Million Dollar Arms

Some of you may have heard about the two Indian pitchers who were signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates. What you may not realize is exactly what they went through to get there.

This makes me curious to see how the sport carries over in India and abroad. For the most part, the sport is only on the radar in the western hemisphere. In any case, it's a good story and I wish these two guys the best.

Dogs love snow!!!

[via CuteOverload]

iChat, sorry I've neglected you

A couple weeks I sent a message out to everyone on my list on Adium that I would be moving to AIM and if anyone needed to find me, that's where I'd be.

Not one person switched over.

It's not that I'm not liked. I usually end up talking to someone online during the day. It's more of a stubbornness to switch. People I talk to have built up such a base on Yahoo, nobody's going to move. I went through these same trials with another individual with Skype about a month ago.

The problem I have is that Yahoo Messenger on the Mac is a sad excuse for a program of any kind. It's buggy (still in beta), eats memory, and just feels bulky. Further, even after over two years of work on the current version, there's a poor form of voice support and nothing for conferences.

Meanwhile, I have this app that came with my Mac, iChat, that sits dormant for the most part. I'd much rather use this slice of technology for many reasons.

iChat's voice support is by far the best available on the Mac. Further, I can get a multi-person voice conference going in seconds, which I can then import into Garage Band and start a radio-style podcast if I like. Video chats are also awesome on iChat, with some neat features embedded into that option. I can share photos and video in full screen as well as start a video conference in full screen with up to three other people, all in the H.264 codec, giving near HD quality.

Further, iChat just feels like part of my system, where other applications feel, well, like they're from a third party. I've managed to work with Adium, the great multi-client IM client for the Mac, but it offers no video or voice.

So, I'm taking this time to appoligize to iChat for never using you. It's nothing personal.

Sneaux Cajuns

Yup, it's snowing in Louisiana!

There's a major difference in the states of mind of people from different locations when it comes to snow. Down here in the Deep South, it's a novelty. It doesn't usually do this kind of thing around here, so its fun to us down here.

Up north, when I lived in Nebraska, it was always cool when that first snow came. But, after that first month, you became sick of the crap and grew ready for Spring.

All the above photos are from the Baton Rouge/Lafayette areas in Louisiana (about 250 miles west of me) via TwitPic, a service used for sending pictures from Twitter.

Rappers I Know Podcast XIII “FWMJ’s Revenge”

Rappers I Know Podcast XIII “FWMJ’s Revenge”

Posted using ShareThis

How I use Twitter

Some of you reading this may be asking, "What is Twitter?"

Twitter in it's simplest form is a micro-blogging service where users post their day-to-day events in their lives. All post are kept in 140 characters or less, so they can fit within a text message. Beyond that, you can choose to follow other users and even interact with them, sending them messages directly.

When I first signed up to the service, I was skeptical about it. My thought was, "Why would I want to do this?" But, I started anyway and found myself quickly hooked on the service.

Many of my first followed users were in the design field. But this quickly spread into other areas:

News - One of the areas this service has gained an incredible level of use was when news outlets signed up. From my local newspaper, The Pensacola News-Journal, or bigger outlets like CNN or the BBC, news can be passed along fairly quickly, making your Twitter feed something like an RSS feed. In fact, that's essentially how it works, as the websites of these sources are linked up to the RSS feeds on the site through something like Twitterfeed, where they're passed on to you.

Further, I've had a few cases in which I've heard about news before the news outlets reported it, as with the most recent Los Angeles earthquake or the attacks in India.

Politics - 2008 marked a change in politics in the way the politicians connected with the world. Barack Obama proved himself to be extremely tech savvy, using Twitter as one of his many tools. Mostly, it was to announce where he was speaking or to post a direct link to live video of an event, but occasionally, he (or a publicist) would take the time to answer a question. Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, and Al Gore are among the list of other public figures to have Twitter accounts.

Music - Many musicians are on Twitter. Questlove of the Roots is one of those that use it the most often that I've seen, as he'll post frequent reports from his tour stops while chatting between other musicians and fans, giving a really good inside glimpse of what things are like in his eyes. Even more cool, one artist in particular, 88-Keys, took the time out to thank me for the kind words I've said about his newest album, "The Death of Adam". Twitter has been a major way in which musicians can connect with their fans.

Sports - Much like the news outlets, sports news outlets have used Twitter in the same way. One of my favorites is the account for SLAM Magazine, a basketball publication, and it's adjoining website, SLAMOnline [Twitter]. The man behind the account will hold conversation with you from time to time as well.

Tech - Again, much like news outlets, techies can get a good fill of tech news on Twitter. Scott Beale, the man behind The Laughing Squid, and Jason Snell of Macworld have accounts, as do many tech publications and blogs.

Bloggers - Bloggers and podcasters are using Twitter a lot. If you see a blog nowadays, it probably has a Twitter account attached to it. My boy, Owen JJ Stone aka Ohdoctah has an account, along with Justine "iJustine" Ezarik and Digg founder Kevin Rose. As of today, this blog is now hooked up to Twitter, also.

So, how do I use Twitter? Basically, in combination of all the things I've mentioned above. Everything from my blog updates, to my daily events, to my random thoughts are posted throughout the day.

If you're on Twitter, how do you use it? If you're not on Twitter, feel free to sign up and give it a try and feel free to follow me in the process. Twitter is extremely accessible, allowing you to update through their site or via cell phone, or through any of the numerous Twitter clients available here.

Happy tweeting!

First Month in Florida

It's been almost a month since I returned to Pensacola to live. I have to say that things are going good, for the most part.

I returned here on November 7 after being gone for 14 years. I only had two visits back since my move to Nebraska, and the late one in March of 2007 really stirred the pot for me on returning here. Pretty much since the day I left, I've been itching to get back. Nothing against Lincoln, Nebraska, where I was living for the majority of this time, but there was always a bit of culture shock to me in living there and I always felt like there was something missing. Even now that I'm back, I can't really put my finger on it, but I feel like I'm where I belong.

The ball really got rolling for me when my Nevada experience failed and the reality hit I needed to move before things got really bad. I figured I only had two options, Lincoln or Pensacola, where I have a parent in each location. I simply didn't feel I could return to Lincoln to live again, so I returned for a month to get my barrings back, and made it back out here a month later. It would of been sooner if it wasn't for the fact that my Pontiac Sunfire went to crap on me halfway back to Lincoln in Wyoming. Frankly, the entire month of September of this year can go nuke itself for all I care. I guess these kind of things are supposed to make me stronger.

So, how have things been? Like I said, good for the most part. The only issues I'm having are job related, as in I can't get anyone to bite. But, other than being broke and sometimes bored, I'm doing ok. Honestly, just being back in my old stomping grounds is usually enough to keep my spirits up. I've been doing a lot of walking around West Pensacola, just taking in the city around me. While it's not the best looking city in the world, it's what's familiar to me and really what built a large part of my make-up as a kid. I'm sure its much of the same thing that drug my mom back to Nebraska after the long time she was gone.

Anyway, nothing too much to report at this time, or at least that I can think of. I'll make another post if something else comes to mind.

My Wish List

Let me first say, I don't totally feel comfortable asking for stuff for Christmas this year, being that I've been out of work for the past two months and couldn't immediently return the favor. That said, I will return the favor when I'm able to.

I also understand that the Christmas season isn't about gift giving, but about it's religious tie-ins. However, in my family, this time of year has turned more into a customary ritual, and in my dad & step-mom's case, a celebration of their anniversary. So, it would feel weird to not do anything at all, wether it be in late December or sometime in January.

With all of this, I've been doing some thinking on what will I use and continue using. With a little help from Kevin Rose's Top 10 Gifts for Geeks, I've compiled this list with explanations and links.

Kodak Zi6 ($159-$189) - My career focus has gone from primarily web development to primarily video editing. I found when I did my video editing class in college that this is something I love. I have found more than a few openings in every market that I've searched in, so it seems like more of a guarantee that I could find work in this field. Problem is, I need a portfolio and my little digital camera doesn't quite fit the bill on what I want to do.

Enter the Kodak Zi6, a little pocket-sized HD camcorder that would be perfect for the things I want to shoot. Further, it offers an expandable SD memory slot, much like you'd see in a digital camera, and the rechargeable batteries can be replaced, something the Flip Mino HD that I was considering can't say. While these cameras don't do everything a standard HD camcorder would do, such as offer an optical zoom, it fits the minimal needs I'm looking for and comes in a convenient package.



Final Cut Express ($199) - This is Apple's industry standard video editing software. While Apple's iMovie '08 has done everything I wanted to to allow me to post video's to the web, it's not an industry standard. So, my plan has been to learn Final Cut inside and out on my own, since I only scratched the surface on it in college.

Flickr Pro subscription ($25) - Flickr is primarily a place to share photos with the world. However, they just recently gave users the option to upload videos that are 90 seconds or less, a feature I'm going to look to take advantage of. You can use Flickr for free, but they limit you on everything, including the number of albums you can have and you can't actually upload video until you pay. Talk about a pain. A yearly subscription takes those limitations away. Note: You can't gift these subscriptions, so I'd have to have the money sent my way.

HDMI cable ($5) - Simply put, I want HD with the Playstation 3. Would you believe if you look in most stores, these cables sell for $50 and more. However, if you look on Amazon, they run around $5.

iTunes Gift Cards ($15-$100) - I own an iPhone and I want more applications for it. These cards come in basically any amount you can afford.

Wall-E Blu-Ray Collectors' Edition ($24 from Amazon) - I love Pixar movies.



LittleBigPlanet for Playstation 3 ($60 and lower) - LittleBigPlanet is a game that puts you in the place of a little sock boy (think something like a voodoo doll) and lets you navigate this world with him. You can also dress him up and do plenty of other things with him. But, the biggest calling cards of this game are the multi-player online play and the world creation editor where you can create entire environments and objects, and then share them online. I always look for replay value when it comes to games, and this game offers plenty of replay value.



Hope this helps everyone. I hope everyone has a great holiday.

Revelations

I've come to a point where I have to clean up things in my life. I mentioned that I had a situation with a supposed friend this weekend. Last night, I had a face to face talk with this person. I was open to the discussion and after weighing a lot of factors, decided that curtain steps must be taken.

I know first and foremost I need to be free of the company that I've had basically for the last month. Every weekend with this company, there would be way too much liquor than reasonable, to the extent that two consecutive Sundays I came into work hungover and overtired. This all reached it apex this weekend where arguments broke out that carried through the weekend and ended up dragging one person, who I care about an awful lot, into the fray when they didn't need to be.

I know that the root of a lot of this is the excessive drinking that happens within this group. I'm not a drinker by nature, nor to I want to become one. For the sake of self-preservation and as a way to work my way out of this group, I'm not drinking for at least a month. This will be a chance for me to clear my head and think straight. There's also the hope that I'll become boring because I'd rather sit there with a Coke, that doesn't contain any rum.

The other move I'm making is I'm getting back into shape. I was fortunate enough to receive a bike for free last night and went on my first right tonight. Obviously, hills kill me at the moment, but I'm hoping within the month I'll be able to handle those.

Outside of the obvious physical benefits, I'm hoping to receive some mental ones as well. I've been experiencing some depression and self-doubt, and I've had major trust issues ever since an incident back in November where a so-called best friend allowed me to get robbed in my own house, only to do nothing after the fact to show that she even cared to rectify it. This was also another situation where I was drinking constantly. I'm seeing a pattern here. It was so bad, I damn near ruined my schooling. My head has been a trip ever since.

I have a friend that was willing to lend me a book, and I hope that she still does. I'll take anything I can get at this point. I wrote on my tumblr a month ago that I feel like I'm at square one. I'm even more so now. Further, I received constant reminders that I'm better than the situation at hand while on my drunken walk home on Saturday morning. Those declarations are finally sinking in.

The whole ordeal has been a painful, embarrassing, and soul-wrenching. I hope that I've finally learned the affects that liquor does to me in large doses. I also hope to prove to myself the kind of inner strength I have within me. I hope to have some support with this, but if I have to do it alone, then that's what I'll do.

It's me time.

Stress

I'm tired. Plain and simple. I'm at a point where I feel I have no concept of what good people are because the ones I tend to let in close tend to burn me in the end. That is something that really wants to make you give up on people all together. If it wasn't for a couple of bright spots this weekend, I probably would.

Anyway, here's the situation as a whole. I got out Friday night, something that I didn't really want to do. As I told one friend, I really wanted to conveniently disappear so that I wouldn't be home when the cavalry came callin. But I went out anyway. Drank a lot, something else I really don't like to do. One or two drinks with friends is cool. But, drinking to prove my tolerance is very... amateur?.... freshman?.... to me. Then, I have to watch one individual selfishly cross the line repeatedly concerning another friend's boyfriend. Instead of letting the issue go, he keeps running off at the mouth about it, then pulls the whole "anything that happens to you happens to me" card.... I'm sorry, that's happening to her and her only, nobody else.

Follow this up with me walking home because said friend couldn't get laid this given night, so he ends up messing with the depressed fat girl from work, right in front of me. Me, refusing to put up with such a spectacle, just got up and left. No call from said friend to check in. Nothing. I'm just left to do my own thing.

Having to vent to somebody, I call the one person who earlier opened up to me earlier in the week, so this person had to be someone I could spill stuff out to. Thankfully, I was right or else that would of been a lonely walk home. 4:00 in the morning and here I am on a city bike path pouring my soul out on the phone with constant reminders that I deserve better. The truth within that hurt because I wasn't setting my bar high enough when it comes to this. Again, only about two people in my life can I confide in for anything. It's better than nothing, but it does make it rough at times.

OK, I usually like to leave names out of my posts, but I have to say this one. Kat, thank you for everything this weekend. Thank you for letting me cry in your ear when you could of been sleeping.

Her and I hung out on Saturday, which overall I'd call a success. It's well known within my small circle that I have an ever growing interest in this woman (girl, doesn't work). So when previously mentioned said friend apparently was flirting with her, knowing all of this, it was just another instance in which a line was crossed. Now, Friday night there was two females in my group Friday night. Girl A has the boyfriend, Girl B is a long time friend. When previously mentioned said friend decided to mouth off to Girl B about Girl A's boyfriend, he apparently took some things he knew about Girl A and myself, and twisted them around. Another line crossed.

By this point, I'm sick. If it wasn't for Kat meeting up with me for coffee last night, I would of snapped all together. Thank you for being my ray of sunshine yesterday.

So, I get to today. Said friend texts me asking if I'm with Kat. I answer back with "why?". Apparently her and I changing our Facebook relationship statuses to "no answer" on the same day sparked this inquiry. Well, about 2:30 this morning, I wake up from a dream, and feel the urge to change things around online. I had reached a point where I felt I needed to pull back, so I started privatizing some things and deleting some others, with said friend in mind.

So, I finally tell said friend that I really don't like getting into my personal relationships with others. That really goes for friends and girlfriends alike. Come to find out that he actually texted Girl A the same question. Nice. So, now we're moving toward high school covert up type tactics. Sneak around different spots because you just have to know so much about another person's life. In the process, I'm treated like the bad guy because suddenly, I'm treating said friend like an "outsider".

This is where I stand now. I want to go into a shell. I want to retreat from life on a personal level. All I really want is to have my boundaries respected by those I let in close. Right now, I'm not getting that. So, I feel the need to pull back. It's rough because this is the second time I've let someone close only to have my trust burned, and I am a person who tends to wear my emotions on the outside. To have to go against my general human nature is extremely uncomfortable. I don't know about humans.

My Week In Baseball: 5/12 - 5/18

This is an installment that I'm starting simply because I love baseball. As many of you know, I grew up in the baseball rich state of Florida. Currently, I'm on something of a high by how the sport has done within the Sunshine State this year. In these installments, I'll cover every level of baseball, in particular, the Tampa Bay Rays, Florida Gators, and Pensacola Pelicans

The Tampa Bay Rays finished off a home stand against the New York Yankees this week, taking three out of four. The pitching, as it's been throughout the year, was solid against New York, only allowing six runs in four games. The pitching has been the major difference in the Rays' season, so far. I would tell people over the last few years, having watched this team mature, if they got any kind of consistent pitching, they'd win.

This Rays squad, over the last three years, has always had the ability to hit and I noticed they never seemed to give up, despite losing 90+ games. When the Rays spent the winter getting pitching over everything else, I started to get the feeling they weren't far off. I honestly didn't think it would be this soon, but I'm glad it was. Hopefully they can keep it up.

The Rays then started their inter-league portion of the season with a three game set in St. Louis. Pitching was again the story on Friday night, allowing only one run. However, Saturday afternoon's game turned into a slugfest with the Cardinals taking the game in extras. The Cards would then take Sunday's game, walking off again in the bottom of the 9th, ending the Rays week at 4-3 dropping them a half game behind Boston for the AL East lead.

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The Florida Gators went 4-0 during the week, which included a three game sweep of 13th ranked Vanderbilt in Gainesville. With the wins over Vandy, the Gators not only sealed up a spot in the SEC Tournament next week in Hover, ALA, but they earned the third seed in the tourney. Ironically, Florida will face Vanderbilt in the first round on Wednesday.

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I got a special treat this week as the Pensacola Pelicans made their first ever trip into Lincoln this week to face the Saltdogs. I was giddy to see the Pels play, until they got down 8-0. But still, it felt good to get a taste of home in my home away from home. The entire night I marveled at the uniforms, the aqua "Pensacola" script on the navy blue jerseys, which in my opinion makes them look like a team from the Gulf Coast. I have photos from Friday nights game on Flickr.

Still, after a 3-1 start in Pensacola last week (against the Saltdogs nonetheless), the Pels dropped two of three in Sioux Falls and got swept in Lincoln for a pretty dismal week. The Pels return home on Monday to face the Shreveport Sports in a four game set before ending the week with a three game set against El Paso. Monday night is Mutt Monday, where fans can bring their fluffy best friend to the ballpark, so hopefully it doesn't rain.

A Gator Went Down to Georgia

First off, I apologize for waiting two weeks to post anything on this.

So, I'll guess I'll be giving a brief summery instead of a day by day account.

My time in Georgia was short as we only had two and a half days to spend with my folks there. The first day was spent traveling in the first half, and basically lounging during the second half. This is also where I got reacquainted with my Aunt Janet's constant asking "Are you sure you don't want more?" at the dinner table. Mom complained about gaining weight after the trip. I'm not so concerned, I'd like another five pounds.

The second day there, we took a trip to Amicalola Falls, the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi River in North America. The area there, as for a lot of northern Georgia, is beautiful. Being mid-spring there, the leaves were filling in enough on the trees with still a few blooms. The trees ride along the hills that make up the foothills of the Appalachian Mountain range. During a lot of the driving time we had out there, rock laden streams often ran along the roadside. Overall, the landscape there is much more interesting to me than the Nebraska landscape I see everyday.

My last full day there was spent lounging around a lot. It rained off and on until mid-afternoon, which kept my second cousin Will from catching lizards until then. A little later on, we all went to church in downtown Ellijay. For the first time in years, I actually enjoyed sitting in church.

I stopped going to mass within a couple years after moving to Lincoln, mainly because of the mood of the mass. Apparently, that's due to the diocese that I live in, as it's more cold and old world, in contrast to the more warm and liberal diocese I lived with in Pensacola. Also, the church that I'm to go to here, which is just around the corner from me, seems to be very family oriented. Being from a divorced family, I constant felt like an outcast there. The situation in Ellijay made me wonder if I'll go again once I return to Pensacola.

I spent my last day out of town traveling for nearly 18 hours. It was tiring to say the least. I was also very annoyed by the fact that both the Memphis and Minneapolis airports use the same Boingo wifi service, which only gives you up to an hour of free wifi and then recognizes if you happened to use the service in a different airport that day. The idea of paid wifi services in a place where a lot of people only pass through on occasion is just not very practical to me.

Anyway, I did enjoy the time with my Uncle Jerry, Aunt Janet, cousin Steve and his wife and son. I thank you all for showing a good bit of hospitality to Mom and I while we were there.

I have some photos and video up that I took while I was out there.
Feel free to check out the photos on Flickr here.
And you can view the video here.

Old Classmate of Mine Signs with Orioles

I ran across this article in today's Pensacola News Journal:

It's been the toughest five years of Tim Spooneybarger's baseball life.

Now there is a happy ending in sight.

Battling back from two Tommy John elbow surgeries and countless sessions of intense physical therapy, Spooneybarger, a 28-year-old relief pitcher and Pensacola native, signed a one-year contract with the Baltimore Orioles Monday.

"Oh, man, I'm thrilled to death," Spooneybarger said. "I've just been throwing, getting back into it, just waiting until the time was right. Now that it's finally happened, I can't believe that I'm sitting here. I'm back doing it again. I'm excited as can be."

Drafted in the 29th round of the 1998 MLB Draft, the former Pine Forest standout broke into the major leagues in 2001 as a relief pitcher for the Atlanta Braves and started his promising career with the Braves (2001-02) and Florida Marlins (2003).

Everything changed in June of 2003 when Spooneybarger was sidelined with what was thought to be a minor elbow injury. It proved to be the first of two reconstructive elbow surgeries — he re-injured his throwing elbow in 2005 — and he hasn't thrown a major league pitch since.

Spooneybarger left Pensacola for Sarasota Monday morning and will participate in the Orioles' extended spring training. He will get game action moving up through Baltimore's minor league system and hopes for a return to the major league club by the All Star Break in July.

Spooneybarger was a classmate of mine at Bellview Middle School up to 1994. I remember watching a Braves game one night and suddenly there's this pitcher warming up for the Braves, who just happened to be from Pensacola. So, I looked him up and sure enough, there he is in my class. Glad to see he hasn't given up on his dream and hopefully he makes it back.

So, I Went To a Baseball Game & Froze My Ass Off

While at work on Wednesday, I was offered Nebraska baseball tickets for Friday's game vs. Kansas, by my store's back room manager Randy. I've told him in the past that anytime he had to give them up, I'd be interested. At $10 a ticket, I can go with that.

At the time of buying these tickets it was supposed to be about 65 and sunny. Then this low pressure system that came through on Thursday decided it liked the Midwest and hung around for another day. So, upon starting the game at 6:40 pm on Friday night, it's 45 degrees with winds out of the north at about 25 mph with dark grey skies. Even though it had stopped raining about four hours earlier, the air still felt damp. Not exactly baseball weather, unless it's April in Seattle and you're taking in a game at Safeco Field. I thought with how the stadium was positioned, we'd get a break from the wind. But, of course, it found a way to swirl it's way around from several directions, as if to make sure every inch of us was cold.

Oh yeah, Pensacola was in the 70's.

As for the baseball, the normally reliable Johnny Dorn, Nebraska's starting pitcher, seemed to have two Kansas baserunners or more on in just about every inning. Nebraska, however, seemed to rally and get back into the game, eventually pulling out a win. Unfortunately, I only saw the first six innings due to time constraints (mom had to go to work) and, oh yeah, it was COLD!!! She actually went to the car about two inning ahead of me.

But I did take advantage of one thing I wanted to do, and that was take pictures of the very nice Haymarket Park, the home of Nebraska baseball and the Lincoln Saltdogs. Those photos are on my Flickr now.

I'll be back to Haymarket Park next month as my hometown Pensacola Pelicans make their first trip into Lincoln. If you happen to be attending that series and wonder why there's one completely insane Pelicans fan in the crowd, you now know why. For the third year in a row, the Pels will host the Dogs in Pensacola to open the season. It's about time the Pels made a trip up here.

Take care folks.

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

The video speaks for itself.

Bronx-bred Red Sox Fan Buries Jersey in New Yankees Stadium

Chalk this man up as having the world's largest grapefruits.

Construction worker, Gino Castignoli, took his one day to work on the new Yankees Stadium as a chance to bury a Boston Red Sox jersey within the stadium floor, in hopes of jinxing the building. Castignoli, a Sox fan since 1975, was born and raised in the Bronx, the epicenter of the Evil Empire itself. That alone takes some guts.

Oh, but this gets better.

Yankees President Randy Levine said team officials at first considered leaving the shirt where it was.

"The first thought was, you know, it's never a good thing to be buried in cement when you're in New York," Levine said. "But then we decided, why reward somebody who had really bad motives and was trying to do a really bad thing?"

Then comes Yankees Executive VP, Hank Steinbrenner's quote.

"I hope his coworkers kick the [crap] out of him", Steinbrenner said according to the New York Post.

Said Castignoli in response, "Tell Hank he can come meet me if he wants to try - and tell him to bring [catcher Jorge] Posada, because he's the one Yankee I can't stand".

Apparently, the Yankees might be considering taking legal action on the matter. "We will take appropriate action since fortunately we do know the name of the individual", said Yankees CEO Lonn Trost. A spokesman for Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson said Sunday he did not know whether any criminal charges might apply.

However, the Yankees will be showing at least a little class with this matter. The team plans on donating the jersey to the Jimmy Fund, a Red Sox based charity that funds cancer research, for auction.

Makes me wish I had the balls and opportunity to do something like this. I'd love nothing more than to jinx the new New York Mets stadium that's being built at this moment.

Gotta love rivalries.

My First Braves Game

Found these photos of the first Braves game I attended in 1990 in Atlanta. I remember three things about that day; the look of the field as I came through the tunnel, Will Clark of the San Francisco Giants fouling a ball behind my head that landed about five rows back, and the Braves lost (it was 1990 after all).

I'm hoping to see the Braves next month for the first time since 1993.

View the photo set here.

WSJ's Walt Mossberg Speaks On Digital Media, Braodband, and the 3G iPhone

The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg, one of America's leading tech experts, spoke out on a few things of interest, at least for me, at an executive summit for Beet.tv in Washington on April 1.

First, he speaks on the purchasing of digital media. Although there's still a lot of people who illegally download content, wether it's music, tv shows, or movies, there's proof that people will buy this sort of content online. For example, Apple's iTunes Store just passed Walmart for #1 in music sales, online or offline. Really this make sense. I'm one of those people that wether I buy an album on iTunes or purchase it in a store, it will become a digital copy that I can use to put on my iPod, play within iTunes in a mix, or stream to my Xbox 360 while playing a game. The same goes for movies and TV shows. Fox just recently started releasing their DVD's with a "digital copy" on the disc, one that you can transfer to your computer and play on your iPod if you choose.

TV shows have been another successful area for Apple. I've personally have bought a few shows, one of those being season one of America's Game, the NFL Network's excellent documentary series on Super Bowl champions. This is a series I would not of seen otherwise since Time Warner Cable has b.s.'d it's way out of carrying the channel. What I purchased was a totally commercial free version of the show in good quality that I can use however I like.

Another method I've started using is recording shows straight to my computer using my EyeTV Hybrid, a small device and software package that turns my computer into a DVR. The cool thing about the software is that I can actually go in and edit out the commercials. This is one of the points I was glad to see Mossberg bring up. As you know, during most 30 minute shows, you will see about eight minutes of what Mossberg calls "terrible" commercials. He puts it this way because, let's face it, most of the commercials you see really don't appeal to you. So, it's become understandable for people to pay not to see commercials, much in the way people are now paying for commercial free radio with Sirius and XM. Essentially, people are growing tired of the crap that's being force fed to them.

Another thing Mossberg brought up is out poor quality of internet service in the US. This is possibly one of those deals where you don't miss what you've never had. But now knowing that Europe and Japan are getting fast internet speeds than we are and that what many DSL providers are calling "broadband" would only pass for what we pay $10 for in the States in Europe is appalling. Secondly, cable companies frequently false advertise the speeds they're giving you as well, often giving you less than half of what's advertised while vastly overcharging you for it. Mossberg says this is where the next Presidential regime needs to step in.

Lastly, Mossberg mentions that we should be seeing the 3G version of the iPhone in the next 60 days or so. This falls in line with many other reports on the beautiful little touch screen device that does just about everything and embarrasses other cell phones while doing so. Apple's World Wide Developer's Conference is set for early June and with the newly release software development kit (SDK) being released in March and numerous training sessions set for the iPhone at WWDC, there's been plenty of speculation. Also, the iPhone/iPod Touch 2.0 software update is due for June. Additionally, iPhone inventories have been low in all the locations the device is sold and T-Mobile Germany has even gone as far as giving a 300 Euro price drop in it's stores. It's all adding up.

Cal Ripken's Last Trip to Kansas City

I decided to scan some old photos so that I'd have a digital copy of each and ran across my set from Kansas City, when Hall of Famer Cal Ripken made his last trip into town with the Orioles in 2001. I was lucky enough to see Cal hit a homerun that night, one of only a few times I cheered an opposing player in Kauffman Stadium. The photos are a bit fuzzy, mainly because I shot these with a disposable camera.

I've posted these photos on my .Mac web gallery, and you can view them here.

Speaking of the Royals, congrats to them for sweeping the AL Central division favorite Detroit Tigers. I don't care if it's April, that's impressive.

Opening Night '08

To my surprise last week, the Braves are playing tonight versus the Washington Nationals, instead of with everyone else on Monday. Seems that the Nats are opening up a new stadium and decided to invite the Braves to the party, complete with President Bush, cherry blossoms, and everything else DC has to offer. Guess that's a little fitting since Ted Turner once tried to market the Braves as "America's Team", never mind they were in last place for a lot of that campaign.

Those were the days of Dale Murphy (my first favorite player), Dwight Evans, and Bert Blyleven. Those were the days when tradition went before marketing. Unfortunately, for the Braves players and staff, tonight is about marketing. See, the catch is, the next game in this series doesn't occur until April 11. Huh? Yeah, the Braves have their own home opener tomorrow night against Pittsburgh. So, the Braves are only playing tonight to open up a damn stadium. Any reason this couldn't wait until tomorrow? The new Busch Stadium didn't have it's opener until April 10 in 2006. I'm sure they could of waited in DC.

And don't get me going on the whole let's-play-two-in-Japan thing. I'm sure Oakland A's fans really appreciated opening their season overseas where the games came on at about 3 am local time.

Back to the Braves, I'm hearing a lot of good about them this year, which is good because I really gotten used to them being good. Their lineup is expected to have a lot of pop with Brian McCann (my new favorite player), Chipper Jones, Mark Teixeira, and Jeff Francoeur. On the pitching side, Tom Glavine is back after a stay with the dark side, aka the Mets. If the pitching holds up and stays healthy, because these guys are a bit old by athlete standards, this could be a team that could even win the division (and piss off the rest of the NL East for the 15 time in 18 years). It's going to be weird not seeing Andrew Jones (my old favorite player) not roaming centerfield as he's now with the Dodgers, but hey, life goes on.

But as for tonight, hopefully the Braves will be rude guests and crash this house warming. Go Braves!

Update: Ryan Zimmerman just hit a walk-off home run to end the game 3-2 for the Nats. That sucked! Home opener for the Braves tomorrow night.

Another note, the Braves were apparently surprised by some new alternate road jerseys tonight. These things are so new, they're not even available to buy yet. I'm kind of mixed on them, mainly with the numbers on the back being the same dark blue as the jerseys with only a white border to differentiate. See the new blues below.

One more note, it appears ESPN.com's Jayson Stark has picked the Braves to win the World Series this year. Here's a quote from the article that keeps in the spirit of tonight's Braves/Nats matchup:

"I don't think anybody should be looking forward to going into Atlanta this year and facing [Tim] Hudson, Smoltz and Glavine," said Nationals manager Manny Acta. "And [Mike] Hampton, too. That's a bunch of tough hombres to go up against. And as long as Bobby Cox is over there, I don't think anybody should overlook that team."

You can read the rest of the article here.

My Cat Needs a Workout

Aa you watch the final second or so of the above video, you should notice my cat Hershey's little pouch swing like a pendulum on a grandfather clock in overdrive as he scampers out of my room. Personally, I've never seen any reason that cats can't get an indoor workout. Even though he's eight, he does still have the playfulness of a 8 month old kitten. Still, I wonder if he needs something more. Something like this:

Sand Hill Cranes

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This is some video I shot this morning of the sand hill cranes just outside of Alda, Nebraska. These birds, along with a few other migratory birds, come through Nebraska during migration in the Spring and the Fall. It's one of the "hidden gems" we have up here. I apologize for the wind noise (it was only a 2 mph breeze, I swear). Wind noise is one of the reasons I'd like to move up to an actual video camera from my little point and shoot digital camera (which isn't meant for video). Nonetheless, enjoy.

I'll be posting photos soon.

Finally Jailbroken

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Last night, I learned that the best iPhone/iPod touch jailbreaking tool, ZiPhone, finally released a version that supported the newer releases of the iPod touch (which I have). So, I restored the 1.1.4 firmware so that my iPod touch was back to factory settings, then ran this software. 45 seconds later, I was jailbroken and off to the races with playing around. The above shot shows off the Summerboard theme I'm using.

For those that are totally confused, "jailbreaking" is how iPhone/iPod touch users can use third-party applications on their device, not to mention change the overall appearance.

Cameo Before Fame

OK, for the Hip-Hop and R&B connoisseurs out there, I want you to watch the following video, for Cool C's "Glamourous Life", closely. I actually had never seen this video until recently myself. But as I watched it, I noticed the girl of interest in this video is someone who has gained a bit of fame over the past few years.

I've discussed this with a few of you before, but if you want to leave guess, do so in the comments. What do you get for being right? Nothing. Except maybe looking like a genius to your friends as you show this off to them.

Enjoy.

Midwest weather is a cruel joke

This morning around 9 a.m., I head to the corner store to grab a blueberry muffin to join my coffee. I knew it was in the mid-50's, but to my surprise upon stepping out. Of course, I had to do the usual Lincoln to Pensacola comparison to illustrate this, so check the screen shot below.

Now it is 11:40 a.m.. I've had the window open most of the morning where about an hour ago I started to feel a chill come from outside. Currently, it's about 50 here in Lincoln. About 30 miles up the road in Seward, NE, it's 40. That's just insane!!!

So, what I'm going to do is live blog throughout the day. Right before I go to work in about two hours, I'll make an observation. Same when I go on break and come home from work. The point will be to illustrate how quickly things can change, particularly in the transition periods between Fall & Winter and Winter & Spring. Expect bickering.

12:00 p.m. - First batch of photos:





1:30 p.m. - There's a definite chill in in the air now. The wind is also picking up. What once was a windbreaker type of day has become a day for a winter jacket.

1:55 p.m. - The first hint of sprinkling is coming down as I come into work. The wind is really stiff in open areas. You can see the flags in the picture below to illustrate that. The second shot shows some of the low clouds that are beginning to roll in.





5 p.m. - The rain that has been falling for about the last two hours has switched over to snow. Being it's in the mid-30's, the flakes are extremely big. You can't really see this in the photo below, but you at least get a sense of how cold it looks.



8 p.m. - It's actually stopped raining for about the past hour. Right now it's just damp and cool. A look at the radar shows it'll be moving back in here shortly, but who knows it it'll be rain or snow as it actually went from rain to snow around 5 p.m. and back to rain around 5:45 p.m.. Of course, I have the comparison screenshot below.

Preview of gaming on the iPhone/iPod touch

When I bought my iPod Touch, I did so to fill the void I had when my iPhone was stolen last year. Part of that void was the brilliant technology embedded in the device.

Part of that technology is the accelerometer inside the device, that detects which way the phone is turned. This come into play when looking at pictures and webpages. With the SDK (software development kit) being released soon for the iPhone and iPod Touch, it is expected that games from third party developers will be available, making these devices even more breathtaking.

The video here is a game I'm really looking for, called Trism, that is reminiscent of games like Tetris or Bejeweled. I usually get hooked on games like this, so if I stop blogging or lose contact for a while, there's a chance I could be playing this a lot.

A Surprise Gift & Bluehost

When I came home from class today, I was a little surprised to see that my dad had sent me something. I open it up and found it was a Blue Angels pin. Pretty cool if you ask me. If you're wondering the significance of this, the Blue Angles flight team has it's home base in Pensacola, FL, my hometown that I can't shut up about. So, it's just another one of those sentimental things that always make me perk up when I hear or see something about them.

Just thought I'd mention this.

One more thing of note, I must give a lot of praise to Bluehost's customer service department. A couple weeks back I had decided to take the dive and bought myself some web hosting for the year. I wanted to do some more things with my page and eventually turn it into a portfolio, because I am after all a web designer that needs to sell himself in the future. So, I took the suggestion from Wordpress and went with Bluehost.

Well, one day after having my blog hosted on there I noticed they had suspended my page because they weren't successful in contacting me (I'm assuming by phone, although I had no calls). So, I gave it a little though and let it ride figuring that money I was putting out towards them I could use somewhere else and that without contacting me I wasn't going to be charged. Apparently I was wrong.

I always keep my iPod Touch under my pillow to charge at night where I'll just check my email from it when I wake up in the morning. Upon checking my email, I notice I have an email from my bank saying it had to tap into my overdraft protection. Me thinking I should have money left before all of this, I quickly got on my computer and checked my account where I find Bluehost did charge me.

Right away I call, pressed one button for their automated robot that you get with most customer service departments these days, and was surprised to get right through. Even more surprising was after giving my domain name, quickly explaining my situation, and then giving her the last four digits on my credit card, I was told no problem and that I would get a full refund. Awesome!

This is by far the least painful experience I've ever had with a customer service rep. So, big time kudos to Bluehost! I will definitely come back to you when the money is right.

Playing around with Vimeo

There's one thing I think people can agree with in general and that's YouTube is great for content, but bad when it comes to video quality. Because of this, I decided to play around with an alternative service called Vimeo.

The above video is some shots of the Blue Angels practicing while I was staying in Pensacola in March 2007. It was my first time back in my hometown in 11 years, so I was doing pretty good to have these guys flying directly over my head on my first full day back in town.

But anyway, hit play an you'll see what I mean when it comes to video quality.

Don't mind my drooling...

There's a day in January where I stop everything and block out all the really important things in life. That would be the day Apple CEO Steve Jobs gives his yearly Macworld keynote speech.

Last year, this was the stage Jobs used to announce the iPhone. That gadget (which I still miss very dearly) won Time Magazine's "Invention of the Year". I could almost see that as an understatement having actually used one.

I love Apple. I officially became a switcher about two years ago, after I bought my first-generation Intel-based iMac two years ago. That product was also unveiled at Macworld in 2006. In short, something will be announced today, and only Steve Jobs himself knows what it is until it spills out of his own mouth onto the masses of eager Mac-loving puppies waiting for their treats. So, expect updates later, after I've had an opportunity to watch the keynote about two or three times on Apple's website.

I just wish I didn't have class today.

Japanese Blogging

I’m a subscriber and loyal watcher of the Washington Post’s HD video podcast, which I love because it looks at ordinary life from different perspectives. I was actually drawn to it when I got an email from Apple showcasing some of their HD podcast, which of course means higher picture quality. I like getting the best when possible, so, why not? Besides, it’s free like all podcasts.

Well, one episode I watched recently talked about today’s blogosphere (that’s the world of blogging) and how most blogs are actually written in Japanese, not English. This is actually fairly surprising given the population of Japanese speaking people compared to the larger English speaking population. What I also found surprising is how the general Japanese population blogs.

Where most American bloggers blog to stand out, Japan blogs to fit in. In America, a lot of bloggers will thrust their political views, opinions about life, and many other sometimes harsh sentiments out for the world to see, often in an attempt to draw attention to someone or something. I’ve done this a few times myself. Rarely in Japan will you see a petition drive on a blog. Instead, they often blog about boring everyday life. You know, like how the train ride was to work (as in everyday) or how they met a new friend; things a lot of Americans tend to not deem important.

This got me thinking about a couple of things. First, it occurred to me how hostile of a culture we have at times over here. We tend to wear our stress on our sleeves and blurt it out when possible without regard of how others would like their social environment to be. Japan apparently doesn’t do this, declining to express their stress.

Secondly, this gives me the impression that Japan treats life as it should be treated; as a gift. Again, we treat every day life as ordinary and as a result we tend to miss some of the small things. Japan blogs in an open journal kind of way, willing to let you in to one’s personal life without being extra personal. Really, it’s very similar to the way I use Twitter, a service that simply asks, “What are you doing?”. Seems like a redundant thing, until you actually start using it.

My dad has gotten really good at this kind of writing. Often, I’ll get emails concerning his lunch and how he shared it with his cat, Pixel. I enjoy reading these emails for the way my dad has for describing the simple intricacies of life.

Maybe we should all take a look of life like this?

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