Say hallo to my little friend!

You can view the other entries and vote starting at 10:40 AM CST on 1/27 here.

You ever look at something you made and realize how crappy it is? I did this the other day. I run he website for DFTTrikes.com. The problem is, they make really cool stuff (go buy one) and the site doesn’t do the product justice. So I have embarked on yet another site redesign. If you want to see it in development stage, go here. I am planning on making it all metallic looking and it seems to be coming along nicely. Here is a shot of the tentative title logo.

By the way the flash intro that is up on the live site now was really planned to segway into the new version of the site, I just did it a while back and figured I would put it up since it was done.

If you want to see DFT and other cool stuff, the time in Chicago is soon. There are 2 big shows in Febuary. And if you print this off, you will save $1 off a new DFT Trike!

Supercycle Show & Parts Expo
McCormick Place
Chicago, IL
Feb 5-6

Chicago International Motorcycle Show
Rosemont Convention Center
Rosemont, IL
Feb 11-13

I know everyone is excited today. Who wouldn’t be on inauguration day. From this day forward, we will have George W. Bush to guide us into prosperity! Oh wait, he was at the helm for the last four years, and about the only thing he guided was the Jack Daniels down his gullet. But this time it will be different! Well will be invading Iran this term, and that those crazy cabinet posts will come with bright shining new faces!

Hmm….I wonder why so many new faces. Could it be they disagree with the way Bush is headed? Perhaps they, being in such high positions, know some things the rest of us don’t. Or maybe they just want to go into the private sector for more money! I mean they have seen what kind of frugal decisions go into those contracts. If the American people (yes, that is OUR money) are willing to shell out all of this money to waste with no repercussions, why not? If we don’t get some honest johns in Washington soon that money is going to dry up and we will be another has-been country. Unfortunately the desire to hoard power and money is human. MAybe I can kill two birds with one stone. I will invent a supercomputer that will govern all of us. It will be trustworthy, and I will make tons of money from the last overpaid government contact! John Connor will never take out my SkyNet!!!

Anyway, here is my graphical interpretation of the inauguration:

I have not done my fair share of sports news this year. The steroids scandal is laughable. Baseball players use steroids. If you didn’t know this and pull the “Those guys are supposed to be role models for my kids” b.s. then you are a jag-bag. Professional athletes are here for your entertainment, that’s all. Next time Terell Owens or Randy Moss does something stupid in the end zone after a touchdown, don’t get mad. Laugh at them. They are funny. Yeah they may get rich doing it, but so many people watch them that only a fraction of your dollar goes into their pockets. And that is a pretty good deal.

And now NHL news. Oh yeah – they aren’t playing. Well I fell bad for the 10,000 true fans out there and for the wives in Minnesota and North Dakota where domestic violence is surely on the rise, but no one else really cares. And there is always basketball. The NBA has pretty much just become a televised pickup game, where most of the players are doing drug deals before the game and drive-bys afterward. Again – just laugh. And teach your kids that if they want to look up to and become like one of these jackasses, they can. But money isn’t everything. And most of those guys will end up broke and even dumber than they were when they started

Anyway, in much more important news, Mike Piazza has put those rumors of gayness to rest, announcing that he is marrying (top item) Playboy Playmate and Baywatch “star” Whatshername Whogivesacrap.

Why is this important you ask? Hmmm. I guess it isn’t at all. Just stare at the funny picture.

Let’s say you work from 2 computers, one at work and one at home. And you want to keep 1 up to date address book. And you are using OS X and it’s built-in AddressBook.app. And you dont have a .mac account to sync across. And you don’t use a palm device to sync your data. And let’s say somehow you found this page. Well you are in luck! I have created a little app that lets you upload your addressbook to operate from a network location, and automatically configure AddressBook.app to use that network location. It also allows you to download from that location, and automatically configures AddressBook.app to look at the local location. Thus allowing you to easily keep a single up to date book without ever actually syncing.

The idea is to keep it on the server at all times, and configure both machines to look at that location. However I added the ability to download and upload in case you wanted to work in the Address Book while not connected to the server. Of course I had to give it a stupid icon. Below is the OS X Mail.app icon, and the icon I made for the script.

If you want the source file, here it is (in AppleScript, zipped). If you have questions about functionality or suggestions, email me at doug@blatti.net.

I finally got my camera up and running again. Ooh yeah – that is some hot stuff. Click the camera icon above to view.

There are so many rewarding experiences you get when working in the computer support field. You have the user who screws up and refuses to admit it, the managers who programmed punch cards in the 70’s who consider themselves “power users”, but one experience takes the cake. Having to deal with a vendor’s help-desk that is located in India.

Yesterday we had some goofy problems with our battery backup sytem, the APC RM 3000 XL. So I decided to fill out their support web form which of course not only asks me to summarize the problem, but give them my contact information, DNA sample, and rights to my soul. So after filling out this long ass form, I get an email back from my man Rehan Shaukat who “would be glad to assist” me. Amongst other things, I need to send him back my serial number and make and model. This is a reasonable request if 1.) I didn’t already give you both of those things when I filled out the web form, and 2.) THEY WEREN’T ALREADY IN THE TEXT OF THE EMAIL YOU JUST SENT ME ASKING FOR THEM.

When I complained so much in years past about having to try and communicate with Southerners, I’d like to take that all back now. They may have been just as bad at helping me, but at least they were from this country.

Ari Afrizal was stranded in the Indian Ocean after the tsunami. He has been floating around for 15 days, nourished by coconuts that have floated by. He eventually found a raft that had a gallon of water on it, and was finally noticed by a passing ship. I wonder how long it took him to sell off the rights to his story to some industrious American. Silly foreigners! Ill make sure to watch your made for TV movie staring Ricky Schroder, and you enjoy the 2 cows and goat you just bought with your royalty check.

Trying out a new place for photoshop contests that Gomer sent me. They have cash prizes! However there isn’t any type of voting for the common-folk yet. The contest: “Sam Fisher is the stealthy main character of the Splinter Cell games. Your mission, should you want the $100 first prize, is to put him in famous historical scenes.”

The actual contest thread starts here here.

My entry is on page 4.

Well I wasn’t the first gerbil entry, but I was the best dammit!

You can view the other entries and vote starting at 8:03 PM CST on 1/9 here.