My Parking Spot...

No Pain, No Gain, No Loss

I started a weight loss routine back in January to get back in shape and lose weight. Most of the impetus was due to the fact that my Term Life Insurance was twice what it should be. That's crazy! Since the company I work for, Shopzilla, Inc., was paying for my gym membership, I thought I'd take advantage of it. After the first 3 months, I lost about 10lbs. It stayed about that for the next 2 months. I then started kick-boxing and lost another 11lbs in the last 2 months. Kick-boxing really helped a lot with increasing cardio and strength training.

Changing your diet helps even more.

Now I just need to figure out how to lose 110lbs of wife.

Disneyland for an Introvert

Hell on Earth!

Birthday Splash for Bree

Thanks everyone for coming out to Bree's 1st Birthday Party. We had a lot of fun. I got a bit over-cooked, but at least most of the food turned out OK. We hope everyone had a great time swimming and eating.

Thanks for all the gifts.

Photos here.

Not For Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation posted their 5 reasons for not buying an iPhone, via Daring Fireball. This is a bit ridiculous. Every Verizon phone operates pretty much the same way.

iPhone completely blocks free software. Developers must pay a tax to Apple, who becomes the sole authority over what can and can't be on everyone's phones.
iPhone endorses and supports Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology.
iPhone exposes your whereabouts and provides ways for others to track you without your knowledge.
iPhone won't play patent- and DRM-free formats like Ogg Vorbis and Theora.
iPhone is not the only option. There are better alternatives on the horizon that respect your freedom, don't spy on you, play free media formats, and let you use free software -- like the FreeRunner.

Verizon controls all softwae you put on your phone. You can't manually install anything. (MS Mobile phones might be an exception because Verizon doesn't own the OS.)
Although you can put music on your phones, I think Verizon controls everything that is broadcast through VCast.
I don't think any phone actually does this, unless you install the software that does it.
I don't think there are any Verizon phones that do this, most phones probably don't.
The FreeRunner is not a very good option and barely competes with the iPhone.

I only use Verizon as an example because I subscribe to them and I know how crappy their phones are. They are endorsing Google's Android OS, but that's a long ways away.

A Touch Of Color

The Samsung Touch Of Color is a sight for sore eyes. Go buy one, Kevin.

iTunes via iPhone

Apple plans to release an application that will allow you to control iTunes remotely. I'm sure it will be a great app, except for one feature: the ability to change AirTunes Speakers. How sad is Apple that they can't add this one feature? If I were a betting man, I'd wager they won't support it.

Update: I guess I lose. Perhaps they got tired of me submitting complaints about this issue. It's even listed as a feature in the AppStore. That license for Signal just went to waste, at least the author got paid for making a good app.

The Technology Saga Continues

Took the MacPro to TechRoom to diagnose the problem. They wanted to charge me $50 per drive (x4) to back them up, plus the $50 to diagnostic test. I only opted to have them backup the system drive. They kept it for a week, told me the problem was the original RAM modules. It wasn't the RAM. It's most likely the Video card. The computer seems to work fine when I'm not actually using it. Bleh, what a waste of $100.

I hate Technology

Speaking of dumps, my MacPro also took a dump soon after. It's in the shop now. The three day turnaround is more like seven days. I need to find a good backup solution. Time Machine isn't good enough. Maybe I'll try out Carbon Copy Cloner. The last time I tried it, it didn't work so well. But, I do remember it had the features I needed.

Photos Server

It seems my Photos Server took a dump. Re-installing the OS is probably the only option at this point, although I'm not sure it's worth it. I might just end up paying the nominal fee for an unlimited Flickr account. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how I can integrate it into the Coppermine Photo Gallery software.

Not So Chili Peppers

I've been waiting for this day for a very long time. The RHCP have called it quits. At least for a year anyway. Unfortunately, KROQ will continue to play their crap forever. I wish they would just go away-o.

Remaking the Remake

The Incredible Hulk was so bad the last time around that they had to remake it. It doesn't even look like a sequel. It's like they're denying the Ang Lee directed Hulk never existed. Probably for the better, I wish I could. This new film actually looks pretty decent.

Cutest Baby of the Month

Bree needs your vote to become the Cutest Baby of the Month.

Update: I removed the link because the site was just spamming users with their emails.

Bring the Vote

This is the year for Politics as we're about to elect a new President. Why not help the cause and sign the petition for Proposition 3-17. It's a noble cause to bring a new Holiday to the States. Let's be a little more international and support our brothers and sisters across the pond. Go grab a Guinness and sign the petition.

Apple TV 2.0

So the new Apple TV v2.0 was released yesterday. It's a long overdue update. And the only plus is the new interface and Rentals. Other than that, it's not much to brag about. The interface is a good deal slower. My Movies is still not browsable by Genre or any meta data. They can do it for Rentals, but not for my personal movies. I don't understand why. It's just so annoying to scroll through 200+ movies to look for anything.

I would give v2.0 a C-.

Del.icio.us-ly Simple

I saw this post on Daring Fireball and had to try it out. I've never used del.icio.us before, but I hear it's a great way to organize bookmarks. Unfortunately, aside from my normal list of links, I don't really go into my history to browse. Instapaper is a clever idea. It's a quick way to bookmark sites to read later. What's impressive is the way that it's implemented. To install, you just drag a button (scriptlet) into your tool bar. When you see a page you want to read later, just click the button (scriplet) and it gets saved to the Instapper server. To register, you just provide an email address, the password is optional.

scriptlet: javascript bookmarks.

Cool Hi-Tech Gifts

From HiTechToys:

GE 6.0 Cell Fusion Home Phone: $150
IntelliScanner Mini: $299
Bugaboo Bee Stroller: $500
Boulevard Car Seat: $270

'Tis the Season Again...

Christmas Season is upon us again. The stores are already stocked. A bit early, but that's Capitalism for ya. So why not send someone a Gift Card from Amazon.

The Cat's Out of the Bag Now

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is out. I haven't had time to upgrade just yet, but I'm waiting for things to settle down and for developers to update their applications first. There are a few features I'm waiting to try out, like Spaces and Time Machine, although there are still some bugs and limitations.

The first step is to backup.

Go Google Gadget Go!

My first Google Gadget. Any Shopzilla Publisher content can be used as a Google Gadget. Google is amazing, they're building web applications the way web applications should be built. Web applications should look and feel like any other desktop application. If you find this Gadget useful, add it to your iGoogle page.

Or add it to your web page.

<script src="http://gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/111112737739082765987/shopzilla-459-dynamic-search.xml&synd=open&w=280&h=250&title=Search+at+Shopzilla&border=http%3A%2F%2Fgmodules.com%2Fig%2Fimages%2F&output=js"></script>

Bree Thi Nguyen

She came 4 weeks early, but she's healthy and happy.

Bree Thi Nguyen born July 28th, 2007 @ 12:05am.

6lbs. 9oz. 18in.

http://bree.thaiandhien.com/

Brooke and Bree

Subscribe to Bree's first album photocast.

iPhone Released Today

Apple releases the iPhone today at 6:00pm PST. Somewhat exciting. Still can't make the switch to AT&T though.

David Pogue's Review
iPhone Apps
My First Mac iPhone Widget
iPhone Widget Tutorial
iPhone + Widget Mashups

In Memoriam...

My Grandfather, Nguyen Van Phu, passed away this day, June 5th, 2007. If it wasn't quiet already, it'll be more so over the next few days. Grief is an odd thing, I find it hard to express.

July 06, 1923 - June 05, 2007

Good night.

Plugged

I got plugged. Geeksugar gave me a plug for prolonging her carpal-tunnel a few more years. If you're new to the MacBooks, you may not be familiar with all of it's tricks. One in particular, two-finger scrolling. Checkout my previous post to Pimp-Your-Mac, several freeware/shareware applications to make you more productive.

Many thanks Geeksugar, love your blog.

Pimp-Your-Mac

Top Utilities/Applications:
Quicksilver:   http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/
TextExpander:  http://www.smileonmymac.com/textexpander/index.html
PTHPasteboard: http://pth.com/products/pthpasteboard/
Synergy:       http://wincent.com/a/products/synergy-classic/
Path Finder:   http://www.cocoatech.com/pf4/
Renamer4Mac:   http://www.power4mac.com/renamer/
CUPS-PDF:      http://www.codepoetry.net/projects/cups-pdf-for-mosx
MenuMeters:    http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/menumeters/
Visor:         http://docs.blacktree.com/visor/visor
SIMBL:         http://www.culater.net/software/SIMBL/SIMBL.php
Firebug:       Firefox Extension

Honorable Mentions:
MenuCalendarClock  http://www.objectpark.net/en/mcc.html
Growl              http://growl.info/
LittleSnitch       http://www.obdev.at/products/index.html
SafariStand        http://hetima.com/safari/stand-e.html
Teleport           http://abyssoft.com/software/teleport/
TinkerTool         http://www.bresink.de/osx/TinkerTool.html
WindowShadeX       http://unsanity.com/products
Mail.appetizer     http://www.bronsonbeta.com/mailappetizer/beta/
VirtueDesktops     http://virtuedesktops.info/

Update: iUseThis

New Addition to the Family

New Addition to the Family. Yes, we are expecting again, another girl. We're very happy. I think this is it, I don't have the energy for another one.

Closing the Entertainment Loop

Finally got my AppleTV yesterday and spent a little time playing with it. Brooke battled me for the remote the entire time, suffice it to say she won. Fortunately, I had two, the second from the iMac at work. Setup was simple if not a little tedious scrolling through each letter on the onscreen keyboard. Once it's done, it's done; moving on. NOTE: if you have a large Library, don't sync, connect from iTunes and selectively sync your Library. Brooke and I enjoyed a little "Baby Einstein" to calm herself down. Playback was nice and smooth, fastword and rewind worked well until you hit the buffer, at which point it has to refresh. The menus are nice and clean. My only gripe is that the menus aren't nicely grouped by Artist/Album/Show like the iPod menus. It's very tedious to scroll through every Simpsons episode to find one from Season 5 , especially when all of the episodes are grouped in alphabetical order or uploaded date. Traversing submenus would have been more efficient. I hope to see it in a future software update. Overall, I'm very pleased with my entertainment center, MacPro server, AppleTV and Pioneer Plasma TV (sound system coming soon).

March Birthdays

Happy Birthday to all:

Phuong Tran (3rd)
John Sarrouf (3rd)
Chann An (3rd)
Rodney Barlow (4th)
Rex Roberts (7th)
Mat Simpson (9th)
Arvind Puri (13th)