Jana's Radical Weblog 3

Announcing the new Kleitsch Macbook Pro

My computer went in the shop today. I give it a 50/50 chance of survival. So when the kids and I went to the Salvation Army today I bought my downgrade for $2.00. No glossy screen. In fact it needs a new ribbon. The kid are having fun with it. Heck, it could be called a "learning tool" because Britta is having fun looking for her name on the keyboard. The clerk told me he didn't think anyone would ever buy it. Now does anyone know where I can get a new ribbon for my new mac?

Blogroll updated

I finally updated my blogroll (see right column). If you haven't been blogging for a long, long time I dumped your lazy ass. I mean blog.* I have a ton of design/craft/cooking/photography blogs I read too but I haven't linked to those. Britta woke up so the likelihood of me linking to them anytime soon is not so good. Also I removed the Amazon associates widgets because it didn't seem worth selling out my readers and messing up my blog for the meager $4 I made off of you. ______________ *I spared Shawnazlog from the axe because 4 little, little kids is a good excuse and I have hope she will return to blogging just as soon as she can come up for air.

Because I know you guys care

1. I ordered Weeds Season 3 : disc 1 from Netflix. The blu-ray version showed up. Really it was my fault for switching my account preference (for research purposes) and then not switching it back because I do not have Blu-ray. I reported the disc "mislabeled" and sent it back to Netflix. 2. In the meantime I thought I would just watch the first episode on Amazon Unbox. Not so when the player kept crashing. I finally gave up and went to bed last night. 3. Yay, got a the new disc from Netflix today. It is Blu-ray again even though I changed my account settings. Grrr. This time I reported the disc "un-playable." 4. Tried Unbox again. Crashed again. Re-installed the player. Will see how that pans out. 5. Thinking I could watch it on iTunes... but oh yeah, I already allocated over 5 machines to my itunes. No go there. 6. Thought about watching some sort of network television from abc.com. Had to install a special player on top of their flash player. Why? Turns out there isn't anything I want to watch there anyway. 7. Oh yeah, I could watch something on the "watch instantly" on Netflix. It only works in IE on the PC. For some reason I can't "update" the player because something is set wrong but I can't figure out what. This is ridiculous. I may flip on the tv. But probably not. So far I think MTV is the only company that has gotten the streaming right. I can watch full episodes whenever I want with commercials.

Happy Trance Mixed Tape

Yesterday I twittered that listening to the Beautiful Girls song by Sean Kinston 16 times... or many more... made me happy. Today in my inbox Marcus [insert last name], an actor, model and DJ in NYC sent me an even better version. See, he is still really cool. As Andy said, "he never did belong in B-town." I won't tell you how the new song is better, you'll just have to hear for yourself. Let's just say my favorite band and a song from one of my favorite shows is in the mix. I'm testing out this new site I found called Mixwit. It would be fun to add more songs to my mix but for now there is just one. Now go on and get happy.

New camera report

See previous post as to why I have yet to upload or hardly take any photos from my new camera. Yay, I got a new camera! It is the ultimate geek camera and there's a lot to learn. Should I shoot in RAW or just leave it to the default jpeg? What is this Active D-Lighting? How do I override the flash? Why would I want to turn off the VR setting on my lens? What lens should I buy next? I realize this is a whole new game from my days of loading film into my camera. Now I can simulate any type of film per shot. It is going to take me a long time to get this thing figured out. For now I'm just happy to have a higher quality lens!

What are you doing?

I am twittering. Actually I have been twittering for a while into the abyss. Now I've added the Twitter badge to the right of my bloggy so you can know even more minutiae about me. Sometimes I even mention what I'm thinking about eating for lunch. In fact food does seem to be what I Twitter about most. And speaking of Twitter, when I came back from Chicago I met up with a group of moms. They asked me how my trip was. I said "great, I even got to ride in a car next to Evan Williams!" Blank stares. "He is the founder of Blogger and Twitter." Blank stares. Ah ha, geek celebrity! And that must make me a geek.

Last chance to test your inner mutant (cheaply)

My spit kit test just showed up. Cool. Tomorrow (Friday) is the last day to participate in the huge discount for QTrait's genetic testing site. From my friend Tera Eerkes, the CEO of QTrait:

Hi everyone, We've been filling up our orders, and are going to turn off the 90% discount at midnight on Friday, March 7th, as planned. If you haven't yet signed up, please get your orders in soon by going to www.QTrait.com Remember, it's easy to get the discount. Just pick out genetic tests that interest you, go to the checkout, then follow the survey link at the bottom of the order "Review" page. When you've completed the survey, you'll be linked back to the "Review" page, and the 90% discount will be automatically applied. Later next week, we'll close down the site to the public while we make improvements.

DNA analysis beta testing invitation

Hey everyone, Some people I know have been working hard on a website for recreational genetic testing. That means nothing scary. All the tests are "nice to know" in helping you better make some life decisions. For example, you can learn how your genes play a role in allergies, nutrition, physical aptitude, certain behaviors and more. Over 40 tests are available individually or in groups as described more fully at www.QTrait.com. Everything is completely confidential. Here's the scoop: If you want in the beta test you will be asked to take an 15 minute or so online survey before you place your order and after you receive your results. You'll have to hurry to participate at the reduced price because the beta test is only available to the first 200 people. Email: info@qtrait.com with the message "Genes for me" in the subject line to receive an invitation to the beta test. You will receive an invitation for a 15% discount off regular price for orders placed.

Microsoft...grrr

I've had my MacBook for less than a month and I'm already on the Microsoft diatribe. Can't a girl download IE for the Mac? Not that I want to actually use the browser but I would like to do some testing.

why I may use my broken cell phone even longer

Email exchange with one of my techie friends: Me: I'm buying an iphone tonight. Friend: Baby needs a new pair of shoes, you keep the !@# old phone. School starts tomorrow and you need the boy looking good. Me: ha ha, usually that is my motto but not this time. My cell phone is busted. I don't have an mp3 player either. Wait, wait, now I'm starting to think "no iphone". Damn you. Friend: $500 bucks hurts when you drop it or your kid spills juice on it! Get a mini (which is kinda bulletproof and a T-mobile Dash)