28th
JAN
Good Buildup
Filed under Technology, Web, Windows
There are times when buildup is a bad thing, like when you have a buildup of that film on your teeth. I, on the other hand, have a good buildup of links that I need to pass along to you all.
- Get your Star Wars geek on with this video clip. Via GVOD.
- Do you miss your Commodore 64? You can now play all of those games online.
- Have you ever wondered what you can do with RSS feeds, beside syndicate news headlines? This site will help you with 12 other possible uses.
- Are you tired of not having a mouse with your laptop when you are away from your desk? The MoGo Mouse might be your solution. Bluetooth required for use.
- Do you want to learn how to do some of those fun Ajax web tricks? Let script.aculo.us be your guide.
- Windoze users, are you tired of having to dig through your start menu to open applications? Colibri is an application launcher that lets you launch your applications just by typing the name of it. I’ve installed this at work, and it’s coming in very handy. Definitely worth a look.
If you want to see all that I have in my del.icio.us bookmarks check it out.
[tags]Star Wars, c64, rss, MoGo Mouse, script.aculo.us, Colibri[/tags]
24th
JAN
28 Things
Filed under Family
Today is a special day — for no “real” reason 
So, on this special day I’m going to share with you 28 reasons why I love my wife These are in no specific order, they are only numbered so you know that I listed 28 reasons.
- She is a big believer in the “breakfast is the most important meal” rule, and always makes sure I have something to eat in the morning
- She’s extremely thoughtful toward everyone she meets
- She listens to me when I ramble
- She always finds a new good book for me to read before I finish her last suggested title
- She has to deal with the genetic ball-o-energy I passed along to our son . . . and hasn’t kicked me out of bed yet!
- She routinely sends me links to stories she thinks I’ll enjoy (specifically tech stuff)
- One word — cookies
- She humors me when I get my geek on
- One night when I came home from work I had a hankering for a German pancake . . . and having guessed that I’d want one she had one going in the oven already
- She puts up with my Red Sox talk
- She’s inspired me to become a better web developer
- She’s pretty
- We’ll be 30 feet apart, and still IM each other
- She’s full of grace for people that frustrate us (read: me)
- She spurred me to action on turning my web development hobby into a “job“
- She encourages me to grow personally, professionally, and spiritually
- Even though she doesn’t like living in the Newberg area, she believes it’s the right place to be for now
- She’s passionate about finding what “the church” should really mean and be
- She’s not afraid to question authority
- While in labor, before going to the hospital, she watched Dude, Where’s My Car? and The Three Amigos
- Even though she’s not an extrovert she knows Judah is, so she takes him on daily outings
- A favorite cartoon of her’s growing up was Garfield and Friends
- She keeps me up-to-date with all the latest celeb news
- She enjoys watching 24
- She’s got a sarcastic/cynical streak just like me
- She loves me
- She makes me want to be a better husband
- She said “Yes!”
There you have it. I love you, Baby.
18th
JAN
@43 u 1337?
Filed under Technology, Web
Are you leet, is what I was asking. Leet is short for “elite”, and leetspeak is taking words and replacing them with characters and numbers. An example would be /\/\1cr0$()ft.
I saw a new online aggregator, “the best online aggregator ever…”, a day or two ago which is what prompted me to give the short lesson in 13375p34k. t3h Blox0r is pretty slick. It gives a desktop aggregator feel right in your Gecko-based web browser. That’s right, this website only works with web browsers that use the Gecko engine, such as Firefox or Seamonkey (formerly Mozilla Application Suite). I’m just starting to play around with it. I think this look the most promising out of all the other non-Bloglines feeds I’ve tried.
[tags]Bloxor, feed, rss, aggregator[/tags]
10th
JAN
Coincidence or Price Fixing
Filed under Mac, Technology
Today Apple introduced their new MacBook Pro and an update to the iMac model. These are the first two systems to use the Intel processors that Apple announced they are switching to back in June 2005.
A little history lesson. In 1978 Intel released the 8086 processor. This is the processor that “fathered” the 286/386/486 lines and Pentium lines. In the personal computer world the 8086 is a founding father . . . the George Washington of micro-processors if you will.
In today’s stock market news — the day that Apple introduces their first Intel based products — Apple stock closed at $80.86. I know that price fixing on the stock market like this would be extremely difficult, and probably impossible, but still . . . it’s almost too strange to be a coincidence.
[tags]Apple, Macintosh, Intel[/tags]
10th
More Wordpress Plugins
Filed under Plugins, Wordpress
Building on my previous post, here are some more Wordpress plugins for you to check out:
- SimpleTags - “SimpleTags is a WordPress plugin that will allow you to easily generate Technorati tags at the bottom of your blog entries. There are several plugins already available for this purpose, but they all require you to use custom fields within WordPress. The SimpleTags plugin eliminates this need…” You will notice the fancy Technorati tags at the bottom of this post (I just installed this one myself).
- Google Analytics - This is a different plugin for Google Analytics. The major difference between the one I highlighted earlier is the link tracking feature this one has. This plugin also adds the appropriate code to links within the posts to track what links people are clicking on to exit your site. If you click on this link it will register it with GA.
- Live Preview - This plugin presents a real-time preview of what your visitor is typing into the comment box. That way they can preview exactly what it will look like when they actually submit the comment. I’ve installed it, so you can try it out below.
[tags]Wordpress, plugins[/tags]
9th
JAN
Set it Free
Filed under Technology
I’ve seen this story presented before. Basically, Boston’s Logan Airport has pay-for wifi access, which they gouge $7.95/day out of you. I know the size and importance of Portland Intl Airport is not that of Logan, but PDX has free wifi service throughout the airport.
Living in the northwest I know that there would be revolts against PDX if they *shudder* charged for wifi access. I can’t imagine paying $8 to browse the internet for the hour or two that I sit in the airport and wait on a flight. That’s just extreme. If I traveled for work more than 2-3 times a year I would seriously get into Continental’s Presidents Club for their free wifi. Dallas - Ft. Worth only has pay-for wifi access, Denver only has pay-for wifi, and O’Hare is just now getting setup with it. It’s not often that I feel like there is a reason to brag about PDX, but this is definitely a major bragging point for me.
[tags]wifi, Logan International Airport, Portland International Airport[/tags]
Delicious Links
My Twitter Feed
- jschwanz: work inbox below 50, making good progress through emails rcvd over holiday January 6, 2009
- jschwanz: no iMac, Mini, or 10.6 mentions; disappointed with that #mwsf09 January 6, 2009
- jschwanz: drm-free itunes is a good thing #mwsf09 January 6, 2009
- jschwanz: 8 hours on a single charge, I wonder how fast/slow it charges #mwsf09 January 6, 2009
- jschwanz: bah iwork.com will be fee-based, google docs still FTW #mwsf09 January 6, 2009