Dragonfyre

A World of Communication

2012-01-08T17:00:00.000-05:00

More and more I have been intrigued with learning how people interact with each other. Modern day communication is filled with methods of communication that were unheard of even 6 years ago. Since the time of the Romans and Greeks interpersonal communication has either been in person or by the written word.

A century ago one of the first major advances in communication occurred with the invention of the radio. For a majority of people at the time, the radio allowed for one way information - major speeches, news, and music. Multiple industries were reformed or accelerated: the news industry which was formerly restricted to information literally measured by the inch, and the music industry in which bands could perform or record music (on records) to reach their audience.

A few decades later the invention of the television saw another major leap forward in communication. Not only could an audience interact by listening to the broadcast, now they could see it. While certain special users could perform two-way radio communication, most end-users did not; television was the same way - one-way communication. Video teleconferencing is still a ways away. The radio and television brought major changes into the mindset of how end-users consumed information. Rather than reading about yesterday's news in the morning paper, people could "tune in" to receive within hours of it occurring. In a similar fashion there was a reduced need to wait multiple days for a letter to hear news that wasn't local.

Now you may have noticed I skipped a major form of communication: telephone. Alas, it has not escaped me. The telephone, which grew out of the electrical telegraph, was a groundbreaking piece of technology. This new device allowed two people, regardless of distance to speak to each other. Now over the past century and a half since the first transmitted phrase: "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you" was uttered, not much of the experience has changed. The infrastructure may have changed, and users are no longer using rotary dials (hopefully) or operators, but we still use a device to communicate by voice.

After my slight foray into history of communication, lets investigate how companies communicate with their customers and what methods other than voice communications are employed.

The use of social media is something that companies are only now starting to feel is required, but are unsure of how to effectively implement. Companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google offer massive user-bases, but not with a communication channel that most businesses know how to effectively utilize. Contact preferences differ greatly by culture. For example, in Europe it is more common to text into a business than it is here in America. However with television shows like American Idol, the X-Factor, and others, the use of texts in communication has become slightly more prevalent.

Current common communication includes: phone, email, faxing (usually only employed by businesses), instant messaging, video hangouts, and texting. As our cars begin to drive themselves, and people begin to use video conference on their mobile phones (Google+ Hangouts), how do you envision the state of communication in 1, 5, or 10 years?

I personally think holography would be cool, although I'm not sure that having the representative of the company I am doing business with "beamed" into my living room is as cool as the technological concept itself. Now if the agents all dressed like Darth Vader, we would be having a different conversation. On the pragmatic side of things, digital holography has some benefits over teleportation. Having a digital representation of myself transmitted is much more soothing than having my molecular bonds broken, transmitted, and reassembled.

What is your take?

This blog post is an independent article and doesn’t speak on behalf of, for, or with my company “Interactive Intelligence.” This article is not intended to represent current markets, future offerings, or company specific information. I am merely looking at some publicly available historical elements of telephony and musing about the future. This posting is my own and reflects my personal views. It does not necessarily represent the views, positions, strategies or opinions of my employer, Interactive Intelligence, Inc., or its shareholders, officers, directors, employees, contractors, customers, or partners and is not sponsored or endorsed by them.

Antique Telephones

2012-01-02T15:37:00.001-05:00

As an extension of my inability to not work on vacation, I apparently am now bringing work into my interests. Today, Charisse and I went to poke through a local antique mall and I spent a lot of my time looking through booths with antique telephones. I picked this one up for a great bargain. I don't know whether to be concerned or not that I will probably be collecting a large number of telephones. I guess if done well it could be very cool and not at all obsessive; perhaps.

Coffee and Science

2011-11-06T06:54:00.000-05:00

It is an early morning, so as I sip my delightful cup of warm nectar I have been browsing through the news of the past few hours. There have been earthquakes in Oklahoma, Occupy protesters (12 of them) in Honolulu, and some interesting news in science.

GlobalStar Satellite.
Image Credit: UniverseToday.com

I read an article about a near-earth asteroid that will be visible to the amateur and novice astronomer Tuesday evening. Despite how cool being able to see an asteroid would be, the surprising part of the article was the sidebar scare information. The article states that it "could wipe out a city", and "create a 70ft tsunami... however there is no chance of that happening." If there is no chance of that happening, then why mention it?

In further examination of conjectural science, I read a second article on detecting alien life by looking for the light from their cities. Sounds brilliant; first we try and blast them with Elvis tunes, and now we are their power company, monitoring the electric bill. I find the fact that our technology has the ability to differentiate between natural and non-natural electrical source quite amazing, but that this suddenly is a method to find extra-terrestrial life, is more conjecture and dreaming than anything else. Perhaps we should turn the GlobalStar satellite network around so that E.T. can truly phone home.

Now I'm not saying there couldn't be life "out there", from a statistical point of view there is a range of probability that life exists. There is strong opposition from religious groups that we are uniquely alone - personally, I'm not sure that the Bible says anything about exclusivity. In fact, I would hope that God would give the opportunity of this vast universe to multiple groups.

However, conjecture is not a means of exploration. First we send out radio signals, then we "tune in" to see if aliens radio back. We have pointed lasers out into space, and now we are in the business of seeing if they have turned on their lights.

Perhaps E.T finds Elvis distasteful, resents a laser being pointed in his eye, prefers the dark, and isn't all that talkative. I know a number of human beings that fit this description - and humans are not the only intelligent life on Earth. We are assuming that intelligent life out there exists, wants to contact us, and is beyond our development and technology. Perhaps the intelligent life out there equates to a civilization of cats, do you think they would respond to you?

As Time Goes By

2011-10-28T22:31:00.001-04:00

Life certainly has been a whirlwind thus far. Graduation, job, marriage... I can hardly believe that Charisse and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary last month. Wow. I look at the road I've traveled so far and realize that the bumps have all been worth it. I have a great life; I still yet have hopes, dreams, and plans to accomplish, but when looking in the context of a grander scheme, things are going well.

I have settled into my job very well, received a promotion and an award of excellence. Not too shabby for a little over a year on the job. I take great pride in the work I do and try to learn something new each day; whether those lessons are about myself, the company, the industry, or the customers. I find that the lessons about myself are the most difficult to learn.

I am looking forward to the next few months and year as I hope to learn, grow, and experience as much then as I have already!

Blogger for Android

2011-02-13T00:40:00.001-05:00

In browsing official Google apps I found the Blogger for android app. I wanted to try out all of the features on this post but gps places me in Avon which is nearly 10 miles away.

2011; Where did it come from?

2011-01-07T00:12:00.000-05:00

It seems like just yesterday I was cramming to finish up time at Ball State, then suddenly I am entering the working world. Within a blink of an eye the year rolls over on me. Its now 2011! 2010 has been such a busy, albeit a fantastic year for me.

As I said, I graduated, started work for Interactive Intelligence, and recently got married in October. Then with the rush of the holiday season and crunch season at work I closed my eyes for mere moments and 2010 had finished.

In some ways I worry. I work a lot. I am trying to find a healthy balance between career and personal life. I love my job and despite its many stresses, I find it almost addicting at times. The tasks, troubles, and projects don't leave my head when I walk out the door. I am constantly thinking about solutions to problems. I would like to think that in the last 8 months I have gotten to a point where I could say "I am good at my job." I believe that to be the case. I don't pretend to know everything, or much at all really. But I think one of my key strengths is that I try and learn something new from each project.

In home life, we have had some fantastic times. Charisse and I celebrated our first Christmas together; tree and all! Things have been great. We have definitely learned a lot about each other and ourselves over the past few months. I only hope that makes us stronger.

One of the elements of life I guess I regret is that during the hectic end-of-year season many of our friends have not received much of my attention. That is not for a lack of caring or desire. It is sheerly a resultant of reduction of my overall availability. To those friends: I apologize. We haven't completely disappeared. Once I can catch my breath, things will improve again.

I think that for my personal mindset 2010 was a year of possibilities. Possibilities in eduction, career, and personal relationships. I think it was a time of transition and productivity. I hope that I can take everything I learned and experienced last year and apply it to 2011 and make this upcoming time even better!

Happy New Year!

Love and Marriage

2010-10-25T22:59:00.000-04:00

We are married!

The wedding was amazing and in my humble opinion nothing short of the epitome of elegance and a fulfillment of our "classic" ideology. The only hiccup that I can think of was the I slightly tripped during the ceremony.

Thank you to our family and friends for being with us on our special day; it meant the world to see each-and-every-one of you. We hope that you enjoyed our day as much as we did. We had a tremendous amount of fun beginning with the day of the rehearsal and continuing right through to our honeymoon. And in some ways we are still spinning from the whirlwind that was the wedding weekend. For those that may be hearing about these events for the first time: the day of the rehearsal we invited the bridal party and our family to attend a group dance lesson. Then we went to Bistro 501 for our dinner. Might I add that the salmon entree was superb. We held our ceremony rehearsal after the dinner as the venue had a previous engagement earlier in the day. This originally seemed like a major problem but ended up allowing everyone plenty of time to meet, greet, and get-to-know one another.

The day of the wedding went very smoothly. Our family and friends were present to share in one amazing day. It was a day that I thought would have been fraught with stress, but due to the amazing work of Helen and Leslie from H&L Events they were able to take Charisse's amazing plans and execute them and allow us the ability to enjoy our day.

We could not have had more perfect timing. The sunlight streamed through the windows and light the room of ivory's and whites. There was a tremendous glow about both the ceremony and day. We were able to take a few outdoor fall pictures and relax during our ceremony.

There are plenty of pictures to be posted and shared, however if any family or friends would like to view them directly on the photographer's website they are welcome to do so. To access the photos use the username: "nickandcharisse" and the password: "luthy."

We will post some of our favorite wedding photos and also photos from our honeymoon on our wedding website in the coming weeks so feel free to view them there. We will also post pictures on Facebook as well. We are working on creating a post about all the incredible and fantastic things we were able to see and experience during our honeymoon, but I shall share at least one photo with everyone as a little teaser about our story.

Wedding

2010-10-07T18:41:00.000-04:00

The wedding is rapidly approaching and I think that both Charisse and I are very excited. The planning has been turbulent at times but Charisse is fantastic at planning and organization. I have no doubt that Charisse has a fantastic event taking place.

For those that have not visited our wedding website, those that need additional information, or anyone who would like to leave us a message, you may visit our wedding website: www.NCLwedding.com.

I am tremendously excited about the wedding this weekend as it represents the start of a new life chapter. This chapter in life will be new and dynamic. A break from the parental umbrellas and the formation of our own unique lives and home. I think that we will both have fun together but also grow stronger in our support of each other and our own unique abilities.

I know that we are both excited to be done with planning and onto the next step. We will be sure to post pictures for everyone, and perhaps a video.

At the risk of sounding like a sound-byte, I would like to thank all of my family and friends for the support, trial and tribulations, friendships, and memories throughout the years. For all my present friends and those that have since fallen by the wayside: I acknowledge the effect and results you have all had on my life and helped me to learn, develop, and grow to who and what I am today. Thank you all.

Gaming and the Civilization Series

2010-10-05T17:49:00.000-04:00

I am a PC gamer. I tend to enjoy content by publisher rather than by title. By that I mean that I when I find a game that I enjoy I tend to also enjoy other titles by the same design team or publisher as the game engines, style, or mechanics tend to be similar or familiar. Which doesn't necessarily mean I don't like change, however, I would rather enjoy new content over dynamically evolving mechanics.

My first experience with Blizzard Entertainment games was with the original Starcraft and its subsequent expansion Brood Wars. I recall LAN (Local Area Network) party games of epic proportions during my first few years at university. Then a few years ago I, as Cartman from South Park puts it: "...join[ed] the online sensation" that is World of Warcraft. I continue to play WoW and am greatly anticipating the upcoming expansion: Cataclysm. I then progressed into the highly anticipated sequel to Starcraft: Starcraft II Wings of Liberty. However, despite my love of Blizzard Entertainment games, one of the first game franchises that I offered allegiance to was the Civilization series.

Sid Meier's Civilization (1991)

Recently, I realized that missed the launch of the fifth major installment of the Sid Meier Civilization series. There has been 5 major installments with 6 expansion packs and one console version released (there are even rumors of a Facebook application titled Civilization Network under development). I have been playing Civilization since the first game was released and have played each of the following games.

The Civilization series is a turn-based strategy game. Throughout the successive iterations the mechanics have evolved. But generally the "victory" in the game can be achieved through military might, diplomacy, or cultural achievements. However, both Civilization I and II only allowed victory through military conquest, building all the components to launch a spaceship to Alpha Centauri or by reaching the ending date with the highest score.The first official expansion pack arrived with Civilization II and offered updated graphics and more scenarios to play. Scenarios, unlike the standard game provide the player with established cities and units. In a way it is a 'game in progress' that players assume command and continue.

Civilization 2 (1996)

Civilization III offered a much better graphic experience, updated units, the removal of game concepts such as "firepower" that were ultimately unnecessary. Units could be grouped into armies and no longer required home city support.

Civilization 3 (2001)

During the Civilization IV period many game advances were made. Religion was added as a game dynamic, as were "great people." The AI was much more 'fair' as it didn't start out the game knowing the entire map. Barbarians have the ability to become more organized and form cities. A more politically dynamic United Nations exists and governments more resemble specific civic models. The game also included interface and audio updates. For programmers more flexible support of editing both game files (DLLs, XML) as well as artificial intelligence (AI) modifications were supported.

Civilization 4 (2005)

I have not yet played more than a hundred turns in Civilization V yet; however I am definitely excited. From what I have noticed so far, bombardment and the hexagonal landscape tilings are two of the most interesting features.

I will also mention that units can no longer stack on a single space. So while units seems to have become more powerful, position of units is more relevant as less units will be involved in any particular combat.

As I have explored the Civilization journey I am thinking that I may attempt to obtain the previous games and play through the entire journey once again.

Civilization 5 (2010)

Interactive Olympics

2010-07-30T22:07:00.002-04:00

"The Dark Side" dominated the Interactive Olympics this week. We won the first day and never even looked back. While we didn't win every event we maintained point lead the entire week. Events included: Bat-spin and run relay, Tennis ball toss, Hula Hoop, Water Balloon Dodge Ball, Bucket Brigade, Adult-sized Tricycle Race, Tug-Of-War, Oreo Eating Contest (move one Oreo from the forehead to mouth and consume without use of hands.)

Playing Digital Catch Up

2010-07-21T22:11:00.001-04:00

While I realize that I send these thoughts out into the "InterWeb" with no real expectation of them being read by anyone other than Chinese spammers, I would like to think that these words will be preserved in some form for myself and others to look back upon. It is with that thought in mind that I concern myself sometimes with my lack of attention to my thoughts. I think that it just comes down to having the time to sit down and properly formulate my ideas into concepts. For instance, I have been working on a "Reflections" blog post for quite some time. The material is a look back and the last six years and my experiences therein. I just haven't finished my thoughts yet. The article is perhaps 2500 words and counting; although it may get pared down. I have also been wanting to write about some of the fantastic wines that I have been trying lately now that I can afford more than the standard assortment found at Wal-Mart. As I write this I am enjoying a fantastic glass of Traminette.

I am telling myself to "fear not" more words are on the way.

Graduation, Work, & Health: Quick Update

2010-06-07T16:40:00.001-04:00

Ball State University graduation has come and gone. I will attempt to create a post about that in the near future and even include some pictures.

I have attained a job at Interactive Intelligence (map) as an application developer.

Today starts day one of a grueling weight-loss / exercise / health plan. I am working on cutting out as much sugar as I can from my diet (soda) as well as wheat products. I am going to increase proteins and exercise and see what happens.

Heap Sort

2010-04-04T00:18:00.001-04:00

I am not completely sure why this specific algorithm has been the bane of my existence, but I have finally conquered it. It has been required for two of my previous courses and both times I have gotten close, but have not completely implemented it. I estimate that I have spent 40 hours working on it. Tonight I sat down and in 30 minutes had it coded. I am glad to be triumphant and victorious, but I am also disgruntled that I wasted so much time previously.

Now if only I had a time machine....

i3: Interactive Intelligence, Inc

2010-04-03T21:13:00.000-04:00

As graduation quickly approaches the scrambling begins for the Computer Science graduate hopefuls. We are all looking for jobs out in "the real world." Last week I sent in my resume to Interactive Intelligence (i3) and within 70 minutes I had received a call back. The interview was schedule for that Thursday. The interview consisted of meeting with 6 total people. The next day they called me back and said the interviews went well and that they were going to prepare an offer for me.

I am very excited by the opportunity to work for Interactive Intelligence. I hope that things formalize smoothly and everyone is happy in the end.

За здоровье!

2010-03-30T20:11:00.002-04:00

The end of the semester is rapidly approaching. Today I went for a run to work out some stress and some frustrations (which I will save until a later day to delineate) and ended up listening to לחיים from Fiddler on the Roof. With most of the music I listen to these days, I am always thinking towards wedding reception and thought that it would be immensely fun to get some guys together and do some rendition of this.

Probably the most difficult thing, would to be to teach someone the Russian portion (which I find kinda fun).

On a side note Пасха is this weekend. I would really like to go to services this weekend, however I am overloaded with work as graduation is approaching. We shall see. I would really like to make a goal that once I graduate I complete one full "year" of services. I know that I should attend a lifetime of services, but lets start with small goals and progress.

Time

2010-03-28T03:51:00.001-04:00

Is time really of the essence? What does that mean exactly. Lately, time has been something that eludes me greatly. I am more than half way through the last semester of my undergraduate university career and am still learning many things about time management. I am taking 21 credit hours of mostly upper-400 level course. I perhaps sleep only a few hours a night. At any given point there are nearly 4 programs waiting to be designed, coded, or re-factored for my various classes.

Obviously my first priority is to get myself to graduation. And school is definitely demanding on my time. I also have many things that I want to do or complete. I very much want to learn to program for the Android OS platform for instance. I have also been neglecting my volunteering duties. I just recently had the opportunity to read the first Michael Crichton book published posthumously - which was a fantastic read - but I can't remember the last time I actually sat down and read a real book.

My friends are also unfortunately taking a "time hit." What little time I have free and available I tend to spend exclusively with Charisse. I have been having great difficulty finding time to spend with close friends. I want to let them know that they are always important to me. I hope that they do not too overtly much begrudge me and my scheduling habits.

I am hoping and praying that I can survive these last few weeks with only a few minor cuts and abrasions at most. Thank you to all those that are and have always been there for me. You are not forgotten or devalued, I will be back - perhaps a little worse for wear - and am requesting just a little more patience.

Collection of Systems

2010-01-16T03:10:00.001-05:00

I am a pack rat by nature. I love to collect random and meaningless items and attach some semblance of sentimental value to them thus making said items of great importance to me. This tendency is crossing over into the digital domain as well. I am currently working on expanding my collection of working operating systems. Back in high school (I really am not wanting to admit how long ago that was), I remember it being cool - in the geek circles - to dual boot your machine. "Dual boot" being the ability to have two operating systems installed on one hard drive and when starting the computer you could select the operating system of your choice. Well, now with today's technological capabilities we have a wonderful technology known as virtualization. In layman's terms it is a virtual reality world for operating systems. I can maintain virtual environments for multiple, well over the old 2, operating systems and can launch them within a current operating system. They are almost like programs with in the host operating system.

In a sense I have decided to begin collecting working operating systems. These are the current operating systems that I have functioning. I plan to add more to the list (just for fun).

Windows 7
Windows Vista Ultimate
Windows XP Professional
Fedora 12
Ubuntu 9.10
Windows Millennium Edition (ME)
Windows 98 Second Edition (SE)
Windows 95 B
DOS 6.22
Solaris 10
ChromeOS (Developer Build)
...and more to come.

Android

2010-01-12T15:01:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I upgraded by phone to the Droid Eris with Verizon. I am still a little leery of some of the functionalities but am very happy with the features. I also downloaded the Android SDK and am working on playing with that a bit to see what I can do. Ball State University actually offers a class this semester that will be writing an Android application, but I don't have the time nor the inclination to take the course. I am just looking to have some fun with my new phone. My goal is to try and port the terminal application that my team scripted in Software Engineering (CS497) over to the Android OS just for fun. Who knows, it could turn out to be a feature or application of our project during 498.

Finals Week

2009-12-16T21:55:00.001-05:00

As always finals week is fairly tough. I am working hard to try and achieve some of the best grades that I have every gotten. With four finals under my belt and three left to go I am not quite out of the woods yet. The spring semester is all scheduled. Life is going to change quickly in the next few months. I am going to undertake my last semester, graduate, find and job, and get married! It is certainly not going to be dull.

My time at Ball State is rapidly approaching its end. After six years and a grand amount of amazing experiences I am almost done. I am still awaiting my graduation confirmation letter which I hope comes soon. I will be graduating in May with a degree in Computer Science Information Systems.

Most excitingly Charisse and I are getting married next fall. We are still working on the major details (locations) but I am both tremendously excited and tremendously nervous. We will of course post details as soon as we get things formalized. It is going to be a great event. We have done a lot of initial research into churches, reception locations, and photographers mostly. Once we have the big decisions out of the way then the little stuff like decorations can get filled in. We have a lot of really neat things we are talking about doing and that really excite us. More to come on them soon...

By the way, people should check out Charisse's Blog! Both Charisse and her thoughts are fantastic.

Torrents take a hit

2009-12-05T00:53:00.001-05:00

Not that I am condoning the use of BitTorrents to download illicit materials, but the BitTorrent world will be a bit more sluggish for the next few weeks. Mininova has removed all user submitted torrents for a content distribution only system. A court ordered them to halt their operations or be charged with copyright infringement. Now that Mininova is "out of business" other sites are seeing a sudden increase in traffic. Eztv.it for instance is seeing so much more network traffic that they purchased 10 new web servers. It just goes to show that a single business or site may be shut down, but the demand doesn't dissolve. People will just turn to other possibilities. Perhaps the creators of the content should investigate alternative business models. Google, for instance, makes an awful lot of money by providing content and services for free. Just a thought.

Getting Older

2009-12-01T13:01:00.001-05:00

I was walking through the halls of Robert Bell today and glanced in one of the classrooms by happenstance. I should not have been surprised to see that the instructor was one of my fellow students, but it really caught me off-guard. I guess it is just a sign of getting older when the kids that goofed off in the back of CS120 are now instructing the next iteration of that very same course. I fear that I am getting older.

Semester's End Approaches

2009-11-30T16:12:00.000-05:00

Plenty has happened since my October blog post!

Personal Newsies
I proposed to Charisse and she accepted! Woot. So the relationship aspect of my life is now going to kick into high gear. There are a few pictures posted on Facebook and I am sure that there will be more to come. We don't have any solid definite plans as of yet. We have a time frame established, but are working to determine an exact date, time, and location. We will let everyone know once we have more information.

Charisse and I also got to meet Sarah Palin. Despite anyone's personal political leanings it is fun to meet a major political figure. I posted a video on Youtube of our time in line waiting and have been surprised by the number of negative comments that I have rejected.

Video: Sarah Palin Book Signing, Noblesville 2009

Education Update
My second-to-last semester is rapidly approaching its end. I am taking 21 credit hours of mostly 400/500 level classes. That keeps me on my toes most days. I am, in one semester, learning multiple new programming languages. It is rather surprising that the university doesn't expose us to them much earlier on in our time at Ball State. I am now rather good at or working on learning: C++/C#, Java, VB, Ada, MATLAB, sql, oracle, html, Assembler, Marie (instructional language), and perhaps a few more that I can't remember offhand.

All Things Digital
I have finally made the switch to Windows 7 on my desktop. I have had the disk for at least a few weeks if not a few months, but just have not had the time nor the inclination to perform the switch. But when I upgraded the video card and motherboard in my desktop Vista decided that it was no longer genuine and it was just easier to make the switch than to deal with 'Mike from San Francisco' who sounds strangely like 'Habeeb from India' from Microsoft customer support.

Now that I am running Windows 7 I am very happy with the performance increase that I see from my system. I also enjoy the built-in Windows XP virtual machine (which is the only way I can connect to the BSU-VPN). I have also begun to collect a series of operating systems and booting them on virtual machines.

Nova Technologies (CS497) is moving right along with our software design. We have gotten the biometric scanner integrated with our system and have seen some promising test results. An updated GUI and graphing module are on the books for the next two weeks.

I have been having fun with videos and posting to Youtube. Please check out my channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/dragonfyre2825

Goofing with Data

2009-10-20T21:10:00.001-04:00

Today's world is all about data. Data is very valuable, as most of my information systems courses proclaim, to just about everyone. For instance when someone walks into a grocery store, lets say Marsh, and you buy a few items and the cashier scans your "marsh card," you have generated data. Marsh is paying you for the information of your purchasing trends. They track what a person buys, how frequently they buy it, and do you buy in patterns (2 gallons of milk a week etc). Most people don't realize that anytime something is scanned at a price check station or at the registers that that scan is recorded and stored in some database. When you add your card - a personal identifier - to the mix they can track by person.

With this knowledge in hand I love to mess with the system. Generally the data that I create would be noted as outliers (data that is beyond the normal expected scope and is usually discarded) but that doesn't quite stop me. Tonight I thought it would be fun to walk into Marsh and buy 3 items: 12 hot dogs, 1 packet of American singles, and a 12 pack of toilet paper. In my mind the idea of some data analyst (in reality probably a computer algorithm) wondering if the hot dogs were really that bad is rather amusing. The procedure as a whole is not really that exciting.

My dad on the other hand has gone into Dollar General before and bought their entire stock of calculators, which he actually needed, but did this three consecutive months. We noticed in the fourth month a considerable increase in their calculator stock. Kinda cool actually.

If (Java >= C++) {System.out.println("printf("I'm in trouble.")");};

2009-10-20T00:01:00.004-04:00

During my freshman and sophomore years at Ball State University, I programmed exclusively in C++. I was greatly disgruntled when the university shifted its programming focus to Java and am still upset in many ways. I have been coding in Java for nearly four years now and wish I were coding in C++/C#. However, I am truly greatful for the experience that Java has provided me. I have had the opportunity to learn how to learn another language. Think of it this way: If you know how to drive your car to your desired destination, why would you go back to driver's education? Well, with computer science each car drives very differently from the next. It is akin to the differences of a manual and automatic transmission. By being required to learn a new way to approach the same situations I have learned how to learn a new language. Thusly I have added a number of programming languages/scripting languages to my repertoire.

My software engineering team has selected to code our project primarily in Java, with which I am okay. I also know C++, GWBasic (thanks Dad), Marie (thanks Dr. Nelson), Sparc Assembly, Ada (less fluent), Flash Action Script, ASP, PHP, HTML, XML, CSS, and JavaScript. I feel like I am leaving out a "big" language, but can't quite recall what I would be forgetting.

Obama Wins Nobel Prize

2009-10-09T21:56:00.000-04:00

Why? The awarding of this prize has people on all sides of the isle questioning the motives. Considering the application for the reward was due quite early into the President's tenure - 12 days - one must question why it was awarded. The reasoning that I have heard is that the prize is to commemorate his promise of hope and peace. Yet others have actually performed acts to warrant this honor, and I am sure that Marie Curie didn't actually do anything for her two peace prizes. She just probably dreamed up projects and "hoped" they work.

In the end I guess that this award just confirms the welfare state is alive and well. First people don't have to work for money and now they don't have to achieve to receive awards.

Costumes, Computers, and Things

2009-10-04T23:23:00.002-04:00

Charisse and I have selected costumes for parties this year. Whilst neither of us celebrate all hallows eve, we do enjoy the costume aspect of the season - secretly I believe that Charisse might run off with a band of roaming performers if she could be part of a masquerade. Two years ago (just before we started dating) I attempted to dress up as a magician/gentleman and she was a sexy gangster. These went together rather well although it wasn't planned. Last year Charisse dressed as Audrey Hepburn and I attempted to be V (from V for Vendetta). Her costume was a resounding success, and while my wasn't horrible I was disappointed in the "cheap" nature of the final product. This year we decided to plan a theme and we chose a semi-nautical theme. I will be a ships captain and she will be the attractive sailor girl.

News from my technology world could cover a lot of things, so let me provide you with the highlights.

Nova Technologies is going well. We have demonstrated our first milestone and believe that we have a solid and viable product.
My desktop computer is on the fritz. I am not sure what is going on quite yet as I have had very little time to problem solve. About 2 weeks ago signal stopped being sent to my primary monitor. Now during the boot sequence the screen resembles the broadcast bars (yellow, red, green) all jumbled up.
A while back I believe I mentioned that I obtained access to the sandbox (developer's build) of Google Wave. Well that was exciting and all, however, I would like to use it in the real world. I applied for access, but have yet to hear anything from Google. They are performing a staggered release - by invitation from Google or someone who has already received access. They launched Gmail the same way. I would like to gain access before it is available to everyone. (I got an invite to Gmail way-back-when).

Dance is exciting. Charisse and I have finished our 6th lesson. We have now committed to a much longer program in which will begin to learn more advanced steps, posture, and movements. Thus far we have attended private lessons exclusively, however we are now going to begin attending group sessions as well. To be honest, I was not very keen on the idea of group lessons at first. Now though, I am rather looking forward to them. Wednesday we are going to the Merengue Group prior to our private lesson. I am really looking forward to it, still nervous, but excited.

Facebook Lite

2009-09-11T10:23:00.002-04:00

So what do you do on Facebook? I first joined Facebook five or six years ago, when it was still known as "thefacebook.com" and required a university email address. Since then it has expanded to allow more people, dropped the university feel, and has exceeded 220 million members. The average age has shifted from something near 19/20 years old to now the age is in the middle 30s. We now have applications (which are a haven for data miners and identity thieves) for just about anything.

I remember using Facebook to mainly check someone's relationship status, snoop on old friends, and browse photos. Well, "Facebook lite" (lite.facebook.com) allows those of use who are more nostalgic to rewind the clock some and just use those great features that we originally joined to use. The lite version doesn't include chat, or 99% of applications. You can post a status, upload and browse photos, change your information, and add/remove friends. The only thing that Facebook lite cannot return to us is the feeling of exclusivity that we enjoyed only a few short years ago. We didn't parents, or younger siblings as friends. The Facebook world was smaller but in a way we knew more people. So the question remains, 'what do you do on Facebook?'

Phone Number

2009-09-06T19:31:00.001-04:00

Well, I am furthering my journey through the onslaught of advancing technology. I am working on getting people to call me at my Google Voice phone number. That new number is posted on facebook. As it is right now, I am horrible about checking voicemails. Google Voice will record, transcribe, and email the voicemail to me. For me that is much easier than checking in with my cell provider's voicemail system. My old number does still work, and when I call you, you will most likely see my 440 number call in. What I am asking people to do is to add my Google number to their address books as my "primary" number (most cell phones can hold multiple numbers for multiple people.) Google Voice also accepts text messages as well (and they are free for me).

Also, since I am taking a monstrous amount of classes this semester I will be unavailable a lot, where I almost always have access to my email. So by using the Google Voice number (which is listed on Facebook) I will get your voicemail in a matter of minutes as opposed to waiting until the end of class.

For my part, I will work harder at calling out with my Google Voice phone number. We shall see how it goes. Send me an email if you have any questions.

I have been using the service since it was known as "Grand Central," and I continue to use it now that Google has purchased and polished the software. If you are interested you can go to http://www.google.com/voice to request an invite, as accounts are currently granted by invitation only.

Fall 2009

2009-09-02T11:30:00.001-04:00

The fall semester in is full swing. Barring any unforeseen events I will be finally graduating in the spring. I am currently involved in the computer science department's capstone project. My team has selected a project and a client with which to conduct our dealings. I'll discuss more on that topic once more information is solidified. Overall I am taking 21 credit hours both fall and spring semester. Depending on the day, my degree analysis progress report (DAPR) says that should get me to graduation.

A few weeks ago, I was one of only 6,000 people worldwide to receive developer access to the sandbox build of Google's new communication platform "Google Wave." I think that it has interesting potential, but am curious how Google views Wave fitting into the standard user's daily life. Users are just now becoming more comfortable and familiar with Gmail. Some reports indicate that Gmail lags behind Yahoo mail in number of users; if this is the case, does Google plan to further reduce Gmail's market share by maintaining to platforms simultamiously? The other thought is that Google will replace Gmail with the Wave platform by "integrating it." This concerns me as I, and millions of others, are comfortable with Gmail. Users know and understand that abilities and services that Gmail offers and may not be ready to completely switch to a new form.

This Thursday marks the beginning of Ball State's football season when the take the field against North Texas. While I don't hold the same 12-0 expectations as last year, although many fans almost demand it, rather I would just enjoy a good showing. Looking towards our schedule this year I believe it to be possible to at least hit .500. Go Cards!

Vacation

2009-07-28T17:55:00.000-04:00

Vacation is off to a good start. Charisse and I closed out our respective apartments at Windermere on Friday and proceeded to drive to Cleveland to meet up with my dad and younger brother Alex. Saturday morning we made the monstrously long drive to Raleigh, North Carolina to spend the night at my aunt and uncle's home. Sunday we, along with my aunt Cindy, uncle Bob, dad's cousins Ted and Cherie and Cherie's daughter Kennetha, drove to Moorehead City, North Carolina for vacation. My group is going to be spending a total of 10 days here, however some people are spending the full two weeks; some family members haven't even arrived yet. It is a blast thus far. I am working on a fair sunburn and despite dreery weather reports we have had two wonderful days on the beach.

During one of the few intermittent moments when I have had Internet access, I checked my email and discovered that I had an invite to the developer's build of Google Wave. Perhaps it is because I have only had access to a developer build rather than a distribution version, but I haven't really yet experienced the full breadth of the software yet. I am absolutely thrilled to have access and be able to beind drafting some "robots" and extensions. (I have a few neat ideas). I am curious if Wave will eventually replace Gmail, Docs, and some elements of Picassa. In many ways is has elements of most of Google Aps.

Anyhow, I have things to do... I'll update later, as well as post some pictures of vacations (Warning: I may possibly have a slight farmer's tan, although not nearly as bad as previous years due to some planning and preventative measures.)

Obama Administration and Forced Abortions

2009-07-21T16:00:00.000-04:00

Everyone needs to know this:

Perhaps most of us cannot be blamed for someone else's opinions and actions, however the President of the United States can and should. The people that he appoints should reflect the highest of principles as they themselves reflect upon the administration. During the election is was widely publicized that Obama was a supporter of infanticide, however the media allowed the issue to be dropped by the wayside as time went by. Today Obama appointed Paul Holdren as the Science Czar. (A side note - a political administration that is supposed to be representative of the people, why does the Obama administration itself float the term "czar"? Most people would associate czarist policies as dictatorships - not democratic policies of a republic.) Paul Holdren has been a supporter of the notion of FORCED ABORTIONS TO CONTROL POPULATION. He first wrote about it in 1977. The article is posted here:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/21/obamas-science-czar-considered-forced-abortions-sterilization-population-growth/

A few points:

1. I don't support abortion.

2. I don't think it is the right of the federal government to rule one way or the other on the topic. As much as I would love for the government to make it illegal now, it should be the states that perform the dennouncation. As a Republic, the states should make this and other decisions.

3. Even if I did support abortion, there is NO way I could support FORCED ABORTION - morally or constitutionally. The Declaration of Independence of the United States says "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Not only is "life" mentioned as one of the unalienable Rights, our founding fathers listed it first; it is the first among our rights. It is one of the largest building blocks upon which our nation is based.

4. Know this: If Obama-care passes, and the notions of 'infanticide' and 'forced abortion' return to the light, a few things become likely. If the government controls if you get health care or not, then they have the power to deny you health care should you stand against things like abortion. (ie. Girl: "I need a cast on my broken leg." Doctor: "Of course we can take care of that, but our records indicate that you haven't yet be sterilized. In order for any further medial attention to occur we need to take care of that.") Perhaps that example sounds a little too much like something from one of Louis Lowry's or George Orwell's books, but I don't think that the leap is that far.

I have many other thoughts, but this email is getting too long as it is. REMEMBER THIS ISN'T AN ANTI-OBAMA EMAIL. IT IS ABOUT PROTECTING ONE THE GREATEST NATIONS' RIGHTS TO ALL CITIZENS. KEEP THAT IN MIND.

NML

Updates

2009-07-20T17:40:00.001-04:00

Wow, July already. Summer is just speeding by. It is official - I am indeed moving. Although anyone who would read this already knows that. I am actually moving later this week. My lease with Windermere is up on the 31st of July, but my family vacation begins the 25th. So I move out early and stash my belongings with friends. After all, friends are for imposing on are they not?

I have been taking courses during both summer semesters to expedite my graduation, I believe that I am in my final week of calculus ever! I am also taking an advanced data structures course. I have a presentation upcoming which I have entitled "Huffman Algorithm for Pre-fix Coding Lossless Data Compression." Ya - exactly, it is a mouthful. But the fun part is that I have gone overboard on designing this program, so much so that the GUI I designed is also containing a backlog of all the programs that I have written at Ball State. It is taking me some time to port them over (some of them were in C++) and fix some of the bugs that I let rest before.

Charisse recently introduced me to the television show "Castle" on ABC. I remember when it was debuting there was a lot of press about it, but I tend to ignore the press the more they hype something. But in this case the show turns out to be pretty darn good. I watched all of the episodes on the ABC website (which their video player stinks) and am all caught up and ready for season 2!

I went to see transformers and if I had to describe it in one word I would choose "Long."

World of Warcraft update: After floating around for a while in the aftermath of the House of Thunder guild collapse, I have found myself in an incredible guild: Phoenix (US Burning Legion). They take raiding seriously, but still find a way to be understanding and helpful to those less skilled or geared. They take time to help with quests or achievements that need to be completed, but don't really endorse begging from low levels for help with Hogger. The other night we did a full guild run on the achievement "For the Alliance." I have run it several times before, but this was one of the most organized, well run groups. In fact I actually finished my achievement and got the mount. We had no issues, everything went very smoothly. It was so much fun.

As I mentioned before, family vacation is coming up. I am very excited to spend some time traveling and get a change of scenery.

My MMORPGs

2009-06-16T15:54:00.001-04:00

Well, as most anyone who knows me knows that I play World of Warcraft (WoW). However, most people don't realize that I enjoy playing other Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG). Well before I got into WoW, I played a text-based game called Stargate Wars (http://www.stargatewars.com) and was quite good. I have since lagged in my attention to that particular game for nearly three years. I decided to log in today just for some kicks and found that out of the 68,000 players I was still ranked 5739. I had been so good that despite constant attacks by other players over the course of years, I only dropped slightly in the ranks. At one point I think I was trying to make a run at the top 100 list. Anyhow, I did a little bit of maintenance on my character and have cut my rank to 2971. Since I have been playing WoW less and less I am thinking that I may get back into the text-based games. They only require a few minutes of attention a day, unlike WoW.

Another text-based MMORPG that I have gotten into is a game called WorldWar (http://worldwar.storm8.com) by Storm8. It is exclusively for the iPhone/iPod Touch. It has only been out for a few weeks, but I am rapidly climbing the ranking ladder. Storm8 has developed their template and just applied multiple themes to the framework. They have a medieval knights and conquest version called Kingdoms Live as well as some others. I am still debating on dedicating time to the Kingdoms Live game as well.

Volunteer of the Month

2009-06-09T13:16:00.001-04:00

I was recently named the volunteer of the month by the Muncie Star Press. Monique Armstrong nominated me for my work at Motivate our Minds. She estimated, mostly in part that I stopped signing the volunteer sheet because I was there so much, that I have done at least 720 hours of volunteer work for M.O.M.s since I started in February 2008. I guess this becomes a cool additive for the good 'ole resume.

Read the Article

Google Wave

2009-06-03T12:50:00.000-04:00

A couple days ago at the google I/o developer confrence a new
communications platform was announced: Google Wave. At first I was
cautious about the new technology, and I still am. There were a number
of things that greatly intrigued me however.
1.) Real-time communication
2.) The integration of multiple forms of written communication.
3.) Open source
4.) The ability to use extensions.
What worries me is how open will the system become. I like the ability
to customize many things, so long as it doesn't interfere with normal
operations. (such as the application spam that currently waters down
facebook.)
One of the demonstarted extensions was one called "rosie." Rosie is a
linguistic extension bot that translate contextually, a conversation
into any one of the 40 languages that she speaks. So I could instant
message my friend in Spain, actually we create a real-time wave, but I
would type in English, he sees my English, but also sees a Spanish
translation. Unlike current translation site, the language module is
contextual and nearly grammatically correct. (do I hear - new forms of
cheating in French class). Now I just need to find a friend that
speaks a foreign language.

Posting Via Email

2009-05-23T15:49:00.002-04:00

Blogger seems to be really stepping up some services. Now users can post via phone, email, and web. I seem to remember a few years back that there was a service (by a third party) that allowed you to call in and it would post an audio file on your blog for you... I wonder if that style service is in the near future. I would suspect that an audio posting with a transcription would fit well with the technology that google has deployed for their "Google Voice" system (formerly known as the company 'Grand Central').

The Semester End Approaches

2009-04-30T13:28:00.002-04:00

The end of the spring 2009 semester approaches. I have one more day of actual classes and then one week of finals. Another semester is all most in the books so to speak. It has been an interesting go of it. I will post more once grades have been finalized.

I have a few goals for the summer that I hope I will be able to meet:

I would like to be productive in my classes. I am taking a few summer classes and would like to do well in them and learn a lot of information from them.
I want to work and learn Adobe CS4: Flash, Dreamweaver (I work with Dreamweaver CS3 now), and Photoshop. My goal is to get strong enough in my skills that I can design website templates. It looks as though the templates for some websites sell for a solid amount of money ($65 per download - or upto $5000 for a unique license). I already love working on my own websites and have though "why not step up my skills and have the possibility of getting paid for them?"
I need to find a new place to live. Windermere is not the apartment complex that it used to be. The office staff has become overly aggressive and when anything goes wrong they blame "corporate" instead of working with the residents. They send out false bills every month. They find every excuse to fine residents. The new staff policy seems to be 'fine first and ask questions later,' except that now they sent out an email stating that all fines are final and will not be removed. Pardon the historical reference, but that seems like a policy of taxation without representation. Despite the "battle of the bands" attempt at community events the residents used to be very friendly and close-knit. Now there have been shootings and police have come enmass multiple times. It is not a community, it is not the best place to live, Windermere does not have friendly customer service. And now they are requiring 100,000 per person of renter's insurance. Not good.

Google Voice, Verizon Hub, and WoW

2009-04-09T11:36:00.002-04:00

During the very few moments that I have to browse the Internet and engage my curious nature, I have found some interesting things.

1. Google Voice (formerly Grand Central), which is only available to Grand Central customers who were invited prior to March 2008, is really amazing. It is more what I was hoping Grand Central would be. Some of the new features include Voice mail Transcriptions - although it isn't perfect, international calling, and SMS. I think that I may just begin using the service again and see if it becomes functional. I am greatly intrigued at the possibility that all voice mails will be archived for future reference.

2. The Verizon Hub looks to be an amazing piece of gadgetry. It won't compete with the mobile market because it is stationary, but it will shape the future (and possible decline) of the land line service. As more and more users opt to utilize mobile technology the usefulness of land line phones has greatly declined. People contact people directly now and no longer contact locations (homes, offices, pagers). While I would absolutely love to have this device, my blackberry can access the Internet, send texts, make calls, and look up directions - all while on the go. In the end I predict that the Verizon hub will not be as useful to the greater throngs of the masses.

3. For those of us who play WoW, we are always seeking better and better gear. I mainly PvP as time does not allow me to do much raiding. PvP allows me the opportunity to play 30 minutes at a time and still get epic gear - eventually. I would like to begin raiding at somepoint. A friend turned me onto a character audit site (http://be.imba.hu/). It analyzies your character (level 80s only) to see what items are of poor quality or need enchants and then makes suggestions. The site will also suggest what raid you are properly geared for and what raid will provide you gear you need. I even caught that I missed a socket on an item. It really helps me. Check it out...

Honest about Taxes?

2009-03-10T17:10:00.002-04:00

When Pelosi became speaker of the house she promised the most honest, most transparent, and most upstanding congress in history. Is this what democrats consider honest and responsible? This guy gets a salary and yet uses taxpayer money for his cars and multiple rent-controlled apartments. I am struggling to make credit card payments... perhaps if Rangel could spend only 400 instead of 800 a month on car payments he could then send me some money to help! After all, I am a fellow American.

Fun and Nerdy Shirts

2009-02-25T11:50:00.003-05:00

It has been a busy semester

2009-02-25T11:25:00.003-05:00

So I have done very little with my "digital presence" since the beginning of January. Between classes, volunteering, and some socializing I have very little time to devote to my technological endeavors.

Classes are going well mostly. I am really having to put a lot of time in on preparing and studying for them. Volunteering is going well now. I had some trouble with configuring the DNS role on server 2k8, but I worked through the issue and managed to get it done properly. I have learned quite a bit in the last month about setting up and configuring a network. I am rather enjoying it. I have become much more conifident in my ability to solve network related issues. I am still working on setting up the network and maintaining it. I am also working to have it be as automated as possible since I will not always be there to maintain it.

Blog has a new look

2009-02-11T13:33:00.002-05:00

I changed the look of my blog about six months ago. I liked that I changed, however, I was never truly satisfied with the overall feel. This new look also allows for a few more gadgets to be added to the side. I am going to continue to review the appearance of my blog and website.

Ball State University Cardinals 12-0!

2008-12-01T11:45:00.003-05:00

The cardinals this season finished with a perfect record of 12-0. The team, led by coach Brady Hoke, will be departing for Detroit to play Buffalo for the MAC championship. Buffalo is 7-5 on the season. The cardinals are heavy favorites.

The cardinals have also entered the top 12 of the BCS Standings. This season has been one for the record books for Ball State University, included attendance records for home games. The single game records were broken at least twice this season, as well as the total season attendance. The current single game record is: 23,861. This number is close to 350 above the estimated stadium capacity.

Good luck cardinals in Detroit and your eventual bowl game!

Ball State Bowl Tickets Revoked!

2008-11-24T19:26:00.002-05:00

On Monday morning Ball State University emailed students offering a voucher for one free bowl game ticket to all students who attended tomorrow night's home game against Western Michigan. A few hours ago, the university retracted the offer citing "inadvertently sending" the email containing the initial offer to the students.

My question is not quite pertaining to the accidental sending of such an email, rather why would you even think of drafting such an email if you were not planning on following through?

This will hurt attendance both at tomorrow nights home game versus Western Michigan as well as any possible bowl game. Students currently, I know I do, have an acidic taste in our mouths.

Ball State University, Education Redefined. Hardly.

New Echoes of Doom

2008-11-07T08:58:00.003-05:00

So my last post was concerning the newest update (that hadn't quiet yet arrived) for World of Warcarft. This post while sharing a similar title is referring to the president-elect of the United States. I loath Barry Obama, yes I called him Barry. At least there is a bright side. This should (sadly it won't) eliminate the "oppression" of black people. It is difficult to say you are an oppressed minority when you have a black president and at least 41 black members of the House of Representatives. I have never been racist, but some of the radical arguments I have heard from the anti-racism crowd have been ridiculous. I believe that black people will have difficulty claiming oppression - at least for the next four years.

I supported both Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney.

Echoes Of Doom

2008-10-15T00:43:00.004-04:00

Welcome to World of Warcraft (WoW) 3.0.2, or at least welcome to those of you who were able to log in today. I have been watching the patch progress for nearly 10 hours now. I became very frustrated when Blizzard began bringing realms back online, but upon logging in I could not locate my server; it wasn't even listed amongst the other offline realms. It is now nearly 1am EST and I have not been able to get any further with a toon (character) on my server (Burning Legion) than the full bar of the loading screen. I have spent a great deal of time reviewing comments on the forums with no success in aiding me to login. I did get successfully logged in using a level 1 toon on Mug'thol, but what fun is exploring new content with a level 1 toon?!? None.

So I am going to go to bed now. I was very excited about the patch, now I am upset, frustrated, disillusioned, and frankly not interested. I have even put on hold pre-ordering Wrath of the Lich King. While I am most assuredly going to buy it, I see almost no point in reserving it. If today is any ruler by which to measure new releases from Blizzard, I will avoid WoW around release time.

A comment on 403....

2008-10-07T09:06:00.002-04:00

So Charisse is sitting in FCS403 right now, they are discussing "how to use blogger." I think that this is a major joke. Classes like this just prove how universities are unable to adapt to society. Most people have blogs, Facebook accounts, MySpace pages, Gmail, etc. Yet the university feels that these are things that need to be taught. The problem is that the students know more on the topic than the professors, and that does not lead to a condusive learning environment. Because the people that need to be educated in the topic are the ones teaching and grading. Something is at falt here at Ball State University.

A catch up entry

2008-08-26T13:19:00.003-04:00

Well, it may only have been a few weeks since I last posted but plenty has occurred. I headed to North Carolina after departing Orlando. During the week with family, we spent time at Atlantic Beach (NC). It was great to be able to see both Annie and Drew as well as the rest of the family. We also got to meet Thomas' girlfriend Brittany (light-bright) as well as get introduced to Ginger's friend Matt. We stayed at "Tar Landings" this time which was new to me as the two or three times that I have been there we stayed at a place called "Ocean Spray." The family hit up our usual food joints and locations; Fort Macon being amongst our most favorite.

Annie and Drew stayed in Cleveland a week after leaving North Carolina. That was an absolute blast. We got to visit one of the parks we played at when we were children. Of course I took pictures.

Not long after returning from Orlando Charisse was able to come and stay in Cleveland for a week. Sadly her grandfather passed away during the week and we drove to Pittsburgh for the funeral. On a much brighter note though we went to the zoo, Seneca Caverns, Metroparks, and a Cleveland Indians game.

At the end of the week Charisse and I both drove back to Muncie to prepare for the looming start of school. The Sunday night before school began we attended a pre-season colts game, the first NFL game played in Lucas Oil Stadium. (we have a certificate) It was fantastic to see the roof and far window/wall open with fireworks going off inside. Sadly the colts did lose the game, but it was absolutely amazing.

This week - the first week of school - has been interesting. Currently I am scheduled for a class that is well beneath me and the professor agrees. I don't know yet if there is anything I can do about it because I am hampered by University Regulations and Requirements. So much for "Education Redefined."

It is great fun to see everyone again albeit stressful and full of drama. I have a new roommate. Chris Roland moved and I believe is residing in New York right now, and Matt moved in. I have yet to meet this new roommate despite having been living in the same apartment for four days. Misti gave her dog to Jay and his family. Now she wants to get another dog.

Speaking of Jay, I am trying to reconnect with Jay. Perhaps there is no tangible gain to be had of this situation. I do find it troublesome that the situation has gotten as far as it has though. We were very close friends and now we don't speak at all. This is a problem for many reasons both personal and otherwise. It has a dramatic impact on the friends around us. They worry about mentioning him or visiting etc. Personally, I miss the close friendship. We had a lot of fun times and I would like to attempt to repair some of what is lost. I am no fool though, I know that anything repaired is never as strong, but still I would like to try.

I have spent a lot of time working in my room. With Charisse's help we are redecorating. I am rather excited about it. This is my third year at Windermere and it is perhaps time to shake a few things up.

I am saddened/frustrated/excited/thrilled that Charisse is graduating at the end of this year. It truly is a mix of emotions. I don't do so well with rampant emotions so I will try to break them down a little. I am firstly thrilled at her achievements and that she will be able to graduate this year. I am excited to know that she will be starting down the path that will be her life and future. I am frustrated that in some way I will not be there. Whilst I do not anticipate relationship trouble of any nature I wish that I too were walking the path with her. It saddens me that I am not.

Well, I have plenty more to say however, I think that this post may quite long enough.

Adieu.

By the way, one of the requirements of this class that I am well beyond is creating, developing, and posting to a blog. That seems a little steep. Do you think I could ever possibly handle it?

Visiting My #1 Ninja Amazingness, Charisse

2008-07-21T17:16:00.002-04:00

I arrived in Orlando at about 7:30 in the evening because my plane was a little early. I hung out in the airport, got a small snack, and rode the trams between the terminals. I was so excited to see Charisse. She picked me up around 11:45 and drove me to my hotel. It is truly different seeing someone in person versus chatting over a web-camera. I tried to pick up some Starbucks for Charisse and I but ended up spilling them on myself during the ride.

On the 16th we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed towards the Kennedy Space Center. It was about an hour drive. We spent hours touring around. There was a bus tour that took people to various locations of interest and you could hop-on/hop-off. We also did the "Launch Experience" simulator. It was really fun. After Kennedy Space Center we thought that we would travel the 5 miles to Cocoa Beach and watch the sunset whilst sitting on the beach. That thought was quashed by a few factors: it was raining and I couldn't find the beach. But we stopped at one of the best Subways I have ever seen. Since we had skipped the beach I suggested that we move up our plans on seeing "Mama-Mia!" and see it that night thus freeing up Friday night. So we went to Downtown Disney (where the theatre is located) only to find that the movie opened on Friday. So we wandered around. One of the shops that we came upon was Magic Masters. Since I love magic we poked around the shop for a while and watched some of the demonstrations. Sadly I couldn't buy any new illusions, not for lack of trying, but the story didn't actually carry an illusion that I didn't already have. We also we to the Lego store and took some pictures. They were really cool!

Day two started with breakfast at the hotel again. Then we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom and went on the Kilimanjaro Safaris. This was perhaps my third favorite thing about this week (the first being seeing Charisse, the second was Charisse's surprise). We got into this 12 person jeep vehicle. I admit that the script that the driver (guide) had was corny at times, but seeing some of the animals was just fantastic. One of the giraffes was right next to the vehicle at one point. There was a bridge that was engineered to shake the car at one point. That was fun. But we saw perhaps 20 various animals in a short period of time. I would love to do this again sometime, however I recommend getting the fast-pass as the line takes FOREVER. Since we were only attempting to complete the highlights of Disney we headed over to Epcot and rode the Sorrin' simulator. It was very cool. They incorporated moving air, seat movements, and heights into an IMAXish movie presentation. Next, we walked through the showcase of nations, and went to dinner at Rose and Crown in England. Later in the evening Charisse presented me the surprise that she had been planning for months! Wow. It was incredible. It was a private boat ride and then we watch the famous Epcot fireworks from the lake. After the fireworks we did high-speed runs on the lake; very, very cool. The boat was called the Breathless II. It was the only private boat out for the fireworks in all of Disney.

Day three (Friday) was more of a relaxed day. We spent time in Downtown Disney. Ate lunch at Bongos, went to see "Mama-Mia!", walked through a few shops, and had dinner at Red Lobster.

Time with Dad

2008-07-12T23:00:00.005-04:00

My dad and I have always enjoyed playing board games. When I was little, on Saturday mornings I would wake up early and my dad and I would play a game called Stratego. No one else in the house was awake; it was our own time. Eventually I would be allowed to have a little coffee. This tradition is something that we still reference today. While we don't wake up early on Saturday mornings to play, we still very much enjoy the occasional good game. A few years ago I got my dad Axis and Allies for Christmas. We had pulled the game out and began to prep the pieces. But we never actually got around to game play. This summer we finally played a few turns. It is a fantastic game that relates to the reality of the war very well. As we make one or two turns a day it provides us with a continuing conversation topic as well as a great avenue to analyze the second world war.

My Non-Bised List of Dating Qualifications

2008-06-19T13:43:00.007-04:00

So Charisse and I were talking and somehow the topic of my "dating qualifications" came up, so I decided to list them out.

1. Intelligent - I enjoy being able to talk and hold a conversation that includes substance. Not a conversation about the latest Hollywood gossip.

2. Someone who reads - I think that books are very important. I myself have spent a good percentage of my life working with books and reading. This is an important quality.

3. Travel - I realize that there are some cultures of the world that I could care less about. However, I love to travel and I love to try and fit in when I travel. I think that dating someone else that enjoys traveling will provide a new perspective and perhaps a little motivation to broaden myself beyond what I already have in mind. (i.e. someone that may make me go somewhere that I never knew I would love)

4. Pretty, Gorgeous, and Good Looking - Looks. Perhaps looks are the first impression. Yes looks are very important to me. But there are multiple angles of appearance. As you may note, my first three items on this list were non-physical. Not that I rate looks as less important, but I think that there needs to be balance to an individual.

5. Professional Coffee Drinker - Duh! Coffee = Nectar of the Gods.

6. Kind - I may not always be as successful as I would like in this aspect. But I think that it is an important trait. Being kind not just to the person you are dating, or to others, but also being kind to one's self is important as well.

7. Sense of Humor - How can people have both good times and bad if there is no laughing? A sense of humor is healthy both for the person and the relationship. Any two people that can't laugh together will have serious problems at some point in life.

8. Trust - Trust in all things is important. If you trust the person you are with then you can truly be yourself. The type of trust that I refer to is a trust more intimate than sex. Not that it is "naughty" but more that the other person has just as much knowledge and understanding of you and your person as you yourself do.

9. Curly Hair - Cause we know that girls with curls are just more fun!

10. Italian - Why shouldn't I want to date an Italian?

11. Tensions - I would want to date someone that has opinions. Someone that I can occasionally but-heads with and still come out alright. Because if we agree on everything then life may become boring after awhile.

12. Development - I would want to spend my life with a person who loves me for who I am. But knows that we can both improve ourselves as individuals and ourselves as a couple. And that this can be done together. And that life is much more fulfilling if people improve themselves.

13. Responsibility - This both ties in with trust and yet it is separate. Responsibility indicates that one person can trust and count upon the other. It also says that they will do the right thing even when it may be the hardest thing to do.

14. Maturity/ Lack thereof - I want a person that is mature, but yet knows that there are times to let maturity go and just have fun playing.

15. Common Interests - Joys that we share, such as a devotion to coffee.

Charisse: I realize that you said that you would be disappointed if my list was just a list of characteristics of you. But I must in fact point out, that I am dating you right now, and plan to continue to do so. Ergo you must be the embodiment of my list; and are so!

My Semester Schedule

2008-06-18T11:19:00.006-04:00

Some crazy things have happened and I have as yet not graduated. So back to classes I go. The bummer is that my major has changed and due to some administrative loophole I am required to complete the newer requirements. Which means that I have to go back and take a few earlier classes to get into the classes I need. It really bites. But this semester I am taking: Physics, Calculus, Biology, ISOM 135, and a computer science course. This mess means that I don't graduate until spring '10. That is of course if my adviser have given me accurate information. We shall see.

I think that Charisse has her schedule all hammered out. So I used the facebook app that allows me to "compare" schedules. Here is potentially what our combined schedule looks like.

Some new information

2008-06-13T15:01:00.003-04:00

Since my last post I have completed my exam to become a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP). I am currently working on my next series of exams that when completed I will have achieved certifications as "Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA)" and "Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS)" in addition to my current Microsoft Certified Professional. I am aware that the current status of the MCSA is approaching a state of obsoleteness, however upon the completion of my MCSE path I will take the update exams for the Server 2008 environment.

Nordonia

2008-05-30T14:06:00.004-04:00

A lot of plans for the summer. So I am working at Nordonia Hills City School District. We have a great summer planned as far as technology is concerned. We are going to be virtualizing a good number of our 28 servers (we just added one today). Virtualizing servers basically means that we will set up one uber-massive server and partition that hard drive and then run copies of our current servers on those partitions. Sort of. It is much more complicated than that, but for now that description will have to do. We then plan to take some of the servers that will then be available and added them to our Citrix farm. Essentially we would jump from 28 servers to something like 45 if you count the virtual ones. The benefits for virtualizing our servers really become evident on the maintenance side. If one of our servers fills up now, we have to move or delete files. If a virtual server runs low on space we can just pull resources from unpartitioned space or from another virtual server than is not using its space. Not only does this apply to hard drive space but all resources; including RAM (Random Access Memory).

Today we added another server. This is actually considered a SAN (Storage Area Network). This device has roughly 2.5 Terabytes of space. That is approximately the same amount of space as 3,641 CD-ROMS. In other words, a lot of space. I believe we will be moving our student data drives over to this box. This box will also allow us to decommission some of our older servers. You can see one of them in the bottom of this picture.

Servers are not the only thing that we have planned for the summer. We are also planning on deploying a district wide Cisco VOIP (Voice Over the Internet Protocol) phone system. That means instead of the phones running via conventional wires and cables, phone traffic will run through the servers. This allows a lot of great client-side features such as the ability to access voicemail via your email. When someone receives a voicemail an email will be sent by the server and the client simply presses play and can listen, save, or delete the voicemail without ever touching a phone.

The technology department is also beginning to look ahead to the next technology refresh. The technology refresh occurs every few years. Basically we buy a massive amount of computers and roll them out to the various schools. Usually the teachers are the direct recipients. In this case we are looking at distributing laptops to staff members. In concept this is a fantastic idea. It does pose a few security problems however. Laptops would be coming in and out of the network. Thus bypassing most of the scans for the district - most scans and filtering are done by our ISP (Internet Service Provider). So we are looking at a variety of ways and ideas as to increase security without decreasing services. Login in and network connection are two other items to explore. We shall see how it all works out.

Another project that we will be enacting will be a large distribution of thin clients. Thin clients are a solid-state device that takes the place of a traditional computer terminal. It has no moving parts and just has ports for the network cable, monitor, mouse, and keyboard. All actual computing is done on the server via the use of terminal services. Traditional computers may last upto five or six years if we are lucky. These thin clients should last upto ten years with almost no repair. In the long run this should save us money, time, and effort. Nordonia will have the state's largest public school distribution of thin clients by the end of summer, if we don't already.

There are a lot of other things that are on the docket. I am sure that we will spend a lot of time imaging labs. Imaging computers is best described as setting up one computer with all the needed software and updates installed and then taking a digital picture of the hard drive. Then going to various computers that need to be just like the set up computer and saving that picture to their hard drive.

I feel that in my write-up I am perhaps missing large project that is also in the works. But I just can't currently recall what it is.

Time

2008-05-14T23:08:00.002-04:00

All times are calculated to the time I wrote this blog.

Time I have been alive:
204177 Hours 48 Minutes or
8507 Days 9 Hours 48 Minutes

Time in High School (1st day to Graduation):
33343 Hours or
1389 Days 7 Hours

Dating Charisse:
4685 Hours 12 Minutes or
195 Days 5 Hours 12 Minutes

Time in Europe:
2650 Hours or
110 Days 10 Hours

On Memory

2008-05-09T03:36:00.002-04:00

How does one judge life? Should a scale be placed upon deeds, words, or thoughts? None of these are calculable save by God himself. Perhaps our life is not the accumulation of deeds or thoughts save those that remain unto posterity. And when shalt posterity break under the monolithic weight of the charge dealt them by their forefathers? A new era will then be ushered in, a new banner charged, and new history written. Few will be honored, and fewer yet truly remembered. No my friend, I strive not to be honored; just remembered. Yet the weight of our story will only hasten the future collapse of mind; we shall as all others fade into eternity.

Perhaps the future trials in life will collect my remembrance; perhaps some history not written shall survive. All this be upon my memory...

Entering the Adult World

2008-05-06T20:42:00.002-04:00

Becoming an adult is harder than one might think. Sure I understand that there are multiple responsibilities that one must fulfill; financial, personal, civic, and more. I understand most of these and am prepared for them. Not that I am claiming I will be perfect mind you. But I found that there is one responsibility that I was not expecting. How does one begin drinking with ones parents. My dad offered me a Bailey's tonight. He said "Would you like to try one." There are a few ways that I could handle such a situation: 1.) "Hell ya!" - This approach signifies that I know and love the drink. 2.) "Thanks, but I don't drink." - He may think I'm lying. or 3.) "Sure I'll give it a try." - which is lying to myself; I know that I have had it before.

An interesting dilemma...

Earthquake!

2008-04-18T11:00:00.002-04:00

So last night was an earthquake, or very early this morning I should say. It registered as a 5.4. Currently, the national geological survey has stated that the event was centered in southern Illinois very near the Indiana border. I was here at Windermere in Muncie when I felt the building shake. In some ways it was very cool. Living in Indiana though we don't normally expect earthquakes. Sadly, I admit that my first thought was that someone had dropped a bomb on either Chicago or Indianapolis. Now I guess I will expect earthquakes instead.

As I am writing this my whole room just shook again. Yikes. Hours later.

Who's the Cynic Now? Best Joke I've Heard in a While!

2008-04-10T19:26:00.006-04:00

Two mathematicians were having dinner in a restaurant, arguing about the average mathematical knowledge of the American public. One mathematician claimed that this average was woefully inadequate, the other maintained that it was surprisingly high.

“I’ll tell you what,” said the cynic. “Ask that waitress a simple math question. If she gets it right, I’ll pick up dinner. If not, you do.” He then excused himself to visit the men’s room, and the other called the waitress over.

“When my friend comes back,” he told her, “He's going to ask you a question, and I want you to respond `one-third x cubed.’ There’s twenty bucks in it for you.” She agreed.

The cynic returned from the bathroom and called the waitress over. “The food was wonderful, thank you,” the mathematician started. “Incidentally, do you know what the integral of x squared is?”

The waitress looked pensive; almost pained. She looked around the room, at her feet, made gurgling noises, and finally said, “Um, one-third x cubed?”

So the cynic paid the check. The waitress wheeled around, walked a few paces away, looked back at the two men, and muttered under her breath, “…plus a constant.”

I found this joke at: http://wildaboutmath.com/2008/03/21/math-knowledge-humor/
There was one little spot where I had to polish up the joke a little. Otherwise it wasn't near as funny. (Unless you didn't even catch it.) Albeit, I like my version of it better.

Ode to Steph

2008-04-05T11:57:00.002-04:00

Today I write about a fabulous person. A person of great personal choice (such as that of peach cobbler), an intuitive mind, and a support of the Cleveland Indians (you know you wanna). That is right - I am talking about you, Steph. Stephanie J Belesky - thou cooker of cobbler, cutter of cichlids, and thou creator of couscous. By the power vested in me, by the creative mind of Charisse, I celebrate your crowning as "cooker queen."

The Last Few Days

2008-04-04T09:42:00.003-04:00

Well the Indians have gotten off to a good start, not a great start, but a nice solid start. I am glad to see that Detroit is bottoming out. I can not tell you exactly how livid I am that the Tigers were picked to lead the AL Central Division this year before the season started. I realize that they look at the trades and numbers of the lineup, but lets also remember that Cleveland won the AL Central last year and we have the same team returning this year. We should have been favored at least for the first game. But I guess in the end it all works out because Detroit is very last in the division having lost all three of their games this year. (As a unique surprise: Kansas City is leading the division with three straight wins.)

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend my first convention/conference. It was hosted by Microsoft in Indianapolis at the Indiana Convention Center. I went by myself and had a blast. Sign-in was very simple. I walked in told them my name, I think that the girl checked my name off in the computer and handed my an absolute ton of software.

I received copies of: Windows Vista Ultimate (w/ SP1), Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2008, Windows Mobile 6 Developer Resource Kit, and a 90 Subscription to Windows Live Services.

I didn't expect to get that much software if any at all. At the most I expected to collect a lot of free pens and business cards from the vendors. Which surprisingly I only got one pen. Windows Vista Ultimate has been something that I have wanted for months now, but have not had the hundreds of dollars needed to buy it outright ($400) or upgrade ($159). So to get the full version has and is thrilling me to no end.

But I must now leave the world of blogging for I have a busy day ahead. I need to upgrade to Vista Ultimate. Then I plan on cleaning out, reorganizing, and importing music to my iTunes library. I need to update Charisse's website as well as looking into the possibility of switching my hosting packages to godaddy as it is cheaper. Then I have to go to parking services and argue a ticket. Should be a fun day.

Opening Day 2008!!!

2008-03-31T14:41:00.005-04:00

I would just like everyone to see the radar as I see it a half hour prior to first pitch in Cleveland! Ridiculous! This is beyond unfair. I realize that as a Cleveland fan I am obligated to grip and stare hopefully at the future as we all have for decades. But how exactly am I supposed to say "This is the season, I can just feel it..." - When the Indians haven't won a world series since '48; the Browns have won since '62; and the Cavs have never won.) - when it is going to rain! And I have this whole day planned out. I studied early that way I would have the afternoon available for watching the game. I made sure that MLB.TV was airing the game. I made sure that all my software was up-to-date. I went and got pizza, pop, and hotdogs. What happens: it rains! Not the grip that I was expecting to divulge.

Go Tribe! I feel it.. This is THE year.

How Geeky Can I get?

2008-03-15T01:36:00.003-04:00

I think that this spring break was a lot of fun. While I didn't go and do too many dramatic things, I think that my dad and I got to spend some real quality time together. One of the nights we sat and youtubed some old video clips and watched for hours. We watched some old movies together as well. But one of my favorite things that happened during the week was dad pulled out the projector and some of the old family slides; some of them being almost 50 years old or more. We spent hours going through the pictures and talking about the people, events, and memories.

I also began working on implementing my family history project. I am not sure how well it will work out right now. But since no one particular person knows the entire family history, I created a wiki - based on the wikipedia.org format - for the family to create pages for various events and people. It is not currently live online yet. I still have some set-up work to do. Nor do I know that it will catch on, be used, or be useful for all the pictures. But at the moment I have my computer running server software and it will host this wiki shortly. I also plan to begin migrating some of my various website over to my computer/server too. I do need to know how dependable my computer will be as a server.

I use wikipedia for a lot of information hunting, and it is really weird to see an article about me. Perhaps in the near future I will launch the site and everyone can see it!

{Data Sets:: Mathematics in WoW}

2008-03-10T14:37:00.004-04:00

I do realize that I discuss World of Warcraft a lot. And lately I have been trying to figure out what is my draw to the game. Millions of people around the world are absolutely addicted to the game. Perhaps in a few ways I am too. However, I have been able to walk away for months before, and I am confident that I could if I need to again.

But I think that one of the most drawing elements of the game is the mathematics. On the most simple of levels the object of the game is to advance your character from level 1 to level 70 (soon to be 80); a progression through a set, sequence, array, or list - depending on how you look at it.

However if the advancement of characters were the only element of the game blizzard would have had trouble maintaining members. To this effect there are various "end game content." For my purposes here I will define some elements of the game as end game content that can be completed prior to the maximum level. As you progress through the game you encounter various "factions." You earn a reputation, either positive or negative, which will later be beneficial or detrimental to you. Certain factions, such as the "Wintersaber Trainers" (Alliance). allow you to get a mount, a ridable beast that speeds your travel time, when you have become exalted. Perhaps I should take a step back though. The positive track for reputation follows this order: Neutral, Friendly, Honored, Revered, Exalted. Each level requires more and more reputation points. For instance: going from Neutral (0) to Friendly (0) is a 3000 point progression. Whereas the jump from Friendly to Honored is 6000; then 12000 and 21000 for the next two respective stages. While various quests and mobs (monsters & enemy computer characters) may give reputation points the task is still difficult. Within this progression one can figure percentages, averages, points vs. time, etc. Most of this information has no effect on actually game play but could if used properly help improve efficiency in the case of reputation farming.

Other elements of "end game content" include PvP (player vs. player) content: the honor points. You can join arena teams and compete for gear (armor). The arena teams have highly complicated formula that constantly calculates the number of honor points you recieve per match in proportion to your winning percentage. I have seen the formula but do not know it from memory. A second form of PvP is the battle grounds. Where you have a specific geographic area in which to compete with members of the opposite major faction (Alliance or Horde). In this form kills on the opposite team can yield honor. And should your faction emerge victorious from the battle you may win tokens which can be used to purchase items and mounts.

The Auction House is a major form of in game mathematics as well as economics. The world of warcraft has a legitimate economy. There is supply and demand. Each character is unable to make, gather, and supply himself with all the necessary supplies and equipment during the game. However, within his/her own profession he/she can supply more than needed. The market place is called the auction house. This forum allows players to sell and buy using the game's gold standard. It has been demonstrated that person can make thousands of gold only by "trading." I read an article about an economics professor who had a level 1 character with 10,000 gold - thats a lot. He never actually went out and played his character. Instead he used the auction house to buy low and sell high.

There are countless other examples of ingame mathematics: flight times, money, stats, buffs, ratings, etc. But there are a few examples of math relating to wow that do not take place as a direct relation to the game. Some websites, like warcraftrealms.com, track the number of characters online. They rely on scans submitted by members, but due the high number of people that scan during game play the data is fairly accurate. You can see your progression on a week to week basis if not day by day. You can see when the last time your friends or guild mates were seen online. They also track guild activity and the number of active members. This all rolls into server activity. Just fun little FYI-kind of information.

In conclusion: WoW=Data=Cool

Frame of Mind

2008-03-06T01:47:00.007-05:00

It is 1:45am and I am getting ready for bed. I do what most people do and look to AIM and consider an appropriate away message. As I was preparing these wondrous thoughts I saw that I had an over abundance of "saved" away messages listed; some dating back to my first few weeks of freshman year at Ball State. I thought it would be fun to republish these projections of my frame of mind in their original unedited form - complete with titles.

@corys
over @ Cory & Brian's. Call me on my cell (440)823-1682

around
around

away message
This IS my away message!

Bah Humbug
thinks that sometimes Microsoft doesn't really think. FOR INSTANCE: perhaps I WAS aware that I was not using windows xp to try and download a driver from the windows xp resource center. It is a network driver. Perhaps I knew that if I was able to connect to the internet to use the resource center with the correct computer there would be no need to the damned drivers. Thus I may have to use a computer that may not need the driver to obtain said driver. At the moment I HATE MICROSOFT!

band
@ marching band until 5.

Brains & Breasts
I need breasts with brains. I don’t mean individual brains, obviously... I mean, not a brain each. You know, I like intelligent women, but you’ve got to draw the line somewhere... I think breast brains would be over-egging the woman pudding.

call
if you need me, call me. zzzzz

carters
Carters

Class
Class and the daily grind....

Coffee
Going out for some coffee!

cold
Trying to avoid coming down with the cold that is inevitable.

Colts Game Day
Family, Friends, and the Indianapolis Colts!

computer repairs
making the computer repair rounds. lol.

Coupling
Watching Coupling... A true study for the four pillars of male heterosexuality - We like: Naked Women, Stockings, Lesbians, and Sean Connery best as James Bond.

Coupling (2)
Wobblewars....

Default Away Message
I am away from my computer right now.

dinner
food

eh somewhere here I am
somewhere possibly around. perhaps doing chores, running errands, etc

errands
running all sorts of fun errands

Exam Certification
Yikes, a day of testing. Here's to hoping that I pass this certification exam!

Game (Band)
Performing at todays game. I hope that I will be back home within about 10 or 11pm tonight. We shall see... Go Cards! (If we win today we are bowl eligible, and will probably go to alabama for the GMAC bowl.)

Harry Potter!
@ the Harry Potter 4 Midnight showing.

I am Away
I am away from my computer right now.

misti home
Driving Misti home to goshen. Will be away for a few hours.

on the run
on the run

party lounge
Down in the DeHo lounge. Party time.

Playing Game
I am not available because I am playing a computer game that takes up the whole screen.

Shakespeare Sleep
Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed
The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
But then begins a journey in my head
To work my mind, when body’s work’s expir’d:
For then my thoughts—from far where I abide—
Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
Looking on darkness which the blind do see:
Save that my soul’s imaginary sight
Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,
Makes black night beauteous and her old face new.
Lo! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,
For thee, and for myself no quiet find.

shower
shower time!

sleep
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... sleep

Sleep + Blog
Sleeping... Check out what I thought of the new Harry Potter film; leave a comment if you'd like. http://dragonfyre2825.blogspot.com/

stake n shake
@ steak 'n shake

starcraft
play starcraft at the moment. If I were to answer you I would lag the game out. Call my cell phone: 440-823-1682

United way concert
Getting ready and heading over to emens to perform as the grand finale of the united way benefit concert.

Chicago-Style

2008-02-17T16:06:00.004-05:00

Today Charisse and I flew to Chicago. We were pushing it to get to the airport on time. I think that we made it to the airport with about 15 minutes until takeoff. After running down the wrong concourse, we boarded the plane. The flight to Chicago was quick and mostly uneventful. The landing probably scared a few first time fliers; we had a sudden quick drop onto the runway. After exiting the airport we picked up a day passes for the metro. We took the train downtown to the loop. With no other plans than getting into the city we began to wander. We found ourselves in Millennium Park viewing some ice art. The ice was formed into tall panels and was colored. It was really quite fascinating! After wandering around we hit Starbucks and walked toward the art institute. The first place we walked through was the Impressionist gallery - I like impressionism. Charisse wanted to take me to a great little dinner place that she knew and so we walked around downtown Chicago in search of it. While I realize that I tease her about it a bit, I truly enjoyed the exercise. Dinner was fantastic; it was my first experience with Chicago pizza. Before we headed back home we stopped by Barnes & Noble - I'm such a dork - and spent some time. We probably spent too much time in the bookstore because upon getting off the train at the airport we realized that we have only a few minutes to board the plane and yet again found ourselves running across the concourse. All in all, I was very happy with the over all experience.

"...But he plays Chicago style..." ~ Bing Crosby/Bob Hope

Thoughts from the bottom of a bottle

2008-02-16T00:25:00.004-05:00

Sometimes I ask myself why I really attend parties. There are some that I really enjoy; and some of which I am not that fond. I love spending time with my friends; the camaraderie, the laughs, and general good times. But a lot of it feels like I forcing. The parties that we attend or host comprise of lots of rap music, jumping around, and drama. I feel that I really work hard to enjoy and be a part of this style and no one really realizes that it is not something that I find enjoyable nor comfortable. I try to learn a few of the dances that seem to be a staple of any of our events, but no one really shows any interest in what interests me. I am always trying to please everyone else and I, frankly, am tired; tired of it; tired of putting myself out there.

Thoughts from the bottom of a bottle...

Thoughts from the Shower

2008-02-12T20:32:00.000-05:00

Awhile back Charisse and I took a "relationship readiness" exam that was required for her marriage class. At the time I was really worried that she would get the results back and take them way to seriously. I think that if anyone is guilty of such acts it would most likely be myself. While I haven't and won't view the test as the end-all-know-all and defining moment of our relationship it was interesting to see the results. I am not worried a bit about Charisse; the results have however, given me pause to contemplate my own situation.

At the very beginning of my relationship with Charisse I was overly worried that it would end at any point. Now that I am getting more and more comfortable with the existence of the relationship I have become more relaxed I think, and am able to 'push some bounds' a little; not in a bad way though.

However, the real thought driving this post is one of the major markers of this test was our family backgrounds and histories. I have been giving a great deal of though over the last couple of years on how best, if at all, to bridge the gap and open a dialogue with my mother. I think that this test, while not of any real effect, has made me stretch a little and examine my own person and interpersonal relationships. I would eventually love to have some sort of solid, or at least conversant, relationship with all members of my family. I would very much like my mother, despite all history, to know Charisse. At this current point this should not be confused as a seeking of approval from my mother, perhaps that can come later after some ties have been formed. I just feel that my mother, the woman that gave birth to me, has missed a great many important moments of my life. I am quickly approaching a section of my life that may very well be filled with such "important moments" that I would hate for her to miss.

As I said, these are thoughts from the shower...

My World of Warcraft Hacked

2008-02-11T01:48:00.000-05:00

I think, but am not completely sure that my World of Warcraft (WoW) account was hacked. A few reasons as to why I believe this: first I checked my email and found an email sent two days ago by blizzard saying that my account password had been changed. I was in Cleveland and didn't take my computer with me. I was not playing WoW and didn't change my password. I immediately sent blizzard an email and will follow up with a phone call in the morning. I have not checked my account yet because I am at Charisse's apartment and do have access. I tried to access the "Account Management" portion of the WoW website and had no luck. So I had the auto reset password thing do just that. I have now reset my password, and probably placed a hold on my account due to contacting blizzard, but I don't know what is missing. Also the WoW armory website updates each time a user logs off a character. While it is not up to the minute data it does in fact notate the day of the update. The armory currently says February 10, 2008; yesterday, Sunday. A day I was driving from Cleveland to Muncie. I have not been on WoW since Thursday. I am worried that my gold that I have been saving for my mount is not stolen and that all my items are indeed there. I shall know in a few hours. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Monsieur Chopin

2008-02-11T01:36:00.000-05:00

Monsieur Chopin is the second installment in the "Composer Sonata." Charisse and I already saw "Gershwin Alone" (the third installment) and are excited about the possibility of seeing "Beethoven, As I knew him," the first installment.

Monsieur Chopin was delightfully entertaining. We saw Hershey Felder perform at the Drury Theater - Cleveland Playhouse. I was very excited because both Charisse and Dad went with me to see it. Like the Gershwin show this was a one man show that explored the life, music, and story of Chopin. I enjoyed how intelligently the show is written. The general audience is a much older crowd - which one may assume has more knowledge, culture, and experience than most my peers - and the humor and references where directed accordingly. Like the previous show upon the conclusion there was an audience participation exercise. In this particular instance however, the death of Chopin was not covered until after the audience participation. I believe Gershwin was finished before the curtain was.

I truly enjoyed and would solidly recommend this and its sister show.
9 February 2008

2008 Theatre count (3)

MMM.....

2008-02-07T22:37:00.000-05:00

I have plenty to say and keep thinking that I should write a blog or two, however this is the first opportunity that I have had to sit down and write and have remembered my intent. That being said; I am going to go to IHOP to eat because I have not really eaten all day (well only one or two tacos) and would like something. I think that Charisse, Steph, Chet, Sara, and I are going to go. Misti says that she is tired and not interested. More to come...

Moving Out

2008-01-24T21:46:00.000-05:00

So Sara, Charisse, and I went to Emens here on campus to see the musical/interpretive dance/play "Moving Out." Based on the music of Billy Joel. Normally, I tend to fear a performance prior to and by the final curtain I am completely in love with it. This... is not the case. It was horrid. There was no way to understand the story as there were no speaking characters. The whole first act appeared to be fish flopping around on stage. Sure some of the dance moves are complicated and require real talent to perform, but just because you can do them doesn't mean that you should or that it fits the story.

The choreography was mediocre at best. There were too many people on stage doing to many things that were non-cohesive. With the absolute lack of a narritive there should be less going on. It becomes way too distracting.

I think that I could continue to rail this show but to be honest, it isn't worth any more of my time. I wanted to leave at intermission but actually stayed for the whole show. They got enough of my time.

2008 Theatre Count (2)

George Gershwin Alone

2008-01-24T12:46:00.000-05:00

On 20 January 2008 Charisse and I ventured to the Cleveland Playhouse to catch a musical play. The title: "George Gershwin Alone." We didn't realize it at the time but this is the third installment in the composer sonata. In music a sonata is usually comprised of three parts, each part having its own flavor and tone. I believe that this portion is probably the most popular as it has been performed almost six times as many time as the other portions.

The one and only performer in the show was Hershey Felder. He also researched and wrote the script. The show followed Gershwin's life from childhood until his death at the age of 38. I enjoyed the show because it was entertaining, educational (pertaining to history, biographical, and musically), light-hearted, and just downright fun. To use a quote from the show (and apparently a critic of Gershwin), "It was downright pedestrian." The preceding is meant in the best of lights obviously.

2008 Theatre Count (1)

Breathing Deeply

2008-01-18T01:09:00.001-05:00

Let me just state for the record that I don't like mono or strep-throat at all. Not fun. The thing that I am having the most trouble with, at least at the time of this blog, is how tired I am all the time. I don't like being tired; it is very frustrating.

On more of a positive note: Charisse and I are driving back to Brecksville tomorrow after she is done with classes at 10am. That should be fun. I think that we will do well with beating the rush to leave Muncie (most people aren't done by 10am). We don't have a lot of items as a set schedule. I know that there are a few things that we would like to do. I have some appointments that I need to take care of, but other than those I think we will just bum around and hang out with my dad. It should be fun.

I talked with Annie today. I really enjoy talking with her yet every time I feel so bad because I am terrible about staying in contact with people - even family. I don't send out cards (birthday, Christmas, thank-yous, or get-wells). I mean to, but never seem to follow through. I have for a long time figured that these habits of connection with others would be a trait that I would grow into or develop. I am now beginning to understand that I am more-than-likely going to really have to work at it. I am getting beyond the age were it is excusable.

Well, it is currently 1:14am and surprisingly is very well past my bedtime. Lately I have been getting full night sleeps. And it is doing very well. These Windermere beds suck though. My back always hurts. But I must now to sleep. Bon nuit.

An Update

2008-01-14T09:04:00.001-05:00

Well, I haven't blogged in a while. You know, the usual report on life. To be honest, a lot has happened recently. After finals Charisse, Stephanie, and I traveled to Brecksville for a week. It was a lot of fun. In a previous post I just included a quote of Stephanie's blog to describe the week. (It was much more accurate than I would have gotten.) Then I brought the girls back to Muncie so that they could pick up their cars and return home for the holidays. I returned to Brecksville. Then my dad and I drove all the way to Raleigh, North Carolina to see my cousins and spend Christmas with them. It was a lot of fun with the exception that I started to come down with a cold. I was also working over break because Barnes and Noble was short-handed and down a few managers due to illness. So I flew back to Cleveland for a few days to work. I flew Southwest which was an experience in boarding. However I was happy with the airlines because they have a fair amount of room for legs and feet - and that makes me happy. But as I worked I noticed that I was getting sicker and sicker. I returned to Raleigh and spent some more time with the family. Then my dad and I drove back to Ohio. My dad and I spent New Year's together. I felt bad that he was trying so hard to do something special and I was so sick. But what can you do.

I drove back to Muncie on 2 January. At this point I was very sick. Early in the morning on the 3rd the marching band, cheerleaders, and football team boarded a bus convoy and drove to Toronto, Canada. We were headed to the International Bowl to play Rutgers. Rutgers started the year ranked 5th in the nation. The band was quite busy during those few days. But Ball State put us up in the Sheraton Hotel and gave us a daily stipend. There were pep rallies, practices, and a battle of the bands. Technically the battle of the bands was a "tie," however even the Rutgers fans came over to us and said, 'We are true Rutgers football fans, but you are a better band.' And during the game some of the Rutgers band members commented that we were a better band. (We could hold straight lines.) Despite the team losing badly during the game I would venture to say that it was a winning experience. Perhaps not for Ball State because we lost a lot of money just going, but for those who had the opportunity to go. I was also very happy that my dad had the opportunity to go. It probably wasn't the easiest experience for him due to the massive amount of driving. But he and Alex made it to the game and that really meant a lot to me, even if I didn't do the best in showing it. I was just very sick. I didn't let my sickness get the better of me though. I couldn't. I didn't miss a minute of practice. My roommates in Toronto tried very hard to get me to just sit during practice. But when I saw some people taken to the hospital due to a stomach virus, I knew I didn't really have it all that bad. After the return drive to Muncie - which I really didn't get much sleep on - Charisse drove me to the Emergency Room to get checked out. While I was in Canada I found some huge white splotches in the back of my throat. They were not flat and they were big, making them not only annoying but a labor for breathing. The doctors immediately said strep-throat, mono, and gave me information about tonsillitis too. It turned out that I didn't have the later; thankfully. But I have been fighting the former two for a number of days now.

Also this semester due to some questionable policies from Ball State and their lack of desire to adjust grading for a tenured professor, I am not taking classes this semester. Instead I am working on a few of my certifications. Which in some ways makes me very happy. I think that doing it this way will be much more efficient in the long run. I am treating it like a class and I have the ability to study multiple hours a days. Whereas most people getting these certs are doing it an hour here or there after getting home from a full time job. I think I will greatly reduce the amount of time it will take to get certified. Not to mention it will be a really great addition to my resume.

Cleveland Trip 2007

2007-12-20T19:27:00.000-05:00

I was very excited that over the past week both Charisse and Stephanie were able to come and spend some time in Brecksville (Cleveland), Ohio. I have never really had any of my friends come home and spend time with my family so it was a really enjoyable experience. I would outline it and describe every detail but I found out that Stephanie already did that on her blog so I think that I shall just copy her entire blog entry into my post.

Well, Christmas break has been going on for about a week now, and so far, it's been pretty much amazing! Last Friday, I packed up and went to Cleveland with two of my best friends. This is a trip we've been planning on for quite some time now, and for a while, I was worried that we weren't going to be able to go at all. We did go, however, and I think it was the best trip I've been on with my friends so far!

We left around 2 on Friday afternoon. It was the beginning of a very fun (long) five hour drive to Cleveland. We listened to a variety of music, talked, and drank the nectar of the gods (aka Starbucks). We arrived at Nick's house around 7pm, and quickly decided that we were all very hungry and were willing to drive for another 40 minutes to Hudson, Ohio to eat at San Francisco Oven (SFO). THAT was a good choice. The chef there definitly knows what he's doing. At least according to Charisse he does, I don't know everything about food and foodieness. I thought the food was very good, and the environment of the restaurant was very cool. We then drove around Hudson and looked at the many light displays. I don't think I've ever seen so many roman candles in my life! I also saw some of the most beautiful homes I had ever seen. To end the day, we drove Wildcat Hill. (At least I think that's the name of it, Nick if it's wrong, let me know and I'll change it!) Going down the hill the way I would drive, it would be nothing special, but the way Mr. Luthy, Nick's dad, drives it, it was really fun! I think the most fun part was watching Nick in the rear view mirror and listening to him laugh in the back seat. Fun times.

On Saturday the three of us went to downtown Cleveland. Our first stop was West Side Market. This was my first market experience, and hopefully there will be many more to come! After the market trip, we went to the Art museum, another first for me! I know, as much as I love art, and my major being very art-inspired, you'd think I would have been to many art museums by now, but this is not the case. I've been to the art museum here at BSU, but I don't really count that because I spent about 20 minutes in there because it was a class "field trip". That is not nearly enough time to really take in what the art museum has to offer. Next we went to The Great Lakes Brewery for lunch and had some more amazing food! (Perogies and bratwurst for me! ) After lunch we went back to the house and hung out for a while before building a large fire, and enjoyed some hot chocolate, popcorn, and other various munchies, listened to amazing old records (yes, actual records!), and each other.

On Sunday we didn't go to downtown, but stayed in Brecksville. The plan was to set up the Christmas tree in the house, go to Qdoba for lunch, then go to Lowes and look at lights because we are that nerdy, then go to Michael's. The tree turned out really well I thought. Nick, Charisse and I decorated it using a variety of ornaments from various generations. We then made it to Qdoba, and to Lowes, but not Michael's. We ended up spending about 3 1/2 hours in Lowes looking around the entire store! That was a lot of fun as well! I've never been to Lowes for the sole purpose of just looking around and hanging out. I've always been with my parents and it's not nearly as fun with them!

Monday we just kind of hung around the house, took pictures and played dress up! Well, Charisse and I played dress up, Nick opted out. It was a lot of fun. We also planned what we were going to wear to dinner that night at Eddy's Creekside, which is a semi-formal restaurant. It's owned and run by the same people who own SFO, but there are no similarities between the two. It was also very good, and the restaurant was absolutely gorgeous! After Eddy's we went to Family Video and rented a couple movies in case we got snowed in. There was a prediction of snow and both Charisse's hometown and my hometown had gotten a lot of snow during the day. We rented a good variety of movies and watched most of them over the course of the rest of our stay.

Tuesday we went to the Science Center, which Nick and I really enjoyed. Charisse didn't enjoy it as much just because it's not quite her thing. I felt bad, but there wasn't a lot I could do. It was fun though. We did some driving in downtown rush hour traffic which is ALWAYS fun... not... but really, it was cool. We played Padiddle which is always fun. Alex, Nick's brother, made it on Monday night and spent a while with us. The five of us went to supper on Tuesday night and interrupted a serious tournament of Scrabble. Not really, but it sure seemed like it. It was fun though. I went grocery shopping with Alex and Mr. Luthy. Alex is hilarious, so that was a lot of fun.

Wenesday everyone packed up to go home. The drive to Muncie was a lot of fun, as was the drive to Cleveland. More good music, good discussion and overall good company. I found that I'm still not a big fan of the Beatles, but I do like The Doors, and I really like The Beach Boys!

So yeah, overall, this was a really REALLY fun trip. I really like Cleveland and the surrounding areas and I hope that we can go back again and visit some more!

Aesop's Tables - A Date Night Adventure

2007-12-07T00:49:00.000-05:00

So today was an awesome day! I of course had classes today, but that is not what made it awesome. Just before one of my classes Misti, Charisse, and I went to Pizza Hut for lunch. That was a lot of fun, although I did use the time to study, or at least quickly glance over some schoolwork. But the real fun of the day was getting ready for our date. I know that we are "dating," so whats the big deal about a date? Well, we don't get a lot of time to spend together and I don't think that we have actually been on a date before. So I, being rushed for time as I usually am, rushed around town trying to get my errands completed (I had to put gas in the car, pick up my dry-cleaning, pick up flowers for Charisse, and get dressed). I was very excited. Since Charisse loves Calla-Lilies and they are very hard to find on short notice, I found a glass vase that looks like a Calla-Lily and had a flower arrangement placed in it.

So after picking Charisse up we drove to Indianapolis to a restaurant called "Aesop's Tables." It is a Mediterranean / Greek establishment. However, before I begin to talk about the restaurant I think that it is worth mentioning all the Christmas lights that we saw along the drive into Indianapolis; they mad Charisse very happy indeed. I will edit this blog and post what we actually had to eat tomorrow. Frankly, I am a bit tired currently and cannot remember. The feel of the restaurant was very true to style. The food was excellent and the service was polite and attentive.

Overall, the evening was fun. Charisse and I spent hours together, by ourselves, drama free. We had a plethora of conversations about any variety of topics. It was so refreshing to be able to do this date night. Not that I have anything against my friends and hanging out around them all the time, but we never get the opportunity to be truly by ourselves and just understand each other. I really loved this evening and spending time with my beautiful girlfriend!

Outrageous

2007-12-04T00:44:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I spent a few minutes talking about one of my favorite shows. I, however, do have a bunch of other television shows that I enjoy watching on occasion. I am absolutely livid that most of them have halted production due to the writers strike! It is absolutely outrageous. I loathe unions. I think that they are ridiculous, worthless, and only serve the union itself and rarely help the members. When unions were first created the concept was great. They helped the little people. They cleaned up the workplace, worked towards fair labor, and labor laws. Now, they seek to disturb society, life, and garner profits to line the executive's pockets. Granted in the case of this writers strike the members may get some more money and perhaps a new style of credit for their work, but in the process shows that where fighting with ratings to stay alive have been halted perhaps permanently, thus putting ALL the other workers out of jobs. Not to mention the lowly assistants for the shows that will weather the storm are no longer needed whilst the strike is taking place and subsequently have been released! Unions are thoughtless, greedy, selfish, and useless. In one word unions are: Outrageous.

A break from philosophy

2007-12-02T23:55:00.001-05:00

I have noted that the last couple of entries on this blog have been either high-minded or just plain out of my mind. So I thought that I would change the tone for a little bit.

Lately, I have not really spent a great deal of time watching television or playing video games. However, this evening I have had the opportunity to watch a few episodes of Stargate Atlantis. I realize that someone who is not a fan of the show would probably think the stories fairly hokey or very absurd. I have found a great deal of enjoyment in the Stargate saga. I have seen the 1994 movie, all 214 episodes of Stargate SG1, and each of the 69 current episodes of Stargate Atlantis. I find the writing creative, intelligent, forward looking, and relevant. The writers are able to touch on issues that face the world today and discuss them with much of the restraints that society dictates due to the frame of reference: alien societies. I am very much looking forward to the next spin off series: Stargate Univerise, and the two SG1 movies that are currently in production.

Changes

2007-11-26T12:45:00.000-05:00

Life has its changing moments. I find that as I progress ever onward towards 'real life' and graduation that I experience a never-ending stream of surprises and changing situations. Events and activities that have previously been held as ones of great importance for me have begun to fade, some only by slight degrees.

I also have had my circle of friends change quite dramatically; neither better nor worse, just different. I value all of my friends very much. It is just a different life than the one that I lived not two or so years past. On the odd occasion I feel that I am being thrust into the real world. I am beginning to need to consider possibilities in futures of which I may want to partake. I have to seriously consider where I would like to live; what I would like to do with my life; and who best to spend that time with. Not that I am making any drastic choices such as career changes now or anything. I am just feeling some of the pressures of adulthood and the enormous decisions thereof.

Some of the more "college-type activities" I have been getting away from. I have not logged onto WoW for quite some time now. I have just been too busy and previously occupied. And to those friends, I would like to say that I am sorry for not visiting you. I shall make the most valiant of efforts to spend time online over Christmas break. It is not that games and online friends are any less important, I just have had plenty of things on my plate to occupy my time.

So I raise my glass (currently full of eggnog) to the future and its possibilities.
Cheers!

Turkey

2007-11-23T18:13:00.000-05:00

First I would like to point out that I just now realized that I have two posts with similar titles. Be that as it may. Thanksgiving has been an interesting time. I have had time to spend with family, eat some wonderful foods, clean, paint, organize, sort, relive some old memories, and most of all time to think.

I think...

... many things. I have spent a great deal of time thinking; normally my time spent thinking is in directly proportion to the amount of time I spend in the shower. I have thought about family, friends, and those family and friends that I care about very much. I am trying to do right with my life and I believe that this weekend has allowed me some time to really examine my past as well as ponder and pray about my present and future. I do not know what the near future will bring let alone the time along the horizon.

It is my hope that the members of my family will find the proper solace in each other and strength to correctly move forward with their own lives. I pray that the decisions and relationships of my family will come quickly with wisdom and grace.

I also hope that my group of friends will continue to succeed and prosper. I hope that we all have the strength to be true to ourselves and unto each other, despite the occasion 'stepping on feet.' I hope that bended emotions right now will only add strength and aid in bonding us together. I hope that we do not withdrawl to our sperate corners of life and severe all communication.

That would be something to be thankful for...

New Friends, Old Friends, and Time Gone By

2007-11-21T23:13:00.000-05:00

The last few weeks have been a very interesting time for me. My grandmother passed away just after her 90th birthday. I was not quite sure what and how to feel. At the time I focused mainly on support of my family.

In the interim I have been having a lot of fun my senior year at Ball State University. I am in the marching band yet again. Our team is currently 7-5 with a strong possibility of a bowl game for the first time since 1996. A lot will depend on the outcome of the game on Saturday.

I have also begun to hang out with a whole new circle of friends. We tend to have a lot of fun together often hosting parties or events. To the best of my knowledge we have hosted: 3 chili nights, birthday parities (for Jay, Sara, and Misti), the Halloween/Costume Party, Thanksgiving dinner, and probably some I cannot remember. We also have gone to parties hosted by others such as the 80s part that Joe threw.

I am currently back in Cleveland for Thanksgiving break. When I got into town I found that we were cleaning, painting, and sorting things that belonged to my grandparents. I somehow found myself in the basement looking through boxes (searching for my passport I believe) and ran into a few boxes of pictures from my life. They covered everything between birth to senior prom - most pictures from after high school are either in Muncie or online. As I looked through the pictures I could not help reflecting on life and the choices that one makes. While I cognitively understand that we cannot reverse the decision and history of our past, it is interesting to contemplate that alternative possibilities. Also it is thought provoking to review past relationships and see if they have anything to offer towards those that are current or those that may yet to be. Whether ten minutes or ten years down the line, I would hope that I can offer much to some bonnie young lass.

It is also so weird to look at some of the pictures, these windows to the past, and recall the memories which are so vivid and see some young children, happy, and Innocent. I wonder if I could lean into this window and inform them of the decisions that would be made, the history created, and emotions that be used. Not that I would want to change history. But sometimes you just want to smack yourself. I think that it would be difficult to change history and for me to be who I am today. We are after all a conglomeration of our decisions and memories. I only hope that I can learn from these two young look-alikes and improve myself here and now.

On the bright side... I did find my passport.

Chilli, Clowns, Costumes, Cheesecake, and more

2007-10-30T09:14:00.000-04:00

It has been one heck of a week. I have attended three parties, two dinner events - one much less formal and organized than the other, and probably slept a rough total of 10 hours over the last 3 nights.

The first party was Sara Morland's 21st birthday. We just decided to do the village barhop circuit. Friday, I went to Joe Rice's 80s party. Sadly, I remember too much of the 80s as it is. Much of the music I can remember hearing as a child during car rides and such. (The party goers called it vintage or classic; but I don't like remembering things that others view as such. The whole thing makes me feel so much older.) Saturday was the Fall Costume Party - I don't do Halloween - and it was a blast. Steph M made it down from South Bend; it was so good to see her. I went dressed as a magician. I have to laugh because it was such a monumental task to find a real top hat to wear. On Sunday the sacred chili night rituals were held. Our first chili night had probably an attendance of 10 people. We had to have almost doubled the attendance and tripled the recipe. I know that we are hoping for this to become a regular staple of our meal and social lives. Now that we have a bunch of people hooked, we need to get them to toss in a few dollars each. Monday night, last night, I decided to make reuban sandwiches; other than the need to further toast the bread a little more, I believe they turned out well.

Time gone by

2007-10-22T00:32:00.000-04:00

Well, It certainly has been some time since I have last donned this blog with a thought or two. My life in update: New Roommates (Chris, Tiffany, Natalie), Different hang-out friends (Charisse, Stephanie, Sara, Misti), Marching Band, and classes. Did some work for both Nordonia Schools as well as The Edge Network Consulting Group (10CG) over the summer. My free time, what little of it I have, I spend hanging out with friends, reading, World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Racquetball, and other such stuff. Oh and the Indians lost to Boston in game 7 of the ALCS.

I also enjoy watching television on the rare occasion. These are some of the shows that I might spend time to watch: 30 Rock, Back to You, Big Bang Theory, CSI, Family Guy, Heroes, Kyle XY, My Boys, Mythbusters, Prison Break, Robin Hood (BBC), Rules of Engagement, Scrubs, Stargate Atlantis, and Two and a Half Men. Too bad I don't have enough time to watch them all.

I am currently reading the fun, the exciting, the ever-thrilling "Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional." Sounds like a real page turner doesn't it? I am however, looking forward to a few really good books. Eventually Dan Brown will be publishing his fifth book "The Solomon Key," and I am hoping Michael Crichton will have something new. Also I am thinking that I may pick up John Sanford's "Dark of the Moon."

Techno-nick

2007-07-18T17:48:00.000-04:00

Alrighty,

So as my previous post suggests I am having a busy summer. I am working at Barnes & Noble, this week is the release of the final Harry Potter (Deathly Hallows). I am also involved in an internship program with Nordonia Hills City School District. Due to a split and some financial and logistical reworking in the technology department at NHCSD, I am also now doing some internship work with The Edge Network Consulting Group (TENCG; 10cg). So ya... it is getting kinda crazy. Add in my online courses, world of warcraft, friends, family, weddings, concerts, etc... and it will probably feel like vacation to get back to school.

Busy Summer

2007-07-12T15:40:00.001-04:00

I know that I have neglected my blog, which is somewhat sad. This is due to an incredibly busy summer.

I have been working at Barnes & Noble, for my third summer, as well as working at my internship with Nordonia Hills City School District (Summit County, Ohio). I have also been taking three classes online via Ball State University, which I wouldn't be doing again - the program is left lacking in comparison to the hype and potential of the program.

In my free time I have been hanging out with friends, gone to a movie or two, attended a DMB concert (in Chicago), begun to play World of Warcraft, and will be going to Dan's Wedding at the end of the month.

If that weren't enough I am going to study for the test to become a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP). I know that the certification is, amongst other IT professionals, not a great selling point, but it does give me an edge; few other students will have their MCP. The MCP certification is actually achieved while on the path to another certification: MCSE/MCSA. I am working towards my Microsoft Certified Software Engineer (MCSE) which reqires that you pass 7 grueling exams. Once you pass your first of seven you receive your MCP.

At the moment, that is my update.

Oh, ya... and I will have two new roommates next year. Tiffany and Natalie. Both are coming from the southwest to play softball for ball state.

Baseball Cards

2007-06-05T12:11:00.000-04:00

Something that I never expect myself to be doing is collected baseball cards. I have just begun to collect, however, I am not looking for the rare cards or very old cards. My goal is to try and get a card for every player that took the field each year as a Cleveland Indian since 1985 - the year I was born. I am not as concerned about whether it is a Fleer or Topps card. So far I have done fairly well. I am slightly upset that they don't, from what I can tell, make cards for all the players. Hopefully, it will be as complete and impressive collection as I can make it. We shall see.

Movies - Summer 2007

2007-06-01T02:48:00.000-04:00

Last summer the major motion picture studios were whining that no one was going to the movies. We all know that the average citizen doesn't mind when, in four years, the price of the average ticket jumps $5.00; we don't mind one bit. Or that for an entire summer crap and remakes were all that was shoveled towards us and called entertainment; no we don't mind that either. Well, perhaps this summer will be better for the studios, not that they are my main concern.

This summer I plan to see, or have already seen a number of movies. Here is the run down:

Spider-man 3
Shrek the Third
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Ocean's Thirteen
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Evan Almighty
Die Hard 4.0: Live Free or Die Hard
Ratatouille
Transformers
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The Simpsons Movie
Bourne Ultimatum

There are a few other movies that I would consider going to if my friends are going and that is the general consensus for the evening's activity, but are not films that I am actively attempting to see.

Windows Vista

2007-05-29T02:06:00.000-04:00

When Windows XP became available I was not even close to being the first person in line for the new operating system. Now I am beginning to understand. Recently, I bought my father and I both a new computer. I convinced him that vista would be a good way to go. So far I don't think that he has had any major issues with his machine. Mine computer, however, is having a bundle of problems. World of Warcraft crashes constantly. The internet connection is beyond troublesome. I know it is this computer because my laptop is sitting right next to this computer with the same network settings, except it is xp, and the connection is fast as lightning.

The event that prompted me to write this post was the complete and udder 'crash line' I had with Vista moments ago. Program couldn't wait to get in line to crash. IE crashed, Defender Crashed, updaters for various programs crashed. I am half surprised that my computer didn't ask my permission to kill itself or something. It sure didn't ask permission to have all the programs crash. (This sarcasm is based on windows constantly asking the user to 'okay' the use of every single program that you open.)

I have also had great difficulties maintaining a strong wireless network connection. While this is a desktop, we have a home wireless network. It seems that less than every 30 minutes Vista disconnects to verify the network or something. The problem is that very rarely does it every reconnect. In fact the only way to reconnect is to shut down the computer and restart. Then you have about a 33% chance of a connection. Now I am a patient person, but this is ridiculous.

I tried to do windows update to see if anything was available to help with ANY of my problems and IE keeps crashing. Of course once I get IE working the connection will be too slow to download the needed updates. Blah. I don't currently advise Windows Vista; to be blunt - it is a pain in the ass (And this coming from a windows fan).

BoSox and the Silver Platter

2007-05-29T01:53:00.000-04:00

The Cleveland Indians had a tough go of it in Kansas City, but quickly recouped to sweep the Detroit Tigers. Tonight was game 1 against the Boston Red Sox. It was a good game. My complaint, along with every sports fan in Cleveland is with the call made by the umpires during Casey Blake's last at bat. He turned to avoid getting hit by the ball, the ball hit his hands. The Home plate umpire initially told him to take his base. Upon argument by the Red Sox's manager they called him out; they said he swung. My argument does not pertain to the issuing of swinging, however if he did swing, and per the rules of baseball, the hands are part of the bat. If the ball hit the hands, which it did, and lands in foul territory, it landed behind the catcher, he should have been allowed to see another pitch. In stead it was called strike three. Now this all happened with one out, top of the ninth, runners on second and third. If he had walked it would have loaded the bases with one out and Halfner would come to the plate. Or he could have been allowed to see another pitch, and possible gotten a base hit. But instead he was, in my opinion, illegally called out on strikes shaking the confidence of the entire team. Silver Platter delivered by the umpires.

Some Interesting Non-Educational Quizzes

2007-05-28T13:51:00.000-04:00

I was surfing the net today and came across someones myspace (I normally don't read myspace pages) and he had a couple of intriguing quizzes pertaining to the highest political office he could attain and which city he would be.

I took the quizzes and here are the results:

Highest Political Office attainable: President
75% Campaigning, 70% Personality, 53% Effectiveness

Take the Political Office Quiz and see how you compare.

If I were a city I would be Austin, Texas. This slightly perplexes me of course. I realize that the city is very conservative, but I just couldn't stand the warm weather all the time. I was in Austin this past summer (06) for my cousin Kim's wedding. (She got married to Austin in Austin - of course I'm not supposed to make that joke.) It was just too warm. I tended to try and find the nearest air-conditioner and 'guard' it.

Take the City Quiz and see which one you'd be.

Just as a crazy third quiz I decided to see if I was addicted to World Of Warcraft yet. Apparently I am only 52% addicted -not bad,I guess, for only having signed up 13 days ago.

Wooster, Pirates, and Studio 60 Returns

2007-05-27T03:36:00.000-04:00

I went and picked holly up and we headed to Wooster to meet up with a few friends of hers (Danny, Amanda, Susanna, Roy - or Pat; sorry I don't remember). We went to see Pirates 3, it was absolutely hilarious. It took a little while to get into but once wrapped up in the story we just didn't want it to end. We all agreed, however, that there is still a lot of story for these characters yet to tell. There are rumors about a second trilogy and the ending of the movie could be interpreted as a segway. We shall see.

While down in Wooster we had a conversation that included a variant of topics. One of which was television shows. We actually discussed Studio 60 and how we loved it but were quite dismayed at its cancellation. Upon getting home I was putzing around the Internet and discovered that NBC has begun to air the remaining episodes. I really wish that they would continue to air shows like this. I may not agree with the politics of the show, characters, or writers, but I have to applaud the effort at intelligent television as opposed to the truncated force-feed action. I wish I had the money to approach NBC and say "I will pay the production costs as well as the money you would make from advertising for Studio 60. I want you develop a second full season of 60 minute episodes (because I am covering the commercials, thus there is no need for them) and air them in the Thursday timeslot." I mean it is not like NBC is the best network and trying to defend the statistics. They are like fourth I believe. Perhaps they could attempt a first in quality instead of profits.

ROCIE vs. ROCOR

2007-05-22T15:46:00.000-04:00

Most of my posts tend to be school or life related. To the best of my recollection I have not yet posted about any religious topics. I was raised Russian Orthodox.

We belonged to a jurisdiction of Orthodoxy known as the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), which is independent of the Russian church under the Moscow Patriarchate. On May 17, 2007 the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Laurus, and Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Patriarch Alexius II, signed the Act of Canonical Communion essentially joining the two branches of the church. While I am not opposed to the eventual reunification, guidelines had been set and agreed on at a sobor decades ago and they have not been fulfilled.

The major reason for the distaste for reunification derives from reports that Patriarch Alexius II was KGB. It is believed by many that reunification should only take place after the current hierarchy has passed away; it is in essence a natural cleansing.

A second concern is how close the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to other denominations of Christianity, particularly catholicism.

Russian Orthodoxy is a religion heavily steeped in tradition. Religions that are structured around traditions are usually very much against major changes that occur quickly. The reunification has occurred in less than seven years; too short an amount of time.

This reunification has presented an interesting situation for those currently opposed like myself: Do we stay with the church or do we find an alternative? At the moment the alternative is the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile (ROCIE). ROCIE is, at the moment, much less organized than most would like. ROCIE has not changed in philosophy, they maintain the beliefs that ROCOR should be maintaining.

World Of Warcraft (WoW)

2007-05-16T02:12:00.000-04:00

Okay, So I have finally caved. It seems that my life follows this pattern: the more determined I am not to do or be a part of something the bigger an advocate for the event I eventually become. Case-in-point; I have long been avoiding becoming one of 'those' kids that plays WoW. And now I have spent the better part of the last twenty-four hours learning the game and advancing my character. However, in my defense, a large number of people that I associate with daily are quite entrenched in the game. That is all many of them talk about. So in order to be able to communicate/understand the conversations I needed to have a little bit of knowledge. Of course, that little bit of knowledge leads into an absolutely fantastic and addictive gaming experience. I am sure that eventually Jay will also forgive me for being such a noob this evening; I asked plenty of stupid questions. Perhaps in time I will be the one anwsering them for someone else. I am very proud of the fact that I have never played WoW before, and have only attempted to play Warcraft III (unsuccessfully as my laptop would not run it so I spent most of my time lagging out) and yet I have my character almost to level 9. I installed the game a little over twenty-four hours prior to writing this post and have spent probably seven hours in total playing. I actually half expected to never pass level 3.

In case anyone is interested my character's name is Niruen. Niruen is a Night Elf Hunter. The server I play on is "Burning Legion."

Tech Support

2007-05-14T22:40:00.000-04:00

I am dumber for having called Linksys tech-support. The first person to answer, after a long hold, was by my best guess either from India or Canada. She was most likely reading from a script. We had to go over the same information again, and again, and again. She just couldn't get it right. Eventually I got transfered because my questions were "beyond [her] skill set." I did get helpful assistance, for which I am grateful, but not before beating my head into a wall.

Summer Saga Begins

2007-05-12T18:55:00.000-04:00

Well, I am now back in Cleveland and getting situated. We finally got high speed internet so I am no longer browsing or attempting to chat whilst on dial-up. So far I have worked two days at Nordonia and it has been really great. The guys there (almost all named Mike; which works because my middle name is Michael) are e all really nerdy, which of course is right up my ally. I do think that at some point this summer I will have to begin to play WOW (World Of Warcraft) just so that I fit in a little better.

Also I was browsing the internet before I left Muncie and I came across an acappella group and have begun a slight interest in collegiate acappella. Holly introduced me to a podcast entitled "Acappella U" which is free on itunes and is mostly good. In my opinion, as it stands now, my two favorite acappella songs are: "Macnamara's Band" as sung by The Harvard Krokodiloes and "Star Wars" as sung by Moosebutter.

Go ahead and check out both of the songs. I think that you shall like them immensely!

Looking forward to the summer

2007-05-07T01:44:00.000-04:00

Well, the spring semester is now officially over and I must look towards the summer. I have a fairly busy one planned. The two most obvious plans that I have for the summer are my internship with Nordonia Hills City School District as a systems contractor and returning to my post at Barnes & Noble. In addition to that I am taking 10 credit hours with ball state via the distance learning program (ie the Internet), one of those credits being the internship. I have also looked at my schedule for the next semester (fall 2007) and discovered that one of the classes that is required for my major is only offered once and that it will time-wise conflict with marching band. So I have been searching for schools to take this course at over the summer. I am considering Tri-C or Akron University. I also need to take a calculus course in order to smoothly continue on my graduation path. Since I am already taking two courses locally this summer I was also debating adding a French Language course. I need it for a general elective requirement, and was also going to see if I could talk Holly into taking it with me, since we already do some very small banter in French. I also need to return to Ball State University for at least two or three days this summer to complete my Writing Proficiency Exam that is required for graduation. I think that Cory and I will take the exam at the same time.

Outside of the academic schedule this summer I am also planning on attending a Dave Mathews Band Concert with many of my friends in July. Dan and Brittney are getting married in June. At one point Holly and I talked about flying to London, England for a couple of days and attend some theatrical performances and general touristy events. I am also trying to organize a group trip to Cleveland with all my friends here in Muncie for a Cleveland Indians game. This trip may also include a day or two at Cedar Point. And if this all doesn't seem to be enough. I would really like to travel to a civil war battlefield or two with my dad. We may also try and visit Washington, D.C. I have also heard a rumor or two that there will be a family vacation in North Carolina again this year. We tend to travel to Moorehead City, NC for a week where the entire family gets together.

And it seems that my summer is booked and I haven't even left Muncie yet. Wow. I think that this summer will turn out to be so busy that returning to Ball State for the fall semester will seem like down-time, even with the intense marching band schedule. So if you happen to see me passed out, chances are that I'll be tired.

End of year bash

2007-05-07T01:35:00.000-04:00

I really had a lot of fun Friday night. We had our 'End of year bash' here at Windermere. Whilst under constant threat of rain we went outside and grilled burgers and hot dogs. We played basketball, catch (baseball), and frisby. While everyone was arriving we were also watching the movie "Perfect Score." I was very happy that as many people showed up as did, given that everyone canceled the last party we tried to throw. Charisse, Misti, Steph B., Joel (Charisse's boyfriend), Candace, John, Zach (John & Candace's son), Brandon, Kim S., Tony, Alex M., Jay, Michael, Dan, Cory, and Myself (obviously). My friends Holly and Steph M. were unable to make it from Akron and South Bend respectively, as they had to work. It was definitely a lot of fun.

Finals are here again

2007-04-29T23:07:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow begins yet again another finals week.

So heres the update [deep breath]: my health is improving, I have lost 21 pounds this semester and am looking to lose another 25 this summer, I did get the internship position with Nordonia Hills City School District as a systems contractor, I will be returning to Barnes & Noble again this summer, I will be taking a total of 10 credits this summer via Ball State - split between distance learning and the internship, and I have signed up for 17 credit hours in the fall semester - I would have signed up for more but that would push me out of the 12-18 bracket.

Other newsies:

This Friday I am hosting the end of year party. Most of my friends have said they would be coming, but I am slightly dubious after what happened at Halloween to a lot of the friends (Dan's, Cory's, and mine). Regardless, we will be having fun.

I am thinking about taking a few days and flying back to London, UK and see a production of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap. I asked if Holly wanted to go with and she said that as long as the money works out. Originally Jay was going to go with but as the total cost rose he had to drop out. Perhaps next year.

I will be returning to the same apartment next year as this year. I will however, be getting three random roommates. I am slightly worried about that but am doing my best to keep a positive attitude about it.

Cheers!

Internship

2007-04-04T22:24:00.000-04:00

Well, I just applied for an internship in Ohio. Sadly, it is running a little close to the deadline. I thought that I had another week to submit it. I would have had the application/my resume turned in last week but I was, as most of you know, under the weather. I really hope that I get this internship as it will be one of the better opportunities that I will have had. I am a little worried as I have no solid experience with networking, however given the opportunity I have complete faith in my abilities, and will learn quickly. I am keeping my fingers crossed.