Seriously?... How to Grind? [WTF?]

For those of you who couldn't care less about me whining about my broken toy, I will share this little bit of joy with you. On my iGoogle homepage I have several little boxes that I don't really pay much attention to very often, but are there in case I get really bored. Case-in-point: the How to of the day, which displays the title of three "How-To" articles the change everyday.

The other day I went to search for something and out of the corner of my eye I caught the title "How to grind". I kind of laughed thinking to myself "surely they are talking about skateboarding" (this is specifically addressed in the "article"). Nope.

If you need a laugh [or lesson], please check out this story. This shows the dark side of user generated content (and why Wikipedia is not a reliable source for your research paper). But you have to give credit to the person who could actually type the following line and still hit the save button:

If repositioning does not work, you may want to excuse yourself for a few minutes to let things settle down.

Bonus: it comes with Tips, Warnings, and a video tutorial.

http://www.wikihow.com/Grind

Why I am WISHING for an RRoD...

Keegan got up a bit early this morning and since I was off today, I decided I'd take him downstairs to watch a DVD with me while mommy slept. Since we had a finite space for entertainment components (and the DVR takes up three quarters of it), we decided to sell our DVD player and just use the Xbox 360. This little arrangement had worked out fine... until today. I went to turn on the 360 to put in a disc and that's when I saw it...

(Sign you are about to have an 8 lb paperweight)

Now at first this didn't bother me, because I saw this same error message (E74) the other day and just took the Hard Drive off and put it back on and then everything was fine. Not this time though. It has now been a full 12 hours and every time its the same result. I looks like its officially dead.

So that got me a little upset as it was, but I remembered Microsoft had automatically extended their warranty period for the 360s because of their horrible failure rate (around 16.4% last year when they extended the warranty). So I did a little research and found out the extended warranty only covers the infamous Red Ring of Death (RRoD), which is three red flashing lights. My error is covered under the standard warranty... which expired JANUARY 2ND!!! So now I have a few options here:

• Pay the out of warranty repair fee ($95 or approximately HALF the cost of a new system)
• Buy a new system (yeah... right)
• Try to fix it myself (voiding the extended warranty)
• MAKE it get the Red Ring of Death (oops! shit! I thought that was a bag of microwave popcorn)

Regardless, I always kind of felt like I was biding my time with the console until it crap out on me.

Wait... what's this dusty white thing with the glowing blue light? /Sings: Baby comeback...

Yeah... Nice try! [WTF?]

Today my office informally (read: pay for yourself) went out to lunch to celebrate one of our co-worker's last day. Since it was her lunch, it was her pick of the restaurant we would eat at, she chose Romano's Macaroni Grill. I wasn't too excited about the pick since Natali and I had gone out to dinner there and the service was sub-par at best. But I figured, its not my lunch and maybe the lunch service will be a little better. We got there and the restaurant was practically empty. There were only two other tables of customers and our group of ten easily doubled the number of patrons. We quickly learned why the restaurant was so empty, the lunch service is no better than the dinner. Despite the sparse number of eaters, it still took us over an hour to get our food (which is our entire lunch break), even every person except one ordered salads or sandwiches! I usually judge our service based on the number of times I have to slurp out of the bottom of my water cup. ( Total number of water refills during the 90 minute lunch: 1). Of course because of the size of our group (even though we split the bill in to two halves of the table) the gratuity was added into the bill automatically (at 18%, which is way more than I would have tipped for the ridiculously bad service).

Side note: My method of tipping at a restaurant goes as such: you start off at a 15% tip. You earn "points" for good service and lose "points" for bad service. At the end of the dinner, your tip is 15% +/- the number of points. (everything ends up relating to a game for me)

We quickly divided up the bill and everyone gave their cash so I could put the bill on the card (I forgot to go to the ATM). My original receipt had two totals on it: the first was the bill and tax ($53.70) and the second was with the bill, tax, and 18% tip ($62.65). I stuck my card in the folder and handed it back to the server. When he returned, he had the two receipts (my copy and the original) folded in half on the left side and the "restaurant copy" on the right side facing me. Since we were now 20 minutes past when we should have been back at the office, I quickly added the the $9.00 tip to my "charge amount" and signed it. I set it down grabbed my jacket and headed toward the door... WAIT! I went back and looked at the receipt. The charge amount included my tip! I scratched out the tip amount and wrote a big "0" in both the "tip amount" and "additional tip" (WTF? and why is this one "optional").

I'm still a little pissed about that. The Caesar salad that I didn't order, almost cost me twenty bucks!*

I actually ordered a chicken plate, but instead got a caesar salad, since it was taking so long and I didn't have time to get my actual order. :(

ETA: I don't know how I didn't see this, but on the back of the main receipt is... yep, you guessed it a "Guest Experience Survey". I get to complain AND I have a chance to win $1,000! :)

Fresno (No. 1 for a good reason!) [Winning Wednesday]

It's nice to open your paper and actually see a "good" story about your city.

Among large California (the most populous state in the US) cities, Fresno tied with Huntington Beach for diverting the most trash from its landfills.

"In 2006, both cities sent 71% of solid waste to recycling programs, according to the most recent data available from the California Integrated Waste Management Board".

That's pretty awesome! It's nice to make the top of a list that doesn't involve air pollution, murder, or methamphetamine.

Source: The Fresno Bee

Today's lesson: humanity

I was at Starbucks this morning (I know...BIG surprise), purchasing my morning coffee. As I reached the line there were two people in front of me and the first was finishing up her order. In the 15 seconds it took me to walk to the line and pull my wallet out of my pocket six people fell into place behind me, including a few "regulars" I recognized. My brother works at this particular Starbucks, so the baristas know me and were pouring my coffee as I walked in. Several of the other people in line were [actual] coffee drinkers and the barista scrambled to get their orders ready ahead of time as well. As the coffees started piling up on the counter the first lady took back her card and began to walk away. The cashier said thank you and as she was about to help the next customer she glanced at the register and noticed there was a balance of 80 cents. The cashier kindly called to the previous customer and alerted her of the situation. The customer explained she'd have to go to her car to get the balance and walked out with an embarrassed look as the line came to a halt.

Let me break here and give you a bit of a sidebar. I know its not fair to "judge a book by its cover", and this is something I try to follow. The things that most people get caught up on like (skin color, tattoos, sexual orientation, etc) don't really cause me to prejudice myself. However, there are a few things that I still need to work on. If people have any of the following, they have basically start "in the hole" and have to prove me wrong:

• NASCAR stickers on their car (I know, I know, its a sport...)
• Ponytail on men over 40 (I think they look ridiculous on men period, but have a particularly hard time with the 40+ crowd)
• Bushy mustaches (men or women :) )

Back to my story...

As the women made it to the door, a man handed the cashier a dollar. It was one of the regulars, a retired man, probably 5'3, bright yellow nylon jumpsuit, long grey ponytail, and a bushy mustache. The cashier thought initially thought (as did I) the man was being rude and trying to sneak in payment for a newspaper. He quickly explained it was to cover the lady's balance. The line began moving again, and when the woman returned she was elated that someone had come to her assistance and promptly thanked the man.

I felt kind of bad. I saw this man everyday, and every time I saw him I rolled my eyes. Not anymore... now I just have to work on the NASCAR stickers.

SIDENOTE: As I was typing this, it began to feel like a cheesy email forward. If this was an email forward it seems like it would probably end with "...and the woman pulled a gun out of her purse and handed it to the man. She then explained with a tear in her eye, 'I was going to use this on myself later but your kindness has shown me humanity still has some good...'" :)

Just send me a message on {insert social network}!

The other day, some friends and myself were trying to make some plans to have a "gaming night" via Facebook's message board. These nights usually involve Call of Duty 4, Rock Band 2, pizza, and lots of alcohol.

As we were trying to make plans another opportunity came up that I thought one of my friends might want to do, so I text messaged him to see if he was interested. After a few minutes a response came by way of the Facebook board. It was at this point I realized there are entirely too many ways to get a hold of each other. So many, that it almost makes it impossible to effectively communicate. I did an inventory of ways to "send me a message":

• Facebook Profile
• LinkedIn Profile
• G-mail
• Google Talk
  
• Yahoo Mail
• Microsoft LIVE Space
• XBox LIVE
• Zune Social
• Microsoft Messenger
• Yahoo Messenger
  
• Twitter
• Blog Comments
• Raptr Profile
• 360voice.com/gamerDNA profile
• Work email
• Text Message
• Voice mail
• Work phone
• House phone
  
• Cell phone <---At least I think my phone can receive calls

And I know that I probably forgot a bunch of other ways to "reach" me, but my point is, out of all of those, only about five actually are read on a consistant basis: Talk, Twitter, text messages, phone calls and G-mail (although almost everything else filters into my G-mail account). So if you sent me a message and I haven't responded to you, it is because either A) I didn't get it, or B) I got it, but am too lazy to go to the appropriate website to respond

So how about you, can you think of all the ways people can "communicate" with you?

Fact Friday: Me

What this guy has done in his lifetime:

My wife (Thinking Blonde) took this from another blog she reads (Seriously), and it has appeared on several others.

It is Friday... I am on a break... I am bored... and have nothing else to post. So I will steal it too. :)

The things that are bold, I have done. The things that are italicized, are things I want to do. Stuff that's regular text, I haven't done nor do I feel compelled to do. Enjoy.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band <---Only if Rock Band counts :)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise <----Dinner cruise in San Diego, but not an actual cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language <---- Does C# count?
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris <----I've been under it though
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby <---Well not personally, but my wife did :) 95. Seen the Alamo in person 96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

That's me. Feel free to use any of this information against me in a court of law.

I just threw up in my mouth and LMFAO at the same time!!!

Disclaimer: It is midnight so this post might be just a bunch of misspelled words put together on the page in no particular order. Also the video on here is slightly NSFW, depending on how strict your workplace is (but if its that strict you probably shouldn't be surfing the internet right now anyway).

Natali and I were watching a DVRed episode of House last night that was recorded back in September. I had the requisite popcorn in one hand and Twizzlers in the other. Normally we use the "skip ahead" button to jump ahead 30 seconds at a time during the commercial breaks. I was jumping forward when we caught a glimpse of a Trojan box on a magazine page which piqued our curiosity (I know real mature huh?). So I hit the "back" button and went to the beginning of the commercial.

Here it is in its entirety, but please pay attention to around 0:35 (this video is mildly NSFW):



Nat and I literally turned and stared at each other. Did she just...ugh!

• A: this commercial is on midday, why?
  
• B: TMI!
• C: You are old
• D: DO NOT roll you eyes at some "silly youngsters" just before you are about to tell them where you got your fingertip electric toothbrush that you giggidy giggidy yourself with
  

If that wasn't enough fun, please please pleeeeese go to the youtube page and read through some of the comments.

But does it come in pink?

I was perusing my RSS feeds while at work (its up on the side of my screen) and came across an article from Gizmodo.com called "Win 7 Beta Tip: Gadgets Are Integrated Directly onto the Desktop, But Are Slightly Buggy". I was curious, since I've been using Windows 7 for several days now (and so far LOVE it) and have also been following gizmodo's reports as they've been putting it through its paces. I clicked on it and quickly read through the article, realizing that the tip wasn't really news to me, but the critique was helpful (I'm still a stubborn XP user and have had all of maybe an hour hands on time with Vista).

Something to note, (you'll see the pun in a second), is Gizmodo tends to be very pro-Apple, as it rightfully should be considering their target demographic (techies and graphic designers). So it interested me when I came across the part of the article that said

[The] Notes gadget is not installed by default—I was surprised to find it missing, but instead I found a program called Sticky Notes that is apparently intended to replace it. Accessible from the Start Menu under Accessories, the Sticky Notes will actually resize to its contents unlike the Vista gadget. It’s an overall improvement, but the notes lack the ability to customize your font and the ability to change the opacity. But it does bring Windows 7 up to OS X's Stickies in desktop-level sticky note functionality. (emphasis added by me)

It was pretty funny to see that particular sentence regarding Windows 7. Here is a new product that is basically a "do or die" situation for the Windows operating system (another Vista would likely kill them), and here a respectable tech blog (Gizmodo, not this one, obviously) is debating how well it emulates "technology" from 1977.

Microsoft must be doing something right if one of the major factors in buying Mac or Windows in the future boils down to "Sticky preference"

BTW: Regarding the post title: yes, you can change the sticky note color to blue, green, pink, purple, white, or yellow.

How did they not see a month delay ahead of time?

Being both "gamers"and snowboarders, my brother and I were really excited about the upcoming snowboarding game, Stoked. It had been a while since either of us had purchased a snowboarding game and Stoked had some exciting features, great reviews, and an awesome price point ($20 less than most Xbox 360 games).

We originally heard about the game back in November, while following the PAX event, so needless to say the wait has been a while. I may seem a bit nerdy to get excited about a game (especially, from a small developer), but its no more nerdy than getting excited about the next Twilight movie. Anyway, we'd been keeping an eye on the game and the development process, getting ever more ready for its release, and today was the day! Back in December on its official blog, posted December 4th the game's developer announced the game's release date as January 20th, 2009. Earlier today I got an e-mail from ign.com (an entertainment website) that detailed the upcoming releases this month, Stoked wasn't on there.

I did a little investigation and checked ign's release date site, strangely it said the game was being released on January 26th... Huh? So I went to gamestop.com and found the game but it said it was being shipped on FEBURARY 24th???? I decided to go straight to the source and went back to their official blog here is what was posted:

Dear Fans,

Stoked is a highly anticipated title and has been subjected to aggressive testing to provide the consumer with the best play experience yet. As a result, Stoked is being held, and will come to consumers in February 2009. The official release date is February 24th.

We deeply apologize in advance to our fans and loyal supporters for the delays. Thanks for your support and we assure you it will be well worth the wait...

This was posted on January 20th at 11:52 am... TODAY! How can a company not foresee a month long delay sooner than the day it is supposed to be in the hands of its consumers?!?!? What could possibly have happened at the last minute to cause this? I don't know, but it all seems a bit sketch.

But on the bright side I get to keep playing the waiting game for free in the meantime.

Photo taken from developer blog at http://gettingstoked.com/blog/2009/01/20/stoked-delayed-until-february-24th/.

Tech Tuesday: Microsoft Photosynth

Photosynth is a project currently in the Microsoft "Live Labs". The idea of it is that it takes several uploaded photos and using reference points, creates a photo "quilt". By using the free software to view these quilts you get a sort of 3D perspective of a particular site. Developed to help splice together tourist photos to create the essence of "being there", this technology has recently been pushed into the limelight; as CNN partnered with Microsoft to present a Photosynth of the inauguration today. To view some of the other synths available, or to make your own you'll need to download two applications: Silverlight (for web viewing) and the actual Photosynth application. Both applications are free.

One of my favorite synths is called The Nose (MacDuff the golden retriever).

A few things to know (taken from http://photosynth.net/learn.aspx):

This first version of Photosynth has some limitations that you need to be aware of:

1. All synths are uploaded. They're big, so you need to use a broadband Internet connection.
2. All synths are public. Your photos will be visible to everyone on the Internet.
3. Like the viewing experience, the "synther" only runs on PCs (XP and Vista).
4. You'll need to Sign Up for a Photosynth account. It uses Windows Live ID.

For tips on how to get the best results when making your own synth, check out our guide or just watch the How to Synth video.

Note from me: You already have a Windows Live ID if you use any of the following: Xbox LIVE, Zune Social, MSN, hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, XNA Creators Club (basically if you have ever done any anything with Microsoft before)

If anyone reading this does a Synth, post a link in the comments. I'd be really interested in seeing it! Get out your digital camera and get to shooting!

Source: http://livelabs.com/photosynth/
Photo: by Tan_Nguyen

You know you're in the middle of a recession when...

...you book a trip on "Best Tours" bus line and end up in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

Note: there are a ton of parking lots closer to major highways and restaurants than this particular Wal-Mart, leading me to believe this was neither a rest stop nor pick-up. Also in the shopping center of this Wal-Mart, there is nothing but a cigarette shop (closed), beauty supply shop (closed), pizza parlor (closed), and a McDonalds (waaaaaaaaaaay on the other side of the shopping center, about 2000 feet away from the bus). My conclusion, this was the destination of this trip. :)

I'm worried about my marriage

My wife has been infatuated with another man. I've tried to give her the benefit of the doubt and look away. But now I've found the bastard IN MY HOUSE! And what's worse is, it appears my in-laws are actually encouraging the relationship; since they are the ones who invited him into our home. Please if you ever see this man around town, give him a stiff kick in the nards! :)

A Testament to my efficiency (or messiness)

WARNING: This post contains some disturbing material, I apologize in advance and hope you don't lose all respect for me.

I decided that while Keegan was taking a nap to day I would clean out my car. This is quite a task and usually only happens two to three times a year. If you know me, you know I like statistics, and even better if they are stupid stats.

So I present to you, Stupid Useless Statistics from me cleaning out my extremely messy car:

• Number of tools recovered: 1 (philips screwdriver)
• Number of writing utencils recovered: 4
• Number of water bottles found: 7
• Number of paystubs found: 3
• Amount of money recovered: 27¢
• Days between today and date of oldest newspaper found:135 (September 3, 2008)
• Capacity of cups/cans containing caffinated beverages (in fl oz): 616.8 (4.8 gallons)
• Number of cups/cans from above that were not Red Bull, Starbucks, or Cherry Coke Zero: 0
  

• Dollar amount of reciepts (excluding ATM reciepts): 675.44 (60 found)
• Percent of dollars from above reciepts used to purcase fast food: 46
• Smallest "total" amount on a reciept found: 0.54
• Number of days old of the oldest piece of trash (with a known date): 146 (Vegas bus ticket)
• Grossest thing found: An entire Jack in the Box taco (<--yeah, it grossed me out too)
• Number of owners of that car that will try to make less of a mess: 1

So as you can see from the photos what I did was actually quite impressive. I managed to fit all of that in my car in a very compact space. I dare you, no... challenge you to try and fit all of that in the front passenger seat of your car.

(For the record I keep the back seat clean, so I don't lose my son like that banned IKEA commercial)

WWJD [2GC]? (What Would Jesus Do [to get chicks]?

I was on my way back to work from lunch yesterday when this truck cut me off at the last second in order to get in the turn lane (that I was in). I pulled up behind the truck a little perturbed but minding my own business when I noticed the "Jesus Fish" [1] on this truck's bumper. I chuckled to myself immediately thinking of "the Golden Rule" ("...do to others what you would have them do to you..." [Matthew 7:12 NIV] <---Yeah...from the Bible). Then immediately to the right of the fish sticker I see another bumper sticker that says "The number one cause of divorce is MARRIAGE" [2]. That made me laugh a little harder considering the proximity of the two stickers and the HUGE recent debate over the sanctity of marriage (CA Prop. 8). My curiosity was now piqued and I went from sticker to sticker reading what they said. Here are some of the highlights: [3] "A, B, C, D, E, F*CKYOU", [4] "P*SSY RULES", and then finally to top it off, [5] a picture of Jesus' face, looking directly at all of the other stickers.

Now look through them again, in order: Jesus fish, marriage=bad, f*ck you, p*ssy rules, Jesus.

I don't know if my camera captured it, but I think he miiiiight be crying.

Winning Wednesday: Twitter

So most people by now have heard about Twitter. For those that haven't, in a nutshell its a "micro-blogging" service that allows you to shoot "what you're doing" into cyberspace. You can subscribe (follow) to anyone's tweets and get updates in a variety of ways. There are several client applications available for a variety of platforms.

I had heard about Twitter for months, but just chocked it up to being a Facebook status updater. I've been using it now for about two months and I have to say I am addicted. Its a lot of fun, most of the time people make rhetorical posts and aren't expecting a response. People are using the service to not only update people on what they are doing, but also to get important announcements, savings opportunities, and even political information. If you are interested in a particular subject or company, you can follow their PR person's tweets and get real-time updates on what's going on. Here is a list put together by Sam Houston(@samhouston) of gamerDNA (snagged from @fourzerotwo) that lists gaming companies on twitter. You never know who you'll find with a little searching.

Here are a few tips to people who may be new on twitter:

• if you see the at symbol (e.g. @ignium) that is reffering to someone's twitter username (and is usually a hyperlink, just click to go to their profile).
• you can send someone a reply by using @username
• if you want to send someone a direct message that no one else can see (similar to a text message) type d in front of the username then your message (e.g. d ignium Hey!).
• if you want to "group" posts from multiple users together start a "hatch tag", and example of this is people at airports wanting to know what other people at airports are doing used #boardingLAX. This grouped all the posts of people boarding at LAX together.
• the official list of twitter commands is HERE.

If you have any questions feel free to leave it in the comments or shoot me an email or tweet me (http://twitter.com/ignium). I also post my tweets on the sidebar of this page.

To my surprise I received this email earlier today (I'm sure he follows all of his followers).

More info about twitter:

Twitter Wikipedia page

About Twitter page

Tech Tuesday: Windows Live Writer

This is a product that has been around for a while, but I’ve just recently come across it while installing the Windows 7 Beta (which I’m using as I type). It’s called Windows Live Writer and is basically a word processor specifically designed for blogging.

It has the very familiar feel of Blogger’s online editor (I’m sure the other blogging services are nearly the same as far as editing) but also the ability to save a local draft of any post. What’s the benefit of this? I generally use a laptop for my personal computing needs and because of this, when I’m out and about I don’t always have an internet connection. This allows me to write posts even when not connected, like say, on my lunch (where I have 30 – 60 minutes) as opposed to on my break (15 min) and then I can just plug it in when I get back and… SHAZAM! Post published! It may seem like a little thing, but its nice to take my time and I am not restricted to Starbucks or McDonalds to use their free internet.

You may also be wondering, “Why not just use Word?”. Well my friends, that’s because I have tried using Word and then copying and pasting the post into Blogger. First of all, it takes extra steps. Second: unpredictable results, your formatting tends to get “lost in translation” and you have a jumbled mess instead of a post which adds extra steps, now that you have to go back and fix it. This is quicker and easier.


Set up is a breeze which basically involves typing your blog’s URL (in my case http://tepidcoffee.blogspot.com), my user name, and password. The program does everything else from there. It even downloads a “theme” which customizes the colors of Live Writer to those of your blog. You have the ability post using the basic editor (equivalent to the “Compose” tab on blogger) or you can even edit the source code (Edit Html), and even preview your post (offline too!). Another nice thing for you people who refuse to listen to me when I say “stop using Internet Explorer!”, is that Live Writer has the same real-time spell checker (which Firefox has built in) that you’re used to in other MSFT products like Word (red squiggly lines under misspelled words).

Windows Live Writer is part of a suite of products called Windows LIVE Essentials which is available for free and includes the following nifty programs:

• Windows Live Call (added VoIP feature to Messenger)
• Windows Live Messenger (formerly Microsoft Messenger)
• Windows Live Mail (formerly Outlook Express)
  
• Windows Movie Maker [Beta] (haven’t spent much time with this yet)
• Windows Live Photo Gallery (essentially Microsoft's version of Picasa)
• Windows Family Safety (similar to Net Nanny)
• Windows Live Writer (um… what I’ve been talking about)

To download the suite or for more information visit: http://download.live.com/ and is available for Windows XP (SP2 or higher), Vista, and 7 beta.

It’s free so it’s at least worth a look! Happy blogging!

That sheep is forking funny!

Two or so weeks ago my family went on our ritual Sunday morning breakfast at a local cafe (La Parisian on Palm & Nees) and enjoyed brunch with both sets of parents. It was a nice morning as usual, lounging around, eating crepes, and enjoying the frigid morning air. Once Keegan's naptime was approaching, we decided to go home before he had a "tired toddler explosion".

As a way to teach K new words and situations we often play the "what's that" game, asking him the name of something we see. On the way home a fire truck drove by with its lights and siren on, naturally we asked "Keegan, what's that?", to which he replied "F*CK!" with a big grin on this face. Natali and I just looked at each other. At first both our jaws were on the ground and we had sort of a deer in the headlights look about us. That look slowly melted into uproarious laughter (but trying to hide it, so we didn't reinforce that particular pronunciation). As we gathered ourselves, we took turns enunciating very carefully: f-eye-er T-r-uh-k. As he tried to repeat, he slowly responded: "Ahhhh fuuuuu*k". Hilarity ensued until both Nat and I were crying from trying to keep our laughter hidden.

The reason I bring this up now is that I think I have to have my "Parental License" suspended for a few days. My parents came over for dinner yesterday and I wanted to show off my son's new vernacular. I brought out a fork (which evokes a similar response) and asked, "Keegan, what's this?". To my dismay he responded "forrrrk". We praised him and gave him a round of applause, but in my head I was disappointed. How sad is that? I already miss the fun I could have had with that one. :)

This one is for the ladies...

In stark contrast to my techy nerd post yesterday, here is a post about fashion (sort of).

I went to my co-worker's office to ask if she had any work that she needed my help on. As I walked in she said "Oh! You have a wife... you'll appreciate this". Now that is one of those phrases sends shivers down my spine. Following that phrase, I've had women tell me stories that had too many TMI facts to count. I don't know your birthday, why do you think I care how frequently or intensely you menstruate (unless you ARE my wife, in which case this information is very useful). So as a side note to women who work around or even know men, here is the rule to remember: Having a wife/girlfriend/sister does NOT equal having a vagina. We may understand whats going on, but doesn't mean we want to know what's going on (as I'm sure other women don't want to know sometimes).

Anyway, back to my story. She showed me two pairs of pants that she had taken to a tailor to get "patched". My first thought, was why the hell does anyone get jeans patched? Then she pulled them out and I noticed the [for me] terrifying yellow swoopy stitch of Sevens. If you're a married man and don't understand why Sevens are terrifying click here (scary huh). So taking a $200 pair of pants to get stitched seems like a good move... unless you use this guy. She had dropped off a few things and was kind of going through them when she saw the jeans. This is how they turned out:

Yeah... pretty much completely ruined.

As she came across them in the pile she jumped and asked, "What have you done to my jeans?" The tailor, flabbergasted by this question, responded that he had fixed them just as she asked. My co-worker explained that these jeans were unwearable as anything but PJs now... the tailor disagreed. His wife soon walked in and my co-worker asked her, "Would you wear these out of the house?" The tailor's wife explained that if she had a long coat it wouldn't really be a problem (if you look at the bottom picture, you can see the original hole wasn't even that big). So their solution was to pay them $20 per pair of pants the "fixed" and then hide it... nice.

The bright side is you can think of it as getting a pair of "distressed" Sevens for 90% off!

Vista now OFFICIALLY the red-headed stepchild everyone knew it was

Steve Ballmer (whom is the CEO of Microsoft, not Bill Gates <--Retired) made some pretty exciting announcements at this years Consumer Electronics Show (CES). One of the announcements was the public availabilty of the new Microsoft OS simply known as Windows 7. The beta will be publicly available tomorrow (Friday Jan 9) to the first 2.5 Million people who download it. The new operating system is promised to be more reliable and user friendly than Microsoft's current operating system, Vista. One thing to note about the beta is, you can only upgrade from Vista SP1 (i.e., you can't go from XP to 7). Currently Microsoft is working on cheap upgrade programs to make the transition a little less bitter for people who may have recently forked out cash for Vista.

This basically ends the "Vista era" and now we can all move on (unless you're Apple's marketing director).

For some more information on the new OS, some of its new features, or its intened mid-2009 release date check out some of these links:

• Microsoft's CES 2009 Press Release
• Windows' Team Blog
• Gizmodo's "Microsoft's guided tour of the windows 7 taskbar"
  

Winning Wednesday: Starbucks' Bella Vista

This is my all time favorite coffee. It was discontinued a few years back (I think around 2003) and I'm so happy that it's back!

It's called Costa Rica Bella Vista F.W. Tres Rios (phew...), and is categorized as a medium roast. It is a really "bright" (high acidity) coffee so it pairs well with citrusy foods that complement its acidity, like lemon bars or strawberries. I love the first sip of Bella Vista in the morning, you literally feel the coffee lift your ears (its hard to describe). This coffee is great no matter how its made, but is of course at its best when made in a French press (paper filters tend to trap the coffee beans' oil which is where the flavor is).

Here is the "official" description:

"In the rolling hills outside San Jose, this coffee is cultivated on one of the region's oldest and last remaining estates. Guided by a proud tradition of quality and the long-term support of Starbucks, the owners have perfected time-honored farming methods to harvest and process the beans right on the estate, and established social programs to improve the farmers' livelihoods. Always a favorite in our tasting room, Bella Vista is surprisingly complex with a satisfying citrus sparkle, floral notes evocative of orange blossoms and a refreshing finish."

My description:

"It's delicious!"

So next time you are at Starbucks pick up a pound or two (I don't think they brew it as the coffee of the day) or at least ask the barista to sample the coffee. You'll be glad you did.

This is NOT intimidating

I was at Target yesterday and happened upon this amazing sight. Its the "Target Assets Protection-mobile". This has to be one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. I'm not 100% on this, but I think they have a "uniformed" AP person, riding around on this thing making sure people don't steal things or cause fights (covering their assets.. *sigh*).

I think it ends up being a double-edged sword though. This three-wheeled marvel actually makes me want to shoplift, just so I can see a security guard come out on this thing. On the other hand I don't think I'd get to far because I would probably pee my pants from laughing so hard.

Seriously! This might be more effective and it is way scarier:

Tech Tuesday: First Down Yellow Line

If you know me, you know I'm not really a "sports fan". I enjoy occasionally watching sports, but I don't usually change my plans in order to watch a game. That said, I have to say that some of the graphics (yellow first down line, the blue puck tracker in hockey, etc) that the broadcasting stations add to help the fans watch the game are really quite nice and I think it makes watching sports more accessible to people who might not normally care. Its a lot easier to say "they have to cross that yellow line" instead of "well when that team gets possession of the ball, they have four tries to go a total of ten yards, each time they are tackled that is one try and they have to make it ..." blah blah blah.

What I didn't realize was how much technology actually goes into making those things happen. This story came up on my RSS reader from gizmodo.com, have a watch, it's pretty neat.

The City's "Smiley"

If you recall, I made a post a few months back about how smiley faces at the end of a to do list (or any other place where the person reading it would not normally smile) drive me crazy. They just feel patronizing.

Well here is another thing that bugs me: Holiday greetings directly below the "NOW DUE" amount on my utility bill.

I read it like this. Give us $107 or your trash will pile up, your street will not be swept, and you will have no water... oh yeah and Merry effin Christmas."