Winter days are slowwwww ; iPad webcasts...
(Posted from home)
(This post coves 27 – 30 January, 2010)
--------------------------------------
Saturday, 30 January-
Today I did some cleanup of the office, paid a few bills and did some filing. In the late afternoon I drove in to Borders for a cappucino and a look 'round for an interesting magazine but didn't find anything worth taking home. I like their cappucinos better than Starbucks but the cafe had an odd vibe. In retrospect, it may have been a lack of background music. People seemed to avoid interaction. Perhaps it was only because many of them were reading. I probably haven't given the place a fair shake given that I only spent a few minutes there and was frustrated about not being able to get a Times. I see they have free wi-fi so I'll have to bring the laptop next time and hang out a bit to see if it's really as sterile as it seems at first glance.
That evening we watched a few eps of '30 Rock- Season 3' on Netflix Instant.
--------------------------------------
Friday, 29 January-
This morning I thought I'd take a motorcycle ride to pick up something at the pharmacy. Unfortunately, the motorcycle's battery didn't agree. I had started up the bike yesterday afternoon when the temperature was around 40 degrees but today it was only 16. What a difference! The motor turned over a few times but I could hear it turning slower and slower with each revolution and by the fifth rev it was all over. I dug out the trickle charger while I had a conversation with myself about the stupidity of trying to start in such cold weather. As I remember it I did start the bike up once when the temp was 12 degrees but that was many charge-discharge cycles ago.
Once the charging completes, I'm guessing the battery will work okay above, say, 35 degrees but I'll need to get a new one this Spring.
I tried to start the KLR yesterday and the day before when the air temps were in the 40's but that didn't work either, again because of a weak battery. I already knew that one was weak so I wasn't surprised. And it was SO close to starting. It would run a few revs on its own and then shut down.
I changed out of my motorcycle gear and drove to the pharmacy, then spent an hour at the Red Land Library reading the local papers and picking out a couple of books for my bedtime reading.
I seldom remember to jot down what I'm reading but right now it's 'Undaunted Courage' by Stephen Ambrose. This one was popular in 2004-2005 around the 100th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Somehow Labashi had read it but I hadn't. It has been in our bookcase all this time and only came to my attention when I went looking through our books to decide what to clear out. In any case, I'm VERY glad to be reading it after having been to many of the places Lewis and Clark visited on their incredible expedition.
This afternoon I worked with Labashi on some issues regarding The Move and then did a bit of blogging.
--------------------------------------
Thursday, 28 January-
Today Labashi and I wanted to have a lunch date. I've wanted to take her over to Restaurant Sidney in East Berlin. I've stopped there for lunch a few times and really like it. But today I assumed they opened for lunch at 1100 and arrived there only to find lunch starts at 1130. We decided not to wait and zipped across the East Berlin Road to York and lunched at Chili's.
We overdid a bit at Chili's, sharing a few 'muy fuerte' El Presidente margaritas before sharing their scrumptious fajitas de camaron.
We dropped in at Wal-mart on the way home to pick up a few necessities but by the time we got home the drinks had made us lazy. We watched three episodes of the Brit situation comedy “Black's Books” late in the afternoon.
That evening we watched the final two episodes of “Big Love- Season Three”. We love Big Love but it's a bit tricky to follow all the twists and turns in the plot in these last two episodes. And that's a good thing!
--------------------------------------
Wednesday, 27 January-
I was planning to go to town this afternoon but then remembered today's the day for Apple's big tablet-computer announcement. I knew I could just wait until this evening and see a well-constructed version of what had happened but I wanted to see how it was handled on live webcasts and Twitter.
An hour before the event Twitter was abuzz with tweets telling us we could see the event live at such-and-such an address. I didn't trust the tiny-urls enough to click them directly but Google gave me some trusted names to try.
I was surprised to learn I couldn't see the live event. The words 'live coverage' meant I could either read tweets coming from their guy on the floor or I could watch two people sitting at a typical newsdesk watching tweets roll across THEIR computer screens and commenting on them (!!!). This didn't seem to be going well at all...
One of the early sites I tried was the Brit newspaper The Guardian. This one looked promising at first but once Steve Jobs came on stage, it became frustrating.... way too slow.
I had opened a window to CruchGear and at first thought it silly to see the two staffers at a newsdesk reading their screens. I opened up a feed to Engadget and saw them posting photos of Job's presentation along with comments. I quickly realized that the audio from the CrunchGear window and the visual from the Engadget window complemented each other. The Engadget window would refresh every 30 seconds and the CrunchGear folks had an eye on multiple feeds so they'd mention stuff I otherwise would have missed. I could switch between windows and sometimes watch both windows at the same time. That seemed to be the best bet.
The bottom line, though, is I really, really missed just having a live television feed from the announcement venue (of Steve Jobs speaking) with a webcast of the accompanying presentation slides. Is that difficult to do?
Regarding the iPad itself, I won't be buying one anytime soon but that's more about what I need than about the sexiness of the device or how well it does it's job. In short, I don't think the e-book thing is a good deal at all. I'm entirely happy to just continue reading existing books and to get them from the library.
As to games, I just don't get the attraction. I don't see the interest in watching flashing pixels simulate doing something when real life is so much more interesting and challenging.
Music? Well, my iPod does that. And, oh yeah, I'm not a fan of AT&T OR Verizon and their coupla-meg-for-lotsa-bux data plans. Sooooooo.... no iPad for me.
That evening we watched 'Big Love- Season Three' (S3.D3).
********* END OF POST ***************
(Posted from home)
(This post coves 27 – 30 January, 2010)
--------------------------------------
Saturday, 30 January-
Today I did some cleanup of the office, paid a few bills and did some filing. In the late afternoon I drove in to Borders for a cappucino and a look 'round for an interesting magazine but didn't find anything worth taking home. I like their cappucinos better than Starbucks but the cafe had an odd vibe. In retrospect, it may have been a lack of background music. People seemed to avoid interaction. Perhaps it was only because many of them were reading. I probably haven't given the place a fair shake given that I only spent a few minutes there and was frustrated about not being able to get a Times. I see they have free wi-fi so I'll have to bring the laptop next time and hang out a bit to see if it's really as sterile as it seems at first glance.
That evening we watched a few eps of '30 Rock- Season 3' on Netflix Instant.
--------------------------------------
Friday, 29 January-
This morning I thought I'd take a motorcycle ride to pick up something at the pharmacy. Unfortunately, the motorcycle's battery didn't agree. I had started up the bike yesterday afternoon when the temperature was around 40 degrees but today it was only 16. What a difference! The motor turned over a few times but I could hear it turning slower and slower with each revolution and by the fifth rev it was all over. I dug out the trickle charger while I had a conversation with myself about the stupidity of trying to start in such cold weather. As I remember it I did start the bike up once when the temp was 12 degrees but that was many charge-discharge cycles ago.
Once the charging completes, I'm guessing the battery will work okay above, say, 35 degrees but I'll need to get a new one this Spring.
I tried to start the KLR yesterday and the day before when the air temps were in the 40's but that didn't work either, again because of a weak battery. I already knew that one was weak so I wasn't surprised. And it was SO close to starting. It would run a few revs on its own and then shut down.
I changed out of my motorcycle gear and drove to the pharmacy, then spent an hour at the Red Land Library reading the local papers and picking out a couple of books for my bedtime reading.
I seldom remember to jot down what I'm reading but right now it's 'Undaunted Courage' by Stephen Ambrose. This one was popular in 2004-2005 around the 100th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Somehow Labashi had read it but I hadn't. It has been in our bookcase all this time and only came to my attention when I went looking through our books to decide what to clear out. In any case, I'm VERY glad to be reading it after having been to many of the places Lewis and Clark visited on their incredible expedition.
This afternoon I worked with Labashi on some issues regarding The Move and then did a bit of blogging.
--------------------------------------
Thursday, 28 January-
Today Labashi and I wanted to have a lunch date. I've wanted to take her over to Restaurant Sidney in East Berlin. I've stopped there for lunch a few times and really like it. But today I assumed they opened for lunch at 1100 and arrived there only to find lunch starts at 1130. We decided not to wait and zipped across the East Berlin Road to York and lunched at Chili's.
We overdid a bit at Chili's, sharing a few 'muy fuerte' El Presidente margaritas before sharing their scrumptious fajitas de camaron.
We dropped in at Wal-mart on the way home to pick up a few necessities but by the time we got home the drinks had made us lazy. We watched three episodes of the Brit situation comedy “Black's Books” late in the afternoon.
That evening we watched the final two episodes of “Big Love- Season Three”. We love Big Love but it's a bit tricky to follow all the twists and turns in the plot in these last two episodes. And that's a good thing!
--------------------------------------
Wednesday, 27 January-
I was planning to go to town this afternoon but then remembered today's the day for Apple's big tablet-computer announcement. I knew I could just wait until this evening and see a well-constructed version of what had happened but I wanted to see how it was handled on live webcasts and Twitter.
An hour before the event Twitter was abuzz with tweets telling us we could see the event live at such-and-such an address. I didn't trust the tiny-urls enough to click them directly but Google gave me some trusted names to try.
I was surprised to learn I couldn't see the live event. The words 'live coverage' meant I could either read tweets coming from their guy on the floor or I could watch two people sitting at a typical newsdesk watching tweets roll across THEIR computer screens and commenting on them (!!!). This didn't seem to be going well at all...
One of the early sites I tried was the Brit newspaper The Guardian. This one looked promising at first but once Steve Jobs came on stage, it became frustrating.... way too slow.
I had opened a window to CruchGear and at first thought it silly to see the two staffers at a newsdesk reading their screens. I opened up a feed to Engadget and saw them posting photos of Job's presentation along with comments. I quickly realized that the audio from the CrunchGear window and the visual from the Engadget window complemented each other. The Engadget window would refresh every 30 seconds and the CrunchGear folks had an eye on multiple feeds so they'd mention stuff I otherwise would have missed. I could switch between windows and sometimes watch both windows at the same time. That seemed to be the best bet.
The bottom line, though, is I really, really missed just having a live television feed from the announcement venue (of Steve Jobs speaking) with a webcast of the accompanying presentation slides. Is that difficult to do?
Regarding the iPad itself, I won't be buying one anytime soon but that's more about what I need than about the sexiness of the device or how well it does it's job. In short, I don't think the e-book thing is a good deal at all. I'm entirely happy to just continue reading existing books and to get them from the library.
As to games, I just don't get the attraction. I don't see the interest in watching flashing pixels simulate doing something when real life is so much more interesting and challenging.
Music? Well, my iPod does that. And, oh yeah, I'm not a fan of AT&T OR Verizon and their coupla-meg-for-lotsa-bux data plans. Sooooooo.... no iPad for me.
That evening we watched 'Big Love- Season Three' (S3.D3).
********* END OF POST ***************
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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