prentipalooza

gainesville glitteratti

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:42:00 +0000

I can't stop thinking about it! I hope this comes together.

Ready for the week to be over

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:36:00 +0000

Ugh. I am so tired. It has been a jammed packed week. The dogs passed obedience class on Monday, and we had dive class Tues and Weds. Last night was our swimming test and it was a little harder than I thought it was. 10 laps in the pool wears you out! I could have treaded water for more than the required 10 mins, though. This weekend, we will be officially certified for Open Water.

I was looking into a waterproof casing for my Canon - they cost almost as much as the freaking camera! I might hit up Walmart and see if I can get a cheapie. Or a disposable one would work too..

Can't wait for the weekend when we go DIVING!!!!!

It COULD have been an early morning..

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:46:00 +0000

Today's plans include doing some website-ing, teaching a lesson, and maybe, just maybe, doing something in the yard. And laundry tonight. That pile is only getting bigger and will grow instantly by 5 days when R gets home from his trip. Come to think about it, there is a pretty heft pile of dishes to do soon.. and the bathroom.. and dusting..

Ack!

Ok.

Breathe!

I'll just stick to the first two for now.

Tasty Tom Selleck

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:25:00 +0000

I randomly came across this blog post via the craftzine blog and thought it was just the coolest thing. Then I realized who the blog belonged to an old acquaintance from Austin!

Kudos, alicia policia, your cake rocks.

Jimmy and his violin were always close. - CollegeHumor picture

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:40:00 +0000

I know. I have the humor of a 12 year old. Come on. You snickered too.

The Electrical Engineer and the Electrician

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:22:00 +0000

Turns out the 5 outlets that stopped working after a bad storm a couple weeks ago were fixed with a simple GFI switch. R was right! He just didn't know where to look. What a smarty.

We also got an estimate for the electrician to install all the light fixtures we've been thinking about. Not too shabby! Casa Ladkani will be all lit up in a matter of weeks, me thinks!

A fun quiz

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:02:00 +0000

You Are a Colon

You are very orderly and fact driven.

You aren't concerned much with theories or dreams... only what's true or untrue.

You are brilliant and incredibly learned. Anything you know is well researched.

You like to make lists and sort through things step by step. You aren't subject to whim or emotions.

Your friends see you as a constant source of knowledge and advice.

(But they are a little sick of you being right all of the time!)

You excel in: Leadership positions

You get along best with: The Semi-Colon

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Bertha - the first hurricane of the season

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:56:00 +0000

Time to get those hurricane perparedness kits together, people. The first named hurricane is out there in the big Atlantic.

Don't forget to plan for your pets, too.

National Hurricane Center

LadkanWii

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:13:00 +0000

We set up the Wii Sunday night but actually played it last night. It's so much fun - I love it! Finally, a video game for me. None of this first person pseudo-realistic shooter type game. Let's just face it - I'm a terrible Halo player (several can attest to this fact!). I really like puzzle games, like Tetris. Ah. I love me some Tetris. And I'm not too bad at them.

Back on topic - the one thing that is both so incredibly cool and bothersome at the same time is how many different games are available for the Wii. You can get the numchucks, the steering wheel, the guitar, the drum pads, the dance pads.. See what I mean? Nintendo should go back to the good old days of the original NES where you only had a max of like 4 things to add on to the box.

I think I can deal with all the extras that come with the Wii, though. Good job, Nintendo, good job.

Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:38:00 +0000

Installing Ubuntu so I can run a virtual server from my desktop.

Download Ubuntu | Ubuntu

Random thoughts and happenings

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:48:00 +0000

While I'm really digging the Twitter, 140 characters is just sometimes not enough. I'm going to start adding some personal things to this blog (don't worry, nothing too personal). Actsoup suggested I start a vBlog for Benni and Buster. I'd really like to do more of a moBlog and send pics here sometimes too. We'll see!

For my first 140+ character post, I will tell you about my ride into work today.

Today on my way into work, I was listening to Ween's Happy Colored Marbles (from the Album Quebec - 2003). It is a nice morning, so I had my windows down, enjoying the air before it gets Florida hot. As I pull up to a light, there's a man on a motorcycle idling, waiting to turn. The tone of the motorcycle motor totally matched my Ween blasting through the radio. Totally random, but it actually sounded pretty cool.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:23:00 +0000

Interesting article on how the web has changed reading habits.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Make Your Goals SMART

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:05:00 +0000

Learn How To Make Your Goals SMART

S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Realistic
T = Timely

How much sense does this make? So many of us have goals, big and small, that will never be realized. I have high and lofty goals for so many different things - to create well designed web sites where finding information is easy and intuitive, to get a jewelry company off the ground (half way there! there's a store here carrying some of my things), and to keep up my violin skills through teaching lessons and gigging.

I get an idea and I say 'I'm going to do this' but the ideas become so big and unmanageable that they just go on forever or I eventually just give up. And why is that? Well, it's because I'm not being SMART about my goals!

Secrets of the 7 Basic Blog Posts

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:52:00 +0000

Came across this commentary and thought it was interesting. I'd say I agree with the article for personal blogs, but not for professional/tech blogs.

Alt Text: Secrets of the 7 Basic Blog Posts

Dell pays big for new talent

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:30:00 +0000

Dang, Dell's got some cash to throw around!

Dell pays big for new talent

Google's open-source balancing act |

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:57:00 +0000

Q&A: Google's open-source balancing act | Underexposed - CNET News.com

This is an interesting read and I think it applies to more companies that just Google. It seems everyone now is using open-source products. For example, here at the College of Education, we use an open source content management system - Drupal.

Drupal has developers who develop different modules to do almost anything you could want on a website. We have even developed our own custom made PHP modules. Do we share our modules with other universities/organizations? Where to we draw the line in involving ourselves in open-source software development?

Buster Brown!

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:36:00 +0000

Social Networking on the rise

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:17:00 +0000

Nielsen: MySpace, Club Penguin growth static, LinkedIn soaring | The Social - CNET News.com

Duh.

Happy Birthday, Ethernet!

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:13:00 +0000

The Ethernet is 35 years old today! Hooray for ethernet!

May 22, 1973: Enter Ethernet

1973: Bob Metcalfe of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center writes a memo outlining how to connect the think tank's new personal computers to a shared printer. The memo puts forth the basic properties of -- and names -- ethernet.

Social Networking on the rise

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:46:00 +0000

Duh..

Nielsen: MySpace, Club Penguin growth static, LinkedIn soaring | The Social - CNET News.com

Tools to Make Web Development More Efficient

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:36:00 +0000

Maybe some of these tools will help me and my CSS frustrations..

20 Useful Tools to Make Web Development More Efficient | Six Revisions

Why does the media love Apple and trash Dell? | Crave : The gadget blog

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:56:00 +0000

The story: Why does the media love Apple and trash Dell? | Crave : The gadget blog

I have owned an Apple, Dell, HP, and Gateway computer, and I have to admit that my two favorites (performance and tech support) have been the Apple and Dell computers. In fact, for the last 7 years, I've owned both. Simultaneously even. At work, I use a Dell work station and we have 2 Macs in the lab area.

Dell has never disappointed me in their service. I've done just about anything you can do to a computer, short of blowing one up, and Dell was always fast and responsive with their service.

We recently got rid of my old HP printer. When it was working, life was good. But I had several problems with it over the years and trying to get support from HP was always a frustration. My last support experience with them was so terrible, I gave up. I don't know if it was a language barrier issue or what, but it left me wanting more.

Every professional job I've had has required some amount of Support desk skills to varying degrees - from fielding easy 1st level calls, to troubleshooting n-tier server installs. I always try to be pleasant and understanding when I call for help. But bad service is just bad service.

I've been happy with Dell. The company has served me well and I have been a returning customer for my last 3 computers (and just for the record, they were all working fine, I just had outgrown them).

Walt Disney gets high teech with Blu-ray

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:23:00 +0000

We bought an HD DVD player just days before Toshiba announced it would discontinue HD DVD players. We should have gotten an Blu-ray, but you know how fast technology can change. It's like when Beta and VHS were competing back in the 80's. My dad jumped onto the Beta bandwagon, camcorder/player and all, only to find out that VHS beat it out for the every day consumer. We still have our old family videos on Beta and my parents still watch them on their Beta player.

So, Disney is trying to change the way we watch movies. It seems like everyone is getting their feet wet in on-line socialization.

Ubiquitous wi-fi is just around the corner..

Official Google Blog: A friend connected web

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:12:00 +0000

I've always wished I could do this kind of thing with my website. Looks like now I can! Gotta love the OpenSocial aspect.

Official Google Blog: A friend connected web

So, what do I do first? Play with Drupal or toot around Google's friend connect?

CSS & Browser compatibility

noreply@blogger.com (prentiss) — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:35:00 +0000

When, oh when, will Cascading Style Sheets get rendered the same across the different web browsers? I have such a headache right now. It looks good in IE, but not Firefox. It looks good in Safari, but is totally broken in IE.

CSS - Contents and compatibility