Author: koalie

Fixed iCal 24-hour input problem

Since the Leopard (OS 10.5) upgrade, and until yesterday, I was quite reluctant to use iCal, for at least two reasons. Adding a new event no longer made appear the box of options, and second, it was time-consuming, after double or triple clicking on the entry, to figure out how best to input a start and end time in the box of options. For example, typing 14 in the hour field would instantly transform into 16. The up and down arrows were what I ended up using most of the time, because extending the event box with the mouse was not exactly accurate.

The reason is that I’m using custom time and date settings, a recipe that is just right for me (living in France and using English as work language) and that I spent a fair amount of time crafting and refining several years ago. I was loathe to have to touch it so as to compensate that fact that Apple had coupled iCal with input from international/regions preferences.

How easy the solution was: Open the System Preferences, look for International, select the Formats tab, look for the Times section, click on the “customize…” button, click on the hour and select “0-23” from the drop down menu. OK. Quit System Preferences. That is it.

This is not for you

There’s a house I like on the way between home and work and it’s for sale. So I looked up the realtor’s website and the price is EUR 870000. I didn’t go “ouch!” until I converted to French Francs. 5.7M! Ouch!

I’ve had the Pearl Jam song “this is not for you” in my head since then.

Prononciation, tout l’art de la nuance

Je fumais une roulée avec une copine alors que j’avais un peu la tête ailleurs. Ça a résulté en un dialogue assez divertissant:

Elle: “Je roule nettement mieux depuis le 1er juin”.
Je regarde sa roulée, je jette un oeil à la date du jour, je lève les sourcils et hoche la tête en guise d’acquièscement.
Moi: “Ah ouais, en effet, et on est que le 5 juin!”
Elle me regarde en écarquillant les yeux et en fronçant les sourcils. Je quitte mes préoccupations et me recentre illicopronto sur notre conversation, je reviens mentalement en arrière.
Elle: “Hein?”
Moi: “Euh… Tu me parles de début juin et on est le cinq. Je regarde ta roulée, elle est nickel, même si elle a une forme un peu conique.”

Et là, ça devient clair, d’un coup! Le parseur a eu un hoquet sur la prononciation similaire (dans la région, du moins) entre “joint” et “juin”.

Summer theater

I was always too shy to do drama (and always worried on the several occasions it was suggested to me as a means to overcome shyness. A few years ago, my boss told me I should consider “improv” and it freaked me out so much that my instinct response was to think about quitting, which I didn’t do). However, I did go on stage, three times.

I don’t have many recollections. Shame must have taken care of blanking them from my memory.

The first time I went on stage, I was between 3 and 6 years old and the occasion was the celebration of the end of the school year. Our teacher had decided our class was an Indian tribe. I was the squaw (i.e., the chief’s wife) and I was to present our newborn baby to the tribe. I don’t know that these memories are mine or based on hearing my parents recounting the story, but I do remember waiting in the teepee –with the baby doll– for the signal my teacher would give me. At the signal I was to come out of the teepee and present the baby. I was told that I came out of the teepee holding the baby by an ankle, presenting the newborn upside down.

During the summer of 1985, I was visiting my aunt in Corsica for a month, and I was in a play for the second time. Someone in the village had decided that keeping the kids busy with a theater play was better than letting us wander the streets and woods around in search of some trouble to make. I was to be a maid. I practiced long and hard, I remember that much. I also remember that the representation was to occur only a few days after I turned 10. I don’t actually remember the play or whether it was a success. But my aunt remembers things. Like I was very unhappy that I was to be a simple maid. That she had to reveal to me the importance of maids at the time the play was set in. She also remembers that she helped me with reheasals. If I had been a promising actress, I’m positive she would have complimented me 😉

The third time I was on stage was, similarly to the first time, at the occasion of the school fair. I was almost 12 and it felt like the last school assignment I had to do before being rewarded with the summer holiday. Our teacher had picked an episode of “The Love Boat”. I was the goffer. I remember a few things, but none related to the play itself. I remember being glad I was wearing a white outfit because it was a really hot and sunny day and we were not acting in the shade. I remember wishing I would not trip when I climbed the stairs to go on stage (I don’t think I did, otherwise I would remember). And the other thing I remember is the make-up artist telling me the shape of my eye-brows was perfect and how pleased I was by what he had told me. I was also surprised because never before had I considered that eye-brows shape was something to have an opinion on. (I’m totally digressing but I have to note that either fashion changed since then, or the said shape changed and became not so perfect over time. Or the guy made fun of me in the first place.)