Webthoughts

Check out Panic Software's new webstore (for apparel, not software). The store works by drag-and-drop and even includes the Mac OS X "Poof" effect. Really cool!

Print Window 3.1.1 is now available for download. This update fixes a few bugs that were introduced in Version 3.1.

• Fixed: A crashing bug that could occur after a print job was spooled to the printer.
• Fixed: Visual problems that could occur on systems running Mac OS X Jaguar (10.2.x).

Both these bugs showed up after testing was complete. The first bug, as I mentioned before, was pretty difficult to track down, but, with the help of a few dedicated testers, I finally found the problem. It turned out to be a stupid mistake on my part that occurred as I was readying the final release of 3.1 (which is why it didn't show up in testing).

As you have probably noticed, things look a little different around here right now.

I've finally found some time to live up to my original pledge to make this weblog look more like the rest of the Searchware Solutions website (rather than using the default MoveableType templates). Currently, only the main page is using the new template, but the rest will migrate over after I get things tweaked just the way I want them.

There are a few issues that I'm running into that I haven't found a solution to. The boxes in the sidebar appear normal in most of the browsers I've tried. But they don't appear correctly in Safari. In Safari, the dark line on the right side of the boxes appear twice as thick as they should be. I haven't figured this one out (except that the graphic that draws those boxes is being distorted somehow). If anyone has any suggestions as to why Safari is doing this, please let me know.

You will continues seeing other minor tweaks to the stylesheets and layout of these pages in the days ahead.

Charlie Daniels, Black Eyed Peas, Earth, Window and Fire...

Uh...okay.

I'm so glad I got to watch that.

BTW...my prediction: Patriots 20, Eagles 17.

One-hundred Million times better than last years. 'Nuff said.

Well, I got the score wrong, but got the spread right.

Congratulations to the New England Patriots. It was an absolutely ugly first half (for both teams, really), but the Patriots got it together in the second half and did what it took to get the win.

So, I suppose this makes them a dynasty. Honestly, I have absolutely no particular feelings about the Patriots. But, I do like a success story, especially one for a team which plays as a team, rather than as a bunch of individuals. So, for now...Congratulations.

Before the Superbowl, my wife and I went bowling. Yes...bowling.

It was the first time in...geez...must have been seven or eight years. And, it showed. I used to carry around a 200 average. My first game this afternoon was a 97. Ouch. But, I was much happier with my second game: a 167.

I could probably get it back up to a 200 average again if I kept at it. We have talked about joining a league. Maybe.

Well, this week, I have been spending much of my "free" time at work. A company Vice-President (i.e. Big Wig) was in town visiting today, so I've been spending a lot of time making sure things around the shop were completely ship-shape (did I really just use the word "ship-shape"?).

On top of this, the last few days have been much busier job-wise than they have been for a long time, so there was less time at work to get the things done that needed doing. When it rains, it pours...

I plan on some hard relaxing this weekend.

Print Window 3.1.2 is currently in development. I might end up releasing this version sometime this weekend.

As promised, I have posted Print Window 3.1.2.

The new version is mainly a bug-fix release. The major change is the fix to a crashing bug that could occur when Print Window was first launched on systems that didn't use the "United States" date format in the "International" System Preferences pane. So, yes, it's a very targeted release.

If this bug affected you, then obviously, it's a highly-recommended update. If it didn't affect you (you know know it if it did), then there is no reason to update if you don't want to.

This, hopefully, will be the last release of the Version 3.1 line. Pre-work for the next major upgrade has already begun. I'm looking forward to really sinking my teeth into it!

My wife and I will be attending my niece's first birthday party today. Although, granted, a first birthday party is more for the parents than it is for the kid (really, the Kid couldn't possibly care less), it should still be a fun time.

(And yes, her birthday is really tomorrow, but today was much more convenient for all involved for a party.)

Believe it or not, the next upgrade to iHam on iRye is still in the works. In fact, it's almost ready to go to a public beta release. Here is the one thing keeping the public beta from release: Mac OS 9 support.

Blah blah blah blah IE7 blah blah blah blah too many people using Firefox blah blah blah blah not enough people using Windows XP blah blah blah blah

What happens when your overweight cat trys to squish itself into a box that's several times too small...

I had the day off from my "real" job today. We get holiday pay for President's Day, but it wasn't feasible for me to take Monday off, so today was my day off.

It was a very restful day, for which I am very thankful. Granted, work did call me three times today, but it was nothing terribly involved, so it didn't impact my day too much.

Frankly, I spent most of the day being lazy. I watched the latest episode of 24 (stored on my TiVo) earlier today. Tonight I watched two episodes of Firefly from the DVD box set (I've slowly been working my way through the set).

I ran some errands around town and also spent some time cleaning around the house.

So, yes, it was a rather uneventful day. But I needed one of those after these past few weeks.

I spent most of the day yesterday visiting my brother-in-law and his family with my wife. They live in Volin, South Dakota (about 20 miles west of I-29). Let me tell you, that is the definition of "Middle of Nowhere".

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with living in rural areas. It's just not what I'm used to. I've always lived in big cities, so going to a place where the nearest Wal-Mart is who-knows-how-far away is a little disconcerting.

Although we were there for the better part of the day, I didn't really get a chance to see most of the town (and I'm pretty sure there wasn't much of a town to see, size-wise). But, I'm sure we'll be heading back there at some point and I will make it a point to see more.