patrickdaley.com

Target Kaleidoscopic Fashion Spectacular

prdaley — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:23:22 +0000

Target has taken a lot of heat recently for their political donations. This isn’t a commentary on that debacle, but rather on the amazing spectacle they put on in NYC’s Meatpacking District on 8/18/2010.

It was part choreographed dance show, part light show, and part fashion show all combined into something never seen before. The soundtrack and corresponding choreography is broken into distinctive themes, from a grand sounding kick line number to upbeat techno. Perhaps the best part comes towards the end, when the lit up rooms turn into a dancing figure. (It’s important to remember that the light blocks are rooms in a building and not something on a screen; in some sense the video doesn’t do it justice).

You can watch the video here; the show doesn’t start until halfway in. If you watch closely you just might see me.
http://apps.facebook.com/targetspectacular

Fall Garden

prdaley — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 01:40:09 +0000

My first attempt at a fall garden. Let’s see how this goes…

Build a Basement: Step 1 – Demo

prdaley — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 14:26:09 +0000

Remove the old walls, ceiling, and floor with a pry bar. Secure or cap the electrical lines.

Wedding Ceremony

prdaley — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:52:13 +0000

Pictures finally posted.

http://www.patrickdaley.com/?page_id=225

i(phone)os 4.0

prdaley — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:43:54 +0000

No, I did not get a 4G (yet). I did, however, upgrade my 3G with the new 4.0 IOS. I have to say it was a complete mess. The upgrade took forever and when it was done my phone was basically unusable. I’m not sure whether it was a problem with the IOS or one of the apps on my phone, but something was causing it to be unresponsive to the point where I couldn’t even receive a phone call. I tried powering off and rebooting multiple times with no luck. In the end I completely wiped the phone, reinstalled 4.0, and then added my apps and e-mail accounts. After all of that it seems to be working fine. Good luck to anyone else out there eyeballing the 4.0 IOS.

www.patrickdaley.com

Wedding/Greece Pictures

prdaley — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 18:19:41 +0000

As I approach my one year wedding anniversary I realize I am woefully behind in getting videos/pictures posted online. Greece is posted and the “pre-wedding” pictures are posted. Ceremony/limo/reception/post-reception to follow. Videos soon, too.

http://www.patrickdaley.com/?page_id=225 (pictures)

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=928302297677 (band – reception)

www.patrickdaley.com

BLOW IT UP! (The leaking BP well).

prdaley — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 18:16:05 +0000

I’ve lost track of how long that well has been spewing oil into the Gulf. I’m pretty sure it’s coming up on two months, though. Just about everything has been tried up to this point, without much success. Friends, I have the answer. BLOW IT UP! Nuke it, carpet bomb it, or send in the Navy SEALS demolition squad. It makes no difference. I’m pretty sure the well will stop leaking if it is completely caved in.

www.patrickdaley.com

XP AntiSpyware 2010 / XP Guardian 2010: Removal

prdaley — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 15:35:34 +0000

This is the removal process I’ve used for this piece of malware. Since it hooks the .exe extension in the registry launching AV apps can be difficult. If you’re not careful with Autoruns and the registry you can brick your Windows install. I take no responsibility if that happens to you.

If you use Process Explorer while it is running on a machine you will find where it is.
C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Local Settings\Application Data
- MSASCui.exe (XP Guardian 2010)
- AVE.EXE (XP AntiSpyware 2010)
- o7yIC10ETb (or some other randomly named file)

If you kill the process tree and move fast before it can restart you can delete the files. It also makes a few changes to the Registry, which Malwarebytes will find. Basically you want to export these keys from a good machine and import them into the bad machine.
- [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe

- Run Autoruns and look for gibberish DLL files and delete them.
- Run a follow up scan with Malwarebytes to make sure everything is gone.
- Double check your Security Center/Firewall/Automatic Updates settings to make sure they’re where they need to be.

In Search of the Perfect Ham (Plus Other Food Ramblings)

prdaley — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 23:29:41 +0000

If we can buy something at Target, we do. (Since we have a discount it would be foolish not to). Over time Target’s organic offerings have grown to the point where I can satisfy most of my culinary needs save for a few things that I go to Whole Foods for. (Meat is usually one them). I tried to find a ham at Target, there was plenty of selection, but every single offering had sodium nitrite added and usually some other preservatives. Sodium nitrites are a carcinogen and linked to various forms of cancer. It’s not good. Your body doesn’t want or need it. To make things worse, meats that commonly have nitrites/nitrates added to them probably came from animals raised on feed lots, not free range animals. But Pat, organic and free range food is too expensive and I’m not convinced it’s that much better. I find that line of thinking interesting. I can’t think of any investment that’s more important than your own body. Without your health you’ve got nothing. The nice car, career, clothes, house, boat, and ability to travel all go out the window if you’re sick or dead. Yes, I know, I sound radical. But sometimes radical thinking is what’s needed in a crisis, and boy is this country in a food crisis. The notion of what is “normal” food is so completely out of alignment with what your body actually needs and wants. So, my challenge to all of you out there is to keep track of the ingredients in your food over the course of a week. How many dyes, preservatives, and additives are you actually taking in? If what you come up with looks like notes from a chemistry class then maybe it’s time to rethink the way you’re fueling your body. To better food.

www.patrickdaley.com

XP Media Center Edition 2005: The forgotten MCE

prdaley — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:23:39 +0000

I can’t help but be slightly annoyed that the copy of MCE 2005 I bought two years ago has been completely dropped by Microsoft. I get it – MS wants people to buy Vista or Windows7. If my version of MCE had the same features as Windows7 MCE I’d have no reason to upgrade. For the most part I use my copy of MCE to record TV in SD and to stream online content. When I heard that Netflix was going to be integrated into MCE I thought that actually sounded pretty cool. Any chance to use the MCE remote over a mouse and keyboard is a good thing, right? No such luck for me. There were a few projects to get Netflix working inside of MCE 2005, but they are pretty much dead now (in addition to most other development for MCE 2005). It’s a shame, really. My HTPC isn’t my primary computer and I really could care less whether MCE is running on top of XP, 7, or Windows 95 for that matter, but alas, here I am stuck with the prospect of shelling out another $100 for another copy of Windows7 just so I can record/stream TV.