Nathan W. Ho

So, ever since I made the move to the Mac operating system, there have been a few functionality features that I’ve really missed about Linux.  The first - windowshading - is the ability to “minimize” a given program window to just it’s title bar (and back again) with a double click or so.  I use Unsanity’s Windowshade haxie to gain this ability in Mac OS X (now that they’ve released a Mac OS X Leopard compatible version). But as great as Windowshade X is, it doesn’t have everything that I want.

The other major (related) functionality that I’ve missed was the ability to click-drag anywhere on a program window to move it around on the screen.  For instance, being able to click in the middle of a browser window and drag it to a new location.  Linux has had that ability for ages - but with Mac OS X, for whatever reason, I’ve been reduced to using the titlebar to move windows around (which works fine - but is a hassle).

Enter Afloat 2.  While this little app duplicates some of the functionality of Windowshade X, it ALSO gives you the ability to click-drag windows just like I want!

It’s even OSS / free, so hey - why not give it a shot?

So my sister and I went out looking for movies the other day, and she picked out a few including “Sydney White”, which is a modern / collegiate spin-off of the old “Snow White” fairy tale, starring Amanda Bynes, Sara Paxton and Matt Long.

Overall, this is a fun movie with some hysterical comedy, great use of stereotyping - and a basically decent message behind the plot even (everyone is a dork at some level).

I’d definitely rate this as worth watching, especially if you (a) love it when the dorks win, or (b) have a girl who will watch with you and who has a good sense of humor

My main problem with this movie is that they should fire the makeup artist team for Amanda. Through most of the movie, she seriously looked like an orange…..or that she’d bee pinned down and forced to use a really cheap “fake tan” product…..or that maybe she’s expressing her support or familial relation to one of these guys.

Anyway - I’m satisfied with having seen it, and would even watch it again

So there you have it!

So my younger sister (Rachel) has been going on about how awesome this movie is for a while - and my dad picked up a copy at Sam’s Club…..so most of my family hunkered down to watch it together.

The premise of the movie is that an animated princess-to-be is cast into the “Real World” (ie our world) by an evil queen’s magic, so that she won’t be able to marry the prince - and thusly depose the evil queen, who doesn’t wish to give up her throne.

From the sound of it, you expect it to be the kind of movie that only little girls (or little girls-at-heart) would enjoy. However, I have to admit that I really enjoyed this movie for a couple of reasons:

1. First, there are some really funny occurrences, as the animated people try to understand and interact with “the real world”. Things like referring to the TV as “the magic mirror” and asking it questions…..a talking squirrel who can no longer talk in this world - but who still tries to communicate. And the best part? Watching the music sweep everything and everyone into it. I’m a music lover, and the way that they meshed the music of the animated world into the live experiences of the real world was absolutely fantastic.
2. Secondly, the references and uses of past fairy tales mixed into this story are just priceless. From the music, to the animals (and insects), to “true love’s kiss” - I definitely recommend this movie to anyone who has a girl that enjoys romantic comedies, or a family with young girls (not too young - there IS a semi-scary dragon that may not be appropriate for little kids).

Anyway - Amy Adams, who plays Giselle, does an absolutely marvelous job of acting - fairly accurately portraying (IMO) the experiences and reactions of an animated character being thrown into the real world.

Enjoy!

So I’ve now been in my new place (a townhouse) for a week, and things are finally starting to take shape! And as has been my goal - it’s all coming together on my birthday! (Happy birthday…to ME!!)

What’s been happening today that’s so special? Well, my new dining room table and hutch was delivered today, just in time for my birthday dinner - a great way to “christen” my new place with my whole family

Also - since I moved in, I’ve been having horrible trouble with my Internet connection (broadband through Comcast cable). Instead of a 3-6MB connection (3000 - 6000), my connection speeds were only rating an average of about 400KB (400). NOT exactly the “broadband” speeds to which I am accustomed. So I’ve been after Comcast for the last week to get it fixed…

After about a dozen phone calls, and 3 techs (including a fully-rated supervisor) - I got my connection fixed today!!

On top of that, in the last few days, I’ve also gotten my PA drivers license, voting registration and my PA license plates - as well as moved my insurances to PA, setup a will (have to do this in each state in which you live), moved my AAA account, and a few other random things…..so now I’m an (almost) fully vested PA resident….just have to wait for some final paperwork to work it’s way through the various systems

*LOL*

I’m currently watching my two nieces play ring-around-the-rosie with my younger sister (Rachel), and they are having quite the blast together

….. time passes……

Well, I just opened my presents, said good-bye to my parents (who had to drive home to NY tonight), played a game with my siblings, and then sent them all off home….and ended my birthday!

All in all, this was a very good birthday - spent with a loving family, in my new home. Once again, I am so grateful for the family that I have - and for my God who has given it all to me!!

Thank you, God, for the wonderful beginning to another new year of my life….

For those who don’t know it yet, my recent life has been consumed recently with moving away from my home of 4.5 years (west Michigan) back towards my family. Just today, I have arrived in South Eastern Pennsylvania - which is going to be my new stomping grounds for the forseeable future.

Why the move? In a word: Family. For the last 10+ years, I’ve been the “remote” family member, who had to catch a flight back to the east coast to be with family. I’d make it out to be with my family two or three times a year - and the occasional extra-special occurrence. However, for the most part all of my participation in family events and discussions happened over the ‘net or by phone.

No longer! My family is all within a 4 hour radius of my new “home” - and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be able to do this.

It’s true that I had to give up a lot to move back east (great friends, good health / few allergy problems, being next to the lake, etc) - but I am more than willing to give that all up for the sake of my family.

The drive out to PA was nicely uneventful - my mom was gracious enough to spend the week with me, helping me prepare and organize everything for the move (doubly so, since I had to work during the days and was only available at night to do things). And extra thanks to my sister, who helped do a TON of legwork on potential places to live.

I’ll be blogging a bit more about the move and the repercussions - but I wanted to blog briefly about something that came up during my drive out to PA.

As my mom and I were crusing down the highway, we noted that several of the semi’s (18-wheelers) had large, fancy advertisement-type paintings. This one in particular had a large painting of some beautiful rooms (a kitchen and a living room). Unfortunately, this type of painting can have a deletirious effect on the driving skills of people passing by.

Not that we had any particular trouble (since we were actively discussing that issue at the moment) - but it occurs to me that these larger-than-life advertisements can be a *REAL* distraction to many drivers. If someone doesn’t have the skills to stare and drive straight, then you’re creating a huge potential for car accidents. In my opinion, most drivers don’t need yet another distraction on their minds.

It’s bad enough when you see all the drivers rubber-necking (and causing traffic jams around traffic accidents and other stationary attention-grabbers). But now people are trying to get them to pay attention to MOVING ADVERTISEMENTS on the road?!?

I swear…..some people are so wrapped up in trying to get us to give them money, that they don’t stop and *THINK* about what kinds of potential trouble they might be causing with their advertisements….

Another reason to be glad I don’t have to drive to work, I guess *heh*

So, my sister calls me up recently (with a grin in her voice - you can totally hear it), and tells me that a co-worker shared something with her that she wanted to tell me. Apparently her co-worker had seen an interesting bumper sticker, and found it both confusing and funny - so my sister then proceeds to toss out this phrase to me:

Subduction leads to orogeny

And I’m thinking, “what the….great, from the mind of a pervert with a truly pathetic grasp of the English language” - but she patiently asks me, “Do you know what that means? Does it make sense to you?” in a hinting kind of way. She then spells out the words for me, and I take the time to look up their meaning (which slowly come back to me from my college earth sciences class…)

Orogeny (def): the process of mountain formation especially by folding of the earth’s crust

Subduction (def): the action or process in plate tectonics of the edge of one crustal plate descending below the edge of another

So after my sister and I stopped giggling, I stopped to think about this phrase a little more. I mean, c’mon - you *know* that the author(s) didn’t intend for you to read it the first time correctly (I’m guessing a bunch of geologists who were up too late drinking came up with this one - it’s right up there with “Don’t take salt for granite” / “don’t take salt for granted”). Whomever created that bumper sticker totally expects you to read it this way:

Seduction leads to erogeny

Of course, erogeny isn’t a real word - but by inference, it leads to the word “erogenous” - which is a very well known word in the adult world today *ahem* Both phrases make sense, but one is innocent in it’s basic meaning (the meaning - NOT the author’s intent), while the other is obviously not.

So, an interesting sticker - albeit not one I’ll ever own or put on something…

My sister and I then started discussing with whom else we should share this interesting sticker statement - and we instantly thought of our older sister (who is pregant), which then lead me to come up the following list:

Reponses to “Subduction leads to Orogeny” from:

• A pregnant woman: “Shut up - I know, I’m pregnant!!” (followed by a thrown object)
• A nerdy scientist: “Don’t I wish…..umm, wait….?”
• A parent: “It had better not, or you’re going to be grounded until you turn 50!!!
• A teenager: “heh heh heh……yeah….”
• A cop: “I’m going to have to write you a ticket for that…”
• A preacher: “You’re going to go to hell for that…HUH!!!”
• A biker (motorcycle): “Heck, that’s nothing…why just last week I….”
• A little old lady: “WELL!! Back in MY day, we didn’t use THAT kind of language in public…”

Feel free to come up with your own fun response….

So, I was driving recently (to pick up a pizza, if you’re curious), and I noticed a car in the other lane with a small sticker on the back that said:

Kill Tomorrow

“Kill what?!?”, I thought, “What in the world is that supposed to mean?”. The next thought I had was a question: Did the author of this sticker intend to be extra vague, or are their english skills just truly that pathetic? There are at least four completely different, potential meanings that I can see:

1. One potential meaning could be that they want people to hold off on fighting (”killing”) - kind of a “make peace today, kill later” pacifist type of message. However, if this is what the author is intending, it’s a rather vague way of saying it. I’d guess that less than 10% of readers would ever be able to puzzle out that meaning, if that’s what was intended…
2. Another potential meaning might be the old “kill time” type of meaning - where the sticker is mean to exhort people to use up all the time they have? Again, it’s a stretch to match this meaning to that phrase…
3. The next potential meaning that I can see is a bit morbid - and that is to end one’s life. “Kill Tomorrow” as in a person preventing tomorrow from happening for themselves. I find that to be a rather odd message to advertise, so I’m going to guess that’s not it…
4. The last potential meaning that I can come up with is just a literal “kill tomorrow” - some kind of statement about stopping or preventing the literal “tomorrow” from occurring? Of course, it’s impossible for us to stop time - so that really dones’t make much sense either…?

So what am I left with? Only the surety that either this sticker was meant to be vague on purpose, as some sort of inside joke or statement - or is yet further proof positive that this generation has truly pathetic skills with their own native language…

I guess you’ll have to decide for yourself

Addendum: I had a friend recently note that perhaps “Tomorrow” is the name of a person, and that the sticker represented a personal vendetta - to which I say: if so, then the person truly is a moron for advertising their intent to commit a crime…

So, one of the new topics for my blog will be common words and concepts used in American english, for which I wish to challenge people to think about a little deeper (or to go over things that really irk me for some reason - cause hey! it’s MY blog *heh*). One of my personal peeves in communicating with a variety of people, is the lack of attention and basic understanding that the meanings of common words are not always universal. I won’t even bother to start on the subject of the horrifically poor the spelling skills of the general populace….

So this category of blog entries will cover things for which I want you to stop and think a little - I know, I know…who really wants to bother *thinking* before they speak? Well, hopefully YOU do

So let’s start off with one of the words that carries a particularly special significance to me:

FRIEND

For instance, if I say the word “friend” - what comes to you mind? Do you think of a specific person or group of people? If you think of more than one person, do different “levels” of friendship come to mind (”Best” friend vs. “Good” friend vs “Casual” friend)? Do you think of a recent event, where you spent time with some “friends”?

Let me ask another question: What would you do for someone you call friend? Would you bail them out of trouble? Give them financial help? Be there for them at 3am, when they need a listening ear?

A friend is one to whom we may pour out the contents of our hearts, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.

Growing up, I didn’t have a lot of friends. I say this, not to evoke feelings of sympathy, but as a supporting fact when I say that real friends are truly important to me. My first ‘best’ friend is STILL one of my best friends, to this day! So when I call someone a “friend”, it’s not a label which I apply lightly. Why not?

Because this word carries not just a meaning, but responsibility. The meaning is that the person in question is one whom I place trust and weight on their opinions. The responsibility I have is that I must be willing to provide that same level of trust and honest opinion in return.

A question you should ask yourself is this: What would you do, or not do, if a friend asked for you to do something?

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

John 15:13 (NASB)

Jesus Christ showed us the perfect example of being a true friend. He saw the desperate need of those He loved and willingly gave up the most precious thing He had (His life) for those (us) He called friends. Would you be willing to give up your life for someone you call friend? Under what circumstances would you be willing to make that sacrifice? And if you call someone a “friend”, but would not be willing to give your life for theirs - then what *would* you be willing to give up for their sake and need? Comfort? Sleep? Money? Time? Attention?

Now, I’m not saying that you should give up everything for the whim of a friend, or to bail someone out of any given problem situation - God did call us to be careful and faithful stewards of what He has given to us (including, obviously, our lives). But the next time you call someone or describe someone as “friend”, take the time to carefully consider what you mean by that - and if you’re really willing to back up that claim…

Hey everyone - it’s been a long and silent period on my blog. Last year (2006) was a painful year for me in a lot of ways….too many funerals, for one. The loss of my friend, Po, was the start of it all - one full year ago. I certainly cannot give a full accounting of why God has allowed my life (and the lives of my friends) to take the directions that they have - but I do trust Him and His handling of each situation - even when I don’t understand.

However, the long quiet is over - and I am re-launching both my blog (Expostulation & Reply), as well as a new look and feel for my website! I hope to blog more often about whatever strikes my mind, as well as to keep the design fresh (and more in tune with myself, rather than just as a rough attempt website identity).

What do I mean about the design? Well, let’s start with the logo. The old logo was simply a stylized “TL”, the basic inspiration for the layout being two-fold: (1) The web icon used in the movie “The Net”, starring Sandra Bullock - which was a styled Pi symbol. (2) The two warring sides of human nature (good vs. evil). This captured much of the idea I had planned for the identity of my first site. A sort of techno-repository of my offerings, thoughts and concerns - where I explored the concepts of good and evil. However, I got a little too involved in the functionality of the site (writing the old personal “MyPTh” blogging software, etc).

The new logo is actually based on what has been my personal “crest” for many years (think emblems on the shields of ye olde Knights). You can read more about my logo elsewhere on my site, so I won’t go into the explanation of that here. My reason for going this route is that I want the site to be more about “me” rather than any specific portion of ideology that I might hold (and I, of course, have plenty of strong opinions on a wide variety of topics….as do most people *heh*).

There will still be a variety of things in flux on this website - but I plan to use more pre-built software packages (like WordPress, Gallery, etc), rather than writing my own software from scratch. The new software that I will be writing will aim to fill personal needs that cannot be filled by pre-packaged software that is freely available (CSS-based family tree software, personal secure information storage software, etc).

I really need to thank my friend Lynn for help with various graphical elements of my site - both with feedback as well as direct help. Girl got skillz

Anyway, only time will tell how well this new layout and system will work. I’m getting into working with a new CMS package called “MODx” - and while I won’t be using it for my primary website, I plan to turn some of my development skills towards the direction of extending and improving that package.

So - this is my great “hello again” to the blogging world.