Dad Therapy

MacHeist Bundles: Do Other People Fall for Them?

David Thomas — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:03:07 -0600

This is the second MacHeist bundle I’ve bought. The first one was purchased right after I got the Mac Mini and I was interested in these flashy applications. But I didn’t really use any of them on a regular basis.

So when the latest one hit earlier today I was definitely hesitant to pull the trigger. However, there were two applications I could use, CoverScout and RipIt. The rest are just gravy.

I was most excited for CoverScout but it doesn’t work as advertised. It brings up your library in a coverflow fashion, but it only shows a 20th of my album artwork that shows up in iTunes.

That means I have to have both CoverScout and iTunes open at the same time to make sure I’m replacing album covers that are actually missing. I have about 2,000 albums so it's no small hiccup.
Luckily, the rest of the app works fine. It gives you a number of options for the new artwork and they’re rated. Some are color corrected or of different versions of the album if it’s an older record.

It’s a one-click addition process too, which is nice. If the company can get the recognition process down right it would be a perfect program.

RipIt is a simple, one step DVD ripper which makes an easily accessible copy of your DVDs onto your harddrive which can be replayed later using the DVD player software without the DVD in the drive. This is the type of simple program that makes me glad I switched to a Mac. The company describes it best: It saves laptop power because the disc drive isn’t spinning the whole time.

I doubt I’ll use the other applications at all, but for $20 the two I will use were woth it and maybe I will try the game or the notepad program.

If you want to get one there are six days left. You can check out the site here.

Blogger disclaimer: I purchased this product myself and have not been contacted by the company in any way prior to publishing this post.

Growing Up and Old With Walter Schreifels

David Thomas — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:40:00 -0600

I still remember getting the first Quicksand record when I was in high school. It was a monumental release because it opened me up to the idea of intelligent hard rock/metal. Sure, there had been great records from Alice in Chains, Faith No More and Nine Inch Nails but heavy metal was pretty much a meathead arena.

‘Slip’ blew that wide open and was one of the most worn out tapes (I taped my CDs to listen to in my car) I owned. I blasted that tape at high volumes in my car like any good teenager would.

After Quicksand broke up it was a while frontman Walter Schreifels next big work Rival Schools hit. At that time I had gone through college covering indie rock and this Walter band was just as infectious as Quicksand was. I was peeved when it broke up. Walking Concert followed and while the record was good it didn’t live up to either of his best stuff.

Arthur Lee's Lullaby, Walter Schreifels

So two decades of listening to Walter Schreifel’s work and here’s his latest solo release. The tune, structurally is almost identical to Rival Schools, but the music is acoustic. I’m pretty impressed with it, but boy, it sounds old. I mean it sounds mature. It sounds like the music a married guy with two kids – me - would put on to relax to. Schreifels is only six years older than I am (yes it’s on Wikipedia I didn’t know this off the top of my head) and this sounds like music a 40-year old should be making.

I’m sure I’m not alone making personal connections to an artist, and following a career over so many years, but it’s interesting to hear such an evolution in the music and that I’ve enjoyed each step in his career from enlightened metal to heavy indie rock to well-written indie-pop.

While I’m sure the upcoming Rival Schools reunion record will be more upbeat, it might not be as authentic as the Schreifels solo record. I still get these press releases from my days covering music and the new record, ‘An Open Letter to the Scene’comes out May 4. That’s a long way to go so enjoy the free track until then.

After Setting Up a Windows 7 PC, Glad I Got a Mac

David Thomas — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:50:00 -0600

Sometimes when the Mac Mini has a hiccup,like forgetting it has a disc in its drive and not being able to eject it, I reminisce about my old PC and its big, blocky self. Then my father in law’s 3-year-old PC ate a virus and just wasn’t doing anything online.

He went out and got a cheapo slimline HP machine – he’s chiefly a browser, email guy, no heavy lifting needed – Windows 7 seems like a slightly slicker Vista but nothing unique. However, it takes nearly two hours to get everything set up and load times and restarts really are quite slow. Then I have to uninstall Norton, and install his McAfee, oy vey.

The whole thing seemed a bit antiquated even though I have a lot of headaches with Macs too. I’m not sure why that is. Programs seemed to start slowly too, and it was a brand new, clean PC. The one thing I love about the Mac Mini is the quick program startup, and of course iLife. Still think iPhoto was well worth the entire move to Mac.

WW in HD is History Porn, And Not For Kids

David Thomas — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:23:45 -0600

As someone who will sit down on a Saturday afternoon to watch an Andrew Jackson bio on the History Channel, I was a bit shocked to discover WW in HD on tonight. It originally aired in November but I must have missed it completely with other new TV on. But with the Olympics not that interesting anymore I stumbled upon it from a Tweet.

I just watched the first episode and the second is rolling now. It’s riveting. Basically the filmmakers searched for color film from the time and restored it in HD. It’s narrated by Gary Sinese with some great actors reading the words of 12 soldiers who lived the war. They’re voiced by a variety of actors like Rob Lowe, Josh Lucas and Ron Livingston.

I’m so pleased the History Channel decided to do this project instead of something akin to Ax Men and Pawn Stars. If you haven’t seen this yet, go hunt down future showings for the DVR now.

The editing, narration and immensity of the footage is the most astounding part. The “plot” of fighting both fronts is well done, but I think what will stun people most is the often gruesomeness of the footage and the atrocities that happened everywhere it seems. DO NOT LET YOUR KIDS WATCH!

I’d be shocked if this series does not win some sort of award come Emmy time.

Is Social Media All That Social for Dads?

David Thomas — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:49:33 -0600

As someone who's been relatively successful blogging professionally for automotive and entertainment sites, I find it odd how poorly the whole dad dynamic works in the new social world of today's web.

I was an early Twitter adapter and very late Facebooker. I find Twitter has become an amazing resource professionally as a journalist but it's not great for communicating with friends and family to say the least.

On Facebook I'd feel bad spatting out dad centric stuff which would annoy my close friends and family who rely on it to keep track of our family.

So what's the compromise? This blog is a start but I've found it hard to interlink with other bloggers. Especially making sure this page is fresh. As a pro blogger I know that without some interesting topics posted frequently, there won't be a huge increase in traffic or interest. But that's not really what you want in something social, one way traffic spikes.

Every day I marvel at my wife's mom centric message board which is old school social media but you know what? It's exactly what I'm looking for. Are there any established dad boards out there? I launched a ning board a few yeas back but it was mired by inactivity.

Anyone want to help relaunch it with some social media buzz?

I was shocked that Ning's mobile site was also optimized for the iPhone.How isn't every forum owner switched to this?

If you want to join feel free and start a forum topic.

Nothing Better Than Free Homemade Pizza

David Thomas — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:20:21 -0600

Here’s one way social media pays off. I won a $100 gift certificate via Twitter to Homemade Pizza! If you’re not in the Chicago, Minnesota or D.C. area, Homemade Pizza is quite terrific. Courtney and I have been going there for over five years now. Basically, you order your pizza uncooked and throw it in the oven at home for 20 minutes and then partake in some deliciousness.

It’s actually home baked but who cares. Courtney forwarded me the Twitter code to retweet to enter the contest and the next day she told me I won. Simple right?

But get this, she was mad that I won and she didn’t. Now, the $100 gift card is coming home to both of us. It’s not like I’m taking it to my secret family across town, she just wanted the win to herself.

Luckily, she went to pick up the card tonight and felt like the winner when she got us dinner, a wheat crust with green peppers, broccoli, caramelized onions, olives and pineapple on her half. Carter got the Cutie Pie kids pizza you see here. Of course he didn’t touch it. He’s a picky eater, but he’ll probably like it cold tomorrow.

Winning was really nice especially because we’ve been such loyal customers for so long, although I don’t think that had anything to do with winning. The contest I believe is going on for another day or two so get on Twitter or Facebook and sign up.