The Monkey-Dog Cafe

Ok, I can't wait. It's a NEW BLOG AT TRUEVOX.NET!!!

2006-07-05T21:42:00.000-05:00

Ok, I wanted to keep this a supprise until July 20th, but we got a new member in our little familly. So, by all means please vacate this little site (it's been fun!), and head on over to truevox.net, my new little home in the cyber world. And say hello to Easter!!!

truevox.net

Big things are Comming...

2006-07-03T12:24:00.000-05:00

Won't say more now, but there is much for this blog on the horizon... Stay tuned to Grok all in it's fullness...

20060720

Worlds Coolest Job

2006-06-27T11:52:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I’m amazed at the creativity of some people who earn a good living filling needs that anyone could do. I was at a gathering today when I struck up a conversation with a man who described his job as a “commute helper.” “OK, what exactly is a commute helper?” I asked “I help people have a smooth and quick commute,” he replied. “How do you do that?” I asked “I sit in their car” he said with a smile.

Personal Finance Advice » Blog Archive » Creative Job - Commute Helper

THIS is a job I could get into. If you'll read the article, this stands by the highway with a sign that says “Traffic is bad. Spend 2 hours or pay me $10 and get there in 20 minutes” and get's people to pay him so that they can get to use the car pool lane! How cool is that?!? This guy says he makes between $100 and $300 dollars a day doing this. THAT is a job I want for myself.

Think his clients mind if he listens to an iPod? :)

technorati tags:Work, Innovative

Good progress on Chipping the 360, and some site maintenance (we're changing tags!)

2006-06-15T08:09:00.000-05:00

Team Underdog NME-360 DVD Firmware Patch Mod

>> From gamefreax.de (translated from german):
Right now the dual-firmware mods coming out for the Xbox 360 DVD drives are 30+ wire solutions. These points are not only very hard to solder, but it also requires a lot of known-how to extract the FW from the drive, extract the key, patch, encrypt, write back, install external switch on Xbox 360 so you can switch between the 2 firmwares, etc ...We received interesting information about a new DVD mod named NME-360, that will be released soon. This chip will be a universal chip for all Xbox360 DVD drives. It will patch the firmware of the drive on-the-fly. The original firmware on the flash of the drive remains untouched.The chip will recognize independently whether an original or a backup was inserted and switches itself to the corresponding mode (patched FW (on-the-fly) for backups and the normal unpatched FW for originals). That also means you will not have to install an external switch on your Xbox 360 to put the chip off.For the Toshiba-Samsung drive you will have to solder only 4 wires, the Hitachi-LG drive will require 11 wires. The official website of the team, named 'Team Underdog', will be launched early next week.News-Source: gamefreax.deDiscuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com(Wednesday 14 June 2006 22:14 EST) - (direct link to article)(Posted by:: XanTium)

Xbox-Scene.com - Xbox 360

Yep, you read that right. There's a cool chip coming out for the 360 that will AUTOMAGICLY switch to the best DVD firmware for the job. Now, we still can't run unsigned code (though Devil360.com is working on that), but it's still a good step toward it, and running backups is no small matter in households with little children (I'm talking to you, Matt).

Now, about that site maintence, first I'll mention: I'm posting this with the integrated posting tool in Flock. Now, I've spoken about Flock before, so I won't go into the specifics here. Suffice it to say, Flock is now in Beta, and it's now looking better then ever. There are still a few bugs to be worked out (ok, a crap load), but hey, what do you want? It's free, OSS, and it's pretty well integrated. My bigest complaint so far is that I'm not too impressed with it's integrated blog posting tool, but hey, it's still being cooked. :)

And as for tags, I'm changing them. Until Blogger decides to support them natively (or until I switch over to another framework), they're just not worth the hassle. I'll leave all the old ones (not worth the effort, they are kinda cool), but I just think it's keeping me from posting more (they're a pain to set up manualy). So I've decided to just let Flock's integrated tagger do the work for me! Yay!

Oh, and any of you out there with lots of pictures of family, friends, etc., check out Riya.com. It's got this crazy face recognition tech that enables you to upload bajillions of pics and only have to waste time picking out faces of a few before it figures it out on it's own (mostly).

Ok, that's all for today. Thanks for reading!

technorati tags:Xbox360, Flock, Tech, Maintence, Tags, Photos, Riya, Mods

Blogged with Flock

We're getting a new house!

2006-06-11T14:56:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

Yep yep! We're getting a house (hopefully). It's a single wide in a nice little park. It's a bit of a fixer upper, but for the price of 22 grand, I can't complain. It comes FULLY FURNISHED!!! I can't say just how psyked I am about this! Anyone who cares to look, the link may still be up for a little while:

www.masiello.com

3rd Generation P2P Program Released! Watch out, RIAA, OFF is Here!

2006-05-18T06:24:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Peer 2 Peer+; +Technology+

OK, so it's just a 0.10 alpha release, but IT WORKS (for me, at least). It's a bright-net concept that relies on the untested belief that (in abstract) while someone could copyright the car (program) you built out of Lego's (bits and bytes), and someone else could copyright a Lego duck, they can't both copyright the Lego pieces on their own.

Go and download the wonderful program here (direct link):
EDIT: Most recent version is 0.10.03, not .02. Fixed, thanks Earsausage!
http://offsystem.sourceforge.net/installers/OFFSystem-0.10.03.exe

read more | digg story

She Said YES!!!

2006-05-12T09:43:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

Well, some of you might know that I recently went out to buy an Engagement ring. Well, I came home with it, and this morning I popped the question. She said yes. I feel like the luckiest man on earth. Scratch that, I *AM* the luckiest man on earth. I'm not even sure what else I have to say. I'm just so lucky.

Invitations will be sent out shortly. Well, the Wedding isn't 'till 2010 so it's not TOO shortly.

Till next time, readers! Thanks!

PS3 is ripping off Nintendo's Wii, AND the Xbox 360!

2006-05-08T12:11:00.000-05:00

Tags: +E3+; +Games+

DUDE! Sony just revealed their New Controller, and it's a total rip off of the Wii Controller. It's got "6 degrees of motion" which means it can detect pitch, yaw, and roll. Pfftt. It's a BAD implimantation of what the Wii can do. Check out the Digg Post on the matter to see more info on it.

And the part about a 360 rip? They've got a "PS3" button right where the "Live" button is on the 360 controller. I'm sorry, but that's just sad. More so when you realize that Sony bashed Nintendo for their use of Motion Senseing as "Gimicky" last year.

They might just as well have called it the PS36ii. But hey, that's just what I think. What I wanna know is what do YOU think? Then we know what Wii think, and that's what matters.

Not drunk anymore (FINALLY!), Xblog, CL2...

2006-04-30T16:52:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Internet+; +Narcipost+

Ok, so I'm not drunk now. Sweet. I'm friggin' glad. I'm not sure the drinkie is so hot for me. :D

But, in other notes, MY XBOX 360 CAN BLOG! Granted, it has a boring life (I almost never get to play) but it's a cool concept none the less. Check out it's blog at 360Voice.com. It should be pretty cool.

Also, many of you might know that Google.com came out with Google Calendar, a REALLY neat companion to Gmail. It's a standard style calendaring application, but it's integration and ease of use really seem to set it apart from the flock.

Ok, that's all I got for now. Have a good one, everyone!

Still Drunk...

2006-04-28T10:33:00.000-05:00

Liquor,
originally uploaded by True Vox.

Tags: +Narcipost+

Ok. It is now 11:18 AM, and I'm still drunk. Well, technically it's just a mild buzz, but still. That's a lot of drunkdetude to still feel it today.

I don't think I'll be drinking to excess like that again anytime soon. There's just no point. Deanna took this video of me at the hight of my drinkieness and it was crazy. I was just like the idiot's at the college party's, only less stupid (no lampshade-on-the-head, for example). I don't see the point in doing that again. Needless to say, that movie is never going to see the light of day. I tried to brush the teeth of the camera, for christ's sake. Maybe at some point I'll post up a pic of where I made out with the door, though...

However, I would like to point out that Vodka chased with Mountain Dew is a very potent mix and should not be attempted by the faint of heart.

Oh, and Hpnotiq tastes like refried monkey balls. Learn to spell!!! The name of that product looks like something I typed last night.

Ok, by for now, readers. I'll try to post again when I'm TOTALLY sober.

Wow. I'm drunk.

2006-04-27T20:37:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

Yep. I'm sloshed. I'm slobbercocked. I'm wasted. I can barely type. I've had half a fifth of vodka. I'm giggleing like there's no tomorrow. Beer. Homer is my hero. Hero rhymes with beero... Ax deoderent. Deanna likes it. Amy is calling. I'm drunk. Deanna's friend Amy just called. I told her I'm slobbercocked. I wonder if I can write code like this... Chicken. Deanna, if you're reading this, I love you.

I just called Marsh and the gang, and I think we made arrangements for Sunday. To hang out and stuff. Jebus. I'm never getting drunk again. This is sad. I don't like drinking. It makes me type bad, and it makes me say stuff I normally wouldn't.

Bye. That's all I can type without starting in on the history of the orcs..ORcs. I donnoe. What the hell do Know. This is what I look like typing drunk. It's crzy. Cheese. I wanna eat beer and watch hoookersrsrs. It's funnn to typet the seame buittont twice sese.... Bye.

I'm so drunk that i CAN NO LONGER DETECTTHE DIFFERACNCE betweetn the caps lock and the normaol writing ing. I lce deanna . Dhe's my favoirite girl. I wanna do her in the butttttt.t. I love her. Foreverj Portable firefox... Firefox... Downladd it. It's like watter. I wanna fiuck.....sfljkdfljkkkkkkc;kjfda Matt is good. Danna is good. I lveo them both..s...,adfI love them both... I love them both jskldf. I vleotme beothbkj.I voxoe them bothasflkjjI voxjheted :KLVZC

I love her. That's the most undrunk thing I've said all night...

Free iPods!!! (No! Really! I've tried it!)

2006-04-19T07:26:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

I'm sure everyone out there has heard of the "Free iPod" scams, right? Well, I'm here to tell you that AT LEAST SOME OF THEM are *NOT* scams, and I have proof. You see, I just made my first $25 dollars through PayPal from a "Free iPod" style site called AnyGift4Points.com. Now, any of you out there who are somewhat 'net savvy will notice that the URL above containes a little addition beyond simply the marker for the site (The site URL is missing the ?ref=774 that my above URL has). The ?ref=774 is a referance to yours truely, and it's how AnyGift4Points.com knows that I sent you (so I can collect my bonus points, rewards, etc. for sending you). Now, I too was a skeptic when I first found this stuff. REAL skeptical. Like, I almost didn't do it. But after perusing a website with forums dedicated to the subject, I thought to myself "Hey, self, I bet you can find find one that gives you money and doesn't cost that much to try". And that's where AnyGift4Points.com came into the mix. See, they don't require other people to sign up under you (though you earn bonus points if they do), and it's all points based, not offer based. Some give you more, some less, but for every 250 points I get, I can trade that for $25 bucks of pure paypal cash goodness. For the record, 250 points is rather easy to rackup. Just one tickle test nets you over 280 points (though it does cost $10). So far, I've grossed $25, and profited $13.97 (Paypal takes out a fee for recieving cash). I'm going to keep persuing this, and see where it takes me.

If you're interested in checking this out, I would say that at least BROWSING AnyThing4Free.com is a requirement. You'll see a list of sites orginized by how good they are ("A" rank is the best, and it goes down hill from there). If you do, you'll find me as TrueVox (anyone supprised?). And the owner of AnyGift4Points.com is known as Benjette. Remember, though. This isn't me asking all of you to join up for my benifit. I can do what I need without referals. It helps, but it's far from required for what I'm doing. I'm offering this as a way for you to make some (small) side cash, or a few minor prizes. Oh, and you might just wanna make a new email that can be forwarded to your current one, just so you can turn it off when the spam hits the fan. If anyone's intrested in Gmail, you all know I can give you invites.

So, go check out AnyGift4Points.com. It's free to look, and who knows, maybe you'll find something that speaks to you. Oh, and the economics of this are sort of explaned in the Wired Article I linked to in the title.

Thanks for reading!

Buy my Music!!!

2006-03-29T20:45:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

HOLY CRAP!!! My tunes are live! Yay! Go me! I've got music up on iTunes! Everyone, go out and buy it! Now! :D

At the very least, please go look at it, even if you don't wanna buy it. Please? :D

Here's some handy buttons for you:

Just click 'em and it'll bring you right to my page on iTunes! GO ME!!!

See? I'm in iTunes (Click for full sized image):

Wow! Even our Baby has a blog!

2006-03-12T23:42:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

Dude. Title says it all. I don't know how he learned to type... :D

Anyway, any of you out there who are curious, please check out his little blog! It's going to be the central repository for all that is Matt-i-chew from now on. Thanks, everyone!

So, officially, the URL is (and you can click on it to your heart's content!): baby-matt.blogspot.com.

Hey! My wonderful darling got into blogging!!!

2006-03-02T23:04:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

Yep. She finaly made the dive. I can't wait to see what she puts up, either! Should be a neat little place to go for Star Trek stuff, not to mention she might keep up with what's going on in our life a bit better then I have.

Check her out at The Flute Case!

Oh! Google Pages!

2006-02-23T13:22:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Technology+; +Narcipost+; +Digg+

Cool! Google put up it's new geoci... er, Google Pages site! So, of course, I HAD to make one, just to see how it was.

I'm impressed. It's the best WYSIWYG web-based html editer I've ever seen. Go Google!

Check it out. I think you might need a gmail account to try it, but if so, just leave a comment, I'll hook you up.

Sound interesting? Just digg it. :D

Hmm... I wonder if Batman studied this?

2006-02-18T13:11:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Art+; +Parkour+

This is something I've thought was cool for a LONG time, but I didn't know what in gods name it was called. Turns out it's a french thing (wow, first Legal P2P now this!) called Parkour, AKA Urban Running. The core idea is to move as smoothly as possible, while still overcoming what ever is in your way ASAP (Hover Over Me).

Here's a great demo video (again, from our good friends over at Google Video) giving a good idea of what Parkour really is (to Super Mario music, none the less!):

Oh, and if you wanna check out a bunch more videos, just check these out!

Matt had his first bite of solid foods! Kinda!

2006-02-17T11:54:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

Well, at least if you can call baby rice cereal solid :D. At any rate, we fed him this morning! w00t! We got a few pics:

~~And then a movie when ever Google Video puts it up.~~ Yay! GO MATT-I-CHEW!!! Your video is up! Check it out:

Or you can head on over and check it out at Google Video in all it's googleie glory!

Finaly, some MAJOR progress! Full read/write access on the 360!

2006-02-13T11:59:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Technology+; +Hacking+; +Xbox 360+; +Digg+

The fine folks over at Xbox Scene have brought us good news: we're one step closer to sweet, sweet, hacked 360. We've got FULL READ/WRITE ACCESS TO THE HARD DRIVE AND THE MEMORY CARDS!!! That's full game save portability (anyone out there have saves from their old Xbox?), and I assume music and video portibility (though that's just a guess). I can't wait to see what we come up with in the next few months!

read more | digg story

OK! Long time no see...

2006-02-12T13:35:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Technology+; +Narcipost+; +Hacking+; +Maintenance+

Good golly, I'm sorry I haven't been around for a while. I've been busy with college and I've been busy with work and THEN there's our beautiful baby boy Matthew, so as you can see I've been a bit busy.

As I write this, I'm not using the included word processer in Blogger, but instead a much better replacement to Notepad, called Notepad2. It's just as quick, almost as small, and (the programmer in me LOVES this), it supports Syntax Highlighting. Coolness. Oh, and I THINK it's OSS to boot. At the very least, I KNOW it's freeware. Good stuff.

Now, I know many of you are looking for more pics of Matt-i-chew. Well, I assure you we have them; I just gotta put them up.

So, how about that Xbox 360, eh? I have GOT to log more time on that bad boy. It's sad, but about all I get is five or ten minutes a week (no joke!) to fool around with one of the Arcade titles (such as Marble Blast Ultra or the ever uber Geometry Wars). 3 processers, half a gig of ram, 20 gig HDD, and what do I do? I play a glorified Marble Madness. :D

Family life is fun, if stressful. I swear to god, I don't know how single moms do it. I'm not even a mom, and I'm going insane. It's crazy. Pure and simple.

I dream sometimes of making a game. It's never going to happen at this rate, but it's still nice to dream about it. I can't help but wonder where I'll be in five or ten years. I hope I'm filty rich and no longer working. :D

Gah. MUST UPDATE BLOG MORE OFTEN!!!

Found a neato little visual style for XP. Doesn't require a program to install, but you DO need a hacked version of the uxtheme.dll file found in (assuming you have your main Windows install on your C: drive) "C:\Windows\system32\uxtheme.dll".To get the patched version, just google for "patched uxtheme.dll". After you have it, you can just copy it over your old one (I'd make sure to save a copy of the old one though), and reboot. Oh, and Windows may mention that a system file is being overwritten or something. Just "OK" it when it comes up.

All that work for a cool theme! It's the Crystal XP Milk visual style. I REALLY like it. It's a free download, and I think you'll be pleased too. Check

Have I ever mentioned how huge of a fan of Gmail I am? I REALLY like it. Now they've gone and made it EVEN MORE COOL! They have a great new service where they'll be rolling out Google Talk funcionality RIGHT IN YOUR INBOX!!! I, for one, think that is UBER SWEET! Anyone who want's a gmail invite, just lemme know in the comments (or follow my email link over on the side of the screen). I've got a butt load to give out!

Wow. This is weird. I went to log into blogger, and someone, somehow, had posted spam as a actual blog post in MY BLOG! I'm not sure how (I use an alphanumeric password over 6 characters in length), but that is WEIRD. Has this ever happend to anyone before? It was saved as a draft, and it's clearly Spam (though I'm not gonna post it, becuase I assume that would only make whoever it is happy). The listed email in the post is to HowdSeamGr@aol.com. Huh. This is weird. I'm gonna have to start hosting my own soon, maybe...

UPDATE: Ok, I think this happened because blogger has this feature that allows you to update by email, and I think some spammer just got lucky and spammed the email address I had set up for this site. Thank god I didn't have it set to autopost :D. At any rate, I'm calling this case closed!

Ok, this has been long enough, I think. I'll end by saying that when I hear anything cool about anything, I'll try to make time to post. Oh, and I'll hopefully be posting MUCH more when I'm finaly out of college, but we'll see. :D

Thanks for reading!

Xbox 360 is HERE!

2005-11-19T13:47:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Technology+; +Narcipost+; +Xbox 360+

Ok, my faithful readers out there may remember me posting about how I won an Xbox 360 a while back. Well, it's here (proceeded by the promised "Party in a Box" that was only useful for the t-shirts and the free 12 packs of Dew)! I'm thrilled with it so far. Set up is flawless (except the Live! servers seem to be getting slamed, so I can't log in), and execution is exceptional to say the least. It came with Kameo and I'll be recieveing the game I picked when I entered the contest (Need for Speed) next week. I got the "real" pack, that is, not the "Core Xbox 360" but the "Xbox 360". Headset, Hard Drive, Wireless controller, the works. Even a remote! :D

~~Pics will be up soon - PROMISE!!! I have 'em, I just gotta upload them.~~

Ok, you can find my 360 pics right here.

However, there is a bit of bad news. I seem to have used up all of my bandwitdh this month with Flickr, so there's only 6 photos. But still, they're some of the best!

Also, I have a movie I'm hosting with Google Video! Check it out right here. It's not the best quality, but it's ok for a camera. It's just the thing starting up, but it impresses me.

True Vox's Gamer Card

***Update to a previous post***

I've upped A LOT more pics of Matt-i-chew, so please head on over to my Flickr Photostream and check them out! OVER 100!!! YAY!

***End Update***

Using the Nintendo DS as a wifi sniffer...

2005-11-16T15:14:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Games+; +Hacking+

Now, I reckon that if you really wanted a Wifi Sniffer would have run out and bought a cheapo from Tiger Direct, but for the few of you out there (like me) who just couldn't afford to shell out that bit extra for something we might not get much use out of, good ol' Mario has taken care of us.

Yep, that's right. The fat Italian plumber. Bow before his might!

You see, Nintendos new offering (Mario Kart DS) comes with the ability to connect to most wifi hotspots/access points (except any secured with wonderful WPA Security). Now, to the enterpriseing hacker, this is useful. You can use the integrated function of "Search for AP (Access Point)" to sniff out local unprotected APs (as long as the SSID is broadcast, and there's no MAC Address Filtering, etc.). I can't WAIT to check this out further!

I'll try to get some pics up soon - 'till then, it's pretty simple. I'm sure if you can find this page, you can manage to use this "hack".

Thanks for reading!

It's a BOY!!! (And he's LOUD!!! :D)

2005-10-30T11:53:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

He's here, he's here, he's HERE!!! Matt was born at 1:29 PM on October 29, 2005. He weighed in at 7 lbs 8 oz and was 19.25 inches tall.

I'll post more when I can! Thanks for reading!

What the Flock?!?

2005-10-22T09:31:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Internet+; +Review+; +Slashdot+

Well, I was reading Slashdot, and check out what I found:

Flock, the New Browser on the Block

Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Wed Oct 05, '05 05:04 PM

from the too-many-choices dept.

^tamago^ writes to tell us BusinessWeek Online is reporting that a new browser is stepping into the arena. This new competitor, Flock, hopes to change the face of web browsing by turning their's into the swiss army knife of browsers. From the article: "Flock's browser is built specifically for a new, emerging generation of Web users, one that isn't satisfied passively browsing media online. Flock hopes to turn the browser into a dashboard for collaborating, blogging, sharing photos, reveling in a raft of other group activities that have recently caught fire online"

Slashdot | Flock, the New Browser on the Block

So, I thought to myself: "My! I blog, I use LOTS of RSS, and I enjoy social bookmarking." So, what does that mean? I HAD to try it out. So I mosied on over to the dev's page and took a look see.

Ok, I'm going to say it. I'm posting from Flock. I downloaded it, installed it, and WOW. I'm impressed. The "Blog This" feature doesn't work quite right for me (it freezes) but what do you want for bleeding edge dev releases? I'M thrilled. I think if they can clean up their act a bit, I'll be a life user. Or at least have ANOTHER browser installed. Right now, my only complaint is that all firefox extensions have to have a VERY MINOR recode to work with Flock, so I can't use the ones I want (like mouse gestures). Beyond that, if they fix the bugs, I'll be TOTALY SET. I can't wait to see it in a few months time.

Tags, Categorization, and COMMENT SPAM! BAD SPAM!!!

2005-10-19T00:21:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Maintenance+

Ok, first a few good things: I've updated all of my previous posts to include Tags for added usability (just click on the tag for more info on the topic in question), integration with Technorati.com, and for my next trick: Full Site Categorization.

Yep. I'm working on having all my posts orginized by category. We'll see how well it works (if at all). But if it does, it's thanks in part to viewers like you, and to Google Blog Search. :D

And last but not least, I've been forced to add image verification to all my posts. Sorry to all my real commenters out there, but in the space of ONE HOUR while I was overhauling my tags, I got OVER 15 COMMENT SPAMS on ONE POST. I'm not sure why, or how, but hey: I just know change is a'comming.

So, I'm sorry for the slight inconvienience, but I think it's worth it to keep the spam at bay.

BAD SPAM! *NO DONUT!!!*

Live Opera, Guild Wars, TwiT, and Fire Fox!

2005-10-12T01:43:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Technology+, +Internet+, +Games+

Ok, I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated. But to make it up to you, I’ve got a slew of stuff!

First off, I don't know if you're too familiar with the internet browser Opera, but I've found a neat little trick with it. First, you have to download the full version of Opera. Then, go to this great site and just follow the directions. For your convenience, I've compiled a pre-made version. Yeah, I know, tripod sucks, but they're the easiest solution. If any of you out there wanna offer free web hosting, feel free. :D

Next up we have a bit about Guild Wars, the super fun, super free of subscription MMORPG. I have played a few MMORPGs in the past (and even one MMORTS), and I think I have a fair idea what makes for a good one. This game, while being VERY VERY instance based (an instance, in MMO terms, is a little slice of world created just for you and your party) feels to me like a traditional MMORPG. Yes, it is very PvP, but that's not a bad thing. Heck, it proclaims itself as such right in the title. And the price is right (did I mention it's a free subscription after you buy the game enough times yet? :D) too! If you've any access to it, and wanna give it a go, my main character on it is Fate Albannon, a Warrior Ranger.

Next up is a bit on Podcasting. I've been listening to them hot & heavy for a while, on the way to work (a good half hour drive). One of my favorites is a little title known as TwiT, or This week in Tech. They also do a vidcast of the show over at Revision3.com. There's a bunch of neat stuff over there, like Systm, The Broken, and Diggnation (speaking of which, go check out digg.com, it's pretty sweet). It's real good listening, with lots of tech, and lots of laughs.

Last up for today, I'm now a Fire Fox man. With extensions (I love the Gmail Notifier one, and the Chipmark book marking one is SO convenient) and the open sourceness of it, I'm just thrilled. I'll still use my trusted Opera from time to time, but I'm SO happy with Fire Fox right now.

And so, my faithful readers (all three of you :D), adu 'till next time. I'm TRYING to be more consistent about updates.

HOLY CRAP!! I WON AN XBOX 360!!!

2005-09-13T15:47:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Technology+; +Narcipost+; +Xbox 360+

HOLY COW!!! I JUST WON AN Xbox 360!!! It only took 12 mountain dew caps, too! HOLY COW, HOLY COW, HOLY COW!!!

I'm so lucky! THIS IS SO NICE! I never would have been able to afford one of these with Matt comming along, so I'm QUITE lucky. THANK YOU, DEW! :D

Congratulations you are the winner of the (Don't know if identifying this will disqualify me, so mm/dd tt:tt) Xbox 360 sweepstakes brought to you by Mountain Dew.
You will receive your Xbox 360 before it’s available in-stores and will need to provide a signature when it’s delivered. The Xbox 360 is being released later this year in 2005, once the delivery date is confirmed we will post it in your account history so please check back periodically. In the meantime, during the next few weeks be on the look out for a Party in the Box package from Mountain Dew and Xbox, which includes Hats, T-Shirts, coupons, invitations and more. Congratulations and Thank you for participating in the Every 10 minutes sweepstakes!
Don’t forget you can still use your codes for Collect to Get Gear.Note: If you would like to change your address, please call 1-877-370-2582 and refer to the number below.Reference #xxxxxxxxxx

Dude, I'm getting a Mac! Er, Dell! Er, wait. Never mind...

2005-08-31T17:38:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Technology+

Wow. I had a CLOSE call. It's a good thing I don't have a credit card, or my girlfriend would KILL me. See, we were at the Mac store, getting her an iPod mini(she's been wanting one FOREVER, and after seeing the auto-load-podcast feature of iPod and iTunes, I want one SO BAD myself), and I saw it: It was a little white box, no wider then the lenght of my fingers spread out.

The Mac mini.

Yeah. That thing ROCKS. It's so CUTE, and at under $500 bucks, it's not too pricy, either. I WANT ONE BAD!!!!! And Tiger is SUCH a pretty OS, I can't begin to explain it if you've never used it before. I WANT ONE MOMMY!!! Heck, I could even dual boot in it from Linux. MAN, would that be sweet.

Of course, while we're on the subject of Linux, I've got a crappy old x86 500 MHz with 64 MB of ram sitting idle right now (someone was throwing it out on trash day and I snagged it). Any suggestions from my readers on a distro that makes a good server?

Oh, and another question: I REALLY want an iPod to listen to podcasts (I'm sadly a bit of an addict). Should I just get a cheapo iPod Shuffle on eBay? Or do you think I should get a save for a few months & get a mini? Or REALLY save and get an iPod 60 Gig?

Any thoughts at all on this?

Thanks for reading and writing, gang!

EDIT: Decided to give Mandrake, or Mandriva, or what ever you call it a shot. I've got 10.1 community version booting on my craputer right now. Can't wait to see how it performs.

Bounty Hunting Code Warriors, UNITE!

2005-08-28T00:24:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Technology+

Well, this is a neat little tidbit: I'm sure you all have heard of the DS Linux Project, er, rather I'm sure I've mentioned it before. :D Well, now someone has gone and started another community based project. Long has it been said that we need a TCP/IP Stack, and now someone has started a bounty for just that thing.

Indeed, if you are intrested in donating, you can just go on over to The DS Wi-Fi Bounty and drop a dime or two hundred.

Or, if you've the chops, here's the current rules:

1: The implementation may not contain code from the SDK or any illegal source. If such a source is suspected, you will be immediately disqualified and will not be eligible for any later bounties from StoneCypher.

2: The implementation must compile in a free compiler (preferably GCC.)

3: It is acceptable for the implementation to use existing libraries, provided that their licenses are non-contaminating (BSD license, MIT license, LGPL are fine; GPL and MPL are not.) To that end, it is recommended that the TCP/IP Stack List be briefly perused. Remember, commercial stacks cannot be used without written special dispensation from their vendors.

Also, bear in mind that there are three different bountys:

1: Figuring out the register set to accomplish (specific list)
2: Implementing correct connect/disconnect code and implementing correct send/recieve code, each of which works both with DSes and PCs
3: Bootstrapping TCP/IP (or, icky, UDP/IP)

At any rate, get out there, and GET CODEING! The bounty total is currently up to 2000 bucks plus! Wish I knew more C++... :D

Thanks for reading!

Ok, I'm BACK!!!

2005-08-22T17:32:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

Wow. I suck at this game. I'm sorry about not writing more lately, it's been REAL busy. Like super duper ultra busy. Like busy to the power of a bajillion + 1. In fact, if my activitly level were a snippit of C# code, I'd be THIS busy:

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

using System;
namespace MeBusy
{
class MeBusy
{
static void Main( )
{
int busy = 2;
while (busy < 1)
{
Console.WriteLine("You are now this busy: " + busy++);
}
}
}
}

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

THAT is how busy I have been. College, Work (I'm now a saleried guy, $550 a week! Night Shift Area Supervisor, GO ME!!!), and of course, My Love.

BUT, I'll try to be better. Really. Promise.

Hey, did you know Nintendogs is out? Sure you can't buy it 'till tomorrow (stupid UPS) but I am SO looking forward to it. It's a really neat game.

I've been lucky lately: I found a used computer on the side of the street! It was gonna be thrown AWAY! Sure, it's only a 500 Mhz, with like 64 MBs of ram, but it should run a stripped down version of Linux, when I manage to find a decent distro...

The Xbox 360 looks to be a decent creation, but EXPENSIVE. $299 for the freakin' "Core Model" and the real version is $399. Pricks. You suck, Microsuck. I guess that's implied by your name... :)

Programming class is going decent, I guess. C# is REAL fun, but C++ is freaking HARD. I can't get a grip on it, but hey, I'm sure it'll come.

Gosh, I can't think of anything else, but I'm sure it'll come to me.

Oh, and a shoutout to one of my readers: Navy-girl, you're the greatest. I donno what ever happed to that other Jewish-Marlboro guy that used to come here... :(

Bagh, at any rate, I'll try to update more often. PROMISE!!!

No longer a car sales man...

2005-07-22T15:03:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

Well, it's just like the title says. I enjoyed the job (sorta) but I was loseing money!!! See, they sent me to a car lot the EVERYONE THOUGHT WAS CLOSED!!!

At any rate, I'm back at D & D, hateing coffee more everyday. :)

I'll try to be better about updates, my comp. broke down, and I'm useing a temp replacement. Later!

We're having a BOY!!!

2005-07-05T16:35:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

Oi, sorry that this isn't being updated more often. With work, and college, etc, it's just been too crazy.

BUT here's my good news for you: We're having a boy!!! Matthew Raymond is his name. I can't wait 'till he comes out this November. My Sweets and I are REALLY looking forward to it.

Ok, I've got to go. The boss want's me to look "productive", what ever that means. :D

I'm gonna be a car salesman! Yay! I hope...

2005-06-17T16:29:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

Ok, just a quick update: I'm starting a new job with Roundtree Kia out of Swanzie (read that as Keene) Newhampshire. I'm looking forward to it. Should make me the money I need for Deanna.

So, if any of you need a new car...

:D

I haven't forgotten about you! REALLY!

2005-06-09T18:13:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Maintenance+; +Narcpost+

I know it seems bad, but I REALLY haven't forgotten! I've just been SUPER DUPPER BUSY! Like, 12 hour days at my new job as assistant manager at Dunkin Donuts. I know, I know, I REALLY liked the waiter job (I tried it for 4 days at night). But I have to think of my family. There was just NO money in it. NONE. The business was flat, you know?

But in addition to my promotion (I've only been there five months and already the've moved me up to the second highest position at the store. Sheash. And it's their biggest one out of six or eight owned by the owner, Teo Salamie), I've also been up to my gills with homework. Urg. I get about four hours a day to myself, and that time is spent on homework. At least Deanna still loves me...

I might be REAL close to getting an appartment! I'm not getting my hopes up TOO high, but keep your fingers crossed for me.

Anyway, I PROMISE I'll try to be better, but bear with me for a little while, PLEASE!?! I love my readers. I'd hate to lose you all...

YES!!! I've GOT A JOB! (2, in fact)

2005-05-27T17:12:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

Alright, I have a bunch of stuff to do (much of it college) so this is just bare bones (I'll edit in the rest later), but I HAVE A NEW JOB! First, Dunkin Donuts wants to keep me, so they offered to put me on the path to manager, starting with shift leader, or maybe assistant manager.

But the MUCH better news came later today, when I talked to the owner of the Sweet Mesquite, and he WANTED ME TO COME IN FOR TRAINING ON MONDAY!!!!!!

Woot! All this, and I get the feeling from my aunt that my uncle will help me get the money needed to place a downpayment on an appartment!!! YES YES YES!!!

Life is good.

My weekend with my Sweets.

2005-05-22T22:00:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

Hmm.. What a wonderful weekend I'm just getting off of. I spent the night with my Darling on Friday. What a nice night. Except that her friends are bitches (it's a long story, but I cheered her up with a trip to Hitch Hikers Guide). But yeah, so we spent the night. And then, on saturday I took her out to a wonderful Prom Dinner (we decided to skip prom, and just do a fancy dinner with her and a friend and myself and her friends boyfriend) at the Windam Hill Inn. It's a really great place, to be honest. And then we went back to her friends house, and they let us take a room for the night. *sigh*. It was the most romantic weekend of my life. Then this morning we just lay in bed for a few hours.

Then reality hit, and we had to rush out. I helped her with her recital (getting programs ready, printing out stuff, folding, ect.), and she was REALLY thankful. She left the most heartbreakingly sweet message on my cell after we parted (she didn't want me to go because it would break her heart if her family hurt me. And honestly, they're so immature that they might. I'm not worried, but that doesn't stop her worrys).

I love her. We spoke tonight, and I hope to see her tomorow. Damn, I'm lucky.

She told me that it was the best weekend of her life. THAT was worth ALL the money.

Well, that's basicly all. Good night, every one.

You've got Tags!

2005-05-18T20:26:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Maintenance+

Just thought I should write a quick update to let you all know: I'm working on overhauling the site. I've got Tag support now (I just have to go back through and update EVERY one of my posts with the correct tags). And soon, I'll have categories! Yay! Not that there's that much to categorize.... :D

But yeah, I'm tired, so you're not getting anything else. :D Good day, my fine readers. Oh, and the pic in my profile? It's of my sweets and I holding hands. Just in case anyone was wondering.

Here's a link to a bigger one!

New to the Internet? Fear not! (Part 2)

2005-05-14T13:07:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Internet+; +Review+; +How To+

In my last segment on this subject, I disscussed the use of the venerable Firewall. If a Firewall is the gate and gate keeper to your kingdom, then Anti-Virus Software is the guards who patrol your town and catch any riff-raff that get by the gate.

Now, some out there will be saying "I don't need Anti-Virus software! I don't download dangerous files!!!". Hogwash. Just going online can open you up to the Blaster Worm. I still to this day am not sure how I got it, but I do know it took me a litte while to figure out why my computer kept restarting. :D A good virus scanner will take care of that for you, likely before it becomes a problem.

Now, to know about virus scanners, you have to know a thing or two about viruses. A virus is in many cases a misnomer. You see, when most users (and software companies) speak of a virus, they are in fact refering to a large family of computer software, generaly written with malicious intent. This greater family is called Malware. So go on, read a bit about the history of viruses and malware in general, then come on back for my recomendation on what to do about it.

Back with me? Good. The best way to avoid the perils accociated with viruses is to have a protection plan in place. Personaly, I like AVG Anti-Virus. They're simple, effecient (mostly), and most inportant, they're FREE!!! Yep. They offer a paid version, but you can get them free for personal use. So, for your Anti-Virus needs, I give them a big thumbs up. Another choice I've heard good things about is NOD32. I can't vouch for them like I can for AVG, though.

At any rate, tune in next time when I go over the next essential to safe surfin': GET RID OF INTERNET EXPLORER!!! :D

'Till then, adu, fair readers.

Baby on Board!

2005-05-10T22:16:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

Well, as many of you know, my sweets and I are planning on having a baby in November. Well, actuly, there's not much we can do about it at this point. :D

But many people have asked for pictures of the sonigrahm, so I finaly got my hands on the original, made a good scan (I made it smaller for web consumption, but if anyone wants a bigger, better version, just send me an email).

Any way, here it is:

Thanks for visiting!

New to the Internet? Fear not! (Part 1)

2005-05-09T16:59:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Internet+; +Review+; +How To+

Many of you are relitivly new to the internet, I'm sure. So I just decided to post up a serilized primer on a few things you can do to increse your safety while surfin'.

The first thing that comes to mind is: Protect your gates! To do that, you need something called a Firewall to keep the baddies out. What this does, on a simplistic level, is only allow in what you tell it to. It's the guards at the doors to your kingdom (your computer). A REALLY good, easy to use, and *FREE* Firewall is Zone Alarm (www.zonelabs.com). I've used this firewall for a long time, and it's always served me well. And like I said, it's REAL easy to use. When it detects something trying to get in or out, it asks you if you wanna let it. For a lot of common applications, it even has help for you, if you're not sure what to choose.

Ok, stay tuned 'till next time where we will discuss the pure sugery goodness of Anti-Virus Software!

(For the record, I would like to note that I get no kickbacks from any of the companies I'm going to promote in this series, or have already promoted. I promote them because THEY WORK, and that's why I use them, too.)

Opera 8 is out, and WOW, is it good!

2005-05-08T12:53:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Internet+; +Review+; +Podcast+

Well, although I did a audioblogger review, I just had to put in a bit of type. That's how good this thing is. Opera has always been the fastest rendering browser on the net, and supposedly, 8 is even better. It's not worse, that much I can say. Add in neat new features like sticky notes and voice support, and it's clear that they have something good on their hands. And if all that isn't good enough, security has been upgraded too!

All in all, it's just another good reason to use something other then internet explorer.

What are you waiting for? Head on over to www.opera.com and get it!

Bits, bytes, and nybbles...

2005-05-01T21:13:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Maintenance+; +Narcipost+

Ok, first I changed the layout a TEENIE bit. I've now only got 10 posts on the main page. Fear not, though: the rest can still be located in the archives.

And I just wanted to say what a WONDERFUL weekend I had with my Sweets. We spent the night on saturday, and after I went home for a few hours (I had a few things to do), we went out for breakfast, and then WENT BABY SHOPPING!!! It was SO much fun. Oh. My. God. I'm three tee-hee's away from sounding like a girl. And I don't care. Ah, the bliss of impending fatherhood.

Hmm... I guess that's about it..... I thought I had something more to say, but I guess not. Oh, well, good night!!!

Wikipedia: Mmm mmm good!

2005-05-01T13:15:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Internet+; +Review+

For a long time I've been a big fan of the website Wikipedia.org (http://www.wikipedia.org). It's a fantastic site with a noble purpose: to create the worlds largest encyclopedia, by way of complete user interaction. Yep. That's right, anyone can edit most any article. So if you have great expertiese in a particular area that no one else has, head on over, make an account (so you can get recognized for your edits) and start typing! I'd be shocked if you found a better repository of human knowlege then one of the core wiki-sites (http://www.wikimedia.org)

As for me, I've a few edits under my belt. You can just look for True Vox. I'm around. :D

Well, stuff still sucks, but not as bad (Yep. Another Narcipost.)

2005-04-30T11:05:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

Well, it turns out that while I didn't get the warehouse job I wanted (but the money would have been sweet), I have a VERY good chance of advanceing to manager at Dunkin Donuts. Well, manager-in-training. Sure, it's not very prestegious, but it's better then nothing at all. And maybe it will convince my sweets that I'm stable enough to live with if I'm making over $2000 a month.

Of course, the fact remains that she still isn't sure she want's to spend her life with me. *sigh*. There's just no winning. It takes all the running I can do just to stay in the same place.

I just don't get it. I have been trying as hard as I can. I'm only human. I'm only a man.

Narcipost ahead...

2005-04-29T04:32:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

Well, let's see. My Darling has decided not to live with me 'till a few months after Baby is born at best. And then, as if the world was saying "Screw You, buddy!", I didn't get the job at the warehouse I was trying for (it paid up to $20 an hour, if you were a hard worker). But I guess it's a good thing she decided not to live with me. After all, if I can't take care of her, why should she live with me? I just feel so damn powerless. I'm afraid, and I don't know what to do! I NEED to be able to take care of our child and it's mother, and it's looking like I won't be able to. At least, not for a while.

It's just so weird. I've always felt that I can do anything. "Just gotta work hard, you can make it happen." And now, I've come up against a wall. And it HURTS. I've got people depending on me, and I...

I don't know. Wish me luck, everyone.

Another sample of my writing...

2005-04-25T21:35:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Art+; +Narcipost+

Well, just because this for some reason got a 97% from my english teacher (I'm not complaining, but I don't get it, I'm not THAT good of a writer), I had to post it. It's my second essay for that class.

No Time for Family Time

My dear reader will find no surprise when informed that we live in a dog-eat-dog world. As such, it makes sense that we pursue stability of what ever kind we can to the fullest extent we are able. Sadly, it seems to the author that financial stability is often regarded as more of a priority then family stability. Every day we hear about the hero “CEO Dads” who put in the 60 hour weeks to get product X out to market Y by time Z. Or the fabled “Career Moms” who supposedly manage to juggle the job of their dreams, the PTA meetings, CEO Dad, and of course, the kids. Now, any mathematician will tell you that as there are only 24 hours in a day, you can’t get 25 hours of work out of them. Something’s got to give. And all too often, it’s the kids.

Now, the author is not trying to berate the poor families who NEED 2 parents working overtime just to pay rent, food, and heat. It’s a shame that our society hasn’t adopted a decent living wage, but that’s fodder for another rant. Instead, the target is parents who either work for the sake of work, or can’t seem to do without cable TV, 6 cell phones, and “A GREAT long distance plan!” on their landline.

In the case of the former, let there first be a congratulations said. It’s a wonderful thing to find a job that both stimulates and reinvigorates. That said; a person shouldn’t start a family if said person is still in the building stages of their career. Or, if there are no plans to leave the building stages of the career question, one might consider never starting a family. Children are a full time job. No, scratch that. They’re a full time job with mandatory over-time. A person wouldn’t be expected to take on two 50 hour per week jobs. Why should this be any different?

As for the second category, there is also much to be said. First and foremost is: Don’t spend what’s not there. If Wally Wageslave makes $200 dollars a week, pays $500 each month in rent and utilities, and $300 a month on food, where is there room for cable? Or even dining out? Wouldn’t it make more sense if Wally dropped the extra $200 dollars a month he has in miscellaneous expenses, dropped the part time job he had to take care of it, and spent more time with his family, the very people that poor Wally likely started breaking his back for in the first place?

This soon-to-be family man has no delusions about how money changes hands. If a person wants something nice, they have to work for it. But if said person is going to settle down, and start a family with a husband & wife setup (2.6 kids are optional) they need to get their priorities straight. Many people don’t see that there’s a difference between building your life around your work, and building your work around your life. Or worse, many people deify the former, while demonizing the later.

All this doesn’t mean that a person can’t have a wonderful, meaningful job that they enjoy and look forward going to. In fact, if one CAN achieve this, it’s quite likely that it would only be good for the family in general. All that is being said is to remember why you’re even working in the first place: your family.

Sample of my writing...

2005-04-24T16:28:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Art+; +Narcipost+

First, sorry to have not posted for a week. I've been busy with school and work. I'll try not to let it happen again. :)

But for any current readers, I'm gonna post a sample of my writing in the form of an essay I wrote a while ago. It garnered a 100%, so I assume it's not TOO bad. :D

At any rate, here it is:

The Dawn of a Person

Building a rollercoaster must be a massive undertaking. Making that first plan, hoping that you got your calculations right (else there will be little roller-ing and less coaster-ing), finding a suitable spot to break ground (or risk a falling coaster) and deciding upon a theme, all before ever picking up a power tool. Building a person, on the other hand, is quite a different matter. Sure, it’s just as hard, if not harder. However, it’s a lot easier to get started. The first few feet down the drop can come during a half hour lunch break, or a whole night of passion. Either way, you end up on one heck of a rollercoaster, with all the ups and downs inherent in the nature of the beast. And just like our thrill ride, you can’t stop this one in the middle. There’s just too much momentum.

With that said, there’s not a lot of reason for us to stop this ride. We were planning on it someday, and mom always says to stop procrastinating (though she claims she wasn’t referring to THIS!). So, we’ve buckled in, and we’re ready to see where it takes us. Currently, we’re not even up the first hill. We just had our first ultrasound, and we can still hear the chains pulling us skyward.

Waiting in the office was worse then waiting in line at an amusement park. At least at your local Six Flags you can see the multitudes before you, and have a way to gauge the wait, even if it’s just by number of people getting sunstroke waiting for their turn (2 per hour last time I was there). At the doctor’s office, you walk in, and wait in an empty room for who knows how long. Clearly, not the secretaries, else we would have been scheduled for later.

And it’s not like it’s an easy wait, either. At the theme park, you’re likely with friends, enjoying the experience, without a care in the world (except for the $8 you just spent on a single hotdog & a Pepsi). My mate and I, on the other hand, were stretched thin with worry. We had more thoughts milling around in our head then customers waiting in queue for Superman: Ride of Steel: Concern for the baby’s health, worry for Deanna’s safety, not to mention when we can learn the gender of our little bundle of love. And on top of many more thoughts cavorting around in our heads was an overriding anticipation of seeing OUR baby for the very first time.

But, just like at Six Flags, after the waiting is over and you get called into that special group known as the “Next Up’s” and you’re loaded, locked, and given verbal waivers, it’s all fun from there. In our case, we were called in with a subdued “Deanna? Marvin? You can come in now” by the nurse. After we filed into the room, the nurse had Deanna strip down for the ultra sound, and hop up onto the examination table (which is a bad thing: she hates the stirrups). And then the doctor came in and went to work, and let me tell you: it was pure, unrestricted nirvana from there on out.

Never before have I experienced the simple brilliance of watching something that I helped create move of its own volition. A child encased in a veritable sea of amniotic fluid, moving to the subtle rhythms of life at that most primordial stage. Nothing is more perfect, more astounding then that most precious thing.

This is a feeling that, try as I may, I can not seem to convey to my non-expecting friends. Nor is it easy to tell someone with no experience with a ‘coaster just how much thrill is to be had by seemingly putting your life in peril. Imagine, if you will, that for the space of ten whole minutes your entire universe, sun, moon, stars, heaven and earth, revolves around a tiny wisp on a black and white screen. And, at that same time, around a minute body, not the size of a thimble, in the very core of your expecting life-mate. The second hand by which your world keeps time is dictated by the rapid pumping of its dust sized heart. These seconds expand to minutes, and minutes to seem like hours as you sit by, awed by the deceptively simple act of it twitching its future arms. You get both the first big downhill thrill of the ride to come, and at the same time, it’s as if it’s just a prelude: the ‘coaster roaring by overhead as you wait in line for the main event.

There is no more exciting journey I can think of then the one we’re beginning now: The quest to create life, and foster it as it matures. For the next 18 years we’ll be walking a tight rope fraught with overprotection on one side, and negligence on the other. And then to watch, and giggle, and prepare to spoil rotten the life that it itself begets. Perhaps we’ll take our grandchild to Six Flags 2029. Or, perhaps we won’t. Either way, we have to get over the first drop before we can enjoy the loop-de-loops and the corkscrews. Let alone the second ride.

Sporeadic information on Spore...

2005-04-17T12:34:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Games+; +News+

A few of you may have heard of a new game on the horizon put out by a guy named Will Wright (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Wright): Spore ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spore_%28game%29). While that may or may not be the final title for the game, it is the currently recognized one. The game Spore is looking to be a MOST ambitions creation. The premise? To take your single celled organism from the depths of the ocean to the stars, all while making it what YOU want it to be. It even generated a star, in the form of Gaming Steve ( http://www.gamingsteve.com)!

Now, as if that wasn't neato enough, good old Will is also planning on redefineing the development process with this game. Currently, the game makers make everything in a game. Or at least most of it. Will want's this to be a game where the Dev's only make the framework for the game. The rest of it (the characters, citys, ect.) are put together by players using procedural content generation. There are a bunch of guys out there working on making HUGE games outta VERY small codebases ( http://theprodukkt.com/kkrieger.html). Now, they can't work magic, so what do they do? High compression, algorythmic creation, and of course, LOTS of effeciency through ASM code.

I for one, can't wait to see what comes of this. I've always been a fan of Will's games (w00t Simcity!!!), and this one doesn't look likely to disappoint.

Fantastic news for Nintendo DS fans!

2005-04-12T16:27:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Games+; +News+

There have been a couple of BIG announcements over on The Mod Gods (http://www.themodgods.com) recently. The first is that the scene has successfully created a method to access the DS from wifi alone! Granted, it takes special wifi cards on your computer (a list of which can be found here: ) but the important thing is that if you DO have one of the cards listed, you DON'T NEED TO GET YOUR HANDS ON A PASSME TO RUN CODE!!! It's REALLY cool.

The second thing is that a guy named Dark Fader and HIS crew have found a way to access the firmware on the DS, and it's not too complex, either. From what I gather, you won't even need to solder, just short it out for the time it takes to update it once, and then from then on you're set!

So, in closeing, not only can we now run code without expensive hardware (you're still gonna need a flash chip, but that has uses anyway, and you might have wanted one even after it was hacked), and soon we'll have custom firmware running around on our DS's! YAY!!!

Sorry! Had some technical problems! Also, Linux!!!

2005-04-11T22:17:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Linux+; +Technology+; +Maintenance+

I know I have not posted for a while, but I was having technical difficulties. Blogger decided to eat half of my source code!!! So I've been a while, because college has to come first. Then work. And before college, my Darling, but you get the picture. :)

Well, so we have some content in this post, I'd just like to take a few moments to mention a neat idea I was recently exposed to: an OS on a jumpdrive (or thumb drive, or what ever). The first I saw was called Damn Small Linux (http://damnsmalllinux.org), or DSL for short. It clocks in at about 50 megs, and can run off of a boot CD, jumpdrive, network, or even natively in Windows! How cool is that?

But after that, I found a distro that could do all the same stuff, but it loaded itself RIGHT INTO RAM!!! So, needless to say, it was a lot faster then DSL. "It" refers to Puppy Linux (http://www.goosee.com/puppy/). Again, boot it how you wanna. I'm hooked. I wonder if Slackware can boot off of a REALLY big thumbdrive...? :D

At any rate, I intend to resume regular posts. Thank you for your time, and goodnight, fair readers!

New Pope is once in a lifetime?

2005-04-08T15:09:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Podcast+

Dunkin Donuts sucks. At least, to work for. Mmm... Coolatta.... Arrgghhhh.......

2005-04-06T18:01:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Work+; +Narcipost+

Honestly, the donuts are ok (but often, at least at my store, they're old), I HATE the coffee (but that's a matter of taste, I'm sure), but most of all, I hate the disposibilty the owners seem to feel towards their employees. Now, I know that as an Olimpic class Java Juggler I'm not too hard to replace (honestly, a monkey could be trained to pour coffee), but you'd think that sense Dunkin Donuts relies on REPEAT customers (Honestly, I'd say that AT LEAST half of our customers are there once per week. Many more are there daily, more often then not two or three times.) they'd recognize that a happy employee equals an effective employee. No. Of course not. That'd be too easy. Instead they take away our tips (which it CLEARLY says we can collect in the handbook), take away many of our free drinks and food (the only reason I agreed to work there), and to top it off, they've started to treat us all like theives. Bastards.

How ever, let me just say this: The managment blows (Owner, Regional Manager, etc.) but the on site crew is awesome. Best job I've ever had as far as crew goes, except Bromley (http://www.bromley.com). I miss Bromley.....

But yeah, as far as Dunkin Donuts being evil and stuff, did you know that the Dunkin' Donuts puts more then 300 tons of filters into landfills a year? Remember, that's not total trash produced, not the biodegradable coffee grind that they throw into landfills, or anything else. JUST COFFEE FILTERS. They throw away more then 150,000 tons of grounds (assuming that each pot produces only one pound of water satureated grounds, which is likely on the low end). Now, I can't do much about the grounds, but if they switched to reusable coffee filters (http://www.mileskimball.com/jump.jsp?itemType=PRODUCT&iProductID=6137) they'd save over 1,000 tons of landfill space after only 4 years.

Granted, there are much worse companies out there (http://www.microsoft.com Sorry, couldn't resist), but this is just one that I choose to pick on.

Movie Review: Starship Troopers

2005-04-05T20:05:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Review+;

From time to time here at The Monkey Dog Cafe, I intend to do standard reviews of various things: Music, Games, Porn (well, maybe not, who knows?), and others, such as Movies. The movie de jour is a fantastic film known by the unassuming name of Starship Troopers. And what a film!

It starts off with what seems like a news report, or perhaps a recruting clip. Anyone who watches the film will notice a, well, campie attitude. Think World War 3,000 and you'll understand what I mean. Even the dullest wit will see a razor sharp line drawn between the propaganda of yesteryear and what is going on in the movie.

Now, normaly I hate war films. That's correct, I didn't even like Full Metel Jacket much (it was ok). But something about adding lasers to a film always seems to make it better, just like ninjas. Yep, this is a war film that I like.

Everything in it from the characters to the sets is very well done, considering the budget allotted. The FX arn't the best in the world, but they're WAY more then adequite. All told it's a very pretty film. I can't think of any big name actors in it, but the guy who played Luke Skywalker (http://www.markhamill.com/) proved that you don't have to be big name to make a lasting impact. Even if you're never in another film people have heard of again. Poor Mark...

But anyway, it's a great film. It really seems to portray the mortality of being in the army, while not getting dogged down too much. Sure, it's a bit tongue-in-cheek at times, but hey, at least it's fun. My Sweets and I had one decent night curled up on the couch watching it. GREAT film for any Sci-Fi lover. And if you're a War Buff, check it out. It might be worth your time.

And read the paperback if you get the chance. You won't regret it!

Pure Entropy!

2005-04-04T17:21:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Peer 2 Peer+; +Technology+

Well, I'm sure many of my readers have used a peer to peer... er, never mind. I'm sure many of my readers are, well, Jebus, I don't know.

Bagh, if I get any readers, I'm sure that eventuly, ONE of them will have used a peer-to-peer program, such as Napster, Imesh, Kazaa, or Shareaza (the last one is fantastic, and as such is the only one I'll list a link to: http://www.shareaza.com/). Oh, by the way, DON'T USE KAZAA! It's EVIL!!!

Now, dear reader (that's right, I'm talking to you), you might be nervious of P2P software because of all the hullabalu in the papers recently about the RIAA (http://www.riaa.org). Or, perhaps you just want your freedom of speach protected. Well, there's a partial solution for your privite wishis: Entropy (http://entropy.stop1984.com/).

It's built to interface with Freenet (http://freenet.sourceforge.net/, but to also be much more effecient (it's all coded in C). I'm looking forward to using it for a while, just to see how it works.

Basicly, it's the closest thing we have right now to an annomous form of online communication. Sure, the folks over at The Big Hack (http://www.thebighack.org) are working hard to provide a solution that doesn't require sneaking about, but 'till that's around, we're just going to have to live with the alternatives, such as our good friend Entropy (once more, that's http://entropy.stop1984.com/).

Power to the masses, let democracy show!

Ok, I hate SOME parts of life...

2005-04-03T22:11:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

My Sweets is still firmly in love with me, and I with Her, of course. It's Her mom. She makes Her feel like she's wasteing Her time dateing me. It's so maddining, but at least my Sweets will meet me online again tomorow night again. I'm looking forward to it. I can't wait.

I love her so much. I'd marry her if I could.

I hate life.

2005-04-03T20:05:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Narcipost+

Well, today my girlfriend broke up with me. We've been seeing each other heavy for six months, and She's pregnent with our kid. I wouldn't mind the break up so much if it was for a decent reason, like she hated me or something, or I did something to hurt her. But no. The reason is because her mom makes her life a living hell when I'm mentioned. I can't fucking beleive it. I know, she's only 18, still gotta be a girl, but still. It irks me. I love this girl. I WANT to be a father to our child. I'm not trying to run away, in fact I'm doing collage at night, and working a full 40 hour week. I'm rip shit. I can not be good enough for her parents. I'm just hopeing she calls. I've been crying all day. I just don't get it. Last night she told me she'd marry me if her familey wasn't involved. Today, she breaks it off. I just hope it's not perminent. I'm so scared it is. I'm worried about her. I'm worried about our kid. I miss her so much.

And Sweets, if you're reading this, know that I love you. SO much. So very much.

I love my Sweets.

2005-04-03T05:24:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Podcast+; +Narcipost+

Testing Audioblogger / I hate other drivers

2005-04-02T14:05:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Podcast+

We don't need no stinkin' iPod, we gots a Rock Box!

2005-04-02T09:25:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Technology+; +Hacking+

Have you ever had iPod envy? Well, I haven't, but after seeing all the cool stuff they could do that my Archos Recorder V1 couldn't, I was starting. Somehow, even though I've hacked into my xbox (http://www.xbox-scene.com), it had never occured to me that there might be a community of hackers out there makeing firmware upgrades to popular items. Sure, I'd heard about it on some select DVD players, but I never figured that my MP3 player might have such an option. Enter the Rock Box (http://www.rockbox.org).

It's a complete rewrite of the firmware for a host of Archos MP3 players. It takes something that once only played MP3s (and that poorly) and upgrades it to be a crappy PDA with calender functions, calculator, games (Wormlets ROCKS!), hell, even a greyscale image viewer and movie viewer. VERY nice. And yes, it still plays MP3s. Infact, it plays them better. I don't know why, I assume the makers didn't take much time to make sure it worked right, but now when I fast forward to the next song, it WORKS (before, it would sometimes crash the player)! It even has a car adapter mode (which the original firm ware was sadly lacking).

Very impressive. I'm hooked. I went out and blew $30 bucks yesterday on adapters for it. My MP3 player went from almost useless (I still used it as a big moble HDD, 15 gigs is hard to pass up), to being my third most carried gizmo (right behind my crappy cell phone (kyocera KX414) and my Nintendo DS).

Web Browsers: Which one's for you?

2005-04-02T00:27:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Technology+; +Review+

Now, just a month ago I would have laughed at that question. "Clearly, it's Opera" I would have said. Perhaps you'd say different. What ever. It's a matter of taste in many cases. You like things done one way, you get browser A. Like 'em done another, get B. Honestly, I'd still go with Opera in most cases, but sadly it's becomeing more and more of a multi-browser world for me.

You see, even though browsers such as Opera (http://www.opera.com) and Firefox (http://www.getfirefox.com) comply with http standards, there are still many sites out there that have taken it upon themselves to only work correctly with IE or Netscape. Some pages are designed to graceful degredation (see http://www.anybrowser.org) for more on that subject), but many more are set up with only IE users in mind, thus forcing a choice on you if you want any productivity on that webpage.

Now, currently, the best solution I've come up with is a browser shell for IE. I'm using Avant (http://www.avantbrowser.com) right now, and it's ok. It's no Opera, or even a Firefox, but it does ok. And the pages I NEED displayed correctly ARE displayed correctly.

Just be warned that a browser shell like Avant is JUST as open to security flaws as the engine that it was built on (ie. IE). So avoid hard core donkey porn. Or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goatse.cx for that matter.

***UPDATE***

I'm now a serious Fire Fox nut. I just LOVE all the extensions you can have.

First post! Woot!

2005-04-01T22:27:00.000-05:00

Tags: +Technology+; +Narcipost+

Ok, I've never run a blog before, but here goes. Welcome all to the Monkey Dog Cafe. It's a little slice of heaven that I plan to call home for a while at least. You know, unless it gets insanely popular. Then I'll rake in all the cash I can from this milk cow. Heh, I mean.... never mind.......

Well, I'd have to say that this is going to revolve around cool stuff I find. I wanted to make it all about me, but honestly, I want a larger readership then my mom and the creepy old lady down the street. Hello, Mrs. Bigby.

Now, for interesting stuff. Any of you DS owners? I hope so, because there's a lot of neat stuff going on out there. The've got arbitrary code running off of a pass through, and they're makeing more steps every day toward a version of Linux running on our precious silver and black box.

Just wanting to say, Gmail is the best email I've yet delt with. Free (google for gmail invites spooler to get your own), easy to use, powerful, and POP3 access to boot. Sweet.

Ok, that's all I have time for in this post. Got to get to renovating my 'blog. Later, Mrs. Bigby. Love you Mom. Heh...

The Monkey-Dog Cafe

Ok, I can't wait. It's a NEW BLOG AT TRUEVOX.NET!!!

Big things are Comming...

Worlds Coolest Job

Good progress on Chipping the 360, and some site maintenance (we're changing tags!)

We're getting a new house!

3rd Generation P2P Program Released! Watch out, RIAA, OFF is Here!

She Said YES!!!

PS3 is ripping off Nintendo's Wii, AND the Xbox 360!

Not drunk anymore (FINALLY!), Xblog, CL2...

Still Drunk...

Wow. I'm drunk.

Free iPods!!! (No! Really! I've tried it!)

Buy my Music!!!

Wow! Even our Baby has a blog!

Hey! My wonderful darling got into blogging!!!

Oh! Google Pages!

Hmm... I wonder if Batman studied this?

Matt had his first bite of solid foods! Kinda!

Finaly, some MAJOR progress! Full read/write access on the 360!

OK! Long time no see...

Xbox 360 is HERE!

Using the Nintendo DS as a wifi sniffer...

It's a BOY!!! (And he's LOUD!!! :D)

What the Flock?!?

Flock, the New Browser on the Block

Tags, Categorization, and COMMENT SPAM! *BAD SPAM!!!*

Live Opera, Guild Wars, TwiT, and Fire Fox!

HOLY CRAP!! I WON AN XBOX 360!!!

Dude, I'm getting a Mac! Er, Dell! Er, wait. Never mind...

Bounty Hunting Code Warriors, UNITE!

Ok, I'm BACK!!!

No longer a car sales man...

We're having a BOY!!!

I'm gonna be a car salesman! Yay! I hope...

I haven't forgotten about you! REALLY!

YES!!! I've GOT A JOB! (2, in fact)

My weekend with my Sweets.

You've got Tags!

New to the Internet? Fear not! (Part 2)

Baby on Board!

New to the Internet? Fear not! (Part 1)

Opera 8 is out, and WOW, is it good!

Bits, bytes, and nybbles...

Wikipedia: Mmm mmm good!

Well, stuff still sucks, but not as bad (Yep. Another Narcipost.)

Narcipost ahead...

Another sample of my writing...

Sample of my writing...

Sporeadic information on Spore...

Fantastic news for Nintendo DS fans!

Sorry! Had some technical problems! Also, Linux!!!

New Pope is once in a lifetime?

Dunkin Donuts sucks. At least, to work for. Mmm... Coolatta.... Arrgghhhh.......

Movie Review: Starship Troopers

Pure Entropy!

Ok, I hate SOME parts of life...

I hate life.

I love my Sweets.

Testing Audioblogger / I hate other drivers

We don't need no stinkin' iPod, we gots a Rock Box!

Web Browsers: Which one's for you?

First post! Woot!

Tags, Categorization, and COMMENT SPAM! BAD SPAM!!!