Posts

Posted on

Six-Toed One-Eyed Battery Operated Laser Sloths

The best car commercial ever made has no computer generated graphics … The top 100 hoaxes of all time … Is there a secret city under Tokyo? … TinyURL.com transforms hella long URLs into wee teensy ones for use in email etc, for free … Know your philosophical fallacies … She’s a flight risk (read older posts before more recent ones to grok what’s going on) … Things my girlfriend and I argue about (no, Amy and I don’t argue like this) … Take a deep breath, they’re only forklift extensions … Mad props to Apple for taking up the mantle with indie labels, and for keeping the playing field level … Wing gives The Shaggs a run for their money … Know a migraine sufferer? These headache tips are indispensable … Turn boring old hot dogs into octodogs … Six-Toed One-Eyed Battery Operated Laser Sloths.

Music: Wizards of Twiddly :: Mr Know All
Posted on

Sanding. Microwave.

Spent all day behind the wheel of a Bona ProSand 8, a highly efficient, surprisingly graceful, 115-lb floor-sanding beast. Almost zero dust – the built-in vacuum is voracious. The work is tedious, meditative, exhausting. Coarse grades today and tomorrow, finer grades Sunday. We have not yet upgraded the electrical system, but the sander draws a heap of juice. Every time I strain the motor on a bump, a 15 amp fuse blows. Learning to finesse it, but going through fuses like no tomorrow. Better than burning down the house.

Amy painting shelves and cupboards with Miles on her back. It’s a family thing.

The new place has a cubby in the kitchen clearly designed to house a microwave oven. I’ve never lived with a microwave (astonishing but true!), though my grandmother had one of the first — the Amana Radarange — in the early 70s (my mother always insisted we play in another room when it was running, lest we become sterile from the radiation). Amy grew up with one but hasn’t had one since high school. No real reason for either of us, other than habit and stubborn-ness. I think a part of us likes resisting all the mod cons. But now I’m sort of interested in getting one, though it would be tantamount to an act of resignation at this point in life. Amy remains staunchly opposed.

Do you have a microwave?

View Results

Music: Cab Calloway :: Foo A Little Bally-Hoo
Posted on

Matthew’s Memorial Concert

Matthew’s memorial concert was tonight. So much packing to do, so much prep work for tomorrow, and was in the middle of taking the aquarium apart, almost didn’t go, but somehow needed to. Amy was teaching so took Miles in the Baby Bjorn (aka the Baby Bjork). Knew we wouldn’t make it the whole night, but just wanted him to experience the love in the house, and to hear some great improv. Was glad I did. Place was packed. First thing we sat down to was a trio — shakuhachi, alto sax, clarinet — tender and exploratory. Miles just cooed gently and made small noises. People around him were delighted. He lights up rooms wherever he goes. He got feisty a while later and we had to leave, but it was just enough.

Tons going on matthewsperry.org lately – it’s been a challenge maintaining that site with everything else going on.

Music: Sun Ra :: Monorails and Satellites
Posted on

First Day, New House

Amy and I retrieved the keys to our new house at 1pm, then spent the rest of the day bouncing off the walls, making lists, having ideas, trying to prioritize. Heating and plumbing guy came at 2pm and the first foible arose: to install forced air heating they need to get the heating appliance under the house, which requires a 20″x30″ opening. Our crawlspace entrances are too small and can’t be enlarged, so we’ll need to have a new one put in. And so the story begins. Tomorrow the big sanding job begins. Here’s to us!

This entry initially posted as audio from cell phone in the empty, echo-y house:

Powered by audblogaudblog audio post

Posted on

Putting Weblogs To Work (Blog Bonanza)

The feature piece on comparative weblog systems I wrote for the July issue of MacWorld is now on newstands (page 76). A version of the article is online, but sans graphics and screenshots, sidebars, and feature comparison charts for blogging systems and for Mac-based posting tools. The article covers pMachine, Movable Type, Radio Userland, GeekLog, iBlog, LiveJournal, and Blogger Pro.

Amazing how much harder it was to do a feature piece with a baby in the house than without. Some of my online friends are “accidentally” screenshotted, and I even managed to squeak a teensy image of Amy, Miles and me in there.

Music: Pink Fairies :: Never Never Land
Posted on

Pollution as an Act of War

In The Chicago Tribune (free registration required):

“The federal government is America’s biggest polluter and the Department of Defense is the government’s worst offender. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, unexploded ordnance waste can be found on 16,000 military ranges across the U.S. and more than half may contain biological or chemical weapons. In total, the Pentagon is responsible for more than 21,000 potentially contaminated sites and, according to the EPA, the military may have poisoned as much as 40 million acres, a little larger than Florida. That result might be considered an act of war if committed by a foreign power. ”

Music: David Bowie :: I’m Afraid Of Americans
Posted on

RSS / Movable Type Presentation

Webnet — the group of all UC Berkeley campus webmasters — had a session today on RSS / XML in practice. They invited me to speak on ways I’ve delivered RSS publishing to the jschool “for free” by reformulating various student sites to use Movable Type as a content management system. Did a 30 minute presentation, spoke alongside representatives from IST and the Interactive University project.

Music: Nazia Hassan :: Aap Jaise Koi
Posted on

Punishing Apple

Interesting argument by Tig Tillinghast:

Microsoft makes more money on Office per Mac sold than they do per PC sold. And they claim that Internet Explorer’s ubiquity is not to foster monopoly, but because the market demands it and it’s necessary for integration with Office. By this logic, IE/Mac is a key part of MS’ ability to generate profit from the Mac. So then how do they square that position with their recent decision to drop IE/Mac?

My take: Safari has proven that Apple and the open source community together can build a better, far faster browser, without Microsoft’s help. Technology isn’t the issue. Politics is. Potential switchers want comfort food, want to know that IE is waiting for them on the Mac side (even if it’s slow). Microsoft’s move punishes Apple for threatening the monopoly by pulling a security blanket away from potential customers.

Music: Van Morrison :: Joe Harper Saturday Morning
Posted on

Zign Ze Paperz

Just returned from the title company, where Amy and I signed about 4″ of documents, closing escrow on the house. It’s been such an insane month, we’ve barely been able to digest the whole home purchase thing. But ready or not, here it comes… taking keys in a few days. Scary to sign your life away like that. It’s the American Dream, brother!, or something like that. But we are very excited. Summer projects yawn out in front of us.

Music: Lennie Tristano/Lee Konitz/Warne Marsh :: My Melancholy Baby
Posted on

Color Like the Wind!

milesbutt.thumb.jpgAmy and Miles wanted to color me a card for my first Father’s Day, but Miles isn’t quite ready for that. “Color like the wind!” Amy told him, trying to get the job done before I woke up. But he had never held a crayon before. He chewed on it for a while and then flung it aside. Repeat for each color in the box.

Installed Gallery last night, both for birdhouse use and for matthewsperry.org, then made a little gallery of images of my brother, dad, miles and myself for father’s day.

Miles is a nut.
He has a rubber butt.
And every time he turns around
He goes putt-putt.

Music: Ozric Tentacles :: A Gift Of Wings