For those of you who didn't know yet...

We are totally going to have a baby in July...

There it is out there...we don't know what we are having yet but we will find out probably in February or something...

It pretty much totally freaks me out but is exciting at the same time for a whole host of reasons. I would like to throw out there that if it is a boy I am pulling for a middle name of Danger. Erin pretty much hates that idea but maybe if everyone in the world leaves comments that it is awesome she could relent and our kid could have the coolest middle name ever.

Anyway, there will be more updates as things progress and I am sure that I will start posting all kinds of pictures and media. I think that part of my problem with regularly posting is that I have no consistent schedule. Maybe having a kid with needs like going to bed at a certain time will change that and I will post regularly. Time will tell I guess...

ScribeFire

Here is something that I think will help me stay more up to date with my blogging, which has fallen by the wayside as of late. I recently added the ScribeFire add-on for Firefox and so far it is pretty cool.
Yes I know, all of you that I helped convert to Apples are thinking that there is no way Dan is really forsaking Safari, but you should know that this is Firefox on my Windows XP partition on my MacBook Pro, so have no fear, it is just while I am at work.
Anyhoo...yeah so there is so much stuff going on here. Erin's parents are showing up tonight and I still have some cleaning to do. Christmas Eve services are tomorrow and I am running media for that from 11:45am until all five services wrap up around 8 or so, then I am directing the actual weekend service as well so busy week.
There are other things going on as well. I never got around to mentioning our trip back east seeing friends and being in NYC on black friday. Maybe later.

ScribeFire

Here is something that I think will help me stay more up to date with my blogging, which has fallen by the wayside as of late. I recently added the ScribeFire add-on for Firefox and so far it is pretty cool.
Yes I know, all of you that I helped convert to Apples are thinking that there is no way Dan is really forsaking Safari, but you should know that this is Firefox on my Windows XP partition on my MacBook Pro, so have no fear, it is just while I am at work.
Anyhoo...yeah so there is so much stuff going on here. Erin's parents are showing up tonight and I still have some cleaning to do. Christmas Eve services are tomorrow and I am running media for that from 11:45am until all five services wrap up around 8 or so, then I am directing the actual weekend service as well so busy week.
There are other things going on as well. I never got around to mentioning our trip back east seeing friends and being in NYC on black friday. Maybe later.

The Top Ten Reasons Why Kanye West Is a Douche

Below are two parts of a ten part list on why Kanye West is a Douch. I laughed out loud several times and that is kind of rare. Yes I know that my friend Mark will probably respond with something about how each of those points is not true...but the guy said "blinding douchebaggery" that is awesome.

2. His new album, due out on November 24th, is a departure from his usual style, as he sings more than he raps. That is all good and well, because he is a talented musician, but then he had to go and douche it up by saying that this change in style is an attempt to challenge the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Paul McCartney, who he describes as "those artists in black and white photos", because taking a crap on music legends serves to make Kanye's genius obvious to all and sundry.

3. In a recent interview, Kanye said, and I am not kidding: "I realize that my place and position in history is that I will go down as the voice of this generation, of this decade, I will be the loudest voice. It's me settling into that position of just really accepting that it's one thing to say you want to do it and it's another thing to really end up being like Michael Jordan."

Read the full list here from mamapop.com

So talented...and a nerd

Ok so I do not like to be that guy who just puts random videos on his blog that he had nothing to do with making. However, I ran across this video while I was browsing The Awesomer. This guy does John Williams movie themes acapella with himself doing four part harmonies with lyrics all about Star Wars. Absolutely amazing! Yeah it is about 4 minutes long but worth the watch.

Quorum

So this past weekend was really full. And I had an exhausting week of work before that. I am tired. But, I will say that I am really excited about what is happening at our church high school ministry.

As part of a brainstorming session on how we could involve students more effectively, I put forth the idea of a student council type of group where there would be one representative from each small group that would meet with us adult leaders and talk about direction, we could get feedback, make sure they are getting plugged in and overall get a better more accurate feel of what the students are thinking about different aspects of the ministry. Now I will say that the boys I disciple were none to keen on being part of something called Student Council because it is so stereotypical and sound snooty. So I pulled 'Quorum' out of my but and it seems like that is what we are going with. Yes, I know that the overachievers out there learned that it means the number needed to complete a transaction, but if you read the second definition then it says "a particularly chosen group" which I think is appropriate and besides, Q is such a versitile letter when it comes to designing things.

Anyway, yesterday we had our first combined meeting. It went so well. It is so refreshing to work with a group where everyone has a desire to be involved at that next level and just want to know where to pitch in. We had them take a home made survey about our high school service, and it was very informative. Robert was able to take some time to pitch to them the entire process of going through high school ministry from a more macro level and it was really cool to see them get excited about how what they were doing was going go be an integral part of the future of the ministry.

Now I am back to regular life. I would show you what I am working on but it is all social security numbers, account numbers and account balances, kind of the stuff that your company gets shut down for showing.

The New Microsoft Ads

As an Apple fan boy it is my duty to make sure that i keep tabs on everything that Microsoft and Apple do in their advertising. I absolutely hated the ads recently that had Seinfeld and Bill Gates being retarted in a shoe store. The new ads are somewhat better although if they are meant to counter Apple ads then I think that they missed their mark.

Sure you can argue success for the campaign simply because so many people are talking about it but here is my round up.

The Apple ads are successful because they are specific and point out flaws or stereotypes (for those of you still part of the dark side) with the competing product and then point out how the Apple product does it better. Easy to understand and has a purpose, ie our product is better than theirs.

The Microsoft ads really are just saying, all kinds of people use our Windows product, certainly a billion people cannot be wrong. Really? That is the best offense that you can muster up? Choose ours because lots of other people do? I think that is lame.

This is the ad that I think MS should have run. It might be a little more accurate...

quote of the day

So eventually i will get around to writing a real post again, but I have to say that the quote of the day has been found:

"If you were not so busy running around like a hysterical chicken, you would not be a democrat"

Random political comment thread FTW!

How To: Clean Black Algae on the Cheap

It is unusual for me to do a how to on my blog. I do not know how to do much that is useful (defined here as handymanesque) other than make up descriptors like handymanesque. I have talked here about my house before. I think I may even have given a video tour of it way back. Maybe not. Maybe I will do that later this week. None of that is the point. The point here is that we have a pool and we have a neighbor with a giant tree that sheds like some kind of four letter word. It does not matter what time of year, there is always something that is coming off of that tree in an unearthly volume. I did some checking and it would seem that the source of black algae could be anything including using the same suit that has been in the ocean. Personally I will stick to blaming my neighbors tree. It is an object on which I can fixate and burn down with laser beams from my eyes. Anywho... 

My problem is two fold. First, no one wants to swim in a pool that has black spots on the side of it. Second, there is the description that I just pulled from WikiAnswers which is as follows.

Black Algae grows in small spots generally up to about 40mm in size. It grows on pool surfaces and is very difficult to remove as it forms in layers when extra chlorine is added to kill it only the top layer is effected and the rest stays as good as new. Black algae can be found in bathrooms between tiles and silicone seals, aquariums on the glass, and in the ocean. Black algae is the toughest algae to get rid of and is very resistant to chlorine.

There is also this encouraging quote from poolcenter.com on the algae page:

Perhaps the most aggravating strain of algae, it has been compared to herpes; "once you've got it, it's there for life." This is not entirely accurate, but the difficulty in eradication is due to the strong roots and protective layers over top of the black algae plant. Black algae will appear as dark black or blue/green spots, usually the size of a pencil eraser tip. Their roots extend into the plaster or tile grout, and unless the roots are destroyed completely, a new head will grow back in the same place. The heads also contain protective layers to keep cell destroying chemicals from entering the organism. Like yellow algae, black strains can bloom even in the presence of normal sanitizing levels and proper filtration. I was once told that this form of algae commonly enters a pool inside the swimsuit of a person who's recently been to the ocean.

Awesome, my pool has herpes. Now what. You would say surely other people have this problem and there is probably a professional solution that is quick and easy. Well it is out there theoretically. I tried the chemical route with this stuff over the winter. There is a specific concoction that you can get at the pool store for about $30 for 20oz. Two bottles of that stuff last fall following the directions to the letter (they failed to mention that whole bit about the roots and protective layers though) which produced a little bit of fading of the black spots but did not eliminate them. Finally, they even started to multiply again this spring when the water started to show signs of getting warmer.
So I have tried lots of things and for the most part my big purge of cleaning the pool in the spring worked. But leave it to the monsoon season to wreck your backyard with multiple storm days in a row and make your pool a bacteria and mold breeding ground while you cannot clean it.
I will post the happy ending for this saga later on, just know that I think I can beat some black algae.

Final Cut Studio 2

So I have not posted here in a while. Actually not anywhere. I have been busy. Ok not really, but I did get some video work and due to the fact that I am working on my intel based MacBook Pro my previous versions of all of my video editing software did not work anymore.

Tonight I went to the Apple store which is 2 miles from my house. Not to be picky but the one that is 10 miles away is bigger and the staff is a little more knowledgable but who am I to complain? There are lots of you out there that do not have a little slice of retail heaven near you.

Anyway, so FCS2. There was a lot of confusion amongst the employees as to which upgrade package I could use. The first guy said I could get the cheaper upgrade and then call apple care and tell them that I have all of the software that makes up the suite. The downside of that would be that if for some reason apple care could not help me out, I would be out $500 and still have to buy software because of the open software policy.

It all worked out in the end so now I am posting while this behemoth is installing. 52GB later I will have some of the best visual tools available and can make whatever I want. The downside is that 52GB takes a long time to install hence the random post for no purpose other than to pass time. More later.

My hope

is to not have my future children write an obituary about me that runs like this:

Dolores Aguilar
1929 - Aug. 7, 2008

Dolores Aguilar, born in 1929 in New Mexico, left us on August 7, 2008. She will be met in the afterlife by her husband, Raymond, her son, Paul Jr., and daughter, Ruby.

She is survived by her daughters Marietta, Mitzi, Stella, Beatrice, Virginia and Ramona, and son Billy; grandchildren, Donnelle, Joe, Mitzie, Maria, Mario, Marty, Tynette, Tania, Leta, Alexandria, Tommy, Billy, Mathew, Raymond, Kenny, Javier, Lisa, Ashlie and Michael; great-grandchildren, Brendan, Joseph, Karissa, Jacob, Delaney, Shawn, Cienna, Bailey, Christian, Andre Jr., Andrea, Keith, Saeed, Nujaymah, Salma, Merissa, Emily, Jayci, Isabella, Samantha and Emily. I apologize if I missed anyone.

Dolores had no hobbies, made no contribution to society and rarely shared a kind word or deed in her life. I speak for the majority of her family when I say her presence will not be missed by many, very few tears will be shed and there will be no lamenting over her passing.

Her family will remember Dolores and amongst ourselves we will remember her in our own way, which were mostly sad and troubling times throughout the years. We may have some fond memories of her and perhaps we will think of those times too. But I truly believe at the end of the day ALL of us will really only miss what we never had, a good and kind mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. I hope she is finally at peace with herself. As for the rest of us left behind, I hope this is the beginning of a time of healing and learning to be a family again.

There will be no service, no prayers and no closure for the family she spent a lifetime tearing apart. We cannot come together in the end to see to it that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren can say their goodbyes. So I say here for all of us, GOOD BYE, MOM.

I just hope that that family will truly be able to find a way to come together and I hope that you will stop giggling at how horrible a person Dolores must have been...

Brilliant Conspiracy Theory

I was reading through some links on Reddit.com (I know you can't read Reddit and Digg, but it is the first and last time I promise), and I came across this video that is closing in on one of the stupidest things that I have heard in a long time. The original link is here, but I have reposted it below for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.



Favorite quote "This cannot be natural."

Freebie

So those of you (probably both of you who read this) who knew me in college may or may not remember the TV that I bought with Raj and Harvey my Senior year. It was a good deal on a 32" standard CRT at $300 and I bought them out at the end of the year when we all parted ways. Since that time I have moved that TV so many times that it is really ridiculous. Finally this past six months the set really started to lose it. The picture would randomly go to fuzz any time you changed the channel or switched the input (from cable to DVD for example).
Again those of you who know me even a little bit, know that I am a bit of a technophile. I am constantly reading about the latest in AV tech, computers and the like. I have a general handle on the right mix of brand, tech and price that I can afford. Unfortunately, with finances the way that they are, there are so many other things that we need to spend $2,000 on that are not a HDTV.
So for at least six months I have been keeping my eyes and ears open for any kind of deal that I could get on a big screen to fill the 60" wide gap in our built in entertainment center. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance for a 56" TV for our living room especially at the very reasonable price of absolutely free.
I will say a couple of things about it. First, it is not HD. Second it is a rear projection so it is really about 30" deep. Third, Master Chief is about 2'6" tall when I am fragging n00bs in Halo 3. So for right now I am pretty much in TV heaven. I replaced a crappy old TV that was too small for the space we have, the new TV works amazingly and although it lacks the features of a TV that I could have spend a ton of money on, I can sit back on my couch to play games and watch TV instead of four feet away and that is a moment that even Master Card could not bring to me.

Ten things only men can do

I was bumping around on the internet and found a great list of the 10 things only men can do. There were the obvious ones like pee standing up and go topless whenever it suits, but one of my favorites is as follows:

No.5 - Play real sports
Be honest; which of these would you prefer to watch: WNBA or NBA? NHL or women’s hockey? NFL or women’s rugby? MLB or softball? We understand that women play plenty of sports and, yes, they are good athletes, but their sports are a snoozefest to watch. An example, in the WNBA a slam dunk stops the presses, while in the NBA, unless it’s a back reverse through three defenders, it’s just another two points.

Personally, I also thought that the number one choice and the honorable mention for number one were hilarious as well, but go and click on the link and read for yourself. The whole list can be found here if you like. Also check out some of the other great lists that askmen.com has compiled.

Quick Update

So where have I been and why haven't I been writing stuff down? I don't know honestly. I have been working alot. I have been doing all kinds of stuff with the high school boys. I have not had much down time since we got back from Jamaica and I feel like now that the school year is starting for Erin again we might stand a chance at getting back into a regular routine.

All that being said, one of the highlights of the last couple weeks was getting to see one of my oldest and dearest friends, Patrick Rice who was out here in Phoenix with his wife Amy. Erin and I had a great time hanging out with them and honestly a request of his is one of the reasons that I have not posted. 

When the Rices were here we did not have time to have them over to our house and so a request was put forth for a video tour of our house. Any of you who may be like us, working from 7-5 and then going out with either a church function or friends from 7-11pm know that it can be difficult to keep a house clean and functional, so that is a reason for the delay. I simply cannot bear the thought of how mad Erin would be if I put a video up on the internet of a messy house. Also, there has been a significant change to our house that I would like to have in the video and the dust from that even is finally settling down so you may be closer to getting that tour than you think Patrick.

In closing I would like to remind you that if you are interested in what I am looking at or doing on the internet you should check out my activity feeds in either of these places:

FriendFeed

Swurl - Timeline

Also of note, I got a haircut. There are pictures on Flickr or on Swurl.

switchAbit

You may or may not have read that last post that briefly mentioned a website called Swurl. If you have not check it out here or simply click on this link and you will get the hang of it. 

Something else that I would like to highlight that makes Swurl even cooler and simplifies my own life is a site called switchAbit. Basically it allows you to enter the login information for Twitter, Tumblr, facebook, Wordpress, Blogger and a bunch of others into different configurations called switches. This is why there were several posts over the last week or so that were just a post title. I posted those from my Twitter client on my dashboard.

I really like the idea of this because I think that it is useful to have a presence in a bunch of different places but I do not like keeping them all up to date. So I now have my switch set to take any posts from twitter or wordpress and put them on Facebook, Blogger or Tumblr. Handy for me, useful for those of you who actually read anything about me.

When combined with Swurl, socializing and keeping track of friends running around in Web 2.0 is way easier. Let me know what you think of Swurl and I just might make that page my new destination for www.danieldezago.com.

new way to post

So I am back from Jamaica and I have not posted about it. Pretty much it is because of a variety of things:

1. I am still tired from the trip since I went right back to work and then have been scheduled for things since then.


2. I suck at posting


3. I have a bunch of pictures and video waiting to be gone through that I would like to incorporate into this post so that it can be something besides just a bunch of text


4. I have been distracted from fully posting here because I found a new way to post to a whole bunch of places and track a whole bunch of places at once.

On that last note, the site to track everything about me is at Swurl.com. I think that this is a sweet tool for those of us who have profiles in a bunch of different places. Head on over there and join. It is entirely free, and you may realize that you are a member of more things that you realize. It is also a way to share different aspects of your life automatically ie your Blockbuster or Netflicks rental que, digg, tumblr etc. can be added and it all forms one giant running stream of what you are all about.

Go on over and check it out and if nothing else check up on me over there since it will be way more detailed about what I am doing that I could ever be.

working on work stuff

back from Jamaica

maybe i will work on animating the logo to some music first

so im going to edit now for real

maybe i will work on animating the logo to some music first

so now i am twittering via twitterlex in my dashboard

posting to all of my sites at once...hopefully

Triumph

So I have been playing a game in Facebook. Something that I said that I would never do because it would suck up my time and I would probably like it. Well I do. Triumph is basically everything that I love about a real time strategy game. I am hoping that as I progress through the game the battles get a little larger or that maybe they scale with the size of your army but it is pretty detailed for an off the cuff online game. My economy is going well, I have huge tracts of land, I can attack most people at will and get away with it...good times.

Governmentium

So I was reading an article about the stalled road construction projects around here and all of the political tactics that keep on going on. Pretty straight forward and it mostly makes sense to me. I think that mostly liberal hippies are the ones who do not understand what it takes to get a major project done, but they are also usually the ones who comment. So I read the comments and sometimes strike gold.

Here is the comment from a user that I only know as Beer30. This is one of the best summaries of the way government works I have ever read:

Research has led to the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. 

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every action with which it comes into contact. 
A minute amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second to take from four days to four years to complete. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2-6 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. 

In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass. 

When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Anyway, I thought that some of you might enjoy that if you keep up with politics or read your local news or just enjoy kind of weird stuff. Also, lets see if throwing in a random tag like greaser affects my hits on this post.

You guys are weird

So I was looking through my stats like all obsessive wordpress bloggers do and I noticed something odd or at least unusual in my eyes. Take a look at which post of mine has the most clicks.



Now as a dirty Italian myself, I am not entirely sure why everyone out there is searching for this particular phrase but I think that it is interesting that that post has more than six times the number of hits than the next post on the list. Who would have thought?

It also makes me wonder if I should just start putting dirty italian as a tag on all of my posts. Maybe all of you out there would then start reading my regular posts not just the one about something random I found on the internet. 

Alright I'm going to get back to work now.

A New Hat: I am a Dirty Italian

So this is going to be a quick but necessary post. Erin and I just got back (ok really late Friday, but we slept for the last two days) from Hume Lake San Diego summer camp. Briefly, it was a great experience again (this is my third year as a counselor/leader) there were 4 or 5 first time decisions out of our 71 kids and probably a dozen or so rededications which were really monumental for the kids making them. So a good but exhausting week.

A completely selfish and self-centered hightlight for me is that I got a new hat. Sure I will still wear a baseball style hat with either a Yankees or Miami Hurricanes logo on it, but this hat is going to become a staple of my wardrobe. There is this crazy hat store at Seaport Village in San Diego and that is where I got it. We took all kinds of pictures with the kids trying on all kinds of different stuff and although I normally do not buy frivilous things like cool hats, at least six people told me that I had to buy it so who am I to not give in to that kind of demand? Enjoy the picture.

For the record, I do still have the skanky yankee hat for those of you who know what that is, but it is old and delicate and only makes special appearances.

Not Twittering

I just read Mark Artrip's latest life update post and among the other items he mentioned that he refused to believe that twitter was cool. I do agree with his point about it breaking down into the most mundane details about peoples life, however I do like a steady stream of stuff to read and keep track of.

I dabbled with twitter for a while and then realized that it would only be cool if I was a web developer in New York or San Francisco and hung out with all kinds of bleeding edge Technorati, which I am not, do not, and do not. However, despite my friends all not being OCD or egotistical enough to post everything about themselves has not detracted my desire to track lots of things going on all throughout the day. Presenting my solution.



Here is the combination that I use to get my fix of constantly updated relevant news in an easy to read visual format. RSS Menu, Amigo, Growl. Now you might think that I was issuing commands at you friend but I was not. Click on those links or just read below for how I integrate their functions to make my desktop the most up to date relevant place for me.

RSS Menu is great. I have become a huge fan of subscribing to RSS feeds from blogs and news sources over the last six months. This is for me the best way to stay current on things that I care about. Whether it is the New York Yankees Headlines feed or the latest Apple rumors, I let other people do the hard work looking up and researching all of their crazy stuff and then cherry pick off the stuff that i care about.

I also use a program called Amigo which is billed as a Facebook notification program. It does exactly what it says and you get a little pop up every time one of your friends updates their status on Facebook which I must say for some of you is way to often for you to actually be doing any work when you say you are working. I do wish that it would let you do your own updates without having to go into the site, but maybe they will roll it out in another version. Something that I should tell you about this software is that it is kind of free. Actually, as long as you don't mind being reminded every time you start up your computer how long you have been using Amigo without registering it, then it is free. I think it has been about 130 days or something like that. Let me do updates from my desktop and I will how about that.

Finally, there is the thing that makes both of these apps worth while. The Growl notification system plugin. This is definitely free although I do not know why. It is so handy for so many things. The way that this ties together is that every time one of these two programs updates or there is a new post or anything, a simple drop down (entirely customizable in the looks department) comes out of my menu bar with something like "new article for Uncrate" or "Nathaniel DeZago is in Afghanistan" or whatever. This is quite literally the program that keeps me up to date on everything because otherwise I would not know what is going on with all of my friends. Everyone posts on Facebook sometime, even the slackers out there like me and if you were using this, then you would know right away rather than the next time you actually take the time to go to Facebook. I also find that it is a good way to sort out if you want to take the time to go to a website or not. Since you can get a preview of the articles and headlines, I do not need to physically go to the blog and can keep right on working for real rather than going to check a news feed and then being disappointed.

So this is my Twitter. Sure it is not actually Twitter, but it is how I keep in touch with the constantly updating in real time world that I live in. Let me know what solutions you use for your own situation.

New Blog: Play With Traffic

So maybe this is self promoting, but I do not care that much. For the two of you that read this, take the 

opportunity to check out my new blog called Play With Traffic. 

I have been mentally keeping track of how different cars drive around town in various kinds of traffic anddrawing on all of my observations to see if I can predict who will be good to follow through a traffic light etc. Well to an extent it works, but I thought that I would open the project up to the entire internet and let you all share your stories and add to or debunk some of the stereotypes that I have built up that guide my driving experience.

I am posting as episodes happen to me usually just on the same 5 mile stretch of roads to and from work. Let me know what you think.

WWDC

If you know what those initials mean then you probably do not need to read any further in this post. I watched Steve Jobs Keynote address yesterday as it was happening on MacRumors.com and I have to say that I am excited for all the stuff that will be changed a month from now.

I think that the changes to the .mac/me.com service are overdue and it will be great to have that kind of functionality no matter which platform I am on. As the person who is in charge of creating workflows for our smaller size organization this new service could be a super affordable option for sharing contacts and calendars across the country without having to manage an exchange server of our own. Exciting.

Then of course there is the iPhone. What else do you need in life? Well I could use one to begin with, if you happen to have any extra money that you want to send my way I will use it for that I promise. Anyway on the fly highlights of baseball games during the game? A possibly viable gaming platform without them even having to enter the "video game industry"? That all sounds like a winner to me. I just need it to not be on ATT. The two people out here that we know who have AT&T are always cutting in and out on their phones. Even though those coverage maps clearly show Gilbert as having 3G coverage, I am still a bit leary. Also I don't have $300 for a phone, unless my boss were going to pay for it.

So did I add anything to the overall reaction to the Keynote address? Probably not. Am I really excited about pretty much every announcement including the tantalizing possibilities of Snow Leopard? Yes. I will have more posts later today, but I had to say something about this.

Overdue Update

Well I wanted to always take pride in thought out complete sentence and idea style posts but in light of my current level of busyness (interesting note that busyness and business are only one letter different) I am going to do a Mark Artrip style list update on lots of things at once.

• I am in the middle of a three week period where we will have 14 client meetings in 15 days. There is prep work and follow up work for each of these. Also I have moved my desk three times in the last 10 days as we transition through the final parts of the punch list at the new building. Bottom line is I am tired and ready for a change of pace.


• Our grass is growing! The back yard now has a green tint. I will post pictures someday.


• I am working with five of the high school boys on making a rules video for Hume Lake camp this summer that is shot entirely in Halo 3. Both aspects of that are a challenge since I am not allowed by the rules (student produced) to run the production of it.


• Erin has had a difficult week with some of the things going on at work. You could pray for peace for her if you get a chance.


• We are going to see Prince Caspian tomorrow with friends. Looking forward to it although not as much as Ironman.


• Holy Crap! Ironman was amazing! The announcement of that sequel took 48 hours too long for me!


• The Office is back! The season finale was sick! Those last 30 seconds after the last commercial break made my day!


• I talked to my brother today. He called from Afghanistan. I do not know details of what he is doing since he was selected for a classified operation but he is at least safe and wants everyone to know he is fine.

I think that is all for now.

Amazing Photo

I was bumming around the internet and was reading about the volcano eruption in Chile. There were some amazing photos throughout the article which can be seen here. However I think that by far the best one is below.

April Camping

Ok ok I get it. It is May and has been for a week. Well I finally have a minute and am posting up the pictures and thoughts from our camping excursion on April 25th through 27th for your reading and viewing pleasure.



So we decided that the best way to relax and get away from church responsibilities for a weekend was to go camping away from the nicities of 10,000 years of human progress. I think that if you know me at all, I hold a highly skeptical view of camping to begin with mostly due to the fact that I kind of find it illogical. I do like the outdoors. Really I do. I just do not see the need to go out and sleep on the hard ground in the elements when there is a perfectly good hotel right down the street with a restaurant that could probably make you a smore if you really asked nicely.

Anyway the point of this is not necessarily to convince anyone of the merits or demerits (?) of camping. We did have a really good time setting up camp in the dark on Friday night assisted by the lights from our car. Saturday was also a really great day. There are pictures posted up on Facebook here if you would like to see them.

We went up to a lake, the name of which I forget at the moment but then we discovered the spillway that leads out of the lake. It looked really pretty and green down in the spillway valley so we hiked down the precipice and then slowly meandered our way down the valley. It was really nice to be off of the beaten trail, we let Java off the leash and she proceeded to run right into the pools of water and go swimming just for the fun of it. I don't have much to say about this place other than it was really beautiful up there and we did have a really good time. I think that our next small group camping trip will possibly be up there.



We headed back to camp around 3:30 or so. I squeaked out a narrow victory over Erin in Scrabble and everything remained right in the world. We ate dinner and turned in early probably around 8:30 or so since it is really dark and we were tired from being active in the sun all day.

Now this next part needs a little bit of explaining. My camping experiences with Erin so far have been very memorable. The first time we went, it was before we had sub zero sleeping bags and we went in late October. It was so cold that we actually had to bust out the emergency foil blanket for the night in order to not freeze. The second time we went was at Lockett Meadow and while we had a great time, and went to the Grand Canyon etc, it rained and hailed so much that we literally could see the rivers of water running down the hill and surrounding our tent. It was pretty amazing. So in my mind camping is not 0-2 necessarily because we had a great time and great memories, but it was far from the relaxing experience that it has portrayed by my wife.

Well who would have guessed. This time a third element decided to manifest itself. The wind that night was so strong that it literally ripped two of our tent pegs out of the ground. We were getting 60 mph wind gusts regularly. I have not felt that much steady hard wind since I was in a hurricane. It was so no conducive to sleeping since the tent was literally being blown inside out, I was getting hit in the head with the plastic 

poles as they were flexing. I finally had to sleep in what I have termed "The Superman Position" with my right arm stretched out above me in a fist to keep the tent just that much more taught (I feel it necessary at this point to say indubitably in a voice that is reminiscent of Travis Turk) so that we could pretend to get some sleep. The long and the short of it is that at 2:30 after about 5 hours of constant wind Erin finally said that this was miserable and she wanted to go home. My wife is a camper. She has been camping her entire life and for her to give in and say that this sucked was a pretty amazing event. I felt bad because even though I thought it was miserable too, I know that she looks forward to it so much and here was another weather phenomenon ruining her special event. So we decided to break camp at about 6:00 once it got light. It was pretty tough packing up in that kind of wind. It never really did let up and we finally go back out on the road at about 8.

Now you may think this is the end of the adventure but no there is definitely more. It is now Sunday morning and we could easily make it back to church before service starts at 11 but kind of the whole point was to take a week off. So we hatched the plan of stop at Starbucks in the nearest town and then take the scenic route back to Phoenix. Well that sounds good to me and I trust Erin with maps so we decided that we would take 87 to 188 to 88 and then be back on the 60 in Phoenix. Everything was going well. Scenery was nice. Had some caffine. We drove past Roosevelt Lake which was way above its normal level becasue of our really wet winter, and then we got to the junction for 88 and saw the sign for Phoenix 50 something miles. It was shortly followed by a sign that said asphalt ends 1 mile. Hmmm...turn back and go the really long way around or get an extra badge on my man card and drive on a dirt road for a long way. I decided to go with the man card.

The same facebook album has some of the pictures from this 24 mile stretch of dirt road that literally is just sometimes a single lane stuck on the side of a cliff with no guard rails. It was incredible. And we were in our Honda Accord. Looking back, it probably was not as bad as it seemed in the moment. There were beautiful views and overall not that much traffic. I do not really see the need to do it again unless I have to but it was definately an experience I will remember for a long time.

Well this turned into quite the mammoth post. If there is anyone still reading at this point, I applaud you. I will have more posts relating events from the last couple weeks coming up later.

Conveyer Belt

I have felt lately that I am on a conveyer belt with little time to rest and just being bounced from one thing to the next. Here is the list of reasons that I have not posted since last week.

1. Friday - Worked until 5:30 pm had Chris & Jihae Watson over until later in the evening and had a great time.


2. Saturday - Worked in the yard from 10-2


3. Saturday - Spent time with the high school boys that I am mentoring (it happened to be at Ironman) until 6:30 pm (review coming later)


4. Saturday - Went and spend time with our friends Drew & Kristen Roberts and their new baby Cambry until 9:30pm


5. Sunday - Organized and participated in Junior High rush weekend at church from 3:45am until 1:30 pm (I will have a post and some pictures and video of this one later)


6. Sunday - Replaced yet another sprinkler head in the back yard 2pm until 5:30 pm (pictures coming later)


7. Monday - Worked 6:30 am until 5:30 pm


8. Monday - Adult small group 7:30 until 10:30


9. Tuesday - Work 6:30 until 5:30


10. Tuesday - Bringing dinner (and having some) with Drew & Kristen and Cambry, also with Mike & Cindy.

Now this is not a complaint post. I love being involved with friends and with the high school ministry. I also love being able to make progress on our house and on the yard. This weekend was just really full. Getting up at 3:45 is way different than staying up through the night is.

Grand Theft Auto IV

Ok so before anyone forms any opinion right off of the bat, I have not played the game yet. I have rented it but literally not had the time in the last two days. I have been doing a lot of reading up on it and this is part of why I allowed myself to rent the game in the first place.

Most of what you hear (unless like me you listen to more game-centric media) is that GTA is riddled with sex, drugs, hookers, extreme gratuitous violence etc. While I am sure that is true those are not the reasons I am going to explore this game. I am more interested in the technology of this game. First there is a new type of physics engine that has me very intrigued. Watch the demo of it here if you are technically inclined.

Also there are the reviews. I have not played the other GTA games, primarily because they do not interest me and because of the immediate box in which you get placed if you say that you do ie an immoral, violence crazed youth with no sense of decency. However, after reading reviews like the one over at Wired, the sheer magnitude of what Rockstar has gone after appeals to me on different levels beyond just the gaming but actually on a social/cultural commentary level. Here is an excerpt from that review:

The Rockstar developers are utterly in love with the idea of the American city: the riot of decay and grandeur, the garish commercialism, the violence and beauty, the architectural delights hidden in every corner. With GTA IV, Rockstar has produced an ode to urban life. Which is to say, they're not really giving you a game to play with -- they're giving you a city.

Now it certainly ups my level of enthusiam that the city is The City. New York City. Seriously, does it get any better than this. Satire, free roaming, insane levels of detail and New York City.

Finally, there is the level of enthusiam that a game community has for a major release. This happened with Halo 3 on many fronts but just the power of the internet combined with people's willingness to put information out there can be a pretty powerful force. For an example of something really cool check out the Liberty City Google Map complete with the discovered points of interest. 

So am I going to go out and do every single simulated sin imaginable or allowed by the game simply because there are no consequences? Certainly not. Am I going to probably drive a motorcycle up onto a roof and jump it over to another building? Heck yeah. Jump out of helicopters? Yes. Play cops and robbers in online multi-player? I have been waiting for years to do that. Will this game warp me into something that I am not? I am assuming not. Will I be able to enjoy a brand new technological breakthrough and be able to relate better on some level with the youth culture that I am trying to influence? Yes. Game Over.

Sweet water gun

So I saw this in a post over at Uncrate and I had to post it up. I think this is one of the more brilliant ideas that has come out of the water gun industry since I can remember. 

The concept is that instead of the proprietary water tanks or whatever holds the water in guns these days you can just screw on a two liter bottle and away you go. This makes an abunance of sense on so many levels besides just the durablity (ever tried to break a two liter bottle?) Also you don't really have to pay for extra accessories now because who doesn't have two liter bottles laying around? The kicker is that this thing is $8. I almost want kids just so that I can have water fights with them with this thing.

Credits:

Uncrate: Cool Stuff

Super Soaker Bottle Shot

Who am I writing for?

So the question of who do we actually write for was posed by Mark Artrip in a comment this morning. Also there is Jason Rice's most recent post that addresses the issue of bringing out your own personality in a blog and deciding how much to really care. Really, I do not have any answer to the questions yet but maybe I can work through it quickly and for your own amusement. I think there are a couple of scenarios that I will explore before I define this whole blogging thing for myself.

1. I write this for other tech nerds. Sure there is the discussion about who should be called nerd or geek or whatever, or even if the nerd label has gotten "too cool" as was mentioned in this last issue of Wired magazine. I think that the problem with writing for tech nerds would be that tech people already dominate the internet in almost every way imaginable so what do I really have to add that is not somewhere else? Any foray into making this an actual tech blog would result in 200 links to sources in every post and that is way too much work for my level of dedication to this blogging endeavor.


2. I write this for general consumption. This is a strong contender because I do consider myself at least semi-well rounded in a lot of different areas. Over enough time I think that I will have probably covered a very broad spectrum of categories and part of my hope would be that I could offer some small additional insight or perspective to whatever it is that I am talking about at that moment. Maybe I am not really cool enough or have enough "experience" or whatever to have anybody listen to me but I don't care. Whatever.


3. I write this for my friends. I subscribe to several different blogs of close friends and I find it interesting to keep in touch this way. I do not have to feel bad about not calling and really when you think about it, blogging is just long-hand multi-media capable texting. I think a primary purpose is to let my friends, especially long distance ones, know how things are going in my life.


4. I write this for myself. Maybe this is the acceptable nerdy way of keeping a diary, or at least fulfilling the same purpose in a physiological sense that writing in a diary would meet. Does that mean that I am going to spew forth my thoughts unfiltered to the whole world? Certainly not. Does it mean that I can use this place as a space to quickly post my thoughts on a subject for quick reference at a later point? Absolutely.

So what is my conclusion? Who do I write this for and for whom do I put forth this effort? I think that first 

and foremost I write with my friends in mind. Second I write to relive stress or take a break during the day. Finally for anyone else that does not fit into those two very narrow categories, I write for you to have a glimpse into what I am all about. Maybe we will meet one day and then you can start telling me about myself and it will be really creepy and awkward.

So who do I want to read this blog? Everyone. I am really addicted to looking at my blog stats.

Realistic Nintendo Characters

Ok so I have been sketchy lately about posting here. I used to be on a two or three a day pace but have gotten much busier at work leaving less down time for even short posts here and there. I write this morning to those of you who grew up playing (or still play) the Mario franchise games. I came across an interesting project from some genius photoshopper who made a photorealistic Mario face.



I took the larger picture just so that you could be immersed in the total creepiness of what Mario would look like. Not only would you not want to be him or hang out with him, but you would probably steer your kids away from anyone with a molestache that prominent.

Of course there is no point of having Mario if he does not have a nemesis. We all know Bowser but I never thought that I would end up liking Bowser better than Mario. The rendering of him is below.



So here is my final thought on this. Nintendo, shame on you for duping entire generations of kids into playing with a creepy plumber. I used to be proud that Mario was Italian but not anymore. Mario for heavens sake shave that creep 'stache dude. Bowser you rock. I would say go ahead and eat Mario, in fact it almost makes me want to bust out my Nintendo and get to the final fight and just stand there. It would mean one less creepy weirdo wandering the virtual streets of video game lore.

Credits:

Gaming Today: Realistic Bowser

Gaming Today: Realistic Mario

Lawn - Grass cutting device

Ok so one of the most stereotypically dreaded chores in the world is probably doing the laundry. It never ends. Ever. I think that someday I will post about the never ending doom that is the laundry but today is not that day.

A chore that probably goes right up there with laundry is cutting the grass. It is also a chore that for the most part never ends. Sure those of you in the Northern climates get a reprive during the winter months but it is not as though you ever get to wake up one day and think "wow I finally finished that grass cutting project, I can check that off my list until the next time we refinance and want a different style of grass."

So because taking care of the grass is a never ending project and it is typically a mans job to do on a Saturday or Sunday it is appropriate to want the biggest and baddest lawn cutting device on the block if not in the entire neighborhood. Well friends and colleagues I would like to present to you the most ridiculously awesome lawn mower that I have ever seen. I think that I would have to be issued a second man card just to ride on this thing. All other lawn mowers wet themselves in its presence. No but seriously if you wouldn't get excited just by looking at the picture, read the description and stats. It makes me want acreage just so that I could mow it.

Because few words are sweeter to the lawn-manicuring man than "world's fastest lawn mower," we present you with the Dixie Chopper Xcaliber ($11,400). With a huge 74-inch cutting deck, this beast speeds along at 15 mph, letting you cut down over 9 acres an hour. And even though, at those speeds, you won't be out on the lawn all day, the Xcaliber also features a 12-volt adapter to charge your iPod or cell phone.

Ok so here is my problem. Well really there are several. The first one is that I do not have $11,400. The second is that I live in Phoenix which means that while I have grass, it is a patch that is really just there for token reminder that there is grass in other places in the world. This mower would sit on my yard and basically cut the whole thing in two passes. So what is a Phoenician going to do?

Well turns out the good folks at Uncrate are in a summery mood lately and they threw up another lawn mower recently that more accurately fits my bill in more ways than one. Behold finally a semi-affordable battery operated lawn mower. It can run for about 60 minutes on a charge and is silent. That I think would be so sweet. Also who wants to have to spend a couple of bucks in gas to fill up their stupid lawn mower. Not me! With gas the way that it is right now the extra price that you pay for the tech will actually pay for itself much faster than it would have two or three years ago. So I am officially adding this to my new wishlist.

Remove the hassle of mixing gas from your mowing routine and help out the environment with the Neuton Battery-Powered Mower ($480). Like conventional mowers, the Neuton includes a mulching plug, bagger, and side discharge chute, but unlike conventional mowers, it's powered by a rechargeable 24-volt battery that provides enough juice for 45-60 minutes of mowing per charge. Plus, it's nearly silent - just turn the safety knob, squeeze the handlebar, and mow.

Ok so sure I might lose a little bit of manliness on the lime green coloring of this mower, but seriously, it is small, agile and gets the job done quickly. On a side note if you watch The Office you know that last part was one of the biggest setups of all time. If you don't then you have no idea and that is ok as well.

The Office: Night Out

So I do love The Office. I am so glad that it is back on. That writers strike was a killer for me. Heroes MIA, The Office halted, Lost halted, Smallville...it was pretty rough. For those of you who missed it last night the episode was pretty good. I have to say I miss the days when they started it off with a prank on Dwight. Ever since they all became friends it is like they are grasping for something to replace it and have not quite found that magic again. I think it will come back around but in the mean time check out the latest episode below:

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.518519&w=425&h=350&fv=] from www.hulu.com

The Wii is a virus

Ok by now if you read my blog regularly at all or you just know me you know that I have an Xbox 360 as my console of choice. I think that despite it being from the evil empire in Redmond it does offer the best mix of good games and cost but it is because no one else has anything like XBox Live.



Regardless, last year (actually late 2006) a game called Gears of War was made that truly rocked the socks off of a lot of people myself included and dominated may must play lists for a while and some people still obsess about it. Well if you follow gaming then you know that GoW 2 is slated to come out this year sometime and the gaming world is getting ready for it. There are a lot of gamers that will guaranteed never get to play it on their console of choice the Wii.

Below is a quote from the President of Epic Games (the company responsible for Gears and also for Unreal Tournament) which I think sums up to a T the reason I will not own a Wii and why I think that its dominance may last on the units sold column but will not hold steady in the long term against the technical superiority of the other two consoles.

It’s a virus where you buy it and you play it with your friends and they’re like, “Oh my God that’s so cool, I’m gonna go buy it.” So you stop playing it after two months, but they buy it and they stop playing it after two months but they’ve showed it to someone else who then go out and buy it and so on. Everyone I know bought one and nobody turns it on. Obviously there’s a class of people who really love it and enjoy it and are getting into the games but I’m still waiting for that one game that makes me play it.

This pretty much sums up the people that I know as well. Sure there are the "Nintendo fanboys" who have to own every game that has a major Nintendo franchise character plastered on the box which means that of course Smash Brothers has been a success and so has Mario Galaxy. But for those of us who do not care about a kid oriented Street Fighter using historical Nintendo characters, or who think that swimming with sting rays is lame then what do you have for me? The novelty of flailing your arms in the "real motion" wears thin after you figure out that a simple wrist flick is not only more effective but can be done sitting on the couch, bowling works the best in my opinion but then you realize that YOU ARE BOWLING on a $200 system which last time I checked is like 100 games of bowling...

So do I think that Nintendo is a sinking ship? Of course not you can't sink when everybody and their mom buys your console. Do I plan on ever owning one? Also of course not. Do I think that the comment from Epic could be detremental to the sales curve that Nintendo has experienced? Yes I do. Epic is a big player and other developers will take notice so will real gamers who may have been on the fence about adding a Wii to their entertainment center.

Really sum it up this way. Does the cover of the first game look like it will give you more action and intensity or does the cover of the second game look more appealing to you? There is a place for everyone but I know where mine is.

Stuff White People Like #96

So I read this blog which is published only when they have something really perfect. The most recent post was for New Balance sneakers. 

I have to say that after reading it I was not as impressed as with some of the other posts that they have had. Maybe my friends are not quite that white but I will agree with the part about sneakers by the door, there is always at least one pair. 

So if you are white and have shoes go check out this post. It is at least worth the read.

You Tube Videos

Ok so I promise that I will not make a habit of posting random videos on my blog but for a video of this much brilliance I have to make an exception. In the game Halo 3 one of the weapons is a sniper rifle and when you are able to shoot somebody in the head without using your scope especially at a long distance it is referred to as a "no scope" and is usually something that that person brags about not only during the game but afterwards to the person who was no scoped.

Turns out that working with high school kids has some advantages: I never have to go looking for funny videos on You Tube because they have way more free time and find the funny ones for me. So here is a really good video. I laughed out loud and if you have ever played a first person shooter you might at least chuckle.



Update: It said the video wasn't available any longer so I redid the link

End of the Day

I took a nap this afternoon. I stayed up until 1:30 this morning playing Bully: Scholorship Edition on my 360. Sure that still makes me ultra nerdy but I figure you only have so long without kids and you might as well use that time to do whatever you want to.

So I got up and it was all good, I made Erin breakfast, we took Java to the dog park for an hour or so and then we came back and I cleaned out the pool vacuum and then started to get really tired. Maybe it was the lesser amount of sleep. Maybe it was that my alternative was doing yardwork yet again or dishes in the kitchen or laundry. Out of those choices I will choose to catch up on a mid-morning nap any day.

Then Erin left to go and take pictures of a wedding, and I stayed home for a couple more hours and played Bully until I left for church and ran media for the church service. It was a really good service and the lamb that we brought in as the visual aid pooped three times which was awesome...so yeah I didn't think that it would get any better but then the guys trounced the girls in Trivia Pursuit at Mike & Cindy's house after church so it did get better. I was able to actually use some of that extra homeschooled knowledge and answered a majority of questions for my team. It can be satisfying to know that every once in a while all that useless stuff is still there for me to draw on at a moments notice.

Final thought is that because we got home after 11 I had to stand up Jesse Felix on our Halo 3 appointment. We were going to get together and play the new legendary maps but it would not have been fair to my wife to let her go to bed by herself two nights in a row due to video games. I am white and nerdy but do have a heart.

I think that I am beginning to ramble or at least have nothing else to say. Good night. Although this brings me to something about wordpress that really bugs me. Even though I set the time in my settings for this blog, it still changes my day stats in the middle of the day, and this post will probably be listed as on the 20th even though I am most certainly posting at the end of the 19th. May not seem like a big deal but it would seem like a simple thing to keep it as local time for my own blog. Crap now I am getting mad and less tired...hmmm...boring stuff...Windows Vista and all of its amazing features...

Dan in Real Life

I am a big Steve Carell fan. I watch the Office and am excited that it is back. I have been looking forward to seeing this movie for a while and then I heard that it is actually good so we rented it. I will make the rest of this post after we watch it and see if my enthusiasm is justified or not.

Erin's comment was that "It wasnt about what I thought it was going to be about." I kind of agree with that. I was expecting it to be all at his house and getting through every day life or "Real Life" if you will but it was about this extended holiday at his parents house in Rhode Island.

I think my real problem with this movie is that although it was supposedly set in Rhode Island, there was no mention of Quahog, and last time I checked that is pretty much the only real town in Rhode Island. If you don't know what I am talking about click here for some education. 

Overall I would say that it was a pretty good movie. Different than I was expecting but a good date movie for sure. It was extremely clean and I would have no qualms about recommending it to anyone. However, if you are looking for an in depth analysis of the characters (they were appropriate if a bit stereotypical) or the script (enjoyable if a bit slow) or the acting (cast perfectly all around, even Dane Cook who I was worried would annoy me and didn't) then you have come to the wrong place. But if you are looking for something short and sweet to let you know if you should see a movie, then you are already done. And now I have nothing else to say but finishing before the end of the picture would look weird.

Dirty Italian

Call me a dirty Italian if you want to but I have a soft spot in my heart and mind for a cool fedora. I found this one over at Uncrate. It does have some level of appeal to me although thepattern is not really my style. Also there is the issue that it is made by Fox Racing which means that since I participate in almost no outdoor activities I would be certainly and accurately portrayed as a poser if I donned this hat. However if you want to look greasy and like dirt then this could be your lucky day.

Greatest Gift

I have begun work on possibly one of the greatest most appropriate gifts for anyone that I have ever thought of. I know that there are better gifts like saving their life or paying off their mortgage but I think that this gift when completed might rank up there although maybe in a different category. I have wanted to do this for a couple of years now but am just finally getting around to it. I may or may not do updates on the progress of this as I am unsure of how much I want to be know about this. Just know, it could be for either of you.

The Newseum

I am a bit of a news junkie, a bit of a collections junkie, and a bit of a design junkie. What in the world do all of these things have to do with each other you might ask? Well first I will talk about what I found yesterday and then in some later posts I will detail my other collections.

I found the an amazing site for reading the important news events in the world yesterday. Technically i did not find it I clicked on the link provided by TUAW and proceeded to lose my mind over a site called The Newseum. Although that link is not to the home page it is to the part of the site that i care most about, the display of the front page of 627 daily newspapers from 58 different countries.

Now you might ask something like "Dan when there are sites like Google news or Reuters why would you bother with an archaic format like the front page representation of a dying industry?" First I would say something like "you talk a lot like me that is kind of cool" or "that was a strange sentence structure, I am not entirely sure that worked out like you planed." but then I would tell you that I like the more local flavor that I can get by reading the same story in the Times from three different cities and I like to note the design differences that abound between my papers of choice.

Now if at this point you are saying ok big deal I can click through a whole bunch of PDFs that are really annoying because I have to scroll down to the different regions that I am interested in this is really time consuming. That is what i thought as well but then I came across this link and it made the whole thing more worthwhile.

If you actually went over there bravo. For those of you who didnt the summary is that Dave Bednarski wrote a script for Automator (nice program if you want to geek out your Apple) that takes the URL link to the pdf from Newseum downloads it and then combines the front pages of all of your selected newspapers into a single PDF that opens in preview when the workflow is done running. When that is done you can set iCal to run the script at a certain time every day and the end result is the major headlines from every paper you could want delivered to your desktop every morning without you having to do anything. Click here if you want to download the script.

I really like it so far although I think I got a little trigger happy with newspapers I thought I might want to read. Happy newsing.

Lack of Posting

So yesterday at about 11:15pm I suddenly realized that I did no posts for Thursday. I felt sad, dissappointed in myself and even though both of you probably did not even notice, I felt like I did a small disservice in not putting up some of the really cool things that I found online yesterday.

It was in all honesty a pretty decent day. I was able to get some major work done on the spreadsheets that I have been working on and so that was nice to be able to wrap up this morning for our client meeting this afternoon. I have a shot of it and keep in mind that we used $100k because anything more just gets ridiculous with the number of zeros and we just really look at the percentages and ratios. 

Then I was able to also make some significant progress in some of the more mundane details surrounding our marble and the minutia of how we want our phone system programmed. 

Then I was at church for a media team meeting which was good and also a presentation for a new ministry looking for volunteers. Turns out I already do a ton but they of course need a media/tech team so I will probably end up training their people at the very least anyway. Not that I mind at all. I really actually enjoy it but I think that in this particular instance they will need 30-40 people when it is all said and done and that the 10-15 hours per month are probably about half for the people who are the core of it. That being said good ministry even if the presentation was three times longer than we were told that it was going to be.

More on the goodness that was yesterdays internet coming later this afternoon.

What I am listening to

I thought that I would throw up a little video showing what I am listening to. I could post it in a boring old list spreadsheet style with hundreds of links to the song, album and artists but what fun would that be. See if you can recall the band based on the album art.

New Object of Desire

So I have been looking for a messenger bag for a while now. By a while I mean probably six years or so. I just think that they look cool and I carry a lot of stuff in my pockets so it just makes sense to have a bag. Backpacks are kind of out of the question for a more professional environment so it needed to be something that looks good and functions for all the stuff I carry.

There was one way back in the day from American Eagle that was perfect, looked good and was cheap. I didn't have a laptop at the time so it would have been a bit frivolous. Incidentally if you clicked on that link, I looked and they do not have messenger bags anymore so that is why it is just the home page.

I have been drooling over some of the different Fossil bags that have come and gone over the years but again without a laptop it has been hard to justify the $150 or so that a good bag costs. Well hold on kids because I found something today that put Fossil entirely out of my mind.

Behold the original postal messenger from JCrew. This is what I have been looking for most of my adult life and finally someone made it just for me. Just read this description and tell me it does not sound amazing.

A handcrafted collector's item in meticulously finished American leather. J.Crew has faithfully re-created the beautiful, oil-tanned mailbags carried by the US Postal Service from 1868 until the 1970s, when the original leather satchels were replaced by blue nylon bags. Designed to last a lifetime and improve with age, our hand-oiled, hand-stained, hand-burnished postal messengers are sewn by experienced artisans on century-old leather machines. Each piece of leather is carefully selected for quality; each historically correct, heavy copper rivet is set by hand. As a result, each "original" leather postal messenger is a one-of-kind with its own unique character. Buckle-strap closure on flap. Interior back wall patch pocket. 1" adjustable shoulder strap with leather shoulder protector fully extends to 46". 

So you are probably saying "Dan why don't you run down to your local JCrew and pick one of these babies up?" I would respond with "It is eight hundred freaking dollars!" Or maybe put another way "I could have this bag or I could pay my mortgage and go swimming in my pool whenever I feel like it." This leads to the question "Why does everything so good have to be so expensive?" Is it so that they can say that it was made on a 100 year old leather machine? How much value does that truely add? They probably got those machines out of the trash and fixed them up and now charge this small fortune because it has even more vintage credit.

I am too annoyed to write anymore about this. If you want some laughs about vintage items then read this post.

GrabUp

So I was browsing around and stumbled upon the unofficial apple weblog. At the very top of the page was a little post for an application called GrabUp. The description sounds good enough and so I went to the site and downloaded it.



What it does is let you do the typical screen grab command (command shift 4 for the uninitiated) and then it automatically uploads the shot to their server and puts the URL for the hosted image on your clipboard. This means that the image above was done with literally one click and two command functions.

For those of you who care about some of the more technical details it is a system preferences pane that resides up in your menu bar if you want it to which means that it also gives you really easy access to past screenshots through its drop down menu.

If you are into screen grabs like I am then this is a killer app that is free give it some love.

Victory is Mine!

I finally wrangled down the contractor on costs. Holy crap! This has been a long time coming. I declared I was done with the financial part of this contract two weeks ago and that got me absolutely nowhere. This time I am going to refrain from such a proclamation. Still, hooray for major progress and a sense of accomplishment in the workplace. Also hooray for marble work surfaces throughout the office! I am now officially getting excited to move in to the new offices.

Remember Ring

Ok so this is something that I have not had the need for yet. However it is impossible to think of Marraige without the stereotypical situation of the man forgetting the anniversary or valentines day or birthday or all of the above.

This is the solution to all of those fears/nights of sleeping on the couch. This is a picture of the Remember Ring which promises to help you remember the date of whatever event you are afraid of forgetting. Personally I think that heating the metal up to 120 degrees for 10 seconds every hour for a day could result in some kind of burns for people with sensitive skin. hey who doesnt have sensative skin under their ring there is never any sun and it always looks white and pasty under there. Anyway also not worth the money because I do not plan on forgetting the important dates in my life but for those of you who are not so confident feel free to check it out.

You can check out the original post from Uncrate Cool Stuff or you can go direct to the manufacturer and get yours today.

Update: Turns out that this product is a concept right now and is not in stock. Maybe if you really want it bad write to them and they will make it for you. Still it is kind of a cool concept if nothing else.

Big Day

No this is not a big day for any of the traditional reasons that someone might say it is a big day. I am not buying a house, having a child, getting a new car or going on vacation. This is the look of someone who is watching the Legendary Map Pack download onto his Xbox 360. So not only do I plan on playing those sometime during the day but my actual playing of them will be delayed by a Rock Band party tonight at church.

We are having an event for the high school kids who do not have a small group so kind of an outreach to church kids. It should be a lot of fun and I am still totally excited for it. I think some of my boys will be there and that would be amazing because they totally shred.

Work actually could be significant as well. I finally got the change order paperwork from the contractor after two weeks of hounding on a daily basis. I looked over them briefly and I am pretty sure that they included things that were already in the contract so I am bracing myself for having to tell them that after all this time and all of my clarification to make sure they did their job they really did not. I think that (my apologies if you are or are related to a contractor) contractors really have no business sense. They are great at the mechanical building and even good at the organization of that but when it comes to being accurate with numbers, holy crap has this been a nightmare of inaccuracies.

Maybe more later probably be a busy day. At least shots tomorrow of playing games.

bedtime

So when all the shouting was over I finally was able to get the wireless rock band guitar. I believe (according to the Gamestop guy and their website) that I got the last one in the entire Phoenix metro area and I have to say that makes me feel special.

I played with it a little bit tonight and it is so liberating to not have a wire tying me to the TV. The downside is that the buttons and strum bar are a bit stiff. I think that your skills develop along with your guitar it becomes part of your skill and there is a learning curve to pick up any other one besides your main one. That may sound stupid to those of you who don't play but I stick by it.

So seriously though, 11:15 time for bed.

new look - Freshy Theme

I wanted to do this theme from the beginning but could not design an original banner that was that small. So now that I already had a banner for the bigger banner on my old theme, it was much easier to reduce and reposition existing layers.

It is highly likely that neither of my readers will care about this, but for my own preference, I think that this theme looks much nicer and is easier to work with and easier on the eyes.

Partial Update - Girls should not work in video game stores!

So I posted a preview of my day today and one of the things on the list was getting the Rock Band wireless guitar for my 360. I was told on Friday that there were a couple that had been reserved but not picked up and that if I came by on Monday I could get one if they had not been claimed. Sounds good.

I went in there this morning at 10:05. The girl behind the counter was talking to someone (sounded like a BF) and finally asked me "what do you want?" I explained the situation and what I had been told and she went into the back and looked and came out saying that they only had PS3 versions and the 360 version does not come out until Wednesday. I left knowing that I would not get anywhere trying to recount a conversation I had with someone else.

 Incidently this is a screenshot from the Gamestop website that I first came across on Thursday. I didn't want to wait to ship it so I checked my local store which is what prompted the above situation. If you notice there is a little stock availability next to the item on the page so I called Legacy Village and they are holding one for me.

This is why girls should not work in video game stores. They do not care enough about what they are doing to get accurate information. Not only is the guitar released, it is selling from your website and has already stocked and sold out of a sister store 12 miles away! I really despise incompetence especially when it means that I have to inconvenience my schedule. I should have just had it shipped last week...

Thoughts About Church

I was going through some of the past posts on Patrick Rice's blog and came across one that gave me pause because it hits near home with what I am involved in. I read through both Patricks and his friend Scott's posts and I do agree with them both to a point. So below are my thoughts kind of as they came to me without any real editing so if it does not make any sense, I apologize.

I guess I would just say that you should not as a local church body try and be something that you are not. If you are made up of poor college students and that is who you all want to keep on ministering to then by all means do it. If you are in a really conservative environment and it is expected by some people that the pastor should wear a "tie" or "slacks" when he is "preaching" then by all means, those people need to be fed and ministered to as well.

On the other hand, I personally am heavily involved at one of these "churchasaurus'" and work on the environment and atmospheric team no less. The pressure that we put on ourselves as a team to make the atmosphere not only as inviting as possible but also the most conducive for worship and learning is intense to put it mildly. However it is worth it all when we can look back and say that the atmosphere and the environment helped put enough seeking people at ease that God brought more than 150 people to himself last year. We just had a baptism service yesterday after church and around 50 people were baptized, most for the first time.

I guess I am saying that as someone who is involved in the church environment and is on a team that works on the "sex appeal" of what we present it is certainly not for every church out there nor is it for every demographic. There needs to be a mix and local churches are parts of an overall body just like each of us are as well. We all have different parts to play. Our church is about life change (I actually came up with the slogan on the website during a branding brainstorming session) and everything that we do goes to facilitate that happening. 

As for the references to trying to be to excellent or trying to put too much emphasis on excellence I would say that is a big bogus. Excellence does not have to be in the same areas for everyone. We just moved into an eight million dollar building that is not even finished yet but the parts that we were able to complete are done with excellence. It does not mean that if you cant be the best in the county don't try something, what it means is that what you do attempt do it to the best ability that your resources both human and financial will allow.

For me excellence means that if our lighting cues just got changed right before the service we go down and rebalance the cameras so that it is not distracting to someone who is trying to pay attention to what the pastor is saying. For someone else it might mean that as a solo worship leader they practice their songs one more time before Sunday morning to make sure they do not make a distracting mistake during worship time. Whatever the situation do it in such a way that at the end of the day everything was done in a way that allowed guests and regular attenders to get as close to God as possible. That is what I strive for when I volunteer.

All that was kind of just coming to me. Not really sure if it all makes sense or if it sounds stupid but I just wanted to throw something out there from the perspective of one of those "sex appeal" churches.