Crosswalks to Nowhere

For the last several years, I've said that my ideal job for when I retire-- or win the lottery-- would be as a starter at a golf club. It's not so much for the love of the game (I'm an average player at best) as it is the fact that it's just a very cool place to be. Think about it: it's very difficult to not be in a good mood when you're heading out there first thing in the morning. I want to be the guy who looks down at the first green, sees a putt sink, and then says, "Okay, guys, go ahead."

Well, that's my ideal retirement job, anyway.

The song in today's posting is Renaissance's "Carpet of the Sun," from their Ashes Are Burning album. Renaissance was a folk/rock/classical band that grew out of the end of the 60s band The Yardbirds: one set of guys went off and became Led Zeppelin, the others became Renaissance, and the two groups couldn't be more unlike each other.

(For more information on the group, visit The Northern Lights Renaissance Web Site, of which I am co-editor. I also wrote the liner notes to the 1997 reissue of Ashes Are Burning.)

Now back to golf.

The first time I heard "Carpet of the Sun" was probably sometime in my late teen years. I remember listening to the song and suddenly a visual popped into my head of the time my dad and I played a round of golf at the Mt Prospect Golf Club. I was probably 13 or 14 at the time we played, and when I heard this song a few years later the memory of that early Saturday morning was still fresh in my head: the summer sun shining brightly over the fairways, the grass still wet from the night before. And it was so quiet except for the birds and the occasional voices from my dad or the people playing nearby.

Over the years, I would occasionally drive by the golf club and every so often "Carpet of the Sun" would pop into my head as that vivid memory came back. I'd always thought about taking my camera out there early one morning and trying to capture what's been lurking in this brain of mine for all these years. This morning, I hopped on my bike and rode the two-and-change miles to the course and snapped the photos on this page. I think I was successful.

It's moments like this that make me hope I'm giving my girls happy memories that, while very simple, will stay with them for years. And maybe Emma or Becca will connect this with a song that calls back those moments so vividly.

There are several versions of "Carpet of the Sun" available, but I prefer the original arrangement. This is a YouTube video that contains that version of the song while showing a visual of the album cover.

Last week we took our annual excursion to Scottsdale. It was a great trip, as usual.

The neat thing is that they were having this thing called "Summer," as opposed to what we've had in Chicago, which is an average of one day of summer wrapped up in three days of Fall.

We stayed at a place called The Xona Resort Suites, which was pretty nice: these are shots of the pool that was right outside our door.

After a few days of family, swimming, tanning, and yes, a trip to Old Town Scottsdale, we were on our way back home to cooler temperatures.

My advice to those planning on upgrading to iPhone software version 3.0: don't do it.

At least not yet.

I don't mean to sound dire about this, but for me iPhone 3.0 software on my first-generation iPod Touch has caused a lot of unnecessary annoyance, and I wish I'd waited until 3.1 was released. (We hear it's coming soon.)

I upgraded to the new software a few days after it was released; I heard that most people didn't have issues with it, so I figured I'd go for it. The upgrade itself went fine-- I paid $10 through the iTunes store and my Touch was running the new software in a matter of minutes. Most of my apps seemed to work right away, so I didn't think anything was heading in the wrong direction.

Now fast-forward a day.

I have a registered Starbucks card which gives me free wifi at Starbucks stores using the AT&T WiFi network.

When I had the version 2.x software on my iPod Touch, I used Easy WiFi to log on to the AT&T network at Starbucks-- it automatically held my login credentials and I did not have to go through the login/password/"I accept the terms" entries on the AT&T splash page that showed up once I connected to the network at Starbucks. I would walk in, turn on the iPod touch, and within 10 seconds I was on the network ready to browse and check email.

With iPhone software 3.0, there's a new login splash page that comes up when I go to connect with my Touch-- it looks exactly like the Safari page that used to come up before I had Easy Wi-Fi. I enter my credentials just as I had to do before I had Easy Wi-Fi, and I'm on the network. In other words, Easy Wi-Fi no longer handled this portion for me.

When I returned to Starbucks at any time in the future, I had to go through the same drill all over again.

Supposedly the iPhone 3.0 software saves the login credentials somewhere, but that's not true-- I had to go through the login/password/"I accept the terms" page every single time I log in at Starbucks.

What iPhone 3.0 does do for you is remember entries in Safari forms-- but not the popup login screens.

I tried forgetting the network, turning off and on WiFi... nothing worked. I went so far as to completely wipe my iPod and start with the vanilla 3.0 software and the exact thing happened every time. The iPod did not remember my login credentials on the AT&T wireless hotspots at Starbucks.

After scouring the help forums on several sites, including Apple's Discussion Forums (which I've found over the years to be of dubious value), an answer was finally posted on Devicescape's (Easy WiFi's developer) web site.

I loaded the Boingo Wireless app on my Touch, which disables the auto-login process on iPhone 3.0 software.

Now when I visit S'bux I just fire up the Boingo client (no account or password needed-- just bring up the app) and then bring up Easy WiFi. No more squinting and inputting passwords.

It still means I have to go though an extra step, but at least I don't have to waste time entering my login credentials every single time I want to check my email. The fact that Apple broke a great app like Easy WiFi is simply a shame.

Secondly, there have been tons of postings in forums on the internet about the lousy post-3.0-upgrade performance of the iPod Touch's wireless capabilities. Lots of users are complaining that their WiFi connections at home and on the road have simply turned lousy.

Here's a quick anecdote-- you can interpret the data however you wish.

I bought 1st Gen iPod Touches for my daughter Becca and myself around the same time. They both ran flawlessly, and both upgraded to 2.x without an issue. They connected to our home network and hotspots perfectly.

I upgraded my Touch to 3.0, and started to see some strangeness, as described above. Becca did not upgrade hers and it continued to work normally.

A couple weeks ago, we were at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, where they have free wifi. Becca turned on her Touch and it connected immediately to the network. I turned mine on, waited two or three minutes, and it never found the airport's wifi network-- and the iPods were literally inches apart.

The likely root cause of this situation is clear to me.

I'm posting this here because it was pretty difficult for me to find any straight answers on the internet. I hope some of you find this useful.

This past Friday night, we attended the opening of the Silent Film Society of Chicago's Silent Summer Festival at the Portage Theatre.

The show was Running Wild, starring W.C. Fields, in a much more sympathetic role than you may be accustomed. The feature was preceded by the Buster Keaton short "My Wife's Relations," a classic Keaton piece where Buster finds himself going through an unintentional marriage after being accused of throwing a brick through a window. (Just go with me here.) Both films were presented in very nice, clean 35mm prints-- much clearer than what you'd find on YouTube or older VHS collections. Musical accompaniment was by organist Dennis Scott, and pre-show entertainment came via the West End Jazz band. Despite a few technical glitches the event was a huge success.

Before the show, we had a brief conversation with Professor Pierce, who has provided live Theremin accompaniment at previous Festival shows. He told us there was no Theremin on this year's program, saying it was "kind of like accordions; you want to limit how much you give the people."

This is always one of our favorite summertime events, and fans of classic films should absolutely attend!

Here's the rundown of the schedule; all shows are at the Portage Theatre and start at 8:00:

July 24: Running Wild (1927) with W.C. Fields, directed by Gregory LaCava.. Live organ accompaniment: Dennis Scott. Shown with Buster Keaton's "My Wife's Relations" from 1922. Pre-show entertainment by the West End Jazz Band.

July 31: Underworld (1927) starring George Bancroft and Evelyn Brent, directed by Josef von Sternberg. Live organ accompaniment: Jay Warren. The film will be introduced by historian Ken Irwin, and Jay Warren hosts a sing-along before the show.

August 7: Girl Shy (1924) with Harold Lloyd, directed by Fred C Newmeyer and Sam Taylor. Live organ accompaniment by Jay Warren. Shown with the Harold Lloyd short "Back into the Woods" (1918).

August 14: Piccadilly (1929) with Anna May Wong and Gilda Gray. Live organ accompaniment by Michael Jacklin.

August 21: The Thief of Baghdad (1924) with Douglas Fairbanks, directed by Raoul Walsh. Live theatre organ accompaniment by Dennis Scott. Special event: "The Portage Harem Dancers on stage, courtesy DeMaira Dance Studio."

August 28: Seventh Heaven (1927) with Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, directed by Frank Borzage. Live theatre organ accompaniment by Dennis Scott. Special event: closing night ceremonies, and pre-show music by the West End Jazz Band.