Welcome to tastypopsicle.com

I've decided to open up the weblog archive. At one point is was closed off except to registered members due to an incident, However, that company has since closed its doors so they can just eat it. Use the search to find something that youmight be looking for. Maybe you'll find it.

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Happy October everyone! It's hard to think that we're in the 10th month of the year. Ikes! where has the time gone? I don't even want to think about the holidays coming up in the next 2 months. So much to do, so little time.

I feel compelled to write today for a couple of reasons:
1. The Cubs beat the Braves last night to take a 1-0 lead in the series (incidently, the Yankees lost to the Twins)
2. I cannot stop thinking about CSS design. Really, I can't.

So, I'm mostly writing about #2 although I'm not sure that the other 2 people that read my site are that interested in it. I guess I just feel so inspired by the work that so many people are doing. Over at Stopdesign and mezzoblue (just to name a couple) the discussions and information sharing concerning this subject and many more can seem overwhelming at times. At one point in my life I thought I knew a bit about design and the Internet and coding but now I feel as if I'm slowly falling behind.

I want to design again, but I don't know where to start. I feel so alone at work as I am the only one that has anything to do with the web site. My "tasks" include mostly making text changes and meeting with people for stupid reasons. Bah, I've been here for almost a year but it's beginning to seem more boring at times. I miss the days of sitting around with other designers and geeks and bouncing ideas off eachother. Nowadays I find myself reading about the wonderful things that these people are doing and the vast knowledge they posses.

bah...

For me and anyone else that may care:

1. Accessible Image-Tab Rollovers
   • Fast rollovers, no preload needed
   • A new image replacement technique
2. List-o-matic
3. And this is just awesome:Color Scheme

I hate cars. Especially ours. Nothing like having flat tire #2 this morning to just fuck everything up. I sit here now thinking of all the wonderful things one could purchase with the $173 I spent today.

• candy
• pizza
• more candy

And it's Amy's birthday too which stinks. I wanted this to be a happy day for her. I hope it finishes that way. The big birthday plan is a dinner cruise on Lake Michigan. It should be a lot of fun.

This Saturday is the birthday celebration - grillin' and boozin' in this BEAUTIFUL weather we are having. My only complaint about the weather: the skies are INFESTED with lady bugs. I used to think they were cute insects but it's just gross. They fly right into you. It's an all too new and weird phenomenon. I wonder if it's a 'burb thing?

So my legs are achy today from doing some virtual tours yesterday. A lot of squatting up and down to take the pictures. My first taste of "exercise" in months. I think I'm good for a few more months now.

Did you hear? Apple will be launching iTunes for Windows on October 16th. Finally, the Win32 world will understand and appreciate just how wonderful an application it is. This means that PC users will also be able to purchase music from Apple's online store AND link it all up to their iPods - if they have one of course.

Speaking of iPods... when is Amy's going to get here so I, I mean *we*, can play with it? While I wait patiently for its arrival (on or before October 23 the web site says) I will just have to watch the iPod TV ads. Thank you Black Eyed Peas for the music.

Oh, and since you mentioned music (or did I mention it?) a New York man, Alvin Davis, was sentenced to 6 months in jail and ordered to pay $3,329.50 for selling pirated music via his Web site, EmpireRecords.com. For those who are interested, there was a movie made in 1995 called Empire Records.

Woo hoo! The 15" PowerBook, iPod and HP Printer have been SHIPPED! According to the FedEx tracking it was shipped on Sunday @ 11:21pm. Estimated arrival: Friday 17 October 2003.

BINGO!

This past Saturday was a day of celebration for Amy who turned 23 on 8 October 2003. Thanks for making it out to the western suburbs. I know that it seems very far away for some people. For those that could not make it but are interested in a efficient way of serving beverages while grilling in a public park: transporting and serving alcohol can be difficult, or even illegal. Although the legality issue cannot always be avoided you can use our idea at your next function to be more efficient. The execution: expand on the Jello shot idea. Shots are messy and that's A LOT of "shots" to make. Instead, just pour the Jello/Vodka concoction into plastic cups. Chill the night before and serve with spoons. As a special note of observance, Blue Raspberry is a popular flavor. The fact that each cup contains 60% water to 40% 80 proof Sky Citrus Vodka is guaranteed to have the desired effects. For more excitement add a piñata - beat vigorously.

A special hello to j. brotherlove who stopped by this morning while working on a great idea: he's submitting 100 comments to 100 weblogs in 100 hours. Comment 78 came to yours truly in response to a post that I did on 1 October 2003. At this time he is at 81 - just 19 to go.

And finally - On This Day in History (and at this hour): 3 years ago I was on my way to work riding the Brown Line train in Chicago. Although I hadn't noticed it, at the Merchandise Mart a young woman boarded the train on her way to work. I hadn't noticed as I was very focused on the chess game I was playing on my Palm Pilot. A couple of stops later as I put the game away I was approached by this woman. The first thing that she said to me - "Which character is that?" She was referring to the PowerPuff Girls watch I was wearing. It happened to be Bubbles, my favorite PPG. She was wearing the same style watch, except that hers was Blossom. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to say much more since we had arrived at her stop and she had to leave. The last thing she said to me was, "Maybe I'll see you around." IMPOSSIBLE I thought as she exited the train. She was very cute, and a candy kid (read - raver) kinda like myself. I was instantly attracted to her and amazed that she broke the cardinal rule on the El - do not make eye contact with anyone on the train, and certainly never speak to anyone.

I decided I had no choice, fate had chosen me - I gave chase to her down the stairs of the platform at Adams and Wells. When I caught up with her I politely told her that I wasn't trying to stalk her, "But would it be ok if I got your number?" She smiled and said, "Of course! I'm so glad that you asked me." Three years later, and without a doubt, it was the best decision I ever made.

In 2 more years (13 October 2005) we will be married. I love you, baby. Happy Anniversary.

The Chicago Cubs had every chance to do it this year, but they let it get away. How can you not win 1 out of 3 games, especially when 2 are at home with Prior and Wood pitching in those games? On the bright side to all of this, I now have a more open weekend. There's no real reason to watch the World Series any more.

And what a busy time it has been - kinda. Amy and I had a great celebration for our anniversary on Monday night. Just very romantic and fun...

Today is the 16th and I haven't seen anything yet about Apple launching iTunes for Windows.

And in other tech news - Time Warner and AOL (known as AOL Time Warner since the merge) are changing their names back. It's now just Time Warner and just AOL. Apparently, the brand wasn't working.

Today, I believe, is a HUGE day for Apple and luckily we get all of the benefits. iTunes for Windows was just launched and I have downloaded it to the PC at the office to check it out. It looks and acts just like the Mac version. With iTunes for Windows PC users also have access to the same iTunes Music Store (iTMS) that Mac users have been eNjoying for months. And if that wasn't enough Apple has also announced new iPod accessories - the Belkin iPod Voice Recorder and the Belkin iPod Media Reader will probably become some welcome additions once our iPod arrives. With a 30GB iPod, the voice recorder will be able to store hours of lectures digitally. Say goodbye to those clunky tape recorders - college students everywhere are going to grab this product up. And the media reader can handle 6 different media types, including the Sony Memory Stick, which our digital camera uses. We'll be able to transfer pictures from our camera to the iPod without having to spend money on more memory sticks.

Lastly, before I ramble too much, Apple and Pepsi are teaming up to give away 100 million songs for 2 months starting February 1 to March 31. There will be a code under the bottle caps that will allow you to download 1 free song from iTMS. Thankfully, I love Pepsi.

Happy happy Monday to you! I had an eye appointment this morning and the woman put some eye drop stuff in my eyes that my your pupils dilate or something. She made me sit in the waiting room for awhile until they did what they are supposed to do. Apparently they work very well because on my ride into work afterward I had to drive with my eyes closed due to the fact that the sun was burning away at my retinas. I seriously could hardly see. I decided rather than drive slowly (as it would take me forever to get to work) I should drive 100 mph with a blindfold on. While the speed and inability to see may have increased my chances of a head-on collision, at least I would get here quicker with my eyeballs still functional.

In my short time here so far I read a couple of amusing articles (courtesy of TMS, thank you). Who remembers the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books from elementary school? Ah yes, they were fun, but you couldn't use them for one of the mandatory book reports each week. Anyway, there's an amusing Web site called Choose Your Own NY... Here is where my adventure ended. Back in 1970 at Studio 54. Apparently I end up dying though..."It must be the night fever!" Tell me about your adventure?

And finally, what happens when you get a bunch of 11-year-olds together to play some classic Atari games? You get a hilarious article courtesy of Electronic Gaming Monthly. I'm still laughing and wetting myself.

I recently added Site Meter tracking on my web site. As a free tool (limited as it is for the free option) it gives me some interesting information. The information that I am referring to is called page referrals. It lets me see what phrases people are searching on before they decide to check out tastypopsicle.com. Unfortunately, it doesn't show me what terms people search on in which my site does appear in the results if they decide not to click on my site link. However, here are some of the terms that people have searched for in which they decided to stop in and pay us a visit (when possible I supplied a link to the actual content they are referring to - although, I know that some results aren't what they are looking for, as well as the search results page):

• Ranked #9 for "jello shot accessories" on Yahoo!
• Ranked #10 for "cheap hoodies?" on MSN (this search has happened a couple of times)
• Ranked #11 for "girls showering together" on MSN. However, I was referring to an article about the guy who started Girls Gone Wild getting arrested. I'm not sure that this searcher found what they were looking for.
• Ranked #2 for "mayor mccheese pic" on Yahoo! Yea! they wanna see our bunny! This is a very popular search - without the intended results I am sure.

What a week it has been... the weather has changed, the World Series is over (the Marlins beat the Yankees 4 games to 1- OUCH! It's safe to say that although the Cubs didn't make it to the World Series they lost to the best team in the league - take that Boston). Fall is here and almost over I might add. It has gotten downright cold out there and it's freezing in the office once again. To think that it's not even Winter yet frightens me. Here's a site that I meant to mention last week but didn't. It's a Free Logotype database - hosted through a Russian provider (I believe that's how they are capable of circumventing trademark and copyright laws). So let me spell it out for you: it has just about every logo you can imagine in an EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) format. Meaning that they are vector based - small file size, scalable to any dimension without losing 1 bit of clarity. You'll need to using something like Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand to view these files. So, if you're looking to get into the lucrative t-shirt business (think of those wacky t-shirts that look like a product but say something different: FedUp = FedEx) you shouldn't have any problems getting started. Some Examples:

• Apple Computer
• Cotton
• Microsoft Windows XP
• Nintendo
• Tide detergent

As you can see, the possibilities are endless! Great for t-shirts, bags, cheap hoodies (shameless plug for more Google hits), anything... Speaking of Google - did you hear? Google is reportedly exploring IPO tactics

Web search giant Google could go public early next year using an unusual electronic bidding and placement system that aims to put individuals on an equal footing with powerful institutional investors, according to a published report.

I'm not missing out on this potential cash-cow. I missed that whole dot-com boom and I'm not gonna miss out on the next big thing. I promise you that I've never seen ANYTHING quite as insane as the Picture of Everything. A guy named Howard Hallis drew all of this stuff and it's huge and it's on display and I just can't imagine actually doing something like that. No, really.

Loving it!
So I was quikly scanning through the 3 or so sites that I look at on a daily basis (StopDesign,What Do I Know, and The Morning News) and I came across a new site called Things Magazine via The Morning News. I wasn't so much as interested in the article that TMN was referencing as I was with the name of the site - Things Magazine. What sort of "things" I wondered. So I checked it out. What I found was a treasure trove of Web sites that were being linked to. Here are some of the more interesting ones...

• Design Boom - check out the results for the folding chair competition. A lot of beautiful, inspirational stuff there.
• Typographica - typography design discussion
• Retro Lounge - a fun look back at not-forgotten eras
• Core 77 Design Magazine - product design et al. I remember looking at this site in college.