Megen and I spent 5 days on a cruise traveling to Key West, Cozumel, and Belize. We spent our time on the boat by the pool (often eating) for hours on end; it was extremely relaxing (to the point where we frequently fell asleep pool side). In Cozumel we explored Mayan ruins and in Belize we went snorkeling on the reef (and saw a dolphin!). Watch the slideshow below but be warned you will be jealous.
Groundhogs
July 11, 2008 – 10:19 am
Megen and I have been paying close attention to a family of groundhogs that live just around the corner from our apartment. We see them nearly every day and have even given them names. Last night I got a chance to take some photographs of them. Here’s some tips:
- Groundhogs are really fast. Don’t let those short stubby legs fool you!
- They are frightened easily but also very curious. I walked up to their mound and could see them poking their heads out of various holes at me. When I got too close they darted back in. So I slowly stepped closer and waited. Only a few minutes later they popped their heads out again to check me out.
- Don’t sneeze. A sneeze ended this photo shoot.
FF To Go Minor Updates
July 9, 2008 – 10:04 am
FF To Go has had a number of (minor) updates. Here goes:
Fill the page - help the hiders
Some of you hide a lot. I’m starting to hide more often too. But FF To Go was still doing just one call to the FriendFeed API for entries. If that one call resulted in mostly hidden entries then you’re left without much data on the page. Now FF To Go will make up to 3 additional calls in an attempt to fill the page with how many entries per page you have set (in the settings page).
Hiding and deleting
You can now hide and delete entries. Mobile hiding was the most requested feature for FF To Go. Deleting might be useful for those who accidentally use the share form as a search form.
And a million and one bug fixes
Everything from fixing imaginary friends to tweaks to FriendFeed’s API HTTP status codes.
Use FF To Go on an iPhone? Consider the Official Version
July 1, 2008 – 10:03 am
I built FF To Go knowing that it was only a matter of time before FriendFeed would build an official mobile FriendFeed experience. So when FriendFeed announced an iPhone friendly FriendFeed I wasn’t shocked nor saddened.
FF To Go wasn’t really built for iPhone users; it was built for everyone else. See the iPhone supports Javascript which meant the original FriendFeed interface worked decently on the iPhone. Every other phone on the market doesn’t support Javascript and since the FriendFeed interface (both of them) rely upon Javascript for commenting/liking it won’t work on any other phone. That’s where FF To Go comes in. It uses zero Javascript so FriendFeed doesn’t remain a passive experience for non-iPhone mobile users like myself.
So if you were using FF To Go on an iPhone please switch over to the official version. Don’t feel ashamed to use a superior product.
Thanks FriendFeed!
Higher Education Isn’t Worthless
June 29, 2008 – 9:09 am
Megen and I had traditional afternoon tea yesterday and couldn’t help overhearing an infuriating conversation coming from the table next to us. The table consisted of a mother and her daughter (the daughter was likely in her 20s) and another woman. They were discussing trivial things like purchasing new sofas and how filling the scones were when suddenly the conversation moved to college.
The mother said that higher education was a money making scheme and that it is pointless to buy into it; the other women at the table agreed with her. She said that jobs were hard to find even with a college education but that there were many jobs to be had that didn’t require one. To which the daughter replied that her work was going well (she talked of plucking eyebrows; not that there is anything wrong with that).
Megen and I were completely flabbergasted. Both of us value education above most everything else. Education is the most worthwhile investment you can make in our opinion. Megen was especially amazed at their conversation seeing as she is going just about as far as you can with one’s education (medical school). We tried to think of friends of ours that went to college and we consider “normal” socially (that is they have decent people skills and can interview well) that had trouble finding a job but couldn’t come up with a single person. Statistics show that even attending a single college level class (you don’t even need to finish) increases one’s average salary.
We suspect that the mother was simply trying to defend her own choices in life; not once did she say “I went to college and it didn’t help me” so that leads me to believe that she did not get her degree. Yet they spoke very highly of their husbands and boyfriends who worked for Paychex (a payroll outsourcer who largely employees CS majors).
Is this just a world I’ve never been a part of and thus never experienced? Do the typical tea going individuals not care about education? I don’t think that it’s for everyone but to make a statement that higher education is worthless is a pretty bold move. Maybe it’s just because I have always been in an environment that regarded education highly but I was pretty shocked.
