umeVoice theBoom v4 is back home.

My theBoom v4 headset was returned from the manufacturer today. No indication of whether they reproduced my problems with it. I’ll call them.

18-200 VR has landed.

My 18-200 VR was delivered. Works nice. I’ve been using just my 50/1.4 so long that this thing feels dark. Oh, well, it’s still great glass.

18-200 VR out for delivery

It should be here momentarily, fixed.

Repaired 18-200 VR shipped from Nikon

I don’t know when it left their hands but it’s on its way to me.

Wild things

I just read this new Paul Graham article, entitled You Weren’t Meant to Have a Boss: http://www.paulgraham.com/boss.html

I liked it very much. It not only discussed some things I’ve observed in an office/company environment myself but it even covered a little about diet and living like a wild thing.

Arthur C. Clark deceased

This AP article linked to from news.ycombinator.com just now reports that Arthur C. Clarke just died, at 90 years of age.

MondoMouse (finally)

Once the wallet gets warmed up, it’s easy to use it again.

I decided to bite the $14.95 bullet and buy MondoMouse today.

SpeedDownload upgrades

Today I got an email saying the YazSoft folks are offering a free upgrade to all MacHeist II guys (limited time only) from SpeedDownload 4 to a single copy of SD5 for free. No strings and no future upgrade to SD6 included with this offer. (I’m already on the SD6 free upgrade list but am not entitle to SD5.)

An alternative they offered is for $15 you can upgrade from SD4 to SD5 now and get a free copy of SD5. And a free upgrade to SD6 when it is released some day. I didn’t notice if this was an upgrade to SD6 for both SD5 licenses or just one but I didn’t care enough to go back to the page and check it out.

Forest Brothers

My friend and colleague DmitriK was telling me about the forest brothers and strong Nazism in easter Europe right now .He said they had growing nazism about five years ago in Russia but it was destroyed by the government. I didn’t know anything about those things.

Purchased iClip 4.0

I just purchased iClip 4.0 for $19.95 (a good deal) via MacUpdate.com. I’ve been evaluating it. I hardly have used it but I know that this kind of tool is very useful when doing certain kinds of work. PHPClipboard was ugly and caused a machine problem (maybe it was hangups — I forget) so iClip is the winner. I looked at iClipboard, too, but it didn’t appear to have enough keyboard integration. Too bad because I liked iClip’s GUI better — simpler yet still sexy.

Another WFP email

I received another email from from the Windows Feedback Program folks. All is well and I’ll get my complimentary copy of Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate in 4-6 weeks.
Me likes.

18-200 VR still on Parts Hold, darnit.

Wow. I’m surprised they haven’t gotten the parts in and sent me back a repaired lens yet. Disappointed, too.

FogBugz On Demand Student and Startup Edition

Reading the FogBugz support forum today, someone in this thread mentioned a Student and Startup Edition of FBOD. Perfect since it’s just me right now. Awesome. A quick google search found this page that described it in a little detail.

I immediately converted from my free 45-day evaluation to a Student and Startup account in my FBOD settings.

Obsolete D300

I can’t wait until the D300 is obsolete. Because about six months after that I’ll be able to get one for a song.

D300 hands on

I was at Ritz today. Naturally, they didn’t have a 35mm/2.0 in stock. However, they did have a D300 body. I played with it. Twice. Big mistake. Wow. That thing is fast. And, boy, that LCD is a cut above. Holy crap. Just this morning I had resigned myself to the D80, telling myself the D300 just didn’t offer enough that I really needed for the price. And then I used a D300. They had an 18-135 on it. I used that and also put my 50/1.4 on it. Whoah. That thing was just impressive.

HR-2 hood and 52-to-77-mm stepup ring arrived.

They came at the same time as my FogBugz book, delivered by the man in brown.

I’m surprised at how slim the hood is when it’s retracted. Great! Nicely made, too. I expect it’s going to be a nice addition to my kit.

The stepup ring is just in case I want to use a future filter, such as a circular polarizer or neutral density grade filter (neither of which I own) with the 50mm/1.4 lens as well as my main zoom lens, the 18-200 VR.

FogBugz book

UPS just delivered Painless Project Management with FogBugz, Second Edition. Based upon FB 6, I’m glad to report, which is the current version.

Government schooling

I don’t think government should be relied upon to school my children.

Scary smart

I’ve never met someone so smart it scared me. I probably should have gone to university.

Push forward!

Today I decided to push forward and, despite any obstacles, make constant progress on creating my own software company and software products, starting with my first idea.

To this end, I installed Xcode 3 last night and today I ordered Painless Project Management with FogBugz from Amazon.com and got a 45-day demo FogBugz account and started filling it in with cases.

Nikon Parts Hold, 18-200 VR

My 18-200 VR is on “Parts Hold” presently. Ugh. Apparently it’s been so since 26 Feb 08.