2003 on Brian P. Hogan

Merry Christmas

Fri, 26 Dec 2003 04:59:23 +0000

Before I forget…. Merry Christmas to everyone.

Free toy from Microsoft

Wed, 26 Nov 2003 03:51:12 +0000

Microsoft has released a free toy that allows a user to use an ISO CD image as a “virtual” CD drive. This is great for developers who create their own ISOs for testing, and also great for MSDN subscribers who can use this tool to install new Microsoft products without having to burn the disk image to a physical CD. Download the tool here.

This fog is so thick I can hardly see my own cataracts

Wed, 26 Nov 2003 03:46:50 +0000

I got a call from my eye doctor today… they have ordered my glasses and my contact lenses. I should have them in about two weeks. I’m looking forward to that, since I can barely see out of the contact lenses I am wearing now. Even typing on the computer is a real pain. My lenses get full of those deposits that the contact solution is supposed to get rid of.

One Year of Blogging!

Mon, 24 Nov 2003 01:44:30 +0000

It’s been one year since I started this blog. I’m happy to say it has gone reasonably well. I don’t have a lot of people logging in to check out what I’ve written, but there’s enough people reading this to make it worth doing. Plus, as I’ve said, it’s quite therapeutic to do this. Simpsons was pretty funny tonight. I thought Tony Blair’s lines were the best in the show tonight.

The Matrix Revolutions

Mon, 17 Nov 2003 01:30:04 +0000

It’s hard to say what I thought about that movie…. when it finished, I looked at my wife and yelled “What the hell was that??” I felt a bit cheated and I really had no desire to ever set foot in a movie theatre again. The movie wasn’t bad by any means. In fact, it was rather good, exciting, and well planned out in my opinion.. …all but the last fifteen minutes.

Busy

Fri, 14 Nov 2003 20:58:33 +0000

This has been one busy week. I’m working on a script for Neal’s band so they can have a cool message board on their home page and it’s not going as well as I had hoped. That, and I am trying to get my new design for this site completed by the 19th. I’ve got the photo gallery all done, I just need to add the theme to it so it looks better!

Long Week… thank God for Simpsons

Mon, 10 Nov 2003 02:23:21 +0000

Wow… what a week. There was so much going on and so little hours to do it in. Work has much going on, including several database projects that seem to involve me in one way or another. I’m also stuck on a web template and I am finding out that there are some bugs in the new Fireworks version. That, and Ana is home and I want to spend time with her.

It Begins Again

Mon, 03 Nov 2003 03:07:13 +0000

That’s right… Season 15 of The Simpsons started tonight. I usually don’t like the “Treehouse of Horror” episodes too much, but this one was pretty good. Good writing, lots of good jokes, and of course the over-the-top violence often found in the Simpsons Halloween shows made this a very good time.

Holy Crap! Photoshop CS Rules!

Sun, 02 Nov 2003 03:19:16 +0000

The new Photoshop CS (8.0) has some cool new features. Here is an exaple of how easy it is to completely fix the lighting in a photograph. There’s a new tool called the “Equalizer” that, with one mouse click, gives you results like this. There’s a whole bunch of new features in there too, but most importantly, there’s an annoying Product Activation feature that is sure to tick off the legitimate paying customer and only stop the hackers for about two seconds, considering that volume customers will not have to activate… just home users.

Frustration

Wed, 22 Oct 2003 00:40:06 +0000

Sometimes things are out of your control. That’s just the way life is. No matter what you do, there are certain things that you ultimately have no control over. Lately I’ve been feeling pretty crappy because of the situation with my mom, and it’s really getting to me. I miss my parents. I miss the way they used to be when I lived at home. I remember them being very happy, lively people. After my dad lost his job, things changed. Then Mom got sick and things got worse. I get a strange feeling when I’m around them lately, like there’s something that they don’t want to tell me, or maybe it’s something I don’t want to ask. Whatever it is, it’s making me wish more and more for the good old days when I was miserable in school but I always had them to come home to.

The Sequel

Sat, 18 Oct 2003 05:51:02 +0000

Max Payne 2 freakin’ rocks! I can’t believe it. Right from the very beginning we have a great plotline going, and the same little things that made the original game fun are still there. It’s even more like a movie than ever, and the music is haunting. It ties in closely with the first game and even brings you back to a few locations. I’ve only had time to play for a little bit, but it’s worth it.

Rough Guides Music Quiz

Wed, 15 Oct 2003 15:54:40 +0000

Test your knowledge of music with this Music Game. Thanks to Chris for this one!

Get it Right

Tue, 07 Oct 2003 01:18:37 +0000

I cruised the net today for about an hour looking for the actual quote that Arnold Schwarzenegger made in a 1975 issue of “Pumping Iron” in which he says he admred Hitler. I had heard that he was misquoted. I did find the actual quote buried in an article on NewsMax and another site (because NewsMax isn’t always accurate) and here’s what it says:

Happy BIrthday To Me

Mon, 06 Oct 2003 03:34:42 +0000

Thanks to everyone that came out to celebrate my 26th birthday with me. I hope everyone had a good time. If you missed it, we had burgers, salads, and other assorted goodies.. and I even had the Packer game on so nobody had to miss it. The weekend was a lot of fun. My friend Mark came up on Friday night and we went out to get some dinner. We spent Saturday goofing around the house

Arguments

Tue, 30 Sep 2003 20:53:45 +0000

I found this interesting discussion about the various types of arguments that are used.

Charter Speed

Mon, 29 Sep 2003 19:44:03 +0000

Charter gave me 2 Mbit download speed until March for no particular reason. It’s pretty sweet and it doesn’t cost me anything. I did a speed test and it came out pretty close. What to do?!

Still not doing so hot

Mon, 29 Sep 2003 04:24:18 +0000

I spent most of the weekend sleeping and it seems I’ve actually gotten worse. This isn’t allergies anymore… this is a full-blown cold with fever and all kinds of other good stuff. Fun stuff: Fun little kite game Your past life

Sad Day

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 20:20:58 +0000

Writer George Plimpton dead at 76 Singer Robert Palmer dead at 54

Sick

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 19:59:18 +0000

I’m getting tired of this. I’ve been having problems with my sinuses for almost four weeks because of the ragweed. Now I think I’m getting a cold on top of it, because I’m much more tired now and I had a slight fever last night. Work is hell when you constantly have to blow your nose or get out for a walk. I swear it’s something at work, as others are having difficulties as well.

Cast Your Vote for the Quarter

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 18:09:24 +0000

Go to this page to vote on the design for the new Wisconsin quarter.

Java Jive

Thu, 25 Sep 2003 22:15:25 +0000

I finally got down to it and started working with Java. I’ve already got a pretty good handle on it. I’m rewriting a code repository that I did in ASP last year and so far I have all of the data retreival working. Sweet. Now I just have to work on inserting and updating new code.

Maker of File-Sharing Software Files Copyright Lawsuit Against Music, Movie Companie

Thu, 25 Sep 2003 13:36:15 +0000

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Makers of the most popular online file-sharing network are suing entertainment companies for copyright infringement, alleging the companies used unauthorized versions of its software to snoop on users in their efforts to battle piracy. Read the article

Talk Like A Pirate Day

Sat, 20 Sep 2003 02:09:35 +0000

Arrr Matey! Avast, ye swabs! T’is a day for talking like a pirate. If’n yer not a strong man, then ye best be stayin’ on land, fer there be no room on the high seas fer the likes o’ yeh!

Fun Game

Thu, 18 Sep 2003 05:44:54 +0000

This game, Radical Aces, is one of the coolest things I’ve seen done on the
web. It’s really small and loads of fun. You’re a fighter pilot protecting
Earth… blah blah blah…. but hey, it’s really neat and well-done. I wish
I could program stuff like this.

RIAA sued for amnesty offer

Thu, 11 Sep 2003 02:17:26 +0000

A day after the Recording Industry Association of America filed a slew of lawsuits against alleged illegal song swappers, it became the target of legal action over its own “amnesty” program.

You are so lazy

Thu, 11 Sep 2003 02:08:54 +0000

You want these free Cliff’s Notes. You know you do. Slacker.

Judge Throws Out Obesity Suit Against McDonalds

Thu, 04 Sep 2003 23:05:47 +0000

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal judge on Thursday threw out a refiled lawsuit
against McDonald’s Corp . blaming the fast food restaurant chain for obesity
and health problems in children.

Interesting Thoughts

Thu, 04 Sep 2003 03:07:45 +0000

If you say something is indescribable, isn’t that describing it? If you shine a light into a mirror, do you get twice as much light? How come it was called the Cosby Show when Billy Cosby’s character was named Heathcliff Huxtible? If a truck is loaded with Helium, would it weigh less than when it was empty? Wouldn’t it get better fuel mileage? Why is it when we talk to God we are praying, but when God talks to us we are put into the loony bin?

What OS are you?

Wed, 03 Sep 2003 00:07:23 +0000

I found this cool quiz on BBSpot today that quizzes your personality. Only hardcore computer nerds will find this funny, but hey, give it a try.

Family day

Mon, 01 Sep 2003 06:28:51 +0000

My mom and dad were over yesterday and we hung around my house watching Simpsons until Carissa came home from work. Then we all sat down and had a good spaghetti dinner and some sweet Oreo-cookie pie my mom made. We had gone out shopping earlier and I picked up some “ice java” syrup that you can use to make iced coffees. Just add milk and ice, man. This stuff rocks! I should probably get to sleep so I don’t waste my whole day off tomorrow.

Wow, visitors!

Sat, 30 Aug 2003 23:10:02 +0000

I’m at my parents’ house tonight fixing their broken computer. It took less than 5 minutes to fix the thing. I spent a long time making a recovery cd that I can use to raise dead machines.

Coolest thing I've seen in awhile

Fri, 29 Aug 2003 15:56:41 +0000

Check out this sweet 360-degree Breakout game! It’s awesome! Minutes of excitement and thrills await you

Games

Mon, 25 Aug 2003 17:16:13 +0000

Since I haven’t posted in a long time, here’s some games I found to make up for it. Have fun! Law and Order – Based on the TV show Space Invaders Lego Orient Expedition

Slacking??? Hardly

Wed, 20 Aug 2003 23:26:04 +0000

If you’re a regular reader of my site then you’ve noticed my hiatus. Honestly, I haven’t had too much to write about. I am finishing up my album, and I am pretty happy with the results. I’m learning how to do mastering, so that’s a load of fun. It’s also time-consuming too because you have to listen to the song over and over again to get the sound you want.

Free antivirus software

Thu, 14 Aug 2003 13:47:03 +0000

Computer Associates is giving away their really good antivirus software..They say it’s for Windows Server 2003, but it works on Windows 98, XP, and Windows 2000! The page says the giveaway is over, but it still seems to work. Just fill out a simple survey and get lifetime protection from viruses! Go to the Download page

Rubik's Cube

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 03:57:55 +0000

This Java Rubik’s Cube has some really nice graphics.

S.W.A.T

Sun, 10 Aug 2003 03:36:53 +0000

We went to see it today.

Game time

Sun, 10 Aug 2003 03:33:48 +0000

Climb the ladder in Workplace. This is really fun. Kill those annoying Jawas in Jawa Shoot. You are the meanest, fiercest shar in Shark Rampage. Men want to be you, women think they can tame you.

Web Programming at its Finest

Fri, 08 Aug 2003 14:12:43 +0000

I was using the new online bill paying service of my credit union yesterday for the first time. After entering all of the required information about one of my payees and submitting it to the bank, I was greeted with this message box.

Interesting Links

Mon, 04 Aug 2003 01:52:06 +0000

The iTrip is banned in England RIAA Radar – See if the album you want to buy is affiliated with the RIAA. Microsoft’s web site kicked offline today.

Colleen's Wedding

Thu, 31 Jul 2003 18:51:35 +0000

Here are the pictures, as promised, from my cousin’s wedding. I don’t have any pictures from the reception because they simply didn’t turn out. These pictures are from immediately after the wedding.

Mmmm... web dev

Tue, 29 Jul 2003 14:49:12 +0000

I’m sitting in the conference room right now waiting for a presentation to begin… I’m really excited because it’s all about designing web pages using only CSS and no tables. I want to do that with this server. It’s just starting… so I will write more later

Going out of town

Fri, 25 Jul 2003 03:37:47 +0000

I’m heading out of town to go to Chicago for my cousin’s wedding. It should be a good time. I’m hoping to hook up with Neal and Sara sometime over the weekend, if only for a few hours. In the meantime, check out these useless activities. Kill some Mosquitos: the Wisconsin state passtime The easiest fighting game ever. Space bar to punch, arrows to move. You need a really fast computer to play this online NES emulator.

Word Origins

Tue, 22 Jul 2003 18:43:20 +0000

(Source: WinBeta

In George Washington’s days, there were no cameras. One’s image was either sculpted
or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a
desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms.
Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted,
but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are “limbs” therefore
painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression “Okay, but
it’ll cost you an arm and a leg.”

Small Town Folk

Tue, 22 Jul 2003 14:21:01 +0000

Those of us who grew up in a small town will laugh when we read this. Those
of you who didn’t will be in disbelief… but trust me… every one of these
are true. Thanks to Anita for this one… sometimes it is nice to be reminded
of where we grow up…. not always… but sometimes.

Soon

Tue, 22 Jul 2003 02:20:42 +0000

Another Week Begins…. but soon…. vacation!

You're All Going to Jail: House proposal targets file swappers

Fri, 18 Jul 2003 18:04:40 +0000

Peer-to-peer users who swap copyrighted files could be in danger of becoming federal felons, under a new proposal backed by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Order of Phoenixes

Wed, 16 Jul 2003 14:11:07 +0000

Finished Harry Potter: Order Of The Phoenix It only took me a few days to read it, but it was really good. Unfortunately, I can’t write too much more about it because everything I write would ruin the story. So just go read it yourself. You’ll love it.

Progress

Wed, 16 Jul 2003 14:08:45 +0000

We are making progress. Some of the programs I’m working on are done and I’m finishing up my user documentation. I’ll be so much more relieved when I can write some of this off. As of yesterday, I’m boycotting Rosebud, a chain of resturaunts in Chicagoland (No link). They fired a friend of mine in a rather crappy way, after she had put in quite a lot of effort there for almost three years.

Damnit

Tue, 15 Jul 2003 04:15:48 +0000

Another week of work starts off with a bang. I had the most frustrating day at work today. Several of the projects I have been working on stopped working properly and the development server seems to be developing some sort of cancer or something. I’m encountering more problems than I ever thought possible. To top that off, I’ve been having difficulties with my contact lenses which is obscurring my vision and causing me to make some really embarassing mistakes with my code.

Flash stuff

Thu, 10 Jul 2003 00:00:24 +0000

Pacman I shouldn’t laugh at this, but it’s too funny. Lots of violence. Connect 4

Whole Lotta Nothing

Wed, 09 Jul 2003 23:47:13 +0000

I’ve been spending some time on the karate pages on this site and I’m working on some animatons and videos for demonstrating the various techniques. Other than that, there’s not too much going down. Wedding Pictures In case anyone’s wondering, there’s some communication problems with our photographer. I won’t put his name and address on here – yet… but he had better play nice. I paid $1000 for my pictures and I don’t have them yet.

Weekend at Bambi’s

Sun, 06 Jul 2003 20:47:12 +0000

We bought a patio set last night and so I decided to sit outside this morning with my lunch and paper and enjoy the nice morning. Not more than
one minute after I had settled into my Best Buy flyer, I heard a rustling in the bushes on the hill across from my house. I looked up and saw two fawns running around in the bushes looking for food. One of them came down about 15 feet away from me. I raced inside and grabbed my camcorder. I got a few minutes of footage of the fawns and their mother getting their grub on.

Soul Singer Barry White Dies at 58

Sat, 05 Jul 2003 19:22:47 +0000

(AP) – With his unique baritone ? a mix of velvet and gravel ? R&B great Barry White was the voice of America’s bedroom, his throbbing compositions conspiring with purring vocals to seduce fans for over three decades. White, who had kidney failure from years of high blood pressure, died Friday at age 58. He had been undergoing dialysis and had been hospitalized since a September stroke.

Happy Independece Day

Fri, 04 Jul 2003 02:57:24 +0000

I’m heading out to see the fireworks… hoping to have some videos to post when I get back. It’s going to be cool! Mom and Dad were over today and we grilled bratwurst outside. It was a pretty cold morning until around noon when it really heated up. For awhile, we thought it would rain, but it turned out to be a really warm day. I spent some time with my dad after Mom went to work.

Link O'Rama

Thu, 03 Jul 2003 18:37:04 +0000

Link ‘o' Rama Best Error Page Ever Definitive DVD Burning (Thanks. Chris Distant Jupiter-like planet discovered

Cool Flash Game

Tue, 01 Jul 2003 19:20:38 +0000

Check out this fun HomeRun Rally game I found on the net. It’s pretty simple, but I think it’s a neat use of Flash. The graphics are pretty decent too.

Good weekend

Mon, 30 Jun 2003 06:40:19 +0000

I’ve been getting back into karate again, more seriously this time. I have no choice.. I have two students now who are very interested in learning whatever I can teach them. I enjoy it because it makes me work harder; I get a chance to really analyze how different moves work. It’s a great workout and it’s really an awesome way to build up endurance and stay in shape. Linkie Linkie Katharine Hepbun passes away at 96 Man Sells Fake Bronze, Gets Paid in Counterfeit Xbox hackers attempt to blackmail Microsoft

Damn!

Mon, 30 Jun 2003 06:12:17 +0000

Well, as you can see, everything’s working again. I installed a new FTP server in the hopes that it would solve my problems, and it certainly did. However, if you can’t get access to the server anymore, you’d better let me know.

Argh!

Mon, 30 Jun 2003 03:01:38 +0000

I’ve been trying for a week to publish to my blog with no success. Blogger changed how they publish my entries and I had to learn some stuff about FTP to get it working. They also changed interfaces on me again, and I don’t like this new one.

Back online

Fri, 27 Jun 2003 04:06:34 +0000

Blogger took longer than I’d hoped to migrate my blog, but it appears that
everything is up and working again. I like the new interface they provide.

Learn how to Make Money on the Web!

Fri, 20 Jun 2003 18:18:58 +0000

I love spam. I love it so much that I get to spend half of my day weeding through it to find my real messages. The best ones are the “Nigerian Money Hiding” scams out there. I found this great satire page on this subject. What a riot!

Daily Updates Resume!

Thu, 19 Jun 2003 02:14:15 +0000

Well, my life is somewhat back in order, and I feel like I can finally put
some more time into this website. Summer makes me lazy, at least in terms of
spending time on the computer. I’ve been outside a lot more, spending time
with family and friends, shooting baskets, doing the karate thing, bike riding,
etc.

Running on E

Fri, 13 Jun 2003 04:54:00 +0000

I can’t even begin to describe things right now… I’m so tired. I’ve been working on the MP3 project every night, and I’ve been addicted to Enter The Matrix, so I have been getting less sleep than I should. Carissa is dealing with a sinus infection or something like that so she’s not sleeping well. Being a light sleeper is rough because every sound in the house wakes me up.

20 years later...

Mon, 09 Jun 2003 13:58:24 +0000

They’re back: ‘V’ to invade NBC again

Laurie's grad party

Fri, 06 Jun 2003 20:17:18 +0000

Sorry this is so late, but I got really sidetracked this week with some other stuff, like house-cleaning, computer stuff, etc. On Sunday, I went to my cousin’s graduation party. It was a really great time. My grandmother was there, and my aunt Annie was there too. I don’t get to see her much, so when I do, it’s always a good time. Like the rest of my relatives, she lives in the Chicagoland area.

Big news day

Fri, 06 Jun 2003 17:30:18 +0000

There is so much stuff going down in the news today that affects a lot of things I do or am a part of. Verison gives up names of four file swappers Oracle makes $5.1 billion bid for PeopleSoft Wal-Mart to hide magazine covers

Music is cool

Tue, 03 Jun 2003 14:43:20 +0000

Erich found this cool Starship Dimensions website that lets you see how different spaceships and other things compare

Good Stuff

Mon, 02 Jun 2003 17:03:18 +0000

Check out this dictionary of Teen Lingo. It’s pretty good

Congratulations Titus and Amy!

Sun, 01 Jun 2003 05:11:20 +0000

My good friend Titus was marriend yesterday, and the reception was really nice. I saw some friends from high-school and had a very good time. It was a pretty long drive to get there, but it was still fun. Titus was decked out in a tux for a little while, but soon changed into the trademark Hawaiian shirt and shorts. It was good to see him again He and I have been good friends since first grade, and it just seems

Landlords and Friends

Tue, 27 May 2003 23:49:44 +0000

Josh is staying with us this week; he can’t move in to his new place until June 1. The landlord is not bending very much on this and it’s making everything very inconvenient. The worst part about it is that he won’t be able to move in until 5:00 PM on Sunday! I’d be really upset about that.

Busy week

Fri, 23 May 2003 13:17:01 +0000

I’ve been so busy this week writing music and working on different projects that I haven’t had much time to write. I’ve got a new song almost ready and I’m getting some of the mistakes cleaned up. I recorded vocals this time… it was my first attempt at it, and I kinda think it sounds good.

So Late… Need Sleep

Mon, 19 May 2003 06:38:10 +0000

Busy weekend. We had a nice birthday bash for Carissa and my parents.
There was lots of food and I think everyone had a good time. The weather
was great all weekend.

Happy Birthday Carissa

Fri, 16 May 2003 15:16:24 +0000

Happy Birthday Carissa

Moon Eclipses

Fri, 16 May 2003 05:08:11 +0000

Watch a Video of Lunar Eclipes that Carissa and I recorded tonight.

Interesting stuff

Thu, 15 May 2003 04:11:19 +0000

Check out this Movie Plot generator. It’s pretty sweet. This color test will screw with your mind. Create a kaleidoscope on this really sweet Flash page. Celebrities are to be put behind bars in a new reality game show – where contestants are locked up in a real prison.

Financial Stuff

Wed, 14 May 2003 01:26:03 +0000

Check out this loan payment calculator! It’s pretty sweet. You can use it to forcast your credit card payments, mortgage payments, and other financial things you forgot how to do on your calculator.

Congratulations Neal! Congratulations Corey and Sherri!

Tue, 13 May 2003 05:42:25 +0000

Neal got a job! Way to go! Now you can start making that mad loot! Corey and Sherri got engaged two weeks ago. It’s about friggin’ time!

A long week

Sat, 10 May 2003 05:08:40 +0000

I’ve been so busy I haven’t had any time to write at all. I’ve been working
on this program for work, and I’ve been spending my spare time watching Ana
or working on the solution to a problem we have at work. I am very close to
the solution and hopefully everything will work out.

Ahhh the world of computers

Mon, 05 May 2003 04:53:45 +0000

It is truly amazing to me how people can find ways to make money. Microsoft’s
new server apparently isn’t
compatible with most of their software products,
so consumers will need to upgrade.

Life in general

Thu, 01 May 2003 05:50:42 +0000

Things are going well… we’re in the early stages of buying a house, and by early stages I mean that we are looking around and trying to figure out how much it’s going to cost. We’re going to try to get pre-approved for a loan from our bank so we can get a better idea of how much we can spend. I’ve been spending my time working on video projects and organizing my files.

Ahhh what a weekend

Mon, 28 Apr 2003 02:19:27 +0000

I had a great weekend. Friday night we grilled out with some people from work.

Charter sucks!

Tue, 22 Apr 2003 19:20:00 +0000

Charter closed all standard ports for ftp, mail, and web now, as well as ports for TCP file sharing. That means that my mail servers are down. I got around the FTP and Web thing though, so that’s nice.

Another Week

Tue, 22 Apr 2003 01:51:50 +0000

Going on vacation is bad, primarily because coming back from vacation and staring at a huge to-do list is an awful feeling. All I wanted to do today was go outside and goof off. Unfortunately, a lot of things happened while I was gone and I got to clean some of them up. It’s interesting to see how things fall apart when I’m gone. Some things that people were having trouble with “miraculously” fixed themselves now that I’m back.

dada show

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 03:08:58 +0000

the playlist

Blues Jam

Fri, 18 Apr 2003 23:49:14 +0000

Thursday night was just awesome. I was at Harlem Ave. Lounge with Neal and it was the open jam night. As we walked in, we noticed that they had keyboards there this time, so I didn’t have to play the guitar. We signed up and ended up being the first ones on.

Where’s My Simpsons?

Tue, 15 Apr 2003 01:53:29 +0000

Well it’s one day late, but it’s finally here. After getting my domain stuff straightened out, I sat down to watch The Simpsons. It was a pretty funny one, with a few jokes that were just mean (but funny nonetheless.) Enjoy these fabulous web links too. Sony adds DVD +/- RW drives to PlayStation 2 in Japan! (Lots of ads, scroll a bit) Four students arrested in New Orleans school shooting Human genome project finally completed

Being outside is awesome

Mon, 14 Apr 2003 23:08:15 +0000

Here I am, outside, nerding it up on my blog while my daughter plays in the
sand. It’s just so cool how technology works!. The weather out today is just
awesome. It’s in the high 80s but it’s really not too bad because of this great
breeze. I have a patio on the north side of my house , so we can sit in the
shade and relax. We bought a sandbox for Ana and she is just loving it. We’ve
been outside for about an hour now and she hasn’t even gotten the slightest
bit bored yet. I like this idea because I can sit out here and spend time with
her and also get some work done. sl

Back online

Mon, 14 Apr 2003 19:59:37 +0000

After nearly a week offline, my site is back. There were some serious problems with the DNS Management host I use. It took 5 days for my DNS changes to take effect, and during that time my site was largely unavailable. That put my email down too so I may have missed some stuff. I’m looking at buying some space and hosting the web front-end on another server so that DNS management is easier.

Shocked and Awed

Thu, 10 Apr 2003 22:50:36 +0000

Sony patents “Shock and Awe” Sometimes I hate work. I enjoy working there, but I hate the fact that I have so much to do that I can’t ever get ahead. I have a lot of projects to do and a lot of things I want to learn. Today, I got some more information from Mike Morrison regarding the .Net framework and Visual Studio. I’m really excited about that, and I am also interested in working on a versioning system for source code and project files.

No rest

Mon, 07 Apr 2003 21:31:18 +0000

The class went great, but man I am going to have to kick it into gear to get a few things done by Wednesday. I have to work on a portal mockup using Sharepoint, and I have to come up with some standards for our new custom error pages project I started. We need to work all of the dull details out, like our generic responses, what kind of data we want to record, and who to notify.

Teaching is fun

Mon, 07 Apr 2003 21:28:58 +0000

Today is a teaching day. I’m spending most of my day prepping for a class. I will be teaching “Web Design Considerations for Disabled Users” and “Advanced Web Authoring with Dreamweaver” to a large group of trainers here at the university. We want to get everyone in line with our web philosophy so that teachers, staff, and students are all teaching and learning the same concepts. So today I am revising my slides and looking for some new relevant information about the subjects.

Run… Run Far Away

Mon, 07 Apr 2003 03:58:11 +0000

It appears that the RIAA wasn’t bluffing. They’re suing some college students for sharing copyrighted material over their campus networks. More lawsuits are expected if companies don’t heed their warnings.

Wow it's late!

Thu, 03 Apr 2003 07:08:24 +0000

I just finished up a nice long night of coding. I’m working on a new version of my web server management tool. When it’s done, users will be able to handle a lot of the awful administrative tasks from one simple interface. Some features include

dada in MN

Mon, 31 Mar 2003 12:55:23 +0000

dada is playing in Minneapolis at First Ave on May 30th. Unfortunately for me, I can’t go because I have to be at a wedding that weekend. Damn. I wanted to see them twice.

A Family Again

Mon, 31 Mar 2003 01:46:58 +0000

My daughter is home again, and she’s driving me nuts… but that’s
good because in a strange way, you get to the point where you miss
that. We played together today and watched the new Simpsons episode
that was on tonight. Then, as I was reading her bedtime story, she
passed out. It’s never been easier than that to get her to bed!

Snow

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 12:39:23 +0000

It’s snowing here. My high school closed today…. why can’t they have closed this much when I was in school? It could be that since we hanven’t had much snow in the last few years, everyone up there forgot how to handle it. Today should prove interesting. I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon at my wife’s prodding. I made the mistake of telling her I haven’t been in for a physical in quite some time, so she’s making me go.

Old Friends

Tue, 25 Mar 2003 01:18:53 +0000

I went out to Sam’s Club tonight to get some food and some other stuff. I ran into an old buddy of mine from college while I was walking into the store. I haven’t seen him in over a year, and I found out that he is still going to Eau Claire. He’s graduating next year. It was good to see him.

Some people are obsessive… and then there's this guy

Fri, 21 Mar 2003 16:17:30 +0000

This has to be one of the funniest things I’ve read in a long time. Man changes name to Optimus Prime. Now I liked the Transformers when I was a kid. I had a lot of the toys and spent a long time playing with them. I’ll admit I own the first two seasons on DVD and I also own the movie. But I don’t play with the toys anymore, and I certainly wouldn’t think about changing my name!

Cisco buys Linksys

Fri, 21 Mar 2003 03:36:00 +0000

CISCO buys Linksys

We're at War

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 01:48:29 +0000

The US just launched some sort of pre-dawn strike in Iraq…. more to follow.

Still feeling Crappy

Mon, 17 Mar 2003 23:14:24 +0000

At least the Strong Bad email today led to a Trogdor Video Game! That’s been amusing me for the last ten minutes. I’m eating dinner right now and getting ready to watch the president’s speech on tv tonight, and then it’s off to bed. I am still really tired and I have no sick time left so I have to drag it into work tomorrow.

Fever And Other Yucky Things

Mon, 17 Mar 2003 03:40:35 +0000

I’m really sick right now. I don’t think I’ll be going in to work
tomorrow if I still feel the way I do. I’ve had a really high fever
and I’ll probably go to the doctor in the morning to see if anything
can be done… I’ve been sick since Friday morning.

The Video Machine

Fri, 14 Mar 2003 03:43:11 +0000

Thanks to Erich, who was nice enough to loan me his firewire cable, I was able to capture some digital video into my new machine. It works great. It took only 18 minutes to export an AVI of my wedding, complete with transitions, and only 53 minutes to convert the video to a DVD, including write time! I’m quite impressed and very excited about the possibilites for the future.

Email In The Workplace

Tue, 11 Mar 2003 21:20:38 +0000

I read an article today about the “tyranny” of email. It made me think about how much e-mail has really impacted the way people communicate. I remember when our mail servers crashed in 1999 and people were absolutely frantic because they couldn’t communicate. I remember telling my boss “You do have a telephone” but the truth is that nobody is ever at their desks these days. The people I need to contact are often only available via laptops or cell phones, and so email is a way of life. The programmers that I work with are only a few doors away from my office, and yet I have caught myself composing an email to schedule a meeting or distribute information. Most of the time, I stop myself and slap my face a few times before walking down the hall to the person’s office and meeting face-to-face. Computer people are too impersonal as it is… why make it worse? Furthermore, I fear that we may be making otherwise outgoing people more intraverted.

It's Here!

Tue, 11 Mar 2003 19:22:51 +0000

My computer was delivered this morning!!!!

Customer Service is dead

Tue, 11 Mar 2003 01:31:57 +0000

I’ve said it before and I will say it again. I am very unhappy with the way companies treat people who use their goods and services. Let’s look at Airborne Express, the company that is supposed to ship my computer. After receiving notice that they attempted to deliver my computer today, I called my wife to find out what heppened. She told me that she had been home all day and didn’t hear anyone knock or ring the doorbell. I immediately called the customer service number and talked with a very helpful lady who told me that she would notify the delivery person to attempt a second delivery today. I thanked her and hung up.

Another Weekend Over

Mon, 10 Mar 2003 12:41:59 +0000

I spent the entire weekend playing with my daughter. We did everything
from reading books and watching movies to playing in the snow. She even
helped me put a new power supply in my computer. She’s such a nerd!

Charter's Cable Box

Sat, 08 Mar 2003 04:13:31 +0000

In case anyone cares, the Motorola DCT2000 cable box that Charter provides for digital cable is actually a Jerrold / General Instruments box, as Motorola accquired those companies. So, if your home theatre / universal remote doesn’t have an entry for Motorola cable boxes, you can try a Jerrold or General Instruments code. It worked great for me… thanks to this news post

Good news

Fri, 07 Mar 2003 04:44:22 +0000

My computer shipped out today. I had some rather angry words with some Dell customer service people last night and I finally found a really helpful guy who expedited my order. It shipped this morning thankfully, so that whole mess is over. I have my DVD drive working and I recorded my first disc. I am very much amazed at the quality of the video that Chris shot at my wedding.

Windows 2003 Server Pricing

Wed, 05 Mar 2003 06:03:04 +0000

Microsoft released the pricing for their Windows 2003 server thingy that
comes out on April 24th. They’ve got four versions coming out, and it
appears to be identical to the pricing for Windows 2000. That’s
not too bad, but I feel sorry for anyone who just migrated from Windows
NT to Windows 2000. Right now, statistics show that 70% of Microsoft’s
server customers are using Windows NT 4.0. I think this cartoon illustrates
why people don’t jump on Microsoft’s latest and greatest.

dada in Chicago!!!

Wed, 05 Mar 2003 02:10:52 +0000

dada is kicking off a 45 city tour this spring and summer. They’re doing a two-week run through the Midwest, and they may actually get to Minnesota and Wisconsin! However, I’ll probably hit up Chicago for this show… not sure yet.

Finished another project!

Tue, 04 Mar 2003 04:56:30 +0000

I am putting a website live right now… I’m waiting for the files to upload to the host. I just finished a site for a client and it feels good. I think the design is a bit dated, but it still looks good and the client is very happy. It’s true what they say…. web design isn’t about what makes you happy… it’s about what makes the client happy. I suppose that my designs have a “pattern” to them… but it sells web sites. I make money with my pattern… and I manage to get repeat business… so I can’t complain too much about the staleness.

Simpsons email

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 03:31:06 +0000

This is awesome… send mail to “chunkylover53@aol.com” and actually get mail from “Homer”? Read the article here.

Simpsons-O-Rama

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 03:17:45 +0000

Tonight was one of those nights when you see a show you like and
you immediately think “What the hell did I just watch?”
Those are the words I said to my wife after the credits ran on tonight’s
show.

A Sad Day

Thu, 27 Feb 2003 13:59:15 +0000

By now, most people worldwide are aware that Mr. Rogers has passed away from stomach cancer. It makes me feel kinda old. I don’t even know why I started watching him, but I know I enjoyed it for some reason. It was a good show that will probably live on forever in reruns. There’s not too many shows like it now, and I wonder if there ever will be. Kids don’t seem to want to sit still for that.

Interesting Week

Mon, 24 Feb 2003 20:50:24 +0000

This has definitely been an interesting week. I’ve been working for several days with a portal system, for both work and my own personal use. I’ve been experimenting with a program called ASP-Nuke which is a free GPL project that has some interesting features, including a very nice skinnable interface. It’s got some issues though, and that’s where most of my time has been going. I’ve rewritten a lot of the code for the database access routines, but I hope to have it completed very soon.

Budget transcript

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 18:47:25 +0000

Budget transcript

The Budget Sucks

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 02:37:06 +0000

I watched the Governer’s address tonight… it talks of sweeping job cuts and spending cuts. I agree with most of it, but I may lose part of (or all of) my job in the process. That really hurts because I just got this job and I really like it. Here’s the budget recommendation for the UW-System.in PDF format.

Links

Tue, 18 Feb 2003 03:00:30 +0000

Big list of Homestar Runner related interviews Johnny Cash covers Nine Inch Nails!!

Mixed Feelings

Sun, 16 Feb 2003 03:21:48 +0000

My replacement Palm m515 is okay, but not as great as all of the reviews I’ve seen. I like the fact that I can turn the backlight off and still see the color screen in the daylight, but I don’t like the fact that the colors are not as bright as the IIIc that I had. This one is considerably faster, but the screen seems more faded than my old one.

Trading In

Sat, 15 Feb 2003 06:28:25 +0000

I’m packing up my Palm IIIc that I’ve had for two years. I love it… it’s been a great tool for me and I will miss it. But it’s dying… it won’t charge up anymore and so it’s time to take it in and use my service plan that I bought for it. Hopefully the one I get to replace it with will be cool… I’m looking at the m515… it’s the same value as my IIIc and it looks like it’s awesome.

Favorite Simpsons Quotes

Fri, 14 Feb 2003 01:48:53 +0000

In honor of the 300th episode of The Simpsons on Sunday I present to you my top ten favorite quotes and episodes.

Interesting

Tue, 11 Feb 2003 03:59:44 +0000

Life is interesting. Work is shaping up to be pretty cool. I have a new project to work on and a new methodology to approach. I’m going to be writing ASP pages that will connect to our mainframe terminal screen programs and allow web users to query data from our mainframe. It’s going to be a lot of fun to create new interfaces for these applications, and I’m very excited to get to do some designing again.

Lazy weekend

Mon, 10 Feb 2003 12:49:16 +0000

What a weekend. I spent the whole weekend with my wife and daughter. My wife got sick on Saturday so she came home from work. We all sat around all day and watched TV. I took my daughter out in the snow and we had a snow fight. She wanted to stay out longer, but she was complaining that her face hurt so we went in. Sure enough, she was all red-in-the-face from the wind, even though she was bundled up prety good.

Hot Snot!

Wed, 05 Feb 2003 04:53:23 +0000

Today was an interesting day. We had a consultant come in and go over this technology that allows us to use ASP to connect to our Unisys mainframe via COM objects. Blah blah blah. It’s neat to me because we don’t have to rewrite all of the mainframe programs. I still have to say that the best part of my job is being able to go in and make a difference.

dada press release from their management!!!

Mon, 03 Feb 2003 13:22:09 +0000

Former MCA recording artist, DADA– is Back!!! All original members, Joie Calio, Michael Gurley and Phil Leavitt have rejoined forces and are currently gearing up for a 45-city US tour. An independently released “LIVE” CD will taken from this tour and be released in Fall 2003. Tour dates and cities are being added regularly. You can go to www.pollstar.com for tour itinerary.

Lazy Weekend

Mon, 03 Feb 2003 02:33:19 +0000

Well I spent most of the weekend doing nothing except laying on the couch. I put in a long night on Friday and spent most of Saturday watching MSNBC. It snowed here finally. I shovelled the driveway for the first time all “winter”. It was actually nice to be outside in the snow… everything looks so peaceful out here where I live… I’ve never seen it here with snow. I think I’ll take Ana outside tomorrow and build snowmen.

Columbia Shuttle

Sat, 01 Feb 2003 15:27:30 +0000

Unreal. Columbia shuttle breaks up over Texas

Launched

Sat, 01 Feb 2003 08:18:18 +0000

Damn it’s late. I did it though…. I made the deadline. My consulting site is finished! It’s live, and it looks like everything worked. I’m pretty happy with it, but it was a lot of work. Now I need to start looking for more contracts, because the current projects I have are all wrapping up. Life at work is interesting…. apparently there is a trojan horse associated with the SQL Slammer worm.

What a week

Thu, 30 Jan 2003 21:38:21 +0000

Ahh what a week. I’ve been busy with other projects, and I got to see my friend Neal last night. He drove up from Chicago and hung out with us. It was nice to catch up.

Busy Weekend

Mon, 27 Jan 2003 03:55:03 +0000

Well it’s been a busy weekend.

There was a massive attack on the internet today affecting MS-SQL servers. It took out Bank of America, as well as tens of thousands of SQL servers nationwide. It also took out our servers at work, so I spent a good part of today working on making sure our stuff is back up and running by tomorrow morning. I’ll have to go in early to make sure everything is ok.

Mixed Bag

Wed, 22 Jan 2003 23:23:37 +0000

Today was a mixed bag. My mom has decided on a plan of attack to treat her lymphoma. We’re looking at 8 to 10 years life expectancy, but it varies. Mom is going to try a new method involving antibodies, which has about a 50 percent success rate. It will allow her to maintain a decent quality of life and hopefully improve the situation. We’re all hoping.

Adobe Spying?

Tue, 21 Jan 2003 04:11:03 +0000

Adobe decided it would be “cool” to connect their programs to the internet when I’m using them. So I did some digging… and here’s how to stop that from happening.

Treble

Fri, 17 Jan 2003 01:38:52 +0000

Today, we got a cat. I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of a three-month-old kitten with claws running around my house, but as soon as I came home and saw the kitten playing with my daughter, that was it. And it was all over when the kitten curled up into a ball on my shoulder and fell asleep when I was watching TV. What can I do?

Interesting Day at Work

Thu, 16 Jan 2003 01:18:42 +0000

Well it’s Wednesday and there were a lot of interesting things that happened at work today. We’re dropping out of some projects that I enjoy working on, but it will free us up to pursue other areas, such as application development. It should be fun. Right now though, I am concerned with getting more students going on web scripts and applications as well as web design. We need more people with experience, and we just don’t have it. It’s going to be an uphill climb too, with a hiring freeze and budget cuts.

Full Plate

Mon, 13 Jan 2003 13:15:27 +0000

Another work week begins, and I have a lot on my plate. I have a lot of projects I have to sort through and decide which ones are most important. The ones that don’t make the cut will most likely get dropped. There’s just too much to do and not enough time to do it.

Interesting week

Thu, 09 Jan 2003 21:22:44 +0000

What an interesting week. I haven’t been writing much because I’ve been working hard at my “new” job and spending time with my daughter at night. She’s been really difficult for Carissa, but she’s just been behaving great for me.

notable web links

Mon, 06 Jan 2003 12:02:50 +0000

billion verdict top award in ‘02 Restaurants, food firms: Lawsuits wrongly blame their food Louisiana. Prosecutors Rebuked for ‘Noose’ Ties Was the news story about the five Arab “terrorists” that entered the country completely made-up??

I got the job!

Mon, 06 Jan 2003 02:39:20 +0000

They told me at 4:30 on Friday. I start tomorrow which is already shaping up to be a really really busy day.

Y2k3

Fri, 03 Jan 2003 20:04:34 +0000

It’s a new year, and a lot of things are going on right now. I just completed a video project for a company here in town and am planning to purchase a DVD writer with the money from the project…. because it would have made the outcome so much easier to achieve.