Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Across the Atlantic Sea…

A little help? Where might a homosexual gentleman go in Manchester, England—on a Thursday night, say—to enjoy drinking and dancing with similiarly-inclined fellows? Specific recommendations (in other words, I've already assumed a stumble down Canal Street) are appreciated. Have you any favorite nightclubs? Do let me know. Thanks!

Monday, October 30, 2006

Firefox wannabe

A Little Help? Does anyone know of an extension or other way to create keyboard shortcuts for Firefox bookmarks? Specifically, I'm looking for a way to replicate the Safari behavior where pressing Command 1–9 triggers the first nine bookmarks in the Bookmark bar. (In Firefox 2.0, the same keys switch between open tabs.)

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Hayalp!

A little help? Can anyone please point me to an understandable guide to exporting content and comments from a Drupal node into a Movable Type format? I have a bunch of posts stuck in a Drupal database that I need to dump into another application and I'd really rather not have to cut and paste the whole shebang.

I have to say, right now that "open source" darling isn't feeling all that open to me. But maybe I'm overlooking something in the tonnage of inscrutable "documentation".

Anyone? Anyone?

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

The little Engine that might…

So if you're wondering about my relative silence hereabout lately, it's because in addition to every other thing occupying my spring-summer "off-season", I'm rebuilding a major website and I have the fish-or-get-off-the-pot deadline quickly careering toward me.

By stumbles and starts, I'm learning to use Expression Engine, which I selected for the project after auditioning about eleventybillion a dozen content management systems. I'm at once impressed by its power and flexibility and daunted by its learning curve. Probably undertaking a large, critical project like this is not the best or most prudent way to learn a new CMS, but...well, I'm kind of dumb like that.

Alas, although EE seems well-documented, the docs are all online, with no provision for, say, downloading a PDF version or something else I can easily print. I'm old-fashioned that way, I suppose. I need a book or a binder I can flip through while poking and prodding the system's many features. I recognize the flexibility of online docs, but they're not entirely my speed. Alas also there's doesn't appear to be a "...For Dummies"-style book about Expression Engine, as there is for many other CM systems.

So I'm climbing that steep learning curve largely unaided, consulting the official docs and relying on Google to deliver answers to my more vexing and/or stupid questions. I'll make it, but it's gonna be a killer schlep.

Do you use Expression Engine? Do you have any favorite websites or other resources that helped you learn its ins and outs? Anything that really helped you get the EE way of doing things? Share 'em in the comments, if you please. Thanks!

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

Unlucky lobster

My spring of whirlwind travel continues, with the past few days spent on a breezy (and rainy) jaunt to Chicago for assorted obligations. Despite the nip in the air and the persistent drizzle, it was a lovely visit. I think it was Emerson who said that the earth laughs in flowers and, if my glimpses of the many parks and plazas of the city through the raindrops are any indication, Chicago was laughing through tears all weekend long. Just lovely!

Late Sunday night while enjoying the hospitality of my bosom pal and ami avec des avantages John, I spied a commercial on TV. I wish I could remember what it advertised; to the best of my recollection, it was internet service or integrated communications or something. Might have been Comcast?

The spot featured a "regular guy" in the foreground, extolling the virtues of the service while, in the background, someone dressed as a lobster passed out circulars to passersby. While regular guy rambled on about unlimited minutes or $19.95 a month or somesuch, the lobster got frustrated, threw down his handbills and tried to walk into a building through a revolving door, getting his tail caught in the process and eventually becoming comically trapped as the commercial ended.

I tried to describe the spot to another friend the next day, but I'm afraid I didn't do it justice. It was entertaining—perhaps moreso given the wine and smoke in my system—but apparently not very effective if I can't recall the product being hawked.

Anyone have any idea what I'm talking about and, optimally, if there's a place online to see the spot?

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

A little help?

My friend Savannah is having a spot of very frustrating trouble with Blogger. A bot (likely) has mistakenly identified her small-town library's website as spam and refused to allow her to update it. So far, all she's encountered is unhelpful canned responses to her inquiries and wonky resolution sites that stall at login.

It'll be a major pain in the ass to move her site to another service. Any of my pals at Blogger or Google got a tip for getting this resolved? Let me know and I'll put you in touch.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Cincinnati

A little help? Say you were going to find yourself in Cincinnati, Ohio, on a Friday night in February. Say you were a homosexual gentleman who appreciates an environment where one can lift a glass or two while enjoying good music, convivial conversation and some attractive "scenery". Where might you go to find such things?

Wednesday, August 3, 2005

Pair.com dedicated hosting

As I have noted on several occasions, this site and about a dozen others I maintain is hosted by the marvelous folks at Pair Networks and I simply couldn't be more pleased with their whole operation—uptime, service, price, the works.

Sometime in the next year or so, I'm going be managing a project that requires a dedicated box and my first inclination is to stick with Pair. I'm aware many other companies and have heard testimonials on their behalves, but I'm interested to know specifically if any BradLands devotees have experience with Pair's dedicated hosting.

Please share your experiences in the comments or, if you prefer, by mail. Thanks ever so.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

A case for my baby

A little help? Can anyone recommend a good case for my bitchin' new Palm Tungsten C? I'm looking for something that will protect the $400 little chiclet, as well as be easy to slip it in and out of, with a belt clip. How about it, T-C owners? What do you like?

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

1986 Tony Awards

A little help? If anyone out there happens to have a videotape of either/both the 1985 or 1986 Tony Awards telecast and would be willing to make me a copy, please be in touch.

You will be richly rewarded, with goodwill and presents.

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Synchronizing Entourage X

A little help? I've searched around and read the more or less useless Microsoft support site, although it's possible in my weakened state I've overlooked something obvious, so I put the question to you, my readers, the marvelous BradLands Braintrust™:

Is there an (easy?) way to synchronize Microsoft Entourage X between two computers, say a desktop and a laptop? I'm most interested in lining up the calendar, tasks and notes, not necessarily the e-mail.

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Fpppt!

A linguistics question, for The BradLands Braintrust (that's you!): What do you call it when you put your lips on a baby's belly (or a boyfriend's, for that matter) and blow, making a "fffpppt!" sound? And why do you call it that?

Sunday, December 14, 2003

1997 Tony Awards

A Little Help? I need a good quality VHS dub of the 1997 Tony Awards telecast on CBS. If you can provide such a thing, please be in touch. My considerable gratitude and other, negotiable rewards await you.

Monday, September 8, 2003

Where is Pig?

A Little Help? On a recent trip to Chicago, I was window-shopping after a late supper and spotted a children's book titled (I think) Pig Makes It Big on Broadway in the window of a closed store. I made a mental note to look it up on the web when I got home and maybe order it for a couple of FSQKs I know. (Future Show Queen Kids, natch.)

You can imagine my surprise when I got back to the office Tuesday afternoon to discover that neither Amazon.com nor Barnes & Noble nor, in fact, any of the online booksellers I tried had heard of the book. Google proved similarly fruitless. Despite almost an hour of searching, I couldn't find any evidence the book ever existed.

How about it, BradLands readers? I'd welcome any help discovering either the author or the actual title of the book or any other additional information. I'll be popping back up to Chicago next month, so I can acquire it if I decide to then. Meanwhile, my curiosity is killing me. If you know anything about this intrepid pig and his Broadway success, drop a line or leave a note in the comments. Thanks!

Update: The BradLands Braintrust comes through again! Smarty-pants Neale guessed that I might be thinking of this book, actually titled Mary Had a Little Ham. It looks like it's brand new, by author Margie Palatini. Thanks, everyone!

Wednesday, July 2, 2003

Light up nuns!

A little help? Gael, proprietor of Pop Culture Junk Mail, is looking for strings of novelty lights -- the sort that come shaped like chili peppers or starfish or Tiki gods -- in the shape of nuns. And, frankly, so am I. If you happen to know where we can purchase said lights, please be in touch.

In addition, I've been trying for some time to find Mardi Gras-style bead strings with nun figures attached as well. Any leads would be appreciated.

Monday, November 12, 2001

A little help?

I should be able to find this easily if it exists, but I can't, so I'm wondering: Is there a utility for the Macintosh (OS 9.x) similar to the Energy Saver control panel that permits the user to set multiple startup and shutdown schedules?

For example, say I'd like my computer to startup at 7:30 a.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. on weekends. Or I'd like it to startup at 8:00 a.m. everyday, shutdown at 10 a.m. then startup again at 5:00 p.m. The Energy Saver scheduler only allows one winner-take-all setting. Anyone know of such a thing?

Friday, March 24, 2000

A little help?

Can anyone point me toward a web resource/how-to/software for pulling digital audio files off of a mini-disc and into a format I can in turn use Toast to write to an Audio CD? (Assume that I have a mini-disc deck and can find some way to connect it to my Macintosh.) Any guidance would be appreciated.