It’s now official. Utah is getting it’s first Apple Store. Grand opening is this Saturday, November 19th. Click here for the offical word from Apple. I’ll be there, rain or snow, with camera, iPod and cell phone. Send me an email if you plan on going. I’d love to meet some other Apple fans here in Utah.
So I finally decided to use Dreamweaver for more than just building the shell of a complex web page (ie. tables mostly). So this is my first attempt at using one of the templates and then going into the code to tweak it.
For 11 years now, I’ve done all of my HTML pages in a text editor. For the most part, the pages were not all that fancy… just some cool pages that showcased my life and various other facets. But I have to admit that Dreamweaver is not that bad. I’m sure once I get into it more, it will start to become more at home for the web work I do. Maybe even get me into more advanced stuff.
So watch this page as I add more to it over the next few weeks. Who knows… we may see some updates more often.
This Saturday night, Depeche Mode comes to the E-Center of West Valley (it’s actually one of the best indoor arenas I’ve been to concerts at). Opening band is The Bravery. It will be my 8th time seeing the band and it’s a show not to be missed.
Damn… Christmas is just around the corner. Hard to believe it’s been a year since I threw down half my monthly income to purchase material happiness for my friends and family. Seriously, I do enjoy this time of the year (minus the snow and cold).
#10: Safari Enhancer and Saft Updates -This tool makes all of the weird goofs and bugs about Safari easier to deal with.
#9: iTunes 5.0 – The true sleeper of the Sept 7th product announcements. Cool new features, improved shuffle options and just as easy to use.
#8: Create enhanced podcasts – Great post on how to create enhanced podcasts. Haven’t published anything yet, but thanks to this post, I’ve got another Mac-related diversion.
#7: Opening Mac mini Sans Putty Knife – Didn’t see this post before I already did the putty knife opening (no scratches, at least no visable ones). But future openings of my Mac mini will have me going back to this post.
#6: My wishes for iLife ’06 – iLife ’05 isn’t all that bad, with the exception of iPhoto 5’s limitations (allow me to rename the file when importing into iPhoto, not just the caption). This post gave me some hope that maybe… just maybe, Apple will actually listen to some of our complaints and I can start using iPhoto instead of Finder to manage my digital photos.
#5: Opera Still Offering Free Registration Codes – I’m a stable guy when it comes to browsers. But I’m open to trying new browsers. And what a better way to try new options when they are free.
#4: Vaio Running OS X – I’m staying away from the x86 OS X mods and waiting for the offical Apple product. But that doesn’t mean seeing someone else running OS X on a current WinTel system keeps me from salivting.
#3: FreeMacWare – What’s better than Mac software?? Free Mac software.
#2: Lesson learned: Keep a vintage Mac around – Thank goodness I’m not the only one keeping older Macs around for those “just in case” times. Although they do take up considerable more room than the bootable MS-DOS 5.0 floppies and Windows 95 CDs in my desk drawer.
#1: iPod nano – Okay… all of the other 9 favorite posts provided useful helps for my daily Mac and iPod uses…. but this thing is just cool…. and to read the details, along with the user rants and praises makes me drool just thinking about having one.
Albums Listening to: Staind “Chapter V”, Shadows Fall “The War Within”
Top Article: Leaders Lack Disaster Experience – This is the government we are talking about, so it’s not such a stretch to employ your buddies over someone that’s qualified to know something about the department they will be heading. Sad that innocent lives were lost when there may have been a chance to save those that were stranded if quicker action would have been taken.
Current Rant: Cell phone contracts. They all do it. Tie you down for 1-2 years, charge a $150 to $175 fee per line if you leave before then …. and then don’t really do much during that time to make you feel like you are getting a good deal and good service. Granted, for the most part, I’m happy with Sprint. But their latest merger seems to have added the idea that they can charge $5.00 for “free” roaming or $7.50 for picture mail when these features used to be included in their plans. And while switching phones is 90% painless, it’s the 10% pain in the ass issue re-activating my Vision (web) on the new phone that’s got me upset at the moment.
Regardless, why the need to force you to stay with them? If their service was great and their attention to detail was part of their customer service, they wouldn’t have to shackle you down for 24 months. You’d stay because they had great service and you were treated as a customer should be treated. I’m currently not under contract but staying with Sprint because I don’t care to re-sign with them or any other carrier. The nice part of being month-to-month on a granfathered plan makes dealing with the 10% bullshit a bit more bearable.
Personal Comments: With summer winding down and coming off of a nice weekend trip to the beautiful spots and canyons in southern Utah (Bryce, Grand Staircase Escalante, Calf’s Creek, Goblin Valley) , it’s time to start thinking positive about going into fall and then winter (which seem like 8 months long here in Utah) and hoping to get some personal demons locked up and/or thrown out, find employment that pays and respects me more than my current clusterf*** combination of day job and side work and make time to complete some personal goals (getting my writing career going again, for one).
Albums Listening to: The Killers “Hot Fuss”, Neil Young “On The Beach”
Top Article: Wal-Mart gets sued over Evanescence’s new CD with bad language – This is one of those “parents need a bitch slap of reality” articles that you must read.
Current Rant: Last week, it was announced that the Parents TV Council (just second in the list of evil right-wing organizations – AFA takes top billing) produced over 98% of all complaints to the FCC regarding “bad TV shows” that people had issues with. Mind you, 97% of those that complained have most likely never seen an episode of “Desperate Housewives” and didn’t have bifocals strong enough to see even a part of Janet’s left nipple last January during the Super Bowl halftime show. But, such is the force of the right wing. Give them an inch, they’ll take 100 miles. BTW, if you’ve not watched “Desperate Housewives”, it really is a well written show. Congrats to Marc Cherry for his fine work every Sunday night. The Mouse House (ABC) has got a hit on their hands.
Personal Comments: Another year will soon be over. It’s been tough the last 3 years. Life tends to be more of a challenge when there are financial issues that hound you on a weekly basis. But somehow, I manage to keep on top of it all. At the end of the day, I am happy that I have a great daughter, a loving fiance and the ability to enjoy life, amidst the various issues that get tossed my way.
