I promise a serious post is coming...soon-ish. But once again here's a quick and easy funny post.
I've been editing two lacrosse DVD's and they are just now finally coming to a close (about time). While capturing a billion VHS tapes of B-ROLL to be used for this dvd, my brother stumbled across this commercial.
Meet Gary Gait. He is one of the Gait twin brothers who are both huge legends in the game of lacrosse. I think Nick put it best when he said "How can this not be a joke?!"
I give to you, Gary.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
sIFR
Now I'm no web developer but this sounds pretty rad. Dan, I thought of you.
Excerpt from this blog:
sIFR is meant to replace short passages of plain browser text with text rendered in your typeface of choice, regardless of whether or not your users have that font installed on their systems. It accomplishes this by using a combination of JavaScript, CSS, and Flash. Here is the entire process:
1. A normal (X)HTML page is loaded into the browser.
2. A JavaScript function is run which first checks that Flash is installed and then looks for whatever tags, ids, or classes you designate. If Flash isn't installed (or obviously if JavaScript is turned off), the (X)HTML page displays as normal and nothing further occurs. If Flash is installed, JavaScript traverses through the source of your page measuring each element you've designated as something you'd like "sIFRed".
3. Once measured, the script creates Flash movies of the same dimensions and overlays them on top of the original elements, pumping the original browser text in as a Flash variable.
4. Actions inside of each Flash file then draws that text in your chosen typeface at a 6 point size and scales it up until it fits snugly inside the Flash movie.
This all happens in a split-second, so all of the checking, replacing, and scaling is not visible to the user. It is not uncommon to notice a very short delay as the Flash loads, but to the user, none of the internals of this process are exposed.
Full write-up.
Friday, November 10, 2006
The Bagua (Initiative)
YES. Another LOST rant.
I just stumbled across something really interesting - a shape called the Bagua. And it looks remarkably close to the logo used in LOST for The DHARMA Initiative. In fact, they purposefully incorporated this logo into the show.
Visit this site while keeping LOST in mind. They give details of the Bagua, it's pretty neat.
I'm amazed at how much thought went into this TV Series.
Amazing!
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Chuck Norris
Chuck Norris was walking across the highway one day and was hit by a tyson chicken truck. He bounced off two cars and did a back flip onto a gasoline truck. He pulled a pair of nunchucks (which are named after him) and beat the chicken truck so bad that it had to be air lifted to county general.
He went to visit the truck in the hospital, and when one of the nurses asked him to leave, he roundhouse kicked her so hard that it caused a blackout across most of the country.
Then he went into space and roundhouse kicked the sun so it wouldn't be so hot. His roundhouse kick saves lives and planets.
He went to visit the truck in the hospital, and when one of the nurses asked him to leave, he roundhouse kicked her so hard that it caused a blackout across most of the country.
Then he went into space and roundhouse kicked the sun so it wouldn't be so hot. His roundhouse kick saves lives and planets.
Monday, October 30, 2006
TW3NTY THR33
It's close to 22 but comes with a whole year of experience that 22 doesn't.
For those of you who don't know, my birthday was yesterday! It was an interesting birthday...very different from the ones prior.
It started on Friday. Mom texted me and wanted to know if she could watch Riley so Linz and I could go out to dinner to celebrate. We of course said YES and decided to go to Grotto's Grand Slam in Lewes. It was awesome. I had a 1/2 lb. Bacon Mushroom Burger cooked medium well with a Long Island Iced Tea. MmmmMmm.
Saturday was shot because we had to go to a wedding. Not just a wedding, the wedding of Candice (Linz's ex-manipulative best friend) and Bill. I'm almost certain you will be able to read more about this if you check Lindsey's blog in about a week. I'm leaving it be since I have better things to tell you about. Oh, and it was open bar so that was cool. Yay, drinks two nights in a row, fun!
Sunday was my actual day. We slept in till about 10 and Lindsey wanted to get me donuts for breakfast. :o) (It's like she knows me or something.) Before she left she wanted to check on the dogs. Not sure if I mentioned in earlier posts but Sadie has been pregnant for sometime now and last night she started scratching around in their outdoor kennel we built for them. So Lindsey was sure they were coming soon. So she gets in their house and yells back "OMG Josh!" "ONE!" And I'm in the doorway of our house thinking "Oh my God what? it's dead?" "Oh my God it's here? It's cute?" She finaly elaborates and I get run to get her a towel to dust the poor guy off.
It's cold, dark and sandy in that dog house so we decide to set up the largest dog crate we have in the dining room so we can oversee the other births. While I was getting the crate out of the shed out back, Sadie runs over to me and looks like she's saying "HURRY! HURRRRRRRY!" And I tell her to get back to her baby that needs her. When she walked away she left a big blood trail behind her so I figgured another one was on it's way - CRAP! Hurrrrryy!
On my way inside with the crate I saw Sadie run back into her house. When I was inside the door I heard Lindsey say "TWO!" immediately followed by "Could we BE any less prepared??" No. We couldn't have. But then again there's really nothing we could have done differently. We were trying to avoid bringing the dogs inside because if we do that we have to pay a $200 security deposit to the landlord. (the last renter's dog chewed up the house)
Ok, now we're inside. Sadie is in her crate with her two puppies and lots of towels and blankets. I'm sure it's not ideal to move any animal as its giving birth but we knew that Sadie had been wanting to come inside to have those puppies for quite a while. So we didn't feel bad letting her in.
I feel as if I need to clarify on something. For me, I was so bent on figuring out a way around having to pay that $200 deposit, that the only plans I had made were to get the shed out back cleared out and to find some straw for the pups. Well the landlords crap was in there and they were away for the weekend. So I DID make an effort. But once the pups started coming, my mind changed instantly. So it's not that we don't care, it's just that we're uh...financially stretched? ;o) And I'd rather be caring over rich any day.
This is turning out to be a long post so I'll wrap it up. Sadie Ann had 8 puppies for my birthday! Which at $250 a head comes to $2,000 making that the best birthday present I've ever gotten. That is of course if Lindsey lets them all go. They are adorable aren't they? You know you've seen the pics already you skipper! You can also see a clip of the pups if you feel up for it. Ok enough with the puppies shpeel.
What else happened? Ma took Lindsey and I out to dinner last night. Ruby Tuesday. Mmm. This time I decided to partake upon the Triple Play. Lil bit a shrimp, lil bit a ribs and lil bit a chicken. Oh and the drink this time was Mojito. Oh yes - even mom liked it!
Lindsey got me an XBOX memory card unit (YAY! Finally I can stop lugging my entire XBOX around!) and also the new Need For Speed game for her DS which surprisingly it isn't nearly as good as the XBOX version. Which I guess makes sense, the XBOX has a lot more power to push out than the DS. So tonight we're going to try to exchange it for The New Super Mario Bros. which I've heard rocks. I missed you Mario.
Also tonight Dad has invited we three over to his place and will be cooking us a roast and sharing his DVR Recorded copy of Dane Cook on HBO. New stuff - I can't wait! Oh and of course we have to break for Prison Break and 8:00!
Aaaaaand that's it. I love stretched out birthdays!
Here's to 23! BooYah.
------------------------
Eight Of Em!
The Anxious Father, Jax:
My Sister-In-Law (the farthest girl) and her friend came over to see te puppies being born. Then they let me kill them numerous times in Halo. You guys rock!
Sadie doing a great job being a new momma!
Checking to see what markings they will have!
For those of you who don't know, my birthday was yesterday! It was an interesting birthday...very different from the ones prior.
It started on Friday. Mom texted me and wanted to know if she could watch Riley so Linz and I could go out to dinner to celebrate. We of course said YES and decided to go to Grotto's Grand Slam in Lewes. It was awesome. I had a 1/2 lb. Bacon Mushroom Burger cooked medium well with a Long Island Iced Tea. MmmmMmm.
Saturday was shot because we had to go to a wedding. Not just a wedding, the wedding of Candice (Linz's ex-manipulative best friend) and Bill. I'm almost certain you will be able to read more about this if you check Lindsey's blog in about a week. I'm leaving it be since I have better things to tell you about. Oh, and it was open bar so that was cool. Yay, drinks two nights in a row, fun!
Sunday was my actual day. We slept in till about 10 and Lindsey wanted to get me donuts for breakfast. :o) (It's like she knows me or something.) Before she left she wanted to check on the dogs. Not sure if I mentioned in earlier posts but Sadie has been pregnant for sometime now and last night she started scratching around in their outdoor kennel we built for them. So Lindsey was sure they were coming soon. So she gets in their house and yells back "OMG Josh!" "ONE!" And I'm in the doorway of our house thinking "Oh my God what? it's dead?" "Oh my God it's here? It's cute?" She finaly elaborates and I get run to get her a towel to dust the poor guy off.
It's cold, dark and sandy in that dog house so we decide to set up the largest dog crate we have in the dining room so we can oversee the other births. While I was getting the crate out of the shed out back, Sadie runs over to me and looks like she's saying "HURRY! HURRRRRRRY!" And I tell her to get back to her baby that needs her. When she walked away she left a big blood trail behind her so I figgured another one was on it's way - CRAP! Hurrrrryy!
On my way inside with the crate I saw Sadie run back into her house. When I was inside the door I heard Lindsey say "TWO!" immediately followed by "Could we BE any less prepared??" No. We couldn't have. But then again there's really nothing we could have done differently. We were trying to avoid bringing the dogs inside because if we do that we have to pay a $200 security deposit to the landlord. (the last renter's dog chewed up the house)
Ok, now we're inside. Sadie is in her crate with her two puppies and lots of towels and blankets. I'm sure it's not ideal to move any animal as its giving birth but we knew that Sadie had been wanting to come inside to have those puppies for quite a while. So we didn't feel bad letting her in.
I feel as if I need to clarify on something. For me, I was so bent on figuring out a way around having to pay that $200 deposit, that the only plans I had made were to get the shed out back cleared out and to find some straw for the pups. Well the landlords crap was in there and they were away for the weekend. So I DID make an effort. But once the pups started coming, my mind changed instantly. So it's not that we don't care, it's just that we're uh...financially stretched? ;o) And I'd rather be caring over rich any day.
This is turning out to be a long post so I'll wrap it up. Sadie Ann had 8 puppies for my birthday! Which at $250 a head comes to $2,000 making that the best birthday present I've ever gotten. That is of course if Lindsey lets them all go. They are adorable aren't they? You know you've seen the pics already you skipper! You can also see a clip of the pups if you feel up for it. Ok enough with the puppies shpeel.
What else happened? Ma took Lindsey and I out to dinner last night. Ruby Tuesday. Mmm. This time I decided to partake upon the Triple Play. Lil bit a shrimp, lil bit a ribs and lil bit a chicken. Oh and the drink this time was Mojito. Oh yes - even mom liked it!
Lindsey got me an XBOX memory card unit (YAY! Finally I can stop lugging my entire XBOX around!) and also the new Need For Speed game for her DS which surprisingly it isn't nearly as good as the XBOX version. Which I guess makes sense, the XBOX has a lot more power to push out than the DS. So tonight we're going to try to exchange it for The New Super Mario Bros. which I've heard rocks. I missed you Mario.
Also tonight Dad has invited we three over to his place and will be cooking us a roast and sharing his DVR Recorded copy of Dane Cook on HBO. New stuff - I can't wait! Oh and of course we have to break for Prison Break and 8:00!
Aaaaaand that's it. I love stretched out birthdays!
Here's to 23! BooYah.
------------------------
Eight Of Em!
The Anxious Father, Jax:
My Sister-In-Law (the farthest girl) and her friend came over to see te puppies being born. Then they let me kill them numerous times in Halo. You guys rock!
Sadie doing a great job being a new momma!
Checking to see what markings they will have!
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
My LongHorn Country
As of 12:25 AM, October 25th LongHorn's website is LIVE!
It's my best web work thus far so check it out! All you web developers reading this (I know there's at least two of you) try not to pick it apart too much. But do let me know if you find something I should consider changing.
There's still a few features to add but for the most part it's done...FINALLY!
WooOOoo HooOOOooO!
www.mylonghorncountry.com
It's my best web work thus far so check it out! All you web developers reading this (I know there's at least two of you) try not to pick it apart too much. But do let me know if you find something I should consider changing.
There's still a few features to add but for the most part it's done...FINALLY!
WooOOoo HooOOOooO!
www.mylonghorncountry.com
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Camping With THE Man
Somehow a three-day weekend slipped past us last weekend. I remember three days, but it sure felt like two. I guess because we were in the car for so long. OK, wait. Let me back up...
Friday morning we three arose and headed out to Boonsboro, MD for a weekend adventure in the wilderness. Actually, thanks to dad as 'wild' as we got was sitting around eating and drinking in the cold until 9:30 (the Man's bedtime) and going back to our heated hotel room. :-)
That sub-story is cute in itself, so lets visit that for a moment shall we? Lindsey and I wanted...Nay...NEEDED to go away to some distant land and escape life for awhile. Adstrategies, with whom we have a business relationship with, invited us on their annual staff camping trip - all expenses paid. We said "Don't mind if we do, thank you!" and decided to go. Now, there is of course the recently added issue of having an infant that cannot leave Momma's side for more than a few hours. (I have a headache so I'm just going to skip to the cute part ok.) grandpa didn't want grandson to have to stay out in the cold in a tent for two nights. (We didn't want that either. But at this point we were still trying to figure out a way around it.) So he offered to put us up in a hotel for the weekend...To save Riley and allow us to get away. :-) Awww, its so cute, OK. Back to the story.
We ate at the Greene Turtle on our way up there, which was my first experience with the turtle so I have to give it a little plug here and say how much I enjoyed their food! It truly was one shell of a time! The rest of the time we pretty much cooked hotdogs and hamburgs over the fire. It was a blast and we all had a great time. Riley even got compliments from the owner of the company on how good of a kid he was. "I don't think I heard him cry once this whole trip!" That's my boy!
Here's a few pictures I snapped up there.
Lindsey and Riley playing:
The Man trying to find something on the tube:
The Man texting his other buddy man's back home:
Friday morning we three arose and headed out to Boonsboro, MD for a weekend adventure in the wilderness. Actually, thanks to dad as 'wild' as we got was sitting around eating and drinking in the cold until 9:30 (the Man's bedtime) and going back to our heated hotel room. :-)
That sub-story is cute in itself, so lets visit that for a moment shall we? Lindsey and I wanted...Nay...NEEDED to go away to some distant land and escape life for awhile. Adstrategies, with whom we have a business relationship with, invited us on their annual staff camping trip - all expenses paid. We said "Don't mind if we do, thank you!" and decided to go. Now, there is of course the recently added issue of having an infant that cannot leave Momma's side for more than a few hours. (I have a headache so I'm just going to skip to the cute part ok.) grandpa didn't want grandson to have to stay out in the cold in a tent for two nights. (We didn't want that either. But at this point we were still trying to figure out a way around it.) So he offered to put us up in a hotel for the weekend...To save Riley and allow us to get away. :-) Awww, its so cute, OK. Back to the story.
We ate at the Greene Turtle on our way up there, which was my first experience with the turtle so I have to give it a little plug here and say how much I enjoyed their food! It truly was one shell of a time! The rest of the time we pretty much cooked hotdogs and hamburgs over the fire. It was a blast and we all had a great time. Riley even got compliments from the owner of the company on how good of a kid he was. "I don't think I heard him cry once this whole trip!" That's my boy!
Here's a few pictures I snapped up there.
Lindsey and Riley playing:
The Man trying to find something on the tube:
The Man texting his other buddy man's back home:
Monday, October 16, 2006
Monday, October 09, 2006
The First Type
- Typed by Riley Thomas Sammons in an IM window to daddy at work.
Yep, that's what the man was feeling at 11:53 AM this morning. And since he's not starting a blog until next week, I figured I'd post it for him here. I remember seeing a few years ago the first thing I typed at my grandmothers workplace. And it total rocked, so now it's only right to pass the favor along to my kin.
I love it! He's so cute and learning so fast. I know I sound like one of those first time parents that obsesses over every little thing their kid does for the first time but, ..oh wait...I am that parent!
Oh well. Congratulations Riley on your first typing experience!
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Professor Josh
..as Dad puts it. :o)
So it's official, as soon as the paperwork goes through I will be an official Adjunct Faculty Member of Wilmington College!
Classes start in January and I'll be teaching the "Advanced Animation" course, which is actually both an undergraduate and a graduate class under the "Design" category and is a follow-up to the "Fundamentals of Animation" course. We will meet once a week (Wed) for 17 weeks at 3.5 hour intervals (5:00-8:30).
It's all about advanced techniques in After Effects, workflow, time management, etc so as you guys can imagine, I'm pretty psyched about teaching it!! Here's a course description I just found on their website:
DSN 310
Advanced Animation
3 credits
This course is an extension of DSN201 Fundamentals of Animation. The student will manipulate text, computer animation, and motion graphics to create visual effects seen in commercial video. Students learn about composition, rendering, lighting direction, and time management. Projects allow for creativity as well as ability to adhere to guidelines and follow instructions.
Prerequisite: DSN 201
I guess I am a little nervous. I've never taught in an actual classroom before, though I do feel I have the heart of a teacher. Lindsey tells me this all the time. So that's very reassuring to hear!
There are only two down sides I can see at this juncture.
1. The drive. 1.5 hours each way! (Ah well, I'm still making out really good considering the pay. :o)
2. LOST is scheduled while I'm going to be driving back home...:o(. (Thank God for TiVo and family that has it, that's all I have to say!)
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Configuring a Linksys WET54G Ethernet Bridge (for Mac)
This is really just for my own records but I suppose someone could stumble upon this in a Google search so...here goes.
If you travel in the likeness of any of the media circles I do, people (including Apple's and Linksys' tech support) will tell you that it isn't possible to configure a Linksys WET54G Bridge (or any other wireless device) to get a Dual / Quad G5 machine online. The box has the Mac logo right on it but once you break that seal the Macintosh platform is mysteriously forgotten altogether.
Well guess what, it is possible! It just takes a few more steps than you're probably used to.
After little effort researching this problem I found this helpful and very straight foreward article. For the why's and how's check it out. Like I said, this post is just so I remember how to do it. :o) Oh, and it works for OS X and OS 9.
Enjoy!
--
WARNING: You may have to rest the device prior to these steps.
TCP/IP Prefs:
- Connect: Built-In Ethernet / Manually
- IP address: 192.168.1.2
- Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
- Gateway/Router: 192.168.1.225
| APPLY |
In Browser:
- Hit: http://192.168.1.226
- Username = "admin"
- Password = "admin" (sometimes = "password")
- "Wireless" Section > click on "Site Survey" button
- Click on desired base station
- Set Security Settings (if any apply to network)
- Apply changes in pop up window.
- Apply changes from main window as well.
TCP/IP Prefs:
- Connect: Built-In Ethernet / Using DCHP
| APPLY |
Surf The Net!
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Harvest This!
I can't believe I made this instead of working on freelance that is due next week.
...haha, yes I can. This freaking rocks!
I guess I should share the backstory for those interested. While recently in NJ, Lindsey recieved a gift from my grandmother. Yes, it was a thanksgiving wall hanging thing which looks (almost) identical to this one. I came home from work one day and Linz had hung this up on our front door. I was intrigued as I was certian we did not own anything this country looking. So I squinted at it from the drivers seat and tried to read what it said up top. Harrrrveeeessssttt......this?? HAHA!! It actually says "harvest time."
And so that's how the idea was born. Later I told Dad about it and he very jokingly said "You should make it say that". So I did.
And now, my latest 1280 x 1024 Fall Season wall.
Cheers!
...haha, yes I can. This freaking rocks!
I guess I should share the backstory for those interested. While recently in NJ, Lindsey recieved a gift from my grandmother. Yes, it was a thanksgiving wall hanging thing which looks (almost) identical to this one. I came home from work one day and Linz had hung this up on our front door. I was intrigued as I was certian we did not own anything this country looking. So I squinted at it from the drivers seat and tried to read what it said up top. Harrrrveeeessssttt......this?? HAHA!! It actually says "harvest time."
And so that's how the idea was born. Later I told Dad about it and he very jokingly said "You should make it say that". So I did.
And now, my latest 1280 x 1024 Fall Season wall.
Cheers!
Friday, September 22, 2006
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Transparent Screens
Someone has made a Flickr slideshow of an idea I had ages ago but never tried. Some of these are really good!
Props goes out to Dad for the [link]
Saturday, September 16, 2006
What Happened To Honesty?
Life is a good thing. It has it's ups and it's downs, surprises, worries, joy's and sorrows. I think most would agree it's just a great thing to experience and be a part of. Every once in a while though, they're comes along in the path of life a large stone that makes you...aw screw the analogy. I need to just say what I'm on here to say. Today's marketing SUCKS with a capitol K.
Virtually everyone has experienced junk mail, spam and other horrible marketing tools that have become overly popular in the past years. Well it seems to me that the slime balls of america have yet again stepped it up a notch.
A perfect example? Liberty Names of America. They don't want you to enjoy life. Their selfish desires consume their marketing strategies no matter how many are trampled to death in the process. Let me elaborate via my personal experience.
To be honest, I'm not sure how they initiated this whole ordeal. I believe it was via mail. I remember getting a letter in the mail claiming that the domain joshsammons.com needed to be renewed for the fee of $25.00. I thought to myself, "Crap! Already? I thought I paid yearly and in the month of October." First red flag. "And I can't remember the name of the company I registered with but this doesn't sound like it." Second red flag. However, I quickly pulled both flags out and sent in the money simply because I had other more important things to worry about.
A month and a half later I got an email stating that payment had been received. All that I had to do now was click a link to verify my email address and the transfer would be complete. I didn't click it because at the time I didn't remember paying it (it was that long ago) and I wanted to check with Linz and make sure we're not paying twice.
Later that same day I received an email from my actual registrar, Active Domains. They wanted me to know that a request for a transfer had come to them regarding joshsammons.com. If I wanted to move ahead with the transfer I had to do nothing. If I wanted to stop the transfer I was to reply to their message before a certain date.
What took place in my head next was like the last scene in Fight Club when Edward Norton plays back the entire movie in his mind while plugging in what he has just learned into every scene thus making sense of all things and revealing the plot of the movie.
DING! DING! DING! It all made sense now, this company was tricking me into transferring my domain over to them thus creating new business for them. What a sleazy thing to do!!! Ahh! I called, emailed and cancelled the transaction as fast as I could and as many times as I could. Since it hadn't gone through yet, I was issued a refund which I still have yet to receive. If I don't get it they'll be hearing from me again but Im fairly confident I will get it. (There's that trust again! When will I learn?)
SO. Today I received ANOTHER letter from a completely different company (ListingCorp.com) with almost the exact same marketing process. GOD I HATE THESE PEOPLE!!! Who the hell gave them my information? You know what? I bet they got it from whois.com. Dan showed me that a while back. Why is that information so easy to get?
Apparently you have to pay extra to register privately. Just like being unlisted in the phone book. Grr. Well at least now I'm prepared. I'll be standing guard and keeping a tight watch on what goes on in the domain department.
I just wanted to let you guys know that these people are out there and they'll do ANYTHING to get your business, yes even trick you into it. So watch out!
Virtually everyone has experienced junk mail, spam and other horrible marketing tools that have become overly popular in the past years. Well it seems to me that the slime balls of america have yet again stepped it up a notch.
A perfect example? Liberty Names of America. They don't want you to enjoy life. Their selfish desires consume their marketing strategies no matter how many are trampled to death in the process. Let me elaborate via my personal experience.
To be honest, I'm not sure how they initiated this whole ordeal. I believe it was via mail. I remember getting a letter in the mail claiming that the domain joshsammons.com needed to be renewed for the fee of $25.00. I thought to myself, "Crap! Already? I thought I paid yearly and in the month of October." First red flag. "And I can't remember the name of the company I registered with but this doesn't sound like it." Second red flag. However, I quickly pulled both flags out and sent in the money simply because I had other more important things to worry about.
A month and a half later I got an email stating that payment had been received. All that I had to do now was click a link to verify my email address and the transfer would be complete. I didn't click it because at the time I didn't remember paying it (it was that long ago) and I wanted to check with Linz and make sure we're not paying twice.
Later that same day I received an email from my actual registrar, Active Domains. They wanted me to know that a request for a transfer had come to them regarding joshsammons.com. If I wanted to move ahead with the transfer I had to do nothing. If I wanted to stop the transfer I was to reply to their message before a certain date.
What took place in my head next was like the last scene in Fight Club when Edward Norton plays back the entire movie in his mind while plugging in what he has just learned into every scene thus making sense of all things and revealing the plot of the movie.
DING! DING! DING! It all made sense now, this company was tricking me into transferring my domain over to them thus creating new business for them. What a sleazy thing to do!!! Ahh! I called, emailed and cancelled the transaction as fast as I could and as many times as I could. Since it hadn't gone through yet, I was issued a refund which I still have yet to receive. If I don't get it they'll be hearing from me again but Im fairly confident I will get it. (There's that trust again! When will I learn?)
SO. Today I received ANOTHER letter from a completely different company (ListingCorp.com) with almost the exact same marketing process. GOD I HATE THESE PEOPLE!!! Who the hell gave them my information? You know what? I bet they got it from whois.com. Dan showed me that a while back. Why is that information so easy to get?
Apparently you have to pay extra to register privately. Just like being unlisted in the phone book. Grr. Well at least now I'm prepared. I'll be standing guard and keeping a tight watch on what goes on in the domain department.
I just wanted to let you guys know that these people are out there and they'll do ANYTHING to get your business, yes even trick you into it. So watch out!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Easy Favicons
I have a love / hate relationship with favicons. They're cool, but I don't really like making them.
Well. I was astonished to find this site which has a neat little feature that takes any image you upload, resizes it and saves it as "favicon.ico" on their server for you to download. They also make an animated version, saved with a .gif extention. I've never tried putting a .gif as a favicon so I'll have to try that later.
That's all for now, just wanted to share that neat shortcut.
BOOYAH~!
Well. I was astonished to find this site which has a neat little feature that takes any image you upload, resizes it and saves it as "favicon.ico" on their server for you to download. They also make an animated version, saved with a .gif extention. I've never tried putting a .gif as a favicon so I'll have to try that later.
That's all for now, just wanted to share that neat shortcut.
BOOYAH~!
Friday, September 08, 2006
Render @ 5 Weeks Per Second!
This is an unedited screenshot of a project I just tried to render. It actually started at 30 weeks and went down at a rate of about a 5 weeks per second. I was so stunned that it wrote out "weeks" where I usually see "minutes" that I took the screenshot pretty late.
Anyways, I found out last night that I have a Month extention on the website I'm doing for freelance. YES! So I'll try and post something of value soon.
Cheers!
Monday, August 28, 2006
Medical Mishaps
They happen. And it's serious.
The point of this post is to show you this serious interview. It's from a real show in Holland called "LIVE TV" (the equivalent of our show "60 Minutes"). In this episode they interviewed a man who had his testicles removed...accidentally.
Oh, and it's not in English, but you know what's happening...because it's so serious.
View Interview.
The point of this post is to show you this serious interview. It's from a real show in Holland called "LIVE TV" (the equivalent of our show "60 Minutes"). In this episode they interviewed a man who had his testicles removed...accidentally.
Oh, and it's not in English, but you know what's happening...because it's so serious.
View Interview.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Bounceroo
The littlest man is so funny in this thing...the swaying back and forth is my favorite part!
Check him out!
Check him out!
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
DJTV
Ok all you Multimedia Producers, listen up!
Digital Juice has released it's first three episodes of what they've entitled "DJTV", a series of FREE training videos found exclusively on their website. The videos go through a variety of things including how to set up better shots, 5 creative ways to use Jump Backs and the fundamentals of sample rate regarding better audio.
My dad and I watched these together and they're awesome! From the way they're talking it sounds like they will release new videos weekly. So...YES!!
Check it out:
http://www.digitaljuice.com/djtv/now_playing.asp
Monday, August 14, 2006
Financial Words Of Wisdom
As a proud subscriber of The Dave Ramsey Show podcast, I occasionally edit a clip from his 3 hr show that either taught me something remarkable or talked about someting I wanted to remember, and post it on my server for my wife to hear back home.
I wanted to share the three clips I've made so far with anyone who is interested. Mainly because financial advice (good finacial advice) is hard to come by. Unless of course you too are a subscriber. :o)
Clip 1: allowance.mp3 2.4MB | 2:34
Dave's thoughts on how to let kids deal with money at an early age.
Clip2: creditors.mp3 6.9MB | 7:31
Here he explains how creditors will do outrageous things to get your emotions running high in order to get you to pay their bill, and how to deal with their trickery.
Clip 3: technology-emotions.mp3 3.3MB | 8:07
An explaination of how businesses push using plastic & other new technologies as the preffered payment method over cash because there is no emotional tie there.
If you liked these, I'd encourage you to listen online or subscribe to the podcast. It's good stuff!
I wanted to share the three clips I've made so far with anyone who is interested. Mainly because financial advice (good finacial advice) is hard to come by. Unless of course you too are a subscriber. :o)
Clip 1: allowance.mp3 2.4MB | 2:34
Dave's thoughts on how to let kids deal with money at an early age.
Clip2: creditors.mp3 6.9MB | 7:31
Here he explains how creditors will do outrageous things to get your emotions running high in order to get you to pay their bill, and how to deal with their trickery.
Clip 3: technology-emotions.mp3 3.3MB | 8:07
An explaination of how businesses push using plastic & other new technologies as the preffered payment method over cash because there is no emotional tie there.
If you liked these, I'd encourage you to listen online or subscribe to the podcast. It's good stuff!
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Handsome, Just Like Daddy
Here's an updated picture of Riley made to fit your computer monitor!
Enjoy family o' mine!
Click image to enlarge.
Enjoy family o' mine!
Click image to enlarge.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
My Space
No, not the slow, sorry excuse for a pre-teen weblog...MY space!
As you know, Watermark Productions, LLC has moved and is now based in Milford, DE. But what you don't know is that a few weeks ago I got a new desk, which means I got to tear everything apart and set it up again! Yessss! Twice in one month!
Since I was so crammed into my old desk before, I thought I'd take heavy advantage of the opportunity to spread out a little more, but what I didn't think about was the fact that all the cables I had been currently using wouldn't stretch as far as I needed them to. Ack! So...new desk AND new cables, yay!
After all my hard work I wanted to at least show off my new workspace. Everything I need for work is up and running, but the athstetics still need some help, I know. I'll work on that later, once I have a few bucks for a nice painting or something. Needless to say, this new setup gives me more space to work with which in turn makes for a much happier Josh!
Horray for productivity!
As you know, Watermark Productions, LLC has moved and is now based in Milford, DE. But what you don't know is that a few weeks ago I got a new desk, which means I got to tear everything apart and set it up again! Yessss! Twice in one month!
Since I was so crammed into my old desk before, I thought I'd take heavy advantage of the opportunity to spread out a little more, but what I didn't think about was the fact that all the cables I had been currently using wouldn't stretch as far as I needed them to. Ack! So...new desk AND new cables, yay!
After all my hard work I wanted to at least show off my new workspace. Everything I need for work is up and running, but the athstetics still need some help, I know. I'll work on that later, once I have a few bucks for a nice painting or something. Needless to say, this new setup gives me more space to work with which in turn makes for a much happier Josh!
Horray for productivity!
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Freelance Is Good
This can be quick so I'll post it.
In my ever decreasing spare time I've been developing logos for two moving companies (actually owned by the same people) based in San Antonio, TX. A good friend of mine who I used to play guitar with here in Delaware moved down there and took a position as their Marketing/Sales Manager. So he's been able to throw some extra cash my way and it's been extremely helpful.
I don't consider myself much of a "graphic artist" or "logo designer" but is seems that everyone wants either that or a website, which is actually another area where I consider my skills so-so. Ironically, I currently am juggling these two logo design jobs, a print ad and a website in my spare time as freelance. Haha!
Gotta do whatcha gotta do.
In my ever decreasing spare time I've been developing logos for two moving companies (actually owned by the same people) based in San Antonio, TX. A good friend of mine who I used to play guitar with here in Delaware moved down there and took a position as their Marketing/Sales Manager. So he's been able to throw some extra cash my way and it's been extremely helpful.
I don't consider myself much of a "graphic artist" or "logo designer" but is seems that everyone wants either that or a website, which is actually another area where I consider my skills so-so. Ironically, I currently am juggling these two logo design jobs, a print ad and a website in my spare time as freelance. Haha!
Gotta do whatcha gotta do.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Ushooz Spot
It was nice getting back into After Effects today after a series of horror picture projects last week. I thought this turned out great for not having any ideas at 8:00 this morning. So here it is, my latest creation, fresh off the render queue! I had one day (today) to create a 30 second spot for one of the late Behind Lacrosse sponsors known as Ushooz. This is the first draft, let me know what you think if you can wait out the download time!
Ushooz_Final.mov (28.2 MB)
Ushooz_Final.mov (28.2 MB)
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Heavy Lifting
I'll probably get time to blog about two of the one hundred things that have been going on lately, so I guess I'm left to pick and choose the best slash most important of them.
Last Monday Dad and I packed up our home offices and moved to our new office in Milford! It was kind of fun. I always start out enjoying the opportunity to set up my work area again, but then half way through my mind reminds me of all the productive things that I should be doing with the computer pieces I'm holding. Then it's just annoying.
When I say "new office" I mean new to us. The building itself is pretty old. As you can see in the photos, we filled the main room up pretty quickly. Most of what you see is from Dad's office. After all he's been at it a little longer than I have. ;-) As you can see below, we were able to put the garage door to good use already!
Before we moved I signed us up for GotVMail, a virtual phone service complete with extentions and hold music. You call our 800 number and press the extention of the person you want to speak with and GotVMail will transfer your call to any phone number. We use our cell phones. At least we did before we moved into the building with the 1 foot thick walls. Our cell reception is crap. Especially when the other person is also on a cell. While we work through a fix, we're just sprinting across the building to go outside to answer our phones when they ring. It's actually quite humorous when it's not you.
As of right now most of the boxes are unpacked and things are starting to look a lot more organized. My office is funny because I'm not used to the space. Everything I have I use so it's all crammed in my little desk in the far corner. I'm hoping to get some shelves and another desk soon. Then I will be able to spread out a little better.
The room with the double doors is our prep / storage room. The room with the hard wood floor is our meeting room / lobby area. The two offices you see in the wide junky shot are mine and dads (from left to right). I'll try and post some after pictures in the near future for you all.
Watermark is open for business! (Assuming you get through)
Last Monday Dad and I packed up our home offices and moved to our new office in Milford! It was kind of fun. I always start out enjoying the opportunity to set up my work area again, but then half way through my mind reminds me of all the productive things that I should be doing with the computer pieces I'm holding. Then it's just annoying.
When I say "new office" I mean new to us. The building itself is pretty old. As you can see in the photos, we filled the main room up pretty quickly. Most of what you see is from Dad's office. After all he's been at it a little longer than I have. ;-) As you can see below, we were able to put the garage door to good use already!
Before we moved I signed us up for GotVMail, a virtual phone service complete with extentions and hold music. You call our 800 number and press the extention of the person you want to speak with and GotVMail will transfer your call to any phone number. We use our cell phones. At least we did before we moved into the building with the 1 foot thick walls. Our cell reception is crap. Especially when the other person is also on a cell. While we work through a fix, we're just sprinting across the building to go outside to answer our phones when they ring. It's actually quite humorous when it's not you.
As of right now most of the boxes are unpacked and things are starting to look a lot more organized. My office is funny because I'm not used to the space. Everything I have I use so it's all crammed in my little desk in the far corner. I'm hoping to get some shelves and another desk soon. Then I will be able to spread out a little better.
The room with the double doors is our prep / storage room. The room with the hard wood floor is our meeting room / lobby area. The two offices you see in the wide junky shot are mine and dads (from left to right). I'll try and post some after pictures in the near future for you all.
Watermark is open for business! (Assuming you get through)
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Watermark Website Up
Yes, it's finally done. At least done enough to publish to the server and blog about it being there. :-]
I'm pretty proud of it overall. Even though half way through every website I make I start hating it. I think this one turned out pretty awesome.
Who wants to test for bugs??
I'm pretty proud of it overall. Even though half way through every website I make I start hating it. I think this one turned out pretty awesome.
Who wants to test for bugs??
Thursday, May 25, 2006
3 Weeks
But It feels like he's been here much longer. There are so many things I have learned even in that short amount of time. Respect for my parents has drastically increased. I feel like I've matured in a way that I could not have without Riley. Like just by having a baby I'm getting to experience a part of life that until now, I had not. It's like being part of a new club. Although I know no one else in it.
To elaborate on the topic of things I've learned about him...
1. He likes to eat dinner right as we are starting ours.
2. He loves music. It soothes him and often times will stop him from crying. That rocks. His favorite song right now is "Man of Constant Sorrow".
3. When the sun light hits his face he overextends his back and scrunches his face together real tight. And when he feels the wind on his face, his eyes get big and he makes a high pitched inhaling wheezing noise. So cute. Normally I wouldn't say anything is "cute" but in the case of my firstborn I feel it is appropriate.
4. He used to scream during his bath and come to find out it was because he likes his water pretty hot. We were conservative with the temperature before like all new parents I suppose. Now he only screams (sometimes) when we take him out of the hot water and the air feels cold to him. Definitely a summer baby. Oh yes.
5. He makes the sweetest sounds while he's feeding. I say it's because he's enjoying it so much. He eats a lot and very frequently. Typical traits of a Sammons boy.
6. His head smells like herbal green tea. With that ginseng stuff. I'm not sure if it's his bath soap or just his natural baby musk. But it's cute.
7. When he farts it sounds like I played a farting sound effect or sat on a woopie cushion. It's that "perfect". I get a kick out of that every time.
At first he slept well through the night and I thought we had an "easy baby". Well, that changed a few nights ago. He has on and off nights and I'm not sure what determines which, but I'm wishing now that Nicole (my mother in law who spent the first week with us, while he was sleeping through the night) would come back.
I've gotten a lot closer to Lindsey throughout this whole process too, which has been for lack of better word, AWESOME. I hold our relationship as one of the biggest blessings in my life. Not a lot of couples have the relationship that we do and I am very happy to realize it and appreciate it now.
His Grandpa Sammons (Poky) blessed him with a new ride that my bro will love. You can connect your MP3 player to the onboard speakers and stroll in style. View the picture below. It is truly awesome.
So here's a few more of my favorite pictures recently taken by yours truly.
The Important Things In Life
Me Holding Riley
Nick Will Love His Ride
One Day He'll Play With Me
To elaborate on the topic of things I've learned about him...
1. He likes to eat dinner right as we are starting ours.
2. He loves music. It soothes him and often times will stop him from crying. That rocks. His favorite song right now is "Man of Constant Sorrow".
3. When the sun light hits his face he overextends his back and scrunches his face together real tight. And when he feels the wind on his face, his eyes get big and he makes a high pitched inhaling wheezing noise. So cute. Normally I wouldn't say anything is "cute" but in the case of my firstborn I feel it is appropriate.
4. He used to scream during his bath and come to find out it was because he likes his water pretty hot. We were conservative with the temperature before like all new parents I suppose. Now he only screams (sometimes) when we take him out of the hot water and the air feels cold to him. Definitely a summer baby. Oh yes.
5. He makes the sweetest sounds while he's feeding. I say it's because he's enjoying it so much. He eats a lot and very frequently. Typical traits of a Sammons boy.
6. His head smells like herbal green tea. With that ginseng stuff. I'm not sure if it's his bath soap or just his natural baby musk. But it's cute.
7. When he farts it sounds like I played a farting sound effect or sat on a woopie cushion. It's that "perfect". I get a kick out of that every time.
At first he slept well through the night and I thought we had an "easy baby". Well, that changed a few nights ago. He has on and off nights and I'm not sure what determines which, but I'm wishing now that Nicole (my mother in law who spent the first week with us, while he was sleeping through the night) would come back.
I've gotten a lot closer to Lindsey throughout this whole process too, which has been for lack of better word, AWESOME. I hold our relationship as one of the biggest blessings in my life. Not a lot of couples have the relationship that we do and I am very happy to realize it and appreciate it now.
His Grandpa Sammons (Poky) blessed him with a new ride that my bro will love. You can connect your MP3 player to the onboard speakers and stroll in style. View the picture below. It is truly awesome.
So here's a few more of my favorite pictures recently taken by yours truly.
The Important Things In Life
Me Holding Riley
Nick Will Love His Ride
One Day He'll Play With Me
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Friday, May 12, 2006
Monday, May 08, 2006
Riley Thomas Sammons
| Born: May 3rd, 2006 @ 7:44 AM
| Weight: 9 lbs., 1 oz.
| Length: 21.5 in.
4:15 AM. Probably the earliest I've ever gotten up. It wasn't that hard since I had only fallen asleep a few hours ago. We had to be at the hospital by 5:30 to register Linz and fill out paperwork. Nerves were up as we went upstairs and they began to prep my beautiful wife for surgery.
Riley and Lindsey had gestational diabetes which typically makes one heck of a baby in the womb. Doctors weren't sure if his size was the reason he hadn't dropped yet or if it was the cause of something else. After hearing the risks of inducing a child of that size (ie: him getting stuck during birth which may result in brain damage and having to break his shoulders in order to get him out), the wife and I had both decided to suck it up and go with the caesarian. It would be quick and most likely the best for both Riley and Lindsey.
After I got into my scrubs I went into the prep room with Linz to try and help calm her down. There were 3 nurses that were all extremely talkative that pretty much just rushed her at once while I had been putting scrubs on. This frightened my poor wife a little bit, making her feel like she was guest starring on ER or Grey's Anatomy as the hot new medical case. In afterthought it probably was best because as they had said to us "There, look at that. Done in only 15 minutes. It would have taken most nurses half an hour to do all we just did!"
They wheeled Lindsey down the hall and at a certain point asked me to sit in a chair at a station in the hallway while they gave her the epidoral. I think my last words to her were "Everything's going to be fine, I'll see you in a few!" A doctor told me it'd take about 5 minutes to administer the shot, at which point he would come get me and we'd go into the O.R.. 10 minutes later, he came out saying it'd be another 5 - 10 minutes and that everything was going fine. About 25 minutes (and countless prayers) later, a nurse came out and told me that she got a page from the doctor who said that the epidoral wasn't effective enough so they would be putting her under local anesthesia and she'd wheel the baby out to me once he was delivered and wiped down.
Wait, wait, wait...Did you just tell me that I can't be there for the birth of my first child?!?! Thoughts of protest that had manifested in my head to this situation before began to come up. Right before I said something about how I really needed to be in there I thought "Why DO I need to be in there anyway? Not for Lindsey, she's gonna be asleep. Not for the baby, or to take gross pictures. And certainly not to see first hand the cut and stitching." So I just asked her a bunch of nervous brand new father questions like "When will I get to see HER again?" and "Where do the baby and I go after you bring him out?"
It wasn't long after that until my soft spoken prayers were interrupted by an "Aaaaaa AAAAAHHHH" and I KNEW that it was Riley - my baby's, cry. Another nurse peeked out from a doorway and said "You hear that?" And I probably lit up like time square on new years and replied "That's my baby!". Then our pediatrician sped down the hall and said with a big smile "Mr. Sammons, your baby looks great, he's screaming and crying, we'll bring him right out to you ok?!" A wave of relief swept over me and a new wave of worry for Lindsey came just as fast. I hope she's doing ok....one down, one to go. Still praying I anxiously awaited the little medical cart with my baby on it to roll around that corner.
Finally! He wasn't really making any noise at this point, just a very small whimpering sound. I couldn't really get a good look at him because he was wrapped up so very tightly. He even had a beanie on his head! His face was flawless. A perfect little nose, little squinty eyes and momma's cute soft cheeks! I had the camera ready and waiting for half an hour, so of course I snapped a few shots as soon as I could.
I asked the nurse how my wife was doing and she spat out a quick "Fine" without looking at me then bolted off to the nursery to clean up Riley and do a bunch of other fascinating things that I'd get to watch her do through the window. Her short, concise answer to the most important question I ever had asked made two things flash through my mind. Either 1.) She didn't really know what was going on, or 2.) She was trying to get my mind off it because maybe they WERE having problems. I quickly decided not to think about it since there was nothing I could do but pray, so that's what I did.
We walked through the big double doors, Riley leading, and right into the presence of an anxiously waiting Grandma (my mother). Just as we came out, my father walked up and said "Oh, you had a mummy!" We laughed and took a few pictures with our phones and then off to the clean up nursery room they went. It seemed like they were in there for a long time. Stamping the footprints onto little cards, weighing and measuring, bathing, eye drops, and as Morpheus would say, getting ready for "the real world."
I had to step away during the bath and use the restroom. When I came out the Dr. Berlin found me and told me all about the birth. He further explained why Lindsey had to go under local anesthesia and told me that the umbilical cord had been wrapped around Riley's head twice! Since it was a caesarian, it was no problem because the cord is loose enough in the womb. But had we tried to induce and been successful with that method (as was our other option the previous day) it could have been real bad. Lindsey was in recovery and doing fine, it would be an hour or two before she was conscience enough to come into the room and interact with everyone. A few more minutes watching through the window at the nursery and they wheeled him down the hall to our room. At this point Mark & Nicole (Lindsey's Dad & Mom) and Bill and Bonny (my Dad & Mom) were all in the room taking pictures and stepping in line to hold the new addition to the fam.
Two hours later they wheeled Lindsey and her bed into the room and my last statement I had said to her finally came true. That's the point where I almost lost it. I don't remember what I said, but between me holding our firstborn and seeing her lay there still groggy from the drugs I began talking to her telling her everything I knew about Riley so far. I let the nurses hook her up and plug stuff in and then I was right in there showing her what she had accomplished. "He's beautiful" I heard her say with a breathy, sleepy voice. She woke up more every minute and once the visitors all left it was just us again. Our new family of three.
Dad asked me the yesterday how it felt when I first saw him, a question I had asked him numerous times before. He felt enormous responsibility. For me it was like a piece to my life's puzzle was snapping perfectly into place. I feel that every time I look into his eyes or smell his sweet smelling hair. A lot of things changed instantly the moment I saw him for the first time. For instance. Poop? No problem. Peeing on my hand? I don't even care. Little screams coming from the cradle in the room at 2 AM? Who cares! It seems to be the the way that I live life. I just go with the flow and deal with things when they get here. But this particular instance I think it's more magnified.
Anyway, here are a few pictures that I was surprised turned out so professional-looking. He really is so much better looking in real life (believe it or not!).
Im a Dad!!!
| Weight: 9 lbs., 1 oz.
| Length: 21.5 in.
4:15 AM. Probably the earliest I've ever gotten up. It wasn't that hard since I had only fallen asleep a few hours ago. We had to be at the hospital by 5:30 to register Linz and fill out paperwork. Nerves were up as we went upstairs and they began to prep my beautiful wife for surgery.
Riley and Lindsey had gestational diabetes which typically makes one heck of a baby in the womb. Doctors weren't sure if his size was the reason he hadn't dropped yet or if it was the cause of something else. After hearing the risks of inducing a child of that size (ie: him getting stuck during birth which may result in brain damage and having to break his shoulders in order to get him out), the wife and I had both decided to suck it up and go with the caesarian. It would be quick and most likely the best for both Riley and Lindsey.
After I got into my scrubs I went into the prep room with Linz to try and help calm her down. There were 3 nurses that were all extremely talkative that pretty much just rushed her at once while I had been putting scrubs on. This frightened my poor wife a little bit, making her feel like she was guest starring on ER or Grey's Anatomy as the hot new medical case. In afterthought it probably was best because as they had said to us "There, look at that. Done in only 15 minutes. It would have taken most nurses half an hour to do all we just did!"
They wheeled Lindsey down the hall and at a certain point asked me to sit in a chair at a station in the hallway while they gave her the epidoral. I think my last words to her were "Everything's going to be fine, I'll see you in a few!" A doctor told me it'd take about 5 minutes to administer the shot, at which point he would come get me and we'd go into the O.R.. 10 minutes later, he came out saying it'd be another 5 - 10 minutes and that everything was going fine. About 25 minutes (and countless prayers) later, a nurse came out and told me that she got a page from the doctor who said that the epidoral wasn't effective enough so they would be putting her under local anesthesia and she'd wheel the baby out to me once he was delivered and wiped down.
Wait, wait, wait...Did you just tell me that I can't be there for the birth of my first child?!?! Thoughts of protest that had manifested in my head to this situation before began to come up. Right before I said something about how I really needed to be in there I thought "Why DO I need to be in there anyway? Not for Lindsey, she's gonna be asleep. Not for the baby, or to take gross pictures. And certainly not to see first hand the cut and stitching." So I just asked her a bunch of nervous brand new father questions like "When will I get to see HER again?" and "Where do the baby and I go after you bring him out?"
It wasn't long after that until my soft spoken prayers were interrupted by an "Aaaaaa AAAAAHHHH" and I KNEW that it was Riley - my baby's, cry. Another nurse peeked out from a doorway and said "You hear that?" And I probably lit up like time square on new years and replied "That's my baby!". Then our pediatrician sped down the hall and said with a big smile "Mr. Sammons, your baby looks great, he's screaming and crying, we'll bring him right out to you ok?!" A wave of relief swept over me and a new wave of worry for Lindsey came just as fast. I hope she's doing ok....one down, one to go. Still praying I anxiously awaited the little medical cart with my baby on it to roll around that corner.
Finally! He wasn't really making any noise at this point, just a very small whimpering sound. I couldn't really get a good look at him because he was wrapped up so very tightly. He even had a beanie on his head! His face was flawless. A perfect little nose, little squinty eyes and momma's cute soft cheeks! I had the camera ready and waiting for half an hour, so of course I snapped a few shots as soon as I could.
I asked the nurse how my wife was doing and she spat out a quick "Fine" without looking at me then bolted off to the nursery to clean up Riley and do a bunch of other fascinating things that I'd get to watch her do through the window. Her short, concise answer to the most important question I ever had asked made two things flash through my mind. Either 1.) She didn't really know what was going on, or 2.) She was trying to get my mind off it because maybe they WERE having problems. I quickly decided not to think about it since there was nothing I could do but pray, so that's what I did.
We walked through the big double doors, Riley leading, and right into the presence of an anxiously waiting Grandma (my mother). Just as we came out, my father walked up and said "Oh, you had a mummy!" We laughed and took a few pictures with our phones and then off to the clean up nursery room they went. It seemed like they were in there for a long time. Stamping the footprints onto little cards, weighing and measuring, bathing, eye drops, and as Morpheus would say, getting ready for "the real world."
I had to step away during the bath and use the restroom. When I came out the Dr. Berlin found me and told me all about the birth. He further explained why Lindsey had to go under local anesthesia and told me that the umbilical cord had been wrapped around Riley's head twice! Since it was a caesarian, it was no problem because the cord is loose enough in the womb. But had we tried to induce and been successful with that method (as was our other option the previous day) it could have been real bad. Lindsey was in recovery and doing fine, it would be an hour or two before she was conscience enough to come into the room and interact with everyone. A few more minutes watching through the window at the nursery and they wheeled him down the hall to our room. At this point Mark & Nicole (Lindsey's Dad & Mom) and Bill and Bonny (my Dad & Mom) were all in the room taking pictures and stepping in line to hold the new addition to the fam.
Two hours later they wheeled Lindsey and her bed into the room and my last statement I had said to her finally came true. That's the point where I almost lost it. I don't remember what I said, but between me holding our firstborn and seeing her lay there still groggy from the drugs I began talking to her telling her everything I knew about Riley so far. I let the nurses hook her up and plug stuff in and then I was right in there showing her what she had accomplished. "He's beautiful" I heard her say with a breathy, sleepy voice. She woke up more every minute and once the visitors all left it was just us again. Our new family of three.
Dad asked me the yesterday how it felt when I first saw him, a question I had asked him numerous times before. He felt enormous responsibility. For me it was like a piece to my life's puzzle was snapping perfectly into place. I feel that every time I look into his eyes or smell his sweet smelling hair. A lot of things changed instantly the moment I saw him for the first time. For instance. Poop? No problem. Peeing on my hand? I don't even care. Little screams coming from the cradle in the room at 2 AM? Who cares! It seems to be the the way that I live life. I just go with the flow and deal with things when they get here. But this particular instance I think it's more magnified.
Anyway, here are a few pictures that I was surprised turned out so professional-looking. He really is so much better looking in real life (believe it or not!).
Im a Dad!!!
Thursday, April 27, 2006
You Know You Play Too Much Halo When:
- You keep trying to pick things up by walking over them.
- You find yourself blocking entranceways with vehicles.
- Your wife starts asking who Cortana is.
- You are able to stand on someones head without them realising it.
- You steal random flags.
- You've considered making a map of your workplace. (Dan!)
- You hum the Halo theme while running down the beach.
- You're surprised when you walk outside and can't see the other side of the planet in the sky.
- You prefer chryo-tubes to beds.
- At the end of the day you mutter to yourself: "G.G. man, G.G."
- You look for the index in a public library
- Your computers' text-to-speech voice is set to the closest thing you find to Cortana.
- You get lost while driving and wait, expecting Cortana to tell you where to go.
- You wake up next to Master Chief.
- Your 'mean names' for people include "modder", "camper" or "noob"
- You drive recklessly, thinking you'll respawn if you die.
- You nod your head whenever you talk to someone.
- You jump off a cliff just to see the funny animation of you falling.
- You attempt to change lanes on the freeway by strafing left.
- The side of your van reads "Echo 419".
- You've referred to your parents/boss as "the Hierarchs" more than once.
- You find this list humurous.
I wrote the bolded ones!
- You find yourself blocking entranceways with vehicles.
- Your wife starts asking who Cortana is.
- You are able to stand on someones head without them realising it.
- You steal random flags.
- You've considered making a map of your workplace. (Dan!)
- You hum the Halo theme while running down the beach.
- You're surprised when you walk outside and can't see the other side of the planet in the sky.
- You prefer chryo-tubes to beds.
- At the end of the day you mutter to yourself: "G.G. man, G.G."
- You look for the index in a public library
- Your computers' text-to-speech voice is set to the closest thing you find to Cortana.
- You get lost while driving and wait, expecting Cortana to tell you where to go.
- You wake up next to Master Chief.
- Your 'mean names' for people include "modder", "camper" or "noob"
- You drive recklessly, thinking you'll respawn if you die.
- You nod your head whenever you talk to someone.
- You jump off a cliff just to see the funny animation of you falling.
- You attempt to change lanes on the freeway by strafing left.
- The side of your van reads "Echo 419".
- You've referred to your parents/boss as "the Hierarchs" more than once.
- You find this list humurous.
I wrote the bolded ones!
Thursday, April 20, 2006
"Duh"
While I admit to not reading a lot of well...anything really, when I do it's usually some book Lindsey has just finished and is talking about. One of her favorite writers, Ann Coulter, is always a treat to read because of her sarcasm. (Those of you who read Lindsey's blog know now where she gets it.) Anyway, this is an "Ann" article passed on to me from my father:
However the Duke lacrosse rape case turns out, one lesson that absolutely will not be learned is this: You can severely reduce your chances of having a false accusation of rape leveled against you if you don't hire strange women to come to your house and take their clothes off for money.
Also, you can severely reduce your chances of being raped if you do not go to strange men's houses and take your clothes off for money. (Does anyone else detect a common thread here?)
And if you are a girl in Aruba or New York City, among the best ways to avoid being the victim of a horrible crime is to not get drunk in public or go off in a car with men you just met. While we're on the subject of things every 5-year-old should know, I also recommend against dousing yourself in gasoline and striking a match.
Everyone makes mistakes, especially young people, but the outpouring of support for the victims and their families is obscuring what ought to be a flashing neon warning for potential future victims.
Whenever a gun is used in a crime, there are never-ending news stories about how dangerous guns are. But these girls go out alone, late at night, drunk off their butts, and there's nary a peep about the dangers of drunk women on their own in public. It's their "right."
Yes, of course no one "deserves" to die for a mistake. Or to be raped or falsely accused of rape for a mistake. I have always been unabashedly anti-murder, anti-rape and anti-false accusation — and I don't care who knows about it!
But these statements would roll off the tongue more easily in a world that so much as tacitly acknowledged that all these messy turns of fate followed behavior that your mother could have told you was tacky.
Not very long ago, all the precursor behavior in these cases would have been recognized as vulgar — whether or not anyone ended up dead, raped or falsely accused of rape. But in a nation of people in constant terror of being perceived as "judgmental," I'm not sure most people do recognize that anymore.
It shouldn't be necessary to point out that girls shouldn't be bar-hopping alone or taking their clothes off in front of strangers, and that young men shouldn't be hiring strippers. But we live in a world of Bill Clinton, Paris Hilton, Howard Stern, Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman," Democratic fund-raisers at the Playboy Mansion and tax deductions for entertaining clients at strip clubs.
This is an age in which the expression "girls gone wild" is becoming a redundancy. So even as the bodies pile up, I don't think the message about integrity is getting through.
The liberal charge of "hypocrisy" has so permeated the public consciousness that no one is willing to condemn any behavior anymore, no matter how seedy. The unstated rule is: If you've done it, you can't ever criticize it — a standard that would seem to repudiate the good works of the Rev. Franklin Graham, Malcolm X, Whittaker Chambers and St. Paul, among others.
Every woman who has had an abortion feels compelled to defend abortion for all women; every man who's ever been at a party with strippers thinks he has to defend all men who watch strippers; and every Democrat who voted for Bill Clinton feels the need to defend duplicity, adultery, lying about adultery, sexual harassment, rape, perjury, obstruction of justice, kicking the can of global Islamo-fascism down the road for eight years and so on.
This is crazy. (I can say that because I've never been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder. Although I did test positive for "Olympic fever" once.)
In no area except morality would a sane person believe he can't criticize something stupid because he's done it. How about: If you've ever forgotten to fill up your car and run out of gas, you must forevermore defend a person's right to ignore the gas gauge. Or if you've ever forgotten to wear a coat in cold weather and caught a cold, henceforth you are obliged to encourage others not to dress appropriately in the winter.
This deep-seated societal fear of being accused of "hypocrisy" applies only to behavior touching on morals.
But we're all rotten sinners, incapable of redemption on our own. The liberal answer to sin is to say: I can never pay this back, so my argument will be I didn't do anything wrong.
The religion of peace's answer is: I've just beheaded an innocent man — I'm off to meet Allah!
I don't know what the Jewish answer is, but I'm sure it's something other than, "therefore, what I did is no longer bad behavior" — or the Talmud could be a lot shorter.
The Christian answer is: I can never pay this back, but luckily that Christ fellow has already paid my debt.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
COPYRIGHT 2006 ANN COULTER
DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE
However the Duke lacrosse rape case turns out, one lesson that absolutely will not be learned is this: You can severely reduce your chances of having a false accusation of rape leveled against you if you don't hire strange women to come to your house and take their clothes off for money.
Also, you can severely reduce your chances of being raped if you do not go to strange men's houses and take your clothes off for money. (Does anyone else detect a common thread here?)
And if you are a girl in Aruba or New York City, among the best ways to avoid being the victim of a horrible crime is to not get drunk in public or go off in a car with men you just met. While we're on the subject of things every 5-year-old should know, I also recommend against dousing yourself in gasoline and striking a match.
Everyone makes mistakes, especially young people, but the outpouring of support for the victims and their families is obscuring what ought to be a flashing neon warning for potential future victims.
Whenever a gun is used in a crime, there are never-ending news stories about how dangerous guns are. But these girls go out alone, late at night, drunk off their butts, and there's nary a peep about the dangers of drunk women on their own in public. It's their "right."
Yes, of course no one "deserves" to die for a mistake. Or to be raped or falsely accused of rape for a mistake. I have always been unabashedly anti-murder, anti-rape and anti-false accusation — and I don't care who knows about it!
But these statements would roll off the tongue more easily in a world that so much as tacitly acknowledged that all these messy turns of fate followed behavior that your mother could have told you was tacky.
Not very long ago, all the precursor behavior in these cases would have been recognized as vulgar — whether or not anyone ended up dead, raped or falsely accused of rape. But in a nation of people in constant terror of being perceived as "judgmental," I'm not sure most people do recognize that anymore.
It shouldn't be necessary to point out that girls shouldn't be bar-hopping alone or taking their clothes off in front of strangers, and that young men shouldn't be hiring strippers. But we live in a world of Bill Clinton, Paris Hilton, Howard Stern, Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman," Democratic fund-raisers at the Playboy Mansion and tax deductions for entertaining clients at strip clubs.
This is an age in which the expression "girls gone wild" is becoming a redundancy. So even as the bodies pile up, I don't think the message about integrity is getting through.
The liberal charge of "hypocrisy" has so permeated the public consciousness that no one is willing to condemn any behavior anymore, no matter how seedy. The unstated rule is: If you've done it, you can't ever criticize it — a standard that would seem to repudiate the good works of the Rev. Franklin Graham, Malcolm X, Whittaker Chambers and St. Paul, among others.
Every woman who has had an abortion feels compelled to defend abortion for all women; every man who's ever been at a party with strippers thinks he has to defend all men who watch strippers; and every Democrat who voted for Bill Clinton feels the need to defend duplicity, adultery, lying about adultery, sexual harassment, rape, perjury, obstruction of justice, kicking the can of global Islamo-fascism down the road for eight years and so on.
This is crazy. (I can say that because I've never been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder. Although I did test positive for "Olympic fever" once.)
In no area except morality would a sane person believe he can't criticize something stupid because he's done it. How about: If you've ever forgotten to fill up your car and run out of gas, you must forevermore defend a person's right to ignore the gas gauge. Or if you've ever forgotten to wear a coat in cold weather and caught a cold, henceforth you are obliged to encourage others not to dress appropriately in the winter.
This deep-seated societal fear of being accused of "hypocrisy" applies only to behavior touching on morals.
But we're all rotten sinners, incapable of redemption on our own. The liberal answer to sin is to say: I can never pay this back, so my argument will be I didn't do anything wrong.
The religion of peace's answer is: I've just beheaded an innocent man — I'm off to meet Allah!
I don't know what the Jewish answer is, but I'm sure it's something other than, "therefore, what I did is no longer bad behavior" — or the Talmud could be a lot shorter.
The Christian answer is: I can never pay this back, but luckily that Christ fellow has already paid my debt.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
COPYRIGHT 2006 ANN COULTER
DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE
Monday, April 17, 2006
Why Download This Mario Bros. 3 Cover Album?
1. It's by Akihabara Electric Circus.
B. It's actually is pleasant to listen to.
3. It's fun.
5. It's free.
4. You will have infinite lives.
4. If you're here you have nothing better to do anyway.
8. The numbers in the list are screwed up.
6. I'll be taking it down later.
download [46.3 MB].
B. It's actually is pleasant to listen to.
3. It's fun.
5. It's free.
4. You will have infinite lives.
4. If you're here you have nothing better to do anyway.
8. The numbers in the list are screwed up.
6. I'll be taking it down later.
download [46.3 MB].
Friday, April 14, 2006
Name Fun
1.YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet and current street name)
Shadow Second (eh..)
2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on mother's side first name, favorite candy)
Kirk Twix (strange)
3. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
J-Sam (sucks)
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite animal, name of high school)
Puppy Greenwood (stupid)
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Thomas Milton (sounds soapish)
6. YOUR OPPOSITE SEX NAME: (name of dad/mom, cell phone Company you use)
Bonny Verizon (uhh, no)
7. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your pet's name)
Samhemjax (haha)
8. PORN STAR NAME: (middle name, street you grew up on)
Thomas Coastal (haha again)
9. YOUR FASHION DESIGNER NAME: (first word you see on your left, favorite restaurant)
Canopus Damons (maybe it's Italian)
Shadow Second (eh..)
2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on mother's side first name, favorite candy)
Kirk Twix (strange)
3. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
J-Sam (sucks)
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite animal, name of high school)
Puppy Greenwood (stupid)
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Thomas Milton (sounds soapish)
6. YOUR OPPOSITE SEX NAME: (name of dad/mom, cell phone Company you use)
Bonny Verizon (uhh, no)
7. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your pet's name)
Samhemjax (haha)
8. PORN STAR NAME: (middle name, street you grew up on)
Thomas Coastal (haha again)
9. YOUR FASHION DESIGNER NAME: (first word you see on your left, favorite restaurant)
Canopus Damons (maybe it's Italian)
Friday, April 07, 2006
Random Thoughts
Oh, goodness. Wednesday Lindsey and I were out all day doing our own things. She went to her Mom's to hang out and go shopping at the outlets so they could use the gift cards they received from Lindsey's shower & her mom's birthday. I went with Dad to a sales call in Horsham, PA. After picking her up, we went home to find that the dogs had finally figured out that they can dig underneath the fence.
Now, if the backyard gate were stronger I wouldn't care. Heck, I might even leave them out if that were the case. But it's not. It's a hundred years old and they already pushed the latch open once while we were home, so this event scared the crap out of me.
I yelled at them to get back in the kennel. And they wiggled and waited anxiously for me to open the door. I wanted to see them crawl back through the hole so I kept yelling and pointing. They got the message and went army style on their elbows under the fencing. It was actually really funny looking. But I was so worried about them getting out into the street that I kept my tone stern. (Those fatherly instincts kicking in I suppose.)
If you were to walk into our house right now you'd think a baby lives here already. Toys, chairs, animals, balloons, it's all here. I think that we might finish painting his room this weekend. I'll have to post some pictures once its completed.
I saw the first Narnia film. I'm on the fence about whether it was great or just good. The CG was amazing so I guess it was amazing? King Kong was another one that I thought was well done. Long, but good. I seem to like stories about people going where their not supposed to be. (ie: LOST, King Kong)
Linz and I are planning one last date night before D-Day. Grotto's & Rita's. Now you Pennsylvania readers may not know what Grotto's is, even though there are a few in PA. Grotto Pizza was founded right here in good ol' Rehoboth Beach, Delaware in 1960. Grotto may mean "“cave"” in Italy, but in Delaware it means pizza. Not cave pizza, just pizza. Anyway, it's the only thing that I've ever heard Lindsey say she had a craving for so we're going. Plus it's right on the shore, and you can't beat that.
Oh, Lindsey had her baby shower last weekend! It was cool. She asked me to stay there for it because events where she is the main attraction make her really nervous, so I tried my best to calm the nerves.
I just obtained Rascal Flatts new album. Amazing.
That's all for now, time to relax a little with the wife...while I still can.
Now, if the backyard gate were stronger I wouldn't care. Heck, I might even leave them out if that were the case. But it's not. It's a hundred years old and they already pushed the latch open once while we were home, so this event scared the crap out of me.
I yelled at them to get back in the kennel. And they wiggled and waited anxiously for me to open the door. I wanted to see them crawl back through the hole so I kept yelling and pointing. They got the message and went army style on their elbows under the fencing. It was actually really funny looking. But I was so worried about them getting out into the street that I kept my tone stern. (Those fatherly instincts kicking in I suppose.)
If you were to walk into our house right now you'd think a baby lives here already. Toys, chairs, animals, balloons, it's all here. I think that we might finish painting his room this weekend. I'll have to post some pictures once its completed.
I saw the first Narnia film. I'm on the fence about whether it was great or just good. The CG was amazing so I guess it was amazing? King Kong was another one that I thought was well done. Long, but good. I seem to like stories about people going where their not supposed to be. (ie: LOST, King Kong)
Linz and I are planning one last date night before D-Day. Grotto's & Rita's. Now you Pennsylvania readers may not know what Grotto's is, even though there are a few in PA. Grotto Pizza was founded right here in good ol' Rehoboth Beach, Delaware in 1960. Grotto may mean "“cave"” in Italy, but in Delaware it means pizza. Not cave pizza, just pizza. Anyway, it's the only thing that I've ever heard Lindsey say she had a craving for so we're going. Plus it's right on the shore, and you can't beat that.
Oh, Lindsey had her baby shower last weekend! It was cool. She asked me to stay there for it because events where she is the main attraction make her really nervous, so I tried my best to calm the nerves.
I just obtained Rascal Flatts new album. Amazing.
That's all for now, time to relax a little with the wife...while I still can.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Somebody Tape This For Me!
Just to let you all know in case you hadn't heard yet..
Dane Cook's Tourgasm is premireing on HBO June 11th @ 11:00 PM.
Not only is it so far in the future, but I don't have HBO!
Dane Cook's Tourgasm is premireing on HBO June 11th @ 11:00 PM.
Not only is it so far in the future, but I don't have HBO!
The "Rock the Filters/Plug-ins" Contest
I was just spacing out to the iTunes visualizer and had a crazy idea.
Since most of the people that read this blog are designers who also maintain regular blogs, I want to throw this at you all.
Lets hold a contest. Here are the stipulations:
1. Pick your favorite graphic program. (You may only use one.)
2. Create a new document (1280x1024) and use as many plug-ins/filters as you possibly can.
3. Still images only (wallpaper). No animation.
4. You can import photos, but don't do something in Photoshop then import that to AE. One program only!
5. Make it look interesting and not just like a single layer with a million filters on it. It can be abstract or have a theme.
6. When you're finished post it on your blog with either a copy of the rules or a link to this post.
7. Comment on this post with a link to your blog entry.
Rock Em!
DISCLAIMER - The iTunes photo above is NOT my entry. It's a screenshot of what inspired this contest.
My Carbon Footprint
Thanks to Dan's brother Ken for leading me to this.
Evdentally BP has a campaign going about carbon emissions awareness. They have commercials running that promote their website where you can calculate approximately how much carbon your household is emitting. Then, gives suggestions on what you can do to lower those levels, often times resulting in saving money as well.
Anyway, my carbon footprint was calculated at 11 tonnes CO2 per year. This is lower than the United States average of 18.58 tonnes per year. And just as I suspected all along, our old house was the majority of the "where energy is being used" pie chart.
This picture was generated based on the answers to my questions.
Do it. It's an eye opener!
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Friday, March 17, 2006
UpdateShire
Busy, busy, busy!
First I'll share the thing that's been keeping me out of touch with all my fellow bloggers. Behind Lacrosse went through and is currently airing! The weekly TV schedule is much different than any other schedule I've ever worked in. It's hard. You have 20 things to change/edit and only time enough to really do 10 of them. Go!
It's taking some getting used to but I'm learning to accept a "good" job in exchange for a completely finished show and some sleeping time. That's compared to the alternative (doing an outstanding job and having absolutely no extra time for anything) which I was trying to make work. But it didn't so I'm learning. Not there yet, but trying very hard. Their website is up and running, so check out my bio under the "about us" section.
The Moose Lodge next door to us has been sold. Which is good and bad. Bad because the moose have been partying hard the last couple of months and the dogs haven't gotten much sleep. Which means we haven't gotten much sleep. Which sucks. Good because it is all over now! So they're out and maybe we can get some sleep this weekend. That is if the Mexicans don't feel like working on their newly purchased building at 3am to sunrise anymore. Haha, silly Mexicans.
I've been playing through "Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory" on the co-op mode...By myself. I loved the single player game. When I lived in Crapsburg, PA my buddy Dan told me it was a completely different game on the two player mode since you have to work together to scale walls, etc. So I did it. Alone. It was fun except for the part where I got to the end of the train station level and it just loaded the training again, which was the first thing I had to do in co-op. The story was left hanging and I was a little pissed. Dan said that he had more levels and the story actually ended for him...I successfully beat that stupid level twice and I can't get it to do anything but take me back to the starting point. Grrr.
After that I popped in DOOM3 and tried to kill that damn monster that I couldn't before. I did it on my first try this time so now I have another game to be working through. Shooting games are a great stress reliever, Especially DOOM and Halo. Black looks good too. Maybe Riley and I will work through that. Although it is pretty graphic, so maybe in a decade or two.
Speaking of Riley. The time is coming up faster than I can think. This weekend we're going to start drawing on his walls and painting some fun images with obnoxiously bright colors. Yay! We've been way too blessed with family and friends handing down their old baby stuff to us. The only thing that we don't have is a baby!
Lindsey and I just finished watching the first season of Prison Break. And...I'm hooked on another show. Fortunately I'm all caught up just in time for the second half of this season which starts Monday. Awesome. If you've missed a bunch you should tune in to FX this Sunday from 12-7p. They'll also be showing behind the scenes stuff which I hope to catch.
Oh, I've been playing guitar more lately! That rocks. What doesn't rock is that my best guitar buddy in this area just announced that he's moving to Texas for an undisclosed amount of time. Boo! Not sure if I'll keep it up without an accountability player. Instead I'll have to play with the baby, which I think will be great, but I really want to stay up on my musical talents as well. Maybe I'll play for the baby. Now there's a thought! This Sunday I will be jammin with the guys one last time before Michael leaves us all. I wish it weren't so.
I will leave you all with these links that I have probably already showed everyone who will read this. So it's more for my own archival purposes than anything else. Thanks to whichever one of you showed me these!
Till next month!
1. A Dancing Skeleton
2. The Monkey News
3. Mario Piano
First I'll share the thing that's been keeping me out of touch with all my fellow bloggers. Behind Lacrosse went through and is currently airing! The weekly TV schedule is much different than any other schedule I've ever worked in. It's hard. You have 20 things to change/edit and only time enough to really do 10 of them. Go!
It's taking some getting used to but I'm learning to accept a "good" job in exchange for a completely finished show and some sleeping time. That's compared to the alternative (doing an outstanding job and having absolutely no extra time for anything) which I was trying to make work. But it didn't so I'm learning. Not there yet, but trying very hard. Their website is up and running, so check out my bio under the "about us" section.
The Moose Lodge next door to us has been sold. Which is good and bad. Bad because the moose have been partying hard the last couple of months and the dogs haven't gotten much sleep. Which means we haven't gotten much sleep. Which sucks. Good because it is all over now! So they're out and maybe we can get some sleep this weekend. That is if the Mexicans don't feel like working on their newly purchased building at 3am to sunrise anymore. Haha, silly Mexicans.
I've been playing through "Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory" on the co-op mode...By myself. I loved the single player game. When I lived in Crapsburg, PA my buddy Dan told me it was a completely different game on the two player mode since you have to work together to scale walls, etc. So I did it. Alone. It was fun except for the part where I got to the end of the train station level and it just loaded the training again, which was the first thing I had to do in co-op. The story was left hanging and I was a little pissed. Dan said that he had more levels and the story actually ended for him...I successfully beat that stupid level twice and I can't get it to do anything but take me back to the starting point. Grrr.
After that I popped in DOOM3 and tried to kill that damn monster that I couldn't before. I did it on my first try this time so now I have another game to be working through. Shooting games are a great stress reliever, Especially DOOM and Halo. Black looks good too. Maybe Riley and I will work through that. Although it is pretty graphic, so maybe in a decade or two.
Speaking of Riley. The time is coming up faster than I can think. This weekend we're going to start drawing on his walls and painting some fun images with obnoxiously bright colors. Yay! We've been way too blessed with family and friends handing down their old baby stuff to us. The only thing that we don't have is a baby!
Lindsey and I just finished watching the first season of Prison Break. And...I'm hooked on another show. Fortunately I'm all caught up just in time for the second half of this season which starts Monday. Awesome. If you've missed a bunch you should tune in to FX this Sunday from 12-7p. They'll also be showing behind the scenes stuff which I hope to catch.
Oh, I've been playing guitar more lately! That rocks. What doesn't rock is that my best guitar buddy in this area just announced that he's moving to Texas for an undisclosed amount of time. Boo! Not sure if I'll keep it up without an accountability player. Instead I'll have to play with the baby, which I think will be great, but I really want to stay up on my musical talents as well. Maybe I'll play for the baby. Now there's a thought! This Sunday I will be jammin with the guys one last time before Michael leaves us all. I wish it weren't so.
I will leave you all with these links that I have probably already showed everyone who will read this. So it's more for my own archival purposes than anything else. Thanks to whichever one of you showed me these!
Till next month!
1. A Dancing Skeleton
2. The Monkey News
3. Mario Piano
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Halo Addicts Unite
OK. I just spent the better part of an hour searching for neat apps/plugins/mods/updates anything that I thought was cool. What I ended up with was a lot of awesome Halo stuff that I just have to post about.
While I realize this post makes me look incredibly nerdy, I don't care. Halo addicts, unite!
1. Custom Needler
This is so freaking awesome that I'll just say it. Some dude built his own Needler and he's selling the crystal needles on eBay! It really is a fantastic looking piece. And while he could get a mint for the gun itself, he is only selling the ammo.
The auction ended on February 23rd and one lucky (or crazy?) eBayer paid $60.00 for 15 crystal needles. To see pictures check out the auction.
2. Halopedia
The definitive source for Halo information. Currently working on 732 articles, this site looks and works like Wikipedia the popular online information center. The information presented on this site comes from sources such as Bungie Studios, Wikipedia and The Oficial Halo 2 Strategy Guide. After all, the worst thing that can happen is someone telling you that you get a killtacular by dying 50 times is a row. :-]
3. Halo Widgets
Dashboard Stats:
Open Dashboard, enter gamertag, and view stats!
Master Chief Widget:
This doesn't touch Bungie's Windows only desktop Master Chief but if your a Mac user, it's all we got...for now. You need Konfabulator to run this widget.
Basically, It's a picture of Master Chief that can be resized from the size of an icon on your desktop up to half your screen. When you click on him it plays one of 17 sound clips that were donated by Bungie. I have mine set on "Random" so I get to hear all kinds of things like "Kill Frenzy", a sniper rifle shot or "Unfreakinbelievable".
4. Podtacular
The unofficial Halo 2 podcast. I listened to part of one and it was alright. Not great but useful if you want to hear about what other people are doing to customize their games. Personally, It was nice to hear Halo talk again. Not too many players around here with time to blow. Check it out for yourself.
5. Voice Outtakes
You don't have to listen to them all, but at least do the first two.
Cortana: "Bet Ya Can't Stick It"
Sgt. Johnson: "A Little Advice"
Monitor: "The O.R."
Grunt: "Impersonating Smeagol"
Sgt. Banks: "Call A Corpseman!"
6. Misc Halo Videos
Halo hacks, cool things that happened to other people and things that make you go "wow".
Flying Sarge
Fun With Vehicles
Through Walls & Floors
Sweet Battle Creek Spot
Unbelieveable Warthog Launch
He Just Won't Die!
GG! Man, GG!
While I realize this post makes me look incredibly nerdy, I don't care. Halo addicts, unite!
1. Custom Needler
This is so freaking awesome that I'll just say it. Some dude built his own Needler and he's selling the crystal needles on eBay! It really is a fantastic looking piece. And while he could get a mint for the gun itself, he is only selling the ammo.
The auction ended on February 23rd and one lucky (or crazy?) eBayer paid $60.00 for 15 crystal needles. To see pictures check out the auction.
2. Halopedia
The definitive source for Halo information. Currently working on 732 articles, this site looks and works like Wikipedia the popular online information center. The information presented on this site comes from sources such as Bungie Studios, Wikipedia and The Oficial Halo 2 Strategy Guide. After all, the worst thing that can happen is someone telling you that you get a killtacular by dying 50 times is a row. :-]
3. Halo Widgets
Dashboard Stats:
Open Dashboard, enter gamertag, and view stats!
Master Chief Widget:
This doesn't touch Bungie's Windows only desktop Master Chief but if your a Mac user, it's all we got...for now. You need Konfabulator to run this widget.
Basically, It's a picture of Master Chief that can be resized from the size of an icon on your desktop up to half your screen. When you click on him it plays one of 17 sound clips that were donated by Bungie. I have mine set on "Random" so I get to hear all kinds of things like "Kill Frenzy", a sniper rifle shot or "Unfreakinbelievable".
4. Podtacular
The unofficial Halo 2 podcast. I listened to part of one and it was alright. Not great but useful if you want to hear about what other people are doing to customize their games. Personally, It was nice to hear Halo talk again. Not too many players around here with time to blow. Check it out for yourself.
5. Voice Outtakes
You don't have to listen to them all, but at least do the first two.
Cortana: "Bet Ya Can't Stick It"
Sgt. Johnson: "A Little Advice"
Monitor: "The O.R."
Grunt: "Impersonating Smeagol"
Sgt. Banks: "Call A Corpseman!"
6. Misc Halo Videos
Halo hacks, cool things that happened to other people and things that make you go "wow".
Flying Sarge
Fun With Vehicles
Through Walls & Floors
Sweet Battle Creek Spot
Unbelieveable Warthog Launch
He Just Won't Die!
GG! Man, GG!
Monday, February 13, 2006
Just Four Fun
4 jobs You've Had In Your Life:
• Kings Ice Cream
• Vans Shoes Sales Clerk
• Pacific Sunwear Sales Clerk
• Ruby Tuesday Server
4 Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:
• Boondock Saints
• Fight Club
• Matrix (any of the trilogy)
• Mr & Mrs Smith
4 Places You Have Lived:
• Milton, DE
• Memphis, TN
• York, PA
• Harrisburg, PA
4 TV Shows You Love To Watch:
• Invasion
• Family Guy
• Lost
• Arested Development
4 Places You Have Been On Vacation:
• Hawaii
• Niagra Falls (Canada side)
• Las Vegas
• Israel
4 Websites You Visit Daily:
• Watermark (homepage)
• Friends who have posted in their blog
• Google
• Forums
4 Of Your Favorite Foods:
• SUSHI!
• Chinese
• Italian
• Seafood
4 Places You Would Rather Be Right Now:
• Rolling in money
• On vacation
• With Lindsey
• Sleeping
4 Bloggers You Are Tagging:
• Tim
• Jason
• Nick
• A random person on myspace
• Kings Ice Cream
• Vans Shoes Sales Clerk
• Pacific Sunwear Sales Clerk
• Ruby Tuesday Server
4 Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:
• Boondock Saints
• Fight Club
• Matrix (any of the trilogy)
• Mr & Mrs Smith
4 Places You Have Lived:
• Milton, DE
• Memphis, TN
• York, PA
• Harrisburg, PA
4 TV Shows You Love To Watch:
• Invasion
• Family Guy
• Lost
• Arested Development
4 Places You Have Been On Vacation:
• Hawaii
• Niagra Falls (Canada side)
• Las Vegas
• Israel
4 Websites You Visit Daily:
• Watermark (homepage)
• Friends who have posted in their blog
• Forums
4 Of Your Favorite Foods:
• SUSHI!
• Chinese
• Italian
• Seafood
4 Places You Would Rather Be Right Now:
• Rolling in money
• On vacation
• With Lindsey
• Sleeping
4 Bloggers You Are Tagging:
• Tim
• Jason
• Nick
• A random person on myspace
Heart Day
Last night I was up until 2:00 AM burning DVD's for a job that deadlined today. All I had to do at that point was put a disc in the drive, wait 15 minutes until it popped out, then repeat...90 times. So, instead of being insanely bored I decided it was time to design another desktop. It's been way too long, I love doing pointless design work!
This one's called "heart day". Hope yours is good!
EDIT: I have to post this. I made a Halo version of this wall for Dan (see comments). I think I actually like it better!
This one's called "heart day". Hope yours is good!
EDIT: I have to post this. I made a Halo version of this wall for Dan (see comments). I think I actually like it better!
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
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