Dream Theater's "Train of Thought"
Here's the album cover for Dream Theater's Train of Thought CD—which is going to be released in November.
PengoWorks LLC
Well, I got my LLC agreement back from the attorney yesterday. PengoWorks LLC is now an official corporation—instead of just my private consulting business. I'm still waiting on a few things to file with the state, but that stuff should arrive through the mail any day now.
New System Built
Well, I got all my pieces for my new box yesterday (well the pieces that I mail ordered anyway.) I bought the wrong Coolermaster Aero Fan (I read the socket specs wrong on it,) but other than that I got everything I needed. I decided just to put the stock Intel fan on, but I did use the Artic Silver "Ceramique" that I bought. I got Windows XP loaded on it last night and got most of the patches installed before shutting the thing down for the night.
I did wrong in to one snag that I'm still trying to work through. When setting up a Serial ATA (SATA) drive, the system won't recognize it as a boot device unless you map it in the BIOS to one of the IDE channels. At least this is the way it's working on my Giga-byte GA-8KNXP motherboard at the moment. I bought two hard drives: a Western Digital WD) 36GB 10,000 RPM SATA drive (which I'm using as the master) and a WD 200GB 7,000RPM ATA/133 drive I'm planning on using as a storage/game drive.
Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out how to get the 200GB drive to recongnize while plugged in to the first ATA/133 port as IDE1, while the SATA drive is mapped to IDE0. It sounds like I'll have to plug the 200GB drive in the to the third IDE connector into the IDE5 slot.
Image: Colin "Dio" Powell
Colin "Dio" Powell
I didn't know Colin Powell was a Ronnie James Dio fan. :)
New PC components on its way!
I bought the components to buy a new PC yesterday—they should be here tomorrow! If I plan on doing consulting, then I want to make sure I have a machine which will really do what I want to do. I've decided I really needed a dual monitor system—that way I can have source code in one monitor and the application in the other. (Plus, Flash development is just a pain without dual monitors.)
I'll post specs and pictures of the boxes when I get everything done.
Work sucks: Office relocation...
Well today was a pretty shitty day. For those of you who don't know, my employer has been planning to move office space locations. They still have the building I was in leased until February, but they decided to go ahead and move everyone today. The move has been in the planning stages for months, the actual move has been delayed several times over the past 8 weeks. Anyway, last Thursday evening we got a company wide e-mail letting us know we were going to move on the 24th.
I can't say I was enthusiastic with the idea of moving locations—especially since my last day is just several weeks away. It seems like a real waste of everyone's time. It also hasn't helped that they originally forget to assign me and my fellow soon-to-be-ex co-worker Joel office space (have they forgotten about us so quickly?!? :) ) but they also jammed us in to small little cubicles—well, I don't know that it fits the definition of cubicle; our desks only have two walls.
Anyway, after setting up my two work PCs—my desktop and my notebook—it pretty much takes up all my desktop space. They also didn't bother cleaning any of the desks. I opened my desk drawer only to find the words "Clean Me" written by some using their finger and dragging it through the dust. Since I'm only going to be there for a few weeks, I don't think I'm even go to bother cleaning up. I'm just going to throw what I have where ever. I'll probably get bored enough to actually clean it, but I sure don't feel like I should have to clean it. The building should have been cleaned up before we moved in.
Image: Hurricane Isabelle
Found this picture of the Hurricane Isabelle out at sea on another blog site. Thought it was a impressive image.
Funny image, stupid spammers...
Ok, I got this picture in a spam e-mail message today. I have to admit, this picture made me laugh, but you're sure do have to wonder about some people.
On the spam note, who in the world is actually responding to these damn e-mails? Don't people realize that if they stop responding them, eventually the spammers won't be making money from it. It's really disheartening to see the amount of spam I get. Thank god for Cloudmark's SpamNet.
I'm looking for a new laptop...
I've been researching laptop computers lately. I'm in the market to buy a new laptop and have finally decided the specs on what I think I want, but unfortunately, I can't find a notebook that matches what I want. I'm looking for the following:
- Intel Pentium M, preferrably w/the Centrino chipset
- ATI Mobility 9600 Pro (or higher)
- >= 60GB Hard Drive @ 7200 RPMs
- >= 768MB RAM
- 15" display (undecided on widescreen or not)
- 802.11a/b/g (at least b) and Bluetooth enabled
I've heard that HP/Compaq is coming out w/a new nc8000 model in the "Evo" case and from the spec sheet I download, it seems to match my requirements. Also, I heard that Voodoo PC was going to update their Envy m460 notebook to match those specs.
qForms: See, I'm not the only one...
Well, Steve Nelson's said what I've been thinking for a long time: Macromedia should buy qForms. I really probably out to learn the Dreamweaver API so that I can build a qForms add-on for it. (PS - Thanks to Michael Brunt for passing on the link to me.)
Now, if I can only get my girlfriend to understand that I'm "wicked smart"... :)
Interesting reading fact...
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Trillian Pro v2.0 has been released!
Trillian Pro v2.0 has been released. If you've ever used Trillian or Trillian Pro, go buy/download this update. Lots of new features—plus it works with the newer MSN and Yahoo protocols, so you won't get that annoying message that you need to update your Instant Messenger (IM) to the latest version of the software. I'm still playing with the new version, but at first glance it's much faster and the new features are really nice. I also like the fact that you can now add other IM client's, like Jabber, via it's plug-in model. Nice touch!
If you currently use more than one IM client and you're running Windows, do yourself a favor and spend the $25 (US) to buy Trillian Pro v2.0—it's well worth the money. The simple fact I only have to load one client really speeds up my machine and saves the memory for other real world tasks—plus having one nice interface is immensley more intutive to use. I can't imagine ever going back to the individual clients again.
Run Ronnie Run and go buy "Run Ronnie Run!"
Run Ronnie Run! comes out today. While it's Bob and David both agree that it's not their best work, it's still Mr. Show and I'm going to support them by buying a copy. Maybe then the New Line will remember how they messed up. Unfortunately, more likely or not they'll realize nothing other than they don't have to worry about the quality of a movie if it still sells. If you haven't bought it, go buy seasons 1 & 2 and/or season 3 of Mr. Show and treat yourself to some of the funniest TV you'll ever see. Season 3 is probably the best single season of any comedy show ever!
My life in a nutshell...
Ok, I haven't had much to say lately—haven't really been spending much time doing anything worthwhile on the 'net lately. Anyway, here's what's going on with me in a nutshell:
- Still trying to find work. I'm hoping to hear something this week back on a possible contract. If I get this contract, it'll be a huge weight off my shoulders.
- Played golf w/my dad on August 28th at Longaberger—one of the countries best public golf courses. This was the first day of some stomach virus I had. I enjoyed the golf course—but was really feeling crappy all day.
- I was sick over Labor Day Weekend—that really stunk. Jenn & I were sick together, but that meant we missed my family "get together" for Labor Day—which is where we celebrate Labor Day along with my parent's Anniversay, my cousin Stef & Scot's anniversary and my grandfather's birthday (my mom's dad.) I was really dissappointed to miss seeing the family.
- I went out dinner w/my parent's on their 35th Anniversary on September 3rd. My mom came to town to finally use the Kenneth's Spa certificate I bought her last year for her birthday. My dad and I had planned to play golf, but it was overcast and with being sick, we decided it was best to just skip it. I was really glad to be able to eat dinner with them since I had missed the Labor Day cookout. We ate at La Scalia's on RT161 up in Dublin.
- The weekend of the 7th, Jenn & I went up to Niles to celebrate her sister's birthday and her parent's 31st anniversary. It's funny, her parent's anniversary is like 10 days after my parent's and her birthday is like 10 days before mine. Our families seem to have a lot important dates right around the same time. We also went w/her parent's to an R/V show. They ended up buying a really nice 27' R/V. They do a lot of camping and travelling and I think they'll really enjoy what they bought.
- I've been playing bass pretty frequently as of late. We practice the other day and have a few tryouts for a drummer in the comming weeks—the first tryout is this Friday (9/19/2003.)
- Maddie broke out in hives once on Friday night and once on Saturday morning. We ended up taking her to the Vets to get some shots to take down the swelling. She looked really bad Friday morning. We're still unsure to what caused it, but the mosquitos have been extremely bad lately—so that's a definite suspect. (The mosquitos have been eating me alive as of late. I've got bug bits all over the place.)
- Finally got together with Todd, Monica and Nicholas to give Nicholas his birthday presents. I've said this before, but Nicholas is great. Todd & Monica are really doing a great job. Nicholas is also the first fan of our band. Whenever we get to the bridge of The Beatle's "Getting Better" he smiles real big and starts dancing—like only a 12 month old can. :)
Ok, that's about it. I promise I'll try to get back to updating my blog more regularly!