Vital Statistics
Restaurants: Denny’s, Mel’s Drive-in, Thirsty Bear, Chevy’s, Hana Zen
Restaurants missed: Oola
Solicitations for money (estimated): 10
Solicitations for money involving singing: 2
Hands shaken (estimated): 12
Reported number of WWDC attendees: 5000+
Sessions attended: 9
Remaining sessions to attend (planned): 12
Weight lost: 58 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 7
Hours billed last week: 37
Aches & pains: lower back, both calves
Current reading: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, The STL Primer
Recent listening: “Dani California” by Red Hot Chili Peppers (approximately 20 times)
Recent viewing: Stump the Experts 0x10
Recent playing: Pangea Arcade
Recently accomplished: Packed for WWDC, cleaned cat box, recycling
Imperative To Do: n/a
Hubris
Apple has regained the glory they used to have and along with it they once again have become arrogant and cocky. Yesterday’s keynote and follow-on sessions were proof:
- Apple’s description of their lame iPhone development solution was “Sweet!” on the slide.
- When introducing Safari for Windows, Apple subtly replaces Firefox’s slice of the browser pie on the slide with Safari.
- Steve Jobs describing the new “Cover Flow” feature in the Finder as “useful.”
- The whole keynote was filled with the usual jabs at Microsoft including the opening “skit” with “PC” masquerading as Steve Jobs before he gets busted by “Mac”.
- Apple leaves Carbon developers (like Adobe) out in the rain when they neglect to include Carbon under the new 64-bit umbrella.
WWDC Packing List
Personal bag
- Newton (with freshly charged batteries)
- Digital camera
- iPod and earphones
- Cash ($200)
- Credit cards & driver’s license
- Mini-wallet
- Letter from California Health Dept.
- Remove everything not needed for the trip
- Remove money clip and Leatherman
- Mocassins
- Envelope for receipts
Laptop bag
- Travel credentials
- MacBook Pro with power adaptor
- Long ethernet cable
- Firewire cable (get from Erik)
- Book (need to pick a new one)
- DVDs (pick three)
- Camera charger and USB cable
- iPod USB cable for charging
- OS install CDs/DVDs
- New business cards
Checked bag
- Underwear (5 pairs)
- Shorts (3 pair)
- Pants (2 pair)
- Shirts (2 long-sleeved, 4 short-sleeved)
- Sandals
- deodorant
- brush
- tweezers, nail file, nail clippers
- toothpaste, tooth brush and floss
- South Beach snacks
- Airport base station
- CPAP machine
Action items
- Verify Find travel credentials are correct
- Verify conference credentials and password
- Remove all banned items from carry-on items
- Laundry
- Charge Newton batteries
- Haircut
- Charge camera battery
- Clean catbox
- Pick a new book (small paperback)
- Get cash
- Verify all code is checked in and builds on laptop
- Copy rynosoft.com web pages to laptop
- Streamline handbag
- Pick some DVDs I haven’t seen
- Load new music on iPod
- Print health dept. letter
Sitting cross-legged on the floor
Last weekend Thomas and Graham competed in the district pinewood derby races. Graham didn’t place, but Thomas came in 3rd in his division. He was actually disappointed at not doing better. There were also a number of other activities that we did in between races, including CO2 rockets. What fun those are!
Graham continues to get seriously into listening to music. Mostly he listens to They Might Be Giants and The Bobs, but he still asks me for a Song of the Day every few days. He’s proud that he has learned the words to many TMBG songs.
Thomas is still very interesting in learning how to program computers. He found a bug in one of the examples in the Logo book I got for him and has decided that fixing the bug will be his first test. He spends a lot of time in his room playing Runescape, an online role-playing game, with his friends. Occasionally, he’ll move over and play his bass for awhile. I love that he does it for enjoyment.
Tina and I have gone back to Phase I of the South Beach diet and have started losing weight again. Last week I lost 4 lbs. and feel confident that I’ll be up to 60 lbs. lost soon. Tina’s already there. We’ve decided we’re not celebrating until we get to 75 lbs.
This weekend Thomas and I were supposed to go camping with his Boy Scout troop, but somebody messed up on the reservations. Instead, they are having three consecutive day camps at a nearby park. The next weekend, Thomas and I are biking out to adjustable dumbbells Oxbow Park with the troop for another weekend of camping. It’s about a 14 mile ride, so it will be interesting to see how all the boys handle it. They’re young so they should be fine.
In a few weeks, Critical Path is moving offices. The new office is just across the street from us.
I’m gonna give you ’til the morning comes
As part of the new project I’m working on for CPS, I spent the day learning all about cascading style sheets (CSS) for HTML. To test out my newfound knowledge, I made some extensive additions to the main page of this blog. You should now see links and dynamic content from several of the web applications that I regularly use. Enjoy!
Fitter Happier
As I mentioned earlier, Thomas has show some interest in learning how to program computers. After a discussion with some colleagues at work, I decided to introduce him to Logo, a graphics-centered language that is based on the more sophisticated Lisp.
A quick Google of “logo+mac” got me this website where you can download a free version of Logo for the Mac. I had him download it and try some of the tutorials here. He took to it immediately and it was interesting enough to keep him off of Runescape for a few hours.
Logo has been around since before I got into computers so there are many resources available to support learning endeavors. I searched for books on Half.com and Amazon and found a compelling review for this book by Brian Harvey. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a very good price for it.
On a whim, I googled the author’s name and found his website. He works at UC Berkeley now and has provided free online editions of all three volumes of his Computer Science Logo Style series:
I told Thomas that when he was through with Logo, I’d show him Java, the cross-platform language from Sun. He wants to learn Java already, but I’m holding him back for awhile. The second volume of the Harvey series has a few game examples, so I think that will keep him busy for the time being.
Just mindin’ my business, eatin’ food and finger lickin’
My sore throat is gone but now I have full sinuses and a persistent cough. That’s bad news for someone with a CPAP machine and a nose mask. If I can’t breathe through my nose, then the machine is useless. If I don’t use the machine, I don’t get good sleep. If I don’t get good sleep, I don’t get better faster.
Not a good turn of fortune so I’m home from work again today. I might try to do some programming here later this afternoon if I feel better.
Fifteen Percent Concentrated Power of Will
Recent happenings:
- After a little drama with the van (seeping coolant), we got it back from the mechanic a couple of weeks ago and it’s running like a champ again.
- Last night Thomas crossed over into Boy Scouts.
- Thomas recently passed his swimming lesson class.
- Graham played the last basketball game of his season on Saturday.
- Graham has been having continual problems controlling himself at basketball practice, in games, at home and at school. He received several referrals one week from school, so we took away almost everything he loves (Wii, DS, computer). He needs to learn to stop and think before doing things. He’s back on the right track, though, and expects to get his keyboard back for his computer this week.
- Nietzsche has recovered from his enema, but is very upset at not getting table scraps anymore. Very upset.
- If you’ve been tracking Vital Statistics here, you’ve noticed we haven’t caught any mice for weeks. I think they are all gone.
- Thomas and I spent this last weekend at a Boy Scout lodge up on Mt. Hood with Troop 606. It was fun and I may write more about it later.
- I’m transitioning from one project to another right now at work so it’s a little hectic. Hopefully, I can give you more details about the new project soon.
- Tina is finishing up another term at Mt. Hood Community College and will enjoy Spring Break with the boys at the end of this week.
- Planning continues for a family reunion this summer. Looks like it might be the first week in August, but that’s only tentative.
- Thomas has taken an interest in programming recently. He inquired about a game that a collegue wrote and I explained how programming works. I’m thinking of starting him on Logo. Any thoughts, readers?
- My new front fender is awesome.
- After the MP3 CDs went over so well at Christmas, I started a “Song of the Day” club in our house. The idea is that members (everyone in the house) get a new song added to their iTunes every day. Graham really seems to enjoy it and occasionally requests specific things. Some requests have been for Queen and “heavy metal.”
Can you tell I love unordered lists in HTML?
Vital Statistics
I rode all the way to work this morning – all 14 miles. It’s the first time in over a year and I felt pretty good. Well, except for my sore butt.
Bike odometer: 108 miles
Current reading: The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell by John Crawford, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: DrugMusic, John Prine, Taking The Long Way by Dixie Chicks, Stadium Arcadium by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Running On Empty by Jackson Browne
Recent viewing: FIBA Quarterfinals, The 4400, The Colbert Report
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Finally reached beta on one project at work and GM on the other, paid bills
Imperative To Do: Install network in Graham’s room, sell truck, labels for my sister’s CDs, fix Newton server, kill and pull weeds
Cool Link: Keith Olbermann Responds To Rumsfeld (click on one of the video links to watch)