I took the sprogs and two of their friends for a Rubio's fish taco. I won't touch the things, but the kidlets love them. Then we headed down to Coronado to play in a park there before dropping Polie's friend back home. Driving back over the bridge was so beautiful and reminds me how much I love my city. The sun was setting and all the windows in the city were golden.
As I was driving over this exceedingly high narrow bridge with a bunch of other commuters at high speed I thought it wise not to take a pic so I found one on the interweb. Isn't it stunning? The park we were at is the round patch of green to the right of the bridge.
 |
Jay auditioned for a job before Christmas. If he got it it would be a pretty big deal on a well known TV channel. It was the first time he has ever done anything like this. We heard nothing and so assumed he didn't get it so went on with our lives. Well, a couple of weeks ago I got a call out of the blue saying he was on a short list for the part along with 5 or 6 other kids. The casting manager (I think that is what he is called...?) told me to get him a permit and a special bank account pronto because they would be deciding in a week and filming in two. Mad, crazy panic! Of course this had to be the day I had planned to make pony bead snowflakes with Ro's kindergarten class!<p>
Well we got the permit paperwork in and then I got a call telling me that they are delaying the start of the project and so they are going to make a decision in a couple of weeks. TG I downplayed the whole thing to Jay and made it seem like no big deal.<p>
Now we are waiting around to hear. His permit has come -- he officially (at the grand old age of 10 years old) can be a working man!<p>
He says he is going to cut his hair for water polo if he doesn't get the job, I'm all for that, no more fights about brushing hair. |
|
After a five month break, Jay is finally back in water polo again. I'm so happy! Poor kid is wiped though, it is a pretty intense sport and the club he has just joined is a fairly serious one considering he is ten. He is in an under 12 boys squad. Go Jay! |
|
Jon and Jay both enjoy the arrival of Wired every month. Jon gets it first then Jay devours all the geeky goodness in it. Every month there is this quirky contest to see who can send the weirdest thing through the mail with no packaging. Jon has enjoyed checking out all the strange things that have made it through the mail to them. Before the holidays he suddenly came up with this grand scheme to make a Long tail to send in.
I was roped into the scheme and sewed a 5 foot long dragon tail made from felt, stuffing and some scraps of card. Then we took photos and went to our local post office with it. Our lovely (I'm not being facetious, they really are nice!) postal workers had great fun measuring and weighing it!
Jon and Jay were very excited to find a picture of our tail that made it intact all the way up the coast to Wired and was the winning entry for this month's contest!
More pics on Jon's website including our lovely mail ladies.
|
So, I was watching an episode of Veronica Mars from the first season on DVD last night. I like the show because it is filmed in San Diego and I like location spotting places I know while watching it. There was a scene where she is trying to change her password because someone has hacked her school email account. The tech tells her to choose a more random password this time and she tells him that her password was some highly random series of symbols, letters and numbers.
Then today while I was surfing I found this Microsoft page ( http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/privacy/password.mspx ) about creating strong passwords and this one ( https://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/privacy/password_checker.mspx ) to check the one you have created.
One of mine is considered a strong password, but others (for things I care less about) are not so good, so I need to update all of those.
Are yours strong passwords? Do you use the same one everywhere? |
| » Take that ipod -- you WILL recognise my audiobooks! |
|---|
How I spent the good part of a day persuading my Ipod to recognise a book that I didn't get from iTunes.
(for the short version without the dialogue scroll to the bottom of the page)
I bought my first ipod. It is a shiny pretty thing, a 4th gen colour screen reconditioned number for not much money from Apple. It arrived yesterday. I spent most of my day culling accumulated belly button lint and dross that I had in itunes. I have no idea why I had so much assorted grot in there.
Once I got through with that and relived many good memories involving Katrina and the waves, Blondie and Queen (can you guess which decade I was a teen in?) I decided to try and tidy up the genres. I happily, if sheepishly admit that I know very little about music and especially genres. I do see their value though in being another way to organise and sort my files. I agonised over whether something should be pop or dance or disco or electronic.
With that finally done I turned my attention to the vintage kiddie records that I wanted to put on my ipod for the boys. The need for this has become much more apparent of late.... We have shared several painful outings recently to try and track down a flattering yet practical winter coat for me. They sulk in a corner while I try on several options. after a while they decide that treating Sears like an indoor playground is much more amusing and we leave shortly after. Sometimes we bring books, but that does not always work. I thought if I got an ipod, not only would I have something to listen to when I walk, but I would be able to download some cool stories from www.kiddierecords.com so they could be entertained when we are forced to do something terminally boring.
So we come to the point of this entry. I downloaded some mp3 audiobook files and wanted to have them come up on my ipod as an audiobook, not regular music. No big deal I thought.
Silly me.
At this point I should point out that I have a windows XP machine and am running iTunes 7.
My first attempt was to just change the genre to 'Audiobooks". I also played with collating chapters of the same story and making them unshufflable and a compilation and lots of other good things in the info window.
Well that looked very pretty and all, and did come up under its own little genre thingy. But still not an audiobook. I figured if I could move the file from my music library in iTunes to my audiobook library then it would work.
Next I tried dragging and dropping, and then right clicking and trying to find a move option. I was a little perplexed that it didn't exist.
So then I went searching for solutions on the net. (Note I haven't looked in the instruction book yet).
(I have no idea where I found the following information, it was not mine, I am merely collating it here)
I found that if you have a mac there are cute scripts that do it for you. I don't.
Then I found that you needed to change the file format to AAC. I did that. iTunes chuntered away while it converted it to AAC. FAB! I thought and sync'd away. Nope.
Ok, back to google.
Next I found that if you found where itunes had stashed the new AAC file and you changed the file endings from m4a to m4b that that would work. It took a yell to techie husband to figure out how to see the file endings in my various explorer windows (tools - folder options - view tab - uncheck 'hide extensions for known file types' then hit 'apply to all folders') and so then I changed it from m4a to m4b. Windows gave its usual ominous message about making things unstable which I ignored and the music note and CD icon now had a tiny lock symbol in the corner.
woot! It worked -- well at least I thought it did. Itunes couldn't find the file because its name had changed. But it gave me the option of finding it which was pretty easy once I worked out it was in the 'compilations' folder.Once it had refound the files it told me it was an m4b file and could still play it. But it was still firmly wedged in my audio section.
The next step is to delete the files.... BUT when it asks you if you want to keep the files or send them to the recycle bin CHOOSE 'keep the files NOT the recycle bin.
Then I went back into the Audiobook section of my itunes library and added the file back into the library (file - add file to library). The files were now magically in the audiobook section. Finally!
I synced my ipod, expecting to now be finally done -- it would have been quicker to read the boys a story while trying on coats at this point. However, even though my itunes recognised it as an audiobook, my ipod was still firmly insisting it wasn't.
Next I tried something I had found for a friend that was struggling with this a while back. It hadn't worked for her, but she hadn't tried everything else with it. She reminded me about it on the phone while I was whining about how stupid this whole thing was and how it WAS NOT GOING TO BEAT ME! I went into the info window for each individual file (instead of selecting them all and doing it all at once as I had when I was unshuffling and compiling them) and copied the artist's name and pasted it into the title -- so my title name looked more like this now Book title - chapter 1 - recording artist and made sure that the other fields were clear.
I saved and synced again.
AND IT WORKED! HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH!
___________________________________________________________________________
So, in brief...
1) add mp3 to library -- convert to AAC by right clicking on file in itunes.
2) use a windows explorer window (I went to 'my music' in the start menu) and change the file endings from m4a to m4b
3) help iTunes re-find the file
4) delete the 'songs' but chose the 'keep the files' option, not the 'send to recycle bin' option
5) re-add the m4b files to iTunes
6) go into the audiobook section of your iTunes library, right click on each file, go to info and take out any information except the title (you can add the artist there).
7) sync
man, what a pain!
I don't know if this will help anyone, but in my google travels, I did find the following page with old iTunes on it. I didn't try this and I didn't ever read the manual -- I consider that cheating and only to be used if all else fails.
Dec. 31st, 2006 @ 03:00 pm
|
| » How is he... |
|---|
Going to fit that in there?
The boys watching Brian start to put in the solartubes.
Apr. 26th, 2006 @ 05:36 pm
|
| » Brian and the pretty hammer |
|---|
We left the hammer tucked between two boxes so the handle was sticking out. He stomped around yelling "where's me hammer?!" so I said "where did you leave it?", "I don't know". "It'll turn up" I said and suggested he look where the tile was piled up. He took it and walked out of the door without comment. I grabbed my camera for the inevitable explosion, but when he came back in he looked at me and said "what have you got that for?" I ignored the question and instead commented that he hadn't actually looked at his hammer yet.
This is what happened next (warning swearing involved -- he is an Irish builder after all)
http://www.dropshots.com/day.php?userid=54939&cdate=20060421&ctime=205240
Here are some pictures afterwards with his "new" hammer. He was a really good sport about the whole thing.
Apr. 21st, 2006 @ 09:01 pm
|
| » The wall and the hammer |
|---|
The tilers came -- I was not in a good mood. I should have been choosing a stucco colour for Seamus to come back and start work on on Monday, but instead we stayed in waiting for the tile guys to turn up. When they did we spent a good amount of time talking about grout lines, orientations etc. I went out to get Jay and do some shopping, leaving Jon, Ro, Brian and the tilers to get on with things. This is how far they got when I got back. I think it looks a bit like leather. Not what I was aiming for but I like it anyway.
Oh, this is our master shower to be.
Latest prank/joke on Brian. This was my mum's idea! This is his favourite hammer.
Apr. 21st, 2006 @ 12:01 am
|
| » Snow day |
|---|
We went to the snow in Mount Laguna on Saturday with some friends.
One of the particularly nice things about living in San Diego is that we are only a couple of miles from the beach where it is very pleasant for this time of year (tomorrow has an expected high of 71oF and likely to be blue skies and sun), yet an hour away we found two feet of snow up in the hills to play in. The kids were very excited to see actual snow falling! Luckily the roads were clear and we didn't need our chains.
I made the kids hats. Jay is sitting in the snow fort that we all built. The snow was quite packed by the time we started making it -- I think the temperature dropped, it was fluffier and not so cold when we got there. It was a lot warmer in the fort out of the wind.
After dispensing much appreciated hot chocolate and apple cider to all, Deanne and I sat down and watched Jon and Jay sled down the hill while C and Ro played together.
We had a lot of fun, but I was very glad to leave it and get warm and get out of the cold. We drove through Julian on the way home and stopped to get hot soup and potato skins and pick up a pie!
Mar. 24th, 2006 @ 04:16 am
|
| » Two passes in two days |
|---|
woot woot wooooooot!
No pics I'm afraid, but there have been a number of things that have happened since I last posted.
1) Brian did some interior framing for the new bathroom and Wendell the plumber plumbed it.
2) I did a bunch of shopping and have now managed to choose and buy two sinks (one pedestal, one with vanity), three toilets, three shower valves/fixtures, one bath, two taps (faucets) and a set of locks. PHEW! This kind of shopping is not fun. One sink/vanity, a set of taps and
3) The back room is now fully insulated. It sounds funny in there, your voice sounds really flat.
4) Wiring in back rooms are done
5) Lath (chicken wire) for the stucco is finished
6) We have found a leak in our slab. All our plumbing needs replacing -- eek -- Wendell starts tomorrow.
7) Brian has put in all the rest of the new windows and they look wonderful. I'm very excited. He also opened out the pop-out so we can use it.
I also had some more fun winding up Brian. I went to a party this weekend, my very favourite current 6 year old had her birthday. Lots of their family and friends are mexican and her mother (my friend Teresa) and their friend (Adriana) taught me some spanish to say to Felipe at appropriate moments. Brian doesn't speak any spanish but pretends to be able to to be silly. So they taught me the following...
"Dile que si, mas no le digas cuando!" and "Suena tonto cuando 'disque' habla espanol".
hehe. Brian wanted to know what I said, but Felipe just told him "she spoke spanish!" LOL. I've never bothered to learn a foreign language to wind someone up before.
Tomorrow the drywallers are coming.
Mar. 23rd, 2006 @ 08:20 pm
|
| » We passed again |
|---|
Exterior inspection was scheduled today sometime between 9 and 12. Brian booked it to get all the windows and doors ready for the inspector.
This is the John, the inspector that came today. 'Nother nice guy, passed us without any fuss.
I took this photo to illustrate how bizarre this whole experience is. There is a bathroom door that goes into what used to be our office. Our office is the current building site, so if you open the door from my very ordinary (but muddy and dated) bathroom, you have to currently be careful not to fall into a large muddy trench being dug out by men with jackhammers and shovels.
This is Wendell, he is our plumber on the job. This is the first official plumbing he has done for us. We had an outdoor garden tap located in the wall right where the new door is going, so he came in the other day to cap it off under the sink.
Mar. 10th, 2006 @ 03:36 am
|
| » Buh bye bedroom wall! |
|---|
I've lost track of how many now, but here is Brian making -- surprise -- another hole in my house. This time it is my bedroom wall. Yes, the bedroom we are still using.
Truth or Lie?
Which of the following is a lie?
This man...
a) gave up cigars for lent
b) likes demolishing things
c) recently enjoyed a Barry Manilow concert?
(please post your guess in the comments section -- if anyone guess correctly I will post a short video clip)
This is the boys enjoying watching them at work.
Mar. 10th, 2006 @ 03:26 am
|
| » Weekend off for good behaviour |
|---|
I love San Diego, have I mentioned it before? Check out this (highly illegal -- taken before they said I could turn on electronics) beautiful photo of my city from the air. I think the Whale Jail is down there somewhere. I was hoping to catch Jay's school, but was on the wrong side of the plane.
I had a great time meeting up with a bunch of sewing friends this weekend in Washington State. The weather was specially ordered by Sarah, who is terribly organised and a wonderful hostess. She thought of everything, even arranged for the mountains not to be in cloud cover.Amanda (note, there are no pictures of anyone, because the big wusses that I met up with are scared of me posting some innoculous little pictures of them so you will have to imagine what they all look like) drove us to Seattle to sightsee. We had a fun (and doughnut) filled day of fabric shopping and touristing
(see, I got the space needle in the picture despite Amanda trying to get out of the way of a fire truck bearing down on us!)
I took this rather cool picture of one of my planes for Ro, he wanted to know if it was a brown southwest or a blue one, or a Shamu one.
We also had a fantabulous potluck that involved lots of sequins, tasteless fabric, pom pom trim and tacky lace, a night bowling, an (ick) sushi restaurant, a trip to target (what is a vacation without a Target shopping trip??!?!) and yes, a trip to the Sewing Expo that was the excuse for the whole thing.
Mar. 8th, 2006 @ 04:09 am
|
| » Mr Froggy, contractor extraordinaire. |
|---|
Apparently Brian not only gave up cigars for lent, he also gave up carpenters and is doing the work himself. So we brought in one of our own guys. Mr Froggy, the preschool class mascot. Fast and efficient but takes many fly breaks.
Mr Froggy also demanded to go to water polo. He maintains that he is an expert in that too.
Mar. 8th, 2006 @ 03:51 am
|
| » Windows and Doors |
|---|
The windows and doors arrived a week or so ago. I am excited at the prospect of the front windows going in because I think that is what will make the biggest esthetic change to the outside of the house.
Brian framed out the windows in our bedroom to be last week and put the windows in while I was in Washington.
This is the boys bedroom window going in yesterday...
....and the first of two family room doors -- wOOt!
Do you notice the super nifty blinds inside the doors? You know what that means, right? No cords, no kids mangling blinds, no cleaning blinds and best of all -- not a single fugly vertical blind is coming in my house!!
Mar. 8th, 2006 @ 03:45 am
|
| » Val is a nag |
|---|
She says that I have to post something other than the house and Jay's water polo :-)
I got home from Sew Expo in Seattle last night and flumped. This morning I got up and found Brian and Felipe working on installing more windows (they put some in while I was away). Apparently Seamus (stucco guy) is coming tomorrow to start wrapping the house ready for its brown coat. This is exciting because once it is stuccoed I can pester Brian into opening up the new breakfast nook so we can use it!! Anyway, in an attempt to save the few plants I have not managed to kill, I cut back the ones next to the house. My hands still smell like lemon verbena -- yum!
Well, I don't know when to stop, so instead of having a nap, I decided to dig the front garden and get rid of some of the weed patch next to the driveway.
After picking up the boys and Colette from school, I took them to the Y for gym class. Jay's class was using the springboard and after seeing him do one somersault, I chickened out on watching and went to the snack bar for an extremely healthy snack of hot chocolate and a chocolate chip muffin. Oh what a thrilling life I lead!
Mar. 7th, 2006 @ 02:04 am
|
| » Water polo update |
|---|
Jay is still excited about water polo. I bought him some new speedo goggles from costco. Hopefully they will fit good. He is excited, their coach has planned a game of sorts on Tuesday. Jay is looking forward to tomorrow's practice so he can learn how to play in a game.
Feb. 19th, 2006 @ 06:14 am
|
| » Rain |
|---|
Jon and I were watching Elizabethtown on DVD at around 11pm when we heard rain. We went into the addition and found some leakage from where Brian had had to cut the tarp around heat vents. A smallish amount was pouring off the kitchen windowsill onto the counter and onto the floor. We cleared up, swept water away from the walls and went to bed and hoped for the best. Luckily it didn't rain again and was soggy, but ok this morning when a relieved looking Brian checked it. Hopefully no more rain until after the roof is done!
Feb. 19th, 2006 @ 05:41 am
|
| » Roof on... |
|---|
Friday 17th -- This is Gary, he is the guy who has been showing up at half past early and doing a tap dance on the roof. He is cracking on and has got all the front finished.
I talked with Brian this morning. He is really starting to worry, rain is forecast today and we have no roof in back. The lumber arrived yesterday and the crew got all the joists up and the plan was to get the new T&G ceiling up and then the insulation and plywood so the roofers could waterproof it before the rain on Sunday. Unfortuantly the rain decided to come early. He was worried about them getting enough done and Jay was out of school so we went up to O'side to meet Jenn and pick up my new sewing machine.
Here is Jay and Jerrick playing a video game on my phone while Jenn and I finish our burritos.
We came back to find that they had thoughtfully giftwrapped the house in a ginormous blue tarp. They ran out of T&G (thanks Dixieline!) and decided to cover it and hope for the best.
Feb. 19th, 2006 @ 05:40 am
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
oscarlet's journal