22 August 2007
30-3: Yes, It's a Baseball Score
I'm a little freaked out over the latest Rangers game results (I think I'm one of six people that follow baseball anymore). Against the Baltimore Orioles, the Rangers scored 30 runs - something that hasn't been seen in modern baseball in over a century. The Orioles' ERA went from 4.39 to 4.60 in a single game. Two players homered twice and earned seven RBI's EACH! The stats can go on forever, but anybody who says baseball is a boring game didn't watch this one.
16 August 2007
RetroTech: The Apple Newton and Why I Love It
My first real job started in early 1994, at the Austin Apple Assistance Center. I was hired as a ten-dollar-an-hour intern (a princely sum for the times) and happily spent the next two years swimming in technology. Looking back, I can still remember how fun that job was. And all the stupid mistakes I made and how many opportunities I let slip by, but I suppose most 19 year olds do.
One of the absolutely coolest things I saw during my time there was the Apple Newton. Remember, my friends, that this wasn't a PDA. This was the original PDA - the device that coined the term. Looking down my first time at that Original MessagePad, with its pitiful memory and iffy handwriting recognition, was a religious experience for me - it showed an entirely new paradigm of computing that was truly more personal because it could be carried with you everywhere.
I never supported the product while I was at Apple; I did become friends with some members of the team, though, and absolutely loved talking with them about it. I even tried my hand at learning Newton programming, though my ADD mindset at the time meant that lasted about two weeks. But the sheer wonder of handheld computing that I felt that first day has never really left me. When I got more adult and a bit more financially secure, I started purchasing my own mobile geegaws (currently, an HTC Wizard that will likely be upgraded this year to a TyTN II.) Alas, by that time the Newton had been relegated to the dust heap of history, cancelled by a resurgent Steve Jobs. To this day, I think there are people for whom even his turnaround of Apple, the iPod and the iPhone aren't enough to forgive that decision.
So imagine my surprise when I, in a fit of Wikipedia boredom, looked up the Newton and found that I was not alone in my nostalgia. In fact, the Newton was the posterchild for orphaned tech: thousands of people, it seemed, still used them; hundreds actively wrote about them and kept in communication, and several very gifted people with more time on their hands than I have were still programming for it. I was amazed, and delighted, that there was still a Newtonverse out there. In fact, I was so happy I went out and purchased one - a MessagePad 2100, which was the very last and greatest of the Newtons made by Apple. It blew the Original that first kindled my technolust away. And it was mine.
I suppose you might say I've spent the past few weeks in a form of nostalgic wish fulfillment. I remember thinking about how I would fill a Newton up with apps if I could just get my hands on one when I was at Apple. Now I've got over 15 megs of apps on mine (which, for the Newton architecture, is a lot - trust me.) They include:
- A full-fledged web server (Newton Personal Data Sharing)
- An HTML editor
- An SMTP/POP3 client
- Wireless ethernet
- A productivity app suite (NewtonWorks)
- Math/scientific calculator software
- A multilingual translator
In short, all the geeky apps that make PDAs so much fun. I was somewhat shocked by how advanced Newton software, for the most part written in the mid- to late 1990's, had been - and how the fundamental categories of mobile software hasn't really changed.
Do I have all these apps on my smartphone? Yes. Is it more convenient than the Newton? Yes. Am I having twice as much fun using my Newton than my smartphone? Hell yes. The 19 year old in me grins every time I take it into my hands and slide the on switch...which is something that I can definitely use these days, with a job that seems to age me more and more. And that, in various mutations and incarnations, is IMHO a prime reason why "retrotech" exists. Tandy Color Computer user groups, Apple IIgs web sites, Commodore 64 FTP archives...just like pictures or scents or snatches of music, technology can become a part of our past. It can take us back to different times.
One of the absolutely coolest things I saw during my time there was the Apple Newton. Remember, my friends, that this wasn't a PDA. This was the original PDA - the device that coined the term. Looking down my first time at that Original MessagePad, with its pitiful memory and iffy handwriting recognition, was a religious experience for me - it showed an entirely new paradigm of computing that was truly more personal because it could be carried with you everywhere.
I never supported the product while I was at Apple; I did become friends with some members of the team, though, and absolutely loved talking with them about it. I even tried my hand at learning Newton programming, though my ADD mindset at the time meant that lasted about two weeks. But the sheer wonder of handheld computing that I felt that first day has never really left me. When I got more adult and a bit more financially secure, I started purchasing my own mobile geegaws (currently, an HTC Wizard that will likely be upgraded this year to a TyTN II.) Alas, by that time the Newton had been relegated to the dust heap of history, cancelled by a resurgent Steve Jobs. To this day, I think there are people for whom even his turnaround of Apple, the iPod and the iPhone aren't enough to forgive that decision.
So imagine my surprise when I, in a fit of Wikipedia boredom, looked up the Newton and found that I was not alone in my nostalgia. In fact, the Newton was the posterchild for orphaned tech: thousands of people, it seemed, still used them; hundreds actively wrote about them and kept in communication, and several very gifted people with more time on their hands than I have were still programming for it. I was amazed, and delighted, that there was still a Newtonverse out there. In fact, I was so happy I went out and purchased one - a MessagePad 2100, which was the very last and greatest of the Newtons made by Apple. It blew the Original that first kindled my technolust away. And it was mine.
I suppose you might say I've spent the past few weeks in a form of nostalgic wish fulfillment. I remember thinking about how I would fill a Newton up with apps if I could just get my hands on one when I was at Apple. Now I've got over 15 megs of apps on mine (which, for the Newton architecture, is a lot - trust me.) They include:
- A full-fledged web server (Newton Personal Data Sharing)
- An HTML editor
- An SMTP/POP3 client
- Wireless ethernet
- A productivity app suite (NewtonWorks)
- Math/scientific calculator software
- A multilingual translator
In short, all the geeky apps that make PDAs so much fun. I was somewhat shocked by how advanced Newton software, for the most part written in the mid- to late 1990's, had been - and how the fundamental categories of mobile software hasn't really changed.
Do I have all these apps on my smartphone? Yes. Is it more convenient than the Newton? Yes. Am I having twice as much fun using my Newton than my smartphone? Hell yes. The 19 year old in me grins every time I take it into my hands and slide the on switch...which is something that I can definitely use these days, with a job that seems to age me more and more. And that, in various mutations and incarnations, is IMHO a prime reason why "retrotech" exists. Tandy Color Computer user groups, Apple IIgs web sites, Commodore 64 FTP archives...just like pictures or scents or snatches of music, technology can become a part of our past. It can take us back to different times.
13 July 2007
I'm a Bad Blogger - UK TRIP!
Well, kiddies...from what I understand, blogging is supposed to help you chronicle your life and its twist and turns. So why have I been quiet for two weeks?
I've actually been in the UK for a work gig. It's something of a reprise from an earlier one in April; I've been working in a Midlands town in England called Lichfield. I was also able to steal off to London over last weekend, where the Tour de France was in town.
So why no blogging? Well, a couple of reasons. There are times - most of them, I think - when I'm a natural blogger. I like to recount, tell, and relate; I love to synthesize knowledge and experiences into something (hopefully) bigger. And yes, from that last sentence you can tell I'm a geek too.
One thing I've found, though, is that life can intrude...especially when your routine is so disrupted. I almost hate admitting this, since I have such a reputation as the "jetsetter" among friends - but intercontinental travel really sucks the first few days. Going to Europe leaves me completely hyper during the morning and early day, only to crash horribly in the afternoon. And darlings, let me say that Jonathan barely looks decent when he's well rested- when tired, it's like the Medusan on the classic Star Trek episode "Is There In Truth No Beauty? "
I did do better this time. I'm not usually one to embrace taking a ton o' supplements and pills, but I did break down and try melatonin for a sleep aid. I would DEFINITELY recommend it! No psychotic dreams like Ambien, no sleepiness during the day, great for helping you get into a good rhythm of sleeping and waking.
There were some downsides. First, England is having weather close to what Texas had when I left - i.e. rainy, floody, and crappy. It also has some allergen which I was totally unprepared for; by the third day here, I had lost my sense of taste (EEEEK!) and was getting very itchy. And this was on Claritin!! Luckily, Zyrtec is available over the counter here, and within two days I was right as rain. (God, I've been linguistically contaminated. You should hear some of the more colorful idioms they use here.)
Finally - and this was perhaps the most subconsciously depressing - my STUPID CAMERA PHONE totally crapped out on me. I was snapping pictures like wild at the tour, being Ultra Cool and using my Sports setting to capture shots of the...very sleek and hot...bikers go by. On the second day, though, the camera app started freezing repeatedly; then, in a moment of sheer horror, I looked on my storage card and realized that all the pictures I'd had were no longer registering in the file system. They're still THERE, according to the memory stats, but the file system got corrupted. When I get home, I'm going to try a couple of utilities to extract what I can; I seriously hope that I can post some pics from London.
So I'm going to try a kind of delayed blogging, giving some highlights of the trip. I'm staying up tonight to try and start syncing back with American time; when I leave for Austin via Frankfurt, it'll be around 12:45 AM CDT. We'll see if I can't make it on the flight to Germany, then zonk out on the plane.
I've actually been in the UK for a work gig. It's something of a reprise from an earlier one in April; I've been working in a Midlands town in England called Lichfield. I was also able to steal off to London over last weekend, where the Tour de France was in town.
So why no blogging? Well, a couple of reasons. There are times - most of them, I think - when I'm a natural blogger. I like to recount, tell, and relate; I love to synthesize knowledge and experiences into something (hopefully) bigger. And yes, from that last sentence you can tell I'm a geek too.
One thing I've found, though, is that life can intrude...especially when your routine is so disrupted. I almost hate admitting this, since I have such a reputation as the "jetsetter" among friends - but intercontinental travel really sucks the first few days. Going to Europe leaves me completely hyper during the morning and early day, only to crash horribly in the afternoon. And darlings, let me say that Jonathan barely looks decent when he's well rested- when tired, it's like the Medusan on the classic Star Trek episode "Is There In Truth No Beauty? "
I did do better this time. I'm not usually one to embrace taking a ton o' supplements and pills, but I did break down and try melatonin for a sleep aid. I would DEFINITELY recommend it! No psychotic dreams like Ambien, no sleepiness during the day, great for helping you get into a good rhythm of sleeping and waking.
There were some downsides. First, England is having weather close to what Texas had when I left - i.e. rainy, floody, and crappy. It also has some allergen which I was totally unprepared for; by the third day here, I had lost my sense of taste (EEEEK!) and was getting very itchy. And this was on Claritin!! Luckily, Zyrtec is available over the counter here, and within two days I was right as rain. (God, I've been linguistically contaminated. You should hear some of the more colorful idioms they use here.)
Finally - and this was perhaps the most subconsciously depressing - my STUPID CAMERA PHONE totally crapped out on me. I was snapping pictures like wild at the tour, being Ultra Cool and using my Sports setting to capture shots of the...very sleek and hot...bikers go by. On the second day, though, the camera app started freezing repeatedly; then, in a moment of sheer horror, I looked on my storage card and realized that all the pictures I'd had were no longer registering in the file system. They're still THERE, according to the memory stats, but the file system got corrupted. When I get home, I'm going to try a couple of utilities to extract what I can; I seriously hope that I can post some pics from London.
So I'm going to try a kind of delayed blogging, giving some highlights of the trip. I'm staying up tonight to try and start syncing back with American time; when I leave for Austin via Frankfurt, it'll be around 12:45 AM CDT. We'll see if I can't make it on the flight to Germany, then zonk out on the plane.
27 June 2007
Summer Flood '07, Climate, and the LCRA
We've been dealing with drought or near-drought conditions in Central Texas for a number of years. No more: we've had ten inches above the average yearly precipitation to date, and now we've been dealing with some severe flooding. Insert your own "when it rains it pours" joke here.
Global warming concerns aside, this kind of fluctuation has been par for the course in this part of the world - we're basically a semi-arid region that goes through long dry spells punctuated by deluges. This is one of the reasons why the Hill Country has the kind of vegetation it has, and why planting all those water-sucking plants from the Eastern coastal regions is such a bad idea here.
It's also the reason why we have six of the most beautiful lakes I've seen anywhere on Earth - because we created them for flood control! Lakes Buchanan, Inks, LBJ, Travis, Austin, and Marble Falls were all created after the Lower Colorado River Authority was created in 1934 to help control flooding and to provide drinking water in between. It also had the side effect of immeasurably enriching the local area's ecology, and creating a very lively recreational sports and tourism industry. Check it out here.
Unfortunately, even the most aggressive flood control measures fail. The lakes are up to beyond full, and the literal floodgates are open. There have been a number of people in Marble Falls, a wonderful little town just outside of Austin, that have been inundated - over nineteen inches of rain have fallen in the area, with more expected tonight.
Global warming concerns aside, this kind of fluctuation has been par for the course in this part of the world - we're basically a semi-arid region that goes through long dry spells punctuated by deluges. This is one of the reasons why the Hill Country has the kind of vegetation it has, and why planting all those water-sucking plants from the Eastern coastal regions is such a bad idea here.
It's also the reason why we have six of the most beautiful lakes I've seen anywhere on Earth - because we created them for flood control! Lakes Buchanan, Inks, LBJ, Travis, Austin, and Marble Falls were all created after the Lower Colorado River Authority was created in 1934 to help control flooding and to provide drinking water in between. It also had the side effect of immeasurably enriching the local area's ecology, and creating a very lively recreational sports and tourism industry. Check it out here.
Unfortunately, even the most aggressive flood control measures fail. The lakes are up to beyond full, and the literal floodgates are open. There have been a number of people in Marble Falls, a wonderful little town just outside of Austin, that have been inundated - over nineteen inches of rain have fallen in the area, with more expected tonight.
26 June 2007
Odds and Ends
The past week has been intense from a work perspective - I'm currently trying to learn four weeks of material in a week. A great way to show your superior self-training skills, even if it drives you insane in the process...
18 June 2007
Dreams of Landscaped Paradise
One of the wonderful things about owning a house is thinking of all the projects you can finally do. Tear down a wall? Have at it. Create a scale replica of Machu Picchu in your backyard? Go to work!
Unfortunately, thinking and doing are two very different things. Due to some allowances and insurance money when I moved in two years back, I was able to get some Pergo floors in and did some minor work in the kitchen. Unfortunately, the realities of living settled in and most of my grand projects have come, so far, to naught. I was all set to try to redo the kitchen, but when I was getting multithousand dollar totals for what I wanted to do - even at IKEA! - I decided I had to postpone until later.
One of the projects that I never seemed to get any focus on is landscaping. I've been very shocked and disappointed with the general attitude that seems rampant in the landscaping..uh, field? HA! - in Austin. There are more than a few highly professional firms that specialize in all kinds of high-end projects; mention a standard subdivision plot and a budget of less than $10,000 up front and you suddenly feel daggers through the phone. Due to the Treecalypse I tried arranging something with Home Depot, who just recently started advertising landscaping services...I plan on writing a whole blog entry about that nightmare of an experience. Suffice it to say that they were completely untrustworthy in keeping promised appointments, and that Lowe's is getting more of my money than they otherwise would have. (Alas, they do not offer landscaping.)
SO, I've decided to landscape as much as a DIY project as I can. I must admit it's a little daunting; some of the things I'd like to do are ambitious (i.e. building walls). I got a couple of books on stonework and on landscaping, again from Lowes (Home Depot delendo est!) and they actually make it sound like I could DO a lot of this. I've even found what I think could be the perfect tree to replace my poor ill-fated Bradford pear - the Loblolly Pine. It grows fast, does great in a lot of soils, is native to Texas, and has that stately, yet wild/rustic look that I absolutely love.
Unfortunately, thinking and doing are two very different things. Due to some allowances and insurance money when I moved in two years back, I was able to get some Pergo floors in and did some minor work in the kitchen. Unfortunately, the realities of living settled in and most of my grand projects have come, so far, to naught. I was all set to try to redo the kitchen, but when I was getting multithousand dollar totals for what I wanted to do - even at IKEA! - I decided I had to postpone until later.
One of the projects that I never seemed to get any focus on is landscaping. I've been very shocked and disappointed with the general attitude that seems rampant in the landscaping..uh, field? HA! - in Austin. There are more than a few highly professional firms that specialize in all kinds of high-end projects; mention a standard subdivision plot and a budget of less than $10,000 up front and you suddenly feel daggers through the phone. Due to the Treecalypse I tried arranging something with Home Depot, who just recently started advertising landscaping services...I plan on writing a whole blog entry about that nightmare of an experience. Suffice it to say that they were completely untrustworthy in keeping promised appointments, and that Lowe's is getting more of my money than they otherwise would have. (Alas, they do not offer landscaping.)
SO, I've decided to landscape as much as a DIY project as I can. I must admit it's a little daunting; some of the things I'd like to do are ambitious (i.e. building walls). I got a couple of books on stonework and on landscaping, again from Lowes (Home Depot delendo est!) and they actually make it sound like I could DO a lot of this. I've even found what I think could be the perfect tree to replace my poor ill-fated Bradford pear - the Loblolly Pine. It grows fast, does great in a lot of soils, is native to Texas, and has that stately, yet wild/rustic look that I absolutely love.
14 June 2007
Being Alive is Pretty Cool...
...but sometimes we forget about that. There's so much daily grind, and ritual, and routine in modern life - it's so easy to forget about the sheer miracle of living. There have been a couple of events over the past weeks that gave me a huge new appreciation for sheer joy of being alive, being healthy, and being able to appreciate both.
I've been looking around and seeing some things I could be doing better - mainly in trying to expand my personal life and interests a bit, and trying to revive a couple of dormant interests of mine. I'd love to be able to have a huge honking life outside of work, which I often don't seem to have. Don't get me wrong, for the most part I like my job - that's something that a lot of folks can't say...but still, I think I need more than just talking about software during the day and talking about software to others during the night. :) We'll see.
I've been looking around and seeing some things I could be doing better - mainly in trying to expand my personal life and interests a bit, and trying to revive a couple of dormant interests of mine. I'd love to be able to have a huge honking life outside of work, which I often don't seem to have. Don't get me wrong, for the most part I like my job - that's something that a lot of folks can't say...but still, I think I need more than just talking about software during the day and talking about software to others during the night. :) We'll see.
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