Willo O'Brien

Forever I’ve been meaning to write up a little “How I like Mac vs. PC” since I did the big switch. I’ve got a lot to say about it, but the most annoying thing has been how when you’re saving or opening a file you couldn’t delete or rename a file you saw in the browser window. Well, guess WHAT?!?!? There’s a wonderful little app that will solve this woe!!! yay!!!!

Faithful reader ddcrane (Dave) was so awesome to not only refer my services to someone at his company, but also send me a great list of links to some fancy mac add ons to make the mac life even easier, prettier and more efficient. aww yaaa – Thanks Dave!

First & foremost I must share with you the best app I’ve seen yet, since it takes care of the annoying Open/Save file rename/delete problem:

Default Folder
Description: Lets you assign command keys to user specified folders for use in open or save dialogs. Tacks on a small toolbar to the right of dialogs with lists of numerous functions such as “recently opened folders”, “favorites”, “rename file”, etc. Lets you specify a default folder to open on any dialog for a given application (hence the name). Lets you click on already saved files’ filenames and puts it in the “Save as” field. Springs to the last file opened on subsequent Open dialogs. Excellent software.

AWESOME!

Here’s some more that caught my eye, with my comments below:
Quicksilver, Butler or Launch Bar:
I use Launchbar & love it… It takes care of needing most of the other oh so handy mac add ons in my opinion. Quicksilver would be something I would check out if I already hadn’t gone w/ Launchbar… same thing really. If you’re not using one of these, you’ve got to check it out – it most definitely makes finding anything you want so fast at the click of a few keys. And it learns!! I love that.

MenuStrip
I like this one too – I like that it has the Auto hide feature, the other app I was using for that was annoying because you couldn’t turn it on & off easily enough so it took over & got really buggy w/ password windows & such. This looks pretty cool, but that’s the only feature I really care to have and so I’m not sure I’d pay $12 just for that. Plus, you don’t really need an app fr hiding applications as you switch between them. If you’re really into it, you can hide others when switching by holding down the option w/ the command key when you either tab/command through your other open apps or select it in the dock using the mouse. Hoping a free one comes out – or the AutoHide one I downloaded before gets an update with an on/off button implemented.

WindowShade
This looks kinda cool to me…I like the idea of how it minimizes to just a bar instead of hiding/minimizing the window to the dock. I might check it out later…

A Better Finder Rename –
Description: Absolutely essential if you work with large numbers of files and you need to rename them on any regular basis. Incredibly powerful software lets you make alphabetic or numeric lists, rename characters within a file name with choices of “at the beginning”, “at the end”, “anywhere”, etc. You can either drag files to a droplet icon, choose “Rename” from contextual pop-up, or press Option-Cmd-R. Money well spent, IMO.
This is pretty cool. I don’t really need it right now, but I like knowing there’s an app in case I do!! :)

FruitMenu
I really like the FruitMenu feature of having a ‘Set Desktop Picture’ option in the right click at all times and being able to customize the Apple menu. Weird that mac’s don’t already have those two features! However, all the rest you can pretty much do w/o that app. I have my Application folder in my dock and you can right click on that to quickly browse, so you could do the same w/ your HD. But I usually just use Launchbar to quickly get to most anything. But those first 2 things almost make me wanna get it :)

TinkerTool (FREE!)
Description: Enables dozens of previously inaccessible options, like having both scroll arrows at both ends of the scroll bar (i’d pay for this!) -Finder Quit (& restart) -control system fonts -turn off font smoothing below any size you want.
Wow, this looks cool! Lots of neat additions – and free! woohoo! :) I downloaded this one right away.

Which apps do you love?

UPDATE!! UPDATE!! If you like this list, see the new willotoons’ recommended mac apps 2005 list I just posted!

I’m slacking on blogging, sorry bout that. I could have made time last week, but the days slipped by – and then they got hotter and hotter, which honestly made it a little harder to work :)

I’m gonna try to make this quick so I can get to bed:

Last Thursday night was awesome if for no other reason than I got to go out w/ NO JACKET! Seriously! In San Francisco, our June-August – when everyone else is in the heat of summer – is foggy and cold. In fact year round in this town you have to leave the house w/ some kind of jacket pretty much every day, so to be able to leave the house w/o jackets is HUGE. And in a tank top & skirt no less! woohoo!

So, it was a super nice night out. Cameron came & got me and Rick, Lyne & Jim all met us at Doc’s Clock’s for a pre-show drink. Then we headed over to 12 Galaxies for the show: Lovemakers w/ Film School and Silversun Pickups

It was my first time at 12 Galaxies and I love it. Awesome club, I can’t wait to go back. We were all pretty psyched on the amazing weather, the great new club and the evening ahead of us… so it made for a fantastic start to the evening.

Silversun Pickups were good, I’d like to hear them play again sometime.

Film School was more rockin than the first time I’d seen them, and I really enjoyed their set! Apparently Nyles is doing more work with his band, N.Lannon, so Film School won’t be playing as much/any time soon, so it was good to catch them now. I ran into Warren (my drum teacher) there too, which was cool. He’s playing drums for N.Lannon!

We were MOST psyched to see the ever so sexy Lovemakers, and that we did!! Despite having to fend off some drugged up gross guy, thinking he was hot shit with his pants 1/2 way open. eeww! He’s not worth even talking about more, but thankfully between Rick & a few other pissed off audience members we got him out of there and were able to enjoy the show full force. We had the super hott Scott & Lisa shakin it right in front of us. Practically sweating on us. :) It was so great to see them again – they were on fire! I have some great photos that I’ll post this week some time.

UPDATE: Photos Posted!

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Friday night we went & had margs & a quick bite to eat at Chevy’s and then caught Napoleon Dynamite. It was so funny – I loved it.

Afterwards it was still so nice & warm out that I suggested Rick finally take me up on the roof of his apartment building, like he’s said he’s been wanting to. Great idea, Willo! :)

It was awesome… he layed out this big shag rug and we brought up Baley’s on ice and a blanket and layed under a full moon, looking out at the view of the Golden Gate Bridge and trying to see constellations through the bright light of the moon. Perfect night for it!

However, I can’t wait to go up there again when there’s no moon. We felt like we had a big flashlight on us, and it was hard to see the stars! Also, I’ll bring a pillow and the full bottle of Baley’s. :)

Saturday morning we were greeted with nothing but luck!! After sleeping in we realized we’d spaced setting an alarm and left my car in a place that should not only have at least gotten a quarter in the meter by 9am, but that was in a commercial loading zone and therefore could have been towed! eek!!

So, hoping that the worst would be a ticket, we got over to it by about 11:15 to find it was thankfully still there AND there was no ticket! WOW!! What luck!!

Oh & as I reparked the car, apparently Rick was greeted by a frequent reader (Hi Stacey!) and when I got back he told me I’d just missed her – darnit!

THEN, long story short – through a couple random events, we ended up getting free breakfast!! nice!! What a great way to start an incredibly warm and sunny Saturday!

That afternoon Rick & I put on our walkin shoes and hit the park. We walked from Stanyan aaaall the way through Golden Gate Park out to the beach (where by 3:30 it was of course: foggy), but it was still pretty nice and warm. Warmer than usual anyway! So we layed there for a bit (and enjoyed watching the surfers getting pummeled by the waves), until it got just a little too cold for our shirts/shorts attire and we decided to head back inland towards the sun.

Approx 5-6 miles roundtrip we ended our nice long walk with some yummy noodles at the Citrus Club. yumm!! Rick’s been wanting to take me there and it was fantastic. The Hot & Sour soup is soo good and we got yummy Pad Thai and spring rolls too. Oh, and the cold beers were very, very refreshing after our long walk in the sun!

We stopped into Ameoba, rapped w/ Warren about my Sunday drum lesson & then headed back to the car.

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Saturday night: Ben Kweller w/ the Unicorns at The Fillmore

For some craaaazy reason The Unicorns went on right. on. time. jeeshk! Couldn’t they have just gone on 15 minutes late? How rude! hahaa See, we crashed when we got home after our walk and noodle adventure and ended up napping a little longer than we thought and so we were rushing to get there and ended up missing the majority of their (ridiculously short) set. 30 minutes!! Only 2 bands on the bill! WHAT GIVES?!?!?!

I don’t think they were too happy with it either. Maybe Ben Kweller likes to go to bed early? Who knows… but their last 2 songs were good and we were at least glad we’d seen them before (unlike the Kings of Leon debacle).

I love Ben Kweller and have been wanting to see him live for a long time. I got SHA SHA when it came out and loved it – and his newest, On My Way, is just as fantastic. He writes such fun songs. Great lyrics and I love it when he really belts it out. Rick’s been learning several of his songs on guitar, too, so he was psyched to see them play em live.

Jem, Tania & Kyo(sp?) showed up (missing the Unicorns entirely, unfortunately) and joined us up front for rockin out w/ Ben and his fellow tight jeaned bandmates. It was a super fun show, despite the fact that the entire thing was exactly 2 hours long. Saturday night 9-11pm? Who does that??

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Today started nice with breakfast out on the porch. Good thing too because the weather and my mood somehow spiraled downward from there. I did however get a new keyboard! And off CL, no less, so it cost me 1/2 the price as a new one would have – woohoo! I’ve been needing a new USB mac keyboard and have yet to turn my PC on, but wanted one that I could use in my KVM switch to use between my PC/Mac. Hopefully it won’t make the beeping noise I’ve heard about, but I can always plug in my camera’s USB cord or something to make it stop. Ok, sorry for the geek talk, there’s maybe 5% of you that know what I’m talking about.

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I had drum lessons, which were great – despite my foul mood, and then I came home and cooked myself a pizza and tried to work a little bit. And that brings us up to here!

The photos of the last week are way funner than my quick and dirty summary, so I’ll try to post those over the next few days.

Have a good week everyone..

Do you love sushi as much as I do? Check out this *super* cute & helpful site for finding yummy sushi near you: SushiFinder

I went to Trader Joe’s lastnight for the first time in a long time. I love that store! The groceries are so affordable. I can’t wait to have lunch!

It’s 1:38pm, why haven’t I had lunch yet? Well, I get up & make coffee, but then I forget to eat and instead work work work on my delicious double shot caffeine high… and then noon rolls around & my tummy starts growling. But I’m still in the mood for breakfast, so I make myself a bowl of cereal.

I’m absolutely addicted to Special K Red Berries. It’s the perfect meal! Quick, easy, cool, crunchy, sweet, fruit, fiber, and you eat it with a spoon! :)

So ya, I will have lunch around 4 – and I’m looking forward to it! haha

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I also got a free pint of Ben & Jerries (coupon from a purchase on punchstock). I hardly ever buy B&J’s cuz I’m a hard core Haagan Daaz lover… but this is that Dave Matthews Swirled one or whatever it’s called – and it looks good! Fudge, Coffee, Carmal, mmmm!!

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I’m listening to the new Rilo Kiley and it’s fantastic! I love them.

We’re hittin Film School & Lovemakers this Thursday at 12 Galaxies – and then Ben Kweller & the Unicorns this weekend! woohoo!

I had more to say here I think, but I gots to get back to work – I’m designing a site for my friend’s restaurant that just opened up in Maui: Tastings Restaurant

Later gators

Hey guess what? My battery is one of the ‘too hot for my laptop’ batteries getting recalled by apple!

It’s definitely HOT! When my laptop is on my desk, I can feel the heat through the 1/2 inch particle board IKEA desk warming my legs underneath. ha! And when I’ve watched DVD’s in bed, I have to have a thick blanket between me & the laptop or it gets way too hot on my legs.

Hopefully the new one won’t be so hot! We’ll see…

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I’ve been doing good rippin my collection. I think I’m averaging a good 15/day – but that’s not as fast as it should be for getting through it all!

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I want an Airport Express!!

This morning I was going to have about 3 girlfriends over for breakfast, but it was very last minute and 2 of the girls are just not morning people, so I knew it was slim chances they’d make it. And the other is a working busy bee like me, so I can only sympathize with her, as I certainly know how that is! So it ended up being lovely Lyneylooo & I, which was the original plan anyway! Lyne brought over bagels and whipped us up some yummy eggs with fresh mushrooms and we had that with some sliced avocado and yummy latte’s out on my sunny porch with my awesome patio set and it was absolutely delightful!!

We burned Lyne some CD’s and she was like a little kid in a candy store – so cute! I’m happy she can have some new music!! And I got the new Sonic Youth and a few other things from her – woohoo!

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Speaking of music – lastnight I had wanted to hit a show, but then wasn’t gonna go out since all my show buddies either are out of town or bailed, but then my buddy Hai said he’d be down for goin out – so we hit the Condor / Ex-Boyfriends / BoyJazz show at the Elbo Room.

First of all, that Elbo Room is really getting more swanky I think! I don’t remember it seeming that cool… and lastnight I liked it! Maybe it’s their sign outside that I don’t like. I know, weird, but I’m not sure I like the font. haha

Aaanyway, it’s cool inside. I wasn’t so psyched on Condor honestly – but maybe I need to get to know them better or hear it again or something. Or maybe I wasn’t in the mood for that kind of noise, I don’t know. All I know is they did have a chic drummer, and that’s always good :) We played a couple games of pool through their set and I played unbelievably poorly. ha! Sometimes I’m so damn good at pool, and other times – like lastnight – I’m very, very bad.

Ex-boyfriends are SO FUN! I loved em. They’re like a more indie-alternative to your Blink 182 / Green Day sound… very fun & upbeat and I really enjoyed their set. They had a great crowd of fans there too, which was so cute.

Boyjazz was awesome!! What a show those boys put on. It was hilarious! I can’t wait to get their CD – Annie says it’s one of her favorites right now (granted she books these boys) but she said she can’t stop playing it… and I believe her cuz they’ve got a really fun sound. They were really loose (errr, the lead singer seemed a little drunk) but in a really fun good way that very well could be how they play every time, but it was so full of silly, raw expressive energy that I was totally entertained. And their rockin had me shakin and smiling. Very cool. Yay that Hai decided to go or I wouldn’t have probably gone on my own!

It was great to see Annie, and we of course had to have our ritual shot together. This time though instead of tequila, we had Fernet! I have heard a ton about this (Brian!) and hadn’t yet tried it although Rick & I keep saying we want to. It’s sorta like Jager in that it’s a herbal digestive, dark type of liquor. Annie got them in shot glasses and a ginger ale chaser which was really yummy. She described it as more of a upper buzz vs just getting you drunker, and I think I’d agree – I did feel a little buzz of energy afterwards… pretty cool!

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Ok, now I gotta get some work done so I can go out & take a walk and enjoy some more of this beautiful Saturday sun!

oy… I had one of those days. How bout you?

It could have been because lastnight soon after going to sleep the mesquito’s decended and proceeded to eat my hot (temperature and otherwise) boyfriend up and no more than 30 minutes later we had to simply turn on the light, put on our glasses and kill that damn mesquito!

We did. But Rick was convinced that wasn’t him or he would be full of blood. According to the 8 huge bites (he has allergies too, so they effect him more), I believed him… but after dozing off once with the light on we decided that must have been him and tried to sleep.

I awoke at 4am to find him just deciding to leave after waking up with his hand hurting from being bitten. JESUS Mesquito’s!! So he left for FL today and I will miss him.

Anyway, I woke up after some crazy fall-back-asleep-after waking-up-early-and-falling-back-asleep dreams… and then a lot happened:

> I sold my couch

> I did two loads of laundry

> I had house cleaners come clean my house. Yes this is SUCH a luxury, but right now I neeeed someone to help me mop these floors because I DONT WANT TO! And they did. My place hasn’t looked cleaner since I moved in. I’m stoked.

> I reproduced a .eps of a company’s logo

> I worked on 10×10 trade show panels

> I had a couch meltdown. I thought I wanted this one couch and I loved it so much and I thought it was actually a really good deal for a really nice couch… so I thought NO though, because it’s white and I have a really fuzzy kitty.. and I don’t want to have to worry about getting spahetti sauce on it & ruining it forever.

>> That, and Rick’s not here and I didn’t have enough super strong man muscles. And then I just was thinking about slipcovering it – but it’s such a beautiful couch – it’d be a shame… so what do I do.. yaddayadda. Finally I broke down when I realized how hard it would be to get through my front gate. Totally stress me out.

>>> I dunno – I think I could probably make it all happen… but not today. It’s kinda hard to find a good affordable couch these days. I shoulda just paid someone to wrap it up & move it.

aaanyway

then after someone stressful of afternoon of dealing with more stuff than i planned for the day, I finally got to shower and go buy a bottle of wine and head over to my friend Lyne’s house. She cooked me a nice italian dinner (italian music too!) and we drank wine and talked about boys and life and she showed me her new dresses. she’s such a peach. and she made really yummy food – AND – she gave me a chocolate caramel afterwards!

I learned her brother and father are both musicians. Her little brother Aaron Cuadra is a musician in LA. We listened to him and he sounds a ton like the music I used to listen to in like ’93. Which is not a dis, I love that stuff still. Jackopierce and the old Vertical Horizon. I know I’m a geek – but when I lived in Boulder, I used to listen to that all the time.

aanyway that leads me up to here. Oh & she gave me a new skirt! Now if it’ll just warm up around here already!

xoxo

I rearranged my place and am getting rid of the old & in with the new!

In the last 24 hours I’ve sold my couch, my dresser & my mirror! (see items) And was able to also sell my electric blanket, LIFE game, Rio MP3 player, and a bunch more between the time I had my garage sale and now. Woohoo!

I was tired of the couch I’ve had for awhile (except for that it was red, I loved having a red couch!). But I found a really nice super comfy couch that I couldn’t pass up – and albeit a way heavier couch, it has a real sofa bed pull out (instead of the foam one I had), so that’ll be good if my Mom & sister come to town – we’ll all be super comfy. Most importantly my new couch & old couch are only 76″ and in these small SF places you gotta have compact stuff!!

Which leads me to the dresser… The way I moved around my place I have a space I can fit a dresser that calls for one thats more tall than wide. I’ve had my current dresses for years, so it’s definitely time for a new one! I think I might get this Target one, because it sorta matches the “country/vintage” look I’ve got goin on in here – and if I replace the knobs on it, it’ll look even better.

That mirror I’ve had forever, and with this new dresser, I’ll probably get another little mirror that hangs on the wall above it.

I had gotten rid of 2 plastic file drawer/cart things because I bought this nice big IKEA shelf/file cabinet thing. So as soon as I get the new dresser I can put my other bookcase where my old dresser is and by then I’ll have my new couch – and wala! New refreshed little house! :)

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Woohoo! In November there’s a West Elm opening in Corte Madera! Read article.

Rick & I finally made it to a movie on Sunday night! This week is not as crazy as the last couple have been, so I actually get to leave and do things around 6pm! woohoo!

We saw Spiderman 2 on IMAX!!! Sounds awesome, huh? It WAS!!!

Kirsten Dunst totally looks hotter in this one than the first.. and they had some seriously awesome scenes of Spidey cruisin through the city. I loved seeing it on the humungo screen with that amazing surround sound – very cool!

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Lastnight Jem & I went to The Donnas show at Bottom of the Hill.

Openers: Lashes / Communiqué

The Donnas have been working on a new album, and their drummer had hurt her hand, so they haven’t played live in quite some time! Because of this they had a totally packed sold out show with members of the audience that had traveled from other cities and she even said other countries! whoa!

The Lashes went on first and I thought they were pretty good. A bunch of people on stage and great energy. I liked em and would dig seein them again.

Communiqué went on next and they were excellent. I want some of their stuff and would also definitely go see them again.

The Donnas were fun – the lead singer has the most perfect hair!! I’m serious! She was very cute and flashed these really sexy looks at the audience. The whole set of girls are all very cute and it was great to hear some of their new songs.

The lead singer could use some voice lessons or something in my opinion… I think her voice isn’t bad, but somehow I think it could be better or tighter or stronger or something. But their songs are so fun and they’re all very cute – and I’d been wanting to see them for a long time – So it was COOL!

I didn’t have my Rick w/ me as he’s getting ready to leave town this weekend & had too much he had to take care of. Understandable, but he was missed! I did however get a very nice surprise by having my friends Lyne & Jim show up! woohoo!!!

Lyne showers me with love and she’s just a DOLL!! It was so great to see her and she loved The Donnas. yay!

I don’t have any shows planned for the weekend – anything good goin on peeps?

Many of you may have already peeked around, but I’ve *finally* posted photos from the last month or so of parties and shows, etc….

So, as I already posted: There’s an album from Rick & I’s trip to Vegas this last weekend – where we had a blast!

Then there’s the album from the previous weekend’s debauchery, including Hillary’s Pizza making party & the I Hate Cartoons festival on Friday night – and then my brother Max & Samara coming up for dinner & then over to Sarah’s for her going away/birthday party (where somehow I managed to not have a photo of Sarah & I from that night! How did that happen? :) BUT Sarah’s photos of the evening are posted on her site.

Then there’s an album from the weekend before last – photos from Lucia’s Zeitgeist/Fresh Meat party that was sooo fun!

And lastly there’s a “random photos” album from July & August, that has a few party photos (Nancy) and several shows: The Gossip, Ambulance Ltd & The Hives – along with some Kazoobie kitty photos and other random neighborhood shots.

but it wasn’t me!! (although we were amazed with how many new bride & grooms we saw in their full wedding gear!) But after reading this news, it’s no wonder we couldn’t get reservations into Little Buddah on Saturday night! The Hilton sisters were there with their young 20-something rich TV star friends partyin the night away and preparing for Nicky Hilton’s 2:30am Vegas wedding!

I love how this article says they’ve been “dating off and on for several years”. Hmm, well if she’s only 20 (!) then I guess he may have at once been dating JAILBAIT! :p

Ok, enough talkin trash about the tabloid stars… get back to work :)