Archive for December, 2004


Hotei returns

12/19/2004

My family has had a two foot tall ceramic Hotei statue (”Laughing Lucky Buddha”) ever since before I was born. The one we have is green. It was one of those things where my pop thought “that looks pretty neat” and we used it as an ornament next to the fireplace at the old house we used to live in. It’s supposed to bring good luck.

When my family got divorced years ago, Hotei went missing. His whereabouts unbeknownst to anyone.

When my mother died a few years back, my sister and I went to the old house to divy up what was left and so on. As I was going through the garage picking out stuff, I found Hotei. Joy! (grin) Hotei brings back good memories for me as a kid - a time when things were a lot simpler and easier to manage.

Hotei, although recovered, was damaged. He lost his little red gem on his tummy and also had a chunk of the back of his head taken out somehow. It wasn’t severe damage or anything like that.. but he needed to be fixed.

There is a small craft shop down the road from my house. My pop took Hotei there to see if he could get fixed. The lady there said “sure” but also noted it would take a while. She runs a very small shop and it can take literally months to get something done since she only does the craft thing as a hobby.

Almost a year passes by.

Today, pop came home with Hotei. He is now a very dark green. The lady had to glaze the ceramic again and couldn’t find the original color so dark green had to do. That’s okay. Pop also had a new gem for Hotei’s tummy at the ready.

I glued the new gem to Hotei’s tummy. He now sits in the living room, happy as ever. Still lucky, still laughing.

I think Hotei will be around for a long, long time. (grin)

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Yahoo Anti-Spy

12/19/2004

I had to go over to my pop’s computer to test something and I noticed on his computer that a “Yahoo Toolbar Update” notice appeared.

Note before continuing: I have my pop’s computer completely “Yahoo-ized”. This is for ease of use on his part. Personally speaking I never install any of that crap on my computers. But on his it’s okay because he is what I consider a “safe” internet user and doesn’t do stupid things on the internet like.. 99% of the rest of people do. Anyway..

I installed the update. A new feature was the Yahoo Anti-Spy. This is spyware detection software. I tried it out. Since my pop doesn’t really surf ’round that much on the ‘net it didn’t find much but a couple of cookies here and there - but it did work.

I have to say it was nice of Yahoo to actually provide anti-spy software that’s right there and easy to install. Will I use it? Nope. I have other utilities I already use. But for Joe/Jane Average internet user this should be good. How well it works I don’t know - but at least it’s better than nothing for most folks out there.

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Guitar Vader

12/20/2004

I discovered Guitar Vader on mp3.com back when that site used to host anything and everything (but unfortunately that site completely sucks now). Being that I’m a guy who’ll listen to anything that I think has a cool groove to it - I gave GV a listen. Cool stuff.

I like eclectic Japanese bands, admittedly. They have a flavor that only a few of us in the ‘States will ever truly understand. Guitar Vader for some reason has that certain something which is just all catchy as hell. It’s catchy for the same reason Gorillaz was catchy for those who remember them.

GV also sings most of their songs in Japanese - and there is something very cool about listening to music in another langauge you don’t even know. I won’t bother trying to explain it. Either you get it or you don’t.

So, check out Guitar Vader when you get a chance. Who knows, you may dig it.

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My first Haiku

12/20/2004

Okay, my first Haiku, here goes…

Take heed what i say
Turn off your CAPS LOCK, asshole
Make the ‘net better

Thank you, thank you.. hold your applause. (grin)

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2004 - The Year in Review

12/21/2004

Has this year been any good? Hm. Good question. Let’s review.

Plus: My car got paid off this year. Halle-frickin-lujah.

Minus: I tried to move up North. Didn’t work. But at least I tried.

Plus: I got a new job.

Minus: I don’t like the job too much.

Plus: The commute to werk is easy.

Minus: I have to work.

Plus: This is the first time I’ve had benefits (as in job benefits) in almost 2 years.

Minus: Twice this year I tried to start/join a band and it didn’t work out.

Plus: I have become overall better as a musician.

Minus: My cat and one of my fish died.

Plus: The replacement fish has much more vibrant colors.

Minus: I started playing Counter-Strike and was dumb enough to spend cash on a game server for months and months.

Plus: I quit Counter-Strike cold turkey. It is not even resident on my computer and hasn’t been for several weeks now.

Minus: I took down my biz

Plus: I started my biz again.. however.. the biz may change over to something just a little different. Stay tuned on that. (grin)

Plus: I built a new computer

Minus/Plus: The video card fans started making a ball bearing noise / Fixed by unplugging that fan. Hasn’t burnt yet (grin).

Minus: Found out that some people have severe closure issues.. to a point where you have to physically say (bluntly): GO AWAY.

Plus: My site started this year (yeeeee)

Plus: Stopped hanging around with people who annoy me. Should’ve done that years ago.

Minus: Moved the blog to avoid people I know giving me crap about it.

Plus: Moved the blog back to where it was because dealing with crap is part of life. Fortunately the crap pile has been getting smaller.

Minus: Due to some certain blog posts here, some people got quite upset.

Plus: Due to some certain blog posts here, an old friendship was renewed.

Minus: Got a traffic ticket this year. Bleah.

Minus: Bought a laptop I really shoudn’t have bought. Now I’m stuck with it.

Plus: Gave the laptop to Pop. He now uses it. Reuse. Recycle. (grin)

Plus: Bought Blizzak tires for the car this car. One of the best purchases I’ve ever made. No doubt about it.

Plus: RED SOX WIN WORLD SERIES.

Minus: Saw my first IMAX movie.. IMAX does not live up to the hype.

Plus: Bought a new ViewSonic 19″ monitor

Minus: Had to return it because it didn’t work correctly.

Plus: Bought a new Sony 17″ LCD monitor.

Minus: Had to return that because of 2 dead pixels.

Plus: Got a replacement for the one that didn’t work. Works. fine.

Minus: The realization (once again) that department stores suck.

Plus: The start of my first full EP in a few years. Slowly but surely coming together.

Minus: EP not done yet. (grin)

Plus: Started new online music ‘zine (more on this later).

Plus: My site finally gets a look I’m happy with.

The rest of ‘04: Who knows? Probably nothing spectacular.

That’s it in a nutshell. And yeah there were things that happened earlier in ‘04.. but they really aren’t worth mentioning. Or at least I can’t think of anything that happened in early ‘04 that’s worth talking about. (grin)

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Cheap soda

12/21/2004

As I write this I am drinking Schweppes (and yes I had to look at the can to spell that right) Diet Ginger Ale. Price: Ten cents a can.

“Ten cents?!”

Yep. Ten cents.

Schweppes Diet Ginger Ale is available at my local ‘mart right now for “Get four 12-packs for 5 bucks”. When you do the math, each 12 pack is $1.25, meaning each can of soda is 10 cents. Actually it’s slightly more than 10 cents but I don’t think anyone is going to count four tenths of a cent. (grin)

This gets me to thinking.. “Why is some soda so unbelievably cheap when others are so expensive?” Hmm…

The best selling soda is obviously Coca-Cola. Forget the fact that Coke tastes like malted battery acid for a moment and think - why does Coke sell so well?

Before I get into that - always remember that the last reason people drink Coke is taste.

Let’s examine Coke for a moment. It has a dank dark color to it. When poured in a glass it resembles motor oil with fizz on top. The fizz itself also has a brownish color to it.

If you ask anyone “What does Coke taste like?”, the answer is “Um… tastes like Coke?”

Right.

So.. Coke looks gross. Tastes worse. Yet it sells by the ton. Why?

Coke probably sells tons of soda for the same reason Budweiser sells tons of beer. The reason is market branding/awareness. There is a ton of advertising dollars spent every year to make sure that Coke is #1. As long as I’ve been alive it always has been - so kudos to Coke’s advertising department there.

Okay, so Coke is #1. They push more soda than anyone else. So why it is (usually) the most expensive? A 12-pack of Coke is something like $3.50 at the ‘mart. That’s roughly 30 cents a can, 20 cents more than the soda I’m drinking right now.

If something sells so well, why is it the most expensive? Coke basically sells itself. There is no reason for it to be as expensive as it is. Guess that’s basic greed on the company’s part I suppose.

It would stand to reason Coke sells the best is because it tastes the best - but it doesn’t. Coke sells best because the public is trained to think “This is the best soda” from the advertising they see everywhere.

The best memory I have of Coke is when I had an epiphany one day. I took a can of Coke out of the fridge, cracked it open and gulped it as I normally do. Then I realized:

This stuff tastes like shit!!!

Then I let out a loud burp and dumped the rest in the sink.

The rest is history. I am much happier drinking my el-cheapo (only because of price) Schweppes Diet Ginger Ale. It tastes good. At least I think so. If the price goes up, I’ll switch to something else. (grin)

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Ode to Pop

12/22/2004

Just before I pulled in to werk today I was thinking of how lucky I am that my pop is still around. As I pulled into the parking lot I called pop. He answered, I told him I was happy that he was going to be around this Christmas and that I love him (he’s my dad after all). He said ‘thank you’ and that he loved me also.

Tip to all: Make sure you call your parents and tell them you love them, especially during this time of year. Don’t be one of those people that says “I should’ve told them I loved them when I had the chance.” Tell them now while you do have the chance. Now is the best time, not later.

Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all.

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CS:S temporary install

12/24/2004

I installed CS:S (Counter-Strike: Source) temporarily to help Aaron test out some new maps on his CS:S game server. Over the past few days I’ve been consulting him on how to get new custom maps to work, how to upload them and so on and so forth. We tested a map tonight called de_drought. Pretty cool map, actually.

And it was obvious my game was off since I haven’t played in a while. I kept dying in the game constantly (heh). But that’s okay it was just for testing purposes anyway.

Once he’s up to speed on getting everything working right I will uninstall Counter-Strike again.

Aaron seems to be getting right along with the info I provided. I e-mailed him some tutorial material on how to use FTP, test out stuff and a few other odds and ends. He is taking to it very well and sponging it in. Very cool. It’s nice to see when my documentation pays off in a good way. (grin)

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Needs more cowbell

12/24/2004

This Saturday Night Live skit never ever ceases to be funny.

Ever.

http://www.skoo.net/stuff/cowbell.wmv

Thank you skoo.net. (grin)

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phpBB Google thing?

12/24/2004

Enjoying the day off so I figured I’d write some stuph. :-)

Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4117711.stm

This one too: http://www.kaspersky.com/news?id=156681162

A few of my friends run phpBB boards. I myself have set a few up for other sites here and there. On December 22nd a “Santy” worm spread throughout the ‘net and started breaking into phpBB boards left and right via a Google search exploit (read articles above for more detailed explanation).

The 2.0.11 patch does not seem to fix the problem (yikes). Fortunately, Google themselves stopped the exploit so the exploit ceased, thankfully.

Although I really like the phpBB message board software, it seems a new exploit is found for it every other week. Or at least it seems like that.

I’ve been entertaining the idea of putting a board back, but it probably won’t be phpBB. There are just too many security problems that seems to pop up all the time.

And for friends of mine that I am supporting sites for right now: Yes I will patch your phpBB. There is a manual .htaccess code fix for it. I will be doing this today - not to worry. (grin)

[--edit--]

phpBB viewtopic patch and .htaccess patch applied. Boards are safe. For now. (grin)

[--one more edit--]

If you’re running a phpBB board on your site you really should update to 2.0.11, else you run the risk of having your board broken into. This is no joke.

[--and one more--]

Installed a “crash” board to test out phpBB stuph. You can post there if you want. Just don’t be a retard. (grin)

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