TEA PARTYYYYYY!!!!!

TODAY!! Can't wait can't wait can't wait can't wait

Cold or not out there, I just wrote up the tea menu for today's little event and I think the words alone which I have written may indeed just have me smitten!! WHEEEEE!!!!!!!!! I should put on some water, now, I want tea and the official Tea is not for HOURS. :: gripe ::

~w

Edit hosts file on mac

http://decoding.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/how-to-edit-the-hosts-file-in-mac-os-x-leopard/

Step 1 – Open the Terminal.app

Either by start typing Terminal on the Spotlight, or by going into Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal.

Step 2 – Open the hosts file

Open the hosts by typing on the Terminal that you have just opened:

1	$ sudo nano /private/etc/hosts

Type your user password when prompted.

Step 3 – Edit the hosts file

The hosts file contains some comments (lines starting with the # symbol), as well as some default hostname mappings (e.g. 127.0.0.1 – localhost).
Simply append your new mappings underneath the default ones. Or edit one of the default values if you know what you are doing!
You can navigate the file using the arrow keys.

Step 4 – Save the hosts file

When done editing the hosts file, press control-o to save the file.
Press enter on the filename prompt, and control-x to exit the editor.

Step 5 – Flush the DNS cache

On Leopard you can issue a simple Terminal command to flush the DNS cache, and have your host file changes to take immediate effect:

1	$ dscacheutil -flushcache

You can now test your new mapping on the browser!

Tea pouring

So I was reading on Wikipedia again today about how some people in Northern Africa and West Africa pour their tea from different heights. Moroccan tea is apparently done this way to create a "foam" on the tea, and apparently the altitude of pouring can also affect flavour.

Not wanting to be left out (and being immensely experiential in nature) I decided to try this with the tea left in my teapot this morning. Here are my observations.

1. It's not that hard. I started low and pulled straight up to ensure I was accurate and didn't dump tea all over my desk.
2. It does create a bit of a foam.
3. I didn't notice a taste difference with the Fujian Baroque I tried it on.
4. Doing this requires a towel to wipe things down if you do it around things that should not be splatter with tea, such as monitors and laptops.

Fun!! I need to make more tea.

~w

POEM: Sovereigns

SOVEREIGNS
2011101901 - c2011 WLC

Flickering shadows on the walls
Half-moon lit 'tween wintry squalls
Sparkling starlight in your eyes
Happiness in both our sighs
I watch the stars and colours then
Swirling where my breath has been
And feel your words, their implied task
As if you always need to ask

Won't you say you love me back
Provide me something that I lack
Inside myself, uncertainty
Looms before my sovereignty

Answers come with sultry touch
Reaching out, a mindful rush
Drawn-out exhalation
Accepting exaltation
Fingers streaming light
Only I can sight
A dream that we both keep
And still I feel you asking me

Won't you say you love me back
Provide me something that I lack
Inside myself, uncertainty
Looms before my sovereignty

Inside the night, my mind at rest
A simple touch should pass this test
If this is real, if you are real
All I know, it is surreal
Don't you know I understand
The crazy wonder that you feel

So won't you say you love me back
Provide me what I think I lack
Inside myself, uncertainty
Looms before my sovereignty

Safari vs tabs instead of new windows for LINKS

1. Quit Safari
2. Open Terminal.app
3. Enter defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true and press enter
4. Open Safari
5. Notice that links that used to open in a new window will now open in a new tab

guinness is gooooood

Man, I love this beer.  "Beer is an acquired taste," Mum once told me.  "Yuck," I said when I first tried it.  "Yuck!" I said when I tried it later in life.  And again several times after that, unless it was Michelob with chocolate chip cookies on an empty stomach.  Then I tried Guinness.  "Mmm..." I said, pulling the glass back for another long haul of the foamy stuff.  "Mmmm!"

It /is/ an acquired taste.  You have to acquire the right beer!!  hahaha

Oh yeah, and it /needs/ to be in a heavy glass, too.  Dunno why.  Just part of the experience for me.

Salud?

~w

windows 98!!

I've been trying to get my Handspring Visor Edge from the year 2000 to work on my 2011 macbook pro and synch up.  (What?!  The technologies are only 11 years apart!!)  This is what I've found so far.

- Won't work with Snow Leopard.  Handspring stopped updating its software at least one or two versions ago.  Whups...

- Recommended using third-party software.  Checked that out, but they didn't support the Visor Edge model.  I've recommended they do at least twice and haven't heard back.

- Won't work with Windows 7, too new.  Recommended the same as the above.  Dammit!

- Installed Windows 95 as a VM.

- My old handspring software looked like it might work!!  But it wanted Windows Socket 2 update.

- Found the Socket 2 update on Microsoft's website.  Wow!  I was impressed!!

- Handspring software installed fine!!

- Found out Handspring software only supports serial connections in Windows 95.  No serials here.  DAMMIT!!

- Installed Windows 98se as a VM.

- Handspring software worked well.

- Problem is, Windows cannot see the USB driver.  DAMMIT!!  Won't synch!!

- Discovered you can add a virtual serial port to VM... did so for Windows 98se...

- Cannot figure out what the serial port /does/... or how to use it...

- RESEARCH CONTINUES.

Note that the above has taken several hours over the last year... whenever I get the inkling to get this thing working again... see, I currently use my $389 piece of old technology for shopping lists.  I would like to get an old game called hmaki on there.  The only way for me to do that is to get the thing to synch up to one of my computers.  I could just hook it up to Selene, who already has 98se, the handspring software, and probably the hmaki program on her, but... that would be way too easy.  I want something more... accessible.

Maybe if I got a usb to serial to usb converter...

I love my truck

I was driving Twitchy today and was reeeeeeeally appreciating the fact I can drive standard now, because it really does give such a sense of control over the whole concept of driving.  You're not just sitting there like a bump on a log, watching the world pass you by as if you're at some puppet show with flashing lights.

However, I am currently imagining the lofty view from Dante and can't help but think it:  I love my truck.  Automatic or not, it's a beautiful little slipper of a truck, shiny when freshly washed, giving me a nice view of what's down below.  And when it goes up a hill, it simply doesn't care - the V6 kicks in and goes "WHROOOOOOOM!" as if the 50 degree angle were like riding over a piece of flat paper stuck to the pavement.  Dante ... simply ... goes.  Not all at once, mind, but... he goes.

It has been striking me in the past few years just how much I'm beginning to appreciate different vehicles.  I like driving new things and taking on new driving experiences.  It's fun.  It's challenging at times but mostly fun and very interesting.  And even after all the cars I've driven, I have fallen for just a few with any real lust:  My truck, Dante; Dale's car, Twitchy; Dale's other car, Chip; and a friend's WRX.  I sort of liked the first Civic I drove, but the second, newer one just doesn't go at all.  The Ford Explorer was OK but the Kia had to go.  I didn't care for the Stratus.  The little red car, the medium white one, and the great big white old one were ok, but nothing memorable other than the old one shaking all over when I hit 50MPH.

This all tells me a couple of things.  First, I like power in a vehicle.  Second, I like familiarity.  And Third, I LOVE MY TRUCK.  I made the right choice, buying that beast.  He's a good one, that truck.  I'm very lucky that my first vehicle is something I still enjoy six years later and want to keep around.

Doesn't mean I can't wait to get a WRX in a few more years, though.  LOL.

~w

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs died today.

The strange thing about his death is that it has struck me much more deeply than I'd expected.  Of course we all die, Steve being no exception; at least Steve's passing seemed a bit more pending these past several years and thus far less surprising.  Yet when I read the news a short while ago, I began thinking of the awesome accomplishments he'd fought for and made, the lives he's touched whether directly or not, and the many mistakes he's sure to have made as a fellow human being, especially as one who refused to settle on "good enough."  I settled into my own mind and realized that the lives right here in this house have been affected by him in some way.  Dale got into Apple a bit before I did, and in fact got /me/ into Apple products.  He gave me Shady as an engagement gift, knowing that I was saving for an iMac, and I knew I'd decided to say yes to the right man.  Later, when standing in line at the Apple Store in Portland, Maine, I decided on the fly to get an iPad as well, the day they first came out.  We were there at 6 a.m.  Since that fateful day, I still love my first-gen iPad.  Dale's gone through a few iterations of iPods and iPhones, bought me an iPod that's engraved, and he's collected a number of older beasts, one of which he named Lisa in honor of "the" Lisa.  He gave his laptop away from disuse and gave away a modified iMac that he got working by swapping around some parts.  He's been amazing, setting up his little Mac Mini as a DVR.  This past February, I bought my MacBook.  I'd wrestled with the idea of an iPhone but ultimately decided I honestly didn't need it or the accompanying bill, despite my fascination with the wondrous technology.  I've tried other devices that are similar to the iPad and they simply lack the polished feel that Apple products project.

Since becoming an Apple fan, we've been blessed with seeing One Infinite Loop.  Like other creatures of curiosity, we've watched numerous videos about the history of Apple Computer, Steve Jobs, and Steve Wozniak.  We have experienced over four years of a happy marriage so far and often recreate our memories on Apple products to hold onto and cherish forever.  I still remember the animated talks that we've had with our friend, Michael, the Apple Angel and guru around these parts, the guy that convinced Dale to go Apple and never look back.  I've watched, somewhat sadly, as my self-built towers, adopted laptops, consoles, and towers have all passed from the highlights in my life to strongly held memories or beloved hunks of metal that are held as relics, "just in case," or "for the good ol' days."  I've watched as my lust for understanding and control has subsided into a sort of quiet reverie, an acceptance that I don't need to fix something because it's not nearly as imperfect as things used to be... that I've finally found products that already DO my bidding rather than create havoc that needs to be rounded up and guardedly controlled by my own hands.

We've gotten Dale's mom on an iMac and we've convinced several people to go that route as well.  Even my own boss, who once pooh-poohed the concept of such an "easy" piece of tech, eventually saw my iPad and had to have one.  Shortly thereafter, he had an iPhone and he cannot part with it.  A couple other people at work were also convinced and ended up with Apple products instead of a "pee cee."  In short, we're drinking the damned water, and we're OK with it because it tastes soooooooo refreshingly good.  It's worth the price tag.  It's worth the jeers and the teasing from our technological peers.  It's worth the upturned noses.  We have stopped caring that owning a mac was once seen as making us dumber or lowering our IQs to something below that of the fuzz in our belly buttons and instead we see it as a badge of efficiency, simplicity, and beauty that is greatly lost on much of the world these days.  It's a symbol - and an example! - of doing things right and taking the time to see to the details instead of cutting jagged corners that shatter or writing news casts ridden with gross misspellings and grammatical faux pas.

So, as I sat here eating a simple salad and reading up on Facebook, I felt hot tears slide down my cheeks as a fellow geek's post appeared before me:  "RIP Steve Jobs."  I couldn't believe I hadn't heard the news, then I realized he'd just posted it 17 minutes earlier.  I flipped through sites and found that indeed, the news had scarcely been announced.  The tears stung softly, the aching in my heart a gentle throb that was both sad but also knowing and accepting.  Apple's own site even caused a ripple of silence within me:  Simply his name and the years, 1955-2011.  A black and white photo of him with that piercing look he had, on a simple white background.  Even in his death, the simplicity of the page resonated louder than any words ever could.

Steve has touched lives and will continue to do so.  Just as life could not hold him back, neither will death.  He is a cofounder of Apple.  He is the spirit of "Think Differently."  And even people like me, who barely even knew of him until the last decade of his life, can recognize the loss we share today.  We can recognize the inspiration that breathes in every gesture, every swipe, every voice command, every mouse click, every keystroke.  Every song we download whispers his memory.  Every time our MacBooks sleep, the glowing lights will breathe his life back into our memories.

Rest in peace, Steve, and thank you for sharing.

Whitney