I dig computers
We went to the Pacific Science Center’s member’s preview for theirStar Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination production. As a (nearly) life-long Star Wars fan, it was a delight to be part of. Many other geeks my age were there; I’m pretty sure there were more adults than kids. The official show starts today, and I expect the attendance to be more balanced.
I’m watching G4‘s Attack of the Show. I’ve checked out the show, and the network, a few times since they merged with TechTV. I’ve not been too impressed with G4’s programming work, as it seems to mostly consist of reruns of COPs.
I’ve spent the better part of today getting Ubuntu working on an older laptop (Compaq Presario R3000). I installed it several days ago, but was fighting with getting my wifi card to work. ‘Twas a bit of challenge due to its agedness. I was trying to get a Broadcom 4301 802.11 b card running with Maverick Meerkat. This is old enough to not be supported, so I needed to get creative. I’m geek-proud of myself for getting it worked out (uninstalled the built in broadcom driver and then utilized the “Windows Wireless Drivers” app & the original driver that shipped with the thing).
The more I think about it, the more I’m surprised that I’m only now getting into Linux. Well, I fiddled a bit with it a few years back, but never went anywhere. When I consider my values, my tendency towards “anti-corporate” & anti-commercial and my love of all things geeky, this should’ve been a slam-dunk. Well, it took a bit, but here I am. We’ll see where this world leads me.
Lots of folks are running around billing themselves as “social media” experts. Most of my cohort online finds them annoying at best, and fraudulent at worst. In the spirit of self-exploration, and a wee bit of sarcasm, I present reasons that I (little ol’ me) could bill myself thusly.
Reasons I can call myself a Social Media Expert:
Some of these really should read “why I’m a web geek”, but, well, whatever.
This morning got away from me. Took much longer than normal to get out the door, thus got my son to before-school care right about time for him to go meet the bus. While there, the director (a long-time friend) told me she was having issues with her printer (which I had installed last week). So, more time before I finally get breakfast. At moments like these, I’m sorely tempted by McDonald’s breakfast. Today I succumb. I decide to take advantage to this moment and finally try McDonald’s coffee.
You see, I worked at Starbucks back in 2007 when Consumer Reports decided McDonald’s had better coffee than Starbucks. CR dropped in my esteem after this. It seemed crazy to me to compare Starbucks, a coffee roaster to McDonald’s, Dunkin, and Burger King…coffee buyers. On top of this, coffee is procured from a myriad of vendors. Adding to the fun, one of the many companies McDonald’s & Burger King buy coffee from is Starbucks (or its sub-company, Seattle’s Best). I thought it would be hysterical if the CR gang were comparing Starbucks to Starbucks.
Perhaps because of my annoyance noted above, and/or commitment to my (then) employer, I never actually tried McDonald’s coffee. So, here we go. It wasn’t too bad. Well balanced, smooth, a little tangier than I usually go for. With a little sugar, it has a flavor much like soda. Clearly Latin American beans, very light and balanced. None of the earthiness of Asian beans, and no African notes, either. Not horrible, not bad; a pretty “middlin” coffee.
No, I won’t be dropping my regular stops at Ladro or Starbucks. However, I’ll drop some of my annoyance at McD’s. I’ll keep my condescension at Consumer Reports, though.
My, how the style of the franchise has changed.
Found this fellow at the Edmonds marina (WA). Wonder if I’ll find them at
the upcoming comic-con?
As a musician, I think there’s great value with the iPad for music display. No more flipping pages due to breezes, ease in organizing (adjusting play lists), quickly shifting pages (a simple touch) and the ability to have a huge sheet music library at your fingertips. If you’ve ever lugged several Fake books to gigs, you can see the potential. Of course, the device is relatively fragile (as any electronic device is), so there’s a challenge. Nothing should frighten musicians more than the thought of losing your performance materials.
