September 26
Fall Season Line-up
It seems that a lot of new shows are scheduled to start up this fall... and
I haven't seen any that I think have staying power.
Same Show, Different Cast
-Ghost whisperer (everyone is talking to the dead these days!)
-Bones (from the CSI mold-one body part and the crime can be conclusively
solved)
-Out of practice (you got that right)
-The one with Michael Rappaport (Bernie Mac, the Wayans guy, too many to
name.)
Truly insulting concept...
-Commander in Chief (you know, the one with Geena Davis). Here's why I say
its an insulting concept:
Most people are caught up in the fact that its a show about the first woman
president. But-here is what it took...
-She was only named Vice-President as a national joke.
-She only becomes the President by default after he suddenly has a
heartattack.
WTF? So, within the warm fuzzy feeling is the knowledge that these people
don't even believe that a woman can become a president the same way a man
can!
So, good luck with that fall lineup!
September 16
Nip/Tuck Fever
Am I the only person who can't wait for the Season Premiere of Nip/Tuck
next week?
This show is just unbelievably good, especially when you realize that it is
not on premium cable but FX- so they do not have the luxury of profanity or nudity. And yet its just such a surreal mind trip that some shows leave me frightened about the minds that could come up with these ideas. I mean, what must the pitching session be like when you've got the most perverse and disturbing plot idea to throw out.
I remember this Robert Schimmel bit I watched once where he was reading the warning card for heart attack survivors. One of the cautions was to avoid anal sex...well, someone in a conference room had to bring it up.
"Ok, no sex-but what about anal?"
"No anal either, Frank, but its good to see where your mind is at!"
I'm so glad its Friday! Its going to be a busy day for me today but I can
sleep all day tomorrow!
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September 14
Top 11 Reasons Geeks Can't Sleep
From BBSpot:
11.Not because of caffeine. Just can't stop thinking about coffee.
10.Converting MP3 collection to OGG taking longer than
you thought.
9.Dorito crumbs on sheets cause unbearable itching.
8.Borg costume needed redesigning because it just wasn't realistic enough.
7.Had to keep checking the torrent to make sure it was still downloading.
6.Too scared to sleep after watching "Hackers" and knowing they can make
more movies like it.
5.MMORPG withdrawal causing uncontrolable shaking.
4.Removed your bed to make room for the server rack.
3.Years of living underground have made your eyelids translucent.
2.Watched special edition of Star Wars and still pissed off over Greedo
shooting first.
1.Had to sell bed to buy newgraphics card.
September 07
HumpDay
Been a pretty quiet week-just the usual nonsense. So, summers over. Can
you believe it? Best summer of my life so far, I'll say that for sure.
Sucks about New Orleans, huh? Kinda puts it all in perspective- I'm upset
that I forgot to put air in my tires, meanwhile there's someones car
floating away on the television...
That new movie with Jodi Foster looks kind of cool 'Flight Plan'. I think I
might check it out. I don't have the stomach for horror, but I love a good
suspense or supernatural thriller. Not that I believe in Aliens...what the
heck-maybe I do. Well, whatever. Looks like a good movie.
So I'm pretty bummed because all the shows I really love are over. Six Feet
Under and Queer as Folk both had their series finale recently. I guess I'll
feel better when Nip/Tuck comes back on the air in 2 weeks time.
I'm riding the train home right now. Its not a bad ride. I find this is a
good time to catch up on my emails or do some creative writing. Yeah, I
said it. So holla back. But not in that lame Gwen Stefani way. By the by, I
am so over her already. Fiddler on the roof. Fiddle on.
you believe it? Best summer of my life so far, I'll say that for sure.
Sucks about New Orleans, huh? Kinda puts it all in perspective- I'm upset
that I forgot to put air in my tires, meanwhile there's someones car
floating away on the television...
That new movie with Jodi Foster looks kind of cool 'Flight Plan'. I think I
might check it out. I don't have the stomach for horror, but I love a good
suspense or supernatural thriller. Not that I believe in Aliens...what the
heck-maybe I do. Well, whatever. Looks like a good movie.
So I'm pretty bummed because all the shows I really love are over. Six Feet
Under and Queer as Folk both had their series finale recently. I guess I'll
feel better when Nip/Tuck comes back on the air in 2 weeks time.
I'm riding the train home right now. Its not a bad ride. I find this is a
good time to catch up on my emails or do some creative writing. Yeah, I
said it. So holla back. But not in that lame Gwen Stefani way. By the by, I
am so over her already. Fiddler on the roof. Fiddle on.
CEO Barbie Criticized For Promoting Unrealistic Career Images
Its because of articles like this I love the Onion. If you don't already read it, go to www.theonion.com. Its the best read you'll enjoy all dayEL SEGUNDO, CA—Toy company Mattel is under fire from a group of activists who say their popular doll's latest incarnation, CEO Barbie, encourages young girls to set impractical career goals.
Mattel's controversial CEO Barbie.
"This doll furthers the myth that if a woman works hard and sticks to her guns, she can rise to the top," said Frederick Lang of the Changes Institute, a children's advocacy organization. "Our young girls need to learn to accept their career futures, not be set up with ridiculously unattainable images."
The issue was first brought to national attention by mother, activist, and office manager Connie Bergen, 36, who became concerned when her 5-year-old daughter received the doll as a birthday gift and began "playing CEO."
"Women don't run companies," Bergen said. "Typically, those with talent, charisma, and luck work behind the scenes to bring a man's vision to light."
She added: "Real women in today's work force don't have Barbie's Dream Corner Office. More often than not, they have cubicles—or Dream Kitchens. I mean, what's next? 'Accepted By Her Male Peers' Polly Pocket?"
Despite the growing furor over the doll, Mattel's top brass has indicated no plans to cease its production, insisting that the newest member of the Barbie family represents a positive role model for girls.
"Young girls can be anything they want. There is nothing standing in their way," read a statement signed by Mattel CEO Robert Eckert, president Matt Bousquette, executive vice president Tom Debrowski, and CFO Kevin Farr.
Said Bergen: "I graduated cum laude from Radcliffe and have worked hard all my life, and my career doesn't look anything like Barbie's. Currently, there are only nine female CEOs in America's top 500 companies. To tell our daughters anything else is a lie."
Figures released by the Changes Institute indicate that, although women make up 46 percent of the work force, a mere 15 percent are senior managers. Lang maintains that these facts don't square with the image of the career woman put forth by the doll.
Said Lang: "Any girl who thinks that she can run a large corporation when she grows up is in for a bitter disappointment, and it is simply shameful that Mattel would seek to cash in on impressionable young girls this way."
CEO Barbie comes with a number of accessories and environments, including the Super Barbie Conference Fun Table, Barbie's Company Dream Car and Underpaid Assistant Ken. But by far the most popular version of the doll has been the Talking CEO Barbie.
"This doll says things like, 'Did you get me those projections?' and, 'We need to cut our operating costs by 10 percent,'" Lang said. "It is dishonest to dangle this carrot of success in front of our daughters' noses, when we know that the odds that a girl will grow up to order someone around are virtually zero."
Lang said he does not expect Mattel to recall CEO Barbie, but he wants to send a powerful message to the people in charge.
"When your daughter comes home crying because she was passed over for a promotion for the fourth time, what are you going to tell her?" Lang asked. "It would be easier if she'd been raised with dolls like Glass Ceiling American Girl, Service Sector Bratz, or Maria The White House Maid."
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September 06
Ipod-ian Freedom
It is only through the luxury and privacy of personal mp3/audio that folks
are now breaking out genres of music that we never thought we'd hear again.
Not even in one's car would there be the general temptation to blast Phil
Collins 'Another day in Paradise', and yet here I am clearly hearing it
emanating from the earphones of someone's Ipod on the train. Just think- in 10 years when music is listened to thru a chip implanted deep in the ear canal people will feel free to dust off such hits as Milli Vanilli's 'Girl
u know its true'...
I can't wait.
September 05
My Wireless Home
1. Verizon DSL Hi-Speed Wireless Internet connection
2. Laptop using the wireless connection
3. His computer using the wireless connection
4. Her computer using the wireless connection
5. A home network so that all the computers have access to each other
6. My Treo 650 with access to use the hi-speed wireless connection while at home, and access to join the network and access files on all the computers.
For the moderately literate computer user, I am going to explain exactly how I was finally able to accomplish this, and what the reasons were to do it.
In our old home we had AT&T DSL- and it sucked. It was off nearly more than it was on, and it just wasn’t that fast. When we moved, we took the opportunity to switch to Verizon. To do this, we signed up online for Verizon DSL in conjunction with our new telephone service.
Next, we realized that even though the new house is 3 stories, there are only 2 phone jacks in the entire house... and they are both right next to each other in the living room. We didn't want to bother with re-wiring the whole house, so we decided to take advantage of the Linksys wireless router that Verizon offered as part of the DSL service. We purchased a wireless-G PCI adapter and installed it into His computer. (Her computer was not yet purchased at the time).
Activating the wireless connection on his computer was as simple as running the Verizon installation CD. The CD had a step-by-step tutorial which could not be easier to follow.
Next, I decided to purchase an inexpensive laptop that we could use all over the house (Our home office is on the 3rd floor). I went onto Ebay and literally searched the terms wireless laptop. I found a used Compaq Presario 1245 in excellent working condition with a wireless network card installed for just $185. The laptop runs Windows 98, with 160MB RAM and 3 GB of storage. This was perfect for us, as the purpose of the laptop is purely for surfing the internet (to look up a recipe in the kitchen, look up a motorcycle part in the garage, or voice an opinion on a network page while watching the news in the den or lining room). Once the laptop arrived, I found that the moment I turned it on, it connected to the internet. Perfect.
A few days later my new pc (Her computer) arrived. At this point we already knew the drill so we purchased another PCI card and installed it. The computer connected to the internet with no problem.
With everything up and running, I started to think more about what I really wanted to be able to accomplish. Our laptop is very low on memory- so if we saw something interesting on the web that we wanted to download or keep, we’d have to email it to ourselves and then delete it from the laptop. It worked, but I knew there had to be a more sophisticated way. In addition, I wanted to be able to access all my files from our laptop, in case I needed to quickly reference something from another room or floor.
So I decided that a home network was the best way to go. I must say that the biggest problem I had was with her computer- and this ended up being due to the installed Norton’s Anti-Virus. So, if you are going to set this up, make sure you check your firewall settings. In mine, I had to include the network address (IP) as a trusted zone for her computer to be able to access and be accessed by the other computers on the network. I spent hours trying to figure out why I could “see” her computer listed on the laptop and on his computer but could not access it. I couldn’t even “see” the other computers on her computer until I figured out that Norton’s was the problem.
Use the Home Network wizard in the control panel to create a network, and be sure to name it something easy for you to remember. I ran the wizard on both computers- for some reason the laptop was just able to pick up the network from “Network Neighborhood”.
With that accomplished, of course I decided I wanted to include my Treo in the fun. I knew the functionality would be limited, but I wanted to be able to;
-access files on all 3 computers
-utilize the high speed connection in the house.
I accomplished these (and more) with 3 applications.
Softick PPP (www.softick.com)
This application enables you to use PPP protocol to create a connection with your PC’s internet connection. I added the Bluetooth connectivity, and I am able to use my Bluetooth to connect to my PC from anywhere in the house and have a blazingly fast internet connection on my Treo. Alone, this is not so overwhelming, but this is important for the next item:
Wi-File Pro (www.handshigh.com)
With this application, I can connect to my home network shares (I.e. the files I have chosen to share with the network users). Before opening Wi-File, I open my preferences and pull up the connection I created with Softick PPP and connect. Then I open Wi-File and connect to the Windows shares I want to access on her computer, his computer or the laptop. The only thing to note is that I had to manually enter the IP address of each computer to be able to browse the shares. Clicking on the ‘browse’ button did not show my home network.
Win-Hand Anywhere (www.win-hand.com)
I installed this program on both his and her computers. I purchased 6 months but did not include file transfer. I figured that with this running, if I need something from my computer, all I need to do is pull up the email program and send it as an attachment to an email address I can retrieve from my Treo or outside computer. This was not really crucial to the whole network, file sharing theme, but in a way it is. Now I can also access files from my Treo when I am outside the house’s wireless network.
September 02
The End of Summer
Hey, its been a while! Well, its been a busy couple of months. 2 days
after we got back from Jamaica we found a new home and moved in over the next few weeks. Then we had my entire family come in from all over the world to have a ring blessing ceremony with his family. So, after I put my mother on a plane tomorrow we can (finally!) get back to normal life. And that will conclude the summer of 2005 for us- the most eventful summer of my life!
Here's a little something from AvantGo to get a Friday chuckle out of you!
Actual newspaper ads!
FREE YORKSHIRE TERRIER. 8 years old. Hateful little dog.Bites.
FREE PUPPIES: 1/2 Cocker Spaniel, 1/2 sneaky neighbor's dog.
FREE PUPPIES... Part German Shepherd, part stupid dog.
FREE GERMAN SHEPHERD 85 lbs. Neutered. Speaks German.
FOUND DIRTY WHITE DOG. Looks like a rat .. been out a while ... better be a reward.
NORDIC TRACK $300 Hardly used, call Chubby.
GEORGIA PEACHES, California grown - 89 cents/lb.
JOINING NUDIST COLONY! Must sell washer and dryer $300.
WEDDING DRESS FOR SALE. WORN ONCE BY MISTAKE. Call Stephanie.
FOR SALE BY OWNER: Complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica. 45 volumes. Excellent condition. $1,000 or best offer. No longer needed, got married last month. Wife knows everything.
after we got back from Jamaica we found a new home and moved in over the next few weeks. Then we had my entire family come in from all over the world to have a ring blessing ceremony with his family. So, after I put my mother on a plane tomorrow we can (finally!) get back to normal life. And that will conclude the summer of 2005 for us- the most eventful summer of my life!
Here's a little something from AvantGo to get a Friday chuckle out of you!
Actual newspaper ads!
FREE YORKSHIRE TERRIER. 8 years old. Hateful little dog.Bites.
FREE PUPPIES: 1/2 Cocker Spaniel, 1/2 sneaky neighbor's dog.
FREE PUPPIES... Part German Shepherd, part stupid dog.
FREE GERMAN SHEPHERD 85 lbs. Neutered. Speaks German.
FOUND DIRTY WHITE DOG. Looks like a rat .. been out a while ... better be a reward.
NORDIC TRACK $300 Hardly used, call Chubby.
GEORGIA PEACHES, California grown - 89 cents/lb.
JOINING NUDIST COLONY! Must sell washer and dryer $300.
WEDDING DRESS FOR SALE. WORN ONCE BY MISTAKE. Call Stephanie.
FOR SALE BY OWNER: Complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica. 45 volumes. Excellent condition. $1,000 or best offer. No longer needed, got married last month. Wife knows everything.
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