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!
Article: Separate but Equal?
Back on August 8th, Mark Hyman wrote the following commentary:
Is gay math any different?
That may be the question New Yorkers are asking. New York City is opening the nation's first homosexual public school for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg hailed the school, which opens in September with an enrollment of 100. The Harvey Milk High School is named after a slain homosexual San Francisco politician.
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in the landmark "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka" case that separate, but equal public education was un-Constitutional. But that was before the age of political correctness.
What happened to the American melting pot? Why is there this nonsensical drive to achieve diversity and to accentuate differences that divide rather than unite people? The irony is that if some mainstream activist suggested segregating homosexual teenagers in a separate school there would be moral outrage, calls for legal action, and news headlines attacking the suggestion. But when the politically correct thought police suggest the idea it becomes enlightened.
But it is still wrong. As one critic noted, what's next? Separate schools for chubby kids and those wearing glasses?
He brings up a lot of valid points in this article. As a public school, it's unconstitutional for them to segregate. If they were a private school not receiving State or Government funds then I believe they have the right to do whatever they want. If they wanted to allow only kids who are purple w/green poke-a-dots who were born on a Tuesday which fell on the 12th day of an odd numbered month, then that's should be their right. However, to use public money on a "separate" school is just wrong. He's also dead on about the PC police. If this idea would have come from some bigoted group against homosexuality, than everyone would have been up in arms about it. You can't have an idea be either good or bad based on who made it—ok, except for maybe when management's involved :). With all joking aside though, this is a bad idea—because it implies it's ok for public schools to separate kids that are different. Doing this opens the door for other segregation and this seems like a gargantuan step backwards. What's the difference between this and an all black or all white school? A school for only Asians?
Rainy days... Soaked apartment...
Ok, once again I've been pretty silent over the past week—its been a busy week! It all really started on Friday. Jenn's parent's were coming in to town to go to the Ohio State Fair. I got home from work and immediately started cleaning up the house and doing some yard work. I wanted to get the house somewhat respectable before her parent's got there. I didn't get everything done I wanted, but got enough done that I was satisfied. Part of the reason I stopped working is the temperature dropped like 15 degrees within a 30 minute time frame and these dark clouds starting rolling in. I could see lightning and hear thunder in the distance. It looked like the storm was heading our way, so I wanted to start putting stuff away before he got to the house. Well, the storm never ended up hitting the house, so I thought that was the last of it. Boy was I wrong!
Anyway, Jenn's parent's got to town around 9pm or so—maybe it was closer to 9:30pm. They got in a little later than planned because they had waited to eat at the restaurant outside the Mohican State Park they kept hearing about. While they said the food was ok, they said it wasn't worth the wait. We sat around until about 11:10pm or so and then they (with Jenn) headed over to her apartment to call it a night.
Right before they left, we had been watching the news and heard about all the flood damage in the 161/Minerva Lake area. I remember making an offhanded joke to Jenn about her apartment being flooded, but being as her apartment is not at the bottom of a hill, we didn't think much about it—so all joked about it.
Picked up Madden 2004 for the PS2...
Well, I picked up Madden 2004 for the PlayStation 2 last night. The new features—especially the "Playmaker" feature—are awesome. I only got to play one game last night, but my Steelers killed the Bengals in an exhibition match.
Smarter and Stinkier...
A recent test by researchers in Austrilia indicates that creatine—a natural compound found in muscle tissue—when digested appears to not only boost athletic performance, but it can also boost memory and intelligence. The most common side effect is that appears increase body odor.
"Creatine supplementation gave a significant measurable boost to brain power."
The researchers found that subjects' ability to remember long numbers improved from a number length of approximately seven digits, to an average of 8.5.
Dr Rae believes that the creatine increases the amount of energy available to the brain for computational tasks, improving general mental ability.
-- clip --
The supplement [creatine] is also notorious for creating an unpleasant odour in the vicinity of the taker.
- BBC News
It Lives!
Well, it's been about a week since I've blogged. I took several days off from work in order to "re-energize" a bit. Anyway, I'm back now, so you'll probably here a little more from me again. So, let's see, what's been going on?
Well on Wednesday of last week I did some work around the house during the day and then at night I babysat for Nicholas. That kid is just so funny. He gets laughing so hard that he starts wheazing and rocking back and forth—it's classic. He's really a joy to babysit. He's about as easy to take care of as you could ask.
Thursday I met up w/my buddy Jason and we took our dogs to Antrium park in here in Columbus. I wanted to get Maddie out and let her play and swim a bit. Unfortunately, a thunderstorm starting rolling through so I couldn't let her swim for very long. I know she was pretty bummed about not being able to swim—as we made are way around the lake she kept sneaking back in the water. I just didn't want to risk her getting struck—I know the odds are against it, but what can I say, I wanted to be safe.
CFML Language History Documentation Released!
Well, I think this link deserves it's own blog entry. Macromedia has (finally) released ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML) History list. This documentation shows what features are available starting with ColdFusion v4.01. If you are ever coding projects for older versions of CF, than this is a must download. Here's a quote from their web site:
As the ColdFusion Server product has grown since its inception, the ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML) has adapted to meet those changing needs. This TechNote provides a downloadable file providing the details of those changes to the language, beginning with ColdFusion 4.0.1 and continuing through the currently released version.
I worked on a project several months ago where this documentation would have really come in handy. I had lots of problems trying to figure out when certain attributes, tags and functions where introduced. The client was running CF v4.01. I had a manual handy for CF v4.0, but I knew there were substantial updates to the language for v4.01. Since I was doing development on a CFMX box, this made trying to figure out what was code safe for v4.01 very tricky. This document would have saved me tens of hours at the start of my project.
ColdFusion MX v6.1: "RedSky" Released!
As I stated yesterday, I smelled some announcements coming from Macromedia today. Macromedia released ColdFusion MX v6.1 today. This is a free upgrade to existing ColdFusion MX users. Although listed as a minor revision, as almost all ColdFusion minor releases, it includes some significant changes and improvements. Check out the ColdFusion MX v6.1 FAQ for an overview. I recommend downloading the upgrade and testing it out as soon as you can.
Also, with the launch of the new version of CFMX, Macromedia has released a number of new ColdFusion Development Center articles. Below is a list of articles that introduce concepts new to CFMX v6.1.
- Introducing ColdFusion MX 6.1: Making the Groundbreaking ColdFusion MX Simpler, More Reliable, and a Whole Lot Faster
- Performance Under the Covers in ColdFusion MX 6.1
- Introducing Multiple Server Instances in ColdFusion MX Enterprise 6.1
- Making the Most of E-Mail with the cfmail Tag Enhancements in ColdFusion MX 6.1
- LiveDocs: Migrating Apps from ColdFusion 5 to ColdFusion MX 6.1 (PDF)