Personal

Merry Christmas to all the Christians in the audience. I hope you find your hopes and dreams under the tree. Hopefully I’ll have a big announcement to share with y’all soon.

I was checking activity on my credit cards today only to find a $15 charge I couldn’t remember. Then it came to me. The free Senseo carried a $15 shipping and handling charge. It was placed on my card on Monday which means it could arrive any day now. Then I can be all jacked on coffee at home too.

I have a lot to be thankful for this year and I’m glad that I’ll be able to celebrate that with my family today. I hope all of you are in good health and have much to celebrate. Don’t forget to save room for some pie!

In case you didn’t read the link in the supplemental, for a picture of your coffee pot doing something unusual (I opted to fill it with Halloween candy) you get a Senseo machine (currently valued at $49.99). Ok, so you need to pay $15 for shipping and handling, but that’s still huge savings. Anyway, I submitted my photo and it was accepted this morning. It won’t ship for 4-6 weeks due to high demand (geez, free $50 device, who thought that’d be popular?). I can’t wait so my lazy ass can have coffee every morning. ...

I noticed Orkut was listed in part of Google’s services once you’ve logged in with a username. A new Google service? I must try it out! Unfortunately, it’s invitation only. If you’ve got an account, please invite me. Please?

I’m both throroughly embarressed and relieved. The Mac Genius was able to fix my Powerbook. The steps he took were: Re-sat the Airport card. I didn’t know that could be a common cause. Reset the power manager. I did that. Reset the open firmware. At this point, the screen was working. When I did it, I had to use my external display. All is well again and seeing as a little bit of my pride saved me several hundred dollars, I think I can suck it up. I’ll have to hold off a little on applying for a part-time Genius position though.

Rather than post separate entries, I thought I’d explain why I haven’t been around with one. Visiting Hours My friend Scott finally freed up some time to see the new place, which he now calls a sweet setup. I’m inclined to agree. He came out Friday night and got the full tour. Naturally, the four floors of my place were a high point. So far, no one has really had a bad word, but then again maybe they’re all being polite and saving the criticism for later. ...

Like pretty much everyone else, the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina saddened me. I have written anything about because I personally wasn’t affected (unless you count gas prices, which I don’t) and because I wouldn’t be saying anything that others had already said in a much more elegant way. I’m glad that Henry is well. I suggest donations be made to the Salvation Army.

I got the opportunity to write another article for Macworld Online (I don’t know if it’ll get used in Macworld Magazine or not). Check it out. I got to review one of my favorite pieces of Mac software, Growl. In short, it manages all kinds of alerts. It’s still not 1.0, so the review is a “Promising Prospect” piece. I hope that by the time it reaches 1.0, it’s part of every good Mac user’s arsenal; it’s part of mine.

Lately my car has been making some unusual noise. It got worse yesterday, so I dropped it off at the mechanic and rode into work with my father. We took 128 North, then cut onto Commerce Way. Somehow we ended up behind a police cruiser. Normally, that’s not an issue because they speed. This morning, we ended up behind that rare police officer that doesn’t. In fact, according to our speedometer, he was below the speed limit (by an MPH or two). We normally end up in the left lane because one has to turn left into Raytheon anyway. ...