Labor Day Weekend was busy for my dad and I. We had a lot of people coming in to our store to pick up rugs. We sold some very pretty Bokhara rugs. These are rugs that are very shiny and soft to the touch. The wool that is used for them comes from the neck and chest of sheep because it is softer.

Ok, so this rug thing is rubbing off on me a little.

But it was a good weekend. Dad used to be a cook so when we come home from work around 8:30pm he starts cooking dinner and I will put on my jeans and a t-shirt and watch some Futurama. All in all things are going well. I miss Washington state and my friends., but I am having fun here to.

Yesterday fucking rocked thought! After I woke up I got dressed and headed across the street to one of the Apple offices and I dropped off my resume. It was a very quick process. but then I headed down a few more blocks to the Apple headquarters.

Let me tell you this place was elite. For one, all around the perimeter of the Apple Head Quarters where guards. If you took one step off the sidewalk in the direction of the Apple campus you would find your self face-to-face with one of the Apple guards and asked to show your badge. When you’re not able to present one, such as in my case you are asked to “please step back on the sidewalk”.

So I did as I was asked. Even though at this point I am just so happy to be this close to the main Head Quarters, getting shot by am Apple guard would just be plain cool.

So I walked around the campus. The street name is “1 infinite loop”. I came to the campus store. Which is for normal people to enter. So I went in and took a couple of pictures of the place. It was cool.

What made it a cooler than normal was that today was the first day that any of the Apple stores had the new G5′s to show to it’s customers. As I was checking out the new G5 so where Apple employees. I over heard one guy talking about the locking feature on the back of the case.

This is just plain cool how they did this don’t you think? I don’t get to see this kind of stuff in the prototype department. But you would think I would? Nope I have to wait for it to come out just like everyone else to see these little extras they add on.

I found out that this is also the only Apple store that sells Apple branded merchandise like Shirts, pens, caps, jackets, notebooks, etc. So I picked up a few little things. I asked the guy at the cash register if their was any way to get in to the main Apple building or get a tour. He told me no. I asked if it was ok to at least continue you my walk around the campus. He said yes. So I took my bag and started walking around.

Not long after I started, a man comes up from behind me.

“Hello” he says

“How you doing?” I ask.

“You still want that tour?” He asked me

“What? Really? Sure!” I say.

“Then come here” and I follow him up to one of the doors and he lets me in and gets me a visitors badge that I put it on my shirt. We went straight though another set of doors and where outside again. This time on the Apple Campus grounds. People are walking everywhere. Some are going from one office to another. Other people are having lunch, others where playing volleyball, some where even playing Frisbee.

We had a seat at the nearest bench and he told me what he did at Apple. Lets just leave it at, he works on hardware. I don’t want to get anyone in trouble since what he did for me, getting me in Apple was bending the rules a bit.

After that he took me to the main lobby where Apple employees sit and talk about work. This was a cool building. It is three stories with trees inside of it. On one wall you could see there Grammy award as well as their to Emmy awards for fire wire. their was also a free snack kitchen. On the other side you could see offices and some nice chairs people could sit and talk.

At this point I asked him if he ever sees Steve Jobs around the area. He told me that normally around this time you can find him in the cafeteria if he is even here today. He also told me that if I wanted to that I could take some pictures. I took one picture of the Emmy award but then sat back down to talk with him. We talked about what he did their and how restricted the place was. That he could not be in a different department than his own without good resin. Which is understandable. “They get in your face if you don’t have a real resin to be in a different department then your own”

At this point he told me that he had to get back to his office. But he told me it would be O.K. for me to just hang out in the inner lobby for a little bit. Just not to try and go anywhere other than leaving when I was done. I told him thank you so much. That this was so cool and that i really appreciated it. He just smiled and said, “Hey, i understand. I remember what it was like for me the first time I came in here”. And with that he left.

I sat down in one of the couches and looked around for about 10 minutes. I pulled out my camera and took three pictures before a security guard asked me to stop because they had a no photo policy. I was surprised he did not kick me out because I was by myself.

Another 5 minutes passed and I called my Friend Lyle. “Dude I’m inside Apple Computers!!!!” We talked for a few minutes and then I tried calling a few other friends but none of them where home.

Another 5 minutes passed… and then it happened. Steve Jobs himself walked in the main doors along with Jonathan Ive. They both looked at me for a second but continued walking past me talking, lost in their own conversation. They got on an Elevator opposite of me and took it to the third floor and walked cross the bridge to the side of the building I was sitting on.

I then noticed that the security was starting to really eye me down and they where getting ready to do something about me being their all alone. So with that I did not want to push my luck. I got up and left. But I was still questioned about how I got in and why I was their in the first place.

It was just fucking cool! It made my week that is for sure.

The only sad thing in all of this is that I have misplaced my USB camera cable. So until I find it again I will not be able to post any of the pictures I took. If i can’t find it soon I will go get a new cable.

Well as you can tell I did eventually find the USB cable to my camera and I was able to post the photos. It was quite an exciting experience for me to get inside Apple’s headquarters. One I will never forget.

The Finished Product

I used to be one of those people who took really good care of his possessions. Everything I owned had to be cleaned and put away back in its proper place. I was verging on the edge of obsessive compulsive. Then something changed and I am not totally sure what it was.

Reading books like Timothy Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Workweek and David Allen’s Getting Things Done have really changed how I look at life and day to day living. I find myself trying to live more for the now then to save and anticipate for a hard and unknown future. To be honest I feel it has payed off greatly. I am a lot less stressed out and more aware of what is going on around me with family and friends.

My Desktop Pictures and iPhone Vinyl Sticker. This Photo Does Not Do The Desktop Pictures Justis

I recently purchased a new 15″ MacBook Pro. A computer I use all the time and take with me just about everywhere I go. It truly is a powerhouse work horse for me. When I got the computer I new right away I wanted to sticker it with some cool Transformers art. I had seen a few photos of other Apple users who had put Ironman or Snow White vinyl stickers on their Macbooks. Both stickers are really awesome and I wanted to do something smiler with my Macbook Pro and Transformers.

I ended up searching on Etsy and finding Rob who makes vinyl stickers for MacBooks. I sent Rob an e-mail asking him if he could make me a vinyl sticker for my new Macbook Pro. For the next two weeks we worked together over e-mail to come up with just the right Transformers image I wanted displayed on my computer.

I really wanted to find and image that worked with the Apple logo on my Macbook Pro  much like the Ironman and Snow White images did. I was sent a couple mock ups of  Optimus Prime with the Apple logo in his hand. It was a great image but I was not happy with that rendition of Optimus Prime. So we both went back to the drawing board. I finally came up with three images I sent in and asked Rob what he could do with them.

Autobot Matrix of Leadership

The first image was of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. I was soon sent back a render of the image with the Apple logo in the center of the Matrix. It’s a great graphic and I ended up using it on my older 15″ Apple Powerbook.

Getting Ready To apply The Vinyl Stickers

The second two images I sent in came from IDW Transformers posters. One of Megatron and one of Optimus Prime. I ended up having vinyl stickers made out of these posters and I ended up placing them on my Macbook Pro.

When I got the stickers in the mail they came in a large envelope between to peaces of cardboard to prevent them from getting bent or damaged. Inside the envelope where some simple instructions on how to apply the vinyl stickers along with a couple of Popsicle sticks to smooth out any air bubbles that might happen to form.

Wet Erase Marker

Putting the vinyl sticker of the Matrix on my Powerbook was pretty easy for the most part. I just lined up the Apple logo in the center and smoothed it out. The Optimus Prime and Megatron Vinyl stickers where a little bit harder to apply because they didn’t incorporate the logo. There was a lot of adjustments I made to make to make sure the images where level and centered. Once I had the image placed on my MacBook Pro just the way I wanted them I used a green wet erase marker from my Dungeons & Dragons battlemat to outline the stickers. That way when I picked up the stickers and remove the backing from the sticky side I could align it back up correctly before sticking them to my computer.

I am really happy how this little project turned out. I had a really great first experience with etsy and everything went so well. Rob no longer has a store front on etsy. He does however have an eBay page and he can be e-mailed here. He still makes custom vinyl stickers for computers and he is really great to work with.

I show off my computer every chance I get. You might just catch me with one of my laptops at PAX Prime this year. You never know.

Seriously:

• If it’s not automated, it’s not a real backup.
• If it’s not redundant, it’s not a real backup.
• If it’s not regularly rotated off-site, it’s not a real backup.

The video was posted on Gizmodo

Steve Jobs, college dropout and CEO of Apple Computer, Stanford University Commencement, 2005

I have no clue what the HELL came over me or what possessed me to do this. I feel like I had a real ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind‘ moment. You know the scene where Richard Dreyfuss is eating diner with his family, and he uncontrollably starts sculpting the Devils Tower from his mashed potatoes? That’s how I felt! I just saw these two Apple iPod Touch boxes lying around and I uncontrollably starting building a dice tower out of them with a rubber band, an exact-o knife, and some super glue. It took me about 45 minutes.

I have had dice towers on my mind. They seem like a good idea and a sure fire way to increase the randomness of ones dice roll.

After building the iPod Dice Tower and showing it to my weekly Dungeons and Dragons group, the response was not what I hoped for. Everyone seemed very impressed for the first round of game play, but after that everyone switched back to just rolling their dice on the game table.

Here is how you can make an iPod Touch Box Dice Tower

1.) You need to iPod Touch boxes. Not just a top and a bottom but two complete boxes. You will also need an exact-o knife (modeling knife) and Super Glue

2.) You can see how the top iPod Touch box holds the bottom iPod Touch box insides it’s self. The bottom of the box has a layer of foam attached to it which makes for a soft landing for your dice.

3.) Next we are going to be prepping the hard plastic case that held the iPod Touch still in the it’s box.

4.) Being very careful with the knife your going to want to cut the top 3rd of the plastic case off. This will be used as one of the “Shelfs” that the dice will bounce off inside your iPod dice tower.

5.) Here you can see how I have attached the 2 cut off sections of the plastic case and super glued them inside the bottoms of 2 the iPod Touch boxes. One close tot he top and one close to the bottom.

6.) Carefully using the exact-o knife I cut out a square on the top of the box. I also cut and exit hole on the bottom of the same box. Here I am using a rubber band to hold the to bottom boxes together and placed them inside the top of the foam filled iPod Box

7.) Using super glue I attached the last 3rd of the plastic case to the top of the new iPod Dice tower. The whole in the plastic case just happens to the right size for a standard set of gaming dice.

To Be Continued…

Now that I am back in Juneau, I have had some time to dig around the internet and figure out how this works. Here is a step-by-step of what you have to do to enable use Google’s Street View.

Step 1.) Launch the ‘Maps’ application on your iPhone by tapping on the icon.

Step 2.) Type in any city or location that has Street View enabled.

Step 3.) On the bottom right of your screen tap on the “page” button and then tap on the “Drop Pin” button located on the middle of the screen.

Step 4.) Drag the “Drop Pin” to the location on the street you want to see. Then tap on the “person” icon on the left side of the pin. This will activate Street View on your iPhone.

Using Street View on the iPhone is pretty amazing really. I would argue that it’s better then using it on Google’s maps website. It’s very fluid, and quick to respond to your figure swipes, pinches, and taps. Having the little GTA map circle on the Street View screen helps you know which way you are looking.

Hannah got me the Flip Ultra because it takes 2 AA batteries and she knows I’m currently on a kick of any electronics that take batteries you can easily find in a store. The Ultra comes with a built in 2GB of flash memory that allows for an hour of recording of video in 640×480 resolution at 30 frames per second, using the MPEG-4 ASP video compression. In other words, it dose a damn good job for what it is.

The first thing I really love about this little digital video recorder is the size. It is so small and easy to take with you anywhere you go. I pretty much have it with me all the time now. It’s push button easy of use. Record, play, zoom in an out. That’s pretty much it.

The unit comes with a built-in USB plug that connects easily to any computer. It’s built in software that runs from the camera allows for basic video editing and uploading to youtube (weather you use Macintosh or Windows). However, I had no trouble copying the video of the Flip Ultra onto my computer and editing it with iMovie on my Apple Macintosh.

Since I have received the Flip, I have edited two movies with it. One that ended up on youtube and you can see that here. The other, I made and burned to DVD. They both look great. I can tell you from my experience that the quality of the video looks a lot better then what ends up on youtube. I am also impressed with the lack of shakiness I got from the camera. True, it dose not come close to handling hand shakes like my Cannon DV camera, but I was still impress nonetheless.

Pros:

• Small size
• Impressive video quality
• Ease of use

Cons:

• Horrible zoom
• No steady cam, or anti-shake features

Buying Advice: I really think these little flash video cameras are going to be come more and more populer as time goes on. For a first time owner of a video camera this would be a great starting point. For someone who has video camera experince I think they will enjoy the flip because of it’s convinunt size, and simplicity from shoot to edit. Because of this, I feel like not only myself, but others will be makeing more personal videos then with a normal handy came or mini camcorder.

Is owning an Apple product a status symbol to people, like owning a thousand dollar suit? This idea was recently presented to me because of the iPhone. The company I work for has been working with iPhones more and more setting them up for our clients. This has basically been the result of AT&T finally coming to Juneau Alaska and making the iPhone available to all the local’s here.

Some of our clients are not hesitating when it comes to getting an iPhone. However others remain skeptical. One case in particular, the owner of one of the companies we service is most reluctant in letting her staff use an iPhone because she feels they are only want one for the “status symbol” is provides.

This caught me off guard a bit. “Status symbol?” I asked myself. I really never looked at it that way. I have used Apple products most of my life because, quite simply, they just work. I never got an Apple computer or device because I wanted be the cool kid on the block. No, I got Apple products because they worked and where easy to use.

For the last several years I have worked in some form of I.T. or another. A vast majority of my time has been addressing issues with Microsoft Windows. I am reminded on a daily bases why I don’t own a Windows based computer. Microsoft pays my bills, plain and simple. When I come home, it’s to a Macintosh based Apple computer that just works. The last thing I want to do at the end of a day (or my weekend for that matter) is spend one moment troubleshooting computers.

But the quesiton here is; are people in Juneau getting iPhones because of the status symble they feel it provides? Maybe, I guess. I can say this, Every iPhone I have setup for a client since AT&T came to Juneau has worked. I have not had one follow up call asking for any kind of assistance at all. To me, that is a mark of a great product. I wish I could say the same about the BlackBerry phones everyone around here used to use.