I knew I should have waited, yet I couldn’t help myself. I had to install the new Firefox browser version 3.0 and here I am with only have of my extensions working. Ugh. I should know better than that.

If anyone else out there uses my CopyforNotes extension (add-on), I have updated it to work with the new Firefox browser. You can grab it here: CopyforNotes version 1.8.

What extensions do I have installed?

• ColorZilla (not working)
  This plugin allows me to use an eyedropper pointer to select colors on any webpage. It allows me to easily select the color values when programming a website either from an image or the html.
• CopyforNotes (working)
  With this, I can select text on a page and copy it plus the url of the page for placement in my notes. I wrote this for MODSonair topics creation. It will either take the url of the current page or that of the link I am hovering over. More details are somewhere in this blog.. give a search if you want to know more.
• Dummy Lipsum (working)
  When programming a website, sometimes you need text to fill in an area here and there. This allows me to create filler text on the fly that doesn’t actually say anything. However, it looks like real sentences and paragraphs so the client can get the overall picture.
• Google Browser Sync (not working, damn it all!) (read following blog post)
  This extension that I love so dearly allows me to carry my bookmarks across computers without thinking about it. Whatever my bookmarks are at work are at home, which are on my laptop, etc.
  Wait, there’s more. It also saves my cookies, passwords and other authenticated business. I don’t have to keep typing in all that junk when going from work to home or any browser I have installed and setup with this plugin.
• Google Notebook (working)
  I use Google Notebook for taking my initial notes for MODSonair. This allows me to quickly save anything I see online for review later in the week. I then use CopyforNotes to turn those links into topics that easily paste into the final product.
• Greasemonkey (working, but not working) (now magically working without my intervention) (broken again)
  This is an interesting add-on that allows you to program and use Greasemonkey extensions. It’s like a platform of pre-made functions so that you can more easily program your own extensions. I use it for a Greasemonkey add-on that automatically inserts a custom signature into my different Gmail email addresses. I’m not sure what I’ll do without it that feature which isn’t working
• Gmail Signatures (new and working) (link)
  I found this as a replacement to the Greasemonkey add-on crossed out above. With it you can insert a custom signature for any of your gmail email accounts. Since you can send out your gmail from any account that you own (like from gmail, foyleman, or modsonline), you can now assign specific signatures to each.
• IE View Lite (working)
  Right click the screen and have the option to open your current page or selected url in IE. As a programming, websites need to work across multiple browsers.
• MeasureIt (working)
  Measer the width and height of a selection within your browser window. Great for figuring out the size of an area you have to work with to properly size the image you plan on putting in there.
• Screen grab! (working)
  Two clicks and you can copy or save the webpage you are looking at as an image. You can copy the select, entire page or what you see.
• Web Developer (working)
  A necessary tool for web programmings to hunt down problems on any web page.

So, check this out. Batistablr and I were searching for some domain names that he was considering for purchase. I often go to network solutions (netsol) to do my searching because it’s really simple and you don’t have to login or enter a captcha.

Here it is, a day later and Batistablr has decided to purchase one of those domain names that I looked up on netsol, but to his surprise, it was no longer available. Someone had purchased this domain in the one day since I found it available on their site.

Batistablr looked up who thought to purchase the domain name in such a short time. It turns out that netsol purchased the domain name. But, how can they afford to purchase all these domain names that people search for?

Here’s the trick. Netsol knows that they can purchase a domain name. If they cancel the purchase within about 4 days after purchase, they don’t have to pay for it.

The Lesson: Don’t search for your domain names on netsol unless you plan on purchasing them from netsol. If you do, you will end up SOL yourself.

I’d love to get a new theme on this site. I’m getting bored with this old one now.

This week I spent some time browsing various themes online. I started in the usual places where you can find thousands of wordpress themes for free. The problem is that they all suck are quite boring. Nothing tickles my fancy enough to even consider trying it out.

After realizing that “free” might be the reason for suckage the quality of themes, I hit up templatemonster. Again, I was disappointed by the suckitude quantity of boring themes.

It does cross my mind that perhaps I should just develop a theme that’s less sucky of my own. However, that falls into the whole “not enough time in a day” category that I posted about a few days ago.

Is it me? Am I being too critical? ugh… sucks oh well.

I’ve got a set of cordless phones in the office. There are a total of 4 cordless handsets for this 2 line unit. So, if the package was sold with 4 handsets and the phone can hook up to 2 separate landlines, why can’t I talk on more than two handsets at any given time?

The unit is from Panasonic model KX-TG6502. If at anytime I need to have a conference call, a maximum of two of us can pick up the phone. If someone tries to ring in on the other phone line, then forget it. They are out of luck.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good multi-line cordless phone for use in an office situation. I don’t want to spend a thousand dollars.

Supersword, steer clear of selling this phone to any of your customers.

Why do people think it’s alright to send me a PowerPoint Presentation file in the email as an example for… for whatever it is they are trying to show me? Who has PowerPoint installed and ready to go at all times? It is not alright to send someone a ppt file in the email unless they ask for it. You want me to see something… try PDF. That’s universal. PPT? Pfft!

Dear EA,

Almost, EA. Almost you got me on that purchase of Crysis via EA Link. That game downloader sounds like a great concept, but not if you are going to charge me again if I lose my download or installation.

###

So, I had pre-ordered Crysis from Gamestop last week. It was a little expensive, but I really can’t wait to get it. Add shipping and tax, and the price was at almost $75.

This morning, I noticed that EA was offering the game via their download agent called EA Link. I’ve used this in the past and it works similarly to Valve’s Steam client. However, I noticed something different this time around. When I added Crysis to my shopping cart, another item was added called the Extended Download Service (EDS). With it, I can re-download the game anytime I want over the next 2 years. Without it, I only get 6 months.

So, hmmm.. what option should I choose? I can purchase the game in a box and install it at anytime throughout my life (assuming Windows still exists). Or I can download the game and play it for 2 years until I reformat again.

I’m working on a new video of a Crysis tutorial this evening. This is a remake of the original video. The original video was lacking in some details, mainly because I was clueless was new to it myself. This new video is turning out to be much longer, but also creating a lot more grief for me.

The first Crysis tutorial I created had some issues after recording. In creating a video, I use a great program named Camtasia which is used to capture the screen and your voice as you work. When I went to edit the video, apparently the audio track was corrupt (according to the developers of the program) and I couldn’t add any fade effect between the opening still shot (title) and the video that I recorded (interesting side affect, hmmm).

This time, the recording failed for a new reason. Although I don’t know the cause other than the program is crap the recording is possibly really long, the video crashed during compilation to a version I could import into the editor. Basically, the recording I made was trashed. I never got to save the recording, it just disappeared and never asked me to continue.

After banging the desk for 10 minutes and yelling at the monitor waiting around patiently for a few minutes, I manually shut down the program for a restart. I figured I was left with having to start from scratch. But upon restarting the program, I was prompted with a notification that, “an unfinished recording was found and do I want to recover it.” “Hell yeah, I want to recover it, you @#$!”. Wouldn’t you know it… 10 minutes later I had the recording and I was able to edit it.

Problem again at this point… the video can’t compile with transitions. This refers back to the previous pain in the ass issue I had. The developer told me the audio was corrupted the first time and I don’t see how the exact same issue could happen again. I think it’s time for me to send another angry letter request for assistance. I love this program and don’t want to hate it… but what is with these problems I am having? This can’t be a coincidence anymore.

I’ll be back with an update to the result of my inquiry.
(”inquiry”… that sounds harmless, doesn’t it? lol)

I’m tired today. Not sure why, just feeling tired.

Anyway, went to the dealership with my wife to have her car fixed. It’s fairly new so it was under warranty. See, the gas cap light kept coming on and we didn’t know why.

A few hours after dropping it off, the dealer called with the prognosis and it wasn’t good. Seems that squirrels or chipmunks or something chewed through the gas tank’s vapor line. Lucky for us, it’s not covered under warranty. yeah!

Now I thought the vapor line was a rubber hose that ran from the top of the gas tank. Apparently it’s more involved than that and it will cost about $600. Geesh.

I’m tired.

*UPDATE: Damn rodents ate the fuel line on my gas grill. Had to buy a new grill this weekend. Does anyone know how to get rid of these buggers?

OK. I created a new category of topics as of this post. This is for rants since I tend to have a lot to rant about.

Today’s complaint is brought you courtesy Discovery.com and Cheetah Mail. Last Christmas, I purchased a DVD from the Discovery Channel. Every since, I’ve been receiving emails from them. Each time I receive an email, I unsubscribe. But somehow, I keep getting these emails. Well I had enough today.

I called Discovery.com and told them I didn’t want to receive any more emails. They told me they couldn’t help. In fact, they told me they didn’t even know they had an newsletter that went out via email.

So, I traced the source of the email to a company named Cheetah mail. They are an email blasting company that apparently handle the newsletters for Discovery. The person I talked to over there told me they couldn’t remove me from the list. So they have an email system that they own and manage, but they can’t remove subscribers from any lists? That’s crap.

After talking for a moment with Cheetah mail and posing a few threats regarding Spam, I told them they had better remove me. They should contact me when I am removed. If they don’t I’ll take this to the next level.

What’s the next level? Well companies this large have CEOs and CEOs don’t like getting angry letters. Yet, if this keeps up, they will get one from me the next time I receive an email from Discovery.com.

So be warned about Discovery.com and their Spamming practices.