This has never happened to me before..

Is the world coming to an end???  Seriously I think we are in the end part of the world.. On the day they started to have the great "gun control" debate there were more idiots out shooting people and taking kids hostage than ... Well let's just say on a day you are trying to make a point of guns being safe you don't want a bunch of low IQ nutjobs doing what they are doing..  We talked about the little boy being taken hostage this morning at breakfast and mom starts to breakdown.. I think it would be different if we didn't have a little guy about that age..  I was telling mom about that commercial where the little boy is in a classroom via a robot type of thing and when I saw this commercial I thought, this is the way things will be eventually and probably not to far in the future.. I know my niece has her twins and after the shooting at Newtown last month she said she won't send her girls to school and her dad said they will be social retards but I don't think it would be that way..  The day is coming when the education delivery system will have to be revamped..  Kids are in school 8 hours a day and back in my day it was no big deal, but now it seems like they really have a tough time getting along for that amount of time.. Getting an education online might be the alternative.. Imagine getting your education from different sources.. Not being stuck with the local school but instead being able to get a course from a school in another state.. Maybe even another country..  I was talking to mom about this yesterday and the town where she grew up was a mountain town and we visited there a few years ago and the principal was talking to the audience about how they are changing the way they educate because of the size and location of the school.. They are a very small school but are needed to remain where they are because in the winter it would be very unsafe to take the kids to the town on the other side of the pass because of snow slides.. They are becoming cutting edge and are being visited by other schools around the country now, and that is what I think will be the way schools will be in the not too distant future..

I played the hand held Monopoly game yesterday.. This game is very easy to win but also has the challenge to it I like in Monopoly.. So the game starts off like every game.. I have the properties in mind that I know I can win with, but as this game unfolds those properties are soon quickly bought up by the other players.. I watch to see who has them and can I trade for them.. My first trip around the board I get a lite blue, a violet, a red, the electric company and then on the high end property I get Park place.. the dreaded Park Place.. While most people love the most expensive properties I go for the mid price properties.. But today things will be different, and here is how things played out.. during the next few laps around the board I would get the second utility giving me the monopoly there, thank you.. However these don't give much on the rent as they are roll of the dice type of collection.. I get a railroad which the smartest thing you can do is grab at least one railroad to prevent a full monopoly ownership of these.. They can wreck your day early in the game.. The Boardwalk property gets bought up and as the game unfolds the fear of a trade happening that makes me be on the outside looking in isn't appealing to me.. So I see the player with Boardwalk and decide to try to get the property with a full property exclusive trade.. I do a bold move, I serve up the trade that most likely will be the first attempt to get what I want.. I offer the utilities monopoly for Boardwalk knowing full well that it might be needing to have the railroad thrown in there.. To my amazement the computer opponent agreed to the trade... Stunned to say the least but a monopoly for a single property.. Guess I looked like the fool for offering a monopoly like this.. Then the tough part started, building houses.. Two hundred dollars a pop.. And me knowing that these properties rarely get landed on, seemed like a bad idea to build on them but they were all I had and nobody else had a monopoly to build on so get with it.. It took several turns to build up, I had to pass go to get enough money to build a single house, but gradually I hit the two houses on both properties and I had one of the other players land on me.. Getting a good chunk of change got the houses built to the four house level, the final.. I rarely build to hotel because of the expense of the street repairs card on both chance and community chest.. But they both had been hit early in the game and I wasn't sure where the cards might be in the stacks.. As the players went around the board and kept missing my nicely upgraded properties I saw the money coming into the game and one player in particular had so much money.. Over $2000 and I could literally hear the money as the person skipped on over my property.. That's it, I'm building to hotels, and the reason why was simple.. I wanted to get the persons property without having to pay to unmortgage it.. In the computer games if the opponent can't come up with rent without mortgaging the properties they are given right across without hawking the properties.. So.. Long story short (too late) I got two pf the opponents properties and with all this the idea is to build on those properties and make it impossible for the opponent to catch their breath.. But I wanted to try something different.. In every game with the other properties I would do that, knowing that if the person gets a head up and builds houses the game can change.. But in this game I had the properties, and the forth "person" wasn't in a position to get properties to build on.. I had all the properties and while I have made the opponent trade and build before, this time I wouldn't do that.. I wanted to see if you could win with Park Place and Boardwalk exclusively built to hotel.. Two landings on Park Place was all it took.. Two times around the board.. I was stunned.   I've never won with those properties before..   


Badge Henry

Two days entry.. (yesterday + today)

Right now..  December 27th entry on PNOP will be the last of the continuous entries there.. Unless something happens between now and then, such as a huge surge in viewership.. I can see having three days a week or maybe three days total with the music entry being counted as one of the entries.. For no other reason than to just cut back and the amount of money will suffer but there you go..

Also a possible leaving of Facebook and or twitter for the much more impressive Sulia/anomaly site is a possibility.. I set that page up last week and makes visiting Twitter a waste of time.. Sculia I subscribed with my Twitter account and now I read all those sites in news feed format kinda like Google reader...  These two sites are the best and make having Facebook nearly  not needed.. Hard to imagine getting out of Facebook completely, but there are so many people who never thought they would leave Myspace back just a few years ago..

Watched the video shot from Saturday night.. Edited the football stuff down to a very short concise video and loaded it to the YouTube site.. Same will be done with the birthday party stuff.. So amazed that the OEM battery lasted all through the shots that day.. I'm never sure what the battery will do, wish I had the three back in August but I got what I could..

I know there could be a question "why didn't I get a HD camera instead of SD??"  Well I started to look at cameras in late October and then stopped after finding the Cannon that I was going to get.. Then after Thanksgiving I started to look again.. Mom wanted me to get one for Christmas that year (2009 I think) and I looked at several sites, C-NET, Amazon, Best Buy.. The usual suspect sites for shopping.. I wasn't after the cheapest and I wasn't sure of HD or anything.. While researching the different cameras the thought came into my mind, the camera that mom & dad bought way back in the early nineties was a Panasonic, maybe I should see if they have anything worth checking on.. I found several and they measured up quite well against the other brands favorably.. Checked the specs on three cameras and then let it settle for a week.. Looked at the three cameras I was sure was a good choice and kept looking.. Went to the local walmart but didn't ask for help, I've learned over the years that when I focus on getting something and search via the internet that I tend to know more about something than anyone at the store might..  There was the choice of hard drive storage known as HD.. and there was Hard Drive High Definition cameras.. The reviews I read about HD storage was that these were in the shop more than anything else.. I hated the idea of having the camera in the shop, especially when at that time we were heading to the time when Lucy would be taking Ian to Poland for her immigration  situation.. so that got one model erased.. Then there was the High Definition debate.. To me the debate was easy, because at the time HD cams were more expensive by about a hundred greenbacks..    The reviews I read said the difference between HD and SD (standard def) on these cameras like this wasn't noticeable really.. It took getting to the next higher price range at the thousand dollar mark before there was much noticeable change.. So I cut it to the camera I got.. Sat on that decision for a week and then got it ordered just after the first of December.. Also got a bag and extras for it.. My first videos uploaded to YouTube were from that Christmas day.. And I averaged several videos a week for the next few years.. Until they got back from Poland.. Now I am starting to try to get a few put together.. Last week saw a few new test videos done and I'll try to get those edited to upload over this week..

Which brings us to the music videos "the Infinity Project"..  Started working on phase 3 a week or so ago.. I'm not sure what to do with the project, but I think phase 3 will be the final on this project..  The longest and largest of the three, so many ideas are starting to come together.. While working on the music videos yesterday a hicup developed while getting the first video completed, the program got hung up at the 16%  then 17%  and 23% mark for about a half an hour which made me wonder what was going on.. Shortly after I found out as the program quit.. Shut down for whatever the reason and pissed me off.. For one thing I was working on the video with one song playing and then decided the song didn't fit the way the video progressed and so I got the music off and started the search for the song that would fit the video.. This took the better part of an hour maybe even more.. finally the song "the enlightened path" hit perfect, it is a zero beat song and it just felt right and ten minutes later I pushed the "save as" link and shortly after the program shit the bed.. After a restart (when in doubt restart) I tried a new video idea.. Saving the video to 720p takes about five minutes per minute of video.. This video took the better part of an hour to save in 720p, while saving it to the size to load to blogger took a fraction of the time.. The video is part of the 220 volt (Three phase live) by Tangerine Dream and won't be uploaded to the PNOP site.. I've wanted to do a video set of that album since starting the music videos back in September.. Between regular videos (phase 3) and 220 volt and also the underwater twilight which I got the videos for yesterday and messed with a little, with the songs "Song of the Whale parts 1&2"  with the first idea kinda looks promising but because of their sheer size won't qualify for upload on PNOP  with the two songs joined together are nearly twenty minutes in length.. Two of my favorite songs with Edgar playing some of the greatest guitar passages of his long career...

Roku gets a huge thumbs up for two channels I've found recently.. One is channel 8 or 8actave as it is listed on the private channel list... Also Challenge is a really good channel set from the SKY channel from England.. I watched a hard body challenge Sunday afternoon and no it isn't about sexy women.. It is about guys who do a sort of ninja challenge thing, or that other show like on ESPN where they lift cars & shit.. This show had guys breaking down doors and then another was bending the rebar that they use in reinforcing concrete... Last night I switched over and they had Wheel of Fortune on.. Not seeing Vanna and Pat was odd, but it was different.. Watch a little here & there..  Channel 8 has a lot of free and government run stuff..  also stuff that people do on public access channels.. Different for sure..   

Badge Henry

Flipped out

Couple of things to mention.. Got some video from the big shin ding yesterday and will edit them to make a video or two for youtube placement..  An interesting day   where the hell did all those kids come from??  holey shit.. Anyway..  When there was talk of going out and tossing the football around a few things went through my mind one of which was ouch.. I really liked tossing the ball when I was younger but in the past ten plus years I have grown weary of even trying that.. Last ball I threw was a snow ball, I waded it up and gave it a thunderous toss and watched as the ten yards it flew it went from my shoulder height to about seven or eight feet high then plummeted to the ground.. I was trying to hit something and was awful glad no one was around to see that toss.. So when they wanted to toss the old ball around yesterday I hesitated and then came up with a brilliant plan, I would video tape the actions.. Turned out to be a good idea, and the little guys played and there were injuries although quite mild.. Gives new respect to the guys who play Australian rules football with their no helmuts and for that matter no pads to speak of.. I've always said if you want to eliminate head injuries in the NFL get rid of the head gear.. People tent to not lead with their heads if they know it will really hurt..

I have a site that I get really good bootleg concerts from and recently the guy who runs the site proper has returned, and the shows that are being uploaded are really good..  Not that the guy who was doing it in his absence wasn't good, but now the shows are right in my line of taste for the most part.. But I can't help but think that some of what I get is in line with hording.. That is to say because the music is free that I am getting it, for no other reason..  That sort of bothers me but it is rock music so.. I guess that's a good enough reason..

I watched a trifecta of good movies from Netflix this weekend.. First was the redo of the Thing which was the story before John Carpenter's movie.. And when it was about to roll the credits the story overlapped to where the original started.. I like that.. in fact I think this is the first time it has happened where a "prequal" actually enveloped to the original movies storyline.. Pretty cool.. Then last night was J. Edgar about the start of the F.B.I.  and his eventual abuse of power.. Leonardo Decaprio has just got to be one of the best actors out there now..  And then todays flick was Project X and if you know this movie I won't bore you.. It was quite the show though and the soundtrack was fairly good, not my kind of music but it fit the subject fine.. I knew how things were going to end.. It reminded me of Risky Business but more extreme party wise..

On the Roku I am really watching the channel 8  more and more just to see how it evolves.. Interesting to watch it grow over time..    I watched Drive the other night and it was .. had the best bits on the previews.. Put it that way..

Went to Walmart the other day and still I can't go into the garden section aisle because it has a rather nasty stink to it.. However I did go in that section the other day and started my research as far as seeds for this coming growing season.. Pumpkins will be the main thing.. Figuring on four or five tomatoes and maybe a pepper plant but last years disappointment is still fresh in my mind.. Maybe still too much, but there will be some plants grown this year but nowhere near as much as last year.. In less maybe there will be more.. last year I overcrowded the Earth box planter, this year it will be back to the tried and true...

Badge Henry

File me

I'm no doctor and definitely not the brain for the computer but.. This afternoon as I was trying to do video test work I tried to open the files and they wouldn't.. Not only the converted files but every video file on the computer wouldn't open.. Well that makes every video I have worthless and in fact every player not work.. So what was the deal??  I checked codecs and had to check every device.. But after a few I thought this is futile... Except for me deleting a codec pack the other day there hasn't been any... Well was that what happened?  But I have the K-Lite codec pack and it should work, right??  Yes it should but it wasn't.. So what gives??  I tried so many things and one of which was attempting to delete the K-Lite set of codecs which didn't budge.. The computer browser locked up and the computer itself froze and it was several hours of cussing and then the third attempt in SAFE mode I got that codec pack deleted..  I downloaded a codec pack from windows but I doubted that this would work, it has to do with cameras and.. Well mine should be on there, but it must not have been.. The windows movie maker still won't play my videos.. Why it worked this summer for the wedding is still a mystery.. But truth be told the videos weren't working in WMM at first, then as we got closer to August they played every now and then and then all the wedding video played which was good because I have used the AVC video converter program recently and the video turns out looking like crap.. Then the program updated today and I tried to do some video conversions and they turned out much better.. But it is strange because I set it to be converted to one file format and the program did one video that way and the rest were set to something else.. Why was this??  Turns out you have to manually set each video to the output file format.. So that cleared that up.. So what about the codecs situation?? Well after getting back on the regular setting after the restart from SAFE mode it did the same thing.. What it did was come up with that dialog box stating to go on line to figure it out.. OR  set the player for this file.. Could it be that easy??  I set the program to play these files as windows player and all of a sudden they play.. After freaking out for the afternoon they played.. Well all except for the WMM, it still won't play my video files from the computer.. I can live with that though..   I might still need the codecs pack but won't until there is a need to.. I'm still not sure what happened.. Must have been the deletion of the first codec pack.. I'da never thunk it though..

Badge Henry

That show

The video downloader that I use to get videos from Youtube recently updated and when it did it said it added the ability to get videos from a whole host of sites now.. One of the sites turned out to be HULU.. How important is that??  Well you know how when you watch a video on their site you have a commercial every commercial break (proper) ??  Well getting the videos from their site eliminates the commercial breaks.. Only thing is you have to download and convert the video to another file form, it won't play the video file as is.. So I download and convert at the same time.. I was wanting to watch some shows but just either forget they are on or since I have forgotten to watch some of them I figure I will watch them eventually.. Now I have the shows from just after Thanksgiving which is when I think I missed from.. Pretty cool hu? 

Speaking of forgetting a show is on, I "forgot" American Idol was on last night and last week as well.. Well the best way to watch each episode is in clip form.. Taking the commercials out is only half the battle to care about this schlock..  I watched a clip today that showed the snit that Minaj chick had last night.. Big hairy woop..  in her case hairy is right...   But I think it is ok, the show lost me a couple years ago when the judges told a girl contestant to rock it up  a little after she had been doing slow songs and ballads, and then the week she rocked it up (tempo)  she got voted off. While the guy who stayed true to his roots won.. ..

Completed the "Survivors" series that was on Netflix last night.. Disappointed that the series ended the way it did (Googled it and found out that the show has been cancelled)..  However if there was a good place to end it, that was pretty close.. Like the show Jerico where it was cancelled after one season and then given a few more to finish a story line, I wish this show would have been given a couple more to finish it out.. There wouldn't have been a "oh look there are millions of people" type of thing, there was no way.. However there was another area where people were living somewhere.. The way the series ended with Tom getting on the airplane somehow (isn't that the way it usually happens though) without us seeing.. Yea the plane was in full sight of everyone and they should have been able to see him get on the plain easily.. But what I was hoping was as the plane flew over that Tom would shoot it and have it blow up.. The end of the series, and truth is it should have been a completed series that way.. But it was left open with the idea of continuing.. I like to think the series could have ended three shows later as the plane lands at the other survivors holdout and Tom gets off of the plane after everyone else gets off and he just goes inside the building where they are all at, doing nothing but being there would be enough to ensure that most of the people there would die of this flu strain that killed 99% of the worlds population.. The others (the family as they were called) would end up going back to the lab and taking the vaccine they would all survive and move to a nice place to start living and that would be the way it would end.. .. THE END   roll credits..


Badge Henry

Of video projext

There was kind of a secondary reason why the phase 2 video project stopped.. Well third.. The first was I had that horrible snot factory cold early on in December.. Then as if that weren't reason enough to take  a break, the holidays were in full force and I didn't want any influence of the holidays over the video production.. I did that travel set in this time period and I think they came out fine.. The third and this should come as a sort of surprise, the video program was acting up.. Just a little.. In fact looking back at things for whatever the reason the program worked well during the wedding and the videos just before and just after, but as we got into December the program started to really act up.. Then the first of the year a few times it didn't work right at all.. How I got the music videos and the videos that I clipped for putting up here I will never know.. It all came to a head today as I tried to set some video work together.. Start working on some music videos to either complete phase 2 or start phase 3..  And as I was trying to get the videos to load the program acted up and I was trying everything I could think to get it going.. Then I thought, last month I thought it was the codecs and I went after a set to fix things, which didn't work.. Then today the next thing to try is try to download and reinstall the program. Which looks like it worked.. So the program looks like it will work and a few new ideas thrown in there .. The program has been updated, would have been updated back in August but I think I knew this but decided to stay with the way it was working because I knew or was figuring out how to get around on the program.. New ideas for video production, with a few new tools on the program, should be interesting..

When there are problems with the program I tend to not try to use it and the past month I have done very little video wise except for the holiday video from the get together, there have been nearly no videos started of the "big production" type.. Phase 3??  Maybe, but phase 2 got shorted.. Maybe we will see what phase this develops into since the program is slightly different, maybe it should be phase 3..

Badge Henry

(P.S. After completing two videos this afternoon it is Phase 3 that I am starting on.. What is the difference between each one (phase)?  I feel like phase one was started around August, and completed in late September.. Phase 2 started late November and ended just a week or two after it started.. Phase 3 started today and will last until??  not sure how long, but since I still have three days worth of uploads to go I have three months to complete phase three..  Not including February which I uploaded before Christmas (the music entry)..   ) 

The flyers

I did have the "entry from hell" set here from two this morning until about a half an hour ago.. Why do I feel guilty about it??  Well it is a "deep track" type of thing, and I'm not sure it is worth taking a chance on being seen.. It includes every aspect of the odd things that were from the beginning even before their wedding.. 

The holidays have come and gone and things between us are quite the same as they were before but with the exception that at least we got together, and things seemed better at least.. But there is tension still..  With the impending birth of his second son looming I think Donald is thinking everything will be healed with that event, and he may very well be right.. I would hope so as well but I would hope that he realizes that mom has always had their best interest at heart all along..  Even though they go through their periods of isolation, staying away from and keeping as little contact with everyone as they possibly can.. Reminds us of someone else in the family..  And it was that way in the early days of their marriage as we rarely heard from them, then suddenly we heard from them regularly.. Now we seem to be back in that lul of not hearing from them for months at a time.. Mom wants to stay in contact and in fact was hoping that after the first of the year we might could stop by once in a while..  That feeling seems distant, like it might just never happen but like I keep telling her wait until Ryan gets here.. If things aren't different then, then they may never change.. But we have done as much as we can.. I care, I just don't want things to be completely back to the way they were before.. Not completely... 

Three movies from Netflix this weekend were  Arena about a guy who gets kidnapped and forced to fight to the death for his life on a guys website.. Kinda cool flick..  Ted was the next movie, it was good and I could see why everyone thought it was  a good movie.. And then there was the classic "Bridge on the river kwi"    yep that classic from the late fifties I believe.. The whistle movie, that's right..  Quite good and extremely long.. I have said I wanted at least one classic movie every month and keep to that.. A couple months ago it was Soilent Green.. the classic, mom said she would never watch that one again.. I had never seen it from the very start..   I might try to get the original Planet of the apes, but I know I have seen that one from the start..  That was something I was thinking about last night.. Getting to see movies from the very start on cable tv on the movie channels, it was very hard thing to do,, Knowing a movie starts at the top of the hour was easier to get to but any other time and it was very hard to hit, and Starzz and their kin of channels that we had on cable was time shifted oddly.. I don't think I ever watched a movie from the very beginning that way.. And yes this is leading me to say that is the difference between cable and streaming.. Streaming you can start what you are going to watch when you want to watch it.. Instead of top of the hour or bottom of the hour you get to start the movie when you feel like it.. And watch the whole movie or you can start  it in the middle somewhere  simulate watching it on cable that way..

Badge Henry

PNW

From the new series Primeval : New World.. I think I called it new city, I was wrong.. But this scene the people looking for the creatures, one of them is being held by a couple of drug thugs (no rhyme intended) and then this happens..  A good little story this week (that week, whenever it aired)..

I will be honest, I've never heard of the term they use in this scene and I was in a band that used plenty of weed..  Anyway this is an interesting scene to establish a new way to tranq a monster.. 

Badge Henry

R U READY 2 ROCK

The entry for Sunday on PNOP is quite the odd one.. Or at least the very first few are odd.. But they were found by way of first an odd link.. The first one where the guys are playing rhythm on the fat guy.. Then from there it went in odd directions and where I said it was a single search from that first video wasn't entirely true.. I did a search for New York street performers and although it went off on a tangent to Russia I decided to keep that vibe going.. All in all kind of a cool lot to look at for me.. I have the same thing happen on Roku in search mode for videos on the youtube (private) channel..


Donald made a statement on his Facebook about moving forward with his music tastes.. To that I say bravo, welcome to the new world.. However he also said he felt like he couldn't listen to some old rock music groups anymore..  Saying you are no longer a fan of some groups, like say KISS, after years of being heavily into them is .. strange to me..I was a big fan of the original lineup and still am, and that band is gone forever, they will more than likely never come back together again.. But I still like that era, same as for Rush and any other group I grew up listening to and idolizing.. That will never change..

When a song comes on the radio that was from the early days of my youth I can see myself in that time, in Cliffs car cruising main, looking for girls and having fun..  It was what I think of when I watch the Midnight Special.. I am transported back to a more innocent time.. But it also saddens me.. There is nothing that good out there now in America, it all sounds the same to me.. Everything is influenced by the same three groups that are on the chart at any given moment..  It all sounds the same..  I have evolved musically but still have the same influence as far as what I listen to.. They aren't from America anymore but they are the same type of music that I want to listen to..  And still when I want to listen to something I turn on the channel I identify with.. Be that a rock channel, Jazz, contemporary instrumental.. Whatever I feel like..


When I left the band I was in I kept listening to what was on the radio for a few years but gradually stopped listening because when the nineties started it seems rap took hold big time and I lost interest in pretty much anything that was out there..  I guess I grew out of the music scene and evolved away from anything new.. Listened to the XM Radio live channel showed that there were a lot of groups I missed out because American radio doesn't play them..  A lot of the groups I have gotten into recently have been accidental, either by way of a search when looking for a video or looking for music on so many music sites on the internet..  Some were groups I have gotten in a package deal with a download of songs by groups I wanted.. Then I tried to give these groups a listen and got blown away by how really good they are.. And no I'm not talking about any group from America, there are more from Europe and Australia than anywhere else.. 

Badge Henry

Rock & roll & poisons & needles

Friday night is Midnight Special night.. The evolution of watching things via the Roku streaming player has made it easy to do this.. I started watching music videos on Friday night and when I punched in those words into the search I got exactly what I wanted, the old Midnight Special from way back when.. It is both great and sad to watch these show clips, because I remember watching some of this way back when they were first on..  Last night I watched Heart (the original lineup of Heart) and it was so incredible to see.. Ann Wilson wasn't nearly the chunky gal she would become, I guess starving on the road will do that to a person..  But great voice then and now.. Blondie was on last night, Debbie Harry looked really nice way back when.. 

Then I switched over and watched some Letterman from the past week..  Then watched some news shows.. I tell you, we have Fox news on the cable and it is nice to be able to watch a news site that has intelligence.. No I'm not talking about Fox, I am in fact talking about just about everywhere else.. AP, Reuters, BBC and so many other choices and I can chose which I want to watch and what stories.. I also like the AOL.ON  site for news, tech news and entertainment news..  The fifteen second commercials are different to get used to because they are just a quick add then back to what you want to see..

Changed my desktop picture, and it changes regularly since football season ended.. Today the spiral thing from optical illusions website.. Not the worst one i've seen in a while but.. 

Then there's the aging office fiasco or what might be headed that way.. In October someone I know asked if I was getting paid to watch my mom and I said no... Well everyone says give it a try what could it hurt.. Well here we are a few months later and last week I get my first check.. Felt odd to get it but alright.. I haven't cashed it yet and am glad I didn't.. Turns out this could be a government run ponzie scheme of sorts.. Mom gets a "bill" for a "donation"  from the aging office which had me scratching my head.. Why should she have to pay them to pay me, she could do that directly without the middle man. Anyway I told her maybe my little check was breaking the bank.. It is for all of $64..  When they sent a bill I thought  if it is for the 64 dollars then I'll take the check down and sign it and give it back and ask to see the contract and tear it up..  This is just so strange but not completely of any surprise to either of us.. I really felt odd getting paid to do something suddenly that I've been doing for free for a while now...

January thaw followed by ??  :  I've been watching what is going on in Australia  with the heat and the fires and you could say they are getting what we got last year, and it might be true.. It could also be a sign of things to come for us here..  As dry as it was last summer and then follow it with a relatively dry winter so far and this could be  along ass hot dry as shit summer..  

So I was in Walmart this past week and went down the "summer" aisle.. it was purely by accident, as it is a small section by the marked down section of the old holiday area.. And the smells weren't inviting to me, they were more repulsive than anything else..  They reminded me of this past season, with the failure of so many plants and ideas that just make me wonder why bother.. But bother I will and in  a few weeks I will welcome those smells that did just repulse me, and welcome them with open arms.. Hard to believe that it will be just a few short weeks before I start the planting process all over again..  Slap me in the head...

Badge Henry

Young Apprentice final

The Young Apprentice final episode..  The end is in sight as Lord Sugar puts the final task to the two teams and just like the celebrity apprentice he brings the others voted off to help the two teams..

In this clip they start to get their ideas together.. Very interesting this series is, because they are all just 16-17 years old.. 

Split up the teams have each of the finalists in it.. Interesting that there is no P.M. (Project Manager) on this final task... To get what each wants to have on this task, very interesting that once they were on their own with their two "helpers" how they manage to get what they wanted to be done.. A section of the show was edited because of the size of the section..

Presentation for each team, first up the CYC idea..

Release gets their turn...

This cuts it from the final four to the final two.. Last year I wanted the girl that won to get it.. When the final two were set, the one I wanted to win, Lucy, was there as was Ashleigh....  Ashleigh really did take charge most of the time and really never liked going along for the ride.. Lucy was more logical in her handling of tasks.. very smart she seems on track to do whatever she wants in life..
 

And the winner is... Sometimes you hit it and sometimes you don't.. Ashleigh doesn't seem like she has a true direction with what she would do with that 25,000 pound investment but she is still quite young.. Whereas Lucy seems to really know what she is doing, seems to have her act together... 

Badge Henry

Strangeness of reality

The "burning" question drives us both over the edge every morning.. Me more than mom, and here's the reason why.. There's a local nutjob on the radio that has his morning segment that is called the burning question and it can be off the nut type of questions, some of the more obvious answers aren't the answer at all, not even close.. So why??  Why does it bother me??  Well they also have a show called swap shop and occasionally people call that have their radio volume turned up enough to where there is that echo effect thing.. But on this burning question, you can't ever hear that, it has never happened so far as we know... What I figure goes on is he takes calls while he has a song playing in real time, and tapes the phone calls.. And what else bothers me is when you call some shows you get to hear the callers in front of you so you don't make the same mistake as the caller in front of you (yes I have called several shows before, most having to do with rock music or sports) and so you should hear the previous callers guess.. But here that isn't the case.. Either he is taping it, or he has incredible control.. When someone gives the incorrect answer and then the next person gives the same answer my thinking is did they hear the wrong answer and either think hey I wasn't thinking, maybe that is the right answer.. Or they have a single one track mind that they are thinking they are right, and hearing the person give the wrong answer in front of them just think their answer was wrong but mine will be right even though it is the same answer.. No these people can't hear the previous callers answer otherwise I think they would change their minds..  Some time I might have to try this to see if I'm right... Today they kept answering the same answer every caller had the same thing.. DUH... There  can't be  that many idiots about can there...  Maybe I'm wrong..

I've said I am watching a series on netflix called Survivors (not the reality show)  ....  It is about a virus wiping out 99% of the human race.. And what happens when those people that do survive get together and start to go about the task of living.. The stories are good but the show has a 12 episode run and I wasn't sure it was going to move along at all.. Last night the series moved along a little.. What happens when a show like this or the show Jerico get to the meat of the process is everyday living as we know it now is disrupted completely.. They turn the clock back in some instances to early America or in the case of Survivors, London.. But basically the shows become kind of like the old show Bonanza.. Kind of the old west frontier living type of thing even though you are set in a city.. So even though the shows still have your cars and stuff it basically is the old western type of feel to them.. They go from communal setting to communal setting trying to fit in and helping but not staying with the new people.. To me if there were only a few million people in the world I would think getting along might be a little easier..  These are interesting shows to watch but they do have that old western television feel to them... 

Badge Henry

(P.S. I watched a few minutes of that dreaded American Idol (A.I.) and on one of the sites I follow on Facebook I put a comment about the show stating that I forgot it was on, forgot about the circus and that that Minaj creature was screwing with my colour on my tv set.. That her hair color is color of the day and her lips are "Puke Nuts Pink".. That might actually be a color in lip paint, not sure...)  

Primeval New World

The new series of the Pimeval franchise as it were.. I started to get this show at the same time as the Young Apprentice.. I wanted to see what they did to this show, and hard to understand how they got to this point, I still have the last episode from the end of the last version.. This is relative but not completely.. Same anomolies and same dinosaurs but a different crew chasing them.. The one guy from the old series is there but I'm not sure if he will be in this series or not, his roll seemed to be one of handing off some knowledge to the new leader of the new chasers..  I got seven of the eight show run and I'm not sure if it will continue on this side of the new year like they do here in America.. Guess I'll check.. Also I'm not sure if the Sy-Fy channel will pick this up or if they have picked it up for run here in America.. I got this from the BBC 1 .... 

Badge Henry

YOUNG APPRENTICE NEARING THE END

The next to last task... Lord Sugar takes the next task to the house and delivers this important message to the contestants...

Once again in the board room.. The two teams get down to the business of what is what.. Here we have the finalists plus two that will soon be not that way at all.. The interesting thing on this task was the products the two teams could chose from.. They all passed on what seemed like the obvious to try.. But I was with them on some of it, until they went to the festival when it was obvious from what the camera crew shot that they should have chosen completely different items to try to sell..   I will say that I wanted Lucy and Maria and Navdeep to get to the finals  but .. Two out of three ain't bad..

This was just a quick little added scene  to the board room, some levity as it were..

Badge Henry

Is it cold enough for you

I know it's January but MAN..  Cold.. Colder than a well diggers handshake although I'm not sure what that has to do with the price of tea in China..  anyway..

Checked the Roku yesterday, can't believe all that really is there.. A site has really old movies known as public domain.. You know when it is public domain it is really old.. I had been flipping through and seeing what these sites have and on one of them I decided to give it a look see.. The very original "Night Of The Living Dead" and of course it is in black and white and clipped not because of content, but use or abuse over the years.. I only got ten minutes into the movie and shut it down because I did this during halftime of the pats/texans game.. But it was interesting to watch.. What else is there on this little miracle box?  Radio.. They advertise Pandora but it isn't the only radio "app" they have.. Tunein is an interesting one.. Strangely it has so many stations on it and I read where they will be carrying even more..  Checked my youtube yesterday and there is of course a ton f stuff to watch there, I watched a concert yesterday.. Fantastic to see..  Then Saturday I was looking at the app that has a lot of what they call local content (television station stuff) and came across the local Nashville weather.. I thought what are these people complaining about, while it is warmer there by a good nearly seventy degrees.. But then I flipped to the weather channel Saturday and there it was, the reason I'd rather be here.. Tornado weather just north of them.. It's cold here now and that's alright with me..   Then I flipped through they're offerings and found as local as there is for us, the KOTA site.. It is Rapid City but still the call letters are universal for our local KDUH.. Maybe someday they will get the SB station on there..  Watched more Survivors show last night, it's a 12 episode series and I'm not sure that is 12 total or if there was a second season or what.. Flipped through to see what all they do have and remember that there are many seasons of shows I am interested in.. Lost, although I watched it fairly faithfully I am planning to start watching that sometime soon.. Quite a few more series like that that are finished, and some that are still going on.. Lost was one of those that waiting for the next episode was tough to do.. They did show what happened from the week before just before the new show started.. Refresh your memory..

Like I said I am looking at some older movies and tv shows and that lot and it captures the imagination.. I do like looking at the old stuff, I never used to though.. My memories of the sixties are not very good.. I can't remember much at all from the very early days of my life.. Sometimes though it seems like a sight or smell or the right place and time and things come flooding back in what sometimes feels like it is deja vu type of thing.. I used to hate that feeling.. The deja vu feeling.. I used to hate it, but now I try to go with it..

Driving around town the other day I swear houses that are in parts of town change.. They look completely different or maybe I never paid that close of attention to them.. I am really looking at houses now, admiring they are put together.. Some have original ideas and some are just built out of blueprints for an entire neighborhood.. There are sections of town that look like they were built when the S.A.D.  was up and running and they needed housing in town very quick.. I call these house "matchbox" houses.. They are all small and all very much identical looking..  But then there are houses that while built quite a few years ago, have a very original look to them.. And I've driven by a lot of these and I guess I never paid that much attention to them.. I look in their back yards to try to get an idea for anything I might want to try in our yard.. I hope they don't see me looking like that they might think I have other motives..  Sometimes I wish I could stop and just stare at their houses and try to understand them.. I was walking around one day a few years back and admired the houses in the downtown area.. they seem to be the oldest.. 

When the towns were named "Fort" followed by their names it made you wonder where were the walls??  And I thought of that with Sidney, where were the original walls??  Then you figure most Fort  towns were just named that..  Still makes you wonder how the fort would look.. Also how was the town originally visioned.. Was it thought to be better to build where they did or expand more along the highway rather than out towards the interstate.. Makes you wonder if the west exit were developed what things would be like today..  

Badge Henry

Post the post post

I woke up.. It was strange to feel, the Bronco's lost..  I came down stairs and as I was getting ready to eat breakfast I realized.. This is Saturday, why does it feel like the lost.. I thought about it and then just thought this wasn't right, they are heavily favored to win.. I hope they don't overlook the ravens.. Then the game got played and through the entirety of the game I kept thinking, they're gonna lose.. The punt return in the first quarter and all I could think is I hope they don't think this will be easy.. The ravens scored shortly after.. The bronco's towards the end of the first half try a field goal and the kicker kicks part of the turf and all I could think was the scene in Caddy Shack where one of the guys pulls a good part of the fairway with his club.. The second half kick off return for a touchdown.. Two returns in the same game equals a win any day of the year.. But not this game.. After the field goal attempt the ravens take the ball down the field with very little time used on the clock and score.. This would be repeated  thirty minutes later at the end of the regulation..  Hard to believe, but when the punt returner went back to get the ball during overtime I thought he's gonna fumble.. Funny thing is no one wants to fumble or screw up lest they bare the raft of Manning, but when Manning screws up it's like the god has goofed..  I thought after the game how Tebow must feel knowing that a year ago he got the highest of highs followed a week later by getting scrunched by the very same Patriot team that would have done the same thing to Denver this year had they made it that far.. Every play I saw happening before it happened yesterday.. Except for the punt returner not fumbling because I could swear he would fumble.. Or the running back would fumble.. Manning fumbled.. Who saw that coming??   But I know what they said about Elway when he lost a few games that way, "He can't win the big one..."  Well I saw him win big games and I had this feeling he would win the super bowl as well eventually.. I think Peyton will get to the super bowl again, I think he wants a second ring so he can say he got one as well, with Ely...   But Ely can play and thrived in the snow and cold and Peyton is yet to do that..

So I think it will be the 49'ers and the Patriots... Pretty easy pickins there I think..  But you never know..

Badge Henry

Third entry of Y.A.

The next task was a hair product.. In this scene the girls express their feeling of the product the boys just finalized the graphics for, showing they don't like it...

The final product arrives at the house and the teams check out what they designed.. Only part of both teams design the final product and they describe to each other what it looks like.. When the team with the chameleon hair product starts to check it out, they realize that it wasn't what they thought it was..

In what I can only call the greatest turn of events.. The board room and the final results of who gets fired.. Watch and enjoy the twist..

Badge Henry

And it continues

The continuation of Young Apprentice.. They meet at what is simply known as "The Losers Cafe"  which means they go there and get the starting part of ripping into each other started.. This time it will be the trio of girls, Alice, Navdeep and Maria..  Between these three I felt that Navdeep might have the best chances to get to the finals however in the preview to the next episode she fell flat at one point.. 

In what I can only call the "Cat Fight" scene in the board room with the previously mentioned three girls.. Maria has this definite fighting spirit and that can be good, but watching Lord Sugar's reaction you just can tell he is at his end with her and you have to know exactly who is going to be tossed on the losing heap.. Navdeep is quiet but does come out swinging when cornered just exactly the way you would think..  But in the end after this somewhat tame cat fight, it is Alice who gets the boot..

NEXT EPISODE: This I call the bottom line scene from the next episode.. They develop their own web site for the product they design for a children's fun time rutine thing..  And it is at this point where.. Well you will see for yourself.. Truth is I can never really tell which team will win, or lose but at this point it seems like this is the biggest tell that Navdeep is making figures up and just guessing as Karen points out.. In the end the stunning win was by Navdeep's team and not even close, it was a rout..  And with David being in the board room for the fourth time, it would be his last.. David, YOU'RE FIRED..

Badge Henry

The heart of everything

Gone are the days of being full on a month ahead on the PNOP blog.. A full month, with the month being filled.. The last few entries and a few more to come have added material starting today from other sites.. Now that the RSS reader has been set to a more manageable size I am trying it out and finding that it is still many hundred sites to big, but it will be a process over the next few weeks or months to decide what stays and what goes.. Using sites like reddit and that type for my true information and NOT adding any of the sites that look interesting for the reason stated before.. 


Trying to decide does this site need to have more or whatever and the Roku helps decide.. It is so strange to talk to someone about something I saw either here or on the Roku and have them not know until two days later.. Case in point the heat wave in Australia, I saw it was mentioned on one of the sites I follow and then two days later mainstream media here in America reports on it..  Having the AOL.ON site on Roku gives me the ability to see the stories I want to..  So much better than any news outlet on cable tv..

I started that series from the BBC last night called Survivors ... Quite the series, but it is kinda scary to watch now what with the flu going around so seriously..  The night before I watched Tomorrow When The War Began  .. It had a Red Dawn (the original) feel to it, set in Australia  and a bunch of kids take on the Russians or whatever country invaded them.. It ended like there might be a sequel but then again.. Maybe they just ran out of money..

With the RSS being gone through once, I will go through and see what are good and necessary for what I use it for.. Then go through Facebook which I have "Liked" more sites than I think I need to have.. Then Twitter, get that down to a reasonable number.. Then the FVD speed dial thing.. Thinking back a year ago how I was trying to get my i-Google  home page set and for a month or two it was set and then in May or around then the message appeared on the header stating they were going to discontinue the homepage.. Part of the reason they might be getting rid of it is some sort of agreement with Apple because of the name sort of an infringement on their "everything they make has the "i" in front of it.. I decided pretty much at that moment to get rid of the home page and got what I think is the best homepage I've ever had in that I don't have one.. Instead I have many, and that is how i-Google was anyway..  Now it is a matter of when to delete i-Google completely.. Sadly there were a few things I still like about it but.. Onward and upward.. Deleting i-Google will happen after the super bowl.. I thought I'd keep it until then..

A quickie  here, as a BTO song is on the radio right now last week while the B&T show was in repeats they had the great Randy Bachman on and it was interesting to listen to him talk about songs and how they were written and something I already knew was some of the best songs are accidents.. Written in a quick setting.. He said he wrote American Woman one night after he broke a string at a gig and during his tuning he played the opening of the song.. Those power chords.. He said he thought it was good because people turned their heads and watched him and thought it was a song starting to be played..  Really cool..   Reminded me of being in a band and I would start playing a beat and the guitarist would start to jam and the bass player would come in.. Those were the days.. the only good thing about the band.. Actually there were others but, the creative side of the band was the best part of it for me.. Creating something out of nothing at all.. It felt good to do that..

Badge Henry

David, Amy and Lucy

So a quick clip here of a part of the latest season of Young Apprentice as was seen on the BBC 1 on England from the end of October through the middle of December, about eight weeks..  The show is my favorite version of the Apprentice franchise, of course started by the Don.. Donald Trump.. But this is with Lord Sugar in London England.. This little clip shows the three from what would eventually be the losing team.. David is the team leader of the sub team and he is in charge of the two girls and supposedly has the best "take charge" aptitude of the whole lot.. This loss would be his third time in the board room.. He meets his match in Amy, quite the ferocious communicator (as she likes to be called).. Lucy gets this tired of the arguing look to her.. I think my favorite to win it all is Lucy, she reminds me of Kara the winner from last season.. They are playing for 25,000 pounds in start up financing that I think is in the clear.. Meaning they get that money once they get their business underway..  Young Apprentice meaning these people are all under 20 years old...   The introduction part of the show is on my YouTube channel, and the reason it is there is because the last time I put a clip of a show from the bbc  up there it didn't get flagged, so I figured this might be alright to do.. It is the opening two and a half minutes introducing all the contestants and the boss as well..

Badge Henry

Walk a mile

The completion of the first run through of the RSS reader was last night just before Notre Dame started to get  their ass handed to them.. Checked the final tally of how many made the initial cut and that is over twelve hundred.. That seemed high and so I guess when I say I didn't have a number in mind as to how many I wanted to have it turns out over twelve hundred was still too many.. Knowing that my Twitter is likely closer to being maxed out lets me know that there are still just too many there, so a second run through will happen soon. With the streaming player now taking a lot of what I usually read here I think I will have that in mind when I redo the RSS reader..

Now a look into my thought process: Following are pictures of a couple of devices offered by Amazon..   The first here are the Thera Cane   (green)  followed by the Body Back Buddy.. They look quite similar when you look at them.. I first saw the Thera Cane and really looked at it with quite serious interest and was sure this would be a good buy.. At the time moms back was really in bad shape hurting her from a fall she took in September and I thought if I got this thing with the idea of it being for me that maybe I could convince her to try to use it.. (she never did)  But looking at the message points they all are the same type, rounded.. But still they looked like the perfect device to do that pressure point message thing that everyone is starting to do.. Then ...

 ..the body back buddy was on the same page as one of those "if you like that you might be interested in this" type of things..  Initially I looked and thought "so what is the difference except for the second curve. But looking closer and ...

 .. The nobs that work the neck area were a HUGE plus.. My neck has developed a snapping that has generally gotten worse over the last three of four years.. With this thing I work the neck area..  When my back grabbed this past summer I used this for that as well.. Does it work??  I like to think so.. The number of  "nobs" on it isn't what got me (There are a few more)  it is the fact that they are different.. Some are pointed simulating the elbow, while the rounded ones simulate the thumb in a message..

 There is no place the BBB can't get into..    But I was thinking as I asked for it for Christmas last year, which is the better??  They both have the same good reviews on them, so it was just a matter of preference and I picked the BBB  mostly because of the number and variations of the nobs on it..

 They were nearly identical in price at around the twenty dollar range.. Strange how this year I looked at them and the price has doubled.. I was blown away.. But then you have to figure once people start to find out how good something is the demand goes way up and so does the price..

Badge Henry

there there

Cleaning out or up of the RSS reader has amounted to sites being transferred to either Facebook or Twitter or both.. And the recent number of posts by one of the sites on Facebook made it easy to unlike them.. A pop site, teen pop or pop music site that kept giving me updates on one Justin Beiber and my not giving a shit at all about him, and me wondering why do I have these updates set like this.. Well that's why.. Unliked that site really quick.. I think I am two to three days away from getting the reader cleared out at least to the point where it should be easier to get down even more the next time.. Then I will check both Twitter and Facebook and see what are relevant to what I need.. Some sites were acquired through sites like reddit, where one entry grabbed my attention enough to make me want it.. Some from other sites like Fark or other link dump sites.. Thing about this is sites like reddit get the best entries from these sites, and they might not get another and I may not ever see even if they do because I had just way the hell too many RSS to check them all..

So what is the magic number of RSS sites??  I don't have a set number in mind to make it truly useable but.. Hopefully the number will be right with me using this because just like having all those extra channels on the dish tv thing, more isn't better, more is just more.. Clutter, to put it mildly..   New folders were added over the past few weeks.. One that is very important is the Roku folder which has four or five sites that are relative to that new device and I use it regularly.. Three or four deal with what is on Roku with one being the blog for roku.. Another deals with the state of sites such as Yahoo mail and all sites like that (Facebook) that tell if there are any issues such as them being down and for what reason and any other information they can give..

Mom got her Valentines day tree set.. Shortly after getting the Christmas tree down she got her holiday tree back up.. She wanted me to get her a string of red lights and I found a string of C-7 lights on sale and they are RED.. seriously red.. The little twinkly lights are really not my favorites anymore.. They fell out of favor a few (quite a few actually) years ago.. They are neato cool but are a serious pain in the ass to mess with..  

Friday night was different.. At one point I wanted to try something on the Roku and looked on the youtube site for the old Midnight Special show from way back in the day.. I remember staying up late on Friday nights back when I was in junior high or maybe earlier and watching these groups playing live.. I was taken back watching the old groups from that time, some really good music.. I will admit I am way out of touch with the modern music but the old songs from back then..  It is just magic to me.. Songs like Dream Weaver, even back then I thought this song is a song that I will never forget how I feel when I heard it for the first time.. Some of the old songs we listened to on radio stations like KOMA out of Oklahoma City..  That station out of Los Angeles  or St. Paul  Minniapolis...  Those days are over, they ended sometime when I was in high school I think.  But the good lod days of the Midnight Special can still be lived online..  Those great old days..

Speaking of old days, I don't know why I am looking at old shows online.. Streaming some old movies last night I find myself watching some old movies with a very young Vincent Price and Bella Lagosi and they are in "scary" movies and for their time I think they had some sort of scariness about them but they aren't scary like todays scary movie.. But back then they were scary in a different way.. More anticipation rather than blood and guts.. Blood and guts wouldn't transfer when the movie is black and white anyway..  The lighting and the editing are what I look at as well..     But the old days take me back as well.. Looking at the old.. everything  it's just interesting to me now.. It never used to be this way.. I never used to like watching old movies, but now I do.. Strange and I don't know why it is this way.. There are sites that have old commercials on them..  Really interesting things to watch..

Badge Henry

Fly like an eagle

"The tree comes down today..."  so says the entry from yesterday and indeed it did come down.. I was thinking of the "olde days" when mom would say that..  The tree comes down more often when we were out playing...  More often than not I think she did it that way because she really didn't want our "help" doing so..  Ian was here over the new years day and said something about helping take the tree down and mom said no that we might try on the next day or two.. Without his help of course.. I remember the tree being taken down when we were little, us out on the swingset and here comes dad or mom with the tree marching it out to the trash which was right next to the swingset..  The year she put it right next to the trashcan and it was lit and the tree burned so quickly that it just.. Was like a tumbleweed, there and in a flash...GONE..   I didn't put one and one together.. That could happen in the house!! ..   So the tree is down, but the outside decor is still there, I will wait until most of the snow is melted to get that taken care of.. Went to the local stores that have their Christmas stuff on sale and just like about every year I got a string or two.. Tried to get some led lights before and again this year I got a string of C-9 lights just to see what they looked like as compared to the old ceramic lights.. They are almost identical..

So now we move into the new year.. Shortly people will stop wishing everyone happy new year and get on with the drudgery of living it..  

Christmas was  a good day, we had almost everyone here and it felt good... Anything from previous encounters seemed like there was no holding over of anything.. There was a little edginess but for the most part everything went on fairly well..  I think that family is always going to have a bumpy road to it, sometimes we get on each others nerves a bit.. The entry that was to hit on the 8th or this Tuesday (the entry from hell) won't and it isn't going to have a set date ever.. But it still is here and on several other sites if you know where to look.. Truth is like I said it really is just my vision of what has gone on.. But I couldn't see putting it up here before the holidays and won't after because while I don't see that it is anything more than just a prolonged diary of events, it just might be viewed by the wrong people as a way to rehash the events leading up to and including the aftermath of those events..  What would cause me to put them up here??  I can't think of anything.. Not right now..  The only thing I could think of that would cause me to put it up here would be if the persons actually read it and gave their ok to put it up here.. That might sound strange to say that, but to me, as I've said it really isn't a spite type of thing.. It is rather a way of showing the events that lead to the blowup.. Meaning I don't think anyone is at fault enough to not have it published but in the same sense there is no need to have it published since there really is nothing that could be seen as positive such as it is.. In other words it may never see the light of day in it's current form.. And I won't hold it over anyone, there is nothing worth that kind of feeling of "if we don't walk a straight line he will publish that entry.."  it won't be published but it also won't be deleted either..  Bits and pieces are all over the place, on several sites mostly MySpace (I have two of those, still and are active) and another site on Blogger (Infinite Improbabilty)  it has never had an entry be published and there are a good number there dating back to about a year ago..

So what about the clutter that is my corner of the internet.. Up until October or there about I was fine with the mess that was (Is) the RSS reader.. The mess meaning there were a ton of sites that weren't in a folder of any kind.. So why fix it??  I am the type that while not a neat freak by any stretch, I am kind of a neat freak of sorts or an organized chaos type of person.. I like things to be more organized but not be looking so tidy..   So the start of December saw the long delayed cleaning up of the RSS reader in what is part one of a three or four step process.. Trying to weed out the crap that I don't use anymore.. This is somewhat difficult when I was putting some sites I didn't want to lose on Twitter and Facebook. Then later will weed out on those two sites.. My Facebook is already over cluttered but I continue on..  The RSS reader gets that same start feeling every day.. I try to hold on to some of the sites and then as I have been at it a few hours I start to delete all of the sites.. There is a different feeling now with the Streaming player I am seeing so many sites are now on that..  Speaking of which...

...The Roku looks to be living up to what I was hoping for.. So many sites that I knew about are yielding stuff I didn't know about.. MSNBC represented on their has some good stuff.. Universal sports and I was able to watch that Gabby Douglas qualify for the Olympics.. Nice to look at that and know that she won gold after everyone thought they gifted her the last spot on the team.. So many more sites like this and last night during the game I was watching the "Daily Motion" site instead.. What a site.. So many cool sites..   I knew if YouTube were available that I would watch that a lot..  So much to see so little time..

Badge Henry

Thumbs up

The first music entry of the new month (?) will be this Sunday.. Continuation of the infinity project, with the third set of videos.. And it was just as tough to remember what these were or how they were put together... Phase two was derailed by the cold I had  and has become a sinus thing hoping it won't eventually become broncitis like I have had before..  So will phase two continue??   Good question, and one that I was trying to get to but I am committed to cleaning out my RSS reader and getting it to be more concise..

Since getting the streaming player and a few of it's news sources are what I read and that has changed the way I am looking at not only this first round but will evolve the sites I keep the next time. So many great sites on that Roku.. It is exactly what I thought it would be, but isn't a replacement to the cable tv.. Still need that for local news and ESPN and stuff like that..  Already I think I've watched it more than the digital cable.. The one thing I miss about that is the EPG (Electronic Programming Guide (grid)).. That is kind of tough to not have on there but I do have a couple sites on the computer to check for that type of thing..   First full length movie I watched on Roku was on Netflix   "Old Fashioned Orgy"   ..  Just about the right movie for the right time .. Whenever a new "channel" is added to the channel store I like to get it to see what is very good or if I am interested in it at all..  Daily Motion is a good one if you like streaming video sites like YouTube.  Same with MetaTube  but different some way..   Still finding out what is really good to watch.. I find myself looking at that nowhere man site.. So much to look at there.. I watch MSNBC some and the local channels thing, local as is local news for just about every major market in the USA..  They do have KDVR but so far there hasn't been anything there.. It might be a live feed.. USTREAM is interesting..  Just, scratching the surface right now I think.. 

Badge Henry

The X

"The way I see it you are either a Hot Wheels or Matchbox person, so which is it??"   We were in the local Walmart earlier today and I was walking by the overstock section of the store and they had a Hot Wheels "Angry Birds" track thing.. And it reminds me so much of the Legos brick things they have that are models of things.. I don't think I would like those that way, I mean it would be a little fun, but I'm sure you would have to stay to the diagram or whatever they give you to put it together with.. I always liked the idea of opening that box of bricks and making what would come to mind.. And the same thing goes with the Hot Wheels track we had.. We would put the starting "grid" thing in the desk and push the button and the cars would go down the track and around the curves and then hit the finish line.. We would build a fairly big set up.. Sometimes the tracks would work, sometimes they were failures but we had a lot of fun trying different ideas.. I got a drag strip one year that had a loop in the center... Two lane thing and I think it even had drag racing cars one year..  Oh the fun.. But it was the matchbox cars & trucks that were the most fun.. They were the imagination on overdrive.. So many different play ideas..

Yes going to the doctor was more than likely a waste of time but.. Mom had her run in with the sinus situation just about four years ago, and when she blew a nasty chunk of goo out her nose last week she was more than a little leery that this could be bad news.. Having to see the doctor might seem logical but when they told her to just call and they would refill the prescription (antibiotic) she has the last few times and it seems like every time they say well come on in.. Seems a bit of a racket to me but..  So we get there and they don't have you check in at the out patient/visiting physician area now. Now you have to check in at the front and the lady at the desk said it is "new and improved" and I heard this and knew I had to say something.. I said "Oh I'm sure it really isn't better".  Don't lob a soft pitch in my direction, I have had family get screwed royally at your facility, I know better than to think you have a first rate care facility..   Grandest joke out there is that they are going to build a new hospital and.. Well I have the name for you.. Sidney memorial staging center.. They aren't a hospital.. Not in the regular sense of you go there to be cured.. The knowledge is you go to that hospital knowing you will be sent to any number of other hospitals in the area.. They are kind of a MASH unit type of thing..  You go in, get some sort of first stage medical help and if you are really in good shape they might keep you in the hospital.. If there's a chance you might die shortly, they keep you in the hospital, especially  if lacking care is what they can do to insure of this..  I read a sign on the wall at the doctors office that read if you attack the doctors physically that it would be counted as a felony.. And I thought .. but it is still ok to be verbally abusive... That I can and will continue to do..    How much better will the care be in a brand spanking ass new hospital??   I can only guess... 

While we were at the walmart mom talked to a checkout lady who mom works with her daughter at the Mc.D and asked her how things were going for her, yesterday being the new owners first day and she told mom it was interesting.. They all have to reapply  for their jobs.. I heard that and thought what a load of shit and mom thought that as well, but as I thought about it, it only makes sense.. They are probably following the way that they are supposed to do things.. They are the proud owners of three semiwrecked Mc.D stores (called stores way back when mom first started working there).. I say semi wrecked because even though the one in the burg has been remodeled it is still essentially the same store and there are many problems with it..  I guess they didn't mind..  So what will happen with mom??  Well she still wants to do what she is doing but might not have that job..  Depends on how things go.. How about Jeff (the GM)??  Well he has that nice company truck,  is that going to still be his??  Will he be the GM at the store or move south and GM a store in Colorado if things go to shit here??  Hard to say.. I thought about how I would have felt if I were still there and I think I would have felt like good, maybe someone will get it right.. Then I thought "meet the new boss, same as the old boss"... just like before.. 

The second day of 365

Starting off the new year.. I always hated to have to admit that we turned the calendar.. I would try to keep a hold of the feelings from the previous month by way of extending the month by two to three days.. So instead of today being the second day of January I would think of it as day 33 in what could be a 34 or 35 day month..  But it was always for naught.. A way to fool myself in some way..

Mom watched the boo from the last day of last year through yesterday after the bowl game (loss, bummer).. And on the way home she says her appointment is at 10:40 this morning but it is in Scottsbluff and I could swear it was it the docs office in town there but... She finds out it is in town rather than SB.. so that saved a little..  Don't have to drive so far to have so little done.. She has  possible sinus infection, not horrible but since her upper sinus were obliterated (the S.O.S. surgery from.. ) and when she starts blowing green crap out when she blows her nose they (the dipshit doctor brigade) told her to "just call and we will phone in the prescription.."  Nice lying sacks of shit because all he will do today is see her, talk to her (but not listen) and then five minutes later write the fucking prescription..  Thank you idiot.. They must see us as mice...  If I ever get sick I will go to a mechanic.. At least they give a shit..

The bowl games I watched yesterday..  Well let me first start by saying I did only watch two games yesterday.. Usually I try to watch all the games but yesterday I watched just the two.. The Capitol one bowl with our Huskers playing the 'dogs..  We played well through three quarters.. But then the defense let us down in the fourth..  I thought we could play with them and did.. And believe it or not I actually thought that we were in the wrong conference.. We should have moved to the SEC instead of the big ten..  If they took Missouri they easily would have taken Nebraska and we could recruit better there.. But we will be in the big ten which is weak, and was weak before we got there..  When I think of big ten I think Ohio State and Michigan (in football) and that is it.. Now Nebraska but how long before we aren't that great?? 

Working on the RSS reader from two weeks ago until now and am now three days (?) away from having that cleaned up.. Then we go to the FVD speed dial on the Aurora browser.. Then I will check programs on the computer, seeing what I use and don't use and getting some updated and some deleted.. Getting stuff deleted from the computer and making this thing run better and faster.. I heard that the Mozzilla (Firefox, Aurora browsers) could be on the rocks.. So I hate to have to move everything to Chrome but.. It looks like either Chrome or Opera will be the main browser at this time next year..   I really like Firefox (Aurora mostly) but as with all things in computers, you can't get too atatched..  And I do get used to how a browser works.. Chrome was just about the best browser I had ever used until 2011 when it crapped out on me twice in a three month period..  But I might have to go back to it shortly..

The Roku continues to be ...  Well it is what I thought it would be, changed a few things.. Digital cable remains hooked up but as of today hasn't been used.. Getting away from the EPG has been the hardest part of shutting it down.. I don't know what is on anymore and maybe that is a good thing.. I keep seeing the DVR systems for both satellite companies as well as for our cable tv service and keep thinking the days of this type of viewing are coming to an end.. Why record something when you can stream it??  Eventually this will stop but they need to flood the market first before people realize that they can stream exactly what they want when they want it and not have to pay for two hundred channels they never watch.. Seriously who watches those extra channels??  But you have to pay for them anyway.. With the Roku you pay for only what you watch.. It could be the death of cable tv the way it is now.. I look for things to change dramatically over the next ten years, maybe even less..  Streaming isn't new, but it is getting traction.. Could go either way but the more gadgets there are the more stuff to watch people will want and that will be for tablets, computers and streaming services as well.. 

Badge Henry

Hoppy new year twist

New years resolutions::  I don't believe in resolutions of the new years day variety because they are a waste of time..  Thinking back  a year ago I thought it would be a long cold ass winter but it turned out when ground hog day came they got the prediction wrong, not only was spring just six short weeks away, it started almost that day..  Seems like we started on spring weather in early March, and I remember that because I did part of the yard one day and it rained pretty much right after and I thought great, that little bit of doings made it rain.. Shouldn't have gotten too excited, that would be the last rain storm we would get for a very long time.. Enter the drought of 2012 -  ???   And the beginning is the end.. I remember going to see the eagles one year and we went to the lake and it was the height of the last drought that took the level of the water at lake Mac down further than it had ever been since the lake was started... This could end up being worse than that time and the saddest part about it is that it wasn't that long ago.. 

OVER THE FISCAL CLIFF:  So how bad will it be.. The announcement last night or early this morning that they have reached a deal.. It ain't gonna happen.. This congress is lame duck and are the lamest of congress ever and that is what the republicans are going to be known for from now on.. The greatest country on Earth is being held back by a bunch of whiny assed baby ....  Fill in the blank... You know when they said something about the next president will have this fiscal cliff to deal with right after the election I knew the clock would strike the new year before they would come close to a new deal.. Which it did, but they didn't.. These people would be happiest if our economy was amongst the worst in the world, and 97% of the people were living on the streets.. The rich in their ivory towers.. They think we worship them, but we DON'T..  Seeing the fancy houses means nothing to me.. I can't imagine their empty lives, wondering why they have no real friends.. It's like the question I have of if you are a millionaire and have friends and family that are the same way, what do you get someone that has or can get what they want??  

I watched the ball drop in Times Square last night on the NYE channel on Roku.. Up until last night that channel didn't exist and right shortly after it was still there but nothing was on it..  I saw the announcement that some of the NFL playoffs will be streamed and so that could really be interesting to see if it will be on the Roku system.. I've said the Roku won't replace cable but in reality it could give cable a serious run.. The only thing they don't have is live local news feeds, but that might be about to change..  The past year has seen so many gadgets be introduced that the day is coming where every aspect could be available online..  Going into the private channels directory and found a truckload to try.. Mostly I knew most of them were still in development, in a sort of beta (yuck) mode.. A couple have locked up the player, either because our internet is too slow or the site still isn't up fully (buggy).. But some have potential to be very good, if not for the niche they are going for.. There is a webcam site that shows traffic cams and it was interesting to look at.. Keeping it for at least a little while..  The movie channels ones look really interesting although public domain can be somewhat interesting, it is extremely old viewing and I think mom would really like these sites..

Who's gonna win todays bowl game??  I've got Nebraska   losing in the bowl challenge thing on ESPN.. Normally I would pick NU to win but after the big ten title game I just feel like.. If the game isn't over by the half that will be good.. Watching the LSU - Clemson game last night I feel like we can beat Georgia but it will take a supreme effort.. I think I could take a ten point loss if we play them tough.. I hope we win, my bowl predictions are shot and besides I'd rather be wrong than right about the pick anyway.. My final score.. As a fan of Nebraska I pick NU 42  GU 41.. but as a continued from the big ten title game (where we never really showed up) I would say NU 35 GU 63.. A loss like that could cost jobs on the Nebraska sideline... 

Badge Henry

P.S.   Happy new year from the Thad Chiz Wick site.. I think I wished a happy new year from here to the fans of PNOP..   Either way, we are all connected..