Honey, I shrunk the software..

As the resident Mac guy at work, I end up buying a lot of video editing software. One that occasionally gets requested is Apple's Final Cut Studio, which was always funny because it came in a huge box with a ton of manuals. Apple just released a new version of it, and it is much smaller and lighter - evidently, they digitized the manuals. Which makes things much easier on the back. As you can guess, the new version is on top, the old one on the bottom.

This box has me all over it!

coworker bsom was about to mail something he sold on eBay in a box that something from work came in when I noticed the writing on the bottom - "Single and Floppy". Presumably it's Engrish to let the people packing items know how much they can fit in the box. But I couldn't help remarking that I am, well, both single and floppy.

Although I have a date tomorrow night, so if things go well maybe at least one of those adjectives could change.

World's largest printer test page!

So one of our science departments has a large-format Canon poster printer that they use for printing giant posters for science presentations. The first time I laid eyes on it, my first thought was "it would be awesome to print a Windows test page on that". Of course, it isn't that simple - a normal Windows test page won't scale, so you would just get a normal test page on a giant piece of glossy paper.

I mentioned it to bsom, and he had to test the printer anyway, since he had just replaced a number of parts on the printer. So he found a PDF of an Acrobat Pro test page and printed it on the printer. It now hangs on the door to my office, and barely fits.

Hey! Why is my car up on blocks?

The first new car I bought was an Inferno Red Chrysler PT Crusier, in August 2001, my senior year in college. About 6 weeks after I picked it up, on a Friday afternoon, I walked out of my off-campus apartment to drive to an 11am econ class, only to find that someone had stolen the rims and left it on cinder blocks.



I traded the car in several years ago - in addition to the rim theft and a hit-and-run, it was cursed with electrical demons that killed a transmission controller, the entire guage cluster, and would make the air bag light come on when it rained. But I still have a red PT Cruiser model and a remote control car in my office, and one of my coworkers thought it would funny to put it on "blocks" (actually, the foam that Lenovo packs laptops in). And it was kinda funny....

This is Terry Tate's house!

Evidently, someone at work was so annoyed by coming into the breakroom to an empty coffeepot that they felt the need to invoke the words of Terry Tate, Office Linebacker.

Our break room has become a collection of passive aggressive notes about how to act in the break room. I'm waiting for it to turn into an official email or all-hands meeting topic.

Mmm... dusty!

I did some much-needed vacuuming this afternoon. This is the dust container of my Dyson D7 (refurb from woot.com) after I did my living room, bedroom, and two hallways. Most of it is cat fur, courtesy of Nibbler. If shedding was a job, she would be President. If cat fur had market value, I'd be rich. I'm pretty sure my carpet will be black again in another day or two.

Do you think it's 1080P?

Spotted this classic Zenith console TV at a yard sale today. It would make a hell of a fishtank, if I had the time, space, and skills...

Not just good. Sonic good...

One funny thing about living in Maryland is that we frequently see ads for Sonic drive-in resturants, but there aren't any in the state. There are a few in PA, though, one of which is in Lancaster, right accross from the Tanger Outlet Mall. So of course when I was there on Monday, I put aside my usual careful watching of what I ate and ate like a pig. In the picture are the large tater tots with chili, cheese and onions and a large Sonic Blast with Reese's peanut butter cups. Not shown, on my lap, is a junior cheeseburger.

If I was running ME, I'd keep it a secret too...

I spotted these books in a "Book and Bible Outlet" in the Rockvale Outlet Mall in Lancaster on Monday. For those who don't remember, ME was Windows Millenium Edition - it was basically Windows 98SE with a few extra features like system restore. It gets a horrible rep from computer nerds, but I honestly don't think it was that bad an OS - not as stable as the NT variants, but not as resource-heavy as 2000 was. But since it was released in 2001, I really hope nobody is still running it.

Pouncing or pooping?

I saw this Garfield kid's ride in front of a store at the Tanger Outlets in Lancaster when I went up there on Monday. I realize that it's probably designed to look like Garfield is about to pounce, but when I saw the raised tail, the first thing I thought was "gee, when my cat's tail is up like that, she's usually about to handle some business in the litter box".

I guess we know where Barbie parks her Eclipse..

Spotted this fine automobile in the parking lot of the Rockvale Outlets in Lancaster yesterday. I'm no expert on diamond-star cars, but I'm pretty sure that isn't a factory color.

Today's purchases...

I took a day off from work and went up to Lancaster, PA today to hit the outlets. I'm not a huge shopper, but it's an excuse to buy some clothes I can use, drive through scenic (sort of)rural PA, stock up on near-dated Peppridge Farm products, and eat at Sonic.

Here's the pile of stuff I bought - which included 2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, 2 pairs of track pants, 2 pairs of boxers, a pair of gym shorts, 4 books, a few kitchen gadgets, and a month's supply of Goldfish. Probably spent around $140.

I have a couple other pics - I'll probably keep posting them throughout the week, unless something really cool comes up for me to take a daily pic of.

Another Hamfest...

Went to a hamfest this morning at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship. I sold quite a bit of stuff, and more importantly I sold a bunch of large items that were taking up room in my basement. I only bought two things, and sold one of them to bsom at cost.

This is my space, towards the end of the day so I don't have a whole lot left.

Chicken for breakfast?

Hit a couple yard sales this morning, but came up empty. After 2 hours, I decided to cut my losses and give up. I found myself near Perring Plaza and decided to stop at Chik-fil-a - because I hadn't had one of their chicken biscuits for breakfast in a while, and also because I really had to pee.

I'm a big fan of the chicken biscuit - it sounds weird, but it's tasty, even though it's probably not the world's healthiest breakfast food.

All computers are green on the inside..

I have a couple year old Toshiba laptop that I got as part of a pallet of items I bought from the DC police department in an online auction. It seemed to have some wonky charging issues, so I asked my coworker bsom to take a look, since this model is known for having a power jack that comes loose and he's a whiz with a soldering iron. So he took a look at it tonight after work. This is the insides.

Unfortunatly, it looks like it's something else, so I'll probably just list it for parts or repair. I'll still probably get $100 or so, which should put me in the black for the lot thanks to some other stuff I've sold from the lot.

But I'm hungry now!

We're currently tearing out one of labs and switching it with our help center at work. These panels were from the old lab, and were sitting in the hallway complete with "no food or drink" sign. I was tempted to take the sign off and stick it on the fridge in the breakroom.

How much for teh kitty?

I was pricing stuff for a hamfest this coming weekend that I'm selling at (basically a swap meet for ham radio and computer enthusiasts). Nibbler the cat seemed interested in the price tags. Maybe she was worried I'd put one on her.

Laundry time...

Realized that I was pretty much out of clean towels - all the nice fluffy ones are dirty and I'm down to the ones that are almost worn through and feel like sandpaper. So time to trudge down to the basement laundry room/room where I keep all the shit I don't know what to do with and do laundry.

My washer and dryer are pretty much the world's most basic - they are "Estate" brand, which is evidently the name Whirlpool puts on appliances that it's too embarrassed to admit they made. My house was a rental for a while before I bought it, and I suspect the previous owners bought the cheapest thing they could find. They do the job, though.

Please don't nom teh fishies...

OK, this picture is actually from yesterday - the fish tank is in the waiting room of the clinical center that the college I work for operates. I'm a sucker for a sign with a cat, so I had to take a picture.

Worst. Test. Name. Ever.

This was hanging on a bulliten board in a computer lab that I was replacing some computers in today (yea overtime!). I think it needs no comment.

Hai, I scratch everything but the post next to me...

One of the nice things about having a cat is you can always take a picture of them for your daily photo site if you find the day almost over and you haven't taken a picture yet. One of the bad things is that when you want to take a picture of that cat doing something cute, she'll pretty much just sit there. I just missed getting a pic of her giving off a big yawn, but of course by the time I got the phone fired up, it was too late.

There goes Peter Cottontail...

One of Baltimore County's fearless rabbits was chilling near my truck when I rolled out the door to work this morning. (s)he was calm enough to let me squeeze off a couple pictures before it hip-hopped away.

If I start finding any white veggies, I know it was Bunnicula.

Lets meet for burritos and conversation....

Tonight I went to El Salto, a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant in Parkville, located in what I'm pretty sure was once a Roy Rogers, to meet a woman I met at an online dating site. I was trying to come up with a casual but tasty non-chain restaurant, and it was the best I could come up with.

Date went OK - she seemed to like me, and she's easy on the eyes. Not sure if we have enough in common besides both being cat people for it to turn into anything, but we'll see.

Hey cat, I need to wear that....

I was getting dressed and ready for work yesterday morning when Nibbler the Cat, as she often does, decided that the shirt I was about to wear to work would be a good place to sit. Because nothing quite helps improve your career prospects like showing up to work every day covered in cat fur.

Strangest Ikea as-is item ever...

I live practically around the corner from the Ikea store in White Marsh. I was running some errands yesterday and had a craving for one of their $1 soft-serve frozen yogurts, plus I wanted to pick up some sheets that weren't made of flannel.

The frozen yogurt machine was broken, but I did stop by the as-is section, where I've gotten some good deals in the past. But this wasn't one of them - what does one do with a fake printer? I guess I could take one into work and ask our printer tech if he can fix it.

My love is bigger than a Honda, it's bigger than a Subaru...

I spotted this pink Cadillac CTS barreling up the left hand lane of 83 South just south of the Maryland/PA border. I'm guessing someone was a very good Mary Kay saleswoman, or a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. Not the best picture, because it's hard to fire up the camera on the iPhone while driving 75 and trying not to hit anyone.

That is some very powerful chicken...

My mom mentioned that they haven't barbequed anything recently, because my dad has been having some health problems. I don't generally grill either - I have a gas grill at Casa De Mad but I don't use it much, because grilling for one seems like a hassle, plus I haven't had my backyard fenced in yet (it's one of my goals for this summer) and feel kind of silly standing in an open yard grilling.

So I offered to BBQ some chicken breasts while I was up here. So my mom and I cooked these up, and they came out pretty good.

They 16's... I keep 'em clean, though...

I ran to the local Stop and Shop grocery store for my parents yesterday - my mom handed me a giant shopping list and a thick stack of coupons. I'm not used to shopping for other people - normally I just wander around and throw stuff in my cart, and then get home and realize I bought 2 gallons of ice cream but no coffee filters.

The shopping center has a hand car wash, so I got the Ranger washed while I was there. It's probably the first time I've gotten it washed in about 8 months or so. It looks good, but I assume it will get dirty pretty soon.

Evidently, my boss is moonlighting in the pickle business...

I drove my mom to a nearby Italian deli today, so she could pick up about 14 pounds of pasta salad for our 4th of July dinner today - we're celebrating the 4th on the 3rd because my brother has to work tomorrow night.

While there, I noticed this jar of pickles, which I found amusing since my boss shares his first and middle name with this pickle producer.

Would you prefer your donut cream-filled or mail-filled?

I drove up to NJ today to visit the parents for the 4th of July weekend. As usual, I stopped at Maple Donuts, a local donut shop near York that has a variety of unusual donuts. In addition to the giant donut on their roof that I posted back in April, they also have a mailbox shaped like a giant donut.

That's a hot little computer there...

So my coworker bsom lost his phone today, and I went with him to retrace his steps and try calling his iphone from mine to see if it rang. One of his stops was in the switchroom, a room that lurks below one of the buildings at the college I work at and houses much of the equipment that makes our phone system run. Our phone system is a rather elderly ROLM, but it does the job, but there is some very specialized and not exactly up to date equipment in the room. I'm not sure what this computer does, but I hope it's not much, because it's pretty amazing that it still runs. It's an IBM 8088, which puts it somewhere in the mid-80's. I guess it's a testament to IBM that it still boots.