The “Final” mission was absolutely an amazing thrill ride with a bunch of wonderful little Easter eggs. #FindAWay Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
They Fixed It!
HaHaHa…. I wrote earlier this month about Apple swapping the colors on the Finder icon in the beta for the next macOS. See here Robinette - Finder for reference.
In the most recent beta version for macOS, they switched it back. MacRumors - Finder
The Fediverse
I have gotten asked what exactly Mastodon is and I always give the very simple answer of “it’s like the old Twitter but not owned by any one company”. For most the answer is fine and the questioner goes on about their day. A few ask for more details and that is where I run into trouble, trying to explain the Fediverse in more detail can be hard for someone who has only ever use social media from the big tech companies like Meta. Recently, someone I follow on Mastodon, Elena Rossini made a video that perfectly sums up exactly what the Fediverse is and why someone should consider using it instead of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, etc. Take a look and see if it might be right for you, like it is for me.
Adobe and their latest trickery.
So, like many large tech companies, Adobe has been adding on various artificial intelligence features across most of their applications. Many of them are quite useful, such as the photo cleanup tools added to Photoshop, as well as the auto generation background for InDesign. I don’t begrudge any company for wanting to continue to make profits from the software services they provide. However, Adobe is doing something that is down right scummy. If you subscribe to their Creative Cloud plan choice, you will be automatically enrolled into their higher priced Creative Cloud Pro plan, this new plan is $120 more a year when billed yearly. Again, I have no problem with the addition of a “Pro” tier plan option, if you have a use and find value in the options available there, then that is the plan for you. My problem is Adobe not notifying the plan switch in any way or at least I can not find any notification with my account. There will be 1,000’s (100’s of thousands?) of accounts that get upgraded and those users may not even know. Users have the option to resume their non “Pro” plan but you have to log in to your account page at adobe.com and manually switch to the now Creative Cloud Standard plan.
I am a Graphics Manager for a small printing company and have use Adobe applications going on 35 years, hell I was even a beta tester for InDesign. My biggest complaint with Adobe is their lack of an à la carte choice for those users who don’t need all 20+ applications that are part of the Creative Cloud plans. I really only ever use the four Acrobat, InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop in our production workflows and have absolutely no need for the Audio and Video applications, as nice as they may be. Now they have given me a new complaint and this is pretty scummy on their part.
Adobe is switching some Creative Cloud users to a pricier AI plan article at The Verge has more details.
Finder
Watched the Apple Keynote for this years WWDC and something struck me as odd looking at the screens of the new macOS… the Finder icon seemed off. Yep turns out they reversed the colors on the icon and my brain just keeps saying nope. This is a beta and I hope they uh, reverse course and switch it back to the correct way.
Also the text in the About windows needs to be centered not left justified.
Norm!
Of all the characters on Cheers, Norm was by far my favorite and George Wendt’s portrayal was comedy gold. Incredible talent and loved by his peers, sad to read of his passing.
Visiting Tallahassee
Other than a few mispronunciations (forgiven) and calling the Gulf of Mexico an ocean. ;-)
Tony of Build the Dream Now does a really great job of telling you about my hometown of Tallahassee.
Run - May 12, 2025
I am going to start posting my general running activity. Today was just an after work easy run…
3.77 Miles in 41 Minutes for a 11:02 Pace
I have too may interests.
Over my lifetime I have tried a lot of different things from various sports to games, to hobbies, to activities and for the most part I have enjoyed most of them. To the point, that it occured to me that many of these things (except for maybe a couple) I rarely do anymore or even at all. When this thought came to me, the second thought was, it this normal? I think it probably is. I guess if you grow up with enough time and resources, (and I am grateful that is the case for me) you will probably try a lot of things at least once.
Sports Growing up, I hadn’t played many team sports, mostly because I wasn’t skilled enough to make the team or it wasn’t really an interest to me but soccer was something I could do and enjoyed. Starting in middle school I played on some Parks and Rec teams and then continued playing for my high school. Playing ended after graduating and moving on to college. Later, many many years later, I began playing again in an adult recreational league. I still play in this league today and this year will be 16 years. I also occasionally play in a Parks and Rec softball league but that has been sporadic. I am a long distance runner but this has been a new activity for me and I was never on any school or organized cross country teams. I will also play golf, both club and disk versions, was a member of a few bowling leagues, will play pickup baseball, basketball, or even touch football. Sometime, I would even like to try hockey and also ultimate frisbee.
Hobbies While sporting activities are things that keep me physically fit, there are also a great may things that will exercise my brain. Being a card carrying Registered Geek® I love playing games and will pretty much sit down and play at least once, anything that you put in front of me. It could be board games, card games, role-playing, strategy, video, I have favorites in all the categories. I can remember my parents teaching me games like Yatzee, Sorry, checkers and chess. I still enjoy the classics like Clue, Risk, Uno, and of course Monopoly. I have owned in my lifetime an Atari, Super Nintendo, Playstation 1, Original XBox, XBox One, and a Nintendo Switch and while I don’t consider myself an avid video gamer, I do really enjoy sitting down and being a hero for a while, even more so if the game has a great story. I have played many role-playing games, some you may have never heard of like Traveler or Gamma World and of course the big one, Dungeons & Dragons. I have such fond memories of playing D&D with my friends going all the way back to the orignal red box set that I got for my Birthday. I remember reassuring my Mom that the game was not devil worshipping and to think of it more like King Arthur, Lancelot and their adventures vanquishing monsters. I don’t have the time like those days but still manage to play with friends and family on the regular.
We should all take the time to play more games… speaking of which… I think it’s time for a little Baldur’s Gate.
Jordan Travis Deserved Better
Football is a brutal sport and there are countless stories of career ending injuries to players. The injury to Jordan Travis was unfortunate and unlucky. Everything I ever read or heard about him was positive. He was never selfish, always seem to do the right thing, and by all accounts his teammates loved him. This Seminole fan will have fond memories or his incredible play at Florida State and I wish him all the best.
Developerese
This is a hilarious take on the language developers use in trying to explain their process.
Writers Block
Sometimes I write a blog post and then I save the draft because I don’t believe it’s good enough to post. I need to quit that.
I will write something soon.
Oh man….rest in peace, Val.
Alaska Aurora
So, Rebecca and I regularly take vacations of just the two of us. We now have started a theme of sorts, where the vacation is a bit of a Bucket List item for one of us. In 2023, it was my turn with a vacation spending time in the Northwest and then taking the Amtrak Empire Builder train for a three night ride from Seattle to Chicago. It was great and we now have determined sleeping on a train, even in a bed, is problematic at best ;-)
For the next Bucket List trip, it was Rebecca’s turn. For her trip it was to see the Aurora Borealis in person. Like me and the train planning, Rebecca did pretty much all the research for the Aurora. It was settled, that Alaska in late February during a new moon would give us the best opportunities for viewing the Northern Lights… as long as the weather cooperated. We booked our week, a few days in Fairbanks, Alaska and then the rest of the week at Chena Hot Springs Resort. Being from Florida, we don’t own the kind of clothing that is required to spend time in sub zero temperatures, so we rented from an Alaska Element outfitters who provided to our hotel the coats, bibs, boots, and mittens. We tested them out a few times in and around Fairbanks with an outdoor hike and spending time at an ice sculpture competition.
We take a shuttle to the resort, get checked in, unpack a bit in our room and try and rest a little because in a few hours we make our first attempt at Aurora viewing. Now during the beginning of this week, the days and nights have been cloudy and viewing Aurora was not possible, so we were relieved the day of our excursion was clear and we were hopeful it would stay that way through the night.
The resort provides transport to the top of nearby Charlie Dome mountain where they have a couple large yurts for warming up and the skies are free from any light pollution. When we arrive, the light show had begun, it was amazing. We walk around a little and I begin setting up my tripod and camera to take some photos. Aurora can be unpredictable, so I felt some pressure to quickly get as many photos immediately, turns out tonight I needed to feel none. As the hours went along, the light show only got stronger and more vibrant. I ended up with lots of great photos and one point Rebecca gratefully had to pull my head out of the camera and just be still and look with my eyes. I will remember many things from that night but the sense of quiet and peace that sky was presenting will be my favorite.
My Aunt Gin
One of my Aunts passed away recently. I have been meaning to write a post to try and say a little something about her that will convey what an amazing person she was for me growing up but also what she meant to me in my adult years.
Virginia Sloan is one of four siblings to my Mother. To be exact, my Mother being the oldest, Virginia was second. I am not trying to write her biography, there are better writers in my family who will do her a far better justice in that regard. What I do want to say is that, I like to think, my desire and love of traveling, came from my fascination with Aunt Gin and her Husband Uncle Brian. They had the opportunity to live in some amazing places but I especially remember their time in Kaiserslautern, Germany. I never had the opportunity to travel there but the stories they told of their time there always enthralled me. I still have a souvenier stein they gave me.
Geography is a funny thing with my family. Over my lifetime I have lived in a few different places and many of my extended family have as well. Those places rarely seem to be very close to one another. While social media helps with that to an extent, it’s never quite the same as visiting in person. Circumstances allowed for that during a tough time in my life when I was going through a divorce and my Aunt Gin lived fairly close that she would have me and my Daughter over for visits to her condo almost once a month. Gin loved kids. Her own and pretty much anyone else’s, and that included my Daughter. The affection, attentiveness, and plans she would have to make sure my Daughter was loved and visits would be memorable. But it was the quiet evenings when my Daughter was asleep, that Gin would sit with me watching the boats on the waterway and just be a comfort and a good listener while I tried to deal with the loss, sadness, and anger that I was going through. I will always be grateful for that time with her, it still means the world to me.
I love you Gin and I will miss talking with you.
