| Top Five Favorite Foods |
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| Coffee? |
Sugar and Fat-Free Faux Cream... Or, a grande skim no-whip mocha (I want it to wound me, not kill me) I have also taken to using soy milk instead of skim milk of late. |
| Tea? | Iced Sweet Tea |
| Ice Cream | Cookies'n'Cream |
| Song Being Played Ad Nauseum | Lately, I've been downloading a lot of free music from independant artists. So, you've probably never heard "Oblivion", by Shannon Campbell. Another good one, from the same source, is "Fan of the Bean", by the Clintons. |
| Favorite TV Show | The new "Battlestar Galactia" is perhaps the best TV show on right now. I also enjoy "Good Eats", "Scrubs", "Mythbusters", and "Lost." |
| What do you make your web page with? |
I do the coding by hand (as opposed to an web page tool). I'm currently using a freeware
editor called
Smultron. I haven't found a port of EMACS for the Mac I'm fond of yet, and thought that,
since I'm trying the Mac, to go as Mac oriented as possible. My knowledge
of code come from a few books, plus a good cheat
sheet. With the August update, I ventured into the world of CSS.
My CGI forms (which are back in development) are written Perl. Photos are a different sort. We have both a digital camera and a scanner, so I have my choice of hardware for aquiring images. On Windows, I used a program called IrfanView. IrfanView is freeware, but probably the best freeware I've ever seen, and still recommend it. I haven't found exactly something as small and powerfull at the same time. Either I use GIMP (see below), or iPhoto. This is where I do the cropping, resizing, format conversion, and other basic tweaks. It also can acquire images from the scanner. When I need to create an image from scratch, or some serious image manipulation (combining multiple images, etc.), a tool called GIMP is called upon. Naturally, I use other tools as appropriate. I am a firm believer in taking a non-prescriptive approach to the tool I wish to use. |
| What's it like in New Orleans? | Don't know--I grew up in Lake Charles. |
| Which computing platform do you prefer? |
I've tried several--and at home, I still have Windows NT, Windows XP, and
Solaris. I used to be a big fan of Linux, but I eventually became
frustrated by it and the community that surrounds it.
Recently, I decided to try something new. I am now the proud owner of a MacBook. Mac owners always struck me as only slightly less annoying that Linux zealots. However, with OS X (which is also UNIX-based), I have found a way to explore the power of that platform, while still being able to Get. Things. Done. I'm also a fan of the Palm OS--the simplicity and portability remind me of some of the first computers I used. I'm very nostalgic for the Commodore 64 and VMS. |
| You were a Windows guy for most of your professional life. Why switch to Mac? |
Mostly, I was feeling a bit stale in the geek department--I really wasn't stretching myself.
I considered a number of options. LINUX may have seemed like an obvious choice, but the open
source community was too big a turn off. Plus, I didn't want to have to dig into a ton of
READMEs and forums anytime I wanted to just. get. something. done. I considered Solaris, but
didn't think it was too much better.
I started looking at the Mac platform. It is UNIX based (like LINUX), but has the Mac platform on top. It is often the "second system" things are developed for commercially, and almost anything written for Windows or LINUX is ported ot OS X (or there is a very strong analog for). When the Intel-based MacBooks came out, I decided to take the plunge. I have to say that I absolutely love it. there are so many features that I long for when I do stuff at work. I think I've pretty much become one of those Mac people. And you know what? I'm kinda proud of that. |
| Recipe I'm trying to perfect? | I think the next challenge I intend to take on is muffalota bread. |
| Cats or Dogs? | I presently live with two cats. I grew up with a dog. I like to think of myself as a "small furry creature" person--cats, dogs, otters, orcas. |
| Orcas aren't furry! | They are mammals. Mammals have hair. |
| OK, but they aren't small. | What's your point? |
| Do you participate in any groups, mailing lists, or forums on the web? | I actually participate in several. A list of these groups, as well as the name I post under, can be found on my whoami page. |
| Which is your favorite pen? |
That's a very hard call. I really like all of my pens. I am quite
fond of my modern Parker Duofold. It is a great writer, looks
quite stylish, and is a good size. It is the pen I signed the
paperwork for my marriage, house, and car with. I don't think I'll
be getting rid of that one soon.
If I had to pick based soley on function, I'd have to pick my Namiki Vanishing point (pre-2000 model). It has a gold nib (which is rare at its price point) that writes really, really smooth. It is not to thick, not too thin. The appearance is quite unique, blending modern and classic styles (it reminds me at times of a Parker 51 (thought by many to be the best fountain pen ever made)). If that weren't enough, it is the only retractable fountain pen on the market. |
| Are you a fan of Prince? | Though I do enjoy Prince's music, I wouldn't describe myself as a fan (i.e. he doesn't necessarily show up on my top-ten). The Prince Emulator is based on Douglas Coupland's book Microserfs. and done more as a programming challenge. |
| What's the furthest you've ever riden your bicycle in one day? | One day would be 109.43 miles on September 18, 2004, at the Oxford Odyssey. At TOSRV 2005 (May 7-8), I went 211.32 miles for the weekend. |
| Will you answer other questions? | Sure! |