News: February 2001

February 28, 2001
Bret sent me an email from Portland this morning about feeling the Olympia, Washington-area-based 6.8 quake, but I sure didn't feel anything down here in Salem. For a 6.8 it seems to have done relatively minor damage, and as of this writing, there are a few injuries around the Northwest, but no fatalities.

Not to minimize the importance of the above, but the more pressing issue for us, actually, has been the reemergence of our much-hated enemies the carpenter ants. The unseasonably warm weather (it was 55 degrees yesterday (in February!)) has kicked up their activity level apparently, and we found a group of them trying to infiltrate my office downstairs. This initial assault was repelled with a can of Raid, but we're well-aware that we'll need to take more long-lasting measures.

Somewhere out there, they have a nest—we removed one last year when we took out the retaining wall railroad ties at the southwest corner of the house—and it's my job to find it. Ants in my house means only one thing: War.

On the brighter side, we have yet to see any sugar ants, and last year they were much more populous—by about a 10:1 ratio. So we think that the Terro II acid solution we fed them last year may have paid dividends. (The Terro II was ineffective against the carpenter ants.)

February 26, 2001
I completed the AppleCare registration for Trinity this morning, giving the PowerBook another 3 years of warranty service. That's on-top of Apple's regular warranty, and I figure that 4 years from the time of purchase is more than long enough. At that point, the speed and abilities of newer computers should have rendered Trinity a prime upgrade target.

It's important for me to say for a few more words about extended warranties though, because most of the time they're a complete waste of money and I would rarely advise purchasing one.

There are several reasons why the situation with Trinity is different. First and foremost is that Trinity is a portable. That means Trin, like all portables, uses an LCD screen and those LCD screens are very expensive to fix or replace. In fact, something like one third to one half of the cost of a portable is tied up in the LCD screen. I've heard quotes of $1000 to replace the LCD screen of the PowerBooks, those kinds of dollars are "time-to-get-a-new-computer" territory.

Second, portables are more expensive to fix in general. Apple charges $300 just to open the case on one of these things, and given all the miniaturized electronics, I hesitate to think of everything that could go wrong.

Third, at least as far as I'm concerned, this is all a business expense. It's a tax write-off which will help defray the $379 cost of the additional 3 years. That tax benefit will help drive the cost below the roughly 33 cents a day I'd be paying for the coverage.

Finally, if this portable goes down, it profoundly changes my ability to do business. I need the best coverage for this beast I can get, because although I have something of a back up in Zeke, it's a short-term emergency back-up. I would need Trinity up and running again as soon as possible.

So is an extended computer warranty right for you? All of Apple's machines (unless you're buying used or refurbished) come with a 1 year warranty. Since the vast majority of problems show themselves within the first 30 days, I'd say that desktop owners can pretty much forgo the additional expense. Portable owners, though, would be well-advised to consider an extended warranty. Their machines are particularly expensive to fix, and especially if the portable is used for "mission-critical" applications, a little extra piece of mind goes a long way.

One of the neat things about the AppleCare warranty is that both the Airport card and the Airport BaseStation are covered under it. The BaseStation in particular has seen some reported problems—bad capacitors or something—but 4 years of use is plenty of time for this issue to crop up if it's going to.

Regardless, in recent days I've taken to computing about the house using Airport's wireless connectivity to venture hither and yon. Because the BaseStation's range broadcasts easily throughout the house—I average a 3 out of 5 signal strength upstairs—I can literally surf, read newsgroups, check email, etc. from anywhere on our property, indoors or out. (I even tried it from our next door neighbor's kitchen the other day and got 4 out of 5 signal strength.)

I've abandoned plans to wire the house with ethernet, because the wireless solution is so much better. Some day we'll add additional computers to the household—if Erin finds that she needs her own it will be sooner rather than later—and I guarantee you that they will come Airport-equipped.

February 25, 2001
Despite little sleep from the previous night's activities, I drove up to Portland and attended a very helpful Yard, Patio and Garden show at the Portland Expo Center with Joe and Carol. There were so many neat ideas and free sources of garden information that I must confess to being more excited about yard work and gardening than I've perhaps ever been.

In particular, I picked up a couple of really neat ideas for the front yard—specifically the well and the raised garden beds. It's pretty clear to me that implementing the ideas will cost at least a couple hundred bucks, but I'll bet the end results will be terrific, and I'm looking forward to giving it a shot.

February 24, 2001
Erin and I hosted a young Sprague teacher get-together this evening. Thankfully (from my perspective) this was more of a social getting-to-know-you event than a shoptalk session. So we played various party games, munched on yummy food (Ginger had a chip dip that was great, and Erin did some delicious chocolate chip cookies), and had a good time.

(Among the party games Star Wars Trivial Pursuit (decidedly too easy for all the Star Wars geeks we had in attendance) and Cranium, sort of a best of all worlds party-game. Good stuff!)

February 23, 2001
Erin and I attended Sprague's Battle of the Bands, a guitar-laden thumpfest of a fundraiser for the marching band. The quality of music, and I'm using the term loosely, was pretty weak. Of the eight bands who performed, I'd say one had some talent and one had some melody and six were awful, unless you consider screaming to be singing and loud distorted guitars to be music.

Despite all this, I'd say the overall quality of the bands was higher than last year, though there wasn't any group I liked as much as last year's the 16th Hour. I doubt I'll bother to attend next year.

Earlier in the day I got the chance to don my mask and cape and play computer hero to our next door neighbors whose new, 2 week-old Dell Dimension desktop computer had crashed. They had called me over yesterday, and after explaining that I was a Mac consultant and thus not well-versed in PCs, I spent 20-30 minutes giving a few pokes at it. Yup, froze solid. (Windows ME operating system, btw.)

I had muttered my apologies and told them to call Dell tech support. When I saw them last night, I learned they had spent 80 minutes with Dell tech support who had guided them through a raft of procedures involving opening the case and flipping dip switches and engaging in all kinds of techno-horrors. I could understand and appreciate how this whole experience might be fear-inducing since our neighbors, like many people, aren't particularly computer savvy. They had finally told Dell tech support that everything was taking too long and that they would have to call back again some other time.

Once again breaking my long-standing pledge to never again provide assistance for PC users, I volunteered to talk with Dell tech support. Deep down, I think I just hate to see people suffer. I don't know.

Anyway, I came over today, as I mentioned, and yapped with Dell tech support for an hour while we plugged and unplugged keyboards and modems and all sorts of things. The tech support guy, Steven, was nice enough (though we did have a bit of an exchange when I told him I was a Mac guy just trying to help my neighbors. "That's okay," said Steven, "We can explain how to fix this stuff even to Mac guys." My response: "Good, because us Mac guys aren't used to having to call tech support to fix our computers.")

After an hour of this nonsense, Steve determined that it was a bad hard drive and that they'd have to swap it out. Fair enough. Hard drives are physical devices that fail, and if they're going to, they usually fail within the first 30 days of service. Doesn't matter if you've got a Mac or PC, hard drives can go bad. (Indeed, since they're physical devices, eventually hard drives will go bad.)

My only complaint is that it took 2 hours 20 minutes of tech support (80 for my neighbor and 60 for me) and a couple hours of our own time to figure this out. Whether that's a problem with Dell or with Microsoft Windows, I don't know. Maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe there's enough blame for them to share.

February 21, 2001
I'd like to say that I was checking out all the Star Wars fan films on The Force.net so you won't have to, but that's not exactly the case. I was also looking to see how the special effects quality of home-based productions looks, because eventually I want to do my own movies.

(Note that if you plan to view these movies, you'll need QuickTime—which you probably already have—and either a fast Internet connection or a lot of patience.)

So the results? In a few cases, very impressive. True, there are a lot of movies up and most have rather lame production values. But a few of them are excellent.

My pick for the best is TROOPS, which is a humorous Stormtrooper-based takeoff on COPS. Of course, this was also produced with the help of Hollywood pros, so it's not a good example of what a common yokel like me might achieve.

Also good was the Australian Boba Fett: Bounty Trail, a weird comic book/live action mixture with great special effects and a lame musical score. The opening and closing numbers were good (though terribly odd for a Star Wars-type film). The Star Wars bits would've been much improved by simply stealing John Williams film scores like everybody else does. Bounty Trail is its own thing, which I can respect even though it's not really my cup of tea.

Legacy of the Jedi is a student production out of USC. The acting, while hardly professional, is better than most fan films posted here. The light sabres are over-saturated in color, but the special effects are pretty good otherwise. The writer and director chose to make a bizarre plot twist at the end which is either great or really stupid depending on your point of view.

For me, the most of impressive of any of the fan films was Duality, an excellent two-person production made entirely on Macintosh computers. The quality of the special effects is first-rate, and though the story line is modest, the results are spectacular. These guys are doing the quality of work that I aspire to create, and on a budget that's similar to mine. Major kudos.

Of course my own video production dreams are still a few years off. I've got an album or two of music to get out first.

February 19, 2001
A day of unexpected visitors as both Helana and Bret stopped by. Helana was down from Seattle with her son Keith to visit relatives and just thought she'd see the place since she'd not been here before. We gave her the quick dime tour while Keith dozed in the car. Our only regret was that she was on a schedule and couldn't stay longer. Maybe next time!

Bret came to pick up a box or two of his stuff which he's still in the process of carting up to his apartment in Portland. He too was on schedule (with an indoor soccer game in this case) so he couldn't stay long either.

February 18, 2001
Erin took a break from grading and I took a break from whatever it is I'm doing nowadays, and we spent some time doing yard work. Went, dug up and replanted some Azaleas given to us by a teacher at Sprague. Yard beautification work for 2001 begins! (And boy is there plenty to do.) I don't know how much we'll get done out back, but I'm dedicated to fixing up the front yard and the side yards.

Out front I'll be filling in the well we've got sitting there, topping it off with planting soil, sticking in a bird bath, and planting pretty flowers. I also want to take that hideous green fiberglass off the front porch by the door and create a pathway down to the south side of the house so we can get down to the park more easily.

On the south side I've also got a lot of work to do on the terrace, especially fern removal. I've pruned the dogwood tree there a bit, but I really need to borrow a ladder and get it topped off a bit so that the growth stays down where we want it. Ultimately on the south side we'd like a retaining wall all the way down to the park, but that's a lot more work than I'm picturing for this year. Probably calls for a professional landscaper anyway.

On the north side, I've got to replace the stairs going down to the back yard. The old railroad ties are rotted out and slippery when wet, and I don't particularly feel like testing the limits of my home owners insurance if somebody falls and breaks their neck.

So plenty of yard work projects ahead for 2001 as we move toward springtime.

I ended up going to City Hall yesterday to pick up all kinds of drawings concerning our house and lot. I've got an aerial photo, sewer maps, plat maps, and so on. Unfortunately, there are no blueprints of the house on file—most likely since the thing was built in 1953, before they started keeping records of that sort of thing.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to use the maps to figure out the easements and rights-of-way around our property. This is particularly important on the south and east sides where we may build retaining walls. The last thing I want to do is spend a lot of time and/or money to put something together only to find that it's not on my land.

February 16, 2001
I followed up this morning on a lot of the issues from the Neighborhood Association meeting. I've got a call into the State Police's sex crimes unit, I've got an aerial photo with property boundaries of our house and yard on the way from the City, and I've spoken with both the Marion County Deputy in charge of sex offender registration and with the City's Transportation Services Manager.

I've also ordered an AppleCare warranty on Trinity, more information about which can be found in my Macintosh section.

February 14, 2001
I attended my first Neighborhood Association meeting this evening, a fun and interesting introduction to local level politics.

The night's first presentation was a sobering talk from Officer Garrett, our Salem PD liaison. All special proactive programs—drug enforcement, gang units, etc—within the department have been suspended and all officers pulled back to active duty patrol. The Salem PD has lost 43 officers to retirement in the last three years, and because trainees take months before they're ready to go solo—not to mention that it takes another officer to train them—the department is severely understaffed. It doesn't help that many trainees wash out of the program (though on the bright side the quality of personnel tends to rise as a result).

While the Salem PD knew these retirements were coming, the City was unable or unwilling to budget for them which is what accounts for the current shortage. As a faltering economy will likely lead to at least marginally higher crime rates, I'm less than pleased by this turn of events.

A deputy in charge of sex offender parole and probation gave a short talk on the work he does. It was interesting to hear that we've got a sex offender treatment center in the neighborhood, though honestly it's located miles away from us. (We're at the northern most tip of the neighborhood boundary, it's at the southern end.) State law provides for anyone to receive notification of sex offender residence, and I asked specifically for this information. The officer said that the Oregon State Police maintain the list and that I could call him to get the number and extension.

Finally, we had a presentation on sidewalk construction and repair from the City Transportation Services Manager. Their task force is recommending a monthly $1.60 fee on water bills (revenue of $4 million annually) to fund the much needed sidewalk improvement projects. Seems like a good thing to me, and I was happy to see the Board approve of it.

I spoke after the meeting with the Chairwoman of the neighborhood association (I knew her already since she lives right next to us). She asked me to consider being the Association's police liason person, thinking I'd be the ideal candidate since I've been through the Citizens' Police Academy. I didn't agree on the spot, but I'll certainly consider it once I have more details.

February 13, 2001
Had the 626 in the shop again, this time for a front wheel bearing replacement. (We did the back wheel bearings in December.) Soon, I think we'll have replaced everything except metal body and the seats. Hehe. That's the price one pays for driving a 15 year old car, but since it's a price that's thousands less than buying something new, I'll deal.

February 12, 2001
Picked up a couple of monitors at the Portland Mac Users Group Swap Meet this evening. Both have "issues", but I don't think they're show-stoppers. The first is a slightly blurry 16" fixed resolution Apple RGB. This will be Zeke's main monitor. The fuzziness is a little annoying, but since this will mainly be a music machine anyway, I don't know how crucial it is that everything be picture perfect. I figure if I'm wrong, it will have only cost me $20.

The second monitor is a 21" gray scale. It needs what's called a sync-on-green adapter which at $40 will cost me 4x what I paid for the monitor. If I can get it working, though, Zeke's going to be in great shape going forward into the realm of digital audio.

And if it doesn't work out, well, I've only spent $30.

February 11, 2001
Ya all been good enough to put up with four years of this site, which is pretty darn amazing considering that, to the best of my knowledge, none of you are incarcerated. (Yet.) Or maybe I mean institutionalized. Well, either way, what I'm getting at is that you all are hardly a captive audience (unless, of course, you happened to be married—hehe), and I appreciate you tuning in to my little corner of the Internet every now and again to see just what kind of troublesome work the devil is making with my idle hands.

Of course, SiteRev.com business has been booming this quarter, meaning my hands have not been particularly idle. Rather than have News entries that read "Did SiteRev.com work for client today" over and over, I've pretty much left that side of things out. I'm not sure if that's a mistake or not, but it's not apt to change anytime soon, I don't think. Surely there must be more exciting or interesting things for me to write about. Like that this web site is four years old now. Hehe.

My late night reading in recent weeks has been Dr. M. Scott Peck's The Road Less Traveled and Further Along The Road Less Traveled. It's amazing to me just how much in agreement I am with him on various psychological issues and matters of human nature. I'm currently in a chapter on death and how it helps define life and enhance our appreciation of it, and I can't do justice to it by summary. You'll just have to take my word for it or read it for yourself, the latter being the preferred option.

Mom, Dad, and Bret all came over this afternoon and along with Erin helped me celebrate year number 32, and we had the same marvelous time we always have when we get together. Inevitably these events become sort of a Davison version of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts (though without the alcohol), so I endured my share of ribbing. Happily, I'm the guy who handles the PR on these things, so the official word is that I was dapper, funny, well-spoken, and gracious. Those reporters taking notes may also want to add "modest" to that list. Hehe.

And maybe "lucky" as well.

February 10, 2001
I spent most of today updating the HTML version of the SiteRev.com web site. As far as I can tell, it works perfectly in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x and 5.x on a Mac. I believe it will work fine on a PC as well (though I've not had a chance to test it yet). The Netscape Navigator/Communicator thing is proving to be hair-pulling. The Javascript rollovers work except that (1) they're slow and (2) they don't go to the link when clicked.

So I'll probably have to futz with this HTML stuff some more before I can move onto the Flash work that I'm really jazzed about. I did a little bit of the Javascript stuff in Adobe LiveMotion, but I've not yet touched the Flash part of it at all. All in good time, I suppose, but I'm pretty eager. (Of course, I'd also like to learn more about Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects, FileMaker Pro, and GoLive 5. So what the heck.)

February 9, 2001
I don't know if ya all have seen the Volkswagon Cabrio commercial I'm referring to here, but "Pink Moon" is the most evocative 60-second spot to hit the airwaves in years. For me, it captures the time and place of high school so well that I have no trouble at all inserting myself into the cast of characters. Driving around at night, staring up at stars, and thinking about life define many of my favorite high school experiences, and, like the ad, the party scene just wasn't my thing. (See what I'm talking about on Adcritic.)

Nick Drake, the artist who wrote the song, died in 1974 of an overdose of anti-depressants in what may or may not have been suicide. The dreamy, acoustic, and emotionally raw Pink Moon was his last album. He recorded it in three nights and turned it in to the record company as the final obligation under his recording contract. He then checked himself into a mental hospital, where he died two years later.

February 6, 2001
I've been futzing about with Adobe LiveMotion over the course of the last few days. Not a bad program, but I'm guessing it probably won't really hit its stride until version 2.0. As it stands right now, it's a bit counterintuitive and a lot of the Flash export functionality doesn't work as expected. It remains to be seen as to whether or not it will acquire a role in my web design efforts. Certainly the potential is there, but practical results are all that count at the end of the day.

Right now I'm plowing through the Adobe LiveMotion Classroom in a Book. You'll know how it goes, because if it works out you'll start seeing a lot more interactivity here and on the SiteRev.com web site. I'll tell ya all to stay tuned, but it might amount to nothing. So prepare yourself to stay tuned! Hehe.

Erin's now completed first semester and started in on the second. Great year thus far. Not only is she having more fun, but the stress level is lower than it has ever been during a school year. Ever. Ever. Ever. (Did I mention "ever"?)

Today, she even got to do some French translation of a school visitor from Cameroon for an English class. Don't know if this was a cultural exchange thing or what, but she really enjoyed it. She's having fun.

February 4, 2001
Bret came down from Portland to pick up a few more things. (Will all his items be moved from our house by Erin's late March birthday? I say yes, Erin says no. Bret is noncommittal.) We burned an MP3-filled CD, then Mom and Dad showed up to take us all out to dinner. Cool!

We went to Los Dos Hermanos in Keizer, a Mexican/El Salvadoran restaurant with authentic cuisine. I had a meal that was the specialty of the Salvadoran town the waitress was from and though I don't remember the name of either the meal or the town, I can tell you that it was yummy. Many thanks to Mom and Dad!

February 3, 2001
Dennis drove down from Hillsboro so we could mess around and set up his relatively new G4 Tower machine, which he has aptly named "Zoom." We transferred a file essential files over from his older Performa 6300, "Beaker," messed around a bit with a revised Quake 3:Arena demo (not bad!), then headed out to Los Baez for dinner.

Dennis has been running Virtual PC 4 on his G4, and it's looking speedy and slick. I don't know that I do enough stuff on the PC side of things to upgrade from Virtual PC 3 to VPC 4, but for people that do it looks like a very worthwhile upgrade. Dennis has been doing a database project involving Active Server Pages, and both the G4 and VPC look to be perfect for the job.

Latest update on February 28, 2001
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