5 Other Places

While I love Nine Moons (and even visit By Common Consent and Times & Seasons, from time to time), I must admit that my life online doesn't revolve around the Bloggernacle™. In fact, of the eight or so hours a day I spend online (work, mostly), I'd say only a few precious moments each morning are spent among the saints. What, pray tell, could possibly tempt me away from the iron-alloy rod? Well … lemme tell you. I won't bore you with a list of all 600+ feeds in my newsreader. Instead, I'll just hand pick a few gems:

1001 Rules for My Unborn Son — part of a larger library of "daddy" and "dude" sites I follow (Cool Tools, The Art of Manliness), 1001 Rules is a delightful compendium of wisdom, wit (ahem), and music. Start at the beginning.

TED Talks — I love having my world view challenged (occasionally). These folks who bill themselves as "ideas worth spreading", offer "riveting talks by remarkable people". And they do it with charm and panache. My favorite? A must-watch 15 minute talk on the Liberal and Conservative mindsets.

Cute Overload — sometimes kittens (or puppies, or something else, entirely) are just what the doctor ordered for a bad day. Be sure to check out the Rules of Cuteness.

Front Porch Republic (found via the inimitable Russell Fox) — I am, most of all, a political creature. As a child, I dreamt of being king of a small, sovereign state carved out of Montana (apparently I wasn't alone). But practical considerations suggested I work within the system. The folks at FPP write much that resonates with the best of me. I think they may resonate with you, too.

Player-vs-Player (a close second would have been Looking for Group) — online comics are my guilty pleasure. And PvP is the best-written, best-drawn, geekiest, and funniest of them all. No need to start at the beginning, you can catch-up with the character bios. Or just buy a t-shirt.

NB: This post is cross-posted from 5 Other Places, at Nine Moons. Please join us over there to comment!

Of Good Report, 2 | Lone Star Taqueria

Preparing a meal is a magical act… and this is because food is a perfect conductor of both love and neglect. That is why it's such a delight to find a restaurant that conveys love and not neglect. Lone Star Taqueria is one such place…



I discovered the taqueria via the ever-useful, always charming blog Your Heart Out, who mentioned the shop this afternoon — just as I was leaving the office, and most susceptible to talk of food. So it's no surprise that I soon found myself in Fort Union (of all places!), on the hunt for a fresh food find.

You can do it, to, of course… they're easy to find:

Lone Star Taqueria
2265 Fort Union Blvd.
Cottonwood Heights, Utah
(801) 944-2300

The food is delightful… flavorful without being bald, subtle without being bland. The service is quick and chipper. The menu has English translations. And the ambiance is 100% authentic fun — not to be confused with places where the minions wear "flair".

And there you go: today's good report.

Psst… check out my photos from my maiden voyage!

This post is part of a week-long series focusing on the good and praiseworthy in my life… please consider reading all seven: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Of Good Report, 1 | Fablehaven

So when CJane posted a series of posts highlighting the good and praiseworthy in her life (starting here), I was inspired to christen it a meme — and to join in the fun. Based loosely on the 13th article of our faith, her posts encouraged us all to dwell — even for only a short while — on the beautiful. So I decided to follow suit…

Tonight, I'd like to post about the Fablehaven books for young adults. It's not world peace or a cure for cancer… but good stories — especially good stories for children — can inspire the next generation. And I've found the Fablehaven books to be remarkable.

I had seen the books a few times, but their covers (a little too… much) didn't really invite a closer look. And then, out of the blue, I connected with a friend from college… Brandon Mull. "So, Brandon", I asked: "what's going on in your life?" … "Oh, I'm writing! Like I've always wanted" … "Writing? Does that treat you well?" … "Well, I've got a couple of books that have been on the New York Times Bestseller list".

And that's when I decided to read Fablehaven.

I was a little apprehensive, really… what if I didn't like them? What would I say to Brandon? But, as luck would have it, I needn't have worried. The stories are engaging; the prose is tight, well-edited, and doesn't shy away from the occasional 25¢ word; the characters are multi-dimensional; and there are consequenses to poor decisions… not to put too fine a point on it, they are solid contenders for Harry Potter's crown. Solid.

So that, my friends, is today's good report.

This post is part of a week-long series focusing on the good and praiseworthy in my life… please consider reading all seven: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Web Tool: Freecycle

I'm a web geek; I use a lot of web tools... and sometimes I'm reminded by my friends that half of the stuff I take for granted is utterly unknown to folks who see the sun more often than I do.

Take Freecycle, for example. I came across Freecycle a couple years back when I was trying to declutter my life.

I had a lot of stuff that I didn't need... but it wasn't quite right for the thrift store basket. Like... unpainted, assemble-yourself furniture that never got put together; a bag of antique glass beads that I came by; partially used cans of quality paint. I think you get the idea. Anyway, I couldn't drop the stuff off at Deseret Industries because they'd either refuse it (mattresses, jeans with holes), or would probably break it (dishes), or would just have no idea what to do with it (cables from old computer set-ups).

Enter Freecycle.

Freecycle uses Yahoo Groups to connect givers with takers. How does it work? From the web site:

When you want to find a new home for something — whether it's a chair, a fax machine, piano, or an old door — you simply send an e-mail, offering it to members of the local Freecycle group. Or, maybe you're looking to acquire something yourself. Simply respond to a member's offer, and you just might get it. After that, it's up to the giver to decide who receives the gift and to set up a pickup time for passing on the treasure. Our main rule: Everything posted must be free, legal, and appropriate for all ages.

You can find (or start!) your local chapter using the Freecycle site.

I belong to the Salt Lake City chapter of Freecycle.

Hattip: PSFK and A Green Idea, who reminded me that not everyone knew about one of my favorite web tools.

Another Football/Soccer Post

Watch the adorable soccer kid commercial above... then, when you're in the mood to buy some sporting equipment, buy it from Fairtrade Sports. Leave the irony of buying children's toys made by slave children in the past.



( Hat tip: Seth Godin's post on Fairtrade Sports )

Heroes

I wish this were some well-honed piece on the people in my life that have made a difference — perhaps along the lines of my Hall of Famers post over at Nine Moons — but it isn't. It's a fanboy post about NBC's amazing new show, Heroes.

I don't have a television, so I first encountered Heroes via their iTunes site... and now I'm hooked.

NBC's Heroes site says:

As a total eclipse casts its shadow across the globe, a genetics professor in India is led by father's disappearance to uncover a secret theory — there are people with super powers living among us. A young dreamer tries to convince his politician brother that he can fly. A high school cheerleader learns that she is totally indestructible. A Las Vegas stripper, struggling to make ends meet to support her young son, discovers that her mirror image has a secret. A fugitive from justice continues to baffle authorities who twice have been unable to contain him. A gifted artist, whose drug addiction is destroying his life and relationship with his girlfriend, can paint the future. A down-on-his-luck Los Angeles beat cop can hear people's thoughts, which puts him on the trail of an elusive serial killer. In Japan, a young man develops a way to stop time through sheer will power. Their ultimate destiny is nothing less than saving the world.

Yeah... pretty long-winded. Good thing the show has better writers.

Basically, this show is what happens ( to borrow a metaphor from M Night Shamalyan ) between the first and second panel of a debut superhero comic — it's what happens _after_ the discovery of powers, and _before_ being a hero.

What's more, is that NBC is finally starting to "get" the web, and has short, 6-page Heroes web comics available after each episode that explore some of the show's themes in greater detail — character backstories, titilating bits and pieces that you won't get anywhere else. Very nice... and if that's not enough, series creator Tim Kring has an amazing fansite of his own, 9th Wonders.

And the good news? The show is on hiatus until Jan 22 — so there's plenty of time to catch-up before new episodes start airing. Just download the Hereos episodes via iTunes or from the NBC site ( I think the NBC downloads have commercials )!

: )

Want the cliff's notes ( including spoilers )? Check-out the Heroes entry at Wikipedia.

Mmm... My Hands Smell of Mint

I've been accused of living through my nose.

It's no secret: I can smell you a mile down the road. I notice when you change your deodorant or perfume or cologne ( do you really have to wear that stuff... really? ) — and I can generally tell the difference between natural scents and petrochemical ones — and I like that I have such a sensitive sense of smell. Because of this, though, I really don't care much for scented any thing... not candles, not fabric softener... nothing. And that's mostly because these scents are all artificial: brazenly so.

So it's nice to come across personal care products that use natural scents.

That's why I was so happy to find Herban Essentials... and I was especially happy to see that they offered wet wipes. Wet wipes are a necessary evil ( I keep a stash in my car's glove compartment ). They're necessary because I hate sticky fingers. They're evil because they smell like a cosmetics counter. Ew.

But no more: I ordered a sample pack and they arrived today... mmm very nice.

: )

And you know what's nicer? This is a little company with thoughtful employees, who sent me some extra goodies when FedEx lost my first order. How cool is that?

So anyway... my hands now smell of mint... mmm.

Lady in the Water

I headed to the theater Saturday evening, hoping to catch a flick... specifically hoping to catch Cars or Over the Hedge. Something light and airy to distract me from what has been a pretty off month. But as I rounded the corner into Gateway's food alley, the movie's marquee didn't look promising... Cars and Over the Hedge didn't appear to be showing. And the one movie I did want to see — M Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water — wasn't something I could see by myself. Too scary...

But marquees are sometimes wrong, so I took the escalator up to the theater, hoping for the best.

And who did I meet? My old roommate, Lafs, and Chocolate Kisses — a date from last year who is also a friend. They were on a group date and were waiting for the others to show. They were there to see Lady in the Water, and they asked if I'd like to join them. Um, yeah!

... thank Heaven for small miracles.

So Lafs introduced me to Chocolate Kisses... but we were already hugging. Small world.

Lafs' cousin and two other guys show up, and we head into the theater ( assigned seating ROCKS! )... and a few hours later, we left. My cohorts HATED the movie — which squares pretty well with what critics are saying about Lady in the Water — but I loved it. In fact, I even decided to post my review of it over at Metacritic. I don't think I can link to my review directly, so I'll just quote myself:

[A rating of 8/10]

Not MNS's best, but certainly a solid showing... and his larger budget is nicely reflected in better creature work. The difficulty is that this movie is a fairy tale — a bedtime story. And a self-aware one at that. Adults should take it, then, holes included. We don't talk of Little Red Riding Hood and complain that it would be impossible for the wolf to have two, whole people residing quietly in his stomach... we listen to the story for what it is: a bald moral tale dressed in the diaphanous robes of formulism. And that's okay.

I can't wait to see it again!

Anyway... there you go.

I loved it... but I loved The Game, too. So take my reviews with a grain of salt.

: )

Oh, and who knew: MNS penned a Lady in the Water book!

Gift Idea: Custom-made Jewelry

So a friend from way-back e-mailed me this morning with a link to an online shop that he and his wife have started... and I thought I'd share it:

Jewel's Jewels

It's a modest site, but the jewelry featured (specifically the necklaces) is lovely and sure to be lovingly crafted.

Senator Pete Ashdown

It's pretty early to be thinking these things... but I'm considering giving my vote in the 2006 Utah Senatorial Race to Pete Ashdown.

It's funny, I go to Pete's site from a link over at Ethan's blog, and take his little survey — which is mostly a tool for collecting contact information. No problem. So I get to the question of what issues matter most to me, and I jot down a few: privacy, intellectual property, national security, the patriot act, environment, and corporate welfare. Then I wander over to his issues page... and look what he has listed: copyright, economy, education, nuclear testing & weapons, privacy, patents & trademarks, and technology. It's a happy coincidence, sure... but one that piqued my interest.

More (I am certain) on this issue, in the months ahead.

GyazMail is (Almost) Perfect

I'm a mac fanatic... and my matching tangerine iBook and iMac computers are proof. So when I upgraded to OS X last fall, I was really excited about Apple MAIL, but I never really enjoyed using it. So I soon started looking for a replacement — which is when I came across Goichi Hirakawa's little masterpiece GyazMail (I think that it's pronounced "gazz mail").

I fell in love with the e-mail client immediately: it was zippy and intuitive... and it was the product of a small developer. Of course, with time, I started noticing things I'd like to see improved. So I kept a list.

(Hey, what's love if you can't nag a little?)

As I've used the program, I've jotted down a few ideas that I had that I think would make GyazMail either behave in a more expected fashion or that are innovative in nature. I'm using 1.2.4.2 so these are based on my experience on earlier versions of the software up to and including this one... but not the latest, as the installer doesn't like that I'm not the root user (even though I have root access).

Anyway, here are my suggestions for a new-and-improved GyazMail (in no particular order):

Accounts & Folders

UNREAD MESSAGE counts (#) at the ACCOUNT level: I want to be able to see the total of all unread messages for an entire account — even when the account folder is closed.

Clicking on ACCOUNT headers selects _all_ folders within (infinite children).

Clicking on any folder selects all sub-folders (infinite children).

Global and/or Account Folder for STATIONARY/TEMPLATES: There needs to be a place for me to store templates... and that should be in a folder that either resides within an account, or a global folder that resides outside of the account metaphor. I'm still undecided, though, which I'd prefer... it seems reasonable that some folks might have a template that would be useful for several accounts, which would lead me to say have a templates folder outside the account structure; the downside, of course, is that you've got a wonderful metaphor here that is very tidy — which is a big plus.

Which leads me to the next question:

Should DRAFTS be outside the ACCOUNT folder structure? I often write a draft before sending it out into the world... and it would be nice not to have to choose an account prematurely. Also, it would be nice to have a folder just of drafts that had a message count just of the items found within... sort of an encouragement not to forget to finish the draft you were working on.

OUTBOX is the incorrect term — should be SENT: The term "outbox" sounds like it hasn't been sent yet... which leads to confusion between it and "queue".

Each ACCOUNT should have its own ARCHIVE: Like Google, the assumption should be that people will find GyazMail so easy to use, and its search so powerful, that you'll _want_ to keep all the e-mail (that isn't spam)... so we should assume that _everyone_ will need an archive folder... and with a default archive folder, we'd get a keyboard shortcut for "archive this", and a button, too.

Here's how I see the structure of an account folder:

• INBOX


• DRAFT


• QUEUE


• SENT


• ARCHIVE
  • Sub-Folder 1
  • Sub-Folder 2


• TRASH


• Sub-Folder A


• Sub-Folder B

Of course, the folders would all be re-arrangeable, just as they are now.

Messages

Clicking on a name or an e-mail address in CC: field generates REPLY to that person alone.

Clickable "TO:", "CC:", and "BCC:" header titles that allow for "Add All (E-mail Addresses) to Group...", "Add All (E-mail Addresses) as a New Group..." and "Add (E-mail Addresses) Individually" to Address Book (with appropriate corollaries for when there's only ONE addy to add).

Easy mass-mailings: This is easier said than done, but basically, I'd like to see something like the ability I had in EUDORA, where I could click through my entire e-mail address book and send an e-mail to everyone I had chosen with a minimum of effort... this, of course, would require that GyazMail use a custom interface ADDRESS BOOK database.

Replace the SEND LATER command (and button) with a SCHEDULED SEND command (and button): First of all, it's not clear when "later" is with the command as it is currently... and it would be a coup (I don't think other e-mail clients have it) to offer this new feature, which would be a god-send for people like me who want to plan ahead. I'd want to click "schedule send", and be offered a small dialog... the dialog would offer a prominent button for "send on next check", which is what I think SEND LATER already does. It would also have a calendaring section that would allow me to send at a later date and time, and to set-up recurring sends. Finally, it would have a third section that would toggle notification/approval modes: "Send without approval", "Request approval", "Require approval". The first mode would send at the specified time and day without additional input; the second would offer the sender a chance to abort the send, but would send without consent after a reasonable period (2 minutes, say); the final would send only after approval was granted. Why is this handy?

Smart Mailboxes: I don't know yet, but I think this may be a very cool thing to copy from the new MAIL application.

Preferences

Random signature selection: I love my signatures... but they get a little boring after a while, and I think it would be fun to have a way for GyazMail to randomly set my signature based on some variables in my preferences... specifically, I should be able to create a sub-set of my signatures (a sub-set as small as 1 and as large as ALL) that this account could choose from.

Remembering (and recalling) window states at closing/opening: This is pretty straight-forward... I want to leave messages "open" when I quit the program, open for me when I start the program up next time.

Need ALIAS selection for ACCOUNT type: I have a few e-mail accounts, some of which are only aliases, meaning that I only SEND mail from them. I don't need a POP set-up for them. Currently, I have to fill the POP information with dummy data... I'd rather just set the account type to ALIAS and only fill in the SMPT data.

Commands & Menus

The menu item NEW WINDOW should be under the WINDOW menu.

Add "Move to..." to contextual menu when clicking on a single e-mail or a group of e-mails in the listing area.

Contextual menu for ACCOUNT headers: Clicking on an account header should give me a contextual menu for DELETE, RENAME, and the like.

UNDO should also undo a move to the TRASH or a move to the archives: I accidentally delete an e-mail, or move an e-mail, and I have to go on a search mission to find it and bring it back to where it belongs.

CMD-D to repeat last action on selected item: I find CMD-D handy in Photoshop, I think it would be damned handy here!

CMD-I on folders: I want to be able to see info about the folders (NAME, SIZE, MESSAGE COUNT, etc).

HELP menu should contain a BUG REPORT feature.

EMPTY TRASH IN ALL ACCOUNTS from the FOLDER menu should always "work" ... as I don't always have my ACCOUNTS expanded to see whether or not there's trash for any given account.

CMD-SHIFT-K to EMPTY TRASH IN ALL ACCOUNTS: I just figured out that I can set this manually (cool short-cut key set-up, by the way!), but I think it just makes sense to have it as the default setting.

ADD "SENDER(s)" TO ADDRESS BOOK should toggle to ADD "RECIPIENT(s)" TO ADDRESS BOOK when sending mail: I'll often click on a MAILTO: link from a web page... but currently, I can't easily add the new person to my address book. This would change that!

Miscellaneous

Chime for new mail should come at _end_ of _all_ downloading... not at end of download for each account: it's annoying to get chimed for a bunch of accounts (I have several), and what's worse is that depending on how fast the download is, the multiple chimes sometimes crunch into each other. Ew.

Tie-in to OS X's new parental controls.

If I can get an error sending an e-mail about my text encoding, then I should be able to change the encodings right then and there... but TEXT ENCODINGS is off on SEND.

Clicking the icons in the columns toggles the state: I want to be able to click on the flag icon to un-flag something, or the orange sphere to mark something as READ.

Highlighting window status at start-up: I work with key strokes a lot, and it would be handy if there was ALWAYS an account activated — and that it was highlighted. I'm not sure if this breaks HUI, but I can't imagine it would.

___

Anyway, this isn't anywhere near as polished as a software post over at Daring Fireball, but hopefully it makes its point.

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