John's Blog

My muse took a vacation

So, Script Frenzy....  About that....  I got 40 pages done a week or so ago, and I took a break.  Spending several hours every day after work typing away at the coffeeshop, well, it's fun for awhile.  But I got burned out.  It's nice to do something else after work for a change.  Or, you know, some days it's nice just to do nothing. 

I can't say I ever had much of a notion that I wanted to write a screenplay.  To write a novel -- now that always struck me as an impressive feat.  But a screenplay?  It never had occurred to me.  Maybe I shall finish it up sometime.  But not in the next few days.

In unrelated news, I just set up a printer I purchased a year and a half ago.  The only reason I purchased it was that it came as a deal with a computer I was buying.  Anyway, I finally felt the need to set it up, and I discovered that it wouldn't print black.  The brand new (18 month old) ink cartridge didn't work. 

I did a little googling and found someone talking about taking a shop-vac to their print cartridges to get them running.  It sounded a bit absurd (and messy.)  Anyway, I put a paper towel over the cartridge and applied some suction from my vacuum cleaner's accessory hose, and....  what do you know.  It got the ink flowing. 

Maybe that's an old trick, but it's been a few years since I actually had an ink jet connected to my computer, so it was new to me.  I'm glad it worked.

Weezer Summarizes YouTube

Check out the new video for Weezer's Pork and Beans, wherein they spoof a bunch of viral videos.  It's a catchy tune that you can dance to--I give it an 85.

Guitar Rising

Have you heard about the independently developed PC game, Guitar Rising?  Scheduled to come out later this year, it takes the premise of Guitar Hero to the next level.  Instead of pushing buttons on a controller that's shaped like a guitar, you actually play a guitar.  Looks pretty darn cool to me.  If done right, I predict a bright future Fender, Gibson, et al.  My only question is if it will have any well known songs. 

Check out the preview video on their web site. 

Fooled by ThinkGeek

Did you know Geek Points expire?  I just went to ThinkGeek.com to check out their annual April Fool's Day gag products, and, as I've done the last few years, to make a small purchase and pick up a free t-shirt of dubious value.  It's a special promotion they run that's only good on April Fool's Day.

Anyway, word to the wise: if you've made purchases there before and have been collecting "Geek Points" to get some free swag, make sure your points don't expire on you.  About 80% of my points have expired since the beginning of the year. 

Now... in a way, this might be a good thing, because, now I won't feel compelled to collect points anymore, and, actually, they didn't really have much in the way of cool rewards.  I had just about exactly enough points to get a $50 clock, but as a reward they only give you it in silver, and not the black version I would prefer.  The only higher reward is a green laser, which would be amusing if it didn't get the FBI after me. C'est la vie.

Update: I dropped ThinkGeek a politely worded email of disappointment.... and they restored my points (set to expire in a year.)  Sweet. 

Mac Update

Just thought I'd update you on the Mac laptop situation.  Long story short: my wireless router completely crapped out and I ended up buying a new one.  As a result, the Mac works fine now.  I believe the current OS X software does still have some issues with how well it connects to wireless networks, but I don't have any complaints about how my laptop connects in my house anyway.

Also, I picked up a mouse for the Mac.  Apple's "Mighty Mouse" has received decidedly mixed reviews -- even on Apple's own website.  There are wireless Bluetooth mice for around $50 and on up -- but, you know, I have a wireless mouse for my PC and I don't know that the "not having a cord" thing is nice enough to offset the fact that you have to feed the thing batteries.  So, I picked up a $13 mouse at Nebraska Furniture Mart.  It's an optical mouse, it's got two buttons and a scrollwheel.  Works for me.

Mac OS X Leopard and the WiFi Kerfuffle

So I'd been thinking about getting a laptop computer.  Finally, I made up my mind.  I was going to go buy my first Mac.  Yes!  Let's do it!

And then I got to the local Apple store and I looked at the prices.

But then I said, "what the heck?  Why not?"

So, I bought a new Apple laptop.  Took it home.  Installed the brand new OS X Leopard operating system (that was in the box, but didn't come installed.)  When I tried the wireless networking I was in for a shock.

It seems the wifi works for awhile, and then disconnects.  Lots of people are reporting similar issues.  The only way I've found to fix it is rebooting my wireless router. 

There are rumors that a patch for the OS is coming out in the next couple weeks that will fix some "DNS resolution" issues.  I'm optimistic.  Right now I'm weighing my options.

The Apple store has a 2 week return window.  I don't want to take that off the table entirely... (Can I talk my way out of the 10% restocking fee?!?  Wouldn't this be considered defective merchandise?)  I do want to keep the Mac.  But this wireless problem isn't exactly trivial.

I could roll back to the previous version of the OS.  (Ironic that Apple just started airing ads mocking Windows users who are rolling back to XP from Vista.)

Or I could wait and hope and play around with Photo Booth some more. 

That's one to ponder.

Congratulations, Hastings!

Congratulations, Hastings, Nebraska. 

Yahoo named Hastings "America's Greenest City,"  based on Hastings' residents use of various Yahoo services.  And, really, what better criteria could there be for judging eco-friendliness than internet use?

I don't mean to question Hastings' environmental commitment, but, given the stats you hear bandied about stating America's disproportionate responsibility for worldwide carbon emissions, isn't naming "America's Greenest City" a bit like naming the "Most Congenial Violent Criminal," or the "Cleanest Pipe in the Sewer?"

Good work, Hastings!  Now don't let it go to your head. 

Little Known Smileys -- *Q

There are many different smileys in use on the internet today.  The smile.  :)  The frown.  :(  The wink.  ;)  Not all of these emoticons get the recognition they deserve.  One such entity is *Q   It is quite similar to :p which, of course, is used to mean someone sticking their tongue out at you.  *Q denotes a raging cyclops screaming a death cry at you while his tongue hangs out, perhaps in a deliberate show of rudeness, perhaps as a byproduct of his unintelligent emotional outburst.

This doodle will hopefully help illustrate. 

Reserve your use of the enraged cyclops smiley for special occasions.

Ready for the '90s!

I went a few years without one.  However, it's really come to the point where it's expected.  This week, I finally gave in and picked up a cellphone.  It's a Kyocera K325 "Cyclops" sold through Virgin Mobile.  Virgin Mobile's target demographic seems to be 'hip kids on a budget.'  There are no contracts, no Early Termination Fees, and, with the by-the-minute plans, no need to keep close track of how many minutes you have left. 

The Cyclops was a modest $60 from Target.  I chose it because it has the best camera of any of their line-up, weighing in at a dizzying 1.3 megapixels. 

As it turns out, that may not really count for much, though.  For one thing, of the advertised 256 megs of memory, you only actually get to use about 12 megs.  So taking many pictures at the highest resolution would fill up the phone pretty quickly.  But, even worse, if you take the highest quality pictures possible, you have a fair chance of not being able to transfer them off of your phone, depending on how large they are.  From my testing, images over 500 Kb will get you an error message if you try to send them.  Images 400-500 Kb will appear to be sent successfully, but they just won't ever show up anywhere.  Which all boils down to: I'll only be taking pictures with it in 640x480 mode -- which isn't actually a step up from the other camera phones they offer.

I'm still pretty pleased with the phone, despite the disappointing limitations.  It may not be a sexy black, but it has it's own style that I like to refer to as 'Jetfire-chic.'  Now that I've finally got a cellphone again, my next task is to find out what's all this "alternative" music that the kids have been talking about?

I'd pick up Windows Vista, if not for MS's anti-Nebraska stance