mr. blackandwhite

Quick recap of the last few days from Friday up till now which is Wed.

Hey whats up everybody? Happy hump day.

Quick recap of the last few days:

The Supersuckers show last Friday = Awesome.
Driving home from Boston after the Supersuckers show with toothpicks holding my eyes open sometime prior to dawn on Saturday morning = Not awesome.

Not having to go to work after the Supersuckers show last Friday = Awesome.
Being pretty much total junk all day on Saturday due lack of sleep and seriously wondering if I'm getting too old to go to these rock shows = Not awesome.

The Patriots beating the Jets in Jersey on Sunday after football 'fans' in nyc celebrated Tom Brady's season ending knee injury and crowned themselves the presumptive AFC East Champs the week before = Awesome.

The Red Sox tying The Rayz for first place in the A.L. East on Monday = Awesome.
The Red Sox falling a game back again after The Rayz walk off win last night = Not awesome.

Finding lolinator.com earlier today = Awesome. (I like to end the post on an 'Awesome')

(H/T to the The DSC Drop for the lolinator link. Also, my drop.io is feeling lonely..)

HA!

High Fives all around for Typepad

Before this gets too far in the past I want to send a sincere thank-you out to Ginevra and the folks at Typepad who helped me out tremendously with the problem I was trying to solve involving Typepad typelists and getting them to display only on the front page of the site and not on posts, archives or categories.

In order to make the change it was necessary to convert my site design to an advanced template and make some changes to the html guts of site. Ginevra hooked me up so that I could experiment with the necessary changes and make sure that they would work the way I needed them to.

Thankfully the solution to the problem was relatively easy and the issue has been solved. Thanks again to Ginevra and Typepad tech support for their assistance!

For anybody on Typepad who is running into this situation, here's what I did:

- Upgrade your site design to an advanced template. (Unfortunately, according to Typepad, there's no way around this at the moment.)

- In the advanced template, edit the sidebar template. Don't make any changes, just select all, copy, and close out of the sidebar template.

- Create a new sidebar index template, name it something appropriate. (I called mine sidebar_no_ads.inc)

- Paste in the info you copied from the original sidebar template.

- Find the Typelist that you don't want to be displayed site-wide and simply comment it out like so:
(you may need to do a little comparing between your actual website and the html code to locate it in the code):

<!--#include virtual="/lists/phenotype/module.inc" list_id="1234"-->

becomes:

<!--include virtual="/lists/phenotype/module.inc" list_id="1234"-->

- Save the updated sidebar template.

- Now simply edit the archive templates that you don't want the particular typelist to appear in (in my case, advertising links) and replace the 'sidebar.inc' with your new sidebar template, like so:

<!--#include virtual="/<$MTBlogDirname$>/sidebar.inc"-->

gets replaced by:

<!--#include virtual="/<$MTBlogDirname$>/sidebar_no_ads.inc"-->

- Save each template and when you're finished republish your site. Done. No more site-wide typelists. In my case, no more site-wide ads. Yay!

Hopefully this info proves helpful to anyone out there running into this dilemma (and hopefully this gets me off of Google's naughty list and back on to the nice list, which is where I belong. Because I am nice. Mostly.)

Anyone know how to make Typepad Typelists display only on the front page and not on blog posts?

Consider this a call for help to all of the web-o-sphere magicians out there, particularly those well versed in Typepad or maybe Movable Type.

I'm getting killed by my site sponsors because my text advertising is displayed across the entire site; on the main page, in posts, archives, etc etc.

Over the past few months Google has decided that they don't like people who have site-wide ads (and are not using Google Ad-Sense) and they are punishing sites and advertisers who have site-wide advertising links by lowering their page ranking.

I need to somehow come up with a way to make a Links Typelist (which is where the ads are placed) appear only on the main page and not in posts or other areas of the site.

I've been in touch with Typepad support over this issue, and their solution for me was to upgrade ($$$), switch to an advanced template and then create separate page templates for each section of the site. Kinda kludgey and costly as well. I'm wondering if there might be an easier way to do it before I shell out to upgrade my account..

This has become a huge issue for me and I am sure it is affecting others who display ads on their sites as well. There are solutions to this problem for Blogger and Wordpress, anybody know if there is a solution to this problem for Typepad??

I'm trying to save up for a new acoustic guitar here peeps, and the angry Google Web God is putting a big kink in my plans. It's like being on Santa's naughty list. Nobody wants to be there. I need to make Google like me again.

Help!

Thanks web friends.

Random observation while waiting for the clock to strike 'beer'...

Inspired by this post at Cullen's site:

Did you ever notice that rock stars can become actors / actresses but actors / actresses cannot become rock stars?

I can think of a bunch of rock stars and musicians who have become fairly successful in movies and T.V. but I can only think of one actor / actress that has successfully jumped into music: Jack Black (Tenacious D). The only other person I can think of is John Schneider from the Dukes of Hazzard.

It seems to me that most of the time when an actor attempts to get into music, they are generally derided (think: Keanu Reeves / Dogstar) but when a musician becomes an actor it is looked at as cool.

What do you think?

I'm not exactly Mr. Pop-Culture so I'm sure there must be a few other examples of actors / actresses who have succesfully turned into musicians. Try and name me a few if you can..

Car Songs

Semi-inspired by a recent post by Michele at A Big Victory, semi-inspired by the fact that it's the Summer Nationals this weekend in beautiful Worcester, MA and semi-inspired by the fact that I don't want to write about the Red Sox dropping another game to the A.L. East leading, Rays.. (They're still the Devil Rays to me.)

Mike Ness - I'm In Love With My Car
The Supersuckers - Hot Rod Rally
Reverend Horton Heat - Like A Rocket
Clutch - Passive Restraints
Fu Manchu - King of the Road

Bonus:
Dead Kennedys - Buzzbomb from Pasadena

Bake em up.

(drop.io)

Hmmm. What do I make of this?

Is this a good thing or a bad thing??

Also, not that I care about such things but, apparently:

Hmmmm... Ok then!

ONETWOTHREEFOUR

I'm loving drop.io. Drop some more on me here.

The other night I was practicing the geetar while watching the Celts / Hawks game in the background. The game ended with a C's loss after holding 10+ point leads throughout the game.

As the game was winding down, the last couple songs I happened to play were 'Shot Down in Flames' (AC/DC) and 'Death or Glory' (The Clash).

Appropriate.

Note:
I turned off the Social D track after I realized it was loading every time somebody opened the page, which can be annoying to the reader. (See, I care.) You can still hear it on my drop page.

Send me some shite at my drop.io

I just started fooling with this: drop.io.

I found it after listening to some of the recent episodes of The Daily Sourcecode and so far it seems super cool.

I made my own drop.io and you can go look at it right here .

I don't have much on there right now but I'll probably drop all kinds of junk in there over time. Feel free to send me your shit, junk, nonsense or anything that you think will make me laugh while I'm sitting here in hell, I mean.. at the office. It's a free-for-all, for now anyway, so go nuts.

{Mood: Ted Nugent - Free For All}

Too cool for school..

I got my new iPod Classic last night and I am totally loving it. I upgraded from an older 3rd gen iPod and I am blown away by how much stuff you can do with this new iPod. This thing is too cool for school.

Before I could use the new iPod Classic I had to get a USB 2.0 PCMCIA card for my old Titanium Powerbook so that I could connect the Classic to my computer. I got a Belkin USB 2.0 card, (model F5U222) and it works great. Zero problems. Just plugged it in to the cardbus slot, no drivers to install. Done. To sync the iPod with my computer I have to plug in an external power supply into the USB card (the power supply is included with the card). Plugging in the external power supply is not exactly 'elegant', but it gets the job done so I am happy with that. Better than buying a new computor!

It is so great having all my songs back on my iPod. No more turning songs off to fit new ones on. So awesome. You'd probably be shocked if I told you some of the songs I had to turn off. Well, they're all back now.

Welcome back podcasts! I can't wait to listen to my old favorite podcasts again and to find some new ones too.

If you listen to any cool podcasts, feel free to send me some suggestions, especially any that are music or sports related!

One thing I could not help but note, and it's not really bad, just an observation, is that you get zero accessories with the new iPod. My old 3rd gen iPod came with a dock, earphones, extra ear-bud covers, a wall charger, a protective case, the charger/connection cable and a bag to hold stuff. The new iPod comes with a usb cable, earphones, and a univeral dock insert, which by the way, does not fit in my old 3rd gen dock. All the stuff that used to just come with the iPod you now have to shell out extra $$$ for. In Apple's defense the new iPods are less expensive than they used to be, so I guess in the end it all evens out.

Ok I have to go back to geeking out with my new toy. The iPod is definitely one of the best presents I've ever received. I'd have to rate it either as #1 or a close second after the Skyway T/A BMX bike I got when I was a kid. The Skyway was (and is) a pretty cool gift. Old school BMX, yo.

Computers continue to suck..

I'm really hatin' on technology this week. All my gear at home is getting old and outdated. It happens. That's just how it is, but that does not make it any more pleasant when you become the one who is outdated.

The problem is, all my stuff still works fine, it's just, OLD.

I have a 3rd gen iPod that I use constantly. I've replaced the battery in it once and now it's starting to show signs of battery death again. Not only that, but it's full. It can't fit any more songs. I am constantly turning songs off in iTunes so that new songs that I add will fit on the iPod.

Rather than replace the battery again, I figured this time I'd just go for one of the new, spiffy iPods. They are 4 times bigger than my current iPod and the battery lasts way longer.

Thanks to my extremely thoughtful Wife, I got a bunch of Apple gift cards for my birthday a while ago, enough to add up to a new iPod, so today we trekked out to the Apple store in Holyoke, MA (a friggin haul) to pick one up.

Bad news. The new iPods only work with USB 2.0, something my old reliable TiBook does not have. Thankfully I realized this and I didn't trade in my old, still working, iPod for a new iPod that looks cool but can't be used with my computor. It was disappointing, but better than the alternative, a cool iPod with no tunes on it.

So in the near future I'm going to be trying a somewhat expensive experiment. I'm going to get a USB 2.0 PCMIA card for the PowerBook and hope it works ok with the, eventual, new iPod Classic..

Or I could just take the guy at the Apple store's suggestion and buy a new compewtor. Yah, right.

If you're wondering why I'm not posting as much...

Yeah so it's not like I was posting every day or anything but if you ever wonder why I'm not posting as much, see above image. This is my :-)

Thanks

Yup. M-hmm.

Hey whats up you. Wow could this blog possibly get any more stale? Could it get any stale-er? Is stale-er a word? If this blog were any stale-er than it is now, it would be a crouton and you could put it on your salad to make it crunchy. Salad is good. I like buffalo chicken salad. Do you? Hey it's lunchtime!

So I'm going to change up the design here soon and it's going to totally rawk. Fully AND totally. And that's a lot. It's going to be the website equivalent of when I saw Dokken and Judas Priest back in 1985. Well, actually that level of rawk will be kind of hard to live up to. That rawk level would be a pretty big achievement. Because I was like in the 7th row on the floor for that concert and Rob Halford rode his Harley out onto the stage before Priest played Diamonds and Rust. Or was it Victim of Changes? Maybe it was Turbo Lover.. Fuck I can't remember. But, as far as the site goes, it will have some different colors and stuff soon. Because this current design says 'winter' and I am sick of winter. There you go.

The B's lost AGAIN last night. God following that team is an exercise in frustration. At least they are still clinging to that 7th place playoff spot. Just because .500 hockey gets you into the contest does not mean you have to actually PLAY .500 hockey guys. Geez.

At least we have the C's. The Celts are all good times and happiness right now. The playoffs should be good. Hopefully the C's are not a flop once the real games start but the way this team is made up, I don't think that will happen. A 17th banner in the Garden would be really nice. Plus then people all over the U.S. could hate Boston some more. It's the new national fad, which we all truly appreciate.

Alright enough blabbing. I've got some leftover hamburger helper here that is feeling lonely. Have a good Friday!

{mood - Turbonegro: Locked Down, Hank III and Assjack: Disrespectful}

Don't be dumb like this idiot (who is actually me.)

Posted to the Mac Office Entourage Usenet Group:

---
Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: Power PC
Email Client: pop

1. After seeing the [MS Office 2008] 12.0.1 update was available I continually tried to do 'AutoUpdate' from the help menu. No updates found. I eventually downloaded the stand alone installer and ran that.

2. Admittedly, my own error, forgot, did not pay close enough attention, etc, I forgot to turn off Office Notifications before running the update. This left me with Entourage still at version 12.0

To fix it I had to log out, log in with shift key, un-install office 2008, re-install office 2008, run the 2.1.1 updater and then run the 12.0.1 updater. Now Entourage was at the right version. Maybe the next updater that comes out should quit all Office Apps and background apps like the notification engine??

3. Anxious to see if sync duplication for calendar events is fixed, I re-enabled sync in Entourage, stupidly forgetting that I had previously deleted my entourage calendar from iCal. Thus all of my entourage calendar entries were deleted when the sync occurred. What a disaster.

Thankfully I had a backup of an old iCal calendar database so I re-imported that into iCal's Entourage calendar, which then synced back to Office 2008 Entourage, so I got most of my calendar events back. However, after the sync, the timezone for all my events was, once again, set to Casablanca, Monrovia... Ug. Thankfully I had an Applescript provided by a very helpful person from this board that changed Monrovia timezones to Eastern timezones.. I have not seen any sync duplicates yet but it has only been a short time. I guess we'll see what happens on that one..

And now I will vent:
I realize that some of these issues are considered to be 'user error' but just the same I am still very frustrated by this experience. I was chugging along on Office v.X for years with no problems. I wish I had never updated to Office 2008. It has NOT been worth the hassle.

I'm now seriously thinking of just ditching MS Office and using the built in Apple apps because this is not worth the time and irritation.
---

The moral of this story:
COMPUTERS SUCK> BACK UP YOUR SHIT.

Or, as my Wife says, 'That's why I keep all my contact info and calendar stuff in a dayplanner.'

666 quirks

I had a post written for today but it got lost when I accidentally navigated away from the page. Dammit. I'm not re-writing it.

In the meantime, I was tagged by The Army Wife, so here goes:

- I am facial hair impaired. I want to grow a fu-manchu mustache but I can't grow a mustache. At all. Even though I try. It just looks dumb.

- I don't like sugary candy, like skittles or gummy-bears. I only like chocolate bars.

- I have no resistance to chocolate chip cooooooookieeeeees. I will eat a whole batch unless I am scolded by my Wife.

- I actually believe stuff I do at home can affect the outcome of a football/baseball/hockey game. My actions have no affect on basketball games.

- I like scented candles.

- I am obsessed with my lawn. I want it to look like the outfield at Fenway Park. Weeds are my enemy and they shall be destroyed without mercy.

Take it and run with it. Happy Friday!

*FRIDAY BONUS*
I collect beer coozies. They keep your drinks cold in the summer, and your hands from getting cold in the winter. I've got Patriots, Matt Kenseth, #1 Dad, Dale Earnhardt, St. John U.S.V.I. and Supersuckers koozies in my collection. One for every occasion! Pretty cool, huh?

Becase I suck at netiquette..

Question:
If a website is linking back here but said website has not been updated in like, a year, is it considered ok for me to take that site's link down off of my own site? Or would that make me a total jerk on the internest?

Yes, I actually wonder about this stuff. I am not savvy when it comes to these things.

audio test

I am trying to make an audio player from Wordpress work in Typepad. This is a test post which I am sure you will find to be overwhelmingly interesting.

Mr. Nosebleed Section Ticket Holder Guy

Update:
Awesome. I made it work.

Here's to you Mr. Cool Audio Plugin Writer Guy and you, Ms. Cool Audio Plugin Figure-er Outer for Other Sites and Telling the Rest of Us Chick. Touch the sky!

Oh yeah, GO PATS

Update 2:
I notice that the audio player thingie does not show up in my RSS Feed and that I am also feeling VERY nerdy at the moment. In any case, here is another try using a different method. Let's see if this one shows up in the RSS feed. And awaaaaaay we go!

These cars come with the pussy magnet, standard.

The SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) auto show was recently held out in Fabulous Las Vegas. This car show features some of the most tricked out, drool-inducing autos you're ever going to see, anywhere.

I was recently contacted by SEMA Insider to see if I'd be interested in sharing some exclusive photos from the show on this here website. Um, YEAH!

Here you go! Check out these awesome pics from the show and head over to SEMA Insider.com for more great content from the SEMA auto show!

Chevy Bel Air. Please try not to drool on the car. Thank you.

Wow. Nice Scion. That thing is cool. Maybe there is hope for my RAV-4 after all..

Mopar. {Swoon} I love car porn.

I wish I had been there for the show. Vegas baby. I could have done some gamblin', checked out the cars and maybe I could have gotten Chip Foose to Overhaul my RAV-4 and turn it into a Dodge Challenger. We could have called it the Challenger-4 or, even better, the RAVenger. That would have ruled. (Sigh.)

It's official: I'm now outdated.

Apple has set a ship date of October 26 for the latest release of Mac OS, version 10.5 (a.k.a Leopard). In looking at the requirements, the minimum you need to be able to install the update is an 867 MHz G4.

Damn. My old reliable PowerBook G4 is a 667 mega-hurts.

It's official. I am now behind the times. It kinda sucks being outdated..

Odds of The Red Sox making the playoffs are now at 95.318%...

The Red Sox have a 95.318% chance of making the playoffs. I'd say that's pretty good. So despite their up again, down again lead in the A.L. East, I am confident that the Sox will be playing baseball in October.

How do I know that the Sox have a 95.318% chance of making the playoffs you may ask?

It's because of this super-cools website, SPORTS CLUB STATS.com.

Sports Club Stats' creator, Ken Roberts, e-mailed me a while back to let me know about his site and I have been extremely delinquent in getting the word out about it. (Sorry Ken!! I think you e-mailed me back when I was sick of blwgging... which also coincided with the start of summer. Doh!)

So where do these percentages come from and how are they calculated? From the site:

"I wrote a computer program that randomly generates results for each remaining game. Then it tallies each team's position and repeats, millions of times. When the simulation "plays" a game it assumes each team has an equal chance of winning, with no regard for record, injuries, matchups, or streaks. To help flush out each teams highest and lowest possible seeds, I force them to win or lose all their remaining games for 1000 of the simulation runs."

Sounds like math to me, and that's impressive. All I know is that it's really cool. Thank God Ken is good at math and stuff so I don't have to be, because it gives me fits watching the Red Sox lead in the A.L. East go from fifteen games to six games to four games to six games (let's hope for seven!), back down to four, on a daily basis.. It's much more assuring to see that the Red Sox have a 95% chance of making the playoffs and that the MFY only have a 35.329% chance.

Me likey.

So, there you have it. Ken does other sports besides baseball. He also calculates the playoff chances for The NFL, NBA, NHL, etc, as well as various racing leagues. For example, I see that Dale Jr. now only has a 8.839% chance of making the NASCAR Chase for the Championship, while Kurt Busch has a 91.35% chance. That sucks! I hate Kurt Busch. Maybe if DEI's engines could actually run for an entire race and not blow up or if the power steering in Dale's cars would stay on, or if Jr. would not over-shoot his pit during critical stops, he would have a better chance of getting into the Chase. Oh well.

So stop fretting about The Red Sox magic number (now down to 31). Check out SPORTS CLUB STATS.com.

My new favorite website in the whole world wide web...

Basic Instructions: Your all-inclusive guide to a life well lived.

Awesome. Totally awesome. And funny.

Attack of the killer meme thingy... on a Friday! WOOP

Saw this at Cullen's and was inspired to post. I don't usually do these things but I thought this was an interesting meme thingy and since this site is all about linking to other people's content these days, let's keep it rollin!! OH YEAH!

I don't really know what the word meme means but apparently this is one. And I don't know the rules of this thing either but I did it anyway so there you go. Besides who needs rules. FUCK RULES that's what I say! This is the wild wild west of the internet so feel free to make up your own rules and take it and run with it if you want. Happy Friday!

The questions:
1. Happen ::
2. Terribly ::
3. History ::
4. Master ::
5. Petrified ::
6. Moan ::
7. Attack ::
8. Picture ::
9. Students ::
10. Potter ::

---------

The answers:
1. Happen :: ed last night
2. Terribly :: wrong
3. History :: happening daily
4. Master :: Master. Where's the Dreams that I've been after?
5. Petrified :: Forest
6. Moan :: Oh yeah baby
7. Attack :: of the stupid
8. Picture :: me at the beach
9. Students :: ah youth
10. Potter :: No interest in that book or movie

I'm in ur comptr, fixin ur wirez...

Have I ever mentioned how much I love LOLCats? Whenever I need a LOL I stop by for a visit.

LOL!

Michele always has the best links.

In case you ever maybe wondered what I look like... (come on, you have)

Here I am! Along with my lovely Wife. BONUS FOR YOU because yeah she's a hottie..

Get your own Simpsons-ized version of yourself here.

Thanks to Angela for the link!

Extra Bonus: Here's me after a few brewski's at Moe's..

I'm not really into stats but still...

Did you know that this site averages the same amount of hits per day regardless of whether I write anything here or not?

Something about that strikes me as kind of lame.

The fact is I've kind of lost interest in this site and I am often finding myself wondering why I even bother with it. When I think of all the time I have spent on this thing that I could have spent getting better at playing my guitar, reading a book or just hanging out with my kids, I feel a little stupid. Like what the hell was I thinking? I'm not saying this thing is a total waste but I'm feeling like it's pretty close.

Maybe it's just the weather. I mean it's too damn nice out right now to want to waste time sitting in front of the keyboard typing stuff. I'd much rather be on-line with a large-mouth bass this time of year.

Anyway the site is paid for and all that so it's not going away, but don't be surprised if the updates are sporadic over the summer. If something exciting or noteworthy happens I may become inspired to write about it. Then again maybe I won't. I know that's a killer way to decrease your site traffic, telling people you're not going to be around that much, but as the statistics prove, it doesn't really matter that much anyway.

In the meantime if anybody asks tell them I've gone fishin' or something.

(t-shirt at: Michael's Closet)

Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial..

A friend of mine e-mailed these to me (and probably 165 other people, including you) but they made me laugh (or LOL) and gave me a needed mini-break from the mundane-ness of the office. So due to a substantial lack of anything else worthwhile or post-worthy, I am posting this list here for your enjoyment and LOLs.

THINGS YOU'D LOVE TO SAY OUT LOUD AT WORK

1. I can see your point, but I still think you're full of shit.

2. I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's hard to pronounce.

3. How about never? Is never good for you?

4. I see you've set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public.

5. I'm really easy to get along with once you people learn to see it my way.

6. I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter.

7. I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message.

8. I don't work here. I'm a consultant.

9. It sounds like English, but I can't understand a damn word you're saying.

10. Ahhh...I see the screw-up fairy has visited us again...

11. I like you. You remind me of myself when I was young and stupid.

12. You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers.

13. I have plenty of talent and vision; I just don't give a damn.

14. I'm already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth.

15. I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you

16. Thank you. We're all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view.

17. The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.

18. Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.

19. What am I? Flypaper for freaks!?

20. I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant.

21. It's a thankless job, but I've got a lot of Karma to burn off.

22. Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial. (*My personal fav. LOL)

23. And your cry-baby [email protected] opinion would be...?

24. Do I look like a people person?

25. This isn't an office. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting.

26. I started out with nothing & still have most of it left.

27. Sarcasm is just one more service we offer.

28. If I throw a stick, will you leave?

29. Errors have been made. Others will be blamed.

30. Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed.

31. I'm trying to imagine you with a personality.

32. A cubicle is just a padded cell with a door.

33. Can I trade this job for what's behind door #1?

34. Too many freaks, not enough circuses.

35. Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?

36. Chaos, panic, & disorder-my work here is done.

37. How do I set a laser printer to stun?

38. I thought I wanted a career; turns out I just wanted a salary.

39. Who lit the fuse on your tampon?

40. Oh I get it... like humor... but different.

New Mac OS 'Leopard' looks pretty cool...

I was scoping out the upcoming new version of Mac OS, called 'Leopard', today and I have to say, it looks pretty damn cool. The new and improved Finder interface looks nice and it looks like there are some very useful features built into the OS.

One feature in particular that I'm looking forward to is the built in backup software called 'Time Machine'. I wish I had had that a few months ago when I accidentally deleted about 3/4 of my most important files; guitar tabs I had figured out, my friggin TAXES, things I had written... ug.

Well, no use crying over it. It's gone.

The new file preview stuff and the enhancements to Mail and iCal look good too. I'm looking forward to it.

I just hope that Leopard will run ok on my old school TiBook, circa 2001. 10.4 (Tiger) runs good on it, except for not being able to see some of the eye candy because my graphics card is not up to snuff, so hopefully other than that Leopard will run fine too.

To link or not to link, that is the question...

Something I have been thinking about lately concerning this site is the question of links. Like, what is the proper etiquette when dealing with links to other sites?

I have been thinking about seriously pairing down my list of links to other sites and basically going from around 60 links or whatever it is down there to more like, 10. This would include removing some links to sites that also link back to me.

So if I do that does that make me a big internet jerk? As ridiculous as this may seem I do wonder about this. It's nothing personal. I just don't want to have such a huge list of links. But, I don't want to be an asshole either, especially in the cases where somebody is linking back to me. SO what do I do?

I feel kind of dumb that this is something that I even think about. I mean really! Who cares about this stuff? But still, any insight from those of you who are more astute at this sort of thing would be appreciated!

My base-station is a Zombie...

Ok check this out. All week I've had no wireless connection. Base-station is dead. No signal.

So on payday I go to the Apple Store and I pick up one of those Airport Express things. I get home, all ready to set up the new wireless, open up the lap-top and I've got a full wireless signal from the old broken 'dead' base-station.

'Hmmm that's funny,' I thought, 'it's as if it realized I was serious about throwin it in the trash this weekend'.

'Oh what, you were really going to get rid of me for REAL? I guess I better do my job and put out some wireless signal...'

So now what? It appears the old base-station has risen from the dead. I keep waiting for this thing to fail again and it just keeps working. I actually almost WANT it to be broken now so I can have the new base-station. Plus I don't want to have to drive back to The Apple Store to return it...

Exciting post? You know it.

Do not adjust your internests..

Hello faithful readers! Just a quick post to let you know I'm dicking around with the site name. The main thing this affects is the name that will show up for the site in an RSS Feed. So if you're subscribed to my feed, first off, THANKS and second, if you noticed the name of the feed changed and were wondering what happened, now you know.

Other than that, it's just the name that appears at the top of the browser window. No big deal.

I'm trying to come up with a new name for the site because I've never really liked 'mr. blackandwhite'. That was just supposed to be a temporary name till I thought up something better. Well, almost 4 years later, I think maybe I have, 'The Man Nook!' Totally stupid, or sheer genius? I don't know, but I kind of like it. I like it better than 'mr. blackandwhite' anyway.. so there you go.

Where in the world did I come up with this goofy new name, 'The Man Nook'? Well the name comes from the Man Nook that exists in my house...

(I'm sure those of you who are male and married with kids can relate to this..)

See, my Wife and Children basically own every room in the house. There is no space to be had for my stuff. I once suggested putting my Patriots Superbowl Footballs out on display on the fireplace mantle. Yes, I thought they would look nice there and add that 'special touch' to the living-room. This suggestion was met with quizzical looks, followed by hearty laughter by everyone in the house.

The exception to this ban on my personal decoration style is a little corner in the basement that I call The Man Nook. You might have heard other men refer to this space in their own homes as 'The Man Zone', 'The Man Cave' or 'Man Town'.

In this little nook I have a tall, circular, bar-room style Patriots table and some Patriots bar-stools set up and I have my autographed New England Patriots photos hanging on the wall and some Red Sox pennants and a shelf for my NASCAR die-cast cars and that sort of thing. It's a very sports oriented nook. There is a beer bottle opener conveniently located right there on the wall. That is my corner of the house and this is my corner on the interweb, so there you go. It's The Man Nook. Come on in, relax and let's shoot the shit. You can see the TV from here too. It's nice.

I'm not switching URL's or anything like that so no need to adjust any links, though I might get another domain if I find this name really sticks. Right now I really like it, but next week I might think it sucks, so I'll cross that bridge when I get there. In the meantime, even though the name is changing it's still the same B.S in the posts.

Thanks for reading! I do appreciate it!!

That's no moon, it's a base-station

Hey what's up blog? Long time no speak! Where have I been? Well ya see, the problem is that my wireless network is broken and it looks like it can't be fixed by conventional methods. Yeah, I do have the land-line plugged in to the computer so I am not completely offline, but who wants to sit at a desk to write? Not me, that's for sure.

The problem is with my wireless router, which is an Apple Airport Base-Station, circa 2001 (a.k.a the 'Snow' base-station). I can't get a signal on either of the two laptops that we have, the Mac or the PC. I've tried doing all the normal sofware re-set stuff on the router but none of that has worked. Thinking the dang thing is just plain fried, I called Apple to see what it would cost to potentially get it fixed. They told me that my base-station is so old that it's been end of life'd, meaning, no service, no parts, no nothing. I'm basically shit out of luck, time for a new base-station.

Great.

So, since the thing is basically a paper weight at this point, I figured what the heck I may as well try and fix it myself, so took it apart and fiddled with some do-dads and messed with a thing-a-ma-bobber and un-plugged some wires and plugged them back in again and then I put it all back together. I was not expecting any improvement but lo and behold, I actually got a signal after plugging it back in and I thought to myself, 'Wow! I am the MAN!' My kids were psyched. 'HOORAY! WE CAN PLAY WEB-KINS AGAIN!!'

At that point I thought I was good to go and back in action but unfortunately that only lasted about 30 min and then the signal was gone again. I then tried the tried and true repair method of punching the base-station and whacking it with the side of my hand several times but that did not fix the problem either. Still no signal, still no love from the base-station. And I had always treated it so nicely, too, keeping it hidden away underneath my Wife's dresser, where nobody could bother it or do it any harm... Sigh.

I'm going to try taking it apart one more time just for the heck of it. If that doesn't work I'll have to suck it up and buy a new wireless router. That blows.

The people at the Apple Store that I had spoken with earlier had tried to make me feel better by telling me that after 6 years I had gotten my money's worth out of this base-station but that does not make me feel better at all. This sucks! Rotten base-station...

Tagged again

Tagged again. Here it is:

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. Every Friday I have a thing I do called 'Reward Friday'. I get a Dunkins sandwich and coffee on my way to work. If I don't get my reward Friday Dunkins, it throws off the whole day.. Wed is Mini-Reward day. I sneak out of the office and get a Dunkins coffee. Iced in the Summer, hot in the Winter. I think Dunkins should be paying me for all the promotion I give them.

2. I have been playing the guitar since I was 15. When I listen to music I like to listen to that 'awful acid-rock' (as my Mom refers to it). I also like country music, and by country I am referring to like, Johnny Cash and George Strait, NOT The Dixie Chicks, and I also enjoy classical music.

3. I have a hard time thinking of 8 random facts. Dude I suck at this. I'm at 3 and I've already run dry! I root for The Pats, The Sox, The B's and The C's. I also watch NASCAR. I guess you could say I like sports.

4. My first time attending a live Pats game in Foxboro was Pete Carroll's last game. My 2nd time attending a live Pats game in Foxboro was Bill Belichick's first game. I got to meet Jonathan Kraft at that game but I was too awestruck to say anything to him. I really wanted to say something like, 'Tell your Dad thanks for saving my team' but all I could do was smile at him. What a dweeb.

5. Hey ok. Check it out. I'm at 5. More than halfway there now! Ok now what next... I am not a very materialistic person. I don't want a lot of 'things', but there are a few things that I do want. Unfortunately those things are sports cars, pickup trucks, motorcycles and fishing boats. Dammit.

6. Despite the fact that I live in Massachusetts, I hate Winter. I think that there are only two good things about winter: New England Patriots Football and pond hockey.

7. I was doing good but now I am losing steam. I went back to Angela's site for ideas... For work I spend all day working on computers. Oh, by the way. I hate computers and computer related stuff. The other day, some geeks were outside my cube arguing about which is better, Mac or Windows. I seriously wanted to strangle them. If your arguments sound something like this, 'Dude the C shell is sooo much better than the korn shell...' you seriously need to get a life. Also, FUCK OFF and get away from me! Thank you.

8. Hey! I'm at 8! Ok. Hmmm. I am somewhat obsessed with my lawn. I want my lawn to look like the field at Fenway Park. Weeds are my enemy and I show them no mercy. Dave Mellor is like a god to me (Mellor is the head greens-keeper at Fenway Park). Nitrogen. Katydids... A lot of people don't even know what that is.

Ok that's it!

I'm not tagging anybody else because rules were made to be broken. Heh heh heh.. BUT I will give you a bonus 9th fact!

9. I am a lifelong Red Sox fan, though oddly I did not actually start following baseball until I was about 21 years old. That one is too long to explain.

Stuff I was thinking about while eating my Dunkins sammitch..

I think Curt Shilling is great and of course I think his blawg, 38 Pitches, where he talks straight to the fans and anybody else who cares to read his opinions, totally rocks, but there have been a few recent occasions where I bet Shilling wishes he had just kept quiet.

His reaction to Gary Thorne's idiotic suggestion that 'The Bloody Sock' was a fake a few weeks ago and now his recent Barry Bonds 'cheating' comments and subsequent public apology are a couple classic, open mouth, insert foot, moments.

If these comments were from any other 'normal' person, who cares? It's just another fool and their opinion and it's no big deal. Nobody's going to get offended if Joe Baseball Fan says that he thinks Barry Bonds is a cheater on some sports-talk radio show, but that rule obviously does not apply to someone with a high profile like Curt Shilling. When someone of Shilling's stature says that kind of thing on the radio, it causes a bit of a stir.

Personally I really don't care about Shilling's recent public flubs. To me it's not as big a deal as the media is trying to blow it up to be (there's a shock). As someone who has had more than my share of embarrassment caused by my own dumb-ass comments, I do kind of feel sorry for Shil, but at the same time, what he says on the radio or writes on his site does nothing to hurt or sway my opinion of him one way or the other. All I care about is what he does on the mound every 5th day.

I did find Terry Francona's reaction to Curt's shenanigans to be quite funny. 'Zip it.'

--

This recent comment about my favorite hockey player, Ray Bourque, by The Pats newly acquired receiver, Wes Welker, made me feel old:

"We've gotten to know each other a bit; Ray is a great guy," Welker said. "He's a legend around Boston, which I'm learning more and more since I've been here. I knew of him growing up, because I used to play Sega Genesis, the ice hockey game. I was always the Bruins, and it was Ray Bourque and Cam Neely. That's who I always played with."

Welker KNEW OF HIM growing up because he used to always play as the Bruins on his SEGA GENESIS ice hockey game? Oy...

Tagged: Why do I blawg?

My interweb friend Angela tagged me this week. I have never been tagged before so this is very exciting!

Ok. Maybe it's not 'exciting' but it's cool. For me, anyway...

Ok. Feeling nerdy. Moving right along.

So, the question is: why do I blog?

First: I HATE the word blog. I feel like such a nerd using that word. Ok I know I'm kind of a nerd by default, seeing as how, here I am, typing away on the interweb, but, you don't have to make it worse with such a nerdy word...

So why do I blawg? Well, mainly for fun. It's an outlet. It's something to do. It's a way to connect with other people who have similar interests. I like to go and read my friends' sites and leave comments and of course I like to get comments here.

Also, I can swear and be a wise ass and say pretty much whatever I want to here. Because it's mine. I pay for it. I set it up. I run it. If I want to say fuck fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck, I'll say it. When I write something here, I may be right, I may be wrong. I may be crazy. I may be a jackass, I may be right on the money... Doesn't matter because I'm in charge around here. That's why it's copyrighted as 'Man King'.

But mainly, it's all just for fun. Like I say in the 'about' page, I don't take any of this too seriously and neither should you, and I appreciate anybody that stops by.

So there you go. That's the beer and tequila enhanced version of 'why I blaug'.

Tweet! Tweet!

You might have noticed a new addition to my side bar, a little internet gizmo called 'Twitter'. It's a cool thingamabobber that lets me send an update to this site, and you, and anybody else that's interested (all zero of you), telling you all about whatever incredibly mundane thing I happen to be doing at the time.

I have to say it's pretty cool and serves absolutely no useful purpose what-so-ever, except for being fun and kind of addictive. Plus I could use it to totally lie to you guys about what I'm doing and that would be fun. I could fully send some kind of bogus update to totally trick you.

Like I could send an update telling you that I'm in bed with with 10 Victoria Secret models at the same time, (not doing anything of course, just in bed with them having a pillow fight. I AM married you know..) or that I'm hanging out with Bill Belichick, having some pizza and Coca-Colas and helping him break down some game video (Coach, check this out, see the way Manning holds the ball before he throws? That's right when Tedy Bruschi should come flying in, swat the ball away from Manning, recover the fumble and run in for a touchdown.)

I could tell you guys that I'm getting a back-rub, (that NEVER happens, so you would know I was tricking you then,) or that I'm picking up my new 2008 Dodge Challenger, the first one off the assembly line... Yeah. The possibilities are endlessly stupid!

Last night I was using Twitter during the Sox game to spontaneously 'live blog' / vent during the game. That was kind of fun. (God what a nerd...)

Supposedly you can get the thing to work using Google Chat but obviously I am an idiot because I can't seem to figure out how to do it. I have gotten it working at home with Adium (Mac based IM client), but so far, no go with G-Chat. If any of you super-smart folks out there know the secret to making Twitter work with G-Chat, I'd like to know what it is!

So there you go. Twitter is fun. Feel free to stalk me on my twitter profile, until I get bored with it and move on to something else. Ok, the Victoria's Secret models have asked me if I want to play Twister with them, so I'll send you a Twitter update a little later.

Rocky Balboa DVD won't play in my DVD player...

I got the movie 'Rocky Balboa' in the mail from Netflix the other day. I was pretty psyched about it because I had been looking forward to seeing that one ever since it had been out in the theaters. (I don't get out to movies anymore. I watch all my movies through Netflix these days.)

We popped the DVD into the player and got ready for the famous opening theme music and the word 'ROCKY' to start scrolling slowly across the screen. Instead all we got was a blue screen on the TV and a 'disk err' on the DVD display. I took the disk out, cleaned it and tried it again. Same thing.

Damn.

I was bummed. I had been looking forward to sitting down and watching 'Rocky Balboa' ever since it had arrived in the mail last week. Figuring it was a bad disk, I sent it back and waited for the replacement disk.

We got replacement disk the other day and last night we tried it out. It turns out the replacement disk has the same exact problem as the first disk. When I put it in the player all I get is a 'Disk Err' on the display. What is up with that? I am wondering if maybe there was a bad lot of 'Rocky Balboa' disks from the manufacturer or something.

Oddly enough, the disk played fine in my computer's DVD player and every other disk I put into my living-room DVD player plays fine.. so what is going on here? My DVD player is only a few years old and I have never had this problem with a DVD before. This is the first time I have run into this.

I hope there is not some new format or encoding technique that is being used for DVDs that is going to start causing me problems...

I've got a 3rd 'Rocky Balboa' disk headed my way, but I have a bad feeling that I'm going to have the same problem with it... we'll see. I might have to watch it on my computer if I want to find out what happens to Rocky.

Just out of curiosity, if anyone else has run into this problem, I would be interested to hear about it, especially if you found out what the cause of the problem was. Thanks internest.

Feelings, nothing more than feelings...

I have been dealing with some some very wimpy emotions and feelings and shit lately and I actually had a whole post written up talking about them but while I was on the verge of hitting the [POST] button, I abruptly changed my mind and deleted it instead and decided to do the right thing and ignore them / bury those annoying feelings deep down where they won't bother anybody.

Plus, I would not want to affect anyone's happiness points system. There you go.

In the mean time, that does not leave me with much to talk about at the moment so I'm going to point you over to Faster Than the World where people are voting for the Funniest Movie Ever. Because we all know that voting in online internet polls is way more fun that talking about stupid feelings. Enjoy!

Besides, it's March 1st today and March FULLY RRUULEESS!! I love March. March is when Spring happens. That means snow, your days are numbered. It also means that I'll have to pick up some Scott's lawn fertilizer soon because pretty soon I'll be able to see my grass again. Yay!

I feel better already.

Did I mention that I'm going to a flower show this weekend? Yup, that's right. So NOT gay because flowers are awesome and are way better to look at than gray, icy-cold slush and snow. And they smell nice and put me in a good mood because they are ALIVE, unlike the frozen wasteland outside my window at the moment. AND you can get all kinds of good land-scaping ideas at the flower show. And I'm into that shit. So there you go, again.

I am a complete idiot...

Yes, I hear what you are saying, 'we know that already.' Ha ha. Very funny.

I did something really, really, REALLY stupid today and I would love to kick my own ass. If it was possible I would do it.

I accidentally erased some very important files on my computer this morning and of course, have NO BACKUP.

I am such an idiot.

I was looking for a picture on my computer and I noticed a folder in my documents folder. It turns out this folder was empty so I trashed it. Here's where I messed up. I accidentally had put the WHOLE, ENTIRE documents folder in the trash and then proceeded to empty it.

What should have taken just a second to delete a little empty folder all of a sudden caused a rapidly moving progress bar to open up saying that thousands of files were being deleted ...

'What the?? .. OH SHHITTTT!!!'

I canceled the trash before it completed being emptied so I did not lose the whole documents folder, but I lost a lot of pretty important files.

My only consolation is that I thankfully did not lose our pictures folder. We have been using nothing but the digital camera for years now and if we were to lose those photos, years of family pictures, kids growing up, vacation photos and other priceless, irreplaceable images would be gone.

Making me feel even more foolish, I've had a firewire drive sitting in my desk drawer, just waiting to be used for backups, and I've never done it. Needless to say, I immediately plugged in the drive and did a quick and dirty backup of all my files by simply copying them over. A 10 minute job that could have saved me a lot of problems and frustration. Too little too late.

Take this as a warning my friends, don't let this happen to you. Back your stuff up!! Even if it involves manually copying your files over to a backup drive, if you are not doing this regularly, this is something you need to get on the ball and start doing.

I had heard this advice many times myself and always was like, 'yup, I need to do that,' but I never did. Like I said, I even had a firewire drive in my desk just waiting to be used. Now I am sorry.

Don't be an idiot like me you guys. Back up your stuff now. Don't wait till it is too late like I did.

Links updated and Testarossa dreams...

I don't have much to offer you today (do I ever, really? Don't answer that...) but I will tell you that I just added a whole bunch of Pats blogs that I've recently found to my list of sites that I wish my site was as cool as... Feel free to peruse and enjoy.

It goes without saying that reciprocal links are always appreciated, even though I actually did just say it and now feel somewhat whore-ish. Whatev.

Last night I had a really cool dream that I was driving a Ferrari Testarossa. A white one. And I was driving it REALLY fast. I was fucking flying through the gears and the engine was racing and making a magnificent roar. Then the Testarossa turned into a black Daytona. Even cooler!

Hmmm. I think maybe I was dreaming I was in an episode of Miami Vice... Anyway... A super-cool dream all the same..

Online sports-related humor is so funny

I know we've all moved on from The Chargers game last week and are focused on The Colts now, but I thought this was great... Good for a few guffaws on a Friday.

The Dugout :: Welcome to the NFL Playoffs Chatroom: San Diego Chargers vs. New England Patriots

GO PATS

PS> Don't forget to check out my post in The End Zone over at Faster Than the World today!

Crash course in computer surgery... Cross your fingers.

Last week one of the the hinges on my PowerBook's display broke. Thankfully it was just the hinge itself that was broken and no wires or display components were damaged. The display itself is still working fine so I just have to fix the hinge. I ordered a replacement and now I am about to dive in for the repair.

I am not looking forward to this.

In reading up on this job, it is generally suggested that you disassemble the ENTIRE computer. Not that I can't do it, but geez what a pain in the ass... I don't want to take this whole dang thing apart. In looking at the damage, I think it might be possible to do the job without having to remove the whole screen.

We'll see...

Anyway, in case I screw something up and you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know what happened...

Also: GO PATS

Update:
Well as you can see, I am back and writing stuff here so the operation was a success. The new hinge is in and the PowerBook is back in action. Thankfully the job did not require me taking the whole computer apart. I was able to remove the old hinge and put the new one in relatively hassle free.

The biggest problem I actually ran into was with a 'how to' CD that I had bought getting caught in the cd drive. I spent over an hour getting the CD, now a cup-holder, out of the drive. Total pain in the ass! There must have been something about that CD, either the label or it was warped or something, because the drive worked fine after I got it out.

Anyway, long story short, my computer is fixed!

Happy birthday you stupid waste of time!

Just a quick post to mark the fact that today is my blog's birthday. Happy birthday blog.

2 years. 2 years worth of complete and total nonsense. That's a lot of friggin' nonsense my friends.

Thanks to everybody that stops by here to read this stuff, and a special thanks to those that actually come back!

Now, on with the nonsense. I'm gonna see if I can take the nonsense to even higher levels in year 3! It's going to be tough, but I'm up for it.

Quick! Everybody look at the rain!

There's a big thunderstorm passing through the area and like a bunch of little kids, everyone around me here at work has jumped up from their chairs to go and look out the windows at the rain pouring down. It's just... so... exciting!

Now I find myself being curiously drawn to the window to gaze at nature's fury... Ooooo! Lightning! Ooooh! Thunder!!

Maybe we'll have a tornado! That would be awesome! (Actually, no, it woudn't.)

I worked in a cold, windowless cave for many years and I gotta say, having windows at work is cool.

Proper care and feeding of your feeds...

Ok, this is the last time I'm going to write about this, because it's silly, but I have a slight problem with occasionally becoming obsessed with things, so this is my way of 'letting go'.

All the site feeds are working now, for both the old feeds and the new 'burned' feeds.

If you were already a subscriber, (thanks again,) there is no need to re-subscribe to the site feed. In fact, you don't have to do anything. The feed you were subscribed to all along should auto-magically pick up the new Feedburner feed and all the goodies that go along with it, which is nice.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you're probably better off anyway...

On a completely unrelated note, today is the longest day of the year here in the good old Northern Hemisphere. Enjoy it.

Feed Me... yeah, sure.

Hi Gang.

I know this is going to sound incredible, but there are people out there who actually find this nonsense interesting enough to subscribe to. I know, amazing!

For those of you who subscribe to the site feed, first of all, thanks! And second of all, I have updated the feed so that it is now linked with Feedburner.

If you are already subscribed, you should not have to do anything. The old feed should still work fine. Or you can re-subscribe to the new 'burned' feed and enjoy all the extra goodies that come with it, like the ability to bother people by e-mailing them my posts, and seeing related items in Technorati and Sphere.

The new feed also makes it easier to subscribe with your favorite RSS feed aggregator. See, I'm always lookin out for you.

Thanks again for subscribing and if you see any wonky weirdness in the the feeds, I'd appreciate it if you could send me a note to let me know. Thanks!

Update:
Um, yeah. So, that all sounded so cool and easy when I first typed this post. Click a few buttons, select a few check marks, done.

The feed seemed to be working right at first but then I noticed the new posts were not being displayed, so after wasting way too much time dicking around with the dang thing, I'm not sure if this new Feedburner setup is working or not, but I don't really have a lot of time to spend messing around with it, (nor do I want to spend a lot of time messing around with it).

I figure I'll check it later and see what's what and if it's still not displaying the new posts, I'll just set it back to the old way. If it ain't broke don't fix it I guess...

If you are subscribed and you notice the feed is not being updated or any other weird behavior, please let me know. Thanks!

Frappr Hacker...

It seems the spammers have gotten their hooks into Frappr.

I noticed the other day that there were a bunch of new maps listed under my Frappr profile that I had not personally added myself to.

At first I thought this might be some kind of new feature in Frappr, since these newly added map links pointed to maps that related to items in my profile's interest list. For example, there was a 'Fans of George Strait' map linked to my profile, along with several other maps that I had not purposely added myself to.

I deleted all the maps that I had not added myself and then checked back a few days later. Sure enough, there was a whole new batch of newly added maps that I had not personally added myself to.

Apparently, someone or something is going around in Frappr adding people's profiles to maps by simply using their e-mail address.

I e-mailed Frappr support about this and the response was basically 'Yup, that's probably what's happening'.  (WTF?)

So I guess the point of this whole story is, if you use Frappr, you might want keep an eye on your profile for any new maps getting added to it that you did not add yourself and then e-mail Frappr if this happens to you.

Odd and ends...

Quick note to self: Don't work on website posts after 11 PM. You are prone to making lots of grammatical errors.

Self replies: Thank you, you tool.

If you have not checked out The New England Patriots Podcasts yet, you have been missing out on some great shows. The guys over at Patriots Football Weekly have been doing two pre-draft Podcast shows a week and they have been very informative. They are definitely worth checking out.

Fred Kirsh, if you want to thank me for the PFW Podcast plugs, a complimentary renewal to my PFW subscription would be nice. Hint!

Google Calendar: Did you know you can add the Red Sox and Patriots schedule to Google calendar by just doing a quick search in public calendars? Well you can. And it's awesome.

Despite the Pats glaring need at wide receiver this year, this very informative article over at The Cold Hard Football Facts explains why it would probably not be in the Patriots' best interest to pick a receiver in the 1st round of the NFL draft.

Also, I gotta say, this Draught Party CHFF is planning at The Cask this weekend sounds like it will be a blast. I am highly considering sneaking out of the house and making an appearance... We'll see.

The Best of Both Worlds...

If you've got a spiffy Intel based Mac, you can now install and run Windows XP on your machine, thanks to this new software release from Apple called, Boot Camp. This is very, very cool. One computer can do it all.

Now, if you could run XP on top of OS X, that would really be cool. Maybe in a few years when I'm ready to trade in 'ol reliable, (PowerBook G4,) they'll have that working too.  (Holy fuck do I feel like a geek right now. Nerd alert!)

Recent observations...

Noticed recently:

File under - Protect me from myself:
New software recently released for the latest iPods now has a setting that allows you to set the maximum volume for the device. I don't really have a problem with that and I guess it could actually be a pretty handy setting, but I have to wonder, is it really necessary?

How about this for an idea: if you think your music is playing too loudly, just turn down the volume. I know, call me crazy!

Oh wait, that would mean you might have to take some personal responsibility for your own actions. Never mind.

File under - Football Geek:
Speaking of the iPod, I've been listening to the Patriots PodCast over the last week or so and I have to give it an enthusiastic thumbs up! It's no secret that I can't stand Boston Sports Talk Radio, so The Pats Podcast has been a great find for me. Get it on iTunes.

File under - Nerdery:
While at work, I've seen people goofing off in a variety of ways, from playing solitaire, to shoot-em-up video games, to just plain sleeping at their desk. I'm certainly not perfect myself and have been known to occasionally waste valuable company time and resources goofing around on the internets.

My personal goof-off sin involves Bloglines. I go there several times a day to check for updates to people's sites. It's not like I'm spending hours there or anything like that but, let's face it, the less time spent wasting time at work, the better. That is where this handy little Konfabulator widget comes in. It displays the most recent Bloglines site updates right there on the desktop. Very cool! (And free. Bonus!) "This'll put you in solid with your boss..."

Pats / Sox Nation Frapper Map...

The Patriots and Red Sox Nation map on Frapper has been slowly but surely gathering new members.

I am glad to see people seem to like the map. If you have not added yourself, swing on by and stick a pin in there! No obligations. It's all just for fun!

recently noticed...

I asked my wife some questions about some recently noticed odd behavior:

- If you park in a handicapped spot, but put your hazard lights on, does that make it o.k.?

A: No.

- A bunch of people in my office have built mountains of empty soda cans on their desks. They are literally surrounded by a pile of cans about 8 cans deep and 6 cans tall. Is there some kind of geek status derived from the amount of empty soda cans you can surround yourself with on your desk?

A: I don't know. Is that like beer cans but with soda? To me that's pretty stupid.

- While driving, if you look in your rear view mirror and notice that there is a mile of cars trailing behind you waiting to pass, yet you refuse to move over, are you doing some kind of public service by making us all drive below the speed-limit?

A: I gotta say No.

Thanks dear!

In other news, I finally got my iPod back from Apple today. It took exactly 6 weeks for them to send me a new, (read: refurbished,) iPod.

I'm just glad it's back. I've already been yelled at to turn that damned music down... I felt like I was back living at my Mom's house.