May 2006 - Chris Ullrich dot net
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May 2006

moving is a bitch

you really never realize how much stuff you have until it is packed in about a hundred boxes, loaded in a truck and taken across town. then, unloaded and taken into your new home. wow, do we have a ton of crap. its really amazing to see. the moving process has taken six days and on sunday it took almost nine hours to load up the truck, move, and unload and get everything in the door. all of this for a move in the same city and less than two miles from old place to new.

please, if i ever talk about moving again anytime in the next hundred years, just kill me and spare me the misery. i don’t know what’s worse, moving your own stuff or watching four trained monkeys move your stuff for you. seriously, to call the movers we had monkeys is really an insult to monkeys who are smarter than these four guys that came to “help” us.

they were nice enough the way a small child can be nice. let’s just say they were lacking a little something in the brain power department. fortunately, they didn’t seem to do any real damage to anything except a few scratches here and there. besides the movers themselves, we also had trouble with the moving truck which decided not to start for a few minutes after it was completely loaded and ready to go.

the thought of having to unload all the stuff again and then load it into a replacement truck was almost too much for mew to take. fortunately for the movers and anyone close by, the truck finally started and we were on our way. then, art the new place they proceed to unload at a pace that can best be described as “leisurely”.

of course, i was paying by the hour so they were in no hurry. or maybe they were just tired. really, i was tired from just watching them so they really could have been tired and not just taking their time. i choose the latter and give them the benefit of the doubt. tired it is. i guess that makes me a jerk for thinking they were trying to milk it for more dough. oh well, i’ve been called worse.

anyway, time to go back to the unpacking and try to see where all of this stuff goes. i hope we have enough room for all of it. keep your fingers crossed.

Macbook update

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quick update on the new macbook. got matched 2gb of ram from other world computing and installed it today. what a difference! now this macbook flies. much better with more ram. not really a surprise but damn, really nice.

applications load faster, graphics are snappier and all in all a much better user experience. don’t get me wrong, it was useable before with just the stock 512Mb but for me, just barely. this makes a huge difference.

as we are moving this weekend (yes, on memorial day weekend. feel sorry for me?) i won’t get a chance to replace the 80Gb hard drive that came with the macbook with the new 120 GB i got at the same time as the ram. after we move and after i finish putting in the new drive, its time to install bootcamp and (shudder) windows xp. then, the circle will be complete. or something like that.

i’ll report back when i’m done with all the fun and exciting details. oh, one more thing. i really don’t love the keyboard at all on the macbook. the more i use it the more i don’t like it. unfortunately, its the biggest problem i have with the macbook. its just not very responsive and is harder to type on then the old one on my 12“ powerbook.

if i could take that keyboard and put it on the macbook, then i would have a perfect machine. alas, it is just one of those things that i will have to deal with i guess. more later.

Macbook in the house

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so, got the macbook now. just took it out of the box and starting to put it through its paces.

first impressions:

– it’s black

– it’s matte

– the glossy screen is better than i thought it would be

– the keyboard is more annoying than i thought it would be – the keys are a little too far apart for me

– performance is pretty good even with the stock 512MB of ram. i’m sure it will be much better after i put the 2 Gigs in

– its hasn’t gotten too hot yet. i even tried it on my lap wearing shorts and it was fine. no hotter than my 12“ powerbook

more to come but that’s it for first impressions. all in all pretty cool so far.

(btw – the photo is from the good folks at engadget, not me)

Dizzy or whatever

for the last few weeks i have been, for lack of a better word, seasick. its odd to feel a sensation of movement even when you are not moving. i“m not experiencing the ”sick“ part of seasick but i definitely feel as if i am on a boat. it comes and goes but it started, coincidentally, after i got off an extended stay on a boat.

a few weeks ago we went on a cruise with my parents for their 50th anniversary. i have been on boats many, many times before and had no ill effects. this trip, an eight day-er to mexico, was the first time. everything was fine for the first several days. in fact, almost to the end. however, that wasn’t to be the case eventually.

monday night, two days before we got back, i experienced some ”whatever“ which felt like seasickness so i had to get up, walk around and basically kill a few hours before i could go back to the cabin and finally get some sleep. good times.

now, for the last few weeks i still feel like i am on a boat. moving around, etc. i can’t explain it. its not terrible. more annoying than anything. its especially annoying at night when i try to go to sleep. although, eventually i can.

the really odd part is that claritin (an allergy drug) actually makes the symptoms all but disappear. and, for the last week or so i felt basically fine and was getting back to normal. that is until last night. last night is was back and it took a long time to get to sleep while i rocked with the boat that isn’t really there.

anyway, i’m going to see an ear doctor tomorrow to hopefully figure out what the heck is going on. its a problem for me as i like being able to move around and i like being able to sleep at night. so, this needs to be addressed. and soon.

perhaps there are other people out there that have had similar things happen to them. if so, please feel free to speak up and let me know as i like more information. anything constructive or informative is a good thing.

sorry to dwell on my problems but sometimes you just want to get things out there and talk about them if possible. no reason to keep stuff a secret, especially if someone has a good bit of information.

i’ll be back to the usual ramblings any day now . . . oh, and no more cruises. . . . ever.

Moving, Moving, Moving

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got some boxes today. that was fun. from a place called box city in van nuys. even got a tape gun too. its neat. apologies (yes, again) for the lack of posting but i have been a little under the weather for awhile after my work of late. stress is a funny thing that does bad things to you. its just bad, bad, bad. that’s why i try to avoid it as much as possible and one of the reasons i pretty much gave up on showbiz. too much stress.

oh well, i guess i messed that one up, didn’t i? in other news, put my order in for a shiny new black macbook today. its a cool new laptop (sorry, not a laptop) a cool new macbook which will allow me to get rid of two pieces of hardware and go down to one. with a macbook running mac osx and windows xp via bootcamp i won’t need a windows laptop anymore either. cool, right?

apple says the computer should ship in 5 to 7 business days but i hope its faster than that. usually is. let’s hope so. although, what with the moving and all i doubt i would have much time to play around with it anyway so its probably good that it doesn’t get here until after the move anyway. less of a temptation to just sit around and play with it instead of packing.

anyway, i’ll give a full report on it when it comes and let you know if the glossy screen and the new keyboard are annoying or cool. my dell laptop has a glossy screen so i’m not too worried. i don’t think it will bother me. we’ll see. ok, gotta go now and walk over to rite aid to pick up some stuff.

There be Monsters

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on my recent trip to miami i read and finished the print version of david wellington’s novel “Monster Island” and it’s fantastic. i really liked it and recommend it highly to any of you who are zombie fans or who just like a great read (or both). now, i will hand the book over to someone else who can appreciate it as much as i did. i want to share the wealth.

really, it would make a great movie. i think i will try to get in touch with david and see what’s what on that score. he has several other novels serialized on line at his site. “Monster Nation” is the next one, followed by “Monster Planet“. plus, he has an even newer one called “Thirteen Bullets” which looks interesting as well. hopefully, the others will be in print soon enough. although, there are ipod version so i might have to check those out in the meantime.

you may ask me why all the praise for these books and this author. well, i really liked “Monster Island” and for me that doesn’t happen as often as it used to. plus, i love the fact that he is self-publishing these books online first in serial format for all to read. more important than that, though, is i want to to support people who embrace new media and non-traditional methods and then become successful at it. its a trend that should continue and needs our support.

so, read “Monster Island” and download the crap out of his other work so that some other author out there with a dream sees david’s success and decides to put their own work out there for people to experience. who knows, we might find the next “great american novel” that way. plus, did i mention its a really great book? go get it.

Moving on up! (or at least out)

reply_moving_image-1.jpgwell, its official, i am moving to new digs. after some trial and error and back and forth its definitely on for the end of the month fo sure. i am both nervous and excited at the prospect. having lived in the same place for almost ten years its a little odd to think that in a few weeks i will be in a new place. there are many problems with my current digs so moving is good.

of course, the cynic in me is telling me that there could be even more problems with a new place and all that. “the devil you know” scenario. well, i say to hell with that. i know what i have and a new place will definitely be better. so there.

besides, it will only be for a short while as i am looking to buy a house in the very near future. i wonder if the prices will become more manageable soon? i can hold my breath for only a few minutes so i don’t think that will be enough. unfortunately, everyone seems to want to live in los angeles so the home prices keep going up and up. oh well. maybe it will change?

anyway, the new place is bigger and more modern and has lots of things going for it. especially the part about being new and stuff. who doesn’t like new, right? i know i do.

there are many other things going on with me and with the world in general and i don’t have time to go into them at the moment. besides, i am easing back into the blogging anyway so this might be all i can do at the moment. i will try to increase it but it will probably be a slow process. so, hang in there if you can. until next time.