Open Source Web Browser...FLOCK

For those of us who despise IE (and you should if you don't already), we have been using Firefox or Safari for the last year or more. Sound the alarm for a new kid on the block!! Flock is the name of this browser and you can download a developer's preview and see that this should be a pretty decent browser in due time. It has nice integration with the three major blogging softwares players (WordPress TypePad and Blogger). Flickr and Del.icio.us display nice integration with this browser and then there are just some other very cool features that the geek in all of us will love. I have been running this on my pc and mac for the last few days and it seems pretty good. Flickr is great for those who know and use it. I am still trying to get adjusted to Del.icio.us though.....

I went the distance....

I enjoy trying to maintain an active lifestyle which includes cross-training and the by-product is that I feel good in body and mind and I can function in other areas of my life. We have had a treadmill for about a year and I use it like 3-4X week building up my distance and speed every few weeks. Usually I put in about an average of 35min and 3.2miles. It has been a goal of mine to run 5miles without stopping or resting and to conquer that fitness goal of mine. I did it today. The funny thing is that I don't really push myself that often when it comes to workouts or other physical fitness activities. I train every week with a good friend of mine and we hit the weights pretty hard, but it's never a situation where I cannot move my arms or walk the next day. He tells me that I never push myself enough. I get the burn and pump, but I just try to listen to my body. I don't know. I have been injured alot (broken nose, broken wrist, countless sprained ankles, strained knee ligaments...you get the point) in my days of zero responsibility (high school and early college) when I would spend hours at the YMCA playing basketball or playing football in the park with friends. I miss those days! :( It's difficult to accept that your commitments to work, professional development and family sometimes take away from sports, but I think I have my fitness goals and activities worked in pretty well to my life. Anyway, 5miles may not seem like much to most of you, but we are talking about someone who was not known for being a cross-country runner in any stretch of the imagination. I was a sprinter. I played baseball and it was the time from home to first base that was my main priority. I played basketball and it was that drive from top of the key to the rim that mattered. I played football and it was running that 10yrd route to get separation from the coverman. Anyway, you run in practice, but usually 2.5miles or something like that, but I was not the best when it came to longer distances. I feel good about this 5miles. I told Libera that I would like to eventually build up my fitness to run a marathon. Opera ran one!! Come one, if I cannot get to that point, I have serious issues. Hahaha. This is a small step in some people's minds, but I will keep up and post my progress as it incrementally improves.

Down for the count for the last 3 days...

Oh man. We ordered some landscape stones to put around one side of our house and into the back part of the house and along an area where we have some shorter shrubs and trees. Artic Rainbow is the name of the these stones and they are REAL stones...not some junk chips that erode before your eyes in a year; there is some light purple quartz, lighter tones and some white in the mix. Looks pretty decent. When I say "some" landscape stones, I mean 5 yards worth. If that means nothing to you I suggest you have a conversation with my vertebral column and most attached muscle fibers. The soreness is really only in the first hour or two from when I get up in the morning, but man, if this is what it feels like to be an old man, it pretty much sucks....After that first hour or two though, I feel fine. I suppose filling a wheel barrel over 70X (could be more, but I lost track of counting) and carrying it to the backyard and emptying it may have had something to do with that. I did all the human mule work and Libera did the fine tune work (digging for the landscape border, laying down the landscape paper to prevent eventual weeds/grass from sprouting through the rocks and leveling out the rocks once I would dump them in a particular area). The efforts were worth it though since the areas with the rocks look more finished and have just been elevated to low-maintenance status and that is really a good situation. I would rather deal with low/no maintenance then have to deal with BS in many areas of landscaping. I would have taken pics, but my brother in-law has my digicam this week.

Enough with the stupid race card!!!

As some of you may know, I am a rabid fan of the NBA. I am also a fan of the hip-hop culture (music, dress, history, etc.). I am also a fan of playing "the game" when conducting business and in business situations. Of course, this means if I plan to interview for a new job or am in a situation in which I am representing my employer, I have to actually "look" professional and wear a suit since that is "part of the game." Ok, that being said, the NBA has decided to institute a "dress code" of business casual for all public team functions and any NBA function. My point of this post is to dissect a portion of that new dress code--a section in the new dress code listing items players are not allowed to wear on team or league business includes "chains, pendants or medallions worn over the player's clothing." I am sure you have seen countless hip-hop videos or in your everyday life with these guys wearing 60K iced-out long necklaces dangling from their necks. It's not my style and I think it's pretty silly, but I don't have a problem with it in casual situations. You cannot walk into a job interview or meet with company VPs dressed like G-Unit unless you are a rap mogul or something like that because in that situation, that is essentially a uniform in their world. Anyway, I had to suffer through reading a recent article on espn.com that quotes the Pacers' Stephen Jackson describing the jewelry ban as "attacking young black males." GIVE ME A BREAK!!! This friggin millionaire just pulled the race card as is usually pulled inappropriately in situations like this. Grant it, he said he plans to not challenge the jewelry ban and the new dress code, but to say something like that is just ridiculous. Then you have functional illiterates who will hear (obviously will not be reading the story) this crap on the news and then take it upon themselves to remind every employer who imposes some sort of rule on them as "being racist." It's funny how Mr. Jackson can pull the race card in one breath and then say that guys have gotten sloppy with their dress in the other and thinking that the business casual is a move in the right direction.
With all the recent issues (hurricanes, riots, etc.) in the news, it's so easy for some ignorant people to just break out the race card and use it to help them in proving a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's a shame, really......

You could start with WASHING YOUR HANDS!!!

Ok, I have been absent from this blog for some time, but certainly not without worthwhile content. The latest of which is why do some people (mostly male) insist on NOT washing their hands after using a public bathroom/restroom/bano/water closet/you get the point after you know they just dropped Hiroshima in there? Today, I am in our staff lounge at work and there happens to be a bathroom inside that room; it has its own door and is at least on the extreme end of the room from where the lunch tables are at. Anyway, I am there eating my lunch and someone (a male) walks in and heads straight to the throne, but he had no intentions on dropping the kids off because the thing about this bathroom is that it also has a stand up urinal for the fellas. The walls are pretty paper-thin and this time, the TV in the room was off and I hear him walk in, finish his urination situation and flush the urinal and THEN immediately blows his nose (he was coughing and not sounding the healthiest that day anyway)...the guy comes out of the bathroom with snot-infested paper towel in tow and proceeds to grab one of the coffee pots and pour his first of 8cups of coffee for the day. Unbelievable!!! Then he starts BS'ing me with some obligatory small talk and I am just mortified inside my mind. I don't drink the coffee at work. It's something I have NEVER done since I have been working. It's mostly a taste issue with me since Maxwell Piss (I mean House) is like brown water and nothing like a strong caffeine injection I would prepare at home. Well, ok, I lied...I don't drink the coffee at work since I just think people are swine and avoid the most basic of self-hygiene activities---HAND WASHING. Talking to some of my female co-workers yielded the cruel reality that there are even some women in our building who don't wash their hands...Call me old school, but it's 100X worse when a female resorts to being as nasty as most guys are who don't wash their hands.....I hope any of you who grab those loose toothpics or mints at that greasy spoon restaurant keep this post in mind the next tim you lick your fingers........

Holy Panoramic Batman!!!

Peep this link of the Gulf Coast, post Katrina. This gallery (and I actually mean galleries) is truly amazing in its detail and the many stories in which are told. A broadband connection is a must and it can be resource intensive, therefore, my advice would be not to have too many apps open when you view this unless my PC just needs an upgrade to it's video card or something......Funny how it worked great on my macs.....Hmmmm...By the way (Ledio), this great technology is brought to us by the Quicktime (yes, Apple) plug-in in the champagne of all browsers.... :)

So you think you can dance....FOR REBATES?

Ok, here's the situation. I really, really hate to pay full price for anything and if I can get it for free (after rebates) then that makes me even happier. On a weekly basis or if I am in search of something, I like to scan the latest sales ads, online discount sites, check with friends and family about their experiences with buying the particular item I am in search of. Well, a few weeks ago, I saw this ridiculous deal for a hard drive at CompUsa. It was a 160GB Hitachi hard drive for $120 with a $60 Hitachi rebate and a $30 CompUsa rebate. Did I need such an item at that time? No, but for $30 after two separate rebates, I am all over that deal! I am a seasoned veteran when it comes to rebates and the process of making sure that all items are included in the envelope for the rebate check to make its way back to the rightful owner. Everything is going well post mailing until I receive an email from Hitachi a few days ago saying that I had not made the purchase of the hard drive within the defined timeframe of the promotion. Complete BS! My invoice was included in the rebate submission documents that clearly displayed that I had made the purchase in the proper date. So, my next thought is one of pure frustration, but I was prepared to fight this thing all the way to the top......Things never went that far, but I was prepared. Anyway, I call the customer service number (not listed on the rebate form; had to go back to CompUsa and get it from them) for the separate rebate company that handles the rebates for Hitachi since CompUsa told me to handle the issue with them first before they wanted to pay me the $60 that this rebate company wanted to keep that was rightfully mine. Anyway, we call and the headset phone jockey tells me that I did not purchase the item within the promotion time and I told him that I did...back and forth we went like a tennis match and then the guy says, "Ok, since we do value you as a Hitachi customer, we will honor this request just once and send your $60 rebate check." Just once?! Are you kidding me?! Anyway, I went along with this and said, "Thank you." I actually received an email from them yesterday saying that the check was on its way. The morale of the story is that rebates are good and great when you actually get them, but sometimes you have to dance like a clown to actually get your money......