Archive for September, 2008
September 18, 2008 at 10:58 am · Filed under Lifestyle
Went to the library and checked out 3 books: Killing Sacred Cows, The Audacity of Hope, and When You are Ingulfed in Flames. I’ve been meaning to go through Obama’s book for a looong time. Killing Sacred Cows is a financial book. Most financial planner books tell you the exact same things towards savings and retirement. This book takes an opposite angle and says “Screw retirement cash. Have fun now while you can.” It’s also got a little math that I’ve never taken into consideration with retirement money. Then, I know (or knew) that Ceej liked David Sedaris. His writing never captured me the first time, so I’m giving him a second chance.
These check outs were completely impromptu. I like skimming the new books section, and seeing what I can find. Another way I find books is by recommendation (… sort of. More like approval). There are so many books on the shelves. It’s difficult to look at the titles and know if its any good. Instead, I like to look at the books on the carts. These are the books that were just returned. I peruse these, because someone else must have thought the book was interesting enough to check out.
Also, there’s a Star Wars game called The Force Unleashed, that was just released. I’ll probably never buy a 360, PS3, or Wii. So, I probably wont ever play the game. However, I hear that the story is possibly better than the prequels. Fortunately, there is a novel of the story being released. I’ve never read a Star Wars book, and I’ve always meant to. Maybe I’ll plant myself at a Borders for the day and take in the book.
I’m glad that a number of new TV shows are starting. I’ll just list them. Survivor, The Amazing Race, Tapout, The Ultimate Fighter, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Entourage, and Bizarre Foods w/ Andrew Zimmerman. I’m sure I’ve missed a few.
Volcano Tacos rock!
I read a pretty hilarious review about the new Metallica album. In summary, the author said he would “dub the album to a cassette tape, buy an old Firebird, get drunk, and blast the album scaring Grandma and Grandpa.” After reading that, I thought that I should give the album a chance. In fairness, the album is pretty decent.
Lastly, I “interviewed” with a prospective Korean employer, yesterday. I emphasize interview, because it really wasn’t an interview. Since, last week, I’ve been waiting for this phone call. I was told they’d call sometime between 7-10PM MTWR this week. Shit. That time frame is more elusive than waiting for the cable guy. But, at least they called. My hopes began to fade when they didn’t call Monday or Tuesday, but the recruiter said they were still reviewing resumes. They should call Wednesday or Thursday.
So, the “interview” consisted of 12 minutes of the guy telling me about the position. He didn’t ask me any inquiring questions. He just recited the details of the position, which I’d ALREADY read from the original job posting. Yes, I want the job. Yes, I understand the hours. Yes, I would work overtime. Ok, bye. [/aggravation] Nevertheless, I hope I get this position. I’ve already turned down the public school offer I had. That recruiter needed an immediate reply. He gave me the offer a week ago. And, now, I have to wait until early next week to hear back from this other Giacomo.
Come on already! I hate waiting from week to week for these slightest updates.
September 12, 2008 at 12:52 pm · Filed under Techy
Since I’ve been home, I’ve been on the hunt for my missing media and tea mug. I’ve been missing my media the most, because it was a box of DVDs and CDs. I’m talking live bootlegs, ripped DVDs, homebrew software, and just archives of stuff. It was tragic that I couldn’t find this box.
Did I leave it in Chicago? I dont think so.
Did the box bounce out of my roommate’s truck when I moved? Possibly, but not likely.
Where the hell is it?!
Today, I walked upstairs and stared hard at my Dell computer boxes. The big one is for the tower. Those two are the monitors. What’s that bottom one? I moved all the boxes. Sure enough, at the bottom of the stack, there it was, my missing media! It’s been sitting at the top of the stairs all this time. I walked by it maybe ten times a day.
Well, that’s uncovered. Now,… if I could only find that tea mug.
September 10, 2008 at 10:00 am · Filed under Books, Dreams
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I found Blurb, while sifting through Flickr tools. I was unsure about creating a book with them, because I didn’t know how the photo quality would turn out. I had my hang-ups. I wanted to feel and smell the weight of the paper. I wanted to inspect the printing quality. I wanted to see if the colors blazed like a moment in time. I wanted to eat it, firsthand. But, no.
I made 2 of the Standard Landscape books, which are 10×8 inches. They are 40-80 pages. The downloadable Blurb software is cake. I found it completely intuitive, simple, and easy to use. Everything is pre-customized. So, all you really need to do is pick a layout and drag-and-drop your photos. At the time, I thought some of the layouts could have been better, or there could have been more choices. Given a 10×8 page, some of the photo layouts didn’t make sense. The photos would have been too small or awkwardly chopped, IMO. Though, I think Blurb has added more choices with 2 or 3 software updates, since last year.
My impression of the finished books is a 4.5/5.
However, I’d like to redo the books. I want to make one large all encompassing book that spans the entire year in Korea. My books only covered about 5 months time. Blurb can make a book up to 440 pages, and I want to push that. I would also change the book size. I want to use the 13×11 book to showcase the photos better. These photos are more than memories; They’re art! The only problem with that is that I didn’t take high resolution photos. Most times, I used 1600×1200 pixels, and that wont cut it. Push those digital cameras to their highest settings, folks. Lastly, for the cover, I’d use the imagewrap. This wasn’t an available option at the time. I’m no fan of dust jackets. They slide, bend, and tear. I’d prefer a durable hard cover, like a bulky Calculus textbook.
Having this book would make it easier for me to get rid of the thousands of images I have saved. I don’t need to sift through all of them when I can quickly remember the moments with a single photo. I made these books for Mom, but over these months I’ve spent more time with them. To her, they’re probably just photos. To me, they’re memories of something I’ve been through and thought was beautiful.
September 9, 2008 at 4:35 pm · Filed under Lifestyle
Graaahhh! I’m working on a new Wordpress theme for my Korea blog. I’ve decided to use the one with the javascript slideshow on the main page. It’s the one on my “Demo” blog. I want to use it, because it doesn’t resemble your typical blog. It will showcase pictures better and you can view them in some neater ways. However, the theme was written on a specific version of WP and with the aid of a specific plugin. I find that each time a new update comes out, something in the code breaks. It’s pretty annoying. Maybe, I’ll have to break my ethics on always installing new updates, so that it runs properly.
There’s still no development in finding a job in Korea, yet, but I went ahead and deleted the database and took ‘Drifting thru Daegu’ down. It had a lot of old files and garbage in there. I thought it would be best to start fresh and clean. In fact, I decided to delete the mySQL database it was on, too. That was a bad idea. I forgot that I had my photo gallery on that server. Crap. Luckily, I have an online backup of the photos, but it will be arduous to get those photos up and viewable with my slow internet connection. Oh well, I’ll just have to spruce that site, too.
Lastly, Apple came out with 4th generation iPod Nanos, today. After 2 years, my 2nd gen 8GB is still alive and kicking. Although, the battery appears to be wearing down. A full charge doesn’t seem to last as long as it did before. The the 3rd gen Nanos were just fugly, but this new one is bringing sexy back.
September 6, 2008 at 8:12 pm · Filed under Lifestyle
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Somewhere along the Oregon Pacific Coastline, there is a hobbit trail. Only a select few know of its whereabouts.
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