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Twitter Updates for 2008-08-11

Olaf — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:59:59 +0000

@mcottmeyer You missed a good time digging post holes at my house! Maybe next time. #
@brianb You’ll go blind playing with that thing. #
@HamWithCam Their balance bar routine was stunning – better than the Chinese scores. We’ll see if it helps their floor scores. #
67°F this morning. That makes for a chilly bike ride when you’re used to 80°F. #

Hide and Seek

Olaf — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:38:18 +0000

Sometimes a new song is played and you instantly fall in love with it. It could be that it’s a great emotional swelling in your body, or just something so groovy that you can’t keep still while you listen. Other times, it might be a contextual reference that gives the song a special relativity.

Imogen Heap created the song “Hide and Seek” in 2005, though I heard it for the first time some months ago. When I did, it grabbed my attention and pulled me in. I only got to hear a piece of it and never got the name. Last night, on “So You Think You Can Dance,” Katee danced her solo to the end of that song and credit was given. I’m so happy to have found “Hide and Seek” again. The song rings in my ears even as I wake up to another song from the alarm clock. I’ve played it countless times already and can’t seem to wrap up in it to satiation. I don’t know how popular the song is, but my wife isn’t a fan. Balthazar, who’s critical ear for music is far beyond his 5 years, is merely respectful of the song.

It would be difficult to pick a favorite song, and that’s why MP3 players have playlists. I can’t name any song my favorite, though Imogen Heap’s composition certainly has my attention at the moment. If I look back at some songs that pulled me in a similar fashion, the list looks like this:

Madonna – The Power of Goodbye
Nina Gordon – Tonight and the Rest of My Life
Imogen Heap – Hide and Seek

I could have also mentioned “Arco Arena” by Cake, but it’s so categorically different from these other three that I threw it out. There are probably dozens more that I could mention, but those three I just listed rang true for me at this moment. I’m actually guessing that’s the case because I’ve been listening to “Hide and Seek” and the three are very similar in mood. It’s also true however, that I dig songs that are sad or melancholy.

What are you digging lately and could you name two other songs that pulled you in a similar way?

Status Upgrade: “Celebrity”

Olaf — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:56:48 +0000

An associate from work recently pointed out to me that the likelihood of the names, “Fox, Olaf, and Balthazar” from Gainesville being someone other than my family is a losing bet. A bit like solving the geometric theorem that three points make the line, I presume.

It turns out that a picture of my wife was randomly discovered on Digg over the weekend holding a dollar bill on which those terms were written in permanent marker. In addition to the fact that there is now irrefutable evidence showing her guilt to federal property vandalism, the incident now brings her image to celebrity status. Digg is bigg, and showing up on it in any form is worthy of commemoration in my mind.

Tips for Blogging, Puddin’ Brain

Olaf — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 21:03:21 +0000

I was just reading “16 Tips for Blog Idea Brainstorming” to try and kick myself out of my latest dose of writer’s block. I’m slowly coming to the realization that it’s not writer’s block that I’m experiencing, but rather “pudding brain” (or some scientific explanation therein). Pudding is a wonderful substance. It has great things mysteriously captured within it and converted into the silky, sweet bliss that is puddin’. It’s worthless really, but wonderful in the moment. At some point though, you may realize that you’ve eaten 13lbs of pudding and now you’re having trouble getting up from the couch…let alone back to solid foods. So pudding brain is something like that. Others may refer to it as a sort of mental hiatus. But when you’re on a mental hiatus, you can only come up with puddin’ brain.

Tangents aside, the 16 tips that John Pozadzides offers are decent enough, if not mostly well known. I did find one real error in John’s ideas. It doesn’t take into consideration those afflicted with Pudding Brain. I hit Thoof on his list of aggregators to read – one I hadn’t seen before – and got really stuck. It’s one of those new-fangled aggregators that automatically load more items as you get closer to the end of the scrolling page. You can waste a lot of time there!

There’s something to be said for focus. Hitting the hot spots on the web for news is well and good, but it’s probably more productive to focus on those places that can offer you something to comment on, rather than simply steal your attention away from what you came there to do. Sites like YouTube, Thoof, and even Digg (though less so for me) are real time sinks. When it comes to blog idea hunting, I have more success trusting my own RSS aggregation. It may have a lot of the same stuff, but it’s interspersed with other sources and is slightly less accessible because RSS is abstracted from the website. I also like the idea of hitting the unpopular sites our there with very specific information to get ideas. It’s more likely to be original and it’s probably something you’re very specifically interested in.

Now, that said; I haven’t been inspired to write about much lately. But it’s not so much about my sources as it is my own intentions. The number one tip for blog idea brainstorming is this:

Take an interest in what you have to say.

If you have no interest, you have no story. You can see right through a post that is paying lip service to its readers by reposting content someone else has written. John mentions in his tips that he goes the extra mile to do some research on topics he is reposting. That’s exactly the right idea in my mind. He’s taken an interest and is providing original commentary on a popular topic.

So in between original content I fill in with interesting things I find elsewhere, or current news events. But I don’t just re-post other people’s content.

Equifax Customer Service is Just Lip Service

Olaf — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 17:41:31 +0000

In an attempt to make some mid-year resolutions, I am trying to be more diligent about managing finances and monitoring things like my credit report. I wasn’t the victim of an identity theft crime, but then again, how would I know? I just decided that I should take an active interest in things like…er…interest. Finances in general have never been a strong-point for me. I make money, spend money; my financial management program is akin to most people’s attention to filling up their gas tank. When the car turns on its light saying, “here’s the thing, I’m nearly out of gas and we’re in the middle of nowhere. This isn’t just your problem now, it’s mine as well,” I start thinking about when and where I’m going to get more gas. I believe they call this “living paycheck to paycheck.” I don’t know what percentage of the population out there does this, but I would make a guess – based upon the percentage of individuals using credit – that the number is pretty high. I’m not doing so well on the general financial management aspect of things. The notion of a budget is quite advanced for me. It seems to take a considerable amount of time to construct, monitor, and adjust it consistently. On the credit report detail, against my earnest efforts to do this right, I’m being thwarted.

I have just about written off Equifax completely. If it weren’t for their industry reputation and reliance, I would drop them altogether. As it is, I feel like I have to live with the service problems because Equifax is the behemoth and I’m the peon.

Screw that! They pissed me off today for the last time – hence this negative post. I even made up a new word for my discontentment. Flog (fart log). It’s a blog (web log) a la Monty Python. Equifax, I flog in your general direction!

I ordered the Equifax Score Watch (TM) monthly subscription to give myself a way to watch my score as it changes month-to-month and access free and discounted credit reports when it’s appropriate. The ordering process seemed professional enough until the end. It was unable to process my credit card to pay for the service. I thought it a fluke at first and even gave it another card to try. I became concerned that perhaps I was being taken for a ride – giving up credit information to evil hackers at the very place I thought I was safe. I did some digging and couldn’t find any signs of tampering. It seemed that Equifax was just unable to process credit cards. Having returned to place the order in the next day or so, I was met with success – confidence restored – and the order was handled promptly and correctly. The goods were delivered instantly and I was able to enjoy my Score Watch product immediately. After just a short while of playing around with the account features, I started getting pages that indicated that Equifax was having some application problems at the business logic layer. The interface worked perfectly, but most of the account-related functions were no longer working. Frustration. I go away and come back the next day to meet the same type of problems. I discover that I can work around the problem by navigating back into the details from the order summary link. It’s a minor issue to me, but a frustration nonetheless. I assume it’s just related to some heavy-use patterns that Equifax is experiencing.

Then I find a real case for contacting support. The credit report (provided by Score Power within Score Watch) gives you very granular details about your credit history. There’s a summary that effectively tells you what positive and negative factors there are that creditors may use. I try to look into a negative factor and I can’t find it in the details. Maybe it’s there and I’m unable to figure it out, or maybe there’s a problem in the correlation between Score Power and my credit report. That’s what I want to find out. I contact support via email (my preferred avenue to begin things) to ask about the problem. It takes through a form in which it asks some personal information such as your social security number for account verification and such. It seems logical, though I would prefer if it just linked my account number to the contact form. I get an email the next day stating that they can’t find my account and that they need additional information from me. That infuriates me. I’m supposed to be dealing with a professional company. Why am I using a half-assed application unable to facilitate the management of its customers? I give them what they need anyway. How else will my problem ever be solved? Now, five days later they reply with what surely is an automated form response to my inquiry:

Dear Mr. Gradin, …

Our records indicate that you ordered the Equifax Score Watch (TM) monthly subscription. This
subscription includes two free Score Power (TM) reports, one at enrollment and one to be used at
any time during your subscription, and discounts on additional Score Power(R) reports.

Please note, as the Credit Report is a snapshot of your file as of the date you purchased, it will
not be updated during the time is viewable. In order to view your updated credit report, please follow the instructions
listed below

Please visit our website, www.Equifax.com

Click on Customer login.

Enter the User ID and Password and then click “LOGIN”.

Under the heading “Equifax Member Center”, click on “Equifax ScoreWatch (TM)”, your FICO (R) Score is already visible.

Click on ” Score Power (R)” on the menu at the left side of the page

From this point you are able to view your Credit Report or to pull a new Score Power (R) at the
discounted price…

If you need further assistance, please contact us…

Seriously?!? Do you think I would have contacted support to ask about a problem within the application if I couldn’t figure out how to access it? Do you think I would have contacted support to ask how I might purchase additional products? Plan B is to call Equifax support to work through the problem. I’m sure I can get to the bottom of this…eventually, but if you’re a company offering email support, staff it with support personnel.

I replied to the email with an inappropriate remark on the service representative’s ineptitude. I’m reminded of Despair’s apt words of wisdom on motiviation.

Konfabulator – Yahoo! Widgets

Olaf — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 17:17:43 +0000

The Konfabulator tool was recommended to me by a coworker recently. He noticed that I used the Desktop Sidebar, a Longhorn-looking (Windows Vista) desktop component. To be honest, I was speculative of the Konfabulator’s ability to replace the Desktop Sidebar, both by its name and the source of information (he’s not a Windows guy, so I feared his aesthetics were maligned to mine). That said, I only took notice of this toy this morning when another coworker told me that Yahoo! had bought-out Konfabulator. I don’t particularly like Yahoo!, but they’re bolstering their reputation by purchasing really excellent start-up products (e.g. Flickr). Yahoo! talks a bit about the purchase on Konfabulator’s homepage for now – they point out the necessity for a name change, which I wholeheartedly agree with. The product is über-stylish with some Mac glamour adaptations and modular widgets. Not entirely dissimilar to the Desktop Sidebar, though the main concept behind the Konfabulator is zero-cohesion between modules. That is, the modules (okay, I’ll call them widgets now) come up as separate, floating objects on the desktop. You can click and position most of them with very little difficulty, and with two monitors it’s comforting to know that I can messy up both sides with arbitrary positioning. These types of software always come with the utilitarian aspects to them – system resource monitoring, weather reports, floating search boxes – as well as the fun stuff – Simpson’s quote-a-day, mosquito alert monitor, werewolf monitor, et al. So far, I’m really digging this new gadget. The SDK portion of things involves Photoshop layers and Javascript. It doesn’t get much easier than that! I’m interested in creating some needed widgets; some things that existed for the Desktop SIdebar but not for Konfabulator. Once I give it a shot, I’ll post a remark on that process. I never tried creating anything for the Desktop Sidebar (it seemed to have everything), so I can’t really compare. I can say that the Konfabulator looks a lot sweeter.

MS-DOS 7.10

Olaf — Tue, 09 Nov 2004 14:52:43 +0000

Now this is a good time! In case FreeDOS wasn’t cool enough for you, now you can get back to the original. I’m digging the 9MB bootable CD w/extra enhancements and a full installer.