Weekend in review.

Well, now that the "blog the most this weekend" is over, and I won, it allows me to look back at things I would have hoped to do this weekend.

Let's review. While the girlfriend was gone this weekend, I said I was going to do the following:

- Blog to win the contest.
- Play video games.
- Watch awesome movies that she won't.
- Work on the adventure website.
- Swimming.

I did blog. In fact, I won the contest. It was cool, too, as there was a ton of interesting things I did this weekend.

Play video games. Hell yeah, I played video games. Really cool thing, I beat Matrix: Path of Neo. If you don't know, it's the best game out of the entire Matrix series. You essentially play the entire trilogy (even parts from the gaps, that Animatrix tries to cover). It also allowed me to better understand what happened in all the talkie parts of the third movie (which I liked the least because of all the talking). As far as game play, it seemed pretty easy, up until the French man levels. That's when it got lame. After those levels (which was about an hour), it got better again. Then when you thought it was over, you get a little blurb from the creators of the trilogy, the Wachowski brothers. They rewrite the ending of the movie to make it more game friendly. Eh. But at least I beat the game.

Watch movies? Saw the Ringer again with Jeff. He came down and we wanted to see Miami Vice, but it wasn't playing at a time convenient to us, so we went to my house and put in a DVD.

Work on the website? Yep. Pretty much completed the infrastructure. Now we need to work on the PHP back end, but at least the framework is up. CSS is nice.

Swimming. Nope. It was slightly chilly this weekend (which was a welcome weather occurance, as I'd hate to be stuck in my warm ass office with a huge computer putting out all those BTUs). Plus, it's not as fun when you swim solo.

technorati tags:weekend, matrix, neo, videogames, swimming

Blogged with Flock

Commercial picture

I love it. This is a picture that my girlfriend took.

It can either be a Konica Minolta ad (which we'd do for free, nevermind the fact that they no longer have a camera business) or maybe an Oakley ad.

I'm leaning more towards the KonMin ad, as the bokeh effect is significant and pleasing. :) 

Whoa. Thomas Hawk left a comment on my page.

OK. Many of you will be like...mmmkay.

But DUDE, Thomas Hawk left a comment on my July 28th entry.

He's one of the biggest names that come up when you talk about photography, internetting, and blogging. He a contemporary great whose works are amazing in this digital world we live in.

Whew!

Granted, his message thanked me for hosting my photos on Zooomr.com, nothing about my skills as a photographer, but still. One can almost imagine him thinking "you know, his photographs are amazing. I think he's a great asset to Zooomr. I will thank him for hosting."

I'd be like, "Bird, get off my car!"

Yo!

So, I went to bed last night at 4:00.

- Why do I look forward to the weekends and sleeping in and all that when I usually just sleep less?
- Why do I find myself so enamored with a website and uploading 300 megs of data to a personal webserver?
- Why do I play video games, games that I own and can play at my leisure, way late in the night into the wee morning hours?
Why?

Whatever.

I took my Lisinopril today. I know I forgot to take it yesterday, but interestingly enough, my blood pressure didn't suffer too bad because of it.Do you think my blood pressure is so high because of lack of sleep?

Eh. I'm going to play some more Matrix: Path of Neo.

Free Winrar today

Apparently, Winrar is free today. That'spretty cool, as I have been using an older version of Winrar for about two years.

It is quite awesome software.

:)

Blogged with Flock

Good ice cream for lactose-intolerant people doesn't exist.

Zooomr :: PICT0612

So my girlfriend bought some floor tickets for a really great concert in Anaheim in October. It's for MercyMe, AudioAdrenaline, and Phil Wickham. At least I hope Phil Wickham is going to be there. Apparently he's touring with MM and AudioA, but on ticketmaster.com, it doesn't mention him for that event.

He better be there.

But at least MercyMe and AudioA are going to be sick^!

For those of you that know me, you know this is going to be an excellent concert--almost as good as the MercyMe and Jeremy Camp on in March 2005.

Interestingly, I am going to this with another friend. The girlfriend will be in LA that weekend. It's still going to be cool.

She did ask about bringing cameras. They said that only non-professional cameras are allowed. Whatever that means. I have a digital SLR I want to bring--I hope they don't freak out.

At any rate: spthealien: 3; tootsmcgee: 1. Hehe.

^Sick, used in this context, means excellent; gratifying to the utmost degree.

Blogged with Flock

Oh, that's funny.

ReverendFun.com's daily Christian cartoons brought to you by Gospelcom.net

Seriously.

Anyway, I spoke to my neighbors earlier today about fixing the fence. I thought it would be all hard and stuff--that they would be like "No...you fix the fence."

They were totally cool about it.

So, now I get to kill this immense nasty yucca plant in my backyard before I can even get contractors to come to the house to look.

And it's been nasty hot and sticky outside.

Nasty.

Blogged with Flock

Who can blog the most in the next few days contest.

It's hot outside. Today, I couldn't find my badge for work. I feel a sticky patina over much of my arms. Ahhh, yes--it must be that time again.

The time where I can't wait for the weekend to start.

Let's see...what am I going to do while the girlfriend is away?

- Play videogames, check.
- Watch awesome movies that she won't, check.
- Work on the adventure website, yep.
- Swimming. Most definately.

Most importantly...

- Blog to win the contest.

Oh yeah.

Blogged with Flock

These are spirit fingers.

OK. So I am stuck at home today with some of this migraine action.
But do you know what the worst part is? I have been prescribed some mandatory video watching by Dr. Girlfriend, herself.

I am watching Bring It On.

Now I see why I have managed to avoid this all these years.

Anyhow, there's this picture here that looks like I am peeing into Lake Hodges.

I thought you would enjoy that.

Blogged with Flock

Sober for one week...not doing so well.

I think my body is going through withdrawals. I have been super tired lately. It's not the lack of sleep. I mean, I know I don't sleep too long, but it's never been like this. Now I am just moping around, waiting for something to happen, all droopy with my hands dragging on the ground. I have been sober for one week.

It was one week ago that I drank my last energy drink.

Now that it's all flushed from my body, I can't help but feel like a large lump of mass set in motion only by gravity and wind. It's not that I can't just go to the store and buy some--I can. It's that the store doesn't have my choice any longer. I am talking about Vault Zero.

Remember years ago, there was this awesome sweet nectar of green bubbles. It was called Surge.

Well, through the years, people have beckoned for its return. Thousands of people have called for it. There have been efforts, actually people doing actual work, to get Surge back. Coca Cola then tested out this green concoction on the east coast. On the west coast, we could only read about it--our mouths dripping with the mouth watering desire that could only be satiated by one (kphssshhhttt) sip (gul-gul-gul-gul-tik-ahhhhhh) of this wonder tonic.

It was called Vault.

And for us diabetics (or people needing to lose weight), Vault Zero was the healthier version.

My girlfriend and I stocked up, purchasing several cases of it from a local grocery store. But we finished it.

And we could no longer find it at the store.

Then there are all these crazy blog entries about the disappearance of Vault Zero.

Noooooo!

Again.

Noooooo!

I had so much planned for you and I. I was thinking about enjoying the sweet crisp taste continuously at LAN parties. I was thinking about sticking the can on my bike frame and quenching my thirst at the end of a long two-mile bike ride. Grabbing you from my center cup holder while parking at the edge of some cliff.

I was even thinking about bringing you to my wedding table, to be enjoyed with my loved one--the first drink to be shared as a couple.

I must get to the bottom of this. Coca Cola must ship more. They must.

They must.

technorati tags:vault, surge, energy, drink

Blogged with Flock

But I use Google (with text that follows that has nothing to do with the title)

Hello, all. Just another text ping to the blog. This was a hot weekend. I did go swimming. Just another instance for another near-300 pound man to take off his shirt outside. But oh well. It was nice and cool in the pool.

We avoided the craziness that is Comic-Con and worked on the yard. Plus, I did buy a present for one of my friend's wedding. That was at least the reason I told myself to get out of the house. BB&B turned out to be a nice air-conditioned store with plenty of chairs.

OK. Well, I will be at Shelter Island this Wednesday evening for a photo shoot of downtown with the rest of the gang from San Diego DSLR club. Come by for some photo shooting fun.

I took this picture last weekend at the Giants game.

technorati tags:san, francisco, giants, yahoo, san, diego, dslr, wedding, present

Blogged with Flock

I have actually fallen in love with the internet.

Seriously.

I love Flock. I love Web 2.0. And I love free stuff. When I found out that I can get a Pro account from Zoomr just because I have a blog, I said to myself...SWEET.

Now if Flock could only integrate with Zoomr, I would be good to go.

Blogged with Flock

Zoomr Blog This, baby!

OK. So it sounds like that new up-and-comer web 2.oh site Zoomr will give out pro accounts to bloggers.

I say--SICK! This is sweet. Let's give this a shot.

technorati tags:zoomr, pro, account

Blogged with Flock

Blogs are my friends.

You know what's weird. Blogs today.

This entry is going to become a little bit of a "whoa-but-look-at-what-you-are-doing-yourself" entry. But, oh well.

Blogging has becomes pretty much the only way I read about things. It's weird just how the pieces fell into place. The browser I use (Flock) makes blogging so easy--both the writing and the reading (Flock's RSS viewing is the best I have ever used, even better than the previous stalwart, Safari, and slicker than IE7's). My little browser toolbar even has a little icon that becomes orange when a new entry has been inputted by any of the oh-so-many blogs I read.

Then my email client (Outlook 2007 Beta) supports these RSS feeds that blogs can output. I have gone from several hours reading about news to simply minutes just skimming past non-interesting articles. Plus, RSS seems to strip away all the advertisements.

But what's weird is how I communicate with my friends now. Before, I used to see them--walking to class, sitting next to them, eating food with them. Then I graduated. We all got jobs and did our own thing. It shifted into the phone calls with the occasional party. Then to emails that got answered every now and then, based usually on how bored we were at work. Then one day, I discovered personal blogging.

It's always been around. I've known about it when reading about up and coming gadgets. I have seen it integrated into a few bands webpages. But I never thought I would have one of my own.

Now, it seems that when I want to find out how a friend is doing, I simply visit his blog. Now, I am not talking about the ever-so-popular MySpace crap, which I have easily resisited and will continue doing so, as that is a horrible concept (let's have thousands of friends, blah blah blah, none of which I know who exactly they are). For instance, I have a good friend, Billy, who is about the hardest man to hang out with--he's always doing something. So I read his blog at my convenience.

Another weird aspect is how we have been replaced by our own digital presence. Much like the CDs I own are now replaced by it's MP3/AAC version on my iPod while the originals sit collecting dust in a dark corner of my closet--while its compressed digital ones-and-zero copy get played hundreds of times (no one email me about how the original CD is a set of digital ones-and-zeros--it's different). Take, for instance, my friend Alfred. He has recently become known to me as the guy with the cool wedding website. I know he's more than that, but as of now, his site has become his presence. Another example is this person I see every now and then at work. He's not the kindest person, but now when I see him, I chuckle inside remember that he likes the Gilmore Girls (says his MySpace profile). I see that people actually answer the blog comments more than they do their own voicemails.

This change in communications has come quickly, yet transparently to this overweight techie writing this blog right now. If you stay on top of technology, I guess you just don't see that the "next big thing" is happening everyday, so frequently that it becomes old and not so apparent. I know blogs have been around for a long as time, but it hit me earlier today just how much it has affected my everyday.

Want to know something cool? My next phone is going to have blog capabilities built-in. I can take pictures and transmit it directly to this blog spot.

Cool, huh?

Well--till the next blog entry--see you later.

technorati tags:blogs, cell, phones, flock, rss, outlook, beta, change, friends, sony, ericsson, camera

Blogged with Flock

Can't wait for the weekend, Nagle, and cool things on a website.

I am so done with this week.

My back hurts from sitting in this friggin chair from designing networks to typing and talking on the phone with solution providers. Argh.

I can't wait for the weekend.

A nice long drive up the coast of California with the one I love. No work involved there. Just her presence, some cameras, great views, cold drinks, and some music. Sunroof open and sunset off in the distance.

That will be nice.

Anyway...I read an article on Matt Nagle in Wired. Really amazing stuff. Google him. It's a crazy foray into cybernetics. He's a C4 quadriplegic who's spine had been severed during a fight with a convict. Doctors have put in his brain a microchip that is allowing him to operate basic motion using a prosthetic arm. Wish him the best.

On to another topic.

My good friend Alfred is getting married (yay!). But, while cool, there's something else I am going to discuss on this blog entry--his wedding website.

He actually has created, using PHP, a database keeping track of the attendees. Hey--it saves some stamps. What's crazy is the field he has populated. If you are lucky enough to be invited, then you can experience this. If not, too bad. It's really quite cool.

Well--that's all for now. I will be sure to put up a few pictures after the weekend.

Blogged with Flock

Tired, but excited.

OK. So I just got to my parent's house and I am pretty beat. My girlfriend and I just came back from her city where we got to go to a few parties and eat all this food. It was nice--but it was pretty warm.

Now that we are in Murrieta, it's nicer--less humid and the air is sweet.

I am buying a wide-angle lens in the morning. It will be used for taking cool pictures. Unfortunately, it's going to cost me a pretty penny, so I better use the hell out of it.

Anyhow, that's it for now. I just wanted a blurb that showed I was still alive in July.

Later.

Blogged with Flock