grillcheese

Finally, all of my crap arrives in a large container!

2009-09-15T23:22:00.006-05:00

I've spent the last month living in a place with no furniture. Wait. Not entirely true. I have a lamp, two chairs, and an inflatable mattress. Tomorrow everything changes. Oh glorious day! A pod will arrive with all of my stuff from Dallas.I will still need to buy a mattress and a couch but this is great.

Did I mention I met the woman of my dreams. And I must be dreaming. I told her last night that I couldn't have imagined that driving across the country with no job lined up would have ended this good. I found a job within 10 days, met my girlfriend within a month. I am not sure why everything seems to be going my way right now, but I am just going to go with it and see what happens.

That is all for now.

At my place on right on the beach...life is good.

2009-09-05T23:58:00.005-05:00

I accomplished what I set to do which was to live near the beach. Last weekend, I sat out on the beach and got a sunburn. The ocean breeze is so nice that I didn't realize I was burned until I got home.

I met my first match in SF and we immediately clicked. We met for dinner at Pacific Catch over off of Chestnut. I took the 30X (marina express bus) from downtown and it dropped me off not far from the restaurant. The week before I met an old friend for dinner at Mas Sake in the same area. Anyway, after my match and I ate dinner we walked around the area and celebrated her new job at Harry's, a bar she recommended.

I drove down to Palo Alto yesterday for the second date with my match. Today we went to Moss Beach, spread out a blanket and chilled on the beach for about two hours. We then drove to Half Moon Bay and had lunch before returning to Palo Alto. I got sunburned again. More importantly, I am really enjoying the time spent with her. She is the most interesting person I've met in a long time. She is also beautiful and fit. She is very much California - smart, environmentally conscious, and exercises regularly.

I've started running again and hope to be back in shape within two months. I'll buy a bicycle soon since it's a great form of exercise and there are some great routes around and outside the city.

I've scheduled the move for my stuff in storage in Dallas and expect it to arrive in here in SF in about two weeks. I still need to purchase a mattress and sofa.

Quitting my job to move to California was the best decision I've made in a long time.

A few more nights...

2009-08-21T00:07:00.004-05:00

I have a few more nights left in this crappy hotel before I move into my place near the beach in the Outer Sunset district of San Francisco. It has been about a month since I quit my job. I was able to rest and enjoy my time in San Diego. I stayed in Hotel Circle while there. I really like San Diego but there were no opportunities for me. I am now employed and I like my new job. It's a medium sized agency (100 people) but I already see things are a little different. It took nearly two years to get wireless and a laptop at my last job. When I finally got my laptop it was a hand me down with 12" screen. A friend at work referred to it as the "etch-a-sketch" since it was so damn small. That seems like no big deal but when you are using a computer all day it is. Next week I'll get a MacBook. Next, we will install Project Server. Learning both how to navigate a Mac and how to setup Project Server through VMware will be great experience for me. I'm looking forward to it. I am very lucky to have found work so quickly. Most of the people I work with seem alright. A lot of cute girls which is definitely a plus in advertising vs. tech industry.

Even though I'm still living out of a hotel (near the ghetto), I signed up on match.com. Why wait? I won't have any furniture in my place until I figure out what to do with my stuff that's in storage in Dallas.

I found upack.com. They will ship it in a pod to my doorstep for ~$1200. This might be a good deal considering I'd probably have to stay in a hotel two nights and pay for the uhaul truck and gas which would probably be around $800-$900 plus the cost of a flight back to Dallas ($250). I won't accrue the needed vacation time for a few months. I may go ahead and do this. The best part is I don't think I would have to be there at the storage place in Dallas but could have my dad go. Hmmm...that might work.

The weather in San Francisco is so nice. It's really kind of cold. It does get down to the 50s at night. It's often foggy along the coast but I believe that the fog is usually gone by noon.

Found a job in S.F., now to find an apartment.

2009-08-15T00:55:00.024-05:00

I quit my job in Dallas about a month ago (July 15th) with the plan of moving to California. I talked about it for years and decided it was finally time. I started in San Diego but realized that San Diego doesn't have any big agencies and so the pay sucks. I didn't have any response from the companies I applied to in L.A. so I stayed with family in Santa Monica overnight and continued my journey North to San Francisco.

Here is a brief list of the companies I applied to:

It wasn't a surprise that I wasn't able to find a job in San Diego. I had searched google for "advertising agencies in city" and this was the result:

SF
13,156
LA
63,996
SD
4,486

I was surprised at the salaries offered in L.A. for what I do and also surprised that I only had a handful of phone interviews. It's not that I think I'm that good I just applied to a lot of companies. However, it has all worked out and now to decide where I want to live.

View City of San Francisco in a larger map

Oakland is cheaper, but I'm not quite sure I want to live there. I may have to though.

Long weekend ahead in South San Francisco

2009-08-07T16:24:00.003-05:00

As I expected, one of the agencies I interviewed with on Tuesday offered me the job. As requested, I had submitted an application including my salary requirements and they were checking out my references. I knew an offer was imminent. Unfortunately, they basically offered me what I was making in Dallas. The job is in downtown S.F. I will counter on Monday. There is a $25K gap between what they offered and what I asked for so it could be difficult to negotiate something I'm happy with.

I visited the Google complex yesterday aka Nerd Mecca. Nothing much there. A soccer field and basketball court across the street. The offices were very generic. Apparently, most of silicon valley is just industrial office parks.

I have a phone interview on monday with a big CRM SaaS provider. :) It's a large company and would be great for my resume and probably end up being a long term gig due to the fact that it is such a large company, and would offer good benefits I'm thinking.

Now in the SF Bay Area

2009-08-05T23:52:00.010-05:00

Cabrillo National Monument

San Diego was great. It was more of a vacation than anything else. I left San Diego and drove two hours to L.A. to visit family in Santa Monica. I stayed the night Sunday night in Santa Monica and then left for SF on Monday. I took 405 to 101/PCH to San Francisco but exited at San Luis Obispo and heading west toward the Hearst Castle. I thought I would check out the castle. I found out once I got there that the tour of the castle is by bus and lasts 2 hours. I didn't really want to spend 2 hours with a bunch of annoying kids and families and they wouldn't let you walk up to the castle (I just wanted to take a few photos), so I left. I continued driving up Cabrillo Highway (HWY 1) all the way through Santa Cruz, Sand City, San Mateo, San Bruno and on up into downtown San Francisco. I left Santa Monica at 9am and arrived at the hotel in downtown SF @ 7:30. I took around 40 photos along the way.

Cabrillo Highway 1

While in SD I setup 3 interviews in downtown S.F. The cheapest hotel I could find was the King George Hotel (intersection of Mason & Geary). Parking was expensive. I think it was $30/day. However, I didn't have to worry about public transit because I was so close to all three addresses. I interviewed at 2 agencies and with one creative recruiting firm. All 3 went very well. Based on the job ads on craigslist, my experience, and those interviews, I feel confident I'll find something before the end of next week. I want to interview at a few more places before I decide.

Amazing views along HWY 1

I moved to a new hotel outside of downtown San Francisco this morning so I could save money. I am now staying at the Quality Inn near SFO. I chose this hotel since it was in close proximity to downtown when I need to interview. The frontdesk clerk was very nice and encouraged me to come down for their breakfast, and I will. I also like the fact this hotel has a free shuttle to the airport if needed. I don't think I'll be flying anywhere, but it's nice to know it's available if I do.

The weather has been great so far. It's been in low 70s during the day and lower 60s at night. I'm excited about the future and looking forward to starting anew in the Bay Area.

Back in San Diego, but not for long.

2009-07-30T02:42:00.004-05:00

I left Dallas at noon Thursday, July 23rd. I used the (crappy) camera in my Blackberry Bold to take photos while driving which was dangerous but came out surprisingly well even though I was driving 70+ mph. I arrived in Las Cruces, New Mexico around 1:30 a.m. Friday, July 24th. I wanted to drive through New Mexico and Arizona during daylight so it worked out great. I stopped in Deming for breakfast. Then drove on to Tuscson, Arizona where I spent the night.

I arrived in San Diego on Saturday, July 25th late in the afternoon unsure of what the job market would have to offer. I'm staying at a hotel off of Hotel Circle and Taylor. It's not a bad location and is adequate for my needs.

The only interview I've had so far was with a 3 person "web shop" located about 10 minutes away. Since they cannot afford the staff they hire contractors when needed and that would have been the case with me. I'll pass.

I'm 15 minutes from almost all the beaches and about thirty minutes to Del Mar where I had applied for a web project manager position at a larger corporation. I have yet to hear anything from that company or any of the other companies in San Diego I applied to before I left Dallas.

It turns out that San Diego doesn't offer much for advertising jobs. There are a few independent, medium-sized agencies but L.A. and S.F. attract all the big agencies and where all the jobs are at. I'll be leaving San Diego on Sunday, August 2nd for L.A. to visit family in Santa Monica and stay overnight. Monday, I'll drive up the PCH through San Louis Obispo, Big Sur, Santa Cruz, San Jose, San Mateo, San Francisco, and finally across the Golden Gate Bridge to my hotel in San Rafael or that's the plan right now. As of Wednesday, I have 3 interviews in S.F. (2 with agencies, 1 w/recruiter) setup and I hope to have more on my calendar by end of this week.

Back to San Diego...
I have taken quite a few photos with my Nikon D40. I am finally learning how to adjust exposure which has lead to better shots. I just figured it out tonight while taking photographs of the Presidio in San Diego with bright afternoon sunshine. The photos came out pretty well.

Yesterday, I went downtown to Petco Park and watched part of an away game on the big screen located behind the stadium. It was a perfect day to be outside (73F). After taking some photographs of the stadium, I decided to lay down on the grass and watch a few minutes of the game.

Today, I went to Starbucks and sat outside listening to Pandora radio enjoying the sunshine and cool breeze for about an hour. Afterwards, I went up to Del Mar to try to find the beach. I think I could live in Del Mar as well. Anyway, I found the beach, but parking was not available and it was packed so I didn't get any photo opportunities other than with my crappy camera on my phone. On the way back, I stopped at Mission Bay and walked around the park. I took a few photos, mostly with the camera phone. There really wasn't much to photograph. Next, I stopped at the Presidio near my hotel. This will be the highlight of my time in San Diego. I was able to get some great photographs and am anxious to see how well they turn out when I have prints made.

I still have 3.5 days left to soak in San Diego. It's been great to just relax and enjoy this place and not worry about anything.

Random link I wanted to keep to visit later:
Audience Picks: 100 Best Beach Books Ever

Is this the right thing to do? Hope so.

2009-07-19T01:47:00.009-05:00

I booked my hotel in San Diego earlier tonight. I have spent the last few days trying to figure out where to stay and for how long. I'm starting with 8 days in San Diego and I already have an interview the 2nd day I'm there. I think the company will offer me some contract work which depending how long it takes I may do it. The craigslist ad they posted was for 25-30 hours a week of work. It's a small shop and that to me like I may be regressing in my career. They don't want me to do project management but instead were "more impressed with my programming skills". I am not a programmer, so I am curious why they think I am. Their website isn't too bad, but they probably just hired a flash guy to knock out something quick. I noticed they haven't touched their blog they link to from their site. Not good.

So, I'm worried. Am I making the right decision? I want to believe that I am. This will make the third time that I've been to San Diego in the last 5 years. I interviewed for jobs but was not offered the position before.

I have 8 days in San Diego. If nothing substantial happens in that time I may continue on North to LA and then to SF.

Salary Comparison:
San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Dallas

Advertising Agencies in Dallas

2009-07-15T23:48:00.008-05:00

Today, I quit my job at a top global agency in the DFW area. Two years ago my friend told me NOT to take the job because things at the agency were in shambles and people were leaving left and right. I interviewed for a position and was offered the max salary for the position.

I am not a Kool-Aid drinker/rah rah rah type. I just go to work, do the best I can, try to make changes for the better. After two years at this big agency I realized it was time for me to move on. While I was nicely compensated for the work I did, the job itself became stale. Perhaps it's ADHD, but I need to be challenged and this job no longer offered that. Instead, it offered a position in a chaotic environment where whatever it takes and however late you have to stay, the job gets done. This seems to be the case at another agency in Dallas.

Are they all sweat shops? The same comments the users make about IMC2, Tribal, Slingshot could also be made about the company I worked for. I interviewed at Tribal downtown and everyone looked completely miserable. A coworker came from Slingshot said she was bored there and there were no growth opportunities. Sounds very familiar.

Back to my friend who warned me about the job. I am thankful for the experience I gained at this company and I was able to save quite a bit. However, my friend wasn't as lucky. Due to the poor economy and slashed marketing budgets, many were laid off beginning in October of 2008 and continuing through 2009. I noticed that this wasn't a trimming the fat but getting rid of the most expensive people. The same line of BS was used that these people did not have the skill set that was needed. Some people had over 10 years with the company. It was demoralizing to see them layoff 12 in one day and the following day a corporate wide email was sent announcing promotions for executives and various managers. Could they have waited? Am I supposed to be happy for these six figure income talking heads? It left a bad taste in my mouth that never went away. Those that were laid off were replaced with younger people who lacked the necessary experience required in a digital agency which this company will never be, try as they will.

Sour grapes? Not really. I'm happy to moving on with the experience I gained. I was not fired, I was able to leave on my own terms which is always best. I am "rehirable" as I was told in my exit interview today. This is good as I busted my ass during those crunch times where you have to get things done in a short period of time.

One of the top clients I worked with on a daily basis told me that they appreciated the work I did for them and told me that they would provide a reference if needed. Very cool. Maybe it was worth the stress of the job, frustration with coworkers, sleepless nights, and the meds to keep me calm.

Now, I'm planning a job search trip to California. My focus will be on true "digital agencies" out there. I've already spoken with agencies in San Diego, LA, and San Francisco. I am confident I'll find something. My dream is that it will pay enough so that I can live near the ocean.

I leave in one week.

IMC2 Looks to Lure New Business While Helping Clients Get Comfortable in Category

California Trip Planning (MAP)

2009-06-30T21:33:00.021-05:00

View Job Search Trip in California (2009) in a larger map

Dallas to Marfa | 545 miles | 9 hours

Marfa to Tuscon | 510 miles | 7.5 hours

Tuscon to San Diego | 409 miles | 6 hours

Total: 3 days | 1464 miles | 22.5 hours

San Diego to Ojai | 200 miles | 3.5 hours

Ojai to San Luis Obispo | 137 miles | 2.5 hours

San Luis Obispo to Big Sur | 108 miles | 2.5 hours

Big Sur to Santa Cruz | 70.9 miles | 1.5 hours

Santa Cruz to San Jose | 32.6 miles | .75 hours

Total: 1-2 days | 548.5 miles | 9.75 hours

Recipe for one crazy bitch

2009-06-28T22:57:00.013-05:00

1 cup of OCD (check)
1 pinch of ADHD(check)
1 chunk of Neurotic banter(check)
Generous portion of not following prescriptions (check)
1 whole can of repeatedly asking Gynecologist to test for STDs even though she had not been sexually active since previous appointment- she knows she has a disease(check)
2 pints of Tells you she is having twins because she had a dream about it (check)
2 equal pints of A week later has no interest in having kids because they are expensive(check)
1 large portion of Hates her parents (check)
A handful of takes Christmas gifts that parents sent back to parents house and throws on to front lawn and then drives off(check)
Sprinkle Constantly reminding you she is not going to get that trust fund money (check) because of said lack of relationship with parents(check)
Crush in hand one Hit by former boyfriends(check)
1 quart of Knows everything there is to know from Hannity and watching Fox News(check)
1 rats ass of Lacks sympathy for others (check)
Add Attractive "ultra conservative" that thinks everyone wants to do her(check)
Mix with Constantly teases everyone that wants to do her(check)
3 tablespoons Looks you straight in the eye and tells you that a jealous person could not date her because she has many guy friends that "want to fuck her." (check)
4 oz. No sense of humor for what you find funny but points at the tv when something airs she finds humorous and explains to you why it's funny(check)
1 large Annoying laugh(check)
1 Jar Dresses in a bikini and thigh high boots and posts the picture to FaceBook for everyone to see with caption "...in bikini by request" (check)
Slowly add second jar of Sends the same photo to your phone(check)
1/2 cup Nothing in her refrigerator but alcohol not even condiments (check)
1 8lb head of Narcissism(check)

Mix, stir, shake, spread, and get the eff out the way. Run as far as you can. If she is a stewardess run farther.

FYI.
During our first date she mentioned she was ultra conservative and proudly showed me her CWL. Great. She said the abortion doctor (Dr. George Tiller)who was recently murdered outside of his clinic deserved what he got and she wished she had done it because he was performing late term abortions which she then described in detail. A great topic for a first date.

Beauty is sometimes only skin deep.

R.I.P. Chief 1/15/96 - 6/6/09

2009-06-06T23:32:00.006-05:00

I had to put my dog down today. I had Chief for 13 years. A long time for a golden retriever. He was a great dog and made my life much more enjoyable. Most of my ex girlfriends would say the same thing. My parents were even crying when they heard the news. One thing about golden retrievers (and many other breeds) is that they prefer to be around people and when they are no longer around you know part of your family is missing.

Even with all of his medical issues (blindness/uvitis), hip dysplasia, fatty lumps or tumors?, etc.) he was the best. I miss his wet nose nudging me to take him outside or to wake up. I'll miss his craziness when the words "treat" or "cheese" were mentioned. He was a smart retriever. I taught him to open doors by pulling on a sock tied around the door knob. I taught him to get my shoes, the tv remote, his leash, and like most retrievers he loved to swim in the pool. Before he went blind, when we would swim in the pool he hated to see someone go under water. He would swim out to make sure they were okay. If we were wrestling on the floor and he bit me to hard I would tell him "You hurt me Chief!" He would put his head down and come up to me almost as if he understood and was sorry. Dogs seem to learn to read their owners and know their moods.

I had many names for Chief; Chunks, Hairy Belafonte, Chunky Monkey, Freak, Lunchbox, Hairball, and Crazy to name just a few. Somehow he always knew I was talking to him.

Thanks Chief, you did good. There won't be another like him.

A great time in Boston!

2009-05-30T20:15:00.009-05:00

Just got back from Boston a few days ago and I really enjoyed the trip. It was both a business trip (summit) and a vacation. While there I attended a game at Fenway Park and saw what a real baseball team and an engaged crowd are like. The Rangers just don't compare. We also drove down to NYC to attend a Yankee's game in the new Yankee Stadium. It was fun as well but I enjoyed Fenway more I think.

Did I mention I hate baseball? I do. But, still there are certain things in life you have to see whether you are into it or not. As a friend mentioned on FaceBook, "Fenway is on the Bucket list". Check that.

I would move to Boston, if I had the opportunity. The homes in Cambridge were unique and not the McMansions you see everywhere nowadays. It seemed to me like most people drove crappy cars just because you have to parallel park everywhere and you probably are going to end up getting dinged. If you live in Cambridge, you can bike/walk to many restaurants and bars. We took the subway system to Fenway Park and it cost only a few bucks. We ate Peruvian at Micchu Picchu one night. We had Persian for lunch one day. We also had pizza at Cambridge One and my favorite was the lobster at Legal Sea Foods.

While in NYC we ate dinner at Morimoto's Restaurant. While the food was alright, it was overpriced for no reason other than the owner is a celebrity and it's NYC. The hostess routinely came by and folded napkins of those in our party who had left the table. They couldn't split the $1100 check. They also charged us $5 just for a bowl of rice.

Highlights of the trip:

Boston:
Fenway Park and watching a Red Sox game
Cambrdge
Harbor and downtown area
Quincy Market
Whale Watching Tour (the tour associated with the aquarium ($40)
Legal Sea Foods (yummeh!)

NYC:
Yankee Stadium and watching the Yankees

Flash Game: The Space Game

2009-04-10T22:51:00.005-05:00

Exciting space RTS from the developers that brought you Vector TD.
Note: Only Mining & Survival modes are high-score enabled.

The Space Game is a single player strategy game that features 9 missions: 4 mining, 3 survival and 2 bonus modes.
The tutorials on the first page of the menu are an excellent place to start. They will teach you how to mine for minerals, expand, and defend yourself from space pirates.

I think 21 minutes was the best I've done so far on survival mode.
Play The Space Game at Candystand

Mobile TV

2009-04-02T11:19:00.001-05:00

Death of Print

2009-03-21T08:15:00.004-05:00

I'm starting a list of newspapers that have ceased operations due mostly to shrinking ad revenue. Offer all over your articles online, relying on ad revenue and has not worked. Time is running out to figure out the business model.

Newspapers that no longer offer a print edition:
Christian Science Monitor
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Rocky Mountain News
The Tucson Citizen
Jasper Booster (Alberta)
Morinville Redwater Town & Country Examiner (Alberta)
Boston Globe?

Just the beginning...I plan to update this list as often as I can.

High on PHP

2009-03-14T23:28:00.005-05:00

I decided to finally learn php. I had purchased the Foundation book, PHP for DW 8(2006), from Half Price Books ($14.98) a few weeks ago and today I finally got around to configuring dreamweaver and windows for running apache and php. I am really excited about learning php. Although a few years old, the book includes working links to winmerge, for file comparisons, and to the self extracting installer for Apache, MySql, PHP. 80 pages later I have the testing environment setup on my pc and am ready to start developing dynamic sites using php. woo hoo.

The end of compact discs and satellite radio?

2009-02-28T18:23:00.010-06:00

For me, yes. I just completed burning almost all of my music compact discs. I now have 20GB of music on my external HDD. I am planning to sell my cd collection. Many of the cases are cracked or broken, just another reason why cd's suck. I am a bit worried that I will lose all of my music when this ext hdd kicks the bucket. Ah, well.

Satellite radio could be on the death watch soon. Never mind the debt amassed by Siruis Satellite, or the stock price (SIRI), now that you can stream radio to youro mobile device via apps from pandora, slacker, last.fm,imeem, and others, there is no need to pay $15 or more each month for music with commercials. Instead, I listen to exactly the music I want, skipping what I don't like and it's free.

Goodbye 2008

2008-12-31T20:51:00.008-06:00

It’s the end of 2008 but before I say hello to 2009, let’s take a look at what happened in my life in 2008. We launched a travel community website at work for a major hotel chain. Things started off great but eventually no one visited and now there is talk that the site will be taken down due to a lack of interest. Social Networks are hard to monetize or gauge a return on their investment and this site is no different. I’m still employed so I shouldn’t complain, right?

CALIFORNIA
In late July I applied for a transfer to the LA office for the advertising agency that I work for. I interviewed in LA stayed with my aunt and uncle in Santa Monica while I was there. Santa Monica was beautiful. My apartment search in LA was a brutal reality check. Most of the places I found were around $2000/mo. plus deposit, and pet deposit. After the offer was made I wanted more and they wouldn’t negotiate. That was the end of that. I still hope to one day make it out to California. I posted some of the pictures from my trip on my Flickr account.

EXERCISE
In January, I started running. I am now running thirty minutes every other day although I’ve been a sloth and missed running much of the last month. I hope to continue running and working out as the results are noticeable and I feel much better when I’m exercising on a regular basis.

LUNCH BOX (aka my dog)
In 2008, my dog turned twelve. Twelve is very old for a golden retriever. He is blind now and struggles occasionally to get around. He is much slower than what he was just a year or two ago but he still acts like a puppy. I’ve been lucky.

WORLDWIDE SUPERWEBS
In 2008, I found music sites like imeem.com, DIVX movie streaming sites, legal sites that streamed tv with commercials like HULU and Joost. I created a Facebook account and got in touch with old friends from high school. I am now regularly posting stuff on Facebook that no one cares about (hmm, yea, exactly like this). In January, I launched a website for my old company built entirely using the Joomla content management system. It was a great learning experience. I hope to try building a Drupal site in 2009. My cousin wants me to build blog templates for attorneys using something like Movable Type. That will be good to know as well.

2008 was a good year.

Flash Game: Doom

2008-12-01T23:51:00.004-06:00

The original first person shooter Doom is now available in Flash.

Requires: Flash 10
Controls using keyboard.

Android and the G1

2008-11-20T14:59:00.014-06:00

The G1 has a 3.2-inch 320 x 480 (HVGA) resolution capacitive touchscreen, a flip-out full QWERTY keyboard, dual-band UMTS HSPA, quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth. There’s also a 3.2-megapixel fixed-focus camera, microSD slot (with a 1GB card provided and up to 8GB supported) and a trackball for navigation.

The G1 was released about a month ago and while it probably doesn't stand a chance against the iPhone, it does have appeal to some. Not bad considering the phone lacks the polish of the iPhone and its slick interface.

Some of the differences of the G1 and why I'm considering purchasing one:

1. Price
T-mobile is probably the cheapest (and probably the worst) of the carriers. I can handle a dropped call here and there if I'm not paying a lot each month, like I would be with AT&T. I have 1500 anytime minutes + free LD for $49/mo. You are required to sign up for the data plan with T-Mobile which is either $25 (limited) or $35 (unlimited).

2. The Android OS
The flexibility of the Android operating system backed by major carriers and the developer community will ensure that many applications [and phones] will be built. Any developer can sell their software through the Android Marketplace and Google will not take a cut of the proceeds unlike Apple's AppStore.

3. GPS & Google Maps
The phone works seamlessly with Google maps and has a built in GPS. Many of the applications created for Android will center around this functionality.

4. Full slide out QWERTY keyboard
Texting is a pain in the ass using my current Motorola phone. Using the QWERTY keyboard for texting and emailing will be much easier.

5. It's time for a new phone.
My Motorola phone is scratched up, beat up, old and it's about time to get a new phone. For just a little bit more ($179), I can have a phone that does a whole lot more than the average phone.

Some of the reasons why I may not purchase the G1:

1. NY Times considers the G1 the Zune of phones.
2. Ugly phone. Just about review mentions how ugly the phone and even the lack of a consistent icon design in the phone.
3. First generation. Never buy first generation.
4. No video (YET). I think you can view youtube videos out of the box but there is no ability to record your own or view other formats.
5. Camera sucks. I don't care so much about this but many of the reviews say that the camera lacks a lot.
6. Odd headphone jack. It is now shipping with an adapter.
7. I like only paying $49/mo. vs $90 I will pay.
8. Many of the apps will be home brew and may use all of the memory resources of the phone causing it to run sluggishly.
9. No killer app for the G1 yet. For me, it would be a turn by turn GPS application. Update: IMEEM now has a app that allows streaming radio!
10. Battery Life. There are ways to increase battery life..

Tech Crunch's Top Android Market Apps
1. imeem Mobile: It’s a jukebox in your pocket, and the progressive download means that your song doesn’t skip when you go into an elevator, ’nuff said.

2. ShopSavvy: From Big in Japan, this turns your phone into a barcode scanner and then gives you price comparisons both online and in nearby retail stores. In my tests, the product database is good for household items, but can stumble with obscure products. But this is a killer app once the product database becomes more comprehensive. (Also try CompareEverywhere, which does the same thing).

3. Pac-Man: The original arcade game from Namco. Free on the Android (it costs $7.99 on the iPhone). The rollerball is an excellent joystick.

4. BreadCrumbz: You can leave photo and voice marker breadcrumbz along any route that others can then follow later on. Ties into the phone’s GPS, maps, camera, and microphone.

5. Wikitude: A travel guide that pulls up information from Wikipedia about nearby locations and puts them on a map, along with photos from Panoramio. Really useful geo-mashup.

6. Shazam: Put the phone up to a radio or speaker playing a song and Shazam will tell you the name and the artist, just like the iPhone app.

7. SplashPlay: Teaches you how to play the guitar by playing music and showing a fret board that you can play on the screen in sync with the music. The app is marketing for a similar tutorial device you can buy for your guitar, but it really teaches you how to play.

8. iSkoot for Skype: Lets you use your Skype account to IM your contacts, make Skype calls over the Internet, and uses the phone for SkypeOut calls (this is one of the apps that was taken down, but should go up again. Update: It’s available now)

9. MyCloset: This one’s more for the ladies, but a very nicely done app. You take apicture of every article of clothes in your closet, categorize them (top, bottom, shoes, accessories, etc.), select months when they can be worn, and then you can mix and match to plan out your outfits. The only thing it needs is some way to note weather a piece of clothing is clean or not.

10. Cab4Me Light: A simple app that gives you phone numbers of cab companies based on where you are.

Links:
http://www.android.com/
http://www.android.com/market/
http://androidcommunity.com/
http://www.talkandroid.com/android-forums/

Videos:
Android Team Videos
APP: Amazon Music Store
APP: CompareEverywhere
Accessing maps during a phone call

Inbred Jed

2008-10-30T10:23:00.001-05:00

AUTOS: SAAB 9-X AIR (Concept)

2008-09-18T10:44:00.003-05:00

More Photos
More About the 9-X Air

Kevin Mitnick Free... to tell all

2008-09-17T23:00:00.004-05:00

NY TIMES Tech Talk Podcast brief interview with convicted hacker Kevin Mitnick. The government thought that Kevin Mitnick could start a nuclear war if he had access to a phone so he was placed in solitary confinement for a year. He is plugging his latest book in this interview which he says will describe much of what happened.

Photography - HDR Tutorial

2008-09-17T09:21:00.001-05:00

"I hope this tutorial describing my evolving HDR techniques proves useful to you! I receive a lot of emails from people who stumble across my photography asking how I do this. Rather than sending a super-long response, I made this little tutorial because I was feeling particularly open-source one day. I keep this blog and try to post one interesting picture per day. About 75% of my work is HDR, so if you hang out on StuckInCustoms.com, I’ll do my best to keep fresh images for you to see every day!"

More

We Could Be Booey

2008-09-16T14:49:00.001-05:00

Is it finally time for Virtual Reality to take off?

2008-09-07T16:42:00.008-05:00

I noticed that the company responsible for Google's Street View map feature has an office in Dallas. They have quite a few demonstration videos on their website of the technology they use. Very cool stuff.

Check it out (use your mouse to move around within the video):

Mt. St. Helens
Take an epic flight atop a historic natural artifact

Among Giants
Get onboard with Humpback Whales

42nd Street
Take a drive down NYC's infamous 42nd Street

Although it's a bit hard to see in the top left corner of the player you can control zooming in an out with the slider.

more demos here

Official Google Blog: A fresh take on the browser

2008-09-01T17:28:00.003-05:00

Google will have a Beta of thier browser available tomorrow (9/2). News about the browser quickly spread across the net and Google decided to confirm the rumours today.

Official Google Blog: A fresh take on the browser

Update:
Download Chrome (PC ONLY)

A montage of the best reporter slip ups.

2008-08-29T21:44:00.003-05:00

If you live in Dallas, you may recognize WFAA Daybreak anchor Cynthia Izaguire in this video.

I'm Blessed.

The L.A. Trip

2008-08-24T18:54:00.013-05:00

I got back from L.A. yesterday. The flight had a delayed departure from LAX (3:50 CST) and then we had to land at Alliance airport due to sudden storms that blew through at DFW. When we finally landed, it was 8:15pm. The flight was supposed to be 2:50 minutes.

Overall, I really enjoyed the trip to California. I stayed with my aunt and uncle in Santa Monica. Santa Monica is the perfect place but that's because you have to be rich [beotch] to afford live there. It was 70 degrees there while it was 96 in Dallas.

View Larger Map

I looked for a place to live in El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, and Marina Del Rey. My goal all along has been to live as close to the beach as possible but I had a reality check when I found out that rent is about double what it is here in Dallas and jumps higher as you get close to the beach. Most of the places were about $1900+ for a 1 bedroom.

How cool would it be to have this within walking distance from where you live?

Going Back to Cali

2008-08-14T23:37:00.005-05:00

I'll be heading out to(El Segundo) next week to interview for a Senior Project Manager position. If all goes well, I'll transfer to LA in the next month. I am ready for a new challenge.

I've read and heard about how expensive it is out there but I'm single and I'm curious to know what life is like in California.

Without a doubt it's going to cost a lot though. To break my lease it will cost me $850 plus monthly until it's rented. Renting an apartment in LA will probably cost around ~$1700-$2000. Add in deposits and it will probably cost $3000 for the first month alone. They will offer assistance which should cover relocation, and best of all I would receive a cost of living increase.

Little People Boxing

2008-07-29T22:28:00.000-05:00

Little People Boxingfunny videosFunnyOrDie.com

Imagination Land and a random video

2008-07-28T22:47:00.005-05:00

I don't watch South Park that often but last nights episode had me laughing my ass off. If you haven't seen the Imagination Land watch it here.

Apparently, I must have the social skills of Robert Baker when it comes to dating. None of these girls I've met seem interested. Maybe I should try barking.

New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move Less

2008-07-23T21:40:00.001-05:00

Infoglut

2008-07-19T19:09:00.004-05:00

In a creative writing class in college I wrote a short story called Infoglut. To summarize, Infoglut was about a hacker who had been busted and was being tracked by the feds via an ankle bracelet. In the end of the story the hacker had escaped by buying plane tickets on multiple flights out of the country even with the ankle bracelet. There were too many flights to track and so he escaped. He knew that feds could not determine his location once he was out of the country. He escaped, the end.

I was talking to an old boss of mine about personal information and how to avoid Big Brother scenario where the government knows too much about us. He suggested that as more and more information is gathered about us that more and more people will want to opt out. My boss said that there will be business opportunities to protect individuals information but services that will ensure anonymity. These services won't be cheap.

Now there are new technologies available to allow tracking via RFID (radio frequency identification), our personal information stored as biometric information, and smart cards which embedded chips that can store information. GPS devices are already being built into the latest mobile phones.

We then started talking about what can be done to get yourself, "Off the Grid." I think thought about what all of the illegals probably do. Use one of those cellphones that can be purchased with a set amount of minutes. Buy additional minues later. Get rid of all credit cards. Get of all of those reward cards. Use cash as often as possible.

Then I realized I rely too much on the conveniences of using my cellphone, credit card, and the discounts I receive using reward cards.

Is Anonymity impossible?

http://ezinearticles.com/?Catch-Me-If-You-Can---The-Art-Of-Remaining-Anonymous&id=1198718
http://www.rfidnews.org/library/2008/07/14/id-industry-fighting-big-brother-image/

Google's Lively

2008-07-09T11:38:00.003-05:00

Google has released their own virtual world called Lively.

More about Lively:

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/7/google-no-sex-in-second-life-killer-lively-goog-
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080708-hands-on-googles-lively-social-3d-world-is-20-percent-done.html
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080708-181651

Happy Fourth of July!

2008-07-04T18:38:00.000-05:00

Never buy a first- generation Apple product

2008-06-22T20:04:00.006-05:00

The reason I wasn't interested in the first version was the cost. I just couldn't see spending that much money for a smartphone. The new iPhone will start at $199. Now, I might just consider it. I dig the GPS and 3G, although I don't know how often I would surf the net using the iPhone. I wonder what affect the new iPhone will have on the pricing for the Blackberry Bold.

More about the new iPhone:
Apple 3G tops the iPhone on all scores
iPhone 3G hands-on
8 Unanswered Questions About Apple's 3G iPhone

The Great NERF Office War

2008-06-20T12:18:00.000-05:00

Ong Bak 2 Trailer

2008-06-18T17:50:00.001-05:00

Playstation Home

2008-06-16T09:34:00.001-05:00

Nigel Tufnel explains Stonehenge

2008-05-29T23:17:00.005-05:00

The original Stonehenge was wood and by a process of rain, peet, and saliva, turned into rock.

Stonehengedecoded.com

Vimeo: Online HD video

2008-05-17T12:54:00.003-05:00

Wild Amazon from Fabián Aguirre
Vimeo now has a video channel for High Definition video.

Chasin' the Cheese (The Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake)

2008-03-30T22:08:00.001-05:00

It involves up to 20 competitors chasing a block of cheese down a hill. No, really.

The competitors climb up to the top of the almost-impossibly steep Cooper's Hill and chase a large not-quite-round wheel of double Gloucester cheese down to the bottom. The winner is the first person over the line at the bottom of the slope, but theoretically, the winner is supposed to be the person who catches the cheese. The cheese, which is given a one-second head start, reaches speeds in excess of 70 miles an hour.

more wackiness here

Nine Inch Nails release latest on Pirate Bay

2008-03-03T21:21:00.001-06:00

Nine Inch Nails have released the latest album Ghosts, on Pirate Bay. The torrent contains only 9 tracks (Ghosts 1). The full download of the album is available for $5.

The music industry exec's have to love this.

Alfred David, a typical Belgian

2008-02-16T11:27:00.001-06:00

...who happens to believe he is a penguin.

A good Flash site: Pink Floyd, Oh By the Way

2008-02-10T14:48:00.000-06:00

A web advertisement by Bloc Media Limited for the "Oh, By the Way" box set for Pink Floyd. The site is all flash and is a well executed piece, something I don't see often in Flash sites. The spectrum analysis was also a nice touch.

http://www.pinkfloyd.co.uk/obtw/

The multi-screen format of "The Situation Room"

2008-02-03T23:30:00.000-06:00

Who was Calvin Cantrell?

2007-12-19T10:31:00.002-06:00

Sometime in the mid 1990's, while on break from college, I contacted Calvin, a hacker friend of mine. When he answered the phone, he sounded real nervous. He told me not to ever call him again. He said that about 10 guys in suits had visited his house the day before. I didn't believe him at all. I knew he was Phreaker but I didn't think that he was being tracked by the FBI. A few years later he made the local news and that's when I realized he was doing a lot more than what I thought.

This article is from ZDNN (http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/).
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-501418.html

In a federal courtroom here, Calvin Cantrell stands
silently, broad shoulders slouched. His lawyer reads from a short
letter he has written:

"My parents taught me good ethics, but I have departed from some of
these, lost my way sometimes," the letter states. "I was 25 and living
at home. No job, and no future... . All I ever really wanted was to
work with computers."

Cantrell certainly did work with computers -- both
his own, and, surreptitiously, those of some of the largest companies
in the world. He was part of a ring of hackers that pleaded guilty
here to the most extensive illegal breach of the nation's
telecommunications infrastructure in high-tech history.

And sitting behind him in court as he was sentenced two weeks ago was
the accountant-turned-detective who caught him: Michael Morris. A
decade earlier, Morris, bored with accounting work, left a $96,000 job
at Price Waterhouse and enrolled in the FBI academy, at $24,500 a
year. Cantrell's sentencing was the final act in a five-year drama for
Morris, and secured his reputation as the FBI's leading computer
gumshoe.

The tale of Morris and Cantrell is among the first cops-and-robber
stories of the New Economy, involving, among other things, the
first-ever use of an FBI "data tap." It illustrates how the nation's
law-enforcement agencies are scrambling to reinvent their profession
in a frantic effort to keep pace with brilliant and restless young
hackers.

Unlimited potential for harm
The story also shows that hacking's potential harm is far more ominous
than theft of telephone credit-card numbers. Cantrell was part of an
eleven-member group dubbed "The Phonemasters" by the FBI. They were
all technically adept twentysomethings expert at manipulating
computers that route telephone calls.

The hackers had gained access to telephone networks
of companies including AT&T Corp., British Telecommunications Inc.,
GTE Corp., MCI WorldCom (then MCI Communications Corp.), Southwestern
Bell, and Sprint Corp. They broke into credit-reporting databases
belonging to Equifax Inc. and TRW Inc. They entered Nexis/Lexis
databases and systems of Dun & Bradstreet, court records show.

The breadth of their monkey-wrenching was staggering; at various
times, they could eavesdrop on phone calls, compromise secure
databases, and redirect communications at will. They had access to
portions of the national power grid, air-traffic-control systems and
had hacked their way into a digital cache of unpublished telephone
numbers at the White House. The FBI alleges, in evidence filed in U.S.
District Court for the Northern District of Texas, that the
Phonemasters had even conspired to break into the FBI's own National
Crime Information Center.

Unlike less-polished hackers, they often worked in stealth, and
avoided bragging about their exploits. Their ultimate goal was not
just fun, but profit. Some of the young men, says the FBI, were in the
business of selling the credit reports, criminal records, and other
data they pilfered from databases. Their customers included private
investigators, so-called information brokers and -- by way of
middlemen -- the Sicilian Mafia. According to FBI estimates, the gang
accounted for about $1.85 million in business losses.

"They could have -- temporarily at least -- crippled the national
phone network. What scares me the most is that these guys, if they had
had a handler, whether criminal or state-sponsored, could have done a
lot of damage," says Morris. "They must have felt like cyber gods."

Some may be still at large
With the exception of Cantrell, none of the defendants in the
Phonemasters case would comment on the matter. Others are thought to
remain at large. This is the story of Cantrell and two accomplices
largely put together from federal district court records and FBI
interviews. Morris first learned of the group in August 1994, when he
got a phone call from a Dallas private investigator, saying Cantrell
had offered to sell him personal data on anyone he wished. He even
offered a price list: Personal credit reports were $75; state
motor-vehicle records, $25; records from the FBI's Crime Information
Center, $100. On the menu for $500: the address or phone number of any
"celebrity/important person."

Morris immediately opened an investigation. Only 33-years-old at the
time, he had taken an annual pay cut to join the FBI just five years
earlier. He had been a tax consultant at Price Waterhouse, and
despised the work. "I was young and making the big bucks, but every
morning I would think 'God, I don't want to go to work.' "

Tall, square-jawed and mustachioed, Morris began working on
white-collar crimes when he arrived at the Dallas FBI field office. He
took on a few hacker cases and realized he liked the challenge. "These
guys are not the kind who'll rob the convenience store then stare
right into the security camera," he says. "Trying to be the Sherlock
Holmes of the Internet is hard when the fingerprints on the window can
be so easily erased."

Morris convinced the private investigator to meet with Cantrell while
wearing an audio taping device. After reviewing the tapes, he was
certain that he was onto something big. He applied for and received
court authority to place a digital number recorder on Cantrell's phone
lines, which would log numbers of all outgoing calls. It showed that
Cantrell frequently dialed corporate telephone numbers for AT&T, GTE,
MCI, Southwestern Bell and Sprint. Cantrell had also placed calls to
two unlisted numbers at the White House, which further piqued Morris's
interest.

So, late that summer, Morris took an unprecedented step. He began
writing a 40-page letter to the FBI's Washington headquarters, the
Department of Justice and the federal district court in Dallas.
Recording Cantrell -- now his central suspect -- while on the phone
wasn't sufficient for the job that faced him, he believed. Instead, he
needed new federal powers. He asked for Washington's permission to
intercept the impulses that traveled along Cantrell's phone line as he
was using his computer and modem.

"It's one of the hardest techniques to get approved, partly because
it's so intrusive," says Morris, who spent the next month or so
consulting with federal authorities. "The public citizen in me
appreciates that," he says. Still, the long wait was frustrating. "It
took a lot of educating federal attorneys," he says.

Once authorities said yes, Morris faced another obstacle: The
equipment he needed didn't exist within the FBI. Federal investigators
had experimented with a so-called data-intercept device only once
before in a New York hacker case a year earlier. It had failed
miserably.

Morris and technicians at the FBI's engineering lab in Quantico, Va.,
worked together to draft the specifications for the device Morris
wanted. It would need to do the reverse of what a computer's modem
does. A modem takes digital data from a computer and translates it to
analog signals that can be sent via phone lines. Morris's device would
intercept the analog signals on Cantrell's phone line and convert
those impulses back to digital signals so the FBI's computers could
capture and record each of a suspect's keystrokes.

Alerting the victims
While waiting for the FBI to fit him with the proper gear, Morris
contacted several of the telephone companies to alert them that they
had been victimized. The reception he got wasn't always warm. "It's
kind of sad. Some of the companies, when you told them they'd had an
intrusion, would actually argue with you," he said.

GTE was an exception. Morris discovered that Bill Oswald, a GTE
corporate investigator, had opened his own Phonemasters probe. Oswald
and Morris began working together and uncovered another of Cantrell's
schemes: He and some friends had managed to get their hands on some
telephone numbers for FBI field offices. They entered the telephone
system and forwarded some of those FBI telephones to phone-sex chat
lines in Germany, Moldavia and Hong Kong. As a result of the prank,
the FBI was billed for about $200,000 in illegal calls.

Morris also learned that on Oct. 11, 1994, Cantrell hacked GTE's
computer telephone "switch" in Monticeto, Calif., created a fake
telephone number and forwarded calls for that number to a sex-chat
line in Germany. The FBI isn't sure how Cantrell convinced people to
call the number, but court records show that Cantrell received a
payment of $2,200 from someone in Germany in exchange for generating
call traffic to the phone-sex service.

In early December 1994, Morris's "analog data-intercept device"
finally arrived from the FBI's engineering department. It was a
$70,000 prototype that Morris calls "the magic box."

On Dec. 20, Morris and other agents opened up their surveillance in an
unheated warehouse with a leaky roof. The location was ideal because
it sat between Cantrell's home and the nearest telephone central
office. Morris and nine other agents took turns overseeing the wiretap
and data intercepts. The agents often had to pull a tarp over their
workspace to keep rain from damaging the costly equipment.

Read the entire article here

There's also an interesting documentary about Kevin Mitnick:
Freedom Downtime: Story of Kevin Mitnick

Giving the bird for the first time.

2007-12-09T01:03:00.000-06:00

Well, maybe not the first time.

Towelie says, "Don't forget to bring a towel."

2007-12-06T13:49:00.002-06:00

Be sure to check out the Towelie Soundboard.

Flickr

2007-12-02T21:57:00.000-06:00

I setup my Flickr account today. I uploaded quite a few pictures that I took earlier today. Most of the pictures are of the area where I live. The pictures were all taken with the default settings.

Kevin Drew - Age of Consent

2007-11-28T23:02:00.000-06:00

New Order's Age of Consent cover by Kevin Drew
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/fairgame/local-fairgame-653499.mp3

more tunes from his solo album:

Have a Life
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/fairgame/local-fairgame-653497.mp3

Safety Bricks
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/fairgame/local-fairgame-653498.mp3

more info

Discovery May Help Fat Asses Everywhere

2007-11-27T16:14:00.000-06:00

Fat Kid Successfully Avoids Ridicule By Swimming With Shirt On

Nikon D40

2007-11-25T17:19:00.000-06:00

I finally purchased a Nikon D40 6.1 MP camera today. I've wanted a camera for a long time and finally I've a got a great Digital SLR. Once I have some pictures I will start posting them here.

Amazon Kindle

2007-11-19T23:17:00.000-06:00

Announced today by Amazon.

Worth it or not? Based on the customer reviews it doesn't look like too many people are interested at $400.

Protesting your own movie.

2007-10-30T18:05:00.000-05:00

Kevin Smith protests Dogma at it's premiere in Eatontown.

All Media is online - FTW

2007-10-24T20:17:00.000-05:00

I was reading on digg.com that tvlinks was shutdown last week. I had no idea what tvlinks was prior to reading the post. What's interesting is that in the comments of the story hundreds of people were posting responses and links to other websites that had tv shows and movies. Probably not what the copyright holders wanted to happen. The publicity on digg will only expose more people to the vast amount of coprighted media available online. This is where it's going. Right now Torrents and websites which link to torrents are very popular. In 10 years you won't have to worry about your dvd collection, or downloading torrents. Everything will be hosted and then streamed online via one click of the mouse.

Or is it already?

Bullshit, a Deciding Factor in Most Elections

2007-10-18T20:51:00.000-05:00

Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

No Talent Show: Stacy Hedger, Miss Douglas

2007-10-12T10:27:00.000-05:00

How to maintain a relationship, by Chris Rock

2007-10-06T12:39:00.000-05:00

Randy Pausch: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

2007-09-30T22:23:00.000-05:00

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving talk, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals.

Assimilated by Apple today

2007-09-20T21:58:00.000-05:00

We relaunched the corporate website late yesterday. When I arrived to work this morning there was an iPod Shuffle on my desk along with a small plant. It's to go along with the theme of the new website - future garden. Anyway, this is actually kind of cool because my car radio has an auxiliary input. I'll actually use this thing. All 1GB..

Prank: Marriage Proposal...

2007-09-13T18:00:00.001-05:00

TIPS: Buying/Leasing a New Car

2007-08-12T12:35:00.000-05:00

A few things that I think worked in my favor when negotiating for a new car.

Start Early.
Negotiating pricing is much easier if you have time. Be prepared to walk out if the deal isn't exactly what you want even if they pull the books out and point out how great of a deal you are getting. I was first offered a dealership demo, 30 days later I was offered the same exact terms for a brand new vehicle. Go about car shopping early also will allow you time to visit many dealerships and get the best deal offered since you will have time to compare. Common sense I know, but some people probably don't do this just because they wait.

4-square, Middle Finger.
Many of the salespeople, especially the newer ones, will draw up a 4-square. They will get you to the terms they want by getting you to tell them the terms you want. Turn this around on them by telling them FIRST that you want to know what they want. Once they have narrowed down the terms and pricing, they will try to get you to put your initials on the 4-square. This is bullshit. It is not legally binding and only serves one purpose; to make customers feel like they must honor the deal that they agreed to. I don't do this, and I tell them up front that there is no reason for me to do so. They will BS with you about how the boss needs this. I interupt them and tell I won't sign it. This lets them know that you are experienced and are not playing games.

Take the car home, but make a few stops.
It's much easier to walk away from the deal if you don't have the vehicle. I turned down the offer by a few salespeople to take the car home when I knew I wasn't ready to decide. This is a ploy that the dealerships use to close the deal. When it's decision time, I think you may want to take the vehicle over night. Use this as last minute way to negotiate best deal pricing with the other dealerships. It's probably important that you've established contact with a salesperson at the competing dealerships to save time before you make that final visit. Make sure when you drive up that the salepeople see the borrowed vehicle. Most dealerships have big windows in the offices for the sales people. Park where they can see the car. Point it out to your sales guy when you walk in the door. They will know that you are serious and that they don't have a lot of time to win you over. Tell them that you are about to make a decision but since some bullshit reason (like "you were helpful" or "...great to work with") you wanted to give that salesperson an opportunity to beat offer. They either will or won't and you can rest assured that you got the best deal. Take the vehicle to the next dealership and repeat. The deal I finally agreed to was $70 less per month than what was offered by a competing dealership. I drove up and they saw me in the car with the dealership plates. They had told me on the phone they could beat the deal but they didn't. That's okay. It never hurts to try.

Good luck.

An Expensive Lesson to Learn

2007-08-09T21:58:00.002-05:00

I realized something today at work. Too many ad/marketing agencies and other companies are relying on too few people to maintain some of the most important pieces of their business. That important piece is software engineering. I'm not a software engineer but I do realize their importance on the digital economy. Why don't these companies train or provide a brain dump for a handful of people to serve as a backup?

A few years ago, when I worked for ClikTO, the startup, I realized that when the last of our programmers left, our startup ruined, and we had failed by not keeping our programmers. We all were paid $10/hr and still we managed to run out of money. I have posted about ClikTO so I won't go into a lot details now, but I realized it was over when we could no longer fix or enhance the web application we had spent four years working on. Blood, sweat, and tears all for naught.

My next job was a short term contract as a project manager. I was surprised to find out that the duration of the contract was only three months. It was extended another two months because the project was not completed. Towards the end of the project, it was extended two weeks at a time. Not knowing whether or not if my next paycheck would be my last, I left to work full time for a prominent web design company. Both of the projects I worked on launched, but I have no clue how they maintain the sites as they didn't have the staff to do so when I was there.

Unfortunately, things would only get worse at my next job. While working as a project manager at this web design company in Dallas, I noticed many of the same approaches to running the business. The guys in charge kept a small, bare bones crew made up of three coders, two artists, two PMs, two sales guys, and an IA. Turnover was high, making my job as Project Manager difficult due to the inability to manage resources effectively. Coders that couldn't get the job done quickly were fired and replaced with younger, cheaper talent. This process of hiring and firing continued the entire time I worked at this company. They didn't realize that they were entrusting their business to people who lacked experience and vision. The staff was often over worked and underpaid. The rank and file had nothing to gain by sticking around. I felt hopeless as I couldn't meet project deadlines with the ever-changing staff that we had. On one of my projects, the client asked for their $30K back when they realized progress was not being made. What they didn't realize is that turnover was destroying the company. With each firing, employees that remained were forced to work longer hours. Eventually, another person would leave. A small, core group of people isn't always the most efficient approach.

It's not just small companies that suffer from poor IT management. I worked for a medical claims processing company as their webmaster. My first month I worked for the company I was not given a single task to complete. I assigned myself things to do to demonstrate my talents. Over the year I spent at this company, it seemed like more and more people were leaving as the weeks went by. I too found a better paying job and moved on. A weeks after I quit their corporate website I had designed was hacked. Visitors to the website would have been shocked had they visited the site during that time. Had the company had a backup they wouldn't have had to take down the web server for the entire weekend. They wouldn't have had to call me either.

The agency I work at now hasn't learned the valuable lesson of hiring and keeping the right talent to operate the business. Instead they shift gears and focus on other pieces of the business and ignore interactive. The software engineers have almost all left. One of them told me today that he might stick around another two months. When he leaves, the company will likely respond by contracting out some of the work. Unlike creative projects, this type of work is costly and cannot be contracted all the time. Companies have to hire some of these people so that they don't have to start from scratch each time a new project is undertaken. The company I work for observes as people leave, even conducting an exit interview. What I find odd is that they don't replace them. An entire IT team has left in the last 6-9 months. Two years ago the Interactive team was made up of 30 employees. Now the department is so small it was absorbed into another department. People cannot take vacations because they have no backup. This is a sweat shop.

If your company is a revolving door, do something to fix it. The last thing your company should want is to be known as a revolving door.

Cablecard

2007-07-29T22:23:00.000-05:00

NYTimes technology discussion of the Cablecard.

Fat Chicks

2007-07-23T21:48:00.000-05:00

Overkill - Colin Hay

2007-07-20T09:28:00.000-05:00

Remember Men at Work? The video below is a live performance of Overkill, a favorite of mine. Recorded live in Chicago, May 2007 by an audience member.

Live Earth: Spinal Tap

2007-07-08T22:55:00.000-05:00

Spinal Tap performs Stonehenge, Wamer Than Hell, and Big Bottom in London on 7/7/07...

View video

1st week done.

2007-06-24T20:47:00.000-05:00

My first week as project manager at the agency was crazy. I have never been in so many meetings. At least 3-5 a day, each lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. No wonder the hours are going to be longer.

Don't believe the hype. (iPhone)

2007-06-06T10:53:00.000-05:00

I may be off the mark on this one but I think the Apple iPhone isn't going to be as great as everyone thinks. I agree with PC Magazine's Jim Louderback opinion that the iPhone will intially sell well then sales will begin to slow.

Here's what Mr. Louderback says:

Cumbersome, slow e-mail and messaging: Lance seems to think that the young, trendy technorati will flock to the keyless phone, but he's forgetting one key fact: Those youthful customers use their phones for far more than just verbal communications. Texting and messaging are incredibly important to them. And older buyers, who have more disposable income, are addicted to e-mail phones, including the BlackBerry and Treo. That's bad news for the iPhone for two reasons. First, it lacks buttons for dedicated and rapid-fire texting and e-mail. And second, Apple saddled it with a slow-as-molasses GPRS radio, rather than the relatively peppy 3G-based HSDPA service Cingular is rolling out around the country. So instead of e-mailing and messaging at near-broadband speeds, iPhoners will be stuck in the slow lane—except when they're within range of a Wi-Fi connection.

Slow Internet:

That poky network connection also means that Internet browsing on the iPhone will be a painful experience. Modern phones with high-speed networking are adding in all sorts of interactive features, including 3D maps, advanced mobile search, streaming audio and video, and much more. The iPhone, again, will not be able to participate in the mobile Web because its networking features are fundamentally flawed. It'll be like trying to drive a Vespa on the autobahn.

High Price ($499, $599) and Poor battery life are other reason's.

Yes, you're going to be really cool and suave the first month or so with that iPhone. But after you go to a party and three other people have one as well, it'll seem less alluring. The true trendsetters will move on quickly (probably to Helio's Ocean), leaving the iPhone to those with more money than taste.

The Mandelbrot Set

2007-06-03T22:57:00.000-05:00

Arthur C. Clarke discusses Fractals and Mandelbrot.

Google Maps Street View : Best of

2007-06-01T14:32:00.000-05:00

Recently, Google announced Street View, a new feature to Google Maps. Street Views are photos of the streets taken from the Google Van. Currently only a few major cities have this feature enabled.

Here is a list of some of the odd/interesting photos that were found with Street View:
http://www.laudontech.com/StreetView/streetview.html

Latest Eharmony match

2007-06-01T11:28:00.000-05:00

pic for the blog

2007-06-01T11:09:00.000-05:00

The other reason why I'm leaving this company.

2007-06-01T10:57:00.000-05:00

Woo hoo - New Job!

2007-06-01T00:12:00.000-05:00

Finally, after obtaining the PMP certification and eight months of searching for a new job which included a trip to San Diego, I finally found a Project Manager position. I'm excited as it was a good bump in pay and it'll be doing something I understand and enjoy.

I'll look for a new place this weekend in Las Colinas. Even though Las Colinas sucks because there is really no entertainment around, I'll learn to like it. The commute to work is what I'm concerned with. I don't want be in the car for 30+ minutes when I could be home in 5. I have already been told to expect to work long hours. I was looking for a place in uptown but it's even more pricey. Anyway, I signed up for eharmony today and already have matches. woo hoo.

New job - check
New place - Hopefully, this weekend.
New woman - ?

Life just got better.

SNL Shia LeBeouf: Dear Sister

2007-05-27T00:35:00.000-05:00

Theatrical Cuts vs Director’s Cuts

2007-05-25T10:45:00.000-05:00

Article discussing the different versions of Brazil, Payback, Kingdom of Heaven, Leon, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Mr. Arkadin, Daredevil, Apocalypse Now, Alexander, Superman II, and Blade Runner.

Second Life is a complete waste of time.

2007-05-24T14:59:00.000-05:00

It finally hit me. I had to read the comments left by these diggers to realize that there really is no point to second life. I thought that it might interesting to build objects because I've always been interested in CG/3D Animation. What was I thinking? These guys are absolutely right. It's nonsense. Now that I think about it, the graphics do suck, the laggy connections don't help either. The world is dominated by furries (anthropomorphic animals), cybersex freaks (scary), and the few who were there buying virtual land during the land rush. I agree, the major corporations ARE just trying to be cool and the SL is just one big over-hyped 3d chat. I guess I got caught up in the hype.

God, before I waste any more time with it, I'm going to remove it from my PC.

Virtual Worlds

2007-05-23T11:59:00.000-05:00

Virtual Worlds

Businessweek.com has posted an article about the Virtual World Gold Rush which details the growing popularity and the resulting business opportunities of various online virtual world's.

What do the virtual world's offer to advertisers?
Due to their appeal to adolescents, virtual world's offer a direct link for advertisers to market to the prized teen demographic.

Traffic to these sites continue to grow exponentially.

... consultancy Gartner (IT) predicts that 80% of active Internet users will join a virtual world by the end of 2011.

A short list of virtual world's

Club Penguin (kids)
http://www.clubpenguin.com/
(new horizon interactive)

Webkinz (kids)
http://www.webkinz.com/index.html
(ganz)

RuneScape (teen/gaming)
http://runescape.com/

World of Warcraft (teen/gaming)
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/index.xml
(blizzard)

Second Life (teen/adult)
http://secondlife.com/
(linden labs)

Habbo (teen)
http://www.habbo.com/
(sulake)

There (teen)
http://there.com/
(Makena Technologies)

Playdo (teen)
http://playdo.com/eng/munity.asp

Worlds (teen/adult)
http://www.worlds.com/

Virtual Magic Kingdom (kids)
http://vmk.disney.go.com/vmk/en_US/index?name=VMKHomePage
(disney)

Weblo
http://www.weblo.com/
(Oak Investment)

Virtual MTV (teens)
http://www.m80teams.com/register/index3.html?virtualmtv
(viacom)

Coming Soon:

PlayStation Home
(sony)

Wildflower Arts & Music Festival

2007-05-20T15:56:00.000-05:00

It was fun. I saw Morris Day and The Time, The Original Family Stone, and a few minutes of Grand Funk Railroad.

Second Life Part 2

2007-05-16T15:31:00.000-05:00

I had briefly played around with SL last summer to see what all the buzz was about. Initially, I was very impressed, though I didn't do much more than explore the different islands of the virtual world. I was a little disturbed by what was going on with some of the "residents". There were areas that allowed you to purchase strange objects and animations that I can only assume were intended to be used for cybersex. That immediately ruined it for me and I uninstalled it. Why invest so much time in something that would be used for that? It wasn't the only thing going on, but it existed throughout.

I have since read more articles about Second Life and the potential for business and marketing. After installing SL again, I noticed the graphics engine seems a bit improved. The orientation area where you begin is much easier to interact with and to navigate. This has renewed my interest in SL and its potential.

I need to find the time to learn more on how to build and texture 3D objects and animations in SL. This requires a premium account which I'm not quite sure I'm ready to pay for. It could be interesting to start a consulting business that would help companies use SL as an opportunity to promote their goods and services.

Some of the High profile brands with a presence in Second Life (April 2007):

(View as Map)

Warner Bros
Cnet
Fox Atomic
Intel
Sun
Pontiac
Comcast
Laguna Beach
NBC
One Manchester
IBM
Addidas
Reebok
AOL
Dell
Weather Channel
AMD
Nissan
BMW
American Apparel
Colorado Tech
Ohio University
MIT
Cornell
Princeton
University of Minnesota
Mercedes
University of Herts
University of Oxford
Logica
UNC
Toyota
movietickets.com
Philips
STA Travel
Autodesk
ING Renault F1
Cisco
Murray State
Woodbury University
Telus
Unitrin
University of S Denmark

Right Where It Belongs

2007-05-15T15:43:00.000-05:00

See the animal in his cage that you built
Are you sure what side you're on?
Better not look him too closely in the eye
Are you sure what side of the glass you are on?
See the safety of the life you have built
Everything where it belongs
Feel the hollowness inside of your heart
And it's all
Right where it belongs

[Chorus:]
What if everything around you
Isn't quite as it seems?
What if all the world you think you know
Is an elaborate dream?
And if you look at your reflection
Is it all you want it to be?
What if you could look right through the cracks?
Would you find yourself
Find yourself afraid to see?

What if all the world's inside of your head
Just creations of your own?
Your devils and your gods
All the living and the dead
And you're really all alone?
You can live in this illusion
You can choose to believe
You keep looking but you can't find the woods
While you're hiding in the trees

[Chorus:]
What if everything around you
Isn't quite as it seems?
What if all the world you used to know
Is an elaborate dream?
And if you look at your reflection
Is it all you want it to be?
What if you could look right through the cracks
Would you find yourself
Find yourself afraid to see?

New Order 1981-2007

2007-05-11T10:10:00.000-05:00

I was just reading an article about New Order breaking up. I guess it's not really that much of a surprise as they passed their prime many years ago. However, I admit that I liked 2005's Waiting for the Siren's Call. It had a few tracks that reminded me of older New Order.

Before they were New Order, they were Joy Division("Atmosphere") led by Ian Curtis. After his death the remaining members reformed as New Order. After much success in the 80's, the members of New Order decided that they each would try something new through side projects. I enjoyed Electronic, Bernard Sumner's collaboration with Johnny Marr (The Smiths) and Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys). Their first singles, "Getting Away With It" and "Get the Message", were an immediate success when they debuted in December 1989. Subsequent albums, like Raise the Pressure, were never able to gain as much notoriety or radio play, possibly due to such a huge gap in their releases. People forgot who they were, and the music scene changed. Raise the Pressure was a let down and I still prefer their first album when I'm in the mood for Electronic.

While Sumner was working on Electronic, the other member's of New Order were pursuing their own endeavors. Peter Hook created the band Revenge and in the late 90's, Monaco("What Do You Want From Me"). While maybe not as successful as Bernard or Peter, The Other Two members of New Order released their own album, The Other Two and You in 1994 featuring "Selfish". Of all of the side projects, Electronic was probably the most successful. However, nothing comes close to New Order when they were at their best.

New Order Discography

Side Projects:
Electronic
Revenge
The Other Two

Covers:
List of bands that covered New Order songs

Over the last decade at Yahoo...

2007-05-09T11:46:00.000-05:00

I can remember a conversation with my dad years ago, before the dot com bust. He and I were talking about Yahoo and what a great company it was. We talked about someone that I knew that worked for the company and how lucky they were to work for a company whose stock was worth so much. Yahoo was one of the reasons that I decided to get into web design and eventually pursue a career in web development. But the party ended in 2001 and how times have changed.

What is going on at Yahoo?

Since the dot com bubble burst seven years ago it seems as though Yahoo has continued to lose ground in many areas. Yahoo's search engine has slid to 27.5% ( March 2007) of total searches. Today they announced that they were closing down Yahoo Photos, and Yahoo Auctions in the US and Canada. In July of 2006, when word of the delay of their advertising platform Panama was publicized, the result sent the stock to a 52 Week low.

Since July 2006 when Yahoo had 28.5% of the search market, Google has continued to chip away at Yahoo's dwindling share of the search pie. Today when you tell someone you are going to search for something you don't say that you are yahoo'ing something, you say that you are going to google it. Ironically, Yahoo helped Google when Google was still in its infant stages.

It's hard to believe that in 1999, executives at Yahoo negotiated a deal worth 5.7 Billion for Mark Cuban's money-losing Broadcast.com website and services. Yahoo's aim was that by purchasing Broadcast.com, Yahoo would stay ahead of it's competitors in the emerging audio and video business. A few years later, Yahoo acquired Launch Media to further bolster their dominance in streaming audio and video. Nowadays, when you think of streaming audio, do you think of Yahoo's services or do you use Itunes? When you think of online video, do you think of Yahoo Video or do you go to YouTube? Besides the few dominant players, there are thousands of other competitors offering audio, video, and podcasts. Yahoo is nothing more than one of many. With YouTube dominating online video I'm wondering what happened with broadcast.com? Yahoo has had seven years to build broadcast.com into something huge but haven't. Instead you'll be hard pressed to find anything left of broadcast.com.

With Yahoo Launch executives leaving and rumors of an impending sell of Launch, I wonder exactly what direction Yahoo is going with audio and video. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Yahoo over the next year.

Related:

Wikipedia entry for Broadcast.com

Announcement of acquisition of Broadcast.com

Announcement of acquisition of Launch Media

Announcement of Google's acquisition of YouTube

Where does broadcast.com point to now?

Spinal Tap is Back!

2007-05-04T10:58:00.000-05:00

Spinal Tap is back, and this time the band wants to help save the world from global warming.

View Video

Spinal Tap is

David St. Hubbins, Singer
Nigel Tufnel, Guiater
Derek Smalls, Bassist

Spinal Tap Discography

Joost Invitation

2007-05-02T13:46:00.000-05:00

If you are interested in beta testing Joost leave your email in the comments section.

What is Joost?
The software, which is based on a peer-to-peer model, is no longer in a private beta test, according to a release from the company. Existing beta testers, who now need to upgrade to a new version of the program, can invite an unlimited number of people to download the Joost console.

Joost, the video-on-demand program created by the founders of Skype and Kazaa, announced its commercial launch on Tuesday.

UPDATE 5/2 8:30pm c.s.t.: I have sent out a few invites.

The San Diego Trip

2007-05-02T00:14:00.000-05:00

Views from Pacific Terrace Hotel- Pacific Beach

Trip was alright. The hotel room was kickass. I had a High Def 42"+ tv in the room to watch the mavs game. At night, as the temperature dipped below 70 degrees, I opened the sliding glass door to the balcony and slept to the sound of waves crashing along the beach. The weather was beautiful and sunny as you can see from the photos. Since parking was difficult to locate, I opted to pay the $18/day and park in the garage so I wouldn't have to worry about it. The staff at the hotel was nice and helpful. I would definitely stay at this place if I wanted to be on the beach in San Diego.

Ate at mostly cheap places - Mama Testo's located in the Hillcrest/SDSU area, and also The Cheese Shop in La Jolla. I had read some reviews that mentioned both places were worth checking out.

What I realized though was that it's really too expensive to live out there. It would be a great place to start your career at in your 20s, but I'm not so sure that it's worth it now that I am single and don't make friends easily. That and having to worry about using retirement and savings to get out there make it not so attractive.

I looked at two different apartment complexes. One was $1350 and another that was located near Qualcomm stadium was $1525. Between pet deposits, security deposits, and rent it was just going to cost too much. The realization that I would be starting over in such an expensive city also began to set in. It's not going to happen. I won't be moving to SD for now.

Not bad for a free trip.

Digg & the HD-DVD processing key

2007-05-02T00:04:00.000-05:00

The website digg.com is a social news website. The stories are ranked higher whenever users digg the articles or lower if a user clicks the bury article link. This works most of the time. But what happens when the story promotes illegal activity?

Sometime on Tuesday someone posted the HD-DVD processing key that can be used to circumvent copy protection on HD-DVDs. The corporations behind HD-DVD had to have been angry over this. DIGG editors were not impressed either and quickly removed the article even though the users of Digg had recommended the story to the frontpage.

What was the user response? Take a look.

Update: A lot of the online tech sites have picked up on this story. There are currently 152 articles about this.

Onion Video News

2007-04-26T13:45:00.000-05:00

Breaking News: Something Happening In Haiti

Pacific Terrace Hotel

2007-04-25T21:50:00.000-05:00

I'll be visiting Visiting SD this weekend. I have been reading forum posts at ChowHound and I think I have a good list of places that I can try while I'm there.

Blue Angel

2007-04-23T23:38:00.000-05:00

I was walking around the park today and noticed this kite or a toy airplane stuck in a tree. Upon closer inspection I noticed it was blue and yellow and said U.S. Navy along the underbelly. It struck me as odd since this weekend a blue angel crashed when it "clipped the top of a pine tree during a sharp turn".

Greatest Living American

2007-04-17T00:31:00.000-05:00

Stephen Colbert has gotten his legion of loyal fans to commandeer online voting to name a bridge in Hungary and a hockey team mascot in Michigan. Colbert’s suggestions to change Wikipedia listings have driven Wikipedia editors to the edge of a nervous breakdown.

Now he’s taking satirical aim at Google search results.

During the question and answer period before the April 11th show, he was asked if he ever considered doing any Google Bombing. After a brief explanation, Stephen replied, “I can do that? Great, I would like to be first on Google for Greatest Living American

So, Colbert Nation, it’s time to start linking to the http://www.colbertnation.com as the Greatest Living American.

chill dog.

2007-04-15T23:04:00.000-05:00

More Chill Radio links:
Chill
London, United Kingdom
http://radiotime.com/station/s_53084/Chill_.aspx

AudioJuice.Net Chill Out Lounge
United States
http://audiojuice.24server.com/Lounge128k.wmx

00107 Tempo FM's Chill Out Radio Essentials
Kampenhout, Belgium
http://listen.tempo.fm/core.wax

Munich Radio
Germany
http://www.munich-radio.de:8000/

The Night Train
UK
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/ram/6music.asx

The Singles Map

2007-04-11T13:10:00.000-05:00

Hmm. I wouldn't have guessed that the East Coast has more single women than the West Coast. After thinking about this for a few minutes, I'm wondering why this is the case. I wonder what other factors make up these statistics. It be interesting to know total singles by age and their ethnicity.

From National Geographic's February Issue.

ABC.com Full Episode Player

2007-04-03T22:16:00.000-05:00

I read somewhere about ABC.com's new full episode player. The quality is amazing. The player weighs in at just under 1mb.

Current shows available for streaming include:

According to Jim
Desperate Housewives
Lost
Ugly Betty
Grey's Anatomy
Brothers & sisters
What about Brian
Dancing with the Stars
October Road
The Knights of Prosperity
Men in Trees
Six Degrees
Day Break
Voicemail

Unfortunately, I don't watch any of these shows, but, this is cool. This will force the other networks to get better quality programming online.

Name That Fruitcake...

2007-04-03T17:03:00.000-05:00

He has coined several "isms," usually intended to be inspirational. For example, the word "sober" becomes "Son Of a Bitch! Everything's Real," while "doubt" becomes "Debating On Understanding Bewildering Thoughts." "Romance" becomes "Relying On Magnificent And Necessary Compatible Energy," team becomes, "Together Everyone Achieves More," "Faith" becomes "Fantastic Adventures In Trusting Him," and "Fear" becomes "False Evidence Appearing Real."

The answer is just a click away...

Desktop Tower Defence

2007-04-02T09:40:00.000-05:00

Great flash game. Very addictive.

http://www.handdrawngames.com/DesktopTD/