Plastic Implants & Tattoos!
Fake breast implants, collagen lip implants, bad nose jobs, or practically any plastic surgery what so ever. I can understand reconstructive surgery as a result of accident or illness, but just for beauty reasons I can’t believe people are still doing this. It shows they have no appreciation for their body as it was so designed and to me it shows their deep insecurity. They obviously are ‘other peopling’. Meaning they actually care what other people think and are willing to allow some quack with a knife to cut on them and pay big $$ to do it?? That’s the crazy part.
The other way to instantly destroy beauty is with tattoos. Yeah, there’s an idea, let’s some screw up draw on us with permanent ink. Cool! That’ll show my parents that I am independant. Yeah, whatever. You might as well start smoking highly addictive and health destroying cigarettes while you are it – to go total rebellion, if you haven’t already.
A prime example of a horrible tattoo and the devastating affect it has on beauty is Megan Fox. She has several tattoos and the Marilyn Monroe one on her arm is just stupid. I mean to ruin such a beautiful canvas like human skin, with all that natural artwork already present, is just sheer stupidity. I’m sorry, but I can’t think of another name for it.
I once heard the definiton of maturity as “It’s ok to do something, even if your parents would approve!”. Beauty is more than skin deep to me… unless they screwed up their skin and natural figure with so called art and knives/plastic.
June 12th, 2009
Well, I was a bit disappointed. I was all set to watch Duke vs Bingamton and FIOS in my area starting to show the game and then switched to VCU vs UCLA??? Who the hell cares about that game, especially if you are a Duke fan. Dick Enberg and Jay Bilas were calling that game. Clark Kellog and Jim Nanz were calling the Duke game.
But really, for Verizon FIOS, the state of the art in TV these days, to NOT have the option to see all the games in HiDef on the BIG screen, it sucks, I mean sports is one of the main reasons to own HD. Verizons competitor, Direct TV, offeres the March Madness Mega package which shows ALL the games.
However, thankfully, CBSSports.com allows you to watch all the games on the PC for free. I have it on the Big screen, but it’s about 25% of the screen size. I found a button to watch it in HQ (higher quality) and then you can even adjust the picture quality based on your internet download speed. Which is the good thing about FIOS beacuse it’s FAST, so HQ is no problem. There is also a button to watch it full screen. So all in all, a decent compromise. Not FIOS HD like on CBSHD channel 503 which is still showing the VCU game, but I’ll take it.
Apparently, FIOS has an on demand feature that allows you to watch highlights of the games, but for me, once I see the score, I lose interest in past highlights. I think itunes.com is even allowing you to watch 1 day old games for like $1.99 which you can download.
SO I am watching the DUKE game and it’s halftime now, but I am watching it on my PC hooked up to my Big Screen HDTV. At least I don’t miss the game and be forced to watch a game I could care less about! Thanks CBS Sports Online! Maybe next year FIOS can get ALL the games…
March 19th, 2009
I just recently upgraded to Verizon FIOS, both their Internet and their TV. And the installation guy was here for about 2 hours. They gave me a new modem and router which was just one integrated unit. It was a pretty painless operation for me. They use the existing coax cable in your home and since I had digital cable already installed, all he did was swap out the old DVR with their new one (both made by Motorola).
For the FIOS TV, there is a new menu system to get use to, plus a ton of channels. I couldn’t tell a difference between COX Cable HD and FIOS HD, personally. So it was about the same, except FIOS has more HD channels at this point. Both HD’s are broadcast in 720p. Right now only HD DVD’s and Blu Rays (including PS3) are capable of true HD at 1080p. And of course you need a 1080p TV to get that extra detail. So FIOS TV works just fine.
BUT… the real reason to switch to FIOS is the FIOS Internet. As I am a web designer by profession, I can really use the extra speed this thing puts out. I signed up for 20 up/ 20 down package. And that’s actually what I get based on the SpeedTest.
I would have to put that in the SMOKING range. And I do feel a bit bad about leaving Cox. They were actually very good and reliable. But as a web designer, the difference between 2,000 kbps upload speed and 20,000 kpbs upload speeds is CRAZY good. Verizon FIOS internet is 10x faster than Cox in upload speeds. And for me uploading videos and huge files, that’s a major time saver.
I will say that for the average person who just surfs the web, it might not be worth it to switch. Cox’s download speeds are 15,000 kbps. Which is very fast. It’s just the upload speeds that Cox is lagging behind. And they are upgrading to 3,000 kbps, but that’s still nowhere near FIOS 20,000 kbps upload speeds.
Overall, my early experience with Verizon FIOS has been good. It does what is advertised and even my PS3 wireless connection downstairs is a lot faster, which is good when playing online games. Gives me a bit more of a competitive edge, which I could really use. These 12 year olds are killing me online.
October 3rd, 2008
I recently had the chance to buy a Sony HD video camera at a good price. I was going to put HD on the web. Or so I thought. But like most things, it’s more complicated than that.
First of all, HD on the web requires a ton of bandwidth and the file sizes are HUGE. Then you actually have to find decent software that will convert AVCHD format (the format my camera shoots 1080i in) to a suitable format for the web. Which best I can figure out is .flv or .wmv.
The Sony software that came with the camera converts the AVCHD format to mpeg 2. OR to HD Windows Media. But even then the quality is not the same.
The $800 Adobe Premiere Pro software I have doesn’t have any way to import the AVCGD directly. So that’s pretty useless. I have to covert to mpeg2, then import into the software and edit it that way. At that point though it’s already been compressed once. Premiere Pro doesn’t even recognize my camera. You would think $800 software from a leading company wouldn’t suck. But…
Do I need to shell out another $500 for Sony Vegas Pro? Maybe that’ll convert straight from AVCHD. Of course, if you want to ouput that quality to flash, then you’re probably out of luck. I don’t know if Vegas Pro even has that option. It seems like Sony and Adobe aren’t playing nice together.
So what to do? I am shooting video in 720p and the quality is very good. Just getting it compressed to get it on the web is the real challenge. Oh yeah, and 5.1 surround sound is just another issue all together.
September 30th, 2008
I finally got my first mp3 player. I probably was one of the few without one, or so it seems. I guess you could count my old PocketPC as a mp3 player, but that’s another story. However, what ultimately influenced my decision to buy a new mp3 player was my new truck. It has an aux jack just for mp3 players. So I decided I could have a bunch of CD-ROMS laying around OR I could just have one tiny little fit in the palm of my hand mp3 player.
There are a ton on the market to choose from. I went with the Creative Zen. Why? Price and features. Far less than an ipod or a zune, the Zen is perfect for what I need. It can play videos, music, record a voice for dictation, display photos and even has an expansion slot for more storage space. And it’s tiny and fairly light weight.
The software it came with couldn’t be any easier to use. I ripped a few CD’s straight to the mp3 player at the press of a button. And everything worked liked a charm.
I even just made a playlist of about 60 songs and plugged in my mp3 to my truck. But, I did need to buy a male to male plug to go from the headphone jack of the mp3 player to the aux jack of my trucks stereo system. The result, crystal clear digital music. The only thing I’d like to see is a bit more volume on the Zen or from my trucks stereo system. It’s perfectly loud, but just in case I wanted to go louder I would like to have that option.
Amazon, itunes, Yahoo music, Audible, these are all places where you can buy mp3s to use in the mp3 player. I am sure there are other ‘free’ places to ‘borrow’ music, but I don’t mind supporting the artists and the industry. I believe in commerce and enterprise.
Anyway, it’s great to listen to what I want to listen to when I want to listen to it. No commercials, no talk, just high quality, great sounding music.
August 30th, 2008
I don’t have a TV in my office, just my desktop PC. So watching TV is something of a luxury. I had an old TV tuner on my old desktop, but haven’t risked plugging it into my new one and VISTA. Everything is working just fine now and I am not interested in spending hours to fix it. Plus you have to split the cable (one side for the internet, the other for the TV).
So instead, I go without. And if you’ll see my last post I hooked up my laptop to my HDTV in my living room, so I have some of the angles covered.
However, NBCOlympics.com makes it dead simple to watch TV online. I went to the site, plugged in the Microsoft Silverlight Plugin and I did have problems with the intro video pausing. But then I switched to a channel, for example, now I am watching tennis, Raphael Nadal even, and here’s a screen shot of how it looks.
So far it’s been running smoothly and this way I can work on my main monitor and watch/listen to the video on the other monitor. Obviously, I have dual monitors setup. Which I highly recommend. The video also is opens up in a new window, so you can move it around put it wherever you want.
There is also a commentary text button which allows you keep up to date with the announcers. It’s kinda interesting watching a match and not hearing Dick Enberg or Johnny Mac rattle on about various things. Just the players and the stadium noise.
So if you get a chance and want to keep up with the olympics, maybe you’re at work or something, you can just tune in and run it in a different window and it shouldn’t affect your work too much 
August 11th, 2008
I decided to hook up my laptop to my big screen LCD HD TV. Now I have an HP Duo 2 Core laptop and an HDMI jack so connecting my laptop to my TV was actually easy. Just not cheap. The HDMI cable is about $45 for a 6 foot cable. And Sony Bravia 46″ LCD HDTV has 3 inputs for HDMI. And all three are being used now. One for my HD DVR (digital video recorder/HD cable box), one for my PS3/Bluray DVD player and now one for my laptop.
So in order to hook up your laptop, you need to see what kind of ports you have. IF you have HDMI for your computer and for your HDTV, then it’s a one cable deal.. Just plug in to the laptop and TV and you are good to go.
Otherwise, you’ll probably need to hook it up via an external monitor cable to the RGB connectors on the TV OR the external monitor DVI cable to the TV, if possible. Read your TV manual to see what kind of connections you have as well as look at the side of your laptop to see what kind of ports there are. Generally there is an external monitor port and you can plug that with the provided cable into most modern TV’s.
For me, it was simple, HDMI all the way. Then on the TV I just have to switch to the right HDMI connection. This is done through the input button on my remote control. The sound comes through the speakers of the laptop or through the TV. Depends on how you want to do it. I can’t watch TV and use the HDMI connection at the same time. I can listen to the TV, but not watch it. I tried PIP (picture in picture) but no luck, doesn’t work with 2 HDMI’s.
THe major challenge with hooking up your laptop to the TV is that my recliner is about 10 – 12 feet away and sometimes the text is hard to read. I also had to reformat the graphics display on the laptop. I turned off the laptop display and told it to use the external monitor only. And then I made the fonts large or xlarge. I also changed the resolution to a lower resolution which made the screen coverage larger as well. Now, this way, I can read most of the text. I am running 1280 x 720 on the big screen/laptop.
But I didn’t stop there. I also bought a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse. A Microsoft laser 6000 keyboard to be exact. That way there are no cables. This was easy, but not cheap either. Probably another $80 or so. However, it works perfectly. There was a little antenna to plugin to a USB port on the computer to receive the signal from the wireless keyboard and the mouse. Has a range of 10 – 15 feet and it works flawlessly so far.
Ok, so getting the picture? I now an kicking back in my recliner, surfing the web from my wireless keyboard and mouse. Just one more problem though. No room for the keyboard and the mouse. I thought a TV stand or one of those laptop stands, but I went first class on this last improvement. I bought an Airdesk. It was about $200 for the desk. Arrived in 2 days. It’s basically 2 metal poles put together, one vertically into a heavy metal base and the other connecting horizontally with an acrylic shelf attached to it. The shelves can pivot and rotate to accommodate pretty much any setting you want. I also have 2 other shelves I stuck on the air desk. The result? The airdesk works very well for my recliner/HDTV setup. You can easily customize each shelf height, distance and everything.
Now I have a place next to my recliner for my mouse, my remotes, my yerba mate (a drink from South America), cordless phone and my keyboard. Thanks to the sturdy airdesk shelves which conveniently rotate away from my when I need to get up. And it looks pretty cool too. A modern touch to my living room. The airdesk and my lazy boy recliner completes the ultimate setup for the laptop / TV connection.
Occasionally it’s hard to read the text. But there is a magnification button on my wireless keyboard. And a lot of sites allow for it. It makes zooming in on text and images easy and more readable.
So that’s my pimped out setup for having a laptop connected to a TV. I still use my other PC, because it’s still faster than my laptop and I have dual monitors and do a lot of graphics design and video processing. But for surfing the web, checking email (using ZImbra) and reading different feeds it works great! I even wrote this blog post on it…
August 3rd, 2008
Last night saw Billy Joel in concert. It was a perfect night at the outdoor amphitheater for the occasion, about 75, slight breeze. Had seats in the lawn/grass part of the concert, but the sound system was so good, I don’t think it really mattered that much where you sat.
All in all, me and the packed place seemed to have a great time. The huge monitors showed close ups of Billy playing the piano, and man can that dude play the piano. Amazing.
I hadn’t been to a Billy Joel concert in like 20 years. He’s lost a bit of hair, seems a lot more humble and was very funny on stage telling jokes between songs. It was the first time he’d ever been to the beach. And he played and sounded much like he did back in his 30’s. I hope I can ‘perfom’ that well when I am 60.
On an interesting side note, his much younger wife went the same college that I did back in Oxford, OH, but I didn’t know her.
Anyway, the songs were the usual and the audience seemed to know most of the words. A good time was had by nearly all.
June 22nd, 2008
In a moment of optimism for something ‘healthier’, at least a rationalization for it, I ordered a Papa Johns whole wheat crust pizza. I went Hawaiian (pineapple and ham) with some added beef for more flavor. Ok, so not exactly healthy, the pizza was unique to say the least.
First of all, there was an unusual smell compared to the regular original crust. That should have been my first clue.
I have tried many ‘whole wheat’ products in the past. And usually they taste slightly better then cardboard. There is a reason that we use white flour – for ‘taste’ and ‘texture’. But I figured Papa Johns wouldn’t possibly put out a product that tastes slightly better than cardboard.
Well, uh, nice try Papa John, but I successfully ’struggled’ through the first piece. Somehow I think maybe a thinner crust or a ‘blend’ with less whole wheat would deliver much better results. Whole wheat has a way of ‘dominating’ the taste of whatever you put it in. And in this case, Papa Johns pizza was no exception.
Now, interestingly enough, there were 2 definite positive things I noticed.
#1) I couldn’t eat more than 1 or 2 slices at a time, because it was so dense. And I also couldn’t eat it very fast, because of the whole wheat factor. It really made me chew the pizza more. This is probably a good thing in the long run.
#2) The pizza tasted MUCH BETTER the second day after sitting all night in the refrigerator. I warmed a slice up in the toaster oven and I almost got used to the ‘new’ flavor. I even ate 2 pieces this time.
So, all in all, my review of their whole wheat pizza is that they need to go back to the drawing board and change the ratio or make it a thin crust of something.
If you are thinking about ordering this version of their pizza, be warned it does not taste ANYTHING like their original pizza. It is edible, but I don’t really know if it was truly enjoyable.
Kudos anyway for attempting something ‘healthier’…
June 1st, 2008
Recently I was at a friends home and they are usually up to something interesting and unusal. This time they had “the best green tea in China”, according to another friend who brought it back straight from China. Curious, and being a green tea drinker, I wanted to try the tea. They debated a while, as they did not have much left, but after careful consideration, allowed me to drink a cup or three.
Bottom line, it was truly amazing. It was incredibly full bodied and very sweet. It was easily the best tea I had ever had. And it didn’t have any added sugar or anything, it was just loose leaf pure green tea. One small problem, they didn’t know the name of the tea and neither did their friend who brought it back from China. So they gave me a box of “Gunpowder Tea”, and sent me on my way. Of course, the taste of that gunpowder tea was no where in comparison to the “best tea in China”.
So that lead me on a quest searching for the “best tea in China”. I have since purchased a lot green tea, loose leaf form. The stuff in bags are not the highest of quality and usually what’s leftover from the loose leaf, so I stopped drinking bagged tea. I now only drink loose leaf tea (the kind that you spoon out into a strainer and steep for anywhere from 1 – 3 minutes and generally not available in supermarkets) and I have drank a lot of it. I have tried about 20 different types of green tea and NONE of them came even close to the tea I had at my friends house. Many of them are quite good and have sublte depths of various flavors, but that one tea was still the sweetest tea I have ever tasted. But I have no idea what the name of it is.
So for now the quest continues, I buy tea from incredibleteas.com, dragonherbs.com, and Silk Road Teas. I even have and grow my own little green tea bush in my backyard (which fortunately has taken hold and is starting to grow like crazy) and in a couple years, might be able to a cup or two from it. As I understand it, the best tea comes from 500 year old bushes. Just my luck.
In case you didn’t know ALL tea comes from the same plant – Camellia Sinensis. It doesn’t matter if it’s black, green or oolong tea. They are all the same leaves from that particular Camellia plant. It’s ultimately a matter of how oxidized the leaves are allowed to get after picking that determines whether it’s green, black, white or oolong.
If I ever discover the “best tea in China” then I will blog about it, I suspect, or I might just keep it a secret and let people venture down their own path of consuming copious amounts of the green stuff. I hear it even has health benefits…
May 24th, 2008
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