Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Album Art Gone Tragically Wrong
I like the fact that iTunes has a feature that will import album art for the songs I import from my CDs. Oftentimes, though, it misses the mark — by a lot. The worst I’ve seen yet is this one, allegedly former Eagle Glenn Frey.
Admission
Monday, February 02, 2009
Five Things: Tedium That Must End and Soon
- The Gatorade Shower
- Super Bowl Commercial Hype
- Use of the words leverage, utilize and -- I'm still beating this drum -- robust.
- The Best Damn Sports Show Period.
- Chris Berman
Monday, January 19, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Quick Book Review: "Three Dollars"
Three Dollars by Elliot PerlmanMy review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read this book about 10 years ago and need to re-read it. It's one of those rare books that's as funny as it is touching. And it made me think "Damn, I wish I could write that well." Highly recommended.
View all my reviews.
Friday, January 09, 2009
My Brush with Ron Asheton, circa 1985
So Ron Asheton. I knew of him and his Ann Arbor connections and all that. Now here's something I did not know -- or if I did, I'd forgotten -- about my brush with greatness, Asheton style.
Talking with my brother about Asheton's demise he reminded me that I appeared in a movie scene with Asheton in 1985. "Say what?", you're thinking. Tom's college roommate at EMU was an intern on a low-budget movie -- The Carrier -- being filmed in Manchester and they need some extras.
My brother and I went over to Manchester and did, as they always describe about movies, a lot of sitting around waiting for our scene. Or scenes. Early on, we had no idea if we'd get in a scene at all. At any rate
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
My Windows Vista Confession
By no means am I a Microsoft hater.
In fact, I've used Microsoft products for almost 20 years, starting with Word when the entire application fit on a single floppy disk. And, except for two jobs in the early 1990s, I've used Windows machines almost exclusively. But at home I was a Mac guy. My first Mac was a MacPlus followed by an LC III, a Performa something or other, and an iBook. When I launched my consulting business five years ago I picked up my most current model, the MacBook Pro.
This week, though, I've found myself working -- and composing this post, in fact -- on a Windows PC in my office. On Vista no less. During Macworld.
How did this happen?
Easily: My Mac laptop is in the shop getting repaired (i.e., getting the grinding sound to stop). I bought this Compaq Presario F700 on the cheap from Staples last year primarily for my wife to use for one specific Windows-only application. It's as no-frills a PC as they come and this week I'm putting it through the wringer. Until Monday, I don't think this laptop was running for longer than two hours at a time. At this point today it's been on for 15 hours.
Cutting to the chase: After listening to all the Vista bashing over the past year, what does this Mac guy think of the OS?
I don't hate it. In fact, it's not at all bad. It's allowed me to do what I really need to do throughout a normal day: Write documents, manage email and browse the Web. My only complaint with my Windows experience is tied more to the PC's punch -- or lack thereof -- that makes moving between applications abysmally slow. Of course, I miss many of my other applications that make blogging and managing my projects a breeze.
On the other hand, this bare-bones computer has proven that I can manage to get things done with a word processor and a Web browser. Relying mostly on Google Chrome -- because the Mac version isn't available -- I've written articles using Google Docs (and highly recommend it), updated Twitter, listened to NPR, and scheduled meetings, etc.
Still, I miss my Mac and hope the store can get it back to me before next week. But if not, I have no worries about leaning heavily on Vista to get my work done.
In fact, I've used Microsoft products for almost 20 years, starting with Word when the entire application fit on a single floppy disk. And, except for two jobs in the early 1990s, I've used Windows machines almost exclusively. But at home I was a Mac guy. My first Mac was a MacPlus followed by an LC III, a Performa something or other, and an iBook. When I launched my consulting business five years ago I picked up my most current model, the MacBook Pro.
This week, though, I've found myself working -- and composing this post, in fact -- on a Windows PC in my office. On Vista no less. During Macworld.
How did this happen?
Easily: My Mac laptop is in the shop getting repaired (i.e., getting the grinding sound to stop). I bought this Compaq Presario F700 on the cheap from Staples last year primarily for my wife to use for one specific Windows-only application. It's as no-frills a PC as they come and this week I'm putting it through the wringer. Until Monday, I don't think this laptop was running for longer than two hours at a time. At this point today it's been on for 15 hours.
Cutting to the chase: After listening to all the Vista bashing over the past year, what does this Mac guy think of the OS?
I don't hate it. In fact, it's not at all bad. It's allowed me to do what I really need to do throughout a normal day: Write documents, manage email and browse the Web. My only complaint with my Windows experience is tied more to the PC's punch -- or lack thereof -- that makes moving between applications abysmally slow. Of course, I miss many of my other applications that make blogging and managing my projects a breeze.
On the other hand, this bare-bones computer has proven that I can manage to get things done with a word processor and a Web browser. Relying mostly on Google Chrome -- because the Mac version isn't available -- I've written articles using Google Docs (and highly recommend it), updated Twitter, listened to NPR, and scheduled meetings, etc.
Still, I miss my Mac and hope the store can get it back to me before next week. But if not, I have no worries about leaning heavily on Vista to get my work done.
Friday, January 02, 2009
30 Years Later, Baseball Card Collection Still Treasured
Shortly before Thanksgiving I was re-reading* Peter Walsh's book "It's All Too Much", a treatise on de-cluttering home, office and life. (*Actually, I was re-listening to it as an audiobook. Nevertheless...) Walsh, who is a regular on Oprah, TLC and other TV shows, made one particular point in this reading that hit home: If something is valuable and cherished, why is it in a box in your garage?
After hearing this I immediately glanced over at my crudely boxed baseball card collection and thought, "Yep. They deserve better." And what better time to do this than over the holidays and near the start of a new year?
After hearing this I immediately glanced over at my crudely boxed baseball card collection and thought, "Yep. They deserve better." And what better time to do this than over the holidays and near the start of a new year?
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