My Desktop

<< Any Mac hating people should probably skip this posting. >>



Since a few people have asked, here is a list of goodies that I run on my Mac OS X desktop:

• Meteo: The weather outside is important. Keep it nearby -- perferably at eye level. Meteo gives me current temperature and a weather icon in my menu bar, as well as a cool radar image in the menu drop down. Very cool, very free.
• gCount and yMail: Two totally different implementations of the same thing. They check your Google Mail or Y! Mail account for you and turn their icon red when there is new email. Both are free.
• iChat : An Apple supplied no-brainer. It hooks me into the AIM chat network. I'd like to use Y! more often but their Mac software isn't great and everyone I know has a AIM/iChat login. It's also getting some groovy new features in Tiger.
• Sidenote: I like to have sticky note type documents all over my large monitor, but I want them to recede from view when I don't need them (kinda like expose). Sidenote does just that - It sticks to the side of your screen and hides when you aren't using it. Again, free.
• QuickSilver: I takes some time to grok QuickSilver. As the instructions say, "At first glance, Quicksilver is a launcher." And that's all I thought it was at first. But theres more. More than just allowing me to type the first two letters of an application to launch it (I don't like using the mouse), it also allows you to take advantage of small applescripts and such to automate several actions. You can also lookup web pages and contacts. Play specific playlists in iTunes. Email files to people. It even has a dock-like shelf to keep commonly used actions. Very clever. Very free.

I am hopeful that the new version of Mac OS X (i.e. Tiger) will allow me to replace many of these doo-dads with Dashboard widgets. We'll have to see.

Google Maps And Satellite Pictures

After reading some online announcements that Google has integrated their Keyhole acquisition with Google Maps, I decided to check it out. I did the normal things:

• Looked up my old house in Pacifica
• Peered down at my office in the Bay Area
• Viewed Folsom Prison which I drive by but can never see

But it really wasn't until I saw the Wired magazine article entitled "Surprises Lurk in Satellite Snaps", that I realized how much of a change this is really going to be. Google maps is now the second thing I do after I search for something:

• Going to play golf ? Let's see the course (My local Bass Lake Golf Course)
• Looking at a house. Let's see the neighborhood (A kinda neat house by ours)

Hmmm . . . the possibilities are endless. What's Kelly's address again ?

Landscaping

After an abnormally long, wet and cold winter, it appears that the rains have subsided until sometime this fall.



As you can see from the picture, this has left me with a veritable jungle that threatens to engulf my two labradors (Zeke is actually standing up in his picture). so I have finally gotten a landscaper, who isn't going to cost as much as the concrete guy, to start clearing the top forty so that we can put down some grass. This should thrill both my neighbors and my yellow lab, who needs a flatter course to chase tennis balls. If, and when, I actually get the guy to come out here and start, I will document the work in photos.