Random Bytes

My Epiphany

2008-07-07T14:05:00.001-04:00

My dad once told me that it's important to make a phone call when you think of some one. Taking that a little further I've decided I should post an entry whenever I think about it and can do so.

Today I'm experiencing a happy boredom. Sounds stupid, don't it? I think so, and where I would normally laugh at someone for saying something like that, I find myself giddy with freedom and happiness.

Right now supposed to be relaxing and staying away from computers; that's hard to do when your entertainment is a computer. Yeah, right. How could I write this entry? Also, this morning I was looking at things on the World Wide Telescope. Phenomenal! You could get lost for days just scanning the sky. I was even able to install the Better Gmail2, Better GCal, and Better GReader Firefox 3 add-ons. The functionality those three plug-ins provide is great.

So why do people assume that tech junkies need to get away from a computer to have a vacation? I certainly don't. I find that I use this time to catch up on things that I've been meaning to do but have had to put off for a long time. I'm talking about the things I've earnestly been desiring to do… but paying the bills always to precedence over. For me this is a vacation. I don't have to be jettisoning across the country, or to another country, or to the beach. Rather, I enjoy time where I dictate what I do. Earlier this year, I was forced to reconsider my life… I realized then that I don't spend enough time to myself or resting like I should.

Here are my tips for the day:
1. If you feel tired, take the first opportunity to rest. This may be a power nap, but more than likely it's going to be a good nap when you get home from work.

2. If you're on vacation, YOU decide what you are going to do. Don't feel trapped and let other people plan your vacation for you. I'm not saying that you shouldn't participate with the family; however, I don't feel like you have to go on every jaunt.

3. Make sure that you spend enough time with loved ones. There's nothing worse than to finally relaxing, only to have your significant other stress you out "because you didn't spend enough time with them".

Speaking of which, gotta go. I'm tired, and my significant other is going to be awake soon. Talk to y'all later!

Speech Recognition: What a wonderful thing!

2008-07-06T14:04:00.007-04:00

It's raining, and it's been a wonderful day. I'm off, and my vacation is going well. My wife has decided to intrude upon my private time, so I've got to make is quick.

I've been playing with Microsoft Windows Vista's Speech Recognition. I am TOTALLY impressed. Even though my wife likes to interject (just to see what will happen), I'm still able to work with reasonable speed and get things accomplished. In fact, I'm creating his post by speaking to my computer.

The link below displays what Microsoft is currently doing to make this offering work better. I can't wait to see what's coming next. My laptop has a built in microphone and normally I'm able to use that… but today my wife decided to keep the TV on and I had to improvise. So… I'm using an old, extremely cheap, and hardly "premium" headset. Translation: you don't have to spend big bucks to get productive with this.

I've had an error rate of about 20% when creating this post, but I can live with that. I've only gone through one training session, and I think that's a darn good. The only things I couldn't correct using just my voice were MOST symbols.

WHOOPS! Gotta Run! Next thing you know she'll be rearranging my sock drawer.

The inspiring link

Time to change up...

2008-07-05T22:59:00.001-04:00

I've come to the conclusion that I'm not one of those people who can blog and blog and blog about everything going on in my head... there just ain't much going on up there. So, unless I really feel the need to vent on a topic, I'm going to be micro-blogging from now on. At least this way you'll hear from me more often, ok?

TTFN!!!

Why blog?

2007-12-30T22:06:00.001-05:00

I'm utterly certain that others have beat this one to death, but I
haven't had a chance to spit my 2 bit yet. Don't worry, I won't be
offended if you cut and run now; either way I'm still going to spill
my guts.

At least this one will be short: I blog because I have... "stuff" on
my mind. The only problem is I have to be VERY creative with how I
word things, because a). I have a career to protect, and b). other
people look up to my real-world persona. That traps me and I feel like
I can't express things the way I need to most times. I am under a
mandate not to complain, so I won't. But still, consider yourself
fortunate is you can blog without fear of adverse reactions to what
you say.

Maybe I should've been a primadonna shock jock instead of a family man.

--
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Kelvin McDaniel

"I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed."
-Psalm 119:46 (KJV)
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I'm infected.

2007-12-30T10:23:00.001-05:00

DIAGNOSIS: Twitter.

I have known about this service for quite some time, but i never did
wade in for myself. i decided to take the plunge and DO instead of
just WATCH.

Great. Now I'm infected like a dog bit by a rabid squirrel.

Every time I start doing something I have to fight the urge to tweet.
I guess that sounds pretty pathetic, and I'm sure that the novelty
will wear out (yes, I meant out) before long... I just hope I haven't
add to my growing "you are a geek because you..." list.

2006-11-16T06:26:00.000-05:00

Diarist Test #1

Blah blah blah.

I have now updated this post, and wa-la! What happened?

2006-09-02T17:53:00.000-04:00

Oh Well...

Just when I thought I was going to get a break I find out I'm not. My church's sanctuary flooded due to a neighbor's AC unit clogging up, and since I'm the Lead Technician I'm responsible for all the audio equipment that needs to be moved.

I'm not complaining; I just thought it would be nice to be lazy for a day for once.

To whom much is given, much is expected! THANK YOU LORD! HALLELUJAH!

Mobile Office: Upgrade

2006-05-30T03:37:00.000-04:00

It's official; I'm a convert. I used to talk really bad about this thing but I can't do that anymore. Of course there are trade offs... But I deem them worthy.

What the heck am I talking about? Simple; my new Mobile Office: the PPC6700, from Sprint.

See, I used to be a faithful fan of the PPC6600, but then the mic on that model went bad. It made no sense to me that I had to put on a headset to make a phone call, 'cause that's not always practical. Or feasible. Since Sprint doesn't sell the 6600 in my area anymore, and I was still under warranty, they made good on their promise and traded me up at no cost.

I must mention the fact that Sprint's not 'selling' the PPC6700 anymore either, but who cares? I guarantee that if you walked into a Sprint PCS store right now you could be one because people with little or no 'vision' have returned theirs.

Sure the screen is 25% smaller... EVERYTHING ELSE IS BETTER. In fact, the only real drawbacks are the fact that I got used to the SD card and whopping 128MB of RAM that's on the 6600...The 6700 uses SD Mini cards and only has 64MB. other than that the entire experience is better. AND I now have wifi on the phone so I can actually be remotely productive without my laptop. AND now I can easily tether my laptop to the phone so I have an instant ISP anywhere I get a digital signal.
Which I had to do for a solid 8 days because Comcast 'accidentally' destroyed my cable modem when they experienced some freak catastrophic event that happened on Sunday before last that took out nearly 100% of subscriber internet service in my city for several hours. I had to do my own sleuthing to figure out what was wrong because 7 out of the 10 people I spoke with over the course of the outage didn't have a clue. I hope they take responsibility for their side of things and reimburse me for my lost days of service and new modem purchase. I had to raise holy hell before someone offered me a credit without me having to ask for it.

Don't ask; it's a REALLY long story and my wife's sleeping so I can't bang away at my keyboard because the keys on this thing clack just like a full-size keyboard. Did I fail to mention that I'm in the bed right now? Good-ness, this thing is so HANDY.

See, this actually a venting session because I'm having problems relating with our female puppy. Her personality is taking shape and I don't like several of the habits she's developed. The wife doesn't think I'm lenient enough... What can I say? A bad habit is a bad habit. Stupid is as stupid does, right? Anyway, she always takes the girl's side and that alone is frustrating, forget the fact that sometimes I get mad when I simply look at the dog. I don't get it 'cause I don't have these problems with the boy. He's completely undisciplined and unruly, but he is a joy to be around, always.

Oh well. I better get some rest. My eyes are closing and I'm getting paranoid about dropping my phone.

Grace & Peace be unto you.

What's all the hype?

2006-02-06T02:18:00.000-05:00

Don't get me wrong; I'm just as excited and ecstatic as the next Seattlite they the Seahawks made it to the Big Game... but what was all the fuss about? The way my people were talking about the 'Hawks you would've thought that they were the current amalgam of the leagues finest in history... much like the Cowboys of the 90's.

I wasn't impressed at all. See, I don't much follow sports anymore, and I was shocked to hear that Seattle had made it. Not that I don't have faith, but they never had a squad when I was tracking.

I saw brilliant but intermittent and inconsistent play punctuated by error and immaturity. I know this is the first time in 30 years, but my goodness! EXECUTE! You can't expect to win when on average you execute on 1 out of 5 downs. It's not enough to be satisfied with the fact that you made it to the Game; you have to come to play and expect to win.

Let me be clear; I commend the Seahawks for their success this season, and I take nothing from the Steelers. However, I wish my former hometown team had taken the trophy.

Rock on fellas; my hat is off to you. Get some rest tomorrow and show up for work on Tuesday.

Mobile posts on tap!

2006-02-04T23:20:00.000-05:00

Excellent! Now I can post from my mobile device anywhere I can get a signal. Now THAT'S COOL.

To be honest, that's been my one excuse for not posting; anytime I'm in front of my machine I'm working, not blogging. Now, though, I can post when I can't sleep (from the bed, of course); from the grocery store; in a parking lot; in the car; at a light... you get the idea.

dim strStatus = "DONE."
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This is a test

2005-08-19T12:13:00.000-04:00

This is a test…

Blogger put out this nifty little add-in for Microsoft Word so that you can now create posts from your normal DTP program. Err, it’s MY normal DTP, anyway. And I’m crafting this post with it.

Moving right along, I know that I’ve neglected this thing for far too long, but I’ve had an excuse; I GOT MARRIED! And I love my wife, totally.

She is so AWESOME.

Anyway, I gotta get back to work.. Later.

BWAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!

2005-03-02T10:30:00.000-05:00

Like my man said, "I spit in your general direction!" {you have to say that with a snearing frenchy-type accent}.

Why? Because I've got GMail. I've been using it for about a month now... if Google adds the appropriate calendar and to do list functionality I may just switch from Outlook as my PIM. It is really that good.

The only thing that Outlook has on GMail is the file size, and if I'm not mistaken the Outlook .PST file starts to barf at around 2GB anyway. If I keep the GMail strictly to personal stuff and let Outlook handle my business stuff, I'm getting the best of both worlds!

YEEEEE-HAAAAAW!

Eeeeeeeak!

2005-02-22T16:12:00.000-05:00

My bad people... I've been down sick since like last Tuesday (2005.02.15). I'm back in the office for a full day for the first time since then, and I am SOOOO ready to go home. My head is pounding... I can't wait to see what this feels like when I've got shorties that I can't retailate against.

Oh well.

Anyway, I had like three fires blow up in my face today. The good thing is that it was directly relate-able to my... shall we say, "overseers"... trying to manage my mindset and code with their own take on how code should work. Lemme explain as best I can and not get in trouble...

See, the first thing you have to understand that the initial screw-up was my fault. I accidently sent a message through a mass-mailing system that I custom built for use with any client. Well, my SQL was a bit... off... due to a "left outer" join where an "inner" join should have been. You get the picture. {eeek!}
So, I'm in the process of doing damage control, and every 15 minutes, no lie, they keep calling me and telling me what features they want and what that want those features to do, and how this should be, and how that should be... and the funny thing is that I was like five steps ahead of each of their suggestions. It's so hard to have to sit there and not say, "I'm WAY AHEAD OF YOU ALREADY!" but sometimes you just have to be humble and nod. "yassa," and all.

Hanky. (one of my favorite lines from "The Fugitive")

I'm outta here. Talk to y'all later.

{cfset temp="DONE."}

What the heck?!?

2005-02-10T15:20:00.000-05:00

My Fiance and I know somebody who is not having a good day... They are in the process of getting evicted. Unfortunately, they think they have all the time in the world to remove their things from the apartment. Uuuh, no. For those of you who don't think so, apartment complexes are AUTHORIZED BY THE RENTER to enter the premises on reasonable demand and do what they need to do, included kick your butt out of THEIR PROPERTY. When did this authorization take place? When the renter signed the agreement, Duh! Better start reading the fine print...

Anyway, I sincerely hope we don't have to go down there (like 400 miles away) to help them move... I really hadn't planned on making that trip at all.

AAARGH!

AAAAArrrrgh! Part Deux...

2005-02-10T15:04:00.000-05:00

I still don't know if we're going to South Florida today. It would be an extreme inconvenience if we do have to go. Oh well; such is the fair of good-hearted people! ;o)

Ahh! A New Hope!

2005-02-10T14:05:00.000-05:00

I just joined the Blogger family. I tried for so long not to get caught up... but anyway, yeah, right.

So I decided that since I'm joining the Google Revolution (GMail, need I say more?) that I might as well consolidate as much of my online persona as possible, no?

Keep on the lookout for more.