Oh so good

I splurged today and bought a blackberry. After rebates it was only 115, which seems pretty good to me. Yep, a blackberry. Being able to access the net from anywhere is awesome.

This thing has a video and music player built in. If I can find a cheap miniSD card sometime, I'll be set forever.

Yes I'm a geek.

More Magic Please

I've been thinking about Harry Potter quite a bit the last two days since I finished the seventh book. Don't worry, there won't be any spoilers in this post but there are a few things I wanted to throw my thoughts on out there for you to read.

I'm fairly convinced this won't be the last Harry Potter world book we will see. Rowling is a brilliant marketer (or has one on retainer) and I doubt she will be content to stop writing about this world of magic. Stories that I can see her writing about are:

Other generations (Harry's parents, etc) at Hogwarts.
Dumbledore's experiences at and after Hogwarts.

Are there any Harry Potter fans out there that wouldn't love to see Riddle turn bad? How about Dumbledore finding the 10 uses for dragon blood?

So many stories yet to be told. Here is hoping Rowling gives me what I'm hoping for in a few years.

My Precious

Oh how I miss having internet access at home precious.
No blogging, no obsessively checking email, no fantasy football news precious.

I miss my precious.

The last few days I've been social, hanging out with my younger sister, precious. She even fed me last night which makes me happy, doesn't it precious.

Hopefully soon, precious, we will be blogging more regularly.

A Real Job

I've mentioned many time lately that I have started a new job. After almost two weeks I'm thinking I may have lucked into a very good situation. The days are flying and I've learned (or remembered) many things so far.

This isn't just a job either. I don't just show up and get paid. I'm working on a team to make our products better. Even after a few weeks I'm starting to feel like part of the team.

Today we had our Q1 meetings over breakfast and then went to my supervisors' house for the afternoon. Free food and beer is a good way to get on my side.

My supervisor announced that as a reward for the group getting a project done, on August 6th the company is renting a bus and taking us all to a Cardinals game. They have rented a party suite since there are like 41 people going. The game is a late game so we are leaving at noon on Monday and don't have to work but part of Tuesday. Before the game we can go up in the arch and visit the museum too.

Needless to say I'm excited. I haven't gotten to go to a Cards game in the new stadium yet.

See you at the ballpark!

Honk for Peace

On my way home from work today four people were standing on the corners holding 'honk for peace signs'. Their other signs said something about 'pulling out now'. Two of them I swear warped from the 70s. My first thought was 'fing hippies'. My second thought was, 'Damn, I'm an old fart'. My third thought was R rated.

What good does honking for peace do anyway? That moment of satisfaction doesn't change the way you live day to day. All those people honking at you doesn't bring our troops home.

I didn't honk. For some reason the idea of pissing in the wind came to mind.

Monday Update

It is Monday and I haven't updated in a week.
here is a quick wrap up of why:

1) No at home internet. I'm on the public library system as I type this.
2) Julie's Mom was in the hospital most of last week.
3) We spent the weekend in Macon.
4) I hate you guys.
5) Number 4 isn't true.

My sleeping arrangements are better. Turns out my cousin doesn't get up at 4 AM every Monday. Also, having a library card so I can grab a good book or borrow a movie is going to help quite a bit.

I'm going to try and start jotting down my blog post ideas on break at work so look for better (more frequent) updates soon.

New Job and No Sleep

Just a quick update on the personal front.
I started my new job today which went really well. I'm totally digging working in groups doing programming. Who woulda thunk it?

Next up, I'm crashing at my cousins house and after one night, I'm ready to be in my own bed. Lack of sleep and I don't get along. Here is hoping that either my cousin and his girlfriend grow up a bit OR our house sells tomorrow and we all move into a new house on Friday!

Yeah!

Me and My Solar System

Reading that Jupiter is changing its stripes got me to thinking about how much I love astronomy but how little I know about it. I remember there is some sort of mnemonic (yes I had to look that up) that helps you remember them but I don't remember any of them.

Let me see how many I can name:

Earth - Is that cheating?
Mars - Martians ate my homework.
Jupiter - Did you hear that its stripes are changing?
Venus - She was hot in mythology.
Pluto - Not a planet anymore.
Uranus - Haha I said your anus!

That is all. I'm missing another big one. Now let me go cheat on wikipedia.

(A few minutes later.)

I did better than I thought while missing some that I shouldn't have. The list is:
1. (☿) Mercury
2. (♀) Venus *
3. (⊕) Earth *
4. (♂) Mars *
5. (♃) Jupiter *
6. (♄) Saturn
7. (♅) Uranus *
8. (♆) Neptune

Somehow I managed to think that Saturn was Jupiter when trying to list them. Yeah go me! I'm not sure how I missed Mercury. Being the closest to the Sun, you would think that one would stand out. Neptune I completely forgot the name of but it was the other big one I knew I was forgetting. Looks like I need to study this page on planet mnemonics.

After reading that article on Yahoo, I've spent some more time reading on wikipedia about the planets. For some reason I always think of Mars as being closer to the Sun than Earth, even though I know it isn't. One of those knee jerk reactions I guess.

Also, did you know that there is another Dwarf Planet, that is bigger than Pluto? How about the fact that there were 16 other objects that have been at one time regarded as planets? Five of those were moons of Saturn.

Here is a fact that really boggles my mind: Jupiter has at least 63 moons, one of which, Ganymede, has a diameter greater than Mercury. Titan, one of Saturns moons, is also bigger than Mercury. Jupiter is 10 times the size of the Earth and almost 318 times as massive.

Jupiter is two and a half times as massive as all the other planets combined. Crazy. I can't even comprehend how massive that must be.

I could go on but by now you have either stopped reading or you are reading the wikipedia article like I am.

Have any of you read any good books on our solar system? How about good websites?

Two, Two Blogs in One!

As if I needed anything else to distract me, I've started a blog just for WoW related posts. This way if you don't want to read about WoW, you don't have to. And for those that just want to read about WoW, you can just read the new blog which is wittily (is that even a word?) named Feign This.

T-Shirts For Everyone!

If you buy them of course.

Let me explain:

Julie and I have been plugging away on WoW about an hour per night lately and enjoying ourselves tremendously. A few nights ago she had her first blue item drop and lucky for me, it was mail so she couldn't use it.

The last two nights we dusted off Dave and Cat. We haven't played them in forever but it has been fun having our mounts. The play style is a complete change since I'm used to tanking and Jules has been laying out tons of damage with her rogue. We were able to do some quest in Strangle Thorn Vale without any problems, other than it being crowded like always.

Which brings me in a roundabout way to my topic. Julie has admitted to me that she is more of a geek now and is blaming it on living with me. She even joked that I have her on a schedule to be a complete geek by 2017. While talking about this we got to looking at T-Shirts that were geek related.

Which led to looking at World of Warcraft T-Shirts. So far these are my two favorites for her Rogues Do It From Behind or the I'm Not Addicted.

While looking for these T-Shirts I found out that you can create a Cafe Press shop for free. Creating a shop lets you upload images and make your own shirts. The free version has some limitations but if you have any interest here are my two attempts so far.

Geek via Marriage
Will WoW for Food

That's right folks. I've totally sold out. If any of you have any interest in either of those don't buy them through the store, I can get them at cost which is a dollar cheaper than the price shown.

Have any of you used Cafe Press? Let me know in the comments.

MacGyver Was Never This Evil

I just got done watching a video where you can open your locked car with a tennis ball. Now to me this means that I have to try it and see if it works. If it is really this easy to open your lock with a tennis ball, why even bother locking your doors?

Surely this won't work on all cars ... will it?

A Case of the Mondays

Yes, yes indeed.

For those of you who don't read the comments here is some of the oh so great feed back I got on Friday's post. Comments are in italics; my responses are in bold.

• Joseph Cerra said...
  Your blog should be about how cool my blog is.
  Joe's blog really is great. If you aren't reading it, you should.
  


• Star said...
  I think you should write about how cool your Mom is.
  My Mom is cool. Even if we did grow up on burnt popcorn and brownies.
  


• Jason said...
  I'd like to know everything. If you could tailor your discussion to that end...that would be greeeeaaat.
  42
  

Which brings me back to having a case of the Mondays. If you haven't seen Office Space you are required to before the next class or I'm failing your slacking behind.

Peter Gibbons is my hero. Sorry Ferris.

What is This Place?

Now that I've been doing this blog thing for over a month, I've been wondering what I should do with it.

Lately the blog posts haven't been as long or as entertaining but that is completely my fault. I'm hoping to improve them but need your help.

Answer me this: What direction should this blog go?

Looking at the traffic histories the personal stories and gaming/techy posts get the most comments. I'm going to try and cut down on the number of "Nothing happened today but here is a post" type posts.

The original idea behind The Four Way Stop was to symbolize that this was the place to go to chatter. I wanted to try to get you talking about subjects that interest me. What I've found though is that trying to find stuff that interests me and The Readers (that is you), isn't very easy.

So, leave a comment. Tell me what you think I should try. Note that I may be trying different ideas out for a few weeks or so at a time.

Final note, when I move I won't have internet at first in the house I'm crashing. I'm hoping to get something setup but have no time line. I'm going to post on breaks from work but we'll see what their policy is on that.

Final Fantasy Meets Street Fighter

No, I'm not kidding.

Not being very good at fighting games ... ever ... it comes as somewhat of a surprise to see that Sony is offeringFinal Fantasy: Dissidia for the PSP. The games release is a ways off but to me this would be yet another reason I want (but would rarely play) a PSP.

If you are a fan of either FF or fighting games check out that link from 1UP.com.

Hunting Cars

Looking a used car that is in my price range has turned out to be like pulling the ears off a Gundark. We test drove only one car yesterday and it wasn't what I would call an improvement over my car. It did have working AC but that was about it.

I'm hoping to visit Carmax later this week but my hopes of finding a decently priced car are quickly disappearing.

Friday Round Up

Being home with a sick kid gave me plenty of time to surf and watch The Wiggles. Here are some links and news that you need to check out.

1. Blogger has release a new draft version of Blogger that is the testing ground for new features. Currently they have added a button to allow you to upload video. Very nice. Look for video of the Big Bike my grandpa built that I mentioned awhile back.


2. I'm not a reality TV show fan but Paul Potts, a contestant on Britain's Got Talent, blew the judges away with his voice. This is what finding undiscovered talent is all about. There is a second video of Paul winning the semi finals. I can't imagine being able to sing like that.


3. The Kansas City Royals have beat up on my Cardinals for most of the week. Here is hoping we can return the favor when we play them in St. Louis.


4. Computer usage is all about speeding things up, right? Use this cheat sheet list to find the keyboard shortcuts and other time saving information for whatever program you may need. (From: Lifehacker)


5. Speaking of shortcuts, did you know that the middle mouse click in Firefox will cause a link to open in a new tab? Or that the same middle click will close an open tab? I'm a middle clicker now!


6. Ars Technica has another computer building guide that provides a nice look at building a complete system with monitor and peripherals. Their Budget PC comes in at $800, take away the monitor, speakers, mouse and keyboard and you are looking at only $586 with Windows XP home.

Have a great weekend!

At Home with Dad, Free Stuff Pt 2

Taylor has been sick the last couple of days and has had to spend time with me at home. We have spent time watching DVDs and surfing. Fun!

Lucky for me he just fell asleep on the couch so I had some time to check my email.
Looking at the links Joe left in his comment I ran across A Free iPod Offer. This is one of those sign up with their sponsors and then cancel types things. Plus you have to get 5 friends to do the same.

I don't have 5 friends. 3 or 4 maybe.

Free is Free

I mentioned back on the first of June that if I linked to Jim Boykin I would get a free clock. Turns out ... that next day I got an email asking for my address and on that Friday the clock arrived. Thanks much!

I really dig free stuff. Seeing as how I'm sure some of you are very web savvy, how can I get more free stuff?

I can think of all kinds of neat stuff I might be able to get free. A hdtv, a new pc, a new cellphone (thanks for making me want one Scott), an iPod (who cares if they are evil as long as it is free) and a new car.

Which brings me around to another point. I'll be shopping for a new (to me) car this week and next. Problem is I'm cheap. I don't want to spend money on a newer car. I don't want to invest a bunch of money on my current car either. Looking for a car just makes me want to hurt something. Who knows what I'll end up with.

I haven't mentioned it here yet, but I'll be changing jobs starting July 2nd. I'm looking forward to doing something that I went to school for. We will also be moving closer to family which was the primary reason I started looking. Don't be surprised if the blog misses a day here and there at the start of the month.

PCs Rule, Macs Drool

I'm kidding really. I just needed a title to get you to read this.

As many of you are probably aware, I'm a PC guy. I don't hate Macs. I can see the attraction and their benefits. However, I've worked on Windows platforms for long enough that I don't want to spend the time finding all the Mac alternatives to the program I use regularly. Do they exist? Probably. Do I want to spend more money on a Mac so I can't work on the hardware and have to learn the software? No.

My good friend Jason hates PCs because he happened to buy a Gateway PC that had Windows ME installed on it. Windows ME is the worst operating system ever. MS-DOS is more stable and functional. I also think that most of the time people that have a PC and hate it are blaming Windows for the hardware issues too. If you don't like a PC, buy a Mac. I won't be able to do your tech support! Maybe Scott will help you out. It's a Win-Win situation!

Okay enough Mac vs PC talk.

The real point of this post though is to mention how I've been looking for a good cheap video card. Toms Hardware features a video card guide that they update each month. So far I've found their site to be the best guide that is easy to read and understand. Toms Hardware also provides a nice table of video cards that I really like since it separates them into tiers based on performance and value. Their suggestion: if your card isn't at least 3 tiers higher, don't upgrade from your old one.

I've been using Newegg.com to do some pricing and have found that they offer some really good deals on all sorts of PC hardware. Earlier this year I realized that my PC is aging so I was able to find all the parts (minus monitor) for a new PC right at $600 dollars with shipping. A comparable PC from Dell or Gateway would run at least $900 without shipping. Don't get me wrong, there are some benefits to buying from a manufacturer but next time I'm going to use reviews from Tom's Hardware and other sites to buy all my PC components. Not only will I save some money but I can get exactly what I want while doing it.

Why All the i's?

Okay folks. It is 2007. Can we stop with all the products beginning with a lower case i?

iPod - evil.
igoogle - nice but not necessary.
iProspect - Never heard of it. Saw a link to it from Searchengineland.
iPhone - Overhyped, too expensive for me. Like all Mac products.
iProducts - Are you serious?

Any product that feels they need to throw a fancy 'i' in front of their product isn't going to get my business unless I have no alternative. I'd take a free iPod or iPhone though.

As a marketing ploy, all these companies really need to think about being original instead of just creating an 'i' product. It can't be that hard. With all these type of products or sites around, it screams "I fit in! I'm hip! I'm cool!". Usually the people that are doing that kind of promotion are the Farmer Ted's of the world.