Opera, the underdog web browser

Though I have long considered, and still do, Firefox to be the best workhorse browser out there due to it's huge library of add-on functionalities, Opera has always been an attractive replacement to me. It feels faster, looks prettier, and does more right out of the box than either Firefox or IE.

But I was surprised to learn yesterday that out of those 3 browsers, Opera is the only one that passes the Acid 2 standards test (a test that determines how able a browser is in understanding and displaying standards-based code)! I always assumed Opera to be less accurate. Try it yourself in your favorite browsers. I've heard that Safari also passes, but I have been unable to test it.

Still, sites are not being developed with Opera in mind right now, due to their low market share, so popular sites, especially Google's (blogger, docs, calendar), don't work properly with it yet. Which is sad because I find Opera to be a much more comfortable ride. If you don't regularly use the services mentioned, or can use alternatives, check out Opera, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Dear Bill

Dear Bill,

What is this thing that thou hast done to me?

I was having a pretty good day. I even finished my workout.

Enjoying the satisfaction of my victory, I put up my music player to listen to some music while browsing the net and casually chatting with friends.

Life was good...


And then this!


Why did you wait until now to unleash the all new "White screen of death" upon me today?

Who am I kidding. I love you Bill. You remind me the world is bigger than I am... and you, larger still. You are my daily dose of reality.

For goodness sake people, get a Mac! (Case and point)

schmedley.com - A different sort of home page

schmedley.com

For those of you who did not take to Netvibes because it was either too complicated or not attractive enough for you, you may want to bookmark Schmedley.

The authors are taking a fundamentally different approach with this start page. Not only is the presentation much more beautiful than its competitors, but it "serves" you the web rather than "smashing" it together.

I could spend a few more paragraphs trying to explain what I mean by that, but I think it is better if you simply go check it out :). Take special notice of the channels up top (my favorite being the weather, stocks, and amazon) and see how they are serving you your favorite websites in a much more compressed and intuitive environment.


With email widgets (gmail, yahoo, hotmail, and pop3) about to be released and the prospect of eBay (with snipe!), calendar, and radio channels, Schmedley (even at it's alpha state) is looking to become a very comfortable place to be.

Garrett Cleans his Room

So it was starting to get just a little out of hand...













I knew something had to be done.
So in our time-tested family tradition
I donned the garb of our ancestors and
gutted my room in roughly 30 seconds...

Before I could go on however, I knew I had
to devise a way to hang my guitar on the wall

... it just had to be done.

Finally, after five minutes and much sweat,
my room was now a pleasant eBay picture-
taking station and music studio.

If it weren't for my sister though, it could
easily have taken 10 minutes or more.

Thank you... sister of mine.
'You is awesome'

Yosemite

We visited Yosemite last Sunday to have a family day. I don't know exactly what it is but...

Yosemite really brings out the best in me...

...and my Dad, apparently...

...even though it's a dangerous place (the original road is on the far side of the river, in this pic)...

... danger is scenic...

... we found this really cool cove-ish type thing off the side of the road and after scrambling over some rocks (we are no ordinary tourists)...

... everyone gets a picture in Yosemite...

... it wasn't ALL bad.