Mac Net Journal

I am not noticing any problems so far after updating my MacBook Pro to run Mac OS X 10.4.8 this evening. Like some others in reports I have read, I experienced a double restart after installing the update, but other than that, everything has run just as it did before.

The cider, before it was pressed
Saturday, September 30, 2006, 9:31 PM

Our visit to pick up the weekly garden share at Terry's Berries this afternoon turned out to be my first opportunity since I was a teenager to make my own fresh-pressed apple cider. About 45 minutes after picking these apples, their juice was pouring out of a wooden trough and into a plastic bucket before being drained into one-gallon jugs. Four and a half gallons.

Dandelion
Saturday, September 30, 2006, 7:50 PM

Dandelions may be reviled by the fans of perfect lawns, but there is no denying their appeal for photography.

The colors of fall
Saturday, September 30, 2006, 7:42 PM

I am playing catch up tonight, posting daily photos from the last couple of days, when my after hours social schedule kept me from making daily photo posts. The busy schedule hasn't kept me from taking photos though. The shot above is taken from my office, where the tree outside my window seems to glow when the sun lights up its changing leaves.

Who said Tacoma was gritty?
Wednesday, September 27, 2006, 10:55 PM

I forced myself to take a break during the lunch hour today, and I made the 15-minute walk from my office over to the Tacoma Tideflats for some birding on the shores of Middle Waterway. Unfortunately, all I found there were some Glaucous-winged Gulls. On the walk back to the office I was drawn to photograph the rundown warehouse alongside the Thea Foss Waterway in the image above. Even in its run down state, there is dignity in the aging, crumbling building...

Winthrop sunset
Tuesday, September 26, 2006, 9:42 PM

The Winthrop Hotel has been in the news a lot over the last few months here in Tacoma, with a debate about whether it should be refurbished and remain as housing for low income residents or whether it should be returned to its original purpose as a luxury hotel. Whichever way it goes, there is no denying that even in its current state of disrepair, the top of the building is stunning in the fall light as the sun gets ready to set.

Another view not long for this world
Monday, September 25, 2006, 10:46 PM

I only managed to take one photo today, but at least I made it count. The photo above is taken from the corner of 6th Avenue and St. Helens in the north part of downtown - the heart of Tacoma's condominium building boom. This unobstructed view of Mt. Rainier is scheduled to be blocked by an 18-story condo building.

Look quick. Oh, I should mention that the view in the Mac Net Journal banner image has disappeared since I last took it as well. It is blocked by a huge apartment building. And so it goes...

A fountain pen field test - useful reading
Sunday, September 24, 2006, 11:05 PM

If you actually use a fountain pen in the workplace, like I do quite often, check out the fountain pen field test post over at PigPog. I haven't used any of the pens that are tested here, but as I read through the post it offers some decent tips for what may work in real-world office conditions, rather than in the study at home.

Sunflower
Sunday, September 24, 2006, 10:51 PM

Today was one of those sunny fall Sundays that are such a Pacific Northwest treat. Following a day of working on house projects and around the yard, what better way to note the day than a snapshot of a sunflower in bloom in the parking strip in front of our house.

Welcome to fall
Saturday, September 23, 2006, 9:42 PM

What better way to mark the new season than with a new experiment? I have had a hard time wanting to post much about Mac news lately. My online reading has been more related to work and productivity. So I am going to try returning to an old project I worked on a number of years ago, when I published a blog called The Equinox Project. On that blog I tried to post a new photo each day to reflect something interesting I saw. So today I start all over again, following yet another equinox.

Today's image is a Great Blue Heron, flying away from me as I helped lead a bird walk this morning at Titlow Beach Park in Tacoma.

Doubting Zune can hold a tune
Thursday, September 14, 2006, 10:31 PM

This has been an interesting week. First comes another overhyped Apple event where Steve Jobs rolled out some cool gadgets, but nothing earth shattering. Then today comes the news that Microsoft is relying on its new Zune media player - its supposed iPod killer - to help make the company cool again. Excuse me, but when was Microsoft ever cool? They created tools that could be used to do cool things, if you were clever enough to avoid blue screens of death and the intricacies of DOS, but Microsoft has never been cool.

Where to tune in tomorrow for Apple coverage
Monday, September 11, 2006, 8:49 PM

I will be en-route to take Natalie to the airport tomorrow morning when Steve Jobs makes whatever big announcements he has planned. I will catch up after the fact. But there are other resources that can offer quick updates. My choice: Try Engadget, which is promising reporting from Paul Boutin and photos of the new toys by Ryan Block.

Five years, and still the memory lingers
Monday, September 11, 2006, 12:00 AM

It doesn't feel like five years have passed since the terrorism attacks of September 11, 2001. When the attacks took place I was glued to the TV as I worked from home here on the West Coast, watching in horror as the Twin Towers fell and as the plane barreled into the Pentagon. I spent days following the attacks living online, doing my work on the old online communities and message boards for Lycos.com. I was far from the attacks, but living so close to them through those online communities had a real impact on me.

Now the horror has become a pawn for political and financial gain - movies, made for TV mini-series and a whole host of speechifying are what we face instead of real remembrances. I have no desire to see or hear any of it. Anyone who wraps themselves in the flag today, or who uses 9/11 as a ploy to justify the mistakes of the last five years is a fraud.

As near as I can, I will work to stay away from the replays for the video and the endless analysis today. It's not that I want to forget. Instead, I want to honor the loss.

Toying with push e-mail on my Treo
Sunday, September 10, 2006, 11:39 PM

I just downloaded and set up Chatteremail on my Treo 650, to get a feel for using a push e-mail client like all of the Blackberry-using friends and co-workers I encounter every day. I am giing the program a try for the 30-day trial period, and I will likely try out the Exchange client as well, to tie into my work e-mail. I may as well make the phone a real communicator...

A Wild Kingdom moment in downtown Tacoma
Tuesday, September 5, 2006, 11:31 PM

This morning as I sat at my desk in downtown Tacoma I could hear the frantic cries of a bird outside - a sound I immediately associated with a bird trying to escape a raptor of some kind. I could hear the cries even though the sound had to come through the glass window. It only took a moment to confirm that the sound was coming from the top of a nearby building, where I could see a Peregrine Falcon sitting on top of what I assume was a desperate Rock Pigeon. After a minute or two, the cries stopped, and the falcon flew away from the scene in pursuit of another pigeon.

It was a perfect brutal truth of nature, right in the heart of the city. And I am not sure anyone else noticed...

On my must-read list for today: A Briefing on Syncing
Tuesday, September 5, 2006, 11:10 PM

MacDevCenter offers an electronic book excerpt today that I need to read, especially after spending too much time trying to get my Treo 650 to sync effectively with my Mac and Documents To Go via Missing Sync for Palm OS: A Briefing on Syncing.