To the unknown person…

This is primarily addressed to a certain person. Saturday, I got a phone call form my mother that somebody called her and asked for me. It was replied that I don’t live there (which is true). I called the number on the caller ID, and it was a Magic Jack user with a Kent, WA telephone number. To satisfy my curiosity, I called it & I’ve never had an answer.

So, if you’re that person and you want to get a hold of me. I can tell that you have Magic Jack, which probably means that you have email. So why don’t you drop me a line at roger.a.bryant@gmail.com.

(I’ve no problem with publishing this email address on the internet). It was my reply to address when I was on usenet, and I’ve heared that Gmail has some very robust spam filtering onboard.

May the Fourth Be With You

So, it is apparently some sort of Star Wars day today. I suppose you could reach out to that Special Inept Imperial Officer and Force-Choke him (though I'm also partial to the Force - Bitchslap)....

May the Fourth be with you. Although having said that, LucasArts is jumping the shark in completely disregarding all the canon that built up all the years and in the video games. Episode 7 without Kyle Katarn? They might as well make Cousin Oliver and Ted McGinley Jedi Knights... 

Time for a breakthru

Hasn’t everyone felt like this before? Like you just wanted to make that connection to somebody.

Even if you haven’t, it’s still a good excuse for a Queen video. Although I’ve never had to have a reason to justify enjoying Queen…

So, what has happened this week?

Where do I start? Let’s just pick something and go with it:

• I’ve been looking at CenturyLink lately. Too many time ‘page cannot be displayed’ errors with Comcast. And I have serious issues with the proposed merger with Time/Warner. Less Competition = Higher Prices for less service. There is a story here in and of itself. When I put my current address in to CenturyLlink, I was told that I could get 3 mb speed. But I put the address that the apartment used to have, it came back with 40 meg speed (even faster than the cable). After talking with the local retail store manager, I decided to take a chance. And I’m now enjoying a speed that’s at least twice as fast as I was getting before. Hey Comcast, guess who’s dropping your not-so-high speed internet come Monday?
• If you use Mozilla Thunderbird, and have a hotmail address, hotmail now supports IMAP. Which is good, as when I check my mail on my phone/tablet, and I read a message, it will be marked as read on my computer as well. And CenturyLink has IMAP on their email (though it is not officially supported).
• For some reason, the live chat link on the Adobe Customer Care website is listed in the MVPS.org HOSTS file. I suspect it is there for a reason. They are definitely a special kind of stupid…
• I just had to retire my Saitek Cyborg 3D USB. For the past couple of years, one of the buttons hasn’t worked, but I held on to it because I’m left-handed, and this is one of the few joysticks that can be set up for left-handed use. It’s being replaced by a Thustmaster – T – 16000M (that’s what they called it) that I got from Worst Buy. It’s a little bit on the expensive side, but I got it because it has a hat switch, and most importantly, it can be configured for left-handed use…

Technorati Tags: The Moron-Bots at Adobe,Worst Buy,MVPS.org,Thunderbird,Comcrap,CenturyLink

On dealing with rabbits….

Some of us may have an issue with a certain rabbit tomorrow. May I remind that this type of rabbit is best dealt with using Sacred Relics:

Just because I need a laugh.

After I laid my cards on the table last week, I think I just need a good laugh. Nothing like Tom and Jerry for that:

This is actually one of my favorites. I’ve always want the ability to hock one so powerfully as to be able to shatter a vase from across the room….

An email was sent tonight.

And my cards are now on the table. Let the consequences come what may…

Opening night

And the Seattle Mariners won 10-3. For the past 8 seasons, they have won the opening night. And then they’ve choked it during the season. Seriously, they need to change there names to the Seattle Inept Imperial Officers. I almost want to say that they’re the laughing stock of The New World Order (Mind-Control Division). But then again they did have a winning pre-season.

I should also point out, that while the Mariners historically suck, they still put more points on the board in tonight’s game than Peyton Manning did during the Super Bowl. Now that’s gotta hurt…

It’s here

And I’m talking about the spaghetti harvest:

And yes, spaghetti does really grow on trees…

So, what all happened last week….

Last Monday was St. Patrick’s day. In Ireland, it is more of a religious holiday. In fact, up until 1970, all the pubs were closed on St. Patrick’s Day, and you went to church that day. It’s only in America that it’s celebrated with Green (actually St. Patrick’s color is blue), and excessive beer (which is ironic as St. Patrick’s Day is being celebrated during Lent this year, if you’re Catholic…). I’m not Catholic, nor  am I Irish. So I didn’t wear green, and I didn’t drink at all. I think it should be mentioned here that I no longer drink (alcohol is really pointless).

I’m watching Cosmos with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. He’s still no Carl Sagan, but he’s still making science interesting. The fact that he almost has a pornstache doesn’t hurt either… Carl Sagan introduced me to Johannes Kepler. Tyson has introduced me to Edmund Halley…

I renewed my phone contract a couple of months ago (I’ve already blogged about my new phone). And this week, my brother wanted to upgrade, too. So, he got his latest iPhone this week. And I had to be there, since it’s my account, and Sprint is rather strict about account holders…

And if you’re play Flight Simulator X, give yourself at least 15,000 feet before you barrel roll a jetliner. And while you’re at it, don’t hell dive the final appraoch…

Reconciling with pluto…

A few years back, I wrote about Pluto gaining midget status… Last week on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Neil deGrasse Tyson was on. Neil was part of the committee that relegated Pluto to midget status. Well, they finally buried the hatchet:

This may be just a late-night sketch, but there is a moral here. Always make peace with those around you. You don’t always have to agree with them 100 percent, but just get along. You can have a different opinion than your fellow man, and not have to come to blows….

Technorati Tags: Neil DeGrasse Tyson,Pluto

Finally, something good from the FOX Networks…

I remember growing up in a military family. While we were stationed in Germany in the early ‘80s, the only English speaking TV station was run by the US Army. Basically imagine getting NBC, ABC, CBS, and PBS all rolled up into one channel. What it meant to me basically was really kick-ass anime after school and Saturday mornings (I personally salute the head of programming just for that).

I remember this book called Cosmos on the living room coffee table, and I remember every Sunday morning, sneaking into my parents’ and playing the Atari 2600 (with their permission, of course), and then seeing this show featuring the planets Jupiter and Saturn and Stars and such. That was my first encounter with Carl Sagan. So every Sunday morning, I just had to see this show. I was hooked and I was only in the 4th grade.

My father’s military career progress, and we were eventually sent stateside, and on occasion every summer, KCTS would rerun Cosmos. And I would watch it religously. The time came for me to move out on my own, and I saw to it that that copy of Cosmos came with me. I even got a copy of Pale Blue Dot, Carl Sagan’s follow-up to Cosmos. When Carl Sagan died in 1996, I mourned.

Fast forward to yesterday. There’s a new version of (more of a sequel) Cosmos, host by Neil DeGrasse Tyson. I liked what I saw in that first episode, but Tyson has some shoes to fill. It is produced by Seth MacFarlene, so there’s hope of hearing Roger the Alien or Stewie Griffith describe the stars….

And yes, I only used Wikipedia links in this post. Sorry, I’m just lazy tonight…

Technorati Tags: Space,Cosmos,Carl Sagan,Neil DeGrasse Tyson,Roger the Alien

Almost Underway

The Seattle Sounders FC’s 40th season is almost about to get underway. I guess I know what I’m going to be doing for the next 90 minutes or so….

Yes, I know that they’ve only been in MLS for 5 years, but there was also this whole North American Soccer League….

Edit: as per the Standard Operating Procedures when facing Sporting KC, it went into the 4th minute of stoppage time before the game was decided. This why we dint give up, people....

I needed a candy bar today

Or a peice of Key Lime Pie. I was rather disappointed that Google decided to name the current version of Android Kit Kat rather than Key Lime Pie. I’m saying this because the Android upgrade for the Sprint HTC One has be released. And I decided to bite tonight, I was running the 420 Jelly Bean ROM singe I got my phone, and I was pretty happy with it. Enough that I stayed with Jelly Bean for a couple of weeks even when there were new ROMs coming out (applying a lesson learned not to leap straight into upgrades, especially when what I have already works). Then the 420 Kit Kat ROM came out, and I decided to try it out today. 8 hours later, I’ve given up on it, but I found a new rom: ViperOne. So far, I’m happy with it. There are a lot of tweaks (kinda like the LeeDroid tweaks in Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich I had when I was running my EVO 3D). Also a plus is it’s easier to manage blinkfeed (I went with 420 because it was a Sense 5.0 Jelly Bean ROM that had blink feed disabled by default).

Kit Kat is good. Although I should add that I’ve said that about Jelly Bean, Ice Cream Sandwich, Gingerbread and Froyo…

The perfect storm....

By At work, there is a policy with regards to cell phones. Namely, don't use them. So I keep mine tuned off and in my locker. Abd so it was last night. I got off work abd I turned my phone back on. Abd it just kept boot-looping ad naseum. Normally this would be cause for concern, but I figured it was an issue the kernel I flashed, and I would just reflash the ROM as soon as I got home. I get home, turn the computer on,  and guess what. No boot. It did turn on, abd wishes loaded. It just wouldn't load the desktop. So i ended up having to wipe the tower, reinstall Windows just so I can flash the ROM on my phone (owing to space constraints, I haven't been keeping a copy of my ROM on my phone. I may visit that policy soon...)

But so far,  everything appears back to normal. I got all the settings restored back to my phone. Now I just have to reinstall everything back on my tower. Again. Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for my 1 tB usb back up drive...

Edit: I hope I've nailed the problem with the tower not wanting to load. It appears to have been an issue with my Bluetooth adapter. After installing the software/driver for it & pairing my devices with my tower, my wireless keyboard stopped working. Upon rebooting, again the desktop didn't load. Until I pulled the Bluetooth adapter out...

Offense vs Defense....

Ok, the Denver Broncos brought the #1 offense in the NFL to the Super Bowl. And the Seahawks brought the #1 defense in the league to the game. Abd there is a reason why defense is what wins games. From the opening play safety too the interception taken to the house, Peyton Manning got his head handed to him on a silver platter. But enough about the Seahawks trouncing the Denver Broncos...

I had to work today. I thought about calling out (unlike previous employers, this one offers paid vacation and sick leave, abd I had accumulated enough of both that I could've called out. But I have these damn ethics, and so I showed up for work. Fortunately, my assigned post was near the tv, so I was able to catch most of the game...

One ring to rule them all, abd the Seahawks have it. For once, Seattle has a professional sports franchise that can not only make it the post season, but they can also not completely choke it...

So there's this little football game going on today....

So if you haven't heard, there's this little football game going on today. The Seattle Seahawks are paying the Denver Broncos. Hopefully this years' Super Bowl week go better than the last time they made it.

The two states with legalized pot are playing in the Super Bowl. No wonder it is so foggy today.

Go Hawks.

Render unto Caesar, 2013 edition

I just filed my taxes. Like I've always done. With my previous employer, my withholding was screwed up so I didn't get enough withheld. And I ended up paying for it every spring. But this year, I had stated a new job, and I had the withholding correctly set up. I'm getting a refund. Or if not a refund, then I expect the slate between me and the IRS to be wiped clean. You won't get into as much trouble if you file and don't pay (that's just being late) than if you don't file at all (that's tax evasion,  a crime. A serious one. As in that's what got Al Capone put away). Though I strongly encourage you to pay, or to set up an installment plan...

Edit: the IRS accepted my tax return that same day, and I just checked, and my refund has been approved. Albeit reduced as to a past due tax obligation. Which is fine with me. I'll admit that owed them money. But the slate is now wiped clean, and I have money coming back still. I'm a happy camper...

The end is near for Windows XP...

Truth in advertising: I'm writing this post about mainly my computer, but I'm writing it from my tablet....

In less than three months, The Anti-Christ will discontinue support for Windows XP. Which means if you're using xp, upgrade now. What Microsoft wants you to do is go out and buy a new computer and/or a new version of the latest incarnation of Windows. But the problem is that when it comes quality, Windows trends to skip generations. Windows 98 was good. Windows ME was Crap (that's probably why I became so computer literate. My very first computer had ME on it). XP was good. Really good (I upgraded as soon as it came out). Windows Vista was called Windows ME, Service Pack 1. Windows 7 was really good (came with my laptops). And Windows 8 is essentially Windows ME, Service Pack 2. Basically they tried to put the touchscreen experience on equipment that doesn't have touchscreens. Abd I'm not to thrilled with the ui experience. If you're absolutely forced to upgrade, look for Windows 7.

As for me, tonight, I'm doing one last system wipe. I'm sticking with XP to the bitter end. I think my next Windows upgrade is going to be when I buy my next computer. But I have my reasons for sticking with XP. All of my hardware is compatible with it abd I have drivers. But the real reason are my games. Some of them are really old, and XP is the most advanced os they'll run under. I don't think security will be an issue, as my Tower sits behind a NAT firewall, and Google Chrome will still support XP for while. Besides with two 1 tB hard drives, there's plenty of space for my new primary os: Linux. It's free, and unlike Windows 8, kde stills has the start menu...

Stuff you don't wanthappening to you while taking a pee, or my adventure with maintenance...

So a chronic problem I've had living in my apartment has been the bathroom fan. Specifically it has worked more often than it worked. It worked fine when I moved in, but then it died. Went to the office, told about it, and the maintenance guy came in and replaced it. Couple of months later, abd it dies again. This time, I went to the office and nothing happened.  It took a couple of times, but then somebody finally came out. Two weeks later, it dies again. Maintenance guy was out troubleshooting another issue, abd I told him about it. Abd I was told that he needed a work order from the office. So I went to the office again right away. And it was ignored. A few weeks later, there was another issue abd this time I ended up on the phone with the home office of the real estate company who owns the building, and I made a passing comment about the fan always going out. Very soon after that the fan was replaced (this time, I was told that it had to be special ordered). Soon after that, the fan started rumbling (but it still worked), and it came loose in its mounting (like it was going to fall). And I now noticed The Drip. Want much, just a nuisance. But it was still a leak. Fast forward to Tuesday night when I went to take a leak, and I was hit with a bigger steam than what I was releasing. Finally I sent an email to the apartment office again, abd this time he was there early in the morning. He told us the leak is a roofing issue, and it'll be a week to fix it. Again the bathroom fan is on special order. This morning, I heard some very loud stomping on the roof, abd I hope it was the roofer. I've seen a little bit of a drip, but nothing like before. Now I just hope we get our fan back. I think I'll get it fixed. I did tell my apartment manner that I'm ok going without one, but she'll be the one dealing with the mold when I move out....