Well I re-installed Leopard and I’m making due with it despite some minor software issues.

In my office, there are a few poor saps in the unfortunate position to be working on Windows PCs. Leopard allows me to use them as print servers, so I can print to any printer they have connected as if it were on the greater network.

When I went to set it up, I got a rather amusing surprise!

The representation of a Windows computer is a bland beige monitor featuring a BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!!
HAHAHAHAHAHA! CLASSIC!!!!

Ok, so I upgraded to Leopard immediately after it’s release as any self-respecting Mac Evangelist would. I absolutely love some of the new features (Spaces, Cover Flow View, Stacks, iChat improvements, Quick Look, the Widget thingy in Safari, etc.)

Unfortunately, I’m having some problems with a couple applications…

TurboCAD Pro simply will not launch under Leopard. I used this program almost constantly to open, view and edit STP files and to create drawings that our overseas vendors could open in SolidWorks, as well as export said drawings to Adobe Illustrator. As much as I love this application, IMSIsoft’s service is fucking horrible. IF they ever fix this bug, it’ll probably take them 2 years.

Transmit, the world’s greatest FTP client, only works briefly under Leopard. I can do one or two file transfers before it just kinda hangs… no errors, it just doesn’t DO anything. I may have had one crash in several years of using Transmit. Now I have to restart it constantly. No bueno.

Preview/Indesign For some strange reason, when I export a PDF from InDesign, then open it in Preview, then try to export another PDF over it (after I’ve made a change, for example), I get the error that I don’t have the proper permissions to overwrite the file. I have to actually quit Preview (or discard the PDF) before I can generate a new one. Again, no bueno.

These three things make up a large portion of my day and…

I hate to say it…

I think I’m going to have to regress to Tiger (OS X 10.4) until the first point release of Leopard.

Now if you’ll excuse me… I’m going to gently weep…

Ok, this is long overdue…

I finished the Fixie project a couple weeks ago… just couldn’t find the time to get the pix up. Here she is!
Ain’t she a beaut?! She rides great…very comfy which is kinda surprising to me. The comfortable ride probably has a lot to do with that springy saddle. Unfortunately, that saddle weighs about as much as the rest of the bike! I may replace it sometime…

Can we get something straight here?

How many times have you heard the phrase “I could care less”?

The correct phrase is “I COULDN’T care less”!

If you COULD care less, then you care a lot! If you COULDN’T care less, then you could not possibly care less than you do, which presumably is not much.

Think about it. Go ahead, THINK!

In other news…

Sausage, egg and cheese McGriddles from McDonald’s are delicious. Even the belches that follow are pretty tasty…

If you are, or if you’re just wealthy and profoundly stupid, then I have a product for YOU!

I came across this page of ridiculous audiophile gear. Lots of great links to things like tweeters that produce sound in the GHz range?! $160 ceramic knobs that elevate speaker cables off the ground for astonishing improvements in sound?! Very interesting and entertaining reading indeed! Is anyone in the grey-bearded tweed-jacketed audiophile crowd actually buying this garbage?! Just when I thought it couldn’t get any more absurd, I read this… Speaker cables for $33,000.00!!

That price is for the 8-foot version. A 25-foot length will run you $43,000.00. I would assume this price is for a pair, but anyone STUPID enough to buy cables at this price could easily be persuaded to buy a matched pair.

Hmmm… should I buy an Acura or a couple pieces of wire… decisions, decisions…

Oh wait!! It gets better!!

Ya know, often while I’m listening to Miles Davis or Atari Teenage Riot, I find that something is missing… it’s as if… as if my volume knob is the weak link in my system… yea… the VOLUME KNOB!

Well now, for the incredibly low price of $485, you can ad these beauties to your system! That’s right… wooden volume knobs covered with magical lacquer make your system sound “… much more open and free flowing with a nice improvement in resolution. Dynamics are better and overall naturalness is improved.”

Too bad they don’t make sex toys…

It’s a perfect example of the paradox of audiophiles. Anyone stupid enough to pay for stuff like this isn’t smart enough to be able to afford it!!

Here’s the 1974 Concord Pro II frame after painting. Why yes, I AM a fucking great painter! I did a little red accent on the head tube which you can’t see under the masking tape.

It just occurred to me that the frame now looks like an olive.

I also bought these wheels yesterday. Gonna look and perform great! Can’t wait!

So Fearless Girlfriend finished up her bike project today. A week ago, I would have bet that espresso brown on a bike would look absolutely horrible. I’ve since changed my mind! Brown with black and chrome looks GREAT! Photos of that beauty to come soon…

Yes, I said “fixie”! With some persuasion from my fearless girlfriend, I’ve decided to resurrect this kick-ass frame as a fixie, that is, a fixed gear bike. No shifting. No brakes. Just a pure and simple bike! Should be a blast!

So this weeked, I completely disassembled the bike…

Sawed off a few cable guides from the frame, sanded the scratches and 33 years of wear off…

And primed and wetsanded the bike for painting…

I’m going to keep the cool chrome ends on the frame and fork. That’s what’s under the masking tape.

I may paint tonight, I may not. I will keep you, my devoted fans, updated.

By the way… I’ve got a vintage and well used complete SunTour component set for sale if anyone is interesed

A few days ago I got a 1974 Concord Pro II from the original owner. The photo here isn’t the actual bike, but extremely close. The only difference really is the handlebars. The guy I bought the bike replaced the original road bars with some ape-hangers. Stay tuned to see the dramatic transformation this bike makes! From vintage road bike to kick-ass single-speed urban assault commuter bike complete with a basket on front!

… ok, maybe I’ll skip the basket…

I’m back. This is the first of many posts. We’ll see…

Bones, Tuesdays, 8pm, Fox

I watched 2 episodes of this drivel on the recommendation of a friend and I can honestly say, Bones is one truly shitty show… it’s almost painful to watch. I’ve seen more interesting plots play out in a game of Clue. I am, however, not at all surprised. After all, this IS network Television.

Trite and terribly predictable is how I’d describe the 2 episodes I had the horror of viewing. Bones is a perfect hybrid of CSI and Scooby Doo, complete with plenty of “look what I happened to find… a clue!! A completely decomposed human skull under these few leaves” type shockers and of course the moment of truth where the perp admits everything to the 2 sexy cops who were just testing a hunch.

Oh, and lets not forget the “high tech” computer system that plays a vital role in solving the tough case. Like every imaginary computer, this one comes complete with a lot of little beeping sounds as it instantly renders 3D holograms of everything the super geniuses think up. I was very disappointed when Princess Leia didn’t appear with “help me Obi-Wan Kenobi… you’re my only hope”. Naturally you gotta house such an amazing piece of hardware in a very swank office staffed by supermodels and lovable wonder nerds.

I’ve already spent too much time on this worthless show. My suggestion to you for Tuesday at 8pm, oh dear reader, is to watch a Scrubs re-run or a Seinfeld re-run or The Weather Channel or C-Span for Christ’s sake! Just avoid Bones at all costs unless you’re in a very MST3K kind of mood.