Archive for May, 2007

I’ve noticed that people compulsively turn on lights, even when they don’t need to be on. I’m all about energy conservation (not only because it’s environmentally friendly, but also because it lowers the electric bill), so it irritates me when lights are on for no good reason.

Morah and I have gotten pretty good at appropriate use of lights, although from time to time Morah will leave one on, or I’ll catch myself flipping on the light when I really don’t need it.

Mostly I notice it at work. I’m often one of the first people in the building (except for the Master Control Operators, who are here 24 hours a day). It’s quite normal for me to go upstairs to fill up my water bottle or put my lunch in the fridge, and when I do, one or more lights is on. Why are they on? There’s no one around who needs the light on, so why leave it on? The same thing happens by the downstairs copy machine. It’s in the entry to the sales office, so when I show up, the lights for the entire sales office are on, even though it’s empty. More than enough light spills in from the hallway for anyone making copies to see what they’re doing, so why turn on extra lights? More importantly, why not turn them off again? Ironically, there’s a sticker on the light switch next to the copier urging people to turn off the lights when they aren’t in use.

The compulsive aspect comes in when other people walk into rooms that don’t have lights on. I’m always nonplussed when I’m with someone and they flip on the light in the middle of the day in a room that’s receiving enough light. I actually prefer the sunlight to the artificial light (mostly because of the color).

What do you think? Do you compulsively turn on lights, or am I just raving mad?

You may have noticed over the past few weeks that the Home Webcam has been offline pretty much 24/7. This is because the webcam program, which usually the only thing running on the computer, keeps crashing. I’m not sure why it’s happening, but it started shortly after I was playing with the streaming option one evening.

I have since uninstalled and reinstalled the software, which I thought had worked, but it turns out that it didn’t change anything. When I reinstalled, I noticed that the program “remembered” all of my preferences, so I guess the next step is to uninstall the program again, delete any remaining files, then reinstall. With any luck, that will fix it. If not, then I’ll have to think of something else.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know what was going on in case anyone was wondering.

I just wanted to say that I love nori maki arare.

In a comment to my previous post, Katie asked if I knew anything about administrative rights in Windows Vista. Apparently, Vista won’t let her install any hardware or software. Honestly, I’m not surprised.

The short answer, Katie, is that I have no idea. My experience with Vista is going, “ooh, that looks pretty,” which is usually followed by the owner of the computer I’m drooling on explaining why they hate Vista. Even our IT guy at work is frustrated with it (he described the “Security” Get A Mac ad as “accurate”).

I’ve never used Vista and I already don’t like it. Wow, what a great job of marketing Microsoft has done! Actually, the problem isn’t their marketing, it’s their programming (the whole, 7+ versions of Vista is also rather off-putting). Why would I want to buy a product that doesn’t work? I seem to recall that OSX had problems when it first came out as well, but I also recall that those problems didn’t prevent users from installing new hardware and software; at least, not to the degree that Vista seems to.

From what I’ve read online and heard from firsthand users, Vista doesn’t like hardware or software that isn’t Vista-specific. So in other words, all of the hardware and software I currently own may no longer be of any use to me once I upgrade to Vista.

How would that change my life? To be perfectly honest, not a lot, except that I’d have to shell out a bunch of money to upgrade all of my hardware and software to the latest versions. In fact, one of the biggest changes would be that my webcams would probably stop working. Even if the software worked in Vista (which is probably won’t, because it’s so old and is no longer being updated), the hardware is so wildly outdated that Vista drivers don’t (and won’t) exist.

I did just buy a new webcam (a beautiful one that works amazingly well) that’s (supposedly) Vista compatible. So if nothing would change, why not just upgrade? Well, apart from not having enough money for all-new software, I don’t have a computer that can handle running Vista.

Do you see where I’m going with this? If I have to buy all-new hardware, and all new software, why should I bother buying a PC at all?

My first computer was an Apple IIe handed down to me by my grandfather. It didn’t have a hard drive and it used 5.25-inch floppy disks (man, remember those?). My second computer was a refurbished NEC running Windows 95. From then on, all I ever owned were PCs. The primary reason was because I had programs that I had purchased (and *ahem* acquired) that were PC-only, so I kept upgrading to new PCs. If Vista won’t like my old software, why not make the move to Mac? After all, it’s Apple is where I started, and I’ve been wanting a Mac for a long time.

Morah asked if my PC files would be compatible with a Mac. It’s a good question and one that requires consideration. I do, after all, have a ton of files that I created on a PC. The good news is, they’re all readable by Mac computers. Macs run Microsoft Office (and Open Office), Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, iTunes, and all of the other programs I’ve used to create my files. And if the program doesn’t exist for OSX, there’s probably some equivalent program that will open them.

Plus, it isn’t as though I would be tossing out my old PCs straight away. There’s still life in them! After all, I’ll still need some computers to run my webcams (actually, it looks like my Mac could do that too).

So what am I saying here? I’m not saying that I’m going to buy a Mac while I’m in Seattle this weekend (although those sound like famous last words…). What I am saying is that when I’m in the market for a new computer, which I’m not yet, I am going to buy a Mac. I mean, if I have to upgrade all of my hardware and software anyway, why not move to a less complicated operating system as well?

I have a list of personal blogs that I read check on a daily basis, many of which are in the “Dailies” section in the sidebar. I’ve noticed a trend among many — perhaps I could go so far as to say most — of the blogs I read: They haven’t updated in a long time. This post isn’t directed at any one person, but merely an observation that many of my Blogger friends haven’t been posting.

In fact, some blogs haven’t updated in such a long time that I don’t even bother to check them anymore (I do still cling to the hope that Phoenix will update his blog; especially since he seems capable of leaving comments on other peoples’ blogs).

I had a bit of a dry spell myself back in January (there were three Friday Fundays in a row, which meant that I didn’t blog anything for three weeks!), but I’ve managed to overcome my Bloggers’ Block and am writing with greater frequency. Now if I could just start writing regularly…

In an attempt to help my fellow Bloggers give me something to read, I’m going to post another meme challenge thing. Don’t worry, this should be relatively painless. Just copy and paste the following into your blog (look at that, most of the work is already done for you) and replace my answers with your own.

1. What is your official job title? Whenever people ask, I always say webmaster, but it’s more like webslave.
2. Do you wear a watch? If so, is it digital or analog? If not, why not? I don’t usually wear a watch because my mobile phone, which I always carry, has a clock. When I do wear a watch, it’s a really cool analog Fossil with Japanese kanji on it. Apparently it’s quite a rare watch. It must be, considering how much I paid for it.
3. What’s a really great but fairly obscure website that you visit regularly? Wondermark is a really funny web comic that I don’t think many people know about. Billing itself as “an illustrated jocularity,” Wondermark often makes light of current events and is always really funny. Don’t forget to check out the ALT attribute of each comic for added laughs.
4. How long can you hold your breath? I made it to 1 minute and 6.62 seconds, which really impressed me. I didn’t know I could hold my breath that long! Here’s a handy stopwatch so you can test yourself.

There, now you have no excuse not to blog! Feel free to encourage your regular readers to participate on their own blogs. Also, a link back to my blog would be much appreciated…

If you decide to participate, post a comment or trackback so that my other readers can check out your blog!

That’s right, today is the day on which I was born, 26 years ago. If you want to express your appreciation for my existence, feel free to buy me the stuff on any of my wishlists (links in the sidebar). I also accept cash donations (this site doesn’t run itself and I’m looking to buy a remote controlled helicopter).

Remember how I was nominated for Employee of the Month last month, but didn’t win? Well, I was nominated again this month, and this time around I won! Hooray for me!

Everyone keeps asking what I get for being Employee of the Month, which made me chuckle (is being recognized just not enough?). I got a gift certificate to a local restaurant and am now eligible for Employee of the Year.

Hmm… What can I do to guarantee that I win Employee of the Year?