http://homepage.mac.com/cspez/blog Default Dot Mac Weblog All rights reserved. Mon, 04 Oct 2004 21:58:24 -0600 Mon, 04 Oct 2004 21:59:03 -0600 iBlog 1.4.0 Game on. Over 6 hours + -20º = holy $#!*

I'm proud to say that I attended possibly one of the most historic events ever in hockey: The Heritage Classic. Okay, I suppose there was the '72 series. And the Oilers winning the cup x 5. And, other teams winning the cup in the other 81 years. But, c'mon... everyone knows winning the Stanley Cup is so passé. Having a struggling power play is way cooler.

Anyhoo, back to the Heritage Classic. Yes, it was awesome. So many people dumb enough to risk hypothermia cheering on the old greats of the Habs and the '80's Oilers, how could it not be awesome. It's too bad we lost the regular season game, but it didn't matter much because Fuhr and Ranford put on quite a show in the MegaStars game.

But 20 years from now when my kids (or much more likely, my sister's kids) ask me about that outdoor game ages ago, I'll probably just tell them how freakin' cold it was. I did manage to take a few pictures, so I even have proof I was there. For example:



Now, you're probably saying, "Colin, that thumbs-up is kind of lame." That's not a thumbs up. That's just the position that my arm happened to be frozen in. "Oh, come on... you're totally making that up!" Oh, really? Look at that smile. Can you not see the wincing pain in that grin?

Yes, it was cold. I would have to say, I've never felt colder in my entire life. And I frostbit my ears once, so that's saying something. Lets just say, I never thought I'd enjoy burning my mouth and esophagus with hot chocolate so much. The worst was my feet. I actually thought I frostbit the toes on my left foot, but they seem to be okay now, so I guess it was just a close call. Before the event, I thought my feet would be okay. I doubled up on the socks and wore boots with thinsulate lining. And even more importantly, I had Heat Factory™ toe warmers. They are those pad thingies that contain some sort of chemical concoction that, and I quote, "keep your feet warm 5 hours or more". Here's another quote: "Approx. Avg. Temp. 37ºC". Here's what I have to say to that: 5 hours and 37º my ass. I think I felt 15 minutes of slight heat. Nay, lukewarmedness. After that, it felt more like my feet were keeping the "warmers" warm.

As a result, after I got home I had to spend 15 minutes or so slowly defrosting my toes with a wet washcloth. Imagine my surprise when I picked up my toe warmers only to find them smokin' hot! Great, so when they're in my boots in -20ºC temperatures, they don't do jack squat, but when they sit on my floor for five minutes (almost 7 hours after opening them) they approach uncomfortably hot status.

Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 15º warmer. Mother nature's timing sucks.

]]> Sat, 22 Nov 2003 00:36:05 -0700 <Joe Schmo>What is going on!?!?</Joe Schmo>

So my Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer (old skool edition) started occasionally double-clicking when I was clearly single clicking. While I was pretty sure it was the mouse, I thought since Windows XP sometimes acts a little weird and Windows just sucks in general, that perhaps it was some sort of crazy driver issue. The mouse cursor was a little jittery so I thought maybe I was right. So I uninstalled the IntelliPoint driver/software and thought, maybe there's a new version? I checked Microsoft's web site and sure enough I see a 5.0 and click download instantly. I mean, that's 0.88 better than the version I was using! But I installed version 5 and was disappointed to find out that my double-click issue was still there.

Now, it's no secret I hate Microsoft. Many companies do things that I don't approve of. Yes, even Apple. But Microsoft just seems to do it all the time. That said, I loved my IntelliMouse Explorer. So despite my intense hatred of them and even though the two Microsoft mice I own I won in contests, I thought, "time to buy a new IntelliMouse Explorer!" It's got a pretty good shape and feels pretty comfortable. But more importantly, it's got those perfect dual thumb buttons that I use for copying and pasting. The only concern was that it didn't last all that long.

Well, now I'm going to buy a Logitech mouse. Why? Reliability concerns? A little. Why else? 'Cause Microsoft sucks and I hate them even more. Why? Because IntelliPoint 5.0 should really be named IntelliSuck 0.1 alpha build 001.

New features? Supports new mice with the "tilt" scroll wheel (which I don't have) and a new button assignment which cycles through windows. Oh, and virtually every feature Colin uses has been removed. When OS X 10.0 came out, it was missing features that OS 9 had. But it was understandable because OS X was a whole new OS so those features didn't exist and would have to be created from scratch. But all these features missing in IntelliPoint were already there!!!

Here's what I'm bitching about: As I mentioned above, I use the two side thumb buttons for copy and paste. So ctrl-c and ctrl-v. But I use a SSH client for connecting to unix systems and ctrl-c and ctrl-v don't work since ctrl combos need to be sent to the remote host. For example ctrl-c is an excellent way to stop an SQL query or a long running command. So the client uses the less popular shift-ins and ctrl-ins combos for copy and paste. With IntelliPoint 4.12 I could select a program, like my SSH client, and make special button assignments just for it. Plus, you could assign keystrokes to buttons. Nice. So now I can copy paste between my SSH client and other programs with just my mouse.

So with the new, "improved" version, I go to set this up. Only, I can't make program specific assignments! What?! "No problem", I think, "I can just globally assign shift-ins and ctrl-ins since most programs support that for copy and paste in addition to ctrl-c and ctrl-v." So I click on the drop down box to select "Keystrokes"... only it's not there! This sucks hard. I then fire up Mozilla Firebird so I can surf the 'net since I'm surely crazy and there's still a way to get this to work. I do a search on Google and then middle click with the scroll wheel on a link. For those not familiar with Mozilla or Mozilla Firebird, a middle click will open a link in a new tab. That way I can keep my page of Google search results. For those not familiar with tabbed browsing, you're missing out -- download Firebird now. Anyway, much to my surprise I've just switched to a different running program. No problem... this is just a new feature of 5.0. Back to the mouse control panel. So I click on the drop down box for the scroll wheel to switch it to a plain old middle click. Not there! Huh. Well, maybe if I just set it to "none". Also not there. But there's "disabled", so let's give that a try. Middle click on link... nothing. I guess they weren't kidding when they said "disabled".

Wow, what an upgrade. I really can't figure out why they didn't just re-release Intellipoint 3.0... I think it was about the same. Maybe even better. They could have just patched it so it would support the new tilt-wheel on the new mice. I've been saying for a while that I wouldn't buy anything from Microsoft, except mice. Now I can axe the "except" part.

Logitech MX500, here I come.

]]> Wed, 05 Nov 2003 00:09:47 -0700 You can't get rid of me that easily.

Yeah, it's been a while since I've blogged. I think it's mostly due to the fact that I've contracted SARS or West Nile, or something. BTW, if you have an extra lung kicking around, I wouldn't mind taking it off your hands... I seem to have lost one of mine somewhere.

So I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, just too sick to feel like doing much of anything. Except install Panther (Mac OS X 10.3). Twice. So far I like it. But anyway, I've got some more blog entries planned, so hopefully I don't go over a week without a post anytime soon. Possible subjects include Panther and iTunes vs. the world. Or whatever else pops into my head... I have been taking a lot of drugs this last week.

P.S. Send Halls.

]]> Tue, 28 Oct 2003 23:42:17 -0700 Joe Schmo finale. Reality bites.

I watched the finale of the Joe Schmo show. I haven't been watching the show that carefully, but seeing that Spike TV was showing reruns virtually 24 hours a day, I've probably only missed one or two episodes.

Anyhoo, the show was okay overall. Probably the funniest was Kip. He was so over the top, if something was going to tip off Matt, I think Kip would have. Matt seemed to take the truth pretty well which surprised me because I had heard "Molly" in a radio interview on The Bear's morning show and she said that he wouldn't return any of their calls. Now, I was probably only semiconscious, so it's possible I misheard. Although, in the "Aftermath" show, he did seem a little peeved about a few things.

So that's it for reality TV for me... for now anyway. I'm not watching Survivor this time, so as of now I'm reality TV free. Which is probably good because I think reality TV will soon go away... mostly. I think shows like Paradise Hotel and The Joe Schmo Show are a sign that the end is near. To draw viewers, reality shows have gotten either stranger or more outrageous (read: dumber) and I think some of the newer ones have stepped a couple steps beyond the imaginary line where people just get sick of the silliness. Albeit a line that I've made up in my head. But I think we'll probably see one more surge of shows, a year maybe two, and then they'll taper off.

I don't think they'll all disappear -- just drop down to a more acceptable level. Survivor, The Amazing Race, and (maybe) Big Brother have the best chance for survival. Most likely I'm totally wrong and reality TV shows will prevail for decades to come. Hell, I watched Paradise Hotel, one of the most ridiculous reality shows ever. I like to call that the Train Wreck Effect. It's a horrible mess which crushes people in its tangled mess, but you have to watch it. You just stare and wonder if it could get any worse. It did, by the way. But a lot of us watched Jerry Springer and eventually we got tired of it and all that it spawned. Of course, Maury (aka Paternity Test TV) is still on, but you don't see the saturation that you saw back in the day.

Bring on the next fad....

]]> Tue, 28 Oct 2003 23:21:56 -0700 Now PC users can see what good software is like. :)

Okay, all you PC folk. Download iTunes for Windows as soon as possible! Finally I can dump Winamp and its crappy library management. I've tried tons of players on Windows including RealPlayer, MusicMatch, and even *gasp* Windows Media Player. Trust me, they are all junk. Or at least just mediocre. iTunes is by far the best for all your audio playback needs... except WMA. Of course if you encode and download songs in WMA format, you have much greater problems then not being able to play them back in iTunes. I suggest you immediately seek psychiatric help.

Now that I've mentioned WMA, let me get something off my chest. You may have seen claims, whether by Microsoft or MP3 player manufacturers, that WMA files at 64kbps are equivalent in quality to 128kbps MP3s. Or instead you might have seen the bold claim on MP3 player boxes, "Stores x number of MP3s or 2x number of WMAs", which is based off of the first claim. Well, I've listened and it's not even close. Yes, MP3 is an old format and WMA is probably better quality, but let's not get crazy. 64kbps WMAs sound like crap, just like 64kbps MP3s sound like crap. </rant>

Back to iTunes, yes, it rocks. Just click on that nice little "Browse" button in the top, right corner. Ahhhh... sooo nice. Now you can easily find songs by a certain artist, album, or both. iTunes also works best when you have "Keep iTunes Music folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" turned on in the advanced preferences. I'm sure iTunes may not seem great to some at first mainly because many will be accustomed to how Winamp works best when just organizing by file name. If you are going to give up or are getting frustrated, e-mail me or talk to the nearest Mac guy/gal. Once you get iTunes set up properly, you'll never turn back. Especially once you get into things like smart playlists and music sharing. The only thing I might miss from Winamp is the slim windowshade mode. Maybe someone will be able to make something like Synergy on the PC.

Now here's hoping that the iTunes Music Store becomes available in Canada soon!

]]> Thu, 16 Oct 2003 22:00:27 -0600 Welcome to the next episode of "The Data Recovery of Our Lives". PowerBook Update.

So I called ADR like I said I would in my last entry. The guy swears that the data is fine and that they actually opened and looked at some of the files and they were okay. He even said the PDFs that they were having problems with worked fine once they upgraded to Adobe Reader 6 from Acrobat Reader 5. We decided that it must be something wrong with the CDs, or more likely, the burning of the CDs. So now I have to ship the CDs back (boo) so they can see what went wrong and then they'll send me new CDs. So gather 'round and place your bets. Will the data be good or still very, very bad? Tune in next time to find out!

In other news, the PowerBook still r0x0rs. I do miss the compact size of the iBook, but the 15" wide-screen makes up for it. Battery life seems pretty good although it just might seem that way because my iBook's battery isn't what it used to be after 2 years of use. The battery seems to charge faster, too. Virtual PC runs really well to my surprise. Windows 2000 is actually, dare I say, responsive! Still slow compared to a real, bona fide PC, but great for just having to fire up the odd PC program. Even Windows 98 was virtually unusable in VPC on my iBook, so this was good to see. I still haven't burned a DVD yet, so I'll have to try that out sometime. And in the surprise department, I qualified for the Mac OS X Up-to-Date program so I get OS X 10.3 Panther for a mere $30 even though I bought the 'Book before the October 8th deadline. Schweet.

]]> Tue, 14 Oct 2003 15:32:53 -0600 I'm selling all of my possessions and moving far, far away.

For those that have watched the excellent movie, Shallow Grave, try to visualize the end of the movie. Remember the part where the guy stabs Ewan McGregor through the shoulder? And then the girl kills the guy and Ewan McGregor thinks she's going to pull the knife out but then she just jams it in further so the knife is all the way through and sticks into the floor?

That's how I feel. You see, as I've already mentioned, I had a bit of a hard drive disaster recently. That's the knife in my shoulder by IBM. So I sent it off to this drive recovery place in Toronto called Accurate Data Recovery. They sounded small, but they were cheap and sounded pretty upfront. Everything seemed to be fine and they said that it was a head failure but once they replaced it everything was fine. There was a small area of damage to the platter, but most files were okay.

So I got the CDs today. Now, how would you feel if you spent $700 to get your data recovered only to get 3 CDs full of mostly corrupt data? Like someone just jammed that knife in further? I'd guess that 90% of the files are corrupted to various degrees. $700 worth of extra pain from the guys who I thought were going to help me.

Now I have to call these guys on Tuesday and see if I can get a refund or something. Even if it's not a 100% refund, I'll be okay. But if I get nothing back, I will go ballistic. I will scream. I will demand. I will call the BBB. I will drop a nuclear bomb on Toronto just to wipe these guys out.

So maybe I'm overreacting a little bit seeing that I haven't even talked to them yet. Maybe they'll be really helpful and will give me a refund without a hassle. But judging from my luck in the last while, I'll need to prepare for a fight.

And I thought things were going to start getting back to normal around here. If more stuff happens that I have to worry about, I think I'm going to just give up on my life, as I know it. I'll have to sell everything I own, move to a new city (preferably somewhere warm), and become a minimalist. Or maybe I'll just move into that nice hospital in Ponoka.

]]> Fri, 10 Oct 2003 16:31:38 -0600 Hockey

Hockey!!! Oilers!!! Yay!!!

]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2003 17:55:00 -0600