12/15/2004

Gallery Update
Another month another set of pics posted.  Check out the Image History page for the additions.

Website News
Updated my Car Audio page with my GTO install.  I am still enjoying the GTO as it really fits my personality.  

Me News
I'll keep it brief...  Thanksgiving at home in TN I ate too much.  Came back and got sick just now got over it.  Can't wait for Christmas.  

Work News
It sucks.  All my extra time is sucked into doing stuff to help us get profitable.  One day maybe I can stop worrying about the financial viability of the companies I work for.  

Update Movie Pick
This movie is an oldie that I saw recently, but figured in the new environment of outsourcing it might be an uplift for some.  The movie is Gung Ho.  In the 80s, everyone was worried about the Japanese taking over.  In fact, they bailed us our of the entire junk bond situation, took a bath on the real estate bomb and they pumped a ton of money into our economy.  I am not for outsourcing, but don't know how we can avoid it either.  Maybe like the Japanese situation of the 80s things will end up just fine for everyone.  Anyway, Gung Ho is an interesting look at our work force and a nice feel good movie to boot.  Hope you enjoy it.   

11/17/2004

Website Update
I posted another update to the galleries.  This is a medium sized update with a few new faces.  Check out the Image History page for the additions.

Car News
Well I am going in Saturday for hopefully the final part of my car installation.  Tint is done, fixed a couple of little oddities and have installed all the car audio except the head unit.  Once I am complete with the installation pics a plenty will be posted to the various sections of my website.

Other News
The Fun Page is due for an overhaul soon.  I have collected a ton of funny stuff so check back over the next few weeks for some all new fun.  

11/1/2004

Website Update
A fairly large gallery update has been posted.  Lately I have managed to keep this fairly regular and will continue to do so.  Check out the Image History page for the additions.

Me News
Got my new phone (Samsung MM-A700) and it is very cool.  Got my new car stereo installed and I am struggling to get it to sound as good as it should.   Sold my Blazer that I have had for nine years.  Last but not least, I have spent the last few weeks stuffing a release out the door at work and doing after hours projects for extra cash.  Needless to say it has been super busy.

Pictures... I have a lot of new personal pictures to post this month so stay tuned.  Car, car audio, new stuff, etc.  plenty of goodies.  

10/7/2004

Website Update
I cleaned up my New Car Prep section and added a few new tidbits.  Check it out if you have or are about to buy a new car.  Also a great rundown if it is time to wax your car.

Added a new section on setting your Car Mirrors.  Please read this section since I know most people do this incorrectly and it does contribute to accidents.

Lastly, I updated the Home Theater page and my Site Map with some minor tweaks.  Nothing really new though.

Me News
New car!  Oh yeah... Pontiac had a great deal going on the new 2004 GTO and I couldn't pass it up.  Plenty fast, pretty rare, gorgeous interior and really comfy.  Sure it looks a bit bland, small trunk and guzzles the gas, but hey what can you expect from the LS1 corvette engine?  The 2005 Mustang was on the list due to its plentiful power, good looks, and updated interior.  However, there will be tens of thousands on the road which will quickly tire the exterior and first generation American cars I find a bit scary.  The GTO is actually a Monaro from Australia and has been in production for quite some time.  

New cell phone... well new cell phone one day.  Company just ordered me a new Samsung A700 with built in mega-pixel camera and video streaming.  My last phone a Samsung 8500 has been great but is showing its age at 7 years old.

Website Update
Another month and another gallery update.  Check out the Image History page for the additions.

I added a section on New Car Prep  that will hopefully help others before and after they pick up their new car. 

Website Update
Another gallery update has been posted.  I will try to keep these coming in an orderly fashion from now on.  Check out the Image History page for the additions.

Website Update
Added banners to the Galleries section.  Hopefully this will help fund the site indefinitely.  Sorry to ad tacky commercials, but one must do what one must do.

We were hacked and hopefully I have fixed everything.  If something isn't working properly, drop me a line.

AC Tool News
AC Tool 4.6 has been released and now has its own website.  Check out actool.net for more information. 

Website Update
Another smaller gallery update has found its way onto my website.  I have been scrubbing my hard drive trying to clean up some much needed space.  So you all get to benefit...  anyway check out the Image History page for the additions.

Thanks to a passerby, I have corrected my Despair Posters page.  I will be updating that page with even more posters in the near future, so check back a little later for more pessimistic goodness.

I update my More Me page as well.  Redid my movies and director for those that care.

Update Movie Review
I have a good one for you this time.  The movie is called Frailty.  Not sure exactly how to describe it... thriller, horror, suspense.  In some ways it falls into all of those categories.  At any rate, this movie is really good and a very refreshing change of pace.  Serial killer movies are generally entertaining, but this one has some extra special flavor.  Watch it.  I doubt you will be disappointed.

DraftTool 2004
I am almost done with this puppy.  I play fantasy football and this is what I use to draft (came in first and third in my leagues last year!).  It isn't a draft manager for a league.  Rather, it is built for one person in order to see player stats and ranking, depth charts, team schedules, etc.  It even has a built in mock draft that works fairly well.

I will be releasing this within the next week or so once I clean up the player positions and clean up the last remaining bugs.

The Personal Stuff
Work has been pretty good these last couple weeks.  Tearing through new feature-set and the bugs have been minimal. The product is really starting to feel polished.

I am woman hunting again.  I have decided that maybe it is time to settle down.  If you know any good ones, send them my way.

Getting My Vote
I guess it is about that time of year where I tell everyone who will listen about how things should be.  Well at least to me anyway.  This time around a brief discussion about my vision for the tax system.

Hold on this one is complicated so stay with me.  Get rid of every tax save three.  Fossil fuel, personal income, and business tax.  I would raise the heck out of the gas tax (yeah I know hurts the economy), but I would take the additional money earned and put it into hybrid vehicles run on a battery and ethanol combination.  It is achievable (unlike hydrogen) and is near zero emission.  Not to mention performance loss would be negligible. 

Next up would be personal income.  Say it with me people flat tax.  However, there is a difference in my version of the flat tax.  The first 30k a full time employee makes is tax free.  Another 15k can be put into 401k type plans and a further 5k in HSA (a tax free medical account that rolls).  That means the first 50k every American makes would be tax free.  Every penny made over those deductions would be taxed at a rate that would change based on budget considerations.  Probably something like 50%.  There would be some deductions such as dependants, but that would be about it.  Basically if you make between 0-100k a year you would see a gain.  If you make over 100k your income tax would go up, but offset that from no sales, luxury, property taxes etc. 

Lastly, products built by companies outside the US would have to pay an import duty (nothing terrible... I prefer semi-free trade).  Companies that are US based and pay taxes would no longer have to pay payroll taxes.  It always seemed strange to me for companies to have incur taxes for hiring new people.  Companies with headquarters outside the US but with labor forces inside the US (you know the ones with a mailbox in tax free countries) would still pay payroll taxes.  The hope is there would be no penalty for keeping your company inside our borders.    

Will it ever happen no, but if I were creating Cam-alot... this is the system I would implement.  You can play with the individual numbers, but it effects everyone the same.

Website Update
The Image Gallery updates have been fast and furious these last few weeks.  I even found a bug in my update program that was preventing a dozen or so collections from being uploaded to the server (TechTV and Weather Channel caps mostly).  At any rate, check out the Image History page for the additions.

Good news boys and girls... I removed a TON of those flash graphic globe thingies in the upper right corner from a bunch of pages.  Flash graphics on websites can blow me.  It is crappy at caching, slows page loads, and the most annoying popup ads are flash based. 

Now I just need to find a free plug-in for FrontPage that strips out all the verbose HTML crap it puts in but doesn't need.  Microsoft... home of the inefficient.  If you know of one, pass it along.

Me-date
Well thought I would clue everyone in on news pertaining to me... I have been sick... real freakin sick for a week.  Just now arrived at a point where I can swallow solid food due to the worst sore throat I have ever had.  Wish me well.

As for work, it has been pretty sucky thanks to a HUGE software update that went out.  Lots of training issues and some stuff was missed (the usual stuff that always gets missed on releases this large), but looks like we are heading out of the woods after a full week of patching.

Website Update
I just updated my Airsoft Vault site with a new link to the Georgia Airsoft and Paintball website.  Stop by and check them out.  

Update Movie Review
I recently posted another great TV series, but my movie page has been sorely lacking a good movie.  Well here it is.

City of God is a wonderful movie that chronicles the life of a boy in Rio De Janeiro.  This incredible tale is based on a true story and the experience just has to be seen.  With a great tale of morality told through the eyes of an insider, this movie shows a moving account of poverty, gangsters, power, and greed.  Nothing is glorified in this picture.  The rawness of the footage sets a mood that makes you feel like you are watching a story unfold in the eyes of those who lived it.  This is truly great cinema and shouldn't be missed.

Website Update
I went ahead and added some pics to the Me Pics section and adjusted some entries in the More Me! section as well.  

Also, the Site Map was updated to reflect some recent changes to the website.  I always forget to run the script that generates this thing after I add pages.  Maybe an electrical shock when I forget would help.

Update Movie Review
It has been quite a while since I threw up an new movie review.  The bad news is it will be even longer before you see a movie review.  The good news is I have some DVDs that are an absolute riot.

If you haven't been keeping up on the BBC, you will have missed what I consider to be the funniest TV comedy ever.  It is called Coupling and it is extremely comical.  Pretty much everything revolves around relationships and sex so it isn't for the children or prudes, but if you like adult humor you absolutely can't go wrong with Coupling.  Get seasons 1-3 on DVD as soon as possible.  They are worth their weight in gold... and then some.  

On the TV
If you missed HBO's Deadwood, you missed one of the best TV shows I have seen in several years.  Good news is its not too late.  You will be able to catch the show in full re-run over the next couple months.  Fire up those Tivos or VCRs and catch the series... you won't regret it.  BTW, this show is not for the kiddies. 

Play Frosty for Me
I have been meaning to post this quickie frozen desert now that summer is in full swing.  It is cheap, easy to make, and really good.  Basically you need your favorite fruit juice (avoid harsh juices like cranberry... I like grape and even lemonade), a blender, and ice.  Fill the blender up with about four cups of ice.  Then poor your favorite fruit juice to the same level of the ice in your blender.  Next add about a half cup water.  Hit your blenders fastest setting.  Depending on the juice you chose you may have to shake the blender a few times while blending to get an even texture.  Do this until there are no large ice chunks and the ice has a nice smooth texture.  Fill a glass, stick a straw in and enjoy the cool down.

Me News
My birthday was Tuesday the 8th and I had a blast last weekend.  Some friends of mine showed me a REALLY good time.  My business looks like it might be taking off as well.  We finally got out of our way long enough to ship the software I have been slaving over for the last three years.  Other than my health going haywire that is about all there is to report.

Website Update
Added a SQL Server page with some of my favorite tips, tricks, and scripts.  Check it out.

For those patiently waiting for another gallery update, here it is. Check out the Image History page for the additions.

AC Tool Update
AC Tool has been getting a lot of updates lately.  You can find the history as well as download the latest version on the AC Tool Homepage.

Other News
Airsoft Tactical here in Atlanta closed its doors a couple weeks ago.  This was a great store run by a great guy.  I wish him well in whatever he goes onto.  I updated my Airsoft page to reflect this loss. 

Better than Sliced Bread?
Probably not, but AllofMP3 is a guys (or gals) best friend when it comes to downloading music.  Legal?  Legal enough.  Basically, it is a Russian based service that sells songs at about .02 to .04 cents a megabyte that are not encrypted in anyway (burn'em or play'em without a bunch of crap).  It has an offline explorer that contains their entire disc catalog and many of the recordings use an encode on the fly technology that allows you to pick what format and bitrate you want.  You can even pay via PayPal if you don't want to give your credit card out.  Pay 5 bucks, get 5MBs of download.  When that is up, buy 5MBs more.  No recurring fees. 

Downsides?  Not many... I would say the biggest is the slowness at which they put new stuff up.  It usually gets there, but in some cases it can take quite a while.  The only other nitpick is that it can get slow sometimes, but the streaming always seems to be quick and I haven't had a sample rebuffer on me yet (unlike Napster).

Website Update
Some more cleaning has been done on the website.  I am still working out some of the kinks, but all in all it is coming together. 

I added a great new feature to the forums.  The AC Tool Arcade is open for business.  Go check it out. 

Another gallery update was done and this one includes Thea Andrews from ESPN's Cold Pizza.  I have gotten several requests for her so enjoy.  Check out the Image History page for other additions.

Website Update
The website move is complete and everything should be working.  If you see something that isn't working, please shoot me an email. 

A gallery update was done.  Check out the Image History page for more information.

Website Update
The galleries are going offline for a few days until I can relocate them.  My bandwidth is almost exceeded at this website.  Good news is the second website with much more bandwidth is almost operational.

2003 News