Today, my machine seemed slow. Not the normal slow, but excessively slow. Our IT department does a good job at what they do, however, I think there's a lot of overhead in some of the applications they've chosen to make their lives easier. I understand, it's a tradeoff between keeping our systems functioning, and them having time to deal with more critical business issues.

It just seems ridiculous that opening IE takes so long, or typing in Visual studio has laggy moments. I opened up my Task Manager, and went right to the Processes tab. "AeXRSAgt.exe" sucking up 168MB of precious RAM. What the hell is that? For a moment, I'm worried. Did I get some spy-ware on here somehow? Do I have a virus.... hmm.

A quick trip to http://www.processlibrary.com/ and type the process name into their search. It tells me they have not reviewed the security implications of this process, however, it's author is Altiris, Inc. That's our backup software. It runs all the time continually backing up my  laptop. It has saved me once or twice, but I start to ask the question, "Is the data loss I could experience worth taking the risk of not having this software?" My source code is all backed up in Subversion, so what am I really protecting?

The really important stuff in My Documents is project documentation, and once it's been client approved, it's stored on an extranet.

I understand why they want to have this software, I just wish I could work without it sucking up all my resources. I just looked again, and it's calmed down, but between that, virus, and other IT mandated software, I'm guessing I give up at least a quarter of my available RAM at any given time.

Sigh.

I'm very intrigued about the impending iPhone release from Apple. I think they've gotten it right, it's being dubbed as a phone on your music player. Most people with music capabilities on their current phones can be described as a music player on their phone. One device that does almost everything typically has been a huge failure, but I think Apple has a lot going for them.

Here are some of the reasons I'm interested, and possibly will get an iPhone close to it's release (if possible without standing in line, etc. etc.).

• iPod - Movies and Music.

Sure, it's only 8GB, blah blah blah. I've only got about 15 GB on my current 30GB iPod. I'm ok with keeping my favorite music, photos, and movies on the device. It's not like I'll be crossing the Sahara with this thing. One very nice feature I've read about is letterboxed movies, if you prefer to see them fill the screen, just double tap the screen and the iPhone will resample the video on the fly. Pretty slick.

• User Interface and Design

I love the fact there there are a minimal amount of buttons. The UI can adapt to almost any situation due to the touch screen interface that Apple has developed. The designers they have really do a great job in bringing revolutionary products and interfaces to the market.

• Email, Web, and Voicemail

Sure, it's NOT 3G, but AT & T is promising to beef up their Edge network (hmm can't seem to find the supporting link for this at the current moment) to support faster data transfer times. A full version of Safari on the phone will be sweet. And now with Safari support for Windows, we have a great sandbox to develop AJAX and other web technologies targeted for the iPhone. (And we can test it out on our Windows dev boxes too...) Shiny.

The voicemail is a first as well. Seven voicemails? Skip to the sixth without having to listen to the other five!

Recently I've setup all my email to go through Gmail. I'm very hopeful that Gmail will develop some sort of push technology to address instant email and synching for the iPhone and other mobile device users.... it's got to be coming... right?

• Technology

I'm a total geek. Just the small touches they've added to this phone, like the fact that when you talk on it, the screen turns off to save battery life, or that when you tilt it to landscape it in turn adjusts the screen to that orientation is wonderful. I recall way back in the day having a Casiopeia running Windows CE and to adjust the screen sizes and orientations, required a 3rd party software package I had to pay for!

Now I'm really not an Apple FanBoy, I swear. It took me a long time just to get an iPod. There are several things I'm not excited about in this phone, or things that could be serious deal breakers for me.

• No support for 3G, what the hell? We're on the crappy AT & T Edge network that they are supposedly revamping.
• The soft keyboard is kind of scary from what I've heard so far. If I can't type an email, or web addresses, what's the point? I'll be trying this out in the store for sure before I drop that much cash.
• The hype. Can you imagine how hard it's going to be to get one of these on June 29, @ 6 PM? Let me just say this, there is no way I'm camping out for this thing. I might consider going a few hours early to 'wait'... but I'm not a huge stand in line, or crowd kind of person. So is this going to be like a 6 month Xbox wait?
• No telenav, or GPS integration?
• The price. Let's face it, very expensive. But I supposed if you have a $300 ipod, and a $150 cell phone, plus something to browse the web or do email, or whatever, you're getting close to their price point. And early adopters just pay to be in the game at the beginning.

So with that all said, I'll be there at some point, hands on, considering a purchase. If the rumors of 3-4 million units at launch are true, it should not be too bad. I kind of doubt that there will be that many... I can see Apple wanting to create a huge demand by introducing a small amount of units into the market.

Discuss, tell me what you're impressions are.

Let me start off by saying I could blog for pages about all the things that went wrong. I could complain incessantly about how things should have gone better and how stupid some of the issues we experienced were. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to say we can see the light.

Kitchen
The kitchen appliances are in working and looking very well. The new Corian countertops are in, and also look and are functioning well. There are a few things left to do. I'm going to have to pull the appliances and baseboard up and install the new flooring. Everyone that has done laminate flooring is a breeze, so I'll be doing that. We're also waiting for the cabinet doors to arrive.

Master Bath
The new vinyl flooring is in. It looks great. I've also installed the door trim and baseboards. We just need to putty up the nail holes, paint the baseboards, do some wall touch ups, and then wait for the new cabinet doors in there.

Katherine's Bath
This room's vinyl is installed, and baseboards and trim has been installed as well. Some putty and paint, and we're done in here.

Downstairs Bath
The vinyl is down, that's about it. This was one of the areas that sustained water damage. (Long story, and not my fault.... I guess there was something on 20/20 about Home Depot contractors... but I'm not gonna go there). This room needs all trim installed, and about 4 sq. ft. of drywall installed, taped, and blended into existing. We'll have to repaint in here as well.

Laundry Room
The new appliances arrived this time, without dents! Wooooooo :) It's amazing what makes me happy about things now. We got the new front loading washer and dryer, they will utilize 67% less water and electricity! The new units are set in the corner in a stacked configuration. Using the stacked config allows us to add almost 6' of counter space. This counter will be so helpful for doing laundry and wrapping gifts, etc. Under the cabinet, I'm building a 50" cabinet with three doors. Inside one door will be our garbage and shredder, for destroying all the stupid credit card applications we get. The very left of the cabinet will have an open section that a laundry cart will slide in and out of to hold dirty laundry. The ceiling needs painting and spackle work, again from the water damage. The trim is all installed, caulked, and painted!

Garage
This area was never even part of the remodel plans, but due to the water emergency we had to open up the ceiling. This area needs new insulation around the furnace ducting, new insulation in the ceiling, and new drywall in one major section. Once I get my claim serviced, I'll be more likely to get aggressive in here.

So summing up, the really major stuff is done. I think we can knock out a lot of this 'punch' list this weekend. I'll be starting on building the custom cabinet tonight, and hopefully installing it by the end of the weekend.

If you're thinking of updating/remodeling your house, post here, I'm happy to answer questions/share experiences.

I've been away. Too busy. Remodel has taken a lot of time. Kids even more. I'll try to post more often, I'm hacking around with some fun AJAX stuff, so maybe some posts about that soon.

Any time I can use an online service to replace a program that I have to open from my computer, I'm interested. Hello Google Reader. I've been using a really decent RSS Aggregator called SharpReader. SharpReader is decent, but I've noticed it's quite the memory hog sometimes. I like having a list of sites that I track, and being able to go to that list and see what I've read and what's new is important. The big problem I've had with SharpReader too, is that the changes are isolated to the computer where you're reading from. So if I have SharpReader on a machine at work, and read a blog during the day, that night SharpReader at home on my laptop has no clue. Google to the rescue, their in-browser RSS reader is the bomb. I can list ALL of the RSS feed in one UI, or I can read them by feed. As I scroll past each article, it marks them as read, ahhhh. If a quick scan of the titles renders nothing I want to delve deeper into, I just click a mark all as read button. Nice and clean. And since it's tied to my google account, when I get home from work everything is as it should be (synchronized is the wrong word - but it's like that). I can even track my RSS items right from my google homepage. I can now uninstall SharpReader and get 30MB - 60MB of RAM back.... sweet!

I like to find places that I like, and frequent them. Consistency is a good thing. If you know your meal, service, and atmosphere will be good the majority of the time, you're more likely to relax, and have fun while you're spending your hard earned money. There's a place that my wife, friends, and I enjoy a lot, it's the Portland City Grill. We've only eaten at the restaurant twice, both extremely special occasions, one paid for by my folks as an anniversary gift, and once on our dime. But don't fret, because there's a way you can experience the great views, great food, and great atmosphere, significantly cheaper. Happy hour. I know they do it during the week but don't know the exact details. I'm going to tell you about Sundays at the Portland City Grill.

Every Sunday, they open at four and have happy hour until close. The best way to get in and assure you'll have a seat (read good seat), and totally enjoy yourself is to ENSURE, you're there before 4PM. We try to get there w/ at least 5 to 10 minutes to spare. Their address is:

30th Floor
Unico/US Bancorp Tower
111 SW Fifth Avenue
Portland, Oregon  97204

You can park right in the garage of the same building, they'll even validate your first hour of parking. 

The Grill is located on the 30th floor of the U.S. Bank building just a few blocks off Burnside on 5th. If you take Pine S. from the waterfront side, you'll drive right into the garage. Park near the elevators, you'll see signs to the Grill. Here's the catch, most people wait in the lobby until the elevators are unlocked allowing access to the 30th floor. We typically get in the elevator in the garage about 3-5 minutes before 4PM. And like a kid using an ATM, or elevator, heh, I just keep pressing the 30th floor button until it finally lights up.

Just last week this tactic got us in front of the mass of people that rushed in. You'll only need to employ this tatic if you want a window seat, and trust me, you do. Happy hour is only good in the bar, so once on the 30th floor, you briskly walk in, and find a good window seat, we like to sit as far from the bar out overlooking the river. The prices are CHEAP (for food). Appetizers range from a paultry $1.95 - $4.95 and include things like Sushi, a yummy burger, fries, Caeser salad, prawns, mini pork sandwhiches, Bruscheta, and a ton more. Four of us ate about 3-4 appetizers each, had 2-3 drinks each, and a $10 dessert, with tip spent less than $100. Not bad for a night out on the town. After 5PM there is a piano player, and the music is pretty good.

This is a great way to enjoy seeing Portland from a vantage that you won't get to that often, and keeping your night out on the town very reasonable. The picture above was taken from our seats about an hour after sunset.

I was able to find the happy hour menu on their site.

Switch the frogs to the opposite side within 2 minutes.

Green Day - American Idiot.

All I can say is this has to be one of my top 10 albums ever. Green day calls it a rock 'opera', I understand what they were going for, the album is awesome from start to finish. The second track, "Jesus of Suburbia" is a 10 minute song that changes tempo 3 or four times. It's probably the best track on the album.

If you get a chance, check out the live concert of the American Idiot album, where Green Day plays a live show in England to 130,000 people over two days. It's called "Bullet in a Bible". It's produced well, and is well worth the $14 (especially if you have a video ipod).

Anyways, I know this album has been out for several years, but I just have to say how great it is, start to finish.

I was tagged by Travis, so here's my five things:

I've worked for some pretty amazing clients as a web developer:

Right out of college I worked at a web development agency that gave me the choice of working on the http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/ corporate site, or the U2 World Popmart Tour Web Site (not online anymore...). Ummmm hmmmmm which one would you choose. I've done work for Reba McEntire too. Just about three years ago, I had an opportunity to do three professional poker player site's in conjunction with UltimateBet.com. Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari, and Dave "the Devilfish" Ulliot. I'm an avid poker fan, and have seen all three of these guys all over TV. While I did not get to meet any of them, I did get an autographed book from Phil Hellmuth.

I used to be a snow ski instuctor. I taught snow skiing to kids as young as two, all the way to sixty plus years old for about seven years. I originally did this job starting in high school to subsidize the cost of skiing, and found that I really liked teaching and working with people. I worked for a ski school at Snoqualmie Pass, WA, at the Ski Arcres ski area. I worked for one of the largest ski schools in the country.

I'm an avid wood worker. I've taken a break for the past year or so, mainly because there's no furniture left to build, but I feel like I'm about to start up again. I primarily like to make furniture, and I tend to find something I like somewhere, and then duplicate it, building it better, stronger, and for about 1/3 of the cost usually. Along with wood working, I can pretty much do any sort of home improvement thing. I have ALL the tools, and a lot of the skills. I worked for general contractor for a few years, he taught me many things.

I've recently become an aspiring photographer. Well I guess I can't call myself a photographer yet, but I'm going to take some classes, and learn about photography. I purchased my first digiatl SLR (well any SLR for that matter) just a few months ago. And while I'm still an 'automatic' shooter right now, I'm enjoying the things a SLR camera can do, that a point-and-shoot can't. It's awesome to be able to shoot five or six photos in a second or two. I'm excited about becoming better, and sharing this with people.

I have a highly addictive personality. When my work got an XBox 360, it became pretty apparent to me that I needed to get one at home, as I easily could have snuck away to play it at work too much. I tend to go in long spurts of addiction, and right now my addictions are (in no order of importance): xbox, poker (I have limits, and no, I don't have a problem), learning photography, and my major addiction is electronics. Yeah, the second I saw the iPhone, I knew I'd have to have one. It's a sickness really.... :). I'm lucky to have a very cool wife, and while the electronic purchases sometimes push the envelope, she's a damn good sport.

I'm tagging Jon, and Jason.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is an invaluable resource for parents with small children. How often do you have someone want to 'save you money' and give you their garage sale, or hand-me-down item? The chance to save money with kids is almost always a great thought, as things kids use, especially when infant - toddler, tend to be used for a short amount of time.

Use the CPSC web site to look up product recalls. Check out really important things like cribs, walkers, high chairs, rattles, you know, the stuff you use daily. Let's face it, if there is a flaw with a product, especially related to safety, kids are going to expose it - quickly.

The CPSC site is awesome. You can subscribe to get recalls via email, you can browse the site, or even aggregate their RSS feed! They have concise bulletins explaining why something was recalled, how to return it, and what you're entitled to as a consumer.

Back when our first child was born, our mother in law brought us a play pen she had purchased at a garage sale for pennies on the retail dollar. We were happy to not have to shell out the $80 - $100 for a new one. But after a quick check on it, and finding out four children had died, and numerous other incidents reported, $100 just didn't seem to matter.

And it's not just children's stuff. It's all products. I had a dewalt rechargeable saw, and had to get the battery replaced as the one I had was a fire hazzard. Again, not something you'd know until it was too late.

Check it out.