Nick Buraglio (dot) com

Archiving stories, memories and randomness...or, Cold Locals

2012-02-03T21:33:00.001-06:00

One of the things about the internet is that it is a good place to put things that you never want to forget. Stories, pictures, music, video, anything. Once it's on the 'net, it's likely there for good as there is no way to know if it can ever be completely deleted. As I thought about that, and as I near my 37th birthday, I relaized that there are a lot of things that are word-of-mouth stories about "adventures" that myself and my friends had as youngsters growing up a bit different in a rural Central Illinois town. Make no mistake, we did a lot of really fun, cool stuff back then. We were fearless, rule breaking, limit pushing little jerks.

The fact that most of us weren't really jocks, nerds or brianiacs made us just a bit different. We liked things like BMX, skateboarding and punk rock. We weren't the status quo for a small midwestern town.

Of course, some of us where a bit of all of those things, but, speaking for myself, I didn't really identify with just one of those cliques and always felt at home, but a bit out of place, too.
We've told these stories, and talked about our prized possessions from those days over and over. We've thumbed through the pictures hundreds of times. Some of these stories are fantastic and even somewhat unbelievable, but I assure you, they're all true (some are also probably lame and boring =).
I decided to take it a step further and write them down, post the photos and invite comments to a new blog called Cold Locals, named for the skate 'zine that I tried to make around 1988-1989.
It's possible that I may cross post to here, but I have not totally decided on that aspect yet.

Check it out if you ever want to know why I am the way I am or you just have a load of time to waste.

Happy Holidays from the Buraglio boys!

2011-12-10T16:18:00.001-06:00

Untitled, a photo by buraglio on Flickr.

Me and my boys

2011-11-05T11:43:00.001-05:00

883AAC7B-00F4-433A-B89E-E2844BF5F6AB, a photo by buraglio on Flickr.

Chilling out on a Saturday morning.

Zach is here!

2011-10-19T16:45:00.001-05:00

Zachary Dean Buraglio arrived at 4:10PM on December 16, 2011. Everyone doing well, and Zach got to come home the very next day!

iMessage; I've been left wanting

2011-10-15T10:12:00.001-05:00

I had very high hopes for iMessage. With the release of iOS 5, one of the big new features was iMessage, the ability to do Blackberry messenger style messaging on an iOS device. I had really hoped that this would be something like wifisms or the DeskSMS app for Android. At the very least I was hoping for iChat integration with iMessage.

This didn't happen.

Don't get me wrong, iMessage is still really cool. I can see most of my contacts that have an iPhone or iOS 5 device on my iPad. Unfortunately, there are some significant limitations.

I have to have the Apple ID of anyone that I want to be able to iMessage from my iPad. This can be problematic for a few reasons. Some folks use a role account for stuff like this, like a specific email address that is only used for that service. They may not want to share this address, or, more likely, I'll add it as a contact and accidentally email this address at some point, which could result in delays or never getting a reply depending on how often this address is checked.

The authorization process of adding new addresses to iMesssage seems to be clunky and, in some cases, doesn't work. I was also a bit put off by having (although not absolutely necessary) to add another email address in a username@me.com address. As an aside, I was happy to note that the ability to blanket forward all @me.com email to an existing email address. Very nice option, thanks Apple.

iMessage doesn't integrate contacts. If I iMessage from my phone using the 10 digit number, then message the apple ID, iMessage isn't smart enough to integrate these together as a common contact. Instead, it shows them as separate threads.

I was also really hoping for decent iMessage logging, available via iCloud, never mentioned but it was a pie-in-the-sky desire of mine for this new feature.

Overall, I'm pretty disappointed with iMessage. However, I'm cautiously optimistic that some of these limitations will be addressed soonish.

Another thing that would be nice to know, since this is being positioned as a "blackberry messenger replacement" is, what is the security policy on chat logs? I'm sure this is in the EULA somewhere, but I have yet to read it all. Does anyone have any condensed version? Maybe Im a bit naive, but my impression of BB messenger, and RIM services in general, seem to be pretty "on the side of the people".

Here is a decent write-up of the features and limitations of iMessage.

Cross posted to nickburaglio.com and tech.buraglio.com

Evocative?

2011-10-01T09:11:00.003-05:00

A major TV network hit me with a nastygram telling me that my T-Shirt that I had made, and never sold or even bought for myself, was infringing on their copyright and trademark of a certain high school character played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar that carried a giant phone. I dare not even mutter the name, which was in the title of the shirt, for fear that the media giant come and take away my will to live.

OK, I was probably naive in using the name. I profusely apologized and left the unsold product off the market.

The kicker, however, was that they claimed that the image, that was a picture of me (who looks NOTHING like Mark-Paul Gosselaar), was "evocative" of their copyright and trademark.

Wow, that is a stretch. A big stretch. Here is the text that I received:

"We own the rights to the character "[name I dare not mention out loud]" and the design is still nonetheless evocative of our copyright and trademark. You have been put on notice. Thank you for your prompt compliance."

For reference, here is the image, wholy created and owned by me (and also a picture OF me).

Caffe Ladro

2011-09-05T09:30:00.001-05:00

Some friends were nice enough to pick me up some of my favorite coffee from Seattle, Caffe Ladro.
I first had caffe ladro back at the supercomputing conference in Seattle in 2005 and I've loved their stuff ever since.

The last frontier...

2011-07-17T22:32:00.003-05:00

I spent some time up in Alaska recently (Fairbanks, to be exact) and I have to say, it was pretty intersting. I taught the ipv6 workshop and participated in a few other talks at Joint Techs, Summer 2011. I didn't have a ton of time to spend all around the last frontier, but I did get to do a bit of light hiking and exploring on my last day there (before Delta Airlines botched my return flights).
I think other than the conference (which was really good), the highlights were certainly the food. I had an Elk burger at The Pump House, ate myself stupid at the Alaska Salmon Bake, had a few really good brews and a delicious bison burger at Silver Gulch Brewery, and hung out until the sun went down (wait, it never sets in Fairbanks in July) at The Marlin. (Yelp). All were totally worth while. While Fairbanks was a little smaller of a college town, it's a big city in Alaska. If I ever make it back there I'd really like to hit up the Chena hot springs. If I had it to do over again, I would have taken my nice DSLR camera and made another trip to Silver Gulch (the northernmost brewery in the United States). Oh, I also saw the northernmost Denny's, which was proudly displayed on a sign.

I grabbed a few pictures with my iPhone and my point and shoot available here or in this slide show.

A Brother!

2011-06-09T14:15:00.001-05:00

IMG_3185, a photo by buraglio on Flickr.

It's official. Luke is going to have a brother!

Thats right....we're sporting a van.

2011-04-24T22:44:00.001-05:00

1000000090, a photo by buraglio on Flickr.

This van is amazing. I always wanted a "real" van, like an A-Team or Scooby Doo van, but was never really able to make it happen. As of last week, though, we're the owners of a 2011 Toyota Sienna. This 2011 Toyota Sienna is just downright amazing. It drives like a car but has the volume of a full sized van.

Another Baby Buraglio on the way!

2011-04-16T12:36:00.001-05:00

Baby Buraglio 04152011 -pub, a photo by buraglio on Flickr.

Everything is looking good at 12 weeks. Another Buraglio should be arriving around the end of October!

Sexy Saxman Serenade

2011-03-12T22:25:00.003-06:00

Refered to me by Sean Holland, I found this video to be immensely entertaining. What is not to love about a weirdo running around shirtless playing a George Michael song on a saxophone?

iPad 2....of course I want one.

2011-03-04T12:11:00.002-06:00

I got a 64Gig Ipad for xmas. I love it. I use it all of the time for work, at the gym (for watching video on the bike) at home and on the road.
It's a great device, even though I was underwhelmed when it forst came out. After using it a bit I realized that it's like a hybrid between my iPhone and my MacBook. A more convenient device for quick but more detailed work or entertainment.

Now, merely 2 months after I got mine, there is a new one. I knew that would happen, thats the way tech stuff always works, especially apple. Do I want the new one, of course. I'm like a kid when it comes to gadgets. Will I get the one one? Not likely. I's more likely that I'll wait until iPad 3.

I found this Conan O'Brien skit pretty entertaining given my "iPad circumstance"

Meatloaf Travis

2011-03-02T23:25:00.003-06:00

"Hoagies and grinders, hoagies and grinders...navy beans, navy beans...MEATLOAF TRAVIS"

13 years after "Meatloaf Travis" was created (and pretty much worn out), I still think it's funny.

Unfortunately I think my brand of humor is really only funny to me (and maybe a small handful of others, Riegelo)

Inside jokes rule.

This is a terrible quality video, fwif.

RIP Joker 2000(?) - 2011

2011-02-05T15:42:00.003-06:00

Joker
Originally uploaded by buraglio

We lost King Joker on 02/03/2011. Probably the coolest cat I've ever encountered, his laid back attitude was a distinct opposite to the other higher strung cats that share the house. It provided a nice balance that will certainly be missed and can never be replaced. Say hi to Lenny for me.

"Portlandia" is amazing. "I dream of the 90's"

2011-02-04T08:51:00.002-06:00

Portlandia is amazing.

This show is an instant classic.

Mind-Fi

2011-01-24T17:30:00.002-06:00

This is a pretty funny sketch/ad for the thow portlandia. I may have to watch this show.

Wordpress woes.

2011-01-06T01:24:00.002-06:00

I'm extremely irritated by the one last blog that I host on wordpress that I just can't seem to get converted to any other format.
Wordpress, while a very nice publishing platform, isn't quite compliant with the XML standard in the way that they format their export files. So, what that means for anyone that has a decent sized blog that they want to move to anything other than wordpress, is that they may be out of luck. Google has a pretty robust set of blog conversion tools, which worked for me for all of my sites, personal and business......except for one. As stated here, wordpress2blogger gives me "not valid XML" error when trying to convert. I've cleaned this file as best I can by hand, but it's enormous and I'm still missing pieces. It's irritating and at this point I'm almost ready to keep this one as a one-off and install mysql, wordpress, etc., etc., etc.......

Thanks wordpress.

Just in time for xmas....

2010-12-23T15:06:00.002-06:00

Recommended by longtime pal Sean, I got a great holiday kick out of this.

Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy with Will Ferrell & John C. Reilly from Will Ferrell

And for those that like it a bit more inappropriate, I give you a scene from "Tramadol Nights"

Merry xmas 2010.

The Walking Dead

2010-10-17T20:32:00.007-05:00

I saw this over at my brother's blog, and it looks pretty amazing. I'm a really big fan of zombie and post-apocalyptic stuff and this appears to have high potential. I've not read the graphic novels (although I will be obtaining it and reading it before the premiere), but if Mike says it's good, it probably is.
AMC has been pumping out some really good stuff, lets hope this lives up to the trailer.

Android (Nexus One) or iPhone?

2010-10-12T22:54:00.005-05:00

That is the million dollar question on many phone geeks minds.

The iPhone is really a love it or hate it kind of device, much like Apple stuff in general. Android, on the other hand, is still new enough that some folks are still ignoring it. Well, I wanted to know which worked better for me, and so I set out to test them both.

For the purposes of this test, I'm used an HTC Nexus One running both Stock and CyanogenMod firmware (Android 2.2) and an Apple iPhone 4 running iOS 4.1.

I must say, the results tha t I got were not what I expected. I've been a mac guy for a REALLY long time, even dating back to the Apple ][ days. That said, I'm not as religious about it as some folks are. I gave up my beloved PowerMac 7100 in favor of a BSD machine back in the 1990's and have been a champion of the BSD OS ever since.

A little history, I've been an iPhone user since the 2g. I've done all of the jailbreaking and unlocking, even when it wasn't straightforward and "one-click". I'm also pretty familiar with Linux and I prefer a command line over a gui.

I thought that the Android phone would be a perfect next step for someone who likes to tinker with the UI, tweak settings and generally be able to control most aspects of his mobile device.

....and that was mostly true. I LOVED the fact that my stuff was stored in the cloud. The fact that I could default my N1 and lock in as myself and all of my apps just showed back up with absolutely 0 user input (other than logging in) was awesome to me. A few apps had me totally sold. PicPush, for one, was a great app. Automatically doing things like pushing my images into the "cloud" (flickr and picasa) was amazing. The one BIG deal to me, though, was SMS backup. the idea of always having my text messages backed up into my email, tagged and all, was too appealing to pass up. I LOVED this ability. I get a lot of txt messages and, unfortunately, a lot of important info comes in that way. The fact that I can have it show up somewhere else, backed up, with no work on my part was...sublime. Simple Google voice integration was a huge plus as well.

...Then I played with my wife's iPhone 4. We did facetime with our son while away for a weekend. The allowed the Google Voice apps back in the iTunes store, so no more jailbreaking needed for useful apps. Backgrounding processes works. Multiple Exchange accounts now supported without jailbreaking and hacking the plist.

*sigh*

This is going to be a harder sell than I originally suspected.

So I set out to test my theory. I bought an iPhone 4 (after selling my 3g on ebay to ofset the cost). I fully expected that I'd like the N1 better. Simply comparing the hardware of the devices is pretty close, as described here at phonescoop.com. In my opinion (and for the things important to me) the phones really cancel each others strong points out with attributes like removable media and battery (N1) with better screen and MUCH better visibility in sunlight (iPhone).

Here is my rough (and obviously biased toward things I think are and aren't important) rundown:

Screen: The iPhone has better resolution, far better visibility in the sun. iPhone, without question.

Apps: Close. Android has more tuning and tweaking apps, allows for the UI to be bent and molded. iPhone has FAR more apps and many are much more refined. My belief is that after Android has been around as long as the iPhone and in as many dev hands, this will level out and maybe even surpass (since apple isn't strangling the dev abilities). Close, but I'm going to have to give this one to iPhone based on the sheer number and quality of apps.

Compatibility: Also close. I both love and hate that I need iTunes. Syncing my contacts, mail and calendars to the "cloud" on my iPhone helps, but ultimately, probably slightly better for Android. Media sync kinda sucks for anyone that has bought straight into iTunes for cataloging music and movies. iPhoto support is nice, though. DoubleTwist for Android is still buggy and lacks features in my experience. I use only UNIX and Mac, so I never looked into any windows software since it would only be foreign to me and I have not owned a windows machine in more than 10 years. In general, I'd probably have to give this one a tie based on the trade offs. For me, iPhone was the clear winner.

Media support: Also a trade off. Android has WAY more codecs that it can support (especially if you use a cool custom ROM like CyanogenMod), but for someone that has been cataloging music with iTunes since it came out and has an ENORMOUS music and movie collection with smart playlists galore, iTunes support is the clear winner. (Obviously this one is clearly biased since I've bought into iTunes hook, line and sinker).

Editing 720p video right on my iPhone works seamlessly. I'm going to have to go with iPhone on this one.

Multimedia Messaging: A minor or non issue for some but I use it a lot. FaceTime is amazing and we use it quite a bit. Sending MMS movies and uploading to youtube seems far better on the iPhone. I never could get MMS movies to work on my N1 and the upload to youtube was pretty rough, sometimes failing completely. I'm gonna give this one to the iPhone.

UI: Also tough. Mods have made Android very elegant. The ability to tweak the UI and add features is a clear advantage to me. However, the fact that Apple keeps a lockdown on that stuff means that I always have a consistant experience. The UI on the iPhone is obviously elegant and sleek. The trade offs (for me) cancel each other out. For my money this is going to have to be a tie.

802.11 Network: Both do 802.11N on the 2.4ghz band. Both do WPA2 enterprise. Nexus One can create a hotspot without me jailbreaking it and/or paying AT&T. Nexus One CLEAR winner.

Storage: My iPhone has 16G of storage total. ~14ish is usable. My N1 has 512M on board and a removable microSD card that is 16G. Clearly the Nexus One wins this category for having removable media.

Batter Life: I get a lot of calls and txts (and email) all day. I can go about 2 days with the iPhone 4 with the same accounts configured and txt/data/phone usage as I get almost 24hours with the Nexus One.

However, I can charge the Nexus One with any standard MicroUSB cable and change out the battery with a fresh one. I can also replace the battery if it goes bad (easily). Advantage, Nexus One.

Overall, the jury is still out, as I still have both. Lately, though, I;ve been considering selling the N1 and getting an iPad. I do, however, believe that Android is probably going to grab a significant market share since there are a LOT of apple haters out there, and there are even more companies grabbing the OS since it's open source.

New Glarus Oktoberfest 2010; Tapping the Staghorn keg.

2010-09-27T10:49:00.002-05:00

We went up to New Glarus, WI this past weekend to celebrate Oktoberfest. It was a fun filled weekend with a lot of good beer and good friends. A bit more low key than I expected, which was all the more appealing to me. Below is some bad cell phone footage of Dan Carey (brewmaster of NewGlarus Brewing Company) tapping the wooden staghorn keg (cask?) that I shot with my phone after several mugs of Staghorn.

It should also be noted that Dan was very approachable and personable, speaking with pretty much anyone that had questions, comments, etc.
I must admit that being a very amateur home brewer I was a bit intimated by someone as skilled at his trade as Dan is, but he was very cool and nice to talk to. My wife even requested that the Cherry Stout be made a regular offering (or at least made again).

Beer making 101, Bottling

2010-09-23T08:12:00.000-05:00

Only 2.5 years after the original "Beer making 101" video was posted to Google Video was posted, I finally got some time to edit together a "Beer making 101, Bottling" segment. It was a bit thrown together, so the quality isn't that great, and I had to edit out some stuff due to youtube's 15 minute duration restriction, but you'll get the basics.

New lens.....new inspiration.

2010-09-17T23:50:00.004-05:00

IMG_3794
Originally uploaded by buraglio

I got a new lens for my Canon XTi.....a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8. Not the most expensive piece of photo equipment, but pretty much a no brainer at $98 for what it gets you. I've shot some pretty darned good images with used, low to medium quality pawn shop lenses, so it seemed like a no-thought decision.
Art is all about subject and inspiration, not equipment quality and technical prowess. Thats something that many folks have a hard time grasping in the photography and video art world.
I'm not saying Im great at anything, but I do find it very mentally therapeutic to get out my sketch pad or camera and just capture stuff (not as much as some good submission grappling, but pretty close).

I've really been getting back into shooting images lately, only 4 years after my wonderful wife encouraged it by getting me a digital replacement for my old, metal bodied Pentax 1000 that I used before and all through college. Keep an eye on my flickr photostream if you're interested, I have been publishing quite a bit.

The wormhole coffee shop

2010-09-14T17:18:00.002-05:00

The video of The Wormhole Coffee Shop was sent to my by my younger brother today. This place looks to be so full of awesome; I had to watch this video twice. It's like my childhood and my adulthood had a baby and that baby was an amazingly cool coffee shop! What is not to like about Doc Brown's DeLorean Time Machine!?!

I've never been there, but as soon as I get back up the Chicago area, I'll be making a special trip to get some coffee at this place. Any place that has a coffee drink named after a Ghostbusters character has to be pretty cool.