I hope everyone has a safe and pleasant night. In honor of the night I coerced my lovely black cat Helza for a brief (she doesn’t like being held long) photoshoot. She was more interested in looking around than looking at the camera, so here’s what came out. Besides, would this be a blog without at least one cat picture? Her full name is Helza Poppins, which we named her because when she first joined our household she would hide behind everything and jump out when you least expect it. I’ve seen some pretty interesting costumes today, and of course the decorations are always fun.
Category Archives: Meta
Into The Fray
Today I plan to do some major reorganizing in my room. There is art to go up, there are books to be put on shelves, there are way too many clothes. After that (assuming there is an after that) I have some major client work to catch up with. So I’m probably not going to be around here much today, but during the commercial break you should go check out the beautiful redesign at Zeldman. Absolutely gorgeous.
More Hidden Treasures
I just found a list that summarizes everything I possibly wanted circa 1997.
- U2 CDs
- 64 megs of memory
- Awe 64 Sound card or USB speakers
- Mark 6 alto saxophone
- Stereo:
- Radio turner and mixer
- CD Changer
- Turntable with stereo output
- Double tape deck
- Books: anything by Isaac Asimov
- Cool mousepad
- Flatbed color scanner
- 3D video card
- Computer games
- Quake II
- Starcraft
- Command and Conquer II: Red Alert
- Fast CD-ROM with digital support
- Cool speakers for Dolby 4-channel surround sound
- Big Monitor
- Caller ID
- USB Port
By the metric of this list, I’ve achieved almost 100% success. It’s remarkable how the material things we want can change so much over the years, and how material things in and of themselves can become so much less important. I wonder if I made a list now, how would I look at it in five years?
Productive Day
I feel like I’ve had a very productive day, espescially compared to yesterday when it felt like I did nothing. Here’s a summary of the day thus far, with the boring parts (and classes) taken out:
- Good breakfast
- Human Situation Discussion class
- Re-printed some business cards for a client, had to tweak design
- Took David his graphics card
- Checked if David’s processor was just underclocked or if they actually sent him the wrong one (wrong one)
- Filled tank
- Deposited some checks
- Made some important phone calls, did email
- Installed my $7 copy of Windows XP Professional bought using UH’s new site liscene (more on this later)
- Had long lunch with Kel at a nice deli whose name escapes me, oogled at his iPod
- Picked up Kel’s grandmother’s ten-year-old computer, which she’d like me to fix. We’ll see; I’m not a miracle worker 🙂
- Took client her new business cards, decided on another change, talked about website
- Spent too long in traffic, but it’s okay because I made a new mix disc
- Finally arrived home at around 4:15 PM
Whew! I think now I could crash for the next week or so, but I’m waiting for a call from someone . . .
The Frontier Between Us
Julie sent me an excellent article which I have to pull one quote from:
“In the next fifty years, computer science will give birth to a delightful new vernacular art form that combines the three great art forms of the twentieth century; cinema, jazz, and programming.”
Isn’t that great? I began investigating who wrote this and it turns out it’s the same guy who helped brainstorm the great movie Minority Report. His name is Jaron Lanier and I’m going to be on the watch for some more of his writing. If only he had a blog!
Color Me This
I’m playing around with some new colors on the site. I think I’m partial to the blue/green that’s up here now; it just feels cleaner. I’m open to comments, suggestions, complaints, rants, and observations.
Put up some new pictures up, as well as some older videos that I hadn’t put online yet. Now that things aren’t as hectic I’m going to start the daily photos again.
Firefly
Well as usual my sister has gotten me hooked on another TV show. Last time it was Farscape, which of course just got canned by the SciFi channel. On top of that, the only place I could watch it was at my sister’s house in Austin because I don’t have cable at home. Luckily she tapes all the episodes, so I was able to keep up, if with a giant lag. That’s also the reason I avoid like the plague any site that might give me spoilers about a Farscape episode I haven’t seen.
Anyway Charleen was in town for the weekend and we were hanging at her friend’s house when she asked me if I wanted to see this new series that just started airing a few weeks ago. The name of the show is Firefly, and though their website looks like something out of the nineties, the show is well done. If I was my sister I could tell you how the director is the same guy who did Buffy, or something like that. Regardless, it’s on free TV every Friday. Tivo or tape it if you have a social life! This is the show that’s going to get me to plug my television back in which, for the record, has been disconnected since January of last year.
Matt’s binary review, Firefly: 1
Blah
I think this weather is getting me down, I just don’t feel like going out tonight. No Kaveh Kanes, no House of Pies, no girls, no car, no laptop, blah. The sky is bleak, colorless, moist, and utterly motionless. I want it to rain, brighten, darken, or do something! I think it’s time for a brisk walk.
Houston
Back in Houston, finally, and it’s nice adjusting back to old habits and comforts. Besides family and pets, I think the thing I missed most were my speakers, and it’s bliss to hear high fidelity sound again. Uploaded the last day from the trip, so enjoy! I’m also working on some layout/design changes for this site. The plan is to have a different theme for every month.