the P.Pole

Let it be known that yesterday was the first Valentine’s Day that:

• I have “celebrated” in a long time
• I enjoyed more than I would enjoy any other random day
• I tried the Japanese food at the restaurant previously known as “Wasabi”(beside Silverstar Buffet)
• I felt quite a bit of pride when I heard that our very own Alexandre Bilodeau win gold in the Men’s Freestyle Skiing (Moguls) event, first official Canadian gold on Canadian soil (don’t worry Jenn Heil, you won the gold, if only according to me)

So yes, yesterday was a fun day. Look what Amy made me to mark the date!

Disclaimer:

I don’t work for Postbox, but I do appreciate their software and how it actually does what I want. This is why I am promoting it to friends and family alike.

This guide is written for Postbox 1.1.1, on Mac OS X (I’m on 10.6.2 at time of writing this), so I cannot guarantee success on the Windows version via the same steps, but all the settings in Gmail + preferences should be more or less identical.

When you get this set up, you should be able to archive messages just like in the web interface to keep on the Gmail servers, delete emails to the trash (or immediately) via Postbox, and get the most out of your Gmail-on-desktop experience. I hope this also helps anyone else who has trouble getting these things to work. I spent a good hour last night figuring it out.

If you read through this and try it out on a trial version, and you like what you see, you can save $10 on the purchase of Postbox by using a referral purchase page here (you will see a small message at the top confirming the $10 discount). Students with valid photo ID will get a 50% discount too.

So this application was mentioned by Lifehacker and I have since purchased it. I do not often purchase software (opting for the awesome freewares that are offered out there instead), but after using a trial version of this app, I instantly fell in love with the level of actual, real interoperability with Gmail IMAP. Having had no success with Mail or Thunderbird working properly with IMAP (i.e. archiving is wonky, as is expunging from the inbox), I tested this alternative out and found it to do exactly what I needed (mostly without any major configuration in the newer version).

If you’re looking for a feature list, please see their site for their marketing pitch.

I’m going to go over a quick guide to set up Postbox with Gmail, such that the archiving works along with trashing, inbox cleaning, and all that jazz. Currently, I have not found any other comprehensive guide that is proven to work that takes into account both the Gmail settings and the Postbox settings to ensure things play nice. Enjoy, and I hope this helps you if you’re having trouble.

Getting Postbox

First, you’ll need to go download a copy of Postbox (free trials are available for both Windows and Max OS X). Install by following the instructions (duh, straightforward, really). Go here for the download file (you’ll need to click the button at the top to get your OS-specific download, as their site automatically detects your operating system). Continue reading

This is unexpected, sneaky, and nerdy all in one beautiful burrito of awesome (found while reading through some PHP tutorials for work, while jamming out to Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”).

Tam, K. and Wong, C. (2010). Completed on the 26th of January, 2010, in response to this clearly inflammatory post.

Thank you, Amy. *smooches

Since my interview the other day, I’ve been quite into the band Rush’s song, “Tom Sawyer”. It’s an old-school song from and old-school band, and it’s in Rock Band.

You see, apparently my interviewer used to also print tee shirts in his pre-university days. He printed a design for the band Rush that the band members actually liked so much that they offered him the chance to go on tour with them, selling the shirts (AWESOME). That was one of the most interesting/awesome interviews I’ve ever had. I really hope I get that job.

Anyway, the song’s lyrics are after the jump, and have a listen. It’s probably not for everyone, but it’s a pretty badass song for those who like this kind of stuff.

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Everyone, Tim Burton’s “9″ comes out today. You should be seeing it. Now. Go.

5 things I am glad I got to do this summer:

• go to the Virgin Festival with Amy
• be involved with worship and AV teams at TJCAC
• make some tee shirts with Amy for coworkers, friends, and family (still taking orders, by the way, and I’m still in the process of collecting the photos of jobs well-done so far)
• go camping and play cards with some friends from church
• earn some money to pay for some of my expenses at school

Soon–all too soon–I will be moving back into Waterloo for a year’s worth of school + work. Continue reading