29 March 2012
Sometimes my iMac won't sleep. I've tried closing various applications as well as logging out of my account before entering sleep mode, but I still hear it humming quietly when I come back minutes later. It happened to me last year with Snow Leopard but went away after a reboot. Lately, using OS X Lion 10.7.3, it's happening again.
If this is happening to your iMac or MacBook, try running pmset, a command-line tool to manipulate power management settings. Open the Terminal app and type the following:
pmset -g assertions
Roughly translated, this reads get me a list of the power management assertions, or reasons the computer might not be able to enter sleep mode.
The first time I ran this, I noticed the CUPS printing system was preventing sleep. The screenshot doesn't reflect that. I killed that process (you can use the Activity Monitor app to do this).
I noticed another assertion from the audio system. I did not kill that process as it was related to PreventUserIdleSystemSleep. If you're listening to music, this shows up to keep you from having to touch your trackpad/keyboard to keep your system awake and playing.
I opened System Preferences > Energy Saver and restored defaults for good measure.
27 March 2012
It's fun to look for design trends you're accustomed to seeing on the web in everyday products. You've seen circles for profile pictures in Google+ Circles.
The new Basecamp also uses them, as well as OS X Lion's login screen.
They're also used on boxes of Lipton tea.
I'm sure the iOS linen background that originated as the background behind pages in mobile Safari will one day feel like Aqua buttons, but I like them, and variants of the pattern are probably all over your house.
27 March 2012
Michelle built a Bound journal for my birthday. We first saw these at the SHU box.
For what I do every day, mine's ideal. I'm currently sketching some screens for Chronicle and Meetings for iPad.
26 March 2012
Malcolm Gladwell writes about the 10,000-hour rule in his book, Outliers. While I doubt I've spent 10,000 hours on any one topic, between my undergraduate years, MBA, and almost 3/4 (!) of medical school I have spent 10,000 studying. And like his examples, I've gone through several iterations of how I like to study.
I've had my notecard phase which consisted of buying paper drill (I ended up getting a modestly priced McGill) and calling Mead about the possibility of wholesale ordering their half-sized colored index cards after exhausting the local office store supply as well as Amazon's (btw - the paper drill was so I could use a book ring to hold them together).
I tried recopying all of my notes from class and texts into a single 3-ring notebook.
For the past year or so I've settled into a highlighter scheme where diseases are red, pharmacology is green, risk factors yellow, diagnostic tests blue, pathophys purple, and sequelae pink. There are also lighter colors that are associated with 2nd line drugs, tests, etc. I also make notes in my books (something my college freshman self would never have done) with ink pens of the corresponding color (most often Hi-Tec-C). While this has worked well, there have been some issues. Rather than carrying one highlighter, I need almost 10. I also need a similar number of pens. I also need a ruler so I don't write too off line in my books. In the end, I study with around $50 of highlighters/pens/etc. Rather than duplicating these items for all the places I study - desk, sunroom, school, couch, I use my bag-in-bag from invite.L.
It has 10 pockets that fit all of my writing instruments and are sturdy enough that I can store them in the tip up (for highlighters) or tip down (for pen) position. It has a handle built into the top which is nice. Other bags with handles on the outside tend to change the weight of the bag and can cause it to tip over. The bag-in-bag also has two button snap closures at the top which gives my inside pens a little more protection from jostling when I'm traveling. It's also large enough to fit a book or two and stands nicely in the bottom of my bookbag.
All in all, I think the bag-in-bag, though a more recent addition to my study style, will be here to stay.
18 March 2012
Match Day for the class of 2012 was Friday. It's been especially fun to see the pictures, videos, and posts this weekend because we know some of these people and because Michelle's next. By this time next year we'll know where we're headed for residency.
The match list for Match Day 2012 at MCG (GHSU).
10 March 2012
Today we were making lunch together, trying as we could to do preparation and cleanup in parallel so that as we sat down to eat there would be nothing left to do in the kitchen. I grabbed the chips, she finished making the sandwiches. I went to put something on the Roku and, as I was walking back to the kitchen, she passed with a plate in each hand, smiling. Cute I thought. I put some things up, grabbed a drink, and went to join her. As I settled onto the couch and started to eat I noticed my sandwich was flimsy, light, a pile of cardboard boxes falling all over my plate.
We both started laughing, and I realized I misread the smile a minute earlier. Then I stared at her. Everything was wrapped, put up, the tuna fork already washed. She sabotaged the parallelized process, created rework...and made me laugh more.