The Yahoo Music Player, sorry, Yahoo Music Jukebox, just hit it's second release. There are still some really bad usability bugs in there. Use of the term Jukebox is all that is left of "Music Match Jukebox". Sad, it was a good app.

And yikes, I have just paid for my second year of service, and they want $20 for the plus version of the program.

When I was working at Yahoo,the Music guys were known as being a bit arrogant. But what good is arrogance when you can't get something as freaking simple a device syncing working!

I removed a song from my playlist, when I sync'd the playlist to my player, the song was still there. That is just plain lazy. They should freaking call it pushing, not syncing if they don't remove songs not referenced in list of songs that should be on the player.

Also if a song you are syncing can't be found, or if the license has expired for that sone, you get a modal dialog. So if you trace this down, you need to either write down the songs on paper, or do a screen capture. You receive no clue as to whether or not the song is in a playlist. Wait let go back, MODAL DIALOG. This means you must dismiss the diallog before you can fix the issues it presents. Man, never take the brown acid.



You can't find the songs by searching the playlist. That isn't allowable. You have to look at each playlist and scan the songs. Because you can't sort the songs in a playlist.

And a bug they promised me they would fix in this release. When you delete a song from "your music" and the computer, it is left in the playlist. Also the song is not on the player. So of course when you sync that playlist, you get the dialog.

When you delete a song, it will reread the whole device again.

I noticed a New Trick.

Elena is doing another similar trick. Instead of a basic somersault, she filps onto her back and the uses her claws to slide herself on her back across the cage.

It's pretty funny to watch. I'll have to get pictures and post them.

She has her first vet visit. She was really stressed by the experience. She even let me take a nap when I got home.

The doctor blunted her beak a little. Just enough to cause me less pain.

Needed that nap. I'm still adjusting to her schedule. Well I wanted to start waking up earlier. Now I don't have a choice.

New Family Member

I have a new parrot. Caiques are one of those breed where you can't tell the sex of the bird. Well you can, but it cost $50 for a DNA test. Since she is not going to be bred, it does not matter. So Pepe just became Elena. I alway think of birds as female.

Here are a couple of pictures.





Julie the shop owner had sold her a bit less than a year ago. Some one bought it for his dad who had wanted a bird all his life. Well once he got the bird, he decided he did not want the bird. So the son took back the gift. Unfortunately he traveled a lot,so he could not keep the bird. Julie took her back. Julie has had her for about 2 weeks.

I went to the shop and handled Elena for about 15 minutes, then went for lunch. I came back and handled her more. She was a bit nippy this time. Not going for blood or to cause pain. She was just pinching and testing. Put her back in the cage, and she ate for about 20 minutes. I then picked her up again. Less nippy, but then more.

This was actually pretty good for a bird that had been ignored and tossed around. I decided to get her.

Got her home and setup her travel cage in my office. After about an hour I got a snack and fed her some of the plum. She seems to like it. I opened the cage and she hung out on top. She let me handle her for quite a while before she started to bite. I put her down again and picked her up every now and then. Seems to be ok.

I put her cage in my bedroom. This way I could put her in there at about 10PM and I could stay up. Well she was up with the sun at 6:30. I stayed in bed until 8:30 when my alarm went off.

She was ok today. A bit more nippy. Although about 9:30PM she did bite hard. I put her to bed for the night. I'll probably be punished with a 5AM wakeup.

OK, so her birthday, or hatch day is 6/29/05.

As you can see from the pictures, she has a black mask like Zorro. So I named her after Catherine Zeta-Jones character Elena.

Her wellness check with the vet is at 11:45 on Saturday.

The travel cage is really a great cage for keeping her in the office. I is 19x12 and 16 high. More than enough room on top to hang out. Plus enough space in case I have to leave the office for a bit.

Her main cage is large. 2ft square and about 3ft tall. 5 foot with the stand.

More reports soon.

She has a very cool trick. She does a sumersault. She puts her head down and rolls onto her back and then turns over. She did this about 6 times. Now if she'll do it on cue.

New Bird

I am thinking of buying a new parrot. My last parrot Winnie died at the too young an age of 11.

The vet I like around here is still practicing. The other issue is finding someone to take care of the bird when I am out of town. I called the vets office. The person I talked to recommended someone who also sells parrots as well boards them. Here are the two breeds I am thinking about:
An Eclectus

or a Caique

Both are very social birds that are not known for being very loud. I am leaning towards the Caique as they tend to not bond a one person and will be friendly to all.

But you never know. Winnie was a white cap pionus. This breed is also known for being very friendly and not noisy. She was quite noisy at times. Plus she really was bonded to me and did not like others. Even when I was out of work and Ed & Catherine kept her for 6 months. She never bonded with anyone in the household.

I like birds. Very smart. Long lived, or at least supposed to be. Very social. You don't have to walk them. Just clean the cage. After a few years they even stop pooping on you. part of that is for you to know to put the bird in the cage about every 15 minutes to give her a chance to poop.

I'm going this wednesday after my Chiropractor appointment. the pet store is about 15 minutes away.