Wickham, Wicker, and Elbow

No, that's not a name of a new country band (though, in retrospect, it sounds like it would be).

Last night, the girlfriend and I went to Maranatha Chapel to meet up with Alicia for Bible study. We were presented with a great performance by Phil Wickham, who Alicia and I are going to see in October. While his CD sounds really good, listening to him live, doing exactly what I would think he would do on worship songs--it was great. He sounds good.

Tonight, I had plans to go see the Wicker Man. It looks cool and I was excited when I was given tickets to see a screening for free. However, seeing it tonight has a few things going against it.

1. It's in Mira Mesa. About 30 minutes north of my house.
2. It starts at 10:00 PM. This, after I have been deprived of sleep all week and am still recovering from the LAN party.
3. My elbow.

Yep, my elbow. For the first time in my whole life, I am actually showing signs of repetitive strain (stress) injury. The LAN party and my job--they are all participating in taking its toll on my elbow. And my wrist, but not as bad.

Dude, it sucks. I mean, I am taking my four hour vicodin doses in order to type. How do I blog after my prescription depletes?

What? Where am I?

Zooomr :: PICT0772

So, if you look at the dates, the last blog entry I put in has been about a week ago.

Dang. This pause from the guy who would blog three times a day. What's up?

Let's see...LAN party from Friday to Sunday. Sunday night, was tired from the weekend. Took part in a American Pie marathon anyway. Monday night, went to Miguel's with the woman and her sibling/in-law/cousins. Tuesday...saw a screening of Gridiron Gang (which, I will talk about later, is a damn good movie). My computer still sits in pieces in my room, waiting for me to reconnect everything. That brings us to today--the grilled chicken daily deal sandwich at Subway day.

OK. Now you're all caught up.

Gridiron Gang. Great movie. It seems to have a little bit of everything. Think Crash meets Stand and Delivery meets The Longest Yard meets (sheesh) Remember the Titans. It was good. I remember last week sort of giving a review about how movies abiding the underdog formula has to be good by nature. This one was good on its own. Watch it. It's visceral. To add, it's based on a true story.

This Thursday, I've got a screening of Wicker Man to watch.

Also, stick around. This weekend, I *might* have something to announce on this here blog.

Lastly, check out my friend's blog, Paxoo. It's the something-to-think-about blog.

technorati tags:weekend, lanparty, GridironGang

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28 October 2006--you know where I'll be.

- - - ( INO Records ) - - -

Yeah--MercyMe is coming to town. While not exactly San Diego, if MercyMe comes to Anaheim, southern California becomes "my town."

So far, Alicia and I have a pair of tickets to see them. Plus, they are not the typical cheap seats, either. We splurged on this one. If you are interested in buying some tickets, you should go to the Ticketmaster. Or, you can buy the tickets that I have and let me bid on some crazy premium auction seats that also benefit the Go Foundation. Or, you can bid on those seats, too--when they become available for Anaheim. They are awesome live. Plus, they are touring with Audio Adrenaline and San Diego local, Phil Wickham (bro, where were you last night--I thought you were going to be at Maranatha).

To check out my MercyMe pictures at concerts I've attended, see my esp2002.com MercyMe gallery page.

Google Search of the day

Have you done a Google search for the word "failure" lately? Go ahead, try it out.

technorati tags:google, search, failure

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K-Fed not so much.

That's all.

And I am not just doing this because I want to be part of the anti-Britney K-Fed matchup. The only reason I wanted to record the Teen Choice Awards 2006 show was to watch how horribly this guy would be. I wanted to hate him upon grabbing that mic of his. And he didn't dissappoint.

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Saw a movie.

So we saw a screening of Invincible (the football movie with Mark Wahlberg). Suffice it to say, it was a great sports movie about someone who wasn't expected to succeed who ends up making it to the top. Just like every other movie of the type (read: Coach Carter, Glory Road, that Titans movie, and even the original Mighty Ducks), it's good simply because of it's underdog-beating-the-odds nature. It's not the best movie of the sort, but it's not the worst.

What's interesting to note, however, is how early we showed up for the preview, only to need to sit up in the few rows right before the screen. To add, we were in the front half of the line. I feel bad for those who had to be sent away after standing for about an hour to get in.

I've attempted to do it, that is, to sit up front. I forgot the movie, but it was a mind jarring ride, as it was an action movie, and it became unbearable after a few minutes as each slight camera jerk forced our entire heads to move along with the action happening on screen.

This is clearly an issue with action movies.

Unfortunately, all movies take on action movie status when viewed up close like that.

Even the drama on screen in Invincible became jarring as the camera pans across a building. I was as leaned-back as I possibly could be in the seat and still trying to grasp the emotion that a 30' image of Marky Mark's face seemed to exude when he sat quietly in the corner of his living room all alone.

Anyway...I'm hungry.

Sick

Zooomr :: PICT3921

So I didn't even make it to the Beerfest preview.

Yesteday, right after my last blog entry, I got sick--really quickly, too.

I had a sore neck, achy joints, an enlarged lymph node, a headache, and would vary from ridiculously cold to sweaty warm in minutes.

So I didn't see the movie.

And I slept from about 1pm until about 7pm. Then my fever increased.

So now I am sitting at home wondering what I am missing at work. Oh well, at least I can catch up on my Strong Bad emails.

technorati tags:sick, weekend

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Bobble-heads.

Zooomr :: PICT3753

We showed up early for the Padres game to see the shinanigans that the Padres do before a game.

Bad idea.

By the third inning, we were there for about 2.5 hours and were wondering what to do. It moved faster afterwards, after watching two home runs and recording videos of ourselves dancing at Petco Park.

Anyway...what else, what else.

Busy weekend.

Saw Accepted movie. If you know what to expect walking in the theater, you won't be dissappointed. It was pretty funny.

Went to the Point Loma Lighthouse and saw the Pacific Ocean through the marine layer and much of San Diego. Went there with some out-of-towners (actually, peeps from the UK).

Obviously, went to the Padres game.

Went to Red Sails Inn and had more clam chowder.

San Diego Zoo. It was nice and tiring, and we got in a long line to see three pandas sleeping, showing us their butts.

Went to Costco and bought Starbucks frappucinos.

Going to see Beerfest screening.

Yard work, blah blah blah.

That's a pretty busy weekend. Now my body is all tired and sore.

technorati tags:weekend, padres, sandiegozoo, accepted, beerfest

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I don't know why I come up with these weekend checklists anymore.

This weekend, a Padres game. The thing is, I bought tickets back when the Padres were first place (which was super exciting), but now they are third place...what the hell? So I guess now I'm going for the bobble-heads. Yay! Anyways, that's where I'll be if anyone reading wanted to meet up.

What else, what else. I will be going to the zoo.

I also have to look for some missing CompactFlash cards and a missing SLR battery. I wouldn't mind it so much, except for the fact that they are proprietary and no longer being manufactured.

So that's what I've got. The checklist is smaller than it usually is, hopefully I can do all these things--I'll let you know Monday. :)

technorati tags:weekend, padres, sandiegozoo

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Thomas Hawk's entry on a lame notion that started by a lame writer who doesn't think that photography is art.

Tony Long at Wired has written an article on how photography is not art. I invite you to read it. Then I invite you to read Thomas Hawk's perspectives on this.

To summarize it, Tony Long feels that photography is not art. He writes that art requires "a selective re-creation." He continues and states that a camera cannot paint to make a visual conceptualization.

I am sure that you already know what I feel about that.

If you apply Tony Long's opinion (and you know what they say about opinions) on what art is, what can be said about dancers, singers, writers--pretty much anybody who uses the left frontal lobe for getting a task done. They are all artists.

I can't imagine anyone with any sense would write an article as lame as this and not provide a disclaimer at the beginning stating that this is satire or a joke. Instead, the reader (pretty much starting with any amateur photographer who knows what the manual settings on a camera do) who decides to continue reading through this I-can't-believe-he-writes-for-Wired-this-is-lame article constantly scratches his head wondering if this guy is serious.

Seriously lame.

technorati tags:wired, tonylong, photography, art, thomashawk

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My cubicle mate is leaving

So, if you know me and ever speak to me about my work, you already know how I feel about it. If you have never spoken to me about it, call me sometime and let me tell you. Otherwise, you are not going to find out here in this blog.

Anyhow, those who do know then understand how sad that my cubicle neighbor is leaving. She's found greener pastures with which to graze.

I hope you have a good time in your new department. :)

technorati tags:cubicle, neighbor

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A special treat

I just read a particular blog that I find quite funny. I decided I would share it with you. It's from Toot's Mcgee's blog (tootsmcgee.blogspot.com).

Enjoy:

so i just went to the bathroom, and i looked in the mirror. i noticed that i had incorrectly buttoned my shirt. now the sad part is, i'm wearing a polo shirt. there's like 3 buttons.

THREE BUTTONS.

who can't button a polo shirt? and i'm only buttoning ONE. and it's the bottom button. the part where the shirt starts to split for the buttons helps guide you in buttoning your shirt. feel for the lowest button and put it through the lowest hole. simple, right? well this dee-dee-dee decided to put the middle button through the lowest hole. so my incorrect buttoning had created a bump. kinda like when you sit down and your pants bunch up at the crotch to create something that looks like a "special appendage." well i decided to name the bump i had craeted with my polo shirt. i'm going to call it "button boob."

technorati tags:tootsmcgee, buttons, shirt

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Red lights blow.

I don't normally stress out about mornings (as it's my last part of the day that I have to myself before throwing my body into cubicle hell), but today was weird. Every single light that I went to on my roughly 5 mile drive before I even get to the freeway--it was red.

Every single one.

To add, I had to drop off two movies to Blockbuster before they became late this afternoon. And to do that would mean driving the opposite direction as work.

Thankfully, the freeway was quick moving (which was odd) and it allowed me to make up for lost time.

Anyhow, that's it.

technorati tags:freeway, redlights

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From Gizmodo

I was on Gizmodo. I came across this article about a new cell phone. I read it. And now, I share it with you.

Motorola W220 Phone Gets FCC'erized, Just Stop Making Phones Already

So Motorola, you are up to what 7, 8 million different cellphones available? The W220 is the latest phone from Motorola to the FCC vertical anal thumb protrusion, which means it should be hitting the shelves within a few months. It is an entry-level clamshell phone that interestingly includes an FM receiver and color display, but lacks Bluetooth or any kind of a camera. Just think of it as a shittier RAZR.

Here is my personal challenge to Motorola: take a month off. Just one month, put everything down and go outside. Play in the park, BBQ, go swimming, hunt rabbits, record a Grammy-worthy album, whatever. Just take a month off. Every week there is another ho-hum Motorola phone announced and the people of the world need a break from upgrading. – Travis Hudson

Bye Jen!

Zooomr :: PICT3667

So my favorite band was performing this past weekend at Harvest Crusade in Anaheim--not too far from where we live (well, I suppose it's all relative, it is two hours away. I guess it all depends on how far you would travel...for instance, I wouldn't see Sean Paul if he were playing in my backyard). And everyone knows that they are my absolute favorite band. So was the concert cool or what?

Actually, I didn't go.

I hung out with my friend who is leaving for the Bay area and ate with her friends and shared in some literary banter with others. Also, I had some Pad Tai noodles that were a smidge spicier than expected. I also got to show her my Bubba Gump shirt with a picture of a boat with her name on it (her name is Jen).

And it works out, too. Harvest Crusade saves video archives of the entire event on the internet. So I will watch that later.

But for now, Jen--we'll all miss you when you leave. Remember to write us and send us pictures!

The weekend, in review.

This past weekend was nice. It really was. To add, I even got to do a few things that I meant to do--which is rare. I usually don't stare at my PDA on Saturday and Sunday.

The ceiling removal dude didn't call me back--I don't think I'm going to hire him. I didn't play any video games, which was OK, as I am still on a kick from beating the Matrix game. I still need to go to Costco and also look for where my SLR battery (and 2 GB's of missing compactflash cards are).

Anyhow, on my trek to the wedding, I popped in a CD (Seventh Day Slumber) and found the entire album really good. CD's that are good like that are rare today. There are even some Kutless and Hawk Nelson songs I usually push ">>" on. Seventh Day Slumber is an excellent band if you like the sound of a more agressive Creed meets POD. It's such an excellent sound. It's a band from Texas (what's up with all those great bands from Texas--mm) which is led by a former cocaine addict who almost died from an overdose. Then he saw God. It's really good music.

At any rate, the wedding was nice, in fact, one of the nicer weddings I have attended. I learned a ton about the speaking qualities of many people, including the surprisingly eloquent groom and best man. What was the greatest surprise, however, came from my girlfriend, who was the maid of honor. She was crying and it made everyone cry and people were looking at me, like "What did you do?"

Psht. I don't know. She's all emotional--what was I supposed to do? But it was good.

What else did I do? Oh yeah, I spent about 9 hours reworking my entire website. After letting the site sit all weekend, though, I think I'm going to change it up a little bit more.

technorati tags:wedding, seventhdayslumber, weekend

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New Site - and Yes, it's very draft

Zooomr :: PICT3245

I uploaded as much as I cared to for this much time sitting in front of my computer. I know it's got broken links and gallery pages that don't show pictures--but you are still seeing this website in a very beta (not quite ready) for public release. But at least the infrastructure is up.

Feel free to let me know what you think about www.esp2002.com.

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New Updated Website

Alright...so I think I've had enough Mountain Dew and it's time for me to shower and sleep. I've been working on this updated site since I got home yesterday afternoon and I think I am just going to upload whatever I have.

Let me know what you think. It's at www.esp2002.com.

technorati tags:esp2002, website

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What I'd Rather Be Doing on a Friday

Zooomr :: PICT3252-1

I have a wedding to attend this weekend--which will be cool. The air outside is of the nice and warm sort. My pool needs water, and more importantly, me--swimming in it. I also am waiting for a phone call from a guy who will give me an estimate on removing the acoustic on my ceiling. There are a ton of games I want to play (Godfather on my PC and NBA Streets 3 on the PS2). I also need to charge my cellphone and shuffle some songs on the iPod. Shopping at Costco to get more of the morning shake things that are supposed to help you lose weight but instead do nothing. I also need to play with the guinea pig and find out what happened to my other digital SLR battery.

But I don't mind doing any of these things.

I need to go and do these things. You see, my real weekends begins at 3:46PM on working Fridays. That's when I am rolling the windows on my car down, sitting with my hands on the wheel and some loud music stuck in traffic pondering what I should do first.

Weekend...hurry up and get here.

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Uh...yeah. An engagement party.

People, what is the purpose of an engagement party?

We all got around and hung out with our girlfriends--except, mine was out of town, so I hung out with a friend who was in town.

And we ate. Well, I had a burrito and he--he had some cantaloupe or something.

And wondering what we were doing there.

But the burrito was good.

Wow. That is drool on my keyboard.

Anyway, it's one thing to hear and watch the Apple keynote on the introduction of the Mac Pro.

But when you see someone actually unpack it...my friends, that is something to behold.

That means that now I want one.

It's got 2 CPUs inside, each with it's very own dual-core brain. Plus, it's all aluminum and supposedly quiet and power thrifty. It's friggin' awesome.

Oh...OK, maybe that isn't drool on my keyboard. *Just kidding (sheesh, can't a geek make one joke?)

technorati tags:apple, macpro

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BlackHat computer security conference

And now for something a little different, I take information from WXPNews to share with you. I found something interesting on the creation of a security exploitation, a new type of rootkit (watch out Sony...you better not be putting this on Switchfoot's next album).

Blue Pill is a type of rootkit - that is,malware that conceals itself from security software. Although some articles andblogs have given the impression that it's based on a vulnerability in the Vistaoperating system, it's actually based on AMD's SVM Pacifica virtualizationtechnology (and Rutkowska herself has been very clear that the exploit is notbased on any flaw in Vista). The Pacifica technology provides "chiplevel" virtual partitioning to allow for running multiple operating systemssimultaneously on the same computer (virtual machines or VMs). Pacifica is anextension to the 64 bit x86 architecture and is included on the Athlon 64 andTurion 64 processors. Although Rutkowska's Blue Pill prototype was developed torun on Vista, it can be adapted for Linux or any other 64 bit operating systemthat runs on this hardware.

The reason this rootkit is so difficult to detect is because the operatingsystem is running inside the hypervisor, or VM, whereas the rootkit is runningunderneath the VM. Since the rootkit files are outside of the virtual OS,there's no way for the operating systm to detect that they're there. MicrosoftResearch had previously developed a proof of concept VM rootkit called SubVirt.

OK. Now off to your Goggling.

Spiders and movies

Zooomr :: PICT0968

So, I am sitting with my foot just swollen. I have a joint inflamed and my huge ass foot won't even fit in my oversized comfortable Crocs. The best way to explain it is it looks like a newborn baby's foot--just adult sized.

And I am watching South Park on broadcast TV. And a spider was crawling up my leg.

Today, Apple came out with the new Mac Pro. That was cool. That 4 computing cores in a $2500 computer. Yeah, I'm getting one. Maybe. Perhaps when it's refurbed, because it's going to have about 17 different issues from discoloration to high frequency humming.

OK. Time to go, the laptop is burning my crotch.

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Alright, one more.

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

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Funny, from Reverendfun.

Yes. I saw this and wanted to share it with you, the reader of my blog.

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AOL Breach of Privacy

So apparently AOL allowed more than 650,000 of its subscriber's information to be searchable over the weekend--to everyone on the internet.

To add, they held on to the $23 per month internet dial-up access for way too long. Now this $10 per month may be too little, too late. To add, I recall the ridiculous phone call that this one guy tried to cancel his AOL service and was given this insane run around by a hostile AOL employee.

This is the end of AOL. I'm calling it.

This time next year, Goggle is going to own them. ;)

technorati tags:aol, google

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Yeah. It was a great weekend.

It was a really good weekend. Hung out with the brother (he's the skinny one). Ate filipino food. Played video games (no wonder I'm the fat one).

Had some friends come over. Played more video games--but the type that lets you lose weight (notice I am not playing). That was cool. We ate some chips (that's the Lays bag in the corner that I was eating).

Did some of that karaoke madness. That's me on the mic. Yo yo!



Went swimming. I could say something funny about this picture (which I like by the way), but there'll be these funny jokes about how this guy has a lack of head and all that...I just won't go there.

Went back inside and did the whole guitar bit.

And then just waxed poetic about relationships and ate more.

It was great. It was how weekends are meant to be.

Now I am sitting in front of the TV watching Hustle and Flow not wanting to go to work tomorrow.

Yeah, it was a great weekend.

technorati tags:weekend, guitar, pool, karaoke

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Wow. A whole day.

Today, I was off...went to the doctors about my blood pressure.

It's actually not bad. Then it became this huge conversation about my weight. You know--that's why I haven't gone to the doctors in over a year--for fear of sitting in that little chair that seems to make me look fatter, discussing how big I have gotten in the past year.

Oh well. Time for more ice cream.

What else...what else. Private mortgage insurance is lame. Dusting the house makes me sneeze. Don't forget about the load in the washer.

I read that Dell is exiting the PDA business.

Those of you that know me (and by that, I mean have eaten with me, watched a movie, came over, hung out), have seen that I carry something with me everywhere I go.

That would be my PDA. I have used PDAs since the late 90's and it has become my brain. I no longer need to remember anything.

Unfortunately, I just read that Dell is killing the PDA division. To add, HP's PDA lineup has been dwindling. To add, smartphones have come out that try to replace the need for a individual organizer.

The PDA's end is coming.

That's unfortunate, and let me tell you why.

The PDA's that Dell came out with did so much more than the organizer portion of a smartphone. With a large enough memory card (CF or SD), I used it to watch my Media Center movies while traveling. It also had wifi-built in on a VGA screen so I can browse HTML websites fairly nicely. Recently, I used the PDA as a GPS to travel across California. Not to mention the games and the fact that you can do some small word processing and work with spreadsheets.

Unfortunately, I read somewhere (I think it was Palminfocenter.com) that about 10 percent of all PDA users use all the features that PDAs have. I am one of them, and lament the death of the PDA. There's just so many things that it can do that a cellphone wouldn't be good for.

PDA's have its place in the pockets of many of us. They fit that large gap between a cell phone and a laptop.

Here's hoping that it's use will be realized before it really is too late.

technorati tags:pda, organizer, smartphones, dell

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The milkman, the paperboy, evening TV.

Zooomr :: PICT1696

Oh yeah. This is a picture of the Full House set of homes in San Francisco.

I know--it's real. Weird, huh? Anyhow, this is a picture my girlfriend took. Does anyone know which one is supposedly the Tanner residence?

Anyhow, after a yummy chicken sandwich for lunch, I am about ready for a nap.

What makes you sick?

It's hard to tell from this picture that looks like I am endorsing them, but I hate Pea Soup.

It made me so sick.

I had to hold my gut in my arms on the drive back to San Diego from this forsaken restaurant in the middle of nowhere.

Just a warning. My girlfriend and I went there just because of the novelty of it.

Yeah.

That makes as much sense as stopping by a restaurant called "Road Kill Guts."

Look really hard.

Zooomr :: PICT1162

That's a picture of my girlfriend and I.

Oh yeah--also, I uploaded more pictures to my Zooomr account. Check it out!

Spencer

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Bands/Artists to watch out for!

Oh yeah. Everyone knows I love MercyMe, Kutless, Switchfoot, and Jeremy Camp (which, by the way, made an excellent worship driven concert--SWC Del Mar, SWEET).

What people don't know is that I am listening to a good amount of bands that aren't as big, but after listening to them, it won't be long.

- Stellar Kart
- Leeland
- Aaron Shust

Their music is awesome. So listen to it.

I haven't even gone to a Padres game yet.

Zooomr :: PICT1491

So, as you can easily (!) tell from the picture above, I have gone to a baseball game. In fact, it was the Giants game up in San Francisco. Do I live there? No. But I decided to go to a game there. Are the Giant's first place in our division? No. That would be my favorite team, the San Diego Padres.

Wait a minute.

So, I would drive across our state (the long way, mind you) to see a Giant's game? To add, I haven't even gone to a Padres game this season.

That's all about to change. Oh yes, I will see the Padres and Arizona game where they are giving away little bobble-heads. Yes!

OK. I went to the Giant's game because I've never been to Pacbell SBC AT&T Park. Well, I've never been inside. I just stood outside one rainy night to see it in person when I went up last year. I wanted to go inside, so that's why my girlfriend and I went.

Man, I want a chicken sandwich.