Posts from — September 2004

From a BusinessWeek article discussing Firefox’s gains:
“[Gary Schare, director of security product management for Windows] points out that if users have problems with their software, Microsoft has legions of paid support people who can respond quickly and walk them through repairs. That isn’t necessarily the case with open-source software. ”

On obscure open source projects, it can be hard to find support, but I haven’t found that to be the case with big ones. So I looked at what support I could get for Internet Explorer from Microsoft. Ah, I can pay $35 for basic support via phone or email or $245 for advanced support. Sweet.

Tonight Kristin, Sarah H, Tyler, Doug, Emily B, Amy, Brian and Mike K went to Emmaus High School’s band competition to volunteer as a Kappa service event. It was a ton of fun, something I’d love to do again. Emily, Brian, Tyler, Mike and I worked the concession stand along with a bunch of band parents. Mike and I had a little routine we did to add some style to serving people’s bottled water. We joked with the customers a lot, with little success, but we had fun. We saw ran into some Lafayette people, and didn’t trash talk them nearly as much as we should have. I just have trouble verbally insulting someone my Dad’s age, no matter what they say. It’ll come with time, though.

Went bowling after that (with more people than I care to list). I had good game where I scored 114, but then I was horrible after that. I literally forgot how I used to throw the ball. I don’t like the game too much, but I had a good time.

Tomorrow’s queue consists of some emails, a meeting, computer repair, reading, running and maybe some programming.

I still haven’t been running regularly, but I’ve gone at least a couple of times a week for the last few weeks. I am feeling some improvement. I usually run over the hill to hill bridge and do a loop of North Bethlehem and back. I usually don’t run the canal route alone just because it’s intellectually boring if I don’t have anyone to talk with. After a few miles of running, I go back home and cool off, and usually do 60 situps and 80 pushups (varying the number if I’m short on time or especially tired). Working out helps regulate my eating and sleeping schedules a bit more, and prevents me from munching all day and skipping meals.

Speaking of eating, I was inspired by Quiznos to start toasting my sandwiches. I take two slices of sliced Italian sandwich bread, put mayo and turkey on one slice, mustard and american cheese on the other. Lightly toast both halves (so it’s crunchy but not yet browned, don’t want to make it too dry) and combine them. I know it’s not too outlandish a “recipe”, but I’ve found that it keeps things interesting. ¡Buen Provecho!

Maybe they can use this technology to prevent phones from allowing people to call others while drunk. Or perhaps only let them call certain people while drunk. I doubt there’s much market for it, but it’d be a funny project.

I’m curious.. of the people in band who have journals, how many refer to me as ‘Matt’ and how many ‘Matt Casey’. I know I’m Matt in Tyler’s and probably Doug’s. It doesn’t matter too much, I’m just curious.

I want to drive across the country. Not now, I’m too busy (for the next couple of years), but I should do it before I get too old and “life” hits. I love driving to new places.

I saw most of “Empire of Dreams”, the recent Star Wars documentary, and it was really good and made me want to see Star Wars again. Damn you George Lucas, you get me every time (well, except for the last two times). Interesting thing I learned in the documentary: Lucas was fined something like $250,000 by the Directors’ Guild for not putting credits at the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back, and that caused him to leave the Directors’ and Writers’ guilds. His leaving meant he was unable to hire Steven Spielberg (his first choice) for Return of the Jedi. Lots of interesting politics… the movie industry has to be one of the most obnoxious industries around.

Had a good day and night… nothing exceptional enough to write about, but I can’t complain. Hopefully a lot will be accomplished over the weekend. I wish I didn’t have to be falling asleep now, I want to keep working on things, but it’s probably for the best.

“If you don’t do hobby projects, you either are incredibly busy or don’t like programming.”

Some discussion on my blog, too.

Magic Spatula now has my blog. Technical stuff will go on there, though I may migrate more and more content in that direction in the future. I wrote up a few posts tonight, hopefully it’ll be a habit.

It’s using some real blogging software (about which I’ll write later), so I’ve had a good time setting it up. I’m not about to dump LiveJournal, I like using this for day to day discussions, as well as the ability to control who can read what.

My photo gallery should be migrated to Magic Spatula this weekend.

I hope I’m not getting sick. I had a headache before kickball, but I napped a bit and after kickball I was feeling much better. Now I’m not so sure. 2:30 AM pasta was good, regardless.

After today’s Operating Systems exam, Mike, Greg, Andy and I went to happy hour. It was a good time, except for the last beer I had. I don’t exactly remember the name of it, but it was some sort of pumpkin ale. Every sip was pure agony, it was like drinking a shot that didn’t end. I like to try out something different each time I go, but I’m a bit shellshocked after that one. Maybe I should just try out things that other people recommend that I haven’t had before.

Oh yeah, and the test went pretty well.