Category: Technology

Dan's labyrinth

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

So I’ve been trying to sign in to my school’s website. It’s felt a little like an Edgar Allen Poe story. Follow along, if you dare:

I go to the course website (which I’ll call site A) but it won’t take my username and password. Fair enough; it’s been months since I signed in so there’s a chance (a small one; I’m pretty good with passwords) I’m just forgetting what it is. That’s why god invented the ‘Forgot your password’ link. I click it. It takes me to site B.

On site B I’m asked for an email address to which the password can be sent. I input every email address I might have used, but it tells me none of these are valid. Clearly there’s something wrong with the system, so I email the administrator.

The administrator, very unhelpfully, emails me a link to site C where I can reset my password. It tells me I need my student ID, my netID (also known as my username) and an “alternate email address” where the password will be sent. I try this form several times using a variety of email addresses, but none of those work either. I am told that I need to visit another site, site D, to establish an alternate email address.

At site D I am told that I need my student ID and a PIN to sign in. PIN? I know no PIN, and have no recollection of setting one up. Never fear, there’s a PIN reset. I enter my student ID and click ‘Forgotten PIN’. I get the following message: “Authorization Failure – Security Question is not setup.” Ummm…ok, maybe I never set up a PIN in the first place. I click on the ‘create PIN’ link and jet over to site E.

At site E I am forced to enter my student ID, full name, date of birth and SIN (!) only to be told that my PIN has already been created, and that I should use the ‘Forgotten PIN’ tool instead. Thanks for that. I would, but I don’t have a security question set up. Of course, none of this would matter if any of the 6 email addresses I tried were recognized by the system, if there were some phone number I could call for assistance, or if some competent human at the school would just help me rather than point me to a Gordian knot of credential reset screens.

To think, this is the institution from which I’m seeking a post-graduate degree.

[tags]password reset, bad usability[/tags]

There will be no rocket science

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

This is all the detail my brain can muster today:

  • The Matador (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was ok, but not great.
  • I think it’s time for The Ex (the Canadian National Exhibition, for those of you not living in Toronto) to just close up shop. It’s looking it’s age.
  • If you know use an RSS reader and you have some basic technical skill, you should really check out Yahoo Pipes. I’ve been playing around with it since it came out, but now I’m finding it useful and not just kind of cool. For example, I aggregated all my various Montreal Canadiens news sites into one feed, and I found a patched Pitchfork feed so that I don’t keep seeing the same stories over and over.
  • I hope the film festival puts more tickets on sale. The few that I have a chance to see and that look interesting are already sold out after the advanced draw.

[tags]the matador, the ex, cne, yahoo pipes, tiff07[/tags]

"I wanted you to be present."

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Last night we watched Caché (imdb | rotten tomatoes), a rather unsettling French film. It built tension slowly and steadily, but never plodded. It showed how terror can suddenly bubble up after years and years of a low, quiet simmer. It wasn’t until the end of the film that I realized the two most effective devices: excruciatingly long POV shots and a complete absence of music.

Highly recommended if you have an adult attention span.

.:.

Liiiiink linkity-link-link-link:

* note: I do not have a happy dance.

[tags]caché, alberto gonzales, google transit planner, pogge, onion[/tags]

"Should I run?" "Yes!"

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

BlogTO used one of my flickr photos as a headline picture yesterday. Seeing that was a nice way to start off the day.

.:.

Nellie, T-Bone and I saw Superbad (imdb | rotten tomatoes) last night. Holy mother of god, it was funny. It was incredibly crude to the point that Jonah Hill’s character became kind of unlikable (although one of the best parts was hearing how many variations of “vagina” he could come up with) and there were too many scenes with the two cops, but those were small complaints in the face of pretty much nonstop laughter. Describing it as a cross between American Pie (minus the toilet humour) and The 40 Year Old Virgin is actually pretty accurate. If you can deal with ridiculously foul language, go see it. If you can’t, relax and then go see it.

.:.

We had dinner and a couple of pints at Smokeless Joe’s after. I love that place. I love sitting at the bar and listening to the blues and eating green pesto pasta and chatting with the friendly staff and drinking beer that I can’t get anywhere else. I’m glad it’s closer to us…now if only it weren’t smack in the middle of clubland.

.:.

I previously blogged about Walk Score, the site that tells you how pedestrian-friendly your home is. A friend recently brought it up again, and the scores coming out (our new condo, for example, scored only 80/100) led me to think they’d fixed their previous data issues (see the comments in my original post) so I gave it another whirl. Lo and behold, our condo scored a 95/100. I guess the data issues have been solved.

[tags]blogto, superbad, smokeless joe’s, walkscore[/tags]

I swear, I did not have relations with that virus

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

For those of you who received spim from me today, I swear, I did not give my credentials to that website. I clicked on the link, yes, because I wasn’t really paying attention, but I didn’t sign in. I’m not that dumb.

How it started spamming as me, I have no idea. I blame IE. I have since changed MSN to launch Firefox from now on when I click links.

[tags]MSN, virus[/tags]

Half a step back

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Another fatblogging check-in:

  • Original weight: 233
  • Weight last week: 229
  • Weight this week: 229.5

Not a great week, clearly. I’m not surprised; work eliminated pretty much all opportunity for exercise, and also made it all too easy to eat like crap. I’m hopeful, though not terribly optimistic, that this week will be better.

.:.

I finally fixed the connection problem with my desktop. And by “fixed” I mean reinstalled Windows. There were obviously other problems going on anyway, and I’d always been annoyed that it shipped with XP Home, so I installed Pro. I didn’t do a completely clean install though, so I can foresee problems popping up before too long. Still, I needed a working computer by today so I could get to work on my paper. The only problem now: the sound card doesn’t work.

[UPDATE] It also seems to recognize my USB2.0 controller as only 1.1.

[tags]fatblogging, xp home, xo pro[/tags]

Can we rig up an LCD and a bar fridge in the bathroom?

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Playing basketball for 2 hours in crazy-ass heat takes a lot out of you. We had a lot more people out tonight, including some people we didn’t know, so we ended up playing full court for a while. Now I am teh tired. I want to eat, watch The Shield and shower all at the same time.

.:.

I think the lightning fried my network card. Nellie can connect but I can’t, and we’re using the same router. It just…stopped. However, I can’t be arsed to fix it when I get home this late.

.:.

In unrelated news, I would beat up a nun for some chocolate right now.

[tags]basketball in the heat, fried network card, chocolate[/tags]

If you're depressed and have ADD and you know it, download these (and clap your hands)

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

If you’re in need of a song that’s less than two minutes in length and guaranteed to put you in a good mood, here it is: “Quito” by The Mountain Goats.

Ah shit, I’m feeling generous. Here’s another: “Half-Empty Halls” by The Evaporators.

You’re welcome.

.:.

Nellie’s away for the night, and part of tomorrow. I lazed around for a bit, did some errands, went to the Nike store (as I was paying I realized Jason Spezza was standing next to me, buying a stack of stuff as tall as my wife), went for a run, ordered some pizza, watched JFK (just ’cause), cleaned up and am now listening to music at a volume that seems to frighten the cats.

.:.

I needed a drink last night after work, so we met up with CBGB and a friend at The Auld Spot. The veggie burger was extra tasty, the beer was cold, the waitress was hot and the conversation was lively. It was just what I needed to ease into the weekend.

.:.

As of today I am 5/7 of the way through my MBA.

Aweso.

.:.

Two cool bits of news courtesy of the two best Toronto-centric blogs: Torontoist points to the new and improved driving directions on Google Maps (which is very helpful if you’ve ever tried plotting a scenic route) as well as a neat little mashup called Taxiwiz that predicts your Toronto cab fare. BlogTO, on the other hand, discusses the recent decision that permits street vendors to sell more than hot dogs.

.:.

Finally, I leave you with this hilarious little comic my friend Dino sent me.

Vegetarian Zombies

[tags]mountain goats, evaporators, nike store, jason spezza, auld spot, fun with fractions, torontoist, blogto, taxiwiz, google maps, vegetarian zombies[/tags]

Winner of the first annual Least Absurd contest: the independents

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I finally visited the bakery downstairs (called “Porh Pawh”…anyone want to take a stab at what the hell that means?) since I was walking by it around 7:45. I got an almond croissant, still piping hot…it was really good. Dammit. Fresh, tasty croissants downstairs — literally, I don’t even have to outside — is not what I need.

.:.

Is anyone else having problems with Sympatico? Or is it just me? My connection has been le suck since Saturday.

.:.

I am stunned. I knew it was bad down there, but I didn’t know it was this bad.

I remember being amused when three of the Republicans running for the party candidacy admitted, during a debate, that they did not believe in evolution. I thought, “That’s it. Those guys are toast.” Little did I know that they’d probably just read the advanced polling and were giving their constituents what they wanted to hear. That’s horrifying in and of itself, but the fact that 68% of the party who voted in the president doesn’t believe in evolution is just…staggering. I’m flummoxed, really.

Full story here.

[tags]porh pawh, sympatico problems, evolution, republicans, democrats, gallup[/tags]

Kind of makes "purple monkey dishwasher" seem logical

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Everyone else was exhausted after their 3-day session. Me, I’m energized. I like being around lots of smart people and trading big ideas.

.:.

Some days I get some weird search engine hits wind up on my blog. Some days I get a really weird one. Today was special: I got two of the weirdest keyword hits ever…”people inserting thermometers in their ass “& “monkey turnip outsourced”. I have no idea how those ended up on my blog, but there you go. The magic of Google, everybody.

[tags]keyword searches[/tags]