friends – Page 2 – Rollingskull

It’s out of my hands…

No it really is… mainly since it’s ethereal in digital realm and all no physicality…

OK let me start again, so there was this “fire” over the weekend, and if you haven’t already you can go read about it. However it did get me thinking if I was presented with a similar set of circumstances what would I do? Probably nothing since I would never pay enough attention to connect all of the dots. No really I probably wouldn’t notice until my couch was fully engulfed and even then I would have to be sitting in it.

No honestly what would I do? I look at my “house” and I don’t have any real attachment to it… I mean it’s a nice a house, the back yard is killer, and if I was just a tad more social I would probably invite people over more often then the divisional round of football playoffs. I think the best way to describe my relationship to my house is probably quite similar to that of “Tyler Durden” or rather the man the that spawned Tyler Durden to paraphrase

no matter what I had the couch situation taken care of, now it’s gone. I need a new couch…

I know it’s no where close (and I can’t find the exact quote just deal). The cruxt of the scene is it’s all just stuff. That you don’t need or more then you need. And that’s how I look at my place it’s just the Kingdom of stuff. Nothing that can’t be replaced. I don’t have any pets, I don’t have wedding pictures what pictures I do have are of friends or their kids and while the pictures of the kids are cute I’m pretty sure I will get more at some point, and lets not get me started on furniture or clothes. As for the electronics, I was due for a upgrade anyway! I have a bookcase of DVD’s that I’ve watched once or twice each that can almost all be replaced. And those that can’t will be out on Blu-Ray or whatever the format of the digital future will be.

The “stuff” that I have that matters to me is all digital in nature. My pictures from various hunting trips, races, trips to the East Coast, and as silly as this sounds I have a couple of cell phone pics from outings to where ever that I keep for the memories. Music, so much music from so many things that I listen to constantly (and all three regular reads know that I generally pull the title of each post from what ever song is playing in iTunes when I’m writing). Files… all of my files from school personal projects and writing that I’ve done (not everything I write ends up here). Finally records… tax, finical, and other various tracking mechanisms. All totally digital.

Now granted I have multiple backups of all of these files and if I lost ONE computer I could pretty easily recreate 99% of the content. In a total loss situation though I would screwed since I don’t take my laptop (which for everything but gaming I consider my main computer) everywhere. Heck I take it on trips and that is probably the single dumbest thing I could do.

Hey nice MacBook Pro, I’m going to take that now!

To top it all off I’m a IT guy for my day job, well I like to think of myself as a IT guy most days. And what do we preach in IT when it comes to backups? One copy onste and one copy off-site (more then 50 miles away, and on different media if possible) I mean it’s not rocket science though some days it seems like it. I guess it’s time to break down and look at something a bit more comprehensive then just “Time Machine” for my backup needs.

I need secure, automagic, high storage limits, and accessible anywhere. I would like neat, easy, and multi-platform. I don’t need to backup all my computers just one. Anything that doesn’t live on my laptop can be copied over easy enough.

Who would have thought a little fire could cause so much thought?

The only downside to this plan? When the zombies come I’m scewed for my data not so much for guns.

And that’s why they call me Bad Company….

Not only do I drink all your beer and eat all of you food… I blame the tall lanky engineer that is generally with in a seat or two of me either direction.

Ok so last time I posted I was extolled the virtues of how great the iPod Touch w/ Google active sync integration was right? Yeah I’m pretty sure that was me since I’m the only person that writes anything extolling the virtues of Apple devices 6 to 12 months after they have been released.

I would like to amend that statement now. So facebook on the iPod Touch is fully integrated by default with the address book on the iPod Touch which when you have active sync integration turned on (aka exchange integration) your address book is also integrated. Which is fine and all but I’m really one who likes to keep the various pieces parts of my life compartmentalized… if I wanted my facebook to talk to my iPod Touch I would ENABLE IT…. call me old school but when something goes out to talk to another device shouldn’t have to enable that? I don’t know maybe it was there and I just glossed over it but I’m still not real happy with that little snafu.

Ok so why am I not happy with that Snafu? Well there is a picture that I attached to a Outlook contact to a friend back in the days of “Prometheus” (for those of you keeping score at home “Prometheus” was my main computer from 2002 to 2004) Anywhoo that was 2 main computers ago (not including laptops). Well said picture made the transfer to Gmail when I started to migrate my contacts and mail off of Outlook and onto there (so whenever that was…. lets call it the first half of 2007) In October of 2007 I had the great crash of Heretic (Lost the CPU and as it would turn out didn’t exactly have the most complete backup). In that crash I lost a few pictures that hadn’t been uploaded to various websites or services. 99.9% of these pictures were of no great meaning and I could have cared less but this one picture I had picked for my friend and I though fit her perfectly was gone off of my computer but still in my gmail contact. Until last week when the iPod Touch doing what it was told… synced my contacts with facebook and then my contacts synced with Google. Which then destroyed the picture. And it’s gone… am I whining? Yes… why basically because I don’t think that syncing contact pictures is the most efficient method or use of resources… but what do I know I’m just some dude who lost a totally awesome picture for a friend.

As for the other reader who has a facebook… I removed yours from Gmail… I like you gtalk icon way better even if it is a touch weird.

So to sum up… Active Sync integration is still cool… I just wish that I had thought it through a little bit more.

Aftermath….

Did you know that the “Native New Yorker” on Dobson and Guadalupe has $2 pints of Fat Tire all day everyday?

NO?

Did you know that the “Native New Yorker” on Dobson and Guadalupe has $3 22oz talls of Fat Tire all day everyday?

No?

I knew they had great deals on tap beer… I didn’t remember them being that good…

I feel like I got hit by the Cardinals… all 53 of them… plus the coaches… except for Rackers he was in a hurry and missed the kick.

I don’t know how much more football my liver can take…

And so the cycle completes again…

As 2009 comes to a close we should take a moment to remember the good and how infinitely superior 2009 was to 2008 and how 2010 will be superior in every way to 2009.

Happy new year kids.

And the booze? Oh that’s just how I’m pretty sure 3/4 of you are going to be spending the next 24 to 36 hours so I figured I would give you some inspiration.

All I see are Blue People(ish)….

I’m pretty sure there were a few people who turned blue at some point today when the Cardinals tried to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory again. My own personal musings are minor in the whole scheme of things, but seriously how do you blow a 17 point half time lead to a touchdown by the end of the game against the Lions?

I mean this is a match up I’ve written about in the past and used as a measuring stick of progress… I quote from December 8, 2002

The Lions played the Cardinals this week… the Cardinals won in Overtime… the fact the Cardinals won is a miracle… but it is only a minor miracle since they beat the Lions… The only team worse then the Cardinals.

The good news is there are now a couple of teams worse then the Cardinals. One of those teams even promised to “unleash hell in December” out side of a nice 2 minute drive not much hell has been unleashed. And the only reason I’m bringing up Black Jesus and company is I’m trying to goad a certain other blogger into posting her closet support for the Cards… Obviously she is above such trickery or she just doesn’t care. My money is on the second one.

Ok off of the football topic, I like talking about it but it’s not the playoffs and today’s win was ugly.

Don, Curtis, and I did a batch of home-brew last week. The good news is it wasn’t awful when I put into the keg yesterday. The bad news is there is still 6 weeks until it’s tapped for the Superbowl. Crap there is that football topic again.

I think I may have a new favorite topic… I wonder how much my posting is going to drop after football season?

Happy nine years of content…

The Fat Lady Never Sings….

So last night it was pointed out to me that it was 10 years since a particular event… I don’t remember the event, but I do remember thinking “Christ where did the last decade go”?

And then I think about everything that has happened in just my personal life and it boggles my mind…. Not the amount of stuff going on but the minutia of detail that has been lost to the fog of time and probably one or two too many beers. And it’s the minutia of detail that I take the most pleasure in. So as I was thinking about this I also realized that this pile of drivel is going to be 9 years old in just about a month.

I will admit I have questioned whether it was time to mothball this long running hobby more then once in the last year or so. It seems redundant with Facebook, Flickr, Instant Messaging, Cell Phones, and this little thing called getting in a car and going to someone’s house. In the end though this serves two purposes that most of the previous technologies fail miserably at.

1. Long form composition of thoughts and ideas (even if those have been severely lacking for a while now) (and to those who would say cell phones and being social full fill this requirement I say come hang out with me and certain friends who won’t let you get a word in edgewise after alcohol has passed their lips)
2. It’s a vanity project that it’s limited to 140 characters.

So where does this all lead? I don’t know but I’m thinking that their may be a return to some roots and maybe trying out a few different things.

Who knows but the fat lady just got bitten by a zombie so I guess I’m committed now.

2000 some odd pictures later…

Once upon a time Cody said… the key to taking a good picture is to take lots and lots and lots and lots of pictures and you will get lucky….

Well I followed this advice… upgraded camera’s and took yet more pictures. This week I received validation in two places.

#1 An email from these nice people….

Schmap Phoenix Eighth Edition: Photo Inclusion

Hi Catalexiis,

I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo has been selected for inclusion in the newly released eighth edition of our Schmap Phoenix Guide:

Downtown Phoenix
www.schmap.com/phoenix/sights_attractions/p=385394/i=385394_9.jpg
Thanks so much for letting us include your photo – please enjoy the guide!

Best regards,

Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides
www.schmap.me/emma.williams

And #2 This picture… which just happens to be in a collection of 300+ taken over the 4th of July weekend.

You have no idea how much this will only encourage me now.

House of the holy….

Three days back from conferences with people who do the same thing that I do and what do I have to show for it?

A smoking credit card and a severe “Sweetwater” withdrawal later I’m home.

Nothing much changed… most of the stuff left on the counter is still there, the bedroom and office are both still disasters, the grass is a little longer, and finally I still have no beer. So par for the course on the home front.

On the work front there was only one cataclysmic event, my partner in crime at work switched from drinking a Monster Energy drink every morning to drinking coffee… actually two cups of coffee every morning. In the 4 years I’ve worked with him I would have never seen this coming in a million years. I guess it only took 4.

Of course this has led to a series of discussions about coffee in the work place. Now both of us are damned cheap so we won’t be taking the Curtis solution to our work time coffee fix. So this change of events has led to a series of discussions but the most surreal of which is the following….

N – So which coffee is better the stuff upstairs or downstairs?

T – Well it depends if you want to use the good bottle water go with the upstairs stuff but there is no sink so telling how long since the coffee pot was last emptied. Downstairs has a sink but all it has is a charcoal filter that hasn’t been replaced in 3 years. It’s all about the water here since the coffee is the same crap upstairs and downstairs.

N – huh?

T – The coffee here is all about quantity not quality.

N – Oh ok…. so upstairs or downstairs?

T – Downstairs the coffee is better.

So needless to say not only do I cover beer but I guess I’m going to have to bone up on my minutia of coffee detail.

Easier said then done since I like Folgers….

Dogs of NASCAR…

You know I must be getting old when I’ve been meaning to write about this Springs sojourn out to NASCAR for 4 days and keep putting it off because….

I haven’t recovered yet!

Well not exactly anymore, I’m recovered (finally) it just took 6 days more then I expected it to I don’t think it has anything to do with the 2 thirty packs of Coors light…. though I’ve been wrong about this kind of thing before.

Anyway it was the ususal debauchery…. Cars turning left, mullets in full bloom, rednecks were out in full force. Oh and top it all off I lost my cell phone…

I know I know…

Let me start at the beginning… so there we were watching the grocery cart races which had devolved into putting people into 55 gallon drums and rolling them down the hill (You won if you made it 10 seconds inside and didn’t puke). The sheriff’s office finally rolled in and put a end to the barrel rolling the grocery carts mysteriously disappeared…. Anyway Greg, Dan, Allan and I say “Hey it’s only 11 lets grab a couple of beers and see whats going on out there” So we all grab a couple of beers and go on “Safari”.

So we wander the wilderness of campers that is Nascar in the spring and alot of people have turned in for the night but in every row you find a group that is still going at it. One of these groups has two travel trailers parked together with a white sheet up on the side of the trailer displaying Karaoke! So of course we pull in there and are welcomed with open arms and cold beer (good thing since we were all about out). We sing… actually Dan and Allan sing… I hang back drink beer and enjoy the crowd.

So now at this point I’ve had more then “my fair share” of beer and we all know what happens when I have to much to drink… nothing good. And up walks so redneck chic in her Dale Jr. shirt talking about how great her driver was. Now I’m standing there listening to this in my Tony Stewart hat (who incidentally came in 2nd that day and not 31st like Mr. Jr.) and I’m listening to all of this and I star to analyze it and say “bullshit” not in my head but out loud. I now have the drunk redneck chic’s attention and not in a way that I wanted… I don’t remember how I got out of it but I’m told that it was a very intense 3 minute conversation with this woman and I was also told “If she had started to kick your ass you would have been on your own brother”. I can’t fault anyone there.

So we hang for another bit and start to wander back to camp it’s at this point that I realize that I’ve lost my phone… so we wander back to camp karaoke and no one’s seen it but we look around no luck. So I call into Verizon and flag the phone as lost. We get back to camp a little after 3. Later that morning at 7 I wake up and head back to camp karaoke to look in the day light, yep still no phone. We break Nascar camp and head home.

Next day I walk into my friendly Verizon store and purchase a new Blackberry Storm. it’s not the one I was after but I will give it a try. And as I’m setting up the email on the thing I have a new message… it’s a email asking if I’m missing a phone…. Is it a blackberry pearl with a big scratch on the side of the screen?…. sure is.

Damn…

It’s Saturday before the guy who found it and I hook up, but I get the phone back a little bit more cosmetic damage on it then before. But seems to be functional, well except for the SD card that is missing but that is a small price to pay (and there were no pictures on that card that I didn’t have backed up to Flickr or Facebook if I wanted them that bad).

So the moral of this story?

Don’t go on Safari with a phone in a holster have it your pocket!

Also the Storm with the 4.7.132 OS rocks.

Because Curtis is never going to watch the last 8 Battlestar Galacticas and I want to write about it!

Ok so in case you haven’t figured it out yet this post is going to be about Battlestar Galactica, and it’s been damn near a month since the show ended and from what I can tell Curtis still has them sitting on his DVR. So out of respect for our friendship I have withheld talking about BSG because I figured he would watch them by now.

I was soooo very wrong…

Curtis stop reading now… and if you continue to read it’s your own damn fault I don’t want to hear any whining.

Tennents of BSG… leave them wanting more… in the end I wanted no more… not because I had lost interest in the show, but because I had gotten everything out of the show that I had wanted.

Roslyn died… she should have died sooner (like a couple of episodes back but I can accept why they kept her around till the end)

Starbuck was kinda sorta reviled for what she is… I don’t know how to explain this one but I like they way the writers did this. No explanation nothing just there one second and gone the next. perfect

Earth is a lie… but new Earth is shiny and new… turns out New Earth is our Earth (Sol III for those of you tracking at home)

The last battle with the Cylons…. that was some of the best effects work across the board that I have seen. I think that helped to quench alot of the thirst I had for some good solid action sequences. Also the Galactica ramming into the side of the colony was neat!

I would write more but so much has already been covered on the Internet it seems a little beyond redundant at this point….

Why did I do this then?

Just so I could use the Battlestar Galactica tag one more time and say my TV series have a new standard to live up to.