Audible doesn't have Watership Down

A short conversation with James:

(03:07) lancer: hmm...audible doesn't have watership down
(03:07) lancer: or anything from that author
(03:07) jamesn: Do they have "Fucking Travesty, the Book"?
(03:08) jamesn: Or "Why we should not be in business?" By A. Audible Jackass?

South Mountains State Park

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of going on a camping trip with some friends.  Destination:  South Mountains State Park.  It was a blast.  My favorite part actually turned out to be what I was afraid of. 

We left on Friday after work, which meant we would arrive at the campsite late.  After taking our sweet time getting there (even driving around searching for the Russel Stover outlet on the way) we made it about 10 minutes before the gates to the park closed (whoops, that was close)!  Then we discovered that all the car camping places were already taken, and we'd have to hike out to a campsite.  Ouch!  That's exactly what I was afraid of!  We had no backpacks, and it was dark and we only had one headlamp!  We ended up strapping whatever we could fit on our backs and biking in the dark to the campsite about 2 miles away.  Once we got there it was awesome, until we realized that we forgot to bring something to make fire with!  :)  Fortunately there was one other group not too far away and they gave us some fire.

Blake showed us how to make "boy scout burgers" - a ton of hamburger meat and onion and spices smashed down inside aluminum foil and thrown directly in the fire.  Those were great.  The next night we made s'mores as well, which I hadn't done since I was a little kid in the boy scouts.

We went mountain biking and hiking all over.  The biking was amazing - it was incredibly difficult going uphill (I did a lot of walking and pushing my bike uphill!) and it was incredible SCARY going downhill!  A couple of times I thought for sure I was going to go flying over my handle bars and tumbling down a mountain side!  The highlight of the hiking was High Shoals Falls.  It was at the top of t his 80 foot waterfall that I realized my brand new phone was designed by a moron.

Google Calendar Sync

I've been using Google Calendar Sync for 2-3 months now, and I absolutely love it.  In the past I always kept my calendar in Outlook at work, and sometimes it was a pain to check that from home.  Now items in my Outlook calendar are automatically synced with my Google calendar (and vice versa).  I haven't come across a single bug or annoyance.

I like how Google Calendar is very smart about new entries.  If I create a new entry like "7pm, dinner at Angus Barn", Google automatically recognizes the time and location of that entry.  Suggestion for Google:  do the same thing with "Tom's birthday" (as well as anniversary, annual, etc).  Automatically mark that as an event that repeats yearly.

Technorati Tags: Google Calendar

Crap UI Design

I think one of my unique personality traits is that I tackle big problems with relative composure, but I often over-react to small problems or annoyances.

Lately, an issue that has been annoying me more and more (and has been pointed out to me that I get a little too upset about) is crappy software UI on household devices. Whether it be my dvd player, my cable box, or my cell phone - there appear to be a bunch of idiots designing the UI and capabilities of the software that runs on these devices.

So...because of this, and because two blogs is just not enough, I have decided to turn this non-constructive complaining into something more (debatably) useful: UI Follies. The first two posts are specific to my new Motorola i880 cell phone. But I plan to talk about more than just cell phones, and more than just handheld devices and entertainment center components. I also won't limit myself to software, though that will no doubt be the bulk.

Sidelined

Of course, 1 day after expressing how happy sports and fitness have made me, I hurt my shoulder playing volleyball. Luckily its not too bad, but I will be out for a couple weeks at least. I have an AC sprain that is bad enough to cause me a good amount of pain when raising my arm over my head, and pretty severe pain when reaching across my body towards my other shoulder. Ouch! At least there is no fracture. Whew (knock on wood).

After a few days, I get to do fun exercises, some of which hurt pretty badly right now. I know you probably aren't interested in the weird shoulder exercises I must do, but I really left this link for myself, so there. ;)

Huge milestone

Saturday was the first doubles volleyball tournament of the season for me, and it was awesome. My pitiful little mind doesn't have enough words to adequately express just how awesome it was.

First, just the excitement and anticipation of the day was great. Just to be outside with friends on a beautiful warm day, everyone with their coolers and fold-out chairs and volleyballs, the feeling breathed extra life into me.

I got to see a lot of people that I hadn't seen in a while, which was nice (for the most part, ha ha). And a big group of people who I've gotten to know and enjoy over the off-season shared two portable shelters, chairs, fruit/water/gatorade, and conversation. Then, out of 5 AA pools, I end up in a pool with some of those fun people.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I played very well. Blocking and serving have been weaknesses in my game in the past, and while they could still use improvement I definitely stepped them both up during this tournament. I have a hard time correctly utilizing that split-second when you need to see the set going up and decide whether to run up and attempt to block the hit or fall back and attempt to dig the spike, but I've been working on it and I could definitely see the payoff. Unfortunately it wasn't enough for me to win the whole thing, though! :) I had my chance and blew it. I finished #1 in my pool (I went 7-1 there for 139/144 possible points), got ranked #4 in the following single-elimination play-off, and lost by 1 point in the first round to a guy I have beaten many times in the past.

The best part though, of this Saturday, was that it made me realize I'd reached a fitness milestone I did not know I had reached. To provide background, I like to tell a story about last summer when I played in my first doubles tournament in about 6 or 7 years: how driving can hurt. After that long hot day of playing, everything on my body hurt from my eyeballs to my feet, but mostly my legs (quads and calves). I was driving home with the cruise control on, and as I reached my exit on the beltline, it was actually painful just to raise my foot a few inches off the floorboard and push it back down on top of the brake pedal. Now that's a bad shape to be in. The other tournaments last summer weren't so bad, but I would still be sore and tired and fighting cramps afterwards, and basically good for nothing the following day. But this time...I felt great. After I finished, I could have played much more. That evening after the tournament I had energy to give away, and even the next day there was no soreness whatsoever. What a great feeling. That more than anything else makes me extremely proud, but also thankful for having friends that encourage me to get in shape and stay in shape. A year ago today, I said that I was more fit than I'd been in 7 years. Today I can say that I'm much more fit than I was just last year. Next month? Next month I'll be more fit than I am today.

Tift Merritt Show

Saturday night I spent at the Carolina Theatre in Durham to see Tift Merritt in concert. I went with my friend Julie, who had never heard of Tift before. The show was really good, she sang songs from her recently released album "Another Country" (of which most was actually written in another country) as well as some older songs. She has such a wonderfully unique voice, and really gets into performing as she jams on her guitar or rocks away on her keyboard.

Tift got her start in the triangle area, and it was clear that she had a lot of old friends/family and fans in the theatre - they let her know it with several standing ovations and loud on-going cheers.

She was also interviewed on NPR's Talk of the Nation this past Thursday.

They were filming some hd video of the show, and I came across this post mentioning an upcoming documentary about Tift Merritt and her band.

Sara Watkins (of Nickel Creek) opened the show. Wow. She's good.

Stupid Tech Support Customers

Once upon a time, I was trying to help a customer, but he was a dumbass. :) Ok, actually it wasn't just once. Unfortunately it seems to be a recurring nightmare. What follows is the first in what will be a series of stupid tech support customer stories.

disclaimer: If you do not think this customer is stupid, you yourself may actually be stupid.

disclaimer disclaimer: The above disclaimer may only apply to you if you are a computer programmer, or otherwise skilled in the ways of the 1's and 0's.

----

Customer: "I am trying to run your demo software, but I keep getting an error." [error snipped for reader's sanity]

Me: "To fix this, go to the Tools menu and select 'Configure Libraries'. Then choose [snipped] and click 'OK'."

Customer: "I took all your advice but it still does not work."

Me: "Can you send me a screenshot of your 'Configure Libraries' dialog? You can take a screenshot using the 'Print Screen' button, and then paste into MS Paint."

Customer: "Here are some screenshots:"

[Customer gets out digital camera, takes pictures of computer monitor, sends digital pictures to me in an email]:

Could Congress Please Keep its Eye on the Ball?

Am I the only one who wonders why a congressional committee has time to discuss Roger Clemens (and other athletes') use of steroids, while there is a recession in the works, an aging baby boom generation, wars in the world (not just in the middle east), wide-spread poverty and hunger, global warming, renewable energy shortages, over-dependence on oil, and NCSU hasn't won a major ACC championship in 20 years? I mean seriously, can we please get our freaking priorities straight and let the damn baseball leagues deal with their own problems?

Lori McKenna Live!

5 or 6 years ago, I was cleaning my apartment with the tv on in the background. I wasn't watching the tv, but a song started playing on the show that was on, and the song (not the show) immediately caught my attention. The singing voice was so striking. Extremely expressive and painful, I ended up watching the rest of the tv show just so I could see the credits and find out what angel had this extraordinary singing voice. It was Lori McKenna.

I searched her out on the Internet and found out that she played only in the New England area, but I found some other songs of hers through her website and WUMB (public radio in Boston) recordings. All amazing. Fast forward to 2007 and Faith Hill records three of Lori's songs on her CD Fireflies (including the title track), Lori McKenna opens for Faith and Tim on tour, and Tim McGraw produces Lori's album Unglamorous. Pretty impressive! I always knew I had a golden ear and could pick out a star from a mile away (now I know its much further than a mile...how many miles from NC to Mass?).

So last night I got to see Lori live, at her show at the ArtsCenter in Carrboro, NC. The show was just Lori, Mark Erelli (backup vocals, mandolin, and guitar), and Russell (electric guitar) in a small theatre with a max seating of something like 300. I sat less than 10 feet from the stage at a table and drank a local brew while listening. Very nice! :)

If you want to check it out, I took a short grainy video of one of her songs: Written Permission. She apparently categorizes her music as country these days, since she signed with Warner Bros:

Technorati Tags: Live Music, Lori McKenna, Music