All Day Blog (almost)

9:12 am - I decided this morning on the drive in to do another all-day blog. And then came into work, created a file and then didn't start writing in it. I'm not feeling stressed, but there's so much work to be done. I've either found my zen or I'm so helplessly behind. Actually, I'm just incredibly tired, to the state of almost being comfortably numb, blissfully unaware. A fast-paced Irish instrumental song from Kathryn Tickell is playing now and blocking out all the surrounding noise. I'm in my own little world. Well, back to work.

10:28 am - Well, I'm definitely more awake now. Maybe the coffee helped. Although now I'm starving. Thankfully Lori sent a bunch of food with me a few weeks ago. Especially since I also forgot my lunch. So... diamonds made in a lab... fake or real? Apparently they use processes that mimic nature, but just do it much quicker. Not sure how that's different from designer roses or cultured pearls. Makes them less rare, but that means less expensive, right? I'm all for that. Also sounds like it might be better than the environment. Article I was reading says "Mining removes several hundred tons of earth to extract one carat worth of diamond." NEWS.COM)

1:40 pm - Difficult to post regularly when you're not at your desk. I just sat in on my second meeting about an issue. Sadly, at least 20 manhours have been wasted in meetings (and numerous others in discussions) about a problem. The solution is nine words long. I said it at the last meeting. This meeting they came close to deciding that was the solution (apparently not remembering that I offered it up last time) but then diverted away again. It may ultimately be the solution, but not before more meetings are held. In other news, it's such a slow news day that MSNBC has had a top feature all day about how the new Wal*Mart in town doesn't look like all the others. Complete with a then/now gallery. If they've also cleaned up the customers, I might have to go and check it out. What does that do to the other Wal*Mart two blocks away?

2:23 pm - Cool. I just signed paperwork for someone to get their New Zealand citizenship by filling out a form attesting that I've known them since the day they were born. While she and her mom were in here doing the paperwork, my boss brought someone over to talk to my cube-mate. So this tiny cube that really only should have one person had four people and a baby holding two distinct conversations. Annoying.

4:46 pm - Ok, so that was somewhat of a failure. Just way too busy today.

The Problem with My iPod

With my iPod approaching its first birthday, I figure I should post my gripes now instead of waiting a few days until it actually dies, because at that point, these issues will be moot.

I post these not just to whine, but in the hopes that (a) another iPod user will tell me that I'm dumb and then give me instructions on how to do what I want to do or (b) someone from Apple will visit my site (and I don't mean a lawyer protesting my use of the term iPod in this post) and realize that maybe what I want is a decent idea.

And, as it turns out, I'm a big podcast consumer. Besides redeeming gift cards I receive, I am a big consumer of podcasts. So my complaints largely surround podcasting shortcomings in the iPod and/or iTunes.

First off, Video Podcasts... I hate how if you click on a video podcast from the Podcasting menu, it just plays the audio while showing the cover art. This isn't intuitive. It should play the video. Why, oh why, do I need to go into the Video category and then into Video Podcasts. Is not a video podcast a podcast? (Is not a square a rectangle?)

Second, playlists and podcasts... I subscribe to several short podcasts (weather, news) and some longer podcasts. It would be supremely ideal if I could drag a subscription into a playlist. So that any new podcasts from that subscription automatically populate the playlist. The clickwheel is not the easiest thing to use when driving. It would be cool if I could build my own "news station" by having it play through a playlist made entirely of podcasts.

And again, podcasts... If I'm looking at a list of songs and I click on a song, if I want to move to the next song in that list, I press the forward arrow key. Why can't I jump from podcast to podcast within a subscription in a similar fashion?

It really feels like the podcast portion of the iPod user interface is not as intuitive as the rest of the iPod experience and that the fixes would not be that difficult. Can someone get tasked with the 30 minutes of coding and 8 hours of testing this would need so it could be pushed out to iTunes?

Please, please?

And again, if I'm just a moron and these things are all currently doable with an iPod, please let me know.

Cookie Blues

It's not easy being gingerbread.



Cookie Blues - video powered by Metacafe

Originally found on Cankuhn's Lagoon. (And how did I find that site? Someone viewed it and then clicked on "Next Blog" at the top of their blog.)

Kill The Calls

MSNBC.COM -- Apparently there's some decent money to be made if you're getting bombarded by telemarketers and your number's on the do-not-call list. Suggests minimal time and investment, but you'll need to choose your targets wisely. More...

Global Warming, Rah Rah Rah.

FAREED ZAKARIA.COM -- Global warming is here to stay^*. Might as well break out the sunscreen. More...

^* Not applicable in New York state or where prohibited by law.

Warning on Valentine’s Day festival

GULF-TIMES.COM -- A Qatari scholar has warned Muslim youth against celebrating the Valentine Day saying that it is an un-Islamic holiday which has nothing to do the with true meaning of love.

“Under Islam, any forms of celebration of the Valentine Day are prohibited. It is a pagan holiday when the Western youth give free rein to their sexual urges and indulge in promiscuous activities,” Sheikh Ahmed al-Buainain said at the Al-Wakrah mosque in his Friday sermon.

Al-Buainain has also criticised what he called the shopping spree and propaganda which he held responsible for creating such festive atmospheres accompanying the holiday. “It is the shopping spree of the Valentine items which promotes such holidays and make it more popular among people,” he said.

Al-Buainain also warned against being deceived by such fake festivals saying that Muslims have only two festivals, namely Eid al-Fitr and the Sacrifice Eid.
“Muslim dealers should not participate in such holidays which are always rife in adultery and promiscuous acts,” he said.

The scholar said that “There is no other religion which encourages people to love and be friendly with one another like Islam. But Muslim are prohibited to share with the infidels their holidays. This holiday is only meant for promoting profanity among Muslim youth,” he added.

Staff Reporter // Published: Sunday, 11 February, 2007, 08:27 AM Doha Time

(My friend living in Qatar tells me that all the shops are decked out all festive-like in red and selling Valentine's Day products)

Bad Christians

We ate at Coco's tonight. They seated us right next to the entrance to a banquet room. There was a group ending their night and they all congregated near the door while the server was working on their receipts. Then, they all stood outside the door, right by our table in the otherwise empty room, gabbing. It was incredibly frustrating... I couldn't even concentrate enough to decide what I wanted to eat. It was finally at the time that we were about to say something (we had already said something to our waitress during one of the times she came over and we sent her away) but we were about to say something to that group when they did finally disperse, but it had to be a good 15 minutes easy. Very disappointing when a group of Christians can be so oblivious, so rude, such bad witnesses by their inconsiderate behavior. A really poor testament.