Okay, so now...

...it's just me posting. :)

Anyway, I just wanted to rant a bit about the new Micro$oft technologies coming out.

First off, we have the "Award-winning" Internet Explorer browser. Okay, so maybe it was award-winning back in 1996 when it bested Netscape for features, but now the only awards that Internet Explorer is winning are the "Most Exploited," "Easiest to Pwn" and "Slowest Browser on Earth" awards. I must say that this holds true for IE7 which I have had the distict priviledge of testing the last couple of months. As far as I'm concerned, Internet Explorer 7 is the same piece of crap as Internet Explorer 6, just with a much less intuitive interface. I mean, the browser control buttons are freakin' located all over the place. I should call this browser Picasso because of how deformed it is. The tabs, while an improvement on the conspicuously missing tabs of IE6, are not as refined and neat as those in Firefox or Opera. In this day and age, a browser without tabs is like a car with only one door (which would be the BMW Isetta, for those of you who might be car buffs -- look up a picture and see what I mean.)

Internet Explorer is really only the beginning of the headache. The meaty, juicy part of the headache comes from the next version of Windows called Vista. I'm certainly glad they didn't opt to put a Buena in front of that because then we would be seeing news reports of Microsoft in purchasing negotiations with the Walt Disney Company, which is just wrong on so many levels.

Windows Vista is a huge, bloated, overly complicated piece of junk. Okay, so don't crucify me for being too critical of a yet-unreleased product. It is still in beta development. But, if anyone remembers the Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox betas of a couple of years ago, we can easily be reminded of just how good betas can be. I remember reading in the technology press back before Firefox 1.0 when the press was urging people to install Firefox and turn away from Internet Explorer, an already well-established product. These were comments about a beta software. With Windows Vista, it's just the opposite. It makes the functionality of Windows 95 look pretty darn good. Vista is slow and clunky. Its rendering engine, while impressive, is an overkill. I mean, it's cool that you can increase the size of your icons to rediculously-huge size and they still look good, but it's just that: rediculous. Who needs a Recycle Bin icon that takes up half the screen? Don't even get me started again on the Administrative/non-administrative issues.

So, without further ado, I present Linux. It runs on your current Intel/AMD-type hardware and it's (mostly) free. Kill the bloat!

ps: This blog entry was created on Internet Explorer 7 running on Windows Vista build 5112.

The Joker

For a launghin' good time, call: Fatboy Slim

That was probably one of the laughin'est videos I've seen in a while.

(Careful...Requires Qucktime 6 or higher)

Trend ruining is my specialty

I never was known as a "trendy" type person. In fact, when it comes to trends, I like to be a sourpus and criticize them. But, I guess in the case of a Ben posting on this site, I can't criticize him too much. :)

So, I guess I did join a bit of a trend though, recently. I just installed Google Desktop, which I must say, is one of those technologies that you look at and go, "wow!" I mean, after about 4 hours of indexing stuff on my box, I can now search for anything instantly, way faster than the anemic Windows search feature. And it recognizes r3gul4r 3xpr3ss10ns, which those conglomerations of characters are not. Even the almighty (okay, not quite) Linux 'locate' command isn't that cool.
It may be even cooler than the Mac OS Spotlight search engine because this one is powered by the biggest brain in the world: Google.

So yeah, I'm just kind of basking in the coolness of my new gadget.

Known fact of the day: A Saturn L300 can smash through at least three trees with four-inch-thick trunks. That's like one tree with a foot-thick trunk.

Well, I guess its time

to post again. It seems like I get two posts to everyone else's one lately. So, maybe somebody will post and ruin the trend...?

As bees in a hive

Busy, that is. Otherwise I would've read/posted sooner. Congrats on your soon to be bouncing baby boy, Ben and Hava. That'll be awesome x 10. I'm both excited and betting that I'm not nearly as excited as you guys are. Happy upcoming birthday. :)

And also speaking of busy and awesome...

Cory and Tristin took the plunge on Saturday last. More pictures to follow when I'm not on dial-up.

In other news, we all need to have a party. Like... seriously. Partying is in dire need of happening. Perhaps on a Friday evening someweek?

How come

I'm the only one that seems to post on here lately? Are we all that busy?

I am very very excited, as a matter of fact

We are calling him Ben. He'll be known as Little Ben and we already call him that endearingly. We're preparing a lot of clothes and blankets and stuff, yes. The ultrasound technician said today that he is perfect. That's what I was thinking from the beginning.

Y'know what surprises...

...me? It's the fact that you go on Sony's website looking for cassette players and with all the technology that we have today, they're still asking a premium for the cassette players. I don't have any cassette player (except for microcassette) but I have lots of tapes with cool stuff on them. So yeah, somehow I need to solve my cassette issue.

Anyhow...On to more important and pressing issues.

So Ben, you're having a boy, eh? Well congratulations!! That's awesome! Have you decided on a name yet? Have you started to put together a room for him? Are you or are you not utterly excited for this new arrival? :)

Anyhow, until I can think of more pressing issues, this has been Chunga and Mister from 101.9, The End.

It's been

almost a week since my last post, sorry guys....er....um....wait....I'm doing better than all of you! What's up with that?

It's a

BOY!!!

And in unimportant (for this country) news...

link of the outrageous: London

link of the coolness: you need speakers for this

Shin Sei

Ogden is full of fun little treasures if you know where to look. While the city isn't that much to look at on the outside, if you dig a little bit, you'll find some quite fascinating tidbits of art and culture buried under the overall lackluster appearance of the town. Gems such as El Matador restaurant on 26th Street, the old UP station at the end of 25th street, and a little place called Shin Sei just up 25th from the old Union Station.

Shin Sei is a quaint little Japanese sushi bar that has a very distict foreign appeal. The exterior of the shop doesn't shout out to the tourist or restaurant connoisseur as being a fancy foreign restaurant. However, once you cross the threshold of the entry, you are greeted by a very unique place, indeed. Kristin and I took a chance on this place Friday night and were not disappointed at all. Almost immediately after entering, we were greeted by a very nice waitress who asked us if we would like to sit at the bar or if we would like our own private room. We opted for the room. The whole time I was thinking that it would be a standard booth-style "room" where the patrons all shared a common cafeteria, just like in most non-upper-crust restaurants. Boy, was I mistaken when about two minutes later, our waitress came and up a small flight of stairs into something that reminded me of a Japanese bath house. She ushered us into a room with cane curtains and a table sitting about 8 inches off the floor. Much to my surprise, this was actually a false floor and the table was sitting in a pit where you could put your weary feet. There were no chairs to sit in. Also, the ceilings are painted with a calming sky pattern of blue with white clouds.

Once seated, we perused the menu and ordered an appetizer called the Sampler, which is in itself self-explanatory. Consisting of egg rolls, crab wonton and shrimp Tempura, this was almost a meal all its own. Next came "I Can't Believe It's Not a Volcano" which is plate of very fine salmon sushi with cream cheese and Tempura bits. Keep in mind that there are no utensils like what we Americans are accustomed to. The only utensils available are chopsticks.

The main course consisted of Tori Sake Mushi (Sake grilled chicken) for Kristin and Salt and Pepper Shrimp for me. Both plates were very tasty and prepared with a great deal of quality. The ambience and the menu selection were highly reminisscent of the restaurants in Taiwan where the Ogden Concert Band had the priviledge of visiting in December 2002. I must say, that the only negative aspect of this experience was the root beer. It tasted quite watered-down. Other than that, it was a delightful evening, perfect for a date. All main courses come with a miso soup or salad and fried rice. This combination makes for a perfect meal; one that is neither too heavy nor too light.

All in all, I will have to give this 4 and a half stars out of five. It is easily the most foreign restaurant I have ever eaten at in the United States (disregarding the little Mexican cocinas along the US/Mexico border.) Shin Sei was a delightful eatery with a flair for the exotic. So, if you're pining for a neat place to take a date (be it your spouse or your boy/girlfriend) don't hesitate to check them out. 154 25th Street in Ogden.

****(1/2) of *****

Technology - aka magic

funny link-o-theDay: Store Wars

EVERY... LAST... BLASTED... GOOD... IDEA!!!!!!!!

Every one!

New York Times tech section was pretty much all about something we'll be seeing more and more of in the future: the GeoWeb/GML/OGC and stuff like Yellow Arrow

Still not encompassing the full ubiquitous computing that is possible, but it's heading in that direction. Well well well. We shall see what we shall see.

OK, bye.

For the First of February

I totally withdrew from a class cuz it was stupid. I'm a junior in college. I've almost got my bachaelor's degree. I don't need some stupid teacher telling me to read the chapter, find three things that interested me and then write down why; do this every day and turn it in for a grade. Can you say busywork? Can you say high school? I'm a way smarter student than that. So, teacher, you just got deleted. And I don't care if you went to all that school AND are head of the department, your style of teaching IS THAT of a high school TEACHER, you are no professor to me.