 200,000 miles (figuratively). Aside from a well deserved car wash, it also needs:

- A change of antifreeze

- A change of oil (by the time I get around to changing it)

- A new windshield (gonna splurge with an OEM part seeing how easily these replacement windshields break)

- New trim for the windshield, since Low Price Auto Glass of Austin, TX didn't mount it right and it flew off somewhere. )-: The parts have been ordered.

scale - ski edition

A ski-related version of my other post "scale," comparing relative distances of places in Cleveland and Seattle.

One Hour Drive:

Cleveland - Boston Mills/Brandywine

I'll give the combined stats for both ski areas as if they were one... since that's kinda what Summit does too.

240' vertical

17 trails

85 skiable acres

20,000/hour lift capacity

Seattle - Summit at Snoqualmie/Alpental

2,280' vertical

52? trails

1.17 mile longest run (International)

1,981 skiable acres

34,490/hour lift capacity

Two to three hour drive:

Cleveland - Holiday Valley

750' vertical

58 trails

290 skiable acres

23,850/hour lift capacity

Cleveland - Seven Springs

750' vertical

47 trails

1.3 mile longest run (Lost Boy)

285 skiable acres

26,620/hour lift capacity

Seattle - Crystal

3,100' vertical

57 trails

2.5 mile longest run

2,600 skiable acres

20,910/hour lift capacity

Seattle - Mount Baker

1,500' vertical

38 trails

1.75 mile longest trail (White Salmon)

1,000 skiable acres

FAQ seems to boast of how they have no phones, no WiFi, no ATMs, no TVs.

Within a day's drive:

Cleveland - 10 hours to Killington, VT

3,050' vertical

140 trails

752 skiable acres

37,535/hour lift capacity

Seattle - 4-5 hours to Whistler, BC

5,280' vertical

200+ trails (if they don't count, I won't either)

7 mile longest run (Peak to Creek?)

8,171 skiable acres

65,507/hour lift capacity

browser wars update and bad reporting

A couple of months I switched from FireFox to Chrome. My initial complaints were all from getting used to a slightly different UI. Now that I've gotten over the difference in bookmark UI and the combined address bar and search bar, I have replaced the cons with the really nasty performance issues that I am now all too familiar with. I've also updated IE to reflect IE 9. Note that there are no more rankings. They all are inadequate in covering certain basics.

Firefox

Why I like it:

• Great extension support – notably AdBlock Plus and xMarks
• I like how I can dock my bookmarks. It’s a great way to make the screen narrower (in other words, more readable) while making good use of that space.
• It works.
• The URL autofill is great.
• BlackSheep extension and HTTPSeverywhere extensions make me feel safer.

Why I hate it:

• It’s slow. Ridiculously slow to open, and then if I leave it open for more than two days (on my work computers, for example, or when I put my home computer on standby), it gobbles up enormous amount of memory. I really want a better #1.

Chrome

Why I use it:

• It opens up really fast. If I just turned on my computer and I don’t need to access my bookmarks and I’m doing basic browsing, I’ll just use Chrome. This only happens on my desktop at home.
• Good extension support. It now has AdBlock and xMarks. Finally.
• Address bar search is "good enough" for finding certain bookmarks, but still not as good as Firefox.
• Google Voice integration is nice.

Why I hate it:

• Occasionally just hangs for 10 seconds and then comes back to life
• Has huge performance issues with managing tabs. Specifically, when opening multiple windows at once (like when checking NFL box scores or reading news off TechMeme in the morning) and also when closing multiple windows sequentially.
• Address bar is absolutely terrible at quickly prioritizing and displaying autocomplete candidates. Sometimes it would be faster to just type in the entire URL.
• Address bar doesn't let me delete autocomplete entries like FireFox.
• Auto-complete results take precedence over what I type. If I have "www.knowyourmeme.com" in my history and I want to go to "www.kno.com", I should be able to type in "kno" followed by Ctrl+Enter to get there. That should *not* take me to knowyourmeme. That's why I'm pressing the Control key!
• The bookmarks UI is terrible for using bookmarks.
• Fanboys who think that Chrome is fast. It just isn't.

Safari

Why I use it:

• Best browser for the iPhone.

Why I hate it:

• On the PC it’s installs itself whenever anything Apple needs to be updated. DOJ should get on it, because it’s not cool to have a new version of QuickTime, Safari, Bonjour, and whatever crap installed every time I upgrade iTunes (which is now a beast).
• Weird keyboard shortcuts. Ctrl-T, Ctrl-Tab, Ctrl-L, Ctrl-E, Ctrl-W. Thanks.

Internet Explorer 9

Why I use it:

• Work. Intranet sites.
• The only browser I have that can open multiple tabs in sequence without lagging substantially. YES! I can now open all the box scores for last weekend's NFL games without getting my browser to hang.
• It’s a good second browser if I want to be logged in using different accounts for different services (like Facebook, e-mail, etc.). Any browser can do this, but I have IE installed on all my PCs so it’s the default.
• Sometimes it's just up.

Why I hate it:

• Like Chrome, hangs on the closing of multiple tabs. Ugh.
• No extension support, therefore no AdBlock.
• Bad for going to intranet sites since it assumes that if there is no http:// prefix you want to do a search.

On to bad reporting rewards for the morning:

• Robert Scoble On Twezr. Good demo, but your questions are horrible. If I got a nickel for every time he asked about some weirdo fringe scenario that no real people care about, I'd be able to buy lunch.
• Mary Pilon of the WSJ on mobile and "spending." The headline has nothing to do with the data, and in fact the update posted at the end basically says that the headline is wrong. Fix it, dumbass, or just withdraw the entire story.

the three most scenic flights in america

1. Punta Arenas - Santiago
Sit on the east side of the plane and soak in views of the Andes for
the entire flight. Highlights are the massive icefields in the south
along with the glacial lakes, Fitz Roy, and Torres del Paine.

2. Los Angeles - east
Views of the Grand Canyon are just as grand from the air, especially
since it takes an hour to fly over it.

3. Los Angeles - Seattle
Sitting on the east side, beaches in SoCal, followed by Yosemite,
followed by the volcanoes in Oregon and Washington.

a few random things

1. By the end of November, I think I would have seen Chinese films at five different theatres in Seattle - 3 within walking distance from my place (Central Cinema, Egyptian, Harvard Exit).
   
   
2. About Windows Phone 7 - a lot of fuss has gone on about how there are only a few thousand apps compared to iPhone's hundreds of thousands. In the end, the ones that I need are there (OneBusAway, Foursquare, Facebook, Google Voice) along with some others that I use sporadically (Flashlight, Fandango, YouTube, Shazam, Yelp, Messenger). The only ones missing are the Seattle Times and Instapaper. If you're looking for a fart app, sorry!
   
   
3. 125 more miles till 200k on the 1993 Honda Accord. Miles driven this month: 25.
   
   
4. Miles biked this month: 250+
   
   
5. I've spend a lot of time wondering how the insane "ramps to nowhere" interchange on SR520 at the Arboretum were intended to be if complete. I finally found the answer.
   
   The plan:
   
   
   The result:
   http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=535+13th+Ave+E,+Seattle,+King,+Washington+98102&ll=47.644466,-122.297047&spn=0.005775,0.013937&t=h&z=17
   
   
6. I live on 13th Ave E, but at one point it was to be called Randolph St.

the worst people to sit by

They come in with muliple bags of fast food
They have a small child
They have an infant
They have a screaming infant
They have a screaming infant with pierced ears and ear rings
He drinks
They fart
They fart a lot
The person sitting behing you hits your seat
They have other people traveling with them handing each other stuff in
front of your face
They need to go to the bathroom three times
They take forever going to the bathroom
They are traveling with some guy who offers them chocolates by putting
his crotch at your face and then stretching so you can see his hairy
orange belly
Their infant throws things
Their infant likes smacking your table
They constantly eat crap (Reeses pieces, chocolate covered nuts, boxed
chocolates, cookies, nuts, several random boxed candies). They didn't
get to the chips
The dad, out of laziness, asks if he "can throw" his son over you into
the aisle. No, there is no one there to catch him.

On the plus side, no throwing up! (yet?)

10 reasons why miami international airport sucks

1. I had to walk over half a mile to get to customs
2. I had to walk another half mile to my gate
3. Half the walkways and escalators were broken
4. Nothing here is open in F terminal except for the overpriced juice
place that has terrible food
5. I had to go through the ticketing area to get to my connecting
terminal
6. Five foot wide corridors that serve as bottlenecks
7. The international baggage recheckin area is a total cluster
8. The show infomercials in the terminal
9. No 2G data connectivity (3G kills battery) and no free wifi
10. There are plenty of bathrooms on the walkway to customs, but none
by most of the gates in F terminal

thoughts on the plane

Good: exit row on an intercontinental flight

Bad: no personal entertainment on the back of each seat
Bad: same movie as the flight last month
Bad: small overhead bins
Bad: pillow feels greasy
Bad: seat belt is attached to the plastic arm rest and not the seat
frame (by design... wtf, boeing?)

another wacky dream - draft

At a concert with ross - amptitheater with seats
Kept moving seats
Eventually lost ross
left
was walking home on the streets
realized naked
Started running back towards venue
I think this is where I saw Allison at a cafe or something, but was in a hurry so kept running.  Hoped I wasn't seen, because I didn't want to seem to be ignoring her.
go back for clothes
cut across this pond area
would have waded across but there was a tug of war competition
had to climb over this rock formation
Seemed like 15' high, but after getting to the top it was suddenly almost 100' high on the other side
WTF.  I've done this before, but this is INSANE
Worked my way down.  I had boots now.
Got back to the venue
They were cleaning up.  I wanted to find my pants
There was a guy on stage asking whose pants where these.  venue was now a grassy area with stage
Not my pants.  I was looking for the REI pants I recently brought. His pants were cargo pants.
Searched in the stream
There was all sorts of weird stuff in there.  I think I may have even come across a console gaming system.

why???

ski season forecast

Looking good! 40% chance of below average temperatures and above average precipitation. No warn dry winter like last winter!

whitetail adventure

status update

weather for the week

Weak. And yes, that's my Lil' John weather theme. He's sleepy. He's
not awake at 6:15.

food court steak

sao paulo sunset

view from my cube for the week

door to the spaceship

rainier says hello

the local news

Where I get my local news:

The Capitol Hill Blog - Roanoke Tavern in "wait and see" mode

Seattle Crime Blog - The Morning Blotter: Creepy-Ass Attempted Robbery On First/Capitol Hill

Publicola - Seattle Proposes Not-So-Green “Green” Street

Seattle Transit Blog - Seattle gets $2.4M in Transit Livability Grants

so close...

Only about 900 more miles till I hit 200,000 with the Accord. Given how much I drive, that should take four months.

scale

Someone asked me the question a month or two back about how big Capitol Hill was compared to Shaker Heights (the town where I grew up). I thought they were about the same size. I was wrong.

Back in Shaker I'd walk to the middle school, which was 1.4 miles away. In Seattle, a walk of the same distance would bring me to to the Convention Center at the edge of downtown.

If I were to do a "long run," I'd head up to Horseshoe Lake, which is about 3 miles away from my parent's place. Here, a 3 mile run would take me to Queen Anne or the middle of UW. I guess a good long run here would be to run around Lake Union, passing by half the neighborhoods in Seattle. I should do that someday.

Some rough equivalent distances:
Downtown Seattle = Shaker Middle School
Seattle Chinatown = The Pearl of the Orient
Safeco and Qwest Fields = Legacy Village
Bellevue = Cleveland Chinatown
Microsoft = MetroHealth
Alpental Ski Area = Canton, OH
Richmond, BC = Pittsburgh, PA
Coeur d'Alene, ID = Scarborough, ON

Not to mention that within the distance it would take to walk to Mercer (1 block away in Shaker), I have pho (four, actually), restaurants, bars, my bank, a farmer's market, three grocery stores, two parks, 10 coffee shops (3 Starbucks), my dentist, and my optometrist.

vis a vis

2009 air mileage

4820 - New York (AA, DL)
4061 - Cleveland (UA, WN)
3868 - Cleveland, Detroit (DL, FL)
3420 - Chicago (AA)
16670 - Tel Aviv (DL)
4042 - Cleveland (CO)
4820 - New York (B6)
1356 - San Francisco (VX)
4820 - New York (DL)
15309 - Brazil, Argentina (AA, AS, JJ)
19400 - Delhi (CO)
3433 - Chicago (AA, NW)
4050 - Cleveland (AA)

90069 for 2009. Ugh.

quick browser review

#1 – Firefox

Why I use it:

• Great extension support – notably AdBlock Plus and xMarks
• I like how I can dock my bookmarks.  It’s a great way to make the screen narrower (in other words, more readable) while making good use of that space.
• It works.

Why I hate it:

• It’s slow.  Ridiculously slow to open, and then if I leave it open for more than two days (on my work computers, for example, or when I put my home computer on standby), it gobbles up enormous amount of memory.  I really want a better #1.

#2 – Chrome

Why I use it:

• It opens up really fast.  If I just turned on my computer and I don’t need to access my bookmarks and I’m doing basic browsing, I’ll just use Chrome.  This only happens on my desktop at home.
• Good extension support.  It now has AdBlock and xMarks.  Finally.

Why I hate it:

• Crappy page rendering and video playback.  Sometimes things just don’t work.
• It’s annoying to use bookmarks.  I need to make a new tab and then click on the bookmarks menu and then click some more?  No thanks.  I’d rather just click on the bookmark like I do in Firefox.

#3 – Safari

Why I use it:

• Best browser for the iPhone.

Why I hate it:

• On the PC it’s installs itself whenever anything Apple needs to be updated.  DOJ should get on it, because it’s not cool to have a new version of QuickTime, Safari, Bonjour, and whatever crap installed every time I upgrade iTunes (which is now a beast).
• Weird keyboard shortcuts.  Ctrl-T, Ctrl-Tab, Ctrl-L, Ctrl-E, Ctrl-W.  Thanks.

#4 – Internet Explorer 8

Why I use it:

• Work.  Intranet sites.
• It’s a good second browser if I want to be logged in using different accounts for different services (like Facebook, e-mail, etc.).  Any browser can do this, but I have IE installed on all my PCs so it’s the default.

Why I hate it:

• It takes several seconds to open up a new tab.  Unacceptable.

i am amused

Joakim Noah on Cleveland:



LeBron James on Chicago:

before, after, and after

google bike directions

I saw the press release and I thought "Sweet!" After playing around with it, it's not quite there yet. Maybe Bellevue is to blame for having crap bike maps, but it's not as helpful as I had hoped. It may be somewhat accurate in predicting time though, so long as I make some massive adjustments.

Work to home via the Burke Gilman:
147 minutes on Google Maps = 105 for me

Work to home via I-90:
116 minutes on Google Maps = 75 for me

Discovery park to home:
51 minutes on Google Maps = 30 for me

and hills!

One reason that I don't bike *to* work is that I would need to go up this 2 mile stretch that's at a 4% grade. Coming downhill I can hit 40mph on that hill. Going uphill I'll be lucky if I can maintain 7mph.

annoyances as a bicyclist

1. People who yield for me when they have the right of way. Thank you for the kind gesture, but it's faster if you just kept going. Since Seattle drivers love to go slow for no reason, I won't go until you've made a complete stop and signaled that you're stopping for me.
2. People who turn left at roundabouts by going the wrong way. Yes, technically the law is unclear about whether it's illegal to go clockwise around a roundabout for a left turn. Consider how everyone not turning left needs to go counterclockwise. If any other traffic that blindly enters the intersection is going counterclockwise, maybe you should do the same... unless you like head on collisions. I've seen more than one result from this idiocy.
3. Drivers who drive slower than me... especially if I let you go first thinking you'll be faster. I've noticed this happens a lot on side streets.
   
4. Unalert pedestrians. If you jump out from behind a parked car, you might get hit by a car... or bike. Both will hurt a lot. People who walk 6 abreast on a busy bike trail also fall into this category, especially if you don't respond to oncoming traffic, bells, or voice. The people walking towards you who can't get by and the two rollerbladers who slipped through your crowd should have been a hint. My bell should have been another hint. Me saying excuse me should have been super clear, especially since you turned around and looked at me, looked at me some more, looked at me some more, kept walking, turned around to look at me again, adjusted your sunglasses to verify that I was really there, continued walking, then continued adjusting your shades. Thankfully, you can't walk straight when adjusting your shades so I was able to slip through.
   
5. Wind. I was marveling at how I was going 20mph without much effort the other day. Then I remembered how it was a chore to go 16mph when I was going the other direction.
6. People with smelly cars.
7. Meandering children. Nothing against children, but its harder to avoid children regardless of speed. I really don't want to hit you or run you over, but your erratic path makes it really hard. I always fear that you'll turn your bike right under my wheels as I'm passing by.
   

how to steal money using google buzz

• Step 1: Spider through some profiles and identity the ones with vanity profiles.
• Step 2: Visit the vanity profile to get the current city, hometown, where they went to school, where they worked
• Step 3: Go to the county auditor’s web site for the current city and look up the address of where the person lives, the value of the home, and when bought it.
• Step 4: Try to figure out the person’s password for their Gmail account. The address is already known, and the password is probably “12345.”
• Step 5: Use Gmail’s fantastic search feature to find any mention of “account,” “password,” or “PIN” and also see where they bank. You want to find banks for deposits (to steal) and banks for loans (to verify your fake identity)
• Step 6: Steal their money. Some banks ask for verification of things like mortgages, loans, and the like. Usually, it's asking what they got the loan for, what's the amount, what's the monthly payment, and when it was opened. Since you know where they live, how much their house is worth, when they bought it, and where and when they went to school, this shouldn’t be that hard. If it asks for past addresses, see what’s in the Amazon account page.
• Step 7: Profit

You can also do this with Facebook. Have fun! And more importantly, BE SAFE!

iPad mini update

The iPhone 3Gs is a great device, but the following changes make it a ton more useful.

Functional Upgrades

Lock Calendar
(jailbreak needed)
Lets you see your calendar on the lockscreen.


SBSettings
(jailbreak needed)
Gives you access to some common toggles and a task manager by swiping your finger across the status bar. What toggles? Toggles like 3G, airplane mode, WiFi, Location, and auto Rotation (separate install). Also lets you change what's showing in the status bar allowing you to get the battery, GSM, and WiFI meters as a number.


ProSwitcher
(jailbreak needed)
A great UI for multitasking. Lets you flip through open apps like you flip between open Web pages in Safari.


Activator
(jailbreak needed)
This app lets you program hotkeys for apps. For example, you could make it so that wiping up from the bottom of the screen pops up the search panel. Or double tapping the status bar brings up the iPod. Comes with ProSwitcher.

91 PC Suite for iPhone
(jailbreak needed)
This is an app for the PC that does a lot of stuff that iTunes should do, but doesn't, or sucks at:

• Back up and restore contacts
• Back up and restore text messages
• Back up and restore calendar
• Back up and restore notes
• Back up and restore call history
• Photo manager (meaning you can copy files on and off and also make ALBUMS!)
  
• Contact editor
• Text message conversation editor (I can't see how this can be used for good, but it's there)
• Full calendar UI (like the old Palm Desktop)
• Notes editor
• Call history editor
  
• Bookmark manager
• Search and install of Cydia apps
• Manage voice memos
• Make your own ringtones
• Access your iPhone's file system
• IM client for SMS chats through the phone
  
• Stores for Chinese music, wallpapers, themes, ringtones. I think the content is free. What is clear is that it's all in Chinese.
  

Flashlight
(jailbreak needed)
The Flashlight app in the iTunes store can't match this one because the official one isn't allowed to adjust the brightness of the screen. The jailbroken one automatically maxes out the iPhone's display brightness so that the Flashlight can actually be a flashlight.

Other Notable Apps

Cerebro
(jailbreak needed)
This app is for lost iPhones - like what mobileMe offers, but for free. If you lose it, you can either have it start playing music or you could log into ifindmyiphone.com and see where it is (and the 12 past locations) on a map.

Style Mods

Lil Wayne Weather Theme
(jailbreak needed)
The weather app is boring. Lil Wayne will bright up your day. Depending on the time of day, Lil Wayne will either be awake or passed out.


WinterBoard
(jailbreak needed)
A control panel for setting various theme elements. Lets you toggle icon labels and other things out of the box. Also the standard tool for using downloaded themes like the Simple iPad Theme.


Free SMS GV Mobile+ and TextFree (lite)
This isn't perfect, but it allows you to send and receive SMSes from people using a regular phone number via Google Voice and TextFree.

If you only use TextFree, you'll be able to send and receive texts for free through an e-mail address. It works fine, but I've found that many people do not respond to these texts since they aren't coming from a phone number. Instead, many responses are through my regular phone number, which isn't free.

To get these texts to come from a phone number, you'll need Google Voice.
If you want to go all out, there is a third party Google Voice app for the iPhone available on Cydia called GV Mobile+. If you don't get that, you can still initiate texts using the Google Voice Web site. Once you get Google Voice, have it forward your text messages to your TextFree e-mail. This way you'd get notifications when a text comes in (Google Voice doesn't do this on its own). The first time you get a reply back from someone, it'll be from some weird e-mail address @googlevoice. To get a regular name to show up, you'll need to add that address to the contact in your address book.

best theme ever

Sent from my iPad mini

iPad mini

my new iPad mini

Unlike the full size iPad, it also has a phone, camera can fit in my
pocket. Amazingly, still the same amount of storage and battery life!

jackie brown

I had Jackie Brown on yesterday, and as I was skipping in and out of paying attention, I realised there were all sorts of actors playing atypical roles.

Samuel L. Jackson plays all sorts of roles, but considering the last movie I saw with Samuel L. was Star Wars, it was funny seeing the same man who plays a Jedi knight running around with a crazy pony tail and braided beard.

Michael Keaton plays some jackass ATF agent.

Bridgette Fonda plays Samuel L.'s blonde surfer chick that he keeps around, basically smoking up all day and doing um... other things...

Like Robert DeNiro, who's just some random thug.

Also making random appearances: Debo from Friday is in the movie along with Chris Tucker who basically just gets shot.

Aside from that, this is a very under-appreciated Tarantino flick. It's not as distinctly Tarantino, but that's mostly because he doesn't go over the top the same way he did with Pulp Fiction and most of his stuff afterwards. Just a good balance of randomness and goofiness in the characters and the character development.... and, of course, the music.

i had a dream... two of them!

Both crazy:

Dream 1:
Dealt with middle school, guy from b-school/work, and poop. I'll spare you the details.

Dream 2:
I was on the Blue Line back in Shaker on my way to the airport. Apparently I didn't make it home the previous night. It was 10am. I didn't remember when my flight was so I wasn't even sure I needed to head to the airport that early. I checked my calendar on my phone and saw that I didn't need to be at the airport till 1pm or so. At this point the train started moving. I would have gotten off, but the train was already in motion. I thought about not paying when I got off. Maybe I would pretend to swipe my transit card. I looked at the payment receptacle and then remembered that they don't use those in Cleveland.

At the next stop I hop off (without paying). I'm at the Farnsleigh stop. I start walking home. I think about dropping by the Pearl of the Orient. I also think about whether I should take the short way straight up Farnsleigh to Belvoir to South Woodland or if I should go through Thornton Park. I realize that I've never been to Thornton Park (really, I haven't).

At some point I get home. I'm upstairs in my bedroom looking for socks. I find three pairs of socks that are already rolled up (like my mom would do... I prefer not to roll up my socks). I'll be bring those with me so I don't want to wear them now. I find another pair of socks in the corner of the room. Same thing. I finally find a pair of light brown socks that I plan on leaving in Cleveland and I wear those.

Forgotten dream:
There was also some part of some dream where I was with a bunch of people from my past. When I woke up I could remember who all those people were. However, since I had to write about the bathroom in excessive detail, I've forgotten about this part. You're welcome!