Entries tagged with geekery

Entry tags:

Windowsill update

Today I re-potted my nine papilio x chico seedlings. They are some fairly exotic hybrids and aren't putting out a lot of leaf, but the bulblets are between 1/4" and 1/3" in diameter and the root systems are rugged. I've got the nine of them in one of those fat 1 qt Greek yogurt containers. It will give the roots some depth to plumb. Fingers crossed for more progress. I'm thinking about setting them under the basement grow lights but I fear the dreaded fungus gnat. There always seem to be some down there no matter how scrupulous my plant hygiene.

I have so doggoned many Trader Joe x Gervase seedlings that I believe I may do some triage. I don't need that many. There must be 50 or 60.

I think that close to 1/2 dozen of my wee Schlumbergeras have now put out wee true leaves. Go schlumbergeras!

It's a waxing gibbous moon and two of my coleus cuttings, which were squatting in their vessels of water doing absolutely squat, have started to put out roots. It could make me believe in that moon phase thing. Of course, I didn't note the dates that I started the cuttings so there's nothing scientific about it. I can say, though, that the cutting I took yesterday isn't doing anything.

I made an Adobe Acrobat form out of a Word document (a table) and I feel mighty.

Entry tags:

civil war,
geekery

Dear Diary: April 8

I just set up a Twitter account for Civil War Philly. This is a struggle: it takes me 140 characters just to clear my throat.

So I'm all about social media now: Facebook, Twitter, and a weather eye out to see the Next Big Thing.

Entry tags:

geekery

My computer ...

I don't feel like buying a new one right now, even though this one is five years old.

With 1 GB of memory it chokes on everything and its uncle.

So I did a mad impetuous thing. I called the manufacturer and ordered four 1 GB memory modules to replace the two 512 MB modules and to fill the two empty slots.

I fully expect this thing to be smoking once I install them.

Entry tags:

geekery

Need a very simple video editing program

I really don't want to get into video editing. I really really don't. But I did a video of a jazz band performing at our local park, and it's too long for YouTube. All I want to do is chop off a bit at the front and the back to make it fit, plus create a fade-in and fade-out on the volume to keep it from being too abrupt.

I'd rather not spend any money. Any ideas? I'm running WinXP on a box with 1 GB of memory and the video weighs in at about 800MB, so I don't think a web-based solution would work.

EDIT: Never mind. I found an elegantly simple little utility from Solveig that does nothing but go snippety-snop. I can live without the fade in fade out...

Entry tags:

geekery

Computer Troubles -- I doesn't has 'em

I completely forgot to post about this -- I found the source of my computer vibration. It's my external hard drive, which is sitting on the plastic lid of a coffee container I have on my worktable. The lid plus container make a wonderful natural amplifier, and when the drive has been on for awhile it vibrates just the teeniest bit.

So I'm only turning it on when I am doing backup, and I'll replace it with another one someday soon.

Entry tags:

Working at home....

Let's see...

Teh intarwebs are slower than molasses in a cold snap today, so replying to email is taking half of forever.

I've just had a "first" and hope it never happens again: I lost my grip on my coffee mug and poured 6 oz of black coffee into my keyboard. I am so glad I drink it black because after I turned the keyboard upside down and left it to drain on a dishtowel for a bit, it seems to be fine, although the action isn't quite as crisp as it used to be and a couple keys are threatening to stick a bit. Perhaps when it is completely dry. I hypothesize that the coffee has caused damp little mats of dust and cat hair that will break up after the keyboard dries out.

The hive mind of LJ has delivered unto me the name of a SF novel I read almost 40 years ago and couldn't for the life of me remember: Macroscope, by Piers Anthony. I have no idea what happened to my copy so I've just ordered up another one. It's a keeper. While I wait for it, there are the poems of Sidney Lanier, especially The Marshes of Glynn, that figure so prominently in that book. I am normally a prosaic soul, shying away from poetry, but the meter and the sonorities of Lanier speak to me.

Yesterday

karenkay rode the only elephant in Michigan. Tonight Roy and I are riding The Ducks with a gaggle of Union Leaguers. Pictures will be posted.

Entry tags:

geekery

Crackberry...

The Civil War gig involves managing the creation of (and occasionally adding to) mobile applications. So I've finally grasped the nettle and acquired a Blackberry Tour. It arrived yesterday. I'm giving a presentation this morning so I decided not to mess with it at the moment. The weekend and perhaps part of Our Big Fat 25th Anniversary Vacation will be devoted to playing with the little critter. They're predicting cloudy, showery weather for our driving trip.

I hope I don't sprain my thumbs.

Entry tags:

geekery,
work

WordPress Installation for Dummies

We have a project manager for a new grant-funded project. She wants to maintain her own part of the web site. This is good. She wants to do it as a WordPress thingie. This is perplexing to me, but I'm a good egg. So I set up a subdomain for her installation, and have clicked the "install" button on the GoDaddy admin panel. It worked like a charm and I turned the administration over to the project manager. I sure hope she isn't expecting technical support from me because I am, as they say, totally clueless!