Glenn's Daily Script » Projects

Leopard Mail’s RSS Feature

Glenn — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:29:43 +0000

An important part of my day is going through the 220 or so blogs that I actively� read.� Obviously, not all of them are daily posters but still it’s something that means that there is activity to go through many times each day (except this particular week as many bloggers and podcasters seem to take time off – rightly so).� My feed reader of choice is NetNewswire.� It’s a very good reader for OS X.� The developer is even working on an update that sounds like it has some interesting features.

Anyway, I’ve been on Leopard (OS X 10.5) for a while now and the version of Mail that comes with it came with a new feature and that was the ability to read RSS feeds – to be a feed reader.� I was intrigued.

The first hurdle kept me from trying it till yesterday though and that was a big one.� Leopard’s Mail (or Safari) does not import OPML files which is the industry standard for RSS feed import and export.� As good as Apple software is, this is just a brain dead oversight and I cannot believe what went in this decision.� Let’s make things hard for our users – that just doesn’t sound like Apple but in this case it is.

After I got through the work around (wow, it was a huge pain in the …) I discovered 1 major issue and 1 less major issue.

The less major issue is that Leopard Mail will not let me sort my feeds in the manor I want.� It will let me put them in groups (mailboxes) but it will not let me sort the groups and instead forces alphebetical order.� That is just not flexible.

The major issue is that with my 220 or so feeds that Leopard Mail becomes nearly unusable.� It seems to lose track of mail and the feeds don’t get updated correctly or let me delete posts and other management tasks.� If I delete down to one or two feeds all is ok but that is not a very useful feed reader.

Back to NetNewswire – which is great because it is a great app but it was disappointing to find Leopard Mail so lacking.

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Leopard Mail’s RSS Feature

Update to Gym Theater

Glenn — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 20:32:43 +0000

I had to tear down my gym while we were putting in the new windows so the crew could put the windows in (which look good, they did a great job!).� I’ve put the gym back together now.

A big part of the setup though was a new gym theater.� In preparing for some new Christmas gear (for some munkins in our house), I put in a new TV.� I got a Philips 42″ LCD 1080p TV.� It’s got a nice picture and works in a bright room.� My gym has a lot of windows and they are almost always open (the blinds I mean though the windows sometimes are open too) so it is a usually bright in both winter and summer.� I also replaced the receiver with Onkyo TX-SR605 which supports HDMI 1.3 and lots of audio formats so is a good receiver for the price.� The room also has a Sony upscaling DVD player and a Tivo HD DVR.

It’s a great system for watching my shows and movies while I’m working out.� It will also be great for the family with the new gear which I’ll have a post after Christmas – keep a look out.

Back to normal?

Glenn — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 19:45:53 +0000

I think I’m starting to feel human again.� It’s been slower than normal because I couldn’t just take a day or two and crash and recuperate/heal.� We’ve got new windows going in and other normal life things so I’ve still been busy.� I even had a doctor’s appt (it was a previously scheduled annual checkup).

The windows are all in and now they are working on the trim.� It’s behind schedule but I think it’s because the original estimate was too aggressive.� The original estimate was that it was a 2 or 3 day job and now I think this is easy a 4 or 5 day job.� Live and learn.� I’m happy with the work crew.� They are friendly and professional and doing a good job.� I’m not thrilled with the slip but we’ll deal with that.

Having Windows Replaced

Glenn — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 04:48:36 +0000

Still sick but our windows our being replaced.� We’ve got half of them installed though the trim is not done.� Tomorrow the other half will be installed and probably the trim will begin being put on.

It’s not very fun being sick trying to monitor contractors with it being near freezing.� I’m going back to moaning now!!

Garage Door Opener

Glenn — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 02:35:22 +0000

I had to replace our Garage Door Opener today.

When we came home from dinner and piano practice last night, our garage door wouldn’t open.� After examining it, I could see that the gears were not engaging.� I adjusted the force controls on the existing opener but that didn’t engage the gears.� Without ripping the existing opener open, I can only make a guess that some gears were stripped or the clutch (assuming a clutch model) burned out.� Regardless, the unit was no longer functional.� The bummer was that this was not that old of a unit though it was certainly past warranty.� As I’ve now read about openers, they look like they last 10-15 years so my 2-4 years is not a good unit.� The brand was a LiftMaster.

I decided to go with Sears Craftsman.� I installed one of these units in our home in California and it worked great� and went up great.� The instructions were clear and since it was a replacement, the installation was pretty simple.� I took down the old unit (the first of two times I needed Kathy’s help – getting the unit down).� I assembled the new unit.� I installed the unit to the header (the last of two times I needed Kathy’s help – helping me angle the unit to get the pin in that holds the travel bar to the header).� I installed the unit to the ceiling and wired it up to the button controller and the safety monitors for the door.� I programmed the remotes for the cars (we have small key chain remotes coming by the end of the week in the mail!).� I adjusted for travel and force and viola!� It was done and working.� All told, it took a smidge over 4 hours with just me (and the two times I needed an extra pair of hands).

I did go with a slightly over powered unit.� The old unit was 1/2 HP and I upped it to a 3/4 HP for the new unit.� My reasoning was that while I didn’t think the door necessarily warranted it even though it was insulated (added a bit of weight though it was surely lighter that the door we replaced which was a solid wood door) but instead weather changes may cause the door and track and spring to play tough on how the movement acts so a little more umph! would help.� I hope that my logic pays off for the long haul.

Whole house surge protection

Glenn — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 22:58:44 +0000

We had an electrician out today to install a whole house electrical surge protection system.� That sounds like a really complex thing when I say it like that.� What it turns out to be though is that two breakers in your breaker box (electrical panel) are moved (they need the top slots) and replaced with two different beasts that are similar but they don’t have a switch but instead just a light.� The light is green if all is good and it’s not green if a surge has blown out the surge protection system.� It needs two because an electrical service in the United States is 120v but is typically provided as 240v and then split into two phases so each of the two special breakers covers each side of the phase for the panel (I’m pretty sure I got the language right though I’m not an electrician nor do I play one on TV!).

As a bonus, I also had two outlets (on separate circuits) installed (one for a fridge and one for my network hub equipment).� These wound up be harder to do than the surge protection – go figure!.

House Projects

Glenn — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 03:47:14 +0000

I mentioned earlier our Furnace issue, I think.� Anyhow, if I didn’t our furnace died a week and a half ago due indirectly do a storm passing through.� The storm caused some micro power outages and some power surgages which in turn blue out the blower motor in the furnace.� This was the second time the motor had gone out in the furnace in the 8 years that we have had this furnace.� The cost to replace it was almost half a new furnace so we had the furnace replaced.

Our next project is some window replacements.� We are scheduled to have that in about 6 weeks.� We are replacing windows in my Gym because they are casement windows which open outward and that means they can’t be opened in the winter (when it rains) and they interfere with our porch.� We are also replacing the windows in our boys bedrooms because they are old and are due to be replaced.

Back to the furnace issue, since the reason it went out was due to power surges we have decided to get a whole house surge protector to prevent this in the future.� That happens tomorrow.� While the electrician is here I’m also having a couple of outlets installed.� 1 is for our network hub equipment (a dedicated circuit).� The second is for a garage refrigerator (also a dedicated circuit) though today we only have a small freezer.

Lastly, we are currently considering a kitchen remodel.� We remodeled our kitchen when we first moved into this house (15 years ago).� It seems time and we need some more space.� We’ve also changed in taste.� We will also replace some flooring throughout the house if we do this project.� It won’t happen till the summer if we do it.� If we do it, we will replace appliances.� This is why the outlet in the garage is going in so we can move a fridge there to replace the small freezer.

Busy time in our house.