Sunday, April 23, 2006
Sunday iChat with the Abbott'
This is my favorite part of the week. Sunday's we all get online and woot it up with gusto. This week we got to see Max walk, which is a first for us all. He's been walking for af ew weeks, but this week he was fully mobile. Max is also Mia's new teddy bear, so she drags him around the house, dresses him up and generally has her way with him - none of which he seems to mind much. Noel and Sara did some gardening today. Noel bought a lawnmower and weed wacker. So he's not only fully domesticated, but a card-carrying adult. I was quick to remind him that he may be an adult when he buys his first lawnmower, but he's only a real Abbott Man if he's beaten the crap out of a garbage can with a baseball bat. An inside Abbott joke, which we all came to agree should be kept an inside.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Photos from James
My photos from james arrived yesterday. I'll go get them framed today.
Web 2.0 In the Enterprise
For a time I was an early-adopter and therfore only-geek-on-the-block with Wi-Fi. It became known that if you wanted to learn how to set up a wireless network at home, I was the guy to help with such a task. Soon after I started helping people install wireless networks, teaching them the principles of what I was doing, it wasn't long before I was hearing thier accounts of doing the same at work -- unbeknownst to their IT departments. This was only 3 years ago. Now, I can't think of the last time I was at a business function that did not have wi-fi. Wi-Fi is in every board room, every conference hall, and every convening place on all the corporate campuses and office buildings I frequent. It's even in every starbucks I know.If you want to get to some Web 2.0 truisms let's start with these:
When Web 2.0 is in every starbucks - that's when every office will want it too.
Web 2.0 will come through the back door into the enterprise. Microprenuers and change agents (those white-collar, cubicle revolutionaries among us) are the ones who'll bring it in.
It will take at least three years from now before every crook and nanny knows what Web 2.0 really means -- systems-interconnectedness and platform-independence.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Pass it On
My buddy James Leland has been ill for quite some time now. In fact one of my first memories of James has to do with him being in the hospital. James has Chron's disease, which as I understand it just does terrible things to one's stomach.James is more than a friend with a critical illness. He is the best artist I know. He's made a living as a graphics guy for companies like MGM that give him far too banal a challenge in asking him to sell a million more tickets to schlock like James Bond movies. http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
I have another buddy, Al Abut. Al is a great blogger. He's got a heart of gold. He's a decent - if out of shape - soccer player. World class techno-artsy-never-been-a-barista programmer type who seems to accomplish in 2 hours what most people do in 8 so he can spend 6 hours reading, writing, talking, walking and generally staying inspired. Al reminds me of me back when I was me.
Al recently put me and the rest of us 3ones list-members to task. The task was to put our Internettiness to fucking use. See what we could do by way of talent and see if we couldn't raise rent for James. James has been laid up for months and is weeks away from I don't know what.
I bought two of James' prints this week for what are truly rediculous prices. $150 each for photos (he only prints one-of-a-kinds) that he used to sell for thousands. I'm hoping that the people who read my blog, who read your blog, who read al's blog, who have nice pictures on their walls, will buy my photos instead and help me send more money to James. I just hate seeing him have a firesale, when cheap is better suited for less-talented bastages like me.
If you're down with it, hit up my etsy site and buy a print. If you see something at my flickr site you'd rather have me print up all nice and sign and help me reach my personal goal, I will. Just send me the link as a comment to this blog and I'll do it. If you buy a photo of mine, I'll thank you publically (tastefully, of course). If I reach my goal, and Al reaches his goal, and you reach your goal, then we'll all meet up in Phoenix to give James the money in person and take one big photo of us all having the time of our lives.
Pass it on.
P e a c e,
K
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Rent Party that Won't Die
This is Ingrid, Will and Seth making a quick jaunt over to my place after the rent party. Along with my friends who helped by coming, having fun and donating, we raised $845 dollars for my two non-profits, Mama's Kitchen and PWI.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Video Snapshot of iChat with my Parents
San Diego Hotel Implosion
One of several shots I took of the San Diego Hotel demolition that took place yestrday. We had front row seats for the event on the 15th floor of the building to its immediate West. We had to get up at 6AM to make it into the building before they closed off the area. Probably a once in a lifetime experience - so it necessitated booze and plenty of 80's music. Here's a link to the Video I put together yesterday to accompany the photos.
Updated with video
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Printing Tips
I stole these tips from a brochure that Neyenesch Printers gave me today during a tour of thier facility.Here goes:
Printing 101
Paper
- Make sure that the paper you specify is available.
- Match the paper finish and color the color to the design.
- Ask the printer if grain direction will affect the print.
- Consider custom sheet sizes for long runs.
- Have a dummy made from the actual stock.
- Match paper pricing to the end use of the product.
Prepress
- Scan properly for the final use of the image.
- Hi-res images -- consider the source.
- Plan all the elements of your page layout.
- Make your files ready to output right the first time.
- Check the whole proof.
Press
- Don't go to press until you are happy with the proof.
- Expecct some differences between the proof and the press sheet.
- Understand that variation will occur in the press run.
- Plan to protect your product.
- Order ink drawdowns for special stocks or special ink colors.
- Know when to do a press OK.
Finishing
- Consider paper grain when planning your job.
- Match the binding style to the design.
- Allow for variations in the process.
- Check your final dimensions and back-up.
- Panels on roll-fields must be progressively smaller.
- Recess pocket covers and fold-outs.
- Present complete information.
Tour of the Neyenesch Printing Facility
This is a photo of Dave, the President of Neyenesch Printers, a family-owned San Diego Printer that's been in business since 1899. Great guy. Great business. They gave us a tour at work today. Follow this pic over to my flcikr set and see the rest of the photos I took with my treo today. I'll be posting some more on the subject a little later.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
A (Lack of) Customer Service Story
Sonic MyDVD from Roxio Customer support.This has to be the worst ever support site. If it were not for the fact that sonic has the rights to burn DVD's from TiVo files, I would have abandoned all my efforts at dealing with them. As it stands, I've wasted 3.5 hours of my time trying to do basic things like buy their software, install and get support. I would enumerate the failures, but at this point they are too many and too frustrating. To put it short, sonic solutions, the MyDVD product, their suppoort site and TiVo (for partnering with these asses) are all on my shit list.
First, being a working professional on the west coast, it pains me when I see customer support sites that keep working hours on the east coast. If EST working professionals had the time to call during work to fix one's personal software problems, this would not be a material issue. Being PST I had to get up at 6AM to get my customer support call in before getting ready for work. Ugh. Even their European support hours are EST. As is said in iChat parlance, WTF?
Second, their customer support set-up is such that they do everything in their power to not actually have to speak with you. And by everything I mean everything. So prior to my call, I spent two hours on three separate occasions trying to research and experiment with solutions recommended by their various other methods of help which in included: knowledge-base (which one cannot register or sing in to due to technical difficulties); "sonia", basically another knowledge-base/troubleshooting wizard that takes in questions as input instead of keywords; online chat; and ultimately the help files within the software install itself. Of course none of those outlets worked for me.
Last, when I tried to submit a trouble ticket, their support system experienced technical difficulties on each occasion that allowed me to enter my trouble ticked but made it impossible to actually submit it. Their validation scripts forced me to select my product from a pull-down window only the pull-down window was empty and did not allow me to select anything.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Family Video Conferencing with iChat
One of the best things to happen to me this year has been iSight. My mom recently bought a Mac laptop at my request. She was going to buy the thing anyway, but needed me to recommend PC or Mac. My dad's got a PC which he totes to and from work. So when it came time to get mom online and using email, browsing the web and, perhaps one day even designing a quilt pattern with her new computer, to me the answer was obvious: buy a Mac.
What I didn't know was how my mom having a Mac would factor into me and my brother communicating more as well. You see, my brother talks to my mom once a week. I talk to my mom once a week. So vicariously through her, we talk to each other once a week as well. I find out about his kids from my mom. He finds out about my meanderings similarly. He doesn't use flickr, even though he has a digital camera. He never emails, even though he uses it all the time for work. And he's reluctant to talk on the phone because he has pizzamanophobia. One thing he does have though, is a Mac.
So last month, as my parents departed for Chicago for one of their long weekends with the grandkids, Noel and Sara, I asked my mom to go to the Apple store and buy an iSight for my brother. That way on Sunday we could have a video conference while they were there and we'd all see each other and talk like we were in the same room. They did. And we did. And you know what? It was marvelous.
My mom loved it so much, she bought an iSight for herself when she got home. The next weekend we were teleconferencing between San Diego, Columbus and Chicago. Last weekend we missed a call due to Noel and the kids traveling to the other Grandparents in Michigan. And by miss I mean miss. We really enjoy our Sunday chats. For the first time ever, Mia is interested in talking to her aunt and uncle in far-away San Diego. She stops and makes faces at the screen, tells me about the museums, her classes, and even showed me the doll we sent her for her birthday last month. And it being video means that much more. Mom and Dad can see my new facial hair experiment. Noel took us on a tour of his new house (untethering the laptop and going wireless through the house). We can spot dad nodding off. The format is every bit as important as the circumstance.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
An old, familiar language
An IM tonight with the aforementioned JD.Quoth we:
Start of jdsd525 buffer: Tue Apr 04 21:28:30 2006
[20:03] jdsd525: Rained out.
[20:03] jdsd525: Duble header tomorrow.
[20:03] kga245: saw your photo up on flickr
[20:03] kga245: yummy
[20:03] kga245: i want to lather it in jam and make it for breakfast
[20:03] jdsd525: First time since 97... I think they said.
[20:03] jdsd525: Thanks again.
[20:03] jdsd525: And again...
[20:04] jdsd525: That was a scan of a print...
[20:04] jdsd525: That I printed in my darkroom.
[20:04] jdsd525: Where I print things.
[20:05] jdsd525: Actually that was the first print from the new set up. Did it last weekend.
[20:05] jdsd525: Very excited.
[20:07] kga245: looks great
[20:07] kga245: really
[20:07] kga245: very subtly toned
[20:07] kga245: you're killing me, man
[20:07] kga245: i need to get me a darkroom and a studio
[20:08] jdsd525: What's mine is yours.
[20:08] jdsd525: Especially if I can recruit another member to the film love club.
[20:09] kga245: HMScc?
[20:09] kga245: what the frack is that?
[20:09] jdsd525: Lol.
[20:09] jdsd525: That's not what I was refering to.
[20:10] kga245: http://www.great-jones-street.com/channels/daily/
[20:11] kga245: been experimenting with my new mac
[20:11] kga245: i'm into video blogging now
[20:11] kga245: you should try it
[20:12] kga245: iSight is a way of life
[20:12] jdsd525: I infected two other (working on maybe 2 more) people at work with my photography / film / old camera obsession and one of them is moving. I just started that group so we could share off the clock and keep in touch when she moves. It's a joke really.
[20:12] kga245: Ah
[20:12] kga245: what do the initial stand for?
[20:13] kga245: denmark
[20:13] kga245: christiania
[20:13] jdsd525: One of them bought a brownie hawkeye and it came in a mint box. On the side was a handfull of bullets one of which was "handsome modern styling".
[20:14] kga245: jsut testing something in trillian
[20:14] kga245: done now
[20:14] kga245: so cool
[20:14] kga245: how much did that brownie cost/
[20:14] kga245: ?
[20:14] jdsd525: So handsome modern styling camera club. Like I say, it's a joke.
[20:14] jdsd525: Um...
[20:14] jdsd525: Like nothing.
[20:15] kga245: nice
[20:15] kga245: HMScc
[20:15] kga245: gotcha
[20:15] kga245: makes sense
[20:15] jdsd525: Did you see my 3ones post about vintage cameras being too cheap to pass on?
[20:16] jdsd525: LOLOLOL!!!!
[20:16] jdsd525: OMG! That is a laugh riot!
[20:17] jdsd525: "originally uploaded by five hundred twenty five"
[20:17] jdsd525: "i love it"
[20:17] jdsd525: Robot love is the ultimat paradox.
[20:17] jdsd525: *ultimate
[20:19] jdsd525: The props mean a lot coming from you, thanks.
[20:20] jdsd525: So um yeah, if I can missionary / bully you into some vintage film love let me know cause I'll do it.
[20:20] jdsd525: I'll send my 3ones post directly to you.
[20:20] jdsd525: All you need to know about starting to get real.
[20:21] jdsd525: Including ebay searches for cheap easy gold.
[20:21] kga245: I've been wanting to get a large format for doing some polaroids
[20:21] kga245: maybe settle for a 4x5
[20:21] jdsd525: Fuckin a!
[20:21] kga245: for c-41 slide large format
[20:21] kga245: very tastey
[20:21] jdsd525: Those are two things I've been trying to avoid.
[20:21] kga245: but my spending money is on hold for now
[20:21] jdsd525: And that's why.
[20:22] kga245: steph banned me after i blew the tax refund on nachos and beer
[20:22] jdsd525: A fun little brownie on the other hand...
[20:22] kga245: show me yours
[20:22] kga245: i want to get a good look
[20:22] jdsd525: They pay you to take them off their hands. So punk.
[20:24] jdsd525: And if 120 ups the cost too much for anything other than a rare treat... Get an old screw mount for $30 to your door or a demi for $60 (72 pics a roll... fucking pays for itself).
[20:24] jdsd525: *72 beautiful pics a roll.
[20:27] jdsd525: http://www.nwmangum.com/Kodak/Dua-1.html
[20:28] jdsd525: That's my new one, actually the model after the brownie.
[20:28] jdsd525: http://www.nwmangum.com/Kodak/_menus/menu-Duaflexes.html
[20:28] jdsd525: Mine is the first of the duaflexes. Fixed focus, shutter, and ap.
[20:29] jdsd525: http://homepage.mac.com/mattdenton/photo/cameras/kodak_duaflex2.html
[20:29] jdsd525: That one has adjustable focus, shutter, and ap.
[20:29] jdsd525: I will have one eventually.
[20:29] jdsd525: http://photography.search.ebay.com/duaflex_Cameras-Photo_W0QQbsZSearchQQcatrefZC6QQcoactionZcompareQQcoentrypageZsearchQQcopagenumZ1QQfclZ3QQfposZ92040QQfromZR10QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQsacatZ625QQsadisZ200QQsargnZQ2d1QQsaslcZ2QQsbrftogZ1QQsofocusZbs[20:30] jdsd525: http://cgi.ebay.com/Kodak-Brownie-Holiday-Flash-Kodak-Duaflex-II-Cameras_W0QQitemZ7605921663QQcategoryZ67375QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem[20:31] jdsd525: 2 for 5 with cool flashes...
[20:31] jdsd525: http://cgi.ebay.com/kodak-duaflex-11-camera-older-type_W0QQitemZ7606370609QQcategoryZ4701QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem[20:32] jdsd525: And there's my fancy one (with adjustments) for 5 bucks.
[20:33] jdsd525: Admittedly these auctions are rolling but I got mine for like 10 bucks including shipping.
[20:33] *** Auto-response sent to jdsd525: I am currently away from the computer.
[20:33] jdsd525: And it's mint.
[20:33] jdsd525: Like how can you not buy them.
[20:34] jdsd525: http://photography.search.ebay.com/hawkeye_Cameras-Photo_W0QQcatrefZC6QQcoactionZcompareQQcoentrypageZsearchQQcopagenumZ1QQfclZ3QQfromZR2QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQsacatZ625QQsbrsrtZd
[20:34] jdsd525: Here's the real brownies.
[20:34] jdsd525: http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Kodak-Brownie-Hawkeye-Camera-Flash-Model_W0QQitemZ7605025858QQcategoryZ67375QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
[20:34] jdsd525: up in 41 minutes, 16 bucks uncontested.
[20:35] jdsd525: With flash.
[20:35] jdsd525: http://cgi.ebay.com/Canon-Demi-EE17-35mm-30mm-F-1-7-lens-made-in-1966_W0QQitemZ7605258048QQcategoryZ3328QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
[20:35] jdsd525: That's the demi.
[20:36] jdsd525: Pays for itself.
[20:43] jdsd525: switching to couch machine.
[20:43] jdsd525: Shit.
[20:48] jdsd525: Damnit.
[20:48] jdsd525: couch connection keeps dying.
[20:54] jdsd525:
[21:08] *** jdsd525 is trying to send you "TheSoundofMusicGood.zip".
End of jdsd525 buffer: Tue Apr 04 21:28:30 2006
White Trash TA
John took this. I love it.
