CafeChatNoir

New laptop!  Probably a good 3x as fast as my old one, at half the price.  Mind you, this wasn’t on my list of things to do today.

My timing is just so impeccable.  The old laptop died today.  2 papers and an exam to write in the next two weeks and it can’t boot up.  Couldn’t have happened on the 15th when time would have been a luxury to figure out if it was the drive, the motherboard, or simply jammed with cat hair.

So, this evening is security patching, installing software and restoring backed up files (yay, Mozy!  Last backup 20 hours ago.  Gotta love it.)

Really old laptop – you couldn’t hold out for 2 more weeks?

I know I shouldn’t be mucking around on the internet while on vacation, but it looks like its fixing to rain, so it’s a good day to putter around and read rather than having to make a mad dash from the beach when the skies open up.

Once again, we are not being failed in the food department.  Did our usual Friday night outing for Awful Arthur’s so I could get my crab & lobster bisque and clams casino fix.  Saturday we tried the Cafe & Wine Bar at Coastal Provisions – another great meal.  I had seared scallops with linguini that was just perfect and Donald got the surf & turf and I believe he might have left the pattern on the plate.  They are now on the “definitely going again” list.  It’s small and quiet and really nice.  Only open Thursday – Saturday, so call ahead.  Sunday we hit Port O’ Call for another good meal that included shrimp stuffed with gouda and wrapped in bacon and slathered in barbecue sauce.

Last night we did foodie night and hit The Left Bank.  This summer, they not only have the 5 course tasting menu, but a 7 course and 9 course blind tasting menu as well.  We went with the 7 course and it was spectacular.  I go the wine pairing with it, and if you do that, someone else better be driving.  (The *huge* old-fashioned I had to start probably had some effect as well.  I swear, this was a double and a half.)  There was heirloom tomato gazpacho, fennel & goat cheese macaroons, kingfish tartare, braised pork belly & short ribs, a plate of cheese, almonds, & honey, a plate of heirloom tomatoes and strawberry gazpacho, and a couple other things that I am now forgetting, but it was all just incredible.

I’m still a little shocked I’ve been here 4 days and still haven’t gotten any shrimp & grits yet.  That will definitely be rectified soon.

In completely unrelated news, I am on Google+ now, and it says I have invites, so if you want one, shoot me your email address.  I like it.  I doubt I’ll be dumping Facebook for it, but I do see myself using it – just probably not quite the same way as I use Facebook.  No ads and a lot less clutter.  The “Circles” make it a lot easier to determine who will see what, and make reading easier as well.  I’d really like to see some news organizations & businesses get on to G+ – I follow a lot of pages on Facebook, but I have no way of separating them out for viewing on Fb – all the pages are lumped together.  On G+ I’d be able to separate them out to things like news/politics/businesses, etc.  (I’ve found one breaking news page so far, but nothing else – if you know of any businesses or other non-person profiles you think I’d like, let me know.)

If anyone else is on it, let me know so I can stalk find you.

Despite any indicators to the contrary, he’s very handy to have around. I cannot easily clip the cats’ nails myself – they’re pretty good about it, but I get through one or two nails and they decide they have something more important to do and leave. After Lily caught a nail in her tail the other day, it was obvious it was trimming time again. Donald agreed saying that Carmen had been slicing him up lately. He also later admitted it might have had something to do with boxing matches they were having. (And I suspect he was instigating.)

So, today was, “Donald, grab a cat!” day. Fortunately they like him quite a bit, and they sat right in his lap and he kept them from other appointments, and the feline manicures were done in no time, and we didn’t even have to break out the towels.

In other news, picking out a new cell phone is a lot more involved than it used to be. Granted, the last time I actually picked out a new model of a phone was at least 5 years ago. They have some new features! Everything is enabled for GPS navigation, which is really cool cause I think I would use that a lot. It would be nice to go new places without having to factor in an extra 30 minutes for getting lost. So, it looks like I’ll have a data plan regardless. I could still get the current iteration of my old phone, but if I’m going to have a data plan anyway, I figure I might as well go ahead and get something a little more shiny. It’s down to the Samsung Reclaim (free) the LG Lotus Elite ($30) or the HTC Hero (Android, $100).

I think the Android phone, cool as it may be, may be way more than I’d ever need – tons of apps, but I really can’t think of any phone app I desperately need. So for the moment, I think the Lotus Elite is in the lead, touchscreen and a better memory card than the Reclaim. So, we’ll see.

So, I’m thinking the time is coming for a new cell phone. Old one isn’t holding a charge very well and it’s cheaper to get a whole new phone than trying to replace the battery. (And it seems like they don’t make that particular battery anymore anyway.)

So, if you have gotten a new phone in the past year – what did you get? What do you love about it and what do you hate about it?

Also, did you end up adding a data plan to your package cause of all the shiny stuff that’s now available?

(My current phone just does calling and text messages. Very un-shiny.)

So, I was sitting here a little while ago, minding my own business and paying some bills. An average day.

Then I hear a hissing noise coming from the right side of my laptop table. At first, I thought it was the soda can. Then I saw what appeared to be steam or smoke shooting sideways from the vicinity of my AirCard, but I still couldn’t really figure out what exactly was happening.

Then I heard a pop. Which as it turns out, was the battery cover to my AirCard being shot across my coffee table. Then things started happening in a rather rapid and disturbing succession.

The battery on the AirCard then shot out of the battery slot, ON FIRE. Not just smoking and threatening fire, actually shooting out FIRE in several directions. I’m then jumping up, cursing in several languages I never knew I was fluent in while half my brain is screaming PUT IT OUT, PUT IT OUT!!! While the other half of my brain is thinking, “Dear lord, my life has just turned into the ‘Caravaning in Dorset’ episode on Top Gear.”

I then upended a near full can of Coke over the entire thing. (Guess it’s a good thing I wasn’t drinking vodka.) Then dumped it in a large glass of water in the kitchen. Then stood there for a while just wondering WTF had just happened.

Guess it’s time to see if I am eligible for an upgrade on my AirCard.

Holy crap, Batman I just saw the trailer for Tron:Legacy. (Click the link.  CLICK IT!!!)

The original came out in 1982, we got a (likely pirated) copy on VHS when we were overseas – I cannot tell you how many times we watched that movie, and this one looks FREAKING AWESOME.  I didn’t realize they were actually going to extend off the original – I cannot tell you how completely geeked out I am that this isn’t just another remake.

If my Dad were still around, he’d be in line at 12:01AM on December 17th to see it.  Hell, *I* may be in line at 12:01 AM.

Despite the somewhat unfortunate name, the iPad looks incredibly cool.

From what I can tell, it looks a bit like a cross between a Kindle and an iPhone, which again – incredibly cool. However, having no need for a Kindle or an iPhone, I also have no need for a combination of the two. But I almost wish I did, cause damn, it is shiny! The price points run from $499 to $829 right now, but I do wonder when it will change. (Maybe it’s just me, but it seems that Apple tends lower their price points pretty quickly. Could be my imagination though.)

But, if you’re an AT&T subscriber, enjoy your bandwidth while you have it, because they are once again partnering with AT&T, and I just
can’t say I have any faith in AT&T to be able to keep up with the demand if this thing turns out to be really popular.

Still…SHINY!!!

From CNN: Five clues that you are addicted to Facebook

One day recently, Cynthia Newton’s 12-year-old daughter asked her for help with homework, but Newton didn’t want to help her, because she was too busy on Facebook. So her daughter went upstairs to her room and sent an e-mail asking her for help, but Newton didn’t see the e-mail, because, well, she was too busy on Facebook.

Yes, it’s Facebook’s fault that she seems to have abandoned parenting.

I’ve been on Facebook for about 6 months now. It’s got some great timewasters (Poker, anyone?) and yes, it can be used as a tool for avoiding real life. But it’s also been a great way to reconnect with old friends – a wonderful friend I haven’t seen in near 20 years found me on Fb and it’s been terrific to be able to catch up with her. I honestly don’t know how we would have found each other had it not been for Facebook.

Sure, I doubt that anyone really has a desperate need to know what I’m doing at any given point in the day – but Facebook Mobile was a nice little sanity saver when I was stuck in AZ at Christmas. There’s a lot to be said for being able to toss out an “I’m losing my mind” status update and get some quick support from friends. (And comments that the mind had long since gone as well.) I like being able to know what my friends are up to and how they’re doing and to be able to toss them a quick note if they need bucking up.

Facebook is also much more interactive than a regular blog, so sure, it can consume some more time than other websites. (Also why my blog feeds into the Facebook notes – not everyone knows I have a blog.) It’s a great all-in-one place for thoughts, notes, pictures and whatnot.

But, if you’re “addicted to Facebook”, it’s not Facebook’s fault. If Facebook didn’t exist, people would find other ways to avoid real life – trust me, people avoided real life and real problems long before the internet existed.  If you spend an ungodly amount of time doing anything, you need to take a quick step back and look at why you’re doing it.

This particular excerpt really bugged me:

“One of my clients met up with an old boyfriend on Facebook. They started spending hours and hours into the night talking to each other on Facebook. She made some really inappropriate comments about how unhappy she was in her marriage,” Pile said. “Her cousin saw the comments and told her parents, and the parents told the husband, and now they’re in the process of getting divorced.”

Guess what? Those two were going to get divorced eventually anyway. Using Facebook didn’t cause the divorce – it just brought the underlying problems in that particular relationship to light.

Sometimes, a little avoidance of the real world isn’t the worst thing in the world. But you can’t blame Facebook for building a killer app that enables you to do it. Suck it up and face your fears and address your issues.

Just be sure to update your status when you’ve conquered them – I’ll hit the “Like” button.

I swear, every time I turn around there is yet another new version of WordPress to upgrade to.  I think I make it about every 3rd release.

New theme this time around – I need a better banner for it, and then some more color tweaking, but it’s the layout that I want, which is a good start.  And this theme has more pick & click options that the older ones have, so I don’t have to go diving into the stylesheets as much as I used to.  (It’s not that I can’t, but it’s a pain.)

Given my track record with WP upgrades, I suspect they will have a new one out within about 48 hours. :)

OK, so over on the trading forum I follow, it seems there have been some folks that have had problems getting to their online brokerages (mainly TD Ameritrade it seems) and they are understandably ticked off over the situation.  (It’s not like today’s volume in the markets is unprecendented, and one would reasonably expect that the site could handle it.)

Here is someone’s comment on all this:

Do people not understand volume that has hit the markets today? It is not necessarily the company you trade with, but more than likely your computer or router. The amount of data streaming into a personal computer will close certain ports if it exceeds what the computer sees as safe. The problem is on you, and your equipment, and your connection….not the multimillion dollar broker systems. Try using some common sense, and blame your mistakes and lost profits on the user.

Why on earth would E*Trade be sending me any more data when I log in today than it would any other day?  OK, there is that one extra hyperlink on the home page so I can read the list of financial companies that can’t be shorted for a while (pdf), but somehow I don’t think that is enough to shut down the ports on my computer and keep me from the website.

If a site is overloaded, it’s overloaded.

I wonder if he’s trying to justify upgrading his computer and buying a T1 line to his wife…

STILL having the issue with the posts, despite the upgrade.

Consider this a test to see what happens next…

Just got a news email that Gustav is now a Cat 5.

Still absorbing McCain’s VP pick. I know Palin is very well regarded among her constituents and it doesn’t appear that Alaska is about to fall into the ocean so I assume she’s not done too badly there. But, she’s pretty conservative and McCain didn’t really need that, cause the hard core conservatives weren’t going to be crossing over to the democrats anyway. Hate to think it was nothing more than a pandering move, but maybe it was.

Upgraded WP again and went ahead and blew away all my customizations and theme, which should take care of the disappearing posts issue, because it was something in the comment form, I just never figured out what – but now that I’ve got a shiny new untouched form, that should do it. Unfortunately, I’m having a hard time finding a theme that I like, so I’m going to give some of the theme generators a try and see if I can get things back to looking somewhat like they were before, if not better.

…

Anyone out there know what a reasonable lifespan for a very heavily used laptop would be?

Mine is 3 years old and starting to overheat again on occasion, and I’m trying to figure out if this is the beginning of the end or if taking it to the shop would make sense.  (Even if it is a huge pain in the ass and I’m not sure I want to shell out a lot of money on repairs if it’s just going to be a band-aid fix.)

Despite the fact that it took a while to get the router setup with the cable modem last night – it *was* working just fine.

This morning, I come downstairs, fire up my laptop, and get a connection.  I can get to my email, but not anything via browser…  ??!?

So, I’m working off my aircard for the moment and will figure out later what has already gone wrong with the router.

Or, unwired as the case may be. After a couple missteps, and many, many reboots, the server is setup in the basement, and the wireless router is on the cable modem, providing wireless access to:

2 laptops
2 TiVos
1 XBox
and possibly 1 DS

and even with all that going on, it’s still zippy fast.

And the timing couldn’t be better since we just got the cable upgraded and fully functioning and ready for internet.

The DSL has been down all day and currently I’m dialed in at an impressive 26.4 Kbps.

They just called and said there is a short in the line and they want to send a Covad tech out. Sorry, I’ve already put in my order with Cox and I’ll be picking up my modem and connect kit in the next day or so. I’m not monkeying around with techs and $200 service calls for a service that I won’t be continuing to use.

If you’re a troll with a VERY DISTINCT writing style and you have been banned from a site and keep coming back under different pseudonyms and don’t bother to change said writing style, don’t expect people to actually believe you aren’t the same moron.

Just sayin’.

Why, oh why must you puke all over me when I am trying to get things done? Why must my CD drive decide to be incredibly cranky today – when I really need to burn a CD today. When I will be heading out of town and won’t be able to have it fixed (if it won’t fix itself here soon) anytime in the immediate future? Why? WHY? Especially when I just had this drive replaced last spring?!?

Please, oh please, burn this CD. And actually let it read properly when it’s done. Is that really too much to ask?

ETA: And the cable just crapped out, too.

Nope, no iPhone for me. Not that it doesn’t look INCREDIBLY COOL, because it does, but I am just not going to pony up $600 for a phone and switch to AT&T’s service, especially when I already have a perfectly good phone and iPod. (Plus my alarming tendency to be incredibly rough on phones of late.)

But, I really would like to see one up close & personal. However, let’s face it, by the time the riots die down for it, it’s going to be like every other cell phone on display in an AT&T store. The battery will be dead, the screen will be cracked and the video will be in the form of a colored sticker on the screen and a disgruntled clerk telling you to “use your imagination.”

So, if anyone out there braves the whackos waiting in line to see one of these this weekend and gets to see it before it just becomes a battered piece of non-functioning metal chained to a display case, do tell if it seems to live up to the commercials.

Wordpress automatically comes with Akismet for comment spam catching, and it does a very good job.

What I don’t understand is the point of comment spamming… Most blogs I’ve run across automatically moderate the first comment from a particular person, and/or have something along the lines of Akismet. Now, when I get these, it’s not like I am going to actually click any of the links in them and they get deleted. So – what is the point of putting a bot out there to do this when the comments aren’t ever going to see the light of day?

Yeah, new and improved, my ass. Google reader has made some damn modification to that my keyboard is damn near useless when I have that page opened – can’t use the keyboard to get to the browser menu, it just starts activating crap on the page that I don’t use anyway.

Second, Starbucks is supposedly phasing out whole milk in it’s shops for 2%. If I wanted 2% milk, I’d ask for it. Don’t force someone else’s damn diet plan on me, thankyouverymuch.

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/ has a free watermark program today – Watermark Factory 2 – only “catch” is that you have to download and install/activate it before midnight pacific time.

Thanks to Paperpath for passing on the link.

Many, many thanks to mendel for his help on this and providing a mod on ljxp to solve the post ID problem and the bit of code to put in the control panel to make it work.

Woohoo!!!!!!

I’ve almost got things the way I want them… I’ve finally gotten the ljxp crossposter to work – seems I had a bad/old version of it when I started out.

The comment count image is going in the posts…except that from what I can tell from what is displaying (-1) and reading the code, it seems to be deciding that the post ID is invalid and as such, tagging it w/the -1… I really like the idea of getting the comments on the site vs. LJ, especially since I found the “subscribe to comments” plugin so folks can get replies and I really want this to work.

There must be a way to fix it, just gotta figure it out…

.

Or something. They’re calling for snow on Tuesday. They have no idea how much but are saying it could be “significant” – which means, “we have no freakin’ idea.”

What this means is get everything you need to hold you through Wednesday at the market tomorrow, cause on Monday, the locusts will be swarming in and the aisles will be cleared of milk, toilet paper, bread and boneless chicken breasts. I on the other hand, will be purchasing beef, tortillas, and porkchops if they have ones that look good.

Oh, , I found the plug-in that lets you subscribe to comments over on the WP side so you can get replies! And it seems to actually work! (I may eventually just turn off the LJ comment side so I can have everything in one place.) Unfortunately, I still don’t seem to be able to get the comment count thing working – it works in the RSS feed, but not in the crossposted stuff, which is frustrating, because it seems to be working for . It’s not the end of the world by any means, but annoying nonetheless.

Testing comment count plugin, and Open ID plugin.

(Neither of which seems to want to work…)

And no, I don’t mean that nifty concoction that comes in a can and if sliced thinly and fried up, is actually pretty good in it’s own weird way.

Nah, just talking about the seemingly unending crap that keeps ending up in my inbox. Now, the obvious solution is to just cancel all my email accounts and get a new one. But, it’s not the most practical way to handle it.

The worst offender is my Speakeasy email account, which I’ve had for at least 6 years. There is a server side filter, don’t know who they specifically use, but it at least tags emails and they get dumped to the “Who the fuck are you?” folder in Outlook. My domain emails aren’t quite as bad, but there is still enough to be annoying. LaughingSquid uses SpamAssassin, and again, it’s a server side app.

Now, the Speakeasy account will be going away as we’ll be switching ISP’s in the near future, and I’m thinking I’m just going to stick with my domain email and not use whatever the new ISP email has.

Now, what I’d really like (and the problem is I am not sure it exists) is an email app that can “talk” to SpamAssassin and I can blacklist items from within the app. I can do this in the webmail program LaughingSquid provides, but as a general rule, I don’t much like webmail and much prefer POP3 access.

At the moment, it seems the only thing I can do is blacklist/delete via webmail and then download the rest of the mail into Outlook. I’d really love a somewhat more automated/coordinated solution. If anyone knows of one, I’d love to hear about it.

Got my laptop back this afternoon, in almost working order. They neglected to actually activate the new drive, so 30 seconds of cussing and clicking and now I have a fully functioning system. It’s funny how you get completely used to a particular computer and then when you get stuck with another one, you’re just stumbling around in the dark for a while.

And I’m celebrating having a working CD/DVD drive again by ripping mp3’s off a bunch of CD’s. :)

Steve – I’m totally with you on this one. Trash DRM. Consumers want true portability, and DRM doesn’t help that. And shouldn’t it be about who is listening to the music?

Via the feed – tons and tons of kitties on the internet!

My del.icio.us account has been very, very handy this week with the laptop being in the shop. Just realized I’ve got over 300 links over there… Kinda crazy, but it’s nice to have it all in one place and accessible from anywhere.

Talked w/the service manager over at the shop, the DVD drive is on order and should be here in a day or so and he apologized for no one getting back to me, so here’s hoping it’s not much longer until I have my laptop again.