July 23, 2008
iphone love
I'm typing this in via the new iPhone-native WordPress app- and it's damn impressive so far. No dashboard, minimal features, but it does exactly what I need it to right now- add and edit posts. And that helps me use the iPhone for exactly what I'd hoped I could- untethering me from desk and laptop for a change. F$@kin' awesome.
Posted by Scott at 8:35 PM
July 13, 2008
belated spousal appreciation
I've been working pretty heavily since my paternity leave ran out exactly a month ago, and despite working from home a day or two a week since, can't say that I've had nearly as much 1:1:1 time with Des and Devin as I did then. Given he was pretty much an adorable little red-haired lump of clay at that time, a lot's changed since then.
And I'm basically writing this post in admiration for the work my wife's put in since then. The reason it's delayed is that I haven't been able to see the fruits of her labor until now. Now sure, I've helped indirectly with most all of these items, but she's the one that really put the hours in, and it's very obvious now.
- Vocabulary: although Devin's got about 6 words he uses regularly now (Mom, Dad, Cat, Ball, Baby, and of course No), he's got at least 25 signs that he uses even more frequently, and I'm only just starting to realize it. My friend Julie extolled the virtues of teaching babies sign language early, and although I was always on board philosophically, it's one of those parental tasks that takes a LONG time to glean results. When Devin busted his first sign on me a couple months ago (Milk), it came out of the blue, but was absolutely, positively communication. Since then, he's been springing out with a few new ones every week, and starting to put them together into 'micro-sentences' (i.e. more + food + please). The part that's blowing me away right now is the fact that he'd been using many of his new signs for a while before we realized it. Fine motor skills and precision are not a 1-year old's strong suit, so many of the signs he was taught came back to us in a slightly modified if not exaggerated form. However, now that he knows it's an effective way to 'talk' with us, he makes sure to let us know when he's telling us something and we're not getting it. If Des wasn't so consistent in always using signs for key words along with her verbal communication, I'm reasonably sure he wouldn't be so overflowing in 'speech' right now. It's just plain awesome!
- Fine Motor Skills: I'm pretty much the 'read a story' guy, and the 'crawl around and chase each other' guy. I made a comment to Des a few months back that I was wondering when he'd finally start using his stacking blocks and such, and she started setting two parts of the day aside (without me realizing it) to play with him in that regard. When she opens a bottle, she hands him the cap and lets him put it back on. When she needs something picked up from the floor, she asks him to please get it for her, and he's all over it. I didn't realize how well this was working until today, when he picked up a water bottle cap I dropped, got mad when I didn't put it back on, and then proceeded to pick it back up from the end table and place it solidly on my water bottle. This is now manifesting itself with him actually cleaning up after himself, and placing toys back in the basket when he's done playing. Again, amazing. The real-world tasks have apparently not just strengthened his motor skills, but his independence and responsibility, as he often now follows after US and picks things up that have been left behind.
I suppose I'm writing this as I feel a bit like an absent dad in parts of the process, but am now incredibly impressed with how well Des' work and parenting has paid off while I've been bringing home the mortgage payment. The pivotal moment was today when he was making odd gestures at me and I had to be told that he was actually talking to me - in this particular case telling me about his stuffed bear, and I just thought he was scratching his chest.
Looks like I've got a lot of catching up to do, and appreciation to give. This really is a learning experience for everyone involved, and one I'm humbled daily to be a part of.
Posted by Scott at 4:57 PM
June 11, 2008
omnifocus for iphone
Hells yeah, OmniFocus for the iPhone will be location-aware by default, and should sync beautifully with OmniFocus back on the home office machine. Desktop OmniFocus is a masterpiece, but now it's officially become legendary with a tightly-integrated parallel mobile version. What's not to love?
[Read more at: The Omni Group - OmniFocus for iPhone and iPod touch]
It's great to see innovative developers start to think about location-awareness with the newly announced iPhone 3G and not just on a superficial, fluffy level. Now if I've added a task to pick up more transmission fluid, I can see all the auto stores close to where I'm standing, and get a map/directions to them. It could theoretically know when I'm at home, and show me my home tasks specifically.
OmniGroup software tends to be a little on the spendy side, but I can attest that the attention to detail they put into each bit is worth every cent they charge. I was on the early betas of OmniFocus and it was amazing to see how quickly they iterated the software and with the care they did so- I can only imagine how slick it'll be to finally carry my tasks with me on the iPhone and really use the hardware for it's strengths, not just scan a basic list with a hacked OSX-to-touch quickie software port. Whatever it costs, I'll be lining up at the App Store to get my copy of OmniFocus iPhone as soon as it hits the streets. W00t!
Posted by Scott at 8:48 AM
May 16, 2008
xbox 360 is getting PWNED
Today seems all about ownage. NPD market data for the console gaming industry was released for April, and it's rather fascinating to slice up. Despite Microsoft's skewed insistence that the Xbox 360 is "uniquely positioned" to "win the generation battle", it was smacked down in NPD metrics by the Nintendo Wii (1st place), the Nintendo DS (2nd place) and the ... get this ... Sony PSP (Playstation Portable) coming in strong with a third place showing. That's right - the 360 didn't even pull the bronze medal this month.
Most of the problem is that Microsoft still seems to try and play number parity with the Wii and Playstation 3, yet was released almost a year before both. I can understand why they want to downplay the numbers, as it's easy to get ahead with a 12-month headstart. However, the Wii is close to closing on the 360's "lead", so I'm not sure the Microsoft sandbagging is going to hold much longer.
Posted by Scott at 1:16 PM
chris matthews OWNS kevin james
Right-wing gasbag Kevin James gets his ass handed to him on Hardball by Chris Matthews. Wow. And over a pretty simple question for anyone who's taken high school history, too. Note to James - might want to actually have facts to back up your yelling with, cause volume clearly does not equal brains.
Posted by Scott at 12:40 PM
May 7, 2008
color me impressed.
Got the warning message 2 weeks ago that my California driver's license was going to expire in about a month, but I wasn't going to get off easy with a mail-in renewal this time. An actual DMV visit was mandatory, for the fingerprint/photo drill and of course to soak me for some cash.
If you're anything like me, this spells disaster.
I've NEVER been in and out of a DMV in less than 2 hours for something like this (at least since moving to the Bay Area where everything's busy), so the thought of carving said chunk of time out of a rather insurmountable daytime schedule wasn't particularly thrilling. Then I saw the note at the bottom- I could set an appointment online! God bless them Intertubes. I visited their form, made a few clicks, and had an appointment set for 2pm the following Wednesday- i.e. today. After the confirmation message was displayed, I realized that I was still going to have to go to the Oakland DMV and probably sit around for an ungodly span of time just to get waited on, so have been dreading today all week. Particularly because this week has been an absolutely freakin' insane one at work.
I'm shocked. My fears were totally unfounded.
I waited for about 3 minutes to 'check in' at the front desk, and things seemed like they were headed in a Southward direction almost immediately when my name wasn't on the appointment list, a multi-page behemoth in 8-pt Helvetica the bored desk clerk listlessly scanned thru at least three times until I saw an odd entry on the third page that didn't seem like a name - ASP. Come to think of it, they did build that server app in ASP (Active Server Pages), so WTF. I had her check the confirmation number, and sure enough- it was mine. Gleeful at not being shunned at the gate, I took my number and sat alongside all the other bored-looking patrons in the waiting area with a prime view of the Keno-esque queue monitor so I wouldn't miss my number being called.
My ass was in the seat for about as long as it took me to fire up my Kindle and read the next paragraph in the book I've been devouring (Small Favor) before my number was flashing full screen above me. Much to the chagrin of my fellow wait-ees, I walked up to desk 10, handed them my form and 25 bucks, they sent me to desk 24 for a picture and thumbprint, and I was back in the Audi before I even knew what hit me, new temporary license in hand. I hit the freeway home and checked the clock as I set the parking brake- 2:25 pm.
I left the house at 1:50. That's 35 minutes, door-to-door, for a DMV appointment. May not be a record for you, but it's easily halving my next best time, which to me- is one amazing feat. I may just have to renew my faith in public services at some point here, cause I sure as f@#k didn't see that coming. With the time I saved, I could still read the rest of that chapter in the sanctity of my own home, grab a quick bite from the fridge, and get back on the clock before my belated lunch hour expired.
Now THAT'S what a DMV appointment should be like. I'm impressed.
Posted by Scott at 7:44 PM
April 11, 2008
fox news - the meter is running
Wow. Amazing.
Posted by Scott at 9:13 AM
April 9, 2008
star wars gangsta rap
NFWS, but funny as hell.
Posted by Scott at 9:07 AM
March 21, 2008
comment situation
Just a quickie- Wendy reminded me last night that my comments weren't working, which means I'd actually re-enabled them by mistake. They'll be offline for a while while I re-hack them back into submission, apparently my old spam filtering system does NOT work with Movable Type 4.1. Sigh. Hit the 'contact' link at the top of the page if you want to ping me in the meantime, sincere apologies.
Posted by Scott at 3:38 PM
scott explaining quantum physics
SxSW (South by Southwest, to the uninitiated) is my favorite event of the year, every year. Great conversations, amazing parties, and you get to meet up with all the cool people from around the globe you never see on a day-to-day basis (like Veerle Pieters and Geert Leyseele, behind me).
And apparently, riff on quantum physics. I guess when I get half a margarita in me my conversational skills increase exponentially... does that really surprise you, though?
Posted by Scott at 3:33 PM
March 14, 2008
call it, friendo.
Just got this forwarded to me via interoffice email, and found it rather funny. Funny as in 'holy shit, I guess I do look like him a bit', not 'funny/ha-ha'. Knowing that others are talking about this behind my back has me wondering if I can exploit this strange association for a little dramatic effect- and will be taking a beat-up coin to every meeting next week.
Posted by Scott at 4:33 PM
meme of the day
Yep, it's good ol' blog meme time again. This go-round it's an enthralling take on your personal details, as defined by one's middle name, and you can thank Dawnne for screwing me with this particular meme. Rules need to go first, before answers, so like a good lemming I'll indulge them first:
- You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
- You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don’t have a middle name, use your maiden name or your mother’s maiden name).
- At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person (or blogger of another species) for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they’ve been tagged.)
So here's the answers, so I can get back to my rather insane Friday and still leave the office at a reasonable hour. Didn't think I'd be doing this on my own hours, did you?
My middle name is, believe it or not, Scott. Feel free to guess my real first name.
- S = sarcastic. I'm not sure I'd have a communication style at all if sarcasm didn't exist. If you didn't see that one coming, be very careful in crosswalks.
- C = cat lover. Had one dog - a golden retriever named Tarka - who was absolutely amazing, but also the most needy companion I've ever had in my life. She passed painlessly of natural causes when I was about 27, and in honor of her storied life I'll never own another dog again. Cats are much more self-sufficient and snarky, which (if you caught the first bullet point) is more my speed these days.
- O = overloaded. I always have more going on than I've physical and mental bandwidth to process. This has been either the direct or indirect cause of every failed relationship I've ever had, and the reason I take things way too seriously at times.
- T = terror on 4 strings. Just throw me a bass guitar, and I'll rock the house into shambles. Seriously. If I could pick one thing I do better than anything else in my bag 'o skills, it's thumping a bass. Only problem- I fucking HATE the music industry, so rock stardom was something I took a pass on years ago. Sorry, ladies.
- T = total clean freak. I can't leave the kitchen until all the dishes are done and either put away or in the washer, I can't leave the living room until my empty drink glass and coaster are returned to their places of origin, and I'm compelled to pick up trash, close open cabinets and doors, and Windex counters should they stray beyond the general range of cleanliness. Oddly enough, closets are the only exception to this rule, and I basically use 'em as junk drawers to get random personal items out of sight while I figure out what to do with them. Step at least a few paces back should you open my office closet, or I'm not responsible for injury.
- Y = Y the fuck am I still typing this? I've got work to do. (this is a bonus letter, as I still - for some unfathomable reason - get called 'Scotty' on a regular basis. Ugh.)
As the curse of these memes is to tag someone else to play along in chain-letter fashion (and god knows I have no patience for chain letters and pyramid schemes), I'll simply tag someone who has bit on these hooks before, and break the rules of 'one per letter' with wanton abandon. Plus, she's expecting her first child in short order, so probably has some pent-up editorial angst to work out.
Wendy, you're up!
(note: apologies that you can't even complain directly, as comments are currently disabled here while I sort out my latest Movable Type upgrade nightmare. Hah!)
Posted by Scott at 4:11 PM
March 9, 2008
on scientology and tom cruise
Wow. Now I'd heard about these videos a month or two back when the Church of Scientology was trying to sue to have them brought down, but couldn't really bring myself to watch them until now. The fact that The Church wasn't able to use their formidable and consistent powers of overwhelming litigation to remove the videos is impressive on it's own merits, but the reality of said videos is impressive in a very different, real and very frightening way. If you've ever wondered just how absolutely batshit-insane Tom Cruise really is (and if there's legions of Scientologists behind him with similar delusions of grandeur, omniscience and self-importance), just check these out yourself.
[From Tom Cruise Uncut: The Freedom Medal Award Ceremony]
What a colossal asshat, that guy.
And I'd thought his Oprah appearance was the creepiest thing I'd seen before now...but yikes.
Posted by Scott at 6:55 PM
March 5, 2008
galactica season 4 preview
The writers' strike is finally over, and the fourth, final season of Battlestar Galactica is closing on the horizon less than a month away - the premiere debuting on Friday, April 4th. I'd been slighly reserved during the strike given the uncertain future of the final season - but this recent preview clip from Hypaspace has me in full-tilt fanboy mode now. Frackin' A!
Galactica = the best show on TV, no question about it. It's rare to find a sci-fi show that doesn't lean completely on trickery and special effects, and completely masks it's own genre with stellar writing, supporting flawed yet brilliant characters portrayed by some top-notch talent. And I say that as someone who felt the original '70s version sucked harder than a black hole, no less- it was no small feat to turn me around to BSG.
Posted by Scott at 3:53 PM
March 3, 2008
the fail blog
I'm not sure I've laughed this hard at a photoblog since the first lolcat purred into my inbox. Ladies and gentlemen, witness The FAIL Blog. Epic!
Posted by Scott at 5:31 PM