Seriously, I tried a Grand Theft Auto game today and it was funny. Sadly it would appear that there are jackasses who think the best use for this video game series is turning a profit on somebody else's work. Crackhead lawyers are trying to use this game as an excuse for people killing other people… even the newest version of this game is completely cartoon like and is no more likely to persuade people to kill than Looney Tunes episodes from the 50's. Goofs.
Well holy crap! The other night (Tuesday night I think it was) I was asked by Tater if I would like to temporarily take over the position of guild leader. Since the Turtle guild also happens to be at the top of the Alliance ladder that also makes me the Alliance Leader. Let's hope this crap doesn't go to my head!
Seriously now, is it REALLY necessary to keep sending emails about webinars and monthly newsletters and other spam bullshit to someone who has already bought shit from your organization? If someone spends a crapload of money on your product(s) they should be able to call you if I need help (especially if they also paid for overpriced support too).
The organization I work for bought some Citrix junk and they haven't left me alone ever since! I have called them numerous times and asked them to stop sending me this garbage but they just keep sending it. You people who don't bitch about the constant parade of bullshit emails are part of the problem. Let these assholes know that it simply isn't acceptable to keep sending you this shit. If you are in marketing or advertising please take the advice of Bill Hicks. Seriously, do it. If you work for Citrix, I urge you to leave. If you are thinking of buying Citrix products I suggest you take a head check and jump off a bridge.
Yeah, so I want a pontoon boat. Just something to go puttin' around on now and then, nothing TOO fancy. Well, maybe something fancy. :-) I looked at one for $19,500 that was really nice but I thought it was too fancy for me (you know, being a hick and all). I checked out some new ones today and the prices suck. I'll be checking a few local websites [like this one and this one] to see if I can find something for less than 20k that is still not a total pile of crap.
Yeah so I guess I should explain where the nifty new layout for this website came from. I of course have a Linux box running Apache and MySQL and PHP and all that crap. Into this I have stuck Wordpress which could be described as a Content Management System (CMS), or blogging software, or probably a few other names that likely don't matter much. The point is that it lets me type in plain old text and then it stores that text in a database for me. Then it formats the webpage for me when you (the viewer) wants to see my content. It is just a fancy webpage generator that can pull information from a backend SQL database. Some time ago I looked at Wordpress and liked it, I guess that since then I just haven't considered much else.
So how did I get this nifty layout? Well when you install Wordpress it comes with a default theme which is pretty simple, but it has lots of themes that you can download. I wanted a theme that:
After sifting through the Wordpress themes download area I finally gave up trying to find a minimalist look that didn't totally blow. One of the most common problems I encountered was that a number of the themes available for download do not include a link (in the sidebar) for logging on or managing your site/blog. This seemed to run against my decision to allow people to sign up and make comments on my stupid rants.
At the end of it all I just took the default theme and modified it to suit my needs. It has a photo at the top and it has my cute little sidebar for navigation etc. It loads pretty quick (I like to think) and it has all the functions I need. I also happen to be using a newer version of Wordpress which has a slightly modified management interface which I am still kind of getting used to. Now the photo at the top is obviously not the stock one, and it seems to change every now and then. True, I made thirteen different headers and they are rotated by a little script that just copies over the jpg file every sixty seconds. Bitchin' huh?
So far I am not a huge fan of RSS… a little fan maybe but not a big one. But I believe that may be related to the fact that I never found an application that showed me my news/updates the way I wanted to see them. For the longest time [example 1] [example 2] I have been looking for a simple RSS collector that just goes looking for new content and gives me some kind of alert when it arrives.
Kind of recently I was browsing through THIS website and as I perused the second page of comments I came across someone talking about Abilon. It seems to be the best I have found so far. A simple little app that does not depend on bloated code to be pre-installed. It takes in RSS feed URLs and barfs up a bubble when it finds new crap. I am still running it in a VM right now but it might make the jump to production soon! Freakin' yay!
On a side note… feel free to check the link to the website above and look through the list of recommended applications. The only one on the list that is not dependent on something already being installed is Miro (which is more of an Internet TV viewer and RSS collector). It is getting far too hard to find apps that are just apps.
Well I bought a new dock. It's a 24 foot long and 6 foot wide Fendock and it looks friggin' sweet. It is in the water and now I just have to cover it with a crapload of wood. I am also liking what I see of Abilon (the RSS Reader) so far, we'll see what it does when I post this crap. The dog is wet, the Dragon Festival is on, and I'm cookin' dinner.
Yes, this is a new category for computer related shit. Some will probably be good. Some will probably be bad. Don't lose your pants.
Booyeah! I just figured out why I dumped Newzcrawler… it's because they want $25 for it!
Anybody know of a free RSS reader that
eh? See ya later Newzcrawler!
So now that I got my shit together (websitically speaking) I went back through my posts from "pre-9-months-ago" to see what I was doing when this thing was last working. As it turns out there were a few things left open ended that I want to update (just cause I am an asshole like that).
Eddie Griswold is of course now a Legendary Defender Of Ascalon. He has been for sometime now and I will do my best to include a nifty screenshot of him as soon as the dragon festival is over (I have to stand in a ring for a while). The whole process of becoming LDoA took about 10 months but could be done in about 4 by someone who knows how to pull charr and level them. He also has a Jungle Troll minipet that he obtained on his first birthday and can often be found hunting ales from Ft. Ranik or grabbing a Lever Chimp on his way to The Northlands.
I forgot all about Newz Crawler, perhaps because it turned out to be suckier than I thought, perhaps because it turns out RSS really isn't that cool after all, pewrhaps because I don't try hard enough. Whatever the case may be, I have setup a VM with Newz Crawler v1.9 Beta and I'll see what it can do. Again.
The original "Trip To Space" posting was about the Gillett contest which is now closed. Since then I have actually made a Space Pact with someone I know (possibly 2 people actually). The idea is that if I win the lottery (or have some other bitchin' free surprise money) then I have to pay for both of us to go to space. And vice versa. So if the third person is really "on board" and if the first person agrees to the third person's "onboardedness" then we have all just tripled out chances of going to space.
"Somewhere in the universe there must be something better than man." – Taylor
Finally, the bike is a ball but is need of a few things… such as gas tank repair, new rear tire, replace broken rear fender strut, steel braided cable covers, larger rear turn signal lights and a soul.
That covers what was going on before the website lockout of 2007/2008… since then, has been a retarded mess of divorce, renovations and the realization that I simply don't belong in this place. I'm sorry I just don't know how to play along with it all. How terribly painful.
I've been away long enough to have a fucking baby.
My bullshit is almost over and the story still gets worse.
Hopefully I'll have something nice to say (or a reason not to blow it all up).
Welcome home hosers.
This Wordpress site uses a modified verion of Clayton McIlrath's Default-Enhanced theme.