Following Edge

I am not the target market for the iPod, I'm sure. That's probably a good thing since my Apple stock has really been taking off since the iPod became so popular, which could never have happened if I was the target market.

You see, despite working for and with iPod people, I got my first one from the company as a Christmas present. Then I let it sit in the box for over a month. Kind of sad for such a nice gift, but I've been busy and I've had trouble imaging how to use it. I broke down this weekend and opened it up and started using it a bit.

The main problem relates to the difference between primary and secondary activities. I am usually happiest when I have a "primary" mental activity to work on: Reading, discussing something, programming, scheming, harboring perverted thoughts, etc, etc. Depending on the "primary" activity, a "secondary" activity can also be a positive thing. This is pretty much the only was I end up watching TV. Anne Marie has a show on the TV and I absorb it while I'm working or reading as my primary activity. I also can enjoy music while I'm working on something, but it's not so critical and sometimes distracting.

Pretty much, my life is filled with a good set of primary mental activities and I have just enough secondary mental activities to keep me connected to people, modern music and television. I don't have much need for an iPod to provide content to fill any empty spaces. The one exception is driving. Since we live in the country, but work, show, or dine in the city nearly every day, I spent at least an hour on the road every day. While I consider this to be a good opportunity for quiet "meditation", it is kind of mentally empty at times.

The problem is that music is always, for me, a secondary activity, and, whether wise or not, so is driving. As much as I'd like music or driving to be able to really occupy my attention, neither really does. This may be the perfect place for the iPod to find its place in my life. The problem... finding engaging "primary" content I can listed to on it.

Music doesn't do it. I don't want to be riled up by news or political stuff. I don't care much about arts, culture and entertainment for its own sake. I need some kind of podcasts that have something interesting, thoughtful, or truly entertaining. It's hard since most podcasts are tremendously shallow.

I was thinking for a while last year that I might start a podcast of sorts consisting of voice recordings of my thoughts and rants as I drive to and from the Eugene. On reflection, I think it's better that I'm getting a bit for experience listening to podcasts before I embark on my own.

Of course, I have found some content. I'm finishing up the NerdTV episodes, am eagerly subscribed and waiting for Tvindy's next release of Tvindy Time, and am waiting to see if anything appears to me on Make magazine's podcasts. But, mostly, the things I've tried haven't been that engaging. I have a few leads (mostly from Tvindy's blog), but I'm looking for more. I think this could really have an application for me, but it sure has taken some thought and effort to find the right use for the darned thing.

After recently suggesting changes at work, I'm pleased about the company's vision and upcoming changes in my job.

(This post has been briefly summarized for you due to possibly sensitive content.)

This picture is from Lauren's birthday party this weekend. I didn't get many good pictures because, as all parents of toddlers know, you don't want to have to be the parent of the birthday child at a modern birthday party. Nonetheless, we survived with minimal injuries.

This is a total fluff post because the three things most urgently on my mind won't be resolved to the point I can blab about them for another couple of days: The fact that we chose renters for the little house who are perfect in every way except that they can barely speak a word of English, my upcoming meeting about the future of my current job, and Barry's fear that he may not be able to complete the illustrations for this site.

Hopefully, more on those issues soon. For now, enjoy the picture.

This is hilarious! I've been getting lots of calls and emails about our house for rent, but this one knocked me off my seat:

DEAR SIR/MADAM
MY NAME IS MICHEAL MORGAN I
AM WORKING FOR THE CANADIAN EMBASSY IN NIGERIA. MY
ORGANISATION, THE CANADIAN EMBASSY IS SENDING ME TO A
TRAINING COURSE SCHEDULED TO HOLD FOR SIX MONTHS, SO
THEREFORE, I HAVE CHOOSED TO RENT YOUR ACCOMODATION
FOR THIS PERIOD OF MY STAY IN THE PROCESS OF THE
COURSE DURATION
I WOULD WANT TO KNOW THE
TOTAL COST, BOTH THE SECURITY, AND FOR ALL NECCESSARY
REQUIREMENTS. I WOULD LIKE TO PAY VIA INTERNATIONAL
MONEY ORDER/CHEQUE . I EXPECT TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON.

Of course, it's a classic "Nigerian" 419 fraud scheme, where they send you a money order and then get you to send back some real money before you realize the money order is worthless.

I've seen this scam used with eBay auctions, domain names, and job offers, but I think trying it with a house rental is a bit rediculous. Of course, the normal interview/application/reference process for renting a house wouldn't include renting to unknown Canadian diplomats in Nigeria. I hate to say that anyone who would fall for this might deserve to lose a bit of cash.

Anne Marie pointed out that the email doesn't work on so many other levels: Why does a Canadian diplomat need to come to Elmira for a class? Redneck studies? Front-yard auto repair 101? Instructions from Nokie Edwards on playing "Hawaii 5-O"?

Hopefully, we'll have slightly more credible applicants show up to see the house today, but, given that it's Elmira, maybe not.

Looking for a nice little house to rent in the country near Eugene with at least one really great neighbor? I finally posted our little house on the rentals section of craigslist after in being empty for almost 2 months. As you know, my life has just been too crazy with work and with Anne Marie out of town to get to the few repairs that were needed.

Hopefully, we'll meet our new neighbors this weekend and there will ensue and long and pleasurable rental experience.

I finally made some decisions about my job. Oh, and I got Phillip, our favorite handyman, to come by and fix the leaks in our roof. Hopefully, his $50 of work will have our house totally dry and comfortable. Oh, and Lauren and I finished reading "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" and are now on to the next book in the Chronicles of Narnia, "The Horse and His Boy", which is a good book.

(This post has been briefly summarized for you due to possibly sensitive content.)

This has to be the strangest thing I've tried to sell online.

When Anne Marie got back from Philadelphia yesterday, I had to give her the news that 1) we were going to be going to a 2 hour kids gymnastics birthday party today, 2) the roof on our house is leaking noticably in two places after the recent heavy rains, and, probably most concerning, I had bought 500 grocery bags.

Why 500? Because it's pretty much as cheap to buy 500 as to buy 100. Hopefully someone will be crazy enough to pay to take a few hundred of them off my hands.

But now, I can really do my recycling properly.

Lauren and I had dinner yesterday at the Timber Topper. It's one of those things that's best to do when Anne Marie is out of town, since she has some sensibilities about food that can't include a smorgasbord; sensibilities that Lauren and I do not share.

The Timber Topper is a smorgasbord, the kind that was a common dining option when I was a kid in the 70s. In fact, the Timber Topper is pretty much exactly as it was in the 70s, which is pretty much the same as it was in the 50s or 60s. Just look at the decor in the top picture. It's obvious that every detail, from the lamps to the seat cushions are somehow uniquely preserved for the last 40 to 50 years.

In fact, just as I remember going to the Timber Topper as a child, my mother also remembers going to the Timber Topper when she was a child. Back then, the timber industry was something to be proud of. The Timber Topper's location in the "Big Y Center" across the street from a lumber mill, its name, and its all-wood interior design (including hand-carved wooden logging panoramas like the one shown in the second picture) all point to that earlier time and the community that the restaurant used to serve.

It used to be that the Timber Topper was just a star in a constellation of smorgasbords in this area, including King's Table and North's Chuck Wagon. Neither of these others are operating locally, though it appears that there may be some of the "North" smorgasbords around, according to another source.

Of course, I know there is HomeTown Buffet, but though it's an "all you can eat buffet", there seems to be a difference between the frugal, simple-food style of the traditional smorgasbords and the gluttony-central style that I feel from HomeTown Buffet. Or maybe it's just that it doesn't have that sentimental feeling of history for me.

It's not like I can pretend that things never changed at Timber Topper. It's now owned by a Chinese family and serves egg foo young and fried rice next to the steamed carrots and chicken-and-dumplings. But, I don't find that too surprising. Americans are into progressing to what's modern and abandoning the emblems of yesteryear. Asian immigrants may be maintaining our old institutions better that the natives do. The little market in our rural town is now owned by a Korean family, and the Brails coffee shop in Eugene is owned by Joy, a Korean immigrant. Thank goodness that they took the reins of these landmarks.

If you've never been to the Timber Topper (and you don't have elevated sensibilities about food), you ought to go see a bit of local history. It's at 2166 W. 6th Avenue in Eugene, in the "Big Y" Shopping Center. I reccomend the dumplings and the tapioca pudding.

Today was Lauren's birthday. Her birthday festivities are a bit spread out this year, due to Anne Marie being away this week. We had a birthday dinner and presents from "Auntie Jude" and "Uncle Chris" on Saturday, before Anne Marie flew to Philadelphia, and the big bunch-o-kids event will be in another week and a half after Anne Marie is back.

Even so, there was plenty of activity for the actual birthday day. Presents from mom and dad, a special birthday celebration at school, dinner with grandma and presents from grandma and "Oma" Sally (who came out of her surgery just fine, thank you).

You can see her here with her piles of loot... jewelry and make-up, a My Little Pony puzzle, princess books (ugh), an I Spy game, new pajamas with princess slippers and a crown pillow (shown in her arms). But, her favorite was the "Walk N Talk Dog" that walks, runs, and barks (well, yips) at the push of a button. She took this everywhere today to show it to everyone and "make them laugh".

I'm not a big fan of the toys and presents, preferring to remind her and celebrate with her how much she has learned and grown this year, and how proud we all are of her. After she tried to sneak into my bed a few hours after I put her to bed and I carried her back to her bed and tucked her in, she said, with a slight sleepful slur, "I love you so much. I am so happy to be 5 years old and I'm so proud of myself."

Wonderful that she enjoyed her birthday goodies and got the most important message at the same time.

Today, we head to Portland to get Anne Marie started on her one week trip to Philadelphia early tomorrow morning. For some reason, and maybe many reasons on reflection, I'm not going this time. As wonderful as Philadelphia may be in the winter, I'm just going to leave it be.

Anne Marie is not looking forward to it. Two long plane trips, 4 final exams, and a day of examining Mr. Ernie Peacock's testicles (what a volunteer job for Mr. Peacock, eh?).

With as much extra work as there will be around here, tending to the animals, etc, etc, I'm optimistic that Lauren and I will come out of the week without any permanent damage. Lauren and I tend to get on each others nerves after being together for a few days straight, and the cosmic comedy of scheduling has interrupted grandma's availability to plan a schedule for spending time with Lauren this week. Grandma's partner, Sally, is having surgery on Monday for a serious condition. I'm glad that it's getting taken care of quickly, but, as I say, the timing is almost comical.

Help me by keeping your fingers crossed for both Anne Marie and Sally. Hopefully, the coming week will be remarkable for its lack of remarkable news.

On the happier side, I had planned to spend tomorrow morning in the computer room with Lauren replacing batteries and setting up hard drives. Since I got that done in the middle of the night Thursday, my morning will be totally free, so I'm sure we'll find something fun to do instead.

I took a trip to Portland overnight for unexpected work.

(This post has been briefly summarized for you due to possibly sensitive content.)

A situation at work comes up suddenly.

(This post has been briefly summarized for you due to possibly sensitive content.)

I had a great experience today. Of course, it was Tuesday and I spent part of the day with Lauren and she was exceptionally cooperative and we'd both gotten a good sleep last night, so that was really great. But, this elevated even that. It was all about... bicycle repair.

In response to a recent post about Sri, Bob (a reader and local blogger), wonderfully offered a neglected bike sitting neglected in his garage as an improvement to Sri's lacking transportation options. Bob was nice enough to drop it by my work, but, when I arrived the next day, my co-worker suggested, "Wow, it's a mess".

It really wasn't that bad, but it did have flat tires, no pedals, to grips, and a bit of shifting trouble. Bob thought it might have been stolen at some point and he had got it three years ago from a dumpster, which might have explained part of the condition.

I decided to go easy on my wallet and visit the Center for Appropriate Transport in Eugene, because I'd heard that they had a good bike shop you could use and suspected they had some parts to pick through. I didn't have high hopes, because these non-profit grassroots places are often disorganized and hard to figure out, with a sort of "we're more liberal than you" cronyism.

What I found instead was a well-stocked shop that I could use for $6 an hour, boxes and boxes of really cheap used bicycle parts organized by type and (sometimes) size, and some really helpful (though spread thin) employees or volunteers available to help for $1 per five minutes.

The place also houses a bike manufacturer, bike valet service, bike delivery service, and other pro-bike groups. They helped a bunch of people while I was there... repairing a food bank delivery bike trailer, helping set up some equipment for a fellow in a wheelchair, and more mundane, but probably personally important, things.

Anyhow, I was slow and used a whole hour in the shop with 5 minutes of assistance from an expert. I added the pedals, grips, another reflector, shortened the seat, fixed the shifters, adjusted the brakes, and even added a water bottle. All for $10. Plus, another kid was there and Lauren and she had a great time cruising around the place on tricycles.
I would have been out of there really cheap, but I decided that I needed to support such a great thing and gave them a $50 cash donation.

If you need something fixed up on your bicycle, I would highly recommend going down to CAT. You may be able to try it in your garage, but why try that when you can have the tools, parts and expertise at your disposal for a pittance.

Now, I hope that the super-fixed bicycle is the right size for Sri.

Tossing aside my usual "Following Edge" mindset, I upgraded to WordPress 2.0 less than a week after it was released. Of course, I am a member of the Wordpress "testers" mailing list, so I've known about some of the issues and concerns about the new version. I was also very careful in comparing the upgrade to the old (1.5) version.

Even as careful and informed as I was, my impression is that most people could switch to WordPress 2.0 using the simple upgrade instructions, without my careful methodology, and have no trouble at all. In fact, despite people's concerns and talk of unresolved bugs, I think this upgrade from 1.5 to 2.0 was not as significant and difficult as the upgrade from 1.2 to 1.5.

You'll probably notice that things look identical, which I think is a good thing. The "behind the scenes" stuff is quite a bit fancier, with a what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor, easier image uploading, etc. I don't know if that's a good thing, since I didn't mind the old way. I know that a number of local Eugene bloggers use WordPress (even though my friend David has long forsaken WordPress for TypePad). I suppose the upgrade could be fodder for real blogging discussion at an upcoming Eugene Weblogger Get-together.

I didn't really upgrade for myself. First, I wanted to be sure that my Efficient Recently Commented posts plug-in appears to work fine with WordPress 2.0. In fact, all of the plug-ins I use seem to be having no trouble.

The second reason is that there's a new project afoot at work that will probably use WordPress 2.0 for managing articles and other content published on our various web sites. I had previously started the project with the older version, but put the project on the back burner after the person that was going to use it left the company. Now, there's renewed interest, so if someone new is assigned to use it, I'll probably get it set up for the company in the next month.