Rant | inner.geek

Sunday through Friday (or: How I learned to stop caring and bomb the HP)

Below is the log of some of my personal time during the last 5 days. It’s in no way everything I have done.
Update: I forgot to mention my iPod is broken
Sunday:
After having an enjoyable time at my Dad’s place in Otaki, I return home to realise I left my USB thumb drive in my Dad’s computer. I have my IM program and PGP private key on there.

Monday:
I finally spring into action fixing an old computer for a family — it’s an HP Pavillion 4404 (404 not being a good omen). Try to install Windows 98 SE on there, it works. Download drivers for the HP from their website. When I install them, they don’t take hold, and a driver for the video card is missing 😛 That’s not gonna work… Off to MysteryMovieMonday… the world’s most disturbing movie Visitor Q is shown… when it is over, everyone is glad.

Tuesday:
Time for another attempt at this HP. Use the crappy “system restore” CDs which basically factory-fresh the operating system. Try to install Windows 98SE over the top — wrong! I need a Windows 98 SE Update disk… :P. I go to my church cell group (for the uninitiated, bible study group)

Wednesday:
My iPod was being stupid just before I went to work — it didn’t copy the playlists across, probably because it was full. There is lag between docking and windows suddenly recognising it. I was late for work, and got impatient. I removed the iPod from the dock and accidently dropped it on the floor.

DO’H!. I reset the iPod and it went into a perpeptual reset cycle — apple logo, file error icon, reset, apple logo, file error icon, etc. I left it in my dock and went to work iPodless.

I call my Dad and get him to send me my thumb drive. I am getting paid to tutor my friend Bevan in CSS tonight. I get home late and I don’t want to touch the stupid HP.

Thursday:
Tried to get the iPod working before work, No good. Actually, having the iPod in the dock crashes WinXP during boot-up. Weird. Boot up without the iPod, then try to dock the iPod — Windows hard-resets. WTF?

I have lunch with Bevan, and he borrows my Designing with Web Standards book. We pop into Dymocks and I see a copy of The Zen of CSS Design by Dave Shea, mastermind behind CSS Zen Garden. I buy it 🙂

That night, I had borrowed the Win98 -> Win98SE upgrade CD from work and start it installing… then it bluescreens… 😛 Need to system restore from CD again. SE is no longer an option. I go to Curry. After a restore, I just try to install IE6. It starts installing, but for some reason, it says at the end that it didn’t work properly, and leaves Win98 borked beyond repair, needing another system restore from CD. Something doesn’t want this machine updated 😛 Then the computer spontaniously turns off — the power supply overheated… ARGH. I go to bed.

Friday:
I get my USB thumb drive; Dad has posted it to me. Yay! Zen of CSS Design is pretty awesome, and written really well, but in an interesting style. It looks at the different Zen Garden submissions and pulling out tidbits of design and css wisdom from them, in a very logical and well thought out order. Maybe I’ll write more about that later…

March 18, 2005

Re-learning to type

Hey Adam,

I heard on the show you were looking to learn how to type better. I used to be just like you, always looking at the keyboard, somewhere between hunt and peck and touchtyping.

A few years ago I had a whole lot of spare time on my hand, and I looked into the Dvorak keyboard layout. It’s a completely different keyboard layout, but it’s got some advantages over the standard QWERTY layout. All the vowels and most common constants are on the ‘home keys’, and more common letters are nearer the home row.
  ` 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 [ ] BACKSPACE
     ' , . p y f g c r l / =
     a o e u i d h t n s - ENTER
      ; q j k x b m w v z
You don’t need a new keyboard to learn Dvorak, because Windows, Linux and MacOSX have the ability to switch to Dvorak in software (instructions later).

Learning Dvorak appealed to me because I could learn keyboarding afresh — my bad habits that I had learned using the QWERTY layout would be useless.

It took me about 6 weeks of typing before I was able to ditch the Qwerty layout. But during that time, if I had something important to do, I would switch back to Qwerty, and when I was done switched back to Dvorak.

However, it has been said that you can learn the Dvorak layout in about a month…

About 2 months after starting the learning process, my friend started learning Dvorak too. We’re both computer programmers working in the Web industry, so typing is an integral part of our day. I now no longer look at the keys, and am touch typing. I average about 45wpm when typing from copy.

Biggest con with the Dvorak layout:
Ctrl-Z : Undo
Ctrl-X : Cut
Ctrl-C : Copy
Ctrl-V : Paste

Those editing key shortcuts are grouped together on the Qwerty keyboard, and are close to the Ctrl key — On Dvorak keyboards they are all over the place. And the worst one is when editing a blog post in a web browser, and on Dvorak you go to press Ctrl-V but by accident you press Ctrl-W, which is the shortcut for Close Window… that’s something that really got me angry when learning.

But four years on, I’m still a Dvorak advocate.

If you do want to learn keyboarding (Q or D) here’s a tip:
Don’t EVER look at the keyboard while learning.
If you’re learning Dvorak for one, your keyboard will have the wrong key labels on them. Instead of buying a new keyboard or putting labels on your keys, print out a copy of the layout and attach it to your monitor somehow. Typing tutor programs display the keyboard on the screen for a reason 🙂

A veritable treasure trove of Dvorak information is available at http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak/ including a picture of the layout and how get your OS to remap your standard QWERTY keyboard to a Dvorak layout

A really good typing tutor program is Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor, and is available for Windows, Linux and Mac!

Anyway, love the show, keep it real!

February 3, 2005

Coding Rant Software Comments are closed Brett

0ff1c3 0wn4g3!

Glutnix: back
vic: Welcome.
Glutnix: heh yday in the work kitchen i totally 0wn3d some anonymous person…
Glutnix: for a few weeks now we’ve had this note stuck above the light switch telling us not to turn off the fluroscent lights because turning them on uses too much electricity.
Glutnix: and finally i thought — how many minutes of normal lighting juice does it take to turn the thing on?
vic: Wouldn’t it use less juice to stay off all night?
Glutnix: cos i’m thinking its like 1 minute max, but they make out it’s something like 3 hours or something
Glutnix: (we turned it off at night — it’s just the on and off and on and off of the day they’re concerned about)
vic: That’s ridiculous.
vic: Oh, I see. Maybe they should get one of those key switches.
Glutnix: which it turned out to be — turning on a fluro uses the same power as about 5 seconds of normal lighting
Glutnix: Should I Turn Off Fluorescent Lighting When Leaving A Room?
Short Answer: Turn them off if you will be gone for more than about 15-20 minutes (for details keep reading).
Glutnix: so we found a web page that basically blew that myth out of the water, turned it into a fact sheet and put it above the switch instead 😀
vic: Your writing an article about it?
Glutnix: Article at LightingDesignLab.com
Glutnix: 0wn4g3!
vic: Lol! That’s hillarious. You should blog some of this stuff.

So I did…

And remember: always, always fact-check!

February 2, 2005

Funny Rant Reading 2 comments Brett

A late late night.

After an impromptu late-night-picnic-and-beer session in the Botanical Gardens with my flatmates + friends, I headed off to the Interislander ferry terminal to meet one TmsT at 10:30, texting him all the way, and wondering why I wasn’t getting any text back. 11:30pm rolls around and the Interislander still hasn’t arrived, and wasn’t due to arrive till 12:30am… something is wrong.

Turns out I was wrong. They hadn’t caught the Interislander, but had caught one of the other, faster ferrys and had been in town for over an hour now. And I didn’t know this because Andrew’s cellphone was flat and he hadn’t been getting my messages.

One taxi ride later, a dash to get my wallet from inside, a dash to the ATM to get some cash for the fare and a dash back to the taxi to pay the bill, I proceeded to idle up Cuba St and finally we meet!

Andrew’s stuff was in his friend’s car who was stuck somewhere deep in the one-way system that is the Cuba Quarter. Told to go meet him at a particular corner, Andrew’s friend was a no-show. Call Andrew’s now charging phone, and get dispatched to some unknown cul-de-sac in Dixon St. A quick jog and I am able to guide the driver to Lower Cuba St.

After unloading some of TmsT’s gears, and me getting drive-by-egged in the process (I actually came out of it unscathed – I took the egg on the shoulder, it ricocheted off me and hit the inside of the open boot door where it released its runny yellow payload), we ride the lift to the roof and chill out there for half an hour, admiring the city scape. Andrew meets his biggest fan in Wellington.

We retire to the apartment, set up Andrew’s computer and get down to animutating. At some point we get the munchies and make a quick raid to the corner BK, and get back into it. About 4:20 we decide it’s Z-time. Glutnix set up TmsT the spare mattress, and we crash about 4:45am, not before setting the alarm clock for 7am, only a little over 2 hours away.

A Klaxon sounds. Rising from our slumbers quicker than a zombie on guarana pills, we pack up Andrew’s computer. We pose for a photo, and when we get the word that Andrew’s ride to Auckland is en route, move his stuff all back downstairs again. He hands me a copy of his graphic novel “The Fisherman” and we bid each other adiau.

That’s when I crawl back into bed and sleep till past noon. We had a grand ol’ time 🙂 Best wishes for art school in Auckland, Androo 🙂

January 29, 2005

Friends Rant 2 comments Brett

20Q and Sex Ed – Pizza anyone?

So I decided to buy myself a 20Q. NZD$20 from The Warehouse. So Andrew Kepple and I tried to confuse it with words like Ninja, Dildo and Condom. Hilarity ensued.

Glutnix: wow i got me a 20Q and I was guessing CD and it guessed DVD ROM
TmsT: o.o layman’s terms?
TmsT: is this on Trademe?
Glutnix: no
Glutnix: 20Q is a toy that plays “20 questions” with you
Glutnix: you press buttons on it
TmsT: aha
TmsT: so it guesses stuff and you teach it new things?
Glutnix: i don’t think the handheld learns
Glutnix: but it has a pretty big database of stuff
Glutnix: it got CD-ROM after 5 more questions
Glutnix: it askes 20 questions, you say yes, no, sometimes or unknown
TmsT: oh yep
Glutnix: after 20 it guesses, if it’s not right, it askes 5 more
TmsT: and if it hits a blank you enter the name of the thing?
Glutnix: no, it’s only got 6 buttons
TmsT: try “Colin Mochrie” 😀
Glutnix: LOL