So long, Ant.

I downloaded iTunes 4.9 earlier today, but I'm finally playing with it now. I just discovered that it will, in fact, play videoblogs. This is awesome.

I've had a few complaints about Ant ever since I started using it. First, those stinking drawers. My screen resolution is set to 1024x768, and the drawer that shows all downloaded files extends off the bottom of the screen so I can't resize it. Also, there are no groups (as in NetNewsWire Lite) to clump similar vlogs together and save the subscription list from becoming entirely too long. And I don't see any easy way to Get Info on a particular subscription (to view, say, the URL for a feed).

I've tried iPodderX a few times, but I just don't like it. It tries too hard to be too much, and it runs butt slow on my computer. The only plus that iPodderX has that no other app does is that it can use the Mac's speech to read a text blog and put it in an MP3. I've never used that feature, even though I think it's really cool.

I want an app that just opens, downloads the files I want, plays them, saves them in an easy to locate directory, offers to move the file to the trash when I tell it to delete, and quits when I'm done with it (without that annoying fade out that iPodderX uses). Also, I'd like my podcasts to sync easily with iTunes.

So here comes iTunes 4.9. It has the best interface I've seen so far. It only takes about three clicks (at the most) to get a podcasted file to my iPod playlist. Also, it will strip the audio portion of a vlog entry and put it in an MP3 file that I can listen to on my iPod. I don't know how often I'll use that feature, but it's cool that it's there.

I can finally abandon all other podcasting/videoblog clients because iTunes 4.9 is everything I've been waiting for. Thank you, Apple.

I like this picture.

I found this on Kevin Rose's blog, and he saw it on Kevin Pereira's blog.

And the survey says...

It's a boy!

And he shall be called: Mason.

Last Night...

...Renaissance was being a bit whiny, so Renee and I decided that I should come home early from work. Today is the day that we find out if the new baby is a boy or a girl, and we wanted Renaissance to take a short nap on Sunday, then go to bed and wake up early.

So much for that. I came home at 11:30 and she was still up. So I picked her up, held her and explained to her (again) that tomorrow was a big day and she would know whether she was getting a little brother or a little sister. She was calm for a few minutes, then started screaming to get down and was reaching for her sippy cup on the counter. When I put her down, she ran over to it and was reaching for it. So I washed it and filled it with milk, then Renee and I put her to bed. She fell asleep.

So I came home for five minutes of seeing her, and she was perfect for the rest of the night.

I'll post later today to let everyone know what the new baby is.

Today's Excerpt from Class

*teacher writes "(7+3) * 2" on board*

Teacher: What is this?
Various Students: 20!
The Guy Sitting Next to Me: 42!

And he was completely serious.

God save us all.

True friends, they stab you in the face.

Uhh... I sat down to post, and got all ready, and then realized that I don't have anything to say.

Hmm. I guess I'll ramble.

I'm getting slightly better at Perl (I can write a pathetic loop!), but I still have no idea how to write a full-fledged awesome program. And no one cares.

Fathers' Day was pretty cool. Renee's working on a scrapbook of our family that she was doing for my gift, but it's a very time-consuming thing to do, so she's still working on it. Renaissance gave me a Blue's Clues coupon good for one kiss. I redeemed it shortly after she gave it to me. Also, she (and the people in the church nursery) made me a Fathers' Day card. Then, we went out to eat at Cici's Pizza ("All you can eat for only $3.99!").

And... I guess that's it.

Does anyone have $1,800 I can "borrow"?

In lieu of my recent horrendous lack of posts, I give you:

Aibo does Daft Punk

And I'm serious about the title.

#!/usr/bin/perl

Gaaaah. I'm so frustrated.

I try so hard to be a geek, but my interests are just so numerous that it hinders my ability to learn any one thing extraordinarily (or even moderately) well.

I'm trying to learn Perl. I know I'm very behind in updating Renaissance's web site. I want to take apart our old vacuum cleaner and see what makes it work -- and maybe use the motor for... something. I'm learning all sorts of weird features in Microsoft Office in college.

I just don't have any ideas. Or time/skills to implement my ideas. Do you know how annoying it is to hear that companies are trying to implement your ideas, when you came up with them first? Renee and I came up with a system a while ago to allow cars to beam data to each other, and now there's IEEE 802.11p. Done. Crap.

I get good ideas for programs that I should write, but I've basically forgotten all the Java I learned in college. Perl is easier than Java, though, so I'm trying to get my brain back into programming. And I forget my ideas because I'm an idiot and don't write anything down. I need a mission.

I feel like I can change the world. I feel like I have so much potential, but I'm just... stuck. I'm sick of waiting. I want to change the world now. I'm 22 and I feel like my chance to introduce something new is slipping away.

If anyone...

...who reads this (both of you) has any PC100 RAM (100MHz), I need it badly. Like two 128MB DIMMs. Pleeease. My iMac is very hungry.

Thank you.

Just because it's easier doesn't make it right.

Yesterday in class, my teacher couldn't quite remember how many bytes are in a kilobyte, and I, knowing the answer, said, "One thousand twenty-four."

But I sit in the back of the class and she likes to ignore me. So she wrote "1 byte = 1000 kilobytes" on the board.

This is one of my biggest pet peeves. (Both being ignored and people misrepresenting data).

Edit: What I obviously meant to say was "1 kilobyte = 1000 bytes." Woops.

We live in a strange, strange world...

First, Microsoft uses PowerPCs in the Xbox 360, and now this.

iPod Juicy Fruit

Someone took our iPod's name (Juicy Fruit) one step further.

Two Quick Movie Reviews

So yesterday we watched two movies: Shark Tale and A Cinderella Story. Both were better than I expected.

Shark Tale was a unique story with a lot of pop culture references. It's really not even in the same league as Finding Nemo. The animation is... nothing spectacular, but not crappy. Again, you can't even compare it to Finding Nemo because that movie's animation is perfect. While you become attached to the characters in Finding Nemo, in Shark Tale, it's just... fluff. It's good fluff, though.

Speaking of fluff, A Cinderella Story. Renee and I were calling the movie the whole time. I was wrong about one thing, though: "Prince Charming" (Austin) never used the phone that Sam dropped as the glass slipper. I don't understand why, though. It seems like the perfect way to find Cinderella. The phone was locked -- only the real Cinderella would have known the code to unlock it. But probably when they were screening the movie they realized that would be pretty cheesy. But so is the gross overuse (and inaccurate representation, i.e. typing messages as fast as you can talk) of text messaging. Oh, and also I thought "Come Clean" was going to start playing at the end of the movie -- it didn't. Anyway, it was still a fun watch.

What I Learned Today

Lesson One: How to insert a floppy diskette.

Lesson Two: Microsoft invented the desktop metaphor because they are smart. (Update: See comments.)

Lesson Three: When passing around the attendance sheet, don't hand it back to the person who gave it to you. They've probably already signed it.

Lesson Four: Getting a 1GB iPod Shuffle was the best possible decision Renee and I could have made. I was foolish to think it wouldn't work on the university computers. It is a driverless USB flash drive and it does work. Rock on.

TV is Crap (Except for Some of It)

I feel so out of it. Perhaps it has something to do with me wanting to go to bed.

I just finished an episode of The X-Files and now I'm watching another one. I miss old TV.

Survivor, I hate you. You ruined it all.

PS - I'm cool because I watch The X-Files with my Maglite.