Force Quit... Already???

{this post moved to http://rixbits.blogspot.com}

So, I'm like just a couple weeks into my Mac ownership, and already i'm using the 'task manager' to kill rogue processes? In this case, one of the disc mounting processes was running in the background and keeping me from ejecting [another] disc. Hmmm...seems like i'm using all the same troubleshooting skills I learned in the Windows world. I didn't think I was gonna need those bag of tricks in Steve's world. :)

I also tried to do a screenshot of my error message using the Grab service. Thought I could capture the image and paste it into an email message. Does that sound too much like right? Wouldn't let me do it.

I also realized that I never liked the menu bar for the apps always being context-sensitive and sitting at the very top of my screen. "Attention managment" is important to me - seems inconvenient to have to take my eyes all the way up to the top of the screen to do something with a window I'm using near the bottom of my screen. And that's if the menu updates to the new context fast enough, and is not still showing the menu for the last window I clicked on. (hmm, maybe that's a Mini thing)

To top it all off, I love the message Mac gave me about my problem from their Help files:

"If this happens, WAIT A FEW MOMENTS and try again..."

Who is this message written for? Are there computer users out there in 2008 that actually DON'T wait a few moments prior to being frustrated enough to check the Help files??? And apparently, in this case a 'moment' was like 10 minutes before I started having to search for a process to kill.

So far, I feel right at home in my Mac world - my woes thus far are very familiar..... ;- )

Window resizing

{this post moved to http://rixbits.blogspot.com}

So, I've been told that it's "all the subtle little things" about Macs that make them so nice. But for me, so far it's the little things that are getting on my nerve. In Win, I can resize a window from any corner/edge. In Mac, only lower right-hand corner. That's gonna bug me eventually. I wonder if somebody has a good reason for this limitation? Interesting...

Journey to the Dark side

{this post moved to http://rixbits.blogspot.com}

Well, I decided to drink a little of the kool-aid and give Stevie J. and his backstreet boys a try by buying a Mac Mini. I had planned on blogging every step of my journey, however, since I know I don't have the time & patience to write a cohesive and comprehensive chronicle of my experience, plus the fact that folks like Anand have already expressed it so thoroughly, I think I'll just throw random thoughts out here along the way. We'll see how this little experiment goes...

I'd like to point out that on Day 1, I put a CD in the drive. Standard task, right? The Mac didn't see the disc. Wouldn't let me eject it. Had to restart before it would work. Did I buy a Mac or is this a mini-Windows98 box? Hmmm, not what i expected......

On the road

Headed to cincinnati. Ridin in the car bumpin a krs-one mix cd. The ride down I-71 is so exciting ... Not.

First YouTube Video

Health insurance

Watched Oprah show when they talked about health insurance and mike moore's movie Sicko. Very interesting. Made me realize that all of us who have yet to be a victim of the health care industry are basically just lucky, REGARDLESS of how good our insurance plans are or how much money we make.

One thing I think they didn't talk enuff about, tho, is the COST of health services. Do those pills and operations REALLY cost that much? If so, do they actually have to cost that much? Why can't government control prices thru out the manufacturing chain? My leukemia operation's retail price is $200,000 - but is the wholesale price actually $1,000?

-- sent from mobile phone --

What's the big deal??

Am I the only one that doesn't understand why folks is loving Halo 3? Let me preface by saying that yes I am an xbox 360 gamer, and I love Gears of War, among other games. But yet I've never understood the fascination with h3. Looks like a basic first person shooter to me...

-- sent from mobile phone --

More blogging

I'm gonna try to start blogging more. Even tho I am busy, I aint got no excuse when I can easily send messages from my phone like I'm doing now. And writing my thoughts is good for the soul I think. :) ...well, that was a nice little procrastination break I just took. I guess now I gotta get back to work. Mutha...

-- sent from mobile phone --

Return on investment

Well, I'm in Vegas for the week. I put five $ in a slot machine just to pass the time while the wife was having fun with the one-armed bandit... 2 hours later I had turned that 5 into 3 hundred...

Unfortunately I can't post video clips from my phone, so you'll just have to imagine me doing the 2-step down the vegas strip...

-- sent from mobile phone --

A Certain Damsel's Distraction

In my most recent men's bible study group session this past Wednesday, we read & discussed Acts Chapter 16 vers 16 - 34, which is the story about Paul and Silas being thrown in jail for exorcising a demon from one of the villagers. I found one part of this to be very interesting...

To paraphrase the story, Paul and his boys were were walking to a "place of prayer", and ran into this "certain damsel" who was possessed with a demon or "spirit" that allowed her to predict the future. She was being pimped by some of the locals as a way of making money off this 'talent'. Anyway, she started following Paul and his peeps, and the demon thru her was telling everybody, "These are God's servants! They'll tell you how to be saved!" (I guess even demons have to speak the Truth when it comes to God's Word).

The interesting part is that Paul lets this go on "for many days" before he finally turns around and speaks to the demon (not the girl) and says, "In the name of Jesus I command you to come out of her!" And the demon comes out.

What's interesting about that for me is that Paul and his boyz endured the wailings of this demon for several days before doing anything about it. (Even tho the demon was speaking truth, there's a problem when that truth comes of out of a demonic vessel)

I wrestled with that for a while - why would Paul let this possessed woman follow them for days like that? Is this a lesson in patience?

My conclusion: you can't let the Devil keep you off balance by reacting every time he throws a distraction your way. Paul had a mission; a ministry. If he stopped walking every time somebody came up talking some bull, he'd never get to where he was going! So I can't slow down my Christian walk by letting a bad day, or a bad word out of someone's mouth, keep me from 'making it happen'. I've gotta use the Holy Spirit to know whether I need to call somebody out and set them straight, or when I just need to "keep on truckin', baby!"

Industry rule #4080

Is it possible that the PPC 6700 is like the best phone ever??? I found another use today - using the flash on the phones camera to help me see inside my computer case while I changed my hard drive. I feel just like MacGyver!!! :)

-- sent from mobile phone --

What is my doggie good for?....

Here's another pic of my boxer puppy Kwali.

Today on the news there was a story about a golden retriever who, when he saw his owner was choking, knocked her down and started jumping on her chest until the obstruction was dislodged.

I looked at my wife in pure amazement like "what??!!" it is amazing the keen senses that dog's have.

Then I looked at Kwali. "Can u do that?", I asked. His blank stare seemed to suggest that he was saying, "...are u gonna give me another doggie biscuit or what?...."

-- sent from mobile phone --

Waiting patiently...

The chair...where I sit and wait patiently while my wife shops at a store in Jeffersonville (at least I think that's where we are). She's using a gift card I got for her as a gift. She's very excited. I personally don't know what all the fuss is about, but lately I've come to realize that her purses and clothes are the happiness-equivalent of my pocket pc's and xbox 360's. :)

-- sent from mobile phone --

1-year old puppy

The last time I posted to this blog, Kwali was just a wee lad. Now he's a 64-lb force to be reckowned with. :)

-- sent from mobile phone --

Once again it's on...

This is a test of my first MOBILE post, sent from my pocket pc phone. If this works, it may be the beginning of a new age of blog posts from The Ric'. I'm including a pic I just took of my own eye, cuz like Nino Brown, "I've seen the future, y'all..."

-- sent from mobile phone --