Today I tried out #TheOldReader as a replacement for my #GoogleReader and I'm so glad that I did.  These guys are working toward as close of a clone of Google Reader as they can get.  It's not perfect yet, but they've definitely caught the spirit of the thing.  Repeat after me ... Keep It Simple Stupid.

You login using your Google Account.  That is, you don't have to set up a separate account if you don't want to have to remember another account.  Instead, you click on "Login using Google" and it redirects you to a Google Authorization page where you login to google and that page is how The Old Reader stores your settings (you can also login via Facebook or get a standalone account).

Once you're logged in, you can add feeds, import your subscriptions file like I did.  You did export your Google Reader data using Google Takeout, didn't you?

The web UI is amazingly simple and if you're a Google Reader user, you'll find it amazingly intuitive.  Yes, they're not done yet, but I'm impressed.  The mobile website works great on my smartphone (What?  Developers who actually build a decent mobile web UI?  Mark it down, because that doesn't happen too often).  Like the desktop browser version, it is simple.

Ok, enough already.  Go try this!

It's hot out there

Temperatures are hovering around 110 F in central Oklahoma today, and to top it off, a huge fire broke out at some apartments just east of the NWC.

As several of us were watching, someone looked to the south and we saw this really impressive dust devil.

The Taco Truck

For lunch today, I visited the "taco truck" that I've heard is amazing. It's on the corner of Porter & Alameda in the parking lot of Bill's Used Furniture in Norman. This place lives up to its reputation. If you're in town during lunch hour, it's really good food (and inexpensive at that).

From Norman

Best ... Error Message ... Ever!

We had a disk on one of our file servers that seriously freaked out late this afternoon. While trying to diagnose the problem, I ran a program called "fuser" to see if I could safely remove the disk. The result was entertaining:

# fuser /mnt/local/data0
Cannot stat /mnt/local/data0: Success
Cannot stat /mnt/local/data0: Success

This is kinda like saying "I've successfully failed". Thanks ... that was so helpful.

Tornados at work ... hail at home

The storms this past Monday (May 10, 2010) were incredible. We had a tornado touch down just blocks from my office building and some of our staff took incredible pictures from our observation tower (above the roof). It happens that we have a brand-new radar just east of our building, so our radar people got data at *very* close range. I have a number of friends who were affected by the Norman storm...

While all this was happening, my house in SE OKC was in the area which got hail from the tornadic Moore storm. My neighbors saved some of the softball-sized hail. They said that what they gave me was melted down a bit from the massive original size, as obviously they had to wait a while to go outside to pick it up. Here is a picture of their mom Mary Hale, holding the hailstone they gave me.

Inedible

... So I happened to be at the store on Saturday and while there, had to go to the restroom. As I was walking out of the restroom, there in front of me was this large 50 gallon yellow plastic trash can with a trash bag in it. On the side was stenciled the word "INEDIBLE". Euwww. I'm afraid to imagine what made them have to start placing that message on trash cans *in a restroom*

Valentines

Tis the season for flowers and chocolate
So to a special person in my life this wish
To one who loved me for so long
Ignored my faults, gave me a home
Who went without that I might have
And never slept before I did

In this life you'll never find
Too many souls who only give
Whose beauty is the life they lead
And leave a legacy called hope

Happy Valentines Day, Mom!