Geek

So last week I was all excited about the launch of Windows 7. I proudly installed Windows 7 Ultimate on my computer, I hosted an official Windows 7 Launch Party and I was 99% sure that I was ready to jump back on the Windows bandwagon again.

Why, oh why, Windows 7, did you fail me this morning?

I attempted to install Google Chrome as my browser of choice on Windows. I dutifully downloaded the file and then ran it. Windows 7 bonked at me for my permission and I granted it.

Then the screen turned blue. I was thrown back to the days of yore. That’s right folks, Windows 7 shunned me by showing me the Blue Screen Of Death.

That’s just mean.

I don’t know if the blame lies with Google Chrome or with Windows 7. The betrayal of trust I felt with that BSOD made me remember why I switched to Linux way back in the days between Windows 98 and Windows Me. It also made me happy that my trusty ol’ MacBook Pro was sitting there, patiently waiting for me to come to my senses.

Do I still recommend Windows 7? Oh, very much so. I need to figure out why Windows 7 and Google Chrome had their little skirmish this morning, but that all-too familiar flash of blue on my screen chipped away at the foundation of trust I had built with Windows 7. I still think it’s the best operating system to date from Microsoft.

But is that enough?

I know typing that title is going to make my Mac fans gasp in horror but at the very least I can proclaim that last night I was a PC. It was last night that we celebrated all things geeky with a Microsoft sanctioned Windows 7 House Party.

Our party was a happy hour.

Now I know that visions of nerdy types with pocket protectors drooling around a laptop in a dimly lit room instantly come to mind when one thinks of a party celebrating a computer operating system, but this wasn’t the case at all. Thursday night Earl and I planned out a relatively nice menu for the event that was pulled off well. The only problem with the food was the vegetable tray; apparently the catering service we ordered it from had new help or something because the broccoli was frozen broccoli that had been cooked and was turning brown. It  was arranged quite nicely but it looked, tasted and smelled awful. The ranch dip was bleu cheese and the tomatoes looked like they had already hit a politician. So we skipped the veggie plate but the rest was quite nice. Beverages flowed, conversation ensued and fun was seemingly had by all.

The actual Windows 7 part of the party went on a little longer than I anticipated. I set up my Lenovo desktop computer in the living room and used our 42-inch plasma television as a monitor, which was great for the presentation. There were several themes that you could pick from for your party and I chose to focus on the media capabilities of Windows 7 and the User Interface enhancements. I went into instructor mode and kind of lost myself in the demonstration a little bit in that I was really enjoying it; Earl said he never realised that I could show computer stuff like that because usually I shove him aside and hastily click click click my way through his latest technological problem. I told him that I would remember that conversation and in the future be kinder when he needed help from me.

At the end of the night I gave away some Windows 7 swag; everyone got enviro-friendly shopping bags with the Windows 7 logo on them and I had some drawing for door prizes, including a puzzle and a deck of cards. The grand prize was a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium Edition. I think that was well received.

All in all the party was a great success. I have to admit that spending yesterday finalizing ideas of what I was going to show off during the little presentation really made me appreciate Microsoft’s efforts to make the Windows 7 experience simpler for their users. Last night I made constant comparisons between Windows 7 and it’s older siblings and it’s biggest competitor OS X. It is obvious that Microsoft was inspired by Apple on some of the new User Interface elements of Windows 7 (the Dock-like taskbar being one of them), but as I said last night, I have used every version of Windows since Windows/286 and this is clearly the best version of Windows I have ever used. It looks good, it feels solid and it behaves itself. And ironically, the company doesn’t feel as Draconian as Apple these days.

I have pretty much made Windows 7 my main operating system of choice. So I guess it’s true, I’m a PC once again.

I don’t know if you know this about me or not but I’m a bit of a control freak. I have a tendency to insist that things happen on my terms. I like to know what is happening when, where and why at all times. I even want to know the ‘how’. This tends to extend to all aspects of my life, including the geek side of things.

Facebook is all the rage right now. With a few simple clicks of the mouse and some pounding on the keyboard in the right places, I can virtually dial up a quickly growing number of people from my past and present and see what they’re up to and where they are in their life. I think this is a brilliant thing about social networking because it makes the world a little less global and in a way a little more intimate. I’m sure that my Facebook profile has shown my in-laws more about me than they thought they would ever know. I have found old high school friends that I had completely forgotten about. I recently also found out the details of another random person in public, and to me that’s kind of scary.

It was a year or so ago that Earl and I were at one of the Saranac Thursday nights. I commented to Earl that a gentleman standing not too far from us was kind of hot. He didn’t really agree with me (he wasn’t really Earl’s type) but he could see where I would think he was hot (it was because of his bold moustache, in case you’re wondering). I overheard a friend call him by his first name. It put a name to a face.

The other night I couldn’t sleep due to on-call and while I was waiting on hold for a certain telephone company to do something about the issue I was having, I was clicking around on in Facebook reading various profiles and the like. I remembered that name that went with a face and decided to do a search on his name and the city we live in. I now know his full name, his age (he’s 31), the fact that he is straight, has a girlfriend and is a single father and what types of music and television he likes. I also know that he was recently hired at a technology based company as a salesman. Had he not protected his profile to be completely viewed by his friends only, I would undoubtedly know his cell phone number and more about him.

To me this is a little bit out of my control barriers. And no, I wasn’t stalking the guy; I was testing a theory by using the two bits I know about the guy: his first name and what he looked like. I have done the same before with a waiter at Applebee’s.

I think Facebook is a great way for us to connect. I really do. But the service is free and yet it’s making tons and tons of money for the owners of the company. I believe they are doing this by data-mining and selling appropriate ads tailored specifically to you. This makes me a little nervous. I became even more nervous when I received a call yesterday telling me that my “fat whacker” like pills were on the way. I had no idea what the caller was talking about and asked where they got the idea that I wanted these pills. Their response?

“From Facebook.”

Um, no. This is where I draw the line. So after this blog entry, I am ceasing the automatic cross-posting between my real blog and my Facebook profile. If you want to see my real blog, you can gander at jpnearl-com and see what I’m up to, on my own terms and on my own server. My cell phone number on my profile has been modified to one that I can easily control (it’s my magic on how I do that).

I’m going to play the social networking game on my own terms.

So today has been an on-call day and I have found myself with a lot of downtime. To pass the time between calls I have been watching “old” shows via the internet. It’s funny to call these shows “old” while remembering that Earl and I watched them together on their original run. I’ve been bouncing between episodes of “Charmed” and “Ally McBeal” with a smattering of a few other gems from the 1990s along the way.

One the things that I really miss about today’s television is the theme song and opening credits. I know the reasoning for eliminating the openers is to give the stations or networks more advertising time but the shows just don’t feel the same without some sort of opening theme at the beginning.

If I had to pick a favourite show that is current I suppose it would be “Private Practice”. I know what the show is about and I can tell the difference between the actual show and the gluttony of ads but it doesn’t have a brand identity. Now I know that they’re doing that dramatic thing by having the little sun explosion at a climatic moment near the beginning of the show and then superimposing “Private Practice” as an understated title on the screen, but being a 40+ year old something I expect more.

Now I don’t need something that tells me to sit right back and I’ll hear a tale nor do I have to hear the story of a lovely lady, but I like the titles to be consistent and separate from the action of the show. I’m not a fan of ramming the credits down my throat over the opening scenes of the show and quite honestly I don’t think it’s fair to the actors or production staff to be minimized in this fashion. In my mind a quality opening sequence gives the show credibility. I figure that the show must be good because they have taken the time, energy and expense to invest in an identity for the show. I suppose that the radio station program director in me is kicking in on the opinion here because I was constantly obsessed with coming up with a viable brand identity for any given station I was working on.

30 Rock still has an opening credits sequence and this is a great thing. Maybe there are more shows with opening credits that I’m not remembering at this late hour but I think a quality theme song helps a viewer remember the show and whether they liked it or not.

As the way of so many other aspects of the industry these days, I think ‘Hollywood’ is missing the boat by eliminating theme songs. Maybe they’ll make a return in 2010.

Last week I featured a video clip from an Elvis Presley movie and encouraged folks to figure out who the “cartoon voice” was. There was one guess, that guess being Betty Boop, which was incorrect.

Here is the video clip again. You are listening to the young blonde woman.

The young blonde woman is voice actress Nicole Jaffe. She has made very few live-action appearances, but she is most recognisable as…

… Velma Dinkley of the original “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?”!

Now that you know that when you watch the video clip above, you can probably totally hear it.

I’m such an audio geek.

And so begins another weekend of the monotony of on call.

No, I won’t give you back your two minutes if you watch this video. Imagine what the video would be like if I still drank.

I am loving the PUMA Index on my iPhone. This app helps you keep track of the stock index with a twist; each time the stock goes up or down the models take off or add clothes whilst doing some sort of activity.

Here is what I am seeing thus far today. It peps up the workday a little bit.

The app allows you to choose a male or female model at your leisure.

I’m a tech geek. I love all things techy and cool. To feed my tech geek needs, I watch many of the CNET TV podcasts that are released daily. I’m a big fan of “Loaded“, “Mailbag“, “Top 5” and many others. (I do wish they would do more Linux based shows, though.)

A couple of weeks ago my friend Greg was sick in bed with the flu. Trying to be the concerned friend that I am, I sent him a text message with the advice to get plenty of liquids, except my iPhone thought I should say “get plenty of liquor” in it’s attempt to be all knowing. I thought this was humourous, so I sent it into the CNET Mailbag “Autoincorrect” segment, where Molly Wood features humourous autocorrect snafus that many geeks can share a hearty laugh about.

My autoincorrect was featured on yesterday’s show. It made me giggle to hear someone else read it.

As a quick aside, I really enjoy Molly’s style. She seems like she’d be fun to have dinner with.

Yes, it’s true. I have been selected to host an official Windows 7 Launch Party. The event takes place on Friday, October 23. I’ll be giving away some door prizes (including a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium) and the party is more of a happy hour with some Windows swag and chances to play with the new operating system thrown in.

I have to admit that I am very impressed with the latest version of Windows. It surprisingly runs better than Leopard on my MacBook Pro (the jury is still out on my comparison to Snow Leopard) and looks and feels gorgeous. I have been using a 90 day copy of the RTM (release to manufacturing) version on my PC and I have been quite pleased.

I could get into lots of details of the changes and such, but I found a very thorough review of Windows 7 on ActiveWin. Follow this link to read (or skim) the 70 page review if you’re so inclined.