kansasgirl?

Okay--I just downloaded the Zune software and signed up for "the Social" by signing in with my normal Live ID -- the same e-mail address I use with Messenger. Next thing I know, I get a huge greeting "Welcome kansasgirl!". On top of that, it tells me that my unique URL where friends can see my current music is with "kansasgirl" in the URL. What the ....? Where in the world did I ever set that? Yes, it's obviously me...but I have no idea where "kansasgirl" was ever set. I signed into Live, Spaces, looked in Messenger, no clue. I can't change it. Can't figure it out.

kansasgirl?

ipod or zune?

I'm so annoyed--my iPod just died. I noticed it was dead on the flight home from Vegas to Seattle...but I thought it was perhaps the battery (which was odd as I had it plugged in all weekend). I just took it out, plugged it into the wall and it won't turn on. Nada. Boo.

So now, what to do? I started checking out mp3 players--and it really just comes down to the iPod or the Zune. Here's what I like about the Ipod:

• I've been using an Ipod forever...like, since the 2nd generation one. Product loyalty, yah.
• Because I used the Ipod forever, I've been freakin' buying music off iTunes forever. I just did a search and have 107 m4p files. That means 107 m4p files that I couldn't play on the Zune if I switched without figuring out a way to convert. Pain in the butt.
• The new nano is cute and small, except...
• I have 13GB of music. Okay, that's not a lot -- but I keep adding music and I like not having to think about the storage size of my player....
• ..which means I could consider the Ipod Classic. (this is an issue with the Zune too---why can't either company make a freakin' 16GB player? Why either 8GB or 30GB?)
• Nice accessories -- like that cool Nike attachment

Here's what I like about the Zune:

• I've played with a Zune---and honestly, I LOVE the user interface of the Zune WAY more than the Ipod. There are just subtle things like being able to toggle shuffle on or off right off the album I'm playing instead of backing all the way to a menu and finding the shuffle option. Plus, the UI is slick and really nice.
• FM tuner. Yes, I still listen to FM. Plus, all the TVs at the gym have sound tuned into some random radio station.
• Wireless syncing -- I think that's awesome.
• Xbox 360 syncing -- since I have one of these, I love the idea of this. Of course, I can just my Media Center extender to do the same thing, but it's nice to not have to wait to connect to my computer upstairs, yaddah yaddah.
• Sure, I talk about nice accessories for the Ipod--but I've had one for years and never bought an accessory aside from a wall plug adapter.
• Supposedly the desktop software rocks. Downloading now to check it out.
• The new 4gb and 8gb flash versions are really tiny--but again, I'd probably get the 30GB one to hold my music...which is just as big as the Ipod classic. Okay..a bit thicker..but the difference doesn't matter to me.
• Finally, okay--maybe there's a bit of drinking the Kool-aid...(being a MS employee)

In either case, I think that the only thing that's holding me back from getting a Zune are the 107 freakin' M4P files that I have...and it's all music I like too. Haven't done much research--but if any of y'all know of a good, free converter, I'm all ears.

Playing with Hulu

It's 1:09am and I finally got a beta invite to check out Hulu.com, the new online video service featuring content from NBC, FOX, MGM, Universal...heck, a lot of the big players. (thanks Euge for the invite!) I'm still getting a hang of it but am definitely noticing a heck of a lot of shows that I happen to like and watch (The Office, SNL, Heroes, 30 Rock, etc...) After previewing a few, I realized that it's Hulu that powered the episode of Desperate Housewives I watched the other night when my DVR failed to record it. Neat! I'll have to follow up with a more thorough review after going through the site more, but for now, in my brief 10 minutes of scanning through it, I leave you to watch the entire Sideways movie, which I can now embed via Hulu. Sweet!



And just to check out the snipping feature, here's this week's episode of Heroes where Hiro says goodbye to the Princess: (this whole snippet is in Japanese, Asayo!)

Uveitis Ugh

I've been nocturnal for the last few days because of the uveitis in my eye. It has been so extremely painful that the idea of looking out at daylight kills me. Since Friday, I've been holed up inside the condo, shades drawn, sunglasses on. I've only been able to go out at night once the sun has set. I took Friday off from work and am taking today off too. I can barely look at computer screens...and my left eye is so tender that opening it is such a chore. I'm really opening that this will end soon...or get to the point where I can try to wander out during the day and be fine....

Pitas, Uveitis, Spamalot + Swank

I'm almost done with my Pitas migration. I've moved over all entries except for the ones written in 2000. Man, 7 years ago. Crazy to think I've been keeping this blog for that long. I've been going down memory lane copying & pasting all these old entries....

So, my uveitis is back. This is the 3rd time I've had an inflammation, though from reading my past entries, it's the first time I've had a flare up in 5 years with the last one being back in 2002. The first one was in 2001 -- funny reading back on that as I had no idea what it was and didn't seek treatment until having it for nearly a week, resulting me in missing work for 2 days because I had gotten to the point of not being able to look at the computer screen. The good news this time around is that it's a really mild inflammation, such that I don't even need to dilate my eyes daily (which I previously had to do). I'll see my opthamologist in a week and hopefully it'll be gone by then.

Last night, Matt and I went to the Paramount Theater to watch Monty Python's Spamalot -- my, was that musical hilarious. Classic Monty Python totally politically incorrect and random humor.

Tonight, we'll be heading to the Emerald City Swank, Seattle Works' annual fundraiser. This will be my 4th year in a row going! Can't wait to see what auction items are up for bid.

Migrating from Pitas....

If you look at my archive links over on the right there, you'll see that my first 2 years of blogging (2000 and 2001) all took place on a really really old blogging service called Pitas. What an irony considering what the acronym stands for ("PITA")--I'm now in the process of trying to consolidate all my blog entries into one, and because Pitas is so old, there's no concept of a feed, importing tool, nada. So I'm literally copying/pasting all my entries here into Blogger. Ugh.

All of this is getting done with plans to eventually move my entire website to Wordpress. I really loved the page organization tools I had when I put the wedding website together. I was even impressed with all the plugins that exist for Wordpress (such as this nifty Flickr one that I used) that I think it's about time that I take my website and overhaul it....but the big thorn standing in the way is for me to migrate my old pitas blog entries to blogger first so that I can easily import them to Wordpress.

Whirlwind Trip #2: NYC

We took the 2nd of our whirlwind trips to the East Coast last weekend to attend Debbie & Saevar's NYC wedding reception (they got married in Malaysia in August). The trip was fabulous as we ended up seeing a ton of folks in the short amount of time---from hanging out with Debbie & Saevar and meeting their friends, to staying with Anna & Frank, and having dim sum with some friends from Kansas, Hester & Rod.
The weather was ridiculously warm too---when we left Seattle, we were wearing sweaters and puffy jackets (or at least I was). NYC, on the otherhand, was about 86 degrees on Saturday and I was able to prance around in a tank top and skirt throughout most of the weekend. It was awesome.

Here are some photos:

A crew of us at Debbie & Saevar’s reception at the SoHo House---I’ve always been curious to see what it’s like inside this notorious celebrity hangout. The rooftop pool area is really nice.



With the newlyweds:



Dinner with Anna and Frank at this fabulous barbecue joint (Hill Country):



Dim sum at the Evergreen Café with Rod, Hester, Mike and their newborn, Emma:



On Sunday afternoon, we found Lucrecia who happened to be in NYC also:



As a thank you for lending my veil to her for her wedding, Debbie treated me to an amazing massage (the Vishesh treatment) at the Deepak Chopra Center + Spa at the Dream Hotel. (Picture here is of the entrance into the spa) After changing into our robes, we were greeted by our masseuses and led into our individual rooms. The Vishesh treatment involves using a ton of warming massage oil and then applying long strokes and creating friction to develop strong pressure and relaxation. It was absolutely amazing and wonderful. After our massages, we checked out the center and saw the yoga room (beautifully constructed) and sat in the meditation room for awhile. The meditation room had a few low seats in the room (where you can sit cross legged) and this beautiful huge stone on a pedestal in the middle of the room. With the dim, museum-like lighting, it made the atmosphere quite peaceful.


Check out the rest of the photos from this trip.