unsympathetic.net

Last week, I was writing a post about Flock when my computer crashed. As it was still in draft (and I was still in the actual process of writing), I hadn’t saved it yet. That post was awesome, and this one will probably not come close to matching it in wit and style, try as I might.

Flock, if you haven’t heard and live under a rock, is the underdog browser, built on the Firefox platform. A late-comer to the web browser scene, it was much talked about when the latest beta was released. Anyone who was anyone was writing posts about how awesome Flock was. I, however, was not one of them.

Of course, I downloaded Flock when everyone else did. I wanted to see what everyone was raving about. I opened it once, looked around, and promptly shut the window. After all, it didn’t offer me anything that Firefox didn’t. At that time, I was not a social person, and the much touted extras meant nothing to me. I already had an external blogging program, I used Bloglines, and while I had a Flickr account, I didn’t use it.

Eventually, though, things changed. I was testing alpha-version sites for people, and often took screenshots of what I managed to break, or how it looked on my system. One evening in IRC, they were talking about Flock again (it was a quite often occurrence) and they were talking about the built-in Flickr uploader. I figured I might as well try it, since I already had it downloaded.

Brilliant is the only word I have to describe it. The Flickr upload was so easy, and then having the the viewer at the top to quickly see the photos in the account was brilliant. However, it was all I used Flock for. I would open up to upload the photos, and close it down as soon as I was done.

The beginning of this month I went to WordCamp, and met Will Pate, the Community Ambassador for Flock. Coming home after hanging out with him and another Flock programer, I thought I should probably give Flock a real chance, and really use it. So the Monday afterwards, I opened Flock, and started using it in earnest.

I did complain about it. Loudly and often in IRC, really. I didn’t like Flock. It wasn’t Firefox, and I wasn’t used to it. I didn’t like the way it looked. I was irritated that certain things that I used often in Firefox were different in Flock, and I had to go looking for it. But I kept using it.

It grew on me, though, like a drug addiction. I kept using it, and over time I complained less. I found the built in feed reader, and I was a permanent convert. Using Flock as finally pushed me into the “social web.” Before, I couldn’t figure out why people would use Flickr. Now I can’t imagine not being able to check my friends pictures with a single click. I can’t imagine not pulling up all the updated feeds with one click.

This is the first time I’ve blogged with Flock though, and of course I’m doing it for a specific reason. I want a Flock shirt. I won’t lie. But if I wasn’t being forced to blog through Flock to get it, I wouldn’t have seen what a great asset to the browser it is. Able to blog in a single click has it’s own benefits aswell, and I’m sure this isn’t the last time.

So, Flock. Originally thought of as the ugly duckling, it’s come into its swan-like own. It’s true. Flock is now my default browser. And if you haven’t given it a real honest try, you should. You might shock yourself with how much you like it.

Blogged with Flock

So, the laptop is back, and danger has been averted. However, I’m much more leary about the whole thing. A near-harddrive crash will do that to a girl. Thank god the tech kept looking for a problem when first glance showed him nothing was wrong. He mirrored the HD, and saved everything but the unsaved post I had open when the computer crashed between classes last Tuesday.
I got it back on Friday with a new harddrive (are those ever under warranty in a Dell?), and between school and work, I just haven’t been able to pull myself together enough to formulate some sort of posting schedule.

Since I seem to be in a writing funk, I thought we’d fall back on the old stand-by, quick and dirty¹ film. It helps that Josue has been asking for it every day since I’ve got the laptop back.

So the vidcast is just me filming the interior of my house, and me rambling on about it. It’s not very good, and I filmed at around 11pm at night, after my parents went to bed, so it’s a bit dark.

If there is ever a place you want me to video (I’ve already gotten a request for work, and school), drop me a line and let me know. I always want to see places where people grew up at, or spend all their time at, so if there is something in my life you want to see, let me know.

And I promise, I’m working on a real post for tomorrow. I’ve got quite a few post-topics floating around my head, besided the Blog Club post that’s due by the end of the week.

- “3am” Yourself or Someone Like You: Matchbox 20

1. Quick and dirty refers to the taping / editing process, not that it’s a dirty video[back]

Just a quick note to say that the laptop is down, and I don’t know when it’ll be back. And with work and school crazy like they are, I won’t be able to post much more than this until I get it back from the techs.

So. Yeah. It sucks.

I had IRC withdrawls today. Classes started this morning, and at 8:30, I was wondering what was going on in IRC. I missed everyone, and really would have rather been talking to people than sitting in Math.

The only really good news is that they finally have wifi on campus this year. It’s only in the library, quad, and cafeteria, but that’s better than nowhere. And it’s probably good that there is no access in class, because I would be in IRC instead of listening to the lecture.

Since today was just the “go over the course outline,” I don’t really have much to talk about. Lucky for everyone else, I filmed a VidCast over the weekend, which is ready to be viewed.

It’s quick and dirty, with virtually no editing. I mangled Josue’s name like the horrible gringa that I am, and I feel super horrible about it. I didn’t know what to do with the “u” in his name because I forgot that I took three years of Spanish.

So Josue, I’m really sorry. Really. I hope you can forgive me.

Moving on, the VidCast is a tour of my backyard, and the creek. I managed to lock myself in the creek, and then scare the crap out of myself when I nearly ran into a spiderweb. I talked for about half an hour, and the VidCast was easier than a PodCast. Probably because I had something to talk about when I had nothing to talk about.

Since I’m back at school now, I think everyone can look forward to daily posts once more. After all, I have to find a way to avoid my homework somehow.

- “Camisado” A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out: Panic! At the Disco

This second round of Blog Club brings back such memories. Apple computers will always hold a special place in my life for the memories they have given me over the years.

Our family’s very first computer was an Apple IIe, a hand-me-down from an aunt and uncle, because they had upgraded to the latest. I loved that computer. It was set up on an old desk in the living room, and we fought over who would use it. Everything was on those massive three inch floppy disks (which really were floppy!) and we inherited a bunch of games for it. I remember writing a fifth-grade paper on in about Manatees, and the printer going crazy. I must have printed that thing ten times.

Over time, we stopped using. We had grown tired of the games, and there wasn’t much else we could do on it. Eventually we finally got our own new PC, and the Apple IIe ended up in the junkyard.

Fast forward to junior year, and I’m in the newspaper class. All our computers are Apples (like they have been for every computer lab of every school I’ve ever attended), and all of my articles had to be turned in on disk. My grandma comes to the rescue, finding me an old Mac Classic at a yard sale. I think I loved that computer more than I loved the first one. The Mac Classic was a cute little thing, and it was all mine. I used it to write everything until I graduated from high school. I miss that computer.

If I could, I’d be using an Apple computer right now. I can’t particularly afford one, but I want one. I read the Apple blogs, and get so jealous when a new app comes out that is only for a mac. I read Paul Stamatiou far too much for a person who doesn’t have a mac.

For example, every time Paul writes about Boot Camp, it makes me want one just a little more. It’s like a tiny jab in the side saying “yes, you can have a macbook and still play Sims2.” And yes, playing Sims2 is a major reason to why I love my current laptop.

Another Apple blog I love to visit would be The Uber Geeks, which is always funny, and often has good material. And again, they are often posting content that makes me scratch my head and wonder what they’re talking about. All of the Apple blogs remind me that I’m not as geeky as a lot of people out there.

Also, I really appreciate that it’s not always “all Apple, all the time” over on these two blogs, which means that occasionally I’ll learn something I can actually use.

There are a few other blogs in the Apple Community, but I don’t read them often, if at all. Not to say that they are bad, but I really have to limit my Apple intake as I won’t be able to afford a new computer for some time yet.

I seem to have finally found my handcrafting niche. Laptop bags. See the one I made for Eric Johnson, which has been getting raves in the IRC room. In a bit, everyone will be able to order one, custom made for them.

Sigh. Sometimes being in my family gives me a headache.

My grandpa and my aunt are both out visiting from New Jersey, and my mom can do nothing but stir up trouble. My grandpa is in his eighties, and lives with his only son. For awhile, he had talked about wanting to move into a senior care facility, to be near people his own age and have things to do during the day.

However, his two older children (the ones that live in New Jersey with him) convinced him that he wouldn’t be happy, and wouldn’t have enough money to pay for it, even if he sold his house. Since he listened to them, it caused a huge rift between my mum and her siblings, because she thought the senior care facility would be good for him.

Fast forward a year, and my grandpa decides to come out and visit California. After a lot of hassle–there was an argument about whether someone on the west coast could buy tickets for someone on the east coast–and he finally arrives with the aunt I’ve only seen twice in my life.

On the way home from the airport, driving alone with my brother, he confesses that he hates his living conditions, that he’s bored and cleans my uncle’s house just to find something to do, and that he really wishes he was in a senior care facility.

This confessions throws my mum into a frenzy, and she spends her time now finding information on the cost and offerings of all the nearby senior care facilities. Which is useless really, because no matter how wonderful things are out in California, grandpa will never move out here, away from my grandma’s grave. And he’ll never move into a senior care facility in New Jersey, because his children out there will talk him out of it the moment he brings it up.

In the end, this will just cause another huge fight in our family. My mum has already enlisted one cousin, and I’m sure the other would be on board as soon as she sees what is going on. But grandpa will be irritated, because he told my mum last year to butt out, and my aunt will be irritated because she is apparently delusional and thinks my grandpa is happy where he is.

I’m very tired of it all. Yes, my grandpa is extremely unhappy. But, he’s the most stubborn one in the family (we had to all get it from somewhere), and he will not change his mind. There is no point in bringing it up anymore unless someone likes family infighting.

I don’t. I much prefer family apathy. It works much better for me.

- “Miss Murder: DecemberUnderground: AFI

Vallywag is running a Web 2.0 face-off, and first up is Will Pate against Matt Mullenweg. I’ve met them both (WordCamp), but I’m a bit biased, as I did spend the evening with Will. If you care even a little (which translates to not at all), click on over to vote, because Will deserves it. He’s just the hottest Canadian I’ve ever met.

Yesterday, Dustin brought Mr. Pokemon over to go swimming.

We–Dustin and I–were lounging by the side of the pool, attached to the sides like barnicles, and Mr. Pokemon swam around us, Eventually he took to trying to climb up our backs, and Dustin finally had to ask what he was doing.

Dustin: Why are you climbing on Lisa?
Mr. Pokemon: I like to climb on her.
Dustin: Well I do too, but we’re not doing that right now.

It was really funny, at the time. Mr. Pokemon eventually managed to climb up my back and out of the pool before I could stop him. At least today he wanted to be pokemon, and I didn’t have to play the mermaid as usual. He was Starmie for awhile, and then Staryu, and occasionally Ratatat. He really does love his pokemon.

When he came inside, he danced to my dad playing the keyboard for awhile, and sat on a chair in the dinning room, staring at all of my mum’s salt and pepper shakers. He was dying to play with them, but managed to keep his hands off.

Mr. Pokemon starts kindergarten today, and so wasn’t very happy about having to go home early yesterday. But I had fun with him and Dustin, so in all, it was a decent Sunday.

- “Pokemon Theme Song,” from the TV show, Pokemon.

Classes start in a week, and I don’t think I’m ready. I thought I had more time than this. I thought the 21st was further away.

I have all my books for this semester’s lit classes already, which I have stacked up on my dresser, waiting to be read. The top three books I have a week to get through, as they aren’t required for this semester. Rather, they were recommended through the other lit classes of last year, and I have yet to tackle them. Most of them are dead British authors which seem to be my favorite genre.

There are a few books on the pile that I’m not particularly excited to be reading. Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville is one. I don’t particularly like classic American writing, and so am not looking forward to the American Lit class at all. If it wasn’t required for the English degree, I wouldn’t take it.

Another book I’m not looking forward to reading is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Which is depressing really, because it had been on my reading list before it had even been assigned for the Myth Lit class. Unfortunately, flipping through the book, it appears that it is written in Middle English, which is even harder to understand than Old English.¹ I can only hope that I some how picked up the wrong copy, and we are really reading the translated version. After all, we’re reading Beowulf as well, and that has been translated from Middle English.

My Womens Lit class has been dropped by the college, and that means not enough people signed up for it. On one hand, it’s good because I couldn’t really afford another $70 in Lit books. On the other, it sucks because I was really looking forward to the class. Women often get overlooked in classic Lit selections because there were so many more prolific male writers during that time period.

So, other week until classes. I’ll be passing the time by avoiding the thought. Now that it’s right down to the wire, it turns out I’m not so excited to go back as I thought. Although, I’m sure that will change again when I finally do start classes. After all, it’s been a boring summer. And I do look forward to seeing all my school friends again.

- “Serve the Servants,” In Utero: Nirvana

1. It seems strange, but Middle English is older than Old English. Old English being Shakespeare’s time, and Middle English being the second evolution of
   English, which is occasionally unrecognizable as English.[back]