Monthly Archives: April 2008

Apr 29

Funny email exchange

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I’m building a site for a woman who’s just finished publishing her first book. Since it’s just published, she’s light on testimonials…and given that I was in need of something to fill a module on the left side of a page, I created one for her.

She asked where I got the quote:

Just curious–where did you get the quote from Winston in Long Beach, CA?

So I answered honestly:

Winston is a guy who lives in apartment 2C, in that complex about two nanoblocks west of my cerebral cortex. He really wants to participate in your site, but if you don’t like his quote, he can leave.

Let’s see if he’s still around tomorrow.

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Apr 22

Ramona School District Uses Call System for Political Message

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The school district here in my home town has a pretty efficient system for making automated phone calls to parents of students in the district. We get phone calls from my daughter’s school fairly frequently, usually about things like:

  • School closure announcements
  • Special events at the school
  • Report card reminders
  • Emergencies and/or high-importance messages

Tonight, we got a recorded message from the superintendent, and the president of the PTSA. The message: please go protest the governor’s proposed budget at juvenile hall this week.

Now I don’t mind getting political phone calls. In fact, I usually enjoy them. Every time there’s a particularly spicy subject on the ballot, the Republican publicity machine cranks up the evening reminders to me to be a good citizen. What I do mind is the use of education dollars (read: tax dollars) to fund political messages like the one we received tonight.

Assuming that I could deal with the misuse of funds, how about this one? You’re using the school district’s parent phone list for political gain. Hmmm…should I add myself to the “do not call” list at the school, now? I don’t recall being asked about political action calls when we agreed that it was important for the school to be able to notify us of important school-related issues. We usually assume that there’s something important going on when the district number shows up on caller ID; but this is like having your oncologist call to solicit donations for the hospital.

Notice that I’m not commenting on the merits of their concern. The truth is, I’m not well-enough versed in the details of the budget to comment one way or another. But even if I did agree that the governor is screwing our schools, I’d still take issue with the superintendent’s decision to abuse his uninhibited access to parents.

How about this, Mr. Superintendent? Go make the phone calls, one by one, to each home in town, and declare yourself as a political action figure. Or better yet: have a car wash, and pass out fliers.

Hell, I don’t even wash my car…but I’d still fork out $10 to have you spray it down, just so I could mock you in a bikini.

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Apr 22

Mac to XBox 360 and Apple TV – No More DVDs!

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I finally did it.

I will never burn another video DVD.

Okay, so maybe I’m exaggerating, but there’s still something to be excited about. I’ve had an Apple TV for over a year, an XBox 360 for even longer, and a desire to watch all of my video content without physical media since before I was born. With the recent addition of Connect360 from NullRiver, I’m now able to stream video content from iTunes on my Mac, straight to my Xbox 360.

What’s more? The Apple TV format created by Handbrake works flawlessly on the XBox, allowing me to kill a bunch of birds with one very small rock.

So after sinking $20 into Connect360, $120 into a 750GB external drive just for movies, I’m officially ready to ditch every piece of physical media in my house.

Heh. Call me in a year…