The Dr Prescribes... The Ugly Truth

Who REALLY loses to “Piracy”? An open letter to all media moguls.

2012-01-19T19:40:00.001-05:00

I’m sure my little rant here will amount to nothing in the big picture, but as a former “pirate” I think I have an opinion on the subject.

I used to pirate everything. Software, music, movies, you name it. It was all stuff that I would NEVER buy otherwise, regardless of price, but I downloaded it anyway just to see what it was. And then, wouldn’t you know it. I found I actually LIKED and USED some of the stuff I downloaded. I deleted the rest.

Finding something nice, and/or useful in the pile of what was basically trash caused me to actually go out and BUY said software, music, and movies. Piracy has not cost you a cent, however it has GAINED you hundreds of dollars which I otherwise would not have spent. Now I am running my machines on 100% “legal, purchased” software. This same story can be retold by hundreds of thousands of people on the internet. Another DJ friend of mine who shall remain nameless did not like Lady GaGa until she downloaded one of her albums and gave it a listen. She is now a self-proclaimed “Little Monster” and has purchased many of her albums (which she otherwise would NOT have purchased). I have more personal examples, but will not list them all here.

My point is, and all you “old school” types who worry about your “lost profits” due to piracy, Piracy does NOT actually cost you a damn penny. It only serves to get your product out to more eyes than would otherwise see it. In return, your get SALES that you otherwise would NOT have seen. So, how can you say you are losing money, when in fact, you are GAINING!

Even pirates realize that the only way to get more and better software, games, and movies is to support the artists and companies which produce said media. This means they need money. So, if you give us something WORTH our money, you WILL GET our money.

You may not make “as much” as you’re used to, as the entire distribution method is changing. This is what really scares you. No more CD’s, and little other physical media. Everything is going digital. We are also willing to pay to download. So you profit margin is actually HIGHER per lower cost sale due to not having to produce and market the physical media. For a great example of someone giving away their stuff, encouraging piracy, and still doing quite well look up Jonathan Coulton, MC Lars, The FuMP, and many other musical acts making money from giving their stuff away.

Instead of worrying about someone stealing your crap, how about putting out some content that we would say outright – I want that! And then pay for it.

I can’t promise I won’t pirate something again. Every now and then I see a piece of software I think I could use/need, but the trial version is usually crippled in some way and I can’t see if it’s really what I want. So, I “pirate” it and test it. If I like it, I buy it. If I don’t like it, it gets uninstalled and deleted. Nobody lost a thing, and there was a possibility for you to make some cash.

Now, I know your greedy lawyers would never see this side of the argument, but if anyone with a clear, common sense head on their shoulders would just THINK about this side of the issue, maybe, just maybe, you could relax a little. Maybe work WITH the internet to find new avenues of distribution/access/income to meet the 21st century head on, instead of holding on so tight to the 80’s….

Give in a little to parody and “fair use” (protected by law, btw). The more eyes that see your stuff, that otherwise wouldn’t could only lead to more sales, and it didn’t cost you a cent in advertising or promotion. Sharing and word of mouth work a lot better than pop-up ads and outrageous lawsuits for downloading a song.

We’ve been through this before with cassette tapes. You fought, you lost. You tried it with CD’s, you fought, you lost. You will lose this one too. The only thing all these “anti-piracy” acts, protections, etc. do is to stop an otherwise honest person from ‘stealing’. The ‘real’ pirates will still know how to get around you and any blocks you attempt to put up. There is a ‘dark side’ to the web unknown to most, where ANYTHING can be found and shared.

And, to bring this rant up to date, it seems Anonymous is taking a strike back tonight on some of the major players in this latest debacle.

Learn to let the internet BE the internet. Learn to USE it, not fight it. We WILL pay you for content worth paying for. That in itself will solve your “piracy problem”.

Now, I’m going watch my rented (not purchased yet however) copy of Avatar on blu-ray. If it’s worth it, I’ll buy it to replace the DVD copy I bought. All because I downloaded a torrent of the movie and liked it. Do the math. That’s TWO sales due to ONE act of “piracy”.

WHO REALLY LOSES TO PIRACY? NOBODY, THAT’S WHO!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-30T10:31:00.001-05:00

As this year finally draws to a close, it is a bittersweet ending. Once again it’s been a year of ups and downs. The good news is that’s ending on a good note.

I have made and/or solidified some friendships, got a job I can do and enjoy to eventually get off disability and become a ‘contributing member’ of society again. With all that went wrong, Grandma is still hanging in there and still with us to celebrate ANOTHER new year (this will be her 97th). So, overall, not a bad year after all.

Looking forward to 2012 – assuming the interpretation of the Mayan calendar is wrong – I have a few new video projects in the works, job is going to go to full-time w/benefits, and who knows what else is in store. For once, I’m going into this new year with a positive outlook and hope I’m not disappointed.

I wish you all, dear friends and readers, the happiest of new years, and hope all goes as well as can be expected in your lives. There will be happiness, there will be sadness and loss. This is life. But overall, may your year be blessed (by whatever you hold to be sacred).

Also, a reminder. Please visit my YouTube channel and subscribe if you like my stuff. Feel free to leave comments, likes, dislikes, and share. http://youtube.com/user/drdon911

Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/theDrDon

Circle me on G+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/111551308678126502548/

Friend/subscribe on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoctorsOffice

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T15:31:00.001-05:00

Ruminations and requests:

Dear friends and readers,

If you are reading we have made it through another bittersweet year. Some have gained, some have lost, and life goes on. Take time during these holidays (whatever one you celebrate) to enjoy and appreciate all the people and things you do have in your life. A good example would be just the ability to be reading this makes you a part of the small percentage of the world that CAN. #FirstWorldProblems

Whether we are friends online or in meatspace (or both) know that you are all in my thoughts today especially. Being bi-polar, single, lower-income, living with mom and grandma as (excuse the language) “house nigger”, and not seeing my daughter for the last 20 something years, the holidays can be a very trying and depressing time for me. Over the years I have grown lonely and bitter. But now, having a big, basically loving family, and many, many, various online friends, I am no longer so bitter and lonely. Through years of therapy and medication I have learned how to handle the mood swings reasonably well. So thank you to you all for looking past the BS and still being my friends.

I hope you all are enjoying your holiday and that life treats you well. If you wanted something, I hope you got it.

For the new year, I promise to be the same smart-assed, friendly, filthy, offensive, disgusting Doctor you have grown to know and love. If not more so. Please use the comments section here, or contact me via email drdon50@gmail.com with your questions about men, women, relationships, well, basically ANYTHING, and I will post NO BULLSHIT, UGLY TRUTH, answers here. Keep in mind that nothing will be meant personally and sometimes will be said jokingly, but will always be HONEST. I have 53 years of experience to share with those who want to know what to really expect out of life. I’ve had more jobs, and more ups n downs than most people, and can offer my ‘unique’ perspective on life. I think this could be a fun thing to do, and make for a very interesting blog, so please contribute and share.

All I want for Christmas is for you to watch my video, give it a thumbs up and/or comment, and maybe even subscribe to my channel as I have more videos in the works as I type this. My channel is http://youtube.com/user/drdon911

Now, watch and enjoy!

Bit off more than I can chew?….

2011-12-14T18:39:00.001-05:00

I can’t say a lot about what’s going on, but I got myself involved in a project that has ended up driving me nuts! All I can say is I’m making a video. Program has crashed twice doing simple procedure and getting it working again properly is proving almost impossible. Which is strange, as this is professional level editing software. Luckily, I also have the prior (not as advanced) version of the program and it seems to handle to process flawlessly.

The problem is that I am QUICKLY running out of time. Gathering the required clips, editing them down, then finding the right transitions and effects to use, not normally a problem, but this damn “work” thing is really getting in the way. Not to mention 2 MANDATORY Christmas parties to show up at.

To the person in charge of this project: If you are reading this, don’t worry, I made a promise and I intend to keep it, but I have a few minutes here to blow off a little steam while waiting on a conversion….

On the plus side, I’m too fucking busy to get depressed over the holidays this year!!!

Gimme my 4G dammit!

2011-12-09T19:53:00.001-05:00

Okay, I'm giving in. I love Sprint, don't get me wrong, but they STILL aren't even close to giving me 4G in this area. I'm not going to pay what they want to buy a mobile hotspot and it's associated fees and caps. And, turning my phone into hotspot is same limitations in speed and data caps.

So, long story short, I looked into T-Mobile's 4G coverage in my area (great), and plan pricing (fair, unlimited with throttle after 3GB but that's okay). I got myself mobile hotspot and plan - we shall see how 4G actually compares to 3G for loading my maps and stuff during the day. It comes tomorrow, so report will arrive soon.

It’s Friday! Is it really? Because it sure doesn’t feel like it…

2011-12-03T00:21:00.001-05:00

It’s been one of those days…

Not a bad day out driving. The sun was shining through the clouds and the traffic actually wasn’t too bad for a Friday (as long as I stayed away from the malls). But the problems started after work. Went through hell trying to get clients karaoke database restored and working. Then when I come home, I find out MY computer decides its doesn’t want to connect to my network printer anymore. I uninstalled some shit, then reinstalled the printer and it seems to be working, but I’m a little concerned. Was there a corrupted driver, or did that virtual machine I installed have something to do with it?

I’m thinking I may spend the weekend doing a wipe/reinstall, just for the hell of it as I have been doing a LOT of experimenting with software and settings and may have inadvertently frakked it up myself. Also, now that I have decided to make this my “main” computer, and the desktop my “powerhouse” work machine I want to redo the setup and possibly the OS anyway. And it will give me an excuse to ‘be busy’ and unavailable for mom’s little shit. In fact as I write this entry, my mind is getting made up. Now the question becomes whether to start tonight and pull an all-nighter, or go to bed and start in the morning.

I haven’t seen any comments or questions yet, so I don’t really have a topic for today. Guess I’ll just have to come up with some rants and see what happens. Do you have any burning questions about life, relationships, or really just about anything. I guarantee I have an opinion. Just leave any comments and/or questions in the comments section or email me direct if you have it.

Good weekend everyone.

December 1st 2011

2011-12-01T22:56:00.001-05:00

It’s been a long day. Did quite a bit of driving, long runs. I like it that way. It gives me lots of time to listen to my podcasts and stuff. It’s really nice to have a job where I just get instructions of what needs to be done and then I’m just ‘let loose’ to get it done. No one looking over my shoulder all day, no pressures, just have to deal with all the other ‘idiots’ on the road – especially in bad weather. Today however, was a beautiful day and traffic wasn’t too bad.
What also is nice is that the boss is constantly being surprised by what I actually am capable of doing. After working for him for almost a year, he just now realized that I have a chauffer’s license! Or that I knew how to work a power saw. I literally had to pull him aside and say “I’m 53 years old, bi-polar, job-hopper. There isn’t much in this world that I DON’T know how to do (or can learn quickly).” From what I understand, he’s just not used to someone with an actual brain in their head. <insert chuckle here>
Right at this moment I am testing two things. 1. Testing the setup of Live Writer interface with Blogger. 2. Testing the tether to my phone now that I have it rooted and don’t have pay to my un-named cellular carrier even MORE money for “unlimited” data. So far, both seem to work fine.
Now, it is late. I think I shall call it a day. Nothing really exciting happened today, but need to make notations anyway.
Thanks for reading.

The Doctor is IN!

2011-11-30T11:52:00.001-05:00

Sorry to have been gone so long friends, but my life has been pretty hectic as of late.

In short, I have started working again. I am helping to care for my 97 year old grandmother, and my mom as she needs it. This leaves little time to just screw around on the internet. I do have plans for this blog. I would like to turn it into some sort of Q&A and entertainment blog. Got a few ideas floating around, but have to figure out which ones, and how to implement.

I will also start to update my LiveJournal once again. That one I am actually going to try to use as a "Journal", recording my musings, doings, and other things (for my record if nothing else). Now that I see what old age and dementia can do, I would like some record of my life that I can look back on and say 'oh yeah...'

At work right now, so short and sweet this time.

Episode VI – Return of the Jedi

2010-07-17T11:44:00.001-04:00

Once more with feeling…

Thanks to @loripop326, @Chrissarella, @MadMan459, @xwidep, and @Shultzyness for their likenesses…

Episode IV – A New Hope?

2010-07-17T11:32:00.001-04:00

Somebody stop me!!!

The Empire Strikes Back - Redux

2010-07-17T08:12:00.001-04:00

Just playing around this morning.

Starring: Me, @MadMan459, @Chrissarella, and @loripop326

It’s Canada day so I just had to share…

2010-07-01T09:20:00.001-04:00

This is what I got to read on my daily calendar today. I just had to share it with you.

Actual conversation between a driver and a California Highway Patrol Officer:

CHP (after pulling over a speeding car near Fresno): License, registration, and proof of insurance.

Driver: Here you go, officer.

CHP: Your license says you’re from Vermont. That’s in Canada, right? Well, I know that cars go faster there because of the metric system or whatever, but while you’re in the US of A you have to slow down a little bit, okay?

Driver: Yes, officer. I will.

CHP: Since you’re not from here I’m gonna let you off with a warning, but slow down okay? This ain’t Canada.

Happy Canada Day!

Finally popped my cherry…

2010-05-03T13:40:00.001-04:00

I have finally attended my first Con. Why? What were you thinking?

This is probably going to be longer than average post, but keep reading, you may find a link to something you like…

Attended Penguicon 2010 this past weekend and discovered a whole new world. The sights, the sounds, the smells…

Actually I went for two specific reasons. One, to meet all the people I have friended over the past year in the Dementia Radio chat room, on the FuMP, and through Facebook and Twitter. And two, to hear some great music from above mentioned friends and artists.

I am sort of aware that there was also a LOT more going on there, but a person only has so much time, priorities and all that… Next year I will plan a little better and take a little more time to explore the things I missed this year such as room parties.

I was introduced to traditions such as ribbons. And I immediately discovered one that I HAD to have, the “Not Wil Wheaton” ribbon. Many, many thanks to Zillafan for obtaining it in my behalf. I have an idea for next year for my own ribbons, the Dr must represent!

Many thanks must go out to Jaye Kitty for putting together such an awesome music track, and to the performers for being there. I got to see and meet such artists as (in no particular order): Devo Spice, ShoEboX of Worm Quartet, the great Luke Ski, Carrie Dahlby, Max DeGroot, Power Salad, Insane Ian, Soggy Potato Chips, Positive Attitude, Eric Coleman, Cirque du So What?, and ‘the world’s fastest filker’ Tom Smith. Finally putting real faces to the voices, pics, and posts of all my online friends was also VERY cool. (Too many to list here, but you know who you are)

Technology is wonderful. Thanks to my new cell phone and a UStream app, I was able to actually live stream some of the events online. Archived footage can be viewed here (and also where to find future broadcasts): http://www.ustream.tv/channel/drdon911 (please view/comment/rate as you see fit).

All-in-all, a great weekend. Wish it had been longer, and that I had time to explore more of what was there. And this was the first hint of a ‘real life’ that I’ve had in a while… hated to see it end.

Next year…

Greatest Commercial EVER!

2010-04-18T10:27:00.001-04:00

Okay. Just a quick entry to share this very, very funny commercial (at least I think it is). Could something like this actually air in the U.S.? I think probably not….

Redneck SkyDiver

2010-03-29T14:47:00.001-04:00

Ok, I don’t know whether to cringe in fear, or say “Wow! I want to try that!”

Thanks to @Danny6114 for originally posting this to LiveJournal.

Kids today have it easy….?

2010-03-29T13:47:00.001-04:00

I got this in an e-mail today, and I thought I had to share it with you all. Got to admit, when dealing with my young nephew, I find myself falling into the “when I was your age” trap.

How many of these things can you actually relate to?

-------------------------------------------------------

If you are 30, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning....Uphill... Barefoot...BOTH ways… yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOD !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are. *Don’t forget about “pay phones” and “phone booths”. Now, Superman has no place to change…*

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE! *ok, on this one, I have to go back even further. I didn’t even know what a video game was! To us, Pong was awesome when it finally arrived.*

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?! *and if the President was on, your night was shot!*

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-finks!

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!

And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were luckily, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!

Regards,

The Over 30 Crowd

-------------------------------------------------

Monday rant is over, thanks for tuning in.

Son, Brother, Husband, Father – RIP Brian Pfeiffer

2010-03-14T12:15:00.001-04:00

This weekend, I had to say goodbye to one of my little brothers, again. Brian was taken from us very unexpectedly from a heart attack. Odd thing is, he was in the hospital getting checked out, when he coded during his stress test. Despite their best efforts, he could not be brought back.

Like a lot of us, he had a troubled youth, but turned out to be a hard-working, hard-loving husband and father. He found the love of his life in Vickie Randazzo. They married, he raised her 2 boys as his own, and they had a daughter together. And for the last 21 years have been together happily. He made his family his life, and worked very hard to make sure they wanted for nothing. My heart goes out to my ‘sister’ and her kids. This is more pain than one should have to endure.

As the oldest in the ‘gang’, all of my brothers and sisters are ‘baby brothers and baby sisters’. This is the second time that we have had to say goodbye to one of our own, both way too soon. I also lost my brother Roy long ago to illness. Of course, my mother is not handling this well, and I am doing my best to help get her through this. A mother should not have to bury her sons, and there is no cure for that kind of hurt.

We had the viewing, and a very nice memorial service for Brian this weekend. It was good to see all the people who also loved and cared for Brian and his family. And, even though to the outside world our family may not seem ‘close’, there is an unspoken love that exists between siblings/family, that knows no bounds. In time, the hurt will subside, and life will go on, but Brian will never be forgotten.

If what is said and imagined is true, and the internet preserves things ‘forever’, I post this as an everlasting tribute to one of my own. Below is a video slide show I created for his memorial service. Pictures provided by myself, my sister Dawn, and my mom. The music is his favorite song, and as a hockey fan, the Red Wings songs.

Goodbye my brother…

Brian Lee Pfeiffer

Nov. 2, 1964 – Mar. 10, 2010

Super Bowl Sunday

2010-02-07T08:41:00.001-05:00

Well, it’s finally here. Super Bowl Sunday. The one day a year most of the country goes stupid.

Big screen TV’s are purchased. Beer sales at all-time highs. Chips, pretzels, dips, and varied and sundried other items are consumed en masse.

All because of a little game called ‘football’. This year it appears it’s The Saints vs. The Colts. Confession time. I don’t even know what cities these teams are from. I don’t have bets riding on either side, and actually don’t care which one wins. The outcome of this game will have absolutely NO effect on my life whatsoever, so why should I? “We won!” – what we? Did you play? Did you call the plays? Are you getting WAY too much money to chase a little ball around and get your body banged up?

It’s called ‘entertainment’. That’s all it really is. Keep it in perspective. Enjoy the game for what it really is, a program to fill time between commercials! Usually the ‘best’ commercials of the year and certainly the most expensive. This year is not without controversy either. It should be interesting.

Enjoy the game, have a great day! For those like me, who only watch for the commercials (the rest of you too), enjoy this little clip featuring Greg Benson, Jonathan Coulton and Paul & Storm.

Celebrity Homes

2010-02-03T22:59:00.001-05:00

I find it kind of amazing what a few million, or even a billion will get you. Be sure to look at them all.

Enjoy, and don’t necessarily be jealous.

John Travolta

Halle Berry

Oprah

J-Lo and Mark Anthony

Eddie Murphy

Billy Joel

Hugh Hefner

Sylvester Stallone

Tiger Woods

Haiti….

2010-01-13T14:03:00.001-05:00

Ok, I may lose some followers because of what I am about to post. So be it. Just be sure to say goodbye before you go…

It is very sad what happened in Haiti yesterday. Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands dead, and millions displaced. Now the social web is going nuts to “help Haiti”..

What about us? What about the country you live in and “love”? We have MILLIONS of kids going homeless and hungry EVERY DAMN DAY! We have people losing their homes to fires, floods, repos, and other disasters on a daily basis.

The pictures you see are horrendous, yes. But, have you seen pictures of Detroit? Why not donate $10 to the Salvation Army, The Red Cross, your local church or homeless shelter? As they say, charity begins AT HOME…

No, I am not a cold-hearted bastard by any means, and if you still want to donate to help Haiti, go for it. I just wanted you to think of the good old U.S.of A. also..

I know I am only one check away from homelessnes myself. I am underinsured. And, I know many, many people in the same or worse condition. My friends are losing their houses left and right. Losing their jobs, losing their very lives as we speak.

Take a minute. Think of your fellow countrymen. Do what you can to help everywhere you can.

Now, if you think I’m wrong, feel free to unfollow me. I don’t really care. There are more important things to worry about.

Thank you for your time.

Sort of a re-run…

2010-01-02T10:55:00.001-05:00

I know I’ve shared this song before, but a friend found it with a better video. It should be good for a laugh, or at least a smile. Makes for a good first post in MMX.

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T16:01:00.001-05:00

As this year 2009 draws to a close I meet the new year with mixed emotions.

This has been a ‘down’ year for me financially. A lot of not so good stuff has happened which I won’t detail here.

On the up side, I have met you – my online family. Some of you have become very close friends even though we not have actually met IRL. Having met you means more to me than you realize. Socially, I am somewhat of a recluse. I have only one real-life friend in this town even though I have been back in Michigan about 14 years now. I stay up here in my room and go to work. That’s about it. Twitter, facebook, and Dementia Radio have become my lifeline/pass-time/and sanity saver.

If I’m feeling blue, I can always count on you to pep me up with your words of encouragement, the funny funny music you make/share, and by letting me be the sick twisted pervert I pretend to be to get/share a laugh.

So for 2010, I hope and pray that my friends stick with me, and that things go well with all your lives. May your hopes and dreams approach reality. May all your goals be met. Stay healthy.

If you go out to party tonight, have a good time, but if you drink, please don’t drive. Call a cab, call a friend, or any of the number of other options made available to you tonight. No matter how much that cab ride costs, it is much cheaper than a DUI or a funeral. I want to see every one of you in the coming year!

May your chosen deity, or lack thereof bless you greatly!

It's A Great Day...

2009-12-04T09:39:00.001-05:00

Ok, I ran across this this morning thanks to a facebook/twitter friend. (Thanks @santasdevil) I just had to share it. That is all...

Present Face 2009

2009-12-02T10:59:00.000-05:00

I just had to share this. A new video/song by one of my favorite groups, Garfunkel and Oates. Actually it's not new, but they have redone it for this year.

I know we all have gone through this - and will go through it over and over again.

Enjoy - I did!

First Merry Christmas Post

2009-11-30T18:48:00.000-05:00

Ok, this is my first Merry Christmas post. A friend on twitter posted this and I just had to share it with you. (Thanks @wiretapper). This is one awesome Christmas light display set to music. You must watch.

Enjoy.

Amazing Grace Techno - Computer Controlled Christmas Lights from Richard Holdman on Vimeo.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T08:42:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends. On this day we celebrate friends, family, and all that we have been given in this life. Whether you have a little or a lot, be thankful for what you have. You are still breathing, hopefully, you have a roof over your head and food to eat, and you have people who love you.

If you can, remember those who don't have these things. Donate or help out at a homeless shelter. Remember our soldiers overseas who cannot be home with loved ones because they are allowing us to have this day. Be nice to those who don't get today off and have to work to serve you, believe me it is not THEIR choice.

So enjoy yourselves, eat a lot (you can diet later) and enjoy your loved ones while they are with you.

Finally please DON'T do this to your animals!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Testing 1, 2, 3...

2009-11-18T14:14:00.000-05:00

As some of you may have noticed, I have been testing new ways of doing things the past couple days. The list includes: Firefox and Google Chrome browsers, and the new Seesmic Desktop for Windows. This is a more in-depth review than I can post on twitter or facebook.

Seesmic for Windows: Nice interface, and MUCH better memory usage than old desktop client or TweetDeck. However, it is lacking several features that TweetDeck has and I actually use quite often.
Here are some of the pros and cons:
• no automatic URL shortening (supposedly coming soon)
• no ability to translate foreign language tweets
• no inline picture previews - goes straight to browser
• I have noticed some "missing tweets" when compared to twitter web interface, but some that did not come through in tweetdeck, DO come through in Seesmic - Kind of a crap-shoot.
• There is nice support for twitter lists - drag n drop to add to list, but lists do not seem to update properly or at all. Even hitting refresh does not bring in all tweets.
• No big deal, but no timestamps on posts, like twitter web just "about 10 minutes ago", etc.
• At this point, no ability to control api usage, refresh rate, or sounds
• No ability to follow/unfollow from application (that I have seen)
• It does seem to support special characters such the "heart" <3 and music notes.
• And finally no support for facebook or myspace yet.

Now, all of the things listed are of course subject to change as this is just a preview version of the program. I'm sure some of the options will be added and/or changed as they go towards final build. If any of the developers are reading this post, please take the above listed as suggestions of what to try to work in.

Final verdict: for now at least, I will be sticking with Tweetdeck, but watching for updates and improvements in Seesmic Windows as it DOES have LOTS of potential! As noted earlier, I especially like the minimal memory/cpu usage. If you would like to try it out yourself go to http://seesmic.com and sign up to try it out.

Moving on....

I have tried a couple new browser as alternatives to Internet Explorer 8. Although I do like IE8, I've noticed a few problems with it relating to flash, and some javascript. This may be due to the fact that I am running a 64 bit version of Windows 7 and everything is not yet totally compatible.

Google Chrome: This is a pretty slick interface, very clean. First thing I noticed is that the Google Toolbar does not work with it. WTF? This is a Google product, and it's own toolbar is not compatible??? It does have tabbed browsing and is very fast to load pages. Overall, I could use it, but I don't prefer it. Will play with it a little more off and on. Still learning how to get around and what does what...

Mozilla Firefox: Very nice, slick interface. Support for plug-ins and add-ons. Very fast to load pages. The scripting errors I recieved in IE do not happen in this browser. Missing is the ability to adjust and re-arrange toolbars to my liking. Still learning how to get around, and what does what, and how to customize. I have temporarily at least set it to be my default browser. Final verdict on browsers is pending.

I hope I didn't bore you all to death with this. I wanted to post my experiences so that you can decide for yourself if you care to try any of this software out. If you have anything to add or to comment on, please leave a comment below.

Thank you for your time today!

It's called "Christmas"

2009-11-17T15:58:00.000-05:00

I'm sick of hearing "Happy Holidays" because it might "offend" someone. It's Christmas dammit, always has been, always will be! If it offends you, Fuck Off! Get your own damn holiday. Oh yeah, you do - Ramadan, Kwanza, Hannuka (SP?), etc. But we have to call THEM by their names. Get it? Christmas!!

New video from Nuclear Bubble Wrap...

2009-11-16T18:29:00.000-05:00

Draining the Lizard on a Dead Gay Wizard by Nuclear Bubble Wrap.. Pretty funny, enjoy!

Do They Know It's Christmas?

2009-11-15T09:19:00.000-05:00

Ok, I know it's only mid November. And I know I'm one of the biggest complainers about Christmas sales, decorations and music that there is. But, this is a great video done by a great group of comedians and I just had to share it with you. See how many of them you can identify.

Also, I know this blog is all videos at this point. Enjoy it - I'll come up with more as time goes on....

Do They Know It's Christmas? from Scott Aukerman on Vimeo.

Please take me back....

2009-11-14T09:49:00.000-05:00

This video means a lot to me. I WAS addicted to crack once. It was the worst year of my life, and cost me a lot more than money!! Now, between facebook, and twitter, I think I have a new addiction! This video tells it like it is, and it's funny. :-)

I don't know why...

2009-11-14T09:42:00.000-05:00

I have no idea why I'm doing this. I already have a LiveJournal page and hardly ever post there either. But all my friends are doing it, so I will too (peer pressure anyone?)...

For now, enjoy this video by a "friend" of mine. His newest creation. Enjoy the laughs.