RubberDuckMuseum.com

I’m going to do some crazy stuff regarding this year’s release of the iphone in conjunction with Leo and twitlive.tv. I figure if I run over to the local apple store and take some video with my phone I can go back home and upload it to Leo while he does his 24 hour marathon of coverage.  I’ll copy what I can here so you, my loyal patrons, can see how it goes.

Annnnd so I tried and did not get any play from Leo, so here are the videos I took from the Albuquerque Apple Store and the Westside Albuquerque AT&T store.

Albuquerque Apple Store iPhone line @ 5pm 7/10/08

Westside Albuquerque AT&T store iPhone line @ 9:30pm, 7/10/08

Now Leo or Dane can come get em!

Update: Brian told me the video won’t play and it looks like the format my phone takes is different than what it says.  Here are ones you can really watch

iPhone line - Albuquerque Apple Store - 5pm -7/10/08

note in this first one I keep calling it the new iPod at first…I was so nervous (sad little man)

iPhone line - Albuquerque Westside AT&T store - 9:30pm - 7/10/08

try those on for size.

I’ve tried to write a new post three times now, and just couldn’t get the traction.  But here’s the highs and the lows since Friday:
Furnace breakage costs just under 600 dollars. (most decidedly low)
Repair included a workman’s knee going through the sheetrock in the ceiling of our laundry room. (limbo low)
Furnace is fixed. (coming back)
Repairman for ceiling is working as I write this. (better)
Played Super Mario 64 all weekend with wife and kids. (nice!)
Joined a new church and immediately was swept up in the choir. (warm feelings inside)
Listened to some BOL, TWiT, and Amber (which is back from hiatus, yay Amber). (oh yeah, love that tech)

So all in all, I’m in an upswing.  I see Brian has played hours of Gutiar Hero III, so I expect a review from him soon, and maybe a chance to play with him if I can get over to his house soon.

I got the chance to do a little extra work on the site this week, and now I have an email address reveal that appears on the ‘about’ page.  The folks at Wordpress, and the open source superstars that cater to it, have really created a flexible platform that allows for very specialized presentations.  Version 2.3 has been out for a month, and I think it’s a quantum leap in comparison to the 2.1.3 I first started with (all of five months ago, now).

I wish I could grasp a grain of what they talk about on Floss.  I remember getting a C in ‘C’ in college, and that was pretty much the end of programming for me.

My super wife had the greatest comment about CSI:NY last night, which was heavily involved with Second Life.  She said to me, “I’m glad your Second Life is in heaven with me.”  I heartily agreed, and then we talked about our serious need for DSL. Yay!

Wow! So I just got done listening to TWiL #8 and there is this incredible new rate a lawyer site. Please go to avvo.com and check it out, because I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t know diddly about picking good lawyers. And if it’s not up in your state yet, sign up for the email updates. The guy who runs it (formerly of Expedia) was just incredibly well spoken and had the right idea in coming up with this.

And Brian gave me props yesterday! I wouldn’t be doing this without him, so I totally dig his much love and respect.

Annd, I’m full of a root beer float. Not bad for a Tuesday night.

I was just listening to This Week In Tech #101 and it turns out that two hours later over 100 security flaws were found in the Safari browser for Windows.  Woops!  As to whether the blame is on Apple or on Microsoft remains to be seen, however, I’m still behind browser competition, or any competition for that matter.  Anyone for tennis? 

I have about 4 more ducks waiting to be received by friends Franz and Brian, and that leads me to 1 duck away from a duck a week for the first year of this blog.  Donations are wayyyyy up this month.  I’ve also talked to Brian about a widget for the wordpress contest that appeals to my geekitude.  I can think things up, but I can’t get much farther than the drawing board.  Brian has the black belt in coding. 

And on the self improvement front, I got Dave Allen’s “Getting Things Done” and actually got up and ran this morning.  It’s time to streamline my life physically and mentally.  Spiritually, I got God, and God is good.

I really don’t want to run a political blog, but when it comes to laws, I’m a minimalist.  I also really only have two outlets for news on these issues: the netcasts that mainly come from TWiT, and emails from the HSLDA (which protects families who homeschool, of which I am one).  The above are actually amendments to a bill that if passed will constrict grassroots lobbying at all levels.  The smaller voices are effectively crushed at all levels.  I’m just not down with that.  Please tell your house representatives to vote these puppies down.

Ugh, I’m trying to pay for my domain name fees before the 13th, and I just created the Paypal account.  I was able to get the money to Paypal, but now it has to wait 3-4 business days.  It’s gonna be a nail biter as I got the fees in Wednesday night.  In the meantime, Brian was able to help me to install widgets on the sidebar, and now I have all sorts of cool stuff over on the right side, including my donate button.  I think that’s the last time I’m going to mention donations for this post.  Begging just puts a pall on the whole site that tinges the blues to a gray.

 In other news, I did look up on Wikipedia the rubber duck.  It’s a great article that talks about Ze Frank, which leads me to this story.  About three weeks ago I am in the office and a group of people walk by for a meeting or training or something and I hear the usual ooohs and ahhhs to the rubber ducks that sit atop my cubicle.  A lady and a gentleman about my age take a moment to stop in my cube and talk to me about the ducks.  As the gentleman takes a few pictures to send home to his wife, the lady asks me if I ever watched ZeFrank’s podcast, which I wouldn’t of even known about if I hadn’t heard about him from TWiT and http://twit.tv/itn.  I said I had heard that he was no longer podcasting daily and she singsonged me what he says about rubber ducks.  Quriky, if you ask me, but it’s fun to have a ready made conversation opener for anyone who stops by.