15 May 2006 Monday

Twinkle Little Star

full size: Alex and Amy Twinkle Little Star

And the whole world smiles with him.

one more Alex video: Alex on the table, with Amy

13 November 2004 Saturday

current desktop screenshots; bblean

As intended, here be the screenshots… bblean is the shell, ‘joeblade’ is the name of the skin (i don’t remember where i picked it up.. but it’s one of three-four that i especially like.. i’m rather comfortable with this one though.) (be warned.. the three of these open up full-size (the first three are 1600×1200))

screenshot of my current desktop (panel alpha).

As I’d said, there are four available ‘desktop screens’ with bblean… i’m pretty sure this is a unix design.. so both the screenshots here are taken in the same ‘session’, but different panels/desktops.

i do like the transparencies that are optioned all over bblean’s menus… the menus could have a few additional options built in, such as ‘sort by date’ and such.. but i tend to use the ‘command line’ plugin that’s up in the top left corner. it’s not really a command line, but will respond to shortcuts that i plan in a text document. so i have ‘qq’ goes to my folder of ‘quick launch’ icons, and ‘winamp’ opens winamp, and ‘video’ opens my folder of videos… etc.—it’s a really long text document at this point.

screenshot of panel beta (one of four) of my current desktop

i depend on the system resource display up in top left to gauge when my system is memory leaking or some app is hogging anything… if so, i call up task manager and hard-kill. that IP address is incorrect, but i never notice it anymore. my aim/chat utility generally goes up in the top right (i fluctuate between miranda and gaim and original aim (i do run my msn accunt on the former two, but hard-uninstall (can’t do it through normal add/remove programs option) msn messenger from my computer every time i install windows—i abhor programs that open when i don’t tell tell them to, attach themselves to other programs (outlook) despite my objections, and run background processes with no reasonable way to shut them off. this is also why i’ve killed itunes from my machine (twice) and will not be quick to bring it back)).

what else… i run a destop wallpaper rotator.. usually changes every minute (or whatever setting i set).. lately i’ve just kept this wallpaper up though. i don’t know where i got it.

screenshot of last year’s pre-bblean desktop

i wanted to show you a screenshot of my desktop pre-bblean. i relied heavily on icons..i don’t really miss them anymore in terms of navigation and productivity, but they were pretty and novel. that screenshot is a year old, though.. at one point, i was running two instances of the icon dock… one vertically on the left and one on the bottom (different icons in each, of course).. and that was pretty functional and pretty pretty, but the truth is that all these docks and stuff are add-ons, and every add-on is just one more thing to use resources and one more thing to crash. without the docks, i came to rely pretty heavily on no less than three rows of the little icons in my ‘quicktask’ bar. and i lived on the addressbar (which worked like a browser addressbar, so i could call up webpages and also any folder on my computer).. so all of that was good.

the final count on this registry scan was 406 problems

when i found that old screenshot, i also came across a screenshot i’d taken of one of my registry scans… so here it is…illustration of my relationship with my computer..sometimes ;) my computer and i mostly get along, actually. i think if i just had tons more space and tons tons more processing power (and good non-leaky, non-obnoxious applications) then the world would be a far more splendid place.

and that’s that.

07 November 2004 Sunday

Luray Caverns visit

Alberto and I went to Luray Caverns yesterday, in Shenandoah, Virginia. While the drive there was littered with offensive signs, it was altogether a very pleasant drive with perfect weather, beautiful scenery, wonderful soundtrack and the best of company.

The stalactites and stalagmites in the caverns were quite beautiful, and it is staggering to see the sizes and shapes of the formations and consider that it took 120 years for each cubic inch of dripstone to form.

Certainly for myself, one of the neatest things about Luray Caverns is to know that it’s been a tourist attraction for over 120 years (I guess some new cubic inches of dripstone must have formed in that time).. Somehow, thinking of masses of tourists and crowds wearing walking through the caves over a hundred years ago, just as we did yesterday, is beautiful.

The wishing well in the cave is a very cute feature… Apparently they collect thousands of dollars in coins from wishers each year, and I believe those donations go toward the preservation of the Caverns, and also towards other charities.

There’s also the ‘Great Stalacpipe Organ’, which is apparently the largest ‘natural’ organ in the world. The sound of it, made by gently tapping various stalactites. Honestly, I’ve never been fond of organ music, but the sounds from the Stalacpipe Organ are really beautiful.. quite chime-like.

It was a beautiful, beautiful day. On a side note, go watch The Incredibles. Pixar can do no wrong.

15 January 2004 Thursday

 

19 November 2002 Tuesday

x.hammock photo

This is my desktop background for the past few weeks.. one of my favoritest pictures with one of my favoritest people. i wanted to put up a happy thought right now. there’s a meteor shower tonight. falling stars… shooting stars… ‘pieces of dust’... perfect trust.