Michael Lee's Train of Thought

One of the challenges with a fresh machine is that you want to reconfigure everything again. I'm still using Firefox as my primary browser, and I'm looking for the various addins that I like. In particular, this google reader subscribe Greasemonkey script is one of my favorites.

Labels: firefox, rss

Well, I got my new computer today.

If you've seen any of my previous thoughts about it, you shouldn't be surprised that yes, I got myself a Mac, and since today Apple has released a version of Boot Camp that easily supports Vista, I'm in the midst of trying that out as well.

I grew up with Apple computers, and my move to PCs and Windows was always a pragmatic choice driven by the jobs that I had at the time. But it was a decision made by my head and not my heart. But there are some things I'm fine with Windows, and Windows has progressed far over the years as well. I'm very comfortable with Visual Studio, VB, C#, ASP.NET, and SQL Server from a developer side. The range of applications is very vast.

I'm sure it'll be an interesting experience to get reacquainted with everything on the Macintosh side -- as well as having something solid on the PC side as well.

Labels: computers

I was very wrong about how well the American version of The Office would do. But this article does a good job of listing the shows that are making the translation now.

Labels: uktv

Create your own visitor map!

Labels: maps

This is cool:

Labels: games, youtube

The first trailer for Stardust, the movie based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, is out, and it looks very, very promising.

Labels: gaiman, movies

I'll have my speculation -- since it might be a spoiler -- in the first comment.

Labels: lost

Do you think you're shower decor is a little boring? I bet that this heat sensitive tiling would fix that problem.

Labels: housing

I wish I had thought of this solution for some of the more difficult chords back when I had piano lessons:

Labels: comedy, music

There've been a couple of blog entries about pizza makers like this one for Pizzaz recently, and I had to stand up for it. A couple of years ago I picked up one as that has been one of the main things that I use an oven. And for your basic frozen pizzas, I've generally been very happy with it, and it definitely doesn't heat up the room in the way that this article describes.

But for the price of the device -- and at Amazon it runs you about $35, I'm quite happy with it given the number of frozen pizzas that I'm likely to go through.

Labels: food, gadgets

I'm quite happy to see that Michael Giacchino is going to do the soundtrack for the next Star Trek film. It's not really so much because of his work on television shows like Lost and Alias, but instead his fantastic soundtrack for The Incredibles, which is the greatest James Bond soundtrack never written.

One of the sad things about Star Trek soundtracks after The Next Generation is that they're very bland. But the original 1960s soundtracks of the original Star Trek are a vital part of the series. The "Amok Time" theme is recognizable in a few notes; and the Star Trek fanfare is one of the most distinctive franchise themes.

If the new Star Trek film is a back-to-basics story with Kirk and Spock, the soundtrack can be a key piece that connects this new film to the classic original series. And if Michael Giacchino's soundtrack for The Incredibles is any indication, he'll be more than capable of making a solid Star Trek soundtrack.

Labels: soundtracks, startrek

I'm reading up about how you might use Twitter.

I've signed on to Twitter. I'm not quite sure I see the whole utility of it yet, but I was curious enough to sign on to it.

Labels: webapps

I'm not the most color-inclined person, especially when it comes to household colors. My walls are pretty much all white. But I'm looking at doing some repainting, and I was actually a bit surprised to discover that the color selection tool that they had at the store was also available on the paint company's website.

Are there any other interior decorating websites that you use? For color, or home layout, or anything?

Labels: housing

It's a bit of a challenge to believe that it's been ten years since Buffy the Vampire Slayer first appeared. At first, the title made it sound like it would be an obnoxious, silly series -- and it was, at times -- but in the best possible way.

Buffy's influence on genre television is pretty easy to spot; you can see elements of it in shows like Heroes and the new Doctor Who, and also female-led shows like Alias and Veronica Mars.

My first episode of Buffy wasn't until the last episode of the first season. I had heard through the grapevine that it was a surprisingly good show, and the season finale absolutely proved it to me. And I didn't miss an episode after that.

Labels: buffy

Activating Evolution is a website put together by Mohinder Suresh for the book by Chandra Suresh.

It's another one of those Heroes sites -- and as it's going to be a very long month and a half until new episodes of Heroes, this might be something fun
to dig around as well.

Labels: heroes

I'm amazed to read that they handed over the writing duties for such an important (and awesome) episode of Heroes as Parasite to a brand new writer. It's a fascinating behind-the-scenes write up by Greg Beeman, one of the producers of Heroes.

Six weeks? It's going to be massive Heroes withdrawl..

Labels: heroes

I was at the Apple Store today. I'm still thinking about my next computer, and I had a chance to ask around a little bit more about Boot Camp -- I suspect that may actually be a better fit than Parallels, especially given the license restrictions of Vista on virtual machines.

I really like the look of a Mac Book Pro. I'll probably wait until the next version of the operating system comes out -- but I haven't made up my mind for sure. Of course, I haven't even decided for sure if that's the route I'm going to go -- a Mac is going to end up as a more expensive purchase than any PC, and I suspect that I'd have some issues switching between the two, and supporting multiple environments.

At the same time, I suspect that there will be some more value in expanding my skills to include some of the things on a Mac -- and it's my belief that we're seeing operating systems mean less and less, as you look towards more web-based applications. And the types of things that I'm currently interested in would make it very useful to have multiple environments.

But I haven't made up my mind quite yet...

Labels: computers

I was watching the commentary for the awesome Heroes episode Company Man today, and besides being really impressed with how the NBC site has their on-site commentary tracks visualized, I realized who they need to cast at some point to absolutely prove that they're making this show for me. Mark Hamill. They've hired someone from Star Trek (George Takai). They've had both The Master (Eric Roberts) and The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston). Malcolm McDowell starts soon.

So all they need to do to win Geek Bingo is for them to cast someone from Star Wars, and Lost apparently has Billy Dee Williams coming up. [see Lost Spoilers if you want]. So Mark Hamill it is.

Labels: doctorwho, heroes, lost, startrek, starwars

I had noticed that the Eden Prairie Shinders had suddenly closed a couple of weeks ago, and now I know why. And in retrospect, I had noticed that the quality of the store had been declining over the last couple of months.

It's more that it complicates my comic-buying schedule on busy weeks -- the Eden Prairie Shinders was convenient on my current commute home, and while Dreamhaven isn't that far for me, it's really a whole additional drive.

Labels: books, comics, minnesota

Labels: heroes