Category: Day to day life

Updates on what’s going on with us

Too Much Personality

Before I got married, an uncle of mine taught me to categorize friends into a few distinct groups and weight their importance and influence in my life accordingly. The idea was to maximize my limited resources and don’t waste any time with those who aren’t meant to be my friends over the long haul and spend more time with those whom I care as much as they care about me. I thought the idea makes sense but never really thought much of it. In reality, everybody does that already anyway whether one likes it or even knows it or not.

We’ve come to know quite a few friends in the Bay Area in the four years we have been here. But there’s one type of friend I can’t help but noticed — the kind that has too much personality. It’s the kind of person who fills the room whenever s/he is around; the kind of person that dominates conversations, commends (and sometimes demands) attention and refuse to shut up about him/herself. Now, if that person was Bill Clinton or someone of significance and great charm, I probably wouldn’t mind so much. But when a self-centric person just blabs on and on about how wonderful him/herself is (or his/her child/ren are), it makes a very annoying party.

Sometimes I feel like telling them: “Wow, don’t ever stop. My pathetic life is just so uninteresting compared to your adventures. Do go on. Do make me admire you that much more.”

People like that obviously can’t stand each other. And I happen to know that these two acquaintances of ours also hate each other’s guts. Most people can take these type of personalities in small doses. Too much of it can cause headaches, diarrhea, involuntary vomiting, and an urge to tell them to shut the hell up.

This begs the question though… Would I rather gamble on a bag of Made-In-China potato chips or having a small party with one of those personalities? It’d be a double whammy if the person in question has a party and serves chips imported from China… D’oh!

Updating Windows — What A Joke

Because of the previous post on having to debug Javascript for IE, I’ve had to run Windows Update. I was shocked to see no less than 85 “high priority” updates directly coming from Microsoft’s server… This is on a fairly updated install of Windows XP running on my Parallels virtual machine… The last time I ran an update was a couple of months ago.

Running Windows Update

How can people tolerate this kind of B.S. from the largest software maker in the world? Don’t they spend billions a year on R&D? Here’s an idea, spend more of that resource on better software… I can’t believe I am writing two entries on Microsoft in one day…

Javascript Debugging for IE

In 2007, the year when the word Web 2.0 is taking over the world of Internet and seen as the resurgence of the another wonderful dot-com era, the world’s favorite web browser, Internet Explorer, still does not have a proper Javascript debugger. You’d have to go through hoops just to get one working by alternative means. How can developers working with IE’s framework love its technologies I guess I’ll never understand…

Some people claim MS is all goodies under the hood for developers. Com’on, where are the goodies? I haven’t met a web developer who doesn’t hate IE.

People who continue to use IE by choice are idiots. There. I’ve said it. Idiots. Idiots. Idiots. Start using better browsers from companies who care so that the World Wide Web can be a better place!

Ok. I feel better now… Back to dealing with crappy IE for idiots who prefer it.

Microsoft should change their marketing tag line to: Your Misery. Our Passion.

Birthday Boy

I finally got a chance to process just shy of 300 images from Bryan’s birthday party last Saturday at Michelle’s. The boy has turned TWO! We’ve come a long way since my first post on Bryan’s big arrival.

Birthday Boy

Apple’s Aperture really rocks in optimizing my entire work flow!
Camera -> Aperture -> Post Production -> RAW Conversion -> Flickr/iPhoto

Who Are the Idiots Running the US Department of Homeland Security?

I’ve spent the past few weeks trying to get the college to which I was accepted for their doctoral program to issue me an I-20 (student visa). But it seems like the Department of Homeland Security has some rules in place making the whole process even more painful than it really has to be.

One of the stupid rules (really, an idiotic one) is that a student ABSOLUTELY MUST have his/her permanent address from his/her country of origin in order to have the student visa issued. Now, on the surface that sounds pretty fair. But for us International nomads, it highlights how the current (Bush/Cheney) administration are really just a bunch of monkeys children running the show… Think about this scenario: A family was originally from Taiwan but later immigrated to Thailand, making Bangkok its permanent home. I was told I can’t use an address in Thailand as a permanent address because it’s not my country of origin. How idiotic is that? Doesn’t someone get paid to think about scenarios like that in the great Department of Homeland Security? Whoever came up with this rule probably has never traveled outside of the United States or met someone who’s an international student!

Sure, maybe this rule is to better protect the US “homeland security” in some way. But I just fail to see how it can even be relevant in anyway for security purposes. First of all, that supposedly “permanent address” can be fake. Why? Because where the student visa is mailed to can be different from the permanent address. I know because I’d requested the college to send it to my address in California. Secondly, let’s assume providing a valid permanent address in someone’s country of original somehow does enhance the security in anyway, there’s no way any of the agencies under Homeland Security or immigration related departments has the resources to check for EVERY SINGLE address provided. I mean, seriously, how do they know?! Do they have the home addresses of all known terrorists in the world in a database somewhere to check against? Do those terrorists even go home to those addresses? Even if that’s the case, does anyone think they’d be dumb enough to use those addresses to apply to a US school with? Com’on… Let’s be practical. Someone needs to start using their brains in the Bush/Cheney government.

But then again, seeing how they’ve done pretty much everything without thinking about alternative scenarios in the past 7 years, I don’t know why I am so surprised and upset about this kind of idiotic decision. The lesson I take away from this ordeal is, it’s easier to be illegal. No wonder 12 million of them are doing it.

Interesting Desktop Metaphors for Computing

In reading some criticisms for the new Mac OSX Leopard, I cam across this interesting design for potential OS use:

A while ago, I documented some other interesting OS level file organization innovations. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen much of anything implemented with recent introduction of operating systems from the major players.

The video above reminds me of Sun’s “Looking Glass” project:

via [creativebits]

Firefox Gaining Ground and OS Rant

I read somewhere today that Firefox has been gaining a lot of ground at the expense of IE, especially in Europe. It’s weird that Europe and Asia are always at the cutting edge of things even though some (if not most) of those technologies are often originated from the other side of the pond. As a web developer, this is a welcome news. And it should force Microsoft to do some introspection (if that’s even possible) on finally adhering to some industry-wide standards and really innovate. There are days when I can’t believe I still argue with people as to why they are still using IE if they are not being forced to use it for compatibility reasons (i.e. “my bank only supports IE”… my answer would be, “what kind of idiotic bank is that?”).

In other news, it seems like people are running to the Macs these days. Jason is at the brink of getting one pending certain conditions are met (though AJ already has my old PowerBook G4). Many friends who used to laugh at the idea of using a Mac are now hardcore Mac users (albeit some are using the hardware to run Linux). But overall, just within my own sphere of influence, people are getting fed up with having to install multiple virus scanners (seems like ONE just doesn’t cut it anymore), 3rd party firewall software and still getting their computers ruined for one reason or another… Just within the past 3 months, I’ve already heard multiple instances of people getting their Paypal/bank accounts exploited, files infected and OS blue screened, all happened behind the comfort of those so-called virus/malware/spyware scanners. They must make tons of money from those licenses. I almost want to think that THEY are the ones coming up with them… 😉

In comparison, it’s comforting to know that there still isn’t a single spyware/virus in existence for any version of the Mac OS since 2000. With the addition of Little Snitch on top of Mac’s built-in firewall, my Mac is in good hands even if there were any written for the Mac. I found it funny that some people tried to argue about certain exploits found on the Mac… but little did they know the context in which they were found — because the sponsor had to lower the threshold (un-checking some out-of-box preferences) in order for those exploits to even work. In other words, straight out of box, Mac OSX is rock solid against those exploits (which have since been patched anyway). Nothing is water tight… But at least it’s tighter than the leaky bladder that is Microsoft Windows….

Some people buy cheap PCs with Windows for the “biggest bang for the buck”. But the way I look at it, even if I had to reinstall the damn OS even once (or to put Linux on it), my time spent doing that already far exceeds the cost of the stupid hardware (let along its inferiority being a bargain basement hardware). As a freelancer, my time is money… In the 6 years I started using Mac full time, there was no time I’ve had to reinstall the OS for any reason. And I’ve only experienced kernel panic, at most, 3 times. When Grace was still using XP, I’d easily have to reinstall the OS every 6 to 8 months despite all the protective software I’d installed for her….

Enough rant on Microsoft today….

Cells, Mortality and Life

I listened to part of this radio program in the car today with Grace. I was so fascinated by it that I came home and found the entire program and listened to the rest of it. And since I’ve sent enough emails and IMs to some friends to urge them to listen to it, I might as well post it for all to see. The first two stories were what really fascinated me. The third story reminded me of David’s passing and how this family coped with death in a more creative manner.

Great show. It will be worth your time.

Photos from My Trip to New York

I finally got a chance to process some pictures I have stashed away for a couple of months with Apple’s Aperture. And as proposed, I also posted some images I took of New York when I visited on my Flickr account. It was interesting going back to Manhattan with a fresh pair of eyes after having been away for a few years.

Subway Stand

The New Meets the Old

Grand Central Station