Speak before you think
29/04/08 20:46 Filed in: personal
A little while ago, Jessi and I decided to try a
Caribou Coffee drive-thru since we usually just
default to one of the thousands of Starbucks in the
area (hey, Denver is Starbucks' second-largest
market. Sue us). We weren't sure what we wanted, but
I finally ordered one of their cold blended drinks.
My wife tells me she wants a small vanilla latte, and
when the girl on the other end asked if she wanted a
medium for $.20 more, I shot her down with "no,
that's ok. My wife likes small things."
As if hearing her and the rest of her coworkers in the place crack up because they all have drive-thru headsets on wasn't funny enough, Jessi realized that, once we drove up to the window, the girl serving us was one of Jessi's former students.
Everyone laughed pretty hard, and I'm told that the girl actually raced through high-school by doubling up on classes so she could move out of the house for college ASAP. Because of that, I guess she didn't have too many ties with the rest of Jessi's current students, so my reputation should still be fairly tarnish-free.
The moral of the story is: you really should speak before you think.
As if hearing her and the rest of her coworkers in the place crack up because they all have drive-thru headsets on wasn't funny enough, Jessi realized that, once we drove up to the window, the girl serving us was one of Jessi's former students.
Everyone laughed pretty hard, and I'm told that the girl actually raced through high-school by doubling up on classes so she could move out of the house for college ASAP. Because of that, I guess she didn't have too many ties with the rest of Jessi's current students, so my reputation should still be fairly tarnish-free.
The moral of the story is: you really should speak before you think.
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Thesis almost finished
19/04/08 07:40 Filed in: school
Jessi has been absolutely wonderful in helping me
prepare all the binders and gallery dossier required
for handing everything in. All that's left is for me
to touch up my paper with a few details and finish
the video project itself. Everything is due by Monday
at 5 pm, but I'm confident I'll have it all wrapped
up at least by tomorrow afternoon sometime.
After everything's handed in we have a gallery showing on campus May 5-9, then the thesis defense on the 9th which is the part I'm the most nervous about. We stand up in front of our professors and any design peers and professionals they invite (as well as any students who care to stop by; it's an open thesis defense/critique) and answer questions. Everything's fair game—theory, topic, design, etc.
Here goesnothing something.
After everything's handed in we have a gallery showing on campus May 5-9, then the thesis defense on the 9th which is the part I'm the most nervous about. We stand up in front of our professors and any design peers and professionals they invite (as well as any students who care to stop by; it's an open thesis defense/critique) and answer questions. Everything's fair game—theory, topic, design, etc.
Here goes
Bayou steak
14/04/08 07:40 Filed in: food
Joey bookin' it
12/04/08 19:46 Filed in: family
Just fixed my RSS feed
07/04/08 19:14 Filed in: site
business
I didn't realize I broke my RSS feed a little while
ago after doing some major maintenance. It should be
fixed now.
I've also made a number of other changes, such as turning on in-line comments when viewing individual posts, as well as an ultra-awesome favicon that should appear in my address bar and RSS feed. I should probably design something cooler one of these days. Maybe when I'm finally done with all this school business.
As always, let me know if you find any problems with the site.
I've also made a number of other changes, such as turning on in-line comments when viewing individual posts, as well as an ultra-awesome favicon that should appear in my address bar and RSS feed. I should probably design something cooler one of these days. Maybe when I'm finally done with all this school business.
As always, let me know if you find any problems with the site.
"No one else on this earth does what I do"
06/04/08 21:34 Filed in: videos
There appears to be some confusion
06/04/08 18:44 Filed in: quotes
Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.
- Jamie Raskin, American University law professor, 2006.
(With special thanks to my friend John Gaskell for showing me this quote)
Goodbye, cable
27/03/08 21:55 Filed in: personal
Jessi and I have been talking about getting rid of
cable for a while now, and yet another mixup with
Comcast today finally sent us over the edge. The
Apple TV and iTunes Store have really changed the way
we watch TV, and a couple months ago I had the idea
of just ditching regular cable altogether. We buy
almost all the shows and seasons we actually want to
watch from the iTunes Store already, and keeping
cable around was turning into more of a liability and
productivity drain than anything. The potential for
channel surfing, vegging out, and wasting time
watching shows that really aren't worth a second
glance admittedly got the best of us sometimes.
A couple weeks ago we decided to switch our Qwest home phone service to Comcast to take advantage of a "triple play" bundle of cable, Internet, and phone. We were trying to save some money and the rep we worked with promised us a bundle package with basic cable for $100 plus taxes. That didn't sound too bad for all those services, especially considering that Internet by itself (the one service I truly care about, working at home and all) costs $60 for the speed I want. After discovering today that we still had all the premium channels we were paying for prior to the triple play switch, I called Comcast to find out if we were still paying for those channels. This new rep told us that yes, we were on a premium triple play bundle—instead of the basic cable bundle I was originally promised—because "you can't downgrade from a premium package (like we originally had) to a basic bundle." So we then had a $162 bundle instead of the $100 I was promised, or even the $142 price we were paying for a Premium Internet and cable package before.
Thinking that there was some kind of a miscommunication, I said thanks but called back to confirm this with a second rep. Yep, just when the mobile phone companies learned that they can't keep screwing customers by forcing them to renew their contracts just to change their wireless plan, Comcast appears to have adopted a "once you go Premium, you can't go back" policy. Or maybe that's just a management or sales decision with our particular Comcast service center. Who knows.
Point is, we don't care anymore.
This latest Comcast jerk-around was the last straw, and Jessi finally felt comfortable hopping on board the cable-cancelling express. We unhooked our cable boxes and phone/Internet modem, hauled them down the street to our local Comcast center and cancelled cable and phone (tip: these places are ghost towns Tues-Thurs). Jessi and I just don't watch that much TV right now, and what shows and movies we do watch, we buy or rent from iTunes Store, Blockbuster Online, or in a local store. We just shaved $100 off our monthly budget which feels pretty darn good, too. Sure some of that may go to an extra iTunes Store season pass from time to time, but it's roughly $100 more we can start putting into savings. Or spending on a night out enjoying each other.
Now that's Comcastic.
A couple weeks ago we decided to switch our Qwest home phone service to Comcast to take advantage of a "triple play" bundle of cable, Internet, and phone. We were trying to save some money and the rep we worked with promised us a bundle package with basic cable for $100 plus taxes. That didn't sound too bad for all those services, especially considering that Internet by itself (the one service I truly care about, working at home and all) costs $60 for the speed I want. After discovering today that we still had all the premium channels we were paying for prior to the triple play switch, I called Comcast to find out if we were still paying for those channels. This new rep told us that yes, we were on a premium triple play bundle—instead of the basic cable bundle I was originally promised—because "you can't downgrade from a premium package (like we originally had) to a basic bundle." So we then had a $162 bundle instead of the $100 I was promised, or even the $142 price we were paying for a Premium Internet and cable package before.
Thinking that there was some kind of a miscommunication, I said thanks but called back to confirm this with a second rep. Yep, just when the mobile phone companies learned that they can't keep screwing customers by forcing them to renew their contracts just to change their wireless plan, Comcast appears to have adopted a "once you go Premium, you can't go back" policy. Or maybe that's just a management or sales decision with our particular Comcast service center. Who knows.
Point is, we don't care anymore.
This latest Comcast jerk-around was the last straw, and Jessi finally felt comfortable hopping on board the cable-cancelling express. We unhooked our cable boxes and phone/Internet modem, hauled them down the street to our local Comcast center and cancelled cable and phone (tip: these places are ghost towns Tues-Thurs). Jessi and I just don't watch that much TV right now, and what shows and movies we do watch, we buy or rent from iTunes Store, Blockbuster Online, or in a local store. We just shaved $100 off our monthly budget which feels pretty darn good, too. Sure some of that may go to an extra iTunes Store season pass from time to time, but it's roughly $100 more we can start putting into savings. Or spending on a night out enjoying each other.
Now that's Comcastic.
New theme, new photos page
15/03/08 23:10 Filed in: site
business
The previous theme I was using never really felt
right, and I quickly realized it didn't allow for
expanding this site to all the extra content I plan
to present here eventually. So out with the old, and
in with this great new one. I think this theme is a
lot friendlier and fits my style a lot better. Yes, I
know I need to code my own theme so I can be one of
the cool kinds, but this is what you get for now.
In addition to this new theme, I've finally posted a small batch of photos to my all new Photos page. Eventually I'll have a number of separate albums here for different themes and events, but for now I just wanted to get up a small batch of some of my favorites from Aperture. I also have a photo RSS feed that will contain the most recent 50 photos I add to this area.
Let me know what you think of the theme either in the comments here or by contacting me, especially if you find any problems or bugs.
In addition to this new theme, I've finally posted a small batch of photos to my all new Photos page. Eventually I'll have a number of separate albums here for different themes and events, but for now I just wanted to get up a small batch of some of my favorites from Aperture. I also have a photo RSS feed that will contain the most recent 50 photos I add to this area.
Let me know what you think of the theme either in the comments here or by contacting me, especially if you find any problems or bugs.
Cover for new Apple book I contributed to
13/03/08 19:11 Filed in: writing
At Macworld Expo '07, Apple Matters' Chris Seibold approached me about contributing to O'Reilly's The Big Book of Apple Hacks. Of course, I couldn't say no (besides, physical threats do wonders for making decisions). Later in the year we got to working on a few pieces and Chris was great about everything. I'm a newbie to the book scene so I really didn't know how much of this worked. But a bunch of iChats and a few shared Google Docs later, I'm happy to say I have five pieces that will appear in the book, which I believe hits shelves of both the digital and real world kind sometime in April.
Featured here is a rendition of the cover, though I'm told it might change from this before it's published. I'm pretty psyched to make it into my first book; brief bio, picture, and all. My only regret is that I haven't finished school yet so I couldn't promise Chris more hacks.
So, do your human duty, and be sure to keep an eye out for The Big Book of Apple Hacks and buy a copy. Or two. Donate an armful to a worthy cause. Heck, grab a second copy for nightstand so you're never without this fine tomb of Apple geekery.