My MacBook suffered some major hard drive difficulties yesterday. And, wouldn’t you know that as soon as I got everything back to where I started the day, Apple released an update to the operating system. Dangen!
I would be writing this blog using the corporate Windoze machine, but it is currently refusing to recognize the internet.
So, here I am using my iPad with my bluetooth keyboard. This setup works fairly well, at least until I need to cut-and-paste (you’ll notice that there is no statistics section today (yes, I made my bed this morning.)
So Long Convenient Bike Store, It’s Been Good To Know You
One of the odder coincidences about moving to the office location in which we currently reside (our lease is up next year, rumor has it the big wigs are contemplating moving) was that we moved from an office conveniently located to both a REI and a Performance Bike to an office conveniently located to both a REI and a Performance Bike; that is no longer the case.
If you are a dedicated comment reader then you no doubt read deep into yesterday’s comments when I mentioned that after lunch I discovered that the Performance Bike in Dunwoody (aka “Perimeter”) has closed for good. Confirmation of this fact was found on Performance Bike’s website. Dangen!
Looks like I’ll be heading to the old office stomping grounds in order to get my fill of cheap gloves — especially since I’ve misplaced yet another pair.
“Nerd” Is Not A Four Letter Word
Last night I hustled down to Spring and 5th for the monthly meetup of the Atlanta iPhone Developers. I can honestly say that even though I’ve been coding for longer than some in the room have been alive, I am a fucking n00b in that crowd. By year’s end my goal is to feel like I belong, oh, and to join the crowd at the on-after (if you will) at Marlow’s Tavern in midtown.
ITP Flickr Pic
(This ought to be interesting and frustrating all at once…)
(Related: I’m suffering from phantom mouse syndrome. Each time I remove my right hand from this keyboard I’m trying to set it on a mouse which does not exist.)
(Hmmm, that wasn’t too horrible.)
This was a hearth that I encountered while driving the back roads on my failed Macon swamp trip Sunday.
The New iPhone Is Soon To Be My iPhone
There was much hullabaloo yesterday about how hard it was to pre-order an iPhone 4. While I suffered many of the same pains, it was revealed that the process was much easier if you used the new Apple Store app on your current iPhone. And it was.
Yesterday I ordered a black (the only color available to pre-order at the moment) 16GB (same size as my current iPhone, and with the iPad I see no need to have more memory in my phone) iPhone 4 which is supposedly going to be waiting for me a the Apple Store next week. Weeee!
RealiTV Update: Hell’s Kitchen — What Is Going On Here!?!
Instead of joining the iPhone Developer nerds for beverages at Marlow’s Tavern (note to self: do this!) I headed over to Nancy’s (“Easy Cheeks”) place where I met up with ITP-Reader Betsy (“Boner Rooter”), Leigh Ann (“Tastes Like Chicken”), Andrea (“Pull My String”), and the night’s surprise guest Gary (“Rat’s Ass”) for a double-episode night of Hell’s Kitchen (no link, see below).
The evening was quite enjoyable but I must admit that I am way in the weeds for this season’s Hell’s Kitchen. I believe that I have all of the episodes recorded, so I suppose I should make it my week’s mission to catch up before I host next Tuesday night.
TextExpander May Be Dead To Me
If you’ve been reading this space regularly you know of the issues I’ve had with TextExpander not doing the one thing I paid $40 for it to do — expand abbreviations (aka “snippets”) to longer text.
I’ve been going back and forth with the tech support people, and they have (rightly) blamed the browser developers for not allowing them to do key capture, which is how TextExpander knows when to expand snippets. While not “okay” with this, I certainly understood.
After installing Apple’s update of 10.6.4 on my home computer last night and fighting with TextExpander after reboot, I went into TextExpander’s preferences. To my dismay all of the snippets I created were missing, and when I looked at my DropBox folder to which TextExpander is supposed to successfully sync, there were about a dozen “conflicts” files, none of which seemed to contain my snippets.
So, as of today I’m trying an experiment. I’ve uninstalled TextExpander and will attempt to live without it. Hell, though it’s available for the iPad and iPod, those versions of TextExpander are a bitch to work with, so I’ve kind of been living without it for a while. Perhaps I’ll seek alternatives, and if none can be found I’ll have to live life the hard way by manually typing all of my HTML hyperlinks.
The End Is Here!
That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
Oh wait! I just stumbled on a nifty iPad trick when using a keyboard. Apparently you can select text by holding down the Shift Key and using the arrow keys to select the text. Once selected you can use Command-C to copy (or Command-X to cut) and Command-P to paste.
Very Niiiiiiice!
(note #1: I’m too lazy to go copy-and-paste my statistics section from another blog post though.)
(note #2: Out corporate internet connection has returned, so I’ve added them now.)
(note #3: I added some hyperlinks today once I was using a computer with keyboard and mouse/trackpad.)
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – other than being lonely, feeling fat, and concerned about my health…. okay
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – On more than on occasion I’ve mentioned my love for typography. It is no surprise then that I cannot wait until I can see Typeface.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – forgot to check, may turn this into “Monday Weigh-In”
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 5.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 89.5 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 16 (16)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 15
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 2
June Goals
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Not get fired from my job
– Ride my bicycle no fewer than 100 miles
– Get the Sharpened Stone, LLC moving further
– Complete at least one iPhone application
2010 Goals
– Reduce my weight to 185 pounds (starting weight was 198 pounds)
– Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
РEarn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalape̱o Beach SmugMug account.
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop
– Enter no fewer than three photographic competitions / gallery showings
– Get the Black Sheep stats out of Excel and online
– Ride in no fewer than two 50 mile or 50K bike rides
– Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers
The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS Objective-C
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Not sure why bike shops don’t last in Dunwoody, but in general, bike shops don’t make much money.
Allan worked at a bike shop shop there at Chamblee-Dunwoody @ 285 back in the day, and he thought business was pretty good. There was a Bikes USA or something like that in that WalMart shopping center in the mid 90s (where I bought my first mountain bike), but that whole chain left town. So, who knows……… (go to Cycleworks on Holcomb Bridge, they can always use the business)
I went to that Bikes USA back in the olden days. I’d go to Cycleworks, but Holcomb Bridge is way off my radar. As a substitute I guess I could shop at Outback Bikes, or whatever that shop is that used to be in Ansley Mall but is now located on Piedmont pretty near Fat Matt’s..
Ansley Schwinn (as I still call it) is I think an Atlanta Cycling now. I can’t believe they moved out of Ansley Mall. Allan has always said that is the one bike shop in town that always has good business.
You should check out Butler (www.manytricks.com). It isn’t TextExpander but you can assign abbreviations to text snippets and have that pasted where ever your cursor happens to be. The text won’t automatically expand, but the app works and it has other uses.
There are two bike shops right next to Jerry’s house. I’ve never been in either of them, no idea if or how they make money. I was thinking about buying new gloves today but I think trying any on is out of the question.
Didn’t you mention your office may be moving again…they might have to move back this way so you can have both a REI and Performance Bike again.
I didn’t do anything last night between the house fire, two doors down and no internet connection, I was just a waste of oxygen last night.
house fire in the neigborhood – cool. (anyidea what started it?)
And – did you hear that Station 10 (on Boulevard at I-20) got hit by lightning so they had their own fire at the firehouse?
Holcomb bridge off your radar? I have to call you on that one. Don’t you go weekly to the Roswell Photography meeting? You are within a mile of Cycleworks.
I don’t know how bike shops stay in business, the profit margin has to be paper thin.
House fire? Wow that sucks. About six months ago a house two doors down from me burned, and I was amazed that even though I slept on the couch that night I never heard any of the fire trucks coming down the street.
*If* we move we’ll be going to God-Awful Land (Norcross/Alpharetta/Roswell) my apologies to those who live there. I don’t know if I can do it. Business rarely, if ever, move toward my house. In thirteen years we’ve been on 14th St (next to the Silver Skillet), North Druid Hills (between I-85 and Buford Highway), and now across from Perimeter Mall. I may be the only employee who lives south of I-20.
Andrew, thanks for the tip. I’ll check out Butler soon.
Station 10 is who responed to the call last night. We had two trucks come out, I haven’t heard anything about the a strike there. The storms were pretty bad last night. I went to Nick’s for dinner, when I left, the rain was blowing sideways. Lots of my plants were knocked over, some won’t make it I’m afraid.
Not sure, I was told (I came home after the fact) there was a huge flash/boom earlier. So it might have been a lightening strike. She came home, saw ‘steam’, then realized it was smoke coming from the house. I don’t think there was a lot of damage from the fire, but lots of smoke and water damage would be my guess.
Thankfully, the kids were already in the car and she was able to get all the dogs out as well. No one was hurt.
C’mon Bob, Holcomb Bridge is so off my radar that I don’t even know where it is! HAHAHA!
I’m catching up on Hell’s Kitchen this morning. Meat-slaughtering boy walked out during service? Are you serious?
And now I’ve put on last night’s recap of Stage 4 of the Tour de Suisse.
I totally missed the rain last night. I knew it must have been windy because the indoor shutters on the (still boarded up) broken window were blown in. Oddly, my house never lost power because the microwave clock was still correct.
Wow, they just said that Team RadioShack have not been invited to ride the Vuelta Espana.
I had power and cable but lost my internet connection. It took me forever to find a number to call (I didn’t have internet to look up who to call) and they said the tower was ‘off line’ because of work they were doing the other day? I’m pretty sure the storm knocked it out.
I have to agree with you on Holcomb Bridge, I would need to look it up if I ever had to go there (even though I’m pretty sure that’s were I bought my mt. bike).
Speaking of bikes, anyone riding this weekend?
I’m trying to plan out my riding for the next few days.
Thursday: maybe, though I have something going on tomorrow at 6:30pm (read tomorrow’s blog to find out what)
Friday: I will ride to work if I don’t do so tomorrow.
Saturday: Could be doing some photography, could be doing some riding.
Sunday: It’s a Black Sheep Sunday, Little Easy is the hare but I need to be there because I’m laying Black Sheep in a month, but I *could* ride in the morning.
I don’t think anyone has ever made much money running a bike shop. I know Buck Peacock never did at Northlake Schwinn, which is why it’s long gone. Dan Thornton at Freeflight and the Cycleworks folks are rare exceptions.
And for all that weather last night, there was zilch at JEFDSDR
So there was a bit of a protest today about yesterday’s Tour de Suisse finish? Get real.. if Haussler had had his head up, he would have seen Cavendish coming over on him and a whole bunch of skin would have been saved.
I’m up for a ride… nameless bike is ready to go.
-FP
I don’t know how big the fire was at station 10, Allan & the guys were just laughing, because at least it was lightning, & not a cooking fire (their biggest fear, cuz the crap will never end)
Just because Lance is on Team Radio Shack, doesn’t mean they get invited everywhere just yet I’ve been told. (Or, maybe they’re on Floyd’s side – hahaha)
Allan & I will be riding somewhere on Saturday, no idea what yet, all depends on the weather.
Sunday is Wheelhopper – Beavis is hare – starts at his dentist office in Decatur. (I think I’m going to make him tell me where the end is, just in case…… all of you who have ever done one of his trails will understand why)
Well, I just committed to a Saturday morning photoshoot (8am) at Arabia Mountain. Perhaps I’ll strap the bike to the car and go for a pre-shoot spin.
I realize RadioShack is more than Lance, but they are a World Class team and should get invited to the world-famous tours.
That’s the problem with the current arrangement. The Pro Tour teams should all be invited to the Grand Tours.. smaller events are certainly optional.
Nice PATH out at Arabia Mountain… just sayin.
Honestly, I don’t know why I asked about riding? As of right now my hands are a raw, oozing mess…there is no way I can ride. I tore 5 calluses this morning at the gym, another isn’t far away. Hopefully they will start to harden up soon. Otherwise, I’ll just be running this weekend. Sunday Jerry is going to run at Red Top so if I don’t ride I’ll be running up there as well. I was thinking about doing a CrossFit competition Saturday but I think that is a no go with the current condition of my hands. No pull-ups for at least a week I would guess.
I am going to attempt Beavis’ trail on Sunday. I’ll be sure to bring my car keys, cell phone, beer money, and LOTS of water.
Bob – stick with Allan so he has a ride, just in case, since our truck will go to the end with the beer. (another reason why I need to know where the end is, our vehicle will be there)
and Martha – ewwww – yuck. Quit doing that crap that tears up your hands. 🙂
The only way I can stick with Allan is if i tie a rope to him and let him pull me. Tell Allan to stick with me instead 🙂
I don’t know Bob – he said you set a pretty good pace climbing up Kennesaw Mtn the other night………
Barb, on the plus side, I do get out of doing dishes for a day or two, god water hurts so much, add soap and I’m about crying. Jerry had to help me wash my hair this morning, lol.
Maybe I need to come up Sunday and do the Beavis trail.. Did it say anything about road bike friendly? I don’t recall.
fat tires are needed………
Despite what you say Paul, you *are* an optimist.
🙂