We interrupt this regularly schedule workday to share with you a home made K.I.T.T.. Note to AV Club readers, March 18th is coming.
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Archive for January, 2007
K.I.T.T.
January 31st, 2007, posted in techtech day
January 30th, 2007, posted in techToday is the day Joe Hall has been (undoubtedly) looking forward to… I’m have Mac issues. Actually I’m having Adobe issues, but the programs happen to be installed on a Mac and therefore I’m having Mac issues. No fear… nothing a complete reinstall of Mac OS X won’t fix. My Adobe aps (inlcuding After Effects 7… not 6.5 which still works great… but 7) just hang up during boot. Very strange. I’ve spent the greater part of the day shuffling and moving files, backing up files, putting files on my other hard drive so they’ll be there when I reinstall. I’m thinking through every single file I have, where it resides, where it should reside. Once we’re done, I’ll have a much more organized machine.
In the meantime, I’ll just shuffle my work to the laptop, which couldn’t have arrived at a better time.
Everything is moved… tomorrow is “reformat day.” Any suggestions before I pull the trigger? Here are the symptoms as I can see them. (oh, I spent 2 hours on Adobe tech support, too).
Photoshop / Illustrator / GoLive / After Effects 7 all exhibit same behavior. They launch, and freeze on the splash screen. After about 5-10 minutes, I get an error message that reads something like “serious error occurred. reinstall Creative Suite 2.” When I launch the CS2 install disk, I can see the installer file. I launch it, and it flashes briefly and then does nothing. The application to reinstall won’t run. I even copied it to the hard drive and tried. At that point, it prompts me for my install password, which I give. Then it stops. Doesn’t do a thing.
The Adobe people seem to think it’s related to “operating system degradation.” (have fun with that, Joe). Something about the admin permissions being corrupt, maybe?
OK, what do you suggest?
And for fun stuff today, here are some links I’ve amassed over the past few days:
For the font nerds out there, help Helvetica beat Arial in this little game.
Spiffy idea… make an invisible bookshelf.
Pixel Surgeon has an interview with Heroes creator.
weekend review / RESIDENT reel
January 28th, 2007, posted in links, meGreat weekend. Lots of family time… very little done on our “project work,” but I did make a tiny bit of progress on our bathroom renovation. (nothing worth a photo yet… wait for it).
On Friday, we took the kids to the Hatcher’s to play with goats, ducks, chickens, etc. Rainey met her first goat:
On Saturday night, we visited Devil’s fork… I took a wrong turn and ended up in NC. Now we can say G’s been to NC. My grandfather turned 85 and we had a little shin dig for him. G got to slide down a slide for the first time by himself.
And in the work of design and inspiration, I’ll direct you here. Sick, sick (in the best possible way) good work over at Resident. Watch their reel.
Another thought I’ve been pondering is this, how do I write on this blog? You may have noticed with my new layout (which I still hate, by the way) that I’ve reduced my post frequency but have increased my words-per-post. The idea was to have something more noteworthy (and hopefully thought through) rather than more sporadic and less thought out. What is your preference, because I could really go either way. Regardless, I’ll redesign as many have commented that they don’t care for this layout. Let me hear it.
{democracy:12}
yum
January 27th, 2007, posted in meIf you have kids around, you find yourself necessarily holding onto certain required staples. In my house, it’s Goldfish. For G, he gets the normal flavors… cheese… parm.cheese… cheese flavored with multicolors. For me, I’ve discovered these “flavor-blasted” varieties (read: coated with a salty substance). I had been infatuated with the pizza flavor blasted Goldfish until last week when I discovered what is quite possibly the perfect fish-shaped snack cracker. I give you Blazin’ Buffalo Wing Goldfish.
(by the way, they’re on sale 2 for 1 at Publix right now).
tech from around the web
January 26th, 2007, posted in me, techHappy Friday!
It’s really early in the A.M. and I’ll wide awake! Why? Because my Dad and I have a standing appointment once a week for coffee and “catch up.” Usually it’s early in the week, but this week got busy and you know how things go. Yeah, once a week we meet at the house at 6:15a for coffee. We tried hitting up a local coffee shop, but it’s cheaper at the house (and warmer) and I don’t have to change out of my PJs and slippers. Lately, I’ve become fascinated by my warm bedroom slippers. Just so cozy.
My challenge to you today? Is there someone in your life you’re not spending enough time with? Why not? For me, I see Dad a lot, but we just don’t get a lot of one on one talk time. I have young kids so when we’re all together, you can imagine who dominates the attention. So Dad and I have begun this weekly routine of early coffee. Is there someone who needs time carved out? What are you putting it off for? It’s just a little sleep.
Tech talk
Since the arrival of the MacBook, I’ve been shuffling more files to more computers than I normally do. Enter Drop Copy. It’s a handy little app that creates a “black hole” on your desktop where you can drag files. The files are then whisked across your network to another machine with Drop Copy installed. Useful. I haven’t fully tested it out yet, but I’m installing this bad boy on my main machine as soon as I get back to the office.
Do you have a busted digital camera that you simply won’t throw away because you just know there’s a good use for it? Well, here’s the article you’ve been looking for… how to turn a broken digital camera into a time lapse device.
Superfluous Spare time
When I get some (er, um) spare time, I’d like to dive into a quirky project like this. Take pictures of historic scenes represented by Lego characters. (gallery site, another gallery site). Why not? Isn’t everyone entitled to at least one geeky hobby in their lifetime? Of course, at the moment my geek card is filled with xbmc. Don’t tell anyone though, wouldn’t want to foil my cool facade.
smoke / speakers
January 24th, 2007, posted in design, entertainment, links, techLast night, our home group convened on the Easton household. Lest you weren’t aware, we take the food themes seriously. (we always have). Last night was no exception. The theme: Medieval Night. It was complete with torn bread, grape juice, apple cider, potato soup, and a meat pie-type-thing that had prunes in it. There was a pruneless alternative, too, but I felt compelled to attack the authentic version. Also, there was significant candlelight and medieval music my darling bride found at the library. See for yourself.
Here’s a smattering of links for your Wednesday. First, how to photograph smoke (abstract photography). I was actually looking for some abstract photos like these for a project, so it may be fun to make my own.
Second, if these weren’t cost prohibitive, it would be cool to package them with a CD, or maybe a boxed set of something. I like things like this. I wonder if it’d be suitable for air travel?
Here’s one I found this past Christmas, and I presume it would be a great gift idea for that classic gamer in the family.
And finally for you design-hungry folk out there, Die 100 Besten Schriften lists its top 100 fonts.
new arrival.
January 23rd, 2007, posted in techIt’s here:
And for your Tuesday linkage
- Ad generator for your creative block
- make your own flatpack toy
- article on one of my favorite things… google calculator
- extract Quicktimes and other videos from the web with Firefox’s “UnPlug” extension.
weekend review (in pictures)
January 22nd, 2007, posted in entertainment, meThis was the weekend of home repairs. If you’re anything like me, you have a hit list a mile long. I was off Friday and Saturday and took full advantage of the clear skies to work, work, work around the house. I’m pretty thrilled that Gardner is able to tag along now. Sure, he’s still a small tornado running to and fro, but he’s obedient. He comes when I call him (”Gardner, stay away from the street.” “Gardner, get your hand out of the cat’s mouth…”) You know the drill.
We installed a fan in Rainey’s room. The coolest part, I got on the ladder and asked him for tools. He can now clearly identify a flathead screwdriver vs. a Phillips. He can pick out regular pliers, needlenose piers, and wire cutters. He’s absolutely fascinated by the tape measure.
Then, we spent time working on the hot water heater. I’ve learned everything about hot water heaters this weekend, (mostly from howstuffworks.com). Ours is running with some rust, so I drained it.
My wife had the coolest idea to make our own fridge magnets. You need to click on the photo to see the notes and details.
Gardner wearing his cold weather gear. I’m proud of him for wearing safety glasses (look familiar?).
All in all, many tasks tackled this weekend. Somehow in there, I also helped a friend with his blog. Sometime this week it will go live… you’ll like it. I also caught a few movies (see miniblog), hung out with Meg, and went to Meg’s cousin’s ordination:
Links for today:
Readymech paper toys… build your own!
Bribery & State of the Desktop
January 19th, 2007, posted in design, entertainment, meStarted the day off with 8 hours of solid sleep. I don’t think I’ve ever slept as hard as I did last night. Wow. I didn’t even make time for The Office, Scrubs, or ER (which was a rerun anyway). I was roused at 7 by Rainey who was in search of a quick bite of food and a trip straight back to bed. Then, I got set up with a smoky cup of joe.
SMOKY CUPPA JOE
Meg and I entertained Shane and Cherie for breakfast this morning. And by entertain, I mean we bribed them with food so we could pummel them with questions about how they raise such great kids. (hint: parents, bribe other parents with food in exchange for wisdom… you’ll always come out ahead).
As for the rest of the day, I have a hit list of things to do around the house. I’ll probably get myself moving and run during the sunshine hours. As a sidenote, Meg’s helping me develop a much healthier diet and I’m at the lowest weight I’ve been at in the past year (yeah!). We’ll celebrate at the AV Club in about a month when I hit weight goal #1.
And for some visual interest, here’s the state of my desktop this week (tech note: these pics were shot with my LG Chocolate camera phone):
LEFT SIDE
RIGHT SIDE
Heroes vs. Lost.
January 18th, 2007, posted in entertainmentOh yeah, I’m going to put you in this position. Which one?
Heroes, begins on Jan. 22nd, Monday. Watch it on NBC.
Lost, begins on Feb. 7th, Wednesday. Watch it on ABC.
{democracy:11}
100% pure awesome
January 17th, 2007, posted in art, cultureLast night was homegroup guy’s night out. We of course went to eat, which should always happen in every homegroup gathering, then descended upon the Wilson house to play some Xbox. Originally, the plan was to play some SNL Trivial Pursuit, but the Xbox proved to be too strong a draw and won out. We did go through a few of the DVD questions and I realized that the game will be a difficult one… but I think I have a chance.
A few thoughts. Carlo Giovani has some fresh, incredible work. I especially like what he does with paper, and it challenges me to think of some new ideas and some fresh implementation. (it was brought to my attention that this site contains some questionable material, thus link removed, thanks Brian).
And to inspire you on this hump day, just remember that no matter how good your day is, it will never be quite as cool as this photo:
Netflix “watch now.”
January 16th, 2007, posted in entertainment, techNetflix rolls out a most interesting feature, (or will be rolling it out over the next several months) called “watch now.” From their site, you can stream TV shows, movies, etc., all in addition to their regular DVD rental options. Pretty incredible. They’re looking for a way to combat competition from Blockbuster Online and surely this puts them in direct competition with the iTunes “movie store.” Interesting move, especially since the licensing for all of these movies and shows nearly wipes out their additional profits (full details at techcrunch.com)
Also, the rabbit vs. snake video was buried at the bottom of yesterday’s post, so if you missed it, here it is. I mainly reference this again since Jake sent it to me. And Jake hates Charlie. So, to make up for all of the Charlie viewing that’s gone on at recent homegroups, I give you the rabbit.
And speaking of Netflix, I caught the new Miami Vice movie last night. Mmm… I’d suggest pass.\
But while you’re at it, exploring Netflix, use Forget the film, watch the titles to help you enjoy great film graphics / titles. Case in point, the movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Terrible film, great opening sequence. This is my kind of site.
Rabbit vs. snake vs. the weekend review
January 15th, 2007, posted in me, techWhat a great weekend. It’s be so much fun, and one of the busiest few days of doing nothing in particular. Meg and I kicked it off with a date night on Thursday. Her cousin and his wife babysat for us and Meg and I went out for dinner and coffee. We really should do that more often. And for supper? We tried Red Lobster. Just about everyone I tell that to responds the same way… “Red Lobster? Hm… I haven’t been there in x-number of years.” Tell me, AV Club, when was the last time you went to Red Lobster?
{democracy:9}
After supper, we ventured to Books-a-Million to browse and enjoy a cup of coffee. I found this along the way? Do you think it’s going a bit far, now?
The next morning, you already read my post about the dentist. After that, I sped home and immediately jumped into the car to take my cats to the vet. They’re not crazy about the vet. One of them (not the one pictured below) requires sedation before the vet will allow her in. Yep, my cat’s been blacklisted from Dr. Hendrick’s office.
Finally, that afternoon I was able to get some work done around the house. G helped me on the lawnmower, we cleaned the cars, and I got the garage in order.
Sunday was particularly awesome. There were a few technical glitches (but, Ken, you’re in a mega church…). You know, even mega churches have some glitches from time to time. I was impressed by the team of production folks and engineers who had us up and running quickly. And we had a new director in the booth today. Yes, the rumors are true… Lord Vader himself was here (I can sense his presence).
And that about wraps it up. For your enjoyable linkage of Monday, please enjoy:
(one to laugh at)
…from my pal Jake (who doesn’t have a blog)… Rabbit vs. Snake. This really speaks to the spirit of tenacity.
(one for the techie / artsy folks)
…why wouldn’t you want to generate a 3D landscape in isometric perspective from the internet?
dentist
January 12th, 2007, posted in links
Jealous? I’m at the dentist today. Hear me, kids. Brush and floss every day! And if you didn’t watch the video I linked yesterday, you really should, especially you, Lee McD. OK, the dentist is returning. Gotta jet.
Pachelbel’s rant
January 11th, 2007, posted in entertainmentThis is quite possibly one of the funniest stand-up pieces I’ve seen in a long, long time. (link via Heather R.). It’s only about 5 minutes long, and trust me, the best part is near the end. It builds, and you owe it to yourself to fully enjoy the whole thing.
And if you’d like some more, here it is…
Compare / LW
January 10th, 2007, posted in links, techSizeasy.com gives you and quick way to compare the physical dimensions of items you’d like to consider purchasing online. You can put in some reference items you already own (like your iPod, to compare it to your new iPhone you lust for). It’s a genuinely useful tool for online browsing.
And my charge for today, and most of the week really, is to continue training and learning. I’m digging through some great tutorials / lessons in Illustrator posted by Shua last week. I’m also beginning my deep venture into Lightwave. It’s definitely where I need to focus, but it’s about 1,000 times more complex than After Effects. It doesn’t even really compare. The impact to my creativity will be huge with this new tool, but the learning curve is tedious and slow. But then, so was After Effects when I first dove into it.
Here’s my first lesson:
And here’s a link for no other reason except it’s really cool. A series of tubes connect aquariums so that fish can swim around the house. I predict my brother will be trying this one out sometime soon.
J.Davis photos and weddings
January 9th, 2007, posted in design, meI like Joshua Davis’ theory on taking lots of unaimed, unsolicited photos. I find myself doing the very same thing from time to time. (to time, to time). There are 100s more (and much stranger) on my iPhoto library on the Mac at the office, where I can easily pull them down from my camera phone. It’s a great source of inspiration, and if nothing else, is just fun.
From time to time, you catch a gem or two.
Unrelated (except that picture number three is of our guy’s night out), we’re starting up Home Group again tonight. We’ve been off for the holidays, and it’s been a nice break, but I really miss our group and look forward to seeing them all again.
And, ooh, here’s some cool news. My friends Paul (who’s blog appears to have lapsed) and Liz are engaged. That’s exciting. And I am honored they’ve asked me to officiate their wedding. It’ll be my first. Are there any pointers?
What if open / AV Club trivia question
January 8th, 2007, posted in Christ, meThe What if series kicked off this weekend, and here’s the opener for you:
It was a great Sunday, all four services kicking. Perry has some thoughts on the day as a whole, and there were 7,250 in attendance. Oh, and by the way, most of our college students aren’t back in session yet. Prime time will be in full effect in about 1 week… brace yourselves.
In other exciting news, my parents have decided to join NewSpring. Jason and I are both looking forward to having them there. To give them full credit, they really have been around since the beginning. (their hot tub was where we held some of our first baptisms). Anyway, it’s great news.
So have a great Monday, everyone. Anyone looking forward to the relaunch of Lost in a few weeks (when is that again?).
*** Special Monday BONUS Question ***
Who can correctly identify the name of this toy? And for bonus points, who was its original driver?
running playlist.
January 5th, 2007, posted in entertainment, meGood run today, did four miles. Intercepted a rainstorm. Got wet. I love the iPod (and my ziplock baggie in case of rain), and the shuffle feature I don’t usually take advantage of. Here’s what my run produced today. It gives a little insight into my music collection. Interesting that there are more songs in the genre of “rock” than even electronica. Yes, 2007 is the year of rock.
- Pardon Me – Weezer
- Until We Fall – Audioslave
- Moth – Audioslave
- 2 More Dead – RJD2
- Lump – Presidents of the United States…
- Nostrand – Ratatat
- Stickshifts and Safetybelts – Cake
- Bebel Gilberto – Cada Beijo – Thievery Corp.
- Upgrade (a bymer college course) – Deltron 3030
- Believe – Chemical Brothers
- Revolution Solution (Tc Remix) Thievery Corporation
- Perfect Wave – Paul Oakenfold
- Nothing Else Matters – Metallica
- I’m Alive – Disturbed
rock cliches
January 5th, 2007, posted in entertainment, meFor a rainy Friday, there’s nothing more fun than reading about the “89 top rock cliches“. (compiled by music.aol.com).
And what a warm, sticky rainy day it is. Tell me, isn’t winter supposed to start somewhere around now? I’m heading out for a good sweat and a nice long run.
What a weekend it’s going to be. At the moment, our Civic is at the glass repair shop. You know the window that doesn’t roll down (if you’ve ridden with me, you know). It’s repaired in full. Why now? Because the Wilsons are car shopping and unloading our (very fuel efficient but not practical for a family of four) Honda.
So, if you’re in the market to buy at 1998 Honda Civic with 109k miles, 2 door, black, 5-speed and kickin’ sound system, drop me a line from the contact form below.