Digital Impulses

Sick. Chest Cold from Hell in full effect

The cold that started forming yesterday was in full hellish effect today and it was all I could do to drag myself to breakfast @ Piggies with Mom and Isa.  I felt like shit and I was in a foul mood.

Contractor showed up and works on bathroom
After breakfast, I had to take the contractor to buy some parts for the on-going bathroom re-model project. 

Missed Bert's 39th birthday celebration
Once I returned from that, I spent the rest of the day in a fitful sleep coma, awaking every few hours to use the restroom. As a side-effect of the cold, I had to cancel a trip to Lawry's restaurant in Beverly Hills to celebrate Bert's 39th birthday.  That sucked, cause I really wanted to go.  Shit.

What an absolutely horrible Sunday.

So-So Saturday

I awoke in the morning with the very faint prickles of what I suspected would turn into a raging chest cold (it did, ultimately) but didn't really feel all that bad.

Bathroom re-model continues
So at least the contractor showed up early today and is working away.

At the Podcast & New Media Expo in Ontario
I drove over to the PNME at the Ontario Convention center at around 10:00 A.M and was back home just after 1:00 P.M.  I puttered around the house and my office until it was time to meet Bert and his parents for dinner at Sizzler's in Torrance.

Dinner at Sizzler's with Bert's family
I arrived at the Sizzler's on Sepulveda between Hawthorne and Crenshaw a few minutes before 6:30 and eventually everyone got there.

Dinner was very good and we had a good time.  Bert seemed in good enough spirits and after dinner we all drove back to his house in P.V. to play Scrabble while his parents drove home.

Scrabble was great (I won twice) but I was feeling worse and worse as the night progressed and I knew it would be just a matter of time before I was really, really sick with this Cold that was taking a grip-hold on me at a rapid rate.

At the 2007 Podcast and New Media Expo

i just bought a 'Podcast Factory' podcasting kit fron M-Audio for $99.

I also just caught a glimpse of iJustine at the Talkshoe booth. This is cool. People seem to be having fun here.

I have been to all 3 of these yearly conventions so far.

Further contractor angst

12:19 P.M. Friday, September 28, 2007.

No sight of my contractor in 2 1/2 days.  There the bathroom sits, unfinished.  17 days after it was started.  This is unbelievably angst inducing.  There has to be a better way of doing this.

*sigh*.

iPhoto '08 photo library corrupted

So this evening, after stopping by Best Buy to pick up a sandisk Multicard reader, I took the time to install it correctly and then I made a MONUMENTAL GAFFE:  In trying to free up a USB Port on my Mac Mini to plug the card reader into, I UNPLUGGED my External Seagate 320 GB hard drive that is home to my iPhoto library. With iPhoto '08 OPEN.

Not good.

Upon restarting my Mac after all of the iLife 08 patches had DL'ed and been installed, iPhoto 08 presented me with the dreaded "gray box with the dotted lines outline" where most of my pictures used to be displayed.

After a bit of Googling this problem, I learned from the Mac Observer that you can hold down "command-option" and double-click the iPhoto 08 icon.  This will result in iPhoto '08 launching with a dialog box that prompts you to select a number of different rebuild and repair options for your thumbnails and your photo library.

Unfortunately for me, none of these options worked for me and nothing I did brought my images back into iPhoto.  Now the images appear to still be on the external Seagate, so I should be able to ferret them out and get them re-imported into iPhoto '08.  It was nearing 10:30 P.M. last nigt when I gave up the ghost and decided to call it a night and tackle the issue again tomorrow evening after work.

We will see how I fare in my first iPhoto '08 disaster.

Altaf @ Blue Diamond: Finally invoiced

Altaf Amlani
Blue Diamond Spa
Blue Diamond Jewelry

Just billed him 7 hours work and 1 wireless router installed at his jewelry store. 

I faxed the invoice to him after speaking to him on his cell phone.  He stated to me that he was out of the office and that he would look at the invoice when he got back to the jewelry store so that we could "square away".

I hope getting paid is stress free.

All Quiet Wednesday

Bathroom Remodel Update
ZERO - No contractor today.  Very upsetting.  There my bathroom sits, 80% complete.  He was supposedly tied up at the bakery, finishing up a roof job. Grr.

More TV at Mom's house
Spent a few hours at Mom's watching TV and visiting with her.  We got to see the season premier of Criminal Minds and it was very, very good. 

It seems like Mandy Patakin is being written off the show, and he is going to go out in High Drama, as last night's episode ended with him finishing what seemed to be like a suicide note and fiddling with a gun.  Good stuff.

David plays WoW
Before leaving for my Mom's, my Nephew David stopped by and was playing WoW in my office for a long while.  This is a guy with a brand new kid and a new car payment, who is unemployed.  I wonder where his head is sometimes, I really do.

Moving right along

Bathroom Remodel
The Bathroom remodel project again experienced quite some progress today, to the point where the grout was laid on the walls and floors and all that is left is for the toilet, sink and shower doors to be installed.

Our contractor would have us believe that we will or should have a functional bathroom within 48 hrs.  That remains to be see, certainly.

Aj's Altima interiopr detail = $90
Arriving home from work today, I gave my wife a ride to the local car-wash near her job in Lennox to go pick up my son's car, which had been left there for a complete detailing of the interior that ended up costing $90.00.

I have got to say, they *did* leave the car in near showroom condition, so although it was quite expensive, I think it was worth it.

Lending out my Nikon D40
In the early evening, my sister Isa and sister in law Patricia came over to borrow my camera in order to go to the beach and shoot some images of my Niece to give to my brother as a Christmas present.

Season Premier of Bones and House on FOX
Around 7:00 P.M., I drove over to my mom's house and saw the season premiers of Bones and House on FOX.  Both shows were really excellent and promise to continue delivering great entertainment over the next few months.

A busy Monday

Bathroom Remodel progress: About 70% Complete
Happy to report that the contractor spent most of the day working on our bathroom remodeling project and made substantial progress, to the point where the job now seems to be about 70% complete.  I can see a pin prick of light at the end of the tunnel, thank God.  I may have a working bathroom in the next week or so.

A Resume for David
In the early evening, my nephew David came over for assistance in building a Resume.  That took a little over an hour and we were able to throw something together that we can hone and improve later on.

Season premier of K-Ville
After helping David and a quick shower in my office bathroom, I retired to my bedroom to watch the season premier of K-Ville.  It was pretty good and I plan to watch it again, as my tivo dutifully recorded it for me.  Cool.

A lazy Sunday

Returning the rental car at Enterprise
A day consumed by locusts, where nothing was accomplished of any note, other than a quick run over to Enterprise near LAX to return the Dodge Nitro ($158 for 2 days use).

Dinner at Havana Mania
After the rental car return, we stopped by Havana Mania and had dinner there.  Dinner was good and the atmosphere was pleasant enough.

The rest of the evening proceeded apace, consumed by idle computer use in my office, trying to spend more time investigating the inner workings of Apple OS X on my Mac Mini.