All Narfed Up photography and words by Bryan Villarin

I think I’ve been with La La since the beginning of June, and I finally got my free [Monday] gray t-shirt! I haven’t been using La La that much, but only because I only have 17 CDs that probably nobody wants. (It’s annoying to keep watch for that white circle, especially at work where our connection is pretty slow.)

I wonder if I’ll get any conversations from this…

Today, I was finally able to buy a new wireless router. The DD-WRT wiki recommended the Buffalo WHR-G54S as the cheapest and best price/performance 100% compatible wireless router. However, since Mwave only keeps the major brands in stock at will call, I went with the Linksys WRT54GL.

I could’ve went the safe route and kept the default Linksys firmware, but I didn’t. I felt compelled to use DD-WRT, which is free firmware for several brands and models of wireless routers. If my router will run better with it for free, why not? There’s the possibility that I could’ve turned it into a brick, but I think the chances of breaking it were slim since I had one of the supported devices.

Fortunately, everything went successfully and my new router is running DD-WRT. Dynamic DNS now works again, since my D-Link DI-614+ wasn’t supporting itanymore. (I use Remote Desktop occassionally.) OpenDNS servers are set on my router as well. So many features, so much power! (Not like I’ll use them all.)

Notes:

• I have the WRT54GL v1.1.
• I flashed the firmware just fine within Firefox.
• To find the UTC/GMT time setting, use timeanddate.com. For Los Angeles, California, we’re on UTC -08:00/first Sun Apr - last Sun Oct.
• Print the DD-WRT wiki pages to PDF, rather than keeping the instructions open in a bunch of browser tabs. (Try PDFCreator - it’s open-source software!)
• I use Dynamic DNS (with DynDNS) so I can just point Remote Desktop to a subdomain with gotdns.com. Since my DSL service (AT&T Yahoo) is on a Dynamic IP, if that ever changes, I don’t need to check it.
• I’ll use Hamachi with Remote Desktop if I’m at a Wi-Fi hotspot. If I’m at home, I just use Remote Desktop to connect directly to my main PC without going through Hamachi.

I just got a phone call from a 951 area code at 1:49pm PST, but didn’t answer because I screen calls. If that was you, leave a message with your phone number at the beginning and end of the call. Thanks! (See “How to leave a voicemail message“)

I’ve been using Flickr Uploadr ever since I got my Flickr account. However, it hasn’t been improved in a long time.

When I usually upload, I have to change the title and descriptions for the whole lot of photos within the Flickr website.

Enter jUploadr. [via Tom Raftery] In addition to the Flickr Uploadr’s features, you can also:

• Edit photos individually or as a group
• Edit all Flickr photo metadata, not just privacy and tags

And all of this is before uploading! (Exclamation is for slight excitedness.)

The downside is that jUploadr is a bit intimidating to setup.

Download and install Java, then go into System Properties (right-click “My Computer”, then Properties) > Advanced (tab) > Environment Variables. According to the instructions, do you enter the new variable for the user or the system? (System works just fine.) From there, find the folder where you installed JRE and copy the file path to the variable value.

After you enter that setting, just run jUploadr.bat. You’ll need to authorize Flickr before uploading any photos. Personally, the program seemed to freeze for 30 seconds before opening the Flickr page for authorization. But after that, it ran smoothly.

Oh yeah, an annoyance you might share when running jUploadr is that the Command Prompt window (for those using Windows) has to stay open. When you exit the program, then it’ll disappear.

For asthetics, I made a shortcut to the jUploadr.bat file and pointed its icon to the one provided in the folder. (Look for the ICO file.)

Cons:

• Intermediate experience required to run program
• Flickr authorization freezes for a bit
• Command prompt window stays open while jUploadr is open

Overall, after it was setup, it seemed good to me. It didn’t crash on me when I was uploading a few photos last night. It doesn’t edit your registry, and you can always undo that environment variable setting. If you’re a frequent Flickr uploader, you should give this a shot.

Thanks to the suggestion by James, I’m using iFeedReaders to make subscribing to All Narfed Up easier. There’s so many online feed readers that it’s hard to have a link for each one.

Add to Any was okay, but I think iFeedReaders simply looks and feels more comfortable. I also implemented the iFeedReaders social bookmark link creator, using the WordPress plugin, for each individual post. I figure that if you like one of these posts, I should take the small extra step to make it easier for you to bookmark or Digg it. *cough*

Lastly, since iFeedReaders links to FeedBlitz for people who still prefer email newsletters, it’s only logical since every little bit helps. I’ve signed up with them and setup the code here as well.

If you’ve got a blog, you need to look into these two services to help expand your audience that much more.

iFeedReaders is in beta mode, but is totally free (and looks really good). FeedBlitz is free, but there’s premium services, too.

Can I customize the look and feel of the emails? I want my logo in the mail and not FeedBlitz orange. - Yes. The “Pro” premium service lets you customize the look of your emails and the subscriber sign up landing page. It costs USD $4.95 per feed per month. Publishers with multiple feeds can sign up for the flat-fee “Pro Plus” service which lets you customize as many feeds as you like for USD $24.95 per month.

I was at work yesterday, and one of the summer clerks needed some help with running a program. (It disappeared or something.) Anyway, after I helped her out, she was really curious why she hasn’t seen me before.

So, she gave me a short “interview”. She also asked if I was the same Bryan in the email about some show last Monday night. (I had asked a co-worker to send it to all staff.) She explained that after the meeting Monday evening, they went out for drinks. They might’ve went to go see us play - if they knew who I was!

I said I was an introvert, but she said that if I would’ve just did my job and walk away, then that’d be a different story.

I took the Blogthings quiz, and I’m more of an introvert than an extrovert. Then again, that’s a really short quiz. Reading Steve’s article, “How to go from introvert to extrovert“, I’m wondering if I have a healthy balance. I think I’m just initially shy. Maybe I should buy a “shy” t-shirt?

I guess what I’ve learned is that if you talk about something you’re really into, whoever is listening will get into the conversation, too. You never know!

If you’re calling people within your office on the same phone system, don’t use the intercom. When people do that to me, here’s my view of that person:

“Hi, I’m more important than anything you’re doing. You need to listen to me NOW.”

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Just call someone how you normally should. If they don’t answer, leave a message or email them. When they get the time, they’ll get back to you. If it’s really that urgent, shouldn’t you just see them in person?

Don’t pin them in the corner, or else they’ll make it hard on you in the future.

Oh yeah, don’t forget to smile!

Have you heard of Add to Any? I just did, and I’m really excited about implementing it here.

I initially wrote a quick plea for someone to develop a WordPress plugin that’s a dropdown box for multiple feed reader services. You know, I’d hate to turn you away because I didn’t have a button to add my feed to your feed reader. Fortunately, I didn’t post that question because I wouldn’t have used it after finding Add to Any.

Basically, I want you to be able to:

• subscribe to my feed with whatever feed reader you use, or
• submit a post (or the whole site!) to your favorite bookmarking service

If you’ve got a site or blog, integrate this. I’ll be doing this soon. If a site doesn’t use Add to Any, you’re in luck - there’s a bookmarklet! Man, great job, MicroPat!

Update: Thanks to James, I’ll be using iFeedReaders.

Since I stopped coaching, I’m basically free any day (except Tuesdays and Thursdays). Work is slow where I’m currently employed, so I can’t add any extra days. So, I’m looking for additional work. I love blogging, podcasts, and Getting Things Done. If I had a topic/topics to write about, I’d be stoked to do that.

Here’s some of my favorite posts:

• Chill a bit
• Using a Post-it with ATM cards
• Utilizing tagging with iTunes
• Hamachi
• Reduce Windows XP size
• My methods of troubleshooting computers

Give me a call or email me if you want to talk and collaborate. Thanks!

Hey Mr. White! This post is for you…

For those of you just trying to see what I’m up to, you might want to bookmark my other blog: Bryan Off Topic. If you have a Myspace page, I’m there too; add me! This blog is more about computers, blogging, and Getting Things Done. (My about page has even more; I’m all over the place!)

If you’re interested in starting your own blog, set one up at WordPress.com. It’s totally free! After you sign up, you might want to read “What to do with your free wordpress.com blog.”