Jan

31

Groceries on demand

Filed Under regular, tout le fromage | 7 Comments

GroceriesEver since the delivery guys mistakenly pressed our buzzer instead of the flat they needed, I’ve been intrigued with the idea of having groceries delivered. I had always thought such services were the domain of the physically challenged or wealthy.
Not that I need to whittle away at my scant reasons to leave the flat already, but I felt compelled to give the service a whirl. I have a Tesco ClubCard; I have a bank card. Tomorrow, I’ll have a kitchen full of groceries carried up two flights of stairs by cheerful delivery folk.

Initially, I haven’t saved any time in doing this online but that’s down to feeling out the system and seeing what is and isn’t offered regarding my routine list. I anticipate that through occasional top-up style shopping and reduced temptation to impulse buy, this could work out very well for better adhering to a budget.

Time will be saved overall, as I tend to degrade into a shopping zombie when in the grocery, often reading far too many labels (on things I’m not even buying), and treating certain aisles as museums of cultural curiosities (like the world food aisles). Not that I’ve got anything truly more important to do, but it’s nice to know that I don’t have to have mobility issues or a fat bank account to enjoy having someone else carry up all the heavy stuff once in awhile. ;)
smooches~
jEN

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Jan

29

Braaaaainnnnsss…

Filed Under irregular, tout le fromage | 4 Comments

Forget Amazon Wishlists.*

I want wishlist capability at this store.
Bmmasthead

*Well actually, if I end up putting one on my blog, please ignore that I said to forget Amazon Wishlists… ;)

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Jan

27

A nerd confession

Filed Under me so g33ky, tout le fromage | 6 Comments

I like and watch more Star Trek than I will ever readily admit.

(Mostly Next Gen and Voyager…)

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Jan

27

It wasn’t even worth trying

Filed Under me so g33ky, tout le fromage | 4 Comments

Yesterday I reported on the MTV.com server issue. I wanted to look up a video and their server was down. Dead. Unavailable for more than a half hour. (In the US, that was midday too!) Anyway, it turns out that I wouldn’t have been able to view a video anyway. Here’s the rather cheeky error message that pops up at MTV:
MicrosofttvI clicked the link at the bottom left to read up on this and see if there was a way to complain. There was and so I prepared to fire off a quick little comment about it. I know that Macs are a minority platform, but this DRM thing is getting so out of hand. I may be pro-Mac, but I am more pro-usability than anything. DRM is crippling fair use practices in nearly all digital content provisions.

Here’s and excerpt on the DRM stuff that MTV uses from their own FAQ on it:

Why can’t I use MTV Overdrive on my Macintosh Computer?
The videos on MTV Overdrive are encoded using the Microsoft Windows Media 9 codec to ensure the maximum possible video quality. In order to offer you a broad selection of full-length music videos on-demand and free of charge, MTV Overdrive uses Windows Digital Rights Management (DRM) to protect the videos from unauthorized re-distribution.
Unfortunately, Microsoft’s Windows Media Player Plug-in for Macintosh does not currently support DRM. When DRM support becomes available for Macintosh, MTV Overdrive will work to support Macintosh.
Why is video not playing in my Firefox browser?
There could be a problem with your ActiveX plug-in. You will need to delete the plug-in and re-install it. Close your browser and double click on my computer. Double click on Local Disk C, then Progam Files, then Mozilla Firefox, then plugins and delete the file named “npmozax.dll”. Re-start your browser and launch Overdrive again. Follow the prompt to install the ActiveX plug-in. At this point you may see a yellow bar in the top of your browser window. Click on it and add MTV to your trusted sites. After the plug-in is installed re-start your browser and the video should play. If it still doesn’t play make sure you have the latest version of Windows Media Player installed. If video still won’t play, launch Overdrive in IE.
Why can’t I use MTV Overdrive in my Firefox / Mozilla browser?
MTV Overdrive takes advantage of special features only available in the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser (Version 5.5 or higher). These features are not currently supported by Firefox / Mozilla, but MTV is working to develop a version of MTV Overdrive that will work with Firefox / Mozilla browsers.

So it’s not just the Macintosh crowd being singled out here. It’s anyone not using Microsoft. (Read what they are saying carefully…) Fuck you MTV. (Looks like we know what the M really stands for now…) I stopped really watching the channel years ago, (when more game shows and reality tv drivel replaced music videos), and now I have even less of a reason to pay attention to it and it’s affiliated networks.

I ended up changing my comment to the network after writing this blog post. I decided to just give them the link here instead. ;)

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Jan

26

Wow. That’s a good, public f*ck up.

Filed Under regular, tout le fromage | Leave a Comment

I don’t go to the MTV site more than a couple of times a year. What are the odds it would be down so dramatically just when I decided to look up a music video.
MTV skips a beat
Way to go Music Television… it’s been more than ten twenty minutes and a refresh still gives the same error. I think I smell a pink slip for some poor IT intern at MTV headquarters.

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Jan

26

DOM Inspector for CSS clues

Filed Under me so g33ky, tout le fromage | 2 Comments

If you hand code CSS and don’t have a Mac, you should get one just for the unbelievably great application Xyle Scope. I can honestly say that for a CSS code poet, that app is worth buying a Mac for. (The Mac will pay for itself in with the hours of productivity saved thanks to the application and the environment, I swear it!)

DOM dee DOM DOMIf you happen to not be on a Mac (poor you) and need some CSS insight that is platform independent, let me point you to the DOM Inspector in Firefox and Flock. (Opera has some Java and Javascript goodies, Camino is a lovely, fast browser but no dev tools.)
The DOM Inspector isn’t really all that user-friendly, but with some curious clicking on various buttons, icons and nodes in the tree, you can find several useful things to play with. Also, if you double-click any of the CSS values in the DOM Inspector, a window pops up and allows you to temporarily change the value for an instantly visible preview result. Swanky!

It doesn’t hold a candle to the power, grace and features of Xyle Scope for CSS examination, but for a free and readily available tool for any platform that can support Firefox, I guess it’s a gem. :)

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Jan

24

Another Geek Dinner & a portfolio? Yeah, OK. Maybe I should…

Filed Under me so g33ky, regular, tout le fromage | 2 Comments

Me with cool fella and guru, Dave SheaI’ve been getting my social feet wet lately. I went to another ‘geek dinner‘ last night, this time featuring CSS and Web Standards guru Dave Shea. It was great fun, though we missed a big part of it because we had to go forage the late-night eating spots for veggie-friendly food, but all in all, I had a good time. I plan on going to more of these social happenings, but I now realise that when I say what I do ‘professionally’ that I don’t have really any sort of portfolio to show…

The lack of a real online representation of my code abilities has never bothered me before, but I guess it’s about time I put some examples of it up. My blog is hardly an example of my work as it’s an overly complex, third-party template that I’m attempting to tame with a whip and chair in hand. I am not really proud or truly pleased with it (yet), but you’ve heard (read) me waffle on in previous posts about it. In short, if you want to see my code in action, this is not the place for it. However, that place is coming…

Neil and Anna talk geek speakSo, I’m prepping some examples. I’ll have a mini portfolio of sorts up soon [read: days]. I’m meeting so many great contacts and new pals at these geek dinners that I should be able to say, “Go here and look at my stuff if you want.” (Heck, I don’t even have business/calling cards.)
In conversation, I tend to downplay what I am capable of, whilst Neil enthusiastically offers a more flattering and likely more accurate description of my abilities. (He’s not the type to flippantly praise where it’s not deserved. That’s just one of many characteristics I admire in him.) I guess I just feel like it’s tough to pat myself on the back for something I enjoy doing, only do part-time and am so damned laid back about. CSS is great fun for me. I dunno. You’ll get to see for yourself soon enough though. I hope you like it. I’ll let you know when it’s up. :)
smooches~
jEN

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Jan

24

Bwahhahaha! Poor thing… Bwahhahaha! Awww…

Filed Under regular, tout le fromage | 4 Comments

“HOWTO make a noble fruit helmet for your cat”

I love this! Cats with fruit helmets! Bwahhahaha!
It’s a shame all of my kitties are in Wisconsin. (Not for them I suppose. I can almost hear their little kitty sighs of relief from 4000 miles away.) However, I do have sufficient Photoshop skillz… hmmmm…

Be certain to click the link for the original cat helmet photo. It’s a hoot!

All this fun brought to you by Boing Boing. You should subscribe to the RSS or visit them regularly. Sometimes a gem like this cat helmet thing shows up on there.

When I was a little girl, I used to dress one of my cats in doll clothes and then take ‘fashion photography’ of him. I’ll try to find a picture for you. He was a most patient cat. (And looked darling in a sweater and sunglasses.)

OK — time for some real work now.
smooches~
jEN

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