Online Fame | A 'blog written by Chris Rhee

The latest internet community: 43 Things (my page).

People have known for years that making a list of goals is the best way to acheive them. But most of us never get around to making a list. 43 Things is great for that! Make a list on 43 Things and see what changes happen in your life. Best of all it’s a way of connecting with other enthusiasts interested in everything from watching a space shuttle launch to grow my own vegetables.

It’s really pretty interesting and I hope to complete as many things on my list as I can. As of this post’s publish time, I have 22 things. You can go to my page on 43 Things and read some entries/posts as well– think of them as free, bite-size ‘blog posts. And who turns down free bite-size ‘blog posts? Nobody, that’s who.

If you picked up a copy of the NY Times today, you may have noticed a two-page advertisement for Firefox, an open-source web browser that kicks all types of ass. One page of the advertisement lists 10,000 names of people that contributed money to get the advertisement in the newspaper– my name is in there, listed in alphabetical order by last name. Look for the name, “Chris Rhee”, and tell your best friend that you’re his biggest fan.

Since I’m posting this pretty late in the day, if you didn’t pick up your copy of the NY Times already, you probably won’t get a chance to. So here are some images and the PDF file of the two-page advertisement:

• Firefox, NY Times Advertisement - Image (.PNG, 153Kb)
• Firefox, NY Times Advertisement - Large image (.PNG, 470Kb)
• Firefox, NY Times Advertisement - PDF file (.PDF, 735Kb)

If you’re reading this website using Internet Explorer, I’ll withold the name calling and just inform you that there are much better browser choices out there. Firefox is one of the best choices, in my opinion.

Even Homer Simpson is smart enough to use a browser that supports tabbed browsing (one of Firefox’s many features). Are you really going to be out-smarted by Homer Simpson?

I’m writing this post from my local Barnes and Noble on my all mighty PowerBook. I found out recently that they have wireless internet here (and you can use it as long as you have an account with SBC, which I do).

This is great, because now I can be a geek outside of my house, as well as inside.

I should really try to balance my geek level by reading some sort of non-geeky book. I feel that reading a book about PHP5 isn’t helping this situation at all.

Well, the post titles worked out nicely (I’m talking about the post I made before this one: Widescreen vs Full screen PSA).

I was going back and forth, wondering if I should get this monitor or a regular full screen 20″ LCD (or even a 19″ LCD). I decided to go for the 23″ widescreen LCD by HP.

Apple

I was also thinking about getting Apple’s 23″ widescreen Cinema Display, but decided against it because it only had one input for DVI (while HP has video inputs for Analog, DVI, Composite, and S-Video and the ability to chose which input to use with the press of a button). I did like the look of Apple’s LCD better, but the fact that I couldn’t use it very easily between my PC and my Mac made me choose against it. If you only need to use your monitor for one computer, I’d probably recommend Apple’s LCD over HP’s.

I’ve heard many reports that Apple’s LCDs have a pink hue to them. I went to my local CompUSA to check it out in person and I did notice the pink hue of the monitor. I’m not sure what causes this because I’ve also heard that Apple and HP use the same exact LCD panel.

Widescreen

I decided to go with this 23″ widescreen because I wanted the extra wide screen space (I’m running a 1920×1200 resolution) — big enough for me to view a full preview of a website on one side and the code for said website on another side. Or, big enough for me to view code on one side and a DVD on the other side. I haven’t tried the Picture-in-picture function yet, but I’m sure I’ll make good use of it in the future.

Also, I don’t have a widescreen television, so I hope to use this as my television as well as my computer monitor. I’ve already watched some DVDs on it and it’s great.

I’m keeping my 4:3 aspect ratio, “full screen” LCD (an 18″ Dell UltraSharp) to use along with my new monitor on my PC (dual monitors for even more screen space).

Desk clutter

Here are a few pictures, taken minutes after setting the monitor up. Since the pictures were taken, I’ve moved the monitors around on my desk and hid the wires a bit. I’ll try to add some more pictures later.

• Picture of the monitor next to my Apple Powerbook
• Picture of Counter-Strike on the monitor
• Picture of Futurama on the monitor

It’s been a while since I logged into AOL Instant Messenger (and even longer since I’ve logged into AOL Instant Messenger using the actual AOL Instant Messenger program— Adium X for Mac OS X functions and looks about a hundred times better). So I logged in tonight to check if someone was online and I was hit with an upgrade screen. Turns out my version of AIM is about nine versions behind…

So now I’m all upgraded and using the latest version, even though by the next time I sign in using AIM, I’ll most likely just have to upgrade again.

Still have the sAIM gripe (sorry, I had to do it)

Warn button? Come on, now. I really don’t know how anyone benefits from this. Who has pressed this button other than for the sole purpose of annoying the hell out of the person you’re having a conversation with?

And a slightly newer gripe

Still using the term “Buddy List”, I see. I’m pretty sure a lot of people have contacts on their list that aren’t exactly buddies. What about the “Enemy List”? Or the “Ex-boyfriend/girlfriend that I like to stalk and annoy endlessly and make sure they’re miserable even when they’re online because they destroyed my world and future chances of having a relationship List”? Or the “These people aren’t really my friends, but I like to talk to them online so I can act a lot differently than the loser that I am in real life List”?

It’s time we evolved beyond the blanket term of “Buddy List”. I demand satisfaction!