http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog random ramblings of a designer in the valley Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:58:55 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en My father passed away on August 12th, 2008. I just got back from Taiwan from all of the funeral proceedings. There are way too many thoughts and memories to process at the moment. http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2008/08/30/father/ It's a little bit late compared to Typepad, but the Wordpress iPhone app is out today. Now I can blog from anywhere! Anytime! The question is... Will I be motivated enough? Typing on this virtual keyboard is serious business!! http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2008/07/22/wordpress-app-for-iphone/ Within any office environment, there are always some very interesting social dynamics. Every department has corresponding personalities that one would expect knowing the stereotype. The people working in accounting department tend to be cautious and conservative, straight to the point with numbers and figures; but often seem to have a ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2008/07/11/entitlement-of-geekdom/ Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've just moved to a new place, thus has been very busy trying to rearrange my life as a result. Should I post pictures of the new place?.. Hrm... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2008/06/24/moving-busy/ I'm sure a million other blogs will be talking about this today. I'll keep it short and sweet: LA Times article San Francisco Chronicles article It's about time. Here is an excerpts from the SF Chronicles article: In a 4-3 decision, the justices said the state's ban on same-sex marriage violates the "fundamental constitutional ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2008/05/15/california-supreme-court-overturns-same-sex-marriage-ban/ I've been using Firefox 3 beta for a while now, and it's a definite improvement in memory usage and speed over Firefox 2. As expected, it's taking some of the addon developers quite a while to write new versions of their addon that's compatible with Firefox 3. Granted, I don't use ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2008/05/13/delicious-plugin-for-firefox-3/ In my younger days, I used to mock my father about how far he is behind the time, the fact that he can't touch-type (he's a classic two-finger, and on occassions where he's striving for productivity, three-finger, typist) or really grasp any idea of what this whole internet deal really ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2008/04/21/web-20-worry-me/ In regards to my low energy & lack of sleep: (10:31:49 AM) nano: you need more sleep (10:31:51 AM) nano: lunesta maybe (10:34:39 AM) Steve: or maybe just watch the commercial for it like, 1,000 times (10:34:40 AM) Steve: that'll put me to bed (10:36:10 AM) nano: its so peaceful (10:37:14 AM) Steve: so very peaceful (10:37:17 ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2008/04/18/im-conversation-of-the-day/ Via the Huffington Post: Azariah Southworth announces he is gay I haven't watched any Christian-based TV programming in years. To be quite honest, even at the highest point of my most fervent belief, I never watched that much religious based programming. So I really have no idea who this person is. Apparently, he ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2008/04/16/christian-tv-hosts-comes-out-of-the-closet/ Oh, the magic & wonder that is the blogosphere-rama. The last post on my evolving view on love & relationship, seemed to have caught a few unusual eyes. One of which is Jenny Block, an author who lives in an open-marriage lifestyle and is writing a new book. I found her ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2008/04/09/jenny-block-open-marriage-and-me/ Contrary to population belief, I've always felt that the internet didn't spark a revolution as much as an evolution of existing ideas. Most certaily, "web 1.0" was about bringing traditional commerce to a new avenue; but in its nature, the idea behind most of these businesses didn't differ much from ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2008/04/05/love/ Courtesy of my dear friend Colin at: A)bort, R)etry, F)ail. Stick to your cat, it's not religiously judgemental, so long as you worship it. Indeed, Colin, indeed. http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2008/03/21/brilliant-religious-advice-of-the-day/ The single player campaign of CoD4 reminded me of first grade, when I had to raise my hand with a desperate thrust and wave to get the teacher's attention, just so that I can go to the bathroom. Even then, it was up to the teacher's discretion to decide whether ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2008/02/01/call-of-duty-4-is-like/ Last night, my best friend informed me that she thinks one of my best talent (at least I hope it's not my only talent) is being a critic. I think her exact words were something like: "you are a very good critic, b/c you are able to articulate your likes and ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2008/01/17/my-talent/ Here are some more pictures of my cute & adorable (and crazy) cat!  For no reason at all! svgallery=2008_houseandcat http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2008/01/15/per-request-more-jojo/ Through a sequence of unforeseeable events, I ended up becoming a XBox 360 owner over Christmas. I have never been one to adapt a new console platform upon its initial release, since I was burnt by NEC's vaunted PC Engine platform as a kid. Given that, I had plenty of ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2008/01/14/the-art-of-subtle-game-design-halo-3/ Warning: This post is undoubtfully, 100% emo. Traditionally, I only post emo stuff following you know, some sort of a heart-breaking event in my life. This time really isn't any different. Yes, there is a heart-breaking event in my life (of a very typical & easily guessable nature). However, that event ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/12/12/my-creative-process-and-the-inevitable-self-destruction/ I spent the past week thinking of a clever title for this post, to my failure and disdain, that which you see (yeah, up there, look up) is the best I can come up with. As a bit of background, Purple Violets gained a bit of attention as the first movie ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/12/08/purple-violets-is-a-good-movie/ I can't take credit for the title of this post, it's really just a part of the discussion on one of the TWIT podcast this past week (or was it the week before? I can't remember). Last week Google announced an astonishingly underwhelming software platform. I mean, it's not horrible ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/11/12/google-if-we-cant-conquer-fragment/ Google's Open Handset Alliance is exciting, because geeky programmers around the world just all simultaneously orgasmed and are now struggling to hold their drool inside what is presumed, to be their oral cavity. To be frank, that was not my first response to the announcement. I had a really, really ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/11/06/googles-android-is-the-most-exciting-and-useless-announcement-ever/ Since I got my iPhone, I've been buying a lot of TV shows on iTunes, so I can carry them with me and watch them wherever I am. Most of the time that watching is done when I'm in my room, right before bed (I don't have a TV in ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/11/01/media-companies-makes-no-sense/ During the tedium of the work day grind, I have all sorts of weird IM conversation with my friends. While we're talking about what we had for lunch today, I brought up one of my minor annoyances with... I'm not even sure to whom this one would be directed. Why do ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/10/08/asian-chicken-salad/ As I'm sitting here re-ripping my entire CD collection into MP3's again (something I should probably detail in another mundane & boring post), it made for a perfect chance to put down a few thoughts I had playing through the beta of Tabula Rasa, well, what little I can stand ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/10/07/some-thoughts-on-tabula-rasa/ It took me a few hours to upgrade to WordPress 2.3 last night. I don't have the coding prowess of some out there, so it wasn't exactly unexpected that it would've been a painful undertaking. However, upgrading to WP 2.3 was even more difficult than I had expected due to ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/09/28/upgraded-to-wordpress-23/ When I first got my iPhone, I noticed that some of the black looked weird on video playback. I thought it was just a problem with all iPhone screens. Then the reports about iPod Touch's "negative black" screen came out, I got suspicious that some models of the iPhone exhibited ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/09/22/exchanged-my-iphone-last-night/ Metroid Prime 3 Corruption is almost without a doubt, the best game released on the Wii thus far. It pushes the Wii's graphic engine to show that pretty games, even though not at HD resolution offered by other platforms, is still possible. It also shows that the Wiimote control scheme ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/09/17/metroid-prime-3-and-what-i-think/ After two weeks of being an iPhone owner, I have to say this is by far the best experience I've ever had with any phone. Although iPhone is still not perfect, it is closer to achieve that nirvana of consumer electronic than any other device I've ever laid hands on ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/09/17/iphone-after-two-weeks/ I know at least one person who's not completely happy with the new iPod announcements. I have to agree at least in part, that the new iPods are not all that exciting. iPod Touch is really the only revolutionary product here, if you consider iPhone to be a completely different ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/09/06/apples-new-line-of-ipods/ Here are some photos of my cat... and the new place: svgallery=2007_houseandcat http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/07/30/some-photos-for-your-enjoyment/ FYI, I still don't have an iPhone yet. Why? Despite of how much I love the iPhone, I still don't believe in signing  a two year contract for AT&T/Cingular. I've been a customer with Cingular back since when they were PacBell PCS, I have no reason to be locked down to ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/07/26/its-not-just-about-the-touchscreen/ It's been more than a month since my last post... I've moved away from the cold fogginess of San Francisco, thirty-five miles to the south where it's warmer and sunnier in Mountain View. Besides the benefits of weather, I also have a bigger, nicer place along with a much shorter commute ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/07/26/obligatory-check-in/ This is the video clip from WWDC, so hilarious~ [youtube Bf5qZrFfQFg] Enjoy! http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/06/12/pc-steve-jobs/ When EMI announced that they were going to be offering DRM-free tracks on iTMS in May, I was pretty psyched to see that a major label has finally stepped forward and admitted that DRM doesn't work. However, the month of May passed slowly, and I was somewhat paranoid that EMI ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/05/30/itunes-plus-is-here-are-you-buying-anything/ Everything seems to be up and running as usual. I was pleasantly suprised to see that my themes & plugins are all fully functional. The only difference seems to be the inclusion of widget functionality in WP 2.2, which makes the previous "widget-enabling" addon obsolete. http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/05/29/upgraded-to-wordpress-22/ This past week, Microsoft's Mac development team announced that a real document converter, that will allow old versions of Office users to convert to new versions of Office 2007 format, will not be released until after Mac Office 2008 is complete. It was a choice of using existing resources to ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/05/19/reality-of-hiring-and-expansion/ It's rare that Microsoft comes up with something truly funny, but this parody is really, actually, LOL-kinda good. Which makes you wonder, if they had this much time to make this parody... where is the ZunePhone?! [youtube WazA77xcf0A] http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/05/16/microsoft-introduces-ofone/ Another miscellaneous test for a WordPress plugin, with a cute picture! http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/05/11/testing-thumbnail-viewer/ Ran across an interesting little tidbit in my random browsing of the intrawebtube: Last season for Battlestar Galatica All I gotta say is, ABOUT TIME! This past season of BSG was complete, utter crap except for the last episode, which just gave you barely enough to want to see how it ends. The ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/05/11/is-this-bsgs-last-season/ Another unlikely teenage/college shooting happened today, apparently the argument was over a stolen Playstation. Jonquel Brooks, a 19-year-old freshman at Fresno State was accused of stealing a Playstation by three other guys; when he was confronted by the three man, he choose to shoot them ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/05/08/fresno-state-video-games-and-guns/ A very interesting thing happened at Digg yesterday. There was public posting of a HD-DVD decryption key, which was very promptly deleted by Digg's admin. It created a public outrage of Digg users feel like they are being censored, and prompted a reaction that resulted in even more posting of ... http://pixelpushingmonkey.com/blog/2007/05/02/the-digg-fiasco/