A list of stuff I used to do but don’t anymore.

1. I no longer subscribe to a newspaper
2. I don’t watch local or national news
3. I don’t subscribe to Netflix
4. I don’t watch live TV unless Seattle is playing in the Super Bowl
5. I don’t go into banks and seldom use cash machines
6. I don’t fill out “sweepstakes” offers
7. I don’t answer our land-line phone
8. I don’t bookmark websites
9. I don’t carry any department store credit cards
10. I don’t take my laptop home or to meetings
11. I don’t use a subscription music service
12. I don’t use Microsoft Internet Explorer
13. I don’t use LinkedIN
14. I don’t update my bank, eBay or Paypal information
15. I don’t “hold” while you take another call
16. I don’t shop at the “Foot Locker”
17. I don’t dress up on Halloween
18. I don’t have a MySpace account
19. I don’t “Do the Dew”
20. I don’t use gasoline additives

If you are looking to start your own blog or want to move from a hosted solution (Blogger, Typepad, etc) to running your own WordPress blog, send email to brett@nordquist.org and I’ll be glad to help you get started at no charge. Whether you need deciding on a hosting company or need technical assistance, I’ll do whatever you need done to get you started with WordPress.

Update: Several people have asked if they can run WordPress on a Windows machine. I’m not sure if you can do that and I’m only familiar with the version that runs on Apache and MySQL. If you are looking for a great hosting company with very quick and easy WordPress setup, you can’t go wrong with Bluehost.

#1 on the list is Silent Hill

vRVhwwh4278

As much as I didn’t want to like Vista, after installing it a couple of months ago I don’t want to go back to Windows XP. At first it felt like Microsoft had slapped a more modern skin on top of Vista. But the more I play around with it, I see they have made some subtle changes in many areas that add up to an improved experience. The best thing I can say about any OS is that it doesn’t get in the way of my work or play. After some tweaking to alerts and such, Vista behaves quite well. Out of the box I’m certain some users will be put off by alerts that constantly ask for your permission before completing seemingly harmless tasks such as installing the program you just double clicked on to start the install. Do all those alerts make for a safer computer? Probably so but I wonder if tossing out so many alerts will desensitize users to the point they just ignore the alerts and click “yes” to everything? If you’re used to running your system with Administrative privileges you’ll probably end up disabling “User Account Control” in the Windows Security section of Control Panel. Once I did that, Vista stayed out of my hair and let me work like I’m used to.

I won’t get into all the Vista features since they described in detail on sites such as Paul Thurrott’s Supersite. But I especially like the “Backup and Restore Center” where you can take an image of your machine or specific folders. This is a much appreciated feature and will certainly take a bite out of programs such as Symantec Ghost that people have relied on for personal backup duties. Control Panel is so packed full of utilities that it’s a bit overwhelming at first, but there’s an amazing array of tools there for the taking. Oh, I can can’t forget that you can now schedule disk maintenance such as defragging. Finally!

When Vista finally is available for consumers I will be upgrading our two PCs the Ultimate Edition.

The winner of this cNet review shouldn’t come as any surprise to those who have used both browsers. IE is much improved but it was so bad to begin with that anything would have been an improvement over version 6. The add-ons for Firefox have won me over and I can’t imagine going back to IE.

It’s funny to see Microsoft touting security and tabbed browsing as cool new features. Tabbed browsing has been around for years and Microsoft touting security makes about as much sense as K-Fed writing a book on fatherhood.

I normally don’t really care for “live” recordings of my favorite songs. But one exception is this version of Running to Stand Still from Rattle & Hum. Amazing.
ySxPzzsj8U0

When I moved to Seattle in ’94 I lived in the University district. Back then I spent a lot of hours at the UW Bookstore and Tower Records. There was always a crowd at Tower which was open late and had a great selection of music and video. For a few years they even carried computer games at this store. They are the first music store I remember that had listening stations. Because of those listening stations I was introduced to a lot of new music I otherwise would not have known existed. I remember listen to “Ghost of Tom Joad” at a station when Springsteen released this new CD and buying it immediately. I don’t know if that same experience exists for me anymore. Now I’m more likely to be sent an mp3 file from a friend or my brother. Sharing music takes on a whole new meaning in this digital age. When I used to run a Hotline server people would see my selection of music and upload stuff they thought I might like. That’s how I first heard The Sundays and eventually bought every CD I could find from them.

[audio:tomjoad.mp3]
The Ghost of Tom Joad – Bruce Springsteen
Link to video on YouTube

Driving through downtown Seattle this morning, I noticed several people wearing those wacky body signs announcing the “going out of business” markdowns at Tower. It’s kind of sad to think back to many of those good experiences sampling music at Tower, and now I won’t be able to do that anymore. I can see myself having to explain what a music store used to be to my kids. To them, a music store will probably mean a section you find at Wal-Mart, Target, or Best Buy. Are the days of the dedicated music store over? Will you be able to ask the person working in the Best Buy music area what new CD they would recommend? I hope that experience will still live on in some form. Some of the used CD swapping stores I’ve visited (one just opened up near Pikes Market) like Gray Whale have passionate and knowledgeable staff that are full of recommendations. But you have to search them out. For many people, it’s just too easy to pickup a CD at Target. For me it was mostly about price. Most music stores sold CDs around $16 to $18. I could find the same CD at Target for $12. When a good portion of your market is students with not much disposable income, that price delta is substantial. And now with iTunes anyone can cherry pick the best songs off an album for 99 cents and skip the filler.

[audio:storyends.mp3]
Here’s Where the Story Ends – The Sundays
Link to video on YouTube

I’m sad to see Tower close its doors. But I can’t remember the last time I stepped into one of their stores. In that sense, it’s not surprising. The model has changed and music stores didn’t adapt fast enough.

The Sounder Train passes by the downtown Seattle Costco on the way to and from King Street Station. Like all Costcos I’ve ever been to this one has a huge parking lot. There is a parking lot alongside the building and a really large lot divided into three sections directly in front of the entrance that leads to the Costco gas station. It’s probably 200+ yards if you walk from furthest parking area to the front of the store.

Each day on the train I notice the side lot and the very front section of the store are jam-packed with cars. The front middle area is usually quite full as well. But as you move out further away from the entrance heading towards the far reaches of the lot I notice a handful of cars parked several spaces away from each other. No matter if there are closer spaces to park I can always count on a few cars parked out in this far area. But what I find interesting are the make and model of these cars. I assume these cars belong to people who obsess over their cars. These people don’t want to risk getting dinged by a cart or someone else’s car door. The three car models I’ve seen in this area are Porsche 911 or Boxter, Chevrolet Corvette and Volkswagen GTI. These three models vary greatly in price from around $25k for the GTI to nearly six figures for the Porsche. But it appears that the GTI owners are as careful and obsessive as Porsche owners. Could it be there are few difference in how GTI and Porsche owners view their cars except that Porsche owners have a lot more disposable income? I’m surprised I don’t see more Mercedes, BMW or Jaguar models parked in this far area.

Thanks to YouTube we can view this horrendous shampoo commercial Ben Affleck made for a European TV audience. From what I understand, his contract stipulated that it never been shown in the US. Big bummer for Ben. It’s one of those “it’s so bad it’s good” examples.

Here Comes the Science

Lifehacker has posted links to the official Firefox download. It wasn’t supposed to be official till tomorrow but it looks like Mozilla prepped their servers early. Grab it and enjoy!