Jim Roepcke's weblog have browser, will travel (est. 1999)

My Christmas List

Conversant has a cool page type called "Advanced Query Page" which is like a stored procedure (search query) for a discussion group.

I set one up that searches for messages by me with the label "XMas List", sorted by Subject (rather than by date).

I customized the template for the results so it only shows the subject and a link to the message. The default template is much more detailed.

The result: Conversant is maintaining my Christmas List for me!

To add to the list, I post to the discussion group, and tag the message with the "XMas List" label. The rest is done for me.

Sweet.

Related: Get your own Conversant site for free.

floating-point Stylus

Officially on my Christmas list: floating•point Stylus

Oilers 5, SENATORS 3

Oilers 5, SENATORS 3 -- Cheryl and I watched this great game on TV this afternoon before sitting down to dinner.

After the game ended, Cheryl said: "I ordered that win for you as your anniversary present... SURPRISE!"

LOL! If only it were that easy! Way to go Oil! Oh, and thanks Cheryl.

Q Daily News

Today's Q Daily News rocks.

MrBarrett.com

Today on MrBarrett.com:

"It's a sad comment on the state of our political system when candidates for the most powerful position in the world are disliked by a wide majority of the population; and the ensuing election degenerates into an embarrassing sideshow of partisan bickering, fraud, hypocrisy, and legal loopholes. I wish I could move to Canada."

Well if you move to Canada, don't do it because of the state of politics (or health care) -- it's no better here right now. Our national election, in 4 days time, is a total joke. The leaders of the political parties don't discuss the issues at all, they just attack each other's corruptness and even their religions! I have no idea who to vote for, everyone looks totally unappealing to me.

It's an embarassing sideshow of partisan bickering, fraud, hypocisry, and legal loopholes. I wish I could move to Australia.

(It's times like this I think I should run for office so I could become the Prime Minister... but then I'd have to be the leader of the political party that can get the most seats in the House of Commons, and to do that I'd surely have to compromise my morals and ethics... that would suck.)

Ivanisevic blows up in England, runs out of rackets

CBC Sports Online: Ivanisevic blows up in England, runs out of rackets

"Goran Ivanisevic banged to bits one racket after another Thursday and then had none left to play with.

The result? He had to default during the final set of his match Thursday at the Samsung Open tennis tournament."

I admit that I've done this before... on two separate occasions. The first time, I was about 16, I was pissed off, smashed my racket into the net pole, and totally destroyed the frame. It was intentional, actually -- I wanted an excuse to get a better racquet.

The second time was in the fall of 1998 -- I was disgusted with my play, and threw my racquet backwards towards the curtain behind the court. If it had hit the curtain as I intended (it wasn't the first time I had done that), it wouldn't have broken. But it hit the metal leg of a bench first (I threw it too low) and cracked the graphite frame. That was an expensive mistake.

Each time I did that, I didn't have a backup racquet, so I had to "default the match" as well.

Hockey sticks are so much cheaper... I should have brought one of those along with me when I played tennis. I'm a lot more mellow and mature now, thankfully.

I have a soft spot for Goran. He's a very disturbed person, IMHO, and needs help. I like him as a person (I've seen his nice side too) and enjoy watching him play tennis. He's a real person, not perfect, he says things he regrets, and he shows his humanity. I like that.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Anniversary

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the USA!

We Canadians had our Thanksgiving in early October. What I'm thankful for today, is being married to my wonderful wife Cheryl, the source of my strength, courage, and sensibility.

Today is our fourth anniversary!

Everyone that knows us closely knows that Cheryl takes great care of me, and I owe Cheryl everything for helping me. Just one example: I couldn't have succeeded with my weight loss goal without her. (just about 50 pounds now!)

Thank you Cheryl! I love you!

Squirrel

Squirrel, an organization tool with an outliner (sort of) and HTML export. (Windows only, Shareware)

Brent on Linux

Brent rants about Windows-UI ripoffs on Linux. I hope more and more people get fed up with this too.

He also found Mahogany, an e-mail app that looks just like Outlook Express. (ewwww!)

I'll add that one to my I won't like Outlook on Linux any more than on Windows... rant.

Thanks for the info about RedHat 7 not sucking, Brent, I'll give that a go!

PS: the Mahogany guys are looking for people to help with a MacOS port.