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Bad User Interface: Microsoft Outlook 2007

2008-03-20T11:30:00.000-07:00

Check out this screenshot from office 2007. Most user interface designers know that you can give the user a sense of progress by giving them some kind of motion on the screen. A little spinning disk, an hourglass that rotates every few seconds, or a never-ending progress bar.

The office team decided that for their search interface, they would let us know that the search is proceeding by putting the word "Searching..." in light gray text, on a white background... The most prominent item in the UI is actually a link that that will widen the search criteria... but the original search hasn't even finished yet. I guess they want us to try another search before the original one has even finished.

I see this UI several times a week, and every time I do, it takes me a few moments to remember what the heck is going on.

For a software release that was touted as being mostly about user interface redesign this seems like a big step backwards to me.

prescription for success

2008-02-06T15:08:00.000-08:00

1. Start building a product
2. Screw up
3. Start Over
4. Release an uninteresting product 3 years late
5. Fire your marketing manager
6. ?
7. Profit!

I'll admit that one of the big problems with Vista is that there are no interesting or compelling reasons to upgrade, what is unclear is whether that is a product issue, or a marketing issue. Vista has been in enthusiasts hands for a year now though, so I must imagine that the issue is primarily the product itself since the spelunkers haven't found anything very compelling yet.

one and a half armed life: physical therapy

2008-02-01T10:41:00.000-08:00

I started physical therapy this week. So far it's going great. I'm excited to be working with professionals who can help me understand what I should and shouldn't do to help my shoulder get better.

On tuesday I had 20 degrees of rotational flexibility in my arm (elbow at my side, rotating the arm away from the body). Yesterday I had 40 degrees rotation.

I didn't have any significant pain yesterday, and I've been off of all medication for three days now. The physical therapist was a bit surprised by the range of motion that I have my right arm (about 100 degrees) so in that sense I have a long way to go to regain full range of motion in my left arm. But so far I have been and my physical therapist have been pleasantly surprised by my progress.

one armed life: thursday

2008-01-24T11:11:00.001-08:00

Today feels like a progress day. Last night I was able to do some exercises without much if any pain. Earlier today I realized that my bicep was really tight and I was able to stretch it out without adding much pain to my shoulder.

I am starting to get a little soreness and tightness in my shoulder but it seems like the good kind of soreness that comes from stretching muscles, not tearing them. I'm going to take it easy for the rest of the day. Maybe do my exercises a little bit tonight and call it good.

one armed life: patience

2008-01-22T12:28:00.000-08:00

Patience seems to be the name of the game. It's irritating because every day I feel a little bit better, and yet if I start to push myself I know I will cause more damage. It's been 2 weeks and 2 days. I want to be able to use it more than I can, but I know that it will just take time to heal.

I did some isometric exercises last night and iced up afterwards. That seems to help. My shoulder felt pretty good this morning, which tends to be the case. It starts out feeling pretty good and starts to get sore as the day progresses.

I did some reading online and it sounds like the recovery times they are quoting are longer than what my dr. told me. So I'm not concerned that I don't have more motion on my arm yet (some sites said you will be in a sling for 2 weeks). But I'm starting to wonder just how much longer this is going to take. I want to start building up strength again. I feel like I'm wasting away.

one armed life: monday

2008-01-21T10:20:00.000-08:00

Not a whole lot new to report. My shoulder seems to be healing up from the reinjury incident last monday. I'm going to continue to take it easy for the next few days. Perhaps working a few isometric exercises into my nightly routine.

I haven't been reading very much because of the painkillers. I do most of my reading at night, which is when I take them. I stopped on Friday night, so I was able to get a few more chapters finished in Foundation and On Intelligence.

Sleeping without painkillers is kind of hard, but I'm hoping that as the pain dies down in the shoulder it will eventually lead to more restful sleep. I'm going to give it a couple more nights without anything beyond Advil and see how it goes.

one armed life: thursday

2008-01-17T11:18:00.000-08:00

So far so good. I think the heat/cold regime is going to be very helpful. I'm a little more tentative these days, which is probably a good thing. I'm irritated that I'm losing a lot of the fitness I worked hard to build up as I'm pretty sedentary at the moment. But, it's only for a few more weeks, and I'll have many years to build it back up after this event. Especially if I don't push to hard and turn this into a chronic problem.

I'm back to tying my shoes with two hands, but taking it a little slower than last time.

The Sarah Conner chronicles

2008-01-17T11:14:00.000-08:00

Last night I watched the pilot episode of the terminator tv show.

I found the pilot to be quite enjoyable. It borrowed a fare bit of the style and storyline from the second movie. I'm looking forward to see how they develop the storying telling.

I don't watch a lot of tv these days, but I imagine I will try to make time to watch this show for the next couple of weeks.

I am pleased to see Summer Glau in the show. I expect she will do a very good job with the role.

one armed life: wednesday

2008-01-16T09:08:00.001-08:00

Not too much to talk about today. My shoulder is definitely sore from the damage I did monday night, but it's not horrible.

I'm trying to transition into alternating heat and cold to hopefully prevent a similar reinjury in the future. My theory is that I had a muscle that was very tight from being immobilized and it torn a little bit instead of stretching out as I started to use it. I'm hoping the heat will help to keep things loose.

I find I'm not giving myself enough down time right now. It's difficult for the body to repair itself if you are constantly busy.

one armed life: tuesday morning

2008-01-15T09:37:00.000-08:00

my shoulder doesn't hurt as bad as I had feared. I think today is going to be an "easy" day, where as yesterday was a "hard" day. I'm back to tying my shoes with one hand, and even though my arm is still out of the sling, I'm going to try and keep it pretty stationary for the most part. If I did do some more damage to the shoulder yesterday I want to give it time to heal before pushing it any further.

This sure is tricky. It's very hard to know what the "right" thing to do is, or I guess what will lead to the fastest recovery. I suppose I just need to take it one step at a time.

Perhaps I will pick up some omega 3 supplements (fish oil) tonight. I hear those are good for tendons and I'm sure there is some tendon damage in the shoulder. The Dr. and I didn't really talk about what a good diet would be for this kind of injury.

one armed life: monday night

2008-01-14T18:31:00.000-08:00

I'm worried that I pushed myself too far today. I've got the arm back in the sling tonight so that I don't do any more damage if I did push too hard.

I suppose I will know in the morning if it's really worse or not. It felt really good to have my arm out of the sling regardless. Hopefully tonight is just a warning.

one and a half armed life: monday

2008-01-14T08:50:00.001-08:00

Big step today: I tied my shoes with two hands!

My shoulder is starting to feel pretty good. By the end of the day it gets a bit sore, but the next day after I wake up and break off some of the rust it starts to feel pretty good again.

My Dr. gave me some isometric exercises that will bring back strength in my shoulder muscles. I did them some last night and they didn't hurt much at all. I'm going to do them more strenuously today. Hopefully the worst of the pain and limited movement has passed. I'm starting to feel pretty optimistic.

one armed life: saturday

2008-01-12T15:13:00.000-08:00

Things are getting a bit boring... no new things going on today. Arm is a bit sore, but it's hard to tell why. I think I'm going to try and do a bit more every day, little by little and when it hurts to much, stop.

I'm very anxious to get back into physical activity. Maybe early next week I can start riding stationary bike at the gym.

Oh, I did get about 10 hours sleep last night, which is unusual. I usually wake up after my pain killers wear off, which is about 5 hours. I woke up this morning and took my 800mg of advil and was able to sleep for a few more hours.

one armed life: friday

2008-01-11T13:28:00.001-08:00

So far so good today. I used my arm a bunch more yesterday. I actually had it out of the sling most of the day. I don't seem to be any worse because of it today. Still tying my shoes with one hand. Still putting on shirts very carefully, but I was able to hold a few things in my left hand today. That's a step in the right direction.

Some of the discomfort I'm feeling now has to do with the atrophy and tightening of the muscles in my left arm. I'm trying to stretch it out and move it without doing any more damage. Sometimes it's hard to tell if the pain is coming from disuse, or from the injury.

Accomplishment of the day: I'm wearing a button up shirt today. Putting on an undershirt and a button up shirt takes longer than wearing just a t-shirt, but it's not so bad. And buttoning with one hand isn't nearly as hard as it seems like it would be.

neural networks write poetry

2008-01-10T15:51:00.001-08:00

I love this quote. Pulled from this story on a neural network put to work doing something it should not have.

"The pig go. Go is to the fountain. The pig put foot. Grunt. Foot in what? ketchup. The dove fly. Fly is in sky. The dove drop something. The something on the pig. The pig disgusting. The pig rattle. Rattle with dove. The dove angry. The pig leave. The dove produce. Produce is chicken wing. With wing bark. No Quack."

current reading list

2008-01-10T12:50:00.000-08:00

I'm currently reading three books

On Intelligence
Foundation
Smart and Gets Things Done

So far On Intelligence and Foundation are pretty good reads. I've never read Asimov before, and Foundation is turning out to be a good introduction. It's very short but the pacing is excellent, and the storyline captivating.

On Intelligence is non-fiction and much more dense. But it is a good exploration of what it means to be intelligent, and why we've had such trouble creating successful artificial intelligence. Thanks to Nathanael for the gift, it's turning out to be as good as he told me it would be.

Smart and Gets Things Done is really a rehash for me. I've read all of Joel's writings on the subject as they've been posted to his blog, and so far this book is just a collection of those ideas in hardback form. This is a good time for me to be rereading them though.

Matt and I have been discussing reading some other books together so I need to hurry up and finish one of them... probably On Intelligence. I imagine that 1 work related, 1 fiction, and 1 non-fiction book at a time will probably be my limit.

one armed life: the morning

2008-01-10T09:25:00.000-08:00

So far the hardest part has been toweling off after a shower. With only one arm, it's difficult to get the kind of contact necessary to remove excess water from one's self. I was pretty pitiful the first day... today was better.

I'm down to about 45-50 minutes to get ready... including feeding the cats. I was able to tie my shoes in only a couple of minutes this morning. I was also able to zip up my jacket with one hand... which is still pretty difficult. Zippers appear to have been designed with two hands in mind.

Oh, and I did a few dishes last night. I only did plates, which wasn't too hard. I'm not sure how I'm going to wash the silverware yet. My plate washing technique was a pretty neat epiphany. I suppose if I concentrate on it long enough I'll figure something out for the silverware.

I'm really starting to enjoy the challenge of doing things with one arm. I hope that doesn't sabotage my recovery efforts. Although after you have been forced to do things slowly and methodically, it's kind of nice to get back to 100%. I'm typing this post with both hands and it feels amazing.

Losing something makes you appreciate it all the more.

driving with one hand

2008-01-09T17:08:00.000-08:00

On the surface it doesn't seem so hard. Most of the effort can be concentrated on one hand and one foot. Throw a manual transmission at it, and most of the effort can be handled by one hand, and two feet... most of the time.

Shifting becomes a bit tricky. It can only be done on straight roads, or when nobody is driving next to you. If I was driving a diesel it would be made worse as the rpm range on a diesel is so narrow. As it is, I can leave the car in gear longer that I originally would have intended without significant impact to the car or my ability to drive it.

I'm not sure if it's wise to be driving my car with only one functional shoulder. I don't think it's illegal... although if it is would somebody let me know so I can stop doing it before I get a ticket?

Perhaps the best idea is to limit to driving to be on an as needed basis to reduce the chances of getting into a situation where I need to shift and steer at the same time.

dislocated-shoulder xray

2008-01-09T12:52:00.001-08:00

dislocated-shoulder
Originally uploaded by garyowen

Here is the picture in case you didn't want to follow the link. This is before it was reset. I was on pain killers when this was taken.

I can tie my shoes

2008-01-09T12:48:00.000-08:00

I tied my shoes today for the first time since the accident. I was tired of wearing socks and sandals (my only slip on style shoes, and it's cold so I needed socks) so I decided it was time to figure out how to tie shoes with one hand.

Turns out it's not too hard. It just takes some patience and creativity... and a little flexibility.

My morning routine has lengthened from 20 minutes to an hour... but I'm able to take care of myself pretty well. Next I gotta figure out how to floss...

dislocated shoulder

2008-01-08T09:39:00.000-08:00

I dislocated my shoulder. I even have cool xrays to prove it.

colin's new blog

2007-11-09T16:05:00.000-08:00

Colin has started a new website dedicated to gaming.

Obsessed with Gaming

the social

2007-09-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070920-launched-too-zune-patent-reveals-whereabouts-of-the-social.html

It looks like microsoft has patented some of the ideas that I put on this blog when I first created it. Feel free to look back through the archives to see a partial description of what it means to be "the social".

If only Microsoft had waited and actually built some of these features into the product the Zune might have been worth half the money they spent marketing it.

If only we'd spent another week on testing...

2007-08-14T19:49:00.000-07:00

I don't blog very often... I feel as though I've lost my blogging ways.... there's only so much technology to complain about. Or at least, complaining about it doesn't help much.

I want an iphone. The iphone would mean I'm no longer using my Treo 700. That would make me happy.

My Treo makes me unhappy. I recently updated the firmware, which only took about 2 days to finally get figured out (4 hours to complete the update, 8 more to figure out what to reset to fix all the remaining issues). I found myself wondering why all technology is broken.

I told Gwen that someday we will destroy ourselves... not because of global warming, or the energy crisis or something so complicated. Someday we will hook something up. Something broken... and we'll hook it up to something important... and that important thing will do something we don't expect. Maybe it will launch a nuclear device. Maybe it will shut something important down. I'm not sure what exactly will happen. But I'm convinced that someday we'll say...

If only we'd spent another week on testing, we wouldn't have destroyed humanity.

Traveling blues...

2007-07-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

I've been traveling since 8:00am PST. I'm about to get on a plane to Toronto, CA. I think this is a short flight... which is nice because I've spent more time in airports than on airplanes, and I wouldn't want to break that streak.

overheard at the airport

2007-07-11T17:45:00.000-07:00

This morning while I was getting breakfast at Sea-tac, I overheard somebody next to me talking about their daughter. It seems she is selling crack to children... apparently though, it's like beer to them, so it's ok. And plus it's probably better for them than alcohol...

What made it extra strange was that the man telling the story was probably in his late 50s, and looked rather respectable... I wouldn't have expected him to be so open to juvenile crack addiction...

I must've mis-heard something...

Recording Perfection...

2007-06-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

I did a presentation at work today. It was intended to give people a look at the second release of a product that I've invested the last couple years into bringing to fruition, MITS Report.

About 50 or so people attended the presentation (which was hosted over the internet) and it was recorded for posterity. Unfortunately, the recording had a few problems and didn't end up coming out as cleanly as we would have liked.

I'm now faced with the same dilemma that faces many artists. How much polish is enough polish to release the recording? Since we're no longer stuck in "live" mode (the presentation is technically over), how scripted should it be? Should we do multiple takes and edit together the best snippets?

I can almost guarantee that the recorded version will not have the energy of the live version, but at the same time, it will be "better"... or perhaps more "polished".

Is polished better? We certainly experience a lot of polish in our lives... on TV, on the Radio, at Church, on the Internet. How much polish is too much polish. Isn't there something appealing about the ephemeralness and rawness of a live performance?

On thursday night I will be performing as part of Lacey Brown's band at the High Dive in Fremont. There will certainly be mistakes, and there will likely be some awkward pauses as the guitar player retunes... but that makes part of the experience doesn't it?

iTunes Plus

2007-06-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

I've been purchasing music from iTunes plus for the last few weeks. The first couple of days had some hiccups as Apple struggled to keep up with the demand, but now things are working pretty smoothly, and I'm pretty happy. I've bought more music in the past 3 weeks than I have in the past 3 months.

I don't mind using iTunes to buy music, as I don't much care about the associated album art. It's nice to flip through, and then it gets filed away in some box somewhere, only to be retrieved when I decide to rerip the album at a higher bitrate.

Speaking of bitrates, 256kbps AAC definitely sounds better than 128kbps. I was djing a party and was asked to play a few songs I did not posses. There was an internet connection so I loaded up iTunes and purchased them... in the old-skool format. To me the older tracks sound "flat" and boring compared to their high-bit-rate cousins. Could be the particular tracks, and I haven't done any proper A/B comparisons, but I think it sounds better, and that's good enough for me.

definition of a niche

2007-06-19T22:27:00.000-07:00

Something that seems like an awful idea to most people, and an awesome idea to a few people.

MySpace- finally rewarding its users

2007-06-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

I have an inkling.

Now that myspace is actually getting its act together as far as user-interface goes, I have a feeling that people will be spending a lot less time on it. I say this simply because it will now take one step rather than 15 (or whatever) to delete comments, approve/deny/send messages, look through people's pictures, etc. That and I haven't had any kind of spam to delete or report for like 4 days and it's been glorious.

Since they made these adjustments, I've already won back hours. I know it sounds pathetic, but I have seriously spent way less time on myspace this last week or so.

What am I going to do with all my extra time now??

:D

It makes me happy.

I can't wait to see how much time we'll all save when they finally fix their search process. (Making it possible to search for a specific friend from among your friends, rather than having to search the whole FRAKKING SYSTEM. Gahhh that grinds my gears.) I hope they fix that someday.

- Gwen

and might I just add...

2007-06-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

technology has been more frustrating than helpful to me over the last 3 weeks or so. On top of everything Gary has posted about recently, here's what has decided to declare war against me:

- Our DVR, of course. Constantly non-responsive to the remote control, continues fast-forwarding long after you've hit play, etc.
- I struggled with getting Finale 7 installed on my computer. Mostly because I am slow at that stuff, but it was still an annoyingly complicated process that called for 2 calls to customer service.
- We had to reinstall OS X on my mac. FOR WHATEVER REASON! It just wouldn't reboot one day.
- After that reinstallation, ProTools would no longer open. Had to reinstall that. It took about 6 tries, but I finally got it on there again.
- Every time I try to open Firefox, my computer isn't connecting to the internet right away. It's only a little hold-up, but it's still ANNOYING.
- And now for no apparent reason at all, Firefox just decided to hang my computer altogether. I went to restart, and it allllmost got all booted up. But not quite. So I had to restart it again.

And to top it all off, I'm just tired of typing to communicate and am letting emails pile up without replying. It's daunting.

- Gwen

boxing hand wraps

2007-06-04T13:10:00.000-07:00

I finally found a good illustrative guide to wrapping your hands for boxing. I can start hitting my bag again without as much worry about damaging my hands.

http://www.ringside.com/WrapYourHands.aspx

xbox issues

2007-06-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

XBox360 just hung while pausing an HD movie that I downloaded. Earlier today the HD version of the Matrix wouldn't play the first couple times I tired.

Why does technology always have to fail?

more itunes issues

2007-05-31T21:43:00.000-07:00

I still can't get all my music downloaded. I hope this issue gets the better soon.

Lots of noise on the apple forums. No official response from Apple yet.

itunes music store

2007-05-30T22:12:00.001-07:00

I bought my first couple of tracks on the itunes music store tonight. I figured I would give it a shot since some are now DRM free.

Performance of the music store sucks though. I'm trying to download my second album and I'm getting about 2kbps through the store. After years, I'm finally willing to give this a try, and the performance issues are stopping me from finding and buying more music. Honestly, I bet the pirate music networks are faster and easier. Maybe that's what I should do tonight instead... buy the music on itunes, and then just download pirated mp3s so I can actually listen to them.

starcraft 2

2007-05-22T18:58:00.001-07:00

I just got done watching the gameplay demo for starcraft 2. Which could also be titled, "how we unbalanced the protoss".

I'm looking forward to seeing how they have buffed the other races to even out the gameplay.

macbook revisited

2007-05-21T10:03:00.000-07:00

I got OS X reinstalled on Gwen's Macbook Pro last night. The good news is that reinstalling OS X is easier than reinstalling windows. The only rub was that I had to manually reinstall the fonts that Finale uses. Oh and I bet I'll have to reinstall the printer drivers.

I'll find out after today whether it was really that simple.

Gwen's Macbook

2007-05-20T17:06:00.001-07:00

Gwen's Macbook pro wont boot into OS X. Funny enough I can boot it into windows XP. Gwen installed some updates from Apple's Software Update, which prompted her to reboot the machine, and now it's hosed. I'm currently copying everything off the HD to another external hard drive before I try reinstalling OS X. Maybe those "geniuses" down at the Apple Store will be required.

I hate software.

Wordpress

2007-05-09T22:17:00.001-07:00

Brian has inspired me to get wordpress setup on a new domain. This may pave the way for a blog shift. I'll keep y'all posted.

Apple Rebuttal

2007-05-09T22:04:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: I like apple. I like them a lot. Most of my new hardware these days is apple. That said, I think Apple can do much better in it's criticisms of Microsoft, and in the efforts of its marketing campaign in general. So I'm going to catalog a few rebuttals to their ads.

http://www.apple.com/getamac/

Choose a Vista: Microsoft is doing something called anytime upgrade to handle upgrading. This is to answer the "get stuck with one that doesn't do very much at all" part of the apple commercial. I do appreciate the simplicity of purchasing OS X.

Party is Over: Yeah ok, there's a lot of truth in this one. Microsoft dropped the ball on the vista schedule. And older hardware is supposedly much harder to get working. I could point out the System 9 -> OS X platform switch and what it did to apple hardware. Or perhaps the PPC -> Intel transition and what it did to apple software support. That doesn't really reduce the validity of the criticism though. I would wager however that windows is more friendly to old software than OS X. A lot of the cruft in windows comes from the effort they expend supporting old software.

Genius: Perhaps I should take my mac to the apple genius bar so they can tell me why aperture keeps crashing with this error all the time.

Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE (0x0002) at 0x00000000

Thread 0 Crashed:
0 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x90810125 CFRetain + 56
1 com.apple.Foundation 0x92893a9d _NSKeyValueObservationInfoCreateByRemoving + 444
2 com.apple.Foundation 0x92893888 -[NSObject(NSKeyValueObserverRegistration) _removeObserver:forProperty:] + 56
3 com.apple.Foundation 0x92893800 -[NSObject(NSKeyValueObserverRegistration) removeObserver:forKeyPath:] + 554
4 com.apple.Aperture 0x002279e2 0x1000 + 2255330
5 com.apple.Aperture 0x00229888 0x1000 + 2263176
6 com.apple.AppKit 0x9335ad88 -[NSApplication sendAction:to:from:] + 107

first 10k race

2007-05-06T11:06:00.000-07:00

I just finished my first organized run. It was loosely organized, and a lot of fun. Here is what my Garmin forerunner recorded:

Distance: 6.3 miles
Elapsed Time: 1:06:53
Avg Pace: 10:37/mile
Avg Speed: 5.7 mph
Max Speed: 12.0 mph
Calories: 832

writing

2007-05-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

I don't think I'm a good writer. I can write technical specifications pretty well, and I can contribute to marketing messaging and brainstorming, but I don't feel particularly skilled at crafting a blog post that is interesting.

Maybe I should switch to twitter...

Also....

2007-04-30T22:49:00.001-07:00

Vista is the new hotness and OS X is old and busted. Hurry up with Leopard, or whichever cat comes next.

Apple hubris

2007-04-30T22:38:00.000-07:00

"No other operating system, Vista included, offers the rich features and simplicity of Mac OS X. And just as Vista tries to get closer (emphasis on “tries”), Mac OS X Leopard is right around the corner — ready to leap even farther ahead."

*sigh* I love apple. I have 2 mac book pros. You could officially call me a switcher. But stuff like this makes me want to switch back.

Shared items

2007-04-25T21:40:00.001-07:00

I added a shared items widget to my blog so y'all can see some of the stuff I'm finding via google reader.

Motorbike

2007-04-23T21:45:00.000-07:00

I got my yamaha 650 running today. All it took was some new spark plugs. $5.58 later and it's time to go for a ride.

I'm going to have to find time for a ride this week. I wonder what the weather will be like.

Vista on the Macbook Pro

2007-04-23T21:43:00.000-07:00

I loaded up vista yesterday. So far it's working pretty well. Aero is nice. And the macbook pro can handle all the bells and whistles. I haven't done any serious work on it, but so far it's pretty. I could see switching my work computer to be vista in the next month or two. Once I can verify that all my apps will work.

I still have a slight preference for OS X at this point, although I'm more anxious waiting for Leopard. OS X is old and grey... Vista is new and shiny.

Blizzard update

2007-04-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

Turns out it was my internet connection that was broken. I called up speakeasy and they fixed it right away. That is why I'm their customer. When I call up and tell them I have a problem, they say, "you sure do, let me fix that for you". 9 minutes later we're off the phone and everything is running great. No escalation paths, just fixed problems.

Blizzard and Bittorrent

2007-04-12T20:56:00.000-07:00

So it's interesting that Blizzard is distributing World of Warcraft via bittorrent. Interesting in a "it doesn't really work" sort of way. After waiting half an hour to download 13 megs of 3.6 gigs I thought... hmm, maybe this isn't working so well.

I guess I'll just get a physical copy instead of waiting for the massive download.

If they have given me some tweakability I could've setup the bittorrent client to some known good settings. As is I was uploading more than I was downloading, which is fine and all, except I don't really feel like paying for Blizzard's distribution costs.

casting

2007-04-04T13:59:00.000-07:00

Colin and I are considering starting a podcast.

How long should it be?
What topics should we discuss?
Would anybody listen?

the park pub

2007-03-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

Gwen and I have adopted the park pub.

I'm thinking of recommending 2 things to the park pub.

1) Let Matt dj at least one saturday per month so I can put together a dance following.
2) Institute "Clinton's Pick" which is whatever new beer is on tap that Clinton thinks people should try and why. He knows a lot about beer, and always has good recommendations.

apple iphone

2007-01-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

boring

more comcast woes

2007-01-10T20:10:00.001-08:00

"Your cable box cannot tune to On Demand right now. Please try again in a few minutes"
"Your cable box cannot tune to On Demand right now. Please try again in a few minutes"
"Your cable box cannot tune to On Demand right now. Please try again in a few minutes"

comcast dvr

2007-01-02T17:01:00.000-08:00

So far my favorite feature is when the unit stops responding to input and fast forwards through half of the TV show you were trying to watch.

My second favorite feature is when it stutters during HD playback.

Google Reader

2006-12-07T20:37:00.001-08:00

I've started "sharing" items in google reader. Check out the feed.

Seth's Pilots

2006-12-07T20:29:00.000-08:00

I stated out disagreeing with Seth when he says that companies don't need pilots anymore. But in going through the thought exercise, I think he's right.

Our need for Pilots is declining. Instead of hiring several people who can do something consistantly and repeatbly, we hire one person to program a computer to do it. You still need someone with an eye for detail to check up on the computer (QA department). And probably any time you interact with people you need at least a few pilots (support).

Google Reader

2006-11-28T15:59:00.001-08:00

I've switch from RSS bandit to google reader. I like it so far. When will reader and blogger get together though?

black is the new getting hit by a car

2006-11-21T20:33:00.000-08:00

it's getting dark in seattle

Microsoft and Dell cooperating to degrade computer use experience

2006-10-16T19:54:00.000-07:00

This just in... Dell and Microsoft have forged a new alliance to create an even worse out of the box experience on new windows computers. Unsightly empty space at the bottom of your screen will be replaced with a task manager full of useful replacement programs for everything.

Here's how I understand the strategy to work. Microsoft creates a half-assed implementation of a feature... for example, wireless networking. Then Dell bundles in software that has "more features" and is 200% more confusing to use. Not to mention uglier and less reliable.

It's taking more and more time to "setup" a new dell computer.

usernames are obsolete

2006-10-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

I am so tired of "sorry that name is already in use, how about these crappy names?" messages when I'm signing up for a service. Just use my email address... always my email address. It's guaranteed unique, and I can always remember it. All you need to do is build in a service that allows you to change the email address associated with your account if you need to change your email address for some reason.

If you disagree, you can find me on instant messenger as garythegaryowentheowen2062006

83 yamaha 650 heritage special

2006-10-08T00:42:00.000-07:00

Well, the result of the harley rental has left me in a place where I think I"m going to buy a yamaha 650 to tide me over in the meantime. I just don't think I can justify spending as much money on a harley and I would need too to get the one I want.

Mostly I just like to ride, and if it's on an older bike, I wont feel like as much of a poser. ;-)

I think I will arrange to buy it, and maybe Todd will help me do a little work to customize it and fix some of the annoyances. I want to see about adjusting the front brake and clutch to be a little easier to use. I also need to adjust the position of the front break, and possibly adjust how the clutch engages. It's probably due for an oil change as well...

Anyway, if I do end up purchasing it, I will put some pictures up.

movie and moving

2006-10-08T00:38:00.000-07:00

Thom Yorke's solo album is pretty sweet. Currently listening to Black Swan.

We just had some folks over to watch labrinyth. Pretty sure I'm spelling that right... could be wrong though... who knows.

Tomorrow we'll probably have lunch with Ken Maiuri, which should be fun. I'm pretty tired now though... bed will be good.

Oh and I bought some long sleeve shirts at road runner sports for fall running. I ran 5.6 miles today (rough estimate) and it took just over 1 hour. It was a very nice jog. I was going slow enough that I could enjoy the run, but it was still tiring.

itunes album art

2006-10-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

I was very excited to hear that itunes finally has good album art integration. Now you can click on an album and just click advanced -> get album art, and itunes will automatically down the album art.

Sounds great right? Except that for some reason you need to be signed into the itunes music store... why in the world would I need to have an account with the iTunes music store to download album art? Windows Media Player has automatically associated album art with albums for years without requiring me to submit my credit card information (step 3 of the itunes sign-up process).

smoking ban results in less smoking

2006-10-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

Technically they said it results in less "pollutants" but I'm pretty sure this article simply says "banning smoking indoors results in less smoking indoors".

Maybe the Seattle PI is scraping content from The Onion...

a bigger bike

2006-09-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

I'm currently renting a harley davidson 2006 dyna low rider. I just got back from riding it up to Steve's pass and back. Four hours on the bike and I'm just about ready to hop back on. I might wait until tonight though, now that I'm back in Seattle. I'll wait for the traffic to clear out before I go anywhere else... plus I'm getting hungry.

So anyway... what do I think of the bike?

It certainly isn't the smoothest bike at idle. It tends to rock a fair bit at a stoplight. I'm not sure it's a bad thing though. It reminds me that I'm riding, which in my book is a good thing. The 06 and 07's both have the 6 speed transmision. It's a very nice aspect of the bike. To be cruising at 60 at about 2,900 rpm and then to be able to drop it into sixth and let the rpm's fall to 2,400 is pretty nice. Smooths out the ride a lot. And the bike still has plenty of power to push you onward and upward in sixth. Hitting 80 on the bike is easy... not that I have... errr yeah.

I guess my biggest hangup is going to be that I don't know how this bike compares to the softails. I'm sure the 88B or 96B engine is going to be a bit smoother than the 88, but I'm not sure that the rest of the bike would fit me as well. So far I am liking the mid mounted controls on the low rider, and being able to stretch out to the forward pegs on longer cruises is nice.

In summary... hells yeah.

damian and cosmas

2006-09-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

_MG_1661.jpg
Originally uploaded by garyowen.

pictures are up from the damian and cosmas party.

europe pictures

2006-09-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

_MG_0013
Originally uploaded by garyowen.

Finally uploaded the picture from our trip to europe.

my brain is broken

2006-09-25T15:37:00.000-07:00

I can't remember anybody's name... and the few names I can remember, I can't remember how to spell.

more on the zune

2006-09-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

After 3 plays or 3 days, you can no longer play the song; however, you can still see a listing of the songs with the associated metadata.

I still think this was simply the wrong design from the user's perspective. Sharing music and playlists while people are in range seems much more interesting to me... at least from a social aspect. Perhaps this is an add-on feature they could implement. All the required hardware is there...

I fixed myspace

2006-09-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

Using the firefox browser, here is what you can do to fix myspace.

Open Preferences
Content tab
Under Fonts & Colors choose Colors
Uncheck "Allow pages to choose their own colors instead of my selections above"

You'll have to recheck the box to view the internet as normal... I wonder if there is a way to force that selection only for specific domains (www.myspace.com)

reboot

2006-09-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

reboot
Originally uploaded by garyowen.

I just wanted to open a PDF.

What zune should've done

2006-09-19T15:14:00.000-07:00

Microsoft's Zune

The music sharing feature is being touted as a killer feature for the zune. I think they've failed in their implementation though. The current design has them copying the songs over to the other zune, and then allowing the zune to play it three times, or for three days, whichever comes first.

The problem with this design is that it highlights how arbitrarily restrictive the drm technology is. When you go back to play the song for a fourth time and you can't, even though it's still there on your device, you realize that you never really owned a zune... at least not all of it. Something deep inside it still belongs to Microsoft.

A better implementation in my opinion:
Allow music to be streamed to any other zune, so long as they are within wifi range. Exactly how iTunes works today. When the zune is out of range, so is the music.

This emulates digitally, what is already possible in real life. If somebody is close to you, and they have music, you can join in listening to it. They could have made it even more interesting by making it so that you can listen to what other's are listening to. Think of the interesting effect that could have connecting other zune owners...

Ah well, instead, it's crippled drm... and I'm not interested.

myspace = the internet circa 1998

2006-09-10T14:31:00.000-07:00

When or where else did everyone use such horrific design on their personal websites. I'm surprised though that people don't use the old standby <blink></blink>.

Also, why am I so grumpy?

influencers

2006-09-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

One of the great values that companies try to derive from bloggers is their "influence". They call bloggers influencers because they have reach into a community of people who value their opinion.

Here's a thought: People who sell themselves, aren't influencers.

In society these days, it is becoming more and more difficult to influence people once they know you were paid to do so...

West Coast Gangstas

2006-09-05T16:03:00.000-07:00

IMG_2245.JPG
Originally uploaded by monsterpants.

more myspace gripes

2006-09-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

Adding a caption to a photo. First, you can't simply add a caption from your picture page. You have to go into the Add/Edit pictures pages. Then you find your picture and simple enough there is a button there you can use to add a caption. You are now redirected to a page that has an upload box on it. Why? Oh I see, you have to scroll to the bottom of the entire freaking page to update your caption. So they took the piece of the UI that you are most interested in... the one thing you actually wanted to do on this page, and put it at the BOTTOM!.

critically speaking: bad user interface design

2006-09-02T16:23:00.000-07:00

I've been in a very critical mood lately. So far I have avoided criticizing those around me (you know, real people), which is a good thing. I can get pretty passionate about things. I've had three interactions with really bad software design recently.

myspace.com: Their layout and navigation is quite frustrating. I'm still not exactly sure what combination of links I have to click on to post a new "blog". Also, why are they the only site in the world that doesn't know that a blog is not a post... it's the whole thing, including every post.

Live.com: Signing up for a passport or live account or whatever they are calling it this week was a horrible experience. First rule of UI design, don't make your widgets move for no reason! In fact, there is no good reason, you're widgets shouldn't move after the page has finished loading.

Visio: The task was simple, addd some callouts to a diagram. The callouts were easy to add, but impossible to resize. Well it turns out that the designer of the callout object knew they were problematic, they went so far as to make the default text (before you replace it with your own) instructions on how to resize them... except the directions weren't helpful because they told you to grab a tab that wasn't there. So we dig through and try to find the property pages. Turns out the easiest way to adjust the width of the callout text box is to change THE HEIGHT! Somebody please explain this to me... or not, I'm not sure I want that kind of logic anywhere near my brain.

Running is as Running does

2006-09-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

I ran today. I ran yesterday. Running is hard work, but it's also fun. It makes walking seem much easier.

Live.com

2006-08-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

Maybe the whole thing just doesn't work with firefox...

Microsoft Live Spaces Sucks!

2006-08-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post a comment on Kevin's blog.

First I had to create a new live account. The UI for creating a new user is horrible. Every time you move to a new section of the screen it adds some "helpful" information to the page, that not so helpfully moves the current dialog boxes around. So the process consists of: first dialog box, enter value, wait for page to redraw, search for box you just clicked on, verify that input is still valid, enter value, tab to next dialog, next dialog moves, scan page for cursor, try to enter value again, rinse, repeat.

Once I got signed in, I was finally able to post a comment. But when I clicked the add button, nothing happened, so I clicked it again. Still failure.

This was an awful experience. All I wanted to do was post a simple comment about how cool Dirty Jobs is. Very simple. I guess not.

UI Design is very important. Micrsoft missed the mark big time on this one. And, they did it to me the very first time I used their service. I'm not sure I will bother going back. I'm pissed.

myspace sucks again

2006-08-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

why can't they move their blog management to a faster cluster? Why must they waste so much of my time.

I hate them.

Why text messaging rules: #3

2006-08-25T20:47:00.000-07:00

I can do it in a restaurant and nobody gives me the so called evil eye balls stare.

online promotions

2006-08-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

dear papa johns,

If you put promotions on your website, please let your franchises know about it so that when we call and ask for the promotion, they know what we're talking about and we don't have to waste 10 minutes trying to "locate" said promotion. It would make our lives a lot easier.

Gary

myspace sucks!

2006-08-18T16:19:00.000-07:00

myspace sucks!

No witty insight or commentary on how they could improve. They just suck. I'm sick and tired of waiting for their pages to load......

Why text messaging rules: #2

2006-08-18T16:14:00.000-07:00

Multi-tasking. I can text and listen to music/watch tv/carry on a conversation (kind off) all while texting.

Why text messaging rules: #1

2006-08-17T13:49:00.000-07:00

I hate checking my voice mail. I hate it so much. I have two messages on my voice mail right now. I know who they are from, and what they are about. I can't bring myself dial in and erase them. It seems so archaic.

rock on bishop

2006-08-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

rock on bishop
Originally uploaded by garyowen.

Got some pictures up bout phil and lacey's wedding.

New Harleys

2006-07-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

hmmm, this is interesting. Perhaps my search starts all over again. I'll have to call the dealership and see when they are getting the new models in.

Vista

2006-07-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

Yeah I gave up on that. I didn't do it early enough in the process and now it would be a pain to backup the macbook pro before doing it (sounds like their is a bit of partition hacking you need to do).

Maybe by the time the release candidates roll around...

MacBook for Jon

2006-07-18T16:10:00.000-07:00

Jon got a macbook. That's cool... Maybe we can put ours together and they can fight... see which one heats up faster.

Apple "Marketing"

2006-07-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

Now I like the macbook, I like it a lot. But stuff like this really annoys me.

Why does the battery charge seems to run down faster when using Windows XP than when using Mac OS X?

Mac OS X includes power management optimizations that are not available in Windows XP.

The reality is that windows xp has had this type of technology (intel speedstep) for a long time. Really what happened is that apple didn't include the appropriate drivers in the bootcamp beta. Or perhaps the appropriate drivers don't exist yet (although I find that hard to believe since there are windows machines running on core duo now). Maybe they're they're talking about some other kind of optimizations... spinning down the HD... shutting down the monitor... I think the reality is that some Apple marketing person is trying to take an extra, unnecessary jab at Microsoft. Come on Apple marketing person, stand up for what you're good at, making computers "Cool" and stop trying to belittle your competition when anyone with a little experience with technology can see through your spin.

Vista on Macbook

2006-07-13T21:27:00.000-07:00

Found some instructions here. I'll try it out tomorrow (or so).

Windows on a Mac Book

2006-07-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

Finally got it installed today. Wasn't very difficult once I had the proper CD. For some reason the eject button doesn't work though, which was supposedly included in the driver dvd. It's easy enough to eject through explorer if an external mouse is plugged in though. I hope apple keeps working on bootcamp. It's probably 90% there.

I tried to apply all the latest updates from MS, except I can't proof my copy of windows is "genuine" without activating, and I'm not sure that I want to activate this machine yet. Hopefully by tomorrow vista beta 2 will be finished download and I can try installing that instead... I'll have to do some googling first to see if there are any tips out there.

Layout on Defence

2006-07-13T18:16:00.000-07:00

Layout on Defence
Originally uploaded by timblair.

This is why ultimate is fun.

ultimate frisbee

2006-07-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

ultimate frisbee is very fun. If anyone hasn't heard of it, check out the wikipedia entry.

We've been playing the first and third thursdays of every month at 41st and Fremont.

Harley Softail Standard or Low-Rider

2006-07-12T23:03:00.000-07:00

What do y'all think.

This or this?

I like the lines of the standard with the hidden suspension, but the shocks are kind of cool looking on the low rider. They are pretty close in price. Both have a seat height around 25.5 inches which is probably right for me. One is rigid mounted with a balanced engine, the other is rubber mounted...

Both are nice looking bikes.

Macbook day 2

2006-07-12T22:34:00.000-07:00

Well I had a false start with installing Windows XP on the macbook pro tonight. Turns out you need the XP + SP2 install disk and I only have the original XP install disk. Perhaps I can burn a copy from work tomorrow and use my existing install key.

Leadership and Belonging

2006-07-12T16:51:00.000-07:00

There are 2 types of people in the world.
1. Those that want to belong to something bigger than themselves.
2. Those that want to create something bigger than themselves.

Number 2s are leaders, Number 1s are essential?

New macbook pro

2006-07-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

Purchased a new macbook pro last night.
First order of business: 500 megs of updates from apple. [completed]
Second order of business: Bootcamp and windows xp.
Third order of business: probably also 500 megs of updates from microsoft.

Work is hard

2006-07-10T16:10:00.000-07:00

Working hard is hard work.