Hacking at 0300 » Uncategorized http://bililite.com/blog Thoughts on web design and programming from a very occasional volunteer webmaster Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:00:56 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 The Quicken, the Dead http://bililite.com/blog/2010/03/12/the-quicken-the-dead/ http://bililite.com/blog/2010/03/12/the-quicken-the-dead/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:35:40 +0000 Danny http://bililite.com/blog/?p=1162 I've been using Quicken for years, since Quicken 97 on Window then Quicken 5 on the Mac and then Quicken 2001 when I got my iMac. The problems is that Intuit doesn't upgrade Quicken, it replaces it each year with a version that has more frilly bells and whistles and less real utility (especially on the Mac; just look at the "Using a prior version of Quicken Mac?"). And the datafile is often different from the old file, so stuff gets lost with each "upgrade".

So I've kept my current Mac (a blue & white G3, the "Mickey Mouse" one) just to be able to run Quicken 2001 under Classic. I can't upgrade to an Intel Mac, since Classic won't work. And I want to balance my checkbook while talking to my wife, not only downstairs in my basement office. So I wanted something I could run on my dual-boot (XP and Ubuntu) laptop.

I've been looking at alternatives to Quicken for 5+ years, but with 20 years of data I was too scared. Until now. I've been using gnuCash for just a week now, but it seems to everything I need it to, including importing all my data, even from multiple investment accounts, from Quicken's exported QIF file. I haven't done any complicated investment things, so I don't know how well that side of it works.

Strong points

  • It Just Works. Does what I expect it to do, in the way I expect it to. Of course, I'm a geek who understands double-entry bookkeeping, so that may not be surprising.
  • I can control-S and save the file; I always felt out of control with Quicken since you couldn't force it to save.
  • Open source. I will probably never have the time to tinker, but it's nice knowing that I could

Weak points

  • Keyboard shortcuts. I miss being able to assign my own keystrokes; I hate going back to the trackpad to do anything. But see Open Source above; I can probably fix that.
  • I'm going to have to learn Scheme to create custom reports. Not sure if that's a bug or a feature.

The biggest advantage is the feeling of freedom of not being tied to Intuit anymore. I'll see how it works out, but I'm not going back.

]]> http://bililite.com/blog/2010/03/12/the-quicken-the-dead/feed/ 2 Preventing Irony Deficiency http://bililite.com/blog/2009/10/07/preventing-irony-deficiency/ http://bililite.com/blog/2009/10/07/preventing-irony-deficiency/#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:45:23 +0000 Danny http://bililite.com/blog/?p=1107 Today was the last day of a 3-month locum stint and they had a lunch for me. Ham and cheese subs.

And someone who knew what kosher meant brought in Cheezits (my main vice). But it's sukkot, so I couldn't eat those in the office either.

In all seriousness, I'm never offended when someone offers me nonkosher food like this, and I try to discourage people from trying too hard. It's a lot easier to politely decline something clearly nonkosher, than responding to someone who worked really hard at getting it right but missed one detail. "Here—you can eat this!" always elicits a cringe.

For those who don't see the irony in thanking an Orthodox Jew with ham and cheese, see wikipedia.

]]> http://bililite.com/blog/2009/10/07/preventing-irony-deficiency/feed/ 0 AVH Amazon Wishlist Plugin http://bililite.com/blog/2009/06/14/avh-amazon-wishlist-plugin/ http://bililite.com/blog/2009/06/14/avh-amazon-wishlist-plugin/#comments Sun, 14 Jun 2009 19:49:36 +0000 Danny http://bililite.com/blog/?p=837 Just added a new widget to the sidebar: the AVH Amazon Wishlist. It randomly picks items from my Amazon wishlist. Anyone reading this can feel free to buy me something, though I don't expect that (except from Stanley; you know who you are). I think it's more interesting as an indicator of the sorts of things that interest me. It's mostly all there: judaica, programming, woodworking, cooking gadgets. Interestingly, virtually no medical books. All my medical references are online or on my PDA (uptodate, epocrates, Riley Kidometer, Pediatrics, Contemporary Pediatrics). The actual books I've used in years are the picture books (Hurwitz's Clinical Pediatric Dermatology, Smith's Recognizable Patterns of Human Malformation). Almost by definition, texts are obsolete by the time they reach the editor, let only when they are published. The doctors I know still have impressive bookcases filled with medical textbooks, but they're the ones they bought in medical school and haven't opened since.

Speaking of which, there's a new edition of Hurwitz out. Hint!

]]> http://bililite.com/blog/2009/06/14/avh-amazon-wishlist-plugin/feed/ 0 Hello world! http://bililite.com/blog/2007/04/15/hello-world/ http://bililite.com/blog/2007/04/15/hello-world/#comments Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:20:28 +0000 admin http://bililite.com/blog/index.php/2007/04/15/hello-world/ http://bililite.com/blog/2007/04/15/hello-world/feed/ 0