Monday, December 24, 2007

Terabyte RAID array for me.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Who are you?

This is one of my favorite commercials, ever. The music, the imagery, all perfect.

Nintendo -- Who are you?

http://www.youtube.com/v/WfKxpmnAFRw&rel=1;rel=0

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

2007 Christmas Wish List

As I am writing this, there are only twenty days left until Christmas. And it seems every one and their mothers are making holiday wish lists. So, heres mine.

1. Apple MacBook Pro - MSRP $1,999

This is the ultimate in portable computing. Give me the 15” display please, 17” is just way too bulky for my taste. A powerful 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 gigs of ram and a fat hard drive, what more could you ask for? This thing this is a mobile powerhouse.

I should know, I already own it.

Laughs maniacally

Ehhmm, err, I’m better now.

But seriously, this thing is freaking amazing, I’ve owned a lot of portable Apple computers, a 500MHz iBook, an 867MHz Titanium PowerBook G4 (which by the way, is my all time favorite Apple design) a 1.86GHz MacBook, and MBP is by far THEE best of the bunch.

Throw on Adobe Lightroom and Final Cut and you have a on-the-go multimedia creation station.

2. Apple Cinema Display 30" - MSRP $1,799

This year for my birthday I got a Quad Core MacPro. The only thing that could make it better is a beautiful 30" Cinema Display. Those things are frickin' beautiful. The only problem is that you can get the exact same thing -- minus the pretty aluminum case -- for about $600 less if you order it from Dell. But, you know, I'm an Apple whore.

3.Nikkor 18-200 VR Zoom Lens - MSRP $749

This lens has been out of stock every where since it came out, and I want it, dammit. VR is a definite must at a focal length this long, and it's really nice to have one lens accomplish so much. A little pricey, but worth it in my opinion.

4. Western Digital 500GB Hard Drive - MSRP $159

I would like to have two of these so I could have a massive amounts of storage for the MacPro, I'd like to wake up to over a terabytes worth of available storage.

5. Mushkin MacPro Ram 4GB - MSRP $239.99

I've already got two gigs in there, so six would be pretty sweet.

6. Rolex Submariner - MSRP $4,995

This is the quintessential man's watch. However, I much, much, much prefer the GMT-Master II, the old style, before they changed over to the ceramic bezel. But a Submariner is the next best thing. My wife got me a Rolex Datejust last year and I absolutely love it, but you know me.

7. Gucci Black on Grey Signature Tie - MSRP $169

I don't wear a suit or tie very often, but this is just too damn sexy to pass up.

8. Gucci GG Pattern Winter Scarf - MSRP $280

This is pure extravagance, something so unnecessary, that I must have it. I've recently fallen in love with the comfort of scarves and this Gucci scarf is the icing on my slowly developing metrosexual-ness.

9. Shoes!

I need some new Chuck Taylor's and New Balance 554's. Mine are starting to wear thin, and I'm too lazy to go out and buy 'em.

10. Microsoft Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player - MSRP$ 129.99

The cheapest HD-DVD player available and with five HD-DVD movies, you'd be crazy not to buy this for me or anyone else.

11. Grado SR-60 - MSRP $69

My favorite set of cans, I cannot begin to describe how much I love these headphones. Sadly, the 1/8" jack on mine is slightly shaved down by a freak automobile accident (read about it here), which causes my iPod to pause every time the plug spins around in the jack. Maybe I should upgrade to the SR-80's.

12. Apple iPod Nano 8GB and Apple iPod Classic 160GB - MSRP $199 and $349

I'm a collector, and I love iPods, so therefore I am an iPod collector. My lovely 60GB iPod is starting to fill up -- and my stress level is matching its fullness. And I up until recently I had an iPod nano, but sadly I left it in a jacket that I had returned at Banana Republic and when I went back the next day to get it they said they didn't have it. So, I figure it would be super nice if someone would one (or both) of these things for me.

So there it is. My 2007 Christmas wish list. I really don't want anything on this list. It makes me sound like I'm a totally spoiled rich kid, a total high maintenance guy who needs it all, but I really don't. I've already got the MacBook, I'm happy.

I really would like the shoes though.

All that really matters to me right now, is that every one is happy and safe, I know there are some people in some pretty messed up situations right now and I just hope they can pull through.

Besides, I'm a dad now, I have to give all my money to my kid, especially since her birthday and Christmas are only a mere twelve days apart.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Wi-Fi Nightmare

It seems as if some MacBook owners are reporting troubles with their wifi connections. I to an suffering from these problems. Here's an excerpt from AppleInsider.

System users in Apple's discussion forums (one, two), as well as those speaking directly with AppleInsider, say the problem first surfaced after the appearance of the Mac OS X 10.4.10 update this summer and so far is known to affect most models, though reports are currently scarce from buyers of Apple's fall 2007 units.

The exact behavior of affected systems can vary slightly, but appears to largely be connected to the computer's power supply. While the connection remains largely stable when plugged into an AC adapter, switching to battery power renders the wireless link intermittent and in many cases drops network access entirely when idle.


On my side it even seems to mess with the speed of packet transfers too.

Hopefully there will be an update/fix soon.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Guess I’ll Just Close With My Eye

I’m the back seat of Vince’s BWW. I feel like I am 14 years old again, I’m listening to Weezer.

I close my eyes as Rivers sings “The bottle is ready to blow...” and I start rocking my head back and forth as the chorus kicks in and the distortion heads straight to my brain and I mouth the words “Say it ain’t so-ooh-woah-oh-woah” I’m taken back to my youth.

Music is powerful. It has the ability to make you cry, make you laugh, make you throw up.

So, here are my top five albums, these are albums that I can listen to over and over and over again and never ever get tired of.

Top Five Albums

1. Queens of the Stone Age - Self Titled
2. Hella - The Devil Isn't Red
3. Weezer - Blue
4. Green Day - Kerplunk
5. Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Ryan! Your friendly neighborhood Gap employee


Lila, Vince and I went shopping in the mall looking for jeans at the
Gap. I turned around to ask for help and was greeted by an
enthusiastic "Hey!" from man you see above.

It turns out we're Flickr friends. He's <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/sparten777
">Sparten777. He's the first person I've ever met from Flickr.
Sent from my iPhone

Monday, October 8, 2007

The hiking trail of my mind.

I've been fooling around with some WordPress plugins and I found a really cool archives plugin called SmartArchives. The thing I like the most about it is the layout, it just makes sense for my brain.

Check out the archives here

Sunday, September 30, 2007

HDR Tom-Foolery


HDR Tom-Foolery

Originally uploaded by Michael Batfish

I'm really diggin' this new fangled HDR, or High Dynamic Range, photography.

I suppose the thing I like most about it is that the pictures capture what my eyes see in my mind. Does that make sense?

Normally, a camera takes a picture and takes it for what it is, over/under exposed images, flat colors, etc. My mind sees more then just that, I see millions of colors when I look at a sunset like this.

I'm rambling.

My Inner Chocolate Being





What Video Game Character Are You? I am Mr Do.I am Mr Do.

I am sedentary by nature, enjoying passive entertainment, eating when the mood takes me, and playing with my food. I try to avoid conflict, but when I'm angered, I can be a devil - if you force me to fight, I will crush you. With apples. What Video Game Character Are You?

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Advertising Done Right.

To me, the sign of a great commercial is one that you will remember for years after it stops airing.

This Gap commercial -- and I normally hate their ads -- I think it the single greatest ad ever, it's mix of music, simplicity thrown together with a little bit of the strange, makes it the perfect commercial ever.

http://www.youtube.com/v/GGJy822geAg;rel=0

I think the pairing of oddball Juliet Lewis and Daft Punk was sheer genius.

Friday, September 21, 2007

I’ve got high hopes for big letdowns

Today is one of those days where I just want be like this:

But I know that I'll end up actually doing this:

Minus all the smoking and drinking.

While Lila is at the fair, I figured it could give me some time to clean out my closet and maybe rearrange my computer set up a little bit, give the old MacPro a good internal cleaning (which reminds me I have to go and buy some compressed air) and maybe add a new hard drive, tackle some of the laundry that's been hanging around, we'll see.

Well, time to uhh... err... huh... procrastinate!

Sunday, September 16, 2007

We brought it back, hard!

I'm sitting in a hotel room near L.A.X., the area where it's close enough to the airport where you can go to your car and not feel like you're going to get shot, but still far enough away that you don't hear the roar of the jet engines (which kinda sucks that I can't hear 'em).

Everyone one is doing their best to rush and get cleaned up so we can make it to the Staples center early, we're seeing Justin Timberlake tonight, and sadly we have general admission tickets, so we have to wait in line.

The chair I'm sitting on is way too low and it makes typing quite difficult.

Anyhoo, I kind of feel like a business man or something, laptop, a small collection of iPods, a fancy laptop bag and camera, blazer and black glasses. I even went downstairs and had a breakfast consisting of toast, blackberry jam and glass of Coke. The only thing missing is a free copy of USA Today.

I often wish that at times that I were a corporate salary man, I have periods in my life where I absolutely love hotel rooms and other times were I despise the word.

We're going to meet up with J.R. and Ginger at Staples and have some bottled waters, maybe some fast food sitting in an ice chest, sounds like fun.

I bought a new fountain pen the other day and I absolutely adore it! The amount of fun I've had trying to learn how to use it properly has instilled within me a spark for more creative writing. I only wish I had brought to kill some time while we wait in line.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Hum-ho

I've been really upset with myself. And I've been upset with myself for a very stupid reason.

I've had World of Warcraft and a two-month subscription card for like the past 4 months, and I just can't get myself to install it, and I don't know why. Instead I end up watching Flight of the Conchords and typing up silly blog posts. Which I guess is better.

You know what kicks ass? Bioshock! Man that game is friggin' awesome! I suppose I'd much rather fight this:

then thousands this:

Thank god for my Xbox 360, if the only game system out there was the PS3, I would never-ever play games. I mean I rarely play games as it is, and as of right now the only system that has any titles worth playing is the 360.

Which reminds me, I have to fix my hacked router to connect to my Airport Extreme, I haven't been able to jump on Xbox Live in a about three months, which in turn is money down the drain, oh well. I really miss downloading demos, that's the best part of owning an Xbox is XBL.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Social networking at its finest.

I've been (sorta) using MySpace for a while, I mean I made a profile, I added some friends, accepted request from people I didn't know and kooky clothing stores. But most of all, I clicked reject and mark as spam more times that I care to remember.

So, I've ditched MySpace and moved to Facebook.

Hallelujah! What a difference. Facebook is clean, and stylish. MySpace is ugly, dirty and too busy looking. Facebook is only for people I know, my friends. MySpace is filled with spammers and businesses.

The only problem is that they don't have very friendly URL's. My profile is located at: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=782208956

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Monday, July 2, 2007

Friday, June 29, 2007

how far we’ve come

I have to admit that something like this would be possible, but here I am sitting on my couch at 9:30am posting to my blog from a cell phone.

The iPhone is living up to the hype so far.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Sitting…

I've been sitting on this story that's been sitting on my hard drive for almost a year.

It's a very personal story and the subject matter has affected every single one of us, but I'm just can't seem to pull the trigger and post it here.

The ending is absolutely terrible, but it's exactly how it ended in real life, and I can't spice up something that has so many bad emotions attached to such tragic events.

We walked out of the room at about 7:30am on that foggy Tuesday morning, the sun was just peeking above the horizon, I know it wasn't there but I always remember there being a thin layer of mist blanketing the ground. I felt as if we were walking in The Lost Forest from A Link to the Past.

“I’m really happy you’re getting married,” I said to him.

“Well,” he said and then looked down at his feet “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared.”

I knew what he meant.

We walked in to the lobby and looked at the televisions mounted in the wall right next to the automatic door. Michael and I stopped dead in our tracks and read the words that were scrolling by. Plane Crashes into WTC.

Our faces, which were already drained of any color from the party, had turned green and white. “The pilot must’ve been drunk or something” I declared out loud, mostly to assure myself that it wasn’t done intentionally.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

I’ve had it

I've had it up to here with Britney Spears! I mean seriously, all these websites -- Perez Hilton and the ilk -- can not stop talking about this washed out, drugged up, poor excuse of a singer (and mother) who has nothing better to do then complain about all the attention that gets.

The sick thing is you know she really would commit suicide if the press did stop talking about her.

I said to myself a long time ago that there I would-never-ever-in-a-million-years-even-if-the-world-exploded that I would write about them on my blog. It would just be adding fuel to the fire of their madness. They've become heroes of pop culture, all the while doing absolutely nothing to deserve their status. What she popped out some kids? Big deal! Wow, she can chain smoke and pound Red Bull? Mitch can do that any day of the week.

I seriously wish she would of taken that goddamn electric clipper and shaved out her eyeballs. And proceed to drink a whole jar of the blue juice they put the combs in.

Also, I wake up every day and pray that Pat O'Brien and all the "talent" over at Extra, E.T., Access Hollywood, The Insider, The Outsider, My Side, Myspace and every other T.V. show (I'm looking your way MSNBC and CNN) can talk about something other then Anna Nicole. It's a shame she died, but they're using tragedy for porfit.

Ok, rant over.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Idiosyncratic Mike

I have this weird thing, call it a glitch, defect or an advantage if you will. I can't seem to get any work started if things are unorganized. I need things to be neat and tidy. Whether it be the house, the laundry, my desk or my desktop. I need organization.

For example; I hate installing new updates to Movable Type. The result of my desktop to the process creates utter catastrophe in my brain (at least that's how I feel in my brain) all those files and folders scattered all around. Makes me crazy.

Another problem I have is I can't play games without every thing being in order. In my young man days, when I was teenager, I hated playing games unless my room was super clean. Now I can't play Xbox if my couches aren't fluffed and don't even get me started on how I feel when the pillow are all saggy.

When I buy something new, like some kind silly toy that I don't need, or when a package arrives in the mail, I always feel the need to be showered and fully clean before I open it. I guess thats why we do Christmas presents on Christmas Eve.

I would talk about the nightmares I have when there's a spot on the carpet, but I have a child to take care of and instill all my craziness in.

BTW, I'm writing this using this super cool program call WriteRoom I wont describe how it works, you just have to check it out your self.

You have new Picture Mail!


Lila at Mimi's

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Mac Rumor Mill Has Flown Off The Pegs

I was just found this story on digg and let me tell you these Mac Rumor people god completely crazy with these things.

Here's an excerpt from the article regarding the new Mac Pros:

"Apple did complete the transition to Intel chips with Intel-based Mac Pros, but this new machine is said to be smaller, and 'significantly faster' than the current offerings."

The article goes on to comment saying:

"...the cooling system will direct hot air through vents at the top of the machine, much like Apple's Cube of yesteryear."

The best of it is when they talk about the display:

"Some reports have expected the new displays to come in sizes up to 50-inches."

If Apple really does produce a 50-inch display, I will seriously fry up my MacBook and eat it.

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Hidden Meaning Behind Manshorts

HAM SNORTS
HARM SNOTS
MARSH TONS
MARSH SNOT
HARMS TONS
HARMS SNOT
MASH SNORT
SHAM SNORT
HAMS SNORT
SMASH TORN
SHAMS TORN
STASH MORN
STASH NORM
HATS NORMS
HATS MORNS
HAST NORMS
HAST MORNS
SHAT NORMS
SHAT MORNS
AM SSH TORN
MA SSH TORN
MAN SHORTS
MAN SSH TOR
MAN SSH ROT
MANS SHORT
RAM NTH SOS
RAM SSH TON
RAM SSH NOT
ARM NTH SOS
ARM SSH TON
ARM SSH NOT
MAR NTH SOS
MAR SSH TON
MAR SSH NOT
MARS NTH SO
RAMS NTH SO
ARMS NTH SO
SMARTS HON
TRAMS HONS
TRAMS NOSH
SMART HONS
SMART NOSH
MARTS HONS
MARTS NOSH
MART SSH ON
MART SSH NO
TRAM SSH ON
TRAM SSH NO
MAS NORTHS
MAS THORNS
MASS THORN
MASS NORTH
MASS NTH OR
MASTS HORN
MAST HORNS
MAST SHORN
TAMS HORNS
TAMS SHORN
MATS HORNS
MATS SHORN
TAM SSH NOR
MAT SSH NOR
RAN SSH MOT
RAN SSH TOM
RANTS OHMS
RANTS MOSH
TARNS OHMS
TARNS MOSH
RANT SSH OM
TARN SSH OM
AT SSH MORN
AT SSH NORM

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Who’d a thunk it.

Who would of thought in a million years, that by the time I was twenty-three years old I would be married with a wife and six week old daughter? Not me that's for sure considering I used to think that I was Link from Zelda, Inspector Gadget, The Mad Scientist, Peter Venkman from The Real Ghostbusters, Mario and a plethora of other cartoon characters I can't recall.

I also used to walk around the house with a shiny metal cake platter and pretend I was walking on the ceiling, to this day I wish I could walk on the ceiling.

I've wanted to be everything from a Transformer to an account. And I suppose I ended up with the best job of all, being a dad.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Socks

I just put on a fresh pair of socks, brand new out of the bag, never been washed before.

God I love new socks, the feeling is superb. I love it almost as much as my new MacPro :)

That's all the time I have to say about that right now, but I've got a little story that I'll be writing later tonight, it's a story that makes me feel nostalgic just thinking about it.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Everyone’s doing it!

http://www.youtube.com/v/o1GPKg6rg-g;rel=0

A YouTube video! Me playing the Dethklok theme.

Setup is my Eastwood GP (for the QOTSA lover in me, Boss Metal Zone, Vintage Fender Twin Reverb.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Save some for the fishy’s

Boing Boing has an article on those crazy little plastic toys that snap-on to your faucet to make an instant drinking fountain.



The Faucet Fountain is a $4 snap-on attachment that converts your kitchen or bathroom faucet into a drinking fountain -- and doesn't interfere with normal faucet operation. Link (via Cribcandy)


I had a ton of those crazy things when I was a kid.

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Sunday, January 21, 2007

Summerbaby

The other night, I stood in the middle of my kitchen, clutching my daughter in my arms as I waited for her bottle to warm up.

I looked down at her and took in all her mannerisms, her expressions and noises she makes. I knew I had to commit these moments to memory for the rest of my life. I had to because I know she'll never be that small ever again in her life. And she'll never need me as much as she did in that moment in time.

Monday, January 8, 2007

Classic Computing

My mom is watching the baby tonight, giving us a much needed break and catch up on some of the sleep that Kaitlin has been depriving us of.

Tonight I'm catching up on the past and messing around with Apple ][ emulators. My oldest computer I had was an IBM clone of a Commodore 64. I was in geek heaven, of course I was only 7 years old at the time, and still being a geek in training, I couldn't enjoy to the fullest had I used 6 or so years later.

I remember my grandmother bought it from some guy so brought over a big box filled with magazines, giant 5.25" floppy disks and cartridges. It was great.

As I was installing the Apple ][ emulator, I desperately wished I could go back in time and be a 17 year old kid discovering his first computer, reading Boardwatch and Softalk magazine, punching in code, line by line. To me, that's what personal computing is all about. True hard core geekiness.

Computers have become too stylish, too trendy, too mainstream.

I really miss the green glow of the old monitors, and the clanking and whirring of the old floppy drives.