Posted by on 31 October 2008 under Technology | 
Cell phones are a great way to communicate. They’re especially good to help me find my wife in Wal-Mart. She seems to turn into some sort of super-spy and manages to hide while I wander the entire store. Thanks to cel phones I’m able to get a hold of her and she can tell me she’s in the diaper aisle.
There’s news out now of cel phones causing cancer and more recently causing allergic reactions. The iPhone is a hit with those who can afford it and despite the hype no one cel phone provider has done significantly better than any other in national reviews. That’s the news you can read elsewhere.
Here’s something you won’t be able to find elsewhere. Got a problem with your phone? Call 611. Odd are your problem isn’t an allergic reaction, or developing cancer. It’s probably a lack of minutes and a bill become a financial burden–at least ours has that habit sometime.
So dial 611–give them your explanation and ask for something called “bonus minutes.” When I was graduating in May and moving we used up more minutes than we had in 4 months. In response to a phone call AT&T donated 1,000 bonus minutes to ease the burden–man did it help. Verizon gives a standard 250, and T-Mobile has similar standards.
Moving or got a good reason to be killing minutes? Just give them a call and see if they can help. Now this doesn’t apply to my mother who bought her cell phone two years before she turned it on. If mom could transfer her minutes to us (we’re both on AT&T) we’d be set for at least 18 months! 
Mom we love you, and because we’re on the same network we love calling you for free. We’re hoping that dad keeps his iPhone on a little more these days. It’s a bummer to have to cut conversations short because of a land line.
Posted by on 30 October 2008 under Projects |
So this blog has been somewhat silent of late. That’s totally my fault. After all, I’ve accepted no one else to help me author it.
Wanna know what I’ve been up to? Let me introduce you to the latest project. It’s called “Reprise” as in the repetition of a music piece. The idea is a simple one.
I noticed there was a need for kids in the area to grow up with computers, but there’s quite a few families that can’t afford them. Then I discovered something. Remember how I told you I started messing with Ubuntu [here & here]? Well, I’ve done so because the operating system runs clean, and doesn’t need a fancy computer or a whole lot of space.
Then I discovered something. It’s called Edubuntu. The idea is to develop the already good operating system for schools. It works! It works well.
So now I can give away computers with an operating system designed for students, and I don’t need powerful machines.
I noticed though, that I didn’t have a budget to buy them all computers. So next week the principle of Eliza’s school and I will be launching a campaign in town to get old computers donated from families and businesses in the area. I’ll pick them up, clean them, and install edubuntu. Over the next few days I’ve got to put together all the promotional material for the idea, FAQ, website, etc. If this model works it can be followed by other communities. The idea is up and running. It’s going to be a hit!
Visit the Reprise website for more information.
Posted by on 26 October 2008 under Family |
So I realized that my blog posts will probably still be online by the time that my kids have their own kids. They may even look to them for advice on how to address issues in their lives. I know that there’s several times I’ve asked mom to copy pages from her Journal so I could read them. I’m really interested in what it was like raising me.
So here’s a bit of practical advice that has nothing to do with your computer. Whether you stick multiple kids in the same room or not, have them all separate their clothes–give each kid a color. “China”-mart generally has mutliple colors for hangars, and they usual go on sale about the same time of the “back to school stuff” goes on sale.
This solves a lot of parental confusion for who’s clothes are who’s. Daniel’s closet now has a rod that’s at his level. At three he knows which clothes are his (blue hangar). Eliza knows which ones are hers (pink hangars–and the more girly clothes). Rainey doesn’t have as much of a clue yet–but his hangars are white.
There’s like a rule about blogs that says you can’t post text without a picture. Since I didn’t have a picture of hangars I googled it. Found the picture above, but then I also found this one.
There’s something about a giant gorilla made of coat hangars that tells me someone’s got too much time on their hands! WOW for creativity.
Hopefully my posterity will read the post tagged “Gorilla” when they’re looking at how to organize their kids’ closets.
Posted by on 20 October 2008 under Technology |
Ok: So one of my favorite compliments to this blog was from Logan. I didn’t know that he didn’t know that there were things called feed readers out there that would allow you watch other people’s blogs. After all there’s like 29,100,000 resuls for blog reader on google. I figured that he would have just googled it.
Well, let’s talk about web browsers. My experience this morning with myspace was less than positive. I was able to fix the problem. Two things allowed me to do so. First, I knew that there was a solution, and second I’m using software that empowers the solution.
Thanks to google analytics I can see that most of my blog visitors are using windows:
| 1. |
|
215 |
65.15% |
|
| 2. |
|
83 |
25.15% |
|
| 3. |
|
32 |
9.70% |
And most are using Firefox:
| 1. |
|
232 |
70.30% |
|
| 2. |
|
88 |
26.67% |
|
| 3. |
|
5 |
1.52% |
|
| 4. |
|
4 |
1.21% |
|
| 5. |
|
1 |
0.30% |
That’s great! For those 5 of you who are using Safari and the 88 folks using Internet Explorer this blog post
is for you.
I’m the guy that likes to take a computer out of the box and performs a series of tweaks to get it working efficiently for whatever the user wants to do with it. Apple likes their computers to do a number of tasks “out of the box.” That’s one reason why the software is integrated so well. It’s part of the company’s mentality.
Microsoft has tried to keep up, but the biggest advantage to windows is it’s miracle. It’s a miracle that you can proprietarily run on operating system on so many diverse types of comptuers. The other advantage to windows is the wide distribution of the software. It’s popularity increases it’s functionality.
Each operating system comes with a browser. A browser is what you use to view web pages. The internet before browsers was really a rather sad affair–but we wont talk about that now. Apple comes with a browser called “Safari,” and Windows has “Internet Explorer.” Internet Explorer has a history of being unsecure, exploitive, and unresponsive to user demands. Safari has fared better in the contests over time.
The current versions of both browsers use something called “tabbed browsing.” They each address the security issues a lot quicker than they used to. In fact some of the issues are addressed proactively.
Why is there a fight over the browsers? Well, there’s money to be made in browsers. Safari has a little box in the upper right hand corner that allows you to search google. Apple gets an estimated $25 million a year for all the times people just decide to ‘look for something.’
Microsoft launced their own search service in 2005. Instead of searching google you search Microsoft’s version of the internet. Most users wont notice the difference. Popular sites are annotated in each search feature. Watch out though. If you launched a website this week, it may take up to 6 weeks before it appears on Windows Live (Blumen Barrettes doesn’t exist there yet). There’s other differences, but the internet is not the same depending on who’s search you’re using. Microsoft gleans the revenue from Windows Live outright.
Did you notice something? Let’s Q&A:
- Who’s got the most popular Operating System?
- Microsoft.
- What’s the way they search?
- Windows Live.
- Who makes money off of it?
- Microsoft.
- Is their search as powerful as others?
- NO.
- Can you change it?
- Yes, but it takes several steps–not fun.
Remember those adds I was miffed about on my previous post? Microsoft and Apple would have those stay there. Why? Because they have a vested interest in me clicking on ads. When I search using their box I see ads. If I click on those ads, they get money. If I can’t see those ads, I can’t click and they don’t get any money.
The alternative browsers are less glitchy than they used to be. If you’re going simple download firefox. (My parents generation: I’m talking to you.) Firefox is stable, popular, secure, and customizable.
The default search engine is google. But Firefox doesn’t want the money. Download Adblock Plus and get rid of the ads. No one will be mad at you.
There’s other browsers out there as well, but even Chrissy doesn’t read my blogs when they’re this long–so I better stop my rant.
I’m not anti-Microsoft. They have bills to pay as well. They do a great job. I just think that innovation has a foothold in the future of how we do computers. Stop thinking in Microsoft labels and it’s amazing what’s out there. My dad’s started to discover that from his Mac. At some point I hope to get them (and others) thinking beyond the Mac and Microsoft and Google label for things. There’s things in the cauldron bubbling away. Eventually dinner will be served. Firefox is an appetizer.
Posted by on under Technology |
So for the most part I hate myspace. Sure I’m thrilled that social networking is now the primary use for the internet. Especially since the previous king was pornography websites. I
t’s certainly an improvement–but not much.
Myspace is great for hunting independent artists. Every few weeks I look up a couple of more for my collections. This week I ran into three bands. “The Corrections” wrote me back and sent me a song of theirs.
So I’m thinking cool, free music. They’re a nice band. Wanna hear? Check out their myspace page here.
When you get there I’ve got to say I’m sorry for having to send you to their site. You see myspace has consistantly been finding ways to take “yourspace” and make it “yourspace with our ads.” It’s no wonder more people are flocking to facebook.
The screenshots are from the final communicatin I had with “The Corrections.” Based upon my limited profile, myspace decided to show me ads asking me to question my choice of auto insurance, calculate when I’m going to die, and encourage me to cheat on my wife. Everything in red circles is an add. The green arrow is the only bit of information relevant to what I was doing.
Yeah, I’m offended. This is absolutely disgusting.
So I think I’ll get a plugin for my browser that blocks every ad across the internet everywhere. It takes the offensive page that you saw earlier and turns it into this nice, simple, page with a blue header on the left.
Facebook has less ads, less offensive ads, more features, and keeps us in touch with our friends better. Wanna talk about music? I found Cherie Call on facebook and she added me as her ‘friend.’ That’s pretty cool eh?
Posted by on 19 October 2008 under Philosiphy |
So I was having a rather terrible day a few weeks back and needed a pick-me-up. I remembered something Dr Ballum said in the Creative Arts class I took at USU. He talked about a bad day he had that ended with reading a letter from Ludwig Beethoven to his brother. In the letter he describes what it is like to be a great composer going deaf.
We should all be fairly familiar with the story. At the end of his life Beethoven concluded his compositional career with an unparalleled masterpiece. He composed his final symphony while deaf and incorporated Shiller’s 1785 composition “Ode to Joy.”
Let’s review some of the lyrics in translation:
33 You bow down, millions?
34 Can you sense the Creator, world?
35 Seek him above the starry canopy.
36 Above the stars He must dwell.
37 Joy is called the strong motivation
38 In eternal nature.
39 Joy, joy moves the wheels
40 In the universal time machine.
41 Flowers it calls forth from their buds,
42 Suns from the Firmament,
43 Spheres it moves far out in Space,
44 Where our telescopes cannot reach.
It’s no wonder to me that Beethoven used this poem for the song. It contains such vision and inspiring words! Ode to Joy is about humanity and the joy that is possible for unifying humanity. There seems to be fewer and fewer people each day that are willing to champion the idea of uniting the world. I certainly haven’t seen any of them on the news recently.
Needles to say my bad day was melted away. I was pretending to conduct the greatest symphony ever written while driving in my car belting out German nonsesne at the same time. I must have looked crazy, but I was in love with life. I was being reminded that there is hope for unifying humanity and the great denominator for it happens to be someone I know.
_________________________________________
One of the slow-downs to life has been the new road they’re putting on top of the old one. I wouldn’t mind so much, except for the fact that it’s the road I have to drive on to and from home each day. Since the Beethoven incident I’ve changed my perspective about the road a bit. I’ve also recently changed my attitude.
Imagine yourself being out in the sun all day. The weather has added about 10 years to your appearance. Each day unappreciative people drive by you cursing the fact that you’re trying to make a living on their commute. They consider your actions a personal attack on their routine. As they drive by you can see the cartoon thought captions in their facial expressions. “How dare they build this now?” “They’re doing it wrong.” “Please don’t stop me.” “Why do I have to slow down?”
Now imagine after a day like this that someone in a 2002 red, Ford Focus drives up, gets your attention and says “Thank you!”
Why not? It’s a nice new road. It’s better for the car. It’s fun to drive on. It looks good. And the best part—I didn’t have to build it! I certainly should say thanks.
So I’m no Beethoven. I’m no Shiller. But their words and songs mean nothing unless someone puts their message into action. I’ll be the action guy, and who knows. Maybe they’ll see me as their hero. Then I’ll be an Action Hero!
Posted by on 18 October 2008 under Uncategorized |
So this post is a sort of informal poll, and I’m hoping to get some comments. We’re trying to get http://clips.roeckerfam.com up and running. So far we’ve had a couple of sales after much effort. It’s time to start getting the site tweaked for search engines. With our limited description on most pages, it’s going to be difficult to increase traffic.
Today I had an idea that was a part of a solution. I made up a story about one particular pair of barrettes. So I’d like to know if the story helps to increase the saleability of the item.
Here’s the ’standard’ description:
These stylish accessories are made with 1, 3/4″alligator clips. The clips have been lined with durable grosgrain ribbon. All ends have been heat treated to prevent fraying. All clips are sold in pairs unless otherwise listed.
This is the story I came up with for the “Dororthy” barrettes:
These barrettes make an excellent accessory. More fantastic however is the tale of how they were created. The story goes that during the filming of the movie about the magical land called “Oz” a visitor was sent from the Wizard himself. Hogwash you say! There is no such thing! Well, for every fairy tale there is an element of reality behind the story. Behind the fable of Oz is an actual Oz, and the wizard is certainly a Wizard indeed. Well, this Wizard heard about the movie and was so flattered that humans would take the time to honor his country so, that he decided to present Judy Garland with a gift. He sent one of the munchkins who blended in perfectly on the set, to deliver a box. Inside the box for the young actress were chocolates, various exotic fruits from Oz, and two red-ribbon barrettes. Judy was thrilled, and she had initially planned to wear them during the movie’s signature song: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Everyone approved, until the film was announced to be released in color. The costume department and director insisted that Judy’s dress be blue for the film. The barrettes would clash, and were left in the dressing room. The Wizard was offended at the release of the film. Not only did it assume him to be a bumbling charlatan, but Judy Garland wasn’t wearing the barrettes she had been given. So if you wonder why no one has heard from the land of Oz to this day, Wizards tend to live a long time, and are much better at holding grudges than people. By coincidence the original design for the barrettes has reappeared after all these years. Now available in pairs for only $5 you two can own this piece of Hollywood fabledom.
I think stories can help make the website more fun, increase traffic, and pass along a few more smiles. If you’ve got an idea for a story (like the lady-bugs) let me know and we might make it official. If you’re thinking this is generally a bad idea, let me know too.
Thanks to Jenny for the logo! It’s awesome! We use it on the stationary here in town.
Posted by on 15 October 2008 under Uncategorized |
Matt Hargrave is not only a relative (thanks to Haley) he’s also a really great guy to have in the family. He’s been telling me how Haley bought a really really nice new computer.
There’s only two flaws with it:
- There’s a partially eaten piece of fruit on the front of it.
- There’s no office suite (word processing, spreadsheets, etc)
So Haley’s been leaving the computer “off” and going to the library to the wee hours of the evening to get papers done.
There’s a better way. Sure you can shell out anywhere between $150 and $500 to get Microsoft’s Office suite. It’s popular, looks flashy, and is so confusing sometimes it’s hard to get a job done.
Before you spend the money shop around a bit and see what else is out there. This week OpenOffice 3.0 was released. So many people downloaded it that the servers are overloaded. Still want to try it out? You can download it here. Since it comes in so many flavors, you’ll need to know a bit about your computer. Most of you will probably not use the version for Solaris.
There’s two changes you’ll want to make when switching office suites. The first one is in your head:
- Stop thinking in terms of the Microsoft Labels. You’ll have to tell yourself that you don’t want Excel anymore. You want to make spreadsheets. Your formulas, functions, shortcuts, graphs, and charts will all be at your disposal, but they’ll be in a ’spreadsheet application,’ not in Excel.
- Pay attention to this one. Open Office by default likes to save things in the OpenOffice format. Microsoft Word saves things as a word document “.doc” OpenOffice has it’s own file format to save things as. Guess what Microsoft’s applications wont read it. (How they do like their monopoly). We can change it to help you avoid any incompatability issues
- Open the Word Application.
- Tools
- Options
- Load/Save
- General
- Under Document type select “Text Document”
- Always save as “Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP”
- Under Document type select “Spreadsheet”
- Always save as “Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP”
- Under Document type select “Presentation”
- Always save as “Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP”
It’s a lot simpler than it looks and the program is fairly solid. If you’re not able to get student discounts and rebates for the Microsoft Version this one is worth considering.
Actually the software is so good between linux and open office I’m considering getting donated computers, repairing them and loading them up with the free software out there and donating them to the school. The final state will be that the school gives them to students who otherwise wouldn’t have a computer. I’ll probably start setting this up towards December.
Posted by on 12 October 2008 under Uncategorized |
I understand that the music industry is a difficult one to get into. Why not? It seems very depressing to be a musician. Maybe that’s why they do so many drugs. Then of course there’s also the death of musicians. I mean really it’s like a statistically bad thing to be taking a plane ride once you’re a famous musician. Remember Richie Valens, Aaliyah, Buddy Clark, Buddy Holly, Dean Paul Martin, Jim Croce, Jim Reeves, and John Denver?
That’s why many musicians see the road they’re headed down and decide to avoid the pathway of destruction. Some choose rather productive outlets. Brian Biehle writes music for/with his kids. Other musicians end up being high school music teachers–a fine route but it seems more like a desperate attempt to avoid eating ramen noodles more than 4 nights a week.
Out of all the possible outlets for musicians who don’t make the ‘big time’ who sells out to make elevator music. I mean really. You’ve got to call mom and be like “Hey mom, I recorded my fourth album today.” She’ll ask what’s on it. “I used a soprano sax on the love-theme from Superman.”
Do we really need that?
I’ve become an expert on elevator music. I’ve had to deal with Yahoo’s customer service on several occasions this past week for one issue or another regarding websites. I’ve listened to quite a bit of elevator music. I hope I don’t have to listen to very much of it in the future. I think that they use the music as a means to deter you from staying on the phone. Someone at customer service must have sat there and said “let’s play the most obnoxious calming music possible so people will either hang up, or be placated.”
At 30 I’m looking at life as though there are some things I’ll just never get around to accomplishing. Becoming a musician is for sure off the list. Why? I probably wouldn’t make it–I don’t want to teach high school–Drugs aren’t an option–Fiery plane crashes look cooler on movies than they do up close.
Posted by on 10 October 2008 under Uncategorized |
I’ve got Chrissy’s business up online and running. We’re waiting for our first order with the new site.
This model is called “Tuxedo.” We’re working on an email to send you all a coupon for free shipping.
To get added to the list email: sales (at) roeckerfam.com (had to write it that way to avoid spammers)
See you soon!
