Unobvious Christmas Gifts...

I hope that everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas this week! I just wanted to ask a quick question: Do you ever receive what I call "Unobvious Christmas Gifts?" What I mean by "Unobvious" is that you receive something that wasn't necessarily on your list, and if you told someone else what you got, they would say something like, "You got what for Christmas?" But, at the same time, it is an awesome gift from your perspective.

For example, this year I received a 32 oz. Nalgene water bottle. Now, some may already be thinking, "why would you ever want a water bottle for Christmas?" Let me explain: a few months ago, I put my previous 32 oz. Nalgene in the dishwasher. However, I made the mistake of putting it in the bottom section, which allowed the lid to drift down into the very bottom of the dishwasher, melting it into a funny shape, rendering the bottle useless. Luckily, we have a collection of 16oz water bottles at home, so I've been bringing 2 of those to work with me every day for the past few months. It worked, but it just wasn't convenient.

So, when I opened up the 32 oz. Nalgene on Christmas morning, I was stoked!

Did you get any "Unobvious Christmas Gifts" this year?

Music Review - Jon Foreman

I recently purchased Jon Foreman's Fall EP (there is expected to be an EP for each of the seasons: Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer, you get the idea). For those of you who may not have ever heard of Jon Foreman, he is the lead singer/song writer for Switchfoot. And if you haven't heard of Switchfoot or Jon Foreman, then shame on you :) The EP contains 6 songs, all accoustic, each with their own distinct sound.

I've only listened to it a few times through so far, but I would say that my two favorite tracks at this point are "The Cure for Pain" and "Equally Skilled." If you're a fan of Switchfoot, or of Coldplay, or a similar sounding band, it's definitely worth checking out!

I'll give it a 4.5 out of 5.

News Tewsday - 12/18/07

• GarageBand 4.1.1 Offers Custom Ringtones for iPhone (2007-12-14)
• Google develops Wikipedia rival (2007-12-14)
• Celebrating 60 years of transistors (2007-12-14)
• No download needed: OpenOffice beta available as Web app (2007-12-12)
• The most useful keyboard shortcuts you probably don't know about (2007-12-13)
• The waterless car wash (2007-12-13)
• Word-of-the-Year Ritual Pauses for Puzzlement - New York Times (2007-12-13)
• 'Danger: Avoid Death' Wins Annual Wacky Warning Contest (2007-12-12)
• Celebrating one of the best-selling PCs ever (2007-12-12)
• Get DivX Pro for free (2007-12-12)
• Humans Evolving 100 Times Faster Than Ever (2007-12-11)
• Honda unveils robots that 'talk' to each other, work in pairs - USA Today (2007-12-11)
• December MacUpdate Software Bundle Sale [11th App Added] (2007-12-11)
• Arkansas Boy, 5, Kills 445-Pound Black Bear (2007-12-11)
• Father Jonathan: An Open Letter to Richard Dawkins (2007-12-11)
• Top Sellers of the Year on iTunes Revealed (2007-12-11)
• Firefox 3.0 beta 2 due by year's end (2007-12-11)
• NBC hitches onto download service from Apple rival SanDisk (2007-12-11)
• Zune vs iPod: The Results Are In (2007-12-10)
• Microsoft Disses Windows to Sell More Windows (2007-12-10)
• Fan Falls to His Death During Football Game (2007-12-10)

Questions? Comments?

Tech Blog Up and Running

For anyone who's interested, I have also started a blog that focuses more on my technical thoughts. There's a link on the right side of this page... or you can get to it directly from here.

This Week's News...

By popular request, I will start listing the headlines I've shared in the News of Interest... section (hopefully weekly) so if anyone would like to comment on them, they can!

So, without further ado, here are this week's headlines:

1. Negotiations Break Down Between Striking Writers, Producers (2007-12-08)
2. CompUSA closes shop (2007-12-08)
3. Scientists Report Success in Treatment With 'Reprogrammed Stem Cells' (2007-12-07)
4. Blogger presses Gates for IE8 answers (2007-12-06)
5. IBM says chip 'breakthrough' will shrink supercomputers (2007-12-06)
6. Judge Sentences Kiefer Sutherland to 48 Days in Jail (2007-12-06)
7. Former Evangelical Minister Has a New Message: Jesus Hearts Darwin (2007-12-05)
8. Verizon Wireless warms up to Google's Android (2007-12-04)
9. Gmail integrates AIM, adds colored labels (2007-12-04)
10. Teacher Accused of Using High School as Personal Meth Lab (2007-12-04)
11. High-quality unboxing photos of Amazon's Kindle eBook reader (2007-12-04)
12. Microsoft to Try Nagging Housewife Approach to Pirated Software (2007-12-04)
13. Italian Court Orders Cartoon Characters to Witness Stand (2007-12-04)
14. Oh, THAT big square box! (2007-12-04)
15. Behind the Activision-Blizzard union (2007-12-03)
16. Opening act for Gibson's self-tuning guitar (2007-12-04)
17. Rare Mummified Dinosaur Unearthed: Contains Skin, and Maybe Organs, Muscle (2007-12-03)
18. Futurama Returns! (2007-11-30)
19. Blizzard and Activision Announce $18.8bn Merger (2007-12-02)
20. The First 100 Dot Coms Ever Registered (2007-12-03)
21. How to Block Facebook's Privacy Compromising Beacon Feature (2007-12-02)
22. Man Believed to Have Drowned Shows Up 5 Years Later (2007-12-03)

Thoughts? Comments?

Catch Phrase!

I'm sure all of you have played Catch Phrase before, but in case you haven't, it's kinda like charades, but you can talk. Basically, you look at the word/phrase given to you, and you can say anything you want to describe it, besides the word(s) itself. If you've played Taboo before, it's exactly that, but there are no restrictions on the words you can say. In any case, I look at as Taboo, but MUCH, MUCH easier.

This weekend, we had a Christmas Party for my Dad's side of the family (as we do every year), and it seems as though a new tradition has been added to the usual evening: Eat dinner -- which resembles a Thanksgiving meal, Eat more cookies than you can handle (there are seriously at least 10 different kinds of cookie), and now, play Catch Phrase until the Guy team (we played Guys vs. Girls of course) is up by at least one game.

However, this year, the guy team just dominated. Maybe it's the connection between all of the siblings (my dad and his brothers) for anything older generation, and then me, my brother and my cousin + friends for the younger generation stuff. Even though I was missing my brother this year -- which is the best teammate to have -- we managed to pull out the win.

I hope you all are enjoying your Christmas Season, and being blessed by time spent with friends and family as I have.

Reasons Why it Was Not a Ninja...

I came across a news headline this morning that states, "3 Armed Ninjas Rob Man in His Florida Driveway" found here. Here are the facts:

• The Victim claimed that three men dressed as "ninjas" held him down and took his wallet cell phone and cash.
• The "ninjas" were wearing gloves and had guns.
• The "ninjas" had everything covered except for their eyes and spoke in very low tones.
• Two of the three "ninjas" have been arrested.
  

Based on these facts, here's why these 3 men were definitely NOT ninjas:

1. The fact that there were 3 of them. If a real ninja was involved, it would only take one to get the job done.
2. A ninja doesn't need to hold down their victim. If a ninja wants someone's wallet, they'll just take it and the victim wouldn't feel anything.
3. The fact that the "ninjas" had guns. Since when do ninjas carry guns!? Ninja Stars, a sword/dagger and maybe some nun-chucks... maybe. And that's it!
4. The "ninjas" spoke in very low tones. Ninjas don't need to instruct their victims on what to do. They just do what they want without making a single sound.
5. The fact that they got caught. Everyone knows ninjas don't get caught. They have ways of making themselves disappear unnoticed. Ninjas would never have a car with a license plate to give them up, or leave any kind of paper trail. Come on.
6. And most importantly, the victim is still alive. If a real ninja has a target, that target will meet its maker 10 times out of 10.

And that's why, these men were not ninjas.

Orange Box

My brother got me the Orange Box set of Half-Life related games for my birthday this month. I must say, if you're any gamer of sorts, this is definitely worth picking up. I've been playing Team Fortress 2 (which feels almost like I'm in a Pixar movie with the graphics), and I already feel like it's worth buying. I have yet to play Half-Life 2, Episode 1, Episode 2 and Portal... the latter being amazing from what I've heard. So, if you haven't gotten on this bandwagon yet, now is the time. And then let me know so we can play! Of course, the last 2 weeks have been completely dominated by family events, with Thanksgiving and all... so it's time to get back on track. Unfortunately, I'm at work at the moment...

Why the Chargers are the Most Frustrating Team to Watch in the NFL

Okay.  So, I was pretty excited when the Chargers picked up Chris Chambers a few weeks back.  Wide Receiver has been a weakness for the Chargers as of late... and I thought to myself, "Finally.  Now we're gonna start seeing some great things happen."  Unfortunately, nothing of the sort came to be.  After watching the Chargers lose to the Jaguars today, I can easily explain why they are the most frustrating team to watch in the NFL:

1) The Special Teams Unit is one of the best in the league -- Between Darren Sproles, Kassim Osgood, Nate Kaeding and Mike Scifres, there's a pretty solid core.

2) The Defense Unit is strong enough to be respectable -- Antonio Comrartie alone has had amazing games by picking off quarterbacks left and right.  And there's always pressure coming from Phillips and Merriman.

While points 1 and 2 are great things, here comes the kicker:

3) The Offense is Horrific!  If you look at the starting offense on paper: LaDanian Tomlinson,  Michael Turner, Antonio Gates, Chris Chambers, Vincent Jackson and Phillip Rivers (before this season started), you would think that if there were any weaknesses in the Chargers, it would most certainly not be in the offense.  That my friend, is where both you and I would be wrong.

Of course, you can always get on the bandwagon to blame Norv Turner for all of the Chargers' problems... but even though has done things deserving scorn, it comes down to whether or not the Chargers can execute.  Watching an All-Star offense struggle to get a first down, let alone a touch down is just sickening.

All right... that's my rant.  I'll move on now.

With Cookies?

There was a headline in the news today that starts with "Illinois College Bans 2 Students Accused of Torturing Man With..." and I assumed something horrible would follow. Some kind of brutal attack that I would just skip over... since I can only take so much gloomy news before I need to bask in the sun for 13 hours. In any case, what would follow was beyond anything I had ever expected: "...With Freshly Baked Cookies." And no, this is not a joke. You can see the story here. So, I thought to myself--attacked with COOKIES?? What does that even look like? The cookies are fresh out of the oven, and they just put it on the guy's face or something? Or is it more like "I don't care if you're full, eat the cookie. And there's an Oatmeal Raisin batch about to be done as well! (As he readies the oven mit)" In any case... I thought it was a good laugh.

Leopard a Reality

So, now that Leopard has been set free, I ordered myself up a new Macbook. Now, I've never owned a Mac before, so I figure this will be a great learning experience -- trying to unlearn all of the habits (for better or for worse) that Microsoft has engraved in my brain to become comfortable with a new operating system paradigm. I may have jumped in just a little too soon since there are a few bugs that need to be patched in Leopard to increase the stability, but so far, I cannot say that I've been disappointed. The only thing that bugs me is that four days after I ordered my Macbook, Apple goes and updates the hardware specs... so I got the older specs on mine. Of course, the upgrade didn't make a HUGE difference according to reviews, so oh well. Anyway, I'm stoked to try this out and learn something new. Front Row alone is pretty sweet!

How Much?

Just a quick story that I thought was pretty funny: I recently told someone that I work with that I just turned a quarter of a century old. She stopped and had one of those looks on her face like you knew she was putting in some serious number crunching time. About 5-10 seconds later she replied, "So, you're like 20?" True story my friends. True Story.

We've got Chris Chambers

Well, for those of you who didn't know already, I am quite the Chargers fan. I would say that it's definitely the sports team that I follow the most closely--based on the number of players I can name for any given team. I can trace the beginning of my football following to when I first started playing fantasy football. What a great gift to humanity that is. I started learning the starting players (on both offense and defense) on a lot of teams around the league... but the Chargers are always my number one. In any case, just before the trading deadline, the Chargers decided to acquire WR Chris Chambers from the Miami Dolphins in exchange for a 2nd round draft pick next year. I'd say it's a pretty good deal since the Chargers have struggled to have a REAL #1 Wide Receiver for a number of years now... at least we now have someone I've heard of... ha. I'm excited to see where this one goes...

Unleash the Leopard

Apple made an official announcement this week that their next OS, Leopard, will be released next Friday, October 26th. I'm really excited about this for a couple of reasons -- 1) I've been waiting to buy a Mac until Leopard came out so I wouldn't buy one and then have to shell out another $130 sometime soon afterward to pay for the upgrade and 2) I've never owned a Mac before, so I'm really looking forward to using it-- figuring out the new benefits and differences from the world I have become so accustomed to. I'm not one to say that Macs are better than PCs running Windows or Linux or anything else, because they all have their advantages and disadvantages... but I am really, really excited about giving Leopard a try!

Selling a home is overrated

Dear Friends and Family--It has been quite some time since I have written anything, and I can pin point my excuse to two different things. First, we were trying to sell our home. But, after little response, watching the market continue to fall in an endless downward spiral and remembering that we don't really need to move, we've decided to give up--for now. However, the benefits of this process include: learning something... we always do, having a painted garage, picking up the place and a variety of other little things. So, all in all it was a good experience, but definitely something to put off for the time being.

My second excuse is that I'm working on a new project at work that is consuming every minute of my time. I'll usually catch myself working during my lunch break, and it's on my mind a lot even outside of work (as proof, I accidentally mistyped the word "myself" as "mysql" first in this sentence). In any case, it's what I call a good problem. As I become more comfortable with my new job, I am getting more responsibility and more to do... it's definitely better than the alternative.

Anyway, just wanted to at least put something up!

Uh Oh...

I glanced at my Google homepage this morning, which contains a few stocks of interest (this actually started as a game with my friends Mirko and Brandon to have an imaginary portfolio to see what would happen with $10,000), and noticed something interesting that I haven't seen before. The stocks for both Google and Microsoft were listed as being "null" at $0.00. It looks like the epic battle between the two giants has caused an implosion that no one was expecting. Based on this listing, Apple (AAPL) and Yahoo! (YHOO) are clearly reaping the benefits of this.

A Little Over a Year Later

So, just over a year after the picture below with my nephew was taken (the one with his sights set on me), I took this picture. Any hope that his desire to take me down had subsided is surely gone. Before, he used his powers to simply manipulate time and space independent of anyone or anything else around him. Well, apparently he has learned to channel those energies and take this to the next level. If you look closely, you'll notice the open hand in this picture, just moments away from using the force to send that water bottle into my face. Look at the determination in his eyes... It's definitely the end for me.

Apple Unleashes the iPod Fury

What do you do next with a product when you already have the most market saturation? If you ask Microsoft and Apple, you'll get two totally different answers (look at Vista, and this new line of iPods as evidence). In any case, Apple unleashed a new line of iPods yesterday. The Nanos are now "phatty" little video iPods, the old video iPods have increased storage, and there is now an iPod Touch (which is essentially an iPhone without the phone). I have no interest in buying a new iPod (since the one I currently have has plenty of room and functions properly), but what I'd really like to see is an "iPhone Nano" in the sense that it's an iPod and a Phone, but none of the other stuff that's on the iPhone (I don't need web browsing, etc.).

Secondly, Apple dropped the price of the iPhone by $200. That's a pretty big drop considering the product has only been out for 2 months. But at the same time, it makes perfect sense with the price point they were setting for the iPod Touch. Either way, I guess a lot of people (early adopters of the iPhone) felt ripped off, so Jobs has responded with a $100 credit to the Apple Store for all of them. Here's his response. That's a pretty sweet deal if you ask me.

All the while Microsoft is not worried, and is planning to stay on their current track for the Zune (if you haven't heard of the Zune, you just proved my point). In any case, here's an article about Microsoft's response to yesterday's event. Microsoft has their work cut out for them. Not to mention the negative feedback Vista has received, but that's a whole 'nother story.

Fantasy Football Returns!

Oh, how I look forward to this time of the year. I'm not a HUGE sports guy (for example, I'm not one of those husbands who come home and just have to watch Sports Center for a couple of hours to make sure I'm up to date on all of the latest happenings in the world of sports). However, I do enjoy football season a great deal--particularly fantasy football. I definitely would not know as much as I know about teams or individual players if it weren't for this fun game. Of course, also having an excuse to talk smack to my friends and family is also welcomed... he he.

And of course, I can't just sign up for one league... that's like putting all your eggs in one basket. No, I must sign up for many to increase the chances of actually having a playoff team... I must also avoid the temptation of adding the same players in every league--all of my "favorites" if you will.

Anyway, I'm participating in three leagues this year, two of which have already drafted... I can already tell it's going to be a good season! I also wanted to mention that I know that there are people out there who when watching a game on TV, including their favorite team, end up rooting against them, just to get the extra fantasy points. Let it be known that I will never stoop to that level. The greater good must always prevail--the greater good always being the Chargers winning the Superbowl.

Licensing Music...

I was reading an interesting article regarding licensing music so that you can add it as the background song in a YouTube video (here). After the very brief article, there is a large discussion consisting of comments on the article. Well, some talk about their experience, some talk about their thoughts of licensing, but the true gem isn't found until you get to the very last comment, which states:
"In mother Russia, music licenses YOU!"

I just thought it was funny...

Mount Hermon Extravaganza

This past week was our first "real" vacation since our honeymoon last year. We had the privilege of being able to go to Mount Hermon (a Christian camp in Santa Cruz) for Dallas Seminary week. Basically, the average day looked like: wake up, go to breakfast, hear an amazing speaker, eat a donut, hear a second amazing speaker, eat lunch, [insert fun activity here], dinner, hear a third amazing speaker, [insert another fun activity here]. The chaplain summed it up well by saying it seems like we're just eating and going to church... it was a wonderful experience, but here are the highlights:

• Riding the zip line. If you've never been on one, basically you get harnessed in and you hold on while you glide across in the air over a multi-hundred yard space from one side to the other.
• Going to downtown Santa Cruz and checking out the boardwalk. This is where that "Share the Road" picture comes in. While we were driving to get to the main mall area I saw this sign and thought to myself, "Only in Santa Cruz would you have a sign that includes cars, bikers AND hitchhikers/bums."
• Speaking of bums, in downtown Santa Cruise there was a guy just laying in a sleeping bag on the sidewalk right outside the shops and sat up abruptly just as we walked by... that was interesting. And then, there was another "entertainer" who was dressed up like a woman and was holding an umbrella while silently looking at people as they walked by...
  
• Getting our pictures taken in one of those photo booths where it's like 5 pictures in row and they print out on a long strip. I can't remember the last time I did that, but it was a lot of fun.
• Playing hours of ultimate frisbee. Priceless. I love that game.
• Tim Lundy. He was my favorite speaker of the week... he had great illustrations and you could tell he was speaking straight from his heart.
• Being able to spend time just relaxing with my wife.
• Hanging out with my wife's nephews/nieces/cousins that we don't get to see very often. One of them was repeatedly saying "Wendy's" (in reference to the restaurant) fairly regularly to show his devotion. A couple days into it I responded with "Carl's" every time.
• Archery. We were taught how to shoot a bow and arrow (though I vaguely remember this skill from our Boys Brigade -- basically Boy Scouts run by our church -- days)
• The "East vs. West" ping pong tournament. Every year the West (or White Dallas professors) challenge the East (or Asian Dallas professors) to a ping pong tournament -- best 3 of 5. Usually, the East dominates, without even allowing a win for the West... but the West got close this year bringing it game 5. Of course, this is due to the fact that the guest musician -- who often sounded like he was singing Disney songs by the music, and worship songs by the lyrics -- was a secret weapon.
• Playing my guitar. This is something I haven't done in about a year. It was nice just having the time to pull it out and play a little... but since I haven't played in so long, my fingertips could only take so much.
• Being upgraded (for free) to a deluxe room. Basically, we got moved from a smaller cabin-like room to a hotel room with a porch. An amazing blessing!
  

There was so much more... and I'll probably come back and edit this post as I think of everything, but it was a total blessing. If you ever get the chance to go, you should definitely do it!

Simpsonize Me!

Have you ever seen one of those cartoonist places (usually found at carnivals, fairs, and the like) where they offer to draw you as a cartoon character? I've always been curious what I would look like if I were to shell out the cash for it. Well, I stumbled across an article that made mention of this Simpsonize website that takes your photo and turns you into a Simpsons-style character. Out of the same curiosity described above, I made the decision to test it out. The first few times I tried it, the site was so busy that I just kept getting errors. But, this past Sunday afternoon was clearly a time for victory. I have added the Simpsonized versions of myself and my wife for your viewing pleasure... but you should check it out if you haven't seen it before... it's pretty fun!

Funny Signs

This past weekend, I went with my wife and brother-in-law to pickup another brother-in-law's motorcycle to bring home since the motorcycle is currently non-functional. On the way there we were waiting for a light to turn green and I glanced over and saw a couple signs posted on the side of the road... like those ones that you see that say "Having trouble selling your house? We'll buy it!" or "Lost Dog" etc. Well, this sign happen to say "Sneaky ways to lower your mortgage, call this number" (yes, the word Sneaky was actually on the sign). Isn't there something inherently wrong when they let you know that what they're doing is sneaky or unethical from the beginning!?

Secondly, on the freeway I saw one of the ever so popular "Baby On Board" signs suction cupped to the rear window of an SUV. Now, I can't remember if I heard this idea somewhere, or if I thought of it (I'm pretty sure I heard it somewhere else), but isn't this sign a little funny. Can you picture a guy sitting in his car, driving along on the freeway saying to himself "Let's see, who should we hit today... how about that one" and as he starts speeding toward his target he realizes that this sign is hanging from the back window and thinks "Oh no, I can't hit this car, there's a baby in there! Nevermind." Or someone about to get in an accident and think to themselves "Well, I really wanted to get into this accident, but since that Baby on Board sign is there, I think I'll change my mind.... just this once."

Case in point

For those of you who may have read the previous entry on Catalina, I mentioned a young child who came up to me and told me that I should wallow in sludge... and I went on to wonder if this child was an evil mastermind. Well, my parents found some pictures from our wedding rehearsal over a year ago and I stumbled across this one of that same child. Clearly, this toddler genius is capable of manipulating time, space and energy as this photo was taken just moments before a small force field was generated in between his hands. Look at the focus in this child's face. It's obvious that I'm done for.

Movie Madness!

So, this past weekend Wilhe and I did a bit of a movie marathon. We rented and watched "Heist" (Based on a fellow youth group leader's suggestion), "The Score" (I thought this was a great movie the first time I watched it, whenever that was) and "The Game" (which my wife recommended). Of the three, I would have to say The Game was the best (no, my wife is not watching me type this right now). The Score was pretty good the second time, it just seemed to be at a bit of a slow pace for the first half of the movie, while Heist was fairly entertaining... it just seemed a little cheesy at times.

Last week at youth group, our friend who recommended the movie was trying to remember the name of the "old guy" actor in Heist, but he couldn't remember anything else he was in, and no one else in the group had seen it. Eventually we came to the realization that it was Gene Hackman after following several trains of thought involving things like "Is it so-and-so?" "Nope. But he kinda looks like that guy."

I seem to have those moments more frequently where I'm watching a movie or TV show and I recognize someone and I'm trying to figure out what else they're from... it seriously consumes 90% of my brain power until I figure it out....

Catalina!

This past weekend, Wilhe and I went to Catalina to celebrate her grandma's 90th birthday. Yeah, 90. Apparently, the first time the family went to Catalina was to celebrate her 80th birthday, and they've just gone back every summer since. Anyway, here are the highlights:

• Tim and I losing any form of knuckle hair we once had before BBQ-ing some sweet chicken goodness
• Watching Tim flip his kayak over as soon as he got in it
• Flipping my own kayak over, losing a $4.50 pair of sunglasses in the process (may Davy Jones wear them in style)
• Watching Geoff and Tim flip Sam over in his kayak
• Having a toddler come up to me and say "Here is some sludge. Wallow in it." -- At this point, I'm not sure if I should just laugh it off, or be afraid that an evil mastermind genius villain has been born, and has his sights set on me.
• Having dinner with about 90 people related to Wilhe's family in a restaurant with maximum occupancy 75.
  
• Dancing with my wife to 80's and 90's music at Club Chi. Catalina must not get music until about 10 years after the mainland. That's the only logical explanation I can come up with.
• Having people rest on the back of our chairs on the Catalina Express on the way back, being as loud and obnoxious as any loud or obnoxious person could be. It was so bothersome, that it caused the lady next to us to abandon her child and belongings immediately to find a seat somewhere else so she could finish reading her book.
• Arriving home and relaxing with my wife for 2 hours before we went to sleep to start a whole new week of work.
  

Starcraft 2

It's about time. That is the great, and all too true, slogan for the sequel to Starcraft (released in the late 90's). I had been hoping for this sequel release since I came to love the original. (Note: That Ghost release for console units doesn't count. I don't even remember hearing anything about that game once it was released) It all started when my roommate (who had the same name as me) introduced me to this game. We played 8-person battles in the dorm and continued to battle through graduation of college. We were so into it, that after these 8-person battles, we would hold debriefing meetings in which we would discuss strategies and everything that went down. Yes, I am a nerd. And I am proud of it. In light of this announcement, I've had no choice but to load the original game (and expansion pack) back on my computer to relive the story line of the campaign, so when the sequel comes out--whenever that may be--I'll be ready. If you're interested, Blizzard has a whole site dedicated to the sequel at http://www.starcraft2.com.

Free Healthcare for Everyone?

So, here's a disclaimer: I'm not a fan of Michael Moore or his work, therefore this opinion is quite biased :) I was reading some of the latest news regarding his new movie "Sicko" coming out which promotes Universal Healthcare in the U.S. and I stumbled across an interview (you can read the whole thing here) in which he is quoted saying the following:

We're plagued with an every-man-for-himself attitude. That attitude may have been good in helping us build this country and helping us become the innovators that we are. But we won't make it through the 21st century intact as a great country if we don't adopt a different ethos that says we're all in the same boat. We sink or swim together. We have to help each other.

Isn't this the same thing as saying "We've been doing something right for a very long time and it has gotten us to be the great country that we are. It's time to change." If so, that seems a little bit off. What good are we without innovation?

Google Street View

I was browsing through some Technology news on eWeek.com and came across the following picture. Apparently they have some section that has a weekly "Kattoon" which usually features a cartoonish cat somewhere in the picture. In any case, this cartoon is poking fun at the recent claims about Google Street View invading people's privacy. If you're not familiar with these faces, you don't have an inner nerd, but that's okay, because I can explain it for you :) This is Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer (Chairman and CEO of Microsoft) standing outside an Apple store (which is made of glass) holding a brick and a rock, respectively. I just thought it was funny, so I thought I would share. Have a great day!

I'm in your {noun}

So, my brother introduced me to this amazing phenomenon known as: "I'm in your {noun}, {verb}ing your {noun}". Apparently, this craze has swept the internet and has inspired all kinds of fun photographs with funny captions... like a picture of a pet inside a computer case with a caption that says: "I'm in your computer, stealing all your internets"... among other things that I found to be quite funny. There's even an associated facebook group.... so needless to to say, it's everywhere :) Anyway, there will be times when I'll be watching something, or doing something, and an idea will pop in my head for one of these things, and I have no choice but to make it real. So, the other day, Wilhe and I were watching the Never Ending Story (unfortunately better the first time I watched it) and I had an idea... which resulted in the picture attached. I sent it to my brother (as I do with anything I find to be funny), but soon discovered that he hasn't seen the movie. So, if you haven't seen the movie, it won't be nearly as funny to you... but I thought it was worth a post nonetheless.

The PC vs. Mac war

Since I'm interested in buying a Mac in the near future, I've been reading up on the latest Apple news, reviews, etc. It's interesting to see how there are devotees on both sides of the PC/Mac war that will stop at nothing to defend their cause. As I'm reading, I see people making all kinds of unjustified comments filled with all kinds of ridiculousness. In most cases, it seems like the commenter has been burned (one way or the other) and will forever be on a crusade to destroy the reputation of the other. I would have to say that anyone that states that PCs are better in all cases, all the time, or the opposite, is out of control. Clearly each setup has its own set of pros and cons for different purposes.

One specific case was particularly interesting. Kyle and I were checking out a video on YouTube which stated a positive case for Apple. Of course, Windows devotees couldn't just let it sit there without a rebuttal, so there were plenty of responses to choose from. Well, there was one response that was attempting to bash Apple, but the poor soul didn't record any sound. Naturally, Kyle and I needed to let this guy know of his mistakes and left the comment "Shoulda got a Mac, sucka!" on his video blog. Note: at the time, it was the only comment on the video blog. Well, we came back the next day to the same post (just to reminisce about how someone could possibly post a video without sound) and our comment had literally started a war of dozens of comments back and forth....

Simply out of control.