reFlection

New Site, Please update links and RSS

2005-06-28T14:03:00.000-04:00

I moved this blog to robblogs.com, and I will no longer be updating here so please update your links and RSS subscriptions.

Tom Cruise Got Squirted!

2005-06-22T08:14:00.000-04:00

Cruise, mid-squirt

I find this story pretty funny, maybe it's because of my dislike of Tom Cruise, or maybe it's just funny. A group of reporters for a British news channel disguised a squirt gun in a microphone and got Cruise to come over for an interview. They proceeded to squirt him in the face, as seen in the figure on the left. It was later found out that this was a prank for a new entertainment show on the news channel. Here is a link to the full story. This kid had some balls to do this, seeing how crazy Cruise has been lately, I mean, the guy jumped on Oprah's couch. It's also really weird that he married Katie Holmes, besides the 16 year age difference, and the whole scientology thing, a lot of people think it is for publicity. I have only one thing left to say to you Tom: "I feel the need, the need for speed!"

I Love You!

2005-06-20T09:48:00.000-04:00

I love my fiance, shes everything I could ever want in a woman. Every morning when I wake up next to her, I am reminded of how lucky I am and how much I appreciate everything she has done for me. Thanks for sticking with me through all the hard times BC, I will love you now and forever!

Technorati Tags: Love, Fiance

Free GMAIL Invites

2005-06-19T18:43:00.000-04:00

If anyone still needs a gmail invite, I have plenty for the giving. Just comment on this post (email required) and I will send one to you ASAP. Gmail is ~~wonderful~~ the best web based email service available, and since obtaining an account I have fowarded all my email to this account and I am using about 100MB of space on my gmail account right now. The best thing is, if you are a heavy email user, gmail now is offering unlimited storage space. This came to be right after yahoo mail increased the storage amount per account to 1gig, which gmail offered at the time. Yahoo mail would be great if I did not have to deal with all those freaking advertisements all over the place. Thank you to joyoftech for this wonderful cartoon. Technorati Tags: Gmail

Blingo

2005-06-17T16:26:00.000-04:00

I just signed up for this new Google powered search engine called blingo.com. It is very interesting and you may ask why it is beneficial to sign up, well they give away tons of prizes everyday and the thing is, if you invited someone to join the site, than if they win a prize, so do you. if this sounds interesting, click here and sign up, they don't send any spam emails or give out your email address and it only takes a minute to sign up. Thanks! Technorati Tags: Blingo, Google

Patriot Act Repealed!

2005-06-16T23:16:00.000-04:00

The government cannot see our library records and find out what books have been checked out. From SFGate.com

The Republican-led House bucked President Bush on Wednesday by voting to upend the Patriot Act provision that allows federal agents to examine people's book-reading habits at public libraries and bookstores as part of terrorism investigations.

Technorati Tags: Patriot Act

Updates

2005-06-16T15:00:00.000-04:00

Well a lot has gone on in the past couple days, I had a phone interview with Praxair for an analyst position, and I have to go in for a second interview sometime next week. I am excited and can't wait to get out of this job, because it is so boring, and I am pretty confident that I will get this job. The air conditioning in my apartment was broken for a few days, and let me tell you, I never realized how much I take it for granted. Anyone famalier with facebook? Its a site available to college students, to interact with other students at the same college. I found a really funny movie about facebook that you can see here The site has a ~~somewhat~~ new look, I went through it and tweaked the CSS and added contractible headers to most of the navigation sections on the right side of the page. I have a lot of information to put it, and I don't want it to take up so much room. Just click on the heading and it will expand for you. I also added a blogroll from blogroll from blogrolling.com. I am happy with the site as it is right now, but I am trying to learn some new CSS stuff so when I switch to movabletype I can make a really nice blog. It turns out that LCD televisions actualy use more power than conventional televisions or CRT monitors. This is interesting, everyone thought that LCD would be more power efficent. This is an excerpt from engadget.com:

According to a recent study by the Natural Resources Defense Council it’s because of that ginormous TV set you just bought. We always figured that LCDs and plasmas used less power than CRTs, but apparently digital HDTVs actually suck up more power than analog TVs (see the chart below), and to make matters worse, we’re buying bigger and bigger television sets than we used to. They’re predicting that in four years our TVs will be consuming 50% more power per year than they do today, what worries them is that hardly anyone thinks about how much power their TV is going to use when they’re buying it (we certainly don’t), so they’re trying to get manufacturers to make their displays more energy efficient and are asking the EPA to establish a single annual energy-consumption number for TVs that’s sort of like the one they already have for air conditioners.

I got a membership to odeo.com which is a very interesting podcasting site, still in beta. I need to play around with it more so I can see if it is worth some investing in. Goto the site and sign up for the mailing list and be entered for a free iPod mini.

Online Poker

2005-06-13T20:20:00.000-04:00

I ~~think I am going,~~ want to start an online poker site, because the market is very good right now. I was doing some research on wikipedia.com about online poker and it turns out that the revenues from online poker was around $35 Million a month. I guess if you can write some good software and get a descent amount of people to play, you could do very well. I am going to guess that the online poker scene will soon generate more revenue than the online pornography market. So does anyone play? I used to play on partypoker.net and pokerstars.net, but it turns out that a lot of people cheat on these sites, so I stopped. I don't think I am going to play anymore until someone can write come descent software with tight security to prevent this.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

2005-06-12T01:55:00.000-04:00

Tonight me and my fiance and a couple of her friends saw Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which I believe can be summed up by this enlightening quote from Mick LaSalle

"Mr. & Mrs. Smith" is an awful movie with two very good-looking people in it. The charms of its stars are unmistakable -- what with all the close-ups and smirking -- but in the end, they provide no distraction. The tiny smidgen of cleverness on display here is contained entirely in the premise. The follow-through is nonexistent. The film is glossy, but awful. Frenetic, but awful. Expensive, but awful. ... And awful.

In other news, Technorati Beta was launched Friday, the layout is eye catching but could use some work. Overall it is more functional than the old Technorati site, I like the top 100 blogs.

2005-06-09T09:53:00.000-04:00

Microsoft's BattleBot Googles plans to map San Francisco in 3D Wireless for wireless?
This google maps wallpaper maker was really interesting

Technorati Tags: Google, WiFi, Microsoft, BattleBot

EE Degree

2005-06-09T08:49:00.000-04:00

Its official! Real world here I come.

Griffin EarJams

2005-06-07T08:42:00.000-04:00

I bought the Griffin EarJams a while ago because the sound from the earphones came with my ipod was horrible, and I figured that it couldnt get much worse, right? Well the EarJams actually took away treble but boosted the bass alot, but the easy fix was to use the EQ on the iPod and turn on treble boost. Why am I writing this you may ask? Yesterday I took off the EarJams for old times sake, and I discovered that not only do they boost the bass, they eliminate all the rattling noise the empty earphones give off when playing music loud, and I was truly amazed, and happy that I bought these ear bud add-ons. When I get some money and a job, I want to buy the Shure e5c, these earphones have got good reviews from some of the best in the game:

I wrote that the Shure E2cs were the best headphone/earphones I've ever had. Well, today I just got my E5cs and they're better. There's this amazing feeling when you think you're in heaven and you find there is something better. I've had similar experiences with wine and Chinese tea. When you taste the good stuff, you can't go back and then you start wondering if there is anything better.

But I think its better if I pay off some of my student loans before spending $500 dollars on earphones. Technorati Tags: iPOD, EarJams, EarJam, Shure e5c, e5c, Shure, Joi Ito, Griffin

Quit Smoking!

2005-06-06T18:19:00.000-04:00

Well it's been over a week (I think more) since I have smoked, which is the longest time I have quit smoking cold turkey. Quitting cold turkey is much easier than using the patch, because I used the patch for over a month and as soon as I stopped using it, I started smoking again. It is a better idea to kill the physical need for nicotine before you try to kill the habit. After the first few days, when the physical withdrawl symptoms wore off, it got easier, but it is tough. Thanks to my loving fiance's support, and putting up with my crankyness, I have a lot of confidence that I won't smoke anymore. To deal with the urges to smoke I just think about how much better I feel when I don't smoke and that I want to spend as much time with Christa and my family as possible, so why should I kill myself anymore? I spent 5 years of my life smoking, and the damage has been done, but I am getting back into the habit of being healthy, running and enjoying other physical activities with Christa. Thank you Christa, for helping me through these tough times.

print.google.com

2005-06-04T19:32:00.000-04:00

This new site from google allows you to search full text from books, view several pages including the front and back cover, and gives a direct link to buy the book from numerous vendors. print.google.com will probably raise some copyright issues, but some people say that this may replace library's. Personally, I wouldn't mind this because in my opinion, having entire books available online will help not only student, but also authors, and businesses, and it will also allow those who can not access a library to read. I have no doubt it will take some time to reach these levels, but google is capable of making this happen.

Technorati is Wonderful!

2005-06-03T14:35:00.000-04:00

Technorati is amazing, and I am sure this has been said a million times, but I just wanted to iterate on the fact. I was looking around for an easier way to tag blog entries because it was painful doing it by hand and I found a nice site, oddiophile, which allows you to generate tags for Technorati for use in your blog if you use a blogging program that does not support tagging, such as Blogger. I am kind of new to Technorati so if anyone would like to share some hints or tricks with me it would be greatly appreciated.

.XXX Top Level Domain

2005-06-03T13:27:00.000-04:00

I came across this headline on numerous RSS feeds recently so I did a little research, and have came the conclusion that this idea is a big step to creating a better organized and less hectic internet space. After accidentally traveling to unwanted porn sites, this new plan will eliminate these types of inconvenient and allow for a decreased amount of SPAM sites posing as adult entertainment sites to filter into everyday activities. Joi Ito talks about this in a recent post stating:

There are people who are concerned about censorship and control. These are issues that have been raised, but I think the .XXX proposal is more about creating incentives for legitimate adult entertainment sites to come together and fight "bad actors" and is not focused on forcing people to use the .XXX domain.

Long time no update!

2005-05-28T00:21:00.000-04:00

Wow, it has been a while since I updated, things have been a little busy thats all. So much stuff has gone on, alot to talk about. Me and my fiance graduated from college and now we are both on the hunt for a job. I placed a link to my resume over in the links section in case any prospective employers happen to be surfing and find my blog. I am looking for employment in southern California. For all my hard work with the IEEE here at UB, they gave me an iPOD mini, and it is awsome! I need a bigger one though, 4 gigs is not enough, and I have a hard time picking what songs to put on it so I just use some smart playlists to choose from my 10 gigs of music. I also found some internet radio type things called podcasts. I am a big fan of these because they give me something to listen to at work and I don't feel 100% unproductive. Me and Christa took a little trip to a local park here in Buffalo, and some pictures are on the right. It was a fun little escape from reality. We both got in touch with our inner child and scared some small children at the same time.

RSS

2005-04-29T09:32:00.000-04:00

Anyone know of a good RSS Aggregator? I am pretty clueless about this, but I am interested. I found one called SharpReader so I might try it out later. I feel so happy to be engaged!!! I love you BC!

Engaged!

2005-04-29T01:54:00.000-04:00

I poped the question to Christa last night, so it's official. I am very excited, amd look foward to many years of loving memories with her. She means the world to me and I would want nothing else than to spend the rest of my life loving her and caring for her.

Here is a Rose for you Christa, let it's beauty signify the love I have for you!

Nokia N90 and N91

2005-04-27T13:09:00.000-04:00

The N90(Right) and N91(left)

Wow. That was the first thing to come to my mind when I saw these two phones. These two phones combined are expected to outsell and replace the IPOD and the Canon line of digital cameras. These phones have built in 4 GIG hard drives and Carl Zeiss optical zoom lenses that serve as the eyes for a 2MP camera. Some people think that this may be extreme or unnecessary, but in my opinion this is a new venture in technology that we need to develop more. Japan is moving to cell phones to serve as credit cards and bank accounts and have implimented biometric security devices into phones. Another plus of these phones is that they are 3G, and can send data very fast, fast enough to have real time video conversations between cell phones, and the ability to use GPS navigation. I look foward to seeing or owning one of these amazing phones.

Freaky Science

2005-04-26T00:00:00.000-04:00

After reading an article on scientificamerican.com I think I will have nightmares, because science is getting way too "God-like". You can read the entire article here . It turns out now scientists can read what recent images you have seen. I can see this technology being used in the workplace for seeing if an employee was recently doing something not related to work and so on.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of people's brains, researchers report, can reveal what types of images they have recently seen.

What is more, when a volunteer was shown two sets of stripes simultaneously--but told to pay attention to just one--the team could tell which set the subject was concentrating on.

This kind of technology is very interesting, but at the same time it is very nerve-racking.

Haircut

2005-04-25T19:17:00.000-04:00

Before
After

Well I let Christa cut my hair and it came out pretty good except for some chunks of hair missing and some weird looking layers in the back. She used an old pair of scissors I found at work and they were not the sharpest, so at times the pain was unbearable. But, this is what broke college students do to save 10 bucks.

Lessons learned

Use sharp scissors
Don't pick on your girlfriend when she is cutting your hair
Find a different way to save 10 bucks

Here are some before and after shots, the first was taken at the GALA, and the second was shortly after the hair cut, when I looked in the mirror notice the difference in my facial expression :) I am just picking on you baby, I love the haircut and I want you to do it from now on.

Sick

2005-04-24T19:17:00.000-04:00

I am getting sick, it really sucks because I have so much stuff to do in the coming weeks but I guess I will have to suck it up, and my baby will help me too. I will update later with a nice story about Christa and the haircut! Check back soon!

Amish Spam?

2005-04-22T08:08:00.000-04:00

I got the weirdest email yesterday: On 4/21/05, Neateye wrote: Call out Gouranga be happy!!! Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga .... That which brings the highest happiness!! It seems like enough people have got this email that Wikipedia has made an entry for it... The word Gouranga comes from the Hare Krishna religious movement. In Sanskrit it means "Golden One". Gauranga - also spelt Gouranga - is an alias of the movement's founding father, Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the "golden one", in veneration or because he was said to have had "golden" skin. The word Gouranga and the phrase "Gouranga ! Be happy!" are of importance in part one and two of the Grand Theft Auto computer game series. Stickers bearing the word Gouranga or stating Call out Gouranga and be happy! have been appearing on bridges over motorways and railways in the north of England over recent years. Similar stickers have also been appearing on public buildings, as well as the more recent surge of unsolicited (spam) emails bearing the same message. Stickers and fridge magnets with the phrase have also been handed out by 'monks' at recent music festivals throughout the UK, such as the Glastonbury and Donnington (Download) festivals. This is the full text of the spam message: Call out Gouranga be happy!! Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga... That which brings the highest happiness!!! Gouranga has been defined: A word that appears on moterway bridges in north west UK. It’s only purpose to annoy drivers who are left with a nagging curiosity for the rest of their day until the next day when it ceases to become important ever again. (there are other definitions out there) More information can fe found here: Desperately Seeking Gouranga (http://www.rlew.com/archives/00000117.htm) Some people call this Hare Krishna spam because one meaning of Gouranga is Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gouranga"

2005-04-21T21:14:00.000-04:00

I am worth $2,203,090.00 on HumanForSale.com