Jabulani Jonny

What the Format?

I just have to post this.  Typical work scenario... we have Microsoft Office 2003 at our fairly large company.  IT has been reluctant to move to Office 2007, thankfully.  However, other companies have already made the switch and we're starting to receive the new office file types.  Oh you didn't know that Microsoft changed the file types in it's new version of Office, and the new file types are incompatible with all older versions of Office?  Where have you been? 

You have to either download the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack, which we can't do because we're on corporate IT lockdown; or you have to use an online file converter like Zamzar, which we can't get to because it's firewalled (because we're on corporate IT lockdown); or you have to do what I have to do, which is...bring your Mac to work and use something like OpenOffice 3.0 to open the file and save it as an older version .doc file.  How crazy is that work process? 

I mean...what are all those people without Macs gonna do?

Reader Bankruptcy

It's been at least a week since I've had internet access.  For the week before that I didn't have much time to check my blog feeds.  So now I'm faced with insurmountable Google Reader "debt".  I'll have to put myself on some sort of "payment plan" that I can manage.  Or do I just claim feed bankruptcy and let all the useful information go completely unheeded?

Who's the Superest Super Hero?

That's the question that The Superest has been trying to answer since October of last year.  Basically every day, one of a few extremely talented artists presents a super hero that has special powers that defeats the previous day's super hero; making him The Superest, for that day of course.  The cartoons are witty and absolutely some of the most creative presentations I've seen.  These guys are good.  It is the first thing I click on in my Google Reader.  So add it to your daily dose of surfing, you won't be disappointed. 

The Current Champ   (sorry no pics for copyright reasons)

I'm #1

Check this out...

Yeah, if you Google "verjaarsdag" (birthday in Afrikaans, BTW) I'm the first listing.  I've been a little amused at the number of hits my blog has gotten over the past few months from people that have googled the term.  So for those of you reaching this site because I'm the #1 hit for verjaarsdag...welkom, en het 'n loer rondom. 

April Fool's!

I'm enjoying April Fool's Day so far.  I normally don't get into it, but I'm running a particular prank into the ground.  Inspired by the Lifehacker post about 10 Geek Pranks, I followed through on changing the printer read-out for our shared office printer using this little app.  So far I've had it read:  INSERT COIN, I SEE YOU, PRINTS CHARMING, etc.  Dorky, but I sit directly across the hall and I'm cracking up at people's expressions. 

What I've found truly hilarious today is Google's new Virgle program.  I won't let the cat out of the bag, but if you've got some time to read about their new program, it's hilarious.  Find it by going here.  Priceless.

Time to switch?

I don't want this to come across like it's prolly going to come across, but it can't be helped.  Since Vista has been released people have been waiting and lauding the arrival of a Service Pack that would fix the nagging issues that have been plaguing users.  Unfortunately even the recently released, much anticipated Service Pack 1 continues Vista's performance record.

The transition to the service pack has not been problem-free for many users, some of whom have seen their computers fall into endless reboot cycles and struggled with broken applications after installing the upgrade.

So for those of my friends that have issues with the SP1 install, might I suggest......

(via= cnet)

New Toys

I have to admit that I like tech toys. In my last post (oh so long ago) I was contemplating an Apple TV for my B-day. Well, I ended up having a change of heart and just asking for funds for new dress clothes, etc. I need those and i don't really need the A-TV.

I'm still questioning this blog's purpose and I think it may change a bit. I've always enjoyed photography, had a few courses in college, but I've only had a Canon point & shoot up to this point. While Sunette's parents were here for 3 weeks I helped her dad research DSLR's, thinking it was for his purchase. Right before they were to leave they said they wanted to get me one for my birthday. Woah. So after all the research I settled on an Olympus e-510. Pretty stacked prosumer camera. I'm pumped.

I've been shooting quite a bit with it and am making a point to take photo safaris on the weekends to grab shots. I have a feeling my blog may see a bit of a transformation as I post more photos and videos, in theory anyway.

We also recently got a new camcorder, a Canon HV-20. Super sweet HD camcorder that has been fantastic so far.

So here's hoping for more posts with some visual attraction. In fact here are a couple of shots I took with it right before her parents left.

Blog Purpose

I've been going through a time of questioning the blog gods. I'm wondering what purpose my blog is serving right now, which isn't much. Maybe that's because I'm not posting a whole bunch, but that's because I don't have a whole bunch to post...and the cycle continues. I do not want to be one of those blogs where all I do is post links to other peoples blogs that found cool stuff. That's all I see from some blogs and it drives me kinda batty.

So beyond that...do I post picture after picture of Elliot? Or talk about my day at the bank? Cause here's my schedule (most days):
6am: Rise & shine and head to the gym
7am: Return home to wake Sunette and get ready for work
8am-5pm: Work; which always starts with a big cup of joe, some work, some internet, some chatting, some lunch (either at home or with co-workers)
5:30pm: Return home, help Sunette with dinner, play with Elliot
7:30pm: Get Elliot ready for bed
8:00pm-11pm: Hang with Sunette, either both on the computer or watching Mythbusters

That, my friend, is one exciting schedule. Not much blogworthy there. So I'm left asking what the heck to talk about that's of interest? Yeah, I came up with the same answer. I say all that to say I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with the blog right now. The posts may come, they may not. We'll see, but thanks for your understanding.

Apple's Release Strategy

You've probably seen it, but this video had me cracking up. Having just bought a brand new Macbook Pro, I can only guess what new products are gonna be released at the Macworld Expo next week.

(Via- TUAW)

Stalking Chair

Yes I'm back at work and the blog posts have slowed down a bit. Really, I'm trying to think of something interesting to blog about in the vicious routine I've got going on. You don't want to hear about my Mac again...or how I get giddy with posts like this one where folks are terming it "upgrading" back to XP, which is what I've done on my other laptop, and my friends laptop and another desktop coming up. We decorated our Christmas tree last night, that was kind of exciting. It's 6 feet tall and it took us all of maybe 10 minutes.

So maybe I'm living vicariously through the web right now. That's okay cause I stumble across cool things like this.

Now this is too cool. ht: Random Good Stuff