Slightly Off KIlter

Normal is overrated

Trivial Pursuits

  • Spider in the Bath

    I did a Catch & Release last night on a Very Large spider** in the bathroom. ** Where by "very large" I mean a typical Yahoo! Sunnyvale-sized orb weaver. Body as long as my little finger joint. Legs would have landed outside a 50-cent piece (a what?   I'm sorry, spider. You are very handsome… Continue reading

  • SF Botanical Garden

    Today was a beautiful day in the San Francisco Botanical Gardens. Lots of shady walks. Numerous blossoms. Continue reading

  • Guitar Recital

    We went to a set of guitar recitals last night.   The first guitarist was technically competent and the piece was complex. At least, we think so; it certainly had a lot of notes. It wasn't melodic, so we can only assume the notes he played were the ones he was supposed to be playing.… Continue reading

  • All Cartoons Are Not Cartoon Characters™

    My Credit Union offers the option to "design your own" image for credit cards. On Nov 14, I went to the site and plugged in my business card (sans text). Submitted. A day later, I received a "disapproved" notice: The design/image contains or depicts copyrighted, trademarked or branded products and/or services. This may include registered… Continue reading

  • Late 19th/early 20th century tradition meets early 21st century tech

    I filed a "Fictitious Business Name" application this month. The process seems, largely, to be stuck in the late 19th / early 20th centuries. According to San Mateo County, CA, the process requires: Fill out the form (this, surprisingly, can be done online). Make four copies of the form. Write a check (I still have… Continue reading

  • iTunes 12 violates Principle of Least Surprise

    Someone at Apple apparently thinks it's great fun to change the UI every time an updated version of the software ships. For even more "fun", they have a habit of setting defaults that either change (or remove) features a long-time user has come to expect. Some of those features are changed forever. Sometimes, the user… Continue reading

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  • AntiSpam Processing with Mac OS X Server for Mail

    We upgraded cfcl.com to Mac OS X Yosemite in December, 2015, installing OS X Server v. 5.0 to handle DNS, Mail, and Web services. We'd been handling Mail services "manually" using postfix, SpamAssassin, and MailServe (by Cutedge Systems) for several years, so there was a bit of a learning curve in switching over to OS… Continue reading

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  • Cut To Shape, File to Fit

    I bought a large glass jar for a project the other day at a thrift shop. There was no matching lid, but there was a tempered glass pot lid that almost fit. The lid looked a lot like the first photo – tempered glass with a screw-in handle, a metal rim, and a 1/4-5/16" metal… Continue reading

  • OMG My IMAP Mailboxes are Gone!

    I have never cared for the "store mail on the server" model of IMAP. Disliking this from an academic standpoint, I had avoided using IMAP as much as possible. However, I recently decided that I wanted to use email on both my desktop and my laptop. Thanks to recommendations from knowledgeable friends and acquaintances who… Continue reading

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  • Never Attribute to Malice

    Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. Or incompetence. Or lack of care… In 2000, we refinanced the mortgage on our house. Shortly thereafter, we applied for a home equity line of credit (HELOC). The former was with First Nationwide Bank; the latter with CalFed. In 2003, Citibank purchased both notes.… Continue reading