rooSwitch to the rescue!

I got a $40 Christmas present this year from the nice people who make rooSwitch! Well, they didn’t actually SEND me anything or GIVE me anything, nothing tangible, but they saved me $40 in upgrade fees, and that’s the same thing!

rooSwitch is a wonderful application which easily lets you create different profiles with the data from just about any application. I’m using it currently with iPhoto, where I have four different profiles, and iWeb, with multiple websites, and most recently with DEVONthink Personal 2.

I have been anxiously awaiting the release of DEVONthink Personal 2 for several reasons, but mostly because the blog about the update referred to opening multiple databases, a feature that has only been available in DEVONthink Pro and above, and one which I wanted enough to seriously consider upgrading to Pro for $40. Since that is the ONLY additional feature that I am interested in, though, I haven’t yet justified the expense.

I upgraded to and downloaded Version 2, and was disappointed to see that the multiple database feature is still only available in Pro and above. Nice new interface, yes, but still one database.

Into the void stepped rooSwitch, my $14.95 application that I already own and use. I created a second profile for DEVONthink Personal 2 and voila! A second database! But, no, I didn’t actually get a second database, just a second profile that was still opening the original database. Hmmm ... so, I dashed off a quick message to the feedback email address on the rooSwitch website on December 19, and on December 20— yes, that fast AND during the holiday season, yet— I received a message from the developer with a quick fix so that rooSwitch would recognize DEVONthink’s application support folder and the notation that it will be included in the next update of rooSwitch.

I am now merrily working away with my multiple DEVONthink Personal 2 databases.

Thanks for my Christmas present, roobasoft.com!

Quantum of Solace—That Daniel Craig is Some Kinda Intense

Saw the latest James Bond movie the other night, Quantum of Solace. Yes, there was a lot of action, but I’m not sure it was that much more than in Casino Royale. I’ve read that people said there was TOO much action, and I don’t feel like that’s the case. What I do think there was too much of was that shaky camera thing that is popular now, that kind of hand-held look where it seems like someone is running along with the camera, zooming in on this and that and not letting you get a full picture of what is going on. In fact, after the first 10 or 15 minutes of the movie, I thought I might throw up! Way too much movement for me. I like to sit in the middle of the theater, but I couldn’t do it with the opening portion of the movie, and I had to get up and go to the back row. Of course, just playing a 3D video game on the Playstation makes me have to go and lie down, so it could just be me. The shaky business seemed to settle down as the movie went on.

Daniel Craig is scary intense, very realistic as a guy wound tight, trying to keep from crossing the line—very often, anyway. He’s got that Steve McQueen kinda thing going on, and I sometimes wonder if he’s even acting or if he’s like that in real life. I looked up his birthday and he’s a Pisces. What does that tell me? I don’t know, nothing, I guess, but I’m a Pisces, too, so it makes me think he’s a very good actor.

I really like Olga Kurylenko, recently of Hitman and Max Payne. She was more of a kick-ass Bond girl, which I like better than the helpless “Oh, James!” types. The best and toughest Bond girl ever, though, was Izabella Scorupco, who played Natalya Simonova in Goldeneye. Goldeneye is my favorite Bond movie to date. Too bad they can’t bring Famke Janssen back as Xenia Onatopp in the next Bond movie. She would sure give Daniel Craig a run for his money in the intensity department!

I did see a Bond Blooper in Quantum of Solace: there is a scene where he disables a bad guy and takes his ear piece and other accoutrements so he can look at and listen in on the rest of the bad guys. He takes all this stuff and goes into the restroom and drops it into the sink while he puts in his ear piece, etc. The sink is one of those ones operated by a motion sensor and it should have turned on instantly and soaked all his stuff as soon as he put it in the sink, but nary a drop of water appeared.

All in all, another good Bond flick, one which I will most definitely be adding to my DVD collection.

Gone Granola: Results of Hair Spray Test

We’ve gone granola in this family and I have been researching and replacing everything we use with green products, no chemicals. It’s hard work, let me tell you, and there are some things that just don’t lend themselves to being green, hair spray being one of them.

If you grew up using your mother’s Aqua Net, like I did, and think of hair spray has a staple item, like I definitely do, then going granola (back to nature, being earth-friendly, more health conscious) can be the source of some seriously bad hair days. I tried not using hair spray at all and my husband thought my hair looked “fine.” Of course, I knew that meant that it looked like crap.

So, I went to the Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database and searched through all the hair sprays, trying to find some that were rated 2 or less — there weren’t that many — and I picked three non-aerosol products: Beauty Without Cruelty Natural Hold Hair Spray, Jason Natural Cosmetics Thin-to-Thick Hair Thickening Hair Spray, and Magick Botanicals Fragrance Free Hair Spray. There wasn’t an aerosol hairspray that was rated 2 or less — so much for my mom’s Aqua Net.

I ordered all three sprays from iHerb.com (love that place almost as much as I love amazon.com) and have spent the last month trying them all under varying conditions. BWC and Magick Botanicals were $6.85 for 6 oz bottles -- but when my order arrived, my BWC was an 8.5 oz bottle -- and the Jason spray was $4.80 for an 8 oz bottle.

The Jason spray was rated 0, and I really wanted to like it, especially since it smells so good, but it’s pretty much worthless as a hair spray. The only thing hair spray-ish about it is that, yes, you do spray it on your hair. It doesn’t hold anything in place and even wetting your fingers and running through you already-sprayed hair doesn’t give it any oomph. Maybe it really isn’t meant to be that kind of a hair spray. But, hey, it smells really good, so I left it in my bathroom to use as an air freshener.

The Magick Botanicals spray is rated 1, so I tried hard to like it best, now that I’d ruled out the Jason spray, and I must say that it is a very close second to the BWC spray. It’s unscented and definitely offers more holding power than the Jason spray, but it just didn’t quite measure up to the BWC spray. It seemed like it left my hair a little bit wetter and kind of separated it more. It’s hard to explain exactly what I mean, but in the end, I just preferred the Beauty Without Cruelty spray. But, having said that, if I couldn’t get BWC hair spray, I would definitely be happy with the Magick Botanicals spray, and you can buy it in gallon containers from their website, so you can refill the spray bottles — a lot less waste.

Beauty Without Cruelty Natural Hold Hair Spray is rated at 2, and I’m not sure they should call it “natural hold,” because that implies to me that it’s probably not going to act much like a hair spray at all. Anyone who uses hair spray routinely knows you need “extra hold” or “ultra hold” in order for it to be good at its job! Having said that, though, BWC is very good at its job, but it doesn’t give you such a strong hold that you can’t get your fingers into your hair after you’ve sprayed it. It’s unscented, but the smell is still familiar to me, like maybe I’ve used a similar product before. I spray it on and have time to rearrange things before it dries, and it holds my style very well. I’m very happy with this product, but I don’t think you could go wrong with either the BWC or the Magick Botanicals spray.

There you have it, another pressing decision made and another item crossed of my huge list.

MacUpdate Promo through September 10

MacUpdate’s latest promo bundle still has two more days to go. I bought it, of course. Some people collect salt and pepper shakers; some people collect Barbies. I collect applications.

I already own LightZone and Alarm Clock Pro and wasn't motivated to buy this bundle until the day I checked (yes, I check every day, even when I’m on vacation. I check the MacUpdate promo and I check MacZot) and saw that TidyUp was being offered to the first 3,000 purchasers. All of a sudden there was more motivation to buy. I've been waiting for TidyUp to be on a promotion for a long time, a really long time. So long, in fact, that I thought it was never going to happen. So I decided to check out the next most promising app, or the one I think that I would be most likely to use, anyway, Norkross Movie, and I was instantly impressed. I haven’t actually created anything useful with it yet, but I know I will.

I figured at this point, even if I never used any of the other applications, I would still have $89 worth of applications for $49. So, I bought the bundle and am starting to wade into the other applications. I’ve got kids writing school papers, so Bookends and Mellel will come in handy. I’ve been toying with the idea of purchasing MacJournal for a while now, so I can cross that off my list of “Applications to Seriously Consider” (it’s a very long list).

As for LightZone, my 11-year-old daughter has done some amazing things with her photos all by herself. The application is very intuitive and they have great tutorials on their website. It's impressive, it really is. You can set up iPhoto so that the default editor is LightZone. I hope it gets unlocked so more people will use it and spread the word about how awesome it is.

And, Koingo Software is offering a discount to all buyers of this bundle, their Utility Package for only $19.95! That’s a crazy deal! I already owned several Koingo apps, and bought the Utility Package a few months ago when it was on MacZot for half-price. This is even a better deal! The Utility Package includes lifetime free upgrades and licenses to every application on their web site ... AND licenses to any application they come out with in the future! Plus, they have licenses on some of their applications for Mac and Windows. This Utility Package is normally $80, and you get it for $20. Seems like a no-brainer. The offer expires September 30.

Even if you don’t buy the bundle, you should check out the developer videos. They are very entertaining. It’s nice to see that they are people, just like you and me, with kids, cats, not the super humans like I usually think. People who can code, of course, so I guess they are not EXACTLY like you and me. Look at their surroundings in the background— surprisingly tidy. That’s another way they are not like me.

Here I sit, with a drink and a memory ...

That’s a line from an old Willie Nelson song, "Good Times." It seems apropos right now because that’s what I’m doing, just sitting here. I don’t have the drink, and I can hardly remember what I wanted to post about. Maybe I should GET a drink and that will help jar my memory.

I’ve been meaning to update my website for more than a year now, and one of the things I wanted to do was add a blog. I always have SO much to say and SO many opinions to share with anyone who will listen that I figured a blog would be great. Well, it’s ready now, and here I sit ... thinking ... thinking ... and I’m completely at a loss for something to blog about! I guess it has to come naturally. Something is going to have to make me mad or disgusted or thrilled or pleased or incredulous. Right now, I’m just not feeling it [big sigh]. Better leave the application open so I can jump right on it the minute I’m motivated.

I’ll come back later with that drink.