staplemaniac!

Riding the Wave…sortof

2009-11-08T11:41:00.001-05:00

So, I’ve only had my Google Wave preview for a couple of days, but I’d seen the intro video (yes I watched the whole hour and a half video). I must say, when I got in I was mad excited, however I have been a bit disappointed with it so far. Here’s the underwhelming thing: If you don’t know anyone else in the preview it’s basically worthless. I know a few people who are in on it, but if there’s only three people all you can do is screw around, not really do any serious work or communication. Waiting for some people to get on and let me PLAY!

Also: the Bucs are playing today and wearing the creamsickle throwbacks. An appropriate message given the team’s futility thus far this season.

-Alex

Technorati Tags: Google Wave,Bucs Unis

Top Features of Windows 7 That You May Not Know

2009-10-29T03:18:00.001-04:00

I know that I’ve seen basically everyone and their mother do a top features list for Microsoft’s latest and greatest, however in the short amount of time that I’ve been exploring it I’ve seen some cool features that are constantly left out of these lists. Things that I couldn’t do before, and that people who are upgrading from XP (and skipping Vista) may have missed. So, without further Ado, here we go.

It’s the little things

Okay, so when you enter Windows Explorer in XP where do you end up by default? Is it some random place in the Windows folder that you use <.01% of the time? Well, not in Windows 7. It takes you straight to the Libraries view. Something I just now noticed (since I started writing this sentence) is that when you use the shortcut Windows+E it takes you to the Computer view, giving you a quick glance at all storage devices connected to your computer and how much space is on them. Nice.

More than anything else….the OS FEELS snappy. It’s weird to say that, but stuff just works. where have I heard that before….oh yeah, on retarded mac commercials. Well guess what guys, Windows is there and kicking butt.

Connecting to a wireless network is a breeze now too. That is a big deal, especially if you were used to the 50000 windows you had to click through to connect to a wireless network on Vista.

In addition, many of the classic programs that come with Windows have gotten an overhaul. Wordpad, Paint, Calculator, etc. There are also some new tools that are pretty cool, like sticky notes and a snip tool, which I’ve used to take the screen shots for this post (which I’m writing to test out another new tool in Windows, called Live Writer, which syncs to your blog).Oh, and you can crop in paint now. That makes it infinitely more useful.

Searching your computer

On both my Vista and XP machines I had the EXCELLENT program Launchy installed to help me quickly get to things. I loved that program, however I think it’s going to be going by the wayside with Windows 7. All you have to do is click the (formerly) Start button and start typing…then ~poof~ there are all the things on your computer that have to do with that item; programs, documents, context menus. Another thing that is convenient about this feature is that it searches the control panel, so if you know which menu you need to go to, you can skip the whole searching process and go straight to the menu.

Use your words.

Im going to write this entire paragraph without touching the keyboard or the mouse. The reason for this this is to demonstrate the benefit of speech to text. While it's still not perfect and there are things that need to be worked out, I could definitely see myself using this (and really using it) for writing long documents. Its not perfectly intuitive yet as far as navigating through menus goes. However it does a really adequate job in understanding the words that I say. Although I've only used it for a day, I can already see improvement in its recognition of my speech. I think this could really be a fantastic tool, and I'm amazed that hasn't been talked about more. As far as accessibility goes I really think this could help the number of people who perhaps have trouble using their hands to get into the computer world.

Windows Media Center

I know this isn’t necessarily a feature new to Windows 7, however I know that a lot of people are migrating straight from Windows XP and have never gotten the chance to experience this fantastic program for themselves. Let me just say, I think this is the number one reason to go PC over Mac. Here is an example of how amazing this tool can be. I bought a TV tuner card for my desktop for 20 dollars off of Woot.com. When I was running the beta of Windows 7 I used Media Center to schedule to record shows like Battlestar Galactica (Media Center downloads programming schedules automatically) While I COULD watch the shows live on my computer, I preferred to use my computer as a DVR, record the shows, and stream them to my x-box in the living room to watch at me leisure. The process was easy and amazingly convenient. If you haven’t ever used Media Center before, I highly suggest checking it out.

Control the notifications!

I’ve heard people complain ad nauseum about User Accounts Control in Windows Vista, however I only had to deal with it once (that is, to turn the darned thing off). While that can be tamed marginally easier (although it’s STILL not a big deal) one area of the screen that has been a pain ever since it’s existed has been the notification area. However, all that has changed in 7. It’s easy as can be to tell Windows which items you want or don’t want to nag you. The most icons I ever see are the ones you see above (yes it’s too late for me to be awake, give me a break). This is a much-needed enhancement.

Homegroups

I’ve read about this elsewhere, but this feature really needs to be emphasized in my mind. Networking has been possible for a while, but for the lay person, it doesn’t get any easier than homegroups. We installed Windows 7 on a bunch of our machines at my house, and they are all in the same homegroups. As soon as that happened, I had access to every printer connected to every computer in the house. This is awesome, since mine is out of ink. The Libraries functionality (Windows monitors music, picture, video, and document folders on your computer and conglomerates them into four “libraries” so you can find stuff right away) also works well with homegroups. I can instantly access all of my files on any Windows 7 computer that is in the group.

Now, one negative is that you can only use it on Windows 7 computers. But the way I see it is if you’re gonna buy the OS for one computer, there’s no reason not to do it for all of them. I just don’t understand why you’d do that. Homegroups is easy to use, and a great feature.

Oh Snap!

This may have been a feature that should go in the little things section, but considering how often I’ve already used this feature I’m giving it it’s own area. Drag a window to the side (or use the shortcut, Windows + right or left key) and it snaps there and takes up exactly half of the screen. Since I have a large monitor, this tool is simply awesome. There is one caveat I need to mention, and that is that it doesn’t quite work with multiple monitors, so if you have more than one screen, don’t expect this to blow your mind quite as well. Another feature getting some fanfare is the shake function, but I honestly don’t see ANY use for it. If you can click on a window, then you can see everything in it. What’s the big deal about getting rid of the rest of the windows? Seems pointless to me, and I have yet to use it at all.

I’m sure there are more, as I’m learning about the OS a little bit every day, but these are the features that are most important to me as a heavy computer user. I likes it, I likes it a lot. In fact, it keeps me up at night I’m so excited to finally get my hands on the finished product.

BONUS: List of Windows 7 keyboard shortcuts, for those of you who need to know them (like me). Lifehacker

Technorati Tags: Windows 7,list,features,top,unknown,you haven't heard about.

-Alex

Movies

2009-06-03T02:01:00.003-04:00

Know what's the worst? Knowing that what you are doing you are doing because you are comfortable with it. Making life decisions based on what's comfortable is stupid, and I fear will lead to and unfulfilling life. Scary, it certainly is that.

I'm the kind of person who likes to be taken out of his comfort level, but I have trouble making myself do that. I'm trying more of late, to be uncomfortable, but it's difficult. Difficult to grab yourself and jerk yourself out of the rut you don't perceive yourself to be in.

When things are working out, working in your favor you feel good about the world. When things are transpiring against you, you feel like there's nowhere to go but up. Or just like crap, one or the other. Getting yourself to feel the former is the trick, I suppose.

"I wonder if the three of us would've been friends in real life. Not as brothers, but as people."
-The Darjeeling Limited

-Alex

wtf?

2009-03-24T14:19:00.002-04:00

13:56
(1:59:06 PM) CENSORED: You know, some guys just can't hold their arsenic.
14:00
(2:00:01 PM) staplemaniac: uh, hello
(2:00:02 PM) CENSORED is now known as CENSORED.

(2:00:15 PM) staplemaniac: is that a threat or just a random reference
(2:00:18 PM) staplemaniac: ?
(2:00:33 PM) CENSORED: What?
(2:00:44 PM) staplemaniac: sorry, I don't know who you are
(2:00:52 PM) staplemaniac: I might irl
(2:00:57 PM) staplemaniac: but not by your screen name
(2:01:28 PM) CENSORED: I am so confused who are you?
(2:01:43 PM) staplemaniac: (1:59:06 PM) CENSORED: You know, some guys just can't hold their arsenic.
(2:01:49 PM) staplemaniac: and I'm all like...what?
(2:02:24 PM) staplemaniac: this is like the bizarrest thing ever
(2:03:27 PM) CENSORED: who the hell is this?!
(2:03:55 PM) staplemaniac: my name is alex. I don't know how you got my screen name, but you mesaged me first
14:04
(2:04:15 PM) CENSORED: no i didn't
(2:04:26 PM) CENSORED: you sent a text to my phone about joe the plumber
(2:04:54 PM) staplemaniac: WHAT? I have NO idea what you are talking about
(2:05:00 PM) staplemaniac: like, from my screen name?
(2:05:12 PM) staplemaniac: this is really eerie
(2:05:21 PM) CENSORED: yes it is alex
(2:06:07 PM) staplemaniac: I didn't say anything about senior joe, uh.....why did you send me a message quoting Chicago?
(2:06:36 PM) CENSORED: okay i'm beyond confused
(2:06:43 PM) staplemaniac: you and me both
(2:06:56 PM) CENSORED: where are you from alex
(2:07:11 PM) staplemaniac: well who are you number 1
(2:07:39 PM) CENSORED: my name is ******
14:08
(2:08:18 PM) staplemaniac: okay I live in florida but I'm not about to start some a/s/l preteen chat room s---. I'm quite frankly a little disturbed at this whole thing
(2:08:38 PM) CENSORED: i wasnt planning on it either
(2:08:44 PM) CENSORED: but im trying to figure out who the f--- you are
(2:08:49 PM) staplemaniac: yeah....
(2:08:55 PM) CENSORED: and how you got my screen name
(2:08:59 PM) staplemaniac: so wait, are you on your phone or a computer
(2:09:06 PM) CENSORED: a computer
(2:09:10 PM) CENSORED: i was on my phone a minute ago
(2:09:16 PM) staplemaniac: because I had no idea who you were or anything until I got that message
(2:09:29 PM) staplemaniac: was the arsenic thing intended for me?
(2:09:44 PM) CENSORED: whta message
(2:09:54 PM) CENSORED: you sent me the arsenic thing
(2:10:15 PM) staplemaniac: "(1:59:06 PM) CENSORED: You know, some guys just can't hold their arsenic." was the first I'd ever heard of you
(2:10:23 PM) CENSORED: that wasnt me
(2:10:49 PM) CENSORED: you sent that to me
(2:11:09 PM) staplemaniac: I'm starting to think that you're like a bot intended to f--- with people
(2:11:47 PM) CENSORED: i'm starting to think you're f------ with me
(2:11:57 PM) staplemaniac: are you in florida? Is there some way that our paths met somewhere along the road?
14:12
(2:12:08 PM) staplemaniac: because this is freaking me the ef out
(2:12:12 PM) staplemaniac: but I'm also curious
(2:12:14 PM) CENSORED: no
(2:12:21 PM) CENSORED: i havent been to florida since i was in the third grade
(2:12:34 PM) staplemaniac: okay.......
(2:12:44 PM) CENSORED: i think you're lying about who you are
(2:12:52 PM) staplemaniac: well, I never messaged you or texted you intentionally
(2:12:58 PM) staplemaniac: nope
(2:13:09 PM) staplemaniac: you can google staplemaniac, it's basically my online handle
(2:13:44 PM) staplemaniac: I just realized how much information you can glean just from doing that....
(2:13:45 PM) staplemaniac: creepy
(2:13:56 PM) CENSORED: yeah
(2:14:19 PM) staplemaniac: so....
(2:14:21 PM) CENSORED: well alex as great as this has been i'm freaked out and going to lunch with my mom
(2:14:26 PM) staplemaniac: okay
(2:14:29 PM) staplemaniac: yeah
(2:14:29 PM) CENSORED: please don't be hiding in my bushes
(2:14:32 PM) staplemaniac: loll
(2:14:38 PM) staplemaniac: nah, prolly never tlak to you again
(2:14:46 PM) staplemaniac: bye
(2:14:47 PM) CENSORED: i'm not planning on it
(2:14:50 PM) CENSORED: later
(2:14:53 PM) CENSORED: or not
(2:14:57 PM) staplemaniac: prolly not lol
(2:15:06 PM) CENSORED: yeah its just an expression
(2:15:09 PM) CENSORED: have a nice life
14:16
(2:16:13 PM) staplemaniac: samsies

wait, what?
-alex

It's over

2008-12-16T10:14:00.002-05:00

My internship has come to an end. That means in a few short weeks I CAN LEAVE ST. PETE. CAPS DO NOT EMPHASIZE ENOUGH HOW AWESOME THIS IS. Everyone loves St. Pete, but when you don't know anyone down here and you're working all the time, it kinda sorta sucks.

I'm really REALLY looking forward to getting back up to Gainesville. I feel like I've started to get some of my stuff together, stuff that I've been putting off for way too long. Okay, so I just got my watch fixed that's been broken for like 2 years, but still. That's a good start right? And I'm close to getting my credit card bill paid off.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
The worst thing about being down here is twitter/facebook/communication. Here's why: I get a play-by-play of all of the fun everyone is having without me including pictures and descriptions. Even when those people don't want me to know about it. Which makes it even more painful when I realize my Saturdays are spent sitting around playing xbox and drinking by myself. God, that was a depressing sentence, well except for the playing xbox part because that's pretty cool.

I'm excited to live with someone my own age again, someone of my own ilk. My brother's cool, but living with the 'rents puts something of a damper on what plans I might have for what to do. Not that there's really that much around here, but still.

I won't comment on Kelsi, because I have nothing to say about it.

Uh...yeah. That's a summary of the last few months. I've got a freelance editing job, which will look great on my resume when I graduate. I'm getting 10.50 an hour to start, and it might go up if I have my shit together. Gotta keep myself in the money.

Oh, and I try not to cuss on my blog/twitter (that I just did like 2 sentences ago notwithstanding) but fuck the Yankees.

-alex

Game marketing

2008-12-03T00:32:00.003-05:00

I just had a thought on one of the more brilliant marketing schemes in the sale of video games.

Okay, so millions of people buy Madden football, or whatever baseball or hockey or basketball game or whatever. Well, what EA (maker of Madden) doesn't want is to lose money (obviously) which is exactly what happens when people buy used games.

So what do they do? They put a year label on their games. Simple. Madden 09 instead of Madden 2 or Madden 20 or whatever they're on now. What does that do? Well, that means that every year those loyal to the game will spend another 60 dollars for an incremental update to a game they basically already have. Why do people do this? Because who wants to buy Madden 08 used when sitting on the shelf right next to it is Madden 09.

I bet that pisses off game resellers too because the markup on used games is ridiculous.

This is an issue for me now because my Black Friday purchase of and Xbox360 and 24 inch monitor with 2 HDMI inputs (which I'm impatiently awaiting the delivery of, it's in Clearwater now says UPS tracking data!) Fifa 09 looks sick, as does NHL 09. I am picking up a used copy of Gears of War 1 tomorrow from a Craigs lister to add to my small library of games: Halo 3, Mass Effect, Lost Planet, and Sega Tennis (surprisingly addicting.)

Also got me a 16 gig thumb drive on the way. Stoked.

Listening to some artist randomly. Jihae. Very....Massive Attack ish.

-Alex

iPod?

2008-11-13T15:54:00.003-05:00

What, might I ask, is an iPod?
We all, of course, know what the iPod is, an mp3 player. But my question is where the hell did the name come from? What's a Pod and why would I want one? seems like a silly name to me.

I guess it's better than something like....e250 or some random jumble of numbers and letters. Marginally.

-Alex

Reasons I hate Google Chrome

2008-09-23T01:25:00.002-04:00

I've been a Firefox user since....well I used Netscape back in the day....I can't remember ever using anything besides Firefox/Netscape. So Google comes out with this new browser and we have an argument about it over breakfast (which turned into lunch...long story). Here are reasons I don't like Chrome, and two reasons I do like it.

1. No middle-click scrolling

This is the biggest thing that pisses me off, and the same reason that I never switched to Opera. On Firefox I middle-click and then just drag my mouse up and down to scroll slowly through whatever I'm reading. I read a lot of stuff online, and to be unable to scroll at whatever pace I want to scroll at is a deal-breaker for me. Chrome is not enough faster than Firefox to make me completely change my browsing habits.

2. No customizable themes

I don't particularly like the theme that Chrome comes with (btw, Google, learn your colors, it's BLUE not CHROME. Chrome is silver). Also, since I use Windowsblinds it gets messed up sometimes (much like how Windows Media Player 11 does when set to it's default theme, although that you can change).

3. No shortcuts to finish addresses

This isn't a big deal, but on Firefox you can hit ctrl+enter to make it automatically fill in the '.com' in the address bar. I belive you can also hit alt+enter to make it say '.net.' A small pet peeve, but something needlessly left out.

4. Lack of customizability

Beyond the theme, there's no extendability to chrome! I mean, beyond telling it where to download stuff and what my default search engine is, there's not a whole lot that can be done with it. I understand that the minimalism is a key component of what they're trying to do, but it's a little hard to deal with having been able to go to about:config in Firefox and change WHATEVER I want to.

5. Lack of Mac/Linux support

Not that it really affects me, but I can't put it on my work computer because I run Linux on it. T'would be nice too because that's kindof an old computer. From what I read that's not gonna happen any time soon either.

6. What just happened

I just tried to paste a link to this page from another Chrome window. So I open a pop-up in Blogger that asks for a URL. I go over to the other window and Chrome gets locked up, won't let me highlight the URL. Oh, because I had a form up on another window. Frustration leVEL RISING!!!!

7. Ads!!!!

Wtf? Adblock plus is my SAVIOR on Firefox, I open up ESPN on Chrome and all of a sudden there were all of these...flashing things that I'd not seen in years. Awful, ads.

2 things I like about chrome

1. It's lightweight

Yes, chrome is extremely small (takes up not even close to the amount of memory as Firefox). This is a goog thing, but it's not worth it to lose the extra features. I am not the kind of person who only goes online to read my email or something, I live online and I use a lot of those extra features a LOT.

2. It loads pages faster

Really nothing else to say about this one. It just seems to load pages more efficiently because of how it's designed. It's cool, but, again, it's not like Firefox is extraordinarily slow, it's a tad pokey compared to Chrome.

And that's it. That's why I will (in all likelyhood) not be permanantly switching to Chrome any time soon.

-Alex

Quick update for S's and G's

2008-09-18T12:20:00.002-04:00

List of things that have been going on:

-I've been at my internship for about a month now, and it's pretty awesome. I remembered how much I love editing, something that I almost forgot after being forced to use Final Cut and Linear (ugh) editing at UF (<3 Avid).

-I've been working during the day at a company called Zhone and I'm working with code! Coding! Yeah, that happened.

-Saturday will be the one-year with me and Kelsi (This should probably be number one on the list....but since it's not 'till this weekend I'll wait to move it up ;) <3 super stoked about the weekend.

-I've been playing volleyball twice a week at work, which is fun.

-I've been playing lots of COD4

-Oh, yeah, and the RAYS are AWESOME and I'm ADDICTED TO SPORTS. Big series win over the Bo-Sacks-Of-Crap yesterday (I was there, sold-out, cowbells ringing i.e. AWESOME) and they are 3 wins or Twins losses from clinching their first ever playoff birth. If they play well enough and finish with the best record in the ML (they are 1.5 games worse than the Angels right now) then they would be the first team in history to go from having the worst record in the majors to the best the next season. And David Price is a STUD.

-Alex

Simply Criminal

2008-08-25T12:13:00.003-04:00

I KNOW almost none of the people who (on occasion) actually read this are big sports fans, but the calls against the Rays in the last week have been so bad as to make me wonder whether or not the Umps are actually against the team because of their history. On Monday B.J. Upton was called out for "making a move" towards second base, which he OBVIOUSLY didn't. I mean not even close. Normally cool-headed Joe Maddon was thrown out of the game after arguing the call (after the game the umps continued to justify the call "I've called guys out for less" yeah...right). Then LAST night the White Sox catcher was awarded third base after he intentionally ran into a Ray defender after being caught in a rundown. He should have been out, instead, he was given third base with one out and ended up being the game-winning run. Garbage, but that's it. The umps need to be reprimanded, there's simply no accountability. What bothers me even more is that they refuse to admit their mistakes after the game and that leads me to believe that they will continue to miss these clear calls. Painful loss.

Oh, and I'm now 21, so....you know, I can do stuff I couldn't do before (legally, of course). I can't think of anything offhand, but I'm sure there are some perks.

Yeah, so on midnight Saturday night/Sunday morning I was in Orlando. My family had been moving bricks all day because my grandparents needed them moved and we were conscripted to do it. Fun fun. Well, it was decided that we would stay there that night so that's where I celebrated my big 2-1. I went with my brothers to a big Halo LAN, which I thought would be pretty cool. Go there, play some Halo, drink a few beers after midnight, no biggie.

So at 11:40 I take the car and start driving around looking for a place of business where I could obtain some alcool (fr) and (un)fortunately I found one right away. However, it was only 11:50. I'm not lame enough to sit in a liquor store for 10 minutes waiting for the clock to strike midnight, so I walked around Blockbuster for a few, reading the backs of movies that I didn't care about, waiting for some of the longest minutes of my life. Finally, at 11:59 I go back, get a case of Yuengling. "Congratulations, happy birthday, pour this man a shot," Says the cashier. To boot, they were playing the Incubus CD Make Yourself. Not a bad start. Back to the LAN.

Well, the hosts (whose off-campus apartment we were playing video games in) were afraid that they would get thrown out of their apartment because I had a case of beer. REALLY I KID YOU NOT. So, I was relegated to moving the beer out to the car, sitting outside and drinking beers then coming back in. Oh, and dealing with Kelsi too. So, I didn't get to play Halo and drink simultaneously. Kelsi was ticking me off (I've since cooled off....but at the time I was PISSSSSSSEED, she knows why) and it was just all around not a sweet start to my birfday.

Sunday my 'rents took me out for a nice lunch/dinner at a seafood restaurant called Keegans, I had swordfish and wine. The food was fantastic, and the wine was deliciously legal. I beat COD4 on PC (still awesome, thanks geef) and went to bed early in preparation for a long Monday.

In other news I'm starting my internship at Tampabay's 10 this afternoon. I'm at work right now, but I'm building some code, which should take about an hour. Which is why I had time to post this little ditty which is, I'm sure, a case of tl:dr.

-Alex

Democracy

2008-08-05T00:11:00.003-04:00

Today I saw democracy in action. I went to a 4A meeting. The 4A is the African American Accountability Alliance. In a crowded room of interested voters, candidates for local office went up and made their stances known in an effort to get the support of the group. After the speeches were made and points argued, the people voted and the winner got the endorsement. I saw Mike Byerly win by 4 votes and thought to myself, this is a microcosm of the thing that makes democracy great.

Both Byerly, the incumbent, and Rick Bryant, the challenger, waited with baited breath to hear the results of the vote. You could see the excitement at a political victory and the pain of defeat. All decided by a mere 4 votes. People congratulating, and consoling. Really, an amazing display of America.

People see who they want to represent them and vote on it. It's that simple, and it's a system that is fantastic, and I am a huge fan of. I want to get more involved in local politics.

-Alex

So Screwed

2008-07-27T20:25:00.004-04:00

Here's another lesson on why not to wait to do things: sometimes they don't work. So I get all of my interviews, not easy to find, and come back to the station. Time to get them off of the card and start editing together a piece. I mean I have nat sound, an interview with a parent and a kid, good stuff here. Well, now it looks like it's all phooey because the data is corrupted. Maybe this wil cheer me up.

Maybe not...but who knows maybe things will work themselves out. I have a tendency to work these things out. Also here's why spelling naziism ruins lives.

-Alex

Apocolypse

2008-07-27T14:02:00.003-04:00

I feel like I'm living in a post-apocalyptic world where some major tragedy caused everyone to go looting and took all of my stuff. Actually that's not true, because if looting was going on I'd have a LOT more stuff. As is, though, most of my belongings are in St. Pete. I've realized that this makes living difficult. I don't have anything but my laptop and a bunch of odds and ends. Simple things like eating are more difficult now because I have no dishes. They are all in St. Pete. No video games, no TV!! Life is hard.

This would be a good story: moving weekend, everyone renting UHauls at the same time.

-Alex

I quit

2008-07-25T07:42:00.003-04:00

I don't care enough about this layout to mess with it anymore. Why, I ask you, do people create blog "widgets" that are too wide to properly fit in the side bar for ANY Blogger layout a la ->
It's dumb, and now people can only see the first 2/3rds of what I digg. Lame. I've been muddling through the HTML for the layout and I'm sick of it. Maybe someone will fix things, but more than likely nay.

It's really early and I have some investigating to do. Kill me.

-Alex

New Look

2008-07-23T14:29:00.002-04:00

Stole a new Blog layout, had to muddle through the HTML for a little bit, but got rid of the Ads and added my old widgets, so things are good now I believe. I'll be making a new banner for myself at some point, but I just didn't like how the old setup didn't mesh with the white lines all about the place. What you think o reader or two?

-Alex

Greetings from the Internet!

2008-07-23T13:34:00.003-04:00

So I've been spending my days surfing the web more and more of late. Browsing Digg (about to be bought by Google, good for it I say) and Twitter(following some people from Poynter, interesting things posted there). I've been neglecting the blog, because I think of something awesome to blog then forget it before I get home or just tweet...twit? Twitter? Do that...to...it. Yeah.

Perfect example: today Kelsi was leaving town, and I was helping her take her stuff downstairs, and I was pulling her wheelie luggage, and I was all like...how come they can't design these things to be more balanced? I mean, you are dragging it behind you, and you run over a penny, and then BAM it starts to wobble and from there you're just screwed. No choice but to stop and reset the bag altogether, which is terribly inconvenient.

Another reason I havn't been blogging as often is that I feel that I find things online that are cool, but if I put them on my blog it'll be immoral for plagiarism or summat. Perfect example:

From here. From Digg. I still feel a little guilty.

Anyways, gotta watch the Rays hopefully make fantastic winnings kthxbai.

-Alex

Scary

2008-07-17T19:59:00.002-04:00

I would like to make a serious comment on a story that I'm close to, now

A woman in Haile Plantation was brutally, and I mean brutally raped a little over a month ago while she was jogging. I was working at the NPR station the day after the attack, and ended up doing a couple of stories on the subject. From what the police told me, it was different than other forced rapes because of the violence and audacity of it. The man beat to within an inch of death a jogger in an affluent neighborhood in broad daylight along a popular path.

Another woman came along and scared the man off, but he didn't seem scared. She (again second hand information here) got there and saw her lying beaten and battered, pistol whipped and teeth knocked out, bleeding and raped, and this man just walked away. It was just before 7 in the morning, and the cop told me that in the hour after he got there he saw dozens of joggers come through.

I mention this now because I just read a story in the Gainesville Sun that basically told me this: police are at a stand-still and have no leads. A person can get away with this heinous of a crime. It's equally terrifying that this kind of person even exists, muchless is on the loose after committing a crime.

The scary thing is the audacity of the criminal. He just did it, in the middle of the day, like nothing. When the woman approached him he wasn't scared, or shocked. He just drove away. The police have no leads, other than he's black and drives a dark sedan. That's pretty darned vague if you ask me.

He's out there, and could do this thing again. I don't know what makes a person do something like that, but I imagine it's both a person who hates women, and a person who needs that kind of an adrenaline high to get off. Although nothing like it has happened again since the initial incident, I have strong fears that this man will strike again and will be smart enough to strike again, and again, and again before he is caught. I'm not a woman, I don't jog (God knows) and I'm still scared of this crazy person roaming our streets. Glad I'm moving back to Seminole for a semester, that's for sure.

-Alex

2008-06-26T15:49:00.002-04:00

Nike has the best marketing department in the world. Apple? Nothing compared to this stuff. Look, I happen to like soccer, but who in their right mind isn't compelled by this commercial?

And we can't forget this.

God I just watched that again and got shivers down my spine. This one is also cool.

Really you can just google nike commercial and have a wealth of viewing material at your fingertips.

I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the Rays sweep of the Marlins and Matt Garza's one-hitter. Franchise-best 16 games over .500 Waddup.

-Alex

Wow

2008-06-22T22:39:00.003-04:00

Okay, OKAY even on a BAD day I could dance like this, why doesn't anyone want to let ME do this?

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

ridiculous.

Updates: I've been playing on TheSixtyOne pretty much non-stop. Love it, love the music, it's all awesome. I highly recommend it to EVERYONE and you should all go on and listen to my radio, see if you like it!

Also, I spent about 3 hours and 30 dollars to take ALL of my laundry to a laundromat and wash them so that I wouldn't have to wait for out crappy dryer to do it. I had so much laundry that it won't fit in my closet, or dresser any more. Which is awesome.

Also been twittering a LOT, so if I don't update here often enough for you, subscribe to my twitter

-Alex

Well, the internet has stolen my life

2008-06-12T01:22:00.003-04:00

With the advent of my Twitter page, this blog might just become irrelevant (but) it has also reinvigorated my interest in posting my entire life online. For example, found failblog off of icanhascheezburger. Located FAILS of epic proportion.

Another of my new loves is thesixtyone. This website is awesome. It makes me feel like I can be a music elitist without actually being knowledgeable about it. It's really, freakin, awesome. Just go do that site, make it happen.

I'm never truly going to be a music aficionado because of my terrible memory. The only way I can possibly succeed is by listening to something multiple (read: 50,000) times and really paying attention to that. To those who don't know me: the ADD makes this impossible.

Speaking of ADD, I can't be medicated for it because I have an irregular heartbeat. I take that to mean my heart beats better than the average heart. This is totally true, as any me expert will attest.

I also am trying to get back into following politics closely, because an election is happening soon (well, by soon I mean in 5 months, but close enough considering that this presidential election started in 2004). I also am going to try to focus more on local news so that I can make good reportings.

As you may or may not know I am a huge sports fan. The Rays have dropped 2 in a row and fell 2 games behind Boston in the AL East, however a 3 game series against the Marlins (at home) is just what the doctor ordered, I feel. Can't wait to see the look on my fish-friend Jon's face when we leave those games.

On a more somber note, I want to mention how spectacular of a person Connie Facsina was, and wish all of my love on those she left behind. She fought cancer forever, and fought and fought, G-d love her. She was a wonderful person and EVERYONE is going to miss her. I love Kelsi and wish I could just take on all the pain I'm sure she's feeling so that she wouldn't have to have it anymore.

Speaking of Kelsi, she hasn't updated her blog in a good minute (i.e. February) so if she ever reads this, UPDATE PLZ kthxbai.

-alex

Oh noes!

2008-06-09T09:30:00.002-04:00

My parents were in town this weekend staying at my apartment Sunday night because my brother is being recruited-sorta to go to my college. They stayed with me to save money on a hotel. Why it sucked: I had to sleep on the couch. Why it was awesome: they paid for meals.

As for me, I'm going to try to be a better webzien. That means submitting things to Digg, digging articles, and checking pages on the back of Digg. Oh, and keeping this old thing up.

So I'm also trying to get an internship either at Channel 10 or FOX Thirteen. This is difficult. I write cover letters, send out resumes, and get nothing in return. I even know people who know people who work at these stations and I still can't get a callback. Hopefully they read this blog and decide they want to have me on for a semester. I'm an excellent worker!

Also, I just started my twitter account. We'll see how long that lasts, but it's basically the "what are you doing now" feature on Facebook (which totally ripped the idea off of Twitter). I'm staplemaniac, just like I am everywhere else.

That is all, have a nice day.

-Alex

Breif Windows Rant

2008-05-29T13:27:00.001-04:00

Why, oh why, in windows explorer windows is the create new folder icon right next to the go up a level icon? and why, when (as always happens) I rushedly click and accidentally create a new folder does it then ask me, do I really want to delete this empty folder that is named 'new folder' when I have to right click it and then go to delete? really?

Also, when I want to save or open something, why does it, by default, take me to the WINDOWS folder? Is there anything in there that I want to use on a daily basis? seems dumb to me. That is all.

-Alex

Had to

2008-05-14T06:36:00.001-04:00

This was on Digg, and I just had to post it, being a prospective television star and whatnot. Just so you know, there is cursing, so don't play it around young children.

perfect right?

-Alex

Today

2008-05-13T19:37:00.004-04:00

Well, it's been an easy couple of days for me.

My class starts at 9:30 and ends at 10:45, afterwards Pavle and I have gone to play squash then swim laps in the pool at the O'Dome. It's been not too hard.

I have to work on my cover letter though. Even though I'm happy with how my resume looks, I'm still not sure about how to do a cover letter and I want it to be awesome so I can get an internship for the fall.

Speaking of fall internships, I'm not sure what I'm going to do for a place to live when I get back. Pavle wants to live with our old high-school buddy Drew (we haven't yet mailed in the lease.) This puts me in something of a bind. At first the problem was that I wanted to live with Pavle another semester, but I had to find someone he knew to sublease for just the fall, which was gonna be difficult. Now I have to find someone to lease the place for the whole year and someone to sublease just for the fall. But right now it's looking like I'll have to just find a sublease for myself for the spring.

And Kelsi. I miss her. I'm worried about her. Hopefully she makes it up to see me at some point, or I get down there to see her. Either way.

I'm at the TV station now, I'm supposed to be running a camera for Law Matters, so I've got to go and do things now, but this post should be seen as an act of goodwill that I will post semi-regularly. Yes, it will happen. Like I said, I don't have anything to do during the day.

-Alex

Gifts and other items

2008-05-06T14:02:00.003-04:00

So Adam's birfday is tomorrow and I have no idea what to get him. I'm literally about to rush out the door to buy him something before he gets back from school, but I don't have any idea what. Besides electronics, I don't know what he likes. Ugh, we'll see.

It's always like this tho, nowadays, when I have to buy presents. I mean, I know the things that I would like (new clothes, computer components, games, etc) that are in the price range of my siblings and parents, but how can you tell someone while still making them think that they're surprising you? It's tough, and for the giver it's even tougher, because you have to go out and actually buy crap to give. Should've gone to toe flee market over the weekend, but whatever.

Also, last night Andrew, Dad, and I went to a Storm game. It was a blast, kinda. We got there like an hour early, and they were giving out masks and fake mustachios, which was awesome. Also, there was a blow-up American Gladiator type thing, which Andrew and I used (we were the only ones who did who were over 4 feet though, and we were significantly over 4 feet). I kicked his ass, standard operating procedure. They were also selling ticket upgrades, I went over out of pure curiosity and he said he could get us into the lower level for only 10 bucks, but we respectfully declined. There was only so much we could do for an hour, so I called Kelsi, who was asleep, so I didn't bother to regale her with my tale of victory, figured I'd tell her later.

So we decide to go inside the Forum, and we walk around looking for a way to get up to our seats. We had general admission tickets, and the only way to get to where we were supposed to be sitting was via escalators, which were roped off. So we finally stopped and asked one of the attendants who was there how we get to our seats, and she said that they were giving away free ticket upgrades. FOR FREE. Those jerks outside wanted us to pay, I mean after we got upgraded we were sitting in the 9th row, pretty freakin awesome.

Well, the Storm still stink, they dropped and easy interception and failed to do anything. In the fourth quarter they were down by about 10 points and the other team had the ball.

Let me interject briefly that anyone who is in the stands who catches a ball that goes out of play gets to keep it. I wanted one badly.

Now, with less than 10 seconds to play the opposing team's quarterback runs backwards, and then throws the ball out of bounds, two rows down from us, starting a mad scrum. Most of the people had left because the game was for all intents and purposes over. Not us. We wanted that ball. So it falls to the ground and a girl, about 14, who is sitting one row down from where the ball fell turns in her seat and puts her hand on the ball. I naturally rip it away from her and hold my prize in the air for all the world to see. Then, I hear a loud, gruff voice coming from that same row, "don't take that ball from my little girl!" I glance quickly at the source and a huge head-shaven man with a 4 inch flaming red beard is glaring at me. I turn, look at the girl and before my mind can stop itself I let my damned morals take over. I hand the girl the ball, make a quick joke, and move back to my seat, fuming at myself.

She gave it to her mom.

I was extraordinarily pissed.

After we left we got home around 11:00, and I was bored so I text my girlfriend to see if she's still at her cinco de mayo party and if I can go. she responds that they were about to leave. I then pose the question where are you going, I want to hang out. She does not respond. I want to go DO something and she's making that difficult. So I finally talk to her at like 12:00 and she says they haven't left the party yet, but her and her friend Erin are just going to hang out at Erin's place and have a "girls night." Understandable.

I also got my Spring semester grades. Basically a best-case scenario for me, A in TV, B+ in French and C in Differential equations. I was concerned because for French my final was worth 25 percent of my grade and for Differential Equations to was worth 40 percent and I didn't think I did well on either, so it was a relief to see that.

-Alex

really?

2007-12-19T17:42:00.000-05:00

This year's quote of the year: "don't tase me bro."
That's weird, but understandable. Second, well, it was a quote from miss South Carolina.

I'm right now at the radio station, and I'm trying to help one of the sports people with their cast. She has never done a 5 minute cast,. and she just didn't know what she was doing. I feel bad because I tried to help, but besides just doing it for her there was really nothing I could do. I mean, I've been sitting here reading about sports for the last 2 hours and I knew all sorts of things she could have talked about, but she just had nothin. Terrible. Oh, and after I was distracted with helping her, I didn't put her on the air for the second half of the update. What a cluster----.

Last night we (Kelsi and I) went and hung out with some of my old publix friends. It was cool because I got to hear about how everyone at the pub is doing, who is succeeding, who's still an alcoholic (and if I still worked there I prolly would be too) and who's moved on. Also, Kelsi liked my friends so that's good.

Kelsi said that she was going to clean the apartment while I'm at work. I really hope she didn't go back to sleep :(
-Alex

Okay

2007-12-17T07:46:00.000-05:00

So the semester is over. I'm still in Gainesville. Why? Because I work in radio, and radio sucks. Not only do I have to work, but I have to work at 530 in the morning. If I wasn't here I'd be sleeping until I had to get up for work. I actually slept in the morning too. I don't know what's wrong with my alarm, but it might be that my subconscious will to sleep is stronger than the conscious desire I had the night before to actually get up.

Kelsi's in town. We have a whole week where I don't have really more than 2 or 3 hours of stuff to do in a day. I need to think of some fun team activities because all I know how to do for fun is stuff I think is fun. i.e. watch sports, surf the interwebs, play video games. Besides that I dunno. Halp.

Also, don't know what I'm gonna get for anyone. I ordered one gift from buy.com like 2 and a half months ago, but it never got here and at this point they aren't even responding to my emails. If you want a gift then you need to tell me what you want and it had better be cheap because God knows I'm not made of money and I aint got cash lyin' around.

Man, I havn't woken up this early since the last time I had a morning drive shift at the radio station. Hopefully I don't just go home and crash, I would have a chance to spend a whole day of normal wakenness. That's not a word.

I'd also like to point out that I am extremely ADD. I know it's an overused thing, but since I started writing this post I've read like 4 comics, started reading the archives from one from a long time ago (8-bit theatre) and started playing on my DS. And also running the station.

-Alex

Ubuntu?

2007-11-28T23:51:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I've been spending all of the time since I got my laptop trying to clean it off, and I think that I'm just gonna wipe the whole thing and install Linux. Everyone says its better, its free, more secure, and it can't take up as much space as Vista. I have an 80 gig hard drive, when I first booted, I had 39 gigs free. THAT is garbage. The extra space is reason alone for me to switch, but since I'm not gonna be using my laptop for playing games or anything besides word processing, emails, and internet browsing, I don't know why not to switch.

Anyways, if that happens, I'll let you know. doods.

-Alex

What to blog, what to blog...

2007-11-28T12:55:00.000-05:00

I'd like to see how gator fans would react to an Illinois-Florida bowl game. While it would make for great theater, it would be a travesty for the gators. Here's how I see it, the gators are expected to win, because Illinois hasn't traditionally been that good. The Illini have all the motivation in the world to beat the team that fired their head coach. If Illinois wins its a huge step for the program, if the Gators win its just another game. If the Gators lose, then people are going to be very angry. I think it has to do with the schedule that each team plays. Every game the Gators play in the SEC is against a bowl-type team. The Illini have plenty of pups in the Big Ten to beat up on. Even though they won the big game, the Illini aren't perceived to be in the same league as the Gators (even though I think next year they wilol be at about the same level the gators are at this year, and the gators will be better than they were last year). It should be entertaining for my family though.

Also, I can't wait for this weekend. Going up to Tally for Chrismakah or whatever Becca's calling it. Food food and more food, srsly ftw. Oh, and I get to hang out with Kelsi all weekend but WHATEVER (j/k <3).

It's also looking good for me to get all of my 25 hours before Friday, and I can BS a paper with the best of them. I have to write about sociological things that I learned while at the library, which is awesome because I talked to a grand total of like 2 people while I was there, and the VAST majority of my time was spent finding books and scanning them into the system. What I think I'm going to write about is the things people check out, and how interesting it is to see what people read. Because it really is interesting. I'll see something that someone else has reserved, and I'll pick it up and read it for a little bit. Usually pretty interesting.

But as for tonight, I have about 7 hours of volunteering I'm going to try to get in (each hour is worth a point). If I get 7 today then I only need like 4 tomorrow. That's 11 hours of MURDER for those of you who are keeping track at home.

Anyways, I guess I have to get back to running the radio station.

-Alex

It's official

2007-11-26T20:40:00.000-05:00

After many weeks of good updating, this blog now sucks. I would like to thank all of those who stuck with me through the thick, and thin. For those who read (all three of you) and those who pretended to care. Thanks!

Right now I am blogging on my new laptop. The story of how I got it is for another post. I get the chance to blog now because of it. See, I'm currently at a women's basketball game. The gators are winning, and I think that they have this one in hand, which is good because I desperately need to interview a player after this game, and they don't like to do interviews after losses. I do these halftime features for the broadcasts and we need in-depth interviews with players and coaches for every single stinking game. Because my boss didn't tell me this until right before the first game, we have been behind all season so far. Thank goodness Lauren and I have managed to keep up because I'm already on a short leash with my boss (last season I just quit showing up for stuff).

So thanksgiving I ate a lot, then did black friday (a post unto itself) and hung out with my and Kelsi's families. I got to cover the Florida-Florida State game for classic 89 on Saturday, and I think that they are going to try to use the sound that I got from Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer to make a story about Timmy's He15man campaign. Murph Dirt also had a great game (two touchdowns and a CRAZY awesome one-handed grab) so after the game I got to talk to him for a minute, and he remembered me from CATCOM which is cool.

I'll also be posting the stats of the laptop in the other post, but it's a Compaq Presario C700 and upgrades! ftw

-Alex

Gonna start being more consistent

2007-11-21T10:01:00.000-05:00

I've been saying "Oh, I'll blog tonight" for the last three weeks, so I'm gonna go fast because I have other things I have to do. I'm excited about thanksgiving, kelsi came up for the night on her way to st pete, I want black friday, I'm tired. Gotta go. Hopefully I can be more useful next time.

Without a Dope Beat to Step to

2007-10-31T11:44:00.001-04:00

What a day, what a week, what a semester. I've been busy, to be sure, and the semester has been up and down. But today is an up day. I took my second exam in sociology this morning, and for fear that I'll jinx myself I won't say that I killed it, but I certainly feel that way. Yesterday I went in to talk to the TA for the class about one of my assignments (analyzing an advertisement) to see why I got a 4 instead of a 5. Well, I did find out why, and guess what the essay question on the test was? Analyze an ad. Not only did I know what the teacher wanted, but now I was armed with all of the readings that I caught up on over the last couple of days, and thus actually sounded like I knew what I was bullshitting.

As for the rest of the week, it certainly won't be care-free, but I have taken care of most of my obligations. Tonight I am going to be doing a survey for 25 points of extra credit in my TV in American Society class, basically guarunteeing an A in that class (assuming I can get better than Ds on the two remaining exams). Then I am going to be running the board for the second half of UF's volleyball game. I am doing that so that Miguel will cover my shift on November 10th so that I can go down to St. Pete for Andrew's Eagle ceremony. I also realized how much stuff I usually have going on on weekends, trying to get a whole day off of my schedule is nearly impossible. But, I managed it because that's a pretty big deal for him, I know (I've been there).

As for the rest of the week, I am going to be assisting with audio operations for the 2 hour broadcast of the homecoming parade. That's my day from 7:30 till late on Friday. Saturday I am going to be at the Florida-Vandy game covering it for the fledgling Classic 89 sports team. I need to remember to record that, so that I can start making a resumee tape. Sunday I find books at the library. NOT FUN.

Also, bonus points for getting the reference of the title of the post.

-Alex

2007-10-18T14:28:00.001-04:00

need this link for work, ignore plz

Too Long

2007-10-15T13:00:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I've been slacking on the updates. As slight as my readership is, inconsistent updates are probably the last thing I need. It's funny, too, because all week I've been thinking of things to blog about. It's not like I've been doing nothing, ironically its the exact opposite. I've just been too busy.

For example I was at the Bulls game, and I was thinking to myself "man, on a big play people want to sit, but if one person stands up in front the people behind him have to stand to see the big play and then the people in the back are standing up just as the play starts, and the people behind them miss the action for that split-second where something important is happening." That was quite the long sentence, but its just another reason for someone to buy me an iPhone so that I can blog on the go ;-D

What brought me to get online and ablog today, though, was an article I was reading in today's USA Today. It's about a reading program in Jacksonville, where 4-year-olds are given a bag full of books, flashcards, and all sorts of cool stuff. What's so great about this program is that it's not just for underprivilidged kids, it's for every one of them.

According to the article of the 11,000 4-year-olds in Duvall County, 8,000 are in the program. That is an astounding percentage. It reaches kids in all situations, and the kids love it. They are excited to get these books, excited to read. That is something that children in America are losing, a passion for reading. They say it's like christmas for them. To get these books is like coming of age, it's something they saw the 4-year-olds get when they were just younger, and to get your own is like a right of passage. It's cool to read.

The other thing that is interesting to me is how this program is popular with kids of all income levels. It's a major issue, the acheivement gap in our schools. How do we address it? Well, this program doesn't focus on it, it's just for everyone. That's the beauty of it: it's cool for the wealthy 4-year-olds to get these books; it's cool for poor 4-year-olds to get the books. It makes the standards the same for all kids, regardless of what else you have, if you get the books then you are accepted by others who have the books.

Just the icing on the cake, the books are about jacksonville and the local area. They hired someone to write children's books specifically for this program, and it teaches the kids about where they are from and prepares them for living there. One of the books is about the bridges in jacksonville, and tells the kids the names of each of them.

So to sum up: The program gives books to kids, reduces the achievement gap, excites the kids about reading, and teaches them about their home town at the same time. From what I read here, this is the greatest educational program that I can remember hearing about.

Oh, and the kids who were in the program did better than those who were not on reading tests.

-Alex

TV FTW

2007-10-03T17:15:00.000-04:00

I'm at WUFT now, blogging on the fonts computer. Because I'm bored and I havn't blogged in two days. I did all of my stuff to get ready for the show, and now I have a good (sort of) 14 minutes to get ready. Constant countdowns as the show gets closer.

So,I went to the library this morning to set up this volunteering thing for my sociology class. I'm not too excited about it, considering how much I already have on my plate, but whatever, I can do it. 12:10 till show.

On my way back I stopped at this little deli called Jeff's Deli. Creative name, I must say. I had something called the twisted trachel, but the highlight was the potato chips. It was slices of potatoes fried like french fries. They were hot, fresh, and tasted awesome with ketchup.

10:00 left.

Pavle was going to come over to the station tonight to help, but his car window got smashed for some reason by someone, so he decided to stay and get it looked at by the landlady and the cops (so he says).

8 minutes left, I'm moving to a different station (teleprompter) because that's less work and I'm all about that. Peace.

-Alex

Just One Negative

2007-10-01T12:51:00.000-04:00

I really don't want to talk about what happened on Saturday, so let's save that for last.

In my weekly Monday sports wrap-up, I have to say that besides the Gator loss I'm extremely pleased. The Bulls of USF won a huge game, beating the West Virginia Moutaineers for the second year in a row 21-13. The Bulls are undefeated this season and, behind big wins against Auburn and the Mountaineers, have moved up to number 6 in the AP poll. USF Athletic director Doug Woolard's reaction? 'You mean six, as in after five?' That's right, big weekend for the Bulls.

The Bucs also won a big game. This weekend gave them sole possession of the lead in the NFC South by beating the Carolina Panthers 20-7. The win came with two huge casualties. Cadillac Williams and Luke Petitgout both suffered season-ending injuries. That could hurt the bucs, who have been averaging about 120 yards per game, 12th in the league. That rushing has been a major part of the Buc's early success this year, because they have been able to run the clock when they are ahead. Replacing Pettigout will be second year man Donald Pennand also long-time buc Anthony Davis. Replacing Cadillac will be Micheal Pittman and (former Gator)Earnest Graham. My feeling is that they should be fine, Pittman has shown he has good stuff and has a great attitude (the bucs tried playing him at fullback when Mike Alstott got hurt), and Graham has already shown what he can do.

The Devil Rays season is over. They won to end the season and split the season series with the Blue Jays. After getting into something of a war of words with Manager Joe Maddon, rookie outfielder Delmon Young apologized and was subbed in on Sunday to play in every game this season. Carlos Pena ended his great season with the Rays records for single-season home runs, and single-season RBIs. Let's just hope that his follow-up season doesn't match the one by Jorge Cantu, who held the RBI record before Pena. Also, we can say goodbye to the good old green and the name Devil Rays, because starting next season they will be known only as the "Rays" and will wear purple. Hooray. To me they will always be known as the D-Rays. At least we're not Mets fans.

Now for the Gators. Oh, the Gators. They let the Tigers sneak up on them and take the game 20-17. I had hope in the fourth quarter when the Gators started to come back, tying the game at 17, but their last drive stalled and Auburn was able to put together just enough to make a last-second field goal. Game over. I have to question some of the play calling of the coaching staff. When you have a guy in Kestahn Moore who can run over people why run him just 3 times and Tebow 17? It seems ludicrous that we wouldn't try to spread the ball around more with that offense. But, what can you do. Now just pray we can beat LSU and regain some of that swagger.

Oh, and the 'Nole's won too. They keep this up I think that they should be ranked.

-Alex

Random Ponderings, and Fish

2007-09-26T09:47:00.000-04:00

Life is really briefer than we'd like to think. We don't know how we're gonna go or when, and there is no retrospect nor 20-20 hindsight when you're dead. One should really take pause every day and just appreciate being.

And fish. This tangent on mortality sponsored by unusual deaths. A man in Chiefland disappeared on the Suwanee river Monday and was found Tuesday. Authorities think that he was killed by a leaping sturgeon. That's right, they think a giant fish (and they grow up to 6 feet) jumped out of the water and killed him. I am never going on that river, those things are like torpedoes that jump out if the water to get at you. 5 confirmed sturgeon-related injuries have been reported this year. Terrifying.

Also, and I don't know how big of a deal this is, but Halo 3 came out yesterday. I played some late Monday night after it was released at midnight. It is a lot of fun, and this is coming from someone who gets into a frenzy of hatred every time he plays Halo 2. I still have yet to beat campaign, but I'm certainly looking forward to finishing the fight.

-Alex

Long Ass-Weekend

2007-09-23T18:20:00.000-04:00

The secret is to move that hyphenation over one word, see how it changes the meaning of the phrase. Speaking of which, here's an interesting experiment I saw.

A teacher asked his class to punctuate the following sentence:
Woman without her man is nothing

Maybe you see where I'm going with this, but all of the males in the class punctuated it like this:
Woman, without her man, is nothing.

All of the women did this:
Woman: without her, man is nothing.

Kind of funny how punctuation can change a sentence's meaning so much. Speaking of women needing men (or vice versa) I ballsed up and asked Kelsi out, so we're now dating. If you didn't already know that then you aren't my friend (on facebook).

Now for the really important topic: football. Oh, another weekend and more football to talk about. Michigan beat a top 10 team, so what does that mean for the Big Ten? In beating Penn State, Michigan showed us that they still have the talent and skill to beat quality opponents. They are undefeated in Big Ten play. Notre Dame lost again, getting whooped up on this time by Michigan State. This is the first time in Fighting Irish history that they have started a season out 0-4. I think that makes a lot of sports fans happy. The Bucs went and took a big game today, holding the St. Louis Rams to 3 points and scoring 24 themselves. This is really heartening: the Bucs have a strong D and that final piece (Jeff Garcia) finally fell into place for the Offense. Super Bowl? I say definitely.

I should also win my fantasy game this week against my brother, which makes me happy. as long as one of my players comes up big each week (and with my lineup, that shouldn't be a problem) I should continue to put up big numbers. Although I will only be 2-1 after the win, I have more points than anyone else in the league. Looking good for once.

Alight, well I'm sure that I'll come up with more later, but for now I'm tired of typing and have to study for my TV in American Society test tomorrow.

-Alex

Radio 1

2007-09-20T08:47:00.001-04:00

I'm in this class, Radio I, as we speak. I hate it, my teacher is a moron. I hope he doesn't read my blog. I was able to drag my ass out of bed, got to class 3 minutes late, and missed the quiz and apparently everyone hated it because it was poorly made and poorly worded. I don't think anyone likes this class, mostly because this is a waste of my time. hates.

-Alex

That Other Thing

2007-09-19T11:42:00.000-04:00

I just rememberes what I was going to talk about today: Fall. It's nice outside for the first time in months. That's all, now please return to you're lives.

-Alex

Update

2007-09-19T11:21:00.000-04:00

Just found this on the Gainesville Sun's website. It certainly seems as though he was screaming for attention, and the videos certainly confirm it. I don't really think that this was police brutality and that the response by students and the internet was just a reaction to the perceived lack of first amendment rights. Maybe Meyer wasn't such a big victim after all. But, on the other hand, what does it say about the police that they had 6 of them and couldn't get handcuffs on the guy?

-Alex

So, wtf

2007-09-19T10:54:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I just got a message on facebook from someone on Good Morning America who heard that I am friends with Andrew Meyer. They wanted an interview. I went to check his profile and it was magically no longer on my friends list. I am worried that after I posted on his wall he unfriended me, which sucks but is understandable. I think he may have just taken his profile offline because of the response to this whole shock therapy thing. But, yeah, this is such a big deal that people are getting in touch with me to try to get to him, and we just had one class together in the Spring. This thing is blowing up.

Look on youtube's top discussed videos for the last 24 hours, and most of the videos are variations of this event. I'm not a fan of UF being in the news for this, but hopefully it makes the UPD more accountable.

There was something else I wanted to post about, but I forgoted, so here's a lolcat to entertain you:

-Alex

Andrew Meyer Tasered at UF

2007-09-18T13:45:00.000-04:00

Yesterday during a question and answer session with John Kerry, UF student Andrew Meyer was tasered and arrested after asking a tough question. He went on beyond the time he was allotted, but when the police dragged him off, cuffed him, and tasered him that was a little too much. In the video he can be heard screaming "what did I do, what did I do?" and "Don't taze me bro!" right before he starts screaming in pain. I know this kid, he was in one of my classes in the spring and yeah, he can be kinda out there. He seemed like a cool enough guy though, not one to be violent or do something to incite a riot. I first heard this story yesterday when it got dugg to the front page. I also happen to know one of the people who was there with a camera from the radio station I work at.
There's a protest going on today on campus, and at 2:00 UF president Bernie Machen is going to have a press conference to address this. From what I overheard at the radio station, though, the officers who did this have been suspended and there is going to be an internal investigation on the incident.
This really has the student body riled up. If there's one thing that pisses off college students it's taking away civil rights. Getting beaten and tasered unnecessarily doesn't help either. The University Police Department isn't really in good favor with students anyways. All they do is give out dumb tickets to kids on bikes (for example for riding at night without a light on, or crossing the street in the wrong place. Hell, I got a ticket for that once) or stop people from enjoying themselves. Yes, they are real cops, but their domain is so slight that they feel the need to impose themselves where it isn't necessary to make them feel more like real officers. It's not good for the university, and it isn't good for free speech.

-Alex

Soccer

2007-09-17T23:58:00.000-04:00

So another day, another weekend gone. Why didn't I post this weekend (you ask)? Well, it's really quite simple. I'm lazy.

So I played soccer today for the first time in like a month. It was really good because, combined with my diet, I feel like I'm doing something good for myself. It made me realize how out of shape I am. We played for like 2 hours and I feel like crapz. LIKE CRAPZ. I need to sleep more, but fortunately tomorrow's my day off. By day off I mean work at 11 and tutoring thereafter. THEN time off. I'm tired. brb.

-Alex

Al-Qaeda and Hope

2007-09-15T02:20:00.000-04:00

I was surfing the internet (I wonder how many of these anecdotes start that way?) and I came across a story about a Saudi Arabian man. The man was recruited by Al-Qaeda to fight in Iraq. He was told to drive a van to a location. He was not told that the van was wired and filled with explosives. When he got there the van exploded. This is where the story takes an interesting turn. The man survived. He survived when 12 others died around him. He confessed, he relented. Now he spreads the word about Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. He tries to teach what they really are and how they use people. He hands out fliers with a picture of him before and after his time in the organization.

This gives me hope for two reasons. This man is sponsored by the Saudi government. I know many terrorists come from Saudi Arabia, but to know that the Saudi government is actively trying to assuage this violence gives me a sense of relief. Its nice to know that our ally in the Middle East is trying to do what they can to stop unnecessary violence.

But this brings up the question of how best to end this? I mean we are at war, not with Iraq but with a perception. At war with the way people see this country, us, our people. We aren't war mongers (most of us) but how would someone living in Iraq know that? Are things better there, more safe there, since we thought "hey, there's invade Iraq, that'll help!" I recently saw a study that says nearly a third of Americans still believe that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11. That is what is disheartening.

I once heard an excellent analogy. Say there's a nail, and we want to hammer it in. Well, clearly the best tool to use is a hammer. But Iraq's not a nail, and we need to find another tool besides the hammer to fix it. Military? No, we need to mobilize civility in the region. All they see is our military, and that means that we are losing the psychological war, and that means more people are going to die needlessly.

-Alex

Marth, Finally Marth

2007-09-14T13:29:00.000-04:00

Yesterday started just like any other Thursday. I woke up, went to my boring telecomm class. Then I took a nap, then tutored a little. I spent some time surfing the internets (gotta) and then volunteered at the TV station. As the day was winding down something amazing happened. When Pavle and I sat down for our ritualistic evening of Super Smash Brothers Melee, Pavle decided to unlock some characters. Now, normally when I play against Pavle he's Dr. Mario and I'm Link. Link is not my normal character, I'm usually Marth. Well, we got around to the unlocks and busted out my old Fire Emblem friend. Oh, what a difference a character makes. When I was link Pavle knew everything, how to counter all of my moves and all that jazz. Link is slow, Marth is fast. It is so nice to have my character of choice now. Nothing can stop me, Super Smash could be my next Guitar Hero (which I am also good at, if you didn't know).

-Alex

Labeled Cats

2007-09-12T22:51:00.002-04:00

As promised, late, here are the labeled cats:

href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_ZpUguNcbqC8/RuimkIRRYAI/AAAAAAAAAyQ/FUeRAPziBVI/s1600-h/rawr.jpg">

Extra Extra

2007-09-12T13:43:00.000-04:00

Okay, normally I don't report in with random news but this is worth it. Word on the wire is that a sequel to Tron is in the works. That's right, a new Tron movie. So excited.

-Alex

Oh Facebook

2007-09-12T11:29:00.001-04:00

So I was going through and cleaning out my facebook acount a little today and I decided to update my groups. To know more about me here are some of the ones that I just left:

- Class of '09
- Fooseball
- Family Guy Fanclub
- Conflict in Kosovo
- Go Gators!
- I can play foosball like nobody's business
- Largest Facebook Group Ever

I missed some, but here are some of the ones that I decided to leave in my list:

- No, I haven't read that great literary classic--But I've seen the Wishbone!
- I Hate Napoleon Dynamite. There, I Said it.
- Alan Archer, Send Us the Weather, You Wino. (Alan Archer is the WRUF weather man, he is a drunk and never send the weather casts on time, making all of our lives more difficult --ed)
- Dunder-Mifflin
- Tubgirl Fan Club!!
- I Live In Florida and When it Gets Cold I Wear Real Shoes,long Sleeves, and Pants.
- The Big Sangwich Eaters Club
- I fell asleep...

So yeah, I'm a serious guy. I also labeled those cats (no thanks to anyone) and I'lln be posting those pics when I get home. You can find them on facebook if you happen to subscribe to that particular social networking service.

-Alex

Another Day in the Neighborhood

2007-09-11T21:01:00.000-04:00

Today was my day off from classes. I went to volunteering and more volunteering (radio station and TV station respectively). I got home and I've been kind of vegging out since. Chilling, you know, like a villing. I mean really, there wasn't anything interesting about today. Oh yeah, its 9/11.

Okay, I understand the significance on what happened September 11th 2001. I know. I was in the radio station today and nearly the entire assignment board was 9/11 related stories. Come on. Was there no real news to cover? This isn't news. It's the anniversary of something tragic that happened, and I agree that it should be mentioned, but it's not news. Please find something else to talk about.

I should take my own advice.

-Alex

In Lieu of a Real Post

2007-09-10T22:55:00.000-04:00

Here's my extra credit assignment for Sociology. I went and listened to two speakers talk about the economics of going green. I'm too tired to blog, so here it is in place of that:

When I first saw the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment I was stunned. That many of the world’s brightest minds predicting such dramatic climate change really shifted my view of global warming and climate change. I was worried and distraught because I thought that there was no hope. Surely the big corporations that caused so much of the damage would change; it just didn’t make financial sense.
Admittedly I went to hear Bob Willard and Hunter Lovins speak for extra credit. I had no idea that they would speak to such a direct degree on a topic that I care so strongly about. Ironically enough it might be economic concerns that save the planet, rather than kill it. I had never thought about the difference between the real value of a company and the perceived value that affected the stock value. Obviously a large part of what makes a company valuable is the perception of the investors, but I had no idea to what degree going green affected that perception. It really gives me hope. In spite of a federal government that won’t affect change, strides are being made in state and local governments. More importantly, in my opinion, change is being championed by large corporations. That Willard has hopes to reach the critical point of 20% of all companies going green in the next 5 years excites me.
There are a lot of things that drove this change in the way companies work. In the last year the number of people who will deal only with companies who are green has doubled. Lovins said it best (and most ironically) that “hypocrisy is the first step to change.” When GE wanted to make the impression of going green they instituted the “Ecoimagination” campaign. GE saw that the products they branded with their arbitrary “green” tag sold way beyond expectations. Those made them go back and take a look at the value of going green.
There’s hope for us yet. Thank God.

-Alex

<3 football

2007-09-09T00:58:00.000-04:00

Oh. My. God. I forgot how awesome football is. Today was a great day for sports (at least for me). Lets run it down (in no particular order):

1. The Gators won (not a huge deal, but still)

2. Michigan got WHIPPED by Oregon once again showing how bad the Big Ten really is.

3. Notre Dame got WHIPPED by Penn State (of the Big Ten) showing once again how overrated the Irish are.

3a. Joe Paterno (the Penn State head coach) is my second favorite coach behind Urban Meyer. He is around a hundred years old (read: 80) and has the best sense of humor of any coach in any sport that I've ever seen. He has won more games than any other head coach against division 1-A teams. Just watch one of his press conferences, he's always making jokes. Love the man.

4. LSU WHIPPED Va. Tech. Once again the SEC reigns supreme.

5. Probably my favorite story of the day the USF Bulls pulled the upset, went to Auburn, and beat the Tigers in overtime. Yeah, they are seriously a really good team. After watching that game, thinking back on it now, they really didn't pull out all of their playbook. It was pretty simple on offense. Their Defense won the game for them, and watch out Big East (West Virginia, Louisville, Rutgers) because the Bulls are for real.

6. The Illini won their first game. Okay, so it was against Western Illinois, but still Oskee WOW WOW.

7. Oh, and there's baseball. The Devil Rays come from behind, gatting 4 runs in the bottom of the ninth and winning on a walk-off pinch-hit homer from B.J. Upton. Yes, I still follow the D-Rays. Yes they will be awesome next year. I know.

Now, to savor this day of sports before the Bucs season starts tomorrow and all of my hopes and dreams for the pros goes out the window.

-Alex

This Country Is Ruined

2007-09-07T20:01:00.000-04:00

So how about those democratic primaries? You went and voted you say? For who? Oh! well guess what, it doesn't matter. Your primary vote no longer counts. This is because the Florida legislature decided to move the Florida primary up to January 29th, before the DNC says you can. the result? The DNC says they won't count delegates sent from Florida in deciding who is the next democratic candidate. This is a farce. This is disgusting. This makes me sick. It's not just this, its the entire degeneration of the democratic process. I hate it.

Another example: FOX News (worst source ever). Rather than give all of the grievances I'll just sum it up: they are trying to rig the election for the candidates they have deemed legitimate. Despite the fact that Ron Paul is one of the most popular candidates, since he wasn't big from the beginning he isn't being given the time that Rudy Giulliani (come on, who really supports that POS?) is. I'm a staunch Democrat, but I like Ron Paul. I like him a lot. If this mess with the DNC doesn't get sorted out then I might register Republican just for this election so that my vote will at least count(albeit for only half that of the rest of the country). Here is the full story. Please read it. This is important.

This is insane.

-Alex

New iWhatevers

2007-09-06T16:28:00.000-04:00

Jobs has done it again. There is now a glut of iPod material out there to choose from. They added the iPod touch, basically the iPhone with more storage (8GB or 16GB) and wi-fi. They released the iPod fatty (the new nano) which now plays video, is more reasonably priced, and holds more. They released the "iPod classic" which is an updated version of the iPod video that now can hold 160 GB. They cut the price on the iPhone be 200 dollars. Picture goodness:

This last item may bother a lot of people. The thing has only been out for 2 months, and all of the early adopters must feel ripped off. Before I go on I must point out that I don't own any apple products, I'm not really a fanboy. I want them though.

So, disgruntled customers. What does Steve Jobs do? This. He is doing something that no one does. NO ONE. This is amazing customer service, and really makes me wonder if anyone else can hold out. Apple also just released the new iMacs and they are sexy. They are just head and shoulders above the competition. Their OS is better, their hardware is technically equal to that of a PC for the price, but looks so much more aesthetically pleasing. I want a nano bad, now.

-Alex

New Layout/URL

2007-09-06T01:30:00.001-04:00

Well, the layout is actually the same but I used my mad photoshop skillz to create a new header. They changed it so that you can move your blog to a different URL without pain, so I did that. No one knew where Muj1 came from anyways. It was dumb. I also changed the colors around a little bit. Good/bad?

I also just noticed that the time stamps have been off forever. That means that if you need to know exactly when I posted, you just have to add an hour to whatever time it said.

-Alex

Help me label these cats

2007-09-05T22:22:00.001-04:00

I have a couple of funny kitty pictures, and I need to label them. Halp me plz kthx!

-Alex

Back to school again

2007-09-05T13:41:00.000-04:00

Okay, so after a super long weekend (I didn't have class Saturday through Tuesday)I'm back in it. That means class at 8:30 and then tiredness the rest of the day. I'm going from 8:30 until around 6 today. LONG day. I'm gonna go home and sleep before going out to play some soccer tonight. This is gonna be a LONG day.

Right now, as we speak (well as I type) I'm in the control room for AM850. Urban Meyer's wife is on the show, but before she went on the air she stopped in and introduced herself to me. She's awesome, really nice and she does so much for the community. I love our coaches and their families so much.

I have more homework to do, reading and the like. It seems like so much already, with all of the stuff that I'm doing on-campus. Anyways, well I'm going to go back and finish my work.

-Alex

Lazy Sunday

2007-09-03T13:47:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we sat around and didn't do too much. We did go to Target and Lauren and Pavle shopped. I bought one of those silver paper towel holders. It was totally worth the time (read: totally not worth the time).

The evening was better, sort of. On Saturday we had Moe's. Burritos. It was really good, but my stomach wanted to squirm up through my throat and throttle my brain for making that decision. So we (well, Pavle and Lauren) decided we should make dinner. What should we make? Burritos was the natural choice. Of course. So my stomach hated me all night, again.

We also watched the Departed, which was awesome. The best part was when 4 of our friends waltzed in at 3:00 in the morning to enjoy the last few minutes of the movie. I don't know what they were on that sent them meandering around Gainesville in the middle of the night, but seriously take some Tylenol PM or something.

Now, some of you might be asking why I'm blogging right now. Not a lot of you, but some. Well, I'm at work at the radio station. That's right, I have to work on Labor day. uck. Well, I need the money. so whatever.

-Alex

TRADIO

2007-09-01T09:04:00.001-04:00

Hello from TRADIOLAND. It's early in the morning and I'm at the radio station, hosting teh tradioz. I was like a minute late because I slept in. Because I stayed up late.

You know what I need to do? I need to go online and post all of the pictures of my cats from home, then caption them for the internet. They are so cute, and I have some awesome funny pictures of them doing funny stuff. Because they're cats and awesome.

I'm tired, so I guess I should go back to hosting the show. I'm literally on the air right now. Talking on the air. That's the beuty of blogs.

-Alex

Wuddup

2007-08-31T16:02:00.000-04:00

The pictures that I posted of my apt were old, and I didn't realize it. It's cleaner now and we have more furniture, but I'm not gonna post more pictures because that's a lot of work.

So Kelsi and Lauren are here for the weekend. I guess they don't have to go to class up at FSU. Whatever. Kelsi got here last night at like 10 all "lets hang out and party" and I'm all "Totally have class early tomorrow, and it's Thursday" and she was all "whatevs."

So thank god for football. Last night I sat and watched LSU play Miss State in high def, and also watched the Devil Rays sweep the Orioles in a road series. That was probably the high point of the season. We gave up a lot of runs early but that bullpen held yet again and we take the game. Hooray. Tomorrow starts Gator season thank god. There are so many sports going on now and since I'm reporting on sports for the radio station I have to be up to snuff on all of them. That means volleyball, soccer, football, all of it. And pro sports, don't forget that. It's cool though because I'm a sports junkie.

If you don't pay attention to the news and this is your only source of information on the outside world, Alberto Gonzales and Tony Snow both stepped down this week. How messed up is that? I hated Gonzales, he killed what this country stands for and we're better off without him. Tony Snow I actually really liked. Unfortunately he has cancer and can't perform his duties anymore.

-Alex

They Made Another One?

2007-08-30T16:44:00.000-04:00

I am back at the radio station again, which means more free time. I was browsing the inter tubes and came across a story on IGN that they are bringing back the N-Gage. It actually looks kinda cool. Its as though Nokia (a company I like very much) has learend their lessons and are creating a compelling product this time around. The phones that support the N-Gage service (and it is a service this time, not a physical phone) are sexy. Look at these:

I think that I'd like that. It's cooler than carrying around a dedicated platform like a DS or a PSP. I mean, when I'm sitting on a bus, whip out my cell phone and start pounding away on it it looks like I'm text messaging, when I'm really playing some simple, yet addictive game. That is a product that would interest me, and I really think that there's a market for it here in the U.S.

Here's a link to the article.

-Alex

My New Place

2007-08-30T12:59:00.000-04:00

Here are some pics of the new APT as promised.

There we go, its messy now, but its HUGE and extremely awesome for just hanging out.

Now, I'm excited because I checked my demonoid account and guess what? My share ratio is like 2.34 (cha ching) happiness. That means its time to download teh internetz like mad.

Hopped up on coffee right now because I got out of class at 10:30 and now I have the whole afternoon to hang out online, play games, and enjoy myself. And study, if I have time :)

Woot-off going on today too, which means that I can check constantly and see things that I cannot afford to buy because I'm broke. It's still fun, and I might get lucky and get a Bandoleer of Carrots. So it goes.

I'm gonna try to work on getting a new layout for the blog too. I'm gonna bust out with some mad amateur photoshoppage and try to make a banner and everything.

-Alex

Food glorious food

2007-08-29T11:19:00.000-04:00

Last night I finally got Pavle to go shopping. Since I don't have a car, when Pavle goes shopping I go shopping. Combined we spent about 160 dollars on food. I shouldn't be hungry for a while.

Our TV in American Society teacher is pretty awesome. In Monday's lecture she talked about playing X-Box Live, and today she was talking about how far behind the times she is and how she "just got onto X-box Live and am getting n00bed up." Also how she uses her computer as a sort of extra TV because she downloads Lost on it. Pretty much the best teacher ever. Pavle's gonna send her an email asking for her gamertag so that he can teach her how to pwn n00bs over teh internetz.

In sports news, the Devil Rays scored 11 runs in the eigth inning last night to come from behind and whoop the Orioles, who are also not so good. I think, and this is pure speculation, that Baltimore's bullpen is worse than ours.

Football starts on Thursday, I think. The gators play their first game on Saturday, and I know that this is the first weekend of collegiate football for this season. Thank God. I love football. I'm sick of baseball. The Devil Rays are not a good team, and the Gators are. That makes it easier to deal with watching a whole season. SEC champs back-2-back!

-Alex

Once Again

2007-08-28T19:34:00.000-04:00

Today was busy for me. I had class from 8:30-9:30 (it got out an hour early, normally it ends at 10:30). Then I got a haircut. I could have been happier with the outcome, but it'll be fine in a week or so once it's gotten the chance to grow out a little. Well a little studying later, then I volunteered in the newsroom for sports for 2 hours.

I'm excited because I finally get to do sports this semester. In a few months, or maybe even weeks, I will get to go on and start getting on the air.

Okay, so I get through with that at 1. I go home for a couple hours, watch some internet, and then go to the TV station. I do VTR perfectly, as always, and then go home.

Here's where I get to rant again about how extremely expensive books for class are. I go in to get my course pack. This is the third time that I got to go to OBT Textbook store to get that specific course pack. The first time I went they didn't have it. The second time that I went they had the course pack but not the DVD that went with it. So I finally go get it, and guess how much it costs? 60. 60 dollars. The pack probably cost about 2 dollars to make. Maybe.

Alright, so I get home. Now its time to finish getting our cable to work. Me and Pavle have this little room that we use expressly for media. LCD TV, video games, computer, all hooked up. It's pretty sweet. Except that the cable doesn't work there. So finally the landlady and her husband come over right as I get home from the bookstore to fix it. What do we do? There's a splitter in my closet (my room is right next to the entertainment room). We drilled holes in the top of my closet and ran a wire attached to the ceiling. Despite the fact that its entirely ghetto rigged, it doesn't look ghetto rigged. And, although I'm too lazy to finish setting it up, it should work when I finally get around to it.

Now I'm back at home and I'm already tired from my day, my hair doesn't look that good, and its time for me to watch old episodes of the office on my computer. At least now I can watch TV.

-Alex

Tallanastee

2007-08-27T11:23:00.001-04:00

Well for my big birthday bash (turned the big 2-0 on Friday) I decided to get my radio station shift covered and go hang out in Tally. My roommate's girlfriend goes to FSU so now that their semester is about to start he will be making the regular pilgrimage to make offerings to the mighty female. Whatever, means I have a ride to see people I know up there.

If you're my mom stop reading now.

I crashed at my pal Kelsi's place where we also drank recklessly. See? Responsible. We drank and slept, not drive. Hooray for safety. Me and a couple peeps also went to see Superbad which was AWESOME. It was funny because it was pretty much just like me and my friends were senior year in high school. Stupid, naive, and vulgar. After seeing the movie (about a graduation party and the quest to get drunk) I thought to myself "hey, that sounds like a good idea. Lets do that." And so it was.

I drank and we went to visit my good friend Mike, who moved away from G-town back to Tallahassee. We watched, probably the coolest thing ever, then went back and finished what we started. That being celebrating me being 1 year short of being able to drink legally. The rest of the night was a blur, but I remember singing bohemian rhapsody and playing guitar hero. Raise your hand if this surprises you. What, no one?

Apparently I sleep talked (another of those things I'm wont to do). The tale was related to me in the morning.

ME: Staplemaniac
KELSI: What?
ME: That's me!

Then I punched her. Again, this is all alleged, who knows the truth.

Then Sunday we slept late. Kelsi's roommate got bagels from Bagel Brunch (I'm almost 100 percent positive that's a Jewish thing, because she came back with a fall '07 Hillel calender). She got one for Kelsi but not me, I just got the parts she didn't want to eat.

So finally we go to Lauren(Pavle(my roommate)'s girlfriend)'s apartment and I'm starving. While Pavle takes a shower we start to talk about where to eat. I think that we've narrowed it down to Moe's (burritos) or Firehouse Subs (subs). Both places are close and both go quickly. It's about 3:30 and I want to get back to Gainesville so that I can read some for class Monday. So Pavle gets out of the shower and I have to pee. I get out of the bathroom and everyone has changed their minds to Chilis. WTF guys? Seriously? I mean, I didn't complain because I like Chili's, it's good food. It was far away and I kinda wanted to get on the road. So we go, wait to get seated, then wait for drinks, then wait to order then wait for food while we watch like 3 groups of people who came in after us get served their food. I'm grumpy and starving. So what do they do there? they bring out a mountain of chips (with not even close to enough dip. Who do they think they are serving? n00bs?) So I pretty much eat everything. Now that I've satiated my hunger my pile of chicken and cheese appears in front of me. Well great, I think, now I have to eat all of this food. So I do and the predictable thing happens: I have to use the restroom as soon as we get in the car and head back to Laurens place to get our stuff. Well, we get there and pavle calls dibs on the bathroom. Being an honorable man I give him his due, because he called it. Well he emerges and we learn that the toilet is no longer flushing properly. Awesome, thanks man. I have to remember to call dibs sooner from now on.

Anyways, we have to go pick up Pavle's cousin from a dorm on campus that we can't find because all of her friends are retarded freshmen who go to FSU. We get her, and I just decide to hold it till we find a rest area on I-10. This didn't happen for like 1000 hours. I was miserable. In addition, Pavle let me drive his car, which is really nice. Except that there are hills and stuff in Tallahassee and he drives a manual. Also they decided to put lights near the top of every hill. Lame lame lame. So we get home, I study and get to sleep fairly early (after Pavle and I super smash it up a little). And that's my weekend

So it goes.

-Alex

I'm Back

2007-08-24T12:59:00.001-04:00

After something of a long hiatus I've finally been inspired to return to blogging. Partially so that my family can keep up with me without actually talking to me. Just Kidding.

Anyways today was my first day back at school and whoo-wee let me tell you there are freshmen everywhere! I mean I could barely walk on the sidewalk because there were so many people.

Speaking of walking, my new apartment rocks partly due to its proximity to campus. Today I walked to class with Pavle (we both have class from 8:30-10:30) and we stopped on the way home to get our textbooks.

On the topic of textbooks: they suck. It is so expensive to buy these darn things. I spent 30 dollars on a required textbook for one of my classes called this book is not required. How dumb is that? and guess what the book is about? Adjusting to college life. I should give this to my brother, but I need it to do assignments in this class.

Oh, and happy birthday to me! School starts on my birthday again. So it goes.

Anyways, I'll try to put up some pictures of the new place later. Pavle and I are loving it, its really perfect.

-Alex

Heroes

2007-05-28T05:35:00.001-04:00

So, in the hours I have to wastewhile at Rock 104, I've been catching up on Heroes. This show is so perfect for me, and its a great show in its own right. NBC.com has all of the episodes on their website for convenient viewage. Also, I've been informed if this amazing website that holds the dark side of the internet. Encyclopedia Dramatica is a great time-waster, especially if you're not a fan of the man (the whole thing is a wikipedia spoof). Check wikiepdia's site about them, nothing. Total censorship.

Also, in lieu of the existance of Starcraft 2, I've been playing the great original again. I forgot a lot of the story (as can happen in 8 years, hell its about time). It's still as awesome as I remember. And the multiplayer is still as riveting. Anyways, thought that I'd start updating again. I'd love to get a picture feed going on here, but that would mean that I'd have to take a picture or video a day. We'll see how committed I am.

-Alex

STARCRAFT 2 OMGZ!!>>!!!1

2007-05-19T09:00:00.000-04:00

Okay, so they finally announced Starcraft 2 yesterday. I know that I havn't been on in a while, but you know how it is, sitting around all day being lazy and not updating. Whatever, no one reads this anyways. So there was a big starcraft competition in Seoul, South Korea (where the original SC is stil pretty big, so I've heard). I'm on the radio now, so laterz all.

-Alex

video game violence

2007-04-24T07:59:00.000-04:00

I have thus far failed to mention the distaste I have for those who would rush to blame the murders at Virginia Tech on video games, completely unfounded. The only reason that Jack Thompson has gotten as much face time as he has is because he's one of the most irrational and fervent anti-game politicos. For years mainstream news outlets have given him his face time because it was thought that what he preached was legitimate. Some, it seems, have finally caught on to him and his kind. This person was deranged, and not for playing video games. Everyone plays video games, my dad used to play Dune II with me when I was a child, and me and my brothers who live 3 hours away often bond over the Internet with video games. Now, I may not be the most well-adjusted young adult out there, but there is pretty much a 0% chance of me losing it and going on a murder spree. These games are a healthy release for a lot of people. To say that what happened would not have been possible but for the "training" Seung-Hui Cho got from playing Counter-Strike is ludicrous. [I would like to point out that the n00bs who made the above linked story used CS 1.6 as opposed to CS:S screen shots, but whatever at least its the right game.] As an avid counter-strike player I can tell you that game does not teach anything that would be useful to a potential psychopath. I'm slowly regaining my respect for main-stream media outlets.

:edit: I went on the APA website after reading this story, and I found that most of the docs agree that violent video games make people more aggressive in short-term situations (over 20 minutes) and most think this would probably be the case in long-term studies as well. However there have been no longitudinal studies to support this theory. I'm not well-enough versed in the methodology of professionals to comprehend the scope of the number of studies, experiments and observations made. I felt, even though it's not something I see as a major issue, I must give voice to the reasonable opposition.

-Alex

2008 prez election

2007-04-24T06:52:00.000-04:00

"America cannot meet the threats of this century alone, but the world cannot meet them without America. We must neither retreat from the world nor try to bully it into submission -- we must lead the world, by deed and example." -Barack Obama

Now, if you read this blog or know me you know that I like Governor Bill Richardson for president in 2008, however these statements by Barack Obama just solidify his position as a close second. I think its fortunate that there are so many good candidates in this election, it gives me hope that the masses can actually elect a qualified president.

Also, if you missed the Colbert Report last night watch it today, or YouTube it because it was great. He interviewed Mike Huckabee, a Republican candidate for '08. He was a really cool guy, and knowing nothing else about him I think that he's my third favorite elephant lover, behind Mitt Romney and Stephen Colbert, not in that order.

-Alex

Corrupt government

2007-04-17T08:50:00.000-04:00

These are getting old, but so many people still think that our government is just, and it's not. This is the tale of yet another seemingly innocent man held without being charged for over a year because he rubbed us the wrong way. Sickening.

And, surprise, surprise, Gonzalez lied about his involvement in the firings of federal prosecutors; seriously, big whoop.

Oh, some happy news, those who watch The Colbert Report and The Daily Show are more likely to know basic things about politics than those who watch Fox News.

In other news, I still hate Fox News.

-Alex

Fox News Channel is Terrible

2007-04-17T07:40:00.000-04:00

This is what Fox News had to say about Kurt Vonnegut's death:

Right-wing tripe. They are a disgrace in that they don't even try to be impartial.
-Alex

Trajedy

2007-04-16T14:58:00.000-04:00

I just heard the news about the shootings at Virginia Tech. 31 dead, shootings, horror. I don't even know how to describe it. Perhaps the most frightening thing is that I'm not at all surprised that this happened. I'm actually more surprised that it took this long for something like this to take place. It's easy to do it, campuses aren't secure against this sort of thing. Its almost impossible to make a campus secure, with so many students. This is worse than Columbine, a lot worse. How this will affect the nation has yet to be seen, but it's terrifying. I'm more scared of this sort of thing then a terrorist attack. Of the tens of thousands of students in any given school it only takes one to lose it and do something like this. The worst thing is that these are all college kids who died, my generation. People like me. This is nearly 8 years to the day since the shootings at Columbine. Worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
-Alex

Game Names

2007-03-21T09:46:00.000-04:00

I forgot to mention, Pavle and I had been discussing video game names, and console names, and how a lot of them are uninspiring if you think about it. Par example play station (a station where you play) game cube(a cube that plays games), Xbox(a box thats more EXTREME because...well because there's an 'x' in front of it) etc. One noted exception to these lame console names is Sega Genesis. That console was awesome and had an amazing name. Just as Revolution would have been amazing had it been left as the name for the now-called "Wii" (A downgrade, methinks).

Also, we talked about the names of games themselves, which is what brought this up in my head. See, some games just don't make sense. What does the half-life of something have to do with Gordan Freeman and Black Mesa? Unreal Tournament? Come on! However, as I walk to work this morning I thought, man you know what's an awesome name for a game? Gears of War. I mean, besides the lameness of the soldiers being called "cogs" soldiers are the gears that make war run, it's an awesome, appropriate name for a game.

If you can think of a good name for a console that I've missed (which would be anything besides revolution or genesis) let me know. Or good game names. Most just don't make sense. Oh, and F.E.A.R.? Just retarded.

-Alex

Finally in Fantasy

2007-03-21T08:03:00.000-04:00

So, the only Final Fantasy that I've ever really gotten into, the third iteration that came out for the dual screen nintendo hand-held (FFIII for the DS) has once again become a prominent time-sink for me. Why, you might ask? Because I finally took the time to level up my characters enough to beat a difficult boss. I must have fought him 7 times, and that point I gave up for a while. I beat it, and now I'm back into it. Woo-hoo. Oh, and God of War. That game's awesome too, and I can't wait to play the second one. It, too promises to be awesome.

The fact that games like that are coming out makes me continue to question the value of a next-gen console for someone like me. Yes, they look hot, but let's compare the two consoles that I think would interest me the most: XBox 360 and PS2:

360:
400 dollars
Limited titles
Backwards compatability woth Xbox games
400 dollars
plays in HD (doesn't affect me)

PS2:
An infinite amount of games
cheap
guitar hero
god of war
cheap
Second most popular console in february (behind the wii) so it's not going anywhere.

HD I don't care about, and the number of good PS2 titles you can find in the bargain bin is astounding. Seeing as how I'm on a budget, even if I had the option, I would take a ps2 and 300 dollars worth of games over a 360. Just my thang.

I spent a good hour yesterday on my keyboard trying to learn ho play a song by Ben Folds by ear. I'm getting excited about learning piano/keyboard more now. It seems to go in phases, that longing.

Trying to think of news...new things...uh...God of War 2 looks cool? Uh...Oh! Gators are in the Sweet 16. My brackets got reamed a little in the end of the round of 32 when Texas lost. I had them in the Final Four. Other than that, I think that I had Wisconson going one more round, but I just hope that Oregon beats UNLV. And the Gators h4x.

Gotta finish up at teh radio stations and then go study for a while. Check out roflcat.

-Alex

holy crap

2007-03-16T01:22:00.000-04:00

Okay, so wierdest coincidence ever. I was trying out this new webcomic that I noticed on Buzzcomix...or something I don't know how I got there but this comic used a word I had heard but forgot the meaning of, taciturn. So normally I would go to m-w.com, but this time I thought I would do something different, I would go to dictionary.com. Holy crap, I notice that the word of the day is taciturn. WHAT are the chances? taciturn, of all of the dozens of words out there that's the one for today. And it's early, it prolly only changed. Just for me. What are the odds? One in 10? 20? nuts man.

As for something that I'm gonna win: my family bracket pool. I only missed two games today. Both were by small margins and upsets. I picked Duke, bu honestly who picked Virginia Commonwealth? What the hell is a commonwealth? They belong to england or something? I mean, what are they doing in an American tourney? And (if I'm not mistaken) they're from the Colonial Athletic Association. THEY are RED COATS. That's why they are trying to screw up my brackets. The other one was Xavier over Bringham Young. That's what I get for picking mormons in a sporting tournament. Whatever, I had Duke and BYU losing in the next round anyways.

Also, I got my glasses fixed and have my camera back. And I wrecked my car, it sucks. Mostly cosmetic damage though, thank god.

-Alex

guess what?

2007-03-09T11:57:00.000-05:00

So for all of you who aren't fans of Clinton because of his affair, guess what? Newt Gingrich, the guy who was in charge of our House of Representatives when Clinton was being impeached, was having an extramarital affair while he was persecuting Clinton. The conservative "holier than thou" attitude is losing more and more luster every day, huh? I mean how is it that that party got to be the party of the christian right? Of morality? They represent big business, they don't care about the people. I would think that social welfare would better match the ideals of Christians. Maybe its because the Christian right gets a lot of advantages from a smaller government, like less oversight. They like it when they are above the law.

-Alex

Vote '08

2007-03-07T08:33:00.000-05:00

Gotta say, even though it's still far away, I've been thinking about the '08 prez election. Now, I'm not gonna lie, I'm rather liberal on most things. The candidate that, by far, is the most qualified and would please the most Americans (in my mind) is New Mexico governor Bill Richardson.

Now, I don't want to misrepresent Mr. Richardson, so here's his website.

Allow my to briefly describe this man and why he's awesome for president.

-He is the democrat governor of a red state, winning the last election with 69% of the vote.
-While creating tax cuts in New Mexico, Richardson was able to balance the budget and run a large surplus.
-He was the Secretary of Energy under President Clinton and has required that New Mexico utility companies to produce energy through renewable means and reduce carbon emissions.
-Richardson served in congress for 15 years before he was governor.
-He was the ambassador to the United Nations under President Clinton.
-He has been nominated for 4 Nobel Peace Prizes.
-He negotiated a 60-day cease-fire in Darfur.

So, yeah. Unless I hear something crazy about his past, I think that Richardson is the Dems best shot at the white house. I also think that he's the best candidate in general. Something else to point out, since Kennedy Senators are 0-41 running for president. Governors do well.

I also think that he looks a little like Bob Kelso from Scrubs.

-Alex

Stoopid test

2007-03-07T08:28:00.000-05:00

Just something to entertain yourself, see if you can avoid the pitfalls of the trick questions.

I'm this:

On my links on the side is a link to digg.com. If you don't know what digg is and you have a few hours to waste, check that site out.

-Alex

I also just found this

2007-03-06T07:01:00.000-05:00

I've heard of Ann Coulter. I'd never read anything of hers, or even knew who she was. This woman is an ignorant, hypocritical stubborn right-wing nutjob who I can't fathom actually believes what comes out of her own mouth. She's a bully like O'Reily who makes her money off of being a pompous know-it-all liberal hater. She called John Edwards a faggot. Thats what she does. Don't support people like this, they kill this country.

-Alex

My new nihilism

2007-03-06T06:03:00.000-05:00

What have you given your children, my generation? When I wake up in the morning everything that I do seems insignificant because I know that the apathy of the populace is irreversible. That is what bothers me. That my generation, the generation of apathy, the generation raised in global warming, the generation you expect to take your problems. we are the ones who are gonna get screwed. When I get old, will there be a place for me to live? A job for me? A world that I can inhabit? Every day I worry. Every day I fret. Every day I see more and more the 'who cares' attitude infecting not just the generations before mine, but the attitude that comes with the disillusionment of my generation.

I was at a friends apartment the other day. I was sitting around, there was nothing to do. The three who lived there were all on their laptops, enjoying the digital media they are told that they need. We want what we are told we want. The things that we need aren't things that we need they are the things that we have been conditioned to see as integral to having a decent lifestyle. Oh the perils of the Internet. I admit, I'm completely addicted. I need it, not to do anything significant or important, I need it because I need a distraction. I waste hours daily on the internet doing nothing, just reading amusing anecdotes about who knows what. This isn't what I want to do with my time. I reflect on my day and realize that I have accomplished nothing. I worry constantly.

It's in all of us. I drive my car to work in the morning because the buses don't run early enough. Why don't I walk? Because I'm lazy. I should get my bike fixed, but that's too much trouble. Just gotta get through the day, maybe tomorrow will be different. We don't even have our own goals. Some may enjoy what they end up as, but they don't choose that. Society does. Their upbringing does. I'm not talking about a career, I'm talking about what one is.

When I talk I speak from the heart, about what I see around me. We need material things, we need status symbols, icons. Sometimes this is just knowing more than the next person, showing off. Most people sit in a category for me of those who just follow the machine. Who are just part of the system to the point that they do whatever they ought. I am one of these, and I'm just lost. There is so much wrong and nothing I can do because no one cares. I don't care. I float through my day from the morning to the evening, doing whatever I can to forget how much I hate what is happening to our world.

Politics. God, politics. Politicians are destroying our planet. If we could get a majority who are smart, and committed to the future of this country (and not the next election) then maybe what the future holds for my generation might not be so bleak. But as I see it now politics is dominated by stubborn people who are parts of stubborn organizations catering to stubborn and (I feel, for the most part) idiotic public. In two years, even if they lose power, so much good can be done. Why can't we just allow the bickering and arguing that dominates modern politics to fade away and actually do some things that would help save us from ourselves.

In conclusion: everyone hates each other. We are destroying the world. No one cares.
Please shoot me.

-Alex

What a waste

2007-02-13T21:50:00.000-05:00

I hate our government. Not democracy, but the government that we have now. Why, you ask, would I hate the government? Well, I hate most of the people in the federal government. Why? Here are some things we could do with the money we will spend on the Iraq war in 2007 alone.

Oh, and mad props to Kelsi for hangin out with me last weekend when everyone left. Now for this weekend, when (once again) everyone is going home. Now I'm gonna have to drink.

I'm still at work BTW, getting ready to leave from this baseball game that lasted FOREVER. I've been here for 3.5 hours, and baseball on the radio is the most boring thing ever. I don't know why we carry it, it must be like torture listening to it in the car. terrible. I'm going home and dying.

-Alex

Fuck the RIAA

2007-02-13T19:13:00.000-05:00

Okay, so there's a new cat in town. Some people aren't down with this guy, he calls himself the RIAA, but no one knows his true identity.

No one cares, he's an asshole and everyone wants him dead.

He has been hunting down people left and right. Busting in on innocent bystanders and accusing them of crimes they didn't commit. Now, I understand that its hard for a guy when he feels he's been wronged, but this RIAA guy represents some pretty rich cats yeah? I mean they got all sorts of money, no one gets why they would wanna knock off small-timers like a common mugging. It's sad.

Lets just prey that they don't join up with that Sony gang, because then us citizens might really get fucked.

-Alex

I HATE THE NEWS

2007-02-11T19:36:00.000-05:00

Didn't know that just buying a Nintendo DS could introduce you're kids to child molesters did you? WHILE THEY ARE DRIVING! This is possibly the most ludicrous thing I've ever seen. I mean, no one uses pictochat. However, its interesting that the only thing that it ever really gets used for is drawing penii. I've touched on this before but I hate how the media prtrays video games. They just don't take the time to do responsible journalism and actually read into both sides of the story. I mean, video games don't kill people. The people who would do crazy shit like kill people would have done that if they didn't play video games, but by the media and government saying that that's an excuse and video games are bad, it just opens the door for phsychos who play video games to say "uh, yeah...sure, the video game made me do it!" But its total bullshit. I hate the media, and government officials who talk about shit they don't understand. I can't stand it.

Let me make a point. More kids than ever, and I mean from younger children to teenagers, are playing video games. Lots of teens are playing violent video games. Violent crime rates are going down significantly over the last 15 years. just my two cents

-Alex

2007-02-09T22:45:00.000-05:00

Just saw this and had a chuckle, its funny because Greg Oden is old and shouldn't be in college.

Oh, mike got a new apartment, so I'm gonna go help him...break it in.
-Alex

keepin on keepin on

2007-02-07T08:31:00.000-05:00

Okay, so its been a while, not like you need to know what I think about stuff. So Andrew's not coming up this weekend, which means I'll be by myself when Pavle goes to St. Pete with Lauren. I can't do anything on weekends because I work all the time. I'm at work at WRUF am850 right now, and I'm listening to a news story about a child pr0n ring getting broken up. This thing apparently took place in 77 countries and that is insane. High-five to Austria for breaking this shit open.

Speaking of AM850, I'm gonna be hosting TRADIO again this Saturday. I think its this Saturday. Anyways, you can listen live at http://www.am850.com/am850.asx.

Finally sent back the Blockbuster online DVD that I've had for like 2 months because I lost the return slip. Gonna be watching a lot of movies now. Blockbuster online has a few advantages over netflix.com. First, and primarily, the in-store rentals/coupons. Actually thats pretty much it. At first I felt dirty switching from netflix to blockbuster, because I feel that netflix should be rewarded for their ingenuity. However, netflix is fighting back, apparently there will be online rentals available from netflix sometime this year.

And I'm tired of AIM, use skype or gtalk or something, but god why AIM????

Oh, and I recently read a TIME article about how blogs affect politics. meh, I doubt my blog carries any weight but for presidency I like John Edwards, Barack Obama, John McCain, and Hillary Clinton. In that order.

Its early, I'm sick, I need to study all day...oh what a day this is shaping up to be.

-Alex

annoyances

2007-01-29T13:42:00.000-05:00

A couple of things the last few days that I need to complain about:

My cell phone: You may or may not know that I work in a Deli. You also may or may not know that I dropped my cell phone in the grease left over from our rotisserie chickens. You also may or may not know that my cell phone now only works sporadically (as you may or may not expect after what it's been through). Well, two days ago it deleted all of my phone numbers. So that sucks.

Cingular: 'nuff said

Cox: If you live in Gainesville chances are if you have cable it's provided by Cox Communications. I have Cox for both my internet and my Cable. I don't want them for my phone service. They recently turned off my internet at the request of some publisher because they said that someone on our network had downloaded Star Wars: Empire at War. This was not the case, but since this was our second "offense" we got warned and they turned it back on (the first offense was one of us downloading Battlestar Galactica (Pavle)). That is an awesome show though. Anyways, since no one on our network downloaded said program we suppose that someone else got onto our network somehow, but we have WEP set up and I don't think it would be that easy, but who knows. All I know is that if it happens one more time we don't get our internet back says the corporate pawn who is employed by cox communications. Assholes.

-Alex

Wii-top

2007-01-23T08:44:00.000-05:00

Saw dis on teh webzor, Wii-top?

Just for grins I'm gonna post a list of my sites that I check on a semi-regular basis

news.google.com Google News...du'uh
penny-arcade.com Penny Arcade, an awesome webcomic
ctrlaltdel-online.com Crtl Alt Del, another awesome webcomic
cnnsi.com Sports Illustrated. Screw ESPN.com, they suck
neowin.net A good website for tech news
wikipedia.org wikipedia
engadget.com kinda cool site
DIGG.com Digg is a great site to waste time on
YouTube.com YouTube
woot.com one deal one day
dealspl.us a deals site, web2.0
newegg.com best place to buy computer hardware.
Muj1.Blogspot.com R0x0rz

Yeah, check 'em out. That's my shit that I do stuff and whatnot. Peace, bro

-Alex

BTW

2007-01-17T15:37:00.000-05:00

In case you hdan't seen it, the trailer for 300 makes me proud to have been a Spartan.

Also, I want to point out that the New Orleans Saints are in the NFC championship game for the first time in franchise history, but I will not watch the game. Want to know why? Because I am SICK of hearing about Katrina. Yes, it was bad. Yes, it's still a problem. It has nothing to do with football. The Saints have a great QB (Brees) a great RB (McCallister) and a solid defence, not to mention stand-out rookie Marques Colston and utility back Reggie Bush (who has come on in the end of the season better than I would have thought). I feel similarly about Sean Peyton as I do about John Fox (who, if I recall correctly took a 2-14 panthers team to the Super Bowl in 2 years). They turned around bad franchises. New Orleans owes Sean Peyton a beer.

-Alex

2007-01-17T09:58:00.000-05:00

I know, I know. It's been a while guys, but I've been busy. And by busy I mean lazy. Lets get right ndown to it then huh?

So, there's this game (you might have heard of it) it's called World of Warcraft. I don't play myself, but I know of those who do. There was recently released an expansion pack to this game called Burning Crusade. I guess you can get an extra 10 levels, going all the way to level 70. Well, turns out some dude (a frenchman, of course) was able to get to lvl 70 in a meager 28 hours. That is fucking insane, get a life. And congrats.

Some woman in Cali apparently died from water poisoning. Yeah, sound wierd right? well. it was for this contest, hold your wee for a wii or something. Basically, some radio morning show got a bunch of people to not piss and whoever is the last to go wins a wii. Well, she died. WHO POOP RAST!!!?

Also, I can't wait to see the upcoming cinematic event Smokin' Aces. I must have watched the trailer at least 15 times, it looks funny and awesome.

Aight, I'm gonna take a nap before I go back to class. Peace

-Alex

Champs

2007-01-09T08:23:00.000-05:00

So we are the champions again. If you didn't see that coming, you didn't talk to me before the game. Albeit it may be because I'm a bit of a homer. But in all objectivity see what Urban Meyer does in his second season with teams, he rules. That is because he is great at planning and using his players. Chris Leak wasn't made for his spread offense, but this year, rather than forcing him into it, he combined the quarterback of the future (Tebow) with Leak in some crazy new type of offense that flummoxed Ohio State. I said this before the game, I was excited to see what Meyer could do with a whole month to plan for a game. What happened? Rape.

I mean, we beat Ohio State by more than we beat any SEC team on our schedule. That's right, Kentucky was more competitive in the swamp than Ohio State was in a neutral field. That just shows the strength of the best conference in the nation, by far. The SEC is head and shoulders above the rest of the nation.

I'm just mostly glad to see Leak win his last game as a gator, and finally win that championship that he promised on. After all of the shit that he had to go through, the criticism, the drama, three offensive coordinators in 4 years. It finally came through this year. I wonder what he ends up doing in the pros, I hope for all the best for that dude.

Go Gators, 2007 National Football Champions
-Alex

2007-01-05T08:05:00.000-05:00

Ah, I was surfing the web after reading the TIME article saying that I am, if fact, the person of the year. I ended up doing that thing where I go from article to article on Wikipedia (curse tabbed browsing). I ended up at the wikiquote page for sportscenter. Here are my selections:

Dan Patrick:
-"Chelios with the slapshot...that's a hockey term."
-"Do you wanna play with fire, scarecrow?"
-"Now to the third quarter, because the highlights are better there."

Craig Kilborn:
-"The red blood cell count is up, OH HEMOGLOBIN!"

Kenny Mayne:
-"Your puny ballparks are too small to contain my gargantuan blasts! Bring me the finest meats and cheeses for a clubhouse feast!"
-"We're gonna show it again, cause we have editing equipment."
-"I'm not sure what the pitch is, but it tastes like chicken."
-"He found him, cause he knows him, cause they're teammates."
-"But we all know that games aren't played on paper...they are played by little men inside our TV sets."
-"Everyone put your hands up, way up in the air, and wave them as if there are no reprecussions."
-"Now for the funny cars...and they're hysterical."
-"Now on to tackle football news...."
-"Crash in turn three. Cheech and Chong are involved."
-"He scored ten off the bench. Had he been on the bench, he'd have been out of bounds."
-"He hit it over some fencing they had set up in the outfield."
-"Obviously, he hasn't watched Tom Emanski's "Defensive Drills". It's endorsed by Fred McGriff, you know."
-"Trees died to make that bat."
(I like him best, hes funny)

Scott Van Pelt:
-"That's a great pitch, seriously...FOR ME TO POOP ON!"
-"You create something! Like inward singing!"
-"He's got powers comparable to Wonder Boy!"

Those were all, actually said, on sportcenter. See, since they are really unrivaled in the modern media they don't have that stigma of self-seriousness that plagues most media outlets. That's part of the appeal, and why people would rather watch that then ESPNews, or just check scores online. It's real info-tainment. News should be more like that...actually...maybe not so much. I don't think that the self-mocking style would work on serious things that matter. However, since most local news is pointless fluff, filler, and feel-good bullshit I don't see any reason for them to take themselves too seriously. No one else does.

-Alex

Binge drinking

2007-01-03T08:26:00.000-05:00

I'm listening to the radio where I work and they are talking about how more than half of teenagers drink, and most of them are binge drinkers. That means more than 5 drinks (or, that you want to get drunk). Oh, and guess what else, those who drink are more likely to have sex and fight. SHOCK. People drink to get drunk? No, never. Especially not before you're 21! Then it's alright. Look, I'm honestly not a big fan of drinking to get drunk, a glass or two of wine is one thing, but shots lead to trouble. What sets me off is that it seems as though people are shocked by this study. Why do you think that teens would drink, because they like the taste of vodka? Haha, no. I seriously don't understand how anyone likes the taste of vodka. Drinking to get drunk is usually a waste of money and time (unless you get laid ;)).

I'd also like to mention that this planet is screwed. The last couple of days I've been reading some articles in National Geographic, which means that now I'm an environmentalist. Really, I'm scared of the near future. It seems like everyone sees what is happening but no one's doing anything about it. What especially bugs me is that the people in power don't have enough of a spine to legislate any sort of real environmental reform. They are afraid of the electorate, just like all elected officials, more than they are of a destroyed planet. I mean, Earth's not gonna get destroyed, just the environment. Some animals will always be around, and I'm not so much worried about that. The drive for money is more important to people then the world around them, and its gonna come around to bite us in the ass. In our lifetime, not our kids'. Ten years until major global climate change, ten. Enjoy it while it lasts. Some energy saving tips can be found here.

-Alex

WOW

2007-01-02T00:55:00.001-05:00

If you didn't catch the Boise St.-OU game , I just watched the end of it and let me tell you that was one of, if not the best games I've ever seen. Watch sportscenter, it's amazing. They were down with a minute left and just came back...I won't spoil it 'till tomorrow, but it was awesome.

Speaking of which, it would be awesome if I could get my money back from GRU, I overpaid on my utilities bill by 180 dollars and my rent is due on the third, so lets hope everyone can get me my money on time. I really need it.

I'll prolly start doing picture or video blog posts soon, seeing as how I have a still and video camera. I assure you that there will be a post on the 9th, late. You, too will get to experience University Avenue after we win the national championship.

-Alex

haxor

2006-12-28T16:47:00.000-05:00

so there's word out that Vista has already been hacked so that it doesn't require activation after a month of trial (something about a BIOS clock and death). Also, someone hacked the protection on the new HD-DVDs. I don't know if you knew this or not, but there's a battle going on between HD-DVDs and Blu-Ray. Blu-Ray is being backed by Dell, Hewlett Packard, Hitachi, LG Electronics, Mitsubishi Electric, Panasonic (Matsushita Electric), Pioneer, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson. HD-DVD is being backed by Toshiba, mostly. I don't really care either way, I think that Blu-ray has a good chance because of it's installed base with the PS3, however the HD-DVD is supposed to be cheaper and have better titles on it. Who knows.

But I digress, the point I was about to make is that someone hacked the copy protection on an HD-DVD already. The Blu-Ray and HD-DVD use the same copy protection, but Blu-Ray hhas a couple more layers of something or another. I think this is honestly a mixed blessing for HD-DVD. It means more consumers are going to want to use it (because it means it will be easier to eventually back up your HD-DVD movies) however it may not endear the format to film distributors because it might, possibly (and I mean, maybe) facilitate the "piracy" of these films. I'm hoping that happens.

Either way, its all too expensive right now, and I have a crappy 20 inch TV that I love dearly.

Christmas found me with a new camera, keyboard, lightning tickets, an awesome sweater, and a PS2. PS2 means guitar hero and all sorts of games, that makes me happy. You can have your "next generation," I want my game selection.

-Alex

X-mas

2006-12-25T23:45:00.000-05:00

Merry christmas to everyone. I got a camera and that makes me happy. I got a bunch of other stuff, including tickets to a lightning game and a keyboard and pretty much everything I wanted. Woot sold Bags of Crap today and I missed it :'( oh well. My cousins' PS3 looked cool, when it worked. Seems to me like if they had held off a little longer and gotten more consoles out things might have gone better for Sony, because the console itself seems pretty good. I know, its Sony, but still. If they ever manage to come out with some good games the PS3 has two distinct advantages over the 360 that I see:
Every console has a hard drive
Blu-Ray

Here's why:
360 developers have to program games for core consoles, whereas if you were just developing for the PS3 you could create games knowing that every console is going to have a hard disk device.

The blu-ray disk format can hold up to 50 gigs, the standard DVD just under 8 (I think). That is a shit-ton more space.

Having said that I think that the games are better thus far (and look better)on the 360 and are more fun on the Wii. I hardly even consider the Wii and those other two consoles in competition, because they are so different. There are also a number of orther advantages for the 360, such as Xbox live, which rocks.
-Alex

Woot rocks

2006-12-22T01:40:00.000-05:00

Not that I would want one, but at least they have their priorities straight. For those of you who don't know, woot is a deals site that posts one thing every day at 12:00 central time. The woot for today was a 20 gig PS3 (which I think is the better choice, other than the extra 40 gigs, I see no real benefit of the extra 100 bucks, I mean WIFI and memory card slots are nice, but I would plug that bad boy in, and who cares about memory card slots?) at retail price for 5 dollars shipping, and they get it to you by christmas. Sounds like woot loves the ps3s right? well, here's the picture that they had to show what they were selling:

and here's their description:

"We're using super-fast express fancy shipping to get this to you tomorrow!*

Woot Sells PS3? Wii, Wii!

So, hey, check it out: there’s this awesome new gaming system that we just can’t stop playing. Too bad it’s so hard to find in stores – we guess they just didn’t make enough of them. It’s called the Nintendo Wii, and holy mother of Zelda, is it ever a blast. If the Wii is cool with polygamy, we might ask it to marry us.

The controller – so easy! No more intricate push-this-twice, pull-that-three-times trickery, just easy waves of the hand. The console – so cute! It actually makes our gaming room look better, unlike the bulky, ugly consoles we could mention. How does Nintendo keep the price so low on that thing, anyway? And the games, good Lord, the games! Not to mention those adorable avatars. We’ve already created virtual versions of the entire staff, so we can beat each other virtually-bloody instead of actually-bloody, like we usually do. The only problem is that none of the nose options are as big as Jason’s actual nose. But that’s a minor quibble.

In fact, we love the Wii so much, we want to give a Wii to everybody on our payroll. To fund this Wii-for-the-People program, we're selling this Sony PlayStation 3. The SIXAXIS wireless controller is basically the same complicated gazillion-button-style controller you know from past PS models, but at least you won’t be fighting Grandma for gaming time. Along with the usual roster of ho-hum games, the PS3 can play CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray discs, and the 20GB hard drive can store music, videos, and music videos. It’s certainly, er, rather full-figured, for those of you who want a lot of heft for your money. And its HDMI capabilities give you polygons and frames-per-second out the wazoo, if you prefer that stuff to having fun.

Best of all, for every PS3 you buy, we can buy Wiis for two of our employees. So when you get frustrated by those intricate combo-button moves, or bored by the underwhelming game offerings for the PS3, keep the spirit of the season in mind. Remember all those happy Woot staffers whose lives have been changed by their super-fun Nintendo Wiis, paid for by you. Heartwarming, isn’t it?

* shipped today via FedEx Next Day with Saturday delivery. Rural and snowbound areas may cause delivery delay out of Woot or FedEx control.
Warranty: One year

Features:

* Plays video games and stuff"

Yeah. Wii rocks the ps3.

SHRED OFF

2006-12-20T21:40:00.000-05:00

Everyone be sure to watch the Colbert Report tonight at 11:30, because Colbert is gonna play guitar against the Decemberists. He's even giving them homefield advantage by playing in the month of December. Watch it, or you're a terrorist.

2006-12-19T04:43:00.000-05:00

I seem to be the pre-eminent game console finder in my fam, but I guess that's because I have no life. I can't wait until christmas, this is the first year that I did all of my shopping online and , let me say that I am very pleased. I got good deals on all of my gifts and got just what I thought would be perfect.

The bucs almost pulled the upset on Sunday. They took it to OT and I thought they were gonna do it when they missed that first field goal, but they didn't and dammit that sucks. I can't wait to get a PS2 and play nothing but guitar hero for the rest of my life. I'm having withdrawls.

Also, we need to all fight to make the world a safer place.

Much to report on

2006-12-04T08:34:00.000-05:00

Obligatory awesome guitar video

Okay, now to talk video games. I've been reading things and apparently they are going to be coming out with 4 new retro games every Monday. Also, according to Reggie they are going to have online gaming up and running by second quarter 2007. Oh, and I support Reggie for president of the world in 2008.

I knew it would happen, but someone's finally been shot over a PS3.

Here's a PS3 parody, makes sense to me. The Wii is the best thing since sliced eggs.

I have removed the sim city video because I've been told that it's ancient, and I'm a moron for having never seen it. If you are wondering to yourself "what sim city video? I want to see it!" then you're a moron.

And if anyone cared what bandwagon I was on in the console wars, it's gotta be the PC. Honestly, for 600 dollars, in less than a year you can upgrade your computer to have better graphics than the PS3. PC (ad Wii) FTW

-Alex