As many of you might have seen (or heard), Google Reader recently got “updated” to a new UI and backend. It now talks to Google+ (good) but stripped out almost all the features that the hardcore reader users like myself actually USED – the friends feeds, public sharing options, the Next/Previous Buttons, and the really nice navigation sidebar that would show the read/unread feeds, folders & tags, & etc.

If you’ve been watching the social networks, you may have also seen how the users reacted : badly. And to top it off, both Google and several commentators have basically taken the stance that we should suck it up and deal.

Since the web UI has taken out everything I used and liked (and then dumbed it down to an interface that is barely equivalent to the old mobile view), I started looking at standalone apps that I could use instead.

What I was looking for :
- The ability to use Google Reader as a “sync point” – that is JUST to save read/unread marks and the feed list.
- In not using Google Reader as a sync point, some kind of Sync function
- iOS, Windows, Mac, and Linux support

Turns out there is no single RSS reader that does this. What I’ve done is try to find what works best for me on each platform. Here is what I’m using now. All of these sync to Google Reader, so when I switch platforms, my read/unread and subscriptions carry over. Additionally, all of these are FREE (or free with ads and a paid ad-free version).

- iOS : Perfect RSS (free with ads, paid without). May people recommended Reeder, but I like the UI for it better
- Linux : OwlRSS (free). It’s based on Eclipse, and supposedly runs on OSX, Linux, and Windows. On OSX it was dreadful, but on Linux it kicks ASS.
- Windows : OwlRSS again. I’m surprised that this app runs so well on Linux and Windows, and blows on my OSX Lion machine.
- OSX : NetNewsWire (free with ads) which has been the standard on OSX for several years.

There are also some apps that I tried and felt were dreadful in handling RSS :
- Thunderbird
- Mail.app
- Outlook

Seriously guys, RSS support feels bolted onto these apps, and each assumes you read your feeds in that app and ONLY that app. Plus the disk usage and caching used in all of them will KILL performance if you have more than about 10 feeds that update a LOT.

So that’s what I’m doing, and I’m interested in hearing what other people are doing.

I understand the new gMail Look & Feel is not a happy thing either, but I use desktop/phone clients for that these days.[1]

[1] I’d go back to running my own mail server, but gMail does have damn good spam handling…

So last night I hauled my ass to Raleigh to catch Spider Lilies at Shakedown Street as part of SIGNAL 2011.

And it was awesome.

(more…)

A couple of days ago, I poo-pooed Hurricane Irene on my Google+. At the time, the media was working up to a full fledged froth, to the point where you can no longer buy bottled water anywhere in Central NC.[1]

Since then she’s strengthened, turned a bit, and looks like a textbook storm from the satellite views. Check out those images on the weather site – she’s very, very pretty.

While this isn’t the “storm like we’ve never seen before” the media is promoting[2], if you live on coast, this looks like it’s gonna be a bad one for y’all and I hope you and yours are already headed in-land. I’m filling the water jugs, and thanks to listeners we have a week of non-perishables in the pantry[3], although unless she turns east suddenly, I doubt I’ll need them.

For everyone on the east coast proper – be smart, be safe, try to stay dry, and check in when the storm has passed, mmm-kay?

[1] Folks, but some empty 5 gallon jugs at the sporting goods store, or get a rain barrel, or something. Fill it from your goddamn tap. Even at city water prices, it’ll cost less than buying Dasani 16-oz bottles by the case. I have several jugs I use for camping and volunteer work that I keep clean, plus the rain barrels. The barrels are full, will get filled and I can boil and purify that stuff no problem. When did we get so prissy about water?

[2] Did y’all miss Hugo & Fran? Did everyone who was around for Hazel in ’54 die off?

[3] Ya’ll rock

According to the little widget on my computer, today marks one year since I had my last cigarette. While the e-cig and I are still buddies, I do not miss “real”[1] cigarettes in the least. Nether does my budget.[2]

[1] See also : “analog cigarette,” “cancer stick,” and “expensive addiction”
[2] The widget claims over $1800 in savings in the last year. I’d ask where it went but it seems like when I free up some cash, something comes along to take it. *grump*

After hearing that the gourmet sensation of the South is the humble Tomato Sandwich, Ursula asked me to make her one (and we’ve got a lot of tomatoes this year). So I did. And now she’s hooked. Ripe tomato on the vine? “Kevin…..will you make me a tomato sandwich?” New variety at the farmer’s market? Gotta try it in a sandwich. Come January, when Screech Owl Farm starts in with his organic hot-house hydroponic[1] tomatoes? I’ll be making her sandwiches. It’s a winner, and very, very easy.

“But,” I wondered to myself, “if this is the gourmet sensation of the season, I wonder what they’re saying out there” and looked them up.

Whoa.

For clarification, in case anyone thinks what they say on the food blogs is correct, the “classic”[2] tomato sandwich is :

Ingredients
- two slices of white bread
- your favorite mayonnaise
- enough lightly salted thick slices of tomato to cover bread.

Instructions
Put the mayo on both slices of bread, and put the tomatoes between them. Eat.

My notes
- You can use any fresh tomato for this, right of the vine if possible. Beefsteak? Roma? Cherokee Purple? Pink Brandywine? All fine, just the fresher the better, and that is the ONLY requirement.
- Salt them with basic table salt or kosher salt. You do not need Black Sea salt, Hawaiian red salt, or flavored salt.
- Cheap white bread is best. Wonder? Bunny? Generic? All fine. White Wheat? Well, OK. But anything past that and you’re getting into the “overly fancy” realm. And probably paying too much for bread, unless you make it yourself.
- About the mayo….OK, look, there’s a lot of debate out there with the “Mayo” vs. “Miracle Whip” stuff, and THEN the “Kraft” vs. “Duke’s” vs. “Hellmann’s” – use whatever you like. We’re using Kewpie, ourselves. It’s what we happen to have. If we run out, I’ll get a jar of one of the others next visit to the store.

And that’s it. Nothing fancy at all, and very, very simple. Y’all need to turn it down a notch, and get simple. Artisan bread? Basil Salt? Avocado? Toast? TOAST?!? Really people? Really?

What ARE y’all thinking?

And don’t get me started on cheese…

[1] He burns used motor oil to heat the greenhouses, waters only with collected rainwater, and has fresh tomatoes January through June, when no one else does. And DAMN they are some fine tomatoes.
[2] And by classic, I mean traditional[3]
[3] and by “traditional” I mean “y’all need to quit over-complicating simple foods”

• Overall, the trip to WA was fantastic, just…long.
• Three weeks is a LONG TIME to be away from home. I have no idea how people do extended trips of six months or more
• We have some really cool and exceptional friends in the Seattle area
• The fan meetup was a whole lot of fun – y’all are pretty amazing
• You can get whole lot of damn fine cheese for $18 when it’s Cougar Gold
• FedEx has some pretty amazing customer service when you call and say “my package didn’t get here and the website says it did”

All that being said – it’s good to be home. Now I have to get caught up on home stuff and adjust to the new schedule, and I’m good to go…

When I go to my beach condo timeshare, I know what I’m getting into, and pack accordingly. My box of detergent, my mega-packs of dishwasher powder, my box of dryer sheets, and some basic staples I’ve got around the house. And since I can pack as much or as little as I want in the car, I can overpack and if I don’t use something or have leftovers? Throw ‘em in the car and bring them home.

However, I can’t really do that when traveling across the continent by air.

The corporate apartment I have in Bellevue is equipped about as well as the beach timeshare. Utensils, 8-ish place settings, washer, dryer, etc. So I’ve got a lot of the basics, but I’m missing the staples, as it were. I mean, I’m here for three weeks, and need to do more than one load of dishes and one load of laundry. But unless something goes horribly wrong, I’ll probably only do maybe 6 or 7 loads of laundry. Or as many loads of dishes.

The question is, where do I buy the “I only need 6 of this packages” of the sorts of supplies? I mean, do they even make ‘em that small anymore?

The end result is, I think I’m gonna have some leftovers. I suppose I can ship the extra non-perishables home, or I can leave them for whoever gets the place next.

I mean, I don’t really NEED the other 74 laundry sheets, do I?