I just gotupdate:returned a new laptop. It has Windows Vista, mostly because getting Windows XP via Dell would have cost $200 EXTRA. Though I heard last night from Rick L that if you call them on the phone and tell them, “I’m not buying a computer from you if it has Vista”, you can get XP at no additional charge.
I’ve been using Vista for about 1 hr and I’m just about ready to go back to XP. Vista is very pretty. Performance-wise, it makes my 1.9 Ghz dual core processor feel like a 400Mhz PII. It’ll often show you a screen but actually it’s not ready for you to click on it for 3 or 5 or 8 seconds. It’s very frustrating.
And for the security… this is how I feel:
local version:
2-12-08 Followup: I returned the Vista Laptop. Here’s another humorous video on the subject:
“I switched back to XP 3 weeks ago. …So much happier.”
local version:
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2-14-08 Followup:Derek points us to this one (original)
Work at home? Want to work in a cubicle but don’t have one? Want a short term office rental with perks? Consider CitizenSpace in San Francisco.
Citizen Space is a coworking space in San Francisco located at 425 Second St on the third floor. It is generally open from 10am – 6pm weekdays.
The idea of Citizen Space is to take the best elements of a coffee shop (social, energetic, creative) and the best elements of a workspace (productive, functional) and combine them to give indie workers the chance to have their own, affordable space. Citizen Space was built on coworking philosophy.
Day-tripping and casual guests can visit for free and if you want to leave your stuff, we rent out desks for $350/month. We also hold various events at our space and are happy to consider making our facilities available for event hosting.
Hey will ya look at that. Regseeker actually made my computer a little faster. I had it remove a few thousand unused registry entries and my Windows XP computer got a little faster. I was a bit worried that it would do Very Bad Things to my registry. I made backups and stuff. It’s been a week and so far, no earth-shattering “kaboom” like that accident with the space modulator.
It’s freeware available in many places, including locally.
My favorite t-shirt is one that I purchased about 15 years ago in Boston. People often ask me about it. They are simply memorized by it! I likely purchased it at a Tufts University on-campus sale. I’ve been meaning for years to try and find more by the same artist, Ken Brown.
I tracked him down via the Mirror Image website. Rick Roth at that site forwarded my message on to Ken and he wrote me back.
He wrote
Rick forwarded this little time capsule today and it gave me a chuckle. I wish I could help you out with a shirt selection, but I’ve been out of the biz for many years. I do miss it though and may yet reconsider. Meanwhile, check out hoopla.org (the ken Brown section at the top o the noggin’) for recent rantings. )
I took a look and… wow, that art brings back memories and gives me a great smile. I’m pretty sure I recognize a few and I -definitely- recognize the style. It reminds me of a card and “stuff” store that was on Mass Ave near Gypsy Moon. Apparently, he’s the guy they bought all their cards from!
My blog was getting slow so I called Dreamhost support. They wrote back
Okay, I see a pretty big issue. It looks like you’ve got 92MB of overhead (i.e. unoptimized queries) on your blog’s database. Optimizing the queries seems to have knocked your DB down to a more sensible 37.8MB – which can be trimmed further if you go thru and purge any questionable comments in Spam Karma as its tables take up 7.6MB. Go ahead and see how the optimizations have helped and let me know if you happen to have any further questions. I’ll be more than happy to help you get things sorted out if you need me to.
Thanks!
Jason
That helped muchly. I put on my calendar next to flipping my mattress, “Repair blog database tables to remove overhead. Then Optimize tables. Enjoy.”
I got a ticket, a “citation” for having an expired car registration in Oakland. That’s handled in the “Superior Court of California, County of Alameda”. Actually my registration wasn’t expired but I didn’t have the new registration in the car at the time. But that’s not the point. The point is, I wasted 1 1/2 hours of my day this morning going to Oakland Superior Court and I’m here to tell you how to make your experience easier.
At the bottom of my citation, it said that I was supposed to go to court on 1-22-08 at 9am. This is wrong. Here’s how it really works: It takes 4-8 forever(?) weeks from the time the citation is issued until it’s in the computer. Then I’ll be sent a “courtesy notice” by snail mail telling me what I’m supposed to do. Note that my violation was on 11-22-07. Today is 1-24-08… 8 weeks later and my citation still isn’t in the system. I should also note that the phone number the officer wrote isn’t the correct number… but when you call, it tells you what the new number is.
The nice gentleman at the information booth told me to check the status of my citation every 2 weeks at http://www.acgov.org/courts. (note: the site actually forwards to this site). Or I can call the Wiley W Manuel Courthouse – Traffic Division at 510-627-4701. But I’ve called that number and sat on the line waiting for someone to answer the phone for 20 minutes in vain. Use the website instead.
The citation said that I was supposed to show up at 9am. This is wrong. The nice gentleman at the info desk told me that registration for the morning court session opens at 8am. Shortly it will open at 7:30am. But at 7:30am, there is already a long line outside so you’ll do best to show up at the courthouse at 7am or even 6:30am. That way, you’ll be able to register for one of the 120 spots in the 10am morning court session. If you don’t get into the first session, you’ll be registering for the second session which starts at 2pm (IE your entire day wasted). And if there were too many people in front of you, you’ll be told to come back tomorrow, rinse and repeat. Also note that there is no afternoon court session on Thursdays. The nice gentleman at the info desk told me that many people were turned away today (Thursday) because of that.
The address of the Wiley W. Manual Courthouse is 661 Washington, Oakland, CA between 6th and 7th st. When I approached the building, I initially almost walked into the detention center (IE: Jail) in the same structure on 7th St because it looked all governmenty. Don’t make that mistake.
Marnia asked me to sign up for GoodReads.com. A while back, Jen asked me to sign up for…. umm something like “Book Exchange”. I’m sure they are both wonderful sites. But such sites come and go. I like to keep my commentary in one place. Hence, this post starts the “What I’m Reading” Category in my blog. Check in on this Category every now and then. Offer up a comment. Point me to your own Reading List.
All manner of solar books including (and all from the San Francisco Public Library)
Got Sun? Go Solar! by Rex A Ewing and Doug Pratt. Excellent book. Practical. Covers the generalities very well.
The Easy Guide to Solar Electric by Adi Pieper. It’s quite entertaining. More entertaining than educational but that can be a good thing; it makes it an easy read.
The Passive Solar House by James Kachadorian. I’ve only just gotten started on this.
Solar Revolution: The Economic Transformation of the Global Energy Industry by Travis Bradford – I dunno. My first impression is that it’s a little too… hand-wavy
The Solar House: Passive Heating and Cooling by Daniel Chiras, PhD – good stuff. Now if I can only finish it.
The Passive Solar House: Using Solar Design to Heat & Cool Your Home by James Kachadorian. I’ve barely cracked the cover yet. Looks good though.
The Idiot’s Guide to Solar Power for Your Home by Dan Ramsey. Very good. Now if I can only finish it. (on page 132)
The Easy Guide to Solar Electric by Adi Pieper – Very good. Now if I can only finish it. (on p 95)
The Easy Guide to Solar Electric: Part II – Installation Manual by Adi Pieper. Very good. Now if I can only finish it. (on p 35)
Freakonomics – Very Good. Audiobook. It’s just as “useful” as Blink and The Tipping Point but I don’t like hearing this author read quite as much as I like Malcolm reading.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma – Excellent. Audiobook.
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell – Excellent. Audiobook.
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell – Excellent. Audiobook.
Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology by Valentino Braitenberg- A really good “autonomous robot” book. I haven’t had time to get into it too much lately. But I will eventually!
Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman – (Audiobook) A very fun to read/listen to story!
