Hello world!

Posted on July 18, 2010 by viperrwk

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

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Firefox 3.0 – WOW!

Posted on June 18, 2008 by viperrwk

There’s been little to differentiate the two major browsers (Internet Explorer and Firefox) up to now. There’s been leapfrogging of features and functionality. There are those that decry IE because of security issues (mitigated if you keep it updated). Magazine and website reviews have to pick a winner and most of them pick Firefox (because of the anti-Microsoft press bias). But the bottom line is that there really hasn’t been that much to differentiate the two browsers – up to now.

I just installed the new version of Firefox – 3.0 – and WOW! The performance difference between it and the previous version and IE is phenomenal!

The reasons for the speed improvement are listed on the Firefox page but I’ve put them here for review:

  • Speed: improvements to our JavaScript engine as well as profile guided optimizations have resulted in continued improvements in performance. Compared to Firefox 2, web applications like Google Mail and Zoho Office run twice as fast in Firefox 3, and the popular SunSpider test from Apple shows improvements over previous releases.
  • Memory usage: Several new technologies work together to reduce the amount of memory used by Firefox 3 over a web browsing session. Memory cycles are broken and collected by an automated cycle collector, a new memory allocator reduces fragmentation, hundreds of leaks have been fixed, and caching strategies have been tuned.
  • Reliability: A user’s bookmarks, history, cookies, and preferences are now stored in a transactionally secure database format which will prevent data loss even if their system crashes.

From a practical perspective, all I can say is that it has breathed new life into my old Dell laptop – it now loads pages like it did when it was new. I think IE will stay closed for the forseeable future…

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Declan’s Busy Weekend

Posted on June 9, 2008 by viperrwk

Declan had a busy weekend and I thought I would share what he was up to.

On Friday, he went with his class to Ocean Beach in San Francisco on public transportation (an adventure in and of itself) to help other local school kids in the Kids in Action program clean up the beach. After cleaning, the kids lined up for an aerial photo and you can see how it came out. (Click the image for a larger view – Declan and mommy are the right outside elbow of the left kid holding up the globe.)
Kids in Action
Then on Saturday June 7, Declan had his dance recital which he has been working on all year in his after school program. He was a Russian doll and was the only boy in his class. Here’s a comment from one of the other mom’s who saw his performance:

“Prince Declan 

Declan did such an amazing job at the recital today! We only saw the first performance for his group, but I loved it. Not only did he look handsome and regal in his costume, but he stole the show. How I wish I had a picture of the smile on his face after he went through the “tunnel” of ballerinas, came out in front with his hands in the air and heard the applause. He turned around, and from where I was standing in the wings, his smile lit up the entire backstage. Adorable.”  

Here’s a picture of him with some of the girls in his class. (Click the image for a larger view.)
Declan and the Ballerinas

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Joshua on TV

Posted on March 14, 2008 by viperrwk

KGO TV (the local ABC affiliate) recently came to Joshua’s school when author Madeline Levine came to speak about her book “The Price of Privilege”. The piece discussed pressures on children today and how we need to let kids be kids – a challenge for “DITK” couples like us.

Joshua is featured often (notice how he’s the only boy playing with the girls in the schoolyard) and the piece closes with a nice smile from him. Well done Josh!

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=view_from_the_bay/parenting_babies&id=6017094

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Flora Springs 1988 Trilogy Cabernet

Posted on February 21, 2008 by viperrwk

I gave this bottle to a friend and we opened it last Saturday night. Sad to say it wasn’t as good as it could have been – think it was past its prime. It was palatable but I was hoping it would have been better than it was.

Check your cellars people! Don’t let wine sit too long – it’s meant to be drunk!

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Just hacked my iPod

Posted on February 21, 2008 by viperrwk

Was getting tired of “shuffling” songs onto and off of my iPod Mini which I usually keep in the car. It was the 4GB model with the IBM MicroDrive in it.

I followed the directions found here on geektechnique.com to replace the MicroDrive with a 16GB CF card. I got this card from Newegg.com which was the cheapest 16GB CF card I could find. Guess what – it worked like a champ and now I have renamed my iPod “Fat Mini”. And since I didn’t pay anything for the iPod (I won it in a survey contest) I’m still ahead of the game.

Just thought I’d let everyone know of a simple, cheap hack that really works!

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MKF on Bobby Orbach

Posted on February 21, 2008 by viperrwk

My friend Mary Kathleen Flynn just did a writeup on “tech matchmaker” Bobby Orbach. Brought back memories of my time at PC Magazine and going to his parties which were always fun. Makes me miss the days of old when there was money in technology and it wasn’t about living quarter to quarter to make your numbers. . Nice to see Bobby still going strong and nice writeup by MKF.

You can read her piece here. Thanks for sharing MKF!

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How to Get a Wii

Posted on January 9, 2008 by viperrwk

For a number of reasons (which I won’t go into here), “Santa” wound up getting Declan and Joshua a Wii for Christmas. They are now like many of their friends who have more than one game console (and I remember we were lucky growing up to have video Pong!)

“Santa” made the decision to get the Wii for the boys the Wednesday before Christmas and it was under the tree on Christmas Day along with several games and accessories. So you’re probably saying to yourself “how the hell did Santa pull off that trick? eBay? Did Santa pay over the top for it?” The answer is “not at all”. Santa paid regular retail plus shipping to make sure the Wii was under the tree. And Santa did this with the help of the Internet.

When Santa needed a Wii, he turned to nowinstock.net. This service allows you to subscribe to alerts when the online retailers indicate they have a Wii in stock. Santa knew right away that Walmart.com had Wii’s in stock on the Wed before Christmas and could get them delivered in time for Christmas. Sure enough after receiving the alert and going to the website, the Wii was on its way in time for a happy Christmas morning. Simple, to the point and it worked – too bad more of the Internet isn’t like that.

There are a few other sites that do something similar like wiialerts.com. I suspect they work the same way as nowinstock.net but I can’t vouch for them since I didn’t use them. Santa says, don’t pay more than retail for your Wii and don’t stand in line at the store only to have your hopes dashed because they run out before you get there. Shop online and save yourself the aggro.

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Declan and Joshua’s Christmas List

Posted on December 18, 2007 by viperrwk

UPDATED December 18, 2007 

Since you all asked…

Legend:

DJ = They both asked for it

D = Declan asked for it

J = Joshua asked for it

? = One of them asked for it but we didn’t note which one when we wrote it down…

And any video games are either for Sony PS2 or Nintendo Gameboy Advanced Format.

We also welcome books, other toys (learning or otherwise), clothes (Joshua is a 6/XS, Declan is a 8/S) or anything else not on the list that you’d like them to have – this is just the list of what they asked for.

Whatever you get please post a comment to the blog to let us know to take it off the list.

DJ – Cartoon Network Speedway

DJ – Optimus Prime Transformer

J – Attacktix – AT-AT (SVT-D2), Omego Sentinel (SVT-D1), Royal Guard (SW-DJ)

D – VFlash

J – Hot Wheels Grave Digger

J – ATV Fury 4

DJ – Idatha Jump

? – Aquadoodle

? - Flywheel Remote Control Flyers

J – Gazillion Bubbles Gun and Kazoo

? – Hot Wheels Skate Freaks

DJ – TMNT Video Game

DJ – Slip and Slide Megashark

DJ – Larryboy video game

? – Hot Wheels Thunder Launcher

D – Launch & Go Car Set by Toys 2 Grow

D – Hot Wheels Speedway

D – Planet Heroes Saturn Rings

D – Say What?

That’s it for now! I’ll update the list with any additions that get marketed to them between now and Christmas…

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Escape to New York Weekend

Posted on December 12, 2007 by viperrwk

This year my buddies Greg and Bill spent a weekend in NYC watching the Yankees play at Yankee Stadium. Since the Stadium is scheduled to be torn down next year we thought it would be good to go one last time. We had such a great time and everyone we spoke to about it said they wished they could have come with us, we decided to turn it into a fund-raising event for our church and school next year.

The aptly-named “Escape to New York” weekend will be auctioned off at the 2008 Corpus Christi Crab Feed and Auction in January 2008. We’re hoping to raise $4000-$5000 for the school with this trip as well as have a great time with our friends. If you want to see what we’re planning, check out the website at http://crabfeed.org.

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