dykstraNet

Ever hear someone misuse a phrase or mix up a metaphore? I like to collect these things, so if you stumble upon one in your professional life, come here and share. Here a re few of my favorites. All were actually overheard in real situations.

“That’s a mute point” instead of “That’s a moot point”
“That’s the death nail for XYZ” as opposed to “That’s the death knell for XYZ”
“That place is a dive in the wall” as opposed to “That place is a hole in the wall”
“That’s water under the carpet” as opposed to “Sweep it under the rug” or “Water under the bridge”

My very own sister, Audra, used to live in New Orleans. She is safe, but she is pretty certain that she will not have anything to go home to. As you can see from the pink pushpin on the map below, she lived in the heart of the city, just south of Lake Ponchetrain. (Interestingly, Google maps has Satellite images of Katrina effected areas. Note red ‘Katrina’ button)

She is blogging a bit about her experience but says she has limited access to the Internet. Here is a snip from a recent email:

Another friend called me this morning sobbing. She had just made it to Texas and had ridden out the storm in the downtown Marriot. She got out of the hotel and what she described as 100 armed men came in and she apparently ran out as women were being raped and people were being robbed. She said she couldn’t describe the desperation or the smell. She drove out of town with her two dogs and her gun on her front seat because people were getting car jacked everywhere around her. She begged me not to go down with Chris to salvage anything as her mother-in-law in Kenner was raped and looted by gunmen and there was all kinds of gunfire in the streets. This was confirmed by Chris’s boss/friend Jack, but Jack did not seem to think it was that big of a deal.

We’ve all certainly been thinking a lot about Audra and her husband Chris this past week and a half. We’re glad you are safe and we’re here when/if you need us.

Flickr has photos of New Orleans.

Well, I finally heard from Audra after 24 hours of worry.

My cell phone apparently doesn’t work for incoming calls, at the moment, and who knows for how long. I’m e-mailing all of you Chris’s little sister’s phone number so you can reach us. XXX-XXXX. From what we heard on the news as of today, looks like life as we knew it is pretty much over. Molly and Lisa, if you get this call us because your cell phones don’t work and we are worried about you. I hope you and your families are o.k., physically and mentally. We’ll be in Florence, AL until further notice.
-Audra

Her cell phone was giving fast busy signals and cryptic “due to hurricane conditions, your call cannot be completed” messages.

Just reached her by phone and she and Chris and their cats are doing fine. Looks like they will not be able to return to their home for 30 days. They took all they could carry that had sentimental value (like Audra’s grandmother’s wedding dress) and left behind a lot of uninsured hardware (TVs, equipment for Chris’s business) It sounds like Audra assumes that those things are lost. She saw television coverage from areas very close to her home and a nearby brick Target store was completly destroyed. They are not optimistic about finding much when they return.

Alexis has posted a short video clip of she and I discussing the habits of the children she watches at the YMCA this summer. Check it out. It’s everything you ever wanted to know about kids at summer camp and the art of faux fart noises.

Last month, someone smashed my car window but did not take anything but my spare change from the ashtray. Check it out: (could take a little while to download… 11 MBs)

Quicktime player needed.

If this is not working for you, could you please take a sec and drop me a line.

I’ve been listening to Podcasts on my Ipod since late last year. When Apple announced that they would be supporting podcasts in the latest version of ITunes, of course I downloaded it right away. I’ve been using it for a couple weeks and here are a few complaints:

• Why can’t you just give Itunes an RSS URL in order to subscribe to a podcast? This is technically possible, but the feature is buried. Seems like they want to make it hard to subscribe outside of their promotional ITunes interface
• Once I subscribe to a podcast, why is there no back button to get back to the directory where I left off?
• Why is there no playcount column in the list of podcasts to which I have subscribed?
• The software on my Ipod is cumbersome too. Why are podcasts a separate category instead of just another playlist?
• And why can’t I use the star rating interface?
• And why, by default, does the Ipod remove a podcast from my Ipod even though I have only listened to half of it?
• And why doesn’t my Ipod play each podcast concurrently? When one is over, I have to dig it out and explicitly choose the next one.

Otherwise, the functionality was well thought out and works great.

Why not leave a complaint. It feels good.

I am very pleased with my new 4th generation Ipod Photo. The screen is brilliant and the battery life is phenomenal. I simply never run out of juice.

Avoid-Automatic-Pause Tip:
There is a great feature in the new Ipods that pauses playback if the headphones become unplugged. Say you are listening to an audiobook and you catch your headphone wire on something and the plug pops out. No worries. You don’t miss a single word because the playback pauses automatically. This usually works very well, however I’ve noticed that the feature can be quite sensitive when using non-apple headphones. Sometimes, when you go to tuck away your Ipod after choosing your song, jostling the plug in the slightest pauses your playback. Then you have to dig it out again and press play only to nudge the headphone jack again and (damn!) auto-pause. What to do?

To avoid this, simply unplug your headphones. Press the play button while your headphones are unplugged. You can now plug and unplug your headphones at will without inadvertently pausing.

See my 3rd generation Ipod review here.

One of the sadder places in cyberspace:

A place for people who can only confide in a postcard.

When you’re feeling bad about your own life, check postsecret.blogspot.com. You’ll laugh at some and thank heaven your not the author of others.