| Hello old friend. |
[11 Oct 2010|10:43pm] |
It's been nearly 2 years since I updated this livejournal. It's kind of weird to think that this thing hasn't seen a post since waaaaayyyyy back in 2008. ..
....but I'm glad it's still here.
|
|
|
[26 Dec 2008|07:15pm] |
** WARNING: The following is a long post concerning geeky internet nostalgia, philosophy and technological predictions. This is a total nerd alert! ***
You know what I miss? The "wild west" that used to be the "World Wide Web". Remember that term? World Wide Web. It seems almost archaic now. A term that is now destined to join the junkyard that BBS, USENET, IRC, & even AOL were tossed to years ago. Along these same lines, I got to thinking about how Myspace, Facebook, Wikipedia, IMDB, and YouTube have successfully destroyed what was, at one time, truly a "world wide web".
Now don't get me wrong... the aforementioned websites are truly wonders of the modern age and I don't know how I would function on a daily basis without them. Unfortunately though they have destroyed the internet that I used to love as a teenager. My case in point:
Go to Google and type a few random keywords of interest. For the sake of 90's nostalgia, let's say you type "Married... with Children". What turns up? Something along these lines (not in exact order, but you get the idea):
1. IMDB
2. Wikipedia
3. Official Site
4. Wiki-Quotes
5. Hulu (full episodes)
6. YouTube (clips with screenshots)
7. Amazon
8. Various Newspapers
Now all those sites will successfully turn up every last piece of information on "Married with Children"... from casts, to episodes guides, trivia, full episodes, and merchandise for purchase. I remember back in the day... back when Webcrawler was the world's first real widely-used search engine... and the sites that would pop up would be from all different sources from all different walks of life. Now, I'm not necessarily complaining... because obviously the current system consolidates all that information into just a few sources... but still... isn't it a little boring to get all the info on the entire internet from the same sources for every search query?
They say the internet is growing at a rapid rate - even doubling in size every few years. But I often wonder if the number of unique websites is shrinking at the same rate. Does anyone measure that? I think it wasn't that long ago that Wikipedia (9.25 million articles @ 1.74 billion words throughout 250 languages) surpassed the ancient Chinese Yongle (11,095 volumes consisting of 50 million characters) as the largest encyclopedia in the history of humanity. But then how many websites became useless as a result of Wikipedia's inherent growth?
Now I'm not necessarily complaining. I'm just noting how standardized the web has become. The one thing I do truly miss about the current state of the web is the death of the personal web page at the hands of Myspace & Facebook.
Who remembers Geocities? Come on, I know you all have to remember geocities. It was from an era when anyone could get a little free web space and put whatever they heck they wanted on the Internet. It could be a personal web page, it could be a "shrine" to their favorite movie, a collection of random trivia & games, or just a lot of pointless garbage. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun. Sure, it required people to construct their own pages from scratch... but it was just so interesting. Myspace and Facebook have all but standardized anything the average person would want to put on a web page.
In fact, going back to my "Married... with Children" example. In the first 60 entries to be displayed during my Google query, only TWO of them are what I would consider "personal web pages" (one of which is a Geocities site that hasn't been updated in 8 1/2 years... ha!). In a lot of ways, I find this disappointing. But perhaps I'm just getting old fashioned with my technological age.
While I'm at it, I'm going to make a few technological predictions for the next 5-10 years. Some of these you might not have considered... and some of these could probably get me in trouble at my job if they knew I felt this way. Assuming these companies stay on their current paths, I'm pretty comfortable with the following predictions:
1. Microsoft's significance in the computer world will suffer significantly. Possibly even going the way of AOL...
2. Myspace will lose all profitability. It will turn into an idle wasteland and will eventually shutdown. Facebook will flourish indefinitely.
3. Cell phone companies will be the power players during "Web 3.0".
It would take me all day to completely explain my reasoning but here are my feelings in a nutshell:
When it comes to Microsoft, they're about to approach an unfortunate reality. The personal computer - for the most part - already does what people want it to do. For years, people were waiting for computers to get "faster & more advanced" so that they could do things "faster" and... well... be "more advanced" about it. That's no longer the case. The technology has finally caught up with the consumer demand. That, my friends, is why Vista has been such a failure... it requires consumers to buy more powerful hardware in order to use new features that consumers don't feel they don't necessarily need. It would be like emptying your bank account to put an addition on a house that you already feel is a little too large. Sure, it's nice to have... but it's not worth breaking the bank when what you already have more than suits your need. When the much anticipated Windows 7 is released in 370 days, I think we'll know if my prediction is on course. My guess is that it will receive good reviews... especially as people race to replace (or skip over completely) Windows Vista. But unless it offers something that consumers feel they "have to have", it will ultimately be the start of Microsoft's decline.
As far Myspace, I think it's fairly obvious... Facebook is far better at being "social" and it's far better at being a "network". In fact, it's the "network" part that makes Facebook so superior. The fact that you can log on to facebook every 30 seconds and see a different home screen based on what other users are doing is proof enough. Plus, the uses beyond just sharing personal information are abundant. It's great for work, it's great for sharing ideas, it's great for classes, it's great for planning events and parties, you can design custom programs to harness the network's power and accessibility to do just about anything, etc etc etc. The list goes on. I've logged into my Myspace almost everyday the last 6 months and I don't think more than 5 things have changed. I feel like I'm on a deserted island. While I think the "Music" section is keeping it afloat... I don't think it's surprising that I see my friend count dropping daily... as my Facebook friend count rises practically by the minute.
Lastly, just as consumer demand is dropping for Microsoft in the PC market, the OPPOSITE is happening in the mobile device market. In fact, I would say cell phones are currently like what PC's were in 1995 (with the iPhone being the equivalent of a Pentium II machine running Windows 95). People WANT them to do more and more and more but they're not quite capable of doing them up to our standards. We want full web access with fully rendered web pages. We want to be networked. And we want it all to happen FAST. LIGHTNING. FAST. And really... is there not a person out there who doesn't believe that completely wireless internet access will be the eventual future? I mean really... WiFi will inevitably die... and the entire Internet will "just exist" sort of like how radio signals "just exist". And when that happens... it's going to put the cell phone carriers in the power seat.
Damn. My fingers hurt from typing. I had this whole string of ideas the other night before I went to bed and I couldn't help but share them here.
I'm curious to see how it will all turn out.
|
|
|
[19 Dec 2008|10:27pm] |
So I was bored during the snowstorm today... and even though Justin still has my camera, I used my ol' webcam to make a new YouTube video. Considering I've learned to play guitar almost exclusively by watching YouTube videos, I thought it was time that I made my own lesson video.
For those of you who read this journal and play guitar (I know there's at least 3 of you out there if not more...) I'd be curious to see if you could follow it... It's the lead guitar riff from Sublime's What I Got:
|
|
|
[05 Dec 2008|02:06pm] |
Okay, how 3r33t0 is my living room with a wall mounted plasma and Christmas tree? Not to mention my Netflix queue streaming through my Xbox... SWEEEEEEET!
|
|
|
[22 Nov 2008|12:02pm] |
I haven't updated in awhile because there hasn't been a whole heck of a lot going on. My day job generally starts slowing down around now so it looks like I'll be have some free time coming up after all the extensive traveling I've done the last 3 months or so. Since I primarily work with retail businesses they tend to be far too busy pre-holidays to want to schedule any kind of product training so that's okay with me... I've actually picked up an extra night or two at the bar in December to help for gifts and whatnot.
Unfortunately, I'm not going home for Thanksgiving this year. I MAY come home on Wednesday night since there's going to be a big "ghetto high school reunion" at one of the bars in New haven so after talking to Edgar for the first time in years on Facebook I'm tempted to make an appearence and see the old HSC crew (yes BJ... Edgar that ran through the halls screaming "I AXE MURDERED DREW! I AXE MURDERED DREW!!" while humming the theme to Indiana Jones... some things I'll NEVER be able to forget).
My parents and sister actually have to go to Minneapolis this week so they're flying out tomorrow and they are actually flying back into New York on Thanksgiving day. That puts a damper on the traditional Thanksgiving festivities so they're going to meet me in NYC after they land for Thanksgiving at a restaurant before they drive back to CT. That's actually okay with me this year because I'm planning on standing outside in the cold at 3AM on Thanksgiving night to hit up the Circuit City next to my house on Black Friday...
If you're interested... I'm buying a 42" Panasonic Plasma 1080p HDTV and it's being mounted to the wall in my living room. Price is dropping $300 according to the leaked black friday flyers on the internet and I've been told by Circuit City staff to be in line at LEAST 2 hours prior to the store opening at 5AM. Heck, good thing I live next door... I'm gonna dress warmly with a folding chair and a movie on my new Zune and wait out in the cold for my new TV!! It's gonna be SWEET to watch movies and play Xbox now! ...not to mention Xbox's partnership with Netflix also started this week so now I can stream HD movies from my Netflix account straight to my Xbox for instant viewing.... no more needing to mail movies back and forth! AND it's going to free up a bunch of space in my small living room. In fact, I sold my old TV and threw away my coffee table last night... so now all that stuff is sitting on my old TV stand against the wall because I'm wall-mounting the flat screen. It's gonna be schweet....
Also, I've been bored lately so I managed to get my hands on some professional music production software (Pro Tools, Reason 4, Auto-Tune) and I really started to get a feel for producing some beats... so I just ordered an M-Audio MIDI Keyboard/Controller to produce the music. My idea is that I can connect my laptops to the new TV via HDMI... hook up the controller and guitar... and have a REALLY sweet recording studio in my living room. It should also be a sweet setup for camera editing too... We'll see what happens.
And on a completely random note, I found this t-shirt HILARIOUS.
|
|
|
[03 Nov 2008|07:31pm] |
|
2 minutes, 42 seconds.
|
|
| Getting old |
[01 Nov 2008|01:13pm] |
One of the first signs of getting old: listening compulsively to music from a previous decade that you actually lived through.
I've been listening to the 90's station on my cable box for the past 4 days straight and let me tell you.... the 90's had some of the best music ever. EVER. And to think these songs used to actually be on the radio.
::sigh::
|
|
|
[31 Oct 2008|06:21pm] |
I can solve an un-lubed cube in 3 minutes, 41 seconds. I just learned how to lubricate the inside ("that's what she said") which could hopefully cut my solve time in half.
I rule.
|
|
| i got nasty puzzle skillz |
[27 Oct 2008|06:52pm] |
It's been a long time since I added something to my "collection of useless skills I can use". So this week I've succeed in doing something cool:
I can now solve a Rubik's cube.
No joke. Took me a week's worth of studying but now I can officially take any scrambled cube and put it back to it's original state (without cheating) in about 10 minutes. I'm willing to bet I can get that down to 2 minutes by Friday... in which case, I know what my next youtube posting will be! ;)
|
|
| Android & Xbox! WOOOO! |
[29 Sep 2008|08:00pm] |
After weeks of little day job work, I had a whirlwind week last week. Forget about Microsoft for the moment. For the next 4 weeks or so I'm working with Google, working on a national tour for the launch of their first ever Android phone: the G1 (aka "HTC Dream" & aka "Kila"). It's designed as Google's direct competitor with the iPhone. I will post a review in it's entirety in the next day or so, so those people who are interested be sure to check back. Much of the info on the phone has been top secret (my phone actually has a SIM card and a monitored GPS device that traces it to me so that it can't be sold or "lost") and I plan on writing a more complete review with more insider knowledge than even the most popular tech websites.
Anyway, the phone will actually debut at the end of October. In the meantime, I'm part of two teams that will be touring the country debuting it in a total of 14 major cities across the country. In each city there are between 100-400 T-Mobile managers who are trained in all aspects of the phone's capabilities so that they can in turn return to their stores and train their staffs. It's a GIGANTIC project. I actually have this whole week off as a "calm before the storm".
This upcoming weeks I will be in Dallas, LA, & San Diego. The week after that I will be in Miami, Atlanta, & Chicago. The week after that I'll be in Minneapolis. And it's grueling pace of setting up the night before, working the day after, flying to the next city, and the setting up again for the next day... we're talking 12-14 hour days for the next 3 weeks straight.... which actually sounds pretty awesome since I'm billing the company hourly ;)
Also in a strange coincidence, my old college roommate Evan (who now lives in LA and is working as an actor) & I booked the same flight from Dallas to Los Angeles. I mean... what are the odds of that??? Especially considering how many different airlines there are and how neither of us actually lives in Dallas! Crazy! He's actually going to be in Houston for a modeling gig and he has a connecting flight on that same date from Dallas to LAX.... when I called to see if he wanted to hang out when I got to LA and I learned we were both leaving Dallas on American Airlines at the same time it was like... WTF?!?? Well, I guess you could say that worked out.
In other news I also worked NYC's largest video game conference last Thursday. Keynote addesses were provided by Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft... of which I shared part of the addess. I debuted a number of the upcoming Xbox 360 games to a bunch of die-hard people in the video game industry. Specifically speaking, I showed off Gears of War 2, Lips, Fable 2, NBA 2K9, the new Xbox 360 dashboard (which, if you hadn't heard... the old tab interface is being replaced with something much more 3r33t0), & even Zune 3.0.
Whew. Busy week. Oh, and also at the video game conference... I met a bunch of Major League Gamers & I even met the guy who currently holds the Twin Galaxies world record for Tetris on the Game Boy Advance (I questioned his skills... and he whipped out his GBA, started up level 20, and I drooled at his uber nasty block ownage skillz).
Yes, I did just say "uber nasty block ownage skillz". But it was N-A-S-T-Y. And you know what? The guy kinda looked like Javan... if Javan were to grow an afro.
Crazy.
|
|
|
[10 Sep 2008|02:38pm] |
Yesterday made 2 years since my old roommate Brian passed away in his sleep. It's always a sad time of year for me. It's strange how sometimes the ones you argue with the most are also the ones you miss the most.
One of Christi's old roommates Kree sent out an emotion email to the old circle of college friends last night in his memory. It definitely made me tear up a little bit... she mentioned how she's had his prayer card on her desk for 2 years now... and I realized that I've had the same card on my desk for 2 years now as well.
|
|
|
[16 Aug 2008|03:57am] |
I'm not one to complain, but this week may have been one of the worst ever. I haven't slept since Tuesday night. I've taken the occasional 1-2 hour power nap during the day, in between work assignments, and at night, but I haven't actually gone to sleep for longer than a couple hours (and come to think of it... Tuesday night I only slept 4 hours... so I haven't really slept a full night since Monday). And then my week progressively got worse:
Wednesday Night:
I got stuck on an Amtrack train for hours on my way home from Saratoga. I won at the track and I got to see my fam (which was the highlight of the week, btw), but it cost me hours on the train next to a guy who was "chatty". Ugh.
Thursday Night:
6 car pileup. See previous post. My first car accident and it was a bad one... shut down the interstate for at least a solid hour. Thank God nobody was seriously hurt. Although right now I'm in pain. The adrenaline and shock has worn off and I realize that my neck and back are genuinely fucked up (I'm sure it's just strain and minor whiplash... but still).
Friday Night:
I had a 3:15pm flight from Buffalo. The whole trip is 62 minutes by plane. I board the plane at 5:15pm (2 hour delay). I exit the plane at 11:30pm. Do the math. believe it or not, there as a storm in NYC that forced us to circle about the city so long (we were waiting for it to clear) that the plane ran out of fuel and we needed to land at a small airport 60 miles north of NYC to get some gas. While we were refueling, JFK went on a ground delay... no planes allowed to land or leave the airport. Finally, at 11:10pm we were able to fly the 15 minutes to JFK and land in the trail end of the storm (I swore we were going to get struck by lightning). When I got to the airport, my shuttle never came to pick me up. Figures. I waited an hour and it never came and I was forced to take the $60 cab ride home from the airport. Boy are they going to hear from me tomorrow.
Regardless, I feel pretty shitty right now. I'm absolutely exhausted and my body just aches... especially my neck. I mean... I'm happy to be home and I'm happy to be not be hurt and I'm happy that (hopefully) my insurance will cover my automobile woes.... but still.
I've had one hell of a week. I just looked at myself in the mirror and I feel like I have the "deer in headlights" look on my face.
Wow.
|
|
|
[15 Aug 2008|01:29am] |
I was just involved in a 6 car pileup on the bridge returning to my hotel from Niagara falls. My rental car is officially an accordion and my air bags failed to deploy (which may have actually saved me from bruises).
I'm fine. But boy was it a scary night. I was going over the bridge that goes over the river that leads to Niagara Falls. A pickup truck loses power and stops dead in the middle of the right lane. A second car slams on the breaks and manages to come to a complete stop just short of the truck. Me, on the other hand, am not so lucky and I SLAM into the back of the car slamming it into the stalled pickup. Chaos ensues. Within a few minutes we're out and standing on the side of the bridge when.... it happens again. A fourth car sees the accident and stops suddenly. A fifth car bumps the fourth car and rams into the side guardrail. A 6th car rams the 5th.
More chaos ensues.
...and I declined all coverage on my rental car. I paniced at first but luckily my Corporate Amex has the highest level of coverage (I'm actually told to decline the rental car insurance). Knock on wood, but it seems very likely that they will cover all the damages completely. One person went to the hospital but nobody was seriously injured. The entire southbound side of the Interstate was shut down for an hour.
Luckily, no tickets were issued. In fact, the state troopers even gave me a ride home.
I can't wait to get back to Manhattan. And I'm scratching the plans I had for that motorcycle I was going to buy. If I had been on that thing tonight I would have been a dead man.
|
|
|
[12 Aug 2008|02:50pm] |
ph34r m3 h4l0 n00b$ ... t34m p!nk |3it(h3$!
|
|
|
[05 Aug 2008|03:08pm] |
Nutrisystem Day 6: 185 lbs.
Net Loss: 11 lbs.
Number of Alcoholic Beverages: 0.
I fuck you not. No booze (or smoke for that matter) and 1200 calories a day (split up over 5 "meals") has turned me into the incredible gut-shrinking man. No joke.
Going to the Mets came tonight. I'll be sober and hungry but I'm ready for some baseball!!
|
|
|
[04 Aug 2008|05:12am] |
Marisa Tomei came into my bar tonight. I still can't get over how hot she is. She drank straight tequila (1800), no ice. She appeared to be slightly out of it... like she was either really stoned, had just popped a xanax, or was just tired from too many drinks. She wasn't sloppy though and seemed to be in good company. Oh, and did I mention how hot she is? And a good tipper.
I still can't believe she's in her mid 40's. Around 2am she said goodbye to her friends (castmates?) and left with a guy who could have been my age... a guy who was probably 11 years old when she won her Oscar for My Cousin Vinny.
Jealous is not even the word.
|
|
|
[02 Aug 2008|09:26pm] |
I've been sitting in the Hollywood/Ft. Lauderdale airport for just about 3 hours. My plane is just over 2 hours late and is not expected for another 2 hours. In my boredom (and partially influenced by my current state of starvation), I've been making several observations about the people around me and that's brought me to the following conclusion: I love New Yorkers.
This may sound weird, but there's a unique quality and atmosphere at NYC-bound gates in airports around the country. I'm not exaggerating. Whether it's the West Coast, the Midwest, or my current location in Hollywood, FL, the people waiting at the NY-bound gate in the terminal are just different from the rest of the crowd.
Some random observations:
-There are 4 iPod's in visible sight.
-The guy directly behind me has been playing the original version of "Stand by Me" at maximum volume for 21 minutes on repeat... and counting. Pretty impressive that I can hear it since he's using ear buds. He must have forgotten that he's not on the subway yet.
-There are 5 laptops in immediate sight (not counting this one that I'm typing on). They're all Macs.
-I can hear several different groups speaking Spanish, and a family speaking what sounds like some type of Nordic language.
-Speaking of families, this is a sold out flight and I can only spot what looks like 2 "traditional" families. And by that, I mean an identifiable Mom, Dad, & children.
-The "Nordic family" are one of those groups. The husband has bleached highlights and is wearing capri pants... but he's definitely straight. That's not sarcasm.
-The Italian kid with the mohawk and the Bronx accent is pretty amusing. So is his pot-bellied father (grandfather?). Viva Italiano.
-The people are not as "pretty" as the people exiting the Dallas flight. Nor do they use as much hairspray (but they probably did in the 80's).
-Yankees, Mets, NYPD, & FDNY, is the apparel of choice.
-The look on the people's faces look like it would take something really extreme to EARN their attention.
-Similarly, it looks like there's not a single person who could be scammed, conned, or swindled. They've seen everything.
-Honestly, the NY-bound group actually sort of looks like a bunch of vagabonds. Weird that they're (we're) the ones who live in the center of the known universe. And in some really backwards way, that sort of makes sense.
You know when you look at someone and you just know that the image they put out in public is not the way they behave inside the walls of their home?
I don't get that feeling here. I feel like the people I see around me are themselves all the time. Rugged. The opposite of gullible. The Italian family man with the big arms is always the Italian family man with big arms. The middle-aged woman born and raised in Brooklyn with one hell of a heavy accent... she's always the way I hear her right now. The woman with the short (dyed) red hair and who bears a resemblance to Elvis Costello... yah, she's always that way too. In fact, she's strangely attractive. And probably Jewish. Or at least her husband is... There's a truth about these people.
Or perhaps I just like romanticizing about New Yorkers.
Or perhaps I'm right.
|
|
|
[31 Jul 2008|03:02pm] |
I went to Six Flags Great Adventure with Ehren, Jordan, & Clara yesterday. We rented a car and arrived at the park just after it opened... and stayed until the place closed. It was a pretty awesome day. We went on all the rollercoasters (most of which are old favorites that I was looking forward to reriding), and filled the rest of the day with other rides and junk food (including an $8 tub of cotton candy that I managed to inhale in about 10 minutes... w00t!)
It think the highlight of my day was my 3 rides on Kingda Ka... the world's tallest, fastest roller coaster. It accelerates to 128 mph in 3.5 seconds, takes you to nearly 500 ft on 180 degrees of twisted vertical track, only to return straight down... in total, I'd say there's a solid 7 to 8 seconds of total weightlessness from the 480 ft apex back to the ground. And unexpectedly, I think the most thrilling part of the ride is NOT the weightlessness... it's the acceleration.... I mean... 128 mph is 3.5 seconds... the human mind can't fathom what that feels like until you actually experience it.
If your curious, take look at this video... it shows the ride twice. The first time through it shows the ride from the front car rider's perspective. The second time through, there's a camera pointed at 2 guys in the front car and you can actually see what they look like as they ride... it's pretty freaking insane:
This ride brought me back to the days when I used to be scared of going on roller coasters. Waiting in line, you could see the sheer look of terror in grown men's faces as they were strapped in the cars. I mean... TERROR. And upon return... the look of SHOCK on people's faces was just priceless... like they've never done anything that exhilarating in their lives. After my first ride, I KNEW I just had to do it again. And yes, it was just as terrifying.
----
Day 1 of NutriSystem: 196 lbs.
|
|
|
[29 Jul 2008|05:26am] |
I was looking for jobs on craigslist when I came upon this listing for a nanny...
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/edu/774154736.html
Call me crazy... but I find it pretty disgusting on the part of the parents that they need to pay a total stranger from 7am - 7pm, Monday through Friday to raise their 3 children.
This sort of thing happens all the time in Manhattan. Sure, the kids will grow up comfortable, educated, and (more than likely) extremely wealthy... but what type of relationship do you think they are going to have with their parents after they grow up? And what kind of example are their parents setting?
I mean - I realize - what do I know about parenting? Really, nothing more what I experienced with my own parents. But this sort of thing makes me realize that I just have different priorities in life and a different perception of what's valuable and what's not. When I have children of my own, I can guarantee you that they will be my priority above all other things... my own career included.
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
chaz715's journal
