The myth, the man, the monkey

Hahahaha, because having sex so vigourous you put your...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:31:56 -0500

Hahahaha, because having sex so vigourous you put your girlfriend in a neck brace is a good reason to go vegan.

Fuck you PETA

Remember the Milk

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:35:07 -0500

I am trying out Remember the Milk. I’ve sampled a few different apps for managing tasks. Up to now, I had settled on 2Do, an excellent iPhone app, very robust and full featured. They lacked a desktop of web client however; I was forced to use the iPhone app for all my task management. This meant I didn’t use it very much, as extended typing and managing entries on an iPhone is not the friendliest experience.

So..RTM it is (for now…as I say, I am just trying it). It was two stellar features which I love.

They have a calendar feed, so that any task to which I assign a due date, appears in my Google calendar. That alone is worth the effort, since I will see my tasks much more readily. They will of course remind me directly as the task comes due (various options, I can get a text, a Skype message, etc…), but to see my week ahead in the calendar, and see a task sitting there on Friday is an instant reminder.
Smart entry. I can enter a task (by email if I like) that says “Get groceries tomorrow at 5pm @Loblaws *weekly”, and it will create a task for tomorrow at 5pm that also repeats every week, and is keyed to the Loblaws location (assuming I told it where Loblaws was already). Anything that makes task entry faster is a plus.

The RTM iPhone app is serviceable, but lacking. It needs some redesign from a workflow perspective. Task entry is certainly much more awkward than 2Do was, with more clicks needed to get a task entered. However, since I will likely enter tasks by email or in the web app, that’s less of an issue. It will do fine for reviewing my tasks, with tabs for tasks due today, tomorrow, this week, and tasks nearby.

The main flaw which gives me pause is the location awareness. It has a “Nearby” tab, showing me tasks keyed to nearby location, but I have to open the app to see them. It won’t do the geo-fence trick of buzzing me automatically simply as I get into the area. I feel this is a notable hole in their app that they will need to fix if they want to keep me long term.

Cut down all the trees!

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:32:08 -0500

From The Friendly Atheist

Pat Robertson: Atheists don’t believe in ANYTHING. I mean, a theo means “no God,” they have no Gods, so they don’t have anything, so they don’t believe in anything. But they can protest, somebody who believes in SOMETHING. I mean, isn’t this a strange thing, that we would allow somebody who doesn’t believe in anything to restrict the freedom of those who do? I mean, it makes no sense! Sooner or later we’re going to wake up, but I think maybe we are…but our hats are off to the forest service, this is just one minor little skirmish, but these atheists, they’re just enormously creative in figuring out things they can do that give us trouble. Kristi…

Kristi Watts [interrupting]: You know what I just thought of, Pat?

Pat Robertson: What’s that?

Kristi Watts: You know you’ve got different kinds of, well, let’s call them religions…there’s one called Wicca, and they’re all about the environment, right? So, their religion that believes in the environment, and they believe that trees are their god, why are these atheists not saying that we should cut down every tree? Because it’s offensive. [holds out hand towards PR} Do you know what I mean?

Pat Robertson: Yes…

Kristi Watts: It’s the same mentality!

Pat Robertson: Oh, absolutely.

Kristi Watts: Right?

Pat Robertson: Absolutely. OK.

Kristi Watts: [dramatic shrug] Just a thought.

(I don’t actually need my sarcasm tag…do I?)

Photo

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:51:02 -0500

Best menu covers ever. (Taken with Instagram at Nando’s...

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:29:53 -0500

Best menu covers ever. (Taken with Instagram at Nando’s flame grilled chicken)

I got one of the new $100 bills from work recently as a work...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:50:03 -0500

I got one of the new $100 bills from work recently as a work bonus, handed out as an actual bill. I knew Canada was coming out with these…but I didn’t realize it was already here. They are very cool. Australia has had similar notes for a while now. You can wash them, they are nearly impossible to tear in half by hand (I am sure scissors can do it), and should keep a crisp feel for a long time.

I look forward to seeing these show in the lower denominations.

Games!

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:00:03 -0500

This weekend I bought some games. I’ve always wanted a few more games on my bookshelf. I am picky in my games, but there are a few I enjoy, and play if I get the chance, but it was high time I owned at least a couple of those.

They may not be especially “crunchy”, but they entertain (each in different ways).

Video

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:06:24 -0500

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

Setting up at contra dance. (Taken with Instagram at Churchill...

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:26:59 -0500

Setting up at contra dance. (Taken with Instagram at Churchill Seniors Centre)

I will watch this sometime. Yes…yes I will.

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 10:50:47 -0500

I will watch this sometime.

Yes…yes I will.

To jailbreak, or not to jailbreak.

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:17:00 -0500

Early in the iPhone days, I jailbroke my phone fairly often. The reason was that iOS simply didn’t permit me to do things I wanted to do. I didn’t install a lot of jailbroken apps, but I did install some. Since then, Apple has added a lot of what I wanted in the first place. Notification centre, wifi hotspot, app switching, etc…

There is really only one thing left, only one reason why it’s even tempting. I keep being pissed that in some apps, i can’t download anything on 3G that is over 20mb in size. Dumb! It’s my data plan, if I want to download half a GB on 3G, that’s my decision.

This is what tempts me to jailbreak. There is an app that simply tricks your phone into thinking you’re on wifi. Hi-def youtube, large app updates, buying movies on iTunes, Facetime, etc… Every time these things fail because I am not on wifi annoys me.

School board will give out Bibles despite complaint

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:23:08 -0500

School board will give out Bibles despite complaint:

This kind of thing pisses me in general. This is purely an attempt (and a transparent one) to indoctrinate children. Get them early. Impressionable minds and all that.

Somehow I think I liked to pretend that it was better in Canada though. Surely here, we’re better than that.

Guess not.

Trying “ColorSplash” app. (also from the market)...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:57:21 -0500

Trying “ColorSplash” app. (also from the market) (Taken with instagram)

Trying the “MagicHour” app. Pic taken in the market....

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:35:32 -0500

Trying the “MagicHour” app. Pic taken in the market. (Taken with instagram)

I had my first rehearsal for the show. I met all the cast but...

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:56:40 -0500

I had my first rehearsal for the show. I met all the cast but one (when I say “all”…the cast is 8 people, the small intimate size is a new experience for me), and did a read through.

The show itself is fun. This isn’t a slapstick romp, just a story with interesting characters, and some funny moments that will make you smile and chuckle, but probably not bust your gut. The director is very cool. I like his energy, and his rapport. He is clearly passionate, will push us, but I suspect in a way that will have us not minding being pushed.

My show-wife probably had the best British accent of all of us. My accent wandered a bit between Scottish, Irish, and English…but I did my best. I have scanned my script, put it on both my phone and my iPad, bookmarked it, highlighted it, ….

The next step will be to record a spoken pass of the lines, and start just absorbing the dialog. The sheer amount of it is daunting. I’ve only done musicals, where the bulk of memorization was lyrics and harmonies. These are a different kind of challenging, but the inherent rhythm gives me an edge, as well as the fact I can just play music in the car and find it engaging. This is just 80 pages of dialog (not all of it mine).

Off we go. Let’s do this thing!

My girlfriend, offering her insightful commentary on her new...

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:35:00 -0500

My girlfriend, offering her insightful commentary on her new dramatic endeavour.

(2 pictures)

Above the snack counter at the Mayfair. (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:48:39 -0500

Above the snack counter at the Mayfair. (Taken with instagram)

At the Mayfair theatre (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:24:39 -0500

At the Mayfair theatre (Taken with instagram)

Team Rowlf

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:51:16 -0500

Team Rowlf

Facetime

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:01:58 -0500

I have now done a couple of Facetime calls this week, the first I have ever done since the feature came out. One call on my computer, one call on my phone. A lot of people have disparaged the idea as a gimmick, but I have to say I really like it. The video quality is much better than Skype for one thing. The other advantage is that the way it’s set up, I don’t have to be logged in as such, I don’t need Skype (or Oovoo, or iChat, or whatever) up and running. When the call comes, my phone rings…like it does for any call. If I’m not there, or busy, I can let it go to unanswered (and it shows as a missed call), or I answer it…and then I’m in a video call.

It’s not just video chat (there are lots of ways to do that). It has the simplicity of making any other phone call without needing to have a special client up and running waiting for the call.

The downside of course is that it’s tech limited. You need an iPhone, or a Mac, it’s an Apple medium (despite the original claims of releasing it as an open standard). Still, it works well, and may yet become an open standard one day.