Dolphin Olympics

Another addicting flash game.


Something fun and soothing about being a dolphin...leaping out of the werter....WERTER!

Dolphin Olympics

Idiots.

If you are stupid enough to kill yourself, dont do it by putting others in danger. Driving a car into a train is the dumbest thing you could do.

My train ride home last night took 2.5 hours instead of 30 minutes because of this, which delays are delays...but putting other peoples lives in danger....*angry*

Amtrak crash victims ID'd

Tribune staff report
Published August 17, 2006, 7:01 AM CDT

Officials this morning released the identities of two men killed Wednesday when an Amtrak passenger train bound for San Francisco smashed into their sedan in Berwyn.

The victims were identified as Thomas Bukinham, 37, of the 200 block of North 5th Street in Royalton, Ill. and Donald Watz, of the 1800 block of South 58th Court, Cicero, according to a Cook County medical examiner's office spokesman.

Berwyn police and the Illinois State police are investigating what happened before Amtrak's California Zephyr Train No. 5 slammed into the side of their sedan at the crossing at East and Stanley Avenues in the west suburb.

Witnesses described a terrible scene at the accident site, with the silver sedan dragged some 1,400 feet west to Oak Park Avenue where there was a sudden burst of heavy smoke.

Tim McNamara, 44, left George's Tavern overlooking the tracks to help. He said he stood helpless over the wreckage so mangled with bits of fencing and steel posts that it no longer looked much like a car.

"They were dead," he said, with posts spearing the men's bodies. "There was no question."

Joe Clemens, 25, had just finished a moving job and had happened into the same tavern to check the bus schedule and grab a beer. He, too, ran out when he saw the smoke.

"Their seats were reclined all the way back," said Clemens, who noted that he saw little blood.

None of the 250 train passengers or crew members was injured, said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari.

The Amtrak crew told police "the vehicle drove directly in their path," Magliari said. He could not immediately say what the train's speed limit is in that area.

Berwyn Division Cmdr. Tom O'Halloran said there were no signs of a signal malfunction at the East Avenue crossing.

The westbound train was traveling along Metra's Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks. The accident halted the trip for 3 hours and 45 minutes. Passengers were not allowed to leave the train.

Their journey resumed at 5:48 p.m. with the same crew.

Eastbound trains were allowed through at about 3:15 p.m., O'Halloran said.



Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune

Im Hooked.

Click to Play!



3000...beat it if you dare.

Comedy Gold

Star Trek Inspirational Posters

is that an ipod in your pocket...

This is comedy...


First pictures of Levi iPod enabled jeans

Say No to The Telecoms

Most people know me and my stance on internet chains/activism/etc.

This is no joke. Here is a snippet of whats going on with internet usage regulation.

Right now, the telephone and cable companies in control of Internet access are trying to use their enormous political muscle to dramatically change the Internet. It might be hard to believe, but lawmakers in Washington are seriously debating whether consumers should be free to use the Internet as they want in the future.

The phone and cable companies now control more than 95% of all Internet access. These large corporations are spending millions of dollars to promote legislation that would allow them to divide the Internet into a two-tiered system.

The top tier would be a "Pay-to-Play" high-speed toll-road restricted to only the largest companies that can afford to pay high fees for preferential access to the Net.

The bottom tier -- the slow lane -- would be what is left for everyone else. If the fast lane is the information "super-highway," the slow lane will operate more like a dirt road.

Here is a great way to notify your congressmen/women that you think this is a load of shit.

Do it.
eBay Government Relations

Work Conference....

I could get used to this. Im at a conference today through wednesday for work...and i gotta say, when my company hosts something, they do a helluva job.


Here is where im staying at tonite and tomorrow night.


The plasma TV in the picture? Yeah...im watching CSI miami right now on it. I was subjected to watching catwoman on HBO earlier....it was kind of like a car crash. So terrible, but i couldnt stop watching.

Staying right across the street from the apple store on michigan avenue. Must keep control...must keep control.

We did a trolley tour of the city...and by trolley tour i mean in a coach bus with air conditioning since it was close to 100 degrees in chicago. Learned some very interesting things about chicago during it. Including this terrible story. Very sad.


Wel, going to finish CSI then off to bed, up early for a long day of vision and values stuff. Could be worse, could be workin like a dog.

New Podcast Update

Hit our 3rd episode with my new WoW podcast. Things are going great. Tons of listeners so far...i knew this was the right thing to do. We have a little partnership going with the guys at www.theinstance.net going on. We did a short segment for them, and they will return the favor in the next few weeks. Should be good for both of us.


Drama subsided, things back to normal...nay, better than normal.

Warcraft moment

So, the new guild is reformed on a new server with my old horde char. Been getting things set up for a few weeks, and i gotta say, its amazing how well things are coming.


We ran our first larger instance this sunday, Zul'Gurub...and what it took us months to do in my old guild...we did in 3 hours with the new guild, and a few pickups/recruits.


Amazing what some talent, hard work and attitude can do. Way to go guys :)


1 month till MC. Then its on!

English FTL

Best misquote ever...

Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris on Friday told iLounge that she was misquoted by the Chicago Tribune when the newspaper claimed she said that the iPod lasts "four years." She said that her comment was that an iPod should last "for years."

We Need Lives.

[12:33] *** You have been disconnected. Thu Jul 27 12:33:13 2006.
[12:33] *** "Gastroph" signed on at Thu Jul 27 12:33:19 2006.
[12:35] waggoner98: BORKED WEB
[12:36] Gastroph: roflpots
[12:36] Gastroph: you borke j00r intarwebs
[12:37] Gastroph: sum1 wuz steeling j00r gigahurtz
[12:38] waggoner98: WHAR IZ MEH JIGGA HURTZ?
[12:39] Gastroph: i think they inside the box

One Winged f-15

Wow.

ATMs for Kids

Will there be IT audits for monopoly now?

I love this idea...i want to be the first person to hack the card system!

Monopoly Replaces Cash With Debit Card - Gizmodo

Shiira Project

Im gonna check this out. Looks kinda neat...


Shiira Project

Roffle waffle!

This could be one of the funniest things i think ive ever seen.

You win 1 million dollars in the first season of a huge hit show. You get greedy. You dont pay taxes. You lie.


End result? 51 months in a PMITA prison.


`Survivor' Richard Hatch sent to prison - Yahoo! News

Beer + Coworkers = Fun

Wow...there are times i love my job.



Tonite was definately one of them.


Many beers, and i have to work tomorrow...so im off to bed.



FIRE IT UP, BITCHES!

Glaciers?

Its hot here in canada.


WTF?

10 Things I Notice While Walking Downtown Chicago.

10. Open Comment to women who wear those big ass sunglasses that look like bullet shields....those arent fashionable. They look dumb.
9. 90% of women with iPods are hot.
8. Having a rollerbag or stroller does not give you the right to run into people.
7. Flip Flops are not business casual. DEFINATELY not business formal.
6. I dont care if you are the most multitalented person in the world. Noone can effectively walk and use a blackberry at the same time. SO STOP.
5. Cab drivers are the biggest threat to human safety since polio.
4. Open Comment to the homeless guy who i see everyday on the adams street bridge: I've seen you begging for change for a year now, im pretty sure getting a job isnt in your long term plan...so stop asking me for money.
3. Right side slow, left side fast. Its the same as the street. How hard is this to understand?
2. Women who carry stuff to work in victorias secret bags. It gets inside your head. The hotter they are, the more it gets inside your head.


And finally...

1. COFFEE IS NOT A STATUS SYMBOL.

Cool USG Article on NASCAR.com

As some of you know, i work for USG(U.S Gypsum). They were the sponsor of this weekends NASCAR race in Joliet, IL, which i was able to get sweet tickets for. Ill post info on the race when things die down a bit(been pretty busy).


In the meantime, check out this pretty cool article about USG on the NASCAR.com website.


NASCAR.COM - There's money -- and exposure -- in Joliet - Jul 11, 2006

Please tell me this isnt true.

MySpace Moves Into #1 Position for all Internet Sites


What is next....locusts? Plagues?

I....but....cats....and.....wha?

....
......
.......


What?

1 Year Old!

Yep, hard to believe that on the same day i moved back to Chicago and started a new career here...my first niece was born :) Happy birthday, lil' one!

Good bye, old faithful...

Windows 98. Oh how we will miss you.


Wait, no we wont.


Microsoft Ends Support of Windows 98 Today - Gizmodo

HOORAY BEER!

Kills me every time i see it.

I Think I'm Going To Vomit

Nothing like getting up early to go to work, showering, and when picking up your toothbrush to brush your teeth, you find an earwig camped out in your toothbrush.



/shudder



Time to get a new toothbrush...and this one was less than a week old.



/shudder again

ZOMG. NOT FAKE.

Typhoon sub rolling through a canal in russia heading out to sea. How awesome would that be,

Comedy at its finest

Sorry for link-blogging, but damn this shit is funny.



The Worst Family Feud Answers

O.M.G.

More Than meets the eye.



I could spit im so excited....

Family++

Congrats to Matt and Missy :) My sister and brother in law are expecting their 2nd little kid!


Looking like a february due date...congrats to you both!



*runs off to think of new ways to spoil and corrupt this one...*

Its the French/Indian War All Over Again

The Sachem

This is what ive been dealing with all week. Im not kidding. Indians in ontario are revolting against the local canadians for building on their land.


If it wasnt so disturbing, it would be kind of funny. OPP(ontario provincial police) cars are parked every 1km from each other on the main road to caledonia/hagersville. Its insane.

US to War Whiners: "Suck it, we found em"

FOXNews.com - Report: Hundreds of WMDs Found in Iraq - U.S. Senate


As ive been saying since day 1, just because its not in the news....doesnt mean we didnt find WMD in iraq.

Bat Shit Crazy

Man. Some people have seriously gone bat shit crazy in the past few weeks. I cant believe all the things im being accused of and what people are being told about me.


Its amazing. Its nice to see the anonymous troll posts are done since the last episode, but its too bad that some people are so angry and have believed so much of the crap they have told themselves that they cant live up to their word.

I dont have a little group of people to bitch about to privately. This is where i write, this is where i vent. I could care less who reads it, because i have no reason to post bullshit here. I have enough people in my life where i dont need to sugar coat shit to try to win people over or to grasp on to my little piece of importance. Its astonishing to see how angry and resentful people can get over a goddamned computer game.

I should have known from the beginning that people who made me raise an eyebrow because of their personal/professional/public choices shouldnt be trusted. At any rate, it doesnt even matter anymore. I spent alot of time building something that is out of my hands, and for that im thankful. Seeing what it is in actuality instead of what i thought it was...im glad to be where i am now.

I have a real career that ive been very successful with. I have a real family that ive been having a great time spending time with. I really wish people who hold grudges for no particular reason can seriously get over them and realize that life is too short to act like this. Seriously. Shooting from the hip, double standards, flinging accusations. Its all so petty.


Just needed to rant. I cant believe whats happening to people. Its like david koresh, man. Enough people manufacture info...people begin to believe it. Its pretty dissapointing, but not suprising.

It's Funny Cause It's True.

Fark FTW.

"[Spiffy] Carolina Hurricanes win Stanley Cup. Whatever, most Americans don't like soccer anyhow"

International Travel - Not So Much.

So, its been a long long time since I travelled for business. That, dear readers, has been a great thing. I didnt miss going to the airport on sunday afternoon, or sitting there in the airport because of delays, getting into the airport late at night. Id much rather have that time to myself at home.


Add on top of that customs and immigration, you got yourself a good time. So i figure id be in for something interesting.


Oh wait, im just in Canada. The only difference between the US and Canada is the metric system. THATS IT. Everything else is the same. I was hoping for some kind of international flavor here, but im not seeing it....then again, toronto isnt really the place to go if you want the international experience.

I'm Back :)

www.curseoftongues.com


First episode should be up tonite :)

Youd Think People Have Better Stuff To Do...

So i nabbed this awesome little gem off the TC forums before it was deleted. An ex guild mate of mind decided to make this little reply about me sticking up for guilds who use a DKP system after it pretty much got panned on TC(from what im told, since i unsubscribed).

"There are still guilds that are attempting MC for the first time? I figure it's just easier to jump on the back of a guild that already has it on farm status, and then pretend to be some kind of authority on raiding, having never done the work to get there myself. Makes me feel special."

Now, normally, i would laugh this off as another gem of misinformation. But crap like this shows that people would rather make stuff up about me and libel me than let people judge my comments on its own merit. While i may not have helped my current guild get through MC, ive been working at least 3 days a week on progression through AQ40, working to learn their raiding strategies, farming for resist gear, working on quests for MC and AQ to help us.


Jesus. You guys need to get over this. Good lord.

400+ Posts. Wheres my f'ng medal!?

Blogger tells me this is my 401st post. Ironic that such a milestone is for such a lame entry. However, not much to say.


New podcast coming out soon. Stay tuned. Should be later this week :) If you guys like end game content and like raiding, this will be the show for you. Hell, if you are looking for a WoW podcast with content period, this will be the show.


Birthday was uneventful. Didnt go to pittsburgh to see sloka or DMB, instead went to Ohio to visit my ailing grandfather. Kind of a sad weekend if anything.


Going to canada twice in the next month for business. Cant say im excited at all. Ive gotten used to working, then coming home to a cat, dinner and WoW.


A buddy i met through WoW is moving to California, and stopped by to crash at my place last night. Was nice to put a face with a name. Hes a very cool guy.


Not much else. Just pluggin along in a blah mood. Could be better, could be worse.

Yesterday...

Yesterday,
All my troubles seemed so far away,
Now it looks as though they're here to stay,
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly,
I'm not half the man I used to be,
There's a shadow hanging over me,
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

Why she
Had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say.
I said,
Something wrong, now I long for yesterday.

Yesterday,
Love was such an easy game to play,
Now I need a place to hide away,
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Why she
Had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say.
I said,
Something wrong, now I long for yesterday.

Yesterday,
Love was such an easy game to play,
Now I need a place to hide away,
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

ALL I WANT....

I don’t need another high song to sing
I don’t need a shiny new diamond ring
I don’t need to meet nobody else
I just need a little time for myself
’cause I’m only human, I’m no machine
I need a little loving only you know what I mean
Don’t misunderstand me
I’m not getting soft
All I want is a couple days off

Let me catch my breath

Thank God for the weekend

Back to the old grind

I don’t need another long coffee break
I’ve had as much coffee as a man can take
I need to change my disposition
Change my point of view
I need time to figure out what I want to do

Believe me when I tell you it gets a little rough
We work a little harder but it never is enough


I’m not afraid to say
I’m a total loss
All I want is a couple days off

Can’t wait for the weekend

Stay Tuned

Big news coming in the next few days for any of you WoW podcast fans.

Something very, very cool is brewing. Cant talk about it now, but youll see in the next week or so :D

UA Raiding In A Nutshell!

You Too Can Experience UA Raiding!

Is life finally getting back to normal?

Hardly. Besides all this podcast/guild drama that ceases to go away, ive been trying to get back to life as normal, if there is such a thing. This past weekend, I had some friends I met through the old guild come to my place for a weekend of gaming fun time. We did our best to not talk about all the bullshit drama going on, but of course it came up. It was nice to put a face on friendship and loyalty, and all 4 of these guys for whatever reason…stand by me 100%. Its humbling, honestly. I really don’t see myself as anyone who should have people say that ive done things for them so they couldn’t see themselves doing anything but supporting me…its very different for me. You guys have been awesome.


While that is good, there has been plenty of bad. The father of my high school girlfriend I wrote about a few weeks ago committed suicide. Found out from my dad one night. I can only imagine what her and her family are going through. I know the effect its had on me, which honestly has been huge, and I wish I could help her, cause im sure shes going through a lot right now. Memorial service is this Sunday. Going to be odd going to that, then to a dinner with my parents for my birthday. 25 on june 8. Quarter century and all that.


It also sounds like my grandfather might have had a stroke. Word had it that he fell a few days ago, hurt himself pretty badly. My uncle is saying its looking more and more like it was a stroke. I sure hope its not, but I guess well have to wait and see. I guess hes not tracking really well right now. Not good. I might be going out to help in a week or so.

Ive been thinking about friendships ive had during my life. I guess I try to assume the best of everyone, and in the end seem to be let down. Happened in high school, college, and now in my “adult” life. I don’t mean adult like video stores mean adult, I put it in quotes because ive been out of college for a few years now, been working in the “real world” for a few years, and have met a lot of people, and am realizing that good people are hard to find. Good relationships are hard to forge. There are some that seem to be good, but are really just farces. My ability to trust people is diminishing more and more, when I hoped after the crap ive been through in my past that it would be growing more and more. I guess im just one of those people that is easy to fool. Say one thing to me, say something else to someone else, brian will never know. Then at an opportune time…BAM. Drop the bomb. Has happened with friends, girlfriends…etc. I guess I get a bit complacent and trust people to do the right thing or be good people. Maybe im too naieve, but when I start thinking about what to do about it, the only alternative I see is a lack of trustworthiness….which to me is useless. Id rather have a small group of really close friends id trust everything to than a large group of people who I wouldn’t let drive my car.


I guess im getting off on a rant. Short of it….things bad. Things don’t seem to be getting better anytime soon. People disappoint me.


Blah.

Once Again, Arhi Gets It Right!

Perfectly written. Thank you, Arhi.

(A response to a forum on which I cannot post anymore, because I am a "troll.")

1) I did not leave the guild because I wanted to do raiding. I left the guild because I thought that the officers had made a terrible, ill-conceived decision. Anyone who was on that night knows that is why I left. Please do not pretend that it was for any other reason.

2) I am interested in doing end game raiding. I was still highly emotional about the guild drama, but I did (and do!) have friends still in the guild. I was still interested in running instances with them. In fact, I did a few runs several days after the initial drama. However, we were informed by a guild officer that so long as we had another guild tag over our heads, we were not welcome to raid with them. This is interesting, because people who were still in the guild were being told one thing, and we were being told another. It is also interesting, because people who left the guild previously (one of whom is the brother to an officer) are still welcome on raids. This was duplicitous and a double standard. Our hope at coming to a peaceful and agreeable resolution to the whole mess faded.

3) Yes, I joined a raiding guild. The new guild we had started was comprised of people who generally needed later start times for raids. [info]plonq and I work very early, so we could never go along on these runs. This was THE deciding factor in my application to the raiding guild. Not because they are 1337. Not because I'll get phat lewts. But their raids start early, and they start on time. I actually had a lot of reservation about joining this guild, after hearing all the stuff that [info]amarafox had to go through with her guild. But nothing is permanent; if I ever decide that the raiding guild isn't for me, /gquit is always an option. So, I applied. I got in. End of story.

4) No one is recruiting people for the raiding guild OR for the guild we created for people escaping the drama of the old one. Seriously, I am calling bullshit on this. You've got screenshots? Let's see the original TGAs. You want me to stop the "recruiting?" Tell me who to talk to. No names, no discussion. The raiding guild doesn't need to recruit, and our little guild of outcasts has been bending over backwards trying to avoid any more drama. Supposedly our old guild master was trying to recruit someone who has admitted that she thinks he's a moron. Why would he try to recruit her, of all people? That makes no sense to anyone who thinks about it for all of 10 seconds.

5) I must ask that the mudslinging and guilt-tripping stop. We have been called names, on the forum and in-game. We have been accused of things we did not do. Be an adult, all of you. People have left he guild, yes. We did not lean over their shoulder and type /gquit. This is a decision that they made on their own, and blaming us for their action is insinuating that they are unable to make up their own minds. Give these people some credit.

That being said... I am enjoing myself in-game again, which I haven't been able to do in a while. (That is, I am enjoying myself when I am not getting tells from people saying, "I miss you. :(" I miss them too. It hurts.) New frontiers and all that.

Sadness. I cant take it.

Honestly, I can't take it anymore.


Ive been keeping quiet publicly about this ever since it went down about a month ago, but im sick and tired of the bullshit and crap that has happened from people that were supposed friends of mine.


Here's a little timeline.


Back in september, I helped create a gaming guild with 2 other podcasts(back when GCO was still around). My "friends" at world of warcast and my "friends" at taverncast. None of the other people who formed this guild wanted to be Guild Master, the de facto head of the group, so i voulenteered, thinking that this thing was going to be a flash in the pan. I soon was laid off from work, had alot of time on my hands, and put in hours and hours building the guild into being a huge force. I remember the day when we hit 100 members. I remember the day we first hi 400 members. It grew so fast that i couldnt effectively do everything myself. I slowly but surely looked for some members who were dedicated and hard working to help take over some of the administrative duties. Help keep discussions from getting rude, make sure noone was using bad language, help run our membership system, things like that. While they were titled officers, it was never stated that they were managers of the guild. I would ask for their input on major decisions to ensure that i was keeping in check with what was the right thing to do, but we never outlined anything stating that they had to have a voice in guild management or guild decisions. I valued their opinions because i valued their judgement, otherwise i would have never asked to bring them on to help with the important aspects of the day to day operations of the guild.

In the mean time, i got to know the folks from taverncast who asked me to come on to the show as a new host. Over the next few months, the rest of the founding members(podcasters) were in game less and less. We started to have more and more people in the guild progress to the end game stage, and were itching to work towards doing that. I spent countless hours talking to hard gaming members trying to figure out ways to satisfy their wants and needs, while trying to keep the friendly atmosphere that i worked so hard to foster from day one. I tried coming up with ways to encourage and reward people for working hard and doing end game content. It was met with nothing but friction from the officers, especially those who had never experienced the content. We tried some more end game content, but were met with limited success. I took alot of the blame for that, seeing as how i had no experience with it, and wanted to see if i was leading the groups effectively or not. I also wanted to see how other guilds were doing that content, and organizing end game groups in order to help our guild grow and mature to be able to do that. I was offered a spot in the largest end game content guild on the server, because they knew me from taverncast, needed some extra bodies and knew i could play at a high level. I took this as something like a chance to study abroad, learn from others and come back and spread that knowledge to the guild in a chance to better them and help us progress as a group. I had put so much time and effort into fostering the community(something like 32 DAYS of playing time over 7 months) that i wanted it to grow and become a serious force in our realm. I also looked at it as an opportunity to foster some more content for Taverncast, which was honestly lacking in the end game information department, from listener feedback. The self proclaimed head of the show had told me just days before that he had no interest in the game anymore, saw it and the show as "pointless" anymore, and was transitioning the content portion of the show over to me to gather and organize. This seemed like a great opportunity to get more content for the show, and i decided to go for it. I had no self serving purpose in doing this besides making the things i love(the show and guild) better by broadening my horizons. Boy was i wrong.

What happened after that was essentially a power grab. A coup. A usurping of leadership. Call it whatever you will, it was one of the biggest backstabs i had ever seen in my life. For whatever reason, my "friends" at taverncast took this as a chance to sew seeds of discorde in the officers. Stories came out later of them doing it slowly and quietly in the background before, questioning me behind my back without talking to me, openly questioning my decisions to guild members, slandering and libeling me to guild members as a chance to gain respect and admiration...it finally came to a head. The ringleader did his best to paint this utopian vision of what he thought should be done, spouted more lies and misinformation, interpretation and accusations, and made me look like a traitor and enemy to everyone for doing what i wanted to do. At that point, the officers decided they knew what was best for the guild and that they were going to demote me from being the leader, and promote themselves to all be co-leaders. 10 people being the head of an organization. 10 people who were not elected by the members, not elected except for 2 by the other officers, just appointed based on their ability to help with some administrative tasks. Suddenly they know best how to lead a guild. After seeing organizations run like this many times, and fail every other time, i told them that i could not in good faith support what they were doing, and how they brought it to me. It was subvertive and rude, and didnt follow the 1 guiding principle of the guild that i had from the start. Respect. I left the guild, wishing them luck, and hoping they could keep things on track. I really did hope that they could do that.

I didnt want splintering, i didnt want devicivness. I figured id go to the new guild, find a new home and in some time things would settle down and people would get things on track. That didnt happen. People started seeing what happened, and how the officers took my quiet departure and turned it into a public mudslinging event. More and more people became dissatisfied with how things were handled, and left the guild as well. While i was flattered at the support, the last thing i wanted to do was create a situation of drama for friends of mine that i cared deeply about. I wanted them to play the game, have fun and let it be. I underestimated my friends who loyally stood by me and supported me. It was a very powerful message.

Its been about a month since this all happened, and more and more people are leaving my old guild because of issues with leadership, frustrations with the lack of support and progression with end game content and are coming either to a new guild that was formed by people that left the guild and wanted a new home, or to the end game guild that i went to. We have been called every name in the book. Subvertive, splinter group, you name it. All of us keep in touch with friends of ours in the old guild, and all we are hearing now are frustrations. Lack of direction, lack of leadership, even less progresison with end game content. This week alone ive heard from 5 different members who have said that they are either bored, frustrated or both. I dont want to be seen as subvertive or encouraging people to leave, so i listen and do what i can to comfort them. It seriously upsets me to see people upset like this.

The difficult thing is that when people leave, they attempt to be calm, cool and courteous about it. They were met with name calling, guilt trips, accusations of abandonment, false accusations of our new guild, and my end game guild as recruiting people from other guilds, and whatever other BS can be said to be inflammitory. Its honesly getting out of hand. Drama and bullshit are at an incredible level right now. If i were still GM right now, i wouldnt stand for ANYTHING the current members or officers are saying to people who decide to move on for whatever reason. I dont care what they think or feel about it, respect is what matters most. You dont respond to someones long, heartfelt post about how it hurts them to leave, but they want to experience other content with "whatever", especially not from an officer. That is not leadership, thats callous. Its showing that you dont really know how to lead, just to be rude and inconsiderate.

To top this all off, i found myself essentially being forced out of Taverncast. I wasnt overly suprised, seeing how they acted during the guild coup, but what transpired was shocking to me. I spent an incredible amount of time over the past 6 months trying to make the show better, doing what i could to grow it and make it the best Warcraft podcast on the net. The hosts of the show decided that they couldnt make a decision of wether or not i was "allowed" to be on the show anymore. They put it to the officers of the guild to see if i should come back. People who have put no time, no effort, no sweat into working on that show. They have done nothing to promote it, nothing to add content and nothing to further its production. Suddenly these people who have just stabbed me in the back hold my future of a podcast that i have worked so hard on, and they have done nothing for. I told the other hosts that if this is how they were going to decide my fate, than i was going to move on. If my friendship meant so little to them, than i wasnt going to waste my time with people who couldnt make decisions on their own, and separate what i have done to help, with the bullshit that had been spread and said about me. Because of that, a bogus statement about me leaving the show for personal reasons was posted and read on the latest show, but its not anywhere close to true. I was honestly forced out. For doing NOTHING but trying to build the show and grow the content.

Im not doing this to try to get back at anyone. Im doing this because im getting tired of seeing myself and other friends of mine who have put hours and hours of time and effort into helping others, helping Taverncast and building ourselves treated like outcasts in the rude manner that has been going on for the past month. We deserve better. Slander and libel like what has been coming out of the old guild id unnacceptable and un needed. I based the guild on respect for people. The least you all could do now is follow that principle. Alas, it doesnt look like that is possible.



Thank you erui. Thank you arhi. Thank you viceriene, quirno and bert. Thanks Cru, gydwind, poncee and uraiz, dewolla, sura, grimmloc, omnes, crynn and loliana. Thanks aldis, carliegh, cicle, gastroph and all the rest of you who are still in the pod and talk to me. I miss you guys and wish you the best. I only wish i could make things better for you guys.

UA Forevz.

I love my guild.

Jack Bauer Hates Christmas

Im Speechless...

ARRRRRRRR!

Lolz.


13:26] TJ Perfect Gent: What's a pirate's favorite thing to do on the weekend?
[13:26] waggoner98: parrrrrrrrrrty?
[13:26] TJ Perfect Gent: hehe
[13:26] TJ Perfect Gent: Or
[13:27] waggoner98: see an ARRRRRRRR rated movie?
[13:27] TJ Perfect Gent: or
[13:27] waggoner98: study arrrrrrrrchitecture?
[13:27] TJ Perfect Gent: or
[13:27] TJ Perfect Gent: lol
[13:27] waggoner98: be an arrrrrrbitrator?
[13:27] TJ Perfect Gent: or
[13:27] waggoner98: go to the national arrrrrrrrrrrchives?
[13:28] TJ Perfect Gent: or
[13:28] waggoner98: fire arrrrrrrrrrrrrtillery?
[13:28] TJ Perfect Gent: or
[13:28] waggoner98: drive arrrrrrrround?
[13:28] TJ Perfect Gent: or
[13:29] TJ Perfect Gent: come on
[13:29] TJ Perfect Gent: one more
[13:29] waggoner98: ...
[13:29] TJ Perfect Gent: You can do it
[13:29] TJ Perfect Gent: :P
[13:29] waggoner98: *thinking*
[13:29] waggoner98: plan his calandarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
[13:29] waggoner98: *that one sucks*
[13:29] TJ Perfect Gent: Or
[13:29] waggoner98: im out
[13:29] TJ Perfect Gent: Water his garrrrrrrrden
[13:29] TJ Perfect Gent: or
[13:30] TJ Perfect Gent: rake the yaaarrrrrrrrrrrd
[13:30] waggoner98: wash his caaaaaaaaar?
[13:30] TJ Perfect Gent: go to the baaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
[13:30] waggoner98: wish upon a staarrrrrrrrrrr
[13:30] TJ Perfect Gent: play yarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr's revenge?
[13:31] TJ Perfect Gent: visit the taarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr pits?
[13:31] TJ Perfect Gent: <_>
[13:32] TJ Perfect Gent: <_<
[13:32] TJ Perfect Gent: >_>
[13:32] TJ Perfect Gent: I'm done
[13:32] TJ Perfect Gent: This is going in the blog
[13:32] waggoner98: lol

Define Irony

I spent 3-4 months constantly raiding UBRS to get my

Beaststalker Tunic.

It was the last piece i needed to complete my full Beaststalker Armor set in World of Warcraft. Never saw it drop more than once off General Drakkisath, the dragon boss in that instance. The one time it did, it went to another guildie.


Since joining Unholy Aura, Ive been able to start collecting my tier 1 epic set. Whats the first piece that i get?

Giantstalker's Breastplate.


Irony, sweet sweet irony. Oh how i love thee.



If you dont understand this, dont worry. I'm just being a nerd.

PawSense

I'm speechless, yet intrigued at the same time.


PawSense helps you catproof your computer.

...*crickets*...

It's out of my hands for now
It's out of my hands for now
I can't just walk away
It'd be nice to walk away
But I don't feel safe
Get away, all the way up here...


- DMB

Bad Week

Been a bad bad week.


Dont want to get into it now...but thought id quote this post by my bud, arhi. She has quite the skill with writing and conveying my feelings .

Some monsters are scary. Some monsters are friendly. Some are just kinda useless. It all depends on how they're raised.

On a whim, you decide to adopt a baby monster. You know that they're a lot of work, and if you make any mistakes in their upbringing they can turn on you, or just die unexpectedly. But, hey, it only costs a few gold to adopt a pup, so you decide to give it a go just for fun.

You spend hours with your baby monster. You feed it, bathe it, walk it, play with it, and clean up after it. It's a lot of work. Your pup keeps growing; sometimes it's growing so fast you swear you can actually see it getting larger before your eyes! You are excited to see that your pup is actually becoming a friendly monster. You give it hugs every night before bed, and it rewards you with a sloppy wet monster kiss.

You do have a job, though, and other responsibilities. You spend all the time you can with your monster, but you see that it still needs more care. So, you ask some of your friends to help you take care of it. They agree; after all, they love playing with the monster just as much as you do. They help you with some of the chores, and play with it to make sure it gets enough exercise. You really appreciate the help that your friends are giving you. You couldn't have taken care of a monster as large as this one without the help of some handlers!

Your monster is getting to the point now where it needs some training. You look at some books and websites for advice on how to go about this, and you give it a try. Unfortunately, your attempts are met with only middling success. Your handlers give you some pointers, but they aren't professional trainers either. You need some serious help.

So, you decide to go to school to learn how to train your monster. You ask your handlers to help you out on the evenings that you're not around to work with your monster. You'll still be around a lot, but while you're learning how to better care for your monster you'll need the extra help. You worry that you'll be imposing too much on your handlers. After all, they're only here because they like you and the monster.

Well, it all backfires. Your handlers decide that it would be better if the monster - the monster that you have raised since birth - is now co-owned between all of the handlers. "It would be in the monster's best interests," they say, "if you sign over ownership to all of us."

And just like that, the monster is no longer yours. :(

One of these days....things will get back to normal.

Why John Dvorak Is An Idiot

Thanks to BadAndy for this quote. It just cements that John Dvorak(technology media critic, cohost of TWiT) is a loudmouth idiot with no sense of what the public wants or thinks is cutting edge.

"The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a mouse. There is no evidence that people want to use these things." - John Dvorak, 1984

Newsflash: Productivity of Wags Stalls

Current Conditions: Chicago, IL 60606

67 Degrees - Feels like 66
Partly Cloudy
15mph winds with gusts to 25mph.




>.>

<.<


*darts for the elevator*

Its a *headdesk* day...

Had a pretty disturbing dream last night. Was more or less a recap of times i spent with my high school girlfriend. A personal highlight reel, you could say. Our first date, our first kiss, first time realizing i had fallen in love with her, first time telling her this, first time i broke her heart, first time i came back to her to make it right, School musicals, Band outings, concerts, scary theatre moments, dances, dates at Cantera 30 movie theatre, more dances, quick moments walking her to class, prom, late nights at her house, valentines day, her Gap Happy perfume.

The fights.

The make ups.

Leaving for college. Leaving her. Wishing i didnt.



She was probably the most loyal and caring person i have ever known or was with. She would do anything for anyone at the drop of a hat. I did some pretty shitty things to her, and i figure its karma that came back to bit me in the ass in college. I didnt hit her or cheat on her or anything like that, you all know me better than that. I could have afforded her the same loyalty and honesty she afforded me.


I miss that kind of feeling. I miss feeling content like that.

24 for 3 more years!

WOOOO! Its not goin anywhere anytime soon :D

LOS ANGELES -- Jack'll be back -- despite all the firepower the bad guys rain down on him. Kiefer Sutherland has signed on for three more seasons as superhero agent Jack Bauer on Fox's "24."

As part of the deal, Sutherland will establish a production company based at 20th Century Fox Television to develop original programming, the studio announced Monday. He will also serve as a co-executive producer of the hit drama.

Yeah, boot camp is cool...BUT...

This was the biggest missed announcement yesterday.

Key quote. NEAR NAITIVE PERFORMANCE. This can only get awesome...er....more awesome....whatever.


Mac Rumors: Windows Virtualization (WinXP under Mac OS X) Beta Released

Good Thursday!

What a great thursday.


1. I got a raise
2. The weather is spectacular
3. I got to go for a long walk through chicago in said weather.
4. I got to bowl 4 games and get loaded on beer all paid for by the company...
5. I got to go home early!
6. Did i say the weather is beautiful?
7. I started work on my new Dungeon Set 2 quests and almost have my first epic piece!
8. Callie was enjoying having ALL windows and sliding glass doors open...so much sniffing to do.
9. Started scheduling the first Pod People get together! Memorial day here we come!
10. Won a 25$ Gift card for being on the winning team for bowling!


Man, cant wait for today to be over. Running Zul'Gurub tonite, going to hopefully down 3 bosses tonite, instead of our 1 boss last week. Im so excited!

Personal Responsibility? Whats that?

Illinois WiFi freeloader fined US$250


HEY YOU DAMN KIDS! GET OFF MY NETWORK!



Guess what people, if you are dumb enough not to secure it, then you shouldnt be able to use it.

Video Card Wars Turn Physical

HEXUS.net : Headline : Hostility between ATi and NVIDIA staff starts to become physical : Page - 1/1


This could be the best geek news story ever.

Windows Vista delayed into January 2007

Windows Vista delayed into January 2007


*MOCK SUPRISE!!!!!!!!*

Yeah...

This was outside my building today. Talk about frustrating. Im glad they are demonstrating, but seriously. A friday afternoon at rush hour? Way to piss alot of people off who might have been sympathetic.

THANK GOD ITS OVER

Finally, RIM and NTP settle the blackberry dispute. This shouldnt have even gone to the supreme court, etc...it should have settled out of court long ago...like it just did.


http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/03/technology/rimm_ntp/



Im so glad this is over, so the media can stop running stories like "ZOMG WHAT WILL ALL THOSE RETARDED TECHNOLOGY CRAZED BUSINESS MOGULS DO IF THEY CANT CHECK THEIR EMAIL IN THE CRAPPER ANYMORE!1?!?!?!?1/!?!"

Rich Get Richer

Im normally not a tree hugging social advocate, but doesnt this crap bother anyone else?


Couldnt this stuff be donated to schools, or the money spent go to places that need it more than george clooney?



/sigh

Here's a selection of some of the items we know the presenters and performers will receive for their efforts on March 5 at the 78th annual Academy Awards:

*The most expensive item is a $25,000 luxury package from one of the world's most exclusive resorts, the Halekulani Hotel on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. That includes a four-night stay in the resort's 2,135-square-foot Vera Wang Suite, with 24-hour butler service and items the guest can take home from Vera Wang's gift, bath and acessories collections. Also included is a signature treatment at the hotel's spa, dinner for two at Hawaii's only 5-star restaurant, La Mer at Halekulani.

*The least expensive item in the gift bag is $600 in products for a coffee lover -- a Krups XP4050 Premium Pump espress machine and coffee products from the illy coffee company.

*There's the "Unlimited Card" (worth $2,500) from the Cornelia Day Resort on New York City's Fifth Avenue, including a $500 facial, massages, a whole range of beauty products and an entire day of beauty treatments.

*Vonage, the broadband phone company, is giving the Academy Award participants its new VTech Expandable Broadband phone system (worth $550).

*Rosewood Hotels & Resorts has put together a $2,300 Oscar basket package that includes two nights in a large suite at New York's famed Carlyle Hotel.

*Those Oscar show participants will be made to feel cozy, as well. Frette, the famous Italian linen house, is giving them its Voyage throw -- a leather-trimmed cashmere travel blanket, valued at $1,495.

*There's something of a Chicago connection to the Oscar "gift bags" this year. Morton's steakhouse is offering each presenter and performer the opportunity to host an exclusive dinner party in Morton's Private Boardroom, available at any of their 69 restaurants around the world. The value of that package is $1,500.

While this wasn't included in the gift bags, the Glenlivet Scotch whisky firm made an unusual offer to the best actor and best supporting actor nominees for 2006. Noting that much attention is always paid to the what the women wear to the Academy Awards, the Glenlivet people decided to hook up with Kinloch Anderson, tailor and kiltmaker to Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip and Prince Charles. Glenlivet has provided a full Scottish outfit -- including kilt, jacket, sporran and accessories -- custom made for the nominees, including Heath Ledger, Terrence Howard and David Strathairn.

Friday + IM + Bored = Hilarity

[13:31] Gastroph: If I gave Eloy 10 bucks, you think he could slip me a copy of episode 19 so I can load it onto an MP3 player for the drive home tonight? <_<
[13:31] waggoner98: 1. outback
[13:31] waggoner98: 2. no, cause he doesnt even have it
[13:32] Gastroph: lawl
[13:32] Gastroph: Hmmmmm...
[13:32] Gastroph: What's the other Podcast you're on? GCO?
[13:33] waggoner98: ha
[13:33] waggoner98: yeah
[13:33] Gastroph: Maybe I'll download an episode of that
[13:33] waggoner98: download the latest one
[13:33] waggoner98: crom and eloy are on it
[13:34] Gastroph: haha
[13:34] Gastroph: k
[13:36] waggoner98: and we talk about porn
[13:36] waggoner98: and killing chickens
[13:36] waggoner98: wait
[13:36] waggoner98: no
[13:36] waggoner98: thats on my other podcast
[13:36] waggoner98: Porn and killing chickens online
[13:37] Gastroph: Subscribing to that one now
[13:37] Gastroph: That sounds hot

ROFLPOTAMUS

Could be the funniest vista screen yet...

What has the world come to?

I know its very cliche to start a blog post with "Sorry its been a while, ive been sooooooooooooooo busy!", But in this case, its very true. I have been busy. Unfortunately, its been mostly lame stuff.

On the positive side, TavernCast is going strong. Thanks to all the listeners. Ive met a ton of people there that i am so grateful. Who would have thought that the people i would consider to be my closest friends are people i havent met in person, or have met once. Its a very different world now. Monday nights have become something of a ritual, with rushing home to make dinner and get ready for a 630 skype conference. Its a very fun experience. Always a bunch of laughs. And trust me, ive needed that lately.

Gamecast Online is going slower. We are down to about 2 shows a month, which isnt too bad, but im just losing the drive to do it. It seems like so much more of a job than Taverncast, but i think that is mainly because im host/producer/editor/webmaster/etc for a show with close to 1000 listeners. Trying to spark some life back into the show, but it seems like im just recycling old material. The last episode was fun, had Eloy and Cromley from Taverncast join us, but i cant do stuff like that every time. Suggestions?

Guested on the latest episode of World Of Warcast. Its so odd to be on these shows, when 6-8 mos ago, i was a faithful listener and saw all these people as pseudo stars, now i talk to them on a daily basis. Very odd. Thanks to starman and ren for having me on, even though i am "a disruptive influence :P".

The pod people continues to get big. We are over 350 members now...and thats after we have started pruning inactive members. We have over 15 level 60s now which is an awesome suprise to me.

Having some medical issues which i dont want to go into here. If you want to ask about it, shoot me an IM or email. Its pretty involved, and pretty depressing.


Hope all is well.

Happy Late Valentines Day

I know its late, but it makes me wheeze.

Jack Bauer Fact: Top Sixty Facts

Random Jack Bauer Fact: Top Sixty Facts


Simply Priceless.

PLZ FEER KTHXBAI

Holy Crap!

Got a review for gamecastonline from a website called www.virginworlds.com that reviewed us. Take a read, we got a 5/5!


GameCast Online
Subject: Games and Gadgets
Website: http://www.gamecastonline.com/
Host: Brian Waggoner (AKA Asros from Taverncast)
Commentary: Brian's alter-ego, Asros, on Taverncast is the most disruptive personality on that show, but on GameCast, where Brian is the host he is surprisingly lucid. GameCast online can best be summarized as Gaming Steve Jr. The content is similar, the format is similar, and the production quality is equally superb. The only significant difference is the host. Gaming Steve excels in expertise and industry insight, but Brian excels in producing entertaining shows with precisely the right amount of detail within his chosen subjects. His laid back style, dry sense of humor, honest and insightful commentary and excellent production skills mark him as perhaps the most accomplished podcaster on this entire list. GameCast Online is an excellent show, and while I was skeptical at first, this podcast is now among my favorites. Brian has had a variety of well chosen co-hosts on his show, my only request to Brian would be, please never invite Jamie Jordan from Gaming Uncensored to be a guest again. The show deserves better.
(5 out of 5)

My little Bears, my how far you came...

Another bear has been elected to the pro bowl, using the NFC's Need position. Im so proud of these guys this season....most analysts didnt give them a chance to win the division, let alone be the #2 seed in the NFC in the playoffs. Lets hope next year they can build on this!




"Bears tight end Desmond Clark on Wednesday was selected to the Pro Bowl as the NFC's 'need player.'

Clark's inclusion gives the Bears seven Pro Bowlers, tying the Colts and Seahawks for the most in the NFL.

Clark's teammates who were voted to the game include Brian Urlacher, Olin Kreutz, Tommie Harris, Mike Brown, Lance Briggs and Nathan Vasher. " - Chicagobears.com

Asshole Of The Year Award Goes to......

This Hack!


Seriously. This guy did it just for the press hes getting/creating. Just because you dont like what people are doing doesnt mean you badmouth them. It means you support them in anyway you can to get them home safe, you insignificant jackass.

Cellular - bananular Phone!

RING RING RING RING RING RING RING BANANAPHONE

Episodes in Instancing

So, this is a post i made on my guild site about a guild instance run in WOW last night. Pretty funny story, IMO.

We set up an UBRS group last night. Despite an Officers meeting on TS and login issues, we were able to get a group put together quickly and off to the instance, thanks to Kristyn and Defile grabbing a few pick ups. We had a 15 man raid of mostly pods, only about 4-5 pick ups. Including Happylaoda...which if you havent had the pleasure of meeting, he is a Chinese Gold Farmer rogue...and very odd. Ni hao?

As the first guild UBRS run, there were some things to be expected, and i pity the pick ups that werent on teamspeak to hear the tomfoolery :P Raid started off pretty well, even though after the first boss, kristyn pulled an exact replica of Leroy jenkins, and went in and agrod a bunch of the rookery whelps....wiping the party. At that point....we had our first PUG drop. Claiming they had to help their guild with something, we all knew why :P

After shendo walked through the eggs....(he claimed a graphics glitch) and a PUG's voidwalker walked through the eggs, i figured we were done with those frigging whelps. Ohhh no. Our favorite farmer rogue said that he knew of a mage to bring into the raid to round us out at 15, even though it really came out as "i know invite mage plz" or something to that effect. SO a few of us ran outside to send a summon, and after 2 tries, he didnt show. Kristyn said to forget it and keep moving, and we started pulling some mobs on the ledge above the rookery. Well, less than 5 min later, we see the mage, face down in a pile of rookery whelps. We decide to rez him after the whelps despawn, and as he is rez'd, he immediately ninjas a nice hunter 1h axe, while cru rolled need on it. Mage...with an agil axe....makes sense. So we tell him to cut that out, and move on. Next, this clown runs straight for the first chest he sees, untill we get on his case about rolling for it. We start moving through the rest of the instance, where this mage only uses improved blizzard or his wand. No other spells. We do the rend event, and he starts saying the following whenever anything drops.

"[Dropped Item] Give me KK?? TYTY!!!"


I kid you not. he did it for EVERY item. When he won an item off of Rend, Defile got whispers stating "I Love you!!!!" Looks like he has a new fan. Calls for him to be kicked were made, but in the end, we kept him for whatever minute damage he did put out. We got to Beast, and were prepping for the pull of the 2 dragons right outside of where beast is, when our favorite mage decides to pull beast....by himself....Since TPP are LEETPANTZ, we took down the 2 dragonkin and beast with minimal deaths, and he does the same "GIVE ME KK?!?! TYTY!!!" with the items that drop off of beast(all crap, though). So, we give him some more shit, and get ready to pull some more dragons. Im discussing chain freezing them with kristyn when genious boy pulls them again with blizzard. And again...and again. We barely survive the room where the general is. I keep telling myself...

"Who cares that its 1230am and im up at 530. Who cares that we have a Gold Farmer with a death wish. Beaststalker Tunic could drop off the general." I tried to find solace in that...but alas, we pressed on. After some more intelligent blizzard pulls by our good mage, we decide to let him stay dead until we have the room with the general cleared. We couldnt stand to take any more wipes, so we let him stay dead, much to his chagrin.

Defile got many angry broken engrish tells asking for a rez, but we kept him dead till the room was cleared. Alas, we were able to kill Drakkisath on the first try, with a near wipe, thanks to Cru and Ablatus being PRO tanks, Akando, Shendo, Kristyn and Defile being PRO healers, and me being a not-so-pro puller who dies on one hit. So what dropped?


Devout Robes. Which Defile already had.



/sigh

Hey Crackhead

Here is a task for you blog readers....


1. surf to www.google.com
2. type in "hey crackhead" in the search box
3. Click the "I'm feeling lucky" box
4. Read and enjoy.

Weekend Away

Hey all -

Been a busy guy lately. Work has been picking up, plus I seemed to be infected with bird sars for a few days. This past weekend, went with mom and dad to Las Vegas to see Tower Of Power. We stayed at The Orleans, a pretty nice hotel, and had a good time.

Im not a big gambler, but i decided to play the dollar slots with mom, we both were just going to do 10$ worth. About 4 spins in, boom, i won 60$. Me, being the suave gambler i am, immediately cashed out. What was going through my head?

This is what im going to bet on the Bears on sunday. Needless to say, they lost, but put up a good fight. Hopefully next year they will be a bit more in sync with the offense, and the defense will be up to where it was at the peak of the season. Still, first round bye isnt too bad.

TOP Show was great. Were right up by the stage, and as soon as i get the pictures i took off of my dads laptop, ill be sure to post them. Incredible set, incredible time. Never knew going to a concert with my parents would be fun :P

Missed night 2 of TOP because i had either some kind of wierd food poisoning or a flash up of my bird sars, but its ok, cause i got to see the 24 premiere. Show is getting better and better each season. Cant wait to see how it is going to play out.

Hope all is well with everyone, and be sure to look for pictures soon. Also, check out the revamped Brianwaggoner.com! The new iWeb app from Apple is pretty fun :)

Take care!

Interesting news on Intel Macs

This from Engadget...

If you've been counting on being able to run Windows on those new Intel-based Macs, Apple's not about to make it easy for you -- at least not if you're attached to Windows XP. According to Apple SVP Phil Schiller, the new Macs announced yesterday (those being the Intel iMac and MacBook Pro) may not be able to run current versions of Windows due to the fact that the computers will boot using the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), rather than a traditional BIOS (current Power PC Macs use Open Firmware). EFI was developed by Intel and allows a number of advanced features, including the ability to connect to the Internet from a command shell before the OS is loaded. Since EFI was developed after the rollout of Windows XP, it's not supported by the current or earlier version of Windows (it is, however, supported by 64-bit versions, but the new Macs are 32-bit, so it's back to square one). However, all is not lost: Windows Vista will support EFI, and Apple has said it has no plans to directly block Windows from working on the new boxes. So, if you're a Vista beta tester and have ordered a new iMac or MacBookPro, get those install CDs out; the rest of you will have to wait for the official Vista release, or find a way to hack XP to boot using EFI (which we're sure is about to become a major priority of some of you at this very moment).

Who Says Tivo Is Dead?

This looks to be exactly what Tivo needs to stay afloat.

Dual cable cards?
Backlit remote?
HD?
External SATA drive option?


I love it. Please, tivo, come out with one soon so i can watch my lovely digital cable without using the crappy comcast DVR...



TiVo’s Series 3 HD Lives!

Travesty

How did i not make this list?



Man. Some people.

Touche.

Sorry for those of you who might have viewed an "unsavory" image due to the hotlinking debacle. I have changed the image.


BTW, nice move, buddy. Touche.

The Internet Brings out The Best In People

So...

After having the images for my 10 list of tech toys, apparently someone got upset that i hotlinked an apple promotional image of a G5 from his site without giving this dude credit...so here is the credit you wanted, boss.

Hi Brian.

Your blog entry
http://titaniumquicksilver.blogspot.com/2005/12/top-10-tech-toys-of-year.html
is hotlinking one of the images hosted on my server. Stop it. There is
absolutely no excuse for this. Download the image, host it somewhere else, and
then change your post to link to the new image.

I will check again in two days. Change it before then. If this mail seems
nasty, well it was meant to. You're using *my* bandwidth from my server, which
is using electricity *I* pay for. And you haven't even been kind enough to
give me some sort of credit for it.

Hey, I promised myself to be kind this year, but you've got me mad!

Now be a good lad and fix it, please.

R. Sanchez

--
www.reven.org

So, here ya go. Credit where you want it. Next time, dude...try not to be such a jerk about things like this. If you dont want hotlinking, configure your site to not allow it. I found the image on google images. If google images hotlinks it, and you piss and moan about the bandwidth I bring on to your server? You got some serious issues.

Top 10 Tech Toys of The Year

Since im a self proclaimed Technophile, i thought id list out the top 10 cool gadgets i got over the past year. Heres the list!




10. Nextel i836 - this pulls in at 10 because its a cell phone. Not that im not a cell phone fan, but its just a cell phone. I got this when i decided i didnt want to lug my blackberry around as a cell phone. Probably a bad decision, since i realized having 2 mobile devices takes up more space than 1. As far as cell phones go, its probably my 2nd favorite so far, still 2nd to the black LG510 i had while in college. This one is sleek, small, easy to use and has decent battery life. Its got some sound quality issues, and the silver coating is starting to peel off. Oh well :(




9. Vonage IP Telephone Service - Vonage has been a good addition, IMO. I never was a big person on having a home phone AND a cell phone service, but once i started working from home more at my old job, it was nice to have a decent speakerphone for long conference calls. I still use it, since i like having a home number i can give out to people, as well as the fact that i can forward my vonage calls to my cell. Using the smaller vonage appliance box rather than the replacement router they initally sent has been more helpful, since its nice to have wireless capability, which the router they sent didnt have. All in all, ive been happy with vonage. Good price, sound quality is a bit low, otherwise, good value.



8. Elgato EyeTV - I was so excited to get this back in the spring. It is a PVR device for Macintosh that pulls cable signal directly into the computer for viewing or recording. It can also export what it records in almost any quality, which is incredible. Honestly one of the coolest devices i have ever used....until lately. Since upgrading OS's and hardware, this device has gotten worse and worse. It runs through a firewire connection, and lately it just keeps flaking out...to the point i disconnected it. About every 30-45 minutes, it would lose signal and just stop working. I was getting less and less impressed with the titanTV interface and the lack of support from Elgato over the known crashing bug. Hopefully they can get it fixed soon. It has a ton of potential.



7. Sony Cybershot DSC-W5 - Just got this camera for christmas. Its a nice upgrade from my old cybershot, 5.1mp, 3x optical zoom, nice big LCD screen...however, im having alot of trouble getting used to the auto focus. Id say about 90% of the pictures ive taken so far with it are blurry. I learned recently(after reading the manual, suprisingly) that to auto focus in certain modes, you need to hold the button down for a few seconds until the reticule on the LCD turns green, then take the picture. Not sure how i feel about this, since most of the pictures i take are of quick things. I.e. babies, cats, cityscapes, etc. Well have to see how it turns out. Honestly, the image quality has been great so far on the images that havent been blurry. Cant wait for my vegas trip to get a good test of it!





6. Blackberry 7510 - Got a good deal on this through my old company. Good interface, very rugged device. I still use it to this day, and really see no reason to upgrade. Im actually thinking of switching back to using this as my main cell phone again, rather than carrying 2 devices around. Great clear screen, easy to use keyboard, etc. Its very very cool.





5. iPod Mini - Cant go wrong with an ipod. I switched to a mini when i started travelling more for increased battery life, and its a bit more rugged than the last ipod i had. The screen was incredible, great backlight, and the clickwheel was so much better than the old touchwheel i had. I also got it on discount from apple, which wasnt bad. It is now being used by my dad, hes testing it out since he still has a 2nd gen ipod...:P




4. Sirus Sattelite Radio - Last year for christmas my folks got me a blaupunkt sirius head unit for my car. Honestly, sattlelite radio is one of my new favorite things. Great reception, awesome channel selection...only thing is i dont drive enough now to use it as much as i used to. Sirius is doing a great job with this, and this device is top notch. The only complaint i have is that the unit gets EXTREMELY hot after a short period of use. Other than that, it is a wonderful device!



3. ATI X800 - What a video card. I debated spending the money on a video card, since it was around 250$ when i got it, but hot damn. Worth every penny. Playing games like WoW or SWG with full settings as well as with doing video work, this card roars. Ive never had a high end video card like this, but it is simply amazing. With the 19in Dell LCD i got for my PC, it finished out my gaming rig, and this machine seriously is incredible. Id like to see how good it looks with a widescreen DVI LCD, but that is a long way off. With playing as much WoW as I do, this card makes that such an amazing experience.



2. Powermac G5 1.8ghz - Ive been wanting to upgrade my mac for a long time, and ever since the G5's came out, i knew i wanted to have a machine with that kind of horsepower. If it werent for this machine, i wouldnt have ever started podcasting, website work, audio editing, digital video and so much more. The sheer power of this box is amazing, and of course Tiger is a magnificant OS. Im running 2 monitors on this machine, and i wish i could run more, from all the things i want to do with it. Anyone who hasnt used a mac should really try one. I dont care what model you use, but try them out. They are one of the most pleasant user experiences ive had. 1.8Ghz, 80gb HD, 1.25GB RAM, Superdrive and digital audio ports, this machine is the perfect digital media machine.



1. iPod Video - Hands down the most amazing piece of technology i have seen apple put out since i have become a neo-fan of apple. Ive had just about every model of ipod and this by far is the best. The screen is beautiful, the device is thin and the interface is amazing. I cant stop messing with this thing. Watching video on the train is great. Perfect usability, and the screen is very comfortable on the eyes. The itunes video store is amazing, as all the shows that are on there are in spectacular quality for the ipod. I cant wait to test it out on a TV using the dock and AV cables. It would be nice if they made the device more scratch/fingerprint resistant. I have taken great care of it and it is not scratched it, but i have heard alot of complaints that it scratches easily. However, it is almost impossible to handle this thing without getting fingerprints and smudges all over it, which on a normal ipod isnt really an issue, but when you smudge up the screen, it makes it kind of difficult to watch video. Other than that, this thing is a 10/10!

Nothing can stop the signal, Mal....

So.....a show that was cancelled because of "lack of interest", a movie that was said to be a failure because of "lack of interest" and the dvd of the movie is #1 and series is #3 on amazon's sales list for the week of christmas?

The numbers dudes are smoking something in the film industry....


Top Sellers

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you are all surrounded by loved ones, or at least know how to deal with the ones who annoy you! :P


All in all, i had a great christmas this year. I was able to make dinner and host Christmas Eve festivities here at my apartment. It was nice to have mom and dad over. We had a nice dinner(lasagna that i made from scratch) and exchanged gifts. It was an all dvd christmas for them, and we watched Serenity(one that i gave dad) after we were done opening gifts. I got possibly the best present ever, a 60gb black Video iPod....and i am so happy :D My parents are the best :D

Christmas day was nice, including talking to a special someone i havent had the ability to really talk to in a while....it was nice. Spent the rest of the day over at mom and dads with missy, matt, lil emmy, and grandma and grandpa. Was a nice day :P

Hope you all had a nice christmas!

StarTrek.com Going Offline?

Wow. How bad does this have to be for them to shut off star trek's website. Paramount is screwing this franchise over BIG TIME.

saveenterprise.com 0 Star Trek.com Going offline

Overused Word Of The Year

Blogosphere: The totality of all blogs. A culture heavily overlapping with but not coincident with hackerdom; a few of its key coinages (blogrolling, fisking, anti-idiotarianism) are recorded in this lexicon for flavor. Bloggers often divide themselves into warbloggers and techbloggers. The techbloggers write about technology and technology policy, while the warbloggers are more politically focused and tend to be preoccupied with U.S. and world response to the post-9/11 war against terrorism. The overlap with hackerdom is heaviest among the techbloggers, but several of the most prominent warbloggers are also hackers. Bloggers in general tend to be aware of and sympathetic to the hacker culture.



Im tired of this word. Its so annoying.

I love my Aussie Friends

Gunsoo(pod people name), my friend from Australia kills me.

[08:12] waggoner98: what did you think i looked like
[08:12] waggoner98: seriously
[08:12] PokerBillionaire: to be honest, i thought u kinda looked like that guy from stargate
[08:12] PokerBillionaire: the sergeant guy
[08:12] waggoner98: HA
[08:13] waggoner98: wait
[08:13] waggoner98: richard dean anderson?
[08:13] PokerBillionaire: not general hammond
[08:13] PokerBillionaire: the grey haired guy
[08:13] PokerBillionaire: yeah
[08:13] PokerBillionaire: thats the one
[08:13] waggoner98: HAHAHA
[08:13] waggoner98: HAHAHA
[08:13] waggoner98: i wish
[08:13] waggoner98: id get all t3h ladies then
[08:13] PokerBillionaire: yeah, he looks coo
[08:13] waggoner98: hes friggin mcguyver
[08:13] PokerBillionaire: but he is 1337

Interesting week so far...

Been an odd week. Been pretty slow, weather is shady, cold and snowy. Tryin to get through the slow days in order to get home and have some fun WoW times. Its pretty awesome talking to people all over the globe, especially lately a certain aussie :) Right now i have more "game friends" than real friends, and its very different. Most people frown on that type of stuff, but for me it is gratifying. Sure, we dont go sit in a bar and talk about our days....we play a game we love playing and talk about our days. We may not be physically in the same room, but we are all doing something we enjoy. It is really cool.

I get friday off. Things are really slow at work, my boss is on vacation, so i got the OK for the day off. Maybe i can get my super secret taverncast segment edited and ready for the christmas show. Maybe i can do a GCO micro cast. Maybe...ill play WOW all day :P

Talk of friends aside, im starting to feel the emptiness again. That emptiness you feel after the surge of independance and pain of a broken heart fades from a serious relationship. It seems anyone i would be interested in, there is some stupid situation. Distance. Age, etc. Nothing can be easy. More often than not, it seems like im destined to be a bachelor. That not so bad. I got a callie. Shes all i could ask for.

I kind of wish i was back in college in that regard. So easy to meet people then. Friends of friends, classmates, etc. Now, everyone i spend time with is either married or a coworker, or both. I seem to be the only single guy in my immediate group of peers. How lame is that. Guys younger than me have been married 1-2 years. Some even have kids. Im starting to feel like that crazy old dude everyone saw sitting on a park bench as a kid. Old and lonely, would feed the birds just to stay busy. Blah. Times have changes, as im blogging this, and people will read it, but it doesnt change the time honored feeling of emptiness single people feel.

Is it better being by my family? Of course. But they cant fill the gap in my heart right now, no matter how much they love me. No matter how many lunches i have with mom downtown, no matter how many times i play with emily, no matter how many times my dad and i will go to Fry's to look at electronics, it doesnt change the fact that i come home to an empty apartment, and sleep with a shadow of nothing next to me.

2 years ago, i had everything planned out. If i only knew the truth of what my life would be right now. Am i complaining? Not really. it will happen if it is destined to, but it doesnt mean that the pain of lonliness wont go away. So i guess i keep doing what i do to feel good.

Pet a cat. Play some WoW.

I Am Happy.

The Bears can clinch a playoff berth this weekend with a victory over the Falcons coupled with losses by the Giants and Cowboys.


Vick is hurt as of last night. He is most likely questionable for sunday.

Goose Is Getting Fat

Good weekend. Well, uneventful. Lets just say that. Friday, had dinner with the folks, tried to avoid more snow, then WoW'd untill the wee hours of the night. Been fun since i hit 60, been able to just play without worrying about grinding, leveling, questing, etc. I've been able to do the higher level instances, and actually will be tagging along with the server's largest horde guild this thursday to hit Molten Core, the largest and (potentially) hardest dungeon/instance in the game. Should be fun :D

My brother in law's high school had their madrigal dinner on sunday. Was pretty neat, kids did a good job, i could tell they worked really hard. Unfortunately, i ripped my toenail off my right pinky toe....if youve never done that, let me tell you...it is one of the most painful things ever. The right half of my foot hurt. Ugh. Still not feeling that great, but damn. Ow.


Getting ready for christmas as well. Christmas eve will be at my apartment this year, and it will be me, mom and dad...and of course callie. Shes getting excited, and showing me by attacking the tree skirt around my christmas tree. Naughty animal. Im only asking for a few things this year for christmas.

1. My soulmate. Must be accepting of my hobbies and interests. Callie must also approve. Also must not live far far away.
2. Black Dragonscale Armor - my WoW char could use this right now.
3. Financial Freedom. nuff said. Will accept gold bullion.
4. Apple branded DVR/Home Theatre/Game Console/Reality distortion field.
5. Laser Gun - PEW PEW
6. Bottom replacement teeth for callie. Cmon. Its sad to see a toothless cat....

That should really do it. #1 is most important. Lonlieness sucks.

Make Your Own Zombie....

Roxi sent me this...


GOOD GOD. /scared

Snow

So....after my last post, i just wanted to follow up.

Yep, we got a bunch of snow. A good 5-7 inches from what the weather folks say. It was bad because it came down around 3-4 local time, right during rush hour. When the roads are packed with cars, plows cant get through, and things just get worse.

Worst part of the huge storm is this, where a southwest plane skidded not only OFF the runway, but all the way on to 55th street, the main road that goes past Midwar arpt. It hit a car, killed a young boy and injured 11 others. Sad story :(

Looking forward to a quiet weekend. Need peace and quiet, and most of all....sleep.

Tom Skilling Makes Me Scared...

Chicago Tribune | Chicago area's 8th snow of the season heaviest yet; 2-6" on the way:

"Frigid temperatures interact with the season's most potent snow system to date to produce a 'fluffy' brand of snow Thursday likely to lead to impressive snow accumulations --especially in light of the limited moisture available. In most cases an inch of water produces approximately 10' of snow."

Smells like.....

Chicago stinks today. Not stinks as in "is bad", but litterally smells.

I have 2 blocks to walk from union station to where the Sears Tower is....and i thought i was going to vomit from the stench. I wish i knew what it would take that could make an entire city smell like rancid ass.

Apartment Photo

 



New apartment with my tree....and the nice fiber optic Chicago Bears Wreath :D 

New Camera

 



Doesnt she look loverly with the new camera? 

Anyone Ever Used This?

Sounds pretty cool...might have to try it out...


Xfire - gaming simplified

Adam Curry Caught Changing Podcasting History

How retarded could he be?


I cant stand adam curry...and for no good reason. This guy just seems to want to take credit for all of what podcasting is today. I am NOT a fan.

Cold Times In The Windy City

Im looking to get a new digital camera in the next few days/weeks, and am thinking of making this more of a photo blog. Picasa is becoming one of my new favorite apps(yes, even more than iPhoto) and being downtown, I get to see some really interesting things. More to come soon.

Speaking of downtown...its been nice being back downtown. Been working here at my new job since Halloween, and its been great. Nice environment, good boss, nice pace...doesnt hurt that i work 715-4 either. I do have to say, one of the most disconcerting parts of working downtown is seeing the homeless/panhandlers around union station. I have sympathy for those less fortunate than myself, however, when i see the same people begging outside union station day in and day out, i really wonder if they are even trying to turn themselves around. Seems that asking for handouts is all they know how to do. Sad, really.

Podcasts are going strong. Taverncast keeps going, up to almost our 14th episode. GCO is on hiatus right now because of some wierd goings on with the crew. We are working really hard to revamp the show, find some new staff, get things going again. Im estimating about 7-800 listeners at the moment. Not bad, im happy about that for something that i pretty much created, recorded, edited, hosted all on my own. Look for GCO Season 2 to come in January.


Bears are kicking ass and taking names. 8 game winning streak. Beat the packers. #1 ranked defense. #1 in the NFC North. #2 in the NFC. I couldnt be happier. /tearsofjoy

Going to vegas again middle of january with the folks. Should be a good time. Star Trek experience, here I come! We are staying at the Orleans for the weekend, going to see Tower Of Power again, and will bask in the warmth. I cant wait :D

Christmas is coming, and it seems that an iPod Video is in my future....cant wait! Will let you all know if it is new hotness or old and busted after december two five.

Back to work now, hope everyone is doing well! Stay warm out there, and have a good holiday!

DING 60!

 


FINALLY!