iphone 2.0 is here! sorta...

2008.07.11 9.34

Exactly at the stroke of 8 AM this morning my copy of iTunes stopped telling me that an update wasn't available. Sweet. It's downloading right now. The speed is about 1 MB (megabyte) every 2 seconds with a 218.2 MB total download. Once the download is complete, the iPhone is backed up. You see -- Updates aren't really updates -- they're fresh installs. That's not a bad thing. iTunes will apply your old data to the new update. I typically will backup my photos before running an update. This is done by plugging in the iPhone and looking for the pseudo-harddrive icon to appear under My Compter. As I'm typing this, the backup is still running...





While this was happening, I took some Christmas ornaments that I had lying on the window shelf in my spare room and brought them into the living for proper display next to the Christmas tree. I tried putting them on the tree, but being that it's July 11, it seems less freaky if they are displayed on a shelf. You may recall this is the black Christmas tree that I purchased back in January for immense savings. It's featured in the corner of my living room and is a cool contrast to the white wall. The TV that I have sitting next to it is equally black, so this is all aesthetic decision making.





In other useless news as the update continues, I moved my garbage can into the closet by removing a lower shelf that had previous stored ugly boxes of my stuff (which are now stored in fancy IKEA black cloth covered boxes with bright yellow zippers, labels, pull tabs, and stripes on the top. I'll snap a photo and post that. The question of the day is -- that closet is also my dried foods pantry. Is that a big deal? I put wet / gross garbage down the disposal and not in the trashcan, so that just leaves everything else. I feel comfortable, but the GFF has expressed concern. We may have to relocate once again if she finds that she can't consume the dried foods that are in there because they live next to the garbage can. My thinking was: how come it was O.K. to keep the garbage can in the living room where we live all the time instead of the closet where nobody can even fit? Anyway, I'm willing to lose on this one as there are other hiding places. It's either hide it or get a kick ass stainless steel gull-wing door trashcan that costs too much. See? Credit card debt can solve any problem.





My phone briefly flashed the picture of the USB cable plugging into iTunes. What's this? Oh. No.





Is the iTunes store overwhelmed? I think so. I'm going to keep hitting refresh because my phone is a brick until it can get re-acquainted with iTunes and re-activated. Remember when I said an update isn't really an update and that was a good thing? I was WRONG. It's a clean install so my phone has no idea to whom it belongs. Hmmm. This may be a problem. No, this is a problem. I have to start getting ready for work and it's 8:29 AM. I'll post an update later if this situation changes. Looks like Apple took care of giving downloads enough bandwidth to finish quickly, but the iTunes Store is hosed. As with any emergency, I'm sure there's a bunch of guys on a conference call trying to resolve the situation. Not going to panic.



Update!
Internet options control panel? WTF? iTunes is now telling me that an SSL (secured socket layer) connection is failing. Is Apple adding more servers? How fast can they get an SSL certificate added, I wonder? Or are they so overwhelmed that even their primary SSL authentication is failing now. I see that Apple stores are reporting the same problem with updating via iTunes. Uh oh! Gizmodo has an article on the subject.



Update!
My phone finally connected to the iTunes store at 9:07 AM and now it's restoring from backup. Crisis averted, and all within a short window. Nice. As far as the wording of restoring from backup? I hope that means it's reapplying all my stuff to the phone, only now it's running the iPhone 2.0 operating system. That's what that means? Right? I have to shower and get out of here. I'll update once I get back to work. I haven't even started complaining about what happened when I picked up my car from the shop yesterday.

Update!
I think my iPhone really is reverting back to the old install. There's an ominous message on the screen that says, ''No signal detected. Signal is required to complete activation.'' Great. It's bad enough that you've made me wait for the download, to connect to iTunes to, and now this lame excuse? You know what? I'm going to try this again later. I love abuse!

Update!
9:56 AM -- Restore is done. Verdict? It worked! iPhone 2.0 is installed!

i hate waiting (for iphone 2.0)

2008.07.10 21.47

the piano is gone :-(

2008.07.09 23.36

My phone rang around noon yesterday. I recognized the number. I answered.

Me: (spoken quickly) ''Thisismarkshields.''
Constance: ''Mark, this is Constance from the leasing office.''
Me: ''Hi!''
Constance: ''They're here.''
Me: ''The new iPhones are here???''
Constance: [long pause] ''No.''
Me: ''No, wait, ABBA is here? Holy sh*t!''
Constance: ''Mark, the people who own the piano have movers here.''
Me: ''Oh. Well. I, uh, I'm at work.''

This is a half-truth. I was working from home.

Constance: ''That's okay. I have a key. I can let them in.''
Me: ''Okay, okay. I'm actually here. Um, would you believe I sold the piano on eBay?''
Constance: ''Not really.''
Me: ''Fine. I'll have it waiting in the hallway.''
Constance: ''Thanks!''
[click]

vhs tapes to digital video

2008.07.06 21.48

The GFF is out of town in Nebraska so I've spent the July 4th long weekend trying to get every imaginable errand and task completed prior to her return. Also included in there is cleaning the house, the clothes, and the dog and not necessarily in that order. Chief among my distractions has been the videotape conversion that I've always wanted to carry out. I currently have four 1-terabyte drives that are set up as RAID-1 (meaning they appear as 2 drives in total with the other 2 acting as automatic mirror backups). Very nice! 1-terabyte drives are now below $200 so I figure I'd like to replace all of the remaining drives with them. I know, I know. I'm a hard drive prude.

I *just* got through importing "AE9: VidCam: 93-02/27+ San Antonio Trip;" which in truth means it is VHS tape #320 out of a collection of something like 425 tapes. I'm skipping all of the duplicated movies that are on the tapes, which makes deciding what to import super simple. The rule is: if it's not a movie or a TV show that I can buy on DVD then it's a candidate. The San Antonio tape was filmed in 1993 and features ex-GFF Betsy and I driving to San Antonio where we commit a litany of boring offenses. The haunted house section is the most interesting piece, IMHO. I managed to shower and shave while this gem was duplicating, so I can't really offer highlights. Oh, but wait. Yes I can. The import is done and I can view the clips. Here's what they tell me was worth my precious time:

Saturday, February 27, 1993:

• Leaving the hotel and Betsy telling me that her grandparents can never EVER see this video. Oops.
• Betsy discovers she's wearing brown shoes and a black belt and must return to the hotel to remediate
• Ugly ring shopping. Betsy: "Is this ring ugly?" Me: "Yes."
• Lunchbox shopping until the shopkeeper yells at me for videotaping. Betsy was just about to reveal someone's name etched inside a lunchbox.
• Clandestinely filming in an antique store while mean shopkeeper lady is looking the other way
• Mark rips off Betsy's hand (see this)
• Ordering grub at Wendy's and sending back the chili. Betsy: "I can't eat those onions."
• Buying Elvis Presley stamps at the post office
• Betsy's first time ever through a revolving door. Wow!
• Visiting The Alamo and the Alamo store (shortened because you can't film inside the Alamo).
• Riding a trolley with me making dumb observations.
• Mark buys a Lotto ticket (I didn't win).
• Mark buys a piece of jalapeño flavored fudge. Mmmm!
• Mark listens to his three voice mail messages.
• Betsy notices birds nesting inside and outside of an electrical box
• Having our pictures drawn by a caricature artist (this was eventually cut in half after the breakup)
• Apparently sitting outside the local Parole Violators Facility (I have no idea)
• Betsy plays in a giant wooden playground
• Going into The Towers of America observation deck
• Getting lost walking back to the hotel

Sunday, February 28th, 1993:

• Fictitiously pointing out that our rooms were 335 and 334 (grandparents please take note).
• Returning to the post office to mail Rona a letter
• Mark plays with a voice changer at the corner store
• Betsy applies sun tan lotion in public (apparently this is why we were at the aforementioned corner store)
• Donating money to Save Hunger coalition guy on the street. Betsy (to me): "Your shorts are too tight." Ewww.
• Looking at a Canadian penny covered car outside the wax museum
• Charlie, the wax museum ticket cutter guy, instructs me on video camera etiquette
• Wax museum and Ripley's tour. Betsy screams like a banshee at one point.
• Late dinner at Garcia's Mexican Restaurant (a second time!) by the Riverwalk
• I've locked myself out of my car and Betsy can't find her ring (the ugly one from yesterday?)
• Phone calls on the road home (in case we flip the car?)
• Riding home into the sunset and chatting while Betsy films me.

See? It's like you were there. Sorta.

brinkerhoff upright piano circa 1913

2008.07.04 16.13

I noticed an abandoned piano in my condo's foyer this past Monday afternoon. The piano was still there when Tuesday morning rolled around, so I took it upon myself to ask the leasing office if I could have first dibs. You can never act too quickly when someone is ditching this type of hardware. I was told that the owner tentatively intended to remove the piano. Eventually. Maybe. On Thursday when the piano was still there, I walked Chewster around to the office upon my return from work and restated my offer of sanctuary. I was informed how lucky I was (really?) as someone else in the building had also inquired about the piano -- after me. I'd lucked out in being an E.D. (early dibber). Good times. The office made one last attempt to call the owner and got voicemail. I rolled that heavy M.F. into the hallway and into my condo right away. It's currently sitting in the short hallway leading to my spare bedroom. All keys work and the condition is good. I found a serial number in the case and did some Googling. One minute later I learned that the Binkerhoff Piano Co. of Chicago manufactured the piano back in 1913. The piano's serial number 82525 matched up with serial numbers produced that year. Wow! 95 years old! I'm thinking about calling it Old Betsy, only problem being that I have an old girlfriend named Betsy that I'm still friendly with and I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate the gesture. That being said, check it out!


Here's a really odd description of the piano from the seldom heard of (try never) Blue Book of Pianos web site:

Instruments manufactured by the Brinkerhoff Piano Company included pianos, player-pianos, grands and reproducers are the products of a responsible Chicago organization, at the head of which was Mr. William T. Brinkerhoff. They are instruments of unquestioned merit, great durability and tone quality of fascinating character being marked features. The case designs are graceful and varied from the elegant plain to the highly ornamental Brinkerhoff pianos are sold by enterprising houses throughout the country and always with most satisfactory results. They are pianos in which the advantages of advanced method of manufacture have the force of experience to guide them' and the personal energies and standing of Mr. Brinkerhoff add greatly to the enthusiasm which mark the sale of these instruments. The Brinkerhoff upright reproducing piano can be played either manually as a regular piano, or as a foot powered player piano, or as a reproducing instrument, in which the exact interpretations of the foremost artists of the world are reproduced. It is a combination of a player piano with special patented devices that automatically regulate the expression. The Brinkerhoff Grand pianos are noted for their tonal qualities, and they are so constructed that they meet the approval of the most critical musicians. This company specializes on Miniature Grands, which are only 5 feet in length, but possess the qualities of a larger Grand. [Source: Blue Book of Pianos].

jvhs band 1985

2008.06.30 1.10

The clip above was originally sourced from a box of beta format videotapes that drum major Kim Lytle's parents graciously lent me in early 1992. I'd been searching for old tapes of the band (I think?) and was on a nostalgic binge at the time. The tapes were in Beta format and the Lytles didn't have a working Beta VCR. Lucky for me my friend and fellow band-mate Dawn Farrow's dad lent me his retired Betamax VCR. He gave me a quick lesson on the quirks of the player which mostly consisted of the many ways of avoiding having the VCR eat the tapes. I seem to recall something about what I had to do if I noticed a burning smell. Hmmm. Anyway, I duplicated everything over the next week. This meant copying each Beta tape to a high quality VHS tape in SP mode. In case you've forgotten (or never knew), SP mode means Standard Play. As the kids say, that mode's quality is bomb. I then cataloged the contents of each tape into a Lotus 123 spreadsheet, filed the tape into my cabinet, and quickly forgot about them. Awww.

Fast-forward 16 years. The tapes were in storage in Houston until February 2008 when I shipped them all here to Minneapolis. 9 boxes. The UPS shipping guy loved me. I took JVHS BAND TAPE #1 out of the box on Friday night and imported it using Windows Movie Maker. I picked this clip out and processed it with Adobe Premiere CS3. What's that mean? I cleaned up the picture by calibrating all the levels as best as I could manage (given that everything had a sort of fuzzy purple haze to it). I re-centered the picture to fit within a 720x480 frame. In retrospect, I should have put my MARKSHIELDS.COM watermark in the left corner. The YouTube logo is superimposed when you're watching it elsewhere. Duh. Also, I converted this from 29.97 frames per second (fps) to 24 fps and back to 29.97 fps. Don't ask -- I saw a checkbox and I hit it. Several hours passed, etc. The photos above are the BEFORE and AFTER of the video for your consideration. When you view the video on YouTube, make sure you click the ''Watch In High Quality'' link to the bottom right of the video. Got that? Now click here for a sample of good ol' 1985.

A few quick notes... I'm not in the video as the Texas law ''No Pass No Play'' kept me home that year. Algebra II you were my enemy and you beat me (until summer school when I kicked your ass). You will notice lots of lingering over drum major Kim Lytle. Parents do that when they film their kids. Repeat after me: ''Mark Shields is not a pervert.'' Thank you. With that being said, this video begins with the band warming up to their last home football game of the 1985-1986 school year. The band can be heard briefly playing the songs "Temptation" and "She Blinded Me With Science." Among the voices and faces included during the Seniors Recognition and Favorites announcements are director Timothy "Tim" Wayne Cunningham, Robin Rollins, Andrew "Andy" Fischbach, Doug Caesar, Brigitte Cantrell, Stephanie Dishroon, Zeke Duran III, Lee Mamone, John Gragg, Jeanie Grape, Valerie Hurta, Stefanie Loveless, Kimberly "Kim" Lytle, Laura Ross, and Steve Sims.

the happening

2008.06.11 0.57

barack obama rally at the xcel

2008.06.04 1.25

Tonight Sam and I attended the Barack Obama Democratic nomination clinch-a-rama rally in St. Paul at the Xcel Energy Center. Clicking that link will take you to my LittleShia.com coverage. I think it's fairly neutral and I'm sure I'll be smuggling this thing into the Rebublican National Convention when it comes into town shortly. Am I invited to that? Well, no... but has that ever stopped me? The length of the line to get into today's rally *almost* stopped me. However, Project Line Budge came into play and saved the day. For those of you not from the area, the term ''budging'' is analogous to line cutting. I didn't really line cut. It was more like creative merging. It wasn't my idea! Little Shia made me do it.

littleshia.com

2008.06.02 0.25

My blogging has been suffering as of late, but my productivity hasn't. When I'm not juggling multiple projects at work, I'm coming up with crazy ideas for websites. At last count I have 25 projects in one state or another. Right now I'm posting to tell you all about LittleShia, my Mini Shia LaBeouf photography site. It was either this or a mini Jenna Jamison photography site, but I figured I wouldn't get banned from Google Adsense if I picked the former vs. the latter. You should just visit LittleShia rather than expect me to explain exactly what the site is all about. All you need to know is that Grand Old Days in St. Paul Minnesota happened today and Little Shia came along for the ride. Samantha, Lauren, Abby and Dan are all guest stars in the first photo set of 75 pictures. My new Canon 40D camera is kicking ass left and right as you can see. These were shot using the automatic mode and the standard lens that came with the body. The last 4 or 5 shots use my EF macro lens and you can tell from the field of depth that it's macro goodness all the way.

Enough about me. Check it out and expect another blog entry shortly.

indy 4

2008.05.22 4.06

shieldsville

2008.04.29 16.16

Look what my co-worker John found! Home base!

kingdom of the crystal skull

2008.04.28 9.35

the dark knight

2008.04.25 12.36

Opening nationwide on July 18, 2008, "The Dark Knight" reunites director Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale, who reprises the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne. In the new film, Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker.

The film also stars Academy Award winner Michael Caine ("The Cider House Rules") as Alfred; Academy Award nominee Heath Ledger ("Brokeback Mountain") as arch-villain The Joker; Gary Oldman as Lieutenant Jim Gordon; Aaron Eckhart as District Attorney Harvey Dent; Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes; and Oscar winner Morgan Freeman ("Million Dollar Baby") as Lucius Fox.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Legendary Pictures, a Syncopy Production, a Christopher Nolan film, "The Dark Knight." Nolan is directing the film from a screenplay written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer. Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan are producing the film, with Kevin De La Noy, Benjamin Melniker and Michael Uslan serving as executive producers. "The Dark Knight" is based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by Bob Kane.

"The Dark Knight" will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. "The Dark Knight Prologue" has been rated PG-13 by the MPAA for intense violent content.

keg stand

2008.04.21 21.18

I was pulling my hair out this afternoon trying to figure out why a group of servers we manage were dying 30 seconds after being restarted. We turned them off. We did some probing. We turned them on. Dead. Repeat. Eventually we decided to evaluate everything that connects to everything else. Nothin'. When we figured we'd turned over every rock we decided to just turn everything back on and hope for the best... and it worked. No smoking gun. Everything just works now. How?! I don't know how. I'm not going to sleep tonight until I figure out what the deal is/was.

This past weekend saw the girlfriend and I visiting Breena and Chris' place for Bree's Birthday Party. It was an evening of firsts for both Samantha and I. It was our first keg stand experience. It was also Samantha's second and third keg stand experience. We played Flip The Cup Over On The Edge Of The Table. I believe that was the official name of that particular activity. I had such a great time that I'm thinking about throwing one of those here in the hella-expensive Uptown condo this summer. Check back here on this topic. That is all. Class dismissed.

and the next technology myspace will steal is...

2008.04.13 16.06

It's called STICKAM and it seems to be full of Life-Casters who are constantly on camera 24/7. The theory is -- if they're going to be sitting on the computer working most of the day then why not share? This is not a new idea as ANACAM.com has been hosting an uncensored view into the life of ''Ana'' for nearly 10 years. The embedded player below [now removed because of annoying auto-starting music player that comes on when the cammer is offline] features Stickam Entertainer Jennifer Leigh. I'm not sure if the ''entertainer'' moniker is self proclaimed or not. Does it matter? When will YOU become a lifecaster?

4 minutes

2008.04.12 14.35

"4 Minutes" is the first single by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her eleventh studio album Hard Candy and was released on March 17, 2008 by Warner Bros. Records. It features American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake and Timbaland who also co-wrote and co-produced the song.

The song was originally titled "4 Minutes to Save the World". Madonna herself still refers to it as this title during an interview with UK morning show GMTV which was aired April 4 , 2008. "4 Minutes" received its first airing when co-producer Timbaland played part of the song at a concert on December 16, 2007 in Philadelphia. After brief appearances on YouTube and Perez Hilton, Warner Bros. quickly acted to prevent further viewing. Additionally, part of the song was played on a French radio station on February 29, 2008, later leaking online as a radio rip from the broadcast.

The single officially debuted on radio on March 17, 2008, and was released digitally in the UK on the same day. It was released digitally worldwide (except USA) on March 18, 2008 and in the US on March 25, 2008.

The song was also used for an television advertisement for Sunsilk that began to air on March 17.

Ironically, the song's lyrics and video suggests that both protagonists have no more than four minutes to "save the world," yet the length of the song is not four minutes, but rather four minutes and four seconds.

The music video was filmed in London from January 30 to February 2, 2008 with Timberlake and Timbaland, directed by French duo Jonas & François (Justice's "D.A.N.C.E."), with choreography by Jamie King.

The music video begins with Timbaland rapping his opening lines, in front of a screen showing exactly four minutes in the format of minutes:seconds:milliseconds. After some brief scenes of Madonna and Timberlake standing faced back to the camera, it shows Madonna leaning on car while pushing it back into a house where Timberlake and Madonna both sing while a removing a piece of clothing as the black background follows them both, the people living in the house seem oblivious to the black background as it removes their skin and part of their flesh. Madonna and Timberlake then jump out the window and end up in car junk yard where they begin to dance and evade the black shapes at the same time. After this they both run into a supermarket while the same black background follows them, Madonna and Timberlake begin singing in the isle of the supermarket while shoppers carry on as normal. Madonna and Timberlake move on to start dancing on the small treadmills at the checkouts. They then run into a bathroom and remove another piece of clothing while the black background follows outside, they then run out of the bathroom and appear to walk in to the same room Timbaland was seen in before, they immediately start performing choreography in front of the screen, now counting down from four minutes. They continually dance and remove a final piece of clothing from each other as the black background comes at them from both sides. The video ends with the black background finally catching up to them while they stop dancing and move closer to each other, as it starts to eat away at their skin and flesh.

The music video was released in some countries on iTunes Store on April 3, 2008. It also made a television premier on MuchMusic at midnight on April 6, 2008.

The song made its debut on the Official UK Singles Chart at number seven on 23 March 2008 based on download sales alone, reaching 21,106 within a week of it being released. Based on its first week of airplay, the song made its debut on the U.S. Mediabase Top 40/Pop Airplay Chart at number 23 with an airplay bullet of over 2000. The single debuted at number three on the Australian Digital Tracks chart.

In Latin America, has the best first week of the year in Brazil, at number 22 in Hot 100 Singles & Tracks, and 28 in your second week in Brazilian Dance Club Play.

In the Billboard issue dated April 12, 2008, Madonna surpassed Elvis Presley as the artist with the most U.S. top ten hits in the Rock Era with 37. "4 Minutes" went from number 68 to number three on the Billboard Hot 100, spurred by digital download sales, and is now her highest-charting single since "Music" went number one in 2000. The song sold 217,000 in its first week of wide release and entered the Hot Digital Songs chart at number two. "4 Minutes" also sold the most one-week digital sales in Canada, moving her to number one on the Canadian Hot Digital Songs chart.