June 30, 2005
It’s Thursday (already?!) and that means it’s time for the Thursday Threesome. Now get out your notebooks and put your name in the upper left corner of the page…
Onesome – I’ll be – What did you want to grow up to be when you were a child? If you aren’t fulfilling your childhood dream, what made you change it?
As with most boys, I went through the cowboy stage, the fireman stage and the professional athlete stage. What I wanted to be is what I was for a while; you know the old saying “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it”? Well, I got it and found it wasn’t so great. When I graduated college, I became a teacher. After a while I decided that wasn’t the thing to be and I got into computer tech support.
Twosome – Your shoulder – Who’s your confidant? Who do you run to when you need emotional support?
Absolutely and positively KC. She is my best friend as well as my wife.
Threesome – When you cry – What makes you cry? The scent of flowers? Allergies? Or are you just super-sensitive to that sad song you always seem to hear on the radio lately?
I haven’t cried in a very long time. I was close when ZDog and J got married when they showed a slide show of the kids growing up.
June 29, 2005
Wednesday. Did I mention that this week is going by fast?
01) A person who could dance all night at a club or a person who would probably end up sitting, drinking, and watching others dance?
I end up sitting, drinking and watching others dance. I know I have some mad skillz, but dancing is definitely NOT one of them.
02) Left brain or right brain?
Left brain. More on the logical/analytical side.
03) Chocolate covered almonds or honey roasted peanuts?
Chocolate covered almonds. Man, when chocolate in involved there’s no decision involved.
04) Apt to speak in the most descriptive manner possible or apt to speak in the most concise manner possible?
Concise. Get your point across as quickly as possible.
05) Austin Powers or Dr. Evil?
Austin Powers, baby! He gets the girls!
06) Likely to staple (because it’s sure even if hard to remove) or likely to use a paper clip (because it’s quick and easily undone)?
Staple. Mainly because it’s quicker. I can print to one of our printers here at work and have it staple the copies of a job.
07) One who would go (or has gone) to a science fiction convention or one who would/will never go to a science fiction convention?
I definitely would attend. Sadly, though, I have not yet. Even though I live about 20 miles from the future birthplace of Captain James Tiberius Kirk.
08) Loving pizza with ALL toppings or loving a pepperoni pizza?
Definitely NOT just pepperoni. I find it too greasy. While I’ll take the pizza with all toppings, I like the Happy Joe’s special best: Canadian Bacon and sauerkraut. Sounds gross, but it is really great.
09) A vowel or a consonent?
Vowel. I’d like to think I’m in the minority and unique.
10) Likely to exercise because it’s good for you or likely to exercise because you want to look as good as possible?
I do exercise. It’s mainly because I want to keep healthy for a long time. I’m playing pick-up basketball two or three times a week. And of course, at work we have to park so far away from the office that I get plenty of walking in!! (It would be closer for me to park at WalMart, which is across Highway 61 than where I park now.)
Wikipedia changed the format of an external URI search string. What this means is that when you clicked on the people listed in my “On This Day” section is that instead of going to the Wikipedia page of the person you clicked on, you went to the general Wikipedia portal page. It took me about 10 minutes of searching through Wikipedia to find out the format of the string, but I have changed the code in “On This Day” and now it comes up properly.
Jeez, Wikipedia, why the change?
June 28, 2005
So I’m a statistic. So what else is new?
June 27, 2005
Many of you haven’t kept up on this case. I have to say I was dismayed at the Supreme Court’s ruling passed down on this case. In a nutshell, it makes the creators of the software liable for users who mis-use the software to download copyrighted material. While I agree that the music industry is an antiquated cash-cow that needs to be put to rest in favor of a download-based system with little or no management and I agree that it is illegal to download music that the musicians have decided not to allow to be downloaded, I think this decision will have disastrous results.
Point 1 – Independent Artists
Say good-bye to independent artists who are trying to get their work out to a broad audience. Point to point (P2P) networking is an easy way to share your songs and get your work heard. Many independent artists need to be heard because they don’t follow today’s music industry format; that is, they aren’t “pretty-boys” or “cutesy-girls” who all sound like some other band. I happen to PREFER this kind of music. As far as I’m concerned, most of the “Top 40″ can simply vanish. The reason they are around is because they appeal to young teens who spend mom and dad’s money on CDs with one “good” (interpreted as “better-than-average”) song and 10 crap songs.
Point 2 – Alternative Artists
Again going back to the non-mainstream, this will stifle artists. You can say goodbye to Moby, who was going nowhere in the music industry until he began releasing his songs on P2P, or Maria Schneider, who won the 2004 Best Jazz Album award without actually releasing a CD (her “album” was ONLY available via P2P). Also, you will only be able to hear what the RIAA deems you should. It is impossible to find many of the non-Top 40 songs from the previous decades anywhere BUT on P2P because once a song ends its run it goes into the RIAA archives and THEY, not the artists, determine who can play the song.
Point 3 – Exhorbitant Pricing
New CDs today cost anywhere from $10-$25, depending upon the popularity of the artist, if it’s a double CD set, if it is a “best of” compilation, etc. Why? When CDs were first introduced, they cost anywhere from $10-$25. The process is more refined today, so it is cheaper to press music to a CD. The media is cheaper today than ever before – when CDs first came out, a blank CD cost about $5 each; a little looking around and you can get blank CDs for about 15¢ each. With these increases in productivity and decrease in raw material pricing, shouldn’t the finished product also be lower?
Point 4 – Formula Groups
Today if you aren’t a “formula group” you simply won’t get signed and won’t get your music out in any other way. The recording industry is in it for the money; the artists are in it for the music (to varying degrees). The recording industry believes that if your group fits a formula followed by previous groups that you can make them money so they’ll be willing to finance you. Believe it or not, there are a great many groups that are NOT formulamatic that make great music. The reason all the music today sounds the same is that they have followed the same formula.
Point 5 – Music Quality
This hails back to a line in Point 1: Why buy an entire CD when there are only one or two “good” (interpreted as “better-than-average”) songs? Why not just get the songs? The pay-for services are great for this, but it originated with P2P. What if you don’t want the case, the artwork or any of the extras that come with a CD; what if you just want some of the music? With this decision, you’ll HAVE to buy the CD.
I’m not going to count on it, but I’d sure like to see the music industry embrace P2P technology instead of fighting it the way it has. I liken the entire situation to the legal wars at the introduction of the VCR to the masses. Once the movie industry figured out that it could make money on rentals and such, they liked the idea of the VCR; before that all they could do was piss and moan about how they were losing money and how much money they were losing. Same thing is happening here – all the recording industry is doing is pissing and moaning about how much money they are losing instead of embracing the technology and making their piece of the pie from it.
« Close it up, dude!
June 24, 2005
End of the work week; it’s time for the Friday Five!!
1. Can you share a tale of a favorite summer cookout/get together?
My favorite summer event occurred about 10 years ago. We went with our friends, Bob and Norma, to Bob’s dad’s place on Clear Lake. All of us thoroughly enjoyed ourselves for pretty much the entire time. Even Bobbo had a good time! It happened around the 4th of July because I remember we stopped in Cedar Rapids and watched the fireworks there; man, do they know how put on a fireworks display! It was a great time swimming and boating on Clear Lake.
2. What is a favorite summer ritual of yours?
I don’t know that we have any “summer rituals”. Well, maybe going down to the ball park. We started going when I was playing slow pitch softball for Steve’s Dugout (a local bar that is no longer in business – heck, the building is razed!) and later when ZDog began the Minors in the Little League here; he was 8 years old then. I’ve been coming down ever since. I now watch my nephews play and I also still play slow pitch softball in the church league.
3. After a long hot summer day, what is your favorite way to quench your thirst?
A nice cold Killian’s. No matter what they said on the Old Milwaukee commercial, it doesn’t get any better than a cold Killian’s when it’s hot.
4. The 4th of July is coming up, what plans, if any, do you have?
Looks like ZDog and J are coming to visit; well at least they are coming to visit Breezomatic. Maybe we’ll get together for a cookout and the fireworks at Cedar Rapids. As I said before, they really DO know how to put on a fireworks display!
5. What are you looking forward to doing most before the summer ends?
I plan to celebrate my 49th birthday. I plan to celebrate our (KC’s and mine) 27th wedding anniversary. I hope to make a trip to see at least one major league baseball game this summer – we usually do each year. I also hope to visit my brother in Colorado some time this summer; maybe we can even see my uncle’s summer cabin in Rocky Mountain National Park – it’s been closed every other time we’ve been there. But what I’m looking forward to the most this summer has already occurred – ZDog and J’s wedding.
June 23, 2005
You can print out your photos from your digital camera; the problem is that you always seem to run out of ink or paper or something is snafu with the printer. Even worse is when you have a cheapie printer (like my HP DeskJet 692c) and it simply isn’t up to the task of printing digital photos. Yeah, I can send them to work where we have a Canon Color imageRUNNER 3200, but I don’t feel right having my digital photos print out on the work laser printer. Also, unless you are an expert with Adobe Photoshop (provided you have a copy, legal or otherwise) your photos aren’t always crisp and clean like their 35mm counterparts.
The solution? Picasa. I’ve downloaded and installed it on my work computer and am quite impressed. To say it is easy to use is an understatement. From a simple installation to easily touching up photos, this is a great software package. Did I mention the cost? It is free; that’s right FREE. Gotta love that!
After installing the program on my work computer I quickly had it bring up a folder with all the pictures from ZDog and J’s wedding. Some of the pictures had “orange” lighting; you know, when you don’t use flash and there isn’t enough light for the picture. (The photographer there didn’t want others using their flash while he was taking pictures – he didn’t want people in the photo blinking because they were seeing multiple flashes) Picasa made short work of the “orange” light with a click on the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. The results are excellent. The lighting was quickly improved to normal. Also, there is simple red-eye reduction and backlight adjustment. The nice thing about the program is that the original photo is not changed, it simply places it in a separate folder and then adjusts its copy. Also, to keep a group of photos together either to work on or to get ready for processing, you simply have to click on a “Hold” button in order to hold the photo in the tray (a work area).
Ready to print, but don’t have a printer? Picasa makes short work of ordering your photos. Simply click on the “Order” button and you are presented with a choice of having your photos printed at any of: WalMart, Ritz Camera, Wolf Camera, Snapfish, Shutterfly, Kodak Easyshare, or even a choice called “Find Your Local Store”. When you make your choice, your retouched photos are uploaded to the particular site and then you can have them printed and ready for you to pick up. I chose “WalMart” and had to create a free WalMart account, and then my photos were there. I chose to pick them up in one hour (WalMart is right across the street from where I work). As a test, I did 24 4×6 photos and one 5×7 photo. Two hours later (at lunch) I had my photos in hand. WalMart also offers mail delivery of your prints so you don’t even have to go to the store to pick them up. Total cost: $6.03. I paid a premium for one-hour pickup. If I had selected two-day service it would have cost me only $4.18; home delivery would have been $3.46 plus postage.
With prices like these, you’d think the photos would not be so good or that they’d be on bad photo paper… Nope. The photo paper is the same that was used for our 35MM pictures from our Mexico trip. The quality of the photos is no better or worse than those pictures as well.
Talk about convenience; take the photos, upload them to your computer, retouch the photos with Picasa, send the photos for printing with Picasa, and pick up your photos. VERY cool, baby!
« Close it up, dude!
It’s Thursday and around my place that means it’s time for the Thursday Threesome.
Onesome: Road Trip – How do you feel about road trips? I mean, no planning, no prep, just up, up and away! Have you had any good ones? Lately? (Sya, you’re exempt and can post about the weather if you’d like {g} )
As far as multiple days, we always plan them. It’s really hard to travel today without knowing where you will be staying along the way and when you get there. As far as “day trips”, yeah, we’ve had a lot of good ones lately. Up to see friends, off to a ball game, go to an all-day celebration, etc.
Twosome: With – Ah! Who do you/would you/could you take a road trip with? …and where would you be off to?
I’d love taking multiple day road trips with KC – I married her for more than her looks! We’d just go. Where would I go? How about on “walk-about”? Just drive around and discover things. Kind of like John Travolta’s character in Michael. See the “Worlds Largest Ball of String” or the “World’s Largest Frying Pan” or stuff like that.
Threesome: No Stops – Do you drive non-stop when you take your planned trips, stretching your endurance to the limit of your bladder? …or do you have your rest stops pre-programmed into your itinerary?
We usually make plenty of stops. No sense in being miserable from “stretching too near the breaking point”. That only makes the destination worse for the first day or so.
June 22, 2005
It seems each time I check in on my site, I find there are more spams deleted by Spam Karma. And by more spams it isn’t just one or two — it’s like 40 or 50 each day. When I start thinking about how many spams I’d have to manually delete and add to the blacklist, I get a headache. I loves me that Spam Karma!!
Wednesday is Are you more… around these parts!
01) An “I scratch and enjoy it to bits” person or an “I scratch only as much as I need to and that’s it” person?
I scratch and enjoy it to bits. If something itches, you scratch it.
02) Someone who is careful with their tube of toothpaste (squeeze from back, put the cap back on) or someone who is careless with their tube of toothpaste?
Tube? I use the upside down bottle that has the toothpaste ready to squeeze out.
03) A fan of the blues or a fan of country music?
Definitely blues. I have always believed that “country music” is an oxymoron.
04) Wishing more that you could have clairvoyance (can see the past/future in your head) or telekinesis (can move things by thinking about it)?
Telekinesis. You’d never need a remote, then! Heck, you would never have to leave the easy chair; just use your power to open the fridge for a beer!
05) A person it takes a while to get to know or a person who people can basically know in the first 5 minutes?
I’d like to think that “what you see is what you get”; while there will always be more to talk about, you should be able to know me quickly.
06) “I’d make it okay in prison” or “I’d die, or end up being somebody’s bitch, in prison”?
I don’t want to find out ’cause I’d probably end up as some Bubba’s bitch.
07) Vain or arrogant?
I’d like to think neither. (Of course, isn’t that both?)
08) One who prefers even numbers or one who prefers odd numbers?
Even numbers. I like to pull cash from the ATM in even amounts ($25? why?) I like to set the cruise control on an even number. I just really like them for some oddly paranoid reason.
09) Prone to allow yourself an emotional outburst in public or prone to stay appearing calm in public no matter what?
About most things I tend to stew. So I guess I appear calm in public. And yet, still waters run deep.
10) A good person who occasionally does bad/regrettable things or a neutral person who does both good things and bad/regrettable things?
Yeah, I’ve done stuff I regret (haven’t we all?), but I’m basically a good person.
June 19, 2005
No, not after your 10 o’clock class, you dolt!! I mean the aftermath of the wedding. It seems no one was worse for the wear. I’ve got all the tuxes except ZDog’s and Jim’s father’s. ZDog was going to return his tux on his own and Jim had already picked up his father’s. I know where the After Hours shop is, so I can return the other tuxes later today. We are planning on a “quick” stop at the Mall of America; I know, I know — no stop there can be a quick stop, but we’re hoping.
We are planning on leaving the Twin Cities today and heading home. We’ve got to drop off Breezomatic in Cedar Rapids and we’ll have my mom on the return trip, but I think it will be a quick trip home. While it’s been a really great time, I’m looking forward to getting back. We’ve got a few “around-the-house” chores to do when we get back, but other than that nothing. Both KC and I have tomorrow off so we should be able to take care of all the regular weekend chores then.
June 18, 2005
That’s right. I am now a proud father-in-law. (Stop with the jokes!!) What a beautiful setting, what a beautiful day and what a beautiful ceremony.
The service was quite a beautiful one. The minister had a great homily for the kids and I think the message will really hit home. There was a wonderful slide show that no one had seen that was presented shortly before the bridesmaids and groomsmen began their entrance. It was overwhelming, the sight of ZDog fighting back tears to watch the young woman he is so much in love with come down the ailse. J was a little misty-eyed as well. The service went without a hitch (well, except the main one!). I didn’t trip once, nor did anyone in the wedding party.
After the ceremony we had pictures and then hustled off to The Chart House for the reception. We couldn’t have ordered a better day weather-wise. The sun was shining and it was all good. Not a lot of wind, but there was just enough to keep the flying bugs under control. I believe a good time was had by all. Heck, I’m not even smiled out yet!! I took a number of pictures with my new camera and hopefully most of them will turn out good. I’m new at the digital camera thing, but I hope the camera overcomes my inadequacies.
Well, we are off now to the AmercInn, where most of my family is staying. We’re going to visit and suck down some cold ones. I still can’t believe I’ve gained a daughter today; I don’t think I’ll EVER lose my son!
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Muscatine, IA
