Longklaw.com

I got my first Mac a few weeks ago – a Mac mini. I got it mostly to learn iOS and Mac OS development and so I could use some of the Mac-only tools. I chose a mini over a laptop because it’s relatively inexpensive.

I can see why people tout Macs so much. Every device I’ve tried to use with it just works with no hassle. The only problem is that the image on my Samsung monitor doesn’t look so great, which seems to be a common problem. After getting a Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter and adjusting some of the settings on the monitor, the picture now looks good. I’d probably get a great image if I spent $1000 on one of those Thunderbolt displays, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

I like the Mac OS look and feel. It is taking me a while to get used to the differences between it and Windows. I am looking forward to using GarageBand and some of the other Mac apps. One that I’ve been using is Delicious Library. I’ve wanted to catalog my entire media collection for a while and I couldn’t find anything that I liked for Windows that did books, movies, music, and video games in one app. I’ve been going through the painful process of scanning everything and posting it here. I’ll keep updating as I add more. There are only 2 boxes of books and a box of CDs left.

I played around a little with iOS development last night. It seems like it’s so simple. I used one the Xcode templates to get a simple OpenGL app running in seconds. I really want to check out of lot of the built in features.

I’m glad that I finally joined the Mac world. I may end up taking the mini to work just so I have more time to use it.

John was here in Portland for 10 days.  He arrived on Thursday the 14^th and left on Sunday the 24^th.  He told me he wanted to come here for his 30^th birthday (the 21^st) about 5 or 6 months ago and we’ve both been looking forward to it since.  We had a blast!  I wanted to write as much down as I could recall to help remember the trip.

Thursday – John’s flight was scheduled to arrive late Thursday night, shortly before midnight.  I saw online that it would be arriving a little late.  At some point, I stopped my car while I waited.  Some security lady told me that I couldn’t stay there and I had to circle around.  When I tried to start my car, it wouldn’t start.  I waited for John to arrive and then went to get help.  The airport sent someone to jump my car and we were on our way.  It was a great way to start John’s trip.

Friday – John went out and explored the city while I was at work.  My company had a party celebrating the opening of our new office here in Portland.  After John and I went to get my battery replaced, we chilled at my apartment that night.

Saturday – We got up and drove to Vancouver, British Columbia.  It was my first time leaving the country and John’s first time in Canada.  The hotel was pretty cool.  We went out to some clubs that night.

Sunday- We went to Granville Island and had lunch with my married friends Michaela and Dave.  After that John and I drove to Cleveland Damn and went on a short hike before it started to get too dark. We decided to go ziplining the next day in Whistler. We were exhausted after that, so we went to bed early.

Monday – We drove up to the mountains to Whistler.  I believe they had some winter Olympic events there in 2010.  The zipline tour on Cougar Mountain was so much fun. We got quite a bit of snow. We spent the night at Michaela and Dave’s in Richmond.  We had a steak dinner and some great beer.

Tuesday – We made our way back to Portland.  We stopped in Steveston Village, which is where they film Once Upon a Time.  It was cool seeing some of places where they film the show.  When we got back to my apartment we watched the latest 2 episodes.

Wednesday – I went to work and John did some more exploring.  Later John went to dinner with Breck and Mickey, two people that we knew back in Mississippi but have recently moved to Portland, unbeknownst to me.  After that John and I went shopping at Powell’s and Buffalo Exchange before heading home.

Thursday – This was John’s 30^th birthday.  I got him a cake and an hour-long massage.  That night we went out to dinner at a pub and we went out to a club.

Friday – We had lunch at Little Big Burger.  They have delicious fries.  We drove to Tillamook near the coast for a wine and cheese tasting.  I discovered some great wines we both brought back something with us.  I don’t remember what we did that night.

Saturday – We went to the first ever Portland Comic Con.  We had 3-day passes, but I think we did everything we needed to in that one day.  We got to get Morena Baccarin’s autograph and see a bunch of stars.  That night we went to see Skyfall ant Baghdad Theater with Breck and Mikey.

Sunday – That morning it was time for John to go back to Mississippi.  I always hate parting from friends after having a good time. After he left, I cleaned a little, took a long nap, did some grocery shopping, and watched the Oscars.

I was glad that John got to visit.  I was worn out after being on the go for 10 days straight, but it was worth it.  I hope he’ll be here again soon.  I think he liked Portland and the Northwest enough that he wouldn’t mind living here.

Last week I went to see Harmoncountry, which is Dan Harmon’s (TV show Community creator)  Harmontown podcast on tour.  I had a lot of fun.  You can listen to the Portland episode here.

Last summer, my #1 show ended. My #2 show at the time, which became my #1 show, was Fringe.

I remember watching the first 2 episodes when they aired, but I gave up on the show after that. Because people said the show got better and I have to watch everything J.J. Abrams produces, I started recording it again. After the season ended, I caught up on the episodes I missed and I loved it. Not all of Fringe was great, but it had a lot more good than bad. It had great characters, great acting, and imaginative story lines. Fringe should have gotten a lot more recognition than it did.

Fringe aired its last episode Friday night around the time I was leaving for Vegas. I have a history of missing Fringe finales. I watched it this morning. I was very satisfied with how it ended. I’m glad that the show made it to 100 episodes and was brought to a satisfying conclusion.

I’m going to miss having new episodes of Fringe on my TV. I think a re-watch is coming soon.

This past weekend some friends and I went to Las Vegas. All except one was someone who I had met in person for the first time at San Diego Comic-Con 2011. We had been tossing around the idea for a while, but finally started planning something last summer. I knew that Des, Alirio & Christine, Michaela & Dave, and Jim would be there. However, we ended up getting a surprise visit from Chris as well. A couple of people knew he was coming, but not me. Most of our group stayed at the Luxor, which was inexpensive and pretty nice. I had a good view from my hotel room and the hotel itself looks awesome at night. I got in late Friday night, so I didn’t do much except gamble at the hotel.

Saturday we went to brunch at the Wicked Spoon. We all ate so much food. We were there for over 2 hours. Some members of our group did their own blind taste test, which was neat.

After that some of the group went to the pool at Michaela and Dave’s hotel (I’m probably staying there the next time I’m in Vegas) while the rest of us went shopping. After we regrouped, we walked around A LOT and took in the scenery. There’s a lot of scenery to take in. I was amazed at all the lights and everything screaming for your attention. I didn’t like the people on the sidewalk who were constantly shoving flyers and cards into your face. I’d say Vegas is nice but with a hint of trashiness. While we were walking around we did stop occasionally to gambling.

The last thing we did before the whole group separated was have dinner at the Heart Attack Grill. I’ve heard about them in the news because of people who have died after eating their unhealthy food. People who weigh over 350 lbs get in free and they make you wear a hospital gown while you’re in the restaurant. I ate the smallest burger that they have and it was almost too much. I barely finished it and I thought I was going to vomit at the end.

I was so tired and full when we got back to the Luxor. I’m still sore 2 days later from all the walking. I had my most successful gambling time this night before I went to bed.

On Sunday, I did a little more gambling in the Luxor. I won a little bit. I was down about $45 for the whole trip. I had a flight at 1:55pm, so I didn’t have time to do much before heading to the airport.

I had such a great time in Vegas, even though the trip was short for me. I’ve gone on several trips alone lately, and this one was so much better because I was there with friends. I hope we can continue getting together like this from time to time. I’m already looking forward to seeing everybody again.

I finally broke and went to see a doctor Friday.  I got to a point where I wasn’t getting better and I’m going to Las Vegas in less than a week.  I was better when I was at home, but I felt like crap when I was in our cold office where we have no control over the temperature and when I was out in the cold.  It turns out that I had bronchitis.  I remember having bronchitis once when I was in high school.  The doctor prescribed a Z-Pak and some cough medicine.  The next day I felt so much better, even when I was in the cold.  I’m glad to finally be getting over this sickness.

Oh man, I’ve been so sick.  I started feeling something coming on the day before New Year’s Eve.  On New Year ’s Eve I was sick, sneezing and runny nose and all.  I didn’t get to go to Ground Kontrol for their NYE celebration like I wanted to.  One week later the worst has passed.  I still have a weird taste in my lungs and my voice isn’t where it should be.  Good thing I had some time off, so I didn’t have to work as much during that time.  The year hasn’t started off well, but it could have have been worse.

The Rook by Daniel O’Malley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m not 100% sure what inspired me to read this book. I think it was the selection for a local book club I wanted to get involved with, but I think they changed their mind about this book because I haven’t seen any mention of it recently.

The main character wakes up in a park in London surrounded by bodies. She bruised and doesn’t remember who she is. She discovers that she’s a super-powered person and that she’s a member of a very old secret British organization that protects people from supernatural threats.

The Rook is definitely a page turner. I like that there’s a lot of humor in the book. It’s one that I would really like to made into a movie one day. I only have 1 issue with the book. The main character knew she would lose her memory and wrote letters to herself. The letters give the reader background on the organization and all the key players. These letters showed up way too frequently and sometimes went on way too long. Whenever the momentum started to pick up, I would be forced to read a long, boring letter.

In spite of that I highly recommend it to people who are fans of books like these.

I don’t think I’ll be posting these blurbs here anymore. Check out my Goodreads page if you want to know what I’m reading.

I think I rocked 2012.

• Listen to music more. I didn’t do so well in the first few months of the year, but it picked up after that.  Between new CDs, SiriusXM, and live music, I think I did well.
• Read 20 books. I read 20 books. I might be able to hit 21 by the end of the day.
• Go to a Halloween party. Okay, so I bought tickets to a Halloween party that I had heard about.  A few days before party, I got an email saying that they were going to change it to an indoor party, which meant fewer people could come.  They offered me ticket to a couples only event they were also having, but I didn’t have anyone to go with.  I decided to stay home that night.
• Go to a Christmas party. I went to my company’s Christmas party and had a great time.
• Buy new clothes. I bought new shoes, shirts, jeans, socks, and coats.  I almost bought a new suit, but they couldn’t get anything to fit me when I needed it.
• Meet new people. I’ve met new people at work and outside of work.  I need to hang out with them more.
• Do social gaming. I’ve done more social gaming this year.  It’s been all online.  P.A.X. inspired me to do more board gaming, but so far that hasn’t gone anywhere.  I recently found out about a couple of groups trying to get a regular gaming night going, but with the holidays nothing got off the ground.  Maybe in the new year.
• Start buying collectibles. I’ve been doing a good job of growing my collection of geeky items.  Following Brian’s suggestion, I’ve been documenting them on Facebook, Google+, and Flickr.

What a great year this has been.  I moved across the country to a great city with lots of exciting things to do.  I’ve made new friends and I have a job that I love.I’m not going to make a list for 2013.  I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing.

Once again, I looked at my last.fm profile on New Year’s Eve to see what music I listened to the most during the year.

Top 10 Artists
1. Revision 3 [podcasts]
2. Jay and Jack TV [podcasts]
3. Foster the People
4. Fiona Apple
5. Pearl Jam
6. Nicki Minaj
7. The Smashing Pumpkins
8. Rob, Chris, Robin, and Boston [podcasts]
9. nerdist [podcasts]
10. Mumford & Sons
10. HBO Podcasts [podcasts]

Top 10 Songs
1. Nicki Minaj – “Super Bass”
2. Foster the People – “Houdini”
3. Foster the People – “Helena Beat”
4. Foster the People – “Pumped Up Kicks”
5. Foster the People – “Call it What You Want”
5. Foster the People – “Waste”
5. Foster the People – “Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls)”
8. Fiona Apple – “The First Taste”
9. Foster the People – “Life on the Nickel”
10. Birds of Tokyo – “Head in my Hands”
10. Foster the People – “I Would Do Anything for You”
10. The Naked and Famous – “Young Blood”
10. Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Monarchy of Roses”