28.571428571428573% of me is a huge nerd! How about you?
As seen on The Daily Report, Fontifier is a free (for now) service that converts a scanned GIF of your handwriting into a True Type font.
Once you are at the Fontifier page, click on the numbered steps and follow the directions to create your own font. In my initial attempt I didn’t scale the template to the full size of the page, and I didn’t make the letters as large as possible. The result, while still very cool, isn’t readable below about 14 points. Next time I’ll know better. Be warned that the service is getting used a lot; I had to reload each step several times to finally get through the process.
It would be more useful if the template allowed you to write each of the 102 characters on the keyboard, but for typical writing this font works very well.
This week marks the one year anniversary of our switch from Windows to Macintosh. Michele and I ventured into the Apple store in St. Louis on January 11, 2003 and haven’t looked back ever since.
She is very satisfied with her 17" iMac and I love my 15" Titanium PowerBook. Within days of getting the new machines we had completed the switch from Windows ME and XP professional respectively. Only twice in the last twelve months have I even turned on my old Pentium machine. I’m thinking seriously about turning it into a Linux based server.
Through out this year I have continually found new depths to Mac OS X, and new application with which to plumb those depths. Being a software developer I was keenly interested in setting up a Java/Apache/Tomcat/Struts environment that allows me to build and deploy web applications with ease.
I have added immensely to my knowledge of Unix through the Free-BSD underpinnings of OS X. I now connect to the Internet through secure shells with port forwarding via tunnels.
And I am discovering the joy of being creative with software rather than solely being creative making software. Using iPhoto to create picture books of family activities throughout the year as Christmas gifts was easy and very rewarding. I want to spend more time with the whole iLife suite of applications, making movie slide shows of our photos, and transferring “I Love Lucy” VHS tapes to DVD.
Today’s MacWorld Expo Keynote address couldn’t have come at a better time for me. Seeing first hand demonstrations of the integration and power iPhoto, iDVD, iMovie, and iTunes have inspires me to try more things with my ideas. And even though I don’t play a musical instrument, I am eager to play around with Garage Band just to see what I can accomplish on my own.
I’ve been using computers for over 20 years; they are a huge part of my daily life. How sweet it is to be able to use products, hardware and software, that still excite me and still make me want to explore my creative boundaries.
Apple isn’t just making the best computer hardware and software in the world today. They are creating tools the free the imagination and give wings to the ideas, hopes, and inventions of everyday people.
Wow.
My December spam totals are in, 7,889 for the month. This brings my 2003 total to 79,287.
For the year I averaged 217.2247 spams a day. And 6607.25 per month. Basically I get one piece of spam every 6 minutes.
I’m afraid that my accounting of good e-mail wasn’t as accurate as I wanted. My best estimate is that I got about 1,437 good e-mails. (This includes 500 odd mail list entries in the past month alone.)
79,287 / 1,437 equals 55.17537:1 bad:good ratio.
Plans to acquire Panther (Mac OS X 10.3.x) have been delayed, but upon that occasion I will be installing SpamSieve to better manage this glut of trash.
MoveOn held a contest to have ordinary citizens create 30 seconds commercials about the Bush junta, er, administration. The 15 finalists are now ready for viewing at bushin30seconds.org.
Go there.
Watch.
Be aware that the Internet and home computers have changed the landscape of politics in America forever. The “big boys” are no longer the only people who have a voice in this country.
Now speak out.
For the past several years I have been enjoying reading books electronically. With the gift of a palm m515 handheld computer from my wife a couple of years ago I discovered that it was, among other things, an excellent platform for reading books.
Combined with the free book reader from Peanut Press and the diverse collection of titles offered there as well, I have amassed a large collection of books. At last count 476 titles from 87 authors; all in less than 188 MB of disk space.
Over time I have noticed that more and more books are presented in this format, and more publishers are making good use of the “e” part of the format. In-line images, chapter and footnote links, and cover art are now common place. While I am aware that reading books via the limited screen of a handheld computer is not for everyone, I for one am sold.
If you have a palm, or other handheld computer, and you enjoy reading, I strongly urge you to explore the growing world of electronic books online.
The future is wide open, and I am ready to go where my life takes me. Who knows what I’ll have to say this time next year.
Michele and I had a wonderful five days of Christmas this year. Family occupied three of the days, and the other two days were just for us. We had a wonderful holiday filled with drama, humor and spirit.
Christmas Eve we traveled to my parents home for the, ah, traditional Christmas Eve spaghetti dinner and opening of gifts. When I was an adolescent, my mother worked full-time as a nurse and every other year she worked on Christmas day. Therefore we started opening gifts the night before instead of Christmas day itself. Now that she has two grandchildren she wants to be apart of their Christmas experience, opening some presents the night before allows her that pleasure. Michele and I were pressed into service making the marinara sauce, which we did the Sunday prior. All in all it was a good evening.
By the time we arrived back home we were exhausted and basically collapsed in front of some taped Nick-at-night before going to sleep. We were up in the night talking about the emotional “presents” the evening had provided us, as well as the fears for the upcoming day. We are also making some decisions about our future that have been weighing heavily upon us. After about two hours of talking we were able to go back to sleep.
Christmas day we traveled to my brother’s home were we gave his children their presents from us. We spent the day there eating and visiting. Lisa, my sister-in-law, prepared an awesome dinner and we all sat down to a huge table (11 of us) and feasted. There was some tension this day, but none that cast a pall over the day. I had a good time, but I was glad to finally get home again. After two long visits with family I was ready for some time with just my Sweetie.
Friday was our Christmas. We had deliberately held back the presents to each other, and we had our own turkey to roast. The day was quiet and relaxed. Our gifts to each other were simple and brought smiles to our faces and tears to our eyes. The turkey was fantastic, moist and full of flavor. I’ve started roasting them upside-down which makes the breast meat very tender and full of moisture. We had cranberry sauce, yams, Brussels sprouts, and dressing along with our turkey. It was a wonderful day.
On Saturday we again traveled to my brother’s house so that I could join Chris and his two boys in seeing “The Return of the King.” Michele spent the day with Lisa, and the girls watching a couple of chick-flicks. It was nice to connect with them without the pressure of a holiday or parents around. But it was yet another long day away from home.
Sunday we again had a quiet, relaxed day at home. Naps were taken, and little work of any sort was contemplated. We did venture out briefly to collect a take out dinner from a new Mexican restaurant. Otherwise it was just the two of us doing what we like best, being with each other.
It was a wonderful Christmas holiday, one of the best I’ve ever had with my family, and I am sorry to see it pass. But I am looking forward to have another long weekend with just my beautiful wife this coming weekend.
Last evening we decided to have Mexican take out. There is a wide lane between the restaurant entrance and the parking lot proper, so I pulled up to the curb by the door and ran in to get our food. As it was ready I was only inside for 4 or 5 minutes. During that time Michele waited in the car.
While she was there an older Toyota pulled up past our car and the punk-ass in the passenger seat shot a paint ball at our car. Michele said that she saw him lean out the window and heard the “plop” as the ball hit our car. The fuckers sped off in their car immediately, so quickly that she wasn’t able to get a plate number.
It had been raining, and since I was back to the car within in a minute of the incident, the paint was still quite wet. Using some paper towels from the trunk I was able to wipe off all the paint. It appears that our car wasn’t damaged but it still frosts me that some asshole got a new “toy” for Christmas and immediately started vandalizing other people’s property.
My hope is that they paintball someone else. Someone with no impulse control and problems with expressing their aggression in socially acceptable ways. Someone who with scare the shit out of them while beating the same out of them.
or Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas by Major Henry Livingston Jr. (1748-1828) (previously believed to be by Clement Clarke Moore)
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below, When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
“Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN! On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONDER and BLITZEN! To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall! Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky, So up to the house-top the coursers they flew, With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof The prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my hand, and was turning around, Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot; A bundle of toys he had flung on his back, And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes – how they twinkled! his dimples how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry! His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath; He had a broad face and a little round belly, That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself; A wink of his eye and a twist of his head, Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk, And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, “HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!”