romej dot com - the feed still burns

Put too many eggs on the griddle

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:02:58 -0800

Some friends stayed the night with us last year and Michelle started making breakfast for us all the first morning. She cracked about a dozen eggs and heated up the griddle.

When she poured the eggs on the griddle they flowed over the small rim onto the floor.

She meeped. We looked her way and laughed. The only scramble was for napkins.

If she hadn't done that I doubt we'd even remember that morning.

Make a mess. Put too many eggs on the griddle. You'll have more to look back on with a smile.

Tax times

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 09:04:23 -0800

For the last couple years Michelle and I have relied on Turbo Tax when preparing our taxes. We used to have them prepared professionally but over time realized that we weren't getting our money's worth. Once you've gathered all your 1099's, W-2's, and maybe some random receipts, there's not much difference between typing the numbers in yourself and watching the person at H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt do it.

A few years ago in Florida we went to Carr, Riggs & Ingram in Niceville, thinking that a CPA would bring large benefits. I remember asking for a ballpark estimate up front and the man there told us it wouldn't be much more than H&R Block. That seemed great; a premium was understandable. A couple weeks later we were hit with a $600 bill. To make things worse, Michelle spotted an error on the return while we were sitting in the car outside, about to drive away. CRI fixed the issue but our refund wasn't any higher than the one Turbo Tax estimated for me at home.

Your mileage will surely vary, but once you've gathered all your papers, there's not much more left to do but enter the data.

I do occasionally have a question that confuses me deeply. Most recently I spent 30 minutes on the phone with the IRS trying to get an answer, and all they could do was read the official publications. I called a couple local CPAs and asked about paying them for, say, 30 minutes of their time (in reality it'd likely be 10 minutes). I didn't have high hopes for a call back, and I wasn't let down.

In the end I skipped taking the deduction because it was such a pain in the ass. Taking it may have saved us a few hundred dollars, but the CPA's fee would negate the benefit.

Inkscape perspective on text path

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:25:43 -0800

If you're searching for tutorials on applying the perspective extension to some text and having issues, check the following. First, I'm using Inkscape 0.47 on a Mac. The tutorials are advising that I select Path > Object to Path on the text. After that, you're supposed to select the perspective shape, then the text path, then apply the extension.

I keep getting the "The second selected object is a group, not a path." error. My text never shows up as a Path, but rather a group of objects.

If you select the text and then the perspective shape, it should work, even though this is the opposite of what the tutorials are saying.

Locked out

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:10:10 -0800

I took Fitz on his last walk of the day last night and locked the door behind me. A block away I patted my pockets and realized I left my keys upstairs. I continued with the walk and thought of ways I could let Michelle know I was outside, short of yelling.

The study looked higher than I remember once I was directly below it, debating throwing dried berry shells at the window. I walked around front again and attempted to climb onto the balcony. That didn't work, but I got a decent workout. I can get as far as pulling my body up, but to try and grab the railing with one hand and still hold on would be too much.

When I jumped down Fitz took it as a sign that I was heading inside and ran around the corner of the house (he's afraid of being left outside).

Then I saw the tennis ball Fitz and I play with and walked around to the back of the house. I tossed it up and it grazed the window. I tried again and got a thud. I waited for Michelle to part the blinds, like in the movies. I tossed it again and it landed short of me.

Fitz bolted toward the ball and ran off with it.

So I gave chase and we had some fun in the 28 degree weather.

I went back to do another throw and he sat waiting for the toss, making me laugh. Michelle called out about this time and he ran off to find her.

And so the adventure ended.

Snow blanket

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:54:56 -0800

It started slow, and I figured it wouldn't be anything more than a flurry. A few hours later trees were sagging under a new weight.

Fitz wanted to go on a walk in the evening and when I opened the door he stepped back shocked and scared. It took a little coaxing but he eventually didn't seem to mind the snow at all.

The snow fell Friday and was nearly gone by today. A few large magnolia branches are laying beneath their trees.

It's been a quiet weekend. Michelle has a test Friday and it's been pretty cold. I'm working on an iPhone game and it's been a little frustrating. I wanted to follow the todo list app with something quickly, so I feel behind.

Just watched Black Hawk Down for the first time. Anticipation of Ridley Scott's Robin Hood as well as my liking of Gladiator guided me.

Haven't heard much from Mom, but they're set up in Tucson now.

...and now Michelle's playing her free Horchata song by Vampire Weekend. Had to look that up and I'm surprised I know the name of the band; really thought it was some bizarre foreign band.

Going to prom

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:01:16 -0800

Saturday we got all dressed up and went to prom with each other again. It's the first prom of Michelle's that we've attended. We went to my high school one but opted to skip hers.

Our carriage for the night, an '03 Accord, provided a smooth ride but was marred with bird poop that I neglected to clean.

Prior to the action we ate on Broad St and had our waitress take the picture above.

What can YouDo for a case of the mondays?

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:57:38 -0800

The YouDo task organizer and planner, while not free, can be had for the amount of change you'd find walking a few blocks with a watchful eye on the ground. You could also sing or dance in a public place with a tip jar, and you'd have enough within 5 minutes.

Once obtained, it's time to start organizing. Here are a couple non-standard uses of the software:

Student's day planner

If you're a student, you care about this week. What homework is due, what club meetings do you have to go to, and is there a test this week?

Use YouDo to plan your week. It's easy to scroll through a week and see what's happening.

Workout and exercise log

Use the app to make notes of the days you worked out and what exercises and reps you did at each station. Plan ahead and tap out workouts you're doing later in the week.

Grocery list

Don't waste time picking through categories trying to find the foods you need to buy. Open YouDo, write groceries down as you remember them, and pull the app out while you shop. You don't need a free hand. The only thing you have to do to use it is tap items as you put them into your shopping cart. You literally check things off your list.

The one with her being super

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:21:08 -0800

I'm really proud of Michelle. Since my legendary 666th post about her white coat ceremony, she's learned enough to do, and has actually performed, pelvic exams for women in need of medical care. She's been to the homeless clinic twice now, and opportunities to help there inevitably fall on test weeks, virtually ensuring that only 1 or 2 other students will take the time to help. Pretty much just her and her friend went actually.

She can parse the terminology in those Mystery Diagnosis shows, House, and Scrubs. I toss popcorn at my face and hee-haw. So it's a little like Joey dating Charlie around here.

On top of this she got a 97 on the last test. She jokes that that's probably as good as things can get, but Fitz and I are hopeful and watching for more.

Actually, Fitz is curled up like a shrimp, sleeping. He's a bit of a letdown at times.

Fitz's growing love for the neighbor's dog

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:00:18 -0800

Our neighbors have been gracious in letting Fitz use their yard any time he wants. And he does want.

Henry comes out and wanders around his yard. Fitz usually sees this because Fitz spends all his time sitting in a white chair from Ikea, looking out the window. He's like a cat.

As soon as he sees his pal he jumps down, looks up at me, whines, and runs to the front door, then back to me, apparently frustrated that I didn't follow him.

He usually gets his way and I let him play for a bit.

The neighbors tell us that Fitz goes in their house and relaxes, even sleeps.

When he's ready to come home he'll actually look up from the yard into our study. It's a little creepy, but mostly endearing.

Both dogs now cry loudly when they meet up. Instant excitement.

iPhone todo list, tasks, and notes

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:33:33 -0800

YouDo is a daily organizer app that presents each day as its own small sheet of paper. You can swipe left or right to move through the week (or month, but let's not get ahead of ourselves; there's plenty to do in the near term).

During the design, I decided to add a small column of bars on the left and right sides of each day. If you're looking at today, you might see 2 bars on the left and (up to) 5 on the right side, meaning you had two tasks yesterday and 5+ tomorrow.

It's an at-a-glance look at what you've accomplished and what you have upcoming.

If you need to know all the things you had to do in the past (but haven't yet), tap the Undone tab at the bottom of the screen.

Likewise, tap Upcoming to see everything you have to do later on.

There's an email button to send your daily todo list to yourself. When you close the app, you'll see a number badge indicating the yet-to-be completed tasks for today. You can turn that off if you want.

Since YouDo doesn't force a lot on you, it's pretty flexible.

Students can use to to make notes of homework assignments due in the coming week.

Use it as a grocery list. Look at it later to see the last time you went shopping, and what you bought.

Use it at the gym. Make notes about your reps, what machines you used.

Use it to get things done the GTD way. Reorder your tasks to assign priority, or come up with your own system (eg, add a "1" before the most important tasks, or a "W" to indicate work tasks and "H" for home tasks.

Watch a video demo of YouDo.