Friday, December 21, 2007

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock!

A nice little b-day gift from my family. Now I have an excuse to throw a party with the guys...It's Guitar Hero III for the Xbox 360!

One of the hottest games to come out this year, the GH3 is a game that allows you to play a very stupefied simplified guitar to some of the hottest hits of the 70's, through today. Basically you have a mini-plastic/play guitar that has several colored buttons on the neck that you press as soon as you see them on the screen/game; those notes are supposed to represent the notes played during a song (After playing it, the 'notes' are a combination of the drum beats, bass lines rhythm or lead guitar parts). In addition to hitting the correct buttons (in-time with the song), you have to hit this 'toggle switch' with your other hand which represents you strumming the strings at the right time.

I've played a few hours of this bad boy and its a blast! I've been playing easy just going through some of the levels and its really fun. I like it because alot of the songs I've actually played on guitar or bass in real life so I know the songs, its just a matter of getting a rhythm and following the screen. I can't wait to bust this out at a party! Overall a solid game.

PS: The real cool thing about it is you can go online and download new songs/albums; there is a small fee but a cool option for down the road!

12/21/07 2:00pm - I just finished the game on the Easy level. Time to pick it up a notch!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Podcast Pick: Joe's Podhole

Here's another one of my top podcasts pick. It one that I have been listening to for well over a year now. It called Joes Podhole and it put out by Joe Barnes, a regular guy like myself who lives in the greater Chicago suburban area.

I like his show because he a guy about my age and is very relateable. Joe holds a normal 9 to 5 job, has a wife and kid and likes his music. He is the self proclaimed 'defender of all music that doesn't suck' so he's plays stuff that I like; mostly rock or metal music. I first heard about JPH through a link from a favorite band of mine, Anthrax. He was interviewing them while they had a show in the Chicago area. Since that point, I listened to all his old podcasts which range from him interviewing some of the biggest rock bands in the world to simply talking to his mom, wife or friends.

This show is uncensored and is not for people whom are easily offended by burping, farting or the occasional swearing.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Hulu

So with alot of TV show content moving to the web these days, I thought I would share with you a new site to view TV shows online. It's called Hulu. Right now its in 'beta' which means its not open to everyone. I was lucky enough to get invited to the beta process which was pretty exciting.

Hulu is a video on-demand type site which allows you to login and watch many different TV shows put out by FOX, NBC and perhaps a few others. The online, streaming videos are of decent quality. You have a capability of 'popping-out' the video to a small, individual player/window which will allow you to position the window wherever you'd like.

Overall I am impressed with the variety of shows and quality of the video. With the ease of use, I can see this becoming pretty popular. The only downsides that I see is you can't download the video to your pc - you have to stream it from their site. The other downside is you have to endure a few 30 sec advertisement video clips scattered throughout the show (basically the places where you would normally take a commercial break).

I think I'll continue to use this but ultimately I'd like the ability to download the files. I think the future of TV is in downloaded content which in turn will allow you to play the programming whenever you'd like...kind of like tivo.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Halo 3 - Finished!

That's right. I finally finished a game. Its been since 1997 since I've finished a console game. I think the last game I finished was "Streets of Rage" back in college with my roommate.

Anyway, I finished Halo 3 yesterday while I was on lunch break* while I was working from home yesterday. It took me this long be cause I accidentally deleted my game profile while I was about half way through it about a month or 2 ago. I wasn't playing on "heroic" level either (If I had done that I will be playing well into the next year).

Overall a cool game. Alot of stages were hard but the more I played, the better I got with aim, etc. Check this out: Halo 3 is up for one of the top games of 2007 via Game Informer Magazine!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Back to reality

I am finally getting bac into the swing of things such as computers, cell phones and work. After being home for 3 days, I am finally getting around to telling you a bit about my trip to Jamaica for a much needed 8 daya vacation for me and my wife.

It didn't start out very well. I set th alarm the night before to haveus up and ready to go by 4:15am, however due to my over excitement or giddiness, I set the alarm for PM instead of AM. I happened to be up at 3:15 but just wanted to close my eyes for a few minutes to only awaken when it was 5:00am!! Needless to say we bolted out the door and ditchedour plas of dropping off our car and taking the LRT in to the airport.

We dd catch our flight. Thank goodness there was no-one that early! Our flight was a good one except for the fat that I think my wife sat next to a guy that was being deported for the first leg; he spoke no english and seemed to have a talk, marschall-type guys sitting directly behind him and then next to a younger lady whom was getting airsick.

Jamaica was awesome, we landed in the afternoon and were greeted with smiles and Red Stripe Beer but only after sitting in line for an hour to go through customs/immigration. Our shuttle took us to Negril to stay at the Sandals Negril resort. The 1.5 ride was't too bad as it gave us an opportunity to look at the real-sideof Jamaica; not the nice, fancy and clean resort we are accustomed to.

We stayed in Negril for 4 days. We enjoyed the awesome beach, great water and excellent scuba diving. Although we did have to pay to get a 'refresher course' for our diving, we enjoyed the underwater life very much. We ran into the young lady whom was on the airsick on the plane and got know her and her newlywedded husband; we ended up hangin out with them on a few occasions. The couple Shaun and Wayne Hoffner were from the Fargo, ND area.

On the 4th day we took the long shuttle back to Montego Bay to stay at the Sandals Royal Carribbean resort. While there we did muc of the same. We hung hung out more at the pool as the shoreline was not as nice as Negril. While there we met some old friends who work in the dive dept; we had a great time with these guys last time as well as this time round.We met up with a couple from London, Andrew and Jo. We spent alot of time at the pool with the and even went out to dinner with them a few times. They were great. By the last day weather was picking up and the seas were making up 10-12ft swells; I am glad were not able to dive because the previous days dives had us sitting in a 20ft boat enduring 5-6ft swells. That was enough for me.

Needless to say our vacation time was short. We wish we could have stayed but we also missed our kids. The flight home was long as we would expect. We were lucky enough to get home a little bit early due to some weather issues in Detroit; we ended up taking a flight to Memphis them back home. Needless to say I thin I lost my tan during my 2 minute sprint from the LRT to the car; my lungs went into shock I think.


Thursday, November 29, 2007

We're off!

We are off to Jamaica, leaving at 6:45am tomorrow. I've been reading some Jamaician terms and listening to Bob Marley so I'll be prepared if they have an open jam night at the resort! ya 'mon!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

'Man-Fridge'

Click here for the full pic!Ah, yes. Pure bliss. Something everyman wants needs in their garage. The all-mighty: MAN-FRIDGE. Since I've reorganized my garage with the addition of a garage attic access ladder, I've had the chance to open up the garage for my workbench, stereo, tv and now the all-mighty beverage cooler (aka refridgerator)


I picked this up this fridge made by Danby dirt cheap at one of the local ApplianceSmart warehouses. This 11.1 cubic foot of cold-keeping contraption is the perfect man-accessory. For just a few hundred bucks, you could add one too!


 

Monday, November 26, 2007

Happy iPod

So I posted last week that I got a new Zune. Even though I have that I have not given up on my iPod. Even as old as it is, this 3rd Gen iPod is still sorthy of hanging onto. After the hard drive started making a loud clicking noise and would not read/boot into the menu, I quickly researched on some things to try.

After disconnecting the hard drive, re-seating it, slapping it a few times, I had given up. Working with computers as long as I have, I know the sound meant something bad. In my research I discovered getting a replacement drive is actually pretty cheap. I found a reputable place (www.santechusa.com)to purchase one from and ordered it up. $40 and a week later my iPod is a good as new! It even has a slightly bigger drive that it had before!

Not bad for an iPod I never paid for to begin with! (I got the iPod unknowingly when I purchased a 2004 Jetta TDI a few years back)

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Hello Zune!

I haven't 'reported' it yet but just a few days after I replaced my iPod battery, the hard drive croaked. It started making the dreaded 'clicking' noises. I did try a few tricks like disconnecting the hard drive from the motherboard, shaking and slapping it a few times but it was lost cause. Needless to say, I did order a replacement hard drive for $40 new online and will get that back up and running, but in the interim I am glad I took advantage of the 30Gb Brown Zune that Buy.com had on their website.

I actually ordered it about a month ago but they were backordered so I just got the delivery yesterday. This Zune was an amazing $99! Normal retail is about $150 or so. Why was this so cheap? From all the podcasts and tech blogs I've been reading its simply because of the color; yeah, color. Anyway, I got this baby unboxed and setup within 20 minutes on my system. What's the difference between this and my old iPod? Weel, unlike my old 3rd Generation iPod, this baby has wireless (for sending and receiving files between friends), video playback (for playing whatever video content you can send to it; I'll get to that in a bit), photo viewer, podcasts compliant as well as the capability of playing your normal music files.

The main reason I got this (aside from the price) was the fact that I'll be able to transfer video to this. I figured the little ones can use it in the car on long trips as well as I can break it in on my upcoming trip to Jamaica. I did some research/Googling on this and found a few ways to rip and transfer video files to this device. I'll soon have this thing loaded with movies as well as TV episodes that I've downloaded.

Battery life is supposed to be better than the iPods, so this device should make a nice little portable media player!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Papa Murphy's: November Deal Of 'Da Month (DODM)



Large 5-meat stuffed pizza for $9.99. Good thru 11/30/07 Click here to get the PDF to print out.


Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Podcast Pick: Tekzilla

I thought I would start a new 'Post Pick' on my blog. In addition to my 'New Music" and 'Old Music' posts, I thought I would post some of my favorite podcasts. With the addition of an iPod mount in my vehicle and my recent job change, I have been listening to more podcasts than radio as of late. And although this 'pick' is a video podcast, I thought I would point out I actually tend to watch more shows on my PC than on my TV nowadays; thanks to bittorrent. This video podcast is actually pretty new (less than 10 episodes as of this post) and its put out from one of my favorite podcast producing companies called Revision 3.

This podcast is called Tekzilla. It's a tech/gadget show which runs about 30 minutes in length. This podcast features Patrick Norton whom I watched for years on a different podcast called DL.TV. Well, he recently left that show to join the Revision 3 cast of characters and co-hosts it with Jessica Corbin. This podcast is fresh, hip and covers some cool technology gadgets and how-to's that will keep you entertained. (plus its nice to have a podcast thats features a woman for once; most podcasts consist of techno, geek guys such as myself)

Check it out!

Friday, November 2, 2007

iPod surgery

My very old, 3rd Generation iPod has been used so much lately, I couldn't stand the short battery life. I couldn't even make it halfway through my workday without charging it during lunch out in the vehicle. So I did some research and bought myself a new battery and replaced it myself! I bought the battery from Newer Technology after doing some price matching online.

The whole replacement process took me about 2 minutes! Sure beats sending it in or paying someone else to do it. With this new battery, my battery life is actually going to be longer than the OEM battery that Apple supplies with it.

I can do things like this, but can't lay bricks; go figure.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Yellow Brick Road

OK, its not yellow and its not a road but it is brick!

Here's a little snapshot of some work we had done recently. We replaced the cement sidewalk that went between our driveway and our front step. We did this mainly because oneof the cement slabs was really crooked and was quite the hazard (plus the wife wanted to put in a brick walkway to begin with). So we used a landscaping company that had done some work to some of our neighbors and got thejob done in a few days!

Whatya think?

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Papa Murphy’s: October Deal Of ‘Da Month (DODM)


Large 5-meat stuffed pizza for $9.99. Good thru 10/31/07 Click here to get the PDF to print out.

Friday, October 12, 2007

My 15 seconds of fame on radio

OK. This week is a little weird. I've had a post almost everyday; definitely not typical, but I've got another one! Yesterdays Last nights post was about KFAN this past Wednesday. I listen to the 'Fan when ever I can and had been listening to a newer show via Podcast called Video Games Weekly. This show is geared for some really hard-core gamers but I thought I would call to express my enjoyment of the game from from a 'newbie' perspective (oh yeah I asked about a good game for the kids as well). Click here to listen to the podcast directly from KFAN. My call starts around 16 minutes into the show!

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Halo 3

With the purchase of my kickin' TV and my x-mas gift from last year, I went out and 'committed' myself to playing a game: Halo 3.

I purchased a game last January (Tom Clany's Rainbow Six: Vegas) but never opened the darn thing. That was due to a.) my crappy TV and/or b.) lack of time. Well, with the release of Halo 3 exclusively on the Xbox 360, I cashed in my Best Buy Reward Zone credit vouchers and got the soon to be 2007 game of the year.

I'm not much of a gamer but love playing with friends. Its been awhile since I've done it (probably playing Battlefield 1942 on the PC about 2 years ago at a LAN party) but plan on competing/joining some buddies online using the Xbox Live service. Yeah, my Xbox game console plugs into the internet just like a computer and allows me to play other people online, cool!

I have a feeling there are going to be some late nights ahead of me...

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

'Hacking' my Linksys WRT54G

Contrary to what some of you may think, I am not much of a hacker. I tend to play it pretty straight-and-narrow when it comes to technology but I came across this 'hack', well actually its a third-party, open-source firmware called DD-WRT. This firmware overwrites the factory firmware (which in turn, voids all warranties on the product) and allows you to turn your normal, consumer-based router into a router with alot more features, typically found in your high-end business type routers such as ones from Cisco Systems.

I saw this Lifehacker.com article some time back (maybe a year or two ago) which boasts "turning your $60 router into a $600 router". Well, I'm sure there is room for debate there but the $600 figure comes from a comparison if you were to get one of those high-end routers from Cisco. Before I go on, I must say that I've never had any issues with my router, just the occasional reboot which was more than likely caused by the cable/DSL model, but the features of this router got the best of me. I'm always looking to learn something new and found alot of positive feedback on this Open Source firmware.

I took on this project last week and only took me a whopping 15 minutes or so to complete! I now can prioritize traffic going in and out of my network as well as take advantage or tweaking my wireless signal to be stronger or weaker. There's alot of security incorporated into this firmware; and best of all it was completely free.

A week has gone by and I have no complaints. I still want to play with some of the features such as SSH and Kai Console Gaming. Let the my fun begin!

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Free redbox movie rental



I haven't received one of these in awhile so I thought I would share. If you're looking for a FREE rental at one of those redbox machines at McDonalds, use the following code to get a free one:
DVD123 or DVDONME
*code valid 10/08/07 - 10/15/07

Thursday, October 4, 2007

The exploding 2-liter.

What a mess! This happened a few days ago when my wife and I were upstairs. We heard a loud noise like something fell or got knocked over. For a second we thought someone was in the house.

We both came downstairs to see that a brand new, never opened 2-liter of Cherry Coke had exploded in our wet-bar area! Soda was everywhere! At that point, I thought about what was happening (which was I was about to sit down and watch Heroes on my new HDTV) so foir asplit second I though maybe someone had telepathically sent brainwaves to bust the thing open. The last thought I had was looking for signs of a gunshot!

We cleaned up the mess and it was everywhere! It knocked over other 2-liters we had right next to it and even knocked a 2 liter of Mountain Dew all the way down to the basement! This was pretty crazy. I've never heard of anything happening like this.

The End.

PS: while we're on the subject, check out this entertainment clip of 2-liters in action.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Operation: Jamaica Vacation 2007

As you can see, I am counting down the days/hours/minutes to the trip we booked recently.After several years of switching jobs, kid in school and other stuff, my wife and I are finally get back to a few of the Sandals Resorts! We'll be splitting out time between the Sandals Negril Resort and the Sandals Royal Caribbean. We've been to the Sandals all-inclusive resorts about 5 times now. Each one of them better than the last. This time around, we are going back to one the first places we've been to in Jamaica; to the beautiful beaches of Negril. About halfway through, we will be heading back to the last resort we were at in Montego Bay.Personally I am looking forward to the scuba diving and snorkeling. But the R&R will be highly anticipated as well. I can't wait!!

Energy Drink reviews

http://energy-drink-ratings.blogspot.com/2006/06/redline-energy-drink-review.html

Redbull, Rooster Booster, Bawls, Amp, Full Throttle (Regular), Full Throttle Unleaded, Snake Eyes, Enviga, Monster (Java-Loca Moca)

Sparks

Thursday, September 27, 2007

The Ford gets an upgrade

So I just finished this DIY project of hooking up my 3rd Gen. iPod to my 'good ol' Ford F150. Ideally I would have loved to be able to connect directly into the the stereo to maximize the sound quality of the iPod tracks, however, because of cost, I ended up scooping up a Monster® iCarPlay™ Wireless Plus for iPod® at a local store. Now I did test out an earlier version of the Monster FM transmitter a few years ago but was very disappointed. Well, I heard good things about this one and am pleased with the quality; I would say the quality is no where CD quality but its close to"FM quality".


The cool thing I did was getting a custom mount for my vehicle by Bracketron.com. Instead of buying directly from them or the local Best Buy store and spending over $20, I hit eBay. Yeah, I got the bracket send via 2-day mail for under $10!


The installation directions from Bracketron suggested I have a profesisonal install the mount, but considering its an older vehicle and the instructions were pretty good, I got this installed in about 40 minutes! I am now rocking out to tunes, listening to my favorite podcasts as well as listening to audio books all playing off my iPod!


 Check out the finished pics below:


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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Nouvelle Star

OK so I've never watched the show and no, I no its not a typo of Nashville Star. This is rather a cool clip of some dude named Joseph spitting out some need beats using his pie-hole on some French rip-off of American Idol called Nouvelle Star. Check it out!



Tuesday, September 18, 2007

WeatherCast

Geek Alert!! Here's a cool little gadget given to me by my wife for my wedding anniversary. It's called the WeatherCast Alarm Clock. This think is pretty sweet! Its runs off 4-AA batteries and automatically syncs up with Accuweather.com over-the-air for updated tie and 5-day weather forecasts! You can change the area with the hit of a button to get the 5-day forecast for Winona, Brainerd and other cities and thats just in Minnesota! You can take it with you to other states and it will auto-update to the local city and state you are in -Cool stuff! Another sweet feature is that you can get an hour-by hour breakdown of the weather for the day. For you geeks, it's a very cool toy.

Monday, September 17, 2007

NorthShore Inline Marathon - 09/15/07

The big race! I am back from up north after finishing the Northshore Inline Marathon which ran 26.2 miles from Two Harbors to Duluth, MN. I have 3 words sum up the experience: wind, wind, WIND! Everyone I talked to that participated in the race said the same thing, "The wind was brutal!"

Yes it was very windy which definitely took its toll on everyone. My wife and I finished about a half and hour slower than the pace we've been keeping all summer long; we crossed the finish line at 2h 45min. The race itself wasn't bad; not too many hills (except for 2 brutal ones near the end of the race). Along with a few water spots along the way I sucked on some Jelly Belly Sport Beans that a neighbor gave me as a good luck gift; those really came in handy.

Even though I was a bit discouraged on my finish time, I did get signed up for next year. I attained my goal for this year:

1. Don't fall (yeah I saw and heard a few people take a dive)
2. Finish the race
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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Thursday, September 6, 2007

bees.

You can tell Fall is coming.

The bees are getting T'd off.

I got stung last night right on the elbow... It's been a long time since I've been stung and man its hurts!

Thursday, August 30, 2007

AutoPatcher

Its been awhile since I've posted about something Tech related so here is something really cool for those of you that work on computers.

It's called Autopatcher and it basically allows you to download all Windows Updates, hotfixes and patches to an external USB device. You then can take this and plug it into any Windows-based PC and run the application from the key. It will check and see which hotfixes and apps you're machine needs to get it up to date. I use it everytime I build/re-build a PC. It sure beats downloading all these patches everytime!

There are a bunch of other 'extras' in this was well; common registry tweaks and nifty utilities. Best of all, this is FREE. Check this cool little app out!

**Update: Looks like Microsoft has contacted this team and has threatened legal action unless they stop. Well it looks like there is a glimmer of hope that this project will continue in some alternative fashion... check the Autopatcher.com site for updates.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Handsome Bastard - 09/21/07 debut

I hope I didn't offend anyone.

This post isn't about my good looks but rather the name of the neighborhood rock band I am part of for this years Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Benefit taking place in the Carver Bluffs neighborhood on Friday, August 31st. If you want to check it out, feel free to attend! The benefit is at the Zincke's house located at 854 Ramsey Ave in Carver, MN.

There will be 2 Bands: Blue Velveata and Handsome Bastard opening the show. There will also be food, drinks, and lot's of activities for kids like face painting, inflatables. Let me know if you have any questions on the event.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Samsung LN-T4061F - 40" of pure enjoyment

I finally got one! After months ad months of not being able to play last years' X-mas gift, we made the dive and got a 40" flat panel LCD by Samsung. I've had it up for about a week now and I am still impressed by the quality of the HD picture.


I was originally looking for a 37" sized on but after researching, I discovered not many manufacturers made them. I was impressed by the Samsung models and from what I've heard from friends as well as salespeople in the stores, Samsung was probably the best. Well, Samsung doesn't make a 37"! So I contemplated going bigger due to the room it was mainly going to be in, but decided to do it. I did the whole pricing thing between Circuit City, Ultimate Electronics and Best Buy. I ultimetly went with the latter due to price-matching as well as their Rewards Zone program.

The 1st best thing is I set it up and plugged in the 'rabbit ear' antenna that I aready had running through the house. After plugging it into the new TV, I had about 90% of the channels already in HD quality! KARE 11 and KSTP 5 are probably the best looking because the broadcast in 1080i resolution. The other stations have an "HD" channel but its usually only in 480i res and therefore not as good. The 2nd best thing is that the Xbox 360 simply looks amazing. I can't wait to get gaming on that thing!

For those who have not experienced HD, do it! I have yet to get into the HD/Blu-ray DVD discs but think I will get there some day. Until that day, I am using DVD player that 'upscales' your normal DVD's so they compare closely to the quality of HD/Blu-ray; not bad but not nearly as good as pure HD content.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Rain, Raccoons and Mushrooms, Oh My!


Wow. All the rain lately has really stirred up things around our house. Seems the rain brought a visitor to our garage yesterday...well thats when we discovered the raccoon (I named it 'Venom'). Shelly discovered it after our dogs went nuts barking at the garage door. She went and opened the door and screamed bloody murder! I came running figuring some accident happened or something only to find out we had a critter in mans territory...the garage.

After clearing the cars out of the garage we found it hiding in the wheelwell of the boat. I tried to get it out by poking it while I was in the boat but ultimately had to reserve to a neighbor to assist me with the effort. After about 10-15 minutes we got it out. I told Shell I could have had it out earlier if I was able t use the bb-gun; she wasn't going to have any of that.

So in addition to the days of rain, our yard is a garden of various mushrooms. Most are growing on old tree stumps in the backyard but I saw them all over as I was mowing the grass between rain showers we've been getting nailed with. So with all the heat and dry weather, we're getting all the rain all at once!

PS: The raccoon pictured here is not "Venom". The actual nemesis was much meaner and scarier. Of course.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Miller Chill


Ah, beer. I am not sure if I blogged about this or not but its worth mentioning again. Its Miller Chill. Probably my favorite new beer. I've bought lots of it. I like it cold. I like it with fresh limes squeezed and put into the bottle. It tastes better than Corona. The bottle is green. I bought lots of it. I had a few tonight. I recommend it to friends. I first had this down in Florida when Miller was 'testing' it in that market. Its available up here now. I bought lots of it. You can come over and have one. It's best when really cold. It's been a long week. Ah, beer.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Tomato harvest?

So let the harvesting begin?


Our pathetic little garden yielded a few tomatoes so far. I picked about 4 of them off last week.. I personally am not fond of tomatoes unless they are part of a bloody mary mix but I may just dice some of these up and mix them in with a salad! Here are some interesting facts about tomatoes.

Monday, August 6, 2007

Papa Murphy's: August Deal Of 'Da Month (DODM)


Free salad with the purchase of a family size 'za. Good thru 08/31/07 Click here to get the PDF to print out.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

My home networking rack

So with my days winding down at Black Box, I decided I better follow through with some stuff I wanted to order for my home networking setup in the basement. So with a few days to spare before my last das, I got out the ol' Black Box mail-order catalog and called the number to get my employee pricing on some different shelving. I must say Black Box employees get a deal!

I got 2 center rack shelves, 2 other more petruding shelves along with some rack screws al for under $100! If I was an average Joe Schlub out there and ordered this, I would have paid well over $300. I must say my setup is looking very nice nowdays! Check it out here.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

New Job

So the 'big change' is I accepted a position at United Health Group (UNH). My official job title is a 'Senior IS Systems Analyst' and I start in a few weeks. This all happened unplanned and out of the blue. I was definetly not job searching but a few positions opened up at my wifes' company that were in my area of expertise and interest. I looked them over and after som ethinking, applied for one of them. Not really expecting much I went on with my life as usual. After a few days I got a call from the UHG recruitment office and wanted to set up a phone interview! Well, I did the phone interview and almost immediately got a call to have me in for an in-person interview (my wife was shocked; she says they never move this fast in the hiring process).

Well, I was pretty shocked and was kinda torn seeing this all happened pretty fast. I set up an interview on a day I had scheduled off and had group interview. A member of the team along with the manager were in-person as well as the rest of the team were on the phone whom are based out of the Boston, MA area. I thought I did well; nothing too suprising. I always tell to myself before an interview to just 'be yourself' and everything will work out the way it is supposed to.

No more than a week passed when the recruitment services called again and said they would like to offer me the position. After some usual forms and salary negotiations, I had a formal offer...and accepted!

This new position will focus in on one of the areas I was involved with at Black Box; The Altiris client suite(s). Although I was a bit weary of stepping away from a position that allowed me to get my hands involved with alot of different things, I feel the position will be a 'stepping stone' for future career opportunities at the company. My new work location will be near Hwy 394 and 169; about 6 miles further north than the Black Box office was at. I am wrapping up my final at Black Box this week.

Wish me luck!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Winds of Change



Are a' Blowin'. Stay Tuned...


Prison Break

Now that Heroes and Lost are done for the season, I am now catching up on Prison Break! I only caught a few episodes of this show in its 1st season but remembered liking it. Well, thanks to a particular family member, I was able to watch the complete 1st season on DVD! I finished watching the 1st season about 2 months ago and already have season 2 downloaded to my computer. (Thanks to the interweb.)

I must say this show is pretty good. Its kind of brutal as far as the violence but I guess thats what you should expect for a show about a 'prison break' and convicts. I am about halfway through season 2 so far and its definetly keeping me eager to jump the next episode. I should be all caught up by the time season 3 starts up this fall. I will then have 3 shows to keep up on!

Am I getting myself to ties to these shows? I don't think so; seeing rarely watch them on the night they air anyway :)

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Ophiophobia

Check out these pics of our our friend(s?) that we've seen hanging around the house. We've seen more snakes this summer than we ever have. This particular rat snake has been spotted twice, only this time is was at our front door! Click here to check out some the pics snapped by my panic'd wife.

Oh and if you didn't know what Ophiophobia means, it means "Fear of Snakes".

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Friday, July 13, 2007

Transformers


Transformers. "Its more than meets the eye." This was just one of many "retro Transformers" saying in the summer blockbuster hit that my wife and I saw last week. I am happy I went to see it.

The Good: Special effects were very good. However it was more than that.I was really suprised on how many times I caught myself laughing at Shia LaBeoufs' character. There are definetly some funny parts in the movie.Otherwise the storyline was OK, but the action and special effects were spectacular.

The Bad: I thought some scenes went too long. In particular, the scene where the Autobots go to Sam Witwickys' house so they can get the item that was up for auction on eBay (yes, that is part of the movie plot). This scene I swear went on for 20 minutes and could have been 10.

Overall: This movie was pretty darn good. I'd rate it as the best one of the summer. I've seen Spiderman 3, Fantastic 4 and this is the best thus far. The most suprising part was my wife actually liked it. I give it a 3 out of 3.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Last.fm

For those of you who were wondering how I get the nice links on the right side that list the lastest tunes I've been listening to, here's the scoop: Part of this is due to my trusty iTunes player but the other is a cool site called Last.fm. This site is one of many that allow people such as myself to incorporate things in my personal life and tie them to the web via MySpace, or any other blog-type site. All I do is use a cool little application on my 'puter called iSproggler. iSproggler simply looks at tracks played in both my iPod and iTunes recent playlists and lists them on my Last.fm userpage. To get this info to my blog, I use a cool little Wordpress plugin called Last.fm Records. The update takes place every Monday morning automatically.

For those of you whom are into blogging/MySpace, check the links above and spice up your site/page!

Friday, June 29, 2007

iPhone

So you going to get one? C'mon its all the rave. Everyone is getting one.



Me? Maybe next year. We'll see.