Monthly Archives: May 2009

Adobe Air to the rescue

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I find that, more and more, I depend on rss (or Atom, or xml, or whatever) tp deal with the net.  I like for content providers to tell me when they have something to say, and I don’t want to bother with tweets or Facebook.  I wasvery happy with NetNewsWire, a native application that sat in the dock and and showed the number of unread messages as things got updated.  The problem was that there was no way to read news on a mobile device – I had to have the computer.

I set up a ‘Reader’ account through Gmail, but that created two problems.  Firstly, I had to surf over to Reader in order to see what’s new.  Second, between NetNewswire and Google Reader, I was basically getting two notifications for each news item.  When that’s spread over 20+ subscriptions, that’s inbox overload.

Adobe to the rescue.  Adobe Air is a developer tool that lets web apps run on the computer like they would on the iPhone or iPod Touch.  ReadAir required me to download Air from Adobe and then download the reader app.  It works just like the NetNewswire native app, but it syncs with Google Reader – even to the point of delivery settings and folder management.  Plus, it displays the number of unread messages on the ap icon in the dock.  Problem solved.

‘Real Fast’ meets ‘Overdoing It’

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Thursday was everything it was cracked up to be.  Arrive at work for conference call on pasta case at 8:15.  8:30 board PATCO and ride to Camden for 9AM hearing in DiOrio case.  Defendant’s motion denied:  YES!  I’m one for one.  Back on PATCO to get ready for video dep in Bensalem, PA.  Get car from Em at 10:45 and scoot up I-95 to Bensalem.  Dr. Stempler delivers the goods in summary fashion (now I’m two for two!) and I’m out the door and on my way back down to Philly.

Sal is waiting in the lobby so I can switch files and walk five blocks to City Hall to handle the Miller hearing at 1:30.  Client and adversary are both there and we wrap up the negotiations without incident.  Papers get signed and I’m out the door (three for three, but who’s counting).

Back to office for about 45 minutes and then back to City Hall for the Abrantes Case Management Conference.  We get a nice short case management schedule (four for four!) and I make chit chat with my adversary about an old case we worked on together.

And now, with tired feet, and desk piled high, I will prep a play list to go with my evening run and then I’m collecting Em and we’re out of here!

Fun day!  Nothing on the schedule tomorrow.  Maybe I’ll actually get something done.

Overdoing it

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As I contemplate the way in which I over ate tonight (burrito night – too much of a good thing!), I can’t help but reflect on Ms. Lithwick’s observations about how smart people can act stupid. This regularly happens in connection with selecting Supreme Court Justices (and burrito night).

So we can expect a lot of stupidity and histrionics. Something just happens when the bright shining lights of the Judiciary Committee’s fancy chamber come on.  I know that most of those senators like to be on TV.

Me vs. Oscar – A Memorial Day Moment

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This young fellow is going to beat the tar out of me in a few years, but for now, I’ve got his number.  It was great to have company over Memorial Day weekend.  We really got a lot of mileage out of our stoop.  And, even though you can’t see it in the picture, we’ll be drinking Philadelphia Brewing Company’s Fleur de Lehigh for the rest of the summer.

In addition to the above being a nice shot of a toddler trying to squeeze my head off my shoulder, you can also see our phantastic Phillies banner in the front door window.

Concept Album

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OK – the big holiday weekend is winding down.  After entertaining family for a few days of fun, I left myself in a spot where I basically hd to crank out all sorts of legal nonsense over the past six hours.  What a way to spend the holiday!  But it was all worth it.  I’ll have more on the visit later.

Now, in honor of being done my work for the night, I’m planning the big concept album.  Ive come up with a few song titles:

  1. I Like Cold Beer
  2. Tell Someone Who Cares
  3. You Lose
  4. Stay The Fuck Away From Me
  5. The Mike Piazza
  6. Poison Claw
  7. Blown Save
  8. Peed In The House

Can you think of any others?

The Whole Freakin’ Story

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The latest Wayne Shorter installment is up over at Blogerantz.  This Artist-of-the-Week stuff is exhausting and it’s taking time away from other writing.  So it will be limited to special occasions when the spirit moves me.

But to properly document my little rants, a certain amount of research is necessary.  Relax, I’m still mostly talking out my ass.  Unlike this guy, who wrote an entire masters thesis on Wayne Shorter – Soundtrack For The Imagination – The Career And Compositions Of Wayne Shorter.  Judson Cole Ritchie, you are a badass, whoever you are! I’m looking forward to pawing my way through all 131 pages!

Other stuff (not Wayne Shorter-related)

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F1 racing – is getting ready to tear itself apart.  Teams refuse to be subject to standardized technology and budget caps.  To make matters worse, the proposed changes are voluntary, meaning that the 2010 Championship is expected to be a two tiered affair.  I’m very much in favor of some measure of fiscal control on the sport, but standardized technology takes away a key element that is really integral to the tradition and definition of F1 racing.  And a two-tiered championship is absolutely unacceptable.

Phillies – pulled out a nice squeeker tonight.  Hamels gets the win, although it seems he’s not quite as sharp and dominant as he was last year.  Same with Lidge – BIG TIME.  But he did get the save tonight and was a damned entertaining game to listen to.  Franzke is coming into his own (as Scott Graham did, a few years back) on those exciting calls at the end, particularly Lidge’s strikeout for out number two with two on in the bottom of the ninth.  Nice job.

John Scalzi – is a fine SciFi writer, a real professional.  He’s been blogging prolifically since 1998.  That’s some pretty good output for one guy.  Getting the benefit of really good writing on a daily basis is quite a treat.  But when its Scalzi’s twisted sense of humor, well then it’s priceless.  And, hey, it is priceless, totally free!  He recently featured an interview with a stick of butter, and today confronts his inner geek as he contemplates the purchase of a new computer powerful enough to play fancy new games:

As an example of this problem, note the picture above, of CyberPower PC’s “Lan Party Commander.” Leaving aside the name of the PC, which screams “I am encrusted in the residue of Cheetos and Mountain Dew,” this rig is one of the more subtly-designed of the gaming rigs CyberPower puts together, and it still looks like a cooling tower at Chernobyl. If I walk into a room and something is glowing like this thing is, my first instinct is to dive toward the lead shielding.

Read the entire post here.  I particularly like image of him encrusted in the residue of Cheetos.

WordPress – is ready to getting ready to go to 2.8 and only just installed this version (currently I’m using 2.7.1) on March 26.  That’s less than two months ago!  But it’s a dilemna because the last update (that I just installed) was terrific.  Fortunately, it’s still in beta testing, and I’m not feeling that adventurous at the moment.

Wayne’s World

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As part of my ongoing celebration of Wayne Shorter’s music this week, here is New York Times review of his 75 birthdy concert at Carnegie Hall.  He was joined by a classical wind section, but reviewer Ben Ratlif gives you a feel for what the extraordinary quartet has done during this amazing 8-year run.

They don’t stop between songs, they keep melodies obscured through harmony that’s constantly flowing, and they allow breathing room for everyone, almost rendering obsolete the old notions of jazz architecture — solos, backgrounds, vamps, bridges and so on. Why would you want anything to get in the way of that?

Read the whole article here.