Just Bloggin' Nonsense

Ok, so I just got back from a WONDERFUL week with my family. The weather turned out perfectly, we got a ton done, and I feel well-rested and ready to...oh wait, I'm going to be leaving this job in a few weeks..so I guess I'm ready to do nothing...either way, I'll have plenty of spare time on my hands (Yes, at work) to write, so you may find an entry or two to peruse. In any case, don't come looking for much insight. I've got none to share...at least not right now.

Deactivated and loving it

Today I've been unofficially "deactivated" as a programmer at my job. I am kind of content about this, because I've decided a while back that I don't want to be programming for this company anymore. In fact, aside from the simple web-programming that I already do, I don't think I want to program ever again.

The GOOD news is that I have been accepted to be the computer and technology teacher at Hershey Christian School. I get to be a teacher again! I can't even express my happiness with this. The fact that God has given me the opportunity to get back into the job I  feel most confident in, and love the most. Its not Spanish, however i would think that my passion for technology currently exceeds my passion for Spanish. However, what really matters is what my greatest passion is, and that is teaching.

Why did I leave teaching? I didn't hate it. I chose to change careers as an opportunity to move back to PA and start a family. I also wanted to somehow use my computer degree before it became obselete. Now I'm able to use both my teaching AND computer degree. This is gonna be good...:-)

One of the best articles I've read in a while

I've just finished reading a very long, but very elightening article discussing the role of evangelical Protestantism in American culture. If you associate yourself in any way with Christianity, this article is a very very good read,

http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i42/42b00601.htm

PS: Please allot yourself about 10 minutes to read it as it is lenghty. Feel free to leave your comments on this blog, or e-mail me with what you think.

Here's one for T-Dawg

So I watched the last 15 minutes of last night's NBA finals game, in which the Miami Heat won. My assessment: Despite not watching a single regular season game or playoff game, I feel perfectly content saying that I've missed absolutely nothing all season, and last night was a waste of time as well.   Despite what Mark Cuban says, I don't agree with him: The NBA isn't rigged. Nothing so mediocre on the entertainment scale is worth rigging. :-)

Our Stupid Citizens

Report: Mother sues MySpace for $30 Million

What is our world coming to? When does a mother has the right to sue a website because her child  posted personal information about herself on the internet which eventually led to her meeting up with the guy and being sexually assulted? Her case? She claims that MySpace lacks security measures to protect teenagers from predators. That's like suing the city because I walk into a known crime area and get mugged. It makes no sense. I think that people these days expect their children to be immune from dangers without their help. I've got a better solution for this mother:  START BEING A RESPONSIBLE PARENT!!!!

Helment laws and other stuff

This week Big Ben gets into a motorcycle accident and smashes his face off of a car windshield. This results in 7 hours of surgery to his face. However, people still have the nerve to argue against wearing a helmet. Are people stupid? How is it that its a law to wear your seatbelt to protect yourself from crashes, yet its not a law to wear a helment? Stupid, stupid, stupid!!!

I suffered through my first experience with a pipe this past weekend. I have never smoked anything in my life, and really had no curiosity to until recently. The good news about smoking pipes and cigars is that you don't inhale the smoke and so, unless you would do it reguarlly, its not harmful. I've always thought that pipe tobacco smells okay, but let me alert those of you who have never smoked a pipe that it definitely doesn't taste like it smells. Particuarlly the stuff I tried..I think that it was called, Marijuana...haha...just kidding. Needless to say, despite the new experience, i don't see myself buying a pipe and tobacco anytime soon. Its just not my thing.

I bought a bb/pellet gun the other day as well. I bought it mainly to take out the bunnies in my back yard. However, I'm finding it hard to kill what I would consider a harmless little creature. I shot one the other day with a bb and a few pumps of the gun, just to make it run away. However, after watching it limp away in confusion and pain, I've decided to just use the gun for recreational target practice, which harms nothing but my pride of being able to shoot straight.

Work has been pretty busy for me lately. I hate it. I want to quit. I'm hoping to get back into teaching, where I feel my gifts and abilities are better used. I'm just not cut out to live the life of a programmer. I'm too much of a social person. I also enjoy helping and working with others. I just can't do that in an environment where I sit all day and type into a computer for 8 hours. Like the pipe smoking experience: Its just not for me.

Post for 5/23/06

So I've flip-flopped once again to Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.3. I was enjoying using Maxthon as my browser of choice. However, the ever-growing list of extensions for firefox has wooed me back as usual. One of those extensions, in fact, is how I write this blog entry. A very convenient integrated blogging utility called Performancing.

Anyways, here's a link to a cool piece of software called visual task tips. It allows you to enjoy a future feature of Windows vista, where you can hover your mouse over the open program buttons in your taskbar and get a small thumbnail of what the program looks like. This becomes really useful when you have a lot of windows open at once: Visual Task Tips Web Site

If you are into photography, particuarly digital photography, and would like to learn more about some neat tips and suggestions to bring out your camera's ability, as well as your own. Check out this blog: Digital Photography School

Anybody looking for some great tools for organization that are available online, I've been finding my life to be extremely productive with the following tools:

Gmail: an online e-mail client thats quick, easy, well-organized, and holds 2 Gigs of e-mails.

Google Calendar (GCal): Possibly the best online calendar application I've ever seen. It allows additons of multiple calendars, e-mail, sms, and popup notifications, daily agenda e-mails, etc.

Tada list: this is a recent application I've found useful in helping me to manage my work projects. Its as simple as it gets for a ToDo list, and its free (just like the above applications).

There are other online applications that I've found either useful or beneficial to me. I'll share more about them later in another posting. What about you? Are there any online (web-based) applications that you rely on for productivity and organization? Feel free to share.

Entry for 5-11-06

So this is what the Chinese do when then become successful? Good thing there is communism then, or there'd be fighter jets flying all over the place: Check out the article here.

Personal thoughts:

-(for Tim): The NBA playoffs are in full swing right now. As of this year, I've not watched a single game and I still feel great!!!

- I think that success can be measured by the satisfaction one gets from his work alone. Despite the pay or perks of the job. If you only love your job for the pay and the perks alone, then you don't really love your job.

-Making yourself vulnerable and asking for help is the quickest way to acheivement in anything. Doing neither can be the quickest way to failure.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!!!

Just some info for y'all:  Cinco de Mayo is the celebration of a victory war fought between the the Mexicans and the French, after the French attempted to invade Mexico over a debt dispute that it claimed the mexicans owed them for aiding them in their war for independence against Spain. The victory for the mexicans demonstrated that the newly founded country of Mexico wasn't going to be bullied by anybody. (Until later, when the country was overtaken by drugs, political corruption, poverty, and pollution.)  Contrary to popular belief, it is NOT a celebration of Mexico's indepedence from Spain.

How many of you read this?

I'm curious to know how many of you are reading this blog. My suspicion is that maybe one other person reads this. Please feel free to comment if you ARE. It would really helpful for me in assessing the types and regularity of posts that appear here. Thanks in Advance.

Is there anything about this article that bothers you?

This article kind of bothers me. I just don't think we need to get this crazy about technology for churches. It just seems like its taking things a little "over the top".

Another Firefox Experience/Experiment

As usual, I'm "testing" out Firefox again. The reason being is that the extensions just keep getting better. It seems that many more websites are becoming more compliant as well. I will be attempting to use it as my standard browser over the next month and I'll give an update then.

For now, I can report that I've run into some issues that I had thought were initially belonging to Firefox, but actually could be attributed to some of the extensions that I had installed. This extension made websited load funny or not at all, and basically took away the cursor when I clicked in any textbox on a form. Very weird. It seems as though the crappy memory hogging issues are still there. From what I've read so far, the 1.5 series of releases has caused a lot of dissappointments among Firefox enthusiasts in relation to the memory issues and stability overall. The good news for them is that a newer version is already in Alpha, so perhaps it will redeem these issues a bit.

On a final note about this. I've decided to do my experiment using "Portable Firefox 1.5.0.2" rather than the regular one. This way, its easier to restore it if an extension messes things up.

Fun with Gas?

Here's an interesting interactive Map at current gas price averages in the united states...makes me wish I lived in Montana right about now:

http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx

Somewhere I'd never want to be

Here's a place I'd never want to be:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2179463398999135184&q=tornado

Entry for 4-5-06

Here's a good idea, being implemented terribly.

Movies to be available for downloading and owning

Begin Rants and Info:

-From what I've been told, its April. But it seems that somebody didn't get the memo, because I had to drive to work in violent snow squalls this morning. I've thought of a new name for Pennsylvania that will suit us better: Canada.

- I bought a 19" LCD viewsonic Monitor for my computer. All I can say is "WOW!". After using a refurbished 17" CRT monitor with scratches on the screen that I found on eBay for about 4 years now, this is a nice upgrade.

- Never underestimate the benefits and luxuries of spending a little money on a comfortable computer mouse.

-If you keep a baby in the bathtub long enough, they WILL poop.

-Don't you hate when you have a pile of money and...nevermind, that never happens to me.

End Rants and Info:

Notes:

All 1.75 of you who actually read my blog might wonder why I really only post tech news articles on here. The reason, in my opinion, is because tech news usually doesn't depress me and make me feel paranoid about plane trips and government corruption. I like to keep my life happy, so introducing it to too much politics or stories of exploitation and crime in our world just brings a brother down. To that end i try to stay on top of things where I'm more qualified to make an opinion.

4-6-06 Edit

Uhh...Because this is EXACTLY what I want to do with excess toilet water:

http://www.realgoods.com/shop/shop2.cfm?dp=205&ts=6020334

Here is a good FAQ I found on running windows on a Mac...the trendiest thing going these days for geeks:
http://news.com.com/FAQ+Windows+on+Macs/2100-1016_3-6058163.html?tag=st.prev

What I find interesting is how much emphasis people put on "support" for windows xp...give me a break. This operating system has been around forever. If you need "support" for windows xp, then you either have not operated a computer in the past 5 years, or you have no idea what you are doing. Not once in my entire life did I ever consider, or know anyone else who has considered calling "windows technical support". There are so many forums, FAQ's and all-around windows "experts" freely available that it doesn't make sense to need support for such a tried and true OS. Just weird, in my opinion.

Entry for 3/31/06

In celebration of Apple's 30th anniversary, Wired Magazine online put out a 3 page collection of great quotes by Apple co-founder and brilliant innovator, Steve Jobs. They are certainly worth the read, Apple fan or not:
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/mac/0,70512-0.html

And here is yet another article questioning the genius of Apple as a company. Some very good points raised here.
http://news.com.com/2010-1041_3-6056161.html?part=rss&tag=6056161&subj=news

Somebody attempted to make their own Mac Media Computer "homebrew" style. To re-quote on one of the comments for this thing: "Mission failed." Check out the ghastly pic of it here: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/homebrew-media-mac-164078.php

PCWorld has rounded up 101 great freebies available on the internet for that inner cheapskate in all of us. Some very good choices on this list. Well done, PCWorld:
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,124883,pg,5,00.asp

And in sports news, Verone Haynes signed a two year contract with the Steelers. Haynes happens to be one of my most favorite "behind the scenes" players for Pittsburgh. While he doesn't play that much, I think he's actually a lot better at what he does than people think. He's certainly got the power to get the ball through the line, etc. Way to go Pittsburgh on another smart move in the offseason. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-steelers-haynes&prov=ap&type=lgns

Entry for 3/22/06

Microsoft delays Vista yet again. I can picture Steve Jobs, and the rest of the competition to MS greedily rubbing their hands together at this latest announcement. Its just hard to ignore the fact that, despite its dominance and popularity, Microsoft has now dropped the ball accross the board with their product launches (Origami), Innovation (IE7), and Operating Systems. This continuing spiral into unpopularity can mean nothing good for the Giant in the Northwest. Here are a couple of CNET articles responding to the news:

Perspective: Vista delay is back to the future for Redmond

Vista delay could sting PC makers

Entry for 3/21/06

Some thinks just go way beyond geeky and meticulouse. Take this software that allows you to track and analyze sleep patters for your newborn. From experience I can tell you that people with newborns just don't have time to mess around with something like this. Here's the link to check out for yourself: http://www.trixietracker.com/tour/sleep

Also...

The REAL Google Beta (from 1998):
http://web.archive.org/web/19981202230410/http://www.google.com/

Funny Stuff

This comic strip I found this morning kind of sums up how I feel about the whole trend of things with Apple. I actually like Apple's innovation, and think that they are an interesting company to follow. However, I think a lot of people take that a little too far. Check out the parody here:

http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/796.html

An Article Worth Reading

This article has to be one of the best I've read from a blog in a long time. I'd definitely give it a read. On a personal note, I would have to say that I agree with what the author has to say. Your achievements in life are only hindered by what you think your limitations are.

Read the article here.

The problem with Apple Fans and the Recent Announcements

This past week, Apple announced two new products and a product upgrade to the masses. The results: Mostly a bunch of complaints about how Apple "psyched up" its fans only to "let them down". The reason? You've got me? I've read and heard a lot of discussion the Apple's annoucement that is filled with nothing but complaints about how Apple just "dropped the ball" this time.

I don't necessarily agree. While I think that the iPod Hi-Fi is pretty lame, and so are the 100 dollar leather iPod cases, I don't think that the problem had anything to do with what Apple did. Its more of what the fans and the Press was expecting. They let themselves down. Let's review how this all started:

About two weeks ago, Apple sent out a letter to the press basically saying "Come and see some fun new products on February 28th." That's all it said. Now, with plenty of time between the letter and the moment of truth, speculations on what the event was about went berzerk. People were dreaming up the most magnificent ideas about new iPods, ibooks, etc. Nobody had a clue, but their imaginations were nowhere near being curbed at all.

Then the day the event comes and Steve Jobs comes out all exicted, and announces a new Intel Mac Mini, a leather iPod case, and an overpriced speaker for an iPod. People were bummed. So bummed because despite Apple being excited about what they were offering, the people's curiosity was not gratified. The results: mass grumbling against Jobs and Apple.

People were claiming things like "Its Apple's fault that it is a flop because they 'hyped it up' by keeping it a secret." Uh, not really. The hype came from the Press and the fans. I'll use the following allusion for my example:

Let's say that you are a small boy wanting a bike for Christmas. Your parents come home one day all excited and telling you that they can't wait to see you open your gift from them. You suddenly start dreaming up ideas about how great the gift will be. Could it be a new bike? Maybe an xbox 360? Your mind wanders while your heart races in anticipation for Christmas day. Christmas day comes along and your parents, still excited, hand you a present. You open it, and it turns out to be a football, not a bike, Xbox, etc. Are your parents at fault? They were excited with what they got for you. They figured you'd be excited too, but you weren't. Is that their fault or yours?

I think that the Press and Apple fans who felt let down are like that boy. They dreamed up all kinds of ideas on getting something dreamy, like a 10lb iPod that microwaves your lunch and can make you fly. But instead they got a "football".

Honestly, if people had not been speculating, they wouldn't not have been burned by their own expectations. That being said, it is clear to see that Apple did nothing wrong.

And the moral is: Stop acting like a spoiled child and go play with your football!!! :-)

Attack [on] the Mac!!!

Here are two very interesting articles about Mac Security and the recent attacks against them. Although it looks like Macs are still safer, it also looks like people are now starting to turn their attention over to the challenge of exploiting this undiscovered territory of Mac vulnerabilities. Both very good articles by Larry Seltzer of eWeek.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1928716,00.asp

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1916535,00.asp

Entry for 2/21/05

This is just too funny to make it wait. I've heard about it, but getting the chance to see the pic makes it even funnier.

http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/4630

Entry for 2/16/06

This article touches on something that is so very, very true about communication over the internet.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70179-0.html?tw=rss.index

Optical Illusions are pretty cool. These pictures take that to a whole different level with using simple paint in the right places:
http://www.2loop.com/3drooms.html

A Lot of people don't even know how to drive their cars, and yet somehow we feel compelled in inventing technology so that they can fly them???
http://news.com.com/StudentsCatCMITCgiveCflyingCcarCaCshot/2100-11389_3-6040007.html?tag=nefd.top

Finally, I heard this morning that last night's episode of American Idol received much better ratings than the Winter Olympics. Not a surprise really. Americans want to be entertained. They want to be entertained when THEY want it. Not when the network wants it. NBC holds up all of the good coverage until later on in the evening, and after most people have exhausted their ability to stay up. Add that to the fact that the results are easily discovered on the internet or the local news. Not much entertainment coming from the Olympics with all of that against it.

Entry for 2/7/06

Well, this weekend will certainly prove to be interesting. On the agenda: A solo trip to New Castle, PA where I will engage in hours of co-op video game play with my cousin Ryan, A two hour coffee house concert singing and playing guitar, and of course witnessing the Pittsburgh Steelers battle the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL with my Steeler-fan friends.

But enough about me. Check out this cool Beta software that pretty much allows any windows user to get the "Expose'" feature available on the Mac. I like it, except for the fact that it is a Beta version with limited configurability. Its called, "Small Windows", and it allows you to view all of your currently opened windows in thumbnail form. Here's the link to it:

http://smallwindows.sourceforge.net/

...ok, since this is delayed, I'll catch everyone up. The weekend went very well. The Steelers won the Super Bowl...WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!! And I had fun showing a handful of people my incompetence at using a tamborine. Ryan and I finally defeated our video game too.

On that software, its VERY buggy. I finaly uninstalled it today, after I found it just getting in the way and being too buggy to use. I thought that I'd use it more, but my old habits of using a taskbar are too hard to break. Oh well. It is still worth looking into if you have the time and patience.