Ramblings of a Small Town Tech Guy

What I want/expect the iPad to be vs. what it probably will be - iPen15

2010-01-25T21:22:00.005-06:00

In a few days, actually less than 48 hours perhaps, Apple will be making fanboys like myself wet their pants in excitement. They are supposed to be releasing or at least talking about a new product and other big announcements.

Here's what I wish would happen and I will also predict what might happen, of course I will probably wrong in both cases.

The first thing to figure out is if Apple will be releasing some type of tablet, I hope so or they're really going to piss off a lot of people, including myself. The name of this alleged and infamous product has been speculated for months, heck years actually. I think they should call it the iPen15 ok, being serious, they should quit with the damn cute names that start with "i" and call it something better than an "iPad" or "iTablet" or worse yet, "iSlate". What that would be, I have no idea, I'm not getting paid millions of dollars for marketing ideas from Apple am I?

What this new miracle product actually do? For all the hype this thing should be able to act as a hover-board and fly you away. What it will be most likely is a big iPhone/iPod touch or maybe just an actual tablet Mac laptop. I would prefer the later, especially since they are going to charge as much as one for it.

I'm sure Apple won't allow external keyboards, because they are jerks and don't want a totally useful product. Ignoring the fact that not everyone likes touch products. Uh, like in the middle of winter it's a pain in the ass to take off your gloves to fiddle with your iPod. So I'm sure the same can be said about this new product.

Another announcement that I do care about, but not really is Apple finally getting rid of the iPhone exclusivity with AT&T, and perhaps having an iPhone that works with Verizon. It's a little too late for me. I will eventually get a new phone but I''m not sure I will get an iPhone, even if it were available to me. This is for several reasons, I'm sure it would cost more than a Driod with a data plan, and I already have an iPod touch, so I'm not going to plunk down several hundred dollars for the same damn device now with phone capability.

Ok, I may sound like a cranky old geek but you've got to admit it's getting a little ridiculous and I can't wait until the speculation is over and the nerds to begin talking about the next big thing. Some nerds may even say who cares about, Apple, well I'm not talking to you dipshit, I'm talking about the righteous Apple loving nerds.

Cell phones and staying connected

2010-01-20T15:56:00.005-06:00

Today, on twitter, I was conversing with other twitter users about communicating via cell phone etc. and discussing the iPhone and all sorts of stuff.

That reminded me of my friend, who I won't name, because it would only make him mad. Let's call him Joe.

Joe doesn't own a cellphone, but his wife does. Every time I speak with Joe or e-mail him, I remind him of this. I just think it's fun to do so, don't ask me why, but part of our friendship is tormenting each other, by the way this guy is also a Gopher fan (University of Minnesota), so he's got a lot more wrong with him than just his aversion to technology.

Also, on twitter I have a twitter buddy, Shawn - follow him at @thattalldude (I'll use his real name, I'm sure he won't mind) whom I've never met but was one of the first twitter followers I had, who wrote his blog about not having a cellphone either, but at least he's going high tech with his decision, plus he has had one in the past.

There are many differences between these two people but age is one that I attribute to their decisions too. My friend Joe, is my age 33, actually a year younger or so and Shawn is in his early 20s. So, as far as I know, Joe never had a cellphone and both him and myself grew up during the time when cell phones used to look like this (see the old man with the Motorola Brick phone)- Cool huh? This is a better image

Well, the main point of my blog posting, is basically for me to figure out or make some sense of why people make the decisions they do regarding the use of technology.

For Joe, here are his reasons, I apologize to him for posting his reasons, but I am protecting his anonymity :

"Yeah, you'll never get me on one of those online socializing networks like Facebook. I might actually get a cell phone, but I'd make it an iPhone or the Google one that is supposed to be in the works (last I heard it was tentatively called Nexus One or something along those lines)."

Ok, so why the heck would you get something like an iPhone I responded? They are made to be used with social networks. His response:

"Surf the web" <--- exactly
"Social networking" <---- not exactly (screw that in fact, I don't care that someone just got their hair permed, their softball team lost a game, or they saw the funniest thing on the way home, kind of a haven for reality TV-wannabes where it is ALL ABOUT THEMSELVES and them trying to always be clever. I'll skip it.)

BTW, are you aware that cell phones are not FREE? I'd never use it, I'd probably end up having to look all over the place for it, it demands more of my attention than it deserves. It's a neat little toy to have for most people, but then again (my wife) has two of them (one is her company's phone), so I think that averages out. If I ever travel anywhere without her I just borrow one. So there ya go.

(Besides, who says I haven't already had a cell phone for years and only told about three people ever...........)

So, he's embarrassed that he doesn't have a cell phone and uses his wife's sometimes... And now that I kind of let the cat out of the bag so to speak, he'll probably never speak to me. Well, I know he won't be calling me on a cellphone.. at least.. Oh, I crack myself up! OR>>>> He has a cellphone and I'm not a good enough friend to get his number.. Ah shucks!... How sad for me, huh?

Ok, what about me? Yes, of course I have a cell phone from Verizon. It's an HTC model that is capable of data but currently it does not have a data plan. I do have unlimited texting thank goodness. It's more of a financial decision than anything, I would like to have a data plan but can't justify it, considering that we have high speed internet at home and if I need Internet all the time that badly (I do) I will have to live without it, at least until I can afford it.

Well, what more can I say? Lot's probably but I will end it here, for now.

formspring.me

2010-01-14T18:32:00.001-06:00

Who was the best teacher you've ever had?

From High School, Mr. Kevin Hoskins, but looking back I'm not sure if there were others. From college Mr. Sheldon Gunaratne (I'm sure I'm butchering his name)... and anyone else who gave me a chance to succeed in education, so most of my teachers.

Ask me anything

formspring.me

2010-01-14T18:30:00.001-06:00

What's one food you'll never eat again?

There's not much I won't eat, but rotten or spoiled food. Or crap that just doesn't look right.

Ask me anything

My rant about Best Buy & the Geek Squad, the good the bad & ugly

2010-01-14T15:15:00.010-06:00

Disclaimer, this is just my feelings on Best Buy and the Geek Squad and some of their practices. It's my opinion, everyone can have an opinion as I'm sure I would get in comments, "everyone has an asshole too," so there, beat you to that one.

Today, my wife and I went to Best Buy to purchase a netbook, it actually was the "Best Buy" it was $50 cheaper than Sam's Club.
We found the model that we were looking for and this is where things went south for me, at least.

After we decided that we found our model, I looked for a box that contained the computer, I noticed a little sticker on most of them accept for one. (this one, click here to see) The sticker said that the computer was already "Optimized" by the Geek Squad. What the hell does that mean? Actually, I know, (it means you got screwed) so I'm not looking for an explanation. What it means to me, a real geek, is that somebody else opened this box already and was screwing around with my new computer. Hands off ass hats! I don't want anyone else making decisions for me about my new purchase or putting their fingerprints all over it. Yes, for most people they would like an expert to help them out. Ok, I'm not so convinced that the Geek Squad staff are all experts. Yes, I am sure there are some really smart people who work at Best Buy and know a lot more than me, but in general, that is not the case. For example, I am a tech person and I help people on a regular basis. I recently helped a student who did not have restore discs for their computer. Legally, I cannot put my copy of Windows on that computer, so I did the only thing I had an option to do, put a version of Linux on it. This person decided to take the computer to the Geek Squad who informed them that they didn't know what Linux was. I'm not exactly sure what was said, of course I am repeating this second hand but I can guess that something like that was said, or basically Linux sucks you don't want that, it's too complicated, or along those lines. Yes, true in some cases, but what about your big screen tv? What does that use for an operating system or how about most modern devices? They have to have some sort of operating system and usually it's Linux. So Best Buy Geeks your store is full of products using different distros of Linux.

Anyway, this is not to be about how much I love Linux, it's okay. As I would say, it's for people with neck beards that can explain the law of ____________ fill in the blank, any scientific theory of choice. I do not have a neck beard, (can't grow one) but I consider myself a geek/nerd. Actually, I wrote a blog post about that topic earlier, the difference between the two (again that's not what this is about either).

Back to my story, yes I found the netbook box that was not opened and we purchased it. Simple, yes. No other questions asked.

So here's a summary or play-by-play of what happened.

1. Went to Sam's Club - found netbook that my wife wanted, she said it was cheaper at Best Buy.
2. Go to Best Buy, find netbook at a cheaper price.
3. Get asked if we need help. I reply, "No, thank you."
4. We look online using a laptop in the store if this is truly the "Best Buy," it appears that it is, also thank you for allowing us customers to do this, otherwise, I would have to use my smart phone or go phone to look this information up.
3. Look thru stack of computers, find one that has not been touched by the Geek Squad.
4. Purchase laptop.
5. Write blog about the experience.

One more thing, some people may argue that if you buy a new car you might have a mechanic look it over first. This is true, although some people may say the same thing about that too, I don't need anyone else messing with my new purchase. Also, a car is different than a $300 netbook, cars cost a lot more!

Yes, some of you may laugh at me for writing about this, and that's fine, I just wanted to share my experience. So which laptop did we buy, it was a Toshiba Mini nb200 which are apparently outdated since Toshiba is now promoting the nb300 models on their website.

P.S. One more thing, my wife's requirements for the laptop (yes this is just a tiny laptop - the term netbook is just some marketing b.s.) include must fit in her purse and must not show fingerprints, not what type of processor does it have, or how much memory or storage on the harddrive, or other important things like that, I guess that's what she has me for, to understand that part of the purchase.

P.P.S. If you are looking to purchase a new computer and are concerned about viruses, don't let the Geek Squad fool you into getting a virus program for a Windows operating system. Microsoft Security Essentials is all you need. Just click here to download it, and also it's more important to be careful of what you do with your computer, such as clicking on links in e-mails and going to websites that may be suspicious and contain viruses or malware. No anti-virus program in in the world is idiot proof. If you are getting an Apple computer, just ignore this paragraph you don't need to do anything.

formspring.me

2010-01-13T16:27:00.001-06:00

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/djstangl

A decade in review

2010-01-04T09:14:00.004-06:00

Everybody is doing it, so I thought I'd throw in my two cents about the end of the first decade of the new millennium.

First, as one of my friends/co-workers pointed out, we don't know how count, technically 2010 might not be the year we think it is, because there is no "Year Zero," okay, I'll let you chew on that while I go on.

Here is my top ten list of the decade including everything from soup to nuts.

10. Y2K - I spent New Years Eve 2000 at home with a bunch of supplies (extra water, food, clothing, etc) waiting for the world to end, what happened, absolutely nothing.

9. The dot.com bust, remember the sock puppet from Pets.com most people probably don't or how about peapod.com, we are all supposed to be getting our groceries online delivered by shiny robots by now.

8. Bunch of famous people died, including Michael Jackson, yes he's dead, in case you haven't heard. Also, so is Ed McMahon, Patrick Swayze and tons of other celebrities, I'm too lazy to create a list, but if you really cared you'd know right?

7. Twitter.com and facebook, my life is now consumed by wasting time online, thanks alot you nerds!

6. The ipod, thank goodness for this little device, I no longer have to carry around a Walkman and tons of tapes or CDs.

5. A black man was elected President, it seems like we are really living in the future, because prior to Barack Hussein Obama being elected president seeing a black man as president was only something you would see on 24 (the tv show or other fictional shows or movies).

4. Lots of technological advances, insert your favorite here ____________________. Yes, I liked that too.

3. Flying cars and time travel, oh whoops, that didn't happen yet did it?

2. I started my new career in technology in 2004.

1. My daughter, Madeline was born in 2003. I'm not going to post her birthday because that would be stupid, but for me that was the best part of the decade.

Ok maybe Kim Komando is not so bad...after all

2009-12-14T10:01:00.008-06:00

I wrote about my dislike of Kim Komando after receiving comments on my wordpress blog about what I had said.

Then I started a dialogue with the person who made the comments. This person is a fan of this radio host but they had a good point, if I'm in the same line of work as her, helping people with technology, it's better for me to focus my energy on helping people than putting her down.

So to be fair this is what Kim Komando offers according to the person I started e-mailing regarding my comments:

"She sends out free, four types of e-mails. A daily computer tip, a video of the day and some form of tech news. On Saturday she sends on a lengthy E-mail. She is very strong on parent/child help and support for our military.
On her web site, she has a couple of dozen categories under which there are many hundreds of free articles."

He also said "She has in her office both Windows and Mac machines and provides information on Linux and Opera. She is big on digital camera use and has an extensive library of free information. She is big on offering links to "free" anti-virus, anti-spyware, video editors, and many other primary programs. I know of no other web site that offers so much free information about as many aspects of computing or platforms.
Explore her whole web site. Perhaps you will soften your criticism."

Yes, from now on I will try to be more open minded.

http://www.komando.com/kimsclub/account-newsletters.aspx
http://www.komando.com/downloads/

and you too can follow her on twitter.com/kimkomando

Ok, so now it's over I won't be a Kim Komando hater anymore.. or at least I'll try not to be one.

Excited for 24

2009-12-11T11:07:00.004-06:00

Today during a staff meeting, I forgot to turn off my ringer on my cellphone and so everyone heard this: http://www.zumodrive.com/share/2rgJMzIyZj A 24 Ringtone. Everyone had a laugh on my expense. Oh well.

Then I saw this later in the morning.

Needless to say I am excited for 24 this winter!

Kim is still a moron in my eyes

2009-12-08T09:29:00.022-06:00

Ok, this all started a few years ago. I don't want to admit this, but I actually listened to Kim Komando. If you look her up in Wikipedia she actually looks like she might know what she is talking about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Komando. I am happy that she tries to educate people about technology, but she just fills them with incorrect and worthless information and in some cases it's totally ridiculous. I'm not the only person who thinks this about this poor woman, http://shrine.slowblog.com/2006/11/07/kim-kommando-incompetent/.

I must admit, yes, I do listen to what might be considered her competitors, but even they probably just dismiss her because if I were to compare her to someone like Leo Laporte, that's like comparing Lennie from John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men to Albert Einstein, of course I'm referring to Kim as Lennie.

This morning I received a comment on my wordpress.com blog and it made me so mad I almost deleted it. Here is the comment from "Ron": "Sounds like your the moron. You have a petty pathetic attitude in trying to show stones at her in a lame effort to get someone to watch your stuff. Usually people with your type of attitude are early relegated to the garbage dump no matter how smart they are." Actually, I'm glad I got the comment. I'm also considering continuing to use wordpress.com since I barely ever get any comments on blogspot. By the way "Ron" why would I show stones at her? I know you meant throw, but I just had to point that out.

Ok, so now I guess you are wondering why I think Kim is such an incompetent person? It's because, the few times I have listened to her, I developed a severe headache from the garbage that was coming out of her mouth. For example, check out this article, USA Today: Web delivers new worry for parents: Digital drugs she claimed that music could make you high? Okay, what kind of drugs is she on? Yes, if you read it she doesn't exactly say that you can get high from digital drugs, but she does say that they can lead to real drugs? What? Excuse me, I'm going to go hit my head against a wall.

I'm sure she's said other things just as stupid but I can't stand listening to her, so I need other people to let me know what else she is saying. All I know is I will not listen to her unless someone forces me to do so, such as kidnapping me and tying me up with ropes so I can't plug my ears.

Most of you will probably just dismiss my ramblings about her and think, "Jeez, if she makes you so upset, don't listen to her then!" I don't, I just don't want anyone else to either, the things she says is mind numbing... and to think her mom was part of the original UNIX development team. Yes, I did my research on her and yes her real name is Kim Komando. Okay, I've spent way to long on this topic.

Christmas lights and getting ready for "The Holidays"

2009-11-29T23:36:00.009-06:00

The Christmas lights are up. I'm not finished but it looks a lot better than what I did last year. Last year, I just had one of those blow up Christmas globes that blew away sometime around Christmas. I'm still no Clark Griswold, but my wife and kid are pleased with what I've done. It's actually quite a lot of work to put up Christmas lights, thankfully this year it was the warmest I've ever experienced for putting up lights, I didn't even need to wear gloves. Usually your fingers would freeze off you did not have gloves on this time of year in North Dakota. We actually haven't had much snow at all, I don't think it's ever covered the ground completely. I'm ok with that, as long as we have some snow on the ground for Christmas.

On Friday, on the way home from my visiting my parents we listened to the Holiday Traditions channel on XM Radio. I love Christmas music but a person can become sick of it, and you usually only want to hear it one or two months of the year. I was at the drug store the next and I heard an older lady complain about the store playing Christmas music, she said it was too early. Is it, I thought to myself. My answer, is no, October would be too early but after November 25th or specifically Thanksgiving, that is the perfect time of year to start playing Christmas music. I'm sure if you work retail you will be very sick of it come Dec. 25th but that's just too bad.

I just discovered that Pandora.com has tons of Christmas stations, so I know what I will be listening to tomorrow at work. I love Pandora.com it's a great website.

The only bad part of Black Friday, which has now become a tradition for me and my wife to endure is all the fricken people. Good God, could some of them stay home? Including me, I'd gladly volunteer to do that. Anyway, this year we went to Brainerd at 3:45 a.m., Minnesota and visited Herbergers at 4:15 a.m., not too crazy, then we were off to Wal-Mart at 5:00 a.m. it was open ahead of schedule or maybe our clocks were off a few minutes. It was crazy but not that bad, we didn't buy anything. Then I dropped my wife at 5:30 a.m. at Best Buy and I went to Target. Target had long lines for checkout and I only had one string of Christmas lights to buy, I went to the electronics section to check out and it took about 20 minutes. Best Buy wasn't that bad, my wife said the staff didn't know what they were talking about when it came to what was on sale, but I knew that, the Geek Squad sucks. They don't even know what to do with Linux. Anyway, then we went to Fleet Farm at 6 a.m. I couldn't find a parking spot and my wife was trying to get a free stuffed animal. I was happy that we were unsuccessful, my daughter has so many stuffed animals we could fill a small car with them. Then at 6:15 or so we went to Menards or as I like to call it Mens Nards and we were there for three hours. We were in line to check out for three hours, we actually move to a smaller line after I started to get restless and look for more items. They really need to focus on getting people out of the store faster on such a busy day and have employees spend less time on helping people find items. What I thought was hilarious was that they still use Windows 98 at the Brainerd Menards. If you don't believe me, see for yourself in this very blurry photo http://twitpic.com/r5qgl Maybe that's why they have long lines?

Next year we will probably be back in Grand Forks for Black Friday. Maybe I will get lucky and come down with the flu or something so I don't have to go but I know I will be avoiding Menards at all costs. I don't care if they give away free life size teddy bears.

Blogging via thumbs aka SMS

2009-10-19T14:18:00.005-05:00

I wonder how many people blog via sms. I am sure many people would like to do that, but really who wants to type a long posting using their thumbs on a tiny keyboard. I just realized the problem with blogging via sms too, your limited to 160 characters. So it's basically just like twitter but 20 characters more. Yippee! Ok, I doubt I will use this feature, but it's nice to know I have the option. Too bad you can't post some type of code in each message that would tell your blog to string the messages together. I'm sure some nerd out there has figured out how to to do just that. If so, please tell me too.

Star Wars

2009-09-20T21:39:00.003-05:00

I have to get this out of my system. This weekend while my daughter was having a friend over, they were playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii and then I suggested they watch a Star Wars movie. I went to get out the DVDs and then for a fleeting moment, I had to think of which movie had the Ewoks, ok, yes this is where the real Star Wars fans stop reading. I am a Star Wars fan, but only of the first three Star Wars movies. That's where the confusion came in, I have the newer DVDs where the series is re-numbered so the third movie is now Roman numeral VI. Of course I was referring to Star Wars Return of the Jedi, as what I like to call the final Star Wars movie, those newer recreations are just excuses to pay for George Lucas' yacht. Yes, as a college student I stood inline to get to see the Phantom Menace, and at the time I thought it was awesome, it's still a good movie but nothing beats the original ones. I'm not even sure I've seen the other movies after that, I know I rented them but I don't recall what they were about.

I'm also a big Kevin Smith fan, and of course he's a Star Wars fan and throws in a Star Wars reference in practically every movie, including his best movie ever, Clerks. I agree the Death Star may have sub contractors working on it. Another movie which was awesome was Fan Boys, where Star Wars fans go on a road trip for a dying fan.

Ok I think that's all I have to say about this subject, I just had to vent about my frustration. By the way, my daughter and her friend didn't even make it thru the first 30 minutes of the movie, so dad ended up re-watching a classic and I was prepared to sit thru all of the movies with them. I did that too in college, actually several times and occasionally I'd watch Space Balls in addition.

So, May the Force be with You!

A new way for me to blog

2009-08-21T10:46:00.001-05:00

Now, instead of logging into blogger.com which is really hard to do
(can you sense sarcasm) I can just post from e-mail. Actually, I have
been able to do that for a long time, but having one more easy way to
do it, wouldn't be bad. Also, I think I can attached photos and other
files as well and they will automatically just be added, so I am going
to try that now and see what I get.

Posted via email from Dennis's posterous

My First Blog Post on Posterous

2009-08-21T10:45:00.001-05:00

This is my first time trying Posterous, I am not sure exactly how it
works, but I have been hearing so many good things about it, I thought
I better check it out! That's all I have to say.

Posted via email from Dennis's posterous

Blogging so softly

2009-07-09T22:40:00.002-05:00

Lately I've been neglecting my blog. I have been focusing my attention on twitter and Facebook.

I am working on a novel and I am posting each line on twitter as I write it. I have another blog where you can read the entire blog, but you can visit therandomstory.comto find everything you need to read it.

I am having major writers block but I hope that will end soon, in the meantime, I am going to get my dad's book published on Lulu.com. His book titled Up in the Woods Early Times, by Raymond Stangl is exactly what the title says, it's about living in Minnesota during early times, specifically the early 1900s until the 1980s. My dad will be 84 on August 27th. I know he doesn't read my blog, so I can say that I will be giving him that for his birthday hopefully. If I don't accomplish that I will have this blog post to make me ashamed of my uncompleted goal.

I think the reason I am stuck while writing my novel is that I ran out of enthusiasm for it. I had a great idea to write a novel using twitter but then as I started writing it I just couldn't think of any great ideas. It started to become boring for me, hopefully the people who are following the story on twitter don't feel the same way.

A few years ago, I would post to my blog on an almost daily basis or at least weekly. Lately, I have been only posting on a monthly basis. Another reason I don't feel as compelled to write is that I really don't have anyone reading my blog as far as I can tell. I bet more people read my cat's fake blog than mine, how sad huh?

Well that's all for today!

The IT crowd, another show the US tried to steal from the UK!

2009-06-04T17:39:00.003-05:00

I recently discovered a gem of a tv show on the internet. I first saw this, "Jen, this is the Internet" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAUyaELfwBo which is hilarious, I then checked and it was available on Netflix for instant viewing. I am now making my way through watching all of the episodes, each one has been great.

The show features a bunch of nobodies, or at least no actors I have ever seen, but they are good actors, comedians or whatever you want to call them.

You can find out more about the show here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_IT_Crowd or just google the show. What's surprising is that NBC tried to remake this show, just like the office, they even hired Maurice, but replaced everyone else. Check it out http://www.nbc.com/Fall_Preview/The_IT_Crowd/ What a bunch of jerks. I agree most people don't like British shows on national major networks, but I think Comedy Central or some other channel should start airing episodes. Remember Monty Python. Just imagine if they tried to remake that in the US. It would be so God awful!

Geek Rock Stars

2009-05-19T16:52:00.004-05:00

Last night I saw the commercial for Intel where it showed the inventor of the USB or Universal Serial Bus (wikipedia entry on usb) walking through the office of Intel and his "fans" or co-workers were acting like he was a rock star. In my eyes, he is bigger than a rock star, and a hell of a lot smarter too. I'm not sure if this guy on the commercial was the actual person, so I am currently researching this and will update this post later. My wife asked me if it was, and I lied and said, "Oh yeah, he's cool" or something like that. If it was, that was an awesome commercial. You can view the commercial here or just google it (USB rock star).

Actual rock stars like Bon Jovi or Eddie Vedder are smart men, at least I'd like to think so, or Rob Zombie or Jimmy Page or Eric Clapton, I could go on and on. Then there are stupid rock stars like Gene Simmons (oh I'm sure Kiss fans will hate me for this) but the man could have never invented anything like the USB to save his life. I'm sure the same could probably be said for Eddie Vedder or Bon Jovi or Bono or.... you get the idea.

So, the real rock stars of today will be Ev Williams or just @ev or Biz Stone @biz on twitter or people like Leo Laporte, Jason Calicanis, or people near my own age like Kevin Rose or Alex Albrecht or Chris Pirillo or women like Justine, even dorks (yes he is dork) like Jimmy Fallon are geeks. AND the big rock stars like Bill Gates or my hero, Steve Jobs.

I don't think there are too many tech groupies, but I know there are a few out there. It's just a different type of admiration, for the geek rock stars, us geeks are excited about what the person has accomplished and thanks to them, allow us to do with technology. With regular rock stars, it's pretty much about the music, not much else, really if I think about it, what has Eddie Vedder ever done for me? Besides put on a great concert, and create music I love, not much.

Twitter gaining in popularity

2009-05-09T15:31:00.003-05:00

Twitter.com is gaining in popularity. I admit, I'm addicted to it, as my wife would say to an almost unhealthy level. One of my fellow twitter followers @stevedrees, suggested we form a group, Twitter Addicts of North Dakota or T.A.N.D. and so I have the T.A.N.D. acronym on my twitter avatar.

I think what has helped twitter gain attention from the public is for several reasons, and in the spirit of Dave Letterman's infamous Top 10 list, here is my top 10 list, somewhat serious, but also a little silly.

10. Twitter is easy to use. (But not easy to understand at first or ever for some people)
9. Anyone can use twitter, it's free to sign up (at least for now).
8. If Aston Kutcher (@aplusk) can use twitter, you can too.
7. Nerds love twitter.
6. There are so many applications that use twitter or just for twitter. Tweetdeck, Twhirl, Seesmic, Tweetie, DestroyTwitter, Twitterfon, and the list goes on and on..
5. There are many uses for twitter, it can be used to tell you when your plant needs water, when you fart, or for more useful purposes such as where to go to help people, (like it was used in Grand Forks/Fargo during the 2009 flood fight). It can be used to write a novel or a twovel, as I am doing. You can check it out at http://therandomstory.com
4. Tweetups! (Where you actually meet up with other twitter users).
3. All of the news media are using it, CNN, Nightline, even local news stations.
2. It just sounds cool!
1. Oprah uses twitter! (Probably not for long).

So there you have it, the top ten reasons I think that led to the popularity of twitter. I'm sure someone has already written the same thing, and tweeted it already, but this is just my two cents worth of what I think about twitter.

A novel on twitter?

2009-04-01T17:32:00.006-05:00

Today, I started writing a novel. I have actually been thinking of doing this for a long time. I love to read, (don't have time to) but I do. I also love to write. So, in order to make time to write, I am writing it 140 characters at a time. I think anyone could do this, well, we will see. I think I am actually venturing into uncharted territory, since not many people write a novel and expose it to the world as they write it. I think that's not the way John Grisham does it. Also, doing it this way, people really don't need to buy a book or anything, so if you think about it, I'm possible screwing myself out of money. Really? No, not really, I don't think I could ever be a real novelist and write books that make millions of dollars, but I can write a story using a new technology and have people read it, as fast as I can write it.

I am actually going to post the weekly or maybe daily synopsis of the novel on a blog. A friend of mine pointed out it's hard to read a novel on twitter, since you only see the current sentence and have to sroll down to get to the beginning. Actually, isn't this how we read anyway, we don't start at the beginning of a book every time, we just go to where we left off.

You can read the novel at http://therealrandomstory.blogspot.com/ I even went as far as getting a domain for a website for it. The website is http://therandomstory.com and if you want you can follow it on twitter, I think that's the best way. Just think you could be reading a novel, one sentence at a time via text message. I think of it more of a small mini soap opera. Actually I'm not sure where I'm going with this novel yet. I shouldn't admit it, but I don't know how or when I'm going to end it. Actually, I am going to try to end it before or on April 1, 2010. That's when the domain expires.

You will just have to read it to find out what kind of novel it is, whether it's a comedy, mystery or ???

Flood season, a crappy time of year

2009-03-24T22:48:00.002-05:00

I don't think anyone likes the "flood season" in the Red River Valley. Right now, we are experiencing river flooding and above ground flooding from the melting snow. It's amazing at how fast the rivers rise during the flood. The Red River of the North in Grand Forks is expected to go to 52 feet, which is crazy. That is just unthinkable of the amount of water flowing through the area and where is it all headed? North to Canada.

In 1997 during the major flooding or the "Flood of the century" I was in Fargo attending Moorhead State University, and during the flood I actually went home for a few days because the school was closed. I was just starting my career in journalism and got my chops wet taking photos of the flood. They weren't the best photos, but the fact that I have them at all is important.

Now, the flooding just makes me sick, I don' like it, but what I really don't understand is people who have homes close to the river? Oh well, to each his own.

Right now it's snowing as well, which isn't helping the flooding situation at all. We had the same thing happen in 1997, actually it was a really bad ice storm. We got a taste of the very same thing tonight.

Blizzard Coyote

2009-03-10T17:25:00.003-05:00

or Check out the video on youtube

In memory of my grandmother, Philomene Gohl

2009-03-04T18:51:00.004-06:00

I saw a story on CBS news tonight, Grandma Clara which reminded me of my grandma, Philomene. I looked and found the column I wrote shortly after her death. I am going to repost it here.

At first I could not find my files about my grandma, so googled her and found almost all the info I needed. I am not posting that here since most of it is listed below.

I am also going to edit the audio from a recording I have of her and post it on here as part of my personal podcast. I do a podcast for work, so why not do my own podcast, or even video cast.

In memory of Grandma Gohl

Grandma, I love you!

My grandmother, Philomene Catherine Gohl, passed away last Monday. She was 88 years old.

My grandmother, the daughter of Christ and Catherine Dietman was born in Rockville, Minnesota near St. Cloud, May 21, 1912. Grandma’s name, Philomene, means “Daughter of Loving Light” in greek, which suits her perfectly. Her name wasn’t supposed to be Philomene, however, my great grandfather supposedly forgot her name was to be Clara when she was baptized and said Philomene instead, which was his mother’s name.

Grandma Gohl had four brothers and three sisters, and the only remaining siblings are her brothers Victor and Raymond Dietman.

Grandma married Albert Gohl, June 11, 1930. They lived in the small town of Buckman, Minnesota and ran a shoe shop. They had one daughter, my mother Alice. My mom married my dad August 12, 1958 and have four children and eight grandchildren, who will all miss their grandmother very much.

After getting out of the shoe business, my grandparents moved out into the country near Buckman. In the early 1960’s they moved to the city of Pierz, where they built a home to retire in. In 1964, my grandfather suffered a heart attack and died. Twelve years later, I was born, and given the middle name Albert.

My grandmother was special to me because she was the only living grandparent I ever knew. She practically raised me from the time I was born until I was almost a teenager.

There are many happy memories that I have of my grandma Gohl and I plan to keep them with me the rest of my life. One of those very happy memories I share with my wife Jen. The week after we celebrated our wedding this July, we took our wedding attire to Pierz to wear for her since she could not attend the wedding in Grand Forks. She was so surprised and had a huge smile on her face when she saw us all decked out, just like we were about to head towards the church to get married.

I can remember spending many holidays at my grandma’s home, especially Thanksgivings. Grandma was a very good cook. For years she worked as one at the local high school in my hometown. In my opinion the best food she made was her chicken dumplings. I’ve never tasted anything like them in my life. She was also a very good baker, and made her trademark frosted molasses cookies every year for Christmas.

She lived by herself since grandpa passed away up until only a few years ago when she suffered a stroke and decided to move to the local nursing home, St. Mary’s Villa.

My grandmother enjoyed living at the nursing home where she made many friends. She was a very devoted Catholic, she attended Mass every Sunday. She also loved to watch the birds fee outside her window. She had a “green thumb,” and loved to care for her violets and rose plants that sat on her window sill. She enjoyed life’s simple pleasures that we sometimes take for granted.

Grandma helped me out on my very first job, which is related to my current job, the newspaper business. She drove me around on my paper route when it was too hot or too cold to deliver my papers.

She was a good story teller too. I loved to sit and listen to her tell about her life and growing up in a different time period where everything seemed so much simpler.

She also loved to read the columns I wrote for each paper I worked at since I started in this business. She was indeed my biggest fan, and one of the reasons I wrote my column was for her to read. Now, she’s gone, but I’ll still go on writing, I know it’s what she would like to see me do.

Grandma, we will all miss you very much, and I want you to know we will always be thinking of you.

Love your grandson,
Dennis Albert Stangl

Looking back 10 years ago in technology

2009-02-12T17:22:00.006-06:00

Just looking back one year ago, there has been a lot of changes that have occurred regarding technology. To name a few things that are major changes, online video is really starting to become more prevalent, even two years ago I wouldn't have been able to watch a full movie online, almost anywhere. Now, I am seriously debating whether I need to pay for my satellite tv. I don't think we are at that point, yet but if the economy takes more of a plunge and things get tougher for my family financially, the first thing that will go is my satellite tv bill. The Internet bill will be the last to go, since I spend a lot of time online, especially since it's part of my job, I need high speed internet at home. I would go crazy if I had to deal with dial-up or dare I even say, no Internet at all at home. I would start acting like Joaquin Phoenix, grow a crazy ass beard and who knows what else.

I can't simply sum up 15 years of advances in technology, so this will be the first post in a series of posts about looking back, until I get bored with this and move on to the next topic.

Today, I was discussing my first laptop purchase before I started college. Actually, my parents bought my first laptop, which lasted a long time for me. It was a Apple Powerbook 5300cs Macintosh. I loved that thing, and eventually ended up selling it on ebay for next to nothing. I should have kept it, but oh well. I found a page online that described it as the worst Apple product, actually that page was wikipedia. Whoa, if it's listed as the worst product on wikipedia, it must be true.

What was the cost for this crappy product? $2,500, at least that's what my parents paid for it, and I remember I had to wait for it, we ordered it and Apple kept saying they have been working on it and finally months later I got it. I really didn't have much trouble with it, besides the power adapter, that was horribly designed. It did not even have a CD-ROM. Of course it was not wireless, that technology was years off from being available, no, I had to surf the Internet with dial-up and I loved it. I didn't ever think of watching movies online and twittering, or checking my facebook page neurotically, or downloading music or anything. Although, kind of similar to facebook or myspace was firefly.com which was later shut down by Microsoft. It had a chat feature and that's all I really remember but if you really care check out the link.

Well that is all I care to discuss today on my look back. Check back later as I discuss other ways I was able to waste time online and other nerdy things.

Finally took the lasik plunge

2009-02-04T16:12:00.001-06:00

On Friday, January 30th, my vision changed! I was able to see the world in a whole different way. I was able to see clearly. What am I talking about? I am referring to having lasik surgery. I had the operation performed at Eyetech Lasik, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Yes, I went to Canada to get lasik. I did this for a number of reasons, the first being it was a lot less expensive in Canada and also the doctor who I went to is very experienced and is a great doctor.

The actual surgery itself is painless, and there is hardly any pain afterwards as well. I did not have any problems at all. The procedure takes about 20 minutes or so for both eyes. My wife and daughter were able to watch me get the surgery through a window and saw a close up of my eyes on a tv. That is something I don't want to see. I don't know if I would be able to go through the operation if I had seen the procedure myself. I still have yet to watch any videos of it online. I think I would pass out if I did.

You need to use drops of medicine and lubricating drops after the surgery. Your eyes are dryer after having the surgery.

What I can say, which I am proud of, is that I now have 20/15 vision or better in both eyes. I only assume that my vision will get better as time passes.
It's so weird to be able to wake up in the morning and be able to see clearly. I have had glasses for about 20 years. I should have had them more than that, but I didn't get them until I was in high school and was having trouble seeing the chalkboard clearly.

I would recommend lasik to anyone who is considering getting this procedure. I think it's definitely worth it. Yes, it's true I may someday need reading glasses but for now I don't care.

New Blog name

2009-01-17T19:52:00.004-06:00

I am changing the name of this blog slightly from Ramblings of a small town kid to "Ramblings of a small town tech guy" which I also hope to someday copyright, trademark, etc. I am also changing the focus of this blog to be mostly about technology. I was considering doing a blog just about Mac or Apple related products, but I didn't think that was fair, since I am interesting and use a lot more than just Apple products. I am a heavy user of Microsoft products as well and sometimes I dabble with Linux, but I prefer not to, but I find it interesting.

I must admit I listen to Leo Laporte and almost consider him my hero, I will say I am a fan and love listening to him. I think I used to listen to him on tech tv and watched Call for Help and Screensavers before it became all about gaming or whatever they talk about now. Back then, though, I didn't really pay attention to who Leo was, I just knew him as one of tech guys on that tech channel. I rediscovered him in 2004 or so when he started podcasting. That's also when I got my first and only ipod. I am still waiting to get a new one. I bought the 5th Generation ipod as a Christmas gift for myself. I think I paid $399 for it. Now, with the crappy economy, I can't really afford to get the ipod touch but I know I will get one someday.

I am going to try to be more focused on updating this blog a regular basis and try to make it look professional, as well as include professional and reliable content. I am somewhat intimidated by the millions of other blogs that are very similar to this, but I figure if I can carve out a niche and try to help people that my goal will be accomplished.

Mac vs. PC the never ending war

2009-01-08T16:56:00.004-06:00

I'm a Mac person, I'll admit it but I must admit I am writing this blog post on a PC, so what does that tell you. When I say I am using a PC, I mean a Dell running Vista, not a Mac running a Microsoft operating system.

Here is where people who are Mac haters stop reading, actually, they stopped at the title of this post, I'm sure. If you are Mac hater, you can stop reading now, since the rest of what you are about to read will just make you mad.

I have been using Apple computers, or Macs as they are referred to now for about 25 years or more. Actually, any real Mac fanboy would point out that the Mac was first introduced in 1984 so I don't know what I'm talking about. What I am referring to is that I started using Apple computers in the early 1980s in elementary school starting with the Apple IIe and I played Number Crunchers and Oregon Trail among other things. Back then, the computer didn't have a harddrive, instead you stuck in this huge plastic floppy disc and then you looked at the green and black monitor with crappy graphics. Today, most cellphones have 100 times the computing power of the Apple IIe.

I do like Apple better, but I also like using Microsoft products, especially for work, I could not do my job and manage databases as well with a Mac. That is why I use both Mac and PC. I know some Mac fanboys can tout about using mysql and other databases that can be run on a Mac, to them, I say who cares.

On Tuesday Apple announced a few new products, including iLife 09 and iWork 09 and some other announcements I could care less about including the new 17" Macbook. I'll admit I'd like the 17" Macbook, but who the heck can afford it?

The biggest announcement to me, which I knew in advance was that my hero, Steve Jobs would not be making the announcements, instead they got some other lackey to make these lame announcements, I guess afterwards it's seems fine to me, but still it was disappointing. I like watching Steve Jobs, he's quite a character. You can tell that he's passionate about his company. He does care, about the company and of course money.

At my work, we have some Macs, thanks in part to me, a Mac nut, but also thanks to my supervisors for listening to me and deciding to get some. Some people may not like them but I think it gives you more options.

What it all comes down to is the simple fact that it's just a computer and personal preference. I think that in 10 years from now we might still be having this debate or not, I'm not sure, it all depends.

Well, I think I've rambled on enough for now.

It's that time of year again

2008-12-17T23:08:00.003-06:00

I'm not referring to just Christmas.

I'm talking about "The Holidays" I love it when people say Happy Holidays, as if they are afraid to say, Merry Christmas. Yes, we don't want to offend anyone if they are not Christian so that's why we use this generic term but who are we kidding? Heck, everyone knows that it's Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa or even Festivus.

As a kid I remember anxiously counting the days to Christmas. It was all about the presents back then. Today, I don't care about the presents, it's more about the time off with family, the food and the atmosphere. Don't get me wrong, I still love the presents, especially last year, I got the best present in a long time, a Wii. A few years before that, my wife let me buy an iPod. This year I am planning to get new ipod after the Holidays.. unless someone gets me one before then, hint, hint.

Anyway, I am currently trying to type this blog with a small kitten trying to walk across my keyboard, you wouldn't believe how hard that can be.

Well I'll make this short, I have too, this kitten is not going away anytime soon.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Kinder eggs are great

2008-12-07T23:53:00.003-06:00

I love Kinder eggs.

Some of you may have no idea what I am talking about, I am referring to the best candy of all time. Okay, maybe the chocolate in Kinder eggs is great, but the fact that inside this wonderfully tasting chocolate egg is a toy, what more can you ask. However, in the United States, they think we are too stupid to handle these things.

I was first exposed to Kinder eggs about 25 years ago or more when my brother brought some back from Germany. A few years later when I went to Germany, the motherland of Kinder eggs (Deutschland) where the word Kinder (meaning child) comes from, I bought a couple dozen of these choking hazard canides. I wasn't dumb enough to choke on any of them.

According to this website, http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml06/06140.html the US was selling Kinder eggs for a short while before they were banned. My opinion on this is simple, don't give this candy to little kids. I guess that is easier said than done though.

So, how do I get my fix for Kinder eggs, luckily I live close to Canada and they sell Kinder eggs there.

Wii Fitness is fun but is it really exercise?

2008-11-20T23:12:00.002-06:00

I was lucky enough to find a Wii Fit at Pamida of all places. I must give my co-worker (who will rename nameless credit for alerting me about it). I was trying to find a Wii Fit for a few months, I went everywhere, Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart you name it. I even searched online and bid on ebay over and over again only to be outbid.

I was so excited when I finally was able to purchase one for less than $130, since that is what they are going for on ebay.

I got it home and it was a late birthday gift for my wife/family gift. We all are using it, including our 4 year old daughter. She also loves Mario Cart for the Wii and other games like Shrek, Barnyard, Wii Sports, and a bunch of other games including Super Mario Galaxy.

First you pick a Mii which is a virtual character you create on the Wii based upon yourself. Then you do a body test and the Wii Fit tells you, that you are fat basically. It told me that I am obese. I'm not really that fat (I'm not going to list my weight) but I'm not as big as Michael Moore nor am I as skinny as Brad Pitt, so you be the judge.

I enjoy the games on the Wii Fit, such as the skiing, soccer head butting, etc and even the hoola hoop. My wife and kid get a kick out of watching me do the hoola hoop. It's almost as much fun as watching me box in Wii Sports, which I have not played for months due to the embarrassment, and I was good too.

I am not sure if doing Yoga is exercise, sure it helps to do yoga but I don't think deep breathing is really all that strenuous. There is also Strength training on the Wii Fit but I have only had the thing for about two weeks, so there is plenty of time for me to get fit with my Wii.

Overall I would recommend it, if nothing else, it's a great weight scale to keep tabs on where those donuts are going after you scarf them down.

The only thing I don't like about the Wii Fit is when it says - "Oh" or maybe it's "Ow" when I step on it. I'm serious, and then sometimes when my daughter steps on it, it says great...

Blog about blogging

2008-11-12T17:57:00.002-06:00

I have to create a podcast for a class that I am taking discussing blogging. I think it's sort of ironic, although the two items are related usually. A lot of bloggers now post links to their podcasts online. I have not yet, plunged into the world of podcasting. I think it's because, first of all I don't have time, secondly I don't really have a radio voice that people would like to listen to for a long period of time. So, that's why I'm probably better off not doing podcasts, with a blog, my voice is your voice in your head when you read it. I suppose I could be cheesy and have a computer read my blog and post that as a podcast but that's so monotone and boring and it's also been done before. I guess I don't have much more to say about this topic, although, I should. Actually for my assignment of creating a podcast, I think I will type what I want to say and have the Mac voice of Alex read part of it and then I will break in and start talking.

Family tv is disappearing

2008-11-11T19:21:00.004-06:00

Family television shows on the major networks has been changing over the past few years.

Top 40 family tv shows

As a kid I grew up watching reruns of Leave it to Beaver, Dennis the Menace, My Three Sons, Mr. Ed, The Brady Bunch, and the list goes on and on, those shows are still being aired today on Nickelodeon Classic Television, but when I was growing up their were on regular tv, not even cable mind you. Some of the shows weren't even reruns, like Family Ties, Family Matters, Full House, etc.

Today, the top shows on prime time on the major networks are shows like Two and a Half Men, which I admit I like but I would not let my daughter watch.

Other shows include How I Met Your Mother, again, nothing I would let my daughter watch. Again, this a favorite show of mine. I also watch Chuck, but that's about spies and nerds. I actually would let my daughter watch this show, I don't think it's that bad. Other shows like the Family Guy, not even my wife lets me watch. I think it's funny, but it's not appropriate. The show American Dad is another real winner, again, it's funny but not for kids. A show which I love is the Simpsons, this show has been on probably longer than any other sitcom. It's actually not a sitcom, it's a cartoon, and almost in it's own category. It all started about 20 years ago as a small skit with rabbits on the Tracy Ullman show (not family friendly).

I am trying to think of family shows like Family Matters with Eurkel on anymore. Shows like Roseanne, and Still Standing have been cancelled. I actually think Still Standing was a good family show, but I guess it didn't catch on.

The best Family show in my opinion had a good run and is now in TV Land rerun heaven, I am talking about Everybody Loves Raymond, or as my wife likes to call it, therapy, since our lives mimicked that show too close for comfort. At the time the show as on, I was in the newspaper industry just like Ray Romano, and my mom was just like his mom, etc.

Another great family show, but hardly one I could relate with was the Cosby show, I loved the show as a kid, but it was about an upper middle class family. More specifically, it was about a black family with a dad as a doctor. Everyone loved Bill Cosby and it showed how a black family could be successful, instead of poor like other shows such as Good Times.

Maybe I sound like an old codger, and I'm complaining, but I just thought I would point out that I think there is less and less family entertainment on the major networks, you have to go to special channels to find family entertainment, like the ABC Family channel, Disney channel, etc.

This blog entry will be a work in progress and I will try to add more to it as I think of it. I don't think I have done this post justice, or maybe I have.

Twittering too much?

2008-11-06T22:38:00.002-06:00

I have been posting a lot of "Tweets" to twitter.com lately. Tweets are the short postings that are 140 characters or less that are posted on twitter.com some of the tweets are tinyurls which are short links to larger and longer links. Twitter is something new to the internet and I think it is catching on like wildfire. I love it and I admit it I am addicted, President-elect Barack Obama was the number one person being followed on twitter.com although, I must point out that there were only about 100,000 people following Obama. That is about the same amount of people who voted for Al Franken in Minnesota. I think sooner or later more people will start to use twitter.com but for now it's limited to a small group of people. It's almost like instant messaging gone worldwide. It's hard to actually describe it. I was talking to professor of mine and his wife, and they were discussing that they didn't want to see just any random message on twitter... If they read this, I apologize, but it made me think. Do I really care that Joe Blow has now waken up for the day. No, not really but if I knew Joe Blow, still no, I don't care. Anyway, this will become a tweet tomorrow. I dare not post another tweet tonight because I already got a message from a fellow person following me on twiter.com who said to take it easy on the tweets.

News coverage of the election

2008-11-05T11:43:00.002-06:00

Okay, just compare these two web pages do you think that Fox News is upset, the picture almost looks like they are threatening Obama. Whereas CNN is showing how history was made.

Sprocket goes crazy

2008-10-28T10:15:00.006-05:00

The recent news about the neo-nazi plot to target Sen. Obama is frightening. Read the story for yourself.

When I saw the photo I couldn't help but to think of this scum of a person as a Sprocket from SNL's Dieter. Although, comparing this idiot, racist, moron to the character Mike Meyers played on SNL is a disservice to Meyers and SNL.

You can make up your own mind on this, but you have to admit that the photo does have a resemblance.

I must also state that I totally against this crazy dude and I admit I'm not really shocked by the news. Sadly, our country is full of people with racism and hatred.

The new iGoogle not that good

2008-10-21T16:47:00.002-05:00

Okay, I love Google and most of the products they put out. I am writing this blog on a google product, but I don't like the new igoogle for a couple of reasons, and maybe if google reads this they will consider making changes or not I am not sure. It all started last week, when they decided to change the igoogle page layout. Changing the layout is fine with me, I do like the tabs on the left, it took awhile at first to adjust to that change, but now I am fine with it, I am not happy with it, but I guess it does make more sense.

What I do not like is that gmail now does not allow you to access any links in the slimmed down version on the igoogle page (when using the gmail gadget), you have to launch the full gmail to click any links, this is more than annoying, it's a big pain in the butt. I find myself clicking the back button a hundred times a day to go and launch the full gmail. Also igoogle sometimes decides for me that wants to show me my gmail and not my gadgets.

What I want google to do is be able to minimize the tabs on the left so I get back some of my screen real estate. I also want the links in the gadget version of google to be clickable, I know this might be a security feature or something, but I don't care, I want to be able to click my darn links. I don't care what Leo Laporte says about clicking links in e-mail, the links I am talking about are for my web 2.0 sites, for my twitter adds and my facebook messages, I want to go to the links in those e-mails right away, I don't want to have to do a bunch of steps to get to them, I am talking about productivity baby, not wasting time.

I have one more plea for google, release a version of Google Chrome for the Mac. Come on, Chrome is based on webkit which is basically a mac program anyway, it's what Safari is based on, so google developers get cracking.

What the $%#@ was Apple thinking with no Firewire on new Macbooks?

2008-10-15T08:58:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Apple announced a new line of laptops but they screwed up royally in my opinion. Sure they look great and have nice new features but they lack one key feature that prevents me from ever buying a new Macbook, instead I would have to shell out another $1,000 to buy a Macbook Pro. Basically, Apple is saying you don't need or probably want to use iLife, at all to make movies if you can't afford to buy a Macbook Pro. That's freaking stupid as can be. I would love to buy a new Macbook but now I will never do so, instead I will either buy a used Macbook Pro or wait awhile and buy a new Macbook Pro, but that will be a long while. I do get to use a Macbook Pro from my work and I have an iMac at my work but I would have loved to get myself a personal Mac for home. I was even considering having my wife buy one. Now,I actually might be looking at a Mini. Which is ridiculous.

So, Steve Jobs you screwed up and I hope you know it, but I know you think you didn't, well you are wrong sir!

Wondering why I get no donations

2008-10-13T16:36:00.002-05:00

Okay, I am just asking for a measly $179 for a used iPod Touch, heck I would even settle for $50 and then I could buy myself an iPod Touch. As a tech person, I really think I need one to understand how they work and also my Video Ipod has seen better days. Anyway, yes I am serious, if you can please consider making a donation so I can buy an iPod Touch. If you want I can even plug your website or twitter account or whatever you want, as long as it's not Adult oriented, I don't think I can go that far as to be sponsored by something like that.

Anyway, yes Apple does sell refurbished iPod's and I think that is the best place to get a used iPod, sure you can get one on ebay but you might get nothing as well.

I don't understand how Barack Obama can just e-mail millions of people and get millions of dollars, maybe it has something to do with running for the office of President of the United States, who knows.

Well if you feel generous, send a donation my way via paypal. I will be very appreciative.

I know I sound pathetic, but I am... I will be honest. Personally I can't spare the almost $200 myself at this time for a device that I don't really need. I do have a laptop and I do have a working iPod. But I sure would love to get an iPod touch, maybe Santa will be nice to me this Christmas.

Excited for new Macs

2008-10-09T11:58:00.004-05:00

Even though, I won't be getting one anytime soon, I am excited to hear about the new Macs that Apple might be releasing/announcing in a few days.

According to many blogs, including this reputable one http://www.macworld.com/article/135988/2008/10/notebookevent.html?lsrc=rss_main Apple will be hosting an event on Tuesday, October 14th.

I am hoping for a touch screen Mac and also a metal Macbook. I also hope that the prices will be low. I think Apple needs to have lower prices to become a bigger competitor in the computer market.

I admit I am somewhat of an Apple fan boy, but not that much. I am sitting in my office now during my lunch break writing this on a PC running Vita, but next to my PC is two Macs, one iMac and one Macbook Pro. I just choose to write the blog on my PC because I love Google Chrome and also I like the keyboard that I have hooked up to my desktop.

Loving Google Chrome

2008-09-30T20:31:00.002-05:00

Google has done it again, they have suckered me into another one of their products. I love Google products, it started with Google in the late 1990s and then there was that April Fool's Day when I signed up for Gmail. Ever since then I have checked my Gmail religiously. I think I was one of the very first of anyone I knew to have a gmail account, and now that my wife even uses it as her own e-mail I know it's mainstream. To think it's still a "beta" is weird, I guess it might have some bugs or something but how can you charge for a beta product and have millions of users. Anyway, I am really impressed with Google Chrome and I can't wait for the Mac version. I still use Safari (as I am right now writing this post) and Firefox and even yes, Internet Explorer (I even downloaded IE 8 and am using it on Parallels running Windows XP on an iMac).

I like Google Chrome, but it has one kink that needs to be fixed and that's whenever I go to a site that asks me to download something via ftp it doesn't work at all. However, everything else I try to do in Google Chrome works. It even displays pages properly, unlike that evil version of crap that is dominating the web browser (supposedly) industry - of course I am talking about Internet Explorer. I had to fix a webpage today that displayed properly on Google Chrome, Firefox and Safari but not on IE.

I was looking at the Google Chrome comic today and even my eyes glossed over. I don't know who this comic was intended for but I don't think it's John Q. Public average user, it looks way too complicated for them. It's definitely a nerd comic geared to explain why Google thinks it needed to create a browser. I agree it's a good idea and I like it, I just hope it takes off and starts to dominate like everything else Google does.

Twittering life away

2008-09-14T23:40:00.002-05:00

I admit it, I am a geek/nerd and love new technology and websites. Two of them that I am addicted to are: Twitter.com and Stumbleupon.com

I am more addicted to twitter, since it is so easy to post a "tweet" or short up-to 140 character message, which you can do easily by logging into the twitter website or using one of a dozen or more standalone applications for PC or Mac. I don't know why I am fascinated by twittering but it is fun and I have a bunch of "followers" who are people who supposedly want to read what I say, but I doubt few of them actually do. I set a personal goal of having 500 people I follow and at least that many follow me. First I thought I would try to follow 500 people and eventually 500 might follow me, then I would like to follow 1,000 and then keep going up and up until it get's really crazy.

Stumbleupon is another website which I find highly addictive, maybe even more so, since I have found myself saying, just one more stumble and I will go to bed (and it's 3 a.m. and I have to work the next day). Maybe I am exaggerating, but not really. With stumbleupon, you have to install a little toolbar, and it only works on Firefox or Internet Explorer, not Safari, I am sure you can get it to work on other browsers, but on their main page they only show the two big browsers.

Well that's all I have to say for now, I am going to post a tweet about this blog and stumble.

Google Chrome is polished

2008-09-06T22:20:00.003-05:00

Okay, that's a definite pun but it's a good start for a browser. I like Google Chrome, it's simple and it works well. I found a few instances where it didn't work, like when I was on Dell's support site trying to download drivers, that didn't work at all but that is to be expected. I also don't like that Google is putting the Mac on the back burner for the time being. I spend most of my time on the web on the Mac. I use a PC at work but at the same time, I have my Mac running right next to the PC. I use the PC, because the Mac OS does not work well with Microsoft Access, of course not. Anyway, I think Google Chrome is a good start for a browser, but wondering why Google thinks they need to get into the browser business, maybe for the upcoming Android software for phones, they want use to use Google Chrome, who knows?

World's greatest record collection for sale

2008-09-02T21:35:00.002-05:00

The World's Greatest Record collection is for sale for more information to the official sitehttp://www.thegreatestmusiccollection.com/

A former salesman, and just a ordinary guy, this man kept collecting records and then eventually his wife said he need open a store, which finally closed after many years in February of this year.

There are tons of priceless records in this collection, and I think a University or Museum should buy it.

Just another post

2008-08-26T15:52:00.004-05:00

Okay, I am neglecting my blog. I have several of them, but I really can only keep up one, this is the lucky one. For the time being it seems to be the best one for me. It allows me to do almost everything I want. My micro-blog on twitter.com is http://twitter.com/djstangl and that I keep up daily. I am not sure if twitter is a micro blog but that's what I've heard referred to as in the past.

I am currently becoming more and more busy as I get back into the routine of going to college classes again. I haven't had classes for awhile and the break was nice. I am now pursuing my doctoral degree.

I have a bunch of work to do, so this is the end of my post.

Finally back from time off

2008-08-19T21:51:00.002-05:00

Ok, this will be a short post, but I feel like I need to say something.

I had some time off and my internet access was limited. For awhile, after I got back, I actually didn't feel like I was missing anything, but then this nagging feeling sunk in as if something was missing from my life.

Which made me think, what would happen if the world suddenly lost connection the Internet, would it be like the episode of South Park where people travel the country looking for traces of internet. That's almost how I felt when I was on vacation, whenever we found a place with wireless, I was happy, unfortunately, I didn't always have my laptop, sometimes I had to use my wife's inferior gray box.. she better not read this or she'll never let me use it again.. but no worries, I don't think she ever reads my blog.

Well I said something, now it's time to get off the net.

My "new" glasses

2008-07-21T22:03:00.003-05:00

I got "new" glasses today. I needed to since, I broke my old ones. I must explain why I put "new" in quotes, it's because I am using the same old lenses but new frames. I actually got them for free. I went to my regular optometrist, and said that my glasses were broken. They looked and them and looked up my record and saw that I had purchased my Flexon frames about five years ago, so I guess that's how long they last. For those of you who don't know Flexon are the frames you can bend and not break.

Anyway, they found new frames, or probably old outdated ones that fit the lenses and put my lenses inside and gave them to me. I will definitely go there soon and get some new frames, but it was a pain in a but having to try to wear my glasses with masking tape holding them together like a true nerd. Too bad I don't have any photos of that, but I am posting my photo with my "new" glasses.

New Jib Jab

2008-07-16T18:00:00.001-05:00

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Help me get an iPod Touch

2008-07-16T16:10:00.002-05:00

Okay, I will admit this is a shameful plug to get an iPod Touch, but actually at this point in my life I can't afford to buy one. So, I thought why not ask others to help me with my cause. I am asking that you donate any monetary amount to help me get an iPod Touch. You can easily do this buy clicking on the donate button on the left.

I would be ever so grateful to anyone who donates. I am not sure if I will get even a penny from anyone, but you never know.

The amount that I need to raise is about $300. That is the price of the iPod Touch. They actually go as high as $500 for a 32 gigabyte model, but I would be more than satisfied if I had a 8 gig model. I currently own one of the fifth generation iPods and I love it. I mostly listen to podcasts about technology etc, on it but on occasion I listen to music.

So if you are feeling generous please help me out.

Thank you

Wish I could get an iPhone 2.0

2008-07-11T16:01:00.002-05:00

I wish I could get an iPhone 2.0 but like many places throughout the country, AT&T is not available. I live in North Dakota and the iPhone is unavailable. Like thousands of others, for some reason I watched the 24 hour live coverage on stickam.com via twitlive.tv and saw Leo Laporte and all of his friends including the great Woz (Steve Wozniak) one of the co-founders of the iPhone.

I only watched a few hours of the coverage but it was really interesting, especially considering that it was all happening live and to find out about the news of how the sales were probably higher than expected or at least that's what my impression was especially since their were problems for people activating their phones. It was said that you had to do it at the store but even I knew that was hogwash, since you can buy a phone on ebay and activate it home just by calling the carrier. It's not like the cell phone stores have magical connections where cell phones are born or something. Come on!

Anyway it was also interesting to watch the live coverage and watch instantly as anyone who plugged their website on Leo's show had their website crashed by everyone at once going to check it out. I was smart and started taking notes in Stickies (on the computer) and using del.icio.us to bookmark the pages (although the later didn't work as well).

I also made a personal goal to get 500 people following me on twitter.com and and I will be following at least that many people, I am now just over 150 or so and have a long way to go, so if you want, you can add me by going to twitter.com/djstangl

That's all for now.

Watch this... please

2008-07-06T12:10:00.001-05:00

Back to Blogger.com

2008-07-06T00:11:00.002-05:00

Good old blogger.com

I am like the prodigal son, I came back, after finding out that Wordpress.com does not allow Google Adsense. Actually, I will use both.

It will be hard to keep both blogs updated but I will give it my best try and if I start making money I will get a domain and all of that and become an Internet superstar like Leo Laporte or Justine or one of the many other cool people like Kevin Rose or Alex Albrecht.

I should have put links to their sites, but I am lazy today I will do that later.

Check out maplight.org...

2007-11-23T17:16:00.001-06:00

Check out maplight.org where you can track what your Senators and other Legislators are doing and where they're getting their money from, etc.(?), it's really interesting, [...] and it's not partisan. listen

Powered by Jott

Taking a break from Blogging

2007-09-26T18:41:00.000-05:00

I have not been blogging lately because I have been extremely busy. I have a little time now, just to write a few things.

I am considering hosting my own webpage at home, and I think I will, when I have time and a computer that can be on all the time to run it.

My main goal right now is to get my paper finished for my masters degree, so I will focus on writing for that instead of working on my blog. Which some people may consider a waste of time. For me it's learning about technology, since that is my job. So, I need work on huh?

Jott Blog Post

2007-09-10T21:25:00.001-05:00

This is another post to Blogger using Jott. I'm trying to see how long I can actually talk on this.
Click here to listen

Jott Blog Post

2007-09-07T09:07:00.001-05:00

Instant Jott
Click here to listen

Geek or a Nerd?

2007-08-09T00:22:00.000-05:00

Okay, I am confused, but I think I have my answer... just read this.

Am I a "Geek" or a "Nerd" I know I am fall under one of those two labels. Years ago, I would have been offended if I was called either, but now I realize that it's actually more of a compliment, but still somewhat of an insult. Although, either of the labels refer to being a tad bit smart and I have been called worse.

I have even been called a technophile... hmm. Didn't like that one so much and I don't even think it's a word.

So like any "Geek" or "Nerd" I went to wikipedia and here is what I found:

The word geek has recently come to be used to refer to a person who is fascinated by knowledge and imagination, usually electronic or virtual in nature. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word geek as "1: a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken, bat or snake 2: a person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked 3: an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity". The American Heritage Dictionary's 1976 edition included only the first of those definitions.

And it goes on to say:

The definition of geek has changed considerably over time, and there is no definite meaning. The social and rather derogatory connotations of the word make it particularly difficult to define. The difference between the terms "geek" and "nerd" is widely disputed, as the latter might be identified as someone who is unusually intelligent, and the former as someone who has an eccentric interest towards a certain category or topic. Below are some definitions of the word; all are still in use to varying degrees.
A definition common among self-identified geeks is: "one who is primarily motivated by passion," indicating somebody whose reasoning and decision making is always first and foremost based on her passions rather than things like financial reward or social acceptance. Geeks do not see the typical "geeky" interests as interesting, but as objects of passionate devotion. The idea that the pursuit of personal passions should be the fundamental driving force to all decisions could be considered the most basic shared tenet among geeks of all varieties. Geeks consider such pursuits to be their own defining characteristic.

A person who is interested in technology, especially computing and new media. Comparable with the classic definition of hacker.
A person who relates academic subjects to the real world outside of academic studies — for example, using multi-variable calculus to determine the volume of a cake at a party.
A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who pursues skill (especially technical skill) and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance. Geeks usually have a strong case of neophilia (a love of novelty and new things). Most geeks are adept with computers and treat "hacker" as a term of respect, but not all are hackers themselves — and some who actually are hackers normally call themselves geeks anyway, because they regard "hacker" as a label that should be bestowed by others rather than self-assumed.
A person with a devotion to something in a way that places him or her outside the mainstream. This could be due to the intensity, depth, or subject of their interest. This definition is very broad, and allows for mathematics geeks, engineering geeks, sci-fi geeks, computer geeks, various science geeks, movie and film geeks (cinephile), comics geeks, theatre geeks, history geeks, gamer geeks, music geeks, art geeks, SCA geeks, literature geeks, anime and manga geeks (otaku).
G.E.E.K., as an acronym, reputedly came from the United States Military; it stands for General Electrical Engineering Knowledge. It is likely a backronym.
A derogatory term for one with low social skills, regardless of intelligence.
A performer at a carnival who swallows various live animals and bugs.
A person who rejects society, yet is involved in it — unlike and in contrast to a hermit. (This is generally used to also mean someone with high intelligence.)
Natasha Chen Christensen quotes Julie Smith: "a bright young man turned inward, poorly socialized, who felt so little kinship with his own planet that he routinely traveled to the ones invented by his favorite authors, who thought of that secret, dreamy place his computer took him to as cyberspace -- somewhere exciting, a place more real than his own life, a land he could conquer, not a drab teenager's room in his parents' house."
Words such as nerd and dork are similar to the word "geek", but carry different connotations. It could be said that the particular interests of nerds are of practical nature (like math, physics, astronomy), while those of geeks are often considered trivial but entertaining.

Now for the "Nerd" word:

Nerd as a stereotypical, archetypal and frequently used informally as a derogatory designation, refers to somebody who passionately pursues intellectual or esoteric knowledge or pastimes rather than engaging in social life, such as participating in organized sports or other mainstream social activities. The Merriam-Webster definition is an "unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept person: especially: one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits." While Nerd, Dork and Geek share in passionate pursuit of detailed knowledge, the Australian colloquialism dag shares the association with the unfashionable and socially inept with the added feature of being affable and amusing. A nerd is often excluded from physical activity, and is often considered a loner by peers.

The word "nerd" first appeared in Dr. Seuss's book If I Ran the Zoo, published in 1950, where it simply names one of Seuss's many comical imaginary animals. (The narrator Gerald McGrew claims that he would collect "a Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker too" for his imaginary zoo.)
The use of the "nerd" as slang goes back at least to 1951, when it was reported as a relatively new usage in Detroit, Michigan first by Newsweek and then the St. Joseph, Michigan, Herald-Press[3]. By the early 1960s, usage of the term spread through the United States and as far as Scotland. Throughout this first decade, the definition was consistent—a dull person, a synonym of "square", "drip" and "scurve". During the next decade, it took on connotations of bookishness as well as social ineptitude, and the spelling "nurd" began to appear. The University of South Dakota's journal, Current Slang, contains four entries for "nurd" and one for "nerd" in 1970 and 1971.
The first recorded use of the "nurd" spelling appeared in 1965, in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Bachelor. Oral tradition at RPI holds that the word was coined there, spelled as "knurd" ("drunk" spelled backwards), to describe those who studied rather than partied. This usage predates a similar coinage of "knurd" by author Terry Pratchett, but has not been documented prior to the "nurd" spelling in 1965. A spelling variant "gnurd" was in wide use at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by 1971 and continued at least until the mid-70's.
Other theories of the word's origin include a variation on Mortimer Snerd, the name of Edgar Bergen's ventriloquist dummy and the Northern Electric Research and Development labs in Ontario (an old name for modern-day Nortel), suggesting images of engineers wearing pocket protectors with the acronym N.E.R.D. printed on them, and a claim by Philip K. Dick to having coined "nurd". The Online Etymology Dictionary speculates that the word is an alteration of a 1940s term nert meaning "stupid or crazy person," itself an alteration of nut., but gives no evidence.
The term itself was used heavily in the American 1974 – 1984 television comedy Happy Days which was set in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the mid-1950s, and in one episode, "They Call It Potsie Love", introduced the reverse-spelled "dren" as meaning its opposite.[12] (This has no known or documented relationship to either instance of the drunk/knurd reversal.) In 1984, the film Revenge of the Nerds was released starring Robert Carradine, and Anthony Edwards. Carradine in particular worked very hard to embody the nerd stereotype and in so doing helped define it for many years to come. Additionally, the storyline presaged and may have helped inspire the "nerd pride" that emerged in the 1990s.

So you can call me a nerd or a geek, and I won't be offended. I think I prefer geek though.

TV to change as we know it

2007-08-09T00:20:00.000-05:00

Ok this is a big news item that most people won't really notice until it happens.
On February 17, 2009, the tv sets in millions of homes will go to static and hopefully most people won't notice or be upset by this and will be aware of what's happening. If not this is the reason why. I learned about this by listening to the podcast of the Tech Guy, Leo Laporte. I had known this was going to happen but I didn't know there was a date set.

(The following is from Wikipedia - the entry on digital television). In the United States, all U.S. television broadcasts will be exclusively digital as of February 17, 2009, by order of the Federal Communications Commission. This deadline was signed into law in early 2006. Furthermore, as of March 1, 2007, all new television sets that can receive signals over-the-air, including pocket-sized portable televisions, must include digital or HDTV tuners so they can receive digital broadcasts. Currently, most U.S. broadcasters are beaming their signals in both analog and digital formats; a few are digital-only. Citing the bandwidth efficiency of digital TV, after the analog switch-off, the FCC will auction off channels 52–59 (the lower half of the 700 MHz band) for other communications traffic, completing the reallocation of broadcast channels 52–69 that began in the late 1990s. The analog switch-off ruling, which so far has met with little opposition from consumers or manufacturers, would render all non-digital televisions dark and obsolete on the switch-off date unless connected to an external tuner or analog cable television. The FCC has determined that an external tuning device can simply be added to non-digital televisions to lengthen their useful lifespan. However, as of May 2007, external tuning devices are not widely available, are relatively expensive, and require bulky AC power supplies. Starting in 2008, the government will take requests from households for up to two coupons to reduce the price of some converter boxes by $40. Currently, even the earliest televisions continue to work with present broadcast standards. This mandate was designed to help provide a painless transition to the new standard.

AND WHY is this going to happen?
Well to make money for the FCC and who is interested in buying this, according to Laporte, it's Google, and the phone companies. One suggested use for this bandwidth is wireless. That would mean you could pick up wireless internet on the same signal as your tv so you could almost get it anywhere and if Google bought it, it could be for free. Just imagine.

I-35W Bridge Collapse

2007-08-02T09:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I found out about the tragic deadly bridge collapse in Minneapolis while teaching a computer class. My wife called me and told me about it and I had my students lookup the live video on the KARE 11 website.

I called my parents and they said my sister-in-law had called, they live in the Twin Cities area and said they were ok.

I later called my friend who lives there and was unable to get through at first and then got ahold of his wife, she said they had just crossed over the bridge five minutes before it fell. Holy cow!

OMG! My blog was spotted

2007-07-25T20:18:00.000-05:00

Okay, someone who I don't know found my blog and posted a comment, asking me about writing a blog.

My response, do whatever you want. You can make your blog show the world who you are, or as this mystery person (Scott Gray) said, have your blog be more like a lively dinner party... Hmmm... that sounds interesting.

My blog is more of a random collection of thoughts on things that usually aren't related. Which is how I think most of the time.

Ok, of course it works now

2007-07-25T20:10:00.001-05:00

Okay, I was testing to see if I could e-mail myself and post to my blog. That has never worked for me before but now that I said it would not work, of course the darn thing posted immediatley. This post is also sent from my e-mail. And I guess I could actually post from my phone if I wanted too, but that would be too hard and too stupid, but still possible and cool.

I will probably use this feature more now since it seems to be working. Now just watch, this post won't work because I am expecting it to work.

My post via e-mail

2007-07-25T20:07:00.001-05:00

If this works now I will be surprised. I have tried to get this feature to work and it does not.. So I am not impressed.

100 or bust

2007-07-25T19:44:00.000-05:00

Ok this is my 49th or so blog posting. I actually had posted more but I deleted a few since my wife said they were inappropriate and unprofessional. I don't see what's wrong with a few curse words that expressed my feelings on XM radio. Actually I did, that is why I deleted the posts. It felt good though at the time to do something about the way I felt though.

In the future, I would like to keep this blog more professional, I think it has come a long way, or maybe not. But I don't care, I only do it for fun.

I think I will start to do more with the other blogs I have and write about technology, but I don't feel like doing that at the moment. I have other things to be concerned with, like uhhh, graduating with my Masters degree. (There is a story to go with that but I won't be posting it). I just better start writing more on my paper than posting blogs is all I have to say..

Anyway, I am going to try to hit 100 before the end of the year. I guess last year I only had 42 or so posts. I already beat that this year.

Last comic is a joke

2007-07-18T19:14:00.000-05:00

Okay, I am boycotting Last Comic Standing since I think it's rigged. I was reading on wikipedia that ever since the second season this where it all started.

I am sure it has been rigged since the beginning. There are a lot of reasons why I say this.

For one thing, it features people that are already "famous" comedians. I assumed that it was for amateurs, not celebrities.. but anyway.. people who already have a career such as Jimmy Norton or the guy who played Spence on King of Queens shouldn't have been on there. They aren't exactly famous, accept for the guy who played Spence, now he's famous for playing a cartoon rodent on Splatatuouie or whatever that movie is called.

The main reason I say the show is rigged is because of the following, which is from wikipedia.org:

During season two, a panel of four celebrity judges was used to shrink the field of 40 semifinalists to ten finalists. The celebrity judges rated each of the semifinalists as they performed, and cast votes for the 10 top comedians. When the ten finalists were announced they did not seem to correspond with the judges' votes. In this way it was unintentionally revealed that their votes did not necessarily determine the final contestants. Two of the celebrity judges, comedians Drew Carey and Brett Butler, responded in outrage and stormed away from the judge's table after the finalists were announced.

The two were shown backstage arguing with producers. Carey and Butler did not understand how the finalists who were announced could be correct, since it did not match their votes. It was revealed that a panel of four producers were also casting votes in the process, assuring that unless all four celebrity judges cast the exact same ten votes, their voting power could be usurped by the four unanimously agreeing producer votes. If for some reason all four celebrity judges did cast the exact same votes, the worst the producers would be faced with is a tie.

Carey became further outraged upon learning this information. He was upset that he had been led to believe he had a vote in the outcome of the show. He reportedly responded, "All you wanted was our faces."[citation needed] It was also revealed that some of the finalists who advanced were clients of the producers or directors of the show.

Allegedly, some of the competitors in opening rounds were plants hired by the producers to liven up the auditions on television[2]. For example, Buck Star, a comedian who followed talent executives Bob Read and Ross Mark to auditions across the country, is rumored to be a production assistant for NBC.

Okay... um... hello

2007-07-18T19:08:00.000-05:00

Okay, it is now seven days later and I have no new suggestion for my blog. This leads me to a few conclusions.

1. No one reads my blog anymore (or at least they haven't been lately).

2. If people are reading my blog, no one cares to respond.

As far as I can figure there is no other explanation.

Now, to those who do read my blog, don't feel obliged to give me a suggestion now. I will continue my blog ... yes despite your apathy for the hope that someday someone will read it. Actually, I do this for myself and I really don't care who reads it. That's not entirely true, but if I really cared I think I would try to be more professional and that would lead to me being less open and carefree about what I put in my blog. I am not totally convinced that I have no audience or I would turn this into my personal diary but then it would be read and I would get myself in trouble for things that I would post on blog. Mainly with people that actually know me. Which would include anyone who's ever read my blog.

Pretending I have an audience, for those who read my blog, I actually have several blogs through blogger.com, this is the only one I really post items to. I suppose I could delete the others, but I feel like preserving them for some strange reason, as if I am going to continue with them later.

Well that's all I have to say about this subject.

A new direction or name or something

2007-07-12T01:07:00.001-05:00

Okay, since I have about three people who read my blog.. or maybe more..

I was thinking of actually making it more appealing or even professional looking and improving the content...

Whatever!

No, I was actually just thinking about changing the title since I have noticed that I am writing about technology a lot more now than before. I do have other blogs on this account but for some reason I just post to this blog.

So if anyone who actually reads this (excluding my wife, who will send me sarcastic comments) please submit a new title.

I will be thrilled if I even get one suggestion.

Ebay - not Mac friendly

2007-07-12T01:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, I am mad at ebay. I logged in to pay for an item and found out ebay.com does not like Mac users today.

Why you may ask?

Because apparently ebay thinks I am using an outdated web browser. It says I am using Safari 1.0 which I am not, I am using Safari 3.0 (which is a beta and available on PC). Then it suggests that I upgrade my computer. Well screw you ebay, I am using one of the most advanced and easy to use web browsers with top notch security.

Here is the message that I got:

Message from eBay
To effectively use eBay, we recommend upgrading your Web browser. Benefits of upgrading include the use of the latest security updates and support of interactive Web features.

Whatever...

So then I tried Mozzila Firefox and sure enough it worked fine.

Oh, by the way I wrote this blog post using Safari and I didn't have any problems..

Vista's Phishing filter...bad!

2007-07-05T10:37:00.000-05:00

Today on my co-worker's computer, I discovered that the new Windows Vista Phishing Filter may conflict with Internet Explorer.

If the filter is turned on, you may not have access to the Internet through Internet Explorer. The only thing you will see is a window asking you to download the navcancl file.

To fix this problem, go to Internet Options in the Control Panel and turn then turn off the Phishing Filter and your problem is solved.

No iPhone in ND

2007-07-02T11:28:00.000-05:00

Even if I wanted an iPhone and could afford one, I couldn't have one where I live.

In ND, most of Minn., no iPhone service
By Teri Finneman, The Forum
Published Thursday, June 28, 2007

FARGO -- As consumers rush Friday to buy the latest cool gadget, North Dakotans and many Minnesotans will be left sitting on the bench.

The iPhone the much-hyped new product from Apple and AT&T will only be available with wireless service from AT&T.

And that leaves North Dakota and most of Minnesota out of the loop.

Not only does the region have limited AT&T service, but consumers won't even catch a glimpse of the iPhone in stores.

"We're not selling the iPhone in North Dakota," said AT&T spokeswoman Natalie Bauer. "In Minnesota, we're selling the iPhones in a variety of Twin Cities locations."

The news doesn't sit well with local Apple fans.

"There's a lot of people up here who want it. We're all bummed," said Bill Scheffler, a Macintosh computer specialist at Minnesota State University Moorhead.

The iPhone combines three products: a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls and an Internet communications device with e-mail, Web browsing, searching and maps.

The user interface is based on a large multitouch display and new software that allows users to control iPhone with their fingers.

Anticipation for the handset has reached or arguably even surpassed levels usually reserved for new video game consoles.

Five people were in line Tuesday afternoon outside Apple's Fifth Avenue store in New York City, three of them since Monday.

The new technology has "some pretty innovative" features, Scheffler said. However, it may be "one of those things you want to wait until the next one anyway" when the kinks are worked out, he added.

"That said, I'd buy one in a heartbeat if I could," Scheffler said.

The Computer Place in Fargo has received a few inquiries about the iPhone and had to turn them away, said senior Apple technician Erik Brakvatne.

He said he isn't excited about the iPhone because it isn't available here.

"I don't really have an opinion at this time (about the product)," Brakvatne said. "I haven't seen it myself. I think there's a lot of work that still needs to be done."

Two models of the phone are available: one with 4 gigabytes of storage for $499 and one with 8 gigabytes for $599. Three monthly plans with a minimum two-year service contract will be available, with prices ranging from $59.99 to $99.99.

Those who think they can get an iPhone and an AT&T wireless plan outside of the area and try to use it here should study the idea first, said North Dakota Public Service Commissioner Tony Clark.

"I don't know how long you're going to be able to keep up a plan where you're roaming almost 100 percent of the time. That may not be allowed by them. You need to check for sure," he said.

Bauer of AT&T was unaware of any plans to extend the network into North Dakota.

Technology analyst Mike McGuire said Apple fans have elevated the status of the iPhone to "somewhere between electricity and sliced bread."

"The blessing is you've created an amazing amount of demand. The curse is you have a very high level of expectations to meet," said McGuire, a research vice president with Gartner Inc. "If there's a misstep, there will be a lot of gloating people in the industry."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead and the Herald are Forum Communications Co. newspapers.

Good copy, baby cop

2007-06-27T12:20:00.000-05:00

http://funnyordie.com/videos/33f2687080 Is the link to view this hilarious video.

I hope this kid doesn't keep talking like this.

Safari on Winblows (Windows)

2007-06-13T10:33:00.000-05:00

Okay, I will admit it, I am a Mac person. I love Macs. I think they are better computers, although there are some things that PCs are better at, which is fine. But my personal preference is the Mac.

Anway, a friend of mine told me about Safari being released on Windows.

So today I finally downloaded it and it is faster. Apple is claiming that is one of the fastest web browsers. It does appear faster but it is slow to load and there is one bug I have discovered so far.

The bug that I am talking about is when you are using two monitors Safari doesn't show up when you maximize the window on the second monitor. It may be a glitch with my system, but who cares, I will try to use this from now on. I am typing this blog using the windows version of Safari.

That's about all I have to say on this... except one more thing, if you are on a Mac reading this using Internet Explorer, get with the times...

O & A are back

2007-06-13T10:29:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite radio shows is now back on the air...

Well technically they never went off the air, except on XM radio, but I don't live on the East Coast or anywhere else where they are syndicated so I couldn't listen to them.

On Monday, which is when I assumed they resumed rebroadcasting, they started playing the best of the CBS shows on XM radio.

I am not sure how the show will change when they come back on the air, but it will never be the same since I will be anticipating the day when they will be "suspended" again for who knows what.

Well that's all I have to say abot this for now.

I didn't get rid of my XM radio but there's still time.

Paris to serve posh sentence

2007-05-22T21:09:00.001-05:00

Paris Hilton is going to jail, thank God! But don't worry this celeb is not going to have it too bad.

She will probably complain about it, but according to an article I found she will only be there 23 days instead of 45 and will be in a special part of jail reserved for police, public officials and celebrities. Ooh that sounds bad, instead of four drinks a day she might only get one cocktail and her pillows might not be fluffed. She will get lasagna instead of steak and shrimp.

I don't know.. I think she should get treated just like I would if were to go to jail and that would be bad.. I would be watching my butt the whole time and it wouldn't be pretty.

Update: If you go to Jail Paris you can sign a petition to help Paris recieve her full sentence. Although, I didn't sign it since they are asking for a donation to sign it. But I feel that I am doing a service by promoting the website.

Opie and Anthony silenced, briefly. Possibly fired?

2007-05-16T14:49:00.001-05:00

"..The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Opie and Anthony has been the first radio show suspended by Satellite radio provider XM.."

read more | digg story

Free Speech under fire

2007-05-16T09:23:00.000-05:00

Click here

O&A suspended - WTF!

2007-05-15T21:29:00.000-05:00

My favorite radio hosts were suspended just like that poor bastard Don Imus. But this time O & A didn't even do anything near as bad as calling somebody a nappy headed ho, instead they had a crazy homeless guy on and he was talking crazy. Hello, and they got in trouble for it. This crazy guy said he had sex with Conda Leeza (sp?) Rice and whatever, so what???? You would have to be an idiot to believe anything this guy was saying, and besides I heard the show in question and it wasn't that big of a deal, I actually didn't think anything of it. I couldn't even understand this guy.

Here is what the officials at XM said.

Opie & Anthony Update

As you know, XM has suspended Opie & Anthony and ceased all broadcast of The Opie & Anthony Show on The Virus - XM 202 for 30 days, effective May 15, 2007.

Last Wednesday, Opie and Anthony made statements on their show that were deplorable. They issued an apology that day, but comments they made on their May 14th broadcast called into question whether they appreciate the seriousness of the matter. We give our on air talent creative freedom, however we expect them to take this responsibility seriously.

In the meantime, Ron & Fez will air in place of The O&A Show on XM 202.

If you have comments or questions, please email us at thevirus@xmradio.com

I will e-mail XM and let them know I almost cancelled my XM but then I realized, it's better than FM and there is also XM 150 yet... until XM gets weird about that.

The meaning of life

2007-04-25T08:51:00.000-05:00

Today I recieved an e-mail which later lead me to ponder the ultimate question, the reason for my and everyone's existance.

Which I believe as Douglas Adams stated is this? What is the answer to the ultimate question? The answer is 42. The problem is what is the ultimate question, is it what is 7 x 6 or is it something else.

Anyway, back to that e-mail it was about how semantic searching could eliminate google, which is highly doubtful.

According to the article, Wikipedia defines Semantic Search or Semantic Web as the evolving process of taking all the content on the world wide web and "expressing it not only in natural language, but also in a förm that can be understood, interpreted and used by software agents, thus permitting them to find, share and integrate information more easily."

Then is mentions Hakia a beta search engine that allows you ask questions. I tried it and the first question I thought of was "What is the meaning of life?" and I got a response of a few websites including an entry in wikipedia.

Vista still sucks

2007-04-16T16:49:00.000-05:00

Okay, as a tech person it's part of my job to check out new technology. One of the newest software developments is the new Windows operating system "Vista" which I am struggling with. I am a master at installing it already, but getting programs to work with it, that is where I am having troubles.

What I am doing right now as I write is re-installing Windows XP and then I will get my computer working the best I can with that operating sytem and then upgrade to Vista once again.. so wish me luck with this crappy operating system.

It looks really nice but it doesn't work all that well.

The ironic thing is I am writing this on my mac which I had to rebuild as well but that was becuse of a hardware problem, and now it is working as good as new. It was before it broke as well. So I am leaning towards becoming more of a Mac user. The only thing I have to do on the PC is work with databases.

The Circus

2007-04-16T16:41:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, I went to the Jose Cole Circus with my family. It was good as can be expeted, for a small traveling Circus.

There were no lions, tigers and bears.. but there was an elephant, a horse, and some dogs plus one clown.

The best part of these small town circuses (not sure if that's plural for circus) is that the acts are also the vendors of the balloons, coloring books and other souveniers.

Also Max the Great is later part of the fabulous duo etc.. so it seems like there are a lot of different acts, when in reality there are really only four or five performers.

The circus was a benefit performance for the Bambino Baseball league so it was for a good cause.

It was also the first time my daughter actually ate cotton candy. In the past we have always purchased it but she refused to eat it, this time she was guarding her bag of cotton candy from us.

The ring leader or announcer whatever he's called said something that is true, with the circus everything is live non of it is pre-recorded, it's all happening before your eyes. And for $9 (Adult) you do get what you pay for (maybe a little more). Just think, do I risk my life for a share of $9 a head each day.. NO!

I guess there is not much more I could say about the circus...

Don Imus

2007-04-12T13:25:00.000-05:00

I never cared for Don Imus but I think the media has nothing better to talk about.

Other talk show hosts have said worse things. I think that political correctness is gone crazy.

Don Imus is just a comedian and he was doing trying to do comedy. For goodness sake Trent Lott has said worse things and he was a public official. Of course he too was criticized.

I personally don't give a crap if Don Imus is fired but I am sick of hearing about it on the news. (I wrote this before it was official) They talked about serious situations such as a bombing in Iraq for 10 seconds on CNN but spent hours on a has been radio host that no one listen to. Which brings me to think how did they even find out he said these things...

Imus has aplogized and he's been removed from MSNBC and now will probably be fired so I don't want to hear about it anymore. If he's not fired people will be outraged.

What does Jesus have to do with chocolate bunnies and eggs?

2007-04-04T21:30:00.000-05:00

We will never know.

Actually, it's all about new life and spring, an egg is a sign of new life and Jesus' resurection represents new life. That's what you know after years of brain washing at a Catholic grade school. Ooops, did I write that (Mom and dad better not read this).. So eggs are a symbol of this, but eggs aren't that appealing so we decided to color them and then make them into chocoloate.
Actually, I just watched the best South Park episod ever and it's a remake of the Da Vinci code only with an Easter twist. It's hilarious. I am sure anyone who is religous, especially Catholic will take offense to it, but that is why it was on South Park, hello South Park is not a kids show. It's for grown up kids and I hope they never stop making it, but I am sure that the end is near.

I thought I had more to say about this but I have a lot of things to do so this is all I will write for now.

I guess I am not the only person who things like me, so just in case you don't believe me read this guy's blog from two years ago just click here.

FurReal or furfake...

2007-04-01T23:15:00.000-05:00

I just bought my daughter a FurReal Friends kitten. When we got home I discoverd it made a grinding noise and it's head did not move. I looked online and found that must be a common problem, since they have it listed on their website. I will try to take it back, but it was the only one left that looked like the one my daughter wanted. So I don't know what to do, I contacted Hasboro about this and am now waiting for a response.

Free Speech in trouble?

2007-03-29T11:02:00.000-05:00

I saw a disturbing video about a smart grad student who was arrested in NYC for using a chalk spraying bicyle that painted messaages submitted from a website.

Please view the video and then go view the comments. One is from a "cop" and he makes the point that chalk or paint it's all vandalism. I disagree but I am sure that this officer is correct to some extent.

Watch this video

The newest Jib Jab video

2007-03-29T09:37:00.001-05:00

What We Call the News | Send To Friends | Funny Animations at JibJab

This is funny and true.

Heating problem solved

2007-03-28T16:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we ran out of propane and that's why our house was only 52 degrees in the morning... fuck that was cold.

I went home at noon to see if the tank was filled and it was but the house was still cold, so I tried to get the furnace to kick on but it wouldn't so I called some heating guys and they said to check to see if the propane people shut off my tank. Sure enough, they did and then everything was good. Well not really, I was upset about this but what could I do.

I am not happy that my propane supplier said they aren't filling tanks since it's so warm, well obviously they need to keep our tank filled or I will have to monitor it myself, that sucked to go without heat. What if it was colder than it was that would have really sucked.

Also, I didn't notice until it was too late but the propane guy wrote a note that said he shut off the tank due to liability issues, well I wish I had seen that sooner. Oh well.

Mac problems

2007-03-28T16:49:00.000-05:00

Today my computer was not working properly. I am a Mac/PC user but prefer Mac over PC. However today I was very mad at my Mac, and my PC just sat there working all day and I didn't restart it once. My Mac was randomly shutting down every few minutes. I spent about two hours on the phone with technical support. I am currently waiting for my Mac to finish a diagnostic test to see if that finds anything.

I am betting that it is a software issue and I will have to reinstall everything. The problem is I have a lot of stuff and to transfer all my files off of this beast will be a big project. I don't feel like doing that, but I guess that's what I will have to do.

I am sure no one who reads this blog will care but I am sure maybe someday someone would care to read this if they have the same exact problem.

Here are the specifics: I have a IMac G5 with Mac OS X 10.4.9

I came to work today noticed that the computer had been restarted. I usually leave it on all the time, that may be the problem I am having but you should be able to do that.

I was using Safari and Itunes and downloading a missed episode of 24 and bam, the thing just restarts. That sucked, at first I was like what the fuck, but then it became a problem. So I called technical support and that got me nowhere but they were nice to me and at first I thought I had my problem solved it quit doing the random shutdown for about a half an hour. Now it's back to periodicly just shutting down whenver. I think the reason it restarts is because I have auto restart after power failure selected. I will change that and see what happens.

I am befudled.. not sure if that's a word but I am perplexed and saddened by this. I did have other things to do today and I did get some of that accomplished but this did put a wrench in my plans for sure, oh well.

PJ and Kings of Leon

2007-03-27T22:03:00.000-05:00

A very awesome video with my new favorite band and my all-time favorite - PJ!

Brrrrrrrrr

2007-03-27T09:04:00.000-05:00

That is what I said this morning as I hopped out of bed. Our house was a chilly 52 degrees. I guess our propane tank was empty. I figured that was the problem last night, but was I going to do about it. So, this morning I went to check and sure enough I was right. I just hope that the guy comes today and we have heat tonight or I will be pissed. I am sure he will come but to make sure I will go home at noon and check on it.

I know it's spring but it's still cold here, so to be without heat is not fun and to top it off our daughter was just getting over a cold and the poor little thing was probably shivering last night... It makes me sad.

So maybe tonight we will have heat. How sad huh?

Youtube

2007-03-26T16:29:00.000-05:00

I have started posting to Youtube.com and so far I really only have one video on there. It shows more than one, but there is only one that sound throughout the entire video and is of any content substance.

I plan to add more, but who is going to watch this, actually who knows thats what's cool about Youtube, I already know my audience for this blog, me and a couple people.. Hi People, hope you enjoy reading this.

Anyway, I am trying to think of something to say, but I am not very creative today.

Search with K Fed

2007-03-22T10:03:00.000-05:00

Okay, this has got to be the dumbest thing I have ever seen.

You can search the internet with Kevin Federline's search engine and win prizes. If you want to do this, go here. I shouldn't be promoting this but I had to put the link on this post so you can believe me and not think I am joking.

I am sadly going to try to win stuff from this website. The actual search engine is Yahoo.com since K Fed is not smart enough to create his own special algorhythmn to search for things.

If I win I will put the item for sale on ebay. I might get a dollar for it.

I guess what more can you say about this besides it being so stupid that it hurts.

My first You Tube video

2007-03-20T21:12:00.000-05:00

Okay, warning this is lame, but I am giving my shot at using You Tube to publish in a new way.

It's a short video clip with my tribute to the podcaster that I love most, Zefrank, the former host of "the Show" with Zefrank. I am already feeling withdrawl, thank God for Rocketboom.

Eddie with R.E.M.

2007-03-20T15:52:00.000-05:00

Eddie Vedder singing with Michael Stipe of R.E.M. doing "Man on the Moon" during R.E.M.'s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Secret aka Law of Attraction

2007-03-14T10:59:00.000-05:00

The Secret is out...

It's just this: The Law of Attraction, which means if you think you want it, then you will get it. The Universe will adjust itself to allow you to have it. If you think negative thoughts you will attract negative thoughts...

Hmmm sounds like a load of crap to me. I think I want a million dollars do you think I will get it?

"The Secret" is a DVD and book that Oprah plugged. I watched it and I was skeptical of it before I saw it and now that I've seen it, I could lie and say that it will change my life, but that's doubtful.

It's a good thing to think postively but you've got to do more than just want something you have to work to get it. There is a lot more to life than just wanting things.

As I was watching "The Secret" they featured quantum physiscts and authors. And quantum mechanics refers to energy. So "The Secret" is to think of positive energy and you will recieve it... But what is "positive" is it positive for a young boy just to want a bike and then get it from his grandfather, or is that just wishful thinking..

So basically, after watching "The Secret" and having them tell me what it is supposedly I still don't know. And you know why... because it's bullshit. Well that's my opinion. It's a good thing to think that if you want it, you can get it... But I want to be rich and debt free, I'll let you know if the secret is working..

I also want to loose weight.. I also want a new truck, I also want.........

Okay you get the point.

Richard Jeni tribute

2007-03-13T13:33:00.000-05:00

This video is a tribute posted on Youtube.

Kirk Cameron banned from DVD

2007-03-13T11:37:00.001-05:00

Okay, I'll admit it I am picking on Kirk Cameron... but he's nuts.

For those who don't remember Cameron played the character Mike Seaver on the 1980s family sitcom, Growing Pains.

I just read recently that his commentary was removed from the Growing Pains DVD because he wouldn't stop with his "Bible talk"

Actually this is what the producer said and explanation of why he's not included:
"He wouldn't stop his Bible talk," says the DVD's producer. "He saw it as a platform to practice amateur apologetics." Executives at ABC say Cameron couldn't let any of his character's objectionable behavior slip by without condemning it. He also tried to lead viewers in the sinner's prayer at the end of each show. The warm, family reunion feel the network hoped to create was squelched when Cameron kept breaking in with spiritual points.
"Everyone would go silent. It was really distracting," says one person involved in the project.
The producers tried to accommodate Cameron by putting his commentary on a separate audio track. But this emboldened him to preach. He even brought in Ray Comfort, co-host of Cameron's TBN program "The Way of the Master," to contribute to the commentary. Comfort was asked to leave ABC's premises after trying to convert several executives who are Jews in the lunchroom.
ABC eventually opted to drop Cameron from the group commentary altogether, leaving Alan Thicke, Tracey Gold, Joanna Kerns and Jeremy Miller to participate in the reunion. Thicke opens the commentary by saying, "We're sorry Kirk Cameron couldn't join us today. He had other obligations."
Cameron is "hurt" by ABC's decision and is working on posting MP3 files of his audio commentary on the Internet which people can listen to while watching the DVD set.

Poor Kirk... and to think Jeremy Miller is gay, (correction - he's not - don't know where I heard that). I am sure Kirk had a lot to say about that.. and Tracey Gold was arrested for a DUI... she was driving and some of her family were injured.. I have included her mugshot. It's a hoot.

Is this real?

2007-03-13T10:29:00.000-05:00

Philosphers and great minds have been debating existence and reality for ages. But what if that was all fake we just thought they existed and have debated all this stuff.... first read this...

Read this about the Universe being only six days old.

Alright that's silly but some religous kooks, sorry I mean evangelists like Kirk Cameron, (who would of thought after seeing him on Groin Pains) and Ray Comfort make silly claims that the Universe is only 6,000 years old.. That's just as dumb..

I have a better idea, how about the Universe started the day I was born, in 1976.. and this is all just a crazy dream that I am having. But wait how would that work?

Anyway, I will lay off the heavy drugs and get back to work now.. I just had to write about this.

Fans wanted

2007-03-13T10:11:00.000-05:00

Okay, I enjoy writing my blog but I wish someone besides my sister-in-law would comment, and read my blog. It's sad but not even my wife will read it. Okay, I am not making a good plea to others here to read my blog am I? I think one of my friends is subscribed to it and might read it, but I'm not sure. What I want, or mayeb I don't is to have strangers (lots of them) all of a sudden start to read and comment on my blog. I know this might not happen, but you never know. Not until recently did I notice that there was a place to add "labels" to the blog. What this does I am not sure, but I am thinking it might help pull up my blog when people do searches. I have done searches and have never pulled up my blog, but there are tons of blogs created every second now, so I'm not surprised that my fan base is pretty damn small, so really I could write anything in here... My wife said she doesn't need to read this since her sisister will tell her about anything I put in here worth mentioning..

Well, Sarah don't tell Jen this but..... just kidding. Actually make up something and see if you can get her to read my blog.. this would be a fun game..

Stranger than fiction

2007-03-13T09:54:00.000-05:00

The movie starring Will Ferrel, where his life is narrated is a great movie.

Sometimes I feel like that my life is similar, that it's part of a fictional story, sometimes it's exciting and unbelievable, other times it's boring and mondane (sp?).

Unlike the movie, I don't hear the narrator, but can imagine what they would be saying, however they are not saying that "Little does he know," about this untimely death, etc...

For example, yesterday my life made a great story, it was funny, accept to me.

I woke up and found out that I had to stay home with my daughter.. then my wife called and aksed me to get our car with the flat tire fixed. This is no ordinary car or flat tire, it's on a Volkswagen New Beetle that has an anti-theft bolt that I don't have the adapter for to get it off. So I called the dealership and explained this to them, they said they would pay half accusing me that I lost the part, since they would have taken off the wheels to check the brakes.. liars.. they never did that. They also had no record of our car, but remembered after my wife called and bitched them out when I told her what they told me. The reason they had no record in their service shop was because they never serviced it, we bought it off the lot as soon as they got it and they never even cleaned it.

So then, they sent out a tow truck.. fine.. but there were problems..

First my truck was in the way, and the battery was dead on it.. darn.. ok, I was able to jump it and start it.. good now I realized I had no keys to get this damn car out.. and the tow truck guy couldn't do anything, so I sent him on his merry way.

I went to town and got a can of the fix a flat stuff and other things.. I filled the tire and planned to take it in the next day..

Okay, today the tire was flat.. so I pumped it up and called AAA and waited for a tow truck.. he came out and towed it off with the flat tire.. hopefully he didn't ruin the tire.

Alright the rest of the week better be good.

Chicken Wild Rice soup

2007-03-11T22:14:00.000-05:00

Okay, I usually don't post recipes, actually I have never posted recipes but this is my favorite.

It's also something I like because it's a "Minnesotan" thing, at least I think so, and I am talking about Classic Creamy Wild Rice Soup. I always make a larger version and I double everything in the recipe, also I don't use the almonds and don't add any salt, it doesn't need any. I also use the can of pre-cooked wild rice mix or like today when I made it I used cooked half wild rice and half regular.

This is the original recipe:

1/2 cup finely chopped onion
6 tbsp butter
1/2 cup flour
4 cups Swanson® Chicken Broth
2 cups cooked wild rice
1/2 cup grated carrots
1 cup cooked, turkey or chicken
3 tbsp slivered almonds
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup half and half
2 tbsp dry sherry

In a large pot sauté onion in butter. Add flour, stirring until bubbly; gradually stir in broth. Add wild rice, carrots, meat, almonds, and salt: simmer 5 minutes. Add half and half and sherry, heat through. Equals 6 servings.

My doubled version:

One finely chopped onion
12 tbsp butter
1 cup flour
8 cups Swanson® Chicken Broth
4 cups cooked wild rice
1 cup grated carrots
2 cup cooked, turkey or chicken
6 tbsp slivered almonds
2 cups half and half
4 tbsp dry sherry

A few facts about wild rice: Wild rice is the only cereal grain native to North America.
It is the official state grain of Minnesota. Minnesota is proud to be one of the world's largest producers of cultivated wild rice, producing 5-6 million pounds annually. Cultivated wild rice provides a greate habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife.

On the lake near where I grew up in Minnesota, there is wild rice and the Native Americans are the ones who are allowed to harvest it. Others, such as myself need to get a permit. I have never picked it since I don't know what you have to do to it to make it edible.

Wild rice is expensive but not prohibitively expensive to buy. It's about $5 per pound compared to probably a $1 per pound or less for the white stuff.

Wild rice can keep for up to 10 years when dry or about a week in the fridge if it's cooked, but you can also buy the pre-cooked canned stuff and I am not sure how long that is good for, but not 10 years I'm sure.

Is it healthy? you betcha, it's a high-fiber complex carbohydrate, high in quality protein and low in fat, with only 114 calories per half-cup serving. A cup of dry uncooked wild rice yields about 3-4 cooked cups thats 6 to 8 servings from just one cup.
There is a lot of protein in it too, there is 4 grams. If you want to know more go to the USDA website and look it up.

Still confused...

2007-03-09T10:31:00.000-06:00

Okay, I am wasting time on this issue, but it's fun.

I was researching Kirk Cameron and discovered how he became involved in the evangelical life. Basically, he hooked up with this half Jewish guy from Australia and is now a "Christian."

AND this half-Jewish guy wrote several books, one which is hilarious (at least to me).

The book is " Intelligent Design Vs. Evolution: Letters to an Atheist" by Ray Comfort

I agree with the first review here and I have never read the book and will never read the book.

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

This is a stupid book, December 25, 2006
Reviewer: Daniel Isaacs (Apex, NC United States)

I've only gotten about 20 pages in so far, but this is the worst example of someone "definding" ID, or "criticizing" Evolution I've ever heard. The book is essentially a lenghty exchange of email, not unlike something you'd see on talk.origins. Well, very much unlike, as you're not likely to find many idiots the caliber of Mr. Comfort. He fails, time and again, to even address the very simple questions asked of him by "James D. Franz" (not his real name), showing only one or two sentences of his replies (which are typically just snarky nonsense.)

There is nothing of value in here if you hope to learn something other than what a moron with a computer sounds like. Your $10 is better spent lighting a cigar, and that assumes you'll get cancer from said cigar.

And then there was this guy... who is obviously a fan and will believe anything Comfort says:

1 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

Breath Of Fresh Air, November 4, 2006
Reviewer: Tim C. Sanderford - See all my reviews

In today's confusing world of mixing fantasy with Bible scripture it's refreshing to hear Biblical truth again. Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron almost have the market cornered telling the most effective way for Christians to share their faith, and how to know a true conversion.

"Intelligent Design" is filled with examples and anecdotes on Ray's years of experience sharing the Gospel. I can't wait for his next book.

For the best study program for ANY Christian, I recommend:

1. Bible Study
2. Anything by Ray Comfort.

So now I don't feel so bad about calling Cameron a whore, but only because he could potential call it a bad thing and sue me.. whatever...

But that's why we have freedom of Speech... People can call people names... hell if I couldn't South Park would be off the air.. and it's not..

Sorry Kirk...

2007-03-09T10:15:00.000-06:00

Okay maybe I was wrong about Kirk Cameron...

I am researching him a little more and he's looking better and better to me (as a person)..

This is from his website where he is selling his CD's for only $5.. not sure about shipping but anyway:

Kirk shares his powerful testimony as a "devout atheist" who became soundly saved, then desired to share his faith in Christ with others.

Listen as Kirk shares the principles of biblical evangelism that "rocked his world" and produced amazing, life-changing results in his witnessing. Through these same time-tested methods used by Jesus and the disciples, you can learn how to share the gospel with your loved ones, friends, and strangers and ensure that they too are soundly saved.

This is Kirk’s version of Ray Comfort's "Hell's Best Kept Secret."

....

So Kirk was a "Devout Atheist."

Here is what Wikipedia says about Atheism:

Atheism is the disbelief[1] in the existence of any deities.[2] It is contrasted with theism, the belief in a God or gods. Atheism is commonly defined as the positive belief that deities do not exist, or as the deliberate rejection of theism.[3][4][5] However, others—including most atheistic philosophers and groups—define atheism as the simple absence of belief in deities[6][7][8] (cf. nontheism), thereby designating many agnostics, and people who have never heard of gods, such as newborn children, as atheists as well.[9][10] In recent years, some atheists have adopted the terms strong and weak atheism to clarify whether they consider their stance one of positive belief (strong atheism) or the mere absence of belief (weak atheism).[11][12][13]
Many self-described atheists share common skeptical concerns regarding supernatural claims, citing a lack of empirical evidence for the existence of deities. Other rationales for atheism range from the philosophical to the social to the historical. Although atheists tend toward secular philosophies such as humanism, rationalism, and naturalism, there is no one ideology or set of behaviors that all atheists adhere to.[14][15][16]
In Western culture, atheists are frequently assumed to be irreligious or non-spiritual.[17] However, some religious and spiritual beliefs, such as several forms of Buddhism, have been described by outside observers as conforming to the broader, negative definition of atheism due to their lack of any participating deities.[18][19] Atheism is also sometimes equated with antitheism (opposition to theism) or antireligion (opposition to religion), despite many atheists not holding such views.[20]

Okay, so just ignore the footnote numbers... I didn't feel like editing them out.

Like I've said before, you have to believe in Atheism, isnt' that ironic...

So there is no way of getting around having a lack of faith, you either have faith that your religion is correct and that is what your life is about, or connected with or you believe that everyone else is wrong and we just somehow appeared here and made up all this stuff..

I believe in the in between... we did just somehow show up here but there's more to it than that and we will never be able to understand it all.. it's impossible. There is no absolute right or wrong answer.... or is there?