Geek Squad... Errr.. Geek Fraud

I'm a college student as you all know, and today, in my business ethics class, we had a presentation from a student who happens to be an employee for Geek Squid.. that adolescent computer tech wannabe taskforce that Best Bought has on staff. I know this, because he pretended to know what we was talking about when our professor couldn't get the projector working and after unsuccessfully jiggling wires, returned to his seat. He had, however, prefaced his "work" with "I work for the Geek Squid... yadda yadda". Anyways, so you may say, "So what, he couldn't figure out a proprietary projection system at your university... that doesn't mean that the Squid is a Sqam..." I would agree with you, aside from him acting like a pompous prick, I wouldn't have given the situation of him a second thought... until today. He just finished his presentation, and he brought his own computer to hook up to the projector (probably loaded with spyware and porn dialers, but far from the point). Attempting to get his laptop working with the system, he grabbed the D-SUB15 VGA patch cable, held it in the air before connecting it and asked our professor, "Does this get sound too?" Wow, here's a winner. Any competent computer user that has ever done any kind of cable connecting knows the answer to that question. I definitely do not want this breed anywhere close to my computer or the computer of someone I love.

How to restore your music from your iPod with iTunes

There are many articles about how to restore music from your iPod using 3rd party software, but I've never seen an article detailing how to do it with the official iTunes software.

1. Make sure your iPod is set to "Manual Update" in iTunes before connecting it to a new install of iTunes. Otherwise, iTunes will begin "syncing" the two (deleting the music from your iPod).
   
2. Make sure your iPod is configured for disk usage by putting it in "Disk Mode". You can use the "Enable disk usage" checkbox in iTunes or do it manually.
   iPod/iPod Mini
   
   iPod Shuffle
   
3. Set iTunes to also copy songs added to your library.
4. Set iTunes to organize your library if you want (suggested).
   
5. Next, change your Windows Explorer in Windows XP options so that you are able to view hidden files and folders.
   
   Note: This step works for a variety of different operating systems, however, I do not have a different system to give instructions for. Just change your File Browser's view settings to show hidden files.
1. On the Tools menu in Windows Explorer, click Folder Options.
2. Click the View tab.
3. Under Hidden files and folders, click Show hidden files and folders.
6. Make sure your iPod is connected to your computer. Navigate to the drive letter that is assigned to your iPod (i.e. X:).
• Goto: X:\iPod_Control\Music
• Press {CTRL+A} to select all of the folders that you see here.
• Click and drag the selection and drop it into iTunes. iTunes will then begin copying your music into your music library and renaming them according to the ID3 tags that they hold.
7. That's it! In the end you get your music from your iPod properly named and organized in your new iTunes installation. Enjoy.
   

Dell Tech Support from an Optiplex-Optimist

This blog was written in response to another's post about the horrible technical support that Dell provides. Written below is my expert opinion, as I work with computers for a living. Also, to those skeptics, who say that I got special treatment because of where I work, I say this, "There are plenty of computer illiterate (read: "stupid") people out here that have problems with their Dells everyday, and there is no way, they (Dell) would ever be able to know people like that or someone like me by our work location." Dell was able to deduce my level of skill and adapt what type of technical support I needed.

I work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and we have a contract with Dell, where we may purchase their machines at a slighty lower cost. I assume, however, that we call the same tech-support number as everyone else and have the same on-line support as you do as well (I just grabbed them off the support web-site, so by assume, I mean "I know"). Recently, I had a problem with one of our machines not turning on and after submitting the problem via their online support website, I was greeted by someone who seemed to be American (in speech) and we quickly diagnosed the problem. Since we decided that the issue was either in the motherboard or PSU, and at the time I couldn't test either to determine which was at fault, she promptly shipped both items to me, overnight (via DHL) and included a return mailing sticker. I had the PSU replaced within 10 minutes of the package's arrival and sent the replacement motherboard back with the broken PSU, no problem.

Most people only complain about Dell's tech support, but rarely have I heard good things, I just wanted to share my personal experience with their tech support. However, my overall opinion is subject to change at the next time I need to call on them.

Here is the entire transcript (ver batem) copied from the email that they conveniently send out after an online tech session. Calling tech support is so 20th century...

This is an automated email sent from Dell Chat. The following information is a log of your session. Please save the log for your records. Your session ID for this incident is XXXXXXX.
Time	Details
06/01/2006 12:19:53PM	Session Started with Agent (RTS "JANE DOE")
06/01/2006 12:20:08PM	Agent (RTS Jane Doe): "Thank you for contacting Dell Hardware Warranty Chat Support. Please give me 1-2 minutes to retrieve your service tag information"
06/01/2006 12:20:42PM	Wes Alvaro: "Hi, My Optiplex GX260 isn't turning on."
06/01/2006 12:21:16PM	Agent (RTS Jane Doe): "One moment please."
06/01/2006 12:22:33PM	Agent (RTS Jane Doe): "Thank you. May I also have your phone number and e-mail address?"
06/01/2006 12:23:05PM	Wes Alvaro: "865 xxx xxxx xxxxxxxx@ornl.gov"
06/01/2006 12:23:40PM	Agent (RTS Jane Doe): "Is this a new or existing case?"
06/01/2006 12:24:30PM	Wes Alvaro: "New."
06/01/2006 12:24:49PM	Wes Alvaro: "The power button just glows orange, I assume it's a motherboard or power supply issue."
06/01/2006 12:25:30PM	Agent (RTS Jane Doe): "I am sorry for the inconvience you have had, Wes.PLease give me a moment."
06/01/2006 12:28:37PM	Agent (RTS Jane Doe): "Thanks for waiting"
06/01/2006 12:30:33PM	Wes Alvaro: "no problem"
06/01/2006 12:32:49PM	Agent (RTS Jane Doe): "Have you tried the normal troubleshooting FAQ for when the computer does not turn on?"
06/01/2006 12:33:37PM	Wes Alvaro: "Yes, I have the machine just ceases to function at all, no fans, no lights, no noise, just an orange glow from the power button is all I can get from it."
06/01/2006 12:34:25PM	Agent (RTS Jane Doe): "Have you tried starting the computer without the ram installed?"
06/01/2006 12:34:55PM	Wes Alvaro: "Yes, I have done all of the normal troubleshooting techniques."
06/01/2006 12:35:44PM	Agent (RTS Jane Doe): "I believe it may be the power supply. Do you have a spare power supply that you can test?"
06/01/2006 12:35:50PM	Wes Alvaro: "Not at this time, I don't have any spare ones taht I can try, no"
06/01/2006 12:36:03PM	Agent (RTS Jane Doe): "In that case, I can send you both a replacement motherboard and powre supply."
06/01/2006 12:36:18PM	Agent (RTS Jane Doe): "Once you receive the parts, will you be needing a technician to install them?"
06/01/2006 12:36:26PM	Wes Alvaro: "No, I will be able to handle the install."
06/01/2006 12:37:38PM	Agent (RTS Jane Doe): "Alright, then, you can mail the spare parts back when you are done."
06/01/2006 12:38:37PM	Agent (RTS Jane Doe): "What is you mailing address?"
	...
06/01/2006 12:41:55PM	Agent (RTS Jane Doe): "Is there anything else I can help you with today, Wes?
06/01/2006 12:42:55PM	Wes Alvaro: "No, that's it, thank you"
If you require further assistance, please visit us at support.dell.com

My rating

Modern, Cool Nerd
73 % Nerd, 56% Geek, 47% Dork
Take the test.

Hurricane in K-Town

Wow. That was a storm. So, while I and the rest of those in Clarence Brown Theatre were subjected to the horror of the movie "Brokeback Mountain", the rest of Knoxville faced a crazy hurricane of a storm. To the right is an artist's rendition (mine) of the storm.

First of all, I think 'twas the rest of Knoxville that got off easy.
I don't mean to step on any feet and I think that because of the "nature" of this film, that doing so is inevitable, but America is a free country and I can say what I like. If you don't like it, then, I'm sorry, that's just the way I think. Brokeback Mountain gets a big one star out of 10 and I strip it of all awards it has received. And it only gets that because of the filming. The director got in a few good camera angles and that was the saving grace from this movie receiving a big goose egg. It angers me greatly when movies such as this one sweep awards just because of its eccentric theme and "nature". That's really all I can call it. Had this movie starred completely straight individuals, the critics would have agreed. Google's collective rating was a 4.6/5.0 which I believe is completely bollocks. Some reviewers gave it 5/5, that's just ludicrous. Some referred to it as "a masterpiece" or "more than a gay movie". Those people are liars. The only reason this movie has received any publicity at all is because of its questionable content. The acting was fine, but Heath's voice sounded like he was holding rocks in his jaws. The music was so overbearing, that by the end of the movie, I wanted to choke that guitar player. I hope he was doing it for free, at least that would explain it. Although the movie's real running time was around 2 hours, it was soooo slow during 98% of it, it felt as if it would be morning when we got out. Waiting for any kind of actual content from the beginning of the movie felt like waiting in line at the DMV... endless, and since there really wasn't anything I in the movie, they had to waste time with empty scenes and way too visual "encounters" between the main characters. One scene, apparently showing the low budget (?) of the film has on of the set microphones fall into the frame? wtf? How did this POS movie win anything? Was it the "hot" stars? The nudity? The adultery? The horrible parenting? The domestic verbal and physical abuse? The gay encounters? I'm baffled by this. Spoiler:: In the end, Jake Gyllenhaal's character is murdered and covered up by the local Texans and that's when I started to rejoice... soon it would be over. :: All in all, the movie was about a complete lack of morals and how in the end, everything is alright, as long as you don't get caught. Hardly values to relay no matter what kind of movie. There wasn't any happy ending and there wasn't really any entertainment in between the credits and the title. Take it from me and don't waste your time with this horrible utter embarrassment to the MPAA. "I wish I knew how to quit you." I wish I knew how to forget you [the movie].

Back to the more pressing matter: The hurricane that hit Knoxville. Ok... so it wasn't a hurricane, but it was crazy. Trashcans were strewn everywhere, trash, rain, puddles, thunder, lightning, torrential downpours... you name it. I just wish I had been out of that theatre to see it. If I'd a known it was that good, I would have taken an extremely extended bathroom break to see it. Perhaps the worst damage from the storm is in the picture to the left. I wish I had had more than my phone camera to get a picture of it, but... oh well. I have drawn in the tree that is invisible in the picture. It really doesn't do the sight justice. It was so bad, that my UPS had to shut down my computer! Now you KNOW it was crazy. lol. I love thunderstorms.

Poodle Ball

Why TiVo When You Can Steevo?

If you haven't heard about the new craze, there is a huge fuss in the geek world with creating appliances that can view and record television. We used to call these TV/VCR combos, but no longer are they the topic of discussion. I'm talking about PVR, Personal Video Recorders, and they are becoming increasingly popular with the help of TiVo and other retail PVR/DRV/HTPC/Whatever new acronym they'll think up.
These pieces of equipment that you can pick up at your local BigBuy or ComUSA boast 40+ hours of digital recording from your satelite or cable and the ability to do X or Y. What they try to shove under the rug is the fact that they not only have a pretty pricetag with a large dollar figure, but that there is a monthly fee for their spectacular service (sarcastic).
Now, don't get me wrong, these devices are really neat and if you have the money, then grab you one and have fun. But for those like me (cheap, project-oriented, and tech-savvy), or those with the money and wanting to put their idle hands to work, there is another option.
What would you say if I told you that you could create your own "TiVo" for the same cost with better features and no monthly subscriptions? I bet you're saying "Wow, tell me more, Wes.", well, alright, I will.
The easiest way is also the not-so-much-fun way. You can easily buy a TV Tuner Card from an electronics store, throw it in an empty PCI and wam-bam-Bob's your uncle, you can watch and record TV on your current PC!
That may not be what you want. Especially if you are using that computer for other things (gaming, work, etc) plus, you'll need your "Steevo" to be on almost all the time to catch that late-night Dukes-Of-Hazzard Episode you missed. I guess if this isn't an issue for you and you like the idea, check out the PVR cards from Hauppauge. (They're at the top of the market at time of writing.)
If you want to get a little more in-depth with your DVR, digital video recorder, endeavour, then let's build one from scratch! It's simple. Here's what you'll need: A computer and a TV Tuner Card. Now, I now, that's vague, but here's where you're options come in. You can build any kind of computer you want past minimum requirements and you're good to go, but you may want go a certain route. You can get a small box to go along side your current living room e-vices or get a clunky large, 3-tuner box for multiple recording and shove it in a closet. It's up to you. XPC cases offer a small footprint and usually come with motherboards and accessories, so all you buy are drives (optical, magnetic), a processor, memory, TV Tuner card, and maybe a video card (some have onboard which may be sufficient). You just slap all the pieces together, install the software and bang, you're done.
Now... what software do you choose? For n00bies, go with the tried and true for you and install Windows XP Media Center Edition. It's 110$ for Windows XPPro and MCE (cheaper than XP Pro, I don't understand that) and it's got plenty of features for you. For others, you may choose to go the free route with Linux and MythTV or Freevo. Here is a guide to building a freevo computer with SlackWare Linux. There are also instructions for Fedora and MythTV.
Whichever way you go, make sure that your TV-Tuner is compatible! Look for the "Windows MCE 2005 Compliant" sticker, or that bttv or IVTV support your card for linux. It's makes the setup much easier and in most cases, possible! A page on the MythTV wiki prints a list of card selections for bttv.

I'll post more specific information as I delve into the world of PVR and try out the Linux side for myself. The Windows part really doesn't need any explanation. Just take their tour. It's really all plug and play n00b proof.

Ten reasons why Geeks make good friends - Revised

1. I love the innocence of Geeks. The Geeks weren't the ones face down in a pool of their own vomit for most of their high school years. A rough Friday night for them as a teenager was when the computer crashed and they spent all night trying to fix it. I don't know a single Geek who was too drunk the following morning to take their SATs. In my defense, that was the first time I had ever had 151 Bacardi.
2. My friend, Ellie, was in her early 20's and had never been drunk before. We had a huge party and she decided that was going to be the night. Around 10 pm I walked into my bathroom to see her hugging the toilet, a guy holding her hair back and her heaving like she was trying to get it out of her feet. She looked up at me as I walked into the bathroom, tears running down her face and said "Am I doing this right?" I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time because she looked so pathetic. She was completely consumed with worrying that she was worshiping The Porcelain God correctly. Now I'm not saying the Geeks don't know how to party, they just figure it out a hell of of a lot later than the rest of us.
3. Geeks are smart and funny. They get the Dennis Miller jokes. I suppose I must have some sort of inner Geek, because it wasn't until I started hanging out with the Geeks, that people really started getting my jokes. Occasionally people would get it, but not always. Once I was watching European Vacation in the theater, and the girl looks at a sausage being served and said "I miss Jack...." I burst out laughing but it took the rest of the theater about 15 seconds to catch up with me. My friend Andrew was so embarassed that he got up and moved about 5 seats away from me which caused the whole theater to start laughing again. Honestly, how did they miss that joke?
4. Geeks are always straight foward and up front about things. They make good friends because they are loyal and won't stab you in the back. It doesn't occur to them. It's not logical.
5. I like the fact that Geeks have no pretense of social norms. They will invite you over to their house to play board games or D&D, never realizing the rest of the world plays poker or drinks.
6. The Geeks will look up to you for coolness. They will listen to non-nerds. If you say, "Don't wear that, it's really geeky looking" it will give them pause. Course that won't work if you're talking about strapping the latest digital camera to their waist, but if it's not techincal, they'll listen.
7. Geeks will love your cooking. I have no idea why. I don't know if they're secretly starving to death or if their inability to cook causes them to always be starving but they will wolf down just about anything. And love it.
8. Geeks are an accepting bunch of folks. They will accept your weird friends, your family, whoever. No need to be embarassed, they've pretty much seen it all.
9. Geeks pay attention to detail. They're kind of an anal retentive-OCD type bunch. If my socks don't match, Ellie will notice. If I've got a pimple, Ellie will notice. If the cabinets in my kitchen are open, Ellie will close them. This isn't a bad thing, because if you've got something in your teeth, the female geek will tell you. The male geek will assume he has a chunk too, shrug and go on with his day.
10. You never, ever have to worry that should you find yourself in the position of having to do something athletic, that you will look like a dork in front of your Geek friends. They've cornered the market on that. If they're not the ones who are hideously uncoordinated, then they are either working with, dating, married to or friends with a number of them who are.

Ten Reasons Why You Should Date a Geek

1. He can fix your computer. There I said it. Do you really need another reason? He is not a bum. He has useful skills that can make your life (at least the part that is spent on the computer, and let's face it, that is where we all spent most of our time any way) run smooth. Not enough? OK, here's number two.
2. He has friends who can fix your computer. So now you are in a relationship and he knows he's got you and doesn't feel like he needs to jump every time you call. All of a sudden he is too busy for you? He has work to do and can't get there fast enough? No problem. Call one of his buddies. They'd love to help out. Geeks are the most helpful friends you'll ever make.
3. Not a computer person? OK, here's the killer. He can also hook up the TV, connect the DVD player and Tivo your favorite programs. He'll also hook you up with the sweetest sound system you've ever heard. It would be like angels singing to you.
4. Looking further for another reason? Yes, you guessed it. He has friends who can hook up the TV, connect the DVD player, etc. etc. etc.
5. And it gets better: Not only can he fix your computer and DVD player, he can do the same for your friends. All of a sudden your social life will pick up. Your phone won't stop ringing. Dinner invitations come up every night of the week. You'll be as popular as if you owned a truck and you don't even have to help anyone move.
6. Sigh... you really want more reasons to date a geek? Fine. Here's one for your vanity. He'll make you shine every where you go. No matter how clumsy your sense of style, no matter how awkward your social skills, you'll be a fashion star and a classy diplomat next to your geek. He'll make you look so good; you'll fall in love with yourself.
7. So you are not into computers, TVs and DVDs and you don't care about being popular and fashionable. What about the newest techie gadgets? Do you like cell phones, digital cameras, camcorders, or MP3 players? Forget bling bling. Let me tell you girlfriend, you are going to be a proud owner of the latest gadgets if you ever decide to date a geek. Your cell phone will not only have your best friends' number on speed dial, it would also be able to take pictures, make movies and even do your nails. Your sleek, sexy, and very small digital camera will take pictures that will put Ansel Adams to shame and your brand new, top of the line MP3 player will make all the heads turn your way.
8. Not satisfied yet? Ok, I hear you. You are saying gadgets and toys are fun, but they won't keep me warm in the middle of the night, if you know what I mean. Well, I didn't think I would have to tell you this, but I guess you are going to make me spell it out for you. Here's the deal, sweet and simple: Your geek will worship the ground you walk on. He'll be so happy that a pretty girl like you paid attention to him that he'll be at your feet. He'll adore you as if you were his queen. In his arms, you'll feel like you are at the top of the world. Believe me, I know what I am talking about.
9. I know I got your attention now, but wait it gets better. He won't cheat on you either. You don't believe me? Here's a test. Place the sexiest woman on earth in a room with a geek, say Angelina Jolie in a Victoria Secret sexy lingerie. At the other corner of the room, place the latest model of some computer or other. I am willing to bet my bottom dollar that your geek would want to play with that computer much more than getting to know Angelina Jolie. In fact, he might not even see her if the computer is on and connected to the Internet. C'mon he has to check his email, surf the web and blog about the fact that he is in a room with Angelina Jolie ;)
10. Ok, reason number ten. Did I mention he can fix your computer???

Ten reasons it isn't always easy being married to a Geek - Revised

1. NERDS ABOUND. You will never ever miss another episode, movie, museum or function relating to Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, or other such geek fests. The references alone to such nerdities will kill you. I don't care about Cling-ons, Tantoieen, and have been dubbed by Steve and his friends as "Ring Hater." It should be against the law.
2. MEMORY. Our minds are complete and utter LINT TRAPS. Not steel traps, LINT TRAPS. We capture all kinds of useless crap and store it up there. I can remember all the characters in a book he read when he was 8 years old but he can only remember 2 of the 3 things he was supposed to get at the grocery store. I can remember the date of Nolan Ryan's no hitter, but I can't remember our anniversary. I remember every battle of WWII, but can't remember what I gave you for a wedding present.
3. VOCABULARY. Let me call this the Dictionary Effect. He can't use normal words that the rest of us use. He says he's going to ping somebody. In my mind that means he's going to throw things at them while they sit at the lunch table. For some freakish reason that means he's going to contact them. He thinks he's a freakin' computer because sometimes he has to "let processes run in the background" for the rest of us, that means, let me try and recall......He queues up the dishwasher. For you and me, that's the time delay button while I get in the shower. I just don't even want to tell you how he uses and abuses vocabulary. If he meets someone he doesn't like, they "have a bad UI." To you and me, they were an obnoxious jackass with Asperger's.
4. BAD, BAD CLOTHING CHOICES. Fashion King he is not. Nor are the rest of the geeks. Last week he tried to get me to buy him a track suit that I swear I saw Al Davis wearing.
5. COMPUTERS ARE SEXY. You will never be sexier than a computer. They will even refer to software and hardware as SEXY. Microsoft's Avalon techonolgy is what they deem sexy. Dress in your sexiest outfit while he's on the computer and his eyes never leave the screen.
6. FREAKISHLY STRONG FINGERS. I refer to his index finger as his mouse clicker. He has freakishly strong fingers. As an oldest child he developed torture techniques for his siblings, namely by pressing with his finger right into the center of your chest. He calls this the Finger of Death. It hurts like hell. Add freakishly strong fingers to that and you have a pierced sternum. Try prying just one finger off something he's not supposed to have and it takes two hands.
7. OH GOD DID I MENTION STAR WARS, STAR TREK, AND LORD OF THE RINGS?

The Do's and Don'ts of Dating Geeks

1. Don't say it, email it: The power of the written word, errr…typed word, I mean the power of email. Do not take this lightly. If you want your geek to do something for you or to remember it, be it taking the trash out on Thursdays or your Mother's birthday present or dinner with the neighbors, don't tell him, send him an email about it. Better yet, send him a schedule request. He'll honor that commitment a heck lot more than if you told him the same thing thousands of times. When it comes to remembering those commitments, don't underestimate the power of email reminders.
2. Do make him step away from the computer. If you want his attention, find a way to get him away from the computer. He will not hear a word you say while he is engaged with his computer. You need to physically remove him from the premises of the said device before he comprehends what you are trying to convey to him. How do you get his attention? Well, if he likes steaks, then you make one and make sure he can smell it. If he likes cheesecake, then start eating a big slice of it right in front of him and make sure he hears you oooh and aaaah over how yummy the cheesecake is. If he likes you in a certain red teddy, then ...well you catch my drift. Once he is away from the computer, you will have his undivided attention.
3. Do plan your vacations around geeky conferences. My husband will have a heart attack if I planned a romantic getaway for two for a week vacation in Europe, but he'll name me his goddess if I decided to tag along for his trip to Paris for Les Blogs and a quick stop over in London for a geek dinner. There are geek conferences across the world. Heck, they even have geek cruises. You can justify the expense in terms of career advancement and educational costs. You can have plenty of time to shop alone while he is attending the conference and you can find fellow spouses and non-geeks to party with all through out the trip. There is also time left for you and him to do a romantic dinner and some sightseeing. It's really the best of both worlds. If you don't believe me, read my posts about our trips to Paris, London, Brussels, Dublin and Cork.
4. Don't boycott geek dinners. Attend a few with your geeky lover. Get to know his friends. Get to know him in his element. Believe me, you can have fun in geek dinners. Just read my post on "The non-geeks survival guide for geek dinners."
5. Do appreciate his honesty, but Don't expect much diplomacy. Let's be realistic. Your geek is not going to be the one who has a way with words. He is not going to be the most charming lad you met. And there is a chance that he might be so straight forward sometimes that he could hurt your feelings. Please understand that he doesn't mean to offend. He just doesn't know any other way. Please remember that he also won't play mind games with you and with him, what you see is what you get. So in the long run, it is better to be with an honest geek than a charming freak.
6. Do indulge him with a techie toy once in a while. Whether you want it or not, he is going to want to have all the latest gadgets all the time. Instead of letting him go crazy with the bank account and driving you both into bankruptcy, you should buy him some thoughtful and very expensive techie toys that he is lusting after for special occasions. He'll love you for it and it will also keep his appetite in check. He will also reciprocate by buying you some nice bling bling or whatever makes your heart beat faster.
7. Do take pride in your geek. I don't think I need to tell you this but you should be proud of him and you should let your love and admiration show. For their value, geeks are one of the most unappreciated parts of our society. Hey, you are dating the cream of the crop. You are with the top five percent of the population when it comes to smarts and brains. Enjoy his brains and put them to good use.
8. Do find a hobby that you both enjoy and you can do together. Geeks are not all about computers you know. They always have other interests too and they are just as passionate about those hobbies as they are about their work. You hit the jackpot, if you can find a geek who shares similar interests with you. Geeks are passionate and intense about their hobbies too and whether it is movies, books, traveling, wine or cooking, once you'll find the common interest they will have lots to contribute to the subject.
9. Don't share computers or any other machines with him. The caveman territorial instincts come right out if you try to touch what is his. Just don't go there. It can get ugly.
10. Do enjoy his attention and passion. Geeks are intense and passionate about subjects of their desire. Your geeky lover will be the most passionate mate you have ever known. Enjoy!

Top ten reasons Geeks make good fathers

1. LEGOS. The Geek is really more of a Man-Child than an adult. In their minds, they are still 10. They freakin' still love to play with their legos, and have never grown up. I have one friend, WHO WILL REMAIN NAMELESS, that still has legos in his room. He doesn't have kids. Just legos. Of course, my children love legos and Steve will lovingly spend hours playing legos with them.
2. VIDEO GAMES. Due to the whole Man-Child thing as stated in #1, the Geek loves video games. And he's good at them too. My husband is the hit of all the kids' friends because not only can he talk video games, he plays them too. If my children get "stuck" while playing their Gameboys and bring it to me for assistance, all I can do is feebly hold it and say " Mommy doesn't know how to play this." Daddy, however, can beat the game.
3. MATH. A huge plus here. No matter how old they get, Steve can still help with the math homework. My ability to be of assistance is going to last another few years before *I* end up throwing the math homework across the room in disgust.
4. SMART KIDS. Smart Geeks make smart children. Although for the most part, it's great to have really intelligent children, when your just turned two year old is using the word PREPOSTEROUS correctly, it makes for some difficult times as they get older. I literally spend a large part of my time scheming to stay one step ahead of my oldest child.
5. UP ON TECHNOLOGY. The beautiful thing about having a Geek for a parent is that you aren't wondering what your children are doing online. You *KNOW* what they are doing online and you can limit it if necessary.
   It's fabulous peace of mind.
6. SCIENCE FAIR PROJECTS. Children of the Geeks always have the coolest science fair projects. And you don't have to cajole your Geek into helping. You'll find him fiddling around with the science materials whether you asked him to help or not.
7. TOY ASSEMBLY. You will never, ever have to spend six hours of your life, that you will never get back, trying to assemble some 2,000 piece toy at 3 am on Christmas Eve again. The Geek can do it in minutes flat. Usually without the directions. Whereas I have tried to assemble toys and said "Mommy has to go to the bathroom" just so I could escape and scream into my pillow in frustration, if the Geek is around, he can take it right off your hands. I now just say "Daddy is really good at this, let's wait until he gets home."
8. GADGETS. Never again will you have to wonder what that new electronic toy is that all the kids have. In fact, your Geek will probably already own it. The problem arises when the Geek won't share with the children. "Daddy, I want a digital camera." After the child leaves the room: "I'm not spending hundreds of dollars on a digital camera for him, he's too young." I say "Let's get him a cheap one." Steve looks at me as if I just said Aliens are invited to dinner. " To have it take crappy pictures?" He scoffs and walks away in disgust. No sub-par electronics in this house! How dare I suggest it.
9. SMART IS COOL. Having a Geek for a father instills the message into your children that smart is cool. They idolize Daddy. Hopefully, they'll want to grow up to be just like him.
10. BEING IDOLIZED IS GOOD FOR YOUR GEEK. Course, you have to be careful that his head doesn't get TOO BIG. That's why I blog. Gotta keep his ego in check SOMEHOW.

Geek Top 10

Starting with my next blog, I will begin to collect different Top 10's for Geeks and the like.
I found them interesting, and I hope that you will, as well.

We'll kick it off with:

• Top ten reasons Geeks make good fathers

16 Blocks - 3.5 of 5 Stars

Yesterday, my friends and I went out for lunch and a movie as well as a Wal-Mart run. What would college kids do without Wal-Mart? We'd be forced to visit 4 or 5 stores to obtain all of the goods that we need.

Anyways, we caught the 3:45 matinee showing of 16 Blocks. It was a pretty good movie. Although the voice of one of the main characters (Mos Def) made me want to stab out my eardrums, you soon learn to ignore it and simply make fun of him. It kind of made me sad for him to think that was his real voice. That can't do much for his ability to pick up chicks. At least he has this acting career. Else, I think he would be any other wierdo guy you see on the street. I really hope that he was creating this voice, but logic tells me he wasn't... because... why would they want him to talk like that? Between that and the apparent psychic abilities of the 'bad cops' where they could find two guys trying to sneak their way through New York City, there was actually a good movie. I don't know how those guys seemed to find Bruce Willis and Mos Def, either they've lived in NYC for WAY too long, or they should seriously consider joining the Have You Seen Me? Search Group and put their powers to good use. Of course, although there was much suspense, everything turns out fine in the end. Have fun with this movie and shove aside these minor falls and the few plot holes and enjoy this pretty decent movie.

Flashing SE T637

I've now collected all of the files for flashing to the new firmware and unbranding my Sony Ericsson T637. Things seem to be a little easier than I had once imagined. This entire process is in no way illegal. I hope that this tutorial will help others in my situation who are curious as to how things work. As always, if you are unsure about how to do any of the steps that I mention, don't break you're phone. I cannot be held liable for any damage done to your phone with the steps listed below. There are many online businesses and local shops that specialize in doing this exact procedure. Also, of important note, if your phone is within the manufacturer's warantee date, they will upgrade the firmware for you. In the case of a Sony Ericsson phone, their warantee lasts 15 months from the date printed on the ID label of the phone. The date is in the format MMwWW where MM is the two digit month and WW is the two digit week number. If your phone is out of warantee, Sony is much more expensive than other reputable online flashers. Here's the breakdown on what is needed in practically any do-it-yourself upgrades:

• Software that can actually flash the phone. ie DIV or SEtool
• A cable. I'll be trying to use a T28 cable that are in abundence on eBay.
• Update since original posting: The T28 worked perfectly for those just interested in unbranding/unlocking their phones. BUT the T28 is incapable of upgrading the phone's ARM file and because of this, if you are wanting to flash your firmware, you need a DSS-20/25. The AVR and the ARM must match in version to work.
  
• The flash files. I can't distribute these for legal reasons.
• AVR and ARM - These files are what runs the phone. If you want to upgrade your phone to a newer (or older?) flash version, then both of these files are required and both of them must be of the same version.
• GDFS - This file is used by the carrier to personalize the phone. They load this with proprietary information that customizes it to their liking. There are original GDFS files available that can overwrite the carriers. This is what will 'unbrand' your phone.
• A computer. Nothing interesting here. Depending on if you use my method or another, you may need special ports. My procedure calls for a serial (9 pin) port for my cable, others need USB or an LPT Parrallel port.

When updating the GDFS, other pertinate information my be overwritten. Including the IMEI number, etc. It is illegal in most countries to change this, so you should always set it back to what it was originally when attempting to flash your own phone.

• Update since original posting: In my experience, the new GDFS did not overwrite my old IMEI, but always check. My new GDFS did give me new games, ringtones, and wallpapers, however. =)
  

I'm currently waiting on my cable to come in the mail, but as soon as it arrives, you can bet that I'll be trying my method and updating this accordingly.

Thanks to Cellular Support for all their help with this issue.

Messing With My Sony Ericsson T637

fI recently made a new theme for my Sony Ericsson. It is styled after my favorite Windows XP theme, XPMC. I've included two versions, one with images and the other, without. Just in case you think it'll run faster without images, it'll definitely save you some space, but nothing drastic. I'll be posting some more information about my new phone as I find out more. I'm currently trying to unbrand it from AT&T. They've rediculously redone the "more" button to be the mMode AT&T internet button. That among other things, I'd also like to upgrade it to the latest firmware in the process. I'll keep you updated on the status.

My Theme

Sonic Drive By

So, not much has been going on lately, the usual waste time by sitting around, of course, but nothing new. I've downloaded some mods to some of my games and found fun in that, but honestly, nothing exciting has happened lately.
To give you an example of just how boring my life in college is, I offer you an amusing anecdote:
Me and my two brothers from a different mother went looking for furniture yesterday (yes, barrels of monkeys. I told you.) And after our weekly trip to Wal-Mart, we stopped by our local Sonic Drive In for some tasty treats. As we pull into our parking spot, we notice that the car hops are actually on skates at this location and we get excited at the nostalgia that ensues.
After ordering our meals, we were surprised to see how quickly our food was on its way. We recognized our delectables on a tray carried by a car hop who seemed uneazy to say the least on skates. Coming off of the curb toward our vehicle, she annouces that she in fact isn't comfortable on skates which seemed to set off the Rube Goldberg of events where she then proceeded to tumble with our tray of treats, my friend tries to grab her from his safely buckled position in the car, she gets turned around and rolls backwards toward the street before stopping and tossing our Route 44 Coke into the air and onto the ground. She then professed her embarrassment and confessed her hatred for skates and her disdain as to why the management makes them wear skates.
This leads me to wonder why they did, as well, but as we started looking around, it didn't seem like a requirement. Not all of the car waitresses were on wheels. She, wasn't alone, though. A friend from high school who also worked there as a car hop was on skates, however, her moves were much more graceful than Ashley's (our car hop). Was she just the target of a Sonic initiation? a hazing? a joke? Who knows. Perhaps the management of our local Sonic has a better sense of humor than I gave them credit for. Perhaps the "security cameras" they installed were actually for capturing the tumbles of their employees and then secretly sending them in (in medley form, of course) to some practical joking, hidden camera prank show. The skates, although providing a heavy nostalgic feeling of comfort can produce the negative effect when burgers and tots go flying through the air landing all over a customer's car. Can someone set me straight on the conspiracy behind this?

LCDStudio

I have a Logitech G15 gaming keyboard (very cool). Anyways, I've been looking for some neat things to display on the built-in LCD screen and just the other day, I found exactly what I needed. There is a program called "LCDStudio" that allows you to create your own designs for several different LCDs, luckily, it also included my keyboard. I got to work on creating what I thought was the best I design for my computer. It includes lots of information and is very intuitive.

I have the zip file hosted for DOWNLOAD. at my FREE file hosting website FileFront. All the details are in the full resolution image and inside the archive.

Think you're cold? Think about them.

It's too cold for words HERE. My beautiful girlfriend sent me this link earlier.

The SuperBowl XL Commercials

Got 20 minutes? Watch all the SuperBowl XL Commercials from our friends at Google.
SuperBowl XL Commercials
Don't have 20 minutes? You can pick and choose which ones you want to watch. Show your friends.
Google Hosts the Superbowl Commercials

Cheap Books? Yes, guaranteed.

Yes, my fellow friends, you read right. Everyone knows that easily the biggest cost of college besides tuition is the cost of books. These overpriced and often POS stacks of paper bounded for our enjoyment are nothing less than a nightmare for the average income'd college pupil. Most of these books that we are forced to buy are only sellable for little or nothing of the resale... The cost of the spit that you wish you could wipe in the Nazi bookstore's (and manufacturer's) face. Even worse, some of these two ton headaches are un-sellable. I mean, who would want the flawed first edition paperback from a class that just tried the book "as an experiment". I'd appreciate it if you didn't "experiment" with my money. What I have for you, here, though, is an excellent compilation of campus-external book resources. I've saved approximately 800$ in two semesters with no repercussions. Sure, I may have to deal with a used book, but who hasn't? Most come in near new condition and I've paid more for shipping than for the book itself. The shipping was only 3.49$.

The main way I am able to save all of this money is through a taboo concept in Bookstores on campuses all over... "Old-Edition". Please don't draw and quarter me, it's not really that evil. That's just what they want you to believe. (If that is still too revolutionary for you, and you want to stick with your current edition books, read on, still, I've got something for you.) Old-Editions can come at drastic savings, some under a dollar, and I'm not talking about the edition from 1970, I'm talking about the previous editions. Most of them look exactly the same, save the cover which may not fit the eye aesthetics of the current year. They sure do fit the wallet-aesthetics of my budget, though. I'd rather spend my hard earned cash on video games and eating dinner out. Wouldn't you?
These Previous Editions may not be available at your favorite local bookstore, but they are in abundance all over the Internet at savings of up to 99% I've seen. Although, sometimes, if you're lucky, you can find the current edition of your required textbook at a savings of up to and not limited to 80% off the bookstore price. I can pretty much guarantee you if you buy a book online, you will save money. Here is the steps that you should go through in order to save the optimal amount of money for your new semester:

1. Register for classes. This step is obvious, but it gives us a starting reference point.
2. Once you have solidified your schedule, go to the bookstore. No, you won't be buying anything, and just to keep your financial wellbeing intact, leave the wallet at home, but bring a pen and paper.
   
3. You may wander the aisles looking for your classes and the new semester's required books. You can ask the bookstore employees to assist you via their computers.
• If your classes' book requirements are not in yet, inquire as to when they will be and repeat step 3 on that date.
4. Once you have located your books on the shelves, take out your handy dandy notebook and pen and write down the following information for all of the books:
• "Name of Book": ISBN#0-536-63241-3, $69.99
5. Grin and leave the bookstore and head back home. If you're a radical, mention to the employees or yell aloud that you're going to save a ton of money elsewhere. That'll make you feel better.
6. We're going to use the name of the book to search for other editions, the ISBN to search for the exact book and the price to comparison shop and compute savings.
   
7. Fire up your favorite computing device and connect to the World Wide Web. My favorite and first choice when saving money is to click over to Amazon.
8. In the search box, enter only the ISBN# without the "-" dashes. Up will come the exact match of your book. This price may be staggering. Don't fear. If it is you have a few options:
1. Using the example ISBN from above, we can see a good looking line:
• 16 used & new available from $0.75
• This looks good to me, I can deal with used. Especially when the bookstore is charging more that 70 times that. We also see that the new books are only 59.65$ with free shipping, wow, we've already got potential.
  
2. Are used books just as expensive? Time to look at the previous edition. Let's use the ISBN# 0321145720. Follow along at Amazon if you like.
• Under the line boasting the used book price, there is a box containing some more data:
  
  Whoa, by switching to the previous edition, we can save exponentially!
• Using this box may get a little confusing, so the way I like to search for previous editions is just by entering the book title in the search box and remove any references to the edition.
  
3. You may also want to choose to repeat the above steps with another online book seller such as Half.
4. Don't forget about international editions. They're exactly the same as their American counterparts, except they only come in paperback and for some reason, the pages feel different.
   
5. Last and certainly not least, try eBay. You may laugh, but I purchased a Spanish book on there for 12$ (hardback, yes). It came with the workbook, manuals, CDs, etc. The best part was, at the end of the semester, I sold it to the bookstore and made 37$. Wow.
9. Make sure you allot plenty of time for your book to arrive for the new semester, even though, it's normally ok for you not to have the book for the first few days of class. Just don't procrastinate, or it'll cost you. In this case, it actually does.

Don't be forced to buy your books from the hellish-ly over priced bookstore ever again. Just follow these few simple steps and you'll be on your way to financing that new Xbox 360, big screen TV, car, or other large item you could buy with these savings.

I posted this blog for the world to learn on ehow.com. Here it is.

Babies' Momma Barbie

As you can all see, this humorous photo came from Xuqa. Xuqa is a college networking website focusing its goals on spreading the half-naked pictures of college sluts across america. Haha, ok, so that isn't its main goal, but there sure are a lot of sorostitutes on there. It's a good time waster when you're supposed to be working on homework, just like Facebook. Sometimes (like today), though, you can find some really funny pictures, conversations, and the like. If you are in college and like to waste time, head over there and sign up. ... Oo and there is always that humourous website for college kids.

I'm not "emo", trust me.

So, it really gets me... The whole "emo" thing. Not people calling me that, necessarily, just the craze in general. I mean what is it with people? By trying to suffice their need to stand out, they find that they need to fit in? That sentence, I realize, makes just about as much sense as this "emo" ludicrous does. I hate even calling it that. It shows that I acknowledge their existence, when, in fact, I don't want to. I'm sure their are plenty of cool people out there who are into the whole thing, but call it what it is which is still to nice: "Emotional". I guess emo just sounded cooler. I dunno. I'm not a fad designer, but this is one fad, that I hope will come to an end shortly.

One website that lyrically describes how I feel about this whole thing is here:
The Emo Song.

I don't and can't fathom the need to wear girl jeans, paint my nails black, or have chains dangling from my dress-like-pants to the ground. I thought this whole thing started with shoving expensive clothes in the face of the "preppie" crowd, when it seems that now, places like Hot-Topic can carry items such as bondage-style abdomen covers and capes that bear price tags right up there with the most expensive mall clothing items. You see these people all over campus, and it really makes me wonder "When are these people going to grow up?" Are they going to act like this their entire lives? I mean, I can understand it in high school, trying to make the most out of the awkward years, but these people need to step into the adult world and quit acting like immature children looking for attention. "Emo-kid, why you so sad?"

"I'm an Emo-Kid, non-conforming as can be.
You'd be non-conforming too, if you look just like me."
-The Emo Song.

How computer science makes me feel inside

If you, the reader, are out there thinking about what major to go into, let me help narrow your decision. If once, the thought crossed your mind, "I think I might want to be a computer science major. Computers are cool and I like them, so that would be cool." let me help with your thinking process. You are insane. Computer science is nothing that should be taken lightly and is indeed a very serious major. Most of my days are filled with coding, reading, or just gouging my eyes out with a rusty spoon. Here is a sample of how it makes me feel:

Fredcat.net

To all you cat fanatics out there, I stumbled upon a website that should excite all of you. I was looking for some information when I just happened to find a site, devoted to being the diary of a cat. Fred the cat to be more specific. It was that picture that you see to the right was what drew me in. I can't say that I stayed there any longer than it took to grab that photo, but I had to share it.

Office Space From Justice League

This Place Sucks
So, a friend of mine recently showed me a video that I thought was hilarious. It's from our friends over at ifilm.com and is pretty smurfing funny. Check it out:
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2665580

Nintendo: Oldschool Revolution
Here is another for all of you oldschool Nintendo fans.
It's right up your alley.
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2686716

PSP Antics

Writing about the new DS reminded me of the time that I bought a PSP. No I don't own a PSP, and yes that is confusing.

Last year, 'twas a friend of mine's birthday and we went to see a movie at the local mall before I got taken for 10 bucks in a poker game in the bottom of a local funeral home... Anyways, at the mall, somehow, I was coerced into one of my impulse buys that I seem to be plagued with. This time, it wasn't just a pack of gum in the checkout line, it was a 299.99$ portable entertainment system, also known as a SONY PSP. Never had I thought about buying one of these contraptions until now, but it was shiny and looked cool so I said "what the heck". The first store we went to didn't have any, but we soon found one at the Sam Go***** store down the way. At the time, there were only 4 games for the playstation, and I figured that Metal Gear: Acid sounded like the coolest of them. Boy, was I wrong. After the movie, on the way home, I began playing with my new toy. Nice accessories, nice looking, most def, but as far as capturing my attention for more than 5 minutes, it didn't. When I was informed that my impulse game buying reasoning didn't tell me that Acid was a D&D style game, my mind was made up, the PSP was going back.

It wasn't all for not. When I bought the device, the helpful sales rep told me about their rewards program where, if I signed up, I would get a 5$ gift certificate for every 50$ spent. Since I just spent over 300$, I thought it would be a good deal. It was. Even though I returned the PSP the very next day, my 25$ (I guess it's before tax and 299.99$ isn't quite 300) gift certificate arrived in the mail a couple weeks later.

If you're a shopper at Sam G****** then maybe you can tell me what it is that you buy there? I've been up and down their aisles many times and all I've ever found is overpriced CDs and DVDs. Needless to say, I was lost on what to buy. I settled for the first season of Sealab 2021 at a ripe price of 23.99$ on sale from 29.99$. I had some money left over, so I got a coke, too. Pretty good.

I kept the shrink wrapping on the DVD since I really didn't want it. I'd seen all the episodes already and I'm just not a DVD collector. The only DVD Movie that I have ever bought was "Kung Fu Hustle" and I've yet to watch it. Anyways, not too long ago, I took the DVD back to Sam G**** with the sale sticker peeled off and exchanged it for 29.99$ in goods including a Hi-Def xBox cable set and an overpriced CD (it's still wrapped in case I want to return it). Not a bad harvest. Especially considering that I've not spent a dime there, yet.

The New Portable Nintendo System

The new and improved Nintendo DS Lite. You have to hand it to our boys over at Nintendo, they continue to shurn out excellent games without falling into the "multi-media" frenzy that everyone seems to be craving. It's a video game system and I believe one of the reasons they are so good at making games and rock solid systems is because of their stubborness. They focus on the main objective and get it right. The new DS resembles the new Revolution System a lot. It seems as if they're trying to get us ready for the "revolution". As one of the posters on the engadget website described the design, "Not only does it look like an Apple product, it even comes with the 'Damnit!, I just bought one' feeling as well." Haha, so if you've just bought a regular DS, don't dispair, even though you're going to mis out on the new design, lighter and less bulky, your clunky, ugly, and heavy DS will still work all the same.
I own two gameboy systems, the original and an original advance. I haven't and don't plan on buying own of these new systems until they're giving them away. Strangley, I don't feel the need to carry with me a portable video game system. My pockets just aren't that big. It seems that back in the day when all I had to carry was lint, I didn't mind, but these kind of systems just aren't appealing to me anymore... which leads me into my next post.

Coincidently... School again

So, school has become more of a pain in the ass than I first imagined. Computer Science lab is quite a bitch with not only a lot of stuff expected from us, but we're expected to do it with crappy instructions and unrighteous expectations. Everytime that I think I have conquered everything, I'm mistaken and just forgot to count this weeks assignments. Oh well.

School

So school has really started to kick my ass.
I have a ton of reading that just keeps piling up and computer science looks as if it'll be a little more difficult than last semester's easy A+.

64bit Processors: Worth it? ..in short.

No. Not yet. Not until 64-bit gets support.

Weekend 4 of 2006... Gays, drunks, and brakes.

So this weekend contained some pretty interesting events.

Friday started off pretty normal with a bit of class and my first CSci lab of the semester. After we got out (my friend Andy and I) we left campus, along with Andy's roomate, to eat dinner at Rafferty's and make the weekly trip to Walmart.

Saturday, was, however, a different story. After a seamingly normal day, I met up with my group of friends at Chili's on the strip before we went to the Carousel II. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's Knoxville's prominent gay club. Not that I'm gay, or that I even frequent clubs at all, but a friend of ours wanted to know if we'd go and after finding out about the drag show being held, we figured we'd all oblige. How many times do you really get to see that in your life? Alright, alright, if you're into that, the answer is a lot. But I figured it'd be a fun way to blow a Saturday night, by watching men tape themselves and dance around in dresses lip-syncing female pop singers.

On the way to the show we wandered through part of Sketch Knoxville, where we needed to cross the road. An oncoming SUV showed no signs of yielding to pedestrians in the cross walk and as he drove by, wiggled the steering wheel, purposely (?) swerving as he past us. We also saw that he happened to be holding a red SILO cup up next to his head as he looked at us as if he were trying to imitate Gene Simmons. Ahhh, thank God for drunk drivers. They make me feel so safe.

As I had expected, it was a humourous event, and definitely a bit creepy. To the left you can see the Carousel's Miss Valentine. All in good fun. lol. We left before the end of the show with a new plan of heading over to Cotton Eyed Joes' (affectionately named 'Cock Eyed Hoes') by all that dispise it, present company included.

We caught a 'T' Bus over at Clement hall to ride over to Presidential to consolidate our plans. The bus drove up, pumping heavy hip hop music out of a 2 inch bus PA speaker driver. The bus driver, with crooked teeth, welcomed us "to the Party Bus!" It reeked of stale vomit, but we were in it for the distance. Some girls asked if he stopped at 16th and highland, but the closest he came was 12th and Highland, both in th heart of sketch Knoxville, but the girls seemed intent on going anyway, even though our strange driver strongly cautioned against the four girls making the journey. Coming to the intersection to cross Cumberland Ave, my friends and I were sharing our take of the nights sights thus far. Mid sentence, the bus' air brakes brought it to a screeching halt. At first, I assumed that the bus driver had just almost run a red light, but looking up, I noticed that we were in the middle of Cumberland, our light was green, and there was a vehicle driving in the oncoming traffic lane to avoid collision with a bus many times its weight. Gave everyone on the bus a good scare and I'm sure it made the red-light-running-pilot shit himself. Without any other hitches, we arrived at our dropoff where the bus driver greeted the next riders with the same enthusiasm and vigor as he had us. They were obviously ready to party as they were dancing to the crappy muddled music eminating from the bus. Some, the bus driver called by name asking "Where's your girlfriend?" How often do these people ride the bus? Of course, I guess it's better than getting hammered and then trying to drive. Ahhh, thank God for buses, they make me feel so safe.

We got to my friends Laurel and Kathleen's ( right two respectively) dorm room where we proceeded to decide that 'twas too late to go all the way to Cotton Eyed Joes, now. We put it off until this Friday when Laurel's out of state boyfriend, Craig would be in town to join in the fun. So we just laid around and watched some MTV programming before we all headed home.

Windows XP Pro x64

Next on the agenda for review is Windows XP Professional for those of us with an x64 architecture. You may have seen the warnings: "You may want to upgrade your operating system to make use of your 64-bit cpu." Etc, etc, blah blah blah. Well, I thought it was just a bunch of crap. Being a computer science major, of course, I knew it wasn't, but how much of a performance increase could it really be? Let me be the first to tell you, the difference was like night and having your eyes burned out with the most intense light in the universe.

My computer not only runs faster (understatement) but it is also more stable than I have ever seen it. It blazes through every task. Nothing slows it down. Memory management is the best I've ever seen, and although I haven't been using it very long, I really don't want to go back.

I'll eventually have to rollback, however, for a few reasons:

1. The trial only last 120 days.
   
2. I don't have the money to throw around on a new OS.
3. I really don't like throwing money I do spend on an OS at Microsoft.
4. For now, I'm stuck with the one and only crappy version of MS MCE 2005.

Yeah, seems I won't be permanently switching to a 64-bit OS for a couple year and score now until the Vista reign begins. It really kind of makes me sad now that I have seen what I am missing.

Although driver support isn't quite there, and of course programs and games haven't been optimized for the 64-bit platform, the next question in your mind is "How is the backwards compatibility?"... or maybe not. Maybe you haven't even thought of that. But thanks to M$' WoW32 Emulator, they can all run on the new OS. For you HL players, Valve has released a 64-bit version of its engine via steam. Our friend (not literal) Illrigger further down the post believes that the emulator eats up system resources like Aunt Bertha on Thanksgiving, but I would have to question his cunningness as a computer person if he is experiencing problems. I found Vx64 to half my resources in most cases. I just thought that you, the reader, should hear both sides of the opinionated story.

As for the 64-bit HL, I'll soon be jumping on that bandwagon and I will post an update on how that goes.

Microsoft Windows XP x64 | 78% Approval
Pros: FAST, stable | Cons: Lacking Support for now.

Yahoo! Widgets

So I figured that I could begin reviewing electronics that I buy and various software titles that I find useful to me or just cool is fine, too.

To start with, I humbly offer you the Yahoo! Widget Engine. I know what you are thinking, "Wes, are you out of your mind? All those things do is eat up your system resources!" I would fully agree with you on most occasions, but these are a little better.

For starters, I found the Yahoo! Widget Engine (formerly Konfabulator) offered not only a huge array of widgets to choose from, but also offers the ability to create of tweak (programming skillz required) widgets to your liking! Most I find very useful, especially the iTunes companion which can automatically add album art to your iTunes music library (extremely annoying and repetitive to do manually).

If you only have a small amount of system resources to spare, then these widgets most likely aren't for you. But most are very nicely designed and their appeal is 9 / 10 in aesthetics. Having 2GB of physical memory in my computer makes the decision to use these very easy.

Yahoo! Widget Engine | 87% Approval
Pros: Neat, Useful | Cons: Can hog resources

Tristan and Isolde

Tristan and Isolde. Actually a good movie. 4.5 stars out of 5 from me. Pretty good acting, great story line and, overall, just a well-filmed movie.

Katherine and I went out on a date to celebrate MLKJ day. Out to eat and to the movies. We ate at an Italian restaurant called "the Gondolier." I used to work there when I was in high school. Except the one I worked out was in Lenoir City. This one was on Cedar Bluff. Pretty good food if that's your forte.

The Faint -- Danse Macabre

The Faint: Cool Electronic Music.

I figured that, as a courtesy, I would let all of you women out there already captivated with my keen intellect and charming demeanor know that I am happily a non-single man. (far left)

Computers dot dot dot

This week, I was finally able to get my computer back together and running to my specifications. Finally. I thought that was gonna end up as an ordeal, and really, it did, but all is fine. After shocking my last motherboard boasting an AMD Athlon XP 2600+, I've been left to using my centrino laptop as my main mode of computing. Not all that bad, but since I use my computer as a Media Center for watching TV, I was left without a portal to the outside world.

Now I am running a AMD Athlon 64bit 3700+ held up by an ASUS A8V-Deluxe motherboard. This mobo is really the last of its breed having a ton of features and supurb overclocking ability as well as highlighting the diminishing AGP architecture. After looking high and low all over the Internet, I was forced to buy it from ebay due to the out-of-stock messages that I kept getting. I can say that I am very happy. Finally a computer to really have some guts to drive my nice dual screen display setup. For the first time in my life, I have a really nice computer. It's about time, since, as a computer science major, I should have some good hardware.

For you technical gurus, specs:
AMD 3700+ Athlon 64bit @ 2200Mhz Stock w/1MB L2 cache
*Current overclocking status: 10% over stock
Thermal Take Big Typhoon Passive Watercooling Super Quiet CPU Cooler
2000 MB (2*1GB) DDR400 SuperTalent DDR
200GB Seagate UDMA
250GB Seagate UDMA
160GB Seagate UDMA
160GB Maxtor UDMA
160GB Hitachi SATA
NEC Dual Layer CD 16x DVD+-RW
Optorite CD-RW 48x (broken? bah, 19$)
ATI X700 Pro AGP 8x Graphics card w/256MB GDDR
UltraTV Tuner M150 from Avermedia
Microsoft MCE Windows SP2
2*19" 12ms Liquid Crystal Displays 1-DVI 1-DSUB
Logitech 5.1 Optical Z5500 Surround
Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard
Logitech G5 Laser Gaming Mouse
and 1 big ass mouse pad

A little late, but that doesn't change how funny I I think this picture is. Great artistic talent conbined with humor. What an awesome combination.

Monster Jam Oh-Six

Well, yesterday I happened to attend probably the biggest cultural event this side of the mason-dixon line. It was here on campus, too, what luck! What are the odds of this very awesome event coming to Knoxville? Probably pretty high. I mean the concentration of followers in the surrounding area has to be staggeringly high. Knoxville was just the logical place to gather all of this unique people.

So I guess by now, you've either heard of "Monster Jam," so you know what I am talking about, or you are still in the dark and wondering what the heck I am blabbering on about. Well, if you live in the East Tennessee area, and have come in contact with a television set in the past month, then you've heard the all framiliar voice in the all framiliar tone telling you "Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!" (Except for the fact that the event took place on Friday and Saturday.) monster trucks would be taking over Thompson Bowling arena for one of the biggest rallies in Knoxville, probably ever.

You know, to my knowledge as a loyal television watching American, if my memory serves me well, I believe that there was also a monster truck show at the Civic Coliseum last weekend, but who knows. I just hope that if there was, that it wasn't half as cool as the one I witnessed, or I should be saddened.

Well, 'twas I and two of my friends. We met up last night around six in the famous 'courtyard' on campus. We walked in the freezing weather over to TBA (haha) and went to the unaptly named "Will-Call" window to pick up our tickets.

So why is it that it is called the "Will-Call" window. I assume it's really an outdated term with some archaic meaning, but really, it doesn't make any since. Just as the use of the word 'since' in that past sentence didn't either. Frankly, that was just the wrong word. So what makes that any different? We weren't planning on calling that window, nor anything else of the sort that had anything to do with will or calling. We just needed to pick up our tickets. So wouldn't it be better named the "Pre-Purchase" line or the "Internet Order" line, or even better, just give the company a plug and call it the "Ticket's Unlimited Pre-Order" line. Anything, really, except the "Will-Call Window." That's just ignorant, but enough about my rant, back to the ultimate truck rally.

So I had never been to TBA save once or twice in my life half of those times being in the pre-pubescent time when facilities larger than a small ranch style house seem larger than life. Point being, I really didn't know how big the place was. My friends and I, after collecting our "will-call"ed tickets, made our way to the top side of the building to stand in line with a large collection of other men, women, and children from all walks of life except that of upper-class to await the opening of the doors.

When the clock struck seven, our heroic Knoxville Police opened the doors and greeting everyone with the beeping of metal detectors as they scanned all event-goers. Once inside, we made our way to our seats, Section 104 row 14. However, after resting our gludious-maximus-es (maximi?) into our relaxing hard plastic seats, we look out into the center to see nothing but a small floor with a couple cars at one end.

Our hopes of having mud slung on us and tired coming inches from our face were squashed by a large "safety zone" around the parameter and oh, yeah, the absence of mud. How can you have a monster truck rally without mud? It seems sac-religious. I really had no idea that such lame things existed. The commercials, at this point, had done nothing but mislead... but I guess, that was exactly what they were supposed to do. I mean if I had seen video of a previous rally in TBA, I would have most likely not bought a ticket.

Having already missed the "Pit-Party" which I was downed about, we proceeded to lounge in our seat for the remaining hour before this awesome (still hopeful) spectical was to begin. The announcer made his way out to the floor every few minutes with interviews with the drivers and some behind the scenes infomation about the event. There was even some early dialogue between the "quad-racer" team captains. These scripted events were nothing but mildly amusing as the "Team Florida" and "Team-Tennessee" faced off in quad races throughout the night. For those of you unframiliar with quads, imagine with me a crossbreed, a hybrid, of an ATV and a go cart.

Once 8 oh-clock rolled a-round, the show got started with large 10000 lb trucks and extremely loud 1500 hp engines. Smashing cars and launching into the air pulling wheelies and donuts, the night seemed to at least fill my expectations. My favorite event had to be the donut competition. Huge trucks breaking loose atop the concrete floor spinning in circles... that may not sound like anything special to you, but it sure made my day. One truck driver even managed to do some kind of special move during the freestyle and jump the line of cars backwards. Crazy, sheer ludicrous.

Of course Team Tennessee ended up winning the quad races at the last minute, defeating the cheating Team Florida throughout the wrestling-like-scripted exchanges between events. One of the coolest things of the night was the jetquad they brought out at some point. It was a quad, but not a normal quad. It had a turbine from a helicopter to use for projection. They put some kind of other special device in it, that allowed for huge flames to come shooting out of the back. Wow.

If you've never been to a monster truck rally and anything above peaked your interest, I would highly suggest heading over to a Monster Jam near you.... It's just too bad that Grave Digger couldn't make it. =(

My Blog

So, today marks the start of a new era. That being the era in which I start keeping a blog. Why, you ask? Well, my English 102 teacher used the incentive of "mucho extra credit" when referring them, so not only will this probably be good for me just to let out frustrations to my "Dear Journal" friend (which happens to be the world if they care to read) but will hopefully also help my grade. Sweet.