July 25, 2008

R. wins 298-272


R. wins 298-272
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

No bingos tonight.

Link spew

I've been dragging around a bunch of interesting sites that I wanted to save/share, but didn't really want to put in my del.icio.us account. So here, in no order whatsoever, is a bunch of random pages that caught my eye in the last couple of weeks:

Futuristic Materials: really cool modern materials that all have interesting and useful properties. This is the real stuff of modern high-tech.

The Beige Site: answers the all important question - What is an old person? Hilarious!

Pac-man shirt by Errorwear: Just awesome.

Cupcakes vs. Muffins: answers the age-old question. (Or does it?)

100 Web Tools for Writers

The Three Laws of Great Graphs: Humorous and true.

Tips for Better Blogging: I'm probably not following any of these.

10 Hot Musics Sites: some interesting sites I hadn't heard of.

Scrabbling for Legal Rationalism: Nice write-up on why the lawsuit against the Scrabulous makers probably has little chance of winning in court.

July 14, 2008

No power for you!


No power for you!
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

Don't you dare plug in your laptop at the Barnes and Noble in Plainfield, IL.

July 08, 2008

I previously posted a link about why twitter is useful (and fun!), but I recently heard an interview on NPR with one of the founders of twitter. This was one of the most succinct explanations of why twitter is more than just a "micro-blogging" tool.

After you've listened to the twitter piece, check out this one on getting and getting rid of earworms (the musical kind).

My first ever Google chart


My first ever comic strip.

July 05, 2008

Tonight we watched the fireworks from the McLean County EMA garage. Was awesome! Had great food and a great view. Saw the sun set followed by a crescent moon.

July 03, 2008

A wins 306-271


A wins 306-271
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

Only coffee shop open tonight was *Bucks. No bingos tonight.

June 28, 2008

R. wins 423-397


R. wins 423-397
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

We had quite a game today. Actually, R. had quite a game today. She got three bingos: dieters, grunted, and bonkers. I was only able to come up with one bingo: sluices.

June 20, 2008

June 14, 2008

Skype with the sister.


Skype with the sister.
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

Renae's computer has a built in camera so we can video chat with Jennette.

June 12, 2008

Sync an ipod with iTunes on a linux computer!

Back in March there was some excitement when one of the WINE developers got an ipod to be recognized by iTunes running on linux with WINE. He posted his patch, but it has yet to migrate to the binary releases. So, unless you fancy patching and compiling WINE on your own, iTunes with WINE is not a great option.

I learned about VirtualBox about the same time, and it occurred to me that I could have a small Windows XP guest OS running on top of my Ubuntu install.

I installed the PUEL (non-free) version from Sun and followed the standard installation procedure. After applying a ton of XP patches, so that I could get to the point where I could use the guest XP install, I was able to download and install iTunes. I followed the instructions on the ubuntu site to get USB to work so the ipod was recognized. Here's a screenshot:


I wanted the ability to share folders between the guest and host OS and after a bit of struggling was able to get that to work (see note below). The bonus of getting the folder sharing to work was that I had to enable mouse sharing, which allowed for the "windowed" mode that you see in the screenshot.

I know that this is not the "free as in speech" way to use an ipod, but I also have a Nike+ that I would like to sync with the runnerplus website on a more regular basis. It was starting to be a pain booting into Windows to sync the ipod to have my stats saved to the website. Also, I have yet to find a linux tool that handles smart playlists of podcasts correctly. So far, this option seems to be the closest to what I've been looking for. And, I haven't seen anyone else do this in linux, that I know of. :)

Some notes:
  1. USB permissions are not persistent after reboot. Further, you need to set the permissions AFTER plugging in the ipod.
  2. The linux host can grab control of the sound card making the XP guest unable to play music. One way to fix this is to shutdown the program in linux that grabbed control of the sound card (if you don't need to use it) and restart the XP guest.
  3. Installing Guest Additions seems to be critical for folder sharing! (Some people have posted that it is optional.) In my case, I had to install it TWICE to get the folder sharing to work. (There are other people who report similar behavior.

June 06, 2008

A. wins 341-307


A. wins 341-307
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

We each got a bingo tonight: R. with 'favorite' and I had 'joisted'. Quiet night at Fusion Brew, but I got to try the mango jelly texture for the first time.

May 24, 2008

R. wins 457-312


R. wins 457-312
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

Another huge game for R. She had 2 bingos today: 'spitters' and 'hoagies'. I had one: 'quacked'. This may have been our first 3 bingo game.

May 23, 2008

R. wins 393-252


R. wins 393-252
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

R. destroys me tonight with her 'z', 'x' and 'j' tiles. She gets play of the game with 'exam' and 'zax' for 97 points.

May 14, 2008

0514081749.jpg


0514081749.jpg
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

Paul's a drunk. But a drunk with a free shirt.

May 10, 2008

A. wins 346-292


A. wins 346-292
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

I had all the 'S' tiles tonight. The only bingo was mine as well: 'GuESTED'. I also got to play a word with no vowels: 'CWMS'.