JBB’s Twitter Updates for 2008-05-31
May 31, 2008
- neva 2nite @ taco beach. probably last neva/taco beach visit. may not be able to publish pictures from this one
# - Hi ho, hi ho, 2 taco beach I go, that I should dare 2 find a chair & Neva there, hi ho. Bring on the beers. My songwriting abilities stumble #
- Not exactly a news flash… Drunk are stupid, but they make me laugh as I walk home from the bat. Too funny #
- packing session one w/ brother matt 2day, but i have time 2 pre-pack some items 2 streamline the process. all tech ‘cept mbp already packed #
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JBB’s Twitter Updates for 2008-05-30
May 30, 2008
- @johnfoster maybe typo for gromet pizza (lots of “cheeeeze”) #
- yearbooks just arrived. need full-scale lock-down so that they don’t “disappear” #
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No Time for Good-Byes
May 30, 2008
A friend I was supposed to see this weekend just cancelled. I hadn’t heard from her and that naturally led me to anticipate some complication. I hate being right. I mean, in “normal times” my friends and I rarely have the time just to visit. Truth be told, it’s usually some conference that brings us together once a year. And these are not normal times. I’m leaving California in 17 days and have almost no free weekends left and she’s going through a very shitty divorce (like, there’s some other kind of divorce) that has her trying to be full-time mom to her young twins and stay ahead of her job and the burden of the divorce itself. I wish that there was more that I could do for her. I mean, She was there all those years ago when I was first wrestling with my last quasi-relationship and just accepted me while encouraging me to be good to myself. But here I am, about to leave and escape the scene of the crime, as it were. I feel myself torn. No, actually I know that I’m shielding my heart more than a bit so that I don’t feel how great the loss is going to be. Ironic that I seem to be taking a page from my former lover’s coping strategy: to just stay so busy that I don’t feel the lows. I’ll probably have a good cry some rainy day in six months or so.
Technorati Tags: california, family, florida, friends, FullSail, kids, promises, teaching, travel, work
JBB’s Twitter Updates for 2008-05-29
May 29, 2008
- 11 Days left, didn’t make the 7:45 staff mtg & missed some super-secret discussion. damn. figures. my head is elsewhere. ack. #
- Yikes, I’m leaving @ the right time. Subject 2 Board vote, this school is going 2 b restructured as a high school over 3 yrs. New admin& … #
- @garystager love Elvis Costello, saw him as the headliner years ago, he had the audience in the palm of his hand… it was a small audience #
- @acedtect what’s the weblink for videostreaming? #
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Marriage Proposal on Twitter
May 29, 2008
Last Sunday, at about the same time that I was working on my sister’s computers and watching the Phoenix Mars Lander do it’s thing on nasa.gov, someone who goes by the online handle of “Mrs. Happy Pants” was accepting a marriage proposal marriage via the Internet mini-blog service called Twitter. I heard about this by following the Twitter messages (”tweets”) posted by Will Pate from Command-N posted a link and the following comment on his Twitter stream:
“Woah, marriage requested and accepted on Twitter”
Here was Mrs. Happy Pants’ response to the marriage proposal:
“@markdavidson Yes! I will marry you and I am so happy! Since the first time we saw each other I knew that I would be with you forever. YES!!” Mrs. Happy Pants
Wow, indeed. Well, at least they’ve had the added benefit of having actually seen each other. I wonder if “Mrs. Happy Pants” was her handle before the proposal, or because of the proposal? It’ll be interesting to see if the relationship will survive the conversion to something often greater than 140 characters in length (and possibly far less!). jbb
See the embedded video for an explanation on what Twitter is:
Music: Head Over Feet from the album “Jagged Little Pill” by Alanis Morissette
Technorati Tags: Internet, love, media, nasa, promises, twitter
You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Loose Wheel
May 29, 2008
I don’t know what the hell is going on. About two-weeks ago, just after I decided to not tow my cute burnt-copper-colored Scion behind a U-haul and instead drive the beastie all the way to Florida, it developed a difficult to diagnose slow leak in the rear-passenger-side tire. I had a full-load of Snapples and water that morning and I thought that something might be amiss. With the low profile tires the ride has always been a bit rough but this was crazy. So, every morning for a week, until I got a chance to have the tire replaced, I had to stop at a gas station on my way to work to re-fill my poor tire. And then, after having the tire replaced on last Saturday I was shocked to find it flat again the following Monday. Another trip to Firestone. They couldn’t find a leak in the tire or crack in the wheel and decided to replace and epoxy the valve and rim. That seemed to work, but didn’t engender too much confidence that I wasn’t going to be revisited with this problem, probably at a most inopportune time. Damn.
And then yesterday evening, after a very long day with my students, followed by lots of book packing, I walked up to my car and discovered that someone had torn the rear windshield wiper off of my car, leaving only the bolt and empty space where the wiper had previously been. I was too tired to get mad but it really soured my mood. Previously when my car(s) have been vandalized I usually have to remind myself that whoever did this has no idea who I am and just does it on a dare or moment of stupidity. But finding it like that in my school parking lot where I’m pretty well known, I can’t imagine that this was completely random. Little amoral f*ckers, just another reason why I’m glad to be leaving. Sad that someone had to sour my attitude when for the most part all I have are great memories of my students. Damn. I guess it’d be much worse if I felt trapped and didn’t feel like there was nothing that I could do to change things and make my situation better. Only two-and-a-half weeks to go. I need to get out of here before something else decides to break. JBB
Music: The Royal Scam from the album “Citizen Steely Dan: 1972-1980 (Disc 3) [Box Set]” by Steely Dan
Technorati Tags: california, florida, kids, longbeach, teaching, travel, work
JBB’s Twitter Updates for 2008-05-28
May 28, 2008
- still fighting last week’s cold, thus no tacobeach or corday 2nite. damn. chicken soup & sleep 4 me. woohoo! #
- 12 days left, someone tore off rear windshield wiper yesterday, dark mood. can’t concentrate. wanna nap #
- scion rear windshield wiper ripped off last nite. Just dropped it off 4 repair & minor service ack. Gonna do grades @ local starbucks. Yawn #
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Phoenix Mars Lander
May 27, 2008
“I’m awake for my sol 1 duties. Have received commands from Earth and will spend the day carrying them out,” MarsPhoenix via twitter - 5/26/2008
Sunday was a good day. Even though I had no time to be away from the massive packing job at my apartment, I had arranged with bro-in-law Paul to give them my TV and upgrade their Macs. After moving the TV, I hooked up their computers to their new FIOS ultra-high-speed Internet connection and then remembered that the Phoenix Lander was due to land on Mars and found a live video-stream on the web. I was in geek-heaven, surrounded by four screens, tinkering away and following the progress of the little lander.
And one of the coolest things was that I got to share the experience with my sister, bro-in-law and nieces. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to watch the Gemini and Apollo launches as a kid in the 60s. This felt a little like that. Add to that how cool it was to be watching the live NASA video stream and a Ustream.TV stream with commentary, not on the TV (that might get pre-empted by some commercial interruption) but on the Internet. The distant past childhood memories were linked to this futuristic “right here/right now” communal experience of watching this little probe successfully land on Mars and cheering right along side the technicians and scientists that made the thing happen. That made for a very good Sunday. jbb
Music: Too Raw from the album “Neva” by Neva
Technorati Tags: applehardware, california, family, florida, media, nasa, scifi, techtoys, youtube
JBB’s Twitter Updates for 2008-05-25
May 25, 2008
- Getting RAM @ Fry’s 4 mom’s macmini, dropped quote sheet while shopping. I’m an idiot. Waiting 2 b fitted 4 my dunce cap. #
- Pipeline burrito & beer @ taco beach. Thank god 4 3-day weekends. Makes tomorrow like a Saturday do-over #
- what the he’ll is up w/ twitted? Hahlo keeps sayin’ that it’s down. I’m sure I’m not alone in my frustration w/ this. Ack! #
- @garyvee u r welcomed (from a noisy dive on the west coast)! #
- @leolaporte good thoughts 4 Roz #
- watching phoenix at http://www.ustream.tv or nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.htm #
- phoenix landing just announced (15 minute delay between event & message rec’d on earth)!!! awesome #
- @Ihnatko amen bro #
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MacMini RAM Upgrade
May 25, 2008
When I went to visit mom during Spring Break one of the main assignments was to set up her macmini so that I could do remote diagnostics whenever she runs into problems. The Leopard upgrade went great but I think her computer’s 512MB RAM wasn’t enough memory to allow remote access. Damn. So I was going to have to crack open her system. While researching the project I decided that I’d do the upgrade first on my own macmini. Turned out that it was easier getting RAM for my newer Intel-based MacMini, so that was the first hurdle. I found a great tutorial video from OtherWorld Computing and just followed along.
I’ve been futzing with the guts of my computers since my first Kaypro in 1984, but this had to be the first really “closed” system I’ve had to literally crack open. All I have to say is that with this level of asthetic engineering that went into that box Apple should be selling a version with a clear case. Every square millimeter so perfectly fit together. It was really a work of engineering beauty. If it weren’t for the fact that I needed to pack the beastie for a cross-country journey, I would be tempted to leave the top off.
Of course, ’cause I didn’t properly “seat” one of the 1GB RAM sticks I got a chance to admire the design a second time as I cracked it open again to fix the problem. Ack. That done and tested I boxed it all up in the original lunch-box-sized packaging. Purty. jbb
Here’s a very pretty video on how to install RAM in a MacMini by MrBit10:
Music: Take The Long Way Home from the album “Breakfast In America” by Supertramp
Technorati Tags: apple, applehardware, family, hardware, Internet, techtoys, youtube
