Tralfaz

Month: November 2015

  • Damn NCIS

    Damn NCIS

    Last weekend I finished the 12 seasons of NCIS that are available on Netflix. Not quite a binge watching, but a pretty addicting stretch of TV.

    While this isn’t a surprise, I often watch old TV shows and series on Netflix, I usually get to a point where I give up. Either the story line becomes tired and stale, or I get bored, and move on. Rockford Files and Columbo are two examples where I fade away after 5 or 6 seasons.

    However, NCIS was different. There are several reasons why I stuck with it (and will likely pick up the 13th season when it hits Netflix.)

    The Writing

    (more…)

  • Visiting Family

    Since we moved back from Arizona last year, we are a lot closer to our families, and we need to take advantage of that. Of course Barbara has been much more proactive than myself, but that is no excuse.

    Last year we visited my sister, Tracey and her wife in their home in Mountain Ranch, California. A lovely place nestled in the hills of Calaveras county, and a modest 2.5 hour drive away (depending on traffic, naturally), and loved it. The boys did as well.

    Of course, living in the country, they have a veritable menagerie of animals. (more…)

  • Computer Repair Man

    Computer Repair Man

    Earlier this week, I got a Facebook message from my sister. Their iMac was behaving poorly, lots of spin-y beachballs (the “I’m thinking” on the Mac OS-X), so I asked the usual questions.

    • What model iMac is it? (from the about and system report)
    • How much memory is there?
    • How big is the disk, and how much is used (from DiskUtil)?

    All the standard things, but the DiskUtil reported that there was a problem with the disk, and to back it up and take it for service.

    Sigh, a failing drive. And their closest Apple store is about 90 minutes away. Rustic, rural living has a downside. (more…)

  • Evernote Dumpage

    Back in 2010, I was looking for a note taking solution. I had a taste of the Microsoft solution, OneNote, but being a “Mac” person, and the fact that OneNote wasn’t cross platform, and I went looking for a solution. The obvious choice at the time was Evernote. Cross platform, and while it wasn’t as flexible and convenient as OneNote, it was serviceable.

    Over the years, the Evernote did a lot of incremental improvements, and it worked well for most of my needs. They added a pretty feature rich ios application that made adding notes from the road trivial. Adding the capability ingest PDF files, and do OCR on them, making them searchable.

    But, some things were always clunky. Exporting via copy and paste was an unmitigated disaster. It was compelled to export in some really funky HTML format that always required a shitload of finicky reformatting to make presentable. (more…)

  • Music Streaming Services Revisited

    Music Streaming Services Revisited

    In the last installment, I had raved wildly about Apple’s then new ‘Music’ service. Same price as Spotify, filled some holes that Spotify had in their library, and since they have my entire collection in their cloud, they have the inside track on offering suggestions that I will enjoy.

    Add to that the fact that Spotify’s curated playlists had been somewhat stale and I was sold. Even before the first month of the three month Apple Music trial, I was ready to cut the Spotify cord.

    However, I didn’t, and today I am increasingly glad I didn’t.

    Apple Music is still a great service, and more than a credible competitor. The selection is large, and their “For You” recommendations rock. A constantly updated set of playlists that are eerily on target to my listening habits (and no recommendations for things that are completely out of my taste – like hip-hop or country). (more…)

  • Bicycling Magazine – More hilarity

    As a Performance Bike “member“, I get a free subscription to Bicycling Magazine. I find that every month, I almost (barely) enjoy thumbing through this rag because it is chock full of hilarity. I have written on it before, and this may be my last installment.

    Like most print magazines, their once vaunted position of the monthly dissemination of information, learning, and relevance has been eroded (decimated? eradicated?) by the advent of the Internet. One no longer must wait until the mailman drops the mag in the box, or the local drugstore has it on its periodicals shelf, all the information is now at your fingertips 24/7.

    Yet, magazines cling by their fingertips trying to remain relevant. Bicycling is no different.

    However, that is not my rant today. As I mentioned in the lead-in, I didn’t consciously subscribe to Bicycling, I get it for free with my annual Performance Bike Membership. However Bicycling seems to think I will renew and pay for their rag. (more…)