2004 February

Diving Out Of The Way

I’ve been trying to make it a habit of going for runs (or walks) to help shed some pounds I’ve gained the past few months (thanks to holidays and family events.) I want to make it a daily thing - first thing when I wake up, I go out and run approximately 5 miles. That way I’ll be energetic all day, and maybe get myself back into shape. I can barely fit in my jeans I’ve had since high school now, and that’s something I’m not used to.

Friday night I forgot to do my run, and I was pretty bored, so I decided to go run at 2 in the morning, exhaust myself, and head to bed. That turned out to be a bad idea. I heard a truck coming down the road, which has no sidewalks, and no streetlights. I figure I’ll just run on the grass and stay out of the way. As he got closer and closer, the truck started going more towards the edge of the road and me. Right when it got near, the truck swerved like it was going to hit me, so I dived out of the way, but not before one of the side view mirror clipped my shoulder and sent me twisting away. I didn’t even feel any pain until after about 5 minutes later, when it started to really hurt.

I have no idea what happened, but my guess is that some punk rednecks were drinking, and thought they’d play a joke and act like they’d hit me. Maybe they intended to hit me, maybe not. I don’t have any enemies around here, I don’t even know anyone around here. In any case, I saw the truck color, it seemed like it was made in the 70’s, and I reported the incident to the local police. Now I have a huge black and blue bruise on my shoulder the size of a cantaloupe, and it hurts everytime I move my arm down to my sides. Fortunately it doesn’t hurt when I type too much. So while I may be out of shape, at least I have my reflexes still.

Blog Spammers Whining

Doesn’t this tear at the tender parts of your heart in pity? Blog spammers whining that Google has shut them down and rendered their time ineffective. Boo hoo, let’s all break out the violin. These people like to call themselves SEO experts, but they are really scums of the internet, the lowest form of humans that humanity can create. They won’t earn any pity from me. If you’re interested in SEO, then read this page from Google on SEO that gives you tips.

There are proper search engine optimizations, but it should be called common sense. Use proper keywords in the website, utilize the title attribute on every page effectively, follow web standards, make the page accessible for those with disabilities or using alternative devices, and so on. That’s just being a proper webmaster, not a SEO expert.

Yes, there are guidelines set forth by Google, and they are common sense issues as well. This page at Google for webmasters has a lot of useful information. Most notably this part that every webmaster should ask himself when he’s optimizing his site for search engines:

“Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you’d feel comfortable explaining what you’ve done to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask, “Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn’t exist?”

You Call That A Salad?

No, not really, I call it “Using Up Whatever Is In The Fridge Before It Goes Bad”:

It consists of sauteed sliced cucumbers and snow peas in e.v. olive oil, with two cloves of garlic and salt. Then some sliced roma tomatoes. You’ll also see a couple of fresh bay leaves and fresh thyme thrown in, as well. I wanted to add snap beans to the mixture, but they had already gone bad; growing white mold on them and all. Yech. The flavor wasn’t much, so I decided to add white vinegar and the juice of a whole lemon to the mix to give it a zing, and that did the trick. What can I say, I was bored. It turned out pretty good though.

I May Sound Smart, But I’m Not

After receiving comments from someone, I decided to do some internal reflection. For one thing, I don’t push myself enough, I know that. I don’t strive for the things I want when it matters the most, instead taking a backseat approach and wait for things to happen naturally. Of course, common sense dictates that things don’t always happen naturally - things that happens are a direct relationship to actions and reactions. Situations are created based on how much energy you put into it, and I seriously need to put one foot in front of the other, instead of having both of them planted right next to each other.

Look, I may sound like I know it all, or I have all the answers, but the truth is I rarely ever do. If I do have the answers, it’s only because I got them through experience and hard luck. Since I’m 25, the amount of experience I have is not very much. In many respects, I do try to gain experience. Everything I know about computer fixing, web design, hardware, and writing are all self-taught. I didn’t do well with the education I was given as a kid and teen. I didn’t take advantage of it, and I wish I did. It’s too late now, but at least I have the internet, which I feel is an invaluable learning tool. I also teach myself through trial and error. I learned (X)HTML by trying a tag, uploading it, and loading up my browser to see what it did. I did that, thousands of time, until I finally figured it all out.

My complaint is this: no matter how hard I try, it is never good enough. That seems to be the curse to this whole self-advancement thing I’m reflecting about.

Perhaps I lead a sheltered life right now, and being out in the middle of nowhere leaves me no choice but to try to amuse myself and get by each month. However, there was a time that I didn’t lead a sheltered life. I lived a life that co-existed next to a father who was unstable when he was trying to get his business off the ground. Coming home from school everyday was a punishment to me. I also lived a life on the streets, sleeping on sewer vents to keep warm, trying to figure out everyday how I was going to eat and survive, and keep drug addicts and mentally disturbed people from killing me. I was stabbed in the knee over $1.50 by someone I once considered a friend. So while I lead a quiet life now, it’s both something I’m grateful for, and something I hate. Spoiled? Maybe, but maybe I’ve earned it as a break.

Sorry if I sound angry, but I’m not; I’m just confused.

Support This Website

It’s a nice motivational factor to see people visit this blog and read what I have to say. It’s nicer still to receive any type of feedback, good or bad, regarding the site or what I write. Sometimes I like to post something that may be controversial, and be quite outspoken about it. I may have even upsetted a few people here and there. I also love to post amusing items that I think would make you laugh too. I especially love reading the comments that are posted by the readers of this site.

As a result, it’s natural for me to want to get support to continue on. No, I’m not asking for monetary donations. However, I would like to be voted at Blizg to see what people think of this site, and to know whether people enjoy this blog, or not. The more votes I get, the more motivated I become to continue posting. I’m not saying I only post to see how popular I become. This is self-therapy for me, and a way to add my voice to the multitudes out there. As mentioned though, it is a nice motivational factor.

So go ahead, take a few seconds out of your time, and vote on what you think of this site - positive or negative. If you do vote negative, please post a comment and tell me how I can improve things around here. It’d be very appreciated. While you’re at Blizg, feel free to check out the other blogs there. I’m sure you’ll find some blogs you’ll enjoy.

Intel Threatens Gaming Fan Site

There’s a new fad in town, and it’s called “Big Guys Pick On Little Guys”. Previously Microsoft played the game by threatening a 17-year old kid who had the website, MikeRoweSoft.com. Intel doesn’t want to miss out on the wonderful game, so they are going after an America’s Army fansite, IntelRecon.com. The PC game, America’s Army, is a popular online first-person shooter, and the word “intel” is a popular term used in the military, which is short for intelligence (something the Intel PR team lacks, apparently.)

Okay, being realistic here, these major companies feel that their brand is important, and people using their brand name in a context other than their image, will damage their company and cause a financial backlash. But do you honestly think Mikerowesoft.com and IntelRecon.com can hurt Microsoft’s and Intel’s image — major corporations with huge vertical markets and bottomless pocketbooks? Absolutely not.

What this is is a form of marketting/advertisement for these companies. Just the same with Janet Jackson, bad publicity is free publicity, and it rakes in the money because America loves bad publicity (see reality TV, Enron, Playboy, etc.) It’s pulling the strings of America, hoping to get a reaction, and it works everytime. Unfortunately, the victim here is the little guy - average people trying to get by everyday, learn things, following a dream, and so on. Do these large corporations care? Absolutely not. They only care about the bottomline - money.

RIAA Sued Under Gang Laws

Oh, the irony! A New Jersey woman is countersuing the RIAA for using scare tactics similar to how gangs of organized crime utilizes. This woman was accused by the RIAA of file-sharing, and she intends to fight back. It should be very interesting to see the conclusion of this lawsuit, as it could put a damper on the RIAA (or just stir a hornet’s nest.)

“This scare tactic has caused a vast amount of settlements from individuals who feared fighting such a large institution and feel victim to these actions and felt forced to provide funds to settle these actions instead of fighting,” Scimeca’s attorney, Bart Lombardo, wrote in documents filed with a New Jersey federal court. “These types of scare tactics are not permissible and amount to extortion.”

This comes on the heels of the RIAA suing 531 more “John Doe’s”, people whose IP was recorded, but haven’t been named yet. Due to a legal ruling not too long ago, the RIAA must file suits in court before it can approach Internet service providers (ISPs) for information that links alleged file-swapping evidence to the subscriber names on a given ISP account. When you look at the whole picture, the RIAA are jumping through a lot of hoops, and frankly it’s in their own interests, not the artists. Source: 3DGPU