Neat app for pesky windows product key

My windows xp license comes from an MSDN subscription; there's no orange sticker with the product key. I wanted to start over with Parallels, because one of my windows vm's had eaten itself. (When I start the vm, I get an empty pale blue screen with a sedentary pointer. It used to work. The joy of windows.) To find the product key, I ran Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder in one of the vm's that hadn't eaten itself yet. Easy as pie, there's my windows product key.

Now I'm rebuilding my windows vm's with Parallels 2.2, following this carefully planned strategy:

1. Create a new clean VM using Parallels' Install OS feature. Do not use the Express Windows XP Install; the express install requested the XP SP 2 disk, which I don't have sitting around. The express install gave me a pre-hosed VM, so, I recommend the custom windows XP install. Don't turn on auto-update; developers will want to manage their updates themselves. You'll need to enter your product key here.



2. As soon as the initial install is completed, before running Windows Update, clone that VM, saving a clean copy of the fresh install into an always-clean image. (Does that sentence say 'clean' enough?)



3. Run the cloned VM, and now run Windows Update. I also let windows activate at this point, which I hope doesn't muck things up later.



4. Clone that VM, the uptodate, clean one, and save off a copy.



5. Run the cloned VM and install Firefox



6. Clone the uptodate-and-clean VM again; install cygwin.

and so forth.

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low expectations surfing

Rules of thumb for re-learning to surf when thirtysomething:

• Beginner surfing is almost equivalent to playing in the water... so you might as well just play in the water and enjoy yourself.
  
  
• No one is paying any attention to you. Be as dorky as you want.
• Getting tired in the ocean is bad. Therefore, get out of the ocean before you're tired.
  
  
• Getting cold in the ocean is to be expected. Don't worry about it.
  
  
• Pretend that everyone else in the water is either a beginner or as old as you or both.
  
  
• Pretend that everyone else in the water is very nice and mellow.
  
  
• Pretend that everyone else in the water is trying to kill you, and stay well out of their way in the breakers.
• Never turn your back on the sea. (This feels like an old sailing safety tip, but I can't remember where I would have heard it. I've never done any ocean sailing.) The waves in the shallows can still bowl you over, and getting held under in one foot of water really hurts.
  
  
• If you're scared, go to someplace that scares you less. This is the fucking Pacific Ocean we're talking about here, and what will it prove to be a tough guy? The ocean can always kick your ass. get in the water whenever you might possibly have a chance. Even in November. With a beginner's mind, it will always be worthwhile.
  
  

If anyone surfs at Linda Mar and sees me playing in the breakers, please don't disillusion me. Except maybe about the "you're trying to kill me" part.

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A java applet that actually works

Java applets on web pages haven't worked properly for me, pretty much ever. Educational applets work, but if there's any b2c relationship going on, it never works. Usually if a web page even tries to launch an applet, I kill my browser before java takes over my entire machine. When I have actually tried to complete a transaction using a java application, I lost money. (It doesn't take losing much money on a technology to decide not to use that technology again. About forty dollars, in my case.)
The only reason I tried another java applet was that the alternative was waiting on hold for "the next available representative will be with you shortly." So I watch incredulously as Comcast (my internet service provider) launches an applet for chat with a live representative. I waited a few minutes, watching the West Wing Season 7 on dvd, then an analyst appeared. I described my problem, and s/he asked a few more questions to verify my identity and to pin down the problem. Then (mirabile dictu!) she sent an updated signal to my cable box, and said that should fix it within the hour.
This sort of technology was totally workable nine years ago, 1997, when I worked on a java applet for playing (ahem) the Dating Game over the net. It was totally workable four years ago, when everybody in educational technology was writing and sharing applets. Four thousand ways to learn the pythagorean theorem! I'm down for that. What was missing before was enterprise integration. The tech support rep got my information via the applet, and moved that information quickly into the cable tv service monitoring system, wherein she took action and solved my problem. (I hope.) The purpose of this interaction was getting my service fixed, and the applet worked for me, because I find internet chat more convenient than phone hold. They used ten year old technology integrated with their core systems to create a better user experience for a paying customer. So we're back to the fundamental lesson of usability: it's about the people, not the technology.
In the time it took me to write this blog entry, my cable box has indeed received new information which corrected the problem I was having. And... the technician was in Colorado. (Another Turing test variant: is the tech support person located in the same country as you?) Comcast, I salute you for providing excellent customer service tonight.

stanley tucci can be sexy -- who knew?

The new CBS medical drama, 3 lbs, is my favorite new show of the season, beating Aaron Sorkin's latest effort and the other nbc show about nbc shows. When I heard about this obvious take-off on Fox's House, I thought, "Stanley Tucci? Why would I want to watch him for 47 minutes in a row? And why do I need another doctor drama?" It doesn't sound good, but there was a free download on iTunes, my dvr is on the fritz, and netflix is in a dull period. I turned it on an hour ago and couldn't move from in front of the screen, entirely forgetting the pasta on the stove and my home-rewiring projects.
Remember what happened in Pulp Fiction, when Bruce Willis makes his first appearance onscreen, and we all thought, "Christ, where'd he get thirty pounds of muscle at his age?" Same thing here with Stanley Tucci, but instead of a sweaty boxer pulling off his handwraps with his teeth after killing his opponent, we've got a gratuitous shot of Tucci as he changes into scrubs. The writers went a bit far to make sure we noticed Stanley's physique; they actually put a beautiful woman in the locker room with him, and gave her the line, "you look hot!" The writers can relax: we get it. Strange but true, Stanley Tucci is hot.
If you don't care about medical drama or well-defined biceps, this show is still worth watching for the use of music. The illness = dissonance / health = harmony metaphor is well-traveled, but 3 lbs connects the music back to the characters' narratives with a sincerity I haven't seen since yet this century. With DEVO and Talking Heads and Lisa Simpson and TMBG, music became defiantly ironic. Crooners weren't cool anymore. Which brings me to the 3 lbs coup de grâce: 'Fix You' by Coldplay. This song is so perfect accompanying the episode's climax that I hesitate to write about it here and risk spoiling the moment of recognition for my few readers who intersect the emo/indie music world with the new-fall-season crowd. 'Fix You' features an Edge-like guitar riff that reminds me of the best bits of All That You Can't Leave Behind, and a clarity of vocals that recalls, no shit, "Sweet Baby James." The song fulfills and unites themes of vulnerability and interdependence crafted with Poe-like attention to detail from the first notes of the opening scene. (Wasn't there a 9/11 movie which tried to use this song as the anthem for "the defining moment of our generation"? Sorry, no.)
My Grandma Bea would have liked this show. Perhaps the only thing about which I ever actually related to her as a human being was our shared adoration of George Clooney. Stanley Tucci would have been just right for her. But she probably wouldn't have understood the Coldplay reference.
Note to relatives: no, I am not going back to medical school.