Month: September 2005

Telephone Rage

telephonerageI sort of understand road rage. I’ve never suffered it (though I have teetered on the abyss a few times). I’ve been the victim of it in small ways a couple of times. I’ve mostly honked or been honked at. Once in a while I’ll shoot the bird or have one shot at me.

What I understand much better is telephone rage. Specifically as a result of someone I need to call not having call waiting. I talk on the phone all day long at work. Sometimes, I am on a call with two more people on hold. I try as hard as I can to get through the calls and get to everyone, but that’s just the nature of business in general and mine in particular.

Because I talk on the phone so much at work, I rarely talk on the phone at home. I would estimate that I get maybe 6 personal phone calls a year at home. The other 7,000 or so are for Raina or one of the girls (technology has all but eliminated sales calls in our house). I probably make about 6 personal calls a year from home too. And you can be sure that 5 of those will be to the only 5 people in America who don’t have call waiting. It drives me nuts. I would like to have the Publishers Clearinghouse gig. The second I got a busy signal I’d do two things: first, I’d move down the list and award the prize to the first person who didn’t greet me with a busy signal; second, I’d book an add for the next Superbowl to announce how Mr. or Ms. No-Caller-ID forfeited the big prize by jabbering away while I was trying to call them.

The bottom line is that I have to need to talk to someone really bad to call back after getting a busy signal or two. Other than my sister, who has been on the phone for hours, I can’t think of anybody I need to talk to that bad.

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More Bad TIVO News

Apparently, TIVO is not satisfied dying on the vine thanks to its abandonment by DirecTV. Now comes news that the new TIVO operating system has the ability to place a bunch of DRM restrictions on the shows we record.

nailcoffinAccording to this post at PVRblog, the new DRM implementation allows TIVO to place limitations on how long certain shows can be saved (before now, one of the options was “Save Until I Delete”). Additionally, some shows cannot be copied using TIVO Togo (I wouldn’t know since my $1000 doorstops previously known as the TIVO HR210 never supported TIVO Togo).

A post on Tivo Community Forums, a very popular TIVO site that I visit regularly to talk about neat ways to use my $1000 doorstops, contains a bunch of screenshots (here, here, here and here) clearly showing the significant DRM restrictions.

PVRblog has an update that says the DRM on that old King of the Hill show was a mistake on the part of the TV station. Nevertheless, this little accident of grace shows that TIVO has implemented DRM and indicates that it may use it to prevent its (undoubtedly dwindling number of) loyal subscribers from doing what they have been allowed to do for a long time.

All in all, this is just one more reason why TIVO is dying on the vine. Whether TIVO is doing all of this stuff on its own (highly unlikely) or being required to do it by the TV network cartel (very likely), doesn’t matter. The result is the same: less appealing service that alienates its subscribers.

Bye Bye TIVO, it’s been nice knowing you.

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Only a Fool Would Say That

I knew that, like anyone who ever had to work for a living, I intensely disliked Martha Stewart, but this latest nugget takes the cake. According to Martha, home arrest is worse than federal prision.

This lady, who was already a jillionaire, goes to jail (yes, jail) over a “well timed stock sale” (to quote CNN). She gets out and what does she get? Two new TV shows.

If you wonder why the rest of the world hates America, look no further than the Martha Stewart story.

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For a Friend

Kinney’s Song

“I’m tired” he said
“It’s been another lost day.
I think I’ll just go to bed”

He smiled at me
“Don’t worry I’ll be OK.
Some shut eye is all I need”

Chorus:
I’ve walked down that suffering road before
And there is darkness all along the route
But past the haints and the widow’s weeds
Are thorny bushes with the sweetest fruit

“It’s hard” he said
“When you outgrow all the dreams
That used to fill up your head”

I touched his hand
“It’s not as bad as it seems,
And you are such a good man”

Chorus:
I’ve walked down that suffering road before
And there is darkness all along the route
But past the haints and the widow’s weeds
Are thorny bushes with the sweetest fruit

Bridge:
So if you want to sleep
Sleep, my friend sleep
And in the morning
You will see
That it’s all right
Everything will be fine
The sun will still rise
And you’ll still be a friend of mine

Chorus:
I’ve walked down that suffering road before
But there’s a light at the end of the route
And past the haints and the widow’s weeds
Are thorny bushes with the sweetest fruit

New Rancho Radio Set

RR05

I uploaded a brand new playlist to Rancho Radio tonight. Unlike the last 3 sets, which were picked at random from our huge song library, I hand picked this one. Lots of great alt. country, with a little extra southern rock added to the mix this week.

Rancho Radio has moved up to the 15th most popular station in the Americana genre on Live365. Please give it a listen and tell your friends about it. You’ll hear some great music that you simply can’t get anywhere else.

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ESPN Fantasy Football Sucks

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This is my third year in a fantasy football league. While I’d rather watch paint dry than an NFL game (I greatly prefer college sports), I have enjoyed fantasy football much more than I thought I would. It’s a fun challenge to put the best possible team on the field week in and week out. It’s a bit of a thrill to check the box score on Sunday and find out that you’re thrashing your opponent. The problem is that, since my league uses ESPN’s fantasy football service, I can’t ever (and I mean ever) get to the box score on Sunday afternoon. What I do get is page after page after page of 503 errors. Essentially, there are too many leagues sharing the same server and the server simply can’t handle all of the resource requests it receives. There is no way ESPN could be surprised by the traffic it is receiving, since the very same thing happened last year. Thus, I can only assume that ESPN simply doesn’t care.

It is extemely frsutrating and makes me much less interested in the league. If you want to enjoy fantasy football, choose another platform. You’ll be glad you did.

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Jukebox, Annotated

You know the drill. Open up your jukebox of choice, point the shuffle feature to your entire library of songs and list, without exception, the first 10 or so songs that play. Each week, I add a little commentary about some of the artists, songs, albums, etc.

I’ve Got a Feeling – Ollie and the Nightingales (Stax Set) (1)
Hey Driver – Dale Watson (I Hate These Songs) (2)
Doobie Wah – Peter Frampton (Comes Alive) (3)
Laurentian Divide – Bellwether (Turnstiles) (4)
It’s Only Me – Todd Thibaud (Little Mystery) (5)
My First, My Last… – Barry White (Can’t Get Enough) (6)
I’m Troubled – Gourds (Shinebox) (7)
Mission District – Pinetop Seven (Bring Home the Last Great Strike) (8)
What a Nice Surprise – The Vidalias (Stayin’ in the Doghouse) (9)
A Little Italy Rag – The Amazing Rhythm Aces (Too Stuffed to Jump) (10)

(1) I don’t know much about this Memphis soul act, but it’s a good song from a great box set. Motown gets all the run, but Stax had some great acts and put out some fine music.

(2) Fine song by a guy who remains true to his throwback honky tonk roots.

(3) There are two double LP live records that served as the soundtrack for my teenage years, The Allmans’ At Fillmore East and this one. Frampton sort of fell out of favor over the years, but this remains an excellent record. Not quite of par with Fillmore, which along with the Dead’s Europe ’72, is the best live record ever made, but it still sounds real good.

(4) A slow moving, harmonica led groove by one of the many great bands from Minneapolis. Alt. Country doesn’t get much better than this.

(5) Good song off a good record by former Courage Brothers frontman. Great playing, great songs. I really enjoy this record.

(6) Barry and Teddy Pendergrass defined sexy soul music in the 70s.

(7) Austin’s best kept secret play a quirky (to quote allmusic.com) brand of honky tonk music. This album also has the one of the most amazing covers ever, a honked up version of Snoop Dog’s Gin and Juice.

(8) This fine inde/alt. country band formed at Vanderbilt University (where I went to law school) in the early nineties. Very eclectic mix of genres, but it really works. If you’ve never heard these guys, check them out.

(9) After I heard a song on the internet somewhere, I bought both of this Atlanta alt. country band’s records. They are both very good. This is a neo-country number that sounds like a cross between Dwight Yoakam and Jimmy Dale Gilmore. Good stuff.

(10) I’m a big fan of the Aces. This is not one of my favorites, but I have and enjoy every one of their records. Start with Full House, Aces High if you can find it.

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WFU Week Two: Deja Vu All Over Again

Last week I predicted that Wake would lose at Nebraska by 10 or less. Silly me, I forgot that the game was on national TV. A nationally televised game guarantees a WFU embarrassment and that’s what we got. I suspect that at some point the networks will notice this and, but for any games mandated by the ACC TV contract, we won’t see any more Deacon football on national TV.

In a game in which Nebraska’s bad offense made Wake’s mediocre (which, by WFU standards, means “pretty good”) defense look very good for a half, Nebraska spanked the Deacs 31-3. WFU is now 0-2 for the season, with 5 top 25 teams among the 9 games that make up the rest of the season. It’s going to be tough to match last years’ 4-7 record. That’s what losing at home to Vanderbilt will do for you.

Ben Mauk, who was an amazing high school QB but was (maybe not so) curiously not recruited by the big boys, looked absolutely awful (and that’s being kind). Micah Andrews looked OK, but lightning didn’t strike twice (not another 250+ yard game). The special teams looked, well, not very special. If there’s a worse kicking team in America, I don’t know about it. As far as I can tell, we have no WRs.

Here’s my thing: Jim Grobe has been riding the benefits of taking a typically 3-8 team and turning it into a typically 5-6 team for a couple of years now. That’s a fine accomplishment, but at some point Wake needs to actually win some games. Clearly, Bill Callahan made much more effective halftime adjustments than Grobe. I’m still a Grobe fan, because I believe that if anyone can win at Wake, it’s Grobe. But itsy bitsy baby steps and moral victories are no longer enough for me. I want some tangible evidence in the only place where it matters: the won-loss column.

Playing in the ACC, you simply can’t afford to let winnable games slip away. Vanderbilt (at home, no less) was a gimme that Wake lost. Nebraska, who has an anemic offense and struggled with Division I-AA Maine last week, was winnable. Many of the remaining games are simply not winnable absent a major upset. Wake plays better when it has no chance, so expect some close losses (as long as the Deacs are not on national TV).

Some folks will rightly call for Cory Randolph at QB after Mauk’s performance. I can understand that (believe me I can), but Grobe should either stick with Mauk or, if there is a younger QB with potential, maybe give him a shot. This year is over bowl-wise, and Randlolph is a senior. We need to give next year’s QB experience this year. There’s always next year. It’s just that with the Deacs, next year will probably look a lot like this year.

Come join the post-game party on the WFU message board at ACCBoards.Com.

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Screen Captures Made Easy

One of the most useful software accessories you can install on your computer is a good, reliable screen capture utility. Screen capture utilities let you grab a portion of whatevet’s on your computer screen. They are helpful for storing snippets of information in Onfolio, grabbing a portion of your computer screen to email error messages to the appropriate technical support address, and capturing content to redisplay it (as I did with my Firefox problem).

My favorite screen capture utility is Snag-It. It’s easy to buy online, easy to install and easy to use.

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It integrates seamlessly with Internet Explorer and places these buttons at the top of Internet Explorer that allows you to instantly grab all or part of a screen (this image was captured with Snag-It). You can configure how much of the screen to capture (I use the “Region” setting which allows me to draw a box with my mouse and capture everything in the box) and how to output the image (I output to my Windows clipboard so I can paste the image wherever I want it).

It is also a stand alone program, accessible from the Start Menu, that allows you to capture any desktop content, whether internet content or otherwise.

My only mild complaint about Snag-It is that the developer updates it very often and you have to pay for significant upgrades (“maintenance upgrades” are free). It seems like I get an email every month or so offering me an updated version for a price. It’s a great program, so I pay to upgrade to every other version or so.

Snag-It is $40 for new users. Upgrades are cheaper.

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Friday's Link: Birthday Scams

One of the funniest things on the radio is the birthday scams that Dean & Rog do on 93.7 FM in Houston. At times, I have laughed so hard I had to pull over to keep from wrecking my truck.

Some of them are available online. Every one of these is hilarious.

Start with “Where’s Your Payment,” “Claude’s Dog” and “Cementing Frustration.” Funny stuff.

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