rebron.org: Everyday Life, Work, Ironman Training

Great job!  Lot of great changes to help move the web forward.

Check out http://hacks.mozilla.org to test drive our new toy.

But what about Thunderbird icon? Will it be updated too? Please!

Short answer, yes.  You didn’t even need to say “pretty please”.

We’re beginning the work to update the Thunderbird icon.  We really like how the Firefox icon turned out, and we’ll be working with the folks at Icon Factory so we can be consistent.

I’ve been impressed with how Alex Faaborg has led the charge with the Firefox Icon refresh, his vision, and his ability to communicate and work with everybody.  We’re working with Alex as well, he’s got a great eye, and we’re lucky.

The Process

As I understand, it’s going to be fast and furious in terms of the design and feedback loop the next couple weeks.  I’ll be posting a final creative brief before we get started, and happy to take feedback on it now.  I’ll be posting the iterations and calling for feedback as soon as I get them.

It would be great if all feedback can be done as comments to these blog posts as opposed to direct emails to me.

Palm Pre looks pretty good, probably will wait for the next version though.  Even with the iPhone 3GS, it’s probably the right upgrade path from a Treo.  A lower price/plan, better battery life would have knocked the Palm Pre out of the ballpark, but still good.  Walt Mossberg’s review

Other stuff I’ve been playing around with:

• an unlocked G1 phone (w/ Android 1.5, fun to play with)
• mobile wireless via Sprint (though heard AT&T’s was 3x faster)

I check out the Netbooks every once in a while and I like the Dell Minis but there’s so many out there now.  It’s an interesting (and confusing) product segmentation — second laptop, ultralight for business travelers, kids.

LED light bulbs like the one above are cool.  The one we got is 2.5W and it’s equivalent to a 45W incandescent light bulb.  There are 7 led lights inside that power the thing.  LED lights should be what we all move to but the investments made in cfls (contains mercury, higher wattage) has everyone buying cfls first.  LED lights are already showing up in street lights and will also get more popular in car head lights.  They’re also great in flashlights.

We’re using one of the LED bulbs for the porch light, one over a vanity as a night light, and one other for my end table– so high use areas that need just enough light.  The lights are a bit expensive and the brighter ones even moreso.  But the ones we got should last a long, long time.  And at 2.5W, can’t really complain there.

The rest of the house we’re using 7W to 13W compact fluorescent bulbs.

We also need (and on the lookout for) 3-way LED or CFL bulbs for lamps.  The 3-way CFLs that are out now are way too big to fit in a lamp.

We’re figuring, in lieu of solar panels, we can reduce the amount of electricity we use by having efficient appliances and lighting, turning off our electrical equipment when not in use, and insulating the house.  Google has several more good energy saving tips.

—-

* I’m in a bit of a writer’s funk.  Maybe the WordCamp this Saturday will get me out of it.  I’ve got a few more posts on products in general and then the rest of the year will be focused on work related stuff with hopefully some updates on a bathroom remodel once we get started at the end of June.

home

• still on track for a bathroom remodel this Summer, uncertain on the details
• no matter how we calculate solar panels, it makes no sense for us so evaluating led lights, attic insulation, solar attic fan
• Rikyu updated their menu — it’s our go to restaurant, *great* food
• When it’s out, will probably go with the Palm Pre to replace  a 2+ year old Treo for the boss lady (I still think *smart* phones are gadget overboard)
• Couple of interesting pop culture links: Susan Boyle and YouTube symphony

work

• Thunderbird 3 launch – going to be very fun
  
• SpreadThunderbird – slowly coming along
  
• GetSatisfaction/Thunderbird – customer support for software is certainly challenging
  

travel

• nothing planned yet for fun or for work, maybe a weekend side trip

volunteering

• landscaping project at Santa Fe elementary school

books

• struggling through The Intelligent Investor but already made some money just reading through the first 3 chapters
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

training/events

• finally starting marathon training for SF marathon in July
• planning to struggle through the Marin Century in August
• Berkeley pow wow May 2
• Stanford pow wow 8 – 10

I’m signed up for Ironman St. George (Utah) scheduled for 5/1/2010.  The rest of the Ironman Series can be found here.

• It will be the first year for Ironman St. George.
• I like it because it’s drivable (about 10 hours away).
• I was lucky to be able to get some friends to sign up too, about 4 others so far.
• Ironman St. George will be my sixth race and I’d like to sign up for Ironman France in June to get my seventh race out of the way since the timing is so close.  I still have to get permission from the big boss lady and be successful with the sign up first.

Yea, looking forward to it but won’t really start training for it until November.

Some good ideas for a vegetable garden (especially for people with a new empty backyard).

Square Foot Garding from Frugal Dad

Another cool photo.  Discovery launch — supposed to launch in two days if the weather cooperates.

The Last Great Race on Earth

Thought this was a neat photo set from The Big Picture blog.  There are some crazy races out there, the Badwater Ultramarathon is up there but the multiday endurance races in extremely cold or hot weather are the ones that are even crazier for me.

Additional Thunderbird 3 Beta 2 news via Google News

Some Highlights

• Most of Thunderbird 3 Beta’s Changes Are Under the Hood, PC World, Erik Larkin
• Thunderbird 3 Beta 2 has new features, plenty of bug fixes, MacWorld, Cyrus Farivar
• Thunderbird 3 Beta 2 Released, Lifehacker Australia - ‎Feb 28, 2009‎
• Second Thunderbird 3 beta holds off on Lightning, Daily Download - ‎Feb 27, 2009‎ by Seth Rosenblatt
• Several press articles from Germany

Blogs

• Beta Watch: Thunderbird 3 Email Client – TheAppleBlog4 Mar 2009 by Charles Moore