Month: December 2004

BitTorrent

File-sharing is here to stay. It’s going to go through many changes in the coming years. I suspect that most people who are online in the next five to ten years will learn about it and start using it.

BitTorrent is the most popular file-sharing protocol used on the Internet today. It’s probably the easiest and fastest way to download, upload and transfer content to and from the Internet. Thus, it’s going to be the biggest threat to the movie, television, and music industry to date. You’re going to hear a LOT about this technology in the future.

Wanna know what I’m talking about? Go to Wired.com and check out this article.

My personal favorite BitTorrent software is called Azureus.

December 30th 2004

visiting the elderly

This is the first time in my life, at least as I remember it, that I’ve not attended a Christmas Eve service at any church. There are local churches in the area and we probably could have stuck out a long wait to get to one of the services, but instead we opted to visit with this 92 year old man.

Over the years, I’ve made many visits to nursing homes, old people’s houses, and other places which house the elderly. It didn’t take me long to figure out that I don’t really enjoy spending too much time with the elderly. Maybe it’s because I’m not patient. Maybe I’m not very compassionate. Maybe my attention span is too short for the long stories in which they usually engage me. I tend to get bored, lose words, and often never know what to say. I get uncomfortable with the silence between conversations because I know a lot of them are waiting for me to bring up the conversation. I’m not usually someone of many words, especially when I can’t think of anything significant to say. Thus, visiting the elderly has never really been that enjoyable to me.

However, I know that I need to learn more patient, learn more compassion, learn to deal with this problem because almost everyone I know who is as old as my parents will eventually become those elderly people. And I’ll want to visit them. And I’ll want to know how they’re doing.

I know that we made that man’s evening. He was very excited and happy to have visitors. His mouth was moving light speed with story after story about how he used to work, what he used to do and how intelligent he really is. Although I could only understand half of what he said, I know that sitting there and listening was probably more effective thing to do with my time than going to a Christmas Eve service. We reached out to someone, helped bring Christmas cheer to him. Sometimes, I realize I must use humility and forget my selfish ways to make a difference in others. It’s not always going to be fun, it may not be what I really want to do, but it’s more important than anything else that I could have done.

December 24th 2004

COLD

Last time I looked outside at the thermometer, it read -9 degrees. Yes, this is negative nine degrees below 0. Baby, it’s COLD outside.

My stay in Colorado has been nice so far. I’ve been to my mom’s store to see what she does for a living. It’s an antique store in downtown Florence, Colorado and one of maybe 6 or more on two blocks. The main difference between her store and others is that she owns maybe 85% of the items in the store, and the rest of it is sold on consignment. So most of what she sells is pure profit. I realize after spending a few hours there that I couldn’t do that for a living. Antiques generally are boring to me. Now, put me in a technology or music store, I could probably live with that.

It started to snow on Tuesday night, was patchy through the day and didn’t stop until Wednesday night. So there’s probably a couple of inches on the ground. Most of it is going to melt by the time we leave for Boulder and Estes Park on Saturday but it’s nice to see it while it’s here. I really don’t have any photos either because of the fact that’s it so bitterly cold outside. Maybe I’ll snap a few photos tomorrow.

Man, I’m gonna be a big fattie next week. All I’ve been eating is chocolate, fudge, more chocolate, chocolate covered cherries, more chocolate, and some ice cream. I’ll also have some chocolate the next couple of days. Did I mention that I’m eating a lot of chocolate? Oh yeah, by the way, the number one food of this holiday is overwhelmingly chocolate. Mmm… chocolate.

December 23rd 2004

No more SuprNova

Yesterday, the owner of the SuprNova network pulled the plug. This means that this site is completely dead, gone. No more downloading. For those who have never heard of SuprNova, it was a website used for the purpose of linking to downloads for movies, tv shows, games, software, and other Internet related download material.

I am very saddened by this because I used this site as Tivo. What do I mean exactly? Well, I don’t own a Tivo nor will I anytime soon…probably. The reason I don’t own a Tivo system or anything similar is because $300-400 is too much money for me to just give up on some system which really isn’t worth the money in my current financial situation. I would love a digital video recorder (DVR) such as Tivo, but I won’t talk myself into buying one.

SuprNova, thus, became my own personal Tivo. If I missed an episode of my favorite TV show, I would go to SuprNova and download the missed show. It was easy, it usually took from only a couple of hours to a day get that missed episode, and I could watch it on my own time. It was great!! Once I had the downloaded show on my computer, I would then s-video it to my TV and watch it as though it was just another show on TV. Then, once I was done watching the show, I would immediately delete the episode because I had no reason to keep it.

It was convenient, easy to use, and required no effort on my part! My top reasons for using this site are the following.

1. The shows I downloaded were high definition (HD) quality, usually meaning they were wide screen with 30% extra picture than your regular TV shows you. It was AWESOME! In fact, there were times that I would purposely MISS the show JUST so I could download it and watch a perfect, clear, HD quality TV show! Seriously, it was THAT nice!

2. I didn’t have to worry or get upset about missing my favorite TV shows. When I realized that I missed an episode, I would go to SuprNova and the website would usually have a hyperlink to download the show.

3. If there was an album or songs that I wanted to preview before buying a CD (theoretically), I could probably find it on the site and listen to it once I downloaded it!

4. Other reasons that just don’t really matter now.

It’s really sad that the MPAA are taking drastic measures like the RIAA are also doing. It’s sad. I am pretty much never going to buy a brand new CD again until the RIAA decides to come to its senses and get with the times (instead of suing college students every three weeks). I am tempted to do the same with the MPAA but as of yet, I’m not doing anything.

For more information on the closing of SuprNova, read the SuprNova FAQ.

December 21st 2004

hectic month

I had no idea that my Thanksgiving break was going to last so long. Originally, my intention was to spend a week with family for Thanksgiving and another week and couple of days working. I ended up working for two full weeks, having the opportunity to spend time with most of my local friends in Houston. I basically accomplished all my goals for the trip, and then some more!

I hardly had time to breathe before I realized it was already Tuesday, my flight only being a few hours away. I feel great about the time I spent with everyone and would have loved to spend more time, but I realized it was time to continue on. Back to the reality of life in Los Angeles.

I sit here amazed because already, I’m in Austin remembering that my holiday vacation is more than half way over. I shouldn’t be able to spend this much time vacationing. I’m living in LA on borrowed time and money. But, I’m going to enjoy and embrace this while it’s available. It’s my time to be irresponsible. I have a degree, I did the responsible college thing, I earned and learned what I needed to. Now, I spend my time figuring out where I really need to be and what I should really be doing. In fact, I think it’s wiser to say I’m slowly learning what I do not want to do for the rest of my life.

I spent three and a half days in LA catching up with people, visiting others, and making sure I wasn’t neglecting anything. Bills still had to be paid, people still needed to be acknowledged, and I knew I was behind on both. Although I could have taken this for granted, it was to my advantage to spend those few days straightening it all out.

When I get back, I have a lot to think about. 3 web projects, looking for acting classes, trying to find a job/internship with a music company. It’s enough to keep me busy full time. And somewhere in between I must earn money to earn my keep. Otherwise, it’s Ramen noodles for every meal (no thanks).

This year, Christmas will earn another meaning to me. I’ve never experienced a white Christmas as every one of them up until now has been spent in Texas. But, this is the first time it will be spent driving through the mountains of Colorado, watching and eagerly anticipating the memories I will inevitably make. It’s a huge break from my usual routine of Christmas with family in Texas, and I’m excited about it.

I won’t have great communication and thus, my website will probably go unchanged more than it should. But if I have some great photos, I’ll definitely share them.

One week until Christmas!! (and just a few more presents to buy!)

December 19th 2004

anyone care?

Ludacris making an appearance at the Rockets vs. Mavs game

Edit: 4/25/05Who would have imagined that my photo of Ludcris turns out to be number one on google! Thanks to all who are visiting the site. Please be sure to check out the rest of my site as well!

The Rockets were on a streak, and then I went to the game on Saturday! Oh well. The game was pretty dull because of that. Despite, the only thing even half worthy of posting was that I saw a rapper named Ludacris. I would guess that maybe 30% of people who actually read and look at my website even know who this guy is. So, for those who don’t, he’s a famous rapper, probably endeared by your son or daughter, nephew or neice, or grandchildren. I even think a few of his tunes are catchy. He was nice enough to sign a ball and throw it out to a random person in the stands. Nevertheless, it was a nice evening for male bonding.

December 12th 2004 4 replies

so little time, so much else

Since lists are a common practice among many people, here’s mine.

1. Redesign/touchup my website sometime in the near future
2. Buy Christmas presents
3. Make lots of money before I fly back to LA
4. Make a plan for finding serious work in LA when I get back
5. Make sure I see a couple of movies before the new year.
6. Buy some web design books and try to read them all the way through
7. Look into acting classes for January
8. Call everyone in LA helping me find work
9. Get in touch with everyone in the Denver area for Christmas visits
10. Use my camera more often and go to different places in Cali for photo trips
11. Finish about 3 more web projects
12. backup my personal computer files
13. Get some jobs
14. Get into the Christmas spirit

and probably a few more things when I think of them.

December 8th 2004

where are the right answers?

When someone like Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld goes to a camp of soldiers in Kuwait and tackles tough questions with answers like “You go to war with the Army you have,” something isn’t right. Where does all this money go, the billions and billions of dollars which was allocated for this war?

I hate it when Rumsfeld and Bush answer many tough questions with an answer making someone feel stupid. They first start out by stating a lot of positive things, making you feel good about some issue or issues. Then, when some difficult questions come their way, they often talk down at you and tell you how you feel.

Bush did it during the second debate. A guy stood up and asked Bush why his rights were “being watered down” as well as his fellow citizens. Bush responds saying “I really don’t think your rights are being watered down,” as if Bush knew what that person did for a living and/or his life story. I immediately thought how degrading an answer like that must have made that gentleman feel.

Very similarly, Rumsfeld answered a question about the lack of proper armor with “You can have all the armor in the world on a tank and it can (still) be blown up.” I’m not debating the fact that the war must be fought in a different way with different techniques and material, but I believe that for someone to bring the issue up and for almost all 2300 soldiers attending cheer loudly in support, it’s probably not just a minor issue. Later, the major general again stated that to his knowledge, everyone had what they needed.

I have many friends who have served in the military recently in conditions that, although tolerable, always could have been much better. Usually, when an officer or general speak, it’s the end of the argument… period. It always amazes me how blind an eye many people take even when the truth and reality are opposites.

I hate being taken for granted, when I’m saying something that I really mean and someone blows it off as generic, unworthy or untruthful. Then he or she begins to explain to me why I’m wrong or what he thinks reality really is. I usually try to give people the benefit of the doubt. Why can’t our leaders do the same?

December 8th 2004

Go see I Am David this weekend

This weekend matters for the success of this movie! Go see it and support a great movie! See my review for more information.

December 3rd 2004