Can you tell when WiFi stopped working on my iPhone?
Page 2: In Which I Explain My Life To The Class of 1985
I’ve been in Portland since 1990 after a short detour to San Diego after graduating from Wartburg. I met and married my wife, Tina, in 1992. We have two awesome boys who dictate how we spend most of our time. Both are very active in Boy Scout Troop 820 (troop820.org) and both play the double bass in the school orchestra after converting from the cello.
Graham is a nerd of the first order and thinks I’m the coolest nerd on the planet. He loves to play video games on our Xbox and Wii but is enthusiastic in almost everything he does — even when I enlist his help in yard chores. Since he was a baby we have known that he is strong-willed and joyous. He’s also very intelligent and somewhat arrogant about that fact, regarding it as a fact of life that he’s smarter than everyone else. I’m trying to work that out of him.
Thomas is more reserved than Graham and less likely to risk looking uncool. A year ago I helped him buy his first electric bass. Since then he has learned to play all of his favorite sons and a few “classics” that I asked him to learn. He can also has pick up Tina or my guitar and play them much better than either of us. In many ways he’s very much like I was at that age: long hair, quiet except with friends, stubborn and often inconsiderate. He’s also very smart but not always willing to work hard for great grades.
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Note for Neighbor with the Black Lab
Dear neighbor:
I am surprised that your dog is still running free and pooping on my and Walt’s yard. You know Walt? He lives across from me and is 85+ years old. He also does not enjoy having to clean up your dog’s poop. I asked him because I wasn’t sure if it was just me. It’s not. NOBODY LIKES BEING POOPED ON.
I say “surprised” because my wife had already told you that we did not appreciate your dog pooping on our lawn. But still he runs free. It appears that you are either too dim or too insensitive to understand her request. Let me make it clear:
WE DO NOT LIKE BEING POOPED ON. Until this point we have not even investigated our legal and civil options. Please do not make us go that far. I have faith that there will be some recourse available to us that will make your life more difficult than it is now. Let’s just stop it here and you leash your dog. Or keep him in your fenced back yard. I don’t care as long as he is not in everybody else’s yard.
Also, I could not be happier that you want to go on walks with your dog. I encourage it. I also would encourage you to have evidence visible that you are prepared to clean up after your dog.
In conclusion, let me just say that you likely know that your behaviour has not been acceptable. If you didn’t know that, you should now. This is what society expects.
Birthday Interview: Graham at Age Eleven
Vital Statistics
Bike odometer: 2567
Aches & pains: itchy tattoo
Current reading: George’s Secret Key to the Universe by Lucy and Stephen Hawking
Recent listening: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Sabbath, Michelle Shocked, Muddy Waters, Dio, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tom Waits
Recent viewing: Lost, Modern Family, Doctor Who, Glee, Fringe, Moon, Iron Man 2, Donnie Darko, The Big Lebowski, It Might Get Loud
Recent playing: Words with Friends, Plants vs. Zombies
Recently accomplished: Collected summer camp fees, finished Iowa vacation planning, learned to solder, fixed 1 of 2 broken LCD displays, unclogged traps in both bathrooms, job interview, endured first tattoo, setup Troop 820 website
Imperative To Do: iPhone application, pay speeding ticket, weed and feed, groceries
N E R D
Toodledo Reveals a Part of My Soul
I use a piece of software called Toodledo. If I had a list of the most important software in my life, Toodledo would be in the Top Five. As you might guess from the name, it’s a task manager, a “to-do” list. Of course, it’s much more powerful than a simple list of to-do’s you might write on a piece of paper. You can set priorities, group together tasks and set due-by dates. When it became apparent that it was time to phase out my Newton, I discovered Toodledo.com with a simple web search. That was over two years ago near the time that I bought my iPhone. Toodledo is especially elegant because it’s available wherever I go. They have a web client that you can use on any computer and they have special clients for iPhone and iPad. Those clients synch with the web version so your list is always up-to-date no matter which device you might be using. It’s essential to me because I’ll often think of something that needs to be done but I am not logistically able to perform the task at that exact time. If I don’t note it at that moment, I will often forget it for a very long time.
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DJ Demos Twin iPad Setup
I’m very excited about Apple’s new product. You may have heard of it, it’s called the “iPad.”
In all seriousness, though, from the day Apple publicly announced it, my feeling has been that this device could be groundbreaking with the right software. The video below demonstrates just how powerful and remarkable iPad software can be. In the video, Robert Scoble interviews DJ Rana Sobhany, who demonstrates the software she uses with two iPads to create music.
In order to get the full context, you have to watch the whole video. However, I’ve attempted to summarize below just how amazing software on the iPad can look and feel:
- 3:00: Demonstration begins for the Korg software
- 5:20: Explanation of what the Looptastic app does
- 6:10: Demonstration begins for how she puts it all together
- 6:50: Notice as she adds more music on the left iPad, she uses two fingers to drag two different things into the mix.
- 8:00: Again multiple simultaneous finger interactions with the controls.
- 15:44: Demonstration of using audio effects like the high pass filter
What I find amazing about this demo is that how obviously simple it is to use this software. When she drags things in from the musical palette, the motions she uses look completely natural and it’s obvious she doesn’t have to think about how to get where she wants.
At the beginning and end she makes the point that iPad applications are going to get better now that developers actually have iPads. The initial influx of apps were created using Apple’s software simulator that runs on a Macintosh computer. While it gives you a good idea about sizing of controls and such, there are many lessons you learn once you pick up the iPad and try to use an app. In the case of the Korg app (the first she demonstrates), it is obvious that the developers were seeking to mimic a “real” (i.e. hardware) component by having things like dial controls. Although they look cool, such controls will likely morph into other controls that are easier to control on the iPad (for example, sliders).
You can follow Rana Sobhany on Twitter or visit her website, destroythesilence.com.
Fox News Nation
If you’re not on Facebook, this is a couple of screenshots from my “feed” there. This particular person first became a “fan” of  “Fox Business and 11 others” which included Sean Hannity, Steve Doocy and Fox News. Two minutes later they posted their message opposing the new health care reform law. Subsequent comments revealed that it’s extremely unlikely this person understands anything substantial about the debate.
Shoes & Gloves
Yesterday I donned gloves and shoes for trimming back some of the blackberry vines in our yard. As I put them away in our shed, it occurred to me that I regarded them in an equally utilitarian way — occasionally useful for protection but usually just an encumbrance that I don’t need.