BM5k

Too much time, too little to do!

2006-05-03T01:06:00.000-06:00

Lately, there aren't enough hours in the day. And I'm not sure why. There isn't much that has to get done. Good thing, because I've been accomplishing just that: not much.

I've all but stopped writing anything at all, and I'm so far behind in the podcasts that interest me, that it's not funny. Not funny at all.

We've moved the computer back into the office, where it belongs. Perhaps this will inspire me to work more, and play less. Still having trouble pulling Sharon away from the TV. Oh well; that would just mean sharing the computer more anyway.

Spent a lot of money @ the apple store lately. Picked up a couple of refurb iSights for just about the price of one brandy-new one. Sent one to my mum, for mother's day, so we can all stay in touch. Been thinking of buying a 12" iBook for Sharon. She insists that it would be enough for her, and she's probably right. It just feels weird purchasing a computer weeks before I'm sure they'll announce its replacement. Also finally broke down and purchased iLife '06. So far, I'm not disappointed. Of course, we signed up for dot mac. Five pack, so that the entire clan can get in on the action. Even trying to get my buddy Dave in on it.

Speaking of Dave, Sharon sold him her iPod this past week. I'd been trying to offload my old 30 gig photo since the videos came out. Well, turns out that 4 gigs wasn't enough for her, so she upgraded to the photo, and was able to get $150 out of Dave for the nano. I guess that will pay for some of our new goodies.

Among the other item's, we've also added a paper shredder, scanner, whiteboard and pegboard to our collection of office supplies. Its starting to feel like a real work space, and not just a second bedroom.

Tomorrow, we're going to try to get the house cleaned. We're both off, and I swear, we're not leaving the house till its not a wreck.

I haven't heard anything back about that transfer, but I can't stand constantly being chilled to the bone much longer. I'm sick of the crappy weather, and being stuck in doors.

They're already trying to get me to go back on the road, and I still haven't received the reimbursement for my January trip yet. Ok, ok, its only been 2 weeks since I submitted the paper work, but it wasn't supposed to take this long! I can only hope that the deposit will be made sometime this week.

I wouldn't mind going back to Tainan, not at all, but I'm not sure that now is the best time. Last trip was pretty rough on Sharon & I, and she's let me know that she doesn't want me leaving any time soon.

MacBook?

2006-04-09T08:27:00.000-06:00

Here goes my [baseless] prediction for the spec's on the upcoming MacBook. I've never made any such prediction (at least not publicly, but I was close with the new minis, so here goes!

intel Core Solo

512mb RAM

Combo Drive (super drive option)

flash hard disk (w/capacity options somewhere in the range of 10g - 50g)

Case made from super thin, super scratchable plastic. (And, I'll buy one anyway.)*

8hr+ battery life

Integrated graphics/sound

Integrated iSight w/front row

Integrated in wireless/bluetooth/100baseT

Single button touchpad

A couple (not more than 4) USB 2.0 ports

No firewire, or only a single FW400 port

Magsafe power connector

I'm kinda iffy about the widescreen thing, but that would be nice. The macbook is going to be a cheap, light, less powerful cousin to the MBP. The target market is going to be people who move around a lot, and still need simple notebook features, such as the ability to check email, do reports, surf the net, blog, write, etc.

THIS WILL NOT BE A GAMING MACHINE. Get over it. Gamers have never been the target market for the iBook. Why would Apple start now?

It will, however, be capable of handling applications such as Photoshop or Aperture, albeit slower than the MBP or iMac counterparts... Wait, that makes sense, if you look at the current lineup/past lineups offered by Apple.

The MB's claim to fame will be the flash storage. There really isn't a need for 200gigs of storage in a laptop. Die hard road warriors will be looking to the MBP anyway, students and most average people don't need to take it all with them. And you can always use an external drive/network with another computer to sync your iPod, keep all 1,000,000,000,000,000 of your photos archived, etc. No hard drive means fewer moving parts, giving the MB a boost in battery life. I'd be willing to say 10hrs is possible. I think a 10 or 12 inch edition, sans [internal] optical drive, is a slight possibility, taking Apple in the direction of the ultraportable.

I'd like to think that sometime in the near future we'll see touch senstive screens from Apple. A small (7" screen) tablet would be all the portable computer I need, but its gotta be a Mac.

*I swear, if the resolution is limited to 1024x768, I'm gunna be pissed the ~~fuck~~ off!!! I mean, seriosuly, Apple. I had 1024x768 TEN YEARS AGO on my first computer. ~~Fuck~~in-A.

Any takers?

Blah!

2006-04-07T04:56:00.000-06:00

I haven't really felt like writing much lately. Not for a lack of things to say, but for a lack of time. I've been constantly moving, it seems like every waking moment was filled by something that got between me and the keys.

I have had ample camera time. Ample as in uploading 1gig of photos to flickr so far this month (In the first 6 days alone!). I've also managed to write a bit, which I hope to get up here sooner rather than later.

Today, I've got motive and opportunity, but I'm still hungover from KS' send off last night. I've had the shakes all day, and it doesn't look like they're gunna let up.

I'll be back in the states next week, and should have the time to catch up on everything then, if I don't get it done this weekend.

Second Life

2006-04-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about trying second life, just to see what all the hoopla was about, but there are a few things hindering my trial.

The first is cost. You can get a week free, with a meager allowance, and no property. Or you can shell out 10 bucks for a single month account, if you sign up for a subscription. Awfully expensive for something I don't know if I'll like, esp since there is almost no way to try out the major features of the game, without paying. (Although, I could sign up for a month, then cancel within seven days, and get a free ride...)

Secondly is the suprising lack of usefull info on their site. The entire thing is marketing bs designed to get you interested, but not really answer your questions. Even the offical developers site is very... crappy.

Last, but certianly not least, is the inability to chose your own name. To be more accurate, you can chose whatever first name you want, but the last names are all predefined, and most of them suck. None of them jumped out at me with any sort of enthusiasm at all. Very unimaginative, and definately the deal breaker.

Anybody actualy a member? Tried the game out? What do you think about it?

Bustikated!

2006-04-01T03:35:00.000-07:00

For some reason one of my posts from today is breaking the javascript functionality... I haven't been able to nail it down just yet, but I have a few ideas. Unfortunately I'm having a hard time weeding through all of the code and everything right now, so its gunna have to wait until I can focus.

Until then, don't be supprised if only a few posts show up.

Honestly, I don't expect this to be a big deal...

Uh...

2006-04-01T03:04:00.000-07:00

either it's so windy the hotel is shaking... or I'm going crazy.

Where I've Been

2006-04-01T01:48:00.000-07:00

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Schmap: Boston Photo Short-list

2006-04-01T00:25:00.000-07:00

I got this in my Flickr mail the other day.

Hi BM5k,

I am writing to let you know that one of your photos with a creative commons license has been short-listed for inclusion in our Schmap Boston Guide, to be published mid-April 2006.

Our submission deadline is Sunday, April 2. If you happen to be reading this message after this date, please still click on the link above (our Schmap destination guides are updated frequently - photos submitted after this deadline will be considered for later releases).

Best regards

Talk about cool! I checked out their site, and I dunno if I would use one of their guides or not, but if it helps people find out about Flickr or, better yet, my photostream, then I'm in.

Holocaust Memorial

Taiwan

2006-03-18T23:16:00.000-07:00

Comin @ ya from Tainan, Taiwan.

Got the call last Friday, been here since Tuesday night (local time), Monday night (Eastern time). Flew in to Kaushiung at about 10pm; waited almost 90 minutes for the hotel pickup. Had to work the next morning, of course.

Did get the last installment of my VA money tho, thank goodness.

Stressing about filing my taxes this year... Now I'm not sure if I'mma be home before they need to get taken care of.

Got smashed last night.... Paid for it, big time. I'm drinked out for a while.

Uploading some pics to flickr, check out my photstream.

Got an iPod Video before I left MA. All those movies I encoded with Handbrake work great. Been watching the first season of The Shield; if you haven't seen it, check it out.

Well, that's all the random, discontenuous thoughts for now. More inane ramblings headed your way later. Stay tuned!

On the radio!

2006-03-07T04:26:00.000-07:00

Eh, ok, so its not the radio. It's better than that. I sent in an audio comment to Adam Curry's DSC podcast, and he actually played it on yesterday's episode. I think its a pretty big deal, because I was probably heard through earbuds world wide. Assuming that people didn't just fast forward over me, that is.

I love podcasts and podcasting. I'm all about user generated content. Blogs, personal web sites, podcasts. Who needs mass media or giant corporations controlling what we hear and see? I sure don't.

Well, I have to say that as much I as I hope that plugging my site on the show increases traffic, I'm also slightly afraid of that also. I've been pretty slow to update, and there really isn't anything up here right now, other than the blog... Oh well.

If you're reading this, leave a comment. Mention something you like/hate/would like to see on the site.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Podcast, Podcasting

Just a night in 1985!

2006-03-02T04:06:00.000-07:00

Dave & 'is kids came over for dinner, and as it turns out, we spent the rest of the night glued to the TV. Not because of an xBox 360. Not watching movies. Not even PS2 or Gamecube. We've been rockin the NES! Wouldn't you know, its 6am, and Dave & I are still dukin' it out to Hogan's Alley.

Its been a pretty much solid stream of various gun-games. We started out with Hogan's Alley, then spent quite some time with Duck Hunt. Snuck in some TNMT, Excitebike, and Wrecking Crew just for good measure. We've also squeezed off a few rounds to the likes of Wild Gunman!

Old skool. That's the way we roll!

P.S.
Dave's been pretty much cleaning up on all of the gun based games. I mean, makin Sharon & I look bad. Real bad.

Technorati Tags: Duck Hunt, Excitebike, Gumshoe, Hogan's Alley, NES, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Video Games, Wild Gunman, Wrecking Crew, Zapper

Backpack

2006-02-25T21:27:00.000-07:00

I've been using Backpack to keep up with some of my personal organization obsessions, as well as ~~the more prevalent~~ complete lack thereof. It's great. And free. At least to try. The free account offers a taste, and for a few dollars a month, you can get the good stuff. SSL encryption. Storage space. More than 5 pages. So I've decided to give the paid account a try. I've signed up for the $9 package, which is the cheapest plan that includes SSL. I don't really care about the encryption so much, but I plan to start using the service to keep track of more of my work notes. I hope my employer appreciates me paying more, because I care.

I also joined the affiliate program, so this post is really all about the following obligatory ad. JUST CLICK IT!!!!

Rig of the day

2006-02-24T03:49:00.000-07:00

I submitted my rig to the tuaw group. Lets see if I get selected...

Widgets!

2006-02-24T01:18:00.000-07:00

This widget has successfully logged in! Replace this text with your first post. You can use ⌘-B and ⌘-I to make text bold and italic.

Google tells the Gov't to FUCK OFF!

2006-02-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

This is so great that I lifted the entire blurb from /.!

"Google Inc. on Friday formally rejected the U.S. Justice Department's subpoena of data from the Web search leader, arguing the demand violated the privacy of users' Web searches and its own trade secrets. Responding to a motion by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Google also said in a filing in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California the government demand to disclose Web search data was impractical."

Take that, you anti-american government assfucks!

Move over, W!

2006-02-18T01:26:00.000-07:00

Via /.

It would seem that GW Bush has a competitor for biggest terrorist of the year this year:

I know a lot of people are concerned about Big Brother, but my response to that is, if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?" Chief Harold Hurtt told reporters Wednesday at a regular briefing.

In the news

2006-02-09T19:51:00.000-07:00

Brought to you me by Google Reader

I've been going through my news reader *ahem* and decided that instead of just staring all of the entries that I want to blog about, I'd actually write about them. Brilliant!!

Now Playing:

#330 Daily Source Code for Monday February 6th 2006
by Adam Curry

USB Power Injector by ThoughtFix

I've been thinking about something like this for a while, since the USB jacks on the back of Apple's Pro Keyboards are somewhat useless low power ports, there's always at least one that stays empty. I was pretty sure that something like this would be possible. After looking at the tutorials on HackADay for building battery chargers for USB devices, the only thing keeping me from trying it out has been a complete abundance of free time.

ThoughtFix takes all the guess work, and most of the actual work, out of the project, with a very nice (and well pic'd) walkthrough. Its complete with hand drawn schematics.

The blog he's posted this to is a side project, devoted to his Nokia 770. Worth a read, and I'll definitely checking out his main site as well.

The MacMini Portable on Engadget

Engadget's carrying this story about Peter Green's ~$700 Mac Mini portable. Interesting, but I'd be willing to bet that it's a little to refined to take off, unlike the next news item...

Original i-Tablet being sold on eBay on Engadget

Also on Engadget, the i-Tablet. The one of a kind mod'd iBook, that simply looks amazing. Creator Joseph DeRuvo is auctioning the device to fund bigger and better projects. Check out the auction here. The price has gone from $700 to $710 in the last ten minutes. Too bad I gotta ask my wiff before I make the killer bid.

First Post

2006-02-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

Back in the USA

Getting back into the swing of things. Went shopping, got groceries. Got the 30k maint. done on my car. Finally replaced the tire with the golf-ball sized bulge in the side wall. And the full sized spare is back in the trunk, where it belongs.

The mechs found out why the rear defroster wasn't working; the ground wire on the driver's side wasn't connected. The connection that's actually ON the glass had been sandwiched in between the glass and the body of the car, and those friendly fellows at Honda Cars of Concord in Concord, NC. didn't feel like they needed to fix it, or even mention it. The official fix was to remove the rear window. This means replacing the entire piece of glass, since it can't be put back in, if they manage to not break it taking it out.

Thanks to a little extra effort on the part of the tech at Honda North, Danvers, MA. (meaning he took the time to point out exactly what was wrong and explain it to me) and less than $10 worth of parts @ radio shack, I fixed it myself. Nothing even caught fire, melted, or even smoked when I tried it out. AND THE DEFROSTER ACTUALLY WORKS.

Trying to set up a meeting with the finance department at ITT to try and work out something with them so my credit doesn't get even WORSE.

Looking in to some new hosting for the site. I've been dragging my feet because I don't know PHP, and it seems to be a lot different from Cold Fusion, which I've known for years.

Crossing animals.

2006-01-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

I haven't played my DS since I left home. And only because I'm bitter about the WiFi here @ the hotel. Its free, but won't work with the DS because you have to click a button on a web form to activate it. Free internet that has to be activated pisses me off. Places like Panera do it too. Fuck, even if you pay for WiFi @ Starbucks, you have to submit a web form before you can get online. In addition to meaning this won't work for the DS, it won't work for any WiFi enabled device that doesn't have a built in browser. IE Skype phones, etc...

Well, I digress. I've busted out the DS & started playing, again. All the aminals were pissed that I'd been gone an entire month. It took me damn near 45 minutes to clear all the weeds.

But the entire reason I started writing about this is: I think I've found a bug in AC:WW. I noticed this a LONG time ago, but I just got around to bitching about it. When you fish in the river, the bobber moves down stream, just like AC. However, when you fish in the ocean, the bobber still moves down. Exactly opposite the expected behavior. They got this right in AC for GC. How'd it escape detection this time?

All Caught Up

2006-01-25T03:43:00.000-07:00

With the power vested in me by Ecto, I've caught up on my blogging.

And the peasants rejoice!

This week I didn't really do anything. Which is good, because it means I didn't spend much money. And that's whats important. Staying not broke. I talked to Sharon quite a bit on Tuesday. It was nice. She seems to be holding down the fort quite well. I knew she could handle it. She's been trying to keep herself busy. I know the feeling.

After watching the miniseries of BG, I was pretty into the show. Now, after watching almost the entire first season, I've gotta say I think they are overdoing the religion thing quite a bit. I'm not sure I wanna continue watching. I mean... It is interesting, but for a couple episodes, I felt like I was listening to a church sermon. Not exactly what I want to pay 2$ an episode for, if you know what I mean. What kept me going was the fact that it didn't entirely kill the story. Every episode can't be great. *shrug* And I am pretty interested in the characters. Even if they're an unlikely bunch. I guess that might be what makes it good.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta get ready for work.

Bleh

2006-01-22T19:41:00.000-07:00

I wound up not going snowboarding today, Sharon & I decided that it probably wasn't the best idea, financially. And I felt like crap yesterday. I only left my room to get something to eat. Same for today. Just gunna take it easy. I downloaded the entire first season of Monk, and the miniseries & first season of BattleStar Galactica. That should keep me busy for a while.

Half way day

2006-01-20T20:04:00.000-07:00

Well, today is the 1/2 way point in my trip. 2 weeks down, 2 weeks to go.

I can't believe how much I miss Sharon. I'm sure there are several people here who wish I'd just shut up about her. Myself included. I'm getting self conscious, so its gotta be bad. Not that I don't like talking about her, but that I'm starting to worry that I do it too much. I guess she isn't the only one who's attached. It would be better if we could talk more. But with the time difference, and my unreliable headset its hard to get together.

*sigh*

I think she'd like it here. Maybe, one of these days, I can come back to do man on site here again, and bring her with me.

Snowboarding

2006-01-20T19:34:00.000-07:00

I finished Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and I feel... Enlightened. Its great. I'm starting to think about some of the things he says, and about how I can apply them to mine & Sharon's finances to get us out of the rat race. Now'd be the best time to do it, too. We've actually started saving, and are on top of our bills for the first time since September 2004. It feels kinda nice.

The guys are thinking about going snowboarding Sunday. I work the night shift Saturday, so I'm sure I'll be beat, but I'd still like to go. I just gotta talk it over with Sharon. We can afford it, but I dunno if we *should* do it. I talked to Dai, and he says it will run me about $200 to rent all the stuff I need. Bummer!

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

2006-01-20T07:21:00.000-07:00

I picked up Rich Dad, Poor Dad this morning, and read a couple of chapters before I went to bed. I've already learned a lot. I can't believe that I haven't read anything by this guy yet. A lot of it makes sense, and its caused a lot of self reflection. I can't wait to finish it.

Blink

2006-01-19T18:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I started and finished one of the four books that I bought this week. Its called Blink, and its about the split second decisions that our subconscious makes, and how to realize them, and how to interpret them.

It was a very interesting read, and I'll probably be reading it again soon, to take notes.

Pictures

2006-01-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

I went back to Hiroshima today, went shopping, again. Bought that cologne that I'd looked at yesterday. I decided that Shay'll probably like it too. Had lunch at a Thai place, it was pretty good. Discovered that I can't stand eggplant. James and I went to the Art Museum, and to Hiroshima Castle. I took a bunch of pics, and even uploaded some of them. After Meuki (sp?) got off of work, she joined us for dinner at an all you can eat/drink place. For $30 you get 90 minutes to gorge yourself. Once again, I caught the last train.

I forgot that I'd repaid Shibata-San, so I had 10k yen less than I thought, and had to wait at the station, and pay more, for a cab that accepted credit cards. D'oh!

One of the things I dislike about having a better camera, is that it makes the bad pics that much worse! I'm seriously thinking about taking some amateur photography lessons when I get home.

New Camera!

2006-01-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

I went by the electronics store near James' hotel to look at getting a new SD card. On my way to check out, I passed by their digital cameras. Below the Nikon D50 (the camera that I've been thinking about buying since a few days before I left) was an Olympus E300, on sale for about $550. I played around with the demo unit, and asked the sales guy how long the price was good for. He said they only had one left. So I bought it. With a 1gig CF card, a USB card reader, and tax I was out the door for just over $700.

Its an awesome camera. 8 mega pixel digital SLR with a 14-55mm digital lens. I charged the battery up for a bit, and then took a few pictures with it tonight. I'll upload them to my flickr account soon.

Other than that, not much happened today. Went out to eat. Bought Sharon a present, looked at some cologne for myself. I'm still not sure what I want to get everyone else. At this point, I don't even know who I need to get stuff for. I'd like to get something small for my parents & siblings. Like I just said, I already got Sharon something. I also think it'd be nice to get some stuff for a few of our friends back home, but everything is so expensive! Oh, and I bought a few books and a magazine today. Gotta have something to do during the downtime at work.

I tried to recover the pics on the miniSD card, but when I put it in the card reader, it crashed my computer. I tried formatting the card, as a last resort, but that failed as well.

I'm pissed. We've had this card less than a year. I guess this trip just isn't so great for electronics. My BT headset died. It's been hangin in there for a month or so now, but its totally crapped out on me. I don't think it'll ever work again. Another $80 down the tube. I just can't believe that it didn't even last 4 months. Too bad its passed the 90 day return policy @ radio shack. I've gotten really spoiled having it. So spoiled, that I'm thinking about buying another one when I get back to the states.

D-R-U-N-K

2006-01-16T22:37:00.000-07:00

I slept all day yesterday. I thought I'd go out to eat with the local guys, have a few drinks... Next thing I new it was like 5am, and I was drunk off my ass. I woke up at noon with a killer headache. I took several Excedrin, and barfed a few times. I was supposed to be up early to go hang out with James downtown, but I feel like shit. Its been almost 90 minutes since I got sick, so I'm gunna take a shower and give James a call.

Oh, and something's up with my camera. I took a few pictures last night, and all of a sudden the cam starts saying "Memory Card Error". So I've got to try to get a new SD card.

Downtime

2006-01-13T02:41:00.001-07:00

It's been forever since I've posted.

Not that I haven't thought about it, but that I haven't taken the time. More like when I have the time, I've been doing other things.

I'm in Japan on business, and have been going like 100 miles an hour since a few days before I left. I've got a lot to post about, but can't seem to make the time. Expect a slew of new posts here in the next couple of days. I'll be working a lot, which means that I won't have time to go out & play much.

Oh, and I've set Skype to forward calls to my new cell. Incoming calls are free, so it doesn't cost me anything on the cell end. It only costs a few cents a minute on the Skype side, so I'm not complaining. The thing is, if you call, you gotta let it ring a bunch. As in don't hang up unless you get my voice mail. As a matter of fact, if you get my voice mail, and don't leave a message, I'll fling boogers at you.

Downtown Hiroshima, pt 2

2006-01-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

Last night--erh, Tuesday night--James, his girlfriend and I went out to dinner & Drinks. I crashed at his hotel, and then we spent the rest of yesterday shopping.

There is a LOT to do downtown, and I'm still not very sure of my way around, but I'm working on it.

We spent pretty much all day at this mall called Parko, and walking around Honduri street. It's a covered street with shops lining either side.

I didn't buy much. Thankfully none of the clothes I liked fit, because everything I tried on was over $100. Even shirts. How can people afford to dress around here? I did get a prepaid cell phone. I'd tried getting one on my first day in town, but the lady told me I needed a resident alien card. James & I went to a different store, and he was able to explain to the girl there that I was only in Japan for the month. Whatever he said, it worked, and about $100 later I was the proud owner of a bright yellow Vodafone.

Tonight, we went out again, and I barely made the last train back. Its a good thing I don't have to be at work until 9pm tonight!

Downtown Hiroshima

2006-01-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

Last night didn't work out. I slept so late that there was no way I could take a train there, and have time to eat and catch the train back. So I just took it easy & read that copy of the Wall St. Journal that I got on the plane. No news like old news...

I'm gunna swing by the bank, and then head downtown.

Exhausted

2006-01-08T20:06:00.000-07:00

I just got back from work, and man, am I beat.

The local FSEs think nothing of working a 14hr shift. In fact, thats the norm. They don't work anything less. All I've done since I've been here is sleep, eat, & work. Kinda like usual on the weekend. Hopefully I'll recover enough today to go out to eat with James tonight.

I woke up early on Saturday afternoon (early since I had to be at work at 8pm), and took a short walk. There doesn't seem to be much around here. A couple of restaurants, several car dealerships. There is a rather large electronics store, Deodeo. But not much else. I think the people at the front desk tried to tell me where the bank was, which is good, seeing as they don't cash traveler's checks here. But its a holiday weekend, so they'll be closed until Tuesday! Shibata-San loaned me 10k yen (about 100$) so I should be good until then, but I was pretty freaked out being in a foreign country with no access to money.

I've had a chance to check out a couple of the restaurants near the hotel, not too bad. As a matter of fact, I've eaten only Japanese food since I've been here. I will say that I can stand most of it, and even like some of it, but wouldn't say its my favorite. They like things cold and/or raw, and bland. I like things cooked, hot, and spicy.

Hopefully they're done cleaning my room now, so I can get some rest.

Checked in

2006-01-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I've finally arrived in Japan. I checked into my hotel about an hour ago. Its nice. Small, but nice. Everything is crazy clean. I'm beat from the trip, but I've got the night shift tomorrow. Figures. If I go to sleep now, I doubt I'll be able to sleep before work. But there is no way I'll be awake for long.

There's only one word to describe the trip. Long. I left my house at 7am, and it was just after 8 am Eastern Time when I checked in to the hotel.

The flight from Logan to O'Hare was late arriving. The Chicago-Tokyo flight was overbooked, so I was lucky getting on the second (and last) flight out of Chicago. Then the flight was delayed leaving....

I made it to Tokyo with enough time to run to the other terminal to catch my last flight to Hiroshima. By the time I got to Hiroshima, I had to walk a few blocks to the airport hotel to cash a traveler's check so I'd have enough cash for the taxi.

I took a few pics on the way, mostly out of sheer boredom, but you can still check them out on my flickr page. I created a set just for the trip, and I'll be adding photos to there as I take them.

Well, I've already talked to Sharon, so I guess that's it. I'm goin to bed.

Peace!

My first trip!

2005-12-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

This Just In

I just got the call; my first trip for work has finaly come along!

I'll be going to Hiroshima, Japan to do man on site (on site customer service) for a month with one of our new customers, Elpida.

I'm really excited. First off, I've always wanted to go to Japan. Also, I'm a bit behind schedule for my first trip, I got hired almost a year ago. Most of the people that started with me have already been on a trip, even some of the newer guys! Not that I haven't been begging to go anywhere. It's also very good timing for Sharon & I, since I'll have to pay for everything out of pocket. (Got denied by AMEX for the coporate card; go figure.) Luckily, the travel advance will be pretty big, and the travel group will pick up my plane ticket.

I'm also kinda curious as to why they're sending me alone for my first trip. Perhaps since its a man on site (not an install). Either way, I guess someone feels that I don't need a babysitter. Which makes me feel better. Or maybe its because of all that shameless self promotion I put on my annual review a few weeks ago. Maybe they wanna see if I can really do all that shit I said. Or maybe the fact that I bitched about not getting a trip got noticed.

Regardless, I'm stoked. Sharon-not so much. She's very attached, and hates when we're apart. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we spend sooooooo much time together, and we still don't know tons of people here. I know she can hack it, she's a lot stronger than she gives herself credit for. I guess she still hasn't figured out that she doesn't need me around all the time. Probably has something to do with the fact that she never had to live on her own. I guess she doesn't realize (or remember) how well she got along last spring.

You hear that, babe? You can do it!

For the rest of you who can't live without me--I know you're out there--I've taken a few steps to ensure that you can ~~harass~~ contact me from the States. Of course, you could always e-mail me. That's the fastest, easiest, cheapest way to let me know you care, without interupting my otherwise empty schedule. If you *must*, feel free to leave me a message on my cell phone. Thanks to the services of Got Voice, I can get my messages on-line. (BTW the service kicks ass, if you trust your voicemail pin to a website.) As always, you can call me via Skype.

iMac G5

2005-12-29T20:32:00.001-07:00

My crazy 'rents. They're at it again. Buying iMacs, that is. I just got one in the mail. Merry christmas, all over again!

Like a good Apple Addict, I documented the unveiling here!

On the way

2005-12-29T01:20:00.000-07:00

A lot to say, unfortunately I am chasing my tail right now. Stand by for more information!

Poor lil guy!

2005-12-25T13:12:00.001-07:00

So I'm behind on my Channel Frederator, shoot me.

I've been too busy bitching about shit to notice anything positive on the net lately.

But this takes the cake. I don't wanna say too much. If you don't subscribe to Channel Frederator (what's wrong with you?), click here to see the flash movie by itself.

Merry Christmas

2005-12-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

Today is Christmas, the day when eager children tear from their beds waaay to early in the morning to devour the tranquil tree and its gifts.

At least, thats the way I remember it happening.

Sharon & I slept in to the crack of 8, before making the mad dash to the living room.

She was ecstatic about her gifts, especially the iPod Nano I'd gotten her. Even though I expected her to be happy about it, she was way more excited than I was prepared for. It made me quite happy.

Everyone was taken care of this year. We'd gotten stuff for our families, and even for a couple of our close friends. We also got each other way too much. But it was worth it.

I hope you made out like bandits.

My fricken parents. Bought my lil bro a 17" iMac G5.

I guess they think it will help him lose weight, get a girl friend, actually pass a class (or maybe graduate?), and save the world. Either that, or they just feel guilty for having money for once. They admittedly wouldn't know an iMac from an eMac, or an eMachine for that matter. I don't know whether to be happy for him, or just jealous!

We're gunna go surprise my buddy Dave in NH this evening. We're already plotting our trip up there. He & his kids are having Xmas @ his house. I guess its a good thing he doesn't read this!

Anyway, have a good one.

Christmas Eve and Other Stories

2005-12-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

Well, no one but me & Dave showed up for work tonight, so I blew out about 11. I feel kinda bad, because Dave went back after a short break. Poor guy. Soo broke thanks to that bitch. And he still refuses to stand up for himself. Oh well. That's neither here, nor there.

I'm so excited about Christmas. I got a lot of really cool stuff for Sharon, and I've been all antsy for weeks now. I can't wait till tomorrow!

I'm off to bed.

Other changes

2005-12-24T11:26:00.000-07:00

Along with the site wide design changes finally published today, I've also changed a little bit about the feeds.

First off, I'm moving them. This will be the last post that publishes to the http://blog.bustikated.net/bm5k/bm5k.xml .

From now on, all feeds will be located in their own directory. The main feed is changing to http://blog.bustikated.net/feeds/bm5k.xml .

I realize that this is a slight annoyance. If I thought there were a ton of people who'd be affected by this, I probably wouldn't bother. Just remember that I'll have to change my aggregators too. (Yes, I monitor my own feed.)

But that's not all. I'm going to experiment with just sending the first paragraph in the feed. Only because I want as many people as possible to see the actual site. After all the energy I've put into the cfml, javascript, and css, I'd like it to get some traffic!

As always, your comments are greatly appriciated.

Tis The Season

2005-12-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

Ok. Now I'm afraid that some of you will think I'm anti christian. Or worse, anti christmas.

Let me set the record straight. I'm all for peace on earth, and getting together to exchange gifts with loved ones. I love watching the tree christmas eve, drinking cocoa until all hours.

But none of the things that I celebrate have anything to do with god or christ. Christmas Day just happens to be the name of the holiday. We just always celebrated on the 25th growing up. Doesn't feel right opening presents on the 21st.

As far as christianity goes, I'm not against it. Not in the sense that I think it should be illegal, or that I think people who belive in christ are going to hell. I'm more againt religion in general. First & foremost, I think that you missed the message christ died trying to spread. Secondly, religion is a widely abused excuse to commit attrocity and to be ignorant. I'll have nothing to do with that. Any group of people bent on the irradication of any other group of people, for any reason, can count me out. Hands down, no questions asked. I'm just not into it.

So I guess others of you might've been offended politically. While its not like me to kiss ass, I'm on a roll.

If you've been keeping up lately, and are saying to youself that I'm unAmerican, or what ever, I'm talking to you. I am NOT un American. Quite the opposite, I love everything that America stands for. Freedom, liberty, justice. I just haven't been seeing a lot of those things here lately. I have seen a lot of greed, hate, and fear mongering. There are people who would have you think that its better to be safe than to be free. If you agree, then perhaps you are unAmerican.

I'll tell you what I'm against, fear mongering, dictators who disregard over two hundred years of law and precedent. Yes, I'm talking about G. Bush again. Yes, I stand by what I said. The man's a disgrace. No, I'm not anti-conservative. I can say good things about him. He's not a liar. He might be a dictator, a fear monger, and an idiot, but he's not a liar. He's maintained for quite some time that a dicatorship is much easier to lead than a democracy. But we've been too happy to help him turn America into that dictatorship.

And I'm not just anti Bush. John Kerry's a lying peiece of shit. So there you have it, folks. We're the greatest country in the world, where the 2 canidates to lead us into the future are (1) An aspiring dictator, and (2) A lying pice of shit; where the majority of people belive that everyone who disagrees with them is going to hell; where the law has nothing to do with right & wrong.

THIS IS THE LAND OF THE FREE,
AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE!

State of the Union

2005-12-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

The senators who are filibustering the Patriot Act must stop their delaying tactics, and the Senate must vote to reauthorize the Patriot Act. In the war on terror, we cannot afford to be without this law for a single moment," grumbled Bush in one of a series of public rejections of any talk of a temporary renewal.

The President of the United States is one of the biggest enemies to the American way of life in history. And we elected him, twice! This man is a disgrace to the country our grandfathers, fathers, brothers, and sons have died for. He's the man Orwell warned us against. Only 20 years late.

You're a disgrace to your family, your state, and your nation.

Gmail SPAM

2005-12-22T14:37:00.000-07:00

My spam influx has been kinda high, ever since I posted my email address in a link on Hackaday, months ago.

But usually they go into the spam folder. Now, all of a sudden, they're making it to my inbox. Almost ten already today. Holy crap dood!

And I noticed duped items in my reader acct today, too. Whathell is goin on Big G?

More Patriot Act

2005-12-22T14:34:00.000-07:00

The patriot act isn't an "anti-terror" law, but an anti-privacy law. And a travesty. And completely unconstitutional.

But that's all besides the point, isn't it?

Open Source Mac

2005-12-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

A great site for info on where to go and what to do to pimp your Mac with great OSS.

First Nintendo VidCast

2005-12-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

Why isn't there an RSS feed! If this is supposed to be a video podcast, where is the FEED?!?!

A FEED makes a podCAST, the power of SYNDICATION, not the content!

Nintendo. Get with the whole Internet thing. You're seriously pissing me off, right now.

Sony fucks up again!

2005-12-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

Read the article. Nuff said.

Lawbreaker in Chief

2005-12-22T13:57:00.000-07:00

There's this great article over on Wired about the whole Bush as a spymongering criminal.

I like how they mention the fact that he's more upset that we found out about it than that the law was being broken.

Securitron State

2005-12-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

It can't be said enough.

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." -- Benjamin Franklin

Just because snooping on EVERYONE means it will be easier to catch a FEW criminals doesn't mean its a good idea. As a matter of fact, it means its a BAD idea.

Used to be you actually had to BREAK a law before they could harass you.

Now they're changing the laws, to make everyone a criminal.

Fuck you, judge.

. o O (how's that for a convincing argument? Guess thats what I get for commenting w/a hangover!!!!)

Also found [ here ]

200th Post!

2005-12-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

Thats right, yet another milestone reached! I'm all about pushing the limits.

I think its fitting that I should devote this post to the tools that have made my last few posts happen. The Google extensions for FireFox.

These official tools are great additions to any FF based browser (including Deer Park). Check them out [ here ]. I especially like the Blogger Web Comments, which displays comments from blogs (not just blogger, either) that link to the URL in your addy bar. It also has a nice interface for blogging something up, quick like.

As a matter of fact, all but one of my posts today has been made with this tool. I have, however, had to go back and edit the HTML it generates, because it seems to have some formatting bugs.

<EM> & <STRONG> tags seem to get transformed into simple <SPAN>s. And there's a tab inserted after every tag. And for some reason it doesn't transmit &nbsp;s...

Couldn't leave this alone

2005-12-22T07:47:00.000-07:00

I've already posted about the issue, and linked to this page as well, but I can't resist this guy. People like him make me sick. I've reproduced his entire article here, for your viewing pleasure. His words are in blockquotes.

Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays Written by Nathan Tabor Thursday, December 22, 2005
What’s the real difference between wishing someone a ''Merry Christmas'' or instead, saying ''Happy Holidays''? Both are said in kindness, and meant to wish someone well during the same time of year. It seems that the two should be interchangeable, that they both essentially mean the same thing. Therefore, when someone takes offense to being wished a ''Merry Christmas,'' it seems like no big deal to just substitute ''Happy Holidays'' and be done with it. It may seem like no big deal, but it is.

A Very Big Deal.

Christmas is not just any old holiday. Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ, and the teachings of good will and kindness towards one another that Christ brought to this world. We celebrate his birth not only to honor Him, but to remind ourselves of how we strive to live our lives of faith.

Ok, like I've said before, Christmas isn't about christ at all. At least not christmas on the 25th of December. Its all about the solstice. December 21, the shortest day of the year (for those of us in the northern hemisphere), is the reason for the season. The entire point of Yule, the ORIGINAL winter holiday, is the celebration of the imminent end of winter, and the coming spring's rebirth.

The majority of Americans belong to a religion or faith that believes in the teachings of Jesus. Why is the majority being asked to hide its faith for the so called ''comfort'' of a minority? Our country is based on majority rule (with some important caveats). While it would be unreasonable to force all to be the religion of the majority, it is equally unreasonable to ask the majority to deny its faith because a select few are uncomfortable. Yet, this is exactly what is happening.

Hey, asshole, the freedom of religion means we're free to practice ANY religion. Not just christianity.

We deny our children the right to celebrate Christmas in their public schools. They are not allowed to sing Christmas carols, decorate Christmas trees or even hand out candy canes with religious sentiments. In fact, some of our children have been punished, suspended, or chastised for doing so. What message does this send to our children? It implies that there is something wrong with expressing faith in Jesus. It subtly pulls them away from their faith, while at the same time promoting other minority faiths as being somehow ''better'' or more acceptable. Our children are damaged by these ridiculous practices, and it is time to put an end to the persecution of Christianity in our public schools. Christianity is the predominant faith of our country, and it should not be treated as if it was deviant or radical or even subversive. Yet, it is. It's a small wonder that our society is moving farther away from religion and losing touch with the discipline and moral code that religious practice offers.

Again, moron, seperation of church and state prevents ANYONE from celebrating ANY religious holiday in conjuction with government funded activities. Our founding fathers clearly saw the threat in allowing christian events in our public dealings, OR IT WOULDN'T BE IN THE CONSTITUTION. Allowing religion to pollute public schools, or any other government arena implies support for that religion. Religion has no place in school. In any school. Period. And who the fuck are you to say that minority faiths are less acceptable than christianity.

It is also interesting to note that many non-Christians observe Christmas. Has any Christian ever come out and condemned anyone for participating in the holiday without believing in Christ? Has any Christian group ever come out and denied a religious presentation in a public school by another religious group? Of course not. It is only Christianity which is repeatedly shunned from school celebrations. The liberal agenda is hard at work, making sure that Jesus stays out of his own holiday.

This is perhaps the greatest paragraph of the entire piece. It sure is amazing how many people celebrate christmas. Did it ever occur to you that those of us who say Happy Holidays AREN'T ACTUALLY CELEBRATING the birth of christ??? What a moron. Again with the Jesus is the reason for the season bullshit.

The fact is that the teachings of Christ are the basis for our legal system and government. Thou shalt not kill, (murder) covet thy neighbor’s wife, (adultery) lie, steal, bear false witness, etc. all come from the Ten Commandments. As a member of our society, we buy into these beliefs as true and sound. Therefore, we have a reason to celebrate Christmas even if we aren’t Christian, as we are celebrating the fundamental cornerstones of our society.

More ignorance. Our laws have nothing to do with christ or christianity or the ten commandments (otherwise they'd post the ten commandments at courthouses). They're based on the single pagan directive: Harm none, do what ye will. In other words: don't kill, steal, lie, etc...

What we lose when we generalize the Christmas season with the ambiguous “Happy Holidays” is the connection between Christ and Christmas. That is exactly what the liberals want us to do. They want to level the playing field and keep the minority in rule, instead of the rightful majority. Liberalism is socialism, and if you look at socialism or socialist countries you will find that they often do not allow religion. They don’t want anything to compete with the influence of the government over its people. ”Happy Holidays” is the first step in eradicating the most prominent religion from our society.

What can we do about this? We can remember to stand proud in our faith, and not allow ourselves to be browbeaten by the minority liberal agenda. We can set a place for Christ at our Christmas table, and make sure that our holiday is centered around the teachings of Jesus. We can take the time to renew our faith, and build upon the strength that our faith provides for us. We can greet one another with a boisterous “Merry Christmas!” and know we mean just that.

You, sir, are an excellent representation of what's wrong with this country. You are nothing more than a blind follower, too ignorant to think for yourself, because it's all been laid out before you. You can't help it, you were raised that way. It really isn't your fault. You don't even realize how ignorant you are. People like you are runining the nation with your ignorance. You represent your religion well, you're the spitting image of a christian. A complete and total pushover. You belive simply what you are told, and nothing more. I dare say that christ would think you, and those who agree with you, total fools. If there's one thing that should've been learned from THE MAN WHO WAS EXECUTED FOR BEING A TROUBLEMAKING RABLEROUSER is to always question, to never blindly follow the man. You who are so quick to call everyone liberal, forget that christ himself was a rebel. A hippie, if you will, wandering the land in poverty trying to spread the message of love and peace. If christ was the son of god, and he came back today, he'd probably be disgusted by the lot of you. I know most of us are.
The truth is, many of the pagan ideals are closer to what christ was trying to teach than anything being taught in protestant, christian churches today. Yes. I said it, and its true. Pagans are better christians than christians themselves. Without even trying!!! Never mind the fact that christ was, according to your bible, Jewish.

You say liberalism is socialism, I say christianity is tyranny.

For someone who professes to give his life for christ, you're a disgrace to the very god you worship.

About the Writer: Nathan Tabor is a conservative political activist based in Kernersville, North Carolia, where he owns a successful small business, and was a recent candidate for Congress. Nathan receives e-mail at nathan@nathantabor.com.

Reproduced without permission, for the fair use of comment and critisism.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Holiday, Rant, Religion

Merry Christmas Vs Happy Holidays

2005-12-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

This whole issue is pissing me off. Christians always act so high and mighty. "Jesus is the reason for the season" is the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard in my entire life.

Winter, to be honest, is the reason for the season. The pagan tradition of celebrating Yule or Candlemas on Dec 21 is centuries older than christianity itself. So you can take your crucifix and your nativity and your condescending "Merry Christmas" and cram them all up your ass.

Saying Happy Holidays isn't secularizing anything, but saying Merry Christmas demonstrates a complete lack of knowledge and respect for our past. Pagan or not.

Anyone who makes this argument is just another incompetent christian, who probably thinks being pagan means wild orgies (don't I wish?) and sacrificing babies. AND YOU'RE ALL FUCKING MORONS!

Now, for some links to stupidity:

Google news search for related stories Some christian propaganda site Obviously written by another idiot These people actually BELIEVE this stuff!

So, the next time some whiny little bitch is complaining about "happy holidays" ruining the "spirit of the season" do educated folks a favor and slap the shit out of 'em.

Seriously, though the whole thing shows obvious ignorance and nothing pisses me off like stupid people. I'll leave it to you to do some reasearch about the true origins of the holiday, I have faith in you're intelligence.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Holiday, Religion, Rant

Senate OKs Patriot Act Extension

2005-12-22T06:44:00.000-07:00

Ok, I spoke to soon:

The Republican-controlled Senate on Wednesday approved a six-month extension of the law to keep it from expiring on Dec. 31. here

Technorati Tags: Blog, Politics, Rant

Random is as Random does

2005-12-22T06:33:00.000-07:00

Just a random thought about random thoughts. On the homepage of Flickr, right under the picture, there's a random quote linked to tags... That's a really great idea. I want a feed of the images/quotes as they appear, with the links. So that I too can be amazed (again) at the simple randomness of randomness.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Flickr

All hail our Google overlords!

2005-12-22T06:27:00.000-07:00

News feeds on the home page, personalized search results (showing how many times you've visited result sites), news feeds in gmail...

My entire netsistance begins and wraps in and around Google. I've given them most of my personal info, and with my search preferences, and email accounts, and instant messaging (not that I use Google Talk that much, but hey...), they probably know more about me than I do.

And I'm strangely comfortable with it. Yes. Google could take over the world. But for some creeped out reason, I don't seem to mind all that much. I trust them. The way I trust my Mac. The way I trust my DS. It just works. 90% of the time. Search, email, news, blogs, everything with a simple synergy that Yahoo! and MSN and AOL just can't touch. Can't even dream about.

I'm beginning to think that there are two sides to the netsphere. The myspace party, and the google party. Those in the myspace camp seem content to use less capable, less technicaly advanced, less free services such as AOL and MSN because they are popular. The way people who own PSPs trash talk the DS, these myspacers are completely wrapped around high resolution crappy content, while ignorant of the lower-res high quality that's right around the corner.

Those of us camped out with Google are the social rejects. We understand that somewhere, there's real information. We're Mac cultists, we love simple things, we love elegant design, we're addicted to nifty quirks and standards compliance. The way Google embraces FireFox entertwined with the true spirit of the interwebs. Freedom.

The ability for anyone, on any system, to create, share, consume and digest information that may only be important to them. And Google makes that easy. In a stunningly beautiful way that could never be done before.

Then there's Yahoo! They had the chance to be Google, but they just don't understand the kind of sexy simplicity that literally is Google. Compare [ Yahoo! ] to [ Google ]. Enough said.

The fact that Yahoo! beat Google to the Flickr and Konfabulator punches shows that they at least have an idea of what's going on, and how to get there. But the way they've already started corrupting these amazing products is remincent of how AOL <CENSORED> ~~fucked~~ </CENSORED> up every good product they could get their hands on (ICQ, Winamp, just to name a few).

The Flickr people realize this, and even let you know when you sign in without a Yahoo! ID that you're " You must be old skool. Rock On."

If someone is going to become our robotic overlords, shouldn't it be Google? At least then I'll be content with their services to realize that they've stolen my soul. And isn't contentment what its really all about? All hail our Google overlords!

Technorati Tags: Blog, Google, Rant, Review

Alaskan Drilling

2005-12-22T05:59:00.000-07:00

Once again the Bushzis manage to screw up something else. Its natural resources are some of the reasons we bought the damn Alaskan territory in the first place. Just when we were so close to actually getting our monies worth, and possibly lowering outrageously overinflated gas prices in the process, the GOP moves in to block it. How predictable.

Our senators are doing their best, at least recently. With the refusal to extend the patriot act, there's at least some hope...

HAPPY YULE!

2005-12-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

Winter. The real reason for the season.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Holiday

Google Press Center: Zeitgeist

2005-12-21T07:45:00.000-07:00

Google has published the Zeitgeist (literally timespirit), a coagulation of searched on terms from the previous year. Its an interesting waste of time! Check it out [ Here ]

Feeds

2005-12-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

Anyone reading the site via the RSS feed? I'm thinking about grouping the feeds into their own directory.

Bottle Mail Tag

2005-12-15T04:01:00.000-07:00

I've started a game of tag in Animal Crossing Wild World.

The idea is simple, really. I've released a handful of bottle mail messages, each starting with the line Tag!!! You're It! and containing an AOL IM account that I created just for this purpose (BottleMailTagger). If you send a message to BottleMailTagger, you'll recive a link to this post, and a link to the frappr map that I set up, also just for this purpose.

In case you don't know, frappr is a simple, easy, free way to set up a googlemap for anything. No, you don't have to put in your address, so don't worry, you just put in your zip code.

The whole point is something like this: you get tagged by me, you add yourself to the map (including the name of the person that tagged you). Then you send out a bottle mail message with the name that you used on the map, and either this URL (which is gunna be long), or the frappr page url (frappr.com/bottlemailtag), or simply AIM:BottleMailTagger. Then, the resourceful person you've tagged then adds their info to the frappr group, and the cycle continues.

This is purely innocent fun, and entirely useless. Well, almost. I think it will be cool to see just where our messages are washing up.

You don't have to wait to get a message from me to start playing, but please, only add yourself to the map AFTER you've been tagged by someone else!

Worst case, no one plays. Best case, we all wind up with a few more people on our friends list (so far, mine's still empty!)

Technorati Tags: Animal Crossing Community, Animal Crossing Community, Animal Crossing Wild World, Animal Crossing: Wild World, DS, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Video Games

ACC Reaching a bandwidth limit?

2005-12-13T08:47:00.000-07:00

Sharon & I have been members of ACC since we first started playing AC for GCN last fall. Now it appears that the release of AC:WW has forced them to limit the use of the site to registered users, although they are allowing new registrations.

This comes as somewhat of a suprise, seeing as most of the people I know laugh when you mention that you're playing AC. To quote one friend of mine, "Where's the violence?" I suppose the populatity of the new iteration of the "series" (is it a series yet?) has spiked interest in 3rd party sites, and ACC is definately one of the best!.

If you're a member, you can look me up as, you guessed it, BM5k.

On a separate note, where are the RSS feeds for ACC? FEED ME!!!

Now playing: Podshow Music Rewind #11 Enhanced from Podshow Music Rewind Enhanced by podshowmusicrewind@gmail.com

Technorati Tags: Animal Crossing Community, Animal Crossing Community, Animal Crossing Wild World, Animal Crossing: Wild World, DS, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Video Games

Holiday Shopping

2005-12-12T18:04:00.000-07:00

So I was trying to exchange something at the mall today. One of Sharon's gifts. I decided I bought the wrong one, and wanted something else, from the same store. After crediting my card, and taking the item back from me, the guy informed me that they were out of what I wanted, but I was welcome to purchase the one I'd just returned.

But that would've meant paying for it twice (since returns to credit cards can take up to 4 business days), at least until the return processed, and I can't afford that.

Needless to say, I was highly disappointed. I don't think I'll be able to replace it in time for our gift exchange!

Voodoo Pad

2005-12-06T06:27:00.000-07:00

VoodooPad is the Orginizational Software Download of the Day. If you didn't know there was an Orginizational Software Download of the Day, relax. Neither did I. But if there were one, Voodoo pad would definately be it.

Voodoo Pad is a wiki for your brain. Designed to hold your usefull and useless information in an easy to navigate structure. If you're familiar with other wikis, such as Wikipedia, you'll recognize the stucture and formatting used in Voodoo Pad.

If you're a scatterbrain, like I am, you owe it to yourself to check this out.

From the Voodoo Pad website

Voodoo Pad 2.1 Features

Category / Tag support

Assign and browse categories to pages in your documents.
Spotlight

Search the contents of your VoodooPad documents via Spotlight.
Inter-document links

Link to a specific page in another VoodooPad document.
Sketch

Feeling artistic? Bring down the Sketch sheet and draw what you can't express in words.
Auto-Bullets

Make lists and outlines with a couple of key commands.
Saved Workspaces

Quit with all your windows open. Relaunch, and there they are again. Great for picking up where you left off.
Encryption

Securely encrypt pages in your document.
Backlinks

Find out what pages link to the current page.
New Search

Search through multiple open documents at one time.
AppleScript

Improved AppleScript support, including changing the contents of any page from AppleScript.
AddressBook Integration

The names of people in your AddressBook become links you can act on.
Rename pages

Do you not like the title you gave a page? No problem, in VoodooPad 2.0 you can now rename it.
Improved URL and email address markup

VoodooPad got some new smarts to help it figure out what exactly is an url or not.
Threaded exporting

VoodooPad will take those tasks and put them in the background so you can keep on working in your pages without being interrupted.

Update: AC:WW

2005-12-06T05:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, I play Animal Crossing.

Yes, AC:WW for the DS came out today.

Quit freaking out, and go get it. And when you do come back here to post your friend code. I'm dying to play online!

UPDATE: Read my review here!

Eating out of his hand.

2005-12-06T04:55:00.000-07:00

IMG_1434,
originally uploaded by colt911.

My uncle snapped this pic @ Port A in Texas. This is one of two incredible pics from that set.

Bowerman Family (1993)

2005-12-06T04:51:00.000-07:00

family2,
originally uploaded by colt911.

A great pic of the bunch.

I just figured out how to use flickr's note feature, and I added info about everyone..

Animal Crossing DS

2005-12-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, I play Animal Crossing.

Yes, AC:WW for the DS came out today.

Quit freaking out, and go get it. And when you do come back here to post your friend code. I'm dying to play online!

Bored@Work, again.

2005-12-04T00:09:00.000-07:00

Just jotting down some notes for possible future design changes, among other things. I've acquired a moleskin just for the purpose of scheming & plotting future web design concepts.

God's Debris

2005-12-03T15:52:00.000-07:00

Author Scott Adams (Dilbert) is giving away PDF copies of his book God's Debris

I've just downloaded the book, and will post more as I read it

You can download the PDF from right here, just because I love you.

New layout

2005-12-02T00:40:00.000-07:00

Yes. I changed the layout. Again.

Do you like it?

Its a lot of subtle changes, but together it might be enough for anyone who reads on a regular basis to notice.

Does anyone read on a regular basis?

I have a few ideas for how I want the individual pages. (Bear with me, as most (if not all) of the individual post pages aren't working right now. Thats because I removed all the ItemPage content from my template.)

I think I want the sidebar to disappear. I want the post to take up the width of the screen. Well, it will probably wind up being the majority of the screen. But you get my point. Any content that is in the sidebar on the main/archive pages will be included at the bottom of the post page.

Perhaps the most difficult to accomplish is the comment block. What I would like for the item pages would be to have a table centered on the page that had a single cell for each comment. The tricky part is going to be dividing up the comments so that they are evenly distributed across the available screen width.

If that makes sense to you, good. I'll try to get a sketch up in the near future.

Speaking of comments. What are your feelings for comments on the main/archive pages? I keep flip-flopping back and forth between having them, and not. I think I'd like to figure out a way for them to be hidable. Well, I have an idea of how that could be done, but... I haven't done it yet.

I'd appriciate comments/suggestions.

Hosting.

2005-12-02T00:04:00.000-07:00

I need a new host. I've got to have at least 1 FTP account, and database access. I don't care if its Mysql/PHP, or MSSQL & ColdFusion. Right now, cost is the biggest concern.

Any suggestions?

So much time, so little to do

2005-12-01T03:48:00.000-07:00

I'm overwhelmed by the sheer number of things that I want/like to do that never even get started, much less get done.

*sigh* How do I go from having ideas, to getting things done? I've had this problem my entire life. Never a shortage of things to do. Always doing nothing.

I'm trying to write down what I want to do, but so far I don't know how well its working. Any other suggestions/ideas?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Life is one disaster after another.

Ahh!

2005-12-01T02:16:00.000-07:00

Ack!

Since when is this shit happening!?!?!

I'll have to get on this right away!

Flickr

2005-12-01T02:06:00.000-07:00

I did it. Without even asking permission. That's right. I'm the man and its my money. Well, it was my money. Now its Flickr's money. Thats right. I upgraded to a pro account. It is already worth it, and I don't think its been 5 minutes yet.

I will soon (hopefully before I go to bed) be uploading all the pictures I've got to flickr. This might cause a few dupes, but I'm more concerned with having permanent full-res copies of all of my pictures somewhere other than my hard drive. Lest the loss of ALL MY PICTURES happen again!

For the record, I also upgraded Brett's account. He's the keeper of the family photo album, so if I need a pro account for my craptastic photography, he definately needs one. Merry X-MAS Brett

FLICKR KICKS ASS!

Technorati Tags: Blog, Flickr, Photos

Gloucester

2005-12-01T01:37:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been wishing that Sharon and I lived a lil closer to, well, anywhere. Gloucester is pretty much the middle of nowhere. Sure, its quaint. But there isn't much to do here. Other than have a short drive to work.

Eh. Just thinking out loud...

Gmail

2005-11-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

Just curious, how many people use gmail. How many people haven't heard of it. If you do use it, do you like the single-folder inbox?

I am a huge fan of the entire system, so much so that I don't use anything else for my email. I've even given up the Apple Mail (yes, I know it can work with Gmail, I just like the web interface that much.

Ever since I first discovered MP3s in 1995-6 I have wished that everything had ID3 tags. Now with Flickr and Technorati and and iTunes and GMAIL, just about everything does.

Back to the Airport.

2005-11-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

My buddy is flying in from DFW tonight. He flew out there for Thanksgiving with his family. He bought round trip tickets on the shuttle from Concord, NH to Logan, without even making sure he could catch the return trip. His flight arrives at 9:26, but the last shuttle trip leaves at 9:30.

Guess its a good thing I offered to pick him up anyway.

Microsoft. Nuff Said

2005-11-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

A solution is available: follow instructions in the Knowledge Base article

Thank you for submitting an error report.

Problem description

The error was likely caused by Windows XP Service Pack 2.

Solution

To view details about how to fix this problem, click the link under Additional Technical Information below. This link will take you to a Microsoft Support Knowledge Base (KB) article. Please follow the steps in the article to fix your computer problem. Note: If you do not follow the steps, you may continue to see the same error on your computer.

Frequently asked questions

Why do I need to go to an article to solve this problem?

In the past, you may have downloaded an update from the Windows Update website to fix a specific problem on your computer. Occasionally, you may encounter errors that require you to make manual changes to your computer. While Microsoft may include these fixes in future Windows Update releases, following the steps in the recommended article is the fastest way to fix your computer problem.

What is a Knowledge Base article?

Knowledge Base articles contain specific steps about how to fix an error or problem you're encountering on your computer. You can search all Microsoft Knowledge Base articles on the Microsoft Support site.

Additional Technical Information

You may receive an RPC locator has encountered a problem and needs to be closed error message when you install Windows XP SP2

Vacation

2005-11-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

Sharon & I will be going to Ohio this week for Thanksgiving. I'll probably be taking lots of pictures, but I don't know what kind of 'net access, if any, we'll have.

We're leaving Monday morning, and will be back Friday evening.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Mario Kart DS

2005-11-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

I got my copy of Mario Kart DS today. It kicks ass. Anyone who's lookin to play can find me using my friend ID:

5	0	2	5	7	0
6	2	7	5	2	9

Technorati Tags: DS, Mario Kart, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Mario Kart DS, Video Games

Skype

2005-11-14T14:32:00.000-07:00

Among other new things is my new Bluespoon AX2 wireless headset. I got this for my cell phone & my laptop, as both support bluetooth. If you've got skype & want to talk, you can find me as byron [dot] bowerman.

If you don't know what skype is, check out their site for more info.

iTunes & Podcasts

2005-11-09T03:21:00.000-07:00

Having more issues with iTunes

The playlists "New Podcasts" does not contain any songs playable by Party Shuffle. Are you sure you want to choose this playlist?

The smart playlist has 3 requirements, Podcast is true, Kind contains ""audio file", & play count is 0.

The idea is that I could catch up on all of my podcasts while working, without having to keep going back into iTunes to double click on files. The problem: when playing podcasts from the podcast section of your library, at the end of the file the playback stops. There is no automatic track advance. First step was creating the playlist, so all of the files were in order, and all of the videocasts were removed. This worked quite well, but again, playback stops after each track.

For someone so addicted to my Mac, my iPod, & iTunes in general, I am becomming seriously pissed off at Apple, for what I feel are idiotic issues with the software that I use the most.

Podcasts, anyone?

2005-11-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

Just like the webcomics post a few days ago, I am interested in what podcasts you listen to. What aggregator, or podcatcher, do you use? Do you have a pmp? Which? INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW!

I have an iPod, and (obviously) use iTunes. I was using iTunes long before I got an iPod, however, so I realize that some of you may also.

Daily Source Code by Adam Curry [web] [iTMS]
Off the Hook & Off the Wall by 2600 [web] [iTMS]
Mashup of the week by Mashuptown [web] [iTMS]
The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd [web] [iTMS]
Podfinder also by Adam Curry [web] [iTMS]

I've also subscribed to Channel Frederator [web] [iTMS] and Line Item Vito [web] [iTMS], both of which are vidcasts.

I don't own a video iPod, but am seriously lusting after one right now. At first, I didn't really see the point. And I still resent the fact that there's no FireWire support. I mean, hello? FIREWIRE800??!?!?!?!?!?! Seriously. But the more I think about it, the more adding video capability to my iPod seems like a great idea.

Random Rant

2005-11-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

I hate squatters. People who register a domain name, and then do nothing with it. People who register it for a decade and have a page with tons of popups and other useless shit on it.

11th Post!!! Bloglet

2005-11-02T17:59:00.000-07:00

Holy crap! Today has been a busy news day. More posts today than in the last few weeks combined! I are proud of myself.

I haven't had the time to really read any of my daily sites today. I slept most of the afternoon, and have spent the rest of the day between skool, movies, and the site. After I pick up Sharon, I have a feeling we're going to blockbuster. Maybe during episode V, I'll have time to finish up the Watch blog changes that I've been working on. As you can see now, the listing is back to functional. I need to get the item pages up. I still haven't decided if I'm gunna bother with archive pages or not...

Jeni called. They're on the way to see a couple movies @ the drive in, and just wanted to say "hi". Its always good to hear from old friends.

Most of the Halloween decorations are down. Ok, only about half of them. But I plan on leaving the rope lights out, and I kinda like having the blue & black lights in the living room/office. Just the right amount of light to work by.

Well, Shay should be done any minute, so I'd better head on out.

iTunes :)

2005-11-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

I Solved the problem. I just shared my library from my mac, and wiped all the music off the thinkpad. Now I just have 1 copy. Well, 2 if you count my iPod.

I am so smart, I am so smart S-M-R-T.... D'oh!

Blogger

2005-11-02T17:12:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on template updates. I've had almost endless small issues keep interfering with what I want to do. I don't really like the Blogger interface for editing templates, so I'm using a text editor, which means a LOT of copy & paste action, and a LOT of waiting for things to publish...

Not to mention when all of a sudden, one of the files gets locked, and I have to wait about ten minutes for the lock to clear before I can re-publish anything.

I guess its all caused by the rather complicated things I am trying to do within the confines of this free service. And I recognize that there will be issues with that. I am doing things in a highly customized manner. I don't expect it to work flawlessly all the time. But when an undocumented issue keeps my page from working all day (through several hours of work) I get kinda frustrated. I'm at the point now where I'm just glad I figured it out.

The problem, it seems, is that the <BloggerPreviousItems> tags must NOT be inside the <Blogger> tags. I was unable to find this information out anywhere on the Blogger site (don't get me started about their documentation) but had to stumble blindly, till in a moment of desperation, I removed everything but the <BloggerPreviousItems> tags to see whathell was going on.

Blogger. I know you offer free shit. I like free. Who doesn't? I also think that you've gone a lot farther in the way of documentation than others who offer free services tend to go. I'm grateful. But please, please, get someone to help with the documentation. More examples, not to mention much more complete explanations of complex topics is needed.

Google Reader

2005-11-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this while trying to read some RSS feeds the other day from the recently tightly locked down VSEA interweb.
This is a great program, and even though most of the RSS feeds were blocked by the VSEA hellhounds, I found an interesting way of avoiding them.

Step 1: Google with site: inurl:xml (or rss, depending on the site)
Step 2: Right click and choose Copy Link Location
Step 3: Paste the link into the Feed URL of Google Reader's subscribe panel

You should notice that instead of www.site.com/feed.xml it pastes in a lot of wierd shit. This wierd shit is the trick, its a link to the Google cache (I assume) of the feed you're trying to view. While it may result in a delay in new feed items showing up, it completely bypasses my corporate web-nazi.

The above works with FireFox, if you don't have it: GET IT!

Leetspeek

2005-11-02T06:35:00.000-07:00

This is new to me, but I'm obviously ool. There's a hoodie walking around with

1f y0u c4n r34d 7h15 y0u n33d t0 g37 141d

on it. It took me a couple times to realize the humor... Not because I'm 7337, but because--like most people--I read words, not letters, and there's enough there for my brain to just read it.

So funny, I forgot to laugh. Literally. Now, that's sad.

Edits underway

2005-11-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

I am currently fiddling with the blog to get some added functionality out of the recently read & watched sections... This has caused both sections to be very unreliable. Alas, I must head for class, leaving the blog in this state...

I'll get on it as soon as possible. If only ITT had WiFi access, I could do this from class!!!

My techie self

2005-11-02T02:40:00.000-07:00

An interesting, if infrequently updated, geek-find. I stumbled across this one whilst looking for FireFox extensions.

iTunes :(

2005-11-02T02:32:00.000-07:00

Arghhhh...

Problem. I have 2 computers. *gasp* I have 2 (almost) identical iTunes playlists. My mac has all of my purchased music on it, my thinkpad has (almost) everything else.

I sync my 30gig photo with my mac.

I've run in to the issue where some of the music on my thinkpad has ratings and such, and the identical songs on my mac don't... Its quite a few, so I'd rather not go through and transfer the ratings manually.

Is there anyway to automate processing the 2 different iTunes XML files so that the playcounts, ratings, groupings of songs get copied over? Assuming of course that the song names, album names, etc are the same?

Site Updates

2005-11-02T01:14:00.000-07:00

I've accidentally stumbled across backlinks, which appear to be fancy trackbacks from blogs listed by blogsearch.

Integration. Nice.

I've been trying to integrate these new trackbacks into the blog, so lets see how it works. I've also made some changes to the post footers, and the general layout. Nothing too, too major, but all together, noteworthy.

Watch turns 50.

2005-11-01T22:25:00.000-07:00

I just realized that the Recently Watched section of this site has hit 50 posts.

There are still several posts in *working* status; Shay *ahem* needs to get her act together!

I will also be working getting some proper formatting for the post pages. (Right now they don't looky so good.

Droids

2005-11-01T22:21:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or does C3P0 make Marvin look like a decent companion?

Just food for thought...

Very Scary

2005-11-01T22:02:00.000-07:00

I just read this on /., and its quite scary. To think, that this is America...

Watching Revenge of the Sith last night, it was very easy to see the connection between Bush & Palpatine...

America, the first World Empire

Other than all those empires that came before... Uh... They don't count... Or something.

Lame Duck (update)

2005-11-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

Although last night was pretty pathetic as a party, Sharon & I managed to have a good Halloween anyway.

It was more like having a friend over to watch a movie than a party, but it wasn't a bad evening.

And we enjoyed decorating the place, and now have a healthy respect for what a royal pain in the ass it is.

Just wanted to clarify, lest anyone get the idea that I was miserably...

Lame duck

2005-10-31T20:46:00.000-07:00

Well, no big suprise, but noone showed up for our party... Almost noone. Mel showed up. Drove like an hour. After some Zombies Ate My Neighbors, we wound up watching StarWars Episode 3.

An astonishing 12 kids came by... and we couldn't give the candy away fast enough.

Guess we shoulda just gone to Salem... Dealt with the massive throngs of people. Put up will all the crap...

Happy Shamain

2005-10-31T08:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Shamain!

Comics?

2005-10-30T21:56:00.000-07:00

I know, I know... It's a little late, but I have totally missed to boat on web comics. Oh, I've known about them. I'd heared about them several years ago. Even read about them in Wired several years ago. But I still missed the boat.

All that ended a couple of weeks ago, when a classmate of mine introduced me to Punks & Nerds and now I'm addicted.

I've been reading P&N for the last couple weeks, and I've since picked up on Ctrl+Alt+Del & RealLife.

I've started at the beginning of each, and am slowly working my way through.

What comics do you read? What would you recommend?