07.07.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:32 pm by Haris
I admit to having an addiction to British comedies. Lately I have been watching, for what is probably the fourth or fifth time, the wonderful T.V. adaptation of P.G.Wodehouse’s masterpiece, Jeeves and Wooster. Fry and Laurie, as well as the surrounding cast, give amazing performances, and somehow the humor really appeals to me. Here’s a little exerpt that made me write this little post. This takes place right after an annual darts tournament that ended up in a tie for the 17th year in a row:
Wooster: You know, Jeeves, I can’t help thinking somewhere at the back of my mind, there must be a better way for deciding the championship than playing the best of 6 games.
Jeeves: It does seem likely, sir.
Wooster: Perhaps the best of 8 would do it.
Jeeves: Possibly, sir.
Wooster: 10? Exhaustion might get results if nothing else.
Jeeves: I’m sure the sports committee will find a way, sir.
And here’s another incident, talking about an American Wooster was engaged to, while driving through the countryside, about get in more trouble:
Wooster: My engagement to Pauline Stoker seems to have dogged the footsteps, Jeeves.
Jeeves: Indeed it does, sir.
Wooster: Only lasted two days, I was unconcious for most of the time.
Jeeves: I recall it with great vividity, sir, I’ve always felt it a benison that the young girl’s father objected to the union with such fervor.
Wooster: Me too, Jeeves. I don’t know what I got to be thinking of.
Jeeves: Foreign travel often liberates emotions best kept in check, sir. And the air of North America is notoriously stimulating in this regard, as witnessed by the regretable behavior of its inhabitants in 1776.
Wooster: Oh? What happened in 1776, Jeeves?
Jeeves: I prefer not to dwell on it if it’s convenient to you, sir.
I highly recommend this series, I just can’t get enough of it. For me it’s right up there with Fawlty Towers and Yes Minister. What? You haven’t seen any of those? Then get cracking, there’s a lot of laughter awaiting you.
Later
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07.02.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:06 pm by Haris
Karen Marlene Lange and Michael Adam Broshi just got married!
Of course, you don’t know these people, but they are two of my dearest friends, and I just came back from their wedding overwhelmed with such joy that I had to express it.
Mike and Karen are both graduate students at Mathematics department of the University of Chicago, and they are part of a large number of “department” weddings happening this year. I know Mike somewhat better since he was my office-mate for many years, and we share a passion for going to coffee-shops with the intent of studying (an activity we call coffee-shopping), but both Mike and Karen are two of the people in Chicago dearest in my heart. They are both filled with energy for life and love for each other. In a truly wonderful ceremony, they brought their two religions just a bit closer. I can’t possibly imagine any two people more made for each other, and seeing them together and extremely happy brought many uncontrollable tears of joy.
So here’s to you, Karen and Mike, may you enjoy your honeymoon in Hawai, and many many wonderful years enriching each other’s lives.
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05.12.06
Posted in Uncategorized, Mac OS X at 7:03 pm by Haris
Today I almost bought a song from the iTunes Music Store for the first time. From some time last night I had this song stuck in my head, that I did not know the title for, but that I could not get out of my head. So I had to find more about it. Luckily I remembered some of the lyrics, so I found that the song was Mad World from Tears for Fears. So I fired up iTunes and went to the music store to hear the song.
Now, I should say that I almost never get individual songs. I like getting whole albums, with their artwork and everything, even though I quickly move them to iTunes and almost never hear them from the CD again. I just like that it’s there, sometimes with some interesting trivia and often the lyrics, and at the very least some lovely images. For me the CD cover artwork is an integral part of the album. So all this is to say that I really wanted to find this song, and was really hoping to like the songs in the album enough to dive into it and get the whole thing.
So onwards I go to the iTunes Music store, and find the song. However, it turns out that the version by Tears for Fears was not the one I wanted. So I looked around at the other links that showed up, and lo and behold, I saw the Donnie Darko soundtrack, and it all clicked: That’s where I had first heard it! It turns out this is a cover by Gary Jules, and Michael Andrews, and the Donnie Darko soundtrack contains two versions of it. So I went to the soundtrack, and heard some of the other songs in the album, to see if I like them. Turns out I did not like any of the other pieces in there at all, so I decided to go ahead and just buy the song itself. That’s when I saw this:
Not cool Apple, not cool…. You’ve lost me as a customer, as far as the iTunes Music Store is concerned.
Luckily, I found two videos of the song on YouTube. Yey!
Later
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04.11.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:22 am by Haris
Yes, you heard me correctly! My email Inbox is now empty! It is an extremely joyful moment, and i couldn’t have done it without the gentle nudges of 43 folders, especially their Inbox zero series. Thanks Merlin!
Four days ago my inbox was not huge by any sense of the word, a mere 800 messages, 130 of them marked as unread. At that point, unread meant that these are things I might have/need to deal with, and read meant things I might want to keep, but basically I was too lazy to place elsewhere.
So my job was not too difficult. I created two folders, one called Archive and another called Deferred, and each day went through 200 emails, figuring out if I need to act on them (Deferred), need them for reference possibly (Archive), or don’t need them any more (Trash). I didn’t really deal with any of the actionable emails mind you, I just moved them to a more appropriate location, to be dealt with later.
So to all the kids out there with a large cluttered inbox: Don’t use it as an archive/todo list. Move these items to designated locations. And do it now, not tomorrow. As an added benefit, your email client will be much faster. Most importantly, you will be in control, knowing exactly what items you still need to deal with. (Yey for GTD!)
It feels so good to be free!
Later
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02.06.06
Posted in Uncategorized, computers at 3:31 pm by Haris
A very interesting read. What is it that makes a computer app stand out? What makes your app special, and how does that really benefit your users?
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