Archive for May, 2009
Filed under: Hmmm
I have to admit a guilty pleasure. I watched the American Idol finale, (spoilers ahead) not because I am a diehard fan but because there really isn’t much else on. We were a bit shocked by the outcome because they, as in the media and the show, FOX and the judges, have been trying to shove Adam down everyone’s throat. I freely admit he can sing and has awesome control of his voice but he made a big mistake which kept me from rooting for him in the finale. He became like a one trick pony, no, I know he is not but every performance had the same note, the same style. He twisted each song to scream it. I really, really wish he hadn’t. If he hadn’t done that and showed America the control he had by proving himself to be versatile he probably would have won. As it was, Adam just sounded and was predictable every performance. You knew what note was coming and you knew what he was going to do with a song. I think he fell into a rut. The reason I wish he hadn’t done that is because in the beginning of the show and throughout it he proved he has great vocal control but never really displayed it other than in that one way, with the scream. Do want to say congrats to Kris for winning and to Adam for being a gentleman about it.
Don’t get me started on the show itself, it was a proper mess. Most of the duets were horrible and when the 13 were all singing together it sounded like they were just vocally trying to fight each other. We were pretty much underwhelmed with the way the show went this time. Most of the performances involving the idols were pretty bad. Enjoyed, Fergie and Black Eyed Peas, and David cook, though.
I like rock and heavy metal but after a while even I ended up muting the show during his performances, mostly about the time he started his trademark screaming routine. Which was sad cause the guy can sing, just wished he’d shown more variety and played with the songs more. His first rendition of Mad World sent shivers down my spine, but in the second one he toned it down and smoothed things out, pretty much killing it and not in a good way. He took all the stuff out of the song that he had put in it when he first sang it. I think that is why he did not win; it is why I would have voted for Kris if I had voted at all. There is a lot of back and forth in the blog world that it is because he might be gay. I never even heard that rumor until reading the posts about how upset Adam fans were that he lost and it would not have influenced my vote if I had known. The repetitive scream would have though, regardless of how well he can sing or how much control he has, he just showed us pretty much the same thing each time. I am glad he was true to his inspirations but if he had bent just a bit and sang in different styles I bet he would be holding the title right now.
Tags: adam lambert, american idol, finale, kris allan
Filed under: Hmmm
I have been hearing several radio commercials about a new Cisco product that seems really interesting. It supposedly makes online conferencing easier. I hadn’t really given it much thought until I began to think about the possibilities of it. After thinking a bit I took a few minutes to look into it and thought I would share some of the ideas that I found or came up with. You do need equipment like Polycom audio conferencing stuff but you might just have all you need already.
Obviously with the web conferencing, like WebeX you can hold a business conference but there is a lot more to it. If you have a large family, wouldn’t it be nice to see them all? How much would it cost to have a family reunion where family members lived in different parts of the world? Probably quite a bit. However, with a web conference you might be looking at forty and up to be able to see and talk with each other for awhile. Heck, it could even be a regular family thing to keep the family together and see what everyone is up to. I think there are even free online conferencing tools, although I don’t know how reliable or secure they are.
The other thing you could do is run a business, you know maybe put together some classes, advertise them and then set up a web conference to teach them. You wouldn’t have to go anywhere and you would be able to provide one on one instruction in most any subject you wanted. You could even provide counseling or coaching. You could discuss new ideas and concepts, or tutor people. There are a lot of possibilities with it. Heck with PayPal you could set up a pre-payment as well. Maybe have the classes ready and then once the payment hits your account you could begin, or however you wanted to work things. The chances are pretty good that by now you already have some ideas in mind.
Tags: business, conferences, conferencing, online
Filed under: Hmmm
Phones make life so much more connected. That is probably a redundant statement, but true regardless. It is a bit of an oxymoron that they make things more connected but they way they make everything more connected is by taking away connections. Yep, the best part of the connectionless connections is the lack of a connection. Think about cell phones and cordless phones; who doesn’t love those? Well, other than those who get a lot of crank or those sales calls. They still make those easier, though. Think about it, because if you are receiving a lot of calls on a connected line you have a lot of walking to do. Back and forth, back and forth. However, with digital dect cordless phones or cell phones you carry the connection with you and don’t have to do anything when you get those types of calls other than lift your hand and answer. This gives you more time to think about the proper words to use when you answer them, if you do. You might, instead decide that it is better to ignore them entirely. I wouldn’t blame you.
What is great with cordless phones and cell phones among other things, is the choices we have. There are so many different cordless phones that we can choose from that it sometimes makes the choice somewhat difficult. Everything from ATT to BT Elements, depending on what country you are in and even then it probably doesn’t matter much as many phones and phone providers are available in multiple countries. Even if they aren’t available you can often use their phones in a different country. I would definitely check whether it would work first though, because I have run into trouble a couple of times when trying to use a phone in another country, but most of the time they seem to work. The best part is still the cordless part, the mobility can really free us up to explore and still remain in touch with those we wish to remain in touch with.
Tags: cordless, dect, digital, ip, phone
Filed under: Hmmm
I have been wondering about where credit cards are going now. I know that in the states they are working towards more regulations for the credit card industry, regulations that are supposed to protect the consumer. I know I have mentioned the companies response to these and what I thought of them. I can see what they are saying but I am sure that greed is a part of it.
I know a lot of people have put many things on their cards now, especially when it is often the only choice if a person wants to continue eating or feeding their family. It is a bit sad that currently the card companies can raise the interest rate on a card almost at their whim. That can pretty much kill someone who is scraping by with minimum payments (something you shouldn’t do if you can avoid it) and all of the sudden has to come up with even just a bit more monthly.
People also wonder if it is worth getting another card when the credit companies seem to not be as fair as they could. I think it really depends on your situation. As I understand it a new card will affect credit because it is new and because it will show as not being open very long but I think if you have other accounts that are much older and in good standing, opening a new one probably won’t hurt much or for long. Even now there are quite a few good deals to be had from a credit card account, as long as you can use it as you want and not as you need. I think that may be a big problem now, the fact that many people now have to use their cards because of need.
Tags: Credit, debt, new card, repair
Filed under: Hmmm
Introducing a pet to a new place is always fun, or at least challenging. You don’t know if the pet will react well to the new environment and you don’t know if the new environment will be good for the pet or if there was something you missed when you were pet proofing it. It is fun, but there is no doubt about it being challenging also, now that I think about it.
Depending on the type of pet you have introducing it to a new environment can range from fairly easy to really difficult. Dogs are one of the easier ones I think, but then I don’t have a dog so that is probably why. What would you have to protect against with a dog; chewing, slobber, pulling or digging, noise level and toilet training. Alright, maybe dog wouldn’t be one of the easier pets to deal with. How about a goldfish? That should be pretty easy as it is a confined environment and the goldfish normally don’t wander around much. Plus they are pretty easy to deal with if you have them in a small bowl.
What about the cat, that all important kitty. They are masters of their domain, at least that is often how they act. What do you have to deal with when you introduce a cat to a new environment? Much the same as with a dog I think. You have to worry about chewing, scratching, hair balls, toilet training and, well, slobbering not so much. A cat might actually be easier to introduce to a new environment than a dog. That is of course also heavily influenced by the individual animal, but in general it might be easier to introduce a cat to a new place or a new family than a dog.
Tags: cat, dog, house, new home, Pet
Filed under: Hmmm
Ask and ye shall receive. Today is absolutely beautiful. Just got back from a short wander around and the birds are singing, light, but warm breeze is blowing. The bees are busy pollinating the flowers, which smell great, by the way. Bugs are flying around doing whatever it is they do, at least while I was walking they weren’t bugging me. I think they were too busy enjoying the sunshine and the warmth.
I was actually able to open up the windows to air the place out a bit without freezing my little but off. Have the music down low enjoying a little bit of it and the bird song. It’s nice and relaxing. I am almost tempted to go find a sun beam and bask in it for a bit. Heck, I might even find one and just bask in it for a bit. I’d probably have to scoot the cat over, but heck he can share it for a while. It is just nice, no other words. I was chilly yesterday and today it is much, much warmer. Just a gorgeous day, and even better, it is supposed to get warmer for the weekend! A nice warm Friday night followed by a beautiful weekend sounds like the break that a lot of people need. I know I do.
The breeze is a nice touch. Keeps things fresh and isn’t really cold. The skies are blue and I honestly don’t have much to complain about today. I am enjoying the sun and thinking about the weekend. Maybe wander over to the farmers market this weekend and see what they have, maybe find something interesting to keep my attention for a bit. If not, at least I will enjoy the change of scenery. Kind of hard to type, just feel like melting into the chair.
Tags: nice, spring, summer, warm, warming
Filed under: Hmmm
I am waiting for the rain to stop, more for it to warm up than just the rain. I am ok with rain, even like it but I am really tired of being cold. It is spring! It should be at least thinking about getting warm! Where is the eighty degree weather? I don’t think I am asking for much here, just some more sunshine and a little bit of warmth. Isn’t that what everyone wants? Well, that and maybe a place to sleep a roof over their heads and food in their belly. I kind of want that too, but right now I would like it to be a bit warmer. Maybe it is me.
I used to not be bothered by weather much but then I kind of settled down and out and things are much more noticeable at least temperature is. You know cold sounds like a great reason to exercise to me, maybe getting my metabolism back up would cut down on how cold it feels to me. I know that when I exercise I am always really hot afterwards. I could stand in for a heater, I give off so much heat for a while.
It’s just not cold enough to use a heater but it is chilly enough to need a sweater and wish for a bit more warmth. I am hoping if the rain goes away things will warm up but I know from past experience that doesn’t always work. Sometimes things are warmer when it is raining and when the clouds clear and the sun comes out the temperature drops. That isn’t always the case but it makes you be really specific when you say you are looking for more sun cause that may be all you get. I, I am looking for more warmth. I don’t want overkill on it, just enough where I don’t feel chilly all the time. I think my problem comes from living in a place where it was at least lower 80’s every day, all year long. I missed the seasons so I moved but, really, I am starting to wonder what I was thinking.
Tags: chilly, cold, freezing, warming trend
Filed under: Hmmm
Homework, I don’t believe we ever really get away from it. It is not just for school anymore. I am not sure if it was ever just for school. You have homework from school, of course, but you also have homework from work and if you are interested in something I bet you have homework from that as well.
Homework, itself is not really bad. I think the term has negative connotations though, bad vibes from when we were in school and homework was a thing of horror and evil that cut into our time to play and our, our time. Really, after spending hours in school not being able to be kids we were then supposed to spend time at home doing stuff that did at school. It was truly just another form of torture we had to suffer through for some unknown reason. After school I was not interested in doing any homework, who would have been? You are a kid, you want to get your play time in before you have to go to school. All through school it never really got better, there was always something that would be better to be doing. Especially in college when you had to take certain classes where you already knew the stuff but you still were required to take them because some anonymous a-hole had decided it was required for the degree and it didn’t matter if you could teach it better than the instructor you still had to sit through it so they could make a little check on a piece of paper and feel important. Yes, I am a bit bitter about the whole school thing.
Keep in mind though that I love learning and when doing homework that is of my making or that just makes sense I have absolutely no problem with it. If you are doing what you want, it makes all the difference, right? After a while you get to the point where you just put up with any homework because you realize that it is just step on the way to whatever goal you are trying to achieve. That homework in school when you had no choice about going, that’s torture though.
Tags: homework, life, school, torture, work
Filed under: Hmmm
I was looking at lolcats recently and it made me a bit nostalgic for comics. I don’t mean comic books but actual comics, like in the newspapers. The best part of the newspaper, actually. I really enjoyed many of the images on the lolcats site but there is nothing like a good old comic strip. Some of the best are still around, hopefully will be for a long time. Ones like Garfield, B.C., Rose is Rose, Dilbert and others. I enjoy most of those, but you really can’t get much better than an old caveman and his turtle! I loved, and still love, B.C. . The dictionary, or the psychiatrist, Grog and Wiley. I am not normally a big fan of baseball but I loved their team. They are still a lot of fun to read. I used to go to a used book store that was close by at the time and hunt through the cheap stacks of books for the old compilations of B.C. I think I may have had the whole collection at the time. Now of course, I am missing the new ones but I will pick those up if they are in book form sooner or later.
The sad part of comics is the ones that aren’t around anymore. Two that are still great, even though they are no longer running are Calvin and Hobbes and Far Side. Those were both, often just plain laugh out loud funny. I know there are quite a few web comics now but I haven’t come across any that really appeal to me yet. Wizard of Id is another good one, and of course Beetle Bailey. I am not sure if those are still running, I don’t think I have seen them anywhere recently. Comics are great; I mean who ever really bought a newspaper for anything other than the comics?
Tags: b.c., comics, far side, garfield
Filed under: Hmmm
Expanding from what we talked about yesterday I wanted to point out some fairly good alternatives to those of you who might be interested. There are like three or four main games sites where you can download pc games, one of them even works to keep a lot of the digital rights management crap off of your system. A few sites that I know of that you can purchase and download games from are GamersGate, Direct 2 Drive (D2D), Steam and Good Old Games. I would highly suggest that if you are interested in a game to check several sites especially on the weekend because they always have some sort of weekend deal going where you can often get a good and recent game fairly cheaply.
Actually, I think only one of them helps with keeping DRM from annoying you, the others are just good places to download games. If you don’t mind old games then Good old Games looks like it has a great selection of those. It is the only one of those I mentioned that I have not used yet, though. I did have an issue with the PayNova GamersGate uses, but they responded to my issue within a day and worked with me to resolve it and I would definitely use GamersGate again. D2D is pretty good with sales, and I have picked up a few from them that I wanted at nice prices. I did have an installation issue with one of their games but again, while slow, their support area has worked with me consistently to solve the issue and I would recommend them as well.
The place that covers you on annoying DRM issues is Steam and I think Good old Games. You are basically signing up for an account and your games are locked to that account. You still may have issues with installing many times, but a quick email with a reason why you need to install the game for the 23rd time will usually get you past that problem. I like how Steam has things set up as an interactive community. If they would allow us to put in our codes for games we purchased elsewhere online or in the store and utilize their system for saving the games I would be using it 98% of the time when I am dealing with games. They don’t, as I understand it right now you can add a separately purchased game to your game titles in Steam but all that does is make a shortcut from Steam to your game and doesn’t really give you the benefits of Steam. I am sure you may have different opinions on these sites and I am also sure that we would all love to hear them so we can make informed decisions on purchasing.
Tags: digital rights, downloading, games, pc games
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