WillShattuck.com

Every once in a while I have an incomplete episode that is downloaded in iTunes on one of my podcasts.  This time it happened to be an episode of Dragon Page Cover to Cover.  Being the good geek tech that I am, I googled.  On The Apple Blog, I found this little gem:

…I find that I have to delete the episode and then unsubscribe/re-subscribe to the podcast (or force a refresh with the option-click on the arrow next to the podcast name)…

In Windows, you do the same thing.  First, delete the offending episode.  Next, collapse the podcast by clicking the triangle.  Finally force a refresh of the podcast by SHIFT-clicking the triangle to expand the podcast.  You should then see your episode all ready to click GET.

Yes, it is Christmas Evening and I’m writing a blog post from the airport.  Last night we attempted to leave Fresno Yosemite International Airport, but were met with extremely dense fog.

Yes, it is Christmas Evening and I’m writing a blog post from the airport.  Last night we attempted to leave Fresno Yosemite International Airport, but were met with extremely dense fog.

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The feedback from the first draft said that it was too busy. There was too much going on. My brother suggested bringing it just to the core of what I’m offering… An After Hours Computer Service.

I submit this logo for your comments :)

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I’m working on building my After Hours Computer Business. One of the hardest parts was coming up with the visual identity for this business. I knew that I wanted to have a crescent like moon in the "O" of Hours, but wasn’t sure what else to include. So I included all the information that I thought someone would need.

I then sent this link to friends and family. They have given wonderful feedback and I’m in the process of redesigning and resubmitting. I will provide updates as this process continues. Here is the first draft image.

Hi all,

I’m a little slow on the uptake with Lockergnome.com.  Life became busy and I wasn’t able to keep up-to-date with Chris and Lockergnome in its transition from newsletter/rss to a multiblog/multiuser system.  Once I figured out what happened, I signed up for my own blog on Lockergnome.com.

The Tech Support Corner - Providing Support for the Every Day User

I’ll be providing tips, support ideas, and answers to questions that come up in the Every Day Computer User’s life.  I’ll do my best to answer in regular ol’ plain English and not a whole lot of techno-geek speak.

I’ll be doing my first post later today on "To Vista or Not To Vista"; should you purchase Vista if you have XP or just wait for a new computer, and other insights.

Take care. –Wil

So I want to learn how to write and to write better.  What do you need to do when you want to do something better?

Practice.

Last post I mentioned the interview I listened to with Mur and J.C.  Since then I haven’t made the the time.  So today during lunch I wrote an additional 210 words.  You can see a progress bar on the bottom of the right sidebar.

With this first writing challenge, I’m coming at it from this point of view:  It’s gonna suck, and suck hard, but just get it done.

Writing longer than a couple of hundred words hasn’t been even a monthly occurance, so I’m just going to write and see what happens.  I can make edits later.   I’ll keep track of word counts by putting a post with the subject of "Word Count  - #" where the # sign is replaced by my word count.  In the body I’ll put the current word count and total word count, just to keep progress going.

We’ll see how this works out.  I’ll keep you updated :)

Hi all.  Well I obviously didn’t get very far with NaNoWriMo this year.  However, not bad for a first attempt; 3449 words.  Considering that I never wrote anything more than was expected of me I consider this a WIN.  Not a NaNoWriMo win, but a WIN for WILL none-the-less.

On my way home from work today I listened to a podcast that has begun to inspire me to write more.  It is Mur Lafferty’s "I Should Be Writing".  The podcast was an interview with J.C. Hutchins, author of "7th Son" (a REALLY great podcast novel).  It was fun listening to Mur and JC gush with admiration over each other.  Made me chuckle.

Near the end of the podcast Mur asked J.C. if he had any advice for writers.  The thing that stuck out the most, other than the obvious WRITE, was that you should write every day even if it is only a little bit.  If J.C. didn’t say those words, that’s ok.  This is what I got out of it.   Write, Write, Write.  If you want to be a swimmer you swim.  If you want to be a chef, you cook.  So, if you want to be a writer, you need to write. So, here I am writing my blog post about this, and in a little bit, I will begin writing more on my first book which uses the first 1200 words or so of my NaNoWriMo entry. 

Why only the first 1200 words you ask?

I lost the entire 3449 words.

Yes I know, "Didn’t you SAVE it, Will?".  "Do I need to tell you the ‘Jesus Saves’ joke again, Will".

No, no, no.  I fell to my own assuredness that when i wiped and reinstalled my laptop I copied everything off.  Well, I didn’t.  Fortunately I had copied my first inspirational run to Google Documents so i have that much saved.  The rest was drivel anyway.

So here I sit, posting about writing instead of writing.

I should be writing.  ;)

Nite.

Word Count
Today: 358
Total 3449

Yeah, I know, a pitiful word count.  Well here are the excuses.  Work was tough today, and when lunch rolled around I couldn’t focus.  Then things this evening didn’t line up until about 12:00 AM.  yes I know that’s technically Day 4, but I haven’t slept yet so it’s still Day 3.  Nanny nanny boo boo. ;)

So thik weekend I’m looking to actually plot out this novel.  I thought I could just write it without really knowing where it’s going.  I probably could., but I need a few basic plot points.  I’m getting some good background info, but I will qiuckly not know where to go if I keep this up.

So, tomorrow I’ll design plot points, develop a little more character bio / history through flashbacks, thought-backs, etc.  Have a good day :)

I came across the article “Examining defects in the Firefox code base” at g2zero via Slashdot about defects in the Firefox code base.  I keep an informal watch on such articles because usually they are sponsored in one way or another by someone opposed to Firefox.  I’ll admit that I am a Firefox proponent, but I won’t bash those opposing Firefox.

The author raises some good questions about code specific questions.  I am not an expert and many of the issues raised are far more technical than I can understand.  However, the question is raised about the defects of the code base.  Again I am not a coder, and I don’t understand a lot of the issues. 

However, there was a comment posted by Alec Flett that seems to lend some balance to the article.  He stated basically that some of the tools used to “detect defects” may actually be working in a vacuum due to the tool not having working knowledge of the code.

So, as with all articles describing defects in software it appears that this one needs to be taken with a grain of caution.

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