Argh! I’ve been plagued by this recurring Photoshop error message for months now. I cannot find anyone else experiencing this same problem online. As I recall, this problem first occurred after I “upgraded” to Photoshop CS3 Extended. So, years would probably be more accurate than months. Anyways, I’m saving to a local drive so no one else could possibly be using the the same file. And, the only application using the file is Photoshop. I haven’t been able to figure out what specific sequence of events triggers this error message.

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I’ve been using a MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2009) for a few months now. The 4 GB memory that comes standard is usually more than enough if I stick to the Mac side of things: Safari, Firefox, Photoshop, iTunes, iPhoto, Mail, etc. I can open and run as many Mac applications as I want without a hitch. However, if I ever have to use VMWare Fusion and Windows Vista, the MacBook Pro painfully slows down. I finally decided it was time to install more memory. Of course, the falling price of DDR3 memory didn’t hurt. Basically, remove 10 screws and the bottom case, swap the memory, and replace the bottom case. Technically, not a difficult procedure. However, like the 500GB Hard Drive replacement on a different MacBook Pro, I did encounter a few “stuck” screws that required a bit more patience. The bottom case also didn’t exactly pop off as easily as I was expecting. I had to gently pull and tug the bottom case to completely detach it. Now, I’m humming along with 8 GB and no longer dread launching Vista.

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The Palo Alto Airport hosted Airport Day on September 12, 2009. During the entire visit, we witnessed the constant buzz of small planes taking off and taxiing down the run way. We could also see up close planes of all shapes and sizes, as well as helicopters and gyroplanes. Little kids could also climb aboard a brilliant red Palo Alto fire engine and enjoy the view from inside the truck. I spotted a vendor selling a cup of frozen lemonade at a price that may have been higher than I had paid at Disneyland.

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Located in Anaheim, CA, Disneyland offers Southern California residents and visitors an incomparable experience. If you live in Orange County, you may not realize what a gem you have in your backyard. However, if you ever venture to Northern California or out-of-state, you will quickly discover that no place quite delivers like Disneyland. The park is absolutely immaculate, which is no small task considering the thousands of people who pass through the turnstile throughout the day. Additionally, Disneyland constantly refreshes the attractions so they do not feel tired and dated—like I have seen at other theme parks. The breadth of attractions is equally impressive. For young kids, no one caters to them like Disneyland does.

I went during the Friday before Labor Day and really lucked out. Except for the 90 degree heat, Disneyland was absolutely fantastic. For the most part, I encountered 5 minute wait times for most attractions.

If you are visiting Disneyland in the near future, I would recommend avoiding the Harbor Boulevard entrance. The Harbor Boulevard entrance is closed. Instead, signs will direct you to off-site parking at Anaheim Gardenwalk. Ugh. Not an ideal arrangement if the weather is hot and you have kids in tow.

I also attended dinner at Ariel’s Disney Princess Celebration. Located in Disney’s California Adventure, Ariel’s Grotto offers families with young girls an opportunity to dine with their favorite Disney princesses. As you enter the Grotto, you are presented with the opportunity to take a photograph with Ariel—the princess, not the mermaid. You are only permitted one photo per group, so if you are dining with friends, you cannot have your own photo with Ariel, at least initially. However, Ariel does come around to the dining tables later on with her friends, Princess Aurora (aka Sleeping Beauty), Snow White, Cinderella and Belle, for photos. Where’s Mulan for the Asian children? I found the food to be surprisingly good. I had the tri-tip, which I enjoyed. Another dining companion had the redfish, which was also well-received. In addition to the main entree, your table also receives appetizer platters and an after dinner dessert plate. All very delicious, for a price.

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The Aquarium of the Pacific is a modern aquarium located in Long Beach, California. Visitors can see fishes and other marine animals from different parts of the world at the aquarium. The aquarium features both small and large fishes spread throughout its two-story structure. Besides the obligatory clownfish exhibit, the aquarium also features puffins, sea lions, and petting tanks for rays and sharks.

Be sure to check the Aquarium of the Pacific website for ongoing promotions. Currently, booking online saves $5 per adult ticket. No additional online discount for children or seniors. However, if you present your AAA card, you receive a 10% discount on up to four tickets. So, buy adult tickets online, but use the AAA discount for the children tickets at the ticket booth.

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After having some success with Wei-Chuan’s Chinese Cuisine (中国菜), I decided to pick some some of the other Wei-Chuan cookbooks to diversify, namely Chinese Snacks (點心專輯), Chinese Cuisine: Beijing Style (北京菜) and Chinese Cuisine: Shanghai Style (上海菜). I really like the bilingual cookbooks produced by Wei-Chuan. While I prefer to read through recipes in English, I like the title of the dishes to be in Chinese because I am more familiar with the Chinese names. I also like that I can consult with the Chinese recipe if the English directions are unclear.

Last weekend, I made the 糖醋瓦塊魚, which was inartfully translated to Sweet and Sour Fish Tiles. Another reason why I like the Wei-Chuan cookbooks is because the recipes all include a color photo of the final dish. If I had to rely on the awkward English translation, I probably would not have attempted the dish. Anyways, the recipe called for 1 T. of brown vinegar. Since I was unsure what was brown vinegar, I looked at the Chinese recipe which listed 鎮江醋. The bottles I see at 99 Ranch are labeled Chinkiang Vinegar, not Brown Vinegar. So, having the Chinese recipe with the English translation really helped in this instance.

I did notice that in some instances the Chinese and English recipes differed. Specifically, the Chinese recipe for 槽溜魚片called for 味精, but its English translation did not. I guess the translator was aware that Americans are not exactly fond of MSG. However, this cultural sensitivity theory fails if you look at all the dishes in the Chinese Snacks book that requires lard or shortening. I guess that’s the only way to make pastry dough light and flakey, but it’s definitely not a product I stock in the kitchen.

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I finally came across an application that does not play well with Snow Leopard. The ScanSnap Manager application that came with the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510M can crash under certain circumstances. For example, if I scan a document and select the Scan to Folder option, I will consistently see this unpleasant message:

Fujitsu has a patch of sorts that disables the ScanSnap Manager and routes the scanned document to Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader if installed. I had installed the patch, but thought that Acrobat slowed down my workflow. So, I uninstalled the patch and tested ScanSnap Manager some more. My preferred solution is to select Scan to Print, then Save as PDF, which then prompts me for a filename. Better than the overhead of launching a separate application just to save a scanned file.

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Because Snow Leopard does not install Rosetta by default, I’ve decided to abandon the last of my PowerPC applications: QuicKeys 2.1.1.

I’ve been a fan of BBEdit for a long time. At first, I relied heavily on QuicKeys to handle a lot of my keystroke automation within BBEdit:

1. Add pre-defined text / templates.
2. Insert HTML tags.
3. Run AppleScripts.

However, I’ve encountered various compatibility issues with QuicKeys over time as I upgraded to newer versions of Mac OS X or BBEdit. Instead of waiting around for a fix, I’ve slowly migrated many of my QuicKeys functions over to BBEdit. After I installed Snow Leopard, I finally pulled the last automated function away from QuicKeys.

Adding Predefined Text or a Template. If you have to enter the same text repetitively in multiple documents, create a clipping. To do this, select the text pattern and save it as a clipping. In BBEdit, select © > Save Selection as Clipping… For some reason, the Clippings menu looks like an inverted copyright sign. Then, select Window > Palettes > Clippings. This summons the Clippings window where you can highlight your clippings and assign a hot key to them via the Set Key button.

Inserting HTML Tags. While you can use the above method to insert HTML code, the better method is to take advantage of BBEdit’s built-in hot key (or menu key) functions. Select BBEdit > Preferences to summon the BBEdit Preferences window. Select Menus from the left-hand column of the BBEdit Preferences window. In the right-hand column, expand Markup by clicking on the arrow to its left so that it points downward. If you find the HTML tag that you want from the sub-menus, select it and click on the Set Key button to assign a hot key. This method works better than just inserting the HTML tags as text because it inserts the opening and closing tags in the right place.

Run AppleScripts. The last remaining function that I had assigned to QuicKeys was to run an AppleScript that handled capitalization. Yes, BBEdit has a Change Case function, but it did not work exactly like I wanted. If I asked BBEdit to Capitalize Words, I end up with something like this:

A Rat In The House May Eat The Ice Cream

However, I prefer not to capitalize certain words, such as “in” and “the,” at least from the above text string. I have a bunch of other words that I do not ordinarily capitalize as well, such as “of”, “a” and “an.” While I love the Text Factory function, which is an easy way to run successive search and replace patterns, I can only run a Text Factory across an entire file and not an individual text selection. Hence, I created an AppleScript to handle this, which I had assigned to a QuicKeys hot key. Turns out that moving my existing script over to BBEdit was easier than I could imagine. I just had to drag the script to ~/Library/Application Support/BBEdit/Scripts/. The script then magically appeared in the Script menu (which looks like a curled document). To assign a hot key to this script, select Window > Palettes > Scripts. Select your script and click on the Set Key button to assign a keystroke.

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I spotted the Yamaha roadshow at the Mountain View Costco again last weekend. Looks like prices have gone up since 2008.

The Yamaha Mark III Grand DGB1CD PE 4′ 11″ was selling for $13,999.99. The Yamaha T118 PE 48″ was selling for $3,699.99, up from $3,499.99. I would note some inconsistency in the specifications in that the 2009 label listed the T118 as a 48″ and the 2008 label listed it as a 46″, but the Yamaha website has the T118 PE as a 47″. Finally, the Yamaha Grand Piano GB15 PE 4′ 11″ was selling for $8,799.99.

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I really like the music of Vienna Teng and was fortunate enough to hear her live a few years ago. If you’ve never heard her in concert, Internet Archive has a collection of her live recordings. You can also find her videos on YouTube.

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