Archive for February, 2009
My favorite season
Feb 27th
My favorite season is right around the corner. It’s not spring or summer, it’s baseball season.
Ok, that was a little retarded, but, seriously, I love baseball and I can’t wait for the new season to start. I never really got into football or basketball like most other guys I know. I just prefer baseball. It’s a bit more methodical and artistic, in many ways. Plus, nothing beats being at Yankee Stadium when Mariano Rivera comes running out of the bullpen while “Enter Sandman” is blasting over the PA system. It can sends chills down your spine.
Believe it or not, the hype really begins this weekend. The fantasy baseball league that I run, over at Neowin, has its live draft Saturday at 2pm. Then, three days later, MLB 2k9 comes out and both my roommate and I plan on getting it so we can have spend the next couple of months competing like morons. Then, on April 6th, the Yankees begin their season and I will be right here in my room, wearing the Paul O’Neill Jersey that Melanie bought me for Christmas, watching the game in glorious HD. I just serious hope House, Heroes, and One Tree Hill aren’t on that day.
Before I go, I’ll throw out a slightly unknown fact about me. One reason that I haven’t mentioned to many people for loving baseball would be the fact that it also signals the impending warmer weather. I hate the winter. I hate the cold. My skinny ass isn’t built to handle weather like this. The warmer weather means a happier me and I kind of like being happy.
Bang On: I love Windows Mobile
Feb 24th
Hopefully this one won’t incite so much anger lol
…If the iPhone “just works”, then a standard Windows Mobile installation just makes you want to put your head through a wall. Maybe it’s not that horrible, but its close enough to make anyone realize, pretty quickly, that work is needed. If you put in that work to tweak the experience, though, what you’ll get is what I love: A mobile phone that works with me instead of forcing me to change my ways.
One of the most critiqued areas of Windows Mobile is the user interface. It usually requires too many clicks. Even worse, for touch screen devices, most of the OS isn’t very finger friendly, requiring either a stylus to reach those tiny touch points or a knife to stab yourself in the chest and end your misery. The great thing about Windows Mobile’s interface, though, is that it’s not like the iPhone’s or Android’s…
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A year of Chris and Melanie
Feb 20th
Today is my and Melanie’s one year anniversary. It’s been a long road, but such an enjoyable and love fill one. There’s no one else I’d rather be with. Regardless of what the world told us, we made it and there’s no one who can stop us. I love you, Melanie, and I want the whole world to know it. Happy anniversary, beautiful.
Melanie punches me in the face…on video!
Feb 18th
We thought were posing for a still image. Melanie was the first to realize it was, in fact, a video and started to dance. I was a little too close.
Bang On: We all need Apple
Feb 17th
Here’s my latest “Bang On” column on Neowin:
Before Windows and OS X started going head to head on a more mainstream level, Microsoft was perfectly fine with releasing a product that not only looked terrible, but was as secure as a paper bag left in the rain tethered to a pair of scissors. Granted, some bad publicity from some high profile viruses nudged Microsoft along, it was Apple and their marketing that really forced Microsoft’s hand, especially with Windows 7. For the first time, Microsoft can’t just develop an operating system for the corporate world and give it to the public with a few consumer friendly add-ons. The entire OS is being designed to be more consumer friendly and more secure than ever before. Why? Because Apple has made it very clear to the public that its operating system is as user friendly and safe as a golden retriever puppy in a room full of pillows. Some Apple zealots would probably argue that OS X is even cuter than that puppy in that pillowy room, but they’re just crazy.
Read: Full Article
Always stirring up a reaction
Feb 13th
It’s been one of the most note worthy attributes of anything I write or say. For whatever reason, people get very sensitive and over react more than they need to. The latest case of this started with the column I wrote this week. Sparing details that would get me fired from Neowin, I cause some chaos within the ranks as some who have invested in the site grew angry with my less than positive comments regarding some aspects of their company. I’m going to avoid the obvious “conflict of interest” rant.
Anyway, it’s weird how I’m always the guy to cause the problems. I’m not even the most outgoing person, at all, and yet I always wind up being the one who has to say the things people don’t like hearing. It can be a real pain in the ass, to be honest. I wrote an honest, opinionated article and had to deal with crap that shouldn’t have been an issue. The same goes for things I write on here. I write honestly and openly and people seem to always get offended. I understand people don’t like the negative aspects of their life to be brought to the forefront, but if you do something to frustrate me or anger me or hurt me, do I not have a right to talk about it and work through it in my own way?
The funny thing is that I’m always not writing things out of the concern of pissing people off. I think I need to stop that. It’s not healthy nor is it fair. I have to be honest. If you don’t appreciate that, I guess you just have to stop listening when I speak.
Bang On: Vista killed the skinning star
Feb 10th
This week’s column isn’t going to incite nearly as much anger as last week’s. I was just reminiscing about the earlier days of Neowin and this is what resulted from it.
Windows XP was ugly. There was no way around that fact. The default Luna interface looked as though it was drawn by a crayon on a crumpled up napkin. Nothing about it was clean or polished. It was bad enough that, after a while, Microsoft released the Royale visual style to spruce up the appearance of their star operating system. However, before Royale, there was a large community dedicated to changing the appearance of XP. A few select members of that community were celebrities, in their own right, and had a large portion of the geek community captivated by their works of art.
Many artists, such as Neowin’s own Kol, Bant, and , jumped onto the scene, shortly after XP was released, and started to create beautiful new visual styles for it. You didn’t even have to pay for them, though some of the pieces were surely worth a lot more than the free price tag attached to them. All you had to do was download a small program, let it patch your uxtheme.dll system file (regardless what some companies would have you believe, it’s perfectly safe), and install any visual style of your choosing. It seemed as though every week a new theme was coming out as these artists consistently pushed the threshold in an attempt to cover the face of that ugly baby known as XP.
Read: Full Article
The job improvement search continues
Feb 9th
I could say that the job hunt is continuing, but I already have a job, so I’m really looking to just improve my job situation. I’m pretending that makes sense and so should you.
I’m still not getting the hours I want, at Best Buy, and it’s starting to annoy me. I can’t save with the limited amount of hours they do give me and, even worse, I can’t stop the bleeding of cash. I’m continually losing money because my expenses are simply greater than my shrinking income.
I’m still looking at banks as my way out of this abysmal situation. I’ve applied twice at Sovereign Bank (second app was today for a full time position. I included my resume, this time) and I plan on applying at Wamu and Chase in the next few days. It’s not my dream job, being a bank teller and all, but it’ll pay the bills and give me room to advance my career. I guess, sometimes, you have to sacrifice passion for money. It kind of sucks.
Wish me luck, guys. I really need it.
Chains of Paralysis
Feb 5th
I’m so sick of the chains that take every word away
Letters erased that could take all the hurt away
They could settle my nerves today and make it all better
But every damn person hates every damn letter
And I’m so fucking fed up with the blood on my lips
From biting my tongue every time that I’m pissed
If a thought can exist should it be such a crime
To speak from the heart with these words from the mind?
Cause time after time I get lectured and beaten
For thinking this way, for whatever the reason
First it was humor and then my analysis
The silence you want is this mental paralysis
So, drink from these chalices and taste all the blood
Every thought from my veins that I send you with love
I don’t care if I suck or if you give a fuck
I’ll do this for me cause these words have my trust
Cause when I’m set to bust and erupt with a passion
These fucking words help to calm the reaction
No matter what’s said, no matter what happens
They’re here to listen, not seek a retraction
Cause when I get all trapped in thoughts that consume me
I need to release them, the feeling is soothing
If people won’t listen, if people don’t give a shit
I’ll write it all here, I’ll write ’til I finish it
Settling in
Feb 5th
I’m not sure how many people know, but my room mates and I were very concerned, during the past few weeks, that we would be able to stay in the apartment we’re in now once the lease expired next month. It was a stressful time on top of every thing else I had to deal with on my own.
Well, after discussions with the landlord, we’re going to be staying, so now we can really settle in. We finally got ourselves a kitchen table. Our kitchen area is small, so we never bought one out of concern we’d buy one for the size limitation we currently had and then not need it a few months later. It’s nice to have a place to sit and eat, finally.
We’re also doing small things here and there to make things more homely. A set of coat hooks down by the front door and such add nice finishing touches to the place and make it that much more comfortable to be in.
Money is still very tight and I’m not getting nearly enough hours at work, but at least I’m ok…for now.
