technotes

Apple's latest offerings don't disappoint

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:56:00 GMT

Listening to Apple's keynote address at WWDC on Monday, I was struck by the audience's reaction. Since the WWDC audience consists primarily of application developers and technology media, it's fair to assume that they've done more than their share of speculation about what will be announced. Yet they still manage to react like giddy children at a magic show - oohing and aahing with excitement.

And I reacted the same way, though I oohed in the privacy of my living room in front of my MacBook Pro - simultaneously listening to the keynote (and occasionally watching it as video feeds became available for short periods), watching podcasts, following a chat feed and live tweeting the entire experience to grateful friends who were unable to participate. We all had expectations of what would be revealed surrounding Mac OS 10.7 (Lion), iOS 5 and iCloud. Our speculation was accurate while allowing Steve Jobs the satisfaction of still being able to provide us with a few surprises.

Some highlights:

Mac OS 10.7 (Lion)

250 new features, including multitouch gestures, fullscreen apps, Mission Control, Launchpad, Versions, Airdrop and new email functionality. Available only through the Mac App Store starting in July, and at a very reasonable price of $30 for up to 5 devices. Sweet.

iOS 5

More than 200 new features for our iPhones and iPads, including the much awaited new notifications system. No more annoying popups that must be attended to immediately. Awesomesauce. A new iBooks type of application specifically geared for newspapers and magazines called Newstand. Seamless Twitter integration. New Safari features such as tabbed browsing and page saving. A new reminders 'to do' list application. Improvements to their already impressive and popular camera - such as faster loading, pinch zoom, auto-exposure, red eye reduction and more. New mail features and a new messaging client. Most importantly, we're FINALLY PC Free! We will no longer be required to use the archaic method of connecting our devices to cables in order to install and update content. We'll also enjoy over the air 'delta' updates, resulting in smaller, faster downloads. Biggest surprise? iOS 5 will work on iPhones back to the 3GS. Most of us assumed iOS 5 would only be made available for the iPhone 4 and 5.

iCloud

No more MobileMe. Even Steve made a joke about MobileMe, one of the only self-proclaimed 'failures' in the Apple product line. iCloud will replace MobileMe and provide much more functionality - while at the same time eliminating the $99 yearly fee. iCloud becomes your content source, wirelessly and seamlessly integrating content between your devices. Your documents, bookmarks, messages, etc. all save automatically to the cloud. Get a new iPhone? Just enter your Apple ID and your data restores itself the new device. Photos will automatically be stored between your Mac and iOS devices. Music and other iTunes content will also be available immediately across your devices. iTunes Match is a new product that allows users to access their iTunes content across devices, regardless of where it was purchased. To those of us with huge libraries of content purchased outside of iTunes, it is very reasonably priced at $25/year.

My only disappointment? That more wasn't made immediately available to consumers. I realize the address was intended for developers, but I was still hoping that at least iOS 5 and iCloud would be available same day as the keynote. But once again, Apple leaves us happily excited about their new products, and even happier that most of the new offerings won't even require us to open our wallets.

Two simple modifications to update your dock in Lion or Snow Leopard

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:55:00 GMT

If you're like me, you rely on your Mac's dock to access a lot of the applications and files you use the most. Sure, there are other ways to access your apps - Spotlight, Alfred, Quicksilver, Google Quick Search Box - but the dock is still commonly used for launching. And if you're like me, you have an annoying tendency to occasionally click on the wrong application icon. ARGH! So when I came across this solution, I thought it was worth trying.

Group Your Icons

Group your applications by type and add spacers to separate the groups. The trick requires Terminal, but don't worry - it's two lines of code you can copy and paste.

1. Launch Terminal. You'll find Terminal under Applications/Utilities.

2. Enter this line of code. Don't be a hero - just make it easy on yourself and copy and paste this into your Terminal screen, then hit ENTER:

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add '{tile-data={}; tile-type="spacer-tile";}'

3. Paste the code a few more times, hitting ENTER after each instance. Each instance will create another spacer tile.

4. Enter this line of code into your Terminal screen, to reset your dock:

killall Dock

Now you will see a large space on the right side of your dock. Mouse over the area and click-and-hold to move a spacer to a new spot on your dock. Do this with the other spacers. Removing spacers is just as easy as removing an icon on your dock. Just drag it out of the dock and POOF!

Add a Recent Applications Folder

Another way to add a little extra functionality to your dock is to add a Recent Applications folder, to sit alongside your Applications and Downloads folders. The instructions are very similar to adding spacers:

1. Launch Terminal. You'll find Terminal under Applications/Utilities.

2. Enter this line of code - make it easy on yourself and just copy and paste this into your Terminal screen, then hit ENTER:

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '{ "tile-data" = { "list-type" = 1; }; "tile-type" = "recents-tile"; }'

3. Enter this line of code into your Terminal screen, to reset your dock:

killall Dock

Once the dock resets, you will see this new item. Right-click on the folder to change your view options. That's it!

KC Munchkin!

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:59:00 GMT

I'm feeling a little retro today. Watching '70s Tech' on 'Modern Marvels' at lunchtime got me looking for YouTube videos about the old Magnavox Odyssey Video Game System we had back in the late 70s-early 80s. All of our friends had Atari systems, so we had no idea what to expect from this system when we unwrapped it on Christmas morning. It didn't take long for me to get hooked on the games and find many ways where I thought it was superior to the Atari.

Some of my favorite games - bowling, football and KC Munchkin. KC Munchkin was similar to PacMan but once you played it, you'd notice several differences. It was released after the PacMan arcade version, but prior to the PacMan video cartridge version. The video here shows what it looked like:

Here's another one for their golf game:

Go ahead and laugh. This was SO COOL when it came out. I should call my Dad and see if he's come across our old system in the basement. I might want to hook it up!

What if you could do some good without doing anything?

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:01:00 GMT

OK, so what if you could do some good without doing anything - and doing it all for FREE? You'd say 'yeah, um...sure sign me up. I'm all for helping where I can and this 'free' thing sounds right within my budget'. Well now you can with DoGood. Simply put, DoGood is a browser plug-in that replaces website ads with ads promoting their stash of charitable organizations and public service announcements. Their website puts it somewhat better:

The DoGood browser plug-in hides the generic advertising you see on the Internet, and shows you thoughtful green related initiatives, philanthropic calls for action, and health and wellness ideas instead. We then donate 50% of our profits back to charity, green initiatives, and non-profit organizations.

Now if you're an advertiser, you're starting to freak out - thinking your paid ads aren't being seen. Hold on. DoGood doesn't block paid ads and doesn't mess with your CPM agreements. Yeah, you're still getting paid. What's more, users can easily switch to see your ads. But what if you run a green or charitable website? Simply add your site to their whitelist, exempting yourself from this service. This will ensure that only your own ads appear on your site.

For someone like me who would gladly donate more if I could, this just makes sense. I seldom pay much attention to ads anyway, and now that I'm using this I have actually learned a few interesting facts. Did you know it takes 958 liters of water to make one liter of orange juice? Or that 40% of the lead found in landfills is a consequence of e-waste?

Install the browser plug-in (PC and Mac: Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer) and you're done. You'll notice a little green leaf at the bottom right of your browser showing the number of good ideas you've seen during that browsing session. You can easily right-click within any site to turn off the plug-in for that site. Go to www.dogoodhq.com to find out more.

Great harmony of sound quality and price: Rocketfish Bluetooth HD stereo headphones

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:06:00 GMT

My old Linksys headphones were seeing much less use, mostly because they couldn't hold a charge very long, and less so because the ear thingies kept falling off. The sound quality was OK, but nothing to tweet about.

Not having a good set of headphones wasn't a big deal - until I realized it was causing me to work away from home less often. I always use my headphones when I'm working on my laptop in public. And I get some of my best work done when I'm working somewhere other than home - such as Panera Bread.

Don't get me wrong. I love working from home. But sometimes I need to really concentrate on nothing but work and working at home can have its own challenges and distractions. I will often work at home with the TV off, no music, sleeping cats - all I should need for a conducive work environment. But other distractions can arise - noisy neighbors, phone calls, cats flying across the room playing and running around the house, a thousand and one other things that need to be done around here. When I work away from home, in spite of the other obvious distractions of working in public, there's nothing else to do BUT work, and sometimes that's exactly what I need in order to get things done.

So I needed a new pair of headphones.

I was primarily looking for something with great sound and battery life, with features like wireless and comfort also being very important. I'm not a big fan of the ear buds. I used to think I must just be an oddball because buds hurt my little ear holes¹, but then noticed a lot of similar complaints on the Internet and a larger selection of non-bud earphone products. I'm obviously not alone. I've had several pairs of headphones over the years from a variety of different brands (Sony, Linksys, Motorola, etc.) so I think I know what to expect in terms of quality and price.

I found a great set at Best Buy - Rocketfish Bluetooth HD stereo headphones. I like the Rocketfish brand and when presented with the opportunity to buy one of their products, I'll willingly spend the extra cash. I have yet to be disappointed in the quality of their products - from HDMI and Ethernet cables, to media readers and other small computer-related peripherals. Surprisingly, these headphones were only $60 - much less than you'll find with other similar quality headphones. AND, you can answer phone calls with them too. This feature alone makes this product even more impressive at this price.

Here are the specs for the Rocketfish™ Mobile - RF-MAB2 High-Definition Stereo Bluetooth Headphones (borrowed from Best Buy's web site):

What's Included

•   Rocketfish™ Mobile Bluetooth High-Definition Stereo Headphones
•   USB charging cable
•   AC adapter
•   Owner's manual

Product Features

•   Compatible with most Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones, MP3 players and other audio devices - with a stereo A2DP Bluetooth profile for wide-ranging compatibility.
•   Comfortable behind-the-head design  - with foam ear pads for a comfortable fit.
•   4 high-definition audio settings  - deliver enhanced audio quality for customizable listening.
•   Up to 14 hours of use per charge - along with up to 340 hours of standby time for extended use.

What I like most so far:

1. The product feels comfortable. The molded ear thingies¹ fit well and don't get lost since they're not separate attachments. You wear them behind your head so they're out of your way².

2. The sound quality is phenomenal. When I test sound quality, I generally use songs by The Beatles since I'm very familiar with every nuance of most songs. I tested the headphones first using the intro to 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' since it starts with crowd noise and then blends into the music. 'A Day in the Life' is another song I like to use for testing - lots of different sounds at different ranges and levels. These headphones picked up everything I expected to hear very clearly. Even better? You can choose between 4 HD settings. I tried them all and can see where I might switch from one to another based on what I'm listening to, but they all sound great. I'm sorry, but I'm not a sound expert so I can't speak the lingo and give you anything more scientific other than 'they sound great'.

3. The device holds a charge for days, not minutes. I don't have enough field test time yet to be able to tell you specifically how much time a charge will run - just that I've been impressed so far.

4. The controls are easy to use. One set of rocker buttons handle play/pause and call answer, another set of rocker buttons handle fast forward or reverse (tap to skip, hold pressed to scan). Yet another set of rocker buttons handle volume up/down. 5. Easy setup. Sure, Bluetooth is supposed to be easy to set up. But with some products it can be a little frustrating. I paired this device with my iPhone and my MacBook Pro - total time less than 20 seconds.

What I don't like so far:

Nothing. These are a great set, and actually less expensive than I've seen in inferior products.

¹Yeah, OK so I can't remember what the actual term is for 'ear holes' and I'm too lazy to look it up.

²I laughed when I read the reviews for this product on Best Buy's web site. A few customers were ticked off because the headphones 'don't fit over their head very well and barely touch their ears', obviously not realizing that these are a behind-the-head design. Otherwise, the reviews are all very complimentary about the product.

New Verizon product reviews

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:08:00 GMT

A PR person at Verizon contacted me last week via email. She said she’s been reading my technotes blog and wondered if I’d be interested in reviewing their products and posting those reviews on my blog. It sounds like an interesting gig so I said ‘sure…why not?’

They’ll be sending me a new phone every so often to use for free for a few weeks (phone and data), putting it through its paces, finding out what’s intuitive and works well, and well…what doesn’t. Once I’m done, I’ll just send it back - on their dime, of course.

They don’t even seem to mind at all that I’m an iPhone user and not even a Verizon customer. We have Verizon phone service in my area but I use Vonage for my home phone and Time Warner Cable for my cable and Internet so I haven’t been a Verizon customer for the past 3-4 years.

Verizon sent me a Droid X within the past few days so that will be my first review. Look for it soon!

A week with the iPad

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:12:00 GMT

I spent about a month deciding whether or not I'd be plopping down some cash to buy an Apple iPad, then another few days listening to nerdy discussions about which version to buy - the WiFi version now available, or wait until the 3G version makes its appearance in late April. I opted to get the mid-range 32GB WiFi version.

My reasoning?

1. My experience with my MacBook Pro has been that I've almost always been able to connect via WiFi wherever I am.

2. I already have an unlimited access iPhone that's always with me so I'm never disconnected via 3G, and I really don't need to shell out any additional service fees to AT&T anyway. This model saved me about $250 over the 3G model I had previously considered.

3. It's probably just a matter of time before MiFi becomes more accessible and more reasonably priced.

4. The only time I'd likely suffer from a lack of WiFi coverage is on the road, and since I travel alone 99% of the time, I can't really use the device while I'm driving. Well, I COULD but that would be really stupid.

So what do I think of it so far? I love it. Reading books is great, typing takes a little to get used to, but the learning curve is no different than that of an iPhone or BlackBerry. The screen is beautiful, movies and games are more enjoyable. Some of my favorite cool iPhone apps have already been rebuilt beautifully for the iPad - making use of the large screen and space. Battery life is very impressive, and the device turns on instantly - there's no such thing as booting up.

I use a lot of book documentation for my work and now have about 16 of them in PDF version on my iPad. That alone is worth it to me. I don't have to carry my laptop around when I just want to read my PDFs, and they're very handily available docked next to my laptop while I code. I have several PowerPoint presentations I need to access regularly for an ongoing training project. Additionally, I have several software manuals saved there in PDF format for reference purposes.

The entertainment tools - photos, music, movies, games - are splendid. You have to try them yourself to get the full effect. I can't do it justice. New applications are being released for the device every day and many are very impressive.

Some favorites: GoodReader is a very nice document manager. The NetFlix application plays your streaming library. AirStudio accesses your home movie library over your WiFi network connection. Evernote - already a favorite Windows, Mac and iPhone application - is very impressive on the iPad. The iBook application is getting so much use when I go to bed that I'm losing sleep. Elements is a gorgeous way to present the periodic table. This application alone gives us an idea about the future of books and how we'll use information.

So far my friends' reactions have ranged from 'yeah hi where is it?', 'ooh slick....now I want one' to 'I still have no idea why I would need one but I kind of want one anyway'. I was asked to talk with a class of Mercyhurst College students recently about my career. I brought my iPad to show the instructor - a longtime friend and fellow geek, who immediately took a photo of it and sent it to his wife. The class was understandably more interested in seeing the device than hearing me blather on about myself, and they had some great questions. I've been asked about the inability to connect peripherals, and the likelihood of the iPad becoming a laptop replacement. My answer depends on who's asking. If you mainly use your computer for web surfing, e-mail, watching videos, listening to music and viewing photos, then this could become a great portable device for you. For heavy computer users like me, no - but it can be a great device for managing those tasks without needing to access your desktop or laptop.

As much as I enjoy the iPad, I have to believe that the real 'killer app' for the device hasn't even been released yet. An app is going to be released and consumers will say 'wow, OK now I know why I need an iPad.' I think we will see that day very soon.

Incidentally, I wrote this entire post on my iPad using the WordPress application.

FreshBooks makes managing your own business easy!

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:21:00 GMT

I've been using FreshBooks for a few months now after switching from MacFreelance. I love it. It allow me to easily and quickly set up the client/time/invoicing/expense management portion of my freelance business so I can spend more time focusing on my clients and their needs. Set up your free account to get started. Check out the very reasonable pricing chart. You won't pay at all until you enter your fourth client into the system. At that point, you'll be charged $19/month, with rates increasing at a fair rate dependent on client numbers. The most you'll pay for the service is $149/month - and that's with 5,000 customers!

Go here to set up an account now!

What can you do with FreshBooks?

Maintain your client information
Track your time
Allow team members to add their time and other details
Allow clients to view their own invoices
Create custom invoices with your own branding
Customize e-mails, late notices, etc.
View and print reports
Manage expenses, including one-time and recurring charges
Manage your time, view your invoices and add expenses using the iPhone app
Send your invoices via e-mail or snail mail (snail mail includes a statement, payment stub, and window return envelope)

Those are just a few of the features of FreshBooks. Go here to set up an account now and get more details. I'm still discovering very handy features! I also like how FreshBooks maintains its customer relationships. As soon as I signed up, I received an e-mail from a customer representative thanking me for signing up and providing me with their full contact details in case I have questions or need help.

I also received a sample invoice in the mail showing me how my invoices will look if I choose to send them that way - including a payment stub and return envelope. If you decide to go that route, you just pay for an allotment of 'stamps' and they handle the rest.

FreshBooks also provides a toll free number, online support form, a blog and customer forums - all designed to help you find the information you need quickly and easily. Their system even provides a report card so you can see how you're doing. You'll need to be on the system for a full fiscal quarter before you can view any data, however.

I'm very impressed with the system. It allows me to easily and professionally maintain the financial data of my new business, providing me with more time to manage my customer relationships and the work I do for them. I even ENJOY using my business management system. When have you ever heard such a thing? Go here to set up an account now!

Saving a soaked cell phone

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:17:00 GMT

I heard a great tip for saving a soaked cell phone - or any other unfortunate electronic device, for that matter. I've had a few friends who have had the misfortune of dropping their cell phone in a puddle or a glass of water (hey, that friend was heavily medicated) or - GASP - through an entire washing machine cycle.

But fear not... If you ever find yourself with a wet device, don't cry - that will just create more moisture! Trust me...we can get through this.

Try these steps instead.

1. Get your vacuum cleaner out and use an appropriate attachment to suck out as much water as possible. Look for the largest input area on your device and start there.

2. Always try #1 first to get as much water as you can out of the device quickly.

3. Next, grab some uncooked rice - or, pick up a bag of Fresh Scent cat litter. If you use cat litter, you must use the one with the blue/green crystals. Any small bag will do.

4. Grab a small container that can be sealed tightly - such as Tupperware.

5. Pour some of the cat litter (or rice) in the container and place your device on top.

6. Close the container and leave it alone for a day or so. The cat litter (or rice) will suck up the moisture from the device!

If neither of these methods work, you might be out of luck but at least you'll have tried a couple of quick and easy fixes before throwing in the towel.

Thanks to the guys on the MacBreak Weekly podcast for these suggestions. Good luck!

Great site for software alternatives that won't leave you broke

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 01:08:00 GMT

This is a great site for finding [cheap] alternatives to all that cool software you just can't afford. You can look for Windows, Mac, Linux and online software alternatives. Or click on the 'mobile' link under the site logo and search for alternatives to iPhone, Blackberry, Android or Win mobile apps. desktop: http://alternativeto.net/desktop mobile: http://alternativeto.net/mobile

Netflix streaming option worth the switch from Blockbuster Online

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:26:00 GMT

I've been a long-time movie service subscriber - all the way back to my subscription with Home Video Exchange in the early 1980s. Ah, VHS...how you sucked in comparison with what we have now, but how lucky we were to have you all those years ago.

: Image via CrunchBase

Fast forward (ha...get it?) to the past 10 years and I've moved on to the online movie services. I know there are other services out there, but let's face it - Netflix and Blockbuster are the only services worth considering. I became a Netflix subscriber when the service first became available in 1997 and remained with them until Blockbuster Online launched in 2004 with their Total Access package. I had been pleased as punch with Netflix, but couldn't resist jumping ship with Blockbuster's in-store trade option.

: Image via Wikipedia

The services were very similar otherwise - pricing, selection, etc. - with the obvious exception that Blockbuster had brick-and-mortar locations and Netflix was strictly online. Well, I just changed back to Netflix. Again, nothing wrong with Blockbuster. Both are great services, especially if you're a die-hard movie fan like me. So why did I switch again? Reverse to 2008 when I bought my 42" Sharp Aquos LCD TV and got a free Sharp blu-ray player as part of the deal. I began choosing more and more blu-ray movies since I had the option. Between my addiction to movies and Time Warner Cable's steady addition of more and more HD channels, I could no longer tolerate watching the NON-HD channels on my bedroom TV. I was getting free HD but only able to watch those channels in my living room. Blockbuster also recently changed their policy on rentals and in-store trades. They previously allowed you to get unlimited in-store trades, but reduced this to 3 in-store trades per month if you were on the 2 movies at a time plan (like me). They also changed how the in-store trades worked. Previously, you could only keep those out for up to 7-days (plus grace period), following their normal in-store policy. When you returned one to the store, Blockbuster would recognize it as having been returned and you'd get your next film regardless of whether or not you chose an in-store trade. This worked fine for me. Recently they changed this to allow you to keep the in-store trade as long as you wanted, but wouldn't send out your next queued movies until you returned them. If that sounds confusing it's because it IS. I had to ask a couple of times I was in the store, and I realized this was two steps backwards for the customer. From a balance sheet perspective, I could understand why they made this change, but it left a bad taste in my mouth since it was confusing, lousy for the customers, and hadn't at ALL been communicated by the company. And yeah, I do receive their postal and e-mail newsletters. OK, so back to the TVs. I bought a 37" Samsung LCD TV and blu-ray player for my bedroom - not because of Blockbuster, but because of my increasing inability to watch anything NOT in HD. The Samsung blu-ray player includes a wireless feature if you buy the $80 USB adapter, and easy setup for connections to Netflix and Pandora.

: Image via CrunchBase

After setting up the blu-ray player to connect to my wireless network, I hopped on my MacBook Pro and activated my Pandora account (to connect to my existing Pandora account), put a 3-month hold on my Blockbuster Online account and re-activated my Netflix account. Within 2 minutes I was adding movies to my queue and chose several movies plus season one of '30 Rock' to my 'instant queue' and saw everything in my instant queue immediately appear on my TV. OK, so for a few dollars LESS than I was paying Blockbuster, I'm still getting 2 movies at a time via mail, no store trades which I was no longer using anyway, and lots of additional streamed content right to my bedroom TV. Even better, the 2 movies at a time deal doesn't affect my ability to stream and watch as much as I want. Before my first movie even showed up in the mail (2 days after signing up), I'd already watched 2 movies plus the entire first season of '30 Rock' right through my TV. By the way, as long as the items remain in your 'instant queue' you can watch them again, stop where you left off, pause, rewind, etc. So, if you're in the market for a blu-ray player, I'd highly recommend choosing one of the few that have this feature. Even though you'll need to pay for an adapter (once), you won't need to rent or buy the separate appliance(s) Netflix and other streaming services require. I also recommend this if you frequently rent entire seasons of TV shows, because traditionally you'd need to count each disk as a separate rental. Through Netflix, if your title is available streamed, you get all the shows at once and they don't count towards a physical rental. Feel free to ask questions. I've learned a lot about how this works!

A few of my favorite things (Madison, Yankees and Macs)

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:29:00 GMT

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted. I've been rather scattered working on several other projects. I've been catching up on some reading and research, but I can't really share much of that now so I'll save that for another time.I've been spending time with family - and of course the new puppy! I am so crazy about Madison. I don't think I could possibly love her more than I do already. She's adorable from head to toe, and has an equally adorable personality. She was definitely worth the trip to South Carolina to pick her up! I went to a New York Yankees game two weeks ago, as I usually do at least once or twice every summer. This time they played the Cleveland Indians at Jacob's Field. Yes, I know it's now called Progressive Field, but I don't dig these corporately named sports venues so I tend to boycott these titles altogether. I've seen the Yankees play countless times over the past 30+ years, but I've rarely seen them lose in person. Unfortunately, this was one of those times. But, the weather was perfect and we had great seats, so it's almost impossible not to enjoy the day anyway. Well, unless you were the creep sitting right in front of me. This guy is a heart attack waiting to happen. He screamed at both teams...except when he was sulking and huffing in silence. Everyone turned around to get a look at this moron ranting and raving over almost every play. To make matters worse, his wife was visibly embarrassed.

I think I have a problem. I've become a Law & Order junkie. I watch it so often I'm very confident I could pass the New York state bar exam. On a completely unrelated-to-anything note, this afternoon I saw a professionally created poster sign for an upcoming event containing at least 3 VERY obvious errors. I got to thinking about how someone was obviously paid to do this project so that was bad enough, but then I wondered how many people saw this poster and signed off on it without noticing the glaring errors. But then, I frequently run across errors in magazines, the newspaper, commercials, etc. so I should no longer be surprised. I've been well-steeped in homebody mode over the past couple of months. I haven't gone out at all, haven't had so much as a beer during this time, and haven't missed it at all. I'm sure I'll be off the wagon again soon, and I'm going to an anniversary party at The Plymouth this weekend but I think that would be a really bad time for me to start drinking again.

Anyway, for now I've been enjoying my toys at home - watching movies, working on my laptops, cleaning, reading, shopping, etc. I wouldn't say I'm really saving money, but the money I have been spending has been put to better use than on renting beer. Speaking of laptops, I still have my Dell Inspiron E105 (for now, anyway) but I just procured a new MacBook Pro - 15" unibody, 2.66mhz, 320gb hard drive, 4gb ram, SuperDrive, and all the other standard items that come with the Mac laptops. It's quite sa-weet! I'm still in the process of getting everything configured just the way I want, and set up everything so I can work most efficiently, but I'll get there. At least now I have the time to devote to this kind of project.

Buy a new Kodak camera and help our Olympic team!

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 01:08:00 GMT

Buy Kodak's new STYLELITE pocket camera and Kodak will send 50 cents to the 1980 Olympic team. OK, so I found this in a magazine from 1979. I should send in the coupon and see what kind of response I get - if I get one at all.

Cassidy

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 01:08:00 GMT

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My pet gig as an ErieBlogs.com ringer

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 01:08:00 GMT

: Image by bogenfreund via Flickr

If you know me personally, you know I've been going through a period of transition in my life over the past couple of months. I have a lot to write about here to fill you in on the details, but I haven't had much time and I want to make sure I devote appropriate attention to my posts. So in the meantime, I'll share with you just one of these new projects. I've become a guest contributor to the ErieBlogs.com community. I'm writing one post a week about anything that suits my fancy, as long as it has some tie to the area. My posts so far (open in a new window): Joyce can't have it both ways (March 6, 2009) John Kanzius leaves a legacy of research, possible cure for cancer (February 23, 2009) President and Mrs. Lincoln visit Erie as part of 200th birthday celebrations (February 12, 2009) I'll soon be making some design and content changes to kristinlynch.com so stay tuned.