a.k.a. Little L

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbW_vEjVOBI&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01]

The title of this post is the chorus from one of my favorite Visqueen songs. 

It’s a simple, catchy song. I love the bass, I love Rachel’s voice, the tune, the song rocks!

Another catchy ditty is “Sailor”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATK1jWj9XPA&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01]

An example of my favorite style—loud and melodic.

Visqueen has released a new album today, “Message to Garcia” (Amazon link).

When I saw them in April, I did not know who they were. But it was such a great show! Lots of energy and great tunes.

I’m sorry I didn’t know they’ve been around since 2000.

These videos were shot at Seattle’s Crocodile Café. The sound isn’t great, but it’s enough. The videos show the energy and fun. I mean, when’s the last time you saw someone slide their pick up the strings? Probably a Boston cover band. But, here, it’s great!

[Update] I have a couple of cel pix that I took. You can see them on my Flickr site.

Topic - Here’s a list of ipod docks that I found over at Amazon. - The only requirements were that they have an AM/FM radio. They’re listed below, sorted by price. - It’s a mixed bag. Some are portable, some require that you be plugged in. Be sure to check the “iPod compatibility” some won’t charge the newer iPods (like the newest 4G nano, or iPhone, or iPod Touch (2G).

Click on the item’s name to go to Amazon. Be sure to click on the “Explore Similar Items” link on the page.

If you have any questions, lemme know!

• iLive Portable Boombox

• Memorex Mi3005BLK

* iLive IBCD2817

* iLuv i552

* Imation Boombox

* Sony ICFC1iPMK2

* Sony ZSS4IP

* Macally Flat-Panel Stereo System with AM/FM, Alarm Clock, and iPod Dock

On Top of Portland
Originally uploaded by a.k.a. Little L

Yesterday, Mooj & I rode in the Providence Bridge Pedal. It was fun.

This was our third time. We missed last year, but the year before was a cluster. I think that the event suffered from its own success. It was so crowded that we were caught in a couple of big traffic jams. For example, a couple of years ago, it took us about half-an-hour to cross the starting line. We crossed a bridge and hit another jam, where we crawled along for about 45 minutes. It was very frustrating for a little one.

But this year it was very smooth. When I see the large crowds and the combination of riders of various skills and good/bad manners, I’m amazed at how well it works. But this year was the smoothest ever. It was fun!

In our previous two attempts, we did not get to the Fremont bridge before it had to open back up to traffic. This year we were determined to make it.

As we were waiting to start, the organizers announced the availability of a shortcut. We missed the Ross Island and the Hawthorn. Lots of cool pix from the Portland Bridge Pedal photos on Flickr.

My sister-in-law shares her experience on her blog. We met at the beginning of the ride, but were separated shortly after the start.

I just uploaded a bunch of photos to Flickr. Over the past 6 months, I’ve been moving from iView to iPhoto, transferring tags, and updating sets, etc.

I’ve taken quite a few self-portraits of my son and me. They’re arm-length and now, after eight+ years, becoming a quite a collection.

If you look in the widget over at the side of this page, you’ll see my Flickr stream, but it doesn’t give you a feel for the chunk of pix that I’ve just tossed up.

I still need to fix the titles and add some comments. Another project!

I Know You Stole This Bike
Originally uploaded by tinctoris

Whilst browsing Tinctoris' flickrstream, I found this photo. Great stuff! As one who has had a bicycle stolen. I love it!

One of my favorite programs is Cocoatech’s Path Finder.

Over the years, I’ve supported many users on Windows and Macintosh. Something I’ve noticed is that Mac users are more likely to fiddle with their file systems. That is, they spend more time organizing their files.

In general, I think that Mac people tend to be more spatial and/or visual, The Mac’s Finder (which is the program that you use to look through folders and launch programs) is more… uhmm…. trying not to start a flame war… better…. uhmmm… equipped with tools that aid in file management than Windows. With labels and breadcrumbs and various other little things that help a user know where they are. (I think this might become another post)

And Windows users throw everything into My Document, or more maddeningly, on the Desktop.

Anyways… what I’m trying to say, is that if you use the Finder a lot, you should definitely try Path Finder. It’s like a Finder on steroids.

Normally, it’s $40 – which, IMHO, is a great deal for something that you use every time you’re using your computer – and right now, it’s on sale. If you’re a student or teacher, you can get it for $24 (through Aug. 20). Or it’s $33 when you enter “TWEET33” when checking out through Path Finder’s integrated purchase system.

It has a 30 day trial, so give it a shot. You might thank me.

Math is a weak area for me. It irritates me that sometimes I have to write stuff down to work it out.

For example, when I look at a design or a spreadsheets, I can look at it and it’s obvious to me what the issue is. And I can resolve it in my head.

This post is from the Launchbar forum. Someone was utilizing the calculator and not getting the results that they expected.

One of the developers responded with a super-informative answer. As the developer, I know he’s already worked this problem out, but it’s an example of the difference between doing math and knowing math.

I feel that if I really knew math I could look at these numbers and tell the difference between an answer that is in Radians or Degrees or the difference between a common (base 10) or natural logarithm. Duh!

The Boy & I in The Gorge
Originally uploaded by a.k.a. Little L

via my simple Nokie and T-Mobile

We took a drive out to Stevenson, Washington, looking for "The House of Loudness." We found the "Thunder Shack." It was beautiful out there. We will definitely be heading out again. We saw some neat places that we want to check out. This also gave me a chance to test some of my new techno-weaving I've been doing with my phone-Flickr-WordPress-Twitter

Image006.jpeg
Originally uploaded by a.k.a. Little L

T-Mobile

Shoulda gone to Metric when they were in town.Shoulda gone to Metric when they were in town.

Swing, Swing, Swing
Originally uploaded by a.k.a. Little L

One of my favorite baseball pix so far.

I’m currently lusting after a MacBook Air for my mobile life.

For the past 5-6 years, a laptop has been my main system. But I was recently blessed with an iMac, which has become my “main” machine.

Mostly, I use my iBook for browsing the ‘Net, and writing. My iBook is a 600MHz G3 with a 802.11b airport card.

But I must say, when listening to 128K radio streams or music from our music library (a TiBook that’s now our media server), it works great!

[UPDATE] As I re-read this few days later, I realize that I said that I’ve been using a laptop for the past 5-6 years, but I just remembered that before my TiBook, I was using a PowerBook 3400. As a freelancer, it was a great machine. And being mobile was efficient and freeing! I purchased my 3400 (200Mhz 603e) in ‘98 or ‘99. 10 years ago! Yikes!

Sometimes, while browsing with my iBook, I’ll open up iTunes and listen to a radio station. I usually listen to my local classical station, KPBS.

When I tuned in, I wasn’t really interested in what was playing. I hopped over to the listings under Ambient, and I found “Birdsong Radio.”

I thought “clever name” and I clicked on the link. I was expecting some ambient chill, but it really is birdsongs!

I can totally see putting this on when I don’t know what I want to listen to. I love the ‘Net!

Once upon a time, I wanted to create a great web presence. It would includes posts and photos and videos and links and more!

But I always got tied up in the CMS (Content Management System). My first was Frontier. Later, I was going to make my own, using XML-RPC, then I used Radio (from Userland, which was really an updated version of Frontier) There was a big mess with Radio upgrades, and so I thought I’d build my own.

Well, that hasn’t happened.

So I’m here at Wordpress (thanx WP!) and now the photos are going to Flickr. I’ll be working on integrating them all.

Which is really what I want to do. Create and fiddle with code.

Here’s my first Flickr photo.

I’m grabbing this link from the Guardian.

The Mac at 25 - interview with Andy Hertzfeld

I’ve been a big fan of Andy for the longest time, not including the past 25 years of Mac usage.

If you’re a Mac fan, you should check out Andy’s site, folkore.org, which is a wonderful collection of anecdotes on the development of the Mac.

Great news! Apple will now allow you to choose the songs you want to update to iTunes Plus!

There’s more info at Ars Technica – Per-Song iTunes Plus Upgrades Now Available.

At 30¢ a song, I think it’s a good deal. In the past, I’ve upgraded my songs whenever possible, Once a month I’d check to see if I had any songs that were eligible, and if they were, I’d upgrade. A few cents here, a buck there. Nothing too much.

After the announcement at the latest Macworld, I went to upgrade my songs. It turned out that it was going to cost me $50! I can afford $10, but $50’s a bit much for me, right now. I did not realize that I had so many iTunes purchases. (that’s X songs, FYI)

There are some songs in there where I’d really like to have them at 256K, but there are some where it’d be nice, but not so important.

I think I see some iTunes browsing in my future…

(Thanx to Daring Fireball)

I’m trying MarsEdit. I love BBEdit, and I’ve used it for blogging. I really like to work, with BBEdit’s environment. But I miss something. Not sure what. So I’m trying MarsEdit. Hmmm…

Over at TWIP (This Week In Photography) there’s a cool story about Scott Bourne’s photo “Cranes in the Fire Mist” that took 12-years to capture. It’s called Pre-visualization and Patience Can Pay Off .

Every year, for 12 years, he made a trek to Bosque del Apache in New Mexico. He thought about the composition and light in the photo that he wanted. He learned what the weather had to be for it to happen. He prepared his gear. He had a list of nine things that had to be in place, including a cold, cloudless morning with slight winds from the west or northwest. Oh yeah, the birds had to be there, too!

It’s a great photo, and now that I know the back story, it’s even more impressive.

Wow.

While searching for an RPN calculator widget, I found The Caveman’s Calculator. It’s a slide rule!

"Download it now and rediscover the lost art and fun while impressing (or perhaps losing) your friends."

Recently, my Dad gave me a couple of slide rules. I just can’t throw them away. They’re very cool.

J is home from school, today. He had a hard time sleeping through the night for the second night in a row. Coughed and coughed. It didn't wake him up, but he never acheived a deep sleep. Yesterday, he was wiped when we got up for school. So after another night of coughing, we decided that he would be better off not going to school.

Every year, when the seasons change from Summer to Fall, or Winter to Spring, his breathing is affected. He always seems short of breath. When it's worse, his coughs squeak, and it sounds like he has some fluid in his lungs. In the evenings, he starts to have a dry cough. Sometimes it'll be a series of coughs, with several minutes between coughs. Sometimes it gets worse, and there's only a few seconds between a cough.

It doesn't really slow him down. He says he feels fine. (which is good. He doesn't see this as "being sick.")

We've been dealing with this for the past 5 or 6 years, and we finally feel like we know what's going on, and this no need to panic. Just have him do a treatment, and watch.

Check out Frasier Speirs post Exposure 1.1 post-mortem. It has some interesting notes about iPhone development.