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alandd's LiveJournal:
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| Saturday, January 30th, 2010 | | 1:22 am |
Mac OSX Tool I just wrote: AddressThing
AddressThing !! I wrote one of the Mac apps I wanted... Let me know if you find this useful, or if there are other apps you might want. This is a hack; I started writing it as a proof of concept for a 'real' OSX app that I wanted, and decided that this command-line tool would be good enough for me, for now... As described on the linked web page: "A command-line (terminal) application that will look at the entry of the current user's Address Book, and list those contacts that are members of 0 or >1 groups, along with (if relevant) the name of each group." Share and Enjoy! Current Mood:  satisfied | | Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 | | 11:06 am |
Kindle Update
I'm enjoying my Kindle, overall, but have a few thoughts & comments: 1) GET A CASE. I dinged the screen by having it in my bag (I thought it was protected, but not entirely). I think I 'buffed' it out but the next thing I'm spending money on is a case similar to Seth's, but $20 instead of $45. :-) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001S08Y22?ie=UTF8&tag=mrsblumey-20 is Seth's, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002XYS9OU?ie=UTF8&tag=mrsblumey-20 is the one I'm probably getting. Except they're out of it. :-( I'll settle for the black one... :-( 2) built-in PDF reading on the Kindle 2 stinks, for most of the PDFs I've tried to read. It works, but 'eh'. The issue is generally one of "designed for 8.5x11 (roughly 13"), reading on 6" screen" and that the PDFs I care the most about right now (Apple's reference material) use a greyscale font that's even harder to read so tiny. Last night I spent maybe an hour converting my PDFs (Apple's docs and some web pages I'd saved to PDF to read at a later date) using MobiConvert. It worked pretty well, but is Windows-only and I'm Mac-preference. ;-) I just found "calibre" and I'm going to try that later... http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/ProductDetailsCreator.asp -- use "publisher" not "home" http://calibre-ebook.com/eta: fixed links; ordered the 2nd case in black. Current Mood: content | | Sunday, December 6th, 2009 | | 3:46 pm |
Opinions wanted - Document Retention Policy?
... which is a formal way of saying "how long do I have to keep this stuff??" (x-posted from Facebook) I've been looking for the title to my car, for the past ~24 hours. With a break last night to go hang out in Boston, and a very nice lunch break today... and I'm fairly positive the title is in my safe deposit box. But I wanted to make sure before I go out to Framingham during banker's hours... So - for those of you who know my (*cough*) filing system, I basically have a pile of papers & envelopes that consist of every piece of mail that has come into my house that I might need. Then I have a pile of papers, folders & envelopes which is "really important stuff". Then I have a pile of papers that is "stuff for taxes". This discussion revolves around the first pile. So I took that huge pile (maybe 15-18"!!!) and went through it yesterday/today, and then branched out to the boxes of papers from when I lived in Framingham (papers from ~2000-2006) and Burlington (2006-2008), and have separated most of it into the following piles: 1) Fastlane statements - statements from my toll transponder 2) Bank Statements/papers - mostly accounts I still have open 3) Investment Statements/papers - mostly accounts I still have open 4) Utilities - Current (Vonage / AT&T Wireless / Electricity / Cable / Water&Sewer) - Former Residences (VZW, VZ, Gas, Electric, Cable, etc.) 5) Household - Current (Landscaping, cleaning, mortgage, property taxes, excise taxes) - Former (Framingham or Burlington) 6) Insurance - Current policies - Former expired policies 7) Credit Card Statements/papers - Current accounts - Former accounts 8) Job-related - Pay stubs - Offer letters - misc. 9) Medical-related - co-payments, bills 10) "Personal Stuff" - Birthday/holiday cards, wedding invitations/thank-you's, etc. 11) Misc. Stuff of Interest - printouts / photocopies of articles & stuff I can't just download 12) Invoices & packing lists from stuff I've ordered So, let's start off by saying that category 11 will never be thrown away (for small values of 'never'), and category 12 has been put into an industrial-sized trashbag and will go out in the trash/recycling soon... In order... 1) Fastlane - I think I can throw these out as if it were junk mail, once I've reviewed each months' for accuracy (when it arrives) 2) Bank Statements. I think I'll file these by year. How many years should I keep? Shred the rest? 3) Investment Statements. Same as #2 4) Utilities. No clue. I THINK I can toss everything that's been closed, for prior residences, immediately. I'm not sure why I'd need to keep current ones either, except for historical comparisons. Any thoughts? 5) Household. I should probably keep the formal ones (town/tax related) for current residence. Any thoughts about the older ones? This includes auto excise bills. Old landscaping/plowing bills I don't think I'd need to keep. Definitely not from older residences (I think those are already in the trash bag) 6) Insurance. Keep the current, keep the prior. Any reason to hold onto older ones? Especially for places I no longer live? What about notices of claims (e.g. replacing the glass when someone threw a rock through the rear window a few years back)? 7) Credit Cards - Same as #2 8) Jobs - There's not enough here for me to worry about it, other than pay stubs. I have the W-2s filed with my taxes for each year/job, so I'll probably shred all of the pay stubs... 9) Medical - Happily I've never spent NEARLY enough on medical expenses to deduct them (and they'd be filed with taxes if I did). Shred them? Keep them? How many years' back? (this is all appointments & bills, not results of blood tests, etc. Relevant 'medical history' is kept in the stack of important papers.) Anyone have opinions (educated, or strong, or both) on these types of papers? Does anyone (other than Seth the Contrarian) think that I should hold onto the various packing lists / invoices from Amazon, Buy.com, NewEgg, Best Buy, etc.? And if so, for how long? Thanks for your opinions! ;-) Current Mood:  curiousCurrent Music: whirring fans | | Monday, November 23rd, 2009 | | 11:47 pm |
| | Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 | | 10:58 pm |
I hate bad news
f you're at all interested in dancing (West Coast Swing specifically) and in the Boston area, please go to the dance this Saturday night (beginner lesson at 8pm) in Sudbury. It's a fundraiser for Sue Cath - a great dance teacher and wonderful woman. http://www.longfellowclubs.com/dance.htmI'm probably not going, having divorced from the dance community and all, but I strongly recommend it to anyone who would be interested... It's a great group of people, very friendly and social and inclusive (at least it was a few years ago, and I haven't heard otherwise)... No need to bring a partner; the lessons rotate and the regulars are more than happy to dance with the beginners afterwards. Current Mood:  sad | | Sunday, October 4th, 2009 | | 8:20 pm |
Sometimes, the technology wins
Every so often, I run across a technology-related problem that is just so bizarre I have to give up. As you probably know, if you know me, I am a bit (*cough*) of a geek... I have a lot of geek toys... I use them well. :-) In my bedroom, for example, I have a nice new flat-panel TV that I bought myself with part of my tax refund this past year. And in honor of the new TV, I got an HD TiVo as well. And since there are so many inputs on the TV, I didn't bother moving my old TiVo elsewhere. I also have a TiVo in my living room on my big CRT TV. Both the old TiVo upstairs, and the living room TiVo, have a "Slingbox" attached. That's a little device that takes in a video signal and streams it over the internet. In theory, wherever I go and have internet, I can use their "Sling Player" software to watch TV from my house. So here's the strangeness... From my bedroom, using an old Mac laptop connected wirelessly, I can reach both the upstairs slingbox and the downstairs slingbox. From my living room, using a new Mac laptop connected wirelessly, I can't reach EITHER slingbox. WTF? Here's another strangeness... From the old TiVo in my bedroom, I can see the HD TiVo that's on the same ethernet switch. From the TiVo downstairs in the living room, I can see the old TiVo upstairs, but not the HD TiVo. From the HD TiVo I THINK I can see both of the others. Any thoughts? I'm blanking on what could cause any of this weirdness. :-) Current Mood: confused | | Thursday, September 10th, 2009 | | 9:47 pm |
Not dead yet!
Just pining for the fjords... Nothing much to say, really. Tired, working lots, keeping busy. Should probably get out and meet folks more than I do, but that's nothing new. I spend a lot of time over on Facebook, and occasionally even post there. I do check in on LJ [a few times] just about every day... Hope all is well with everyone here! | | Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 | | 12:42 am |
| | Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 | | 4:43 pm |
I'm on Dreamwidth too
I have my 'preferred' ID there - 'aland'. I only ended up as 'alandd' here because aland was already taken... :-) Just FYI... We now return you to the gaping hole of silence caused by my minimal posting... | | Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 | | 6:50 pm |
Salon.com Life | Stop worrying about your children!
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2009/05/04/free_range_kids/print.html"Over the past year, syndicated columnist Lenore Skenazy, 49, has become something of a heretic. She's an American mother of two boys, now 11 and 13, who dares to suggest that today's kids aren't growing up in constant state of near peril." I don't entirely know how I feel about this. On the one hand, I totally agree - the world isn't significantly 'worse' than when people my age were growing up. On the other hand, all-those-years-ago neighbors all knew each other, by sight if not as friends/acquaintances. A stranger in the area stuck out. It might not have been a kinder, gentler time but there also wasn't the same aura of fear around that I think is prevalent now... Current Mood: curious | | Thursday, March 19th, 2009 | | 3:16 pm |
| | Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 | | 2:38 pm |
| | Thursday, March 5th, 2009 | | 10:16 am |
iPhone development question
I assume most of you neither know nor care, but I heard something stated as "fact" and I don't know if it's true... In http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8232972, someone said: "It is a simple fact that, on the actual device, Springboard actively hunts for and kills processes it didn't start up itself." Anyone know if this is true, on a non-jailbroken device? I'm tempted to test it myself but I don't know how to get Xcode to build/sign a simple command-line type app. Any thoughts? Current Mood: curious | | Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 | | 9:11 pm |
Kim Harrison
It's not even out yet, but I'm going to pimp her new book/series because it's YA. Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery, Book 1) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061718165?tag=mrsblumey-20Comes out in May... Her newest "Hollows" book came out yesterday. I'll read it in November when it comes out in paperback... Or hit up the library if I can't wait. | | Friday, February 13th, 2009 | | 9:34 am |
| | Saturday, January 31st, 2009 | | 11:46 pm |
one-word answers
Type only ONE word answers It's harder than you think!!! Where is your cell phone? pocket Your hair? short Your father? retired Your favorite thing? kids Your dream last night? none Your favorite drink? diet Your dream/goal? family The room you are in? living Your fear? blind Where do you want to be in 6 years? surrounded Muffins? maybe One of your wish list items? love :-P Where you grew up? jersey The last thing you did? drive What are you wearing? jeans Your TV? old Your pets? none Your computer? Mac! Your life? comfortable Missing someone? often Your car? green Favorite store? Rudy's!! Your summer? warmer!!! Your favorite color? teal When is the last time you laughed? tonight Last time you cried? dunno Three people who email me? dad, tracy, and spammers Three of my favorite foods? subs, sushi, and junk. Three places I would rather be right now? Florida, NJ, bed Three people I think will respond? You, you, and you. | | Friday, January 30th, 2009 | | 8:27 pm |
List of 10
(I'm not tagging anyone; do it if you want, preferably let me know - though I'll probably see it on my friends page if you do.) Rules: It's harder than it looks! Copy to your own note, erase my answers, enter yours, and tag 10 people. Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real. . .nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name for the boy/girl name question. Have Fun!! 1. What is your name: Alan 2. A four Letter Word: Argh 3. A boy's Name: Andrew 4. A girl's Name: Alyssa 5. An occupation: Actor 6. A color: Aquamarine 7. Something you wear: Akubra* 8. A food: Arugula 9. Something found in the bathroom: Acne medication 10. A place: America 11. A reason for being late: Alternator problems with the car 12. Something you shout: Alrighty then! 13. A movie title: About Last Night 14. Something you drink: Apple juice 15. A musical group: Amy Winehouse 16. An animal: Anteater 17. A street name: Albemarle Street 18. A type of car: Antique** * This was the hardest ** OK I cheated, but just a little. ;-) | | Sunday, January 25th, 2009 | | 5:07 pm |
25 things
Not tagging anyone here... Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you. (To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.) 1. I am listening to the Inauguration Day Ceremony, thanks to Audible.com. I'm not subscribing to Audible but I'm happy to take and hopefully eventually listen to their free audio books. 2. 10 Things I Hate About You -is- one of my favorite movies. It's not a small pool though. ;-) I have a LOT of DVDs... 3. I really enjoy my job, most days. 4. I miss my nephew(s), along with the rest of the Florida gang. 5. I really don't like internet memes that attempt introspection. :-) 6. I don't watch much TV, but my TiVos do. Someday I'll catch up. No, really. 7. I'm not as happy as many people think I am. I'm also not as unhappy as that makes me sound. ;-) 8. I'm no longer fond of winters in New England... but I don't plan on doing anything about it any time soon. I have a great, new house and I plan on paying it off for a long time... ;-) 9. I have a LOT of books, even after getting rid of a few cartons when I moved out of Framingham. A good friend of mine organized them for me, a task that I would never have done myself. My sister did that for me in Framingham - but she also packed up and delivered the books from my parents' house. 10. The ellipsis is one of my best friends. :-P We spend a lot of time together. ;-) 11. I love getting (good) massages. I try to get one every month or so. Dating a masseuse would be wonderful, especially if she taught me how to give great massages also. *laugh* 12. Most of the books I read are science fiction or fantasy, but I also enjoy mysteries. I don't generally watch horror movies. 13. I've been collecting comics fairly consistently since 1998, and have boxes upon boxes of comics I've read. I also have boxes upon boxes of comics I have NOT yet read, and plan to eventually. Mostly DC superheros, and anything written by Peter David or Joss Whedon. 14. I want two cats - so they can entertain themselves when I'm at work or away. I don't know if I'm going to get them... But I think I might get some eventually. I'm not in any great rush. 15. I want kid(s) of my own someday. This really shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me. Apparently I'm a regular pied piper... ;-) 16. I just read a great book - Every Which Way But Dead, by Kim Harrison. I was misinformed to believe that it was the first book in the series; it's the third. Sigh. I have the first two also, I'll read them soonish. I'm in the middle of a long book and have an overflowing bookshelf of books to read... Soon. 17. I'm addicted to chicken parmesan sandwiches from Rudy's Pizza in Closter, NJ. The first step is admitting it... The second step, apparently, is driving to NJ for more. 18. I read TV Guide for the articles. I watch the Superbowl for the commercials. I spend far too much time on the Internet and far too much money on electronic toys. 19. I accidentally was driving around for 6 months with my car unregistered, and took care of it asap once I found out. It actually really wasn't my fault, and there was no way for me to know it had happened. Insanity ensued. I actually had a (one-car) accident during that time, and if I hadn't been concerned about missing a flight, I might've talked to the cops and been in huge trouble because of it. All better now though. 20. I have quite varied musical tastes... Everything from Pink to Eminem, Christine Lavin to Weird Al Yankovic, Black Eyed Peas to Lisa Loeb, Pussycat Dolls to Teddy Geiger, even a few musicals (RENT, Tick Tick Boom, Avenue Q, Spamalot). 21. I think it's amazing to be back in touch with people I knew in high school, even more friendly with some now than then. Same with college folks but it's more people I was friendly with in college and am now back in touch with. 22. I drink too much soda, not enough water, but stuff like Propel and Crystal Light (esp. peach teas) are helping me drink a lot more water(ish) than I used to. 23. My favorite breakfast is a bagel with egg & cheese. My favorite lunch is Rudy's chicken parm sub. My favorite dinner is Rudy's chicken parm sub. If I can't have Rudy's, I like chili, ground beef nachos or burritos, sushi, or pretty much anything with shrimp - especially Chinese food. 24. I don't usually eat desserts... But I do enjoy them when I do. ;-) (Why are so many of these things about food? I must be hungry!) 25. I'd rather be alone for the right reasons then with someone for the wrong reasons. Current Music: washer & dryer | | Monday, January 12th, 2009 | | 10:24 pm |
McDonalds wifi codes
I won these back while Monopoly was running... I never used them. Had I thought of it at the time I would have posted them then. They expire this Saturday, Jan. 17th... All I ask is that if you DO use one or more, post that you've used it so no one else tries unsuccessfully... :-) -=Alan WI-FI COUPON CODE: WPF3-LXL2-LY WI-FI COUPON CODE: WPH8-MiHg-Ai WI-FI COUPON CODE: WPR8-HS89-LF WI-FI COUPON CODE: WPUM-P187-1g Read and follow these instructions: 1. Go to a participating Wi-Fi enable McDonald's Restaurant. 2. Power on your wireless enabled laptop device. 3. Using your wireless device, find and connect to the wireless network named "Wayport_Access." 4. Open a browser such as Internet Explorer and attempt to go to a public webpage such as mcdonalds.com. You should be directed to a web page with the McDonald's(r) logo in the center. 5. Click on the "connect" button beneath the logo, then click "Use a Coupon" on the next page. 6. Enter your 10-digit Wi-Fi code (listed above) and click "I agree" to accept the terms and conditions. When your hour runs out, you will be prompted to enter another code or enter your credit card information. For technical support call 1-877-MCD-WIFI. You MUST redeem your one (1) hour of FREE Wi-Fi at McDonald's by 1/17/2009. To access the Internet via Wi-Fi services in a restaurant, you need a Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) enabled device, such as a laptop or PDA. Most newer laptops have built-in Wi-Fi capabilities. Older versions may require a separate Wi-Fi card, which you can purchase at most larger electronics retailers. Any chip or card that has been certified for compliance with the Wi-Fi wireless LAN standard (IEE 802.11b) can be used. More and more PDAs are now Wi-Fi enabled. A manufacturer or service provider can help you identify these devices. For more information, go to http://www.mcdonalds.com/wireless.html and click on the "general information" tab. | | 5:39 pm |
Auto-Insanity
This story is funnier if you've been aware of my stress level since Saturday morning... When I went to get my car inspected, and found out that it wasn't registered. And hadn't been since July 1... What ended up happening was that when I registered my Jeep (in 1996, I think) I still had my NJ license. At some point, probably once I bought the house in Framingham (1997) I traded in my NJ license for a MA license. The Jeep's plates, apparently, were still tied to the NJ license. I transferred the Jeep's plates to the CR-V when I traded it in, back in 2001. When I moved from Framingham to Burlington, I changed my address with the registry. Thinking that this would actually change my address with the registry (silly me)... In 2007, I actually got an excise tax bill forwarded from Framingham; thought it was strange, but paid it. In 2008, I bought the house and moved from Burlington to Billerica. Again, I changed my address with the registry. Apparently: 1) my address didn't get changed on the vehicle registration, just my license, since they weren't tied together. (They are now.) 2) Once the mail forwarding order expired in Framingham, I never got the 2008 excise tax bill. 3) I never noticed I didn't get an excise tax bill in 2008. 4) Either because the mail forwarding had expired, or because I had an outstanding excise tax balance, I never got notified that my registration needed to be renewed. So today I called the registry, and found out #1, and the nice woman 'merged the accounts' so my registration is now listed under my driver's license. She also told me I had an past-due excise tax for Framingham and gave me the number to take care of it. The nice woman in Framingham - once I explained the situation - told me if I could get her a copy of my coverage selection page covering Jan 2008 - showing a garaging location other than Framingham - she could wipe out the late charges, and transfer the excise tax bill from Framingham to Burlington. I called my insurance company, and the (not QUITE as) nice woman there said she'd try to get a copy of the cov. sel. page out to the nice woman in Framingham, and I asked her to let me know when she did so I could follow up... I say not QUITE as nice, because while I don't know whether she got the fax off to the woman in Framingham, I DO know she didn't call me to let me know... Rather than wait for the insurance company, I went onto their web site, to my expired policy, and printed out the info that Framingham needed... Faxed it, called her, and she told me she'd updated the computers, and I should be all set with the registry - and if not, to have them call her. :-) Worked for a while, then went up to Lowell, found the RMV, and paid my $ to renew the registration... Yay, one major problem down. Went to get the car inspected, had to remove the license plate 'frame/cover' (boo!) but other than that, passed the inspection just fine. YAY, problem 2 down. All done... Now I can use my car without worrying about it being impounded... :-) Current Mood: relieved |
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