Going paperless
I spent the evening scanning in family recipes and putting them into Evernote -- an idea I got from this Evernote blog post.
Next step will be to scan every single receipt and important document that I receive and then shred the paper version when possible.
New house
Besides my uptick in business travel, the main reason for my lack of posts recently has been the house selling/buying and moving processes. I'm now settled in the new place, and while there is much to do, I expect to be a bit more "connected" in the coming weeks.Time for a new monitor
My 22" Dell LCD is either dying or trying to speak. Just today it started producing an annoying buzzing sound.I've determined that it occurs only with brightness settings below 100%. Apparently my choice is between annoying buzzing and burning out my retinas by staring into an immensely bright display. This, in combination with an occasional flicker that the monitor exhibits, suggests to me that it's time to begin researching new LCD monitors.
I'm currently thinking about the Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP. I like the number of inputs available on this monitor, since it'd be nice to be able to hook up my MacBook Pro, gaming PC, a cable box, Wii, and perhaps other systems.
If anyone has any other good suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
Lack of good Bluetooth mice
I've been trying to find a high-quality Bluetooth mouse for use with my MacBook Pro and have been dissatisfied with the results of my search.
So far my requirements are:
- Must be Bluetooth -- I don't want to take up a USB port with a dongle.
- Must be a good fit for larger hands -- nothing too small.
- Must have relatively good reviews online.
- Must have side buttons of some kind.
- Must be a high-quality mouse.
As far as ergonomics go, I like the feel of Logitech mice in general and am not so crazy about the feel of the Razer mice (not enough support for my pinky finger). Microsoft mice are also fairly ergonomic.
Apple's Wireless Mighty Mouse doesn't seem ergonomic enough and there are complaints about the top scroll ball having a very limited lifespan. Plus I'm not sold on the absence of discrete left and right mouse buttons, even though it functionally takes care of that.
Logitech seems to have steered away from Bluetooth. All of its high-end mice require a USB dongle. The Bluetooth units I found were lower end and didn't meet the requirements noted above. This is very disappointing since I like the look of their MX and VX mice.
Microsoft has a few options, but most don't meet my needs. The Mobile Memory Mouse 8000 is too small. Their Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000 is better, but doesn't support the Mac -- though some report success in getting it to work.
The mouse that seems to most closely fit my needs right now is Microsoft's Wireless Laser Mouse 8000. I'm a little concerned about the conflicting reports of Mac compatibility (some say it's perfect, others say it's horrible), but I might give it a try anyway.
Or did I miss something? If you think you have a better option for me, please share!
Happy Thanksgiving
I'll be enjoying a Tofurkey and spending the day with family.
Hope you all have a wonderful, relaxing, and joy-filled day.
Star projector
Ever since I went to Disney World as a child and saw the Plaza de los Amigos in the Mexico Pavilion I've been fascinated with creating an indoor "simulated nighttime". For those not familiar with the attraction, it's a small Mexican marketplace inside a pyramid where there are stars projected on the ceiling, with nighttime noises, and a light breeze. Very cool.
Well, now I found one device that brings me closer to this goal -- a laser star projector from ThinkGeek.
I am definitely getting one of these.
Backwards in time
I'm beginning to bring in content from my Tumblr experiment, so you'll likely see older content begin appearing here.
The experiment continues
I've been jumping around a bit. I've gone from Blogger to Tumblr, and now to Posterous. I figure the best way to really try out these new services is to live in them a bit.So far my impressions are that Blogger is a great blog platform, but it feels a little dated and bulky for my needs.
Tumblr is fun and looks great, but I don't see it as a game-changer. It also is a bit limited in that comments and tags are not built-in features, though you can get them to work.
Posterous intrigues me because it takes a very different approach to blogging in that it's based on email. Plus, they seem to be adding functionality at a nice clip.
Only time will tell, though... there are a lot of services out there to explore.
About Me
Matt KaufmanPhilosopher, musician, software engineer, computer geek, Buddhist, vegan and now, expert noun-lister.
My Email: ws.20.mdea at spamgourmet dot com
About Kompato: It means compassion in Esperanto.
