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Wednesday, December 17, 2003

I've been contemplating on what I was going to get my family for Christmas. I think I've narrowed it down to these items:

Sister: Additional money on Visa Buxx card
Mom: ??? (maybe CD's)
Dad: Motorola V70
Grandma: ??? (ask mom :-). Probably household items)
Momo and Mr. Melvin: ?? (Just found out they were coming for Christmas yesterday. Don't have anything yet)

As you can see I definitely have some work to do. And it will probably wait until X-mas Eve like I always do. Hopefully kid sis' can help me out with some of the needs of my Mom and Grandma around the house. But then again maybe not, she is a teenager. :-) Well wish me luck.

Headlines:
100 years of flight:
Lauren Hill puts the Catholic Church on blast.
Bush wants to off Suddam, but where's Osama
Now the the French and Germans want to help out in Iraq
I have a new bossman here at Motorola
I finally have had some free time to put together my Tivo PC. I am still having a few issues with the sound driver, but I'll be purchasing a cable wire from Radio Shack this evening to give it a good test. Hopefully I can get this thing running before I leave for Christmas vaction back in TX.

I really haven't had alot of time to put everything together since I have been out of town so often the past two months. By the way, I have a few pictures from my second visit to Halifax, Nova Scotia and also my first Chicago Bears game. Who knows when I'll get time to upload them, but I'll make an attempt tonight if I can figure out my Tivo PC issues. Later.

Saturday, November 22, 2003

New Pics

I finally got my computer together and had an opportunity to add some new pics to the site. Most are from my trip back home in early November. Another set are from a farewell dinner we had for my friend Karis as soon as I got back.

There is some new video as well, but I need to compress them a little before I post them on the site. Holla later.

Thursday, November 13, 2003

I forgot to mention that I am another step closer to completing my MythTV "Tivo" box. I just ordered the motherboard and case today and I am planning on picking up my wireless keyboard/mouse on the way home. After this I plan on picking up a new item every pay day till the end of the year. By that time I should have everything I need to get the project underway.

Actually I have co-worker who is attempting the same thing. He just told me today that the process is painless and he already has a number of the modules downloaded and functioning. So I guess I will find out soon enough.

Asus Pundit::Includes the motherboard, sound card, video card, DVI output, composite output, 4-in-1 card reader, and other junk

Gyration keyboard/mouse combo::Wireless RF keyboard and mouse which allows mouse movements in mid-air. Wild Stuff!!!!!!!!
Well once again I have been slacking in my blogging. But this time it is not my fault. My home PC has been out of whack for the past two weeks. I finally got fed up with it and decided to re-format all my drives and give it a fresh install of XP. Now apparently the problem has gotten worse. Now the PC won't even boot up. It likes to give me memory allocation and windows login errors. I really don't see how I did that with just a re-format and a windows re-install. All well, perhaps I will bring my laptop home tonight and try to work it out. But I really don't know where to start since I don't understand the problem.

Anyways, I made it back safely from my trip home to Texas. I got some great pictures of the high school football game as well as the Spurs game. It turned out that the ceremony for David Robinson was pretty nice. He deserves all of the recognition that he is getting.

I was also able to grab a few pictures from Karis' farewell dinner. It occured the same night that I made it back to Chicago, so I was pretty beat, but I am glad that I got to spend some time with her before she left for Indiana. I'm going to miss her, she was one of my best friends up here in Chicago. It is going to be alot different without her.

I'll try to post up some of the pics and update whenever I can bring my PC back from the twilight zone. If worst comes to worst I'll just bring in a zip disk to work and do some damage during a lunch break or something. Holla later.

Tuesday, November 04, 2003

Well once again I've been slacking on my blogs.

Not too much is new with me. I just got my first flu shot. It wasn't as dramatic as I thought it would be. There was pretty much nothing to it. I just had to stick around a few extra minutes after the shot to make sure I didn't blow up or anything from an allergic reaction.

I'm really looking forward to my trip back to Texas this weekend. I'm going to get a chance to check out my little sister being a cheerleader at a varsity football game and I am also going to go to a Spurs game where they will be retiring David Robinson's jersey. I'll be sure to bring back and post alot of pictures from both events.

Sister's High School Football Website
David Robinson's Jersey Retirement Ceremony

Thursday, October 16, 2003

[Listening to: The Way You Move - OutKast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below Disc 1 (03:54)]

I found out that this new blogging software can allow me display on the website what music I am listening too as I am typing. Hopefully you can see that I just picked up that new Outkast CD tonight.
Well I'm thinking about going out and buying Scarface of DVD today. I know I have a budget, but I think I'll have to break it today. I can't help it, it's a classic. ;-)

Scarface: On DVD

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

This is just a test to find out if a new blogging software is worth switching too. The new software is WBloggar. It seems to have a few more editting features like using a word processor such as Word and enable user to add files, images, and links a little bit easier as well. I might end up sticking with this if it holds up and the releases keep progressing. We'll see

Sunday, October 05, 2003

New media

I just got the opportunity to add some additional photos and video to the site. Each a few weeks old, but so what, I've been busy watching the Bears get their first vistory of the year. ;-)

Wednesday, October 01, 2003

New IP phone service

Since I have had so many problems with the local phone companies in the area (AT&T, Comcast, SBC) I haven't had any local phone service in a while. No monthly plans really fit my needs. I really don't use the home phone that much since I have had a cell phone for a while now that includes long distance and unlimited nights and weeekend minutes. But I still felt the need to have one, especially since I can remember during certain times my home phone was all I had while going through 9/11 in NYC. But really I occasionally use it if my cell phone battery was dead and also if I needed to send a fax from by computer.

Just recently I discovered Vonage.

Basically they provide me with a AD converter to turn any of my cheap analog phones into an IP phone. The negetive is that my phone will go out during any Internet or power outages. The positive is that I get unlimited long distance calls anywhere in the US and Canada. I also get free CallID, voicemail, Call forwarding, ........etc. I can even recieve a email whenever I get a new voicemail and can even listen to the message over the Internet while I am at work or whatever, from any computer online. It's cool because it is also transportable. I can take my AD converter to any broadband connection and can make and recieve calls at any time with any plain, cheap analog phone. It's bananas. And this is all for only about $25/month. I'm looking forward to the installation. I should be recieving the shipment in the next few days. I'll be sure to keep the site posted. Peace.

Tuesday, September 30, 2003

Archives

I have been having trouble managing the archives list on the site. Hopefully some changes that I have made today did the trick. ;-)

Home brew TIVO box

For those that don't know, TIVO is an electronic personal video recorder (PVR). The problem is that you can buy a TIVO at Best Buy or whatever for about $300, which isn't too bad. It gives all the power of a VCR without having to keep up with video cassettes or tapes. All of the recordings are stored digitally on the PC. They can later be transferred to recordable DVD's if you wanted to conserve some storage space on your PC.
The problem is that TIVO also charges a subscription fee for it's services that include obtaining programming information online periodically. There are certain projects alive out on the Internet that give instruction for creating your own version of this PVR w/o any subscription fees. My favorite has been MythTV.. I just started purchasing all of the necessary pieces to build this box, so hopefully I will keep the site updated and give notices of my progression. I'll also try to leave some further details of the MythTV box on the site as I iron out the details. Later!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, September 11, 2003

Ebony Fashion Fair

I'm checking it out this evening. I Delta friend of mine twisted my arm and made me buy a ticket. I'm really not into fashion, but there should be food there, so I guess it's not all bad. I'll try to run home and get my camera today, so that I can add some photos to the site. Later.

Remembering 911

Well today marks the second year anniversary of the 911 attacks on D.C. and NYC. Sometimes I can hardly believe that I was actually that close to everything. On the day of September 11, 2001 I was in my last semester of grad school at Columbia University. I think that the sharpest memory in my mind during that whole scenerio was the amount of confussion going on. I can remember everyone thinking it was an accident and then it was a large scale terrorist attack with all of the planes containing chemical gases. I was actually told to go inside and shut my windows and not to turn on the AC for fear of contamination. Communication was also difficult since most cellular lines were full or down. Even the landline phones were filled to capacity. No one could contact me from anywhere and I could not even check on the 5 friends that I know worked in at the WTC. Thank goodness that everyone that I knew personally was OK and escaped. But alot of others didn't or weren't that lucky.

I was sure to have a moment of silence this morning to remember those that were lost as well as their families who are struggling on without them. I recommend that everyone else does the same.

CNN 911 Tribute

Monday, September 08, 2003

New Football Team

Well my work football team from a year ago has been disbanded. We were not given enough notice to get all of the paperwork in on time. So I officially became a free agent. At first I wasn't going to play this year since the team got disbanded, but I found out that one of my teammates joined the same team that had been asking me to join them for the past two weeks. This new team is pretty good and have been playing together for more than 10 years. So in a way we are the rookies and we have to earn their respect. It should be interesting though, they have a pretty good team from what I could remember from last year. The captain told me that they had been to the past 4 championship games, but hadn't won it yet. I guess this is why he went after a few of my teammates pretty hard for the past two weeks. I guess he feels that we can put him over the top this year. Who knows. All I do know is that at least this year I will not have to play both ways. They have almost 20 people on that team, so they constantly switch in subs. Going both ways last year was murder. ;-) Anyways it should still be fun.

Monday, September 01, 2003

Labor Day

Well another year, another Labor day. For some reason Labor Day is always one of my favorite holidays. Maybe because it was always at the beginning of the school year. Maybe it's because there is always somone having a BBQ on that day. Or maybe it's because it is always close to my birthday. I don't know. This year Labor Day is kind of cold and rainy, so I didn't make any trips to any BBQ's. I just sort of stayed in my neighborhood and ran a few errands and took care of things around the house. I installed a new amplifier inside my car. I repainted the front door of the townhouse. I remounted my CD changer in the Rodeo. And also took care of some cleaning inside the house. So I guess I got alot accomplished today. Too bad everyday can't be like this. ;-)

Tuesday, August 26, 2003

Interesting Satellite Photos

Below are some interesting satellite photos of the power blackout from a couple weeks ago. Take notice to the city of Toronto and Long Island:

Before Photo

After Photo

Thursday, August 21, 2003

It's been a minute

It's been a while since I had put a blog entry on this site. Man, more than a week. I need to get used to this "journal type" entry thing. I never kept one when I was growing up. Well anyways things are good. My last entry I spoke on my softball team right before the game.

Softball
We actually won the game last Tuesday and also the one this week. We actually have a two game winning streak and are in fourth place. In two weeks we went from last to fourth. So what if there are only 6 teams in my division, it still means alot to me. The biggest reason is that we actually started to play defense. Everyone is comfortable in their positions and has confidence on what plays to make. Out last game is next week against the third place team. With that win we clinch the the fourth seed in the playoffs that begin the week after. With a loss we clinch the fifth seed since we will not win the tie-breaker with the team behind us. It doesn't reall matter, since what ever team we match up with in the other division for the playoffs, no matter the seed, we can beat. And we almost did during the regular reason with our previous shaky defence. As for me, I finally broke out my slump. I went 4-4 yesterday with two runs scored and I think 1 RBI. I still haven't had a HR in 3 games, but i still own the league lead with 12 HR's. This last game, I just stopped thinking about the HR's and had little dinky base hits. I think I was letting the HR lead thing get to my head a little. ;-)

Site
I should be making a few more additions to the site in the next couple of days. I have some new photos and also some new favorite links

Go White Sox!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, August 12, 2003

Another Tuesday......Another Softball Game "L"?

Well today is Tuesday and if the weather holds up we will have another softball game. We are something like 2-11, but I think today we play a team with the very same record. We are the two worst teams in the league, so the winner of this game avoids getting the worst record in the entire league. So I guess you can call this game "The Toilet Bowl" or the "Worst Series", I don't know. So to prepare for the game I went to the batting cage on Sunday and hit 150 balls in the cage. I was mad at myself for having such a horrible game last week. I went 0 for 2 and we lost the game on a 15-0 mercy rule in the fifth inning. I guess we didn't play that bad as a team, but I did horrible at the plate. A pop-fly and a weak grounder to the shortstop. They had a pretty good defense, which is why they are in first place and also undefeated. Even still that was the worst and most lopsided game that I had ever been involved with in my 2-year softball career. ;-)

Maybe I'll try to post some the stats for the season on the website one day. We only have a couple of games left before the playoffs, which includes every team and is also double elimination.

Thursday, August 07, 2003

Added Guestbook

Today I just added a new guestbook to the site. I guess I'll be the first entry.

Tuesday, August 05, 2003

New Pics

Well I got around to adding a few more pic albums to the site. Below a few news clips I found interesting:

Wild Milwaukee::Guess I won't be making that hour trip up to Milwaukee any time soon.

Linux Lies::SCO unveils basis of lawsuits aimed at Red Hat and IBM over linux OS.


It's been a long time........

Well it's been a minute since I had an entry on my weblog, so I was sittin' at work thinking what the heck. I might as well put something down.

Not alot has been going on since my last entry. I have a few more photos to add to the site from a couple of parties that I have been too in the past couple of weeks. I need to mess around with the formatting of a few photos to add of myself and a few old digitized photos that I have from school (Columbia and Morehouse).

I guess one thing that is missing from the site is "ME". Since the domain is JohnWesleyThomas, I guess it would make sense to add something about myself. I might add a few photos along with my resume or something. It kind of bothers me a little bit to put stuff on the site about me because I don't want to come off being a vain person, but I guess it's a must that I put up a few things. Otherwise the site lacks personality or maybe it should be called www.johnwesleythomas'friends.com. :-) All well, so I guess it's decided. More stuff about me to follow.

I have a softball game today, so hopefully we won't get a usual outcome of a big "L". We probably will though since we are playing the first place team in our division. We play hard every game and everyone on the team trys their best, but we just cannot get a victory to save out lives. We are 2-10 now and one of those victories was a forfeit. It's a sad situation, but at least we are laughing and having fun right. Or is that just what losers say. I don't know. I definitely need to add a few photos of the team on the site, as well as some of our stats. I have something like 14 home runs, which is like twice what I had the whole season last year. I don't know what's going on, maybe I'm letting my losing frustrations out on the ball. If so, I'll try to continue it today. Later.

Tuesday, July 29, 2003

Video editing

Well I finally got around to editing the video that so many people had been complaining about. I decided to go with real media format, so some for of the RealPlayer is necessary to play all of the videos. I'l be sure to add this note on the welcome page. Later!!!

Iron Mike:: Check out this footage of Mike Tyson knocking this fan out. Looks like he still has it. ;-)

Rodney King II:: When will it stop!!

Playstation Portable (PSP)::Christmas Gift 2004 ;-) ;-)

Texas Two Step::Only in Texas!!

Monday, July 28, 2003

Second Entry

Well it seems that I have gotten some positive feedback from the launch of the website. There are still some things that I need to take a look at for the site:

1)Family Tree software
2)Implement sub-domains

Sunday, July 27, 2003

First Entry

Well it looks like the testing was successful. The blog postings are showing up on my domain and it looks like it's a go. For all of you that I have been telling that I was planning to publish a website one day, here it is!!! And it's about time. I purchased this domain almost a month ago and have just now gotten around to this.

And as a side note: Dreamhost is an excellent web host

There are a few things that I still want to figure out and add to the site:
1) Figure out the Quicktime/Real streaming server for audio and video
2) Play around with Family Tree software that can add HTML to my site (There is some cool stuff out there...)
3) Continue to add photos to the site. (I just got my digital camera as of last week as well)

Well wish me luck. And be sure to send any comments and/or criticism to me@johnwesleythomas.com

Holla.
This is another test!!!
THis is a test!!!!!!!!!!!