My Giraffe

Originally uploaded by jwt9478.

My giraffe

This is a photo of my friend Josie acting silly. I just had to put this up here. ;-)

Jeff's Wedding - New Orleans, LA

Well I just got back from New Orleans, LA for a wedding. Jeff Grant, my boy from high school, just got married one day and he graduated from Tulane Law School the very next.

Go ahead dog!!!!

It was a good time. Even though I didn't get much sleep, me and the fellas squeezed in some time to check out the new Star Wars joint. Of course we got a chance to chill down on Bourbon street in the French Quarter, but I left all of those photos out. ;-)



Here are some more joints from the wedding though: PHOTOS

Softball - Week #3

Another rough outing. We ended up loosing to a team 8-12. We were alot better than the opposition, but we couldn't come through. I felt like I had my worst softball game ever. I made an error and I also didn't get a single hit the entire game. The only way I got on base and scored a couple of runs is because of errors from the other team.

These are the stats for the year so far: STATS

We should have a pretty easy game today, since we play a team that lost 1-33 last week. But you never know. I thought the Spurs would sweep the Phoenix Suns as well. :-(

Cheap Gas - Chicago

Another cool site showing maps of cheap gasoline: Cheap Gas - Chicago

Chicago Crime Map

This is a link to a pretty cool map that shows you all of ther reported criminal acts on a Map: Check it out!!!

Another Rough Softball Game

I think that this game was more painful than the game we lost last week 14-40. Last week we were leading the entire game, then all of a sudden the last two innings we stopped hitting and playing defense. We were the visiting team and we gave up the winning run in the bottom of the last inning with two errors.

Here's a look at the stats for the year and the last game: STATS

Good News for MOT stock for once!!!!!

It looks like Motorola stock has been doing pretty well lately. It must be all those late hours that I'm putting in. ;-)

But it seriously might be about that time to flick some of those stock options that I get every promotion. I don't see myself holding onto those things for the long-term. I'll seriously have to look into it tonight.

CYSO - Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra

New PS3 - March 2006

PS3
Originally uploaded by jwt9478.

This is a pic of the new PS3. Below are some of the specs:

- 1 CELL running at 4 GHZ, providing 256 GFLOPS power (1 PPE, L1 cache 32 KB, L2 cache 512 KB, and 8 SPE each one having 256 KB).
- There is 2 I/O (input/output) on CELL, to communicate with other parts of the console, the first I/O of the CELL has the main purpose to communicate with the unified shared (between the CELL and the GPU) XDR Ram memory (from RAMBUS) at a 50 GB/s bandwidth (4 * 64 MB = 256 MB of memory)
- The second I/O is called FlexIO (flexible input/output) and this allow the CELL to communicate with the next generation NVIDIA GPU at a 76.8 GB/s bandwidth (this GPU with 190 million transistors will run at a 600 MHZ, with a 32 rendering pipelines, associated with 16 MB of Toshiba Embedded DRAM of 256 GB/s bandwidth). The CELL will help the GPU in creating advanced physics for particle effects.
- Retro compatibility with PS1 (emulated by the CELL) and PS2 (emulated by the CELL)
A Hard Disk of 160 GB, Ethernet port (no modem this time), wireless, USB2 port, and a flash stick memory duo-pro support.
- The controllers will not so much differ from those of PS2, with the main difference that they will be WIRELESS, and with better analog buttons and more varied vibration effects.
- If the first CELL IBM produced prototypes are using 90 nanometer technology, the first SDKs containing the CELL that developers will receive after 2 months will be produced with this technology, but the CELLs that will be used on PS3 (and later SDKs) will be produced with the 65 nanometer technology, allowing sony to decrease the costs of PS3, and to tackle the problems of HEAT.

Our Softball season stats after week #1

It was a nasty game. We ended up losing 14-40. We actually gave up a 23 run inning. That's what did us in. To say the least we were a bit rusty. ;-)

Here is a look at my team's stats.

New Xbox-360 Pic

xbox360_mtv_snapshot
Originally uploaded by jwt9478.

646 Adams Ave., Oak Park, IL

Originally uploaded by jwt9478.

I got the chance to check out this new condo development in Oak Park this weekend. It's pretty nice and in a nice neighborhood. I'll have to keep my eyes on this one. ;-)

Re-Building Together Volunteering Day

Re-Building Together Volunteering Day
Originally uploaded by jwt9478.

This is a picture of the volunteer team along with the lady who owned
the house. It was a long day of painting and cleaning up, but it was
all worth it. The lady was really happy with the work.

First Bulls Playoff Win in 7 Years!!!!

US Cellular Field - Home of the Chicago White Sox

Message US Cellular field

Sunday's Dilbert

Today's Dilbert Comic

outragedmoderates.org

I ran into an interesting website this morning. They have alot of info on the whole debate of file sharing and the record and movie conglomerates.

www.outragedmoderates.org

Graphic of the Illinois comeback versus Arizona on Saturday

20050326-il-az-4-minutes
Originally uploaded by jwt9478.

This is a pretty cool breakdown the the last 4+ minutes of regulation of the Elite Eight game between Illinois and Arizona. Some are calling it one of the greatest comebacks in NCAA tourney history. I would believe it if it wasn't for the Louisville-W.Virginia game right before it. :-)

Do I really need one of these??????

PSP-Vault is an interesting site about the inner-workings of the PSP. There is definitely some interesting stuff on there. I keep telling myself that I don't need one of these things because I already have a Tapwave Zodiac. I'll have to keep an eye on this site to see if anyone can find out a reason for me to pick one up.

Sony PSP


Tapwave Zodiac

Evolution of File-Sharing

This is one of my favorite websites, Slyck's Guide to BitTorrent. This article gives a pretty nice synopsis of the BitTorrent application for file-sharing along with some of the top torrent sites. I ran into while I was searching for the Illinois vs Arizona Elite Eight game from last Saturday that came down to the wire. I still can't find that joint.

Wish me luck. ;-)

CNN.com - Officials: Diner finds finger in chili - Mar 24, 2005

This is wild. I usually don't get the chili, but I go to Wendy's alot since it's right by the crib. I might have to go down the street another block and hit up Mickey D's. ;-)

AirTran Airways

Tickets are on sale for as low as $79 out of Midway here in Chicago. They even have specials to the Bahamas. I mean to check into this. It would be nice to go on a real vacation. Check out the link below:

AirTran Airways - Sale Fares

Free Annual Credit Reports

This is nice. I heard about this not too long ago. I usually pull my credit report once a quarter, but this should definitely help out with the costs. It usually cost me like $40 a quarter to get a report and FICO score from each agency. Although this site doesn't provide the FICO score, it should still be helpful.



www.AnnualCreditReport.com

Zodiac Metal Deluxe Case

I'll have to add this to my wish list this quarter!!!

Metal Deluxe Case for Zodiac.

Star Wars Episode III - screenshots and storyline

STAR WARS

This is a nice idea. I think a better method can be used though

noDRM.com � Plasma Mounted Mac mini

AudioBlogger

I just found out about this new feature named AudioBlogger. The that it works is that I make a call to a toll-free number and a server out there records my voice message, converts it to mp3 and then posts it on my blog automatically. I've tested it out with friends and goofing around and stuff, but I haven't found a real nice used for it yet. ;-)

It seems cool though.

New Pics

Well I finally got a chance to update the site with some new photos. One set is from a Ohio State football game that I went to at Perdue back in December and another set is from my time at the Auto Show just this past weekend.

Yahoo! News - Va. Bill Sets Fine for Low-Riding Pants

What will they think of next?

Yahoo! News - Va. Bill Sets Fine for Low-Riding Pants

This has to be one of the funniest blogs I have ever seen

Things I hate about my Flatmate

Not so Hot-lanta!!!!

CNN.com - Atlanta airport reopens after ice storm - Jan 30, 2005

Moving to Oak Park?????????

Well one of my New Year's resolutions was for me to get a little more serios about becoming a home owner. I've been using my suspect credit and willingness to move back to Texas as an excuse for too long. I think I am able to get something affordable with my situation now. Besides, in this age of the Internet I should be able to sell something pretty quickly if I do decide to go back to school or move back to Texas in the next couple of years. Here's a map of a few places that I will be taking a close look at in the next couple of weeks:



As you can see it's all in the same area of Oak Park, IL. I don't know what it is about that place, but I just feel the need to move out there. It seems like I know alot of "black folk" that work with me that live in that same area. It just seems like a cool and calm spot whenever I visit. Plus the commute to work won't be that bad, it should only be about 30-40 minutes. That's not bad considering that I'll be close enough to the city to take the "El" train.

Mac mini - a killer Home Theater PC in the making?

This looks tight. I might take a look at upgrading my MythTV (Tivo) network this year with this device. I always hear everyone raving about the MacOS. This will be my chance to take the plunge. I'll start saving and maybe it might be on my doorstep at Christmas. ;-)

Mac mini - a killer Home Theater PC in the making? | PVRblog

Before and After Tsunami Satellite Photos

These photos are kind of ill. You can see not only complete houses, neighborhoods, and running tracks completely destroyed, but also a complete island just gone.

You can find more photos here. You can donate to UNICEF on the link to help these folks out.

Banda Aceh, Indonesia - Before


Banda Aceh, Indonesia - After


Banda Aceh (city zoom), Indonesia - Before


Banda Aceh (city zoom), Indonesia - After

Motorola V635

Ok. I know a few blogs ago, I said that I was getting the Motorola v710 phone on Verizon Wireless. Well for some reason Verizon wanted a large deposit for new service. So instead I went to Cingular Wireless and settled for a free Motorola V220. The phone is decent, but it lacks a few features that I would like to have such as Bluetooth and EDGE. There's a new phone coming out by 2nd quarter of 2005 that should fit the bill. It's the new Motorola V635. It has all the features that I am looking for, plus it contains a transflash card slot that can be accessed with a USB cable. That means I could transfer photos or mp3's directly through a cable rather than downloading or using a special program. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on it.

Breakdown of 2004 Presidential Election by County

This is pretty interesting. Almost every major metropolitan area is Democratic (blue), while every other place is Republican (red). It kind of gives you a hint of what would happen if the election was based on the vote of the population instead of the electoral college.

Electoral Vote Predictor 2004

Check this link out. This site has a pretty interesting map of the US and displays the electoral votes per state based on a number of polls. As of October 29th, it displays that Kerry will win the election because he has a slim hold on the major swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida. But it is a very slim margin.

Current Electoral Vote Predictor 2004

New Mouse

I just found a good deal on a new mouse. It's a Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer w/Tilt Wheel USB & PS/2. I just hope it doesn't interfere with the other wireless crap I have in my house (Gyration wireless mouse/keyboard, WiFi). It shouldn't be a problem since they operate on different bands though. We'll see. ;-)

Who Needs a TiVo?

And I put all that hard work into building my own from scratch. :-(

Slyck News - Who Needs a TiVo?

New Photos

I just got a chance to post up some new photos from a tight college football game that I went to a few weekends ago. The game was Ohio State versus Northwestern.








I am also using a new photo slideshow app out. The new app is call Picasaand has a little bit of a cleaner look than the windows powertoy app. Plus the old app was giving me some problems with different browsers. Maybe one day I'll get around to transferring all of the photos over to Picasa.

Later.

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

It's almost been a whole month since my last blog entry. I guess I've been busy. I've got to say that the last two months have been kind of crazy. If I wasn't out of town, I've been busy around here. It's been a while since I got the chance to have a laid back weekend where I could just watch football. It's been cool though.

Actually this weekend one of my childhood friends is coming to Chicago to visit. We are planning on going to the Chicago Football Classic in Soldier Field this Saturday, October 9. It should be cool. I think one of his cousins is a player on TSU.

Speaking of football, last Saturday I got the chance to see one of the greatest upsets in college football this year. One of my friends has a cousin that is a football graduate assistant on Ohio State. So he hooked us up with good seats to see OSU play Northwestern. At the time OSU was ranked 6th or 7th in the country, but was upset by NU who was like 1-3 at that point. It was a great game that went into overtime with a final score of 33-27 NU. I took some awesome photos that I will post up some time soon. One of my fav photos was of the NU kids rushing the field after the upset. They were going crazy. It's too bad the celebration was soured by a death and questionable police force.

I've also been busy with my flag football team. We are 0-3 right now, but we have a good enough team to turn it around. We just have too many people that try to be all-stars instead of doing thier jobs and fufilling assignments. This weekend will be a perfect time to make a move since I think we are playing the first place team.

I know it looks like all I do is around football, but I do other things too. I actually got a chance to see two good movies this past weekend. I saw Woman Thou Art Loosed and Shark Tale. Both movies are very different, but both are good. I would recommend both.

That's all I got for now. I'll try to post some more pics soon. Later.

Motorola V710

Well I think I finally found a phone that I will fit the bill. I think I have decided to get the Motorola V710. I won't probably get it right away because of the price for over $200. And the Motorola discount really isn't hooking me up yet, so I will probably wait till around Christmas time. This phone has everything I need, such as bluetooth, clamshell form factor, and access to Verizon's 3G network. Plus it also gives some extra goodies such as a digital camera, IM, and removable transflash memory. The only catch is that I'll have to switch to Verizon Wireless from Sprint PCS who I have been a customer of since maybe 1998. This might require me to leave a deposit since I have some so-so credit.



Speaking of my credit, I had an interesting phone call from a loan officer from American General the other day. Even though I have paid all of my debt off over a year ago, I am still having problems with obtaining more credit since I never paid off my past debt when I was in school. I have had many points taken away from my credit score because of late payments that occurred over 5 years ago. So I recapitalize some advice that I should try to obtain a personal loan from a local bank to help establish some credit. Maybe take out a small loan of $1000.00 and set that money aside in a savings account and make the small monthly installments over maybe a two year's time. The loan officer approved me for the loan, but said they might want to hold my car title for collateral. This kind of freaked me out a little. I asked if I could offer up cash as collateral instead, but they insisted on the car title. I never really got a loan before, but it seems kind of overboard to give a car title for just a loan for a G, even though my car might only be worth a little more than that. I want to get my credit in line so that I can purchase a house or new car in the future, but I'm not sure if it's worth it.

All well. I guess that's just part of living in the real world I guess. Remember I've only been a part of it for a little over two years now. ;-)

New Pics

Well I finally found the time to post a few new pics to the site. All of them are from weddings that I have been to in the past couple of weeks.

Enjoy!!!

Hero: The Movie

Well today I'm joining some friends to watch the new movie 'Hero' starring Jet Li. It's a kung-fu flick that has been out in China and a few other countries for a while now, but it was just brought to the US by Quentin Taurrentino. I've been waiting for this one for a while

If you are someone who enjoyed 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' then you will love this one. It looks pretty tight. I'm so excited about this movie, I might just cop the bootleg after I watch it in the theatre. ;-)

Here are some screenshots from the movie.

Another road trip, Another wedding

Well I'm off to St. Louis later this afternoon. I have a co-worker that is getting married this weekend down there. Actually he met his future wife the same summer that all three of us intern at Motorola back in the year 2000. So it's kind of cool to see something grow from a summer fling to marriage.

There will be 5 of us carpooling down there later this afternoon. I went ahead a rented a mini-van for us all to fit and be comfortable for the 4 and a half hour road trip. I think Avis will set us up in something like a Chevrolet Venture. We should have plenty of room and hopefully we'll get a DVD player and TV, but I seriously doubt it. That would be pimped out though. ;-)







I'll be staying with some of my kinfolk while I am down there in St. Louis. It will also be good to see my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins that I haven't seen since like May.

Well I'll be sure to post up some photos from the trip. Actually I still need to post some pictures of another wedding that I attended last weekend as well. Man, what's up with all these folks getting married like this. I have another wedding to attend in the Spring and like three more planned for next summer. I guess no one enjoys the single life like I do anymore.

Later.

Louisville

Well I finally got a chance to upload some of the photos from the Louisville trip. Alot more went on in Louisville than what shows in the pictures because we weren't allowed to take photos at the Tyson boxing match or the after parties. But by now you already know that Tyson got his butt kicked, so there isn't any point to seeing any pictures of that anyways. ;-)

Just to sum it all up we went to the fight, checked out some afterparties till like 4 am, met Evander Holyfield at the Waffle House, toured Louisville, checked out the Louiville Slugger Museum, took a tour of Churchill Downs, and hung out with the locals on the last night.

Mike Tyson fight this weekend

Man, I've really been slacking on my blog entries. Just been busy I guess. Working crazy hours, involved in afterwork athletic teams (softball, volleyball), and I also picked up a new PS2 game, NCAA College Football.

I'm looking forward to heading down to Louisville, KY this weekend. It should be cool. We got the big Tyson fight on Friday night. Hopefully he can start to make a small comeback and get his life back together. I'll be cheering for him. Actually I just found out that Leila Ali is going to be the undercard for the fight. That should be cool too. I also want to pick up an original Lousville Slugger, the official baseball bat of the Major Leagues.

I'll be sure to take lots of photos and post them up on the site.

Hot new Motorola phone

Well I've been looking around for a new phone to replace my old P270 on
the Sprint PCS network for a while now. One reason is that I am
not too satisfied with the service and also they refuse to sell
Motorola phones for multiple reasons. So I was forced to use a
rigged up P270 without any roaming capabilities and those charges have
been rediculous when I travel. So in order to stay brand loyal
I've decided to switch phones and also services. I know I'm going
to miss the PCS-to-PCS unlimited minutes, but I'll feel better when my
wallet is fatter.



One prerequisite of my new phone is that it had to be on a network with
a reasonable data plan. Another is that it had to have bluetooth
(I'm addicted to that feature now). I think that I have
finally found my match. The new Motorola A630 meets
all of these demands plus some. It has a QWERTY keyboard, digital
camera, speakerphone, and email capabilities. It's supposed to be
due out on the Cingular (home town San Antonio based company) network
next month, but I won't be holding my breath. I'll expect to pick
up this phone up around Christmas time 2004. :-)

SMS messaging

Believe it or not, after having a Sprint PCS phone for nearly 6 years I just figured out how to send SMS messages to it. The whole time I was convinced that my account @sprintpcs.com was the correct address, but that is just a webmail account setup. I was sure that the webmail account and SMS/text messaging were connected and that it was simply broken. It turns out that I was wrong and the correct address is @messaging.sprintpcs.com. The funny thing is that I found this out while on Southwest Airlines website while setting up flight status notifications. They have the address of all major providers on this site. And I couldn't find this same info on the Sprint PCS website anywhere. Go figure!!!

Well nothing much for me, just putting the finishing touches on my travel plans to Kentucky to see the Mike Tyson fight at the end of the month. It should be tight. I'll be sure to bring back plenty of photos and post them on the site.

Later.

Carnival in Rio de Janeiro

Man, well my boy Jemerson put me onto the idea of going down to Brazil in early February. Sounds cool. I've really been feenin' to go on a real vacation, since I have been working I really haven't been on one. So I'm looking forward to it. I'm just now starting to get my feelers out and try to find out more about the trip. I actually have found about 3 people that I work with that have already made the trip. They put me onto a website to help me out:

Rio de Janeiro website

This site has everything from brazilian history, hotel packages, photos, and nightlife guides. I'm excited already.

A Tribute to my Cousin Once Removed

Well I know for sure that it is my mother's 1st cousin, so I think that means cousin once removed to me. Anyways I took time off of work on Friday to attend the funeral of my mom's cousin. This is a person that unfortunately I did not have the pleasure of spending alot of time with while I was growing up, but I feel that I saw a snapshot of her life at her funeral this past weekend.

The funeral had to be one of the nicest that I had ever been too. Just the amount of people that were there to give love and support to the surviving family members was unbelievable. Everyone had positive things to say and some had tributes that lasted almost an hour. My mom's cousin was a person that was very active in her community because a number of organizations gathered to pay tribute. In addition to the organizations and swarms of family, there was also a number of people that she worked with in attendence.

I learned that my mom's cousin's employer was the Illinois Department of Human Rights which is located in the Illinois state capital Springfield. So my cousin basically commuted from the southside of Chicago and basically lived in a hotel for much of the week.

In addition to her active career and community involvement, my cousin still seemed to always find time for family and friends. There were numbers of people that stood up and recalled stories of them having a good time with cousin Tonne.

I am glad that I had a chance to attend the funeral because I learned a great number of details about her life. Unfortunately I didn't learn these things until her passing, but I think this will inspire me to make a better effert to get to know my mother's side of the family a little better than I have in the past. Getting to know my father's side has never been a problem since we get together at least a couple times a year to celebrate graduations and holidays. But I need to make a conscious effort to get to know the other side. I really don't have an excuse for not doing it especially since there is a great number of them that live in Chicago. Hopefully the next time I get a chance to know a family member on my mother's side it won't be from another funeral.

Lakers Lose

Well it's always a good day when you see the Lakers lose the chance at winning another championship. This article shows how over the entire NBA Finals history the Lakers have appeared in almost half of them (48%). That percentage is more than any franchise in any US professional sport, including the Yankees World Series appearences (only 40%).

After all, I am born and raised in San Antonio and a huge Spurs fan. They've been our natural born rival for many years. Even back in the George Gervin era, so I was born to hate the Lakers.

But I think something that satisfies me even more is to know that Joe Dumars, the Detroit Pistons GM, has become the first black GM to win an NBA championship. It's pretty hard to believe with the high percentage of blacks involved with the league, but it's true. But I guess this is still America though.

And just last year Robert Johnson became the first black owner of an NBA franchise, the new Charlotte Bobcats. I guess he was so proud of himself that he named the team after himself ("Bob").

New Photos

Well I finally posted the photos from my visit to Dallas, TX for my little cousin's high school graduation. It was cool to be back in Texas and to see friends and family. The photos include the ceremony and also the BBQ we had a few days later.

Edit: Just added two new videos as well

Aunt CeCe on Trampoline
My Cousin Vinny Getting his Diploma

New PS2 games

I know some might say I'm a little too old for video games, but I'm still into it. I just bought a new baseball game, All Star Baseball 2005 and am thinking about picking up another one, Transformers.

I may not have the spare time like I did when I was younger, but I still find a way once in a while. I find myself working late and then working out at the gym and not finding my home till about 9 or 10. By that time I just feel like checking my email, watching Sportscenter, and going to sleep. So my gaming time has definitely been slowing down. In fact with the NBA playoffs occuring the past month, I've been coming home or going to a bar and watching a different game every night as well. I definitely need to regain my focus.

Here's a few screen shots of the hot Transformers game I'm thinking of picking up later on tonight.

Back in the Chi

Well I made it back to the Chi in one piece from my long 5-day weekend down in Texas. I got a chance to catch up with some friends and family that I haven't seen since the holiday season. It was fun.

Everyone was in town since one of my little cousins graduated high school and is probably headed to Prarie View A&M. I took some pictures and videos, so look for those real soon. Actually one of the videos is pretty funny and includes one of my Aunt's falling on her face on a trampeline. Classic. :-)

Later.

New Video

I added a few video clips from my Auntie's graduation as well as a clip from a Cubs game I went to. I must be on a roll, that's two updates and three blogs in two days. Really I just have some more free time since my Spurs got bounced out of the NBA playoffs. All well, maybe it was a blessing in disguise. ;-)

New Photos

I just added some photos of my new little niece, my auntie's graduation, and a Cubs game that I went to a couple of weeks ago.

I haven't had the chance to meet my little niece yet, but I'm definitely looking forward to it. I hope the little girl forgives me for this when she gets older. I knew her pops was going to send me some messed up photos, but it's the best that I could do. :-)

New Web Design

Well once again I'll decided to update the design of the site. I just wanted something simple that would load up fast on dial-up modems. So I felt that this was sort, sweet, and to the point. I'll also be adding some additional photos to the site pretty soon. I have some photos and videos of my new god-neice, my aunt's graduation, and also a recent Cubs game that I went to in the freezing cold. I also want to add additional info on my PC Tivo and Zodiac, but also format all of the available video on the site to one format (probably MPEG2). Knowing me, don't hold your breath for these updates. ;-)

Softball Season is in the Air

Well the Major Leagues are under way. Barry Bonds has just become the third greatest homerun hitter of all time. The weather is starting to turn up. We may actually hit the 70's this weekend!!!! So it is only right that the Motorola Softball League get underway. We actually have our first team practice today. Even today is still kind of cold, I am still exited to get back out on the crater-filled diamond. Hopefully this season will turn out better than our previous two (see archives for my previous frustrations ;-)) We brought back the core of our team from two years ago, but we have picked up a couple of free agents as well as lost a few people. Actually our starting pitcher sold us out so she could get a master's degree, so that's a nice piece of the puzzle that's missing, but we'll manage. Thanks Kriste. ;-)

Anyways, as far as the site. I'm really starting to get a real good handle on video editing and I think I have found a nice format for all of my videos on the website. I decided to go with an Xvid codec, which is basically MPEG4. This codec is basically just an open-source version of the commonly-known Divx codec, but it seems to give me better audio/video syncing results. Pretty soon I will be converting all of the video over to this format.

Until later. Holla later.

Long Time No Post

I know that it's been a minute since I posted. I guess I have just been mad busy. Not a whole lot has happened since my last post. I guess that was around Super Bowl time.

Well I found a new project to get involved in. I just got a Tapwave Zodiac. This is a tight new PDA that has a few features on it to play games. I've been eying this product since last November when I dropped and broke my old Palm IIIxe. And since this device runs the Palm OS, I just uploaded all of the data that backed from the old IIIxe. The tightest feature on this device is the gaming features. It has an analog controller, shoulder buttons, and four color buttons as controls. So far I keep all my regular info (numbers, calandar, to-do listss, etc), plus an Nintendo emulator, an MP3 player, and video player. I'm looking to take this device anywhere I go for now on. It's my new best friend. ;-)

Once I finish up with this project I think my next plan of action needs to be with my car. She's starting to die on me. I'm having transmission problems, the breaks are about to go out, and I am leaking a whole lot of oil and cooling fluid. I already know that if I want to stop the leaking it's going to cost me a pretty penny. Last I remember it was around a G. The first priority will definitely be the transmission though. I think I ruined the third gear. I can't imagine how much that is going to cost to repair. I might just have to wait and see how necessary these repairs are. I can stand the fluid leaking, but I can't do nothing if my transmission is slowly dying on me. We'll see.

Chicago Auto Show 2004

I finally got the chance to add some new photos to the site. Last Sunday I got the opportunity to go to the Chicago Auto Show. It was pretty cool. I've gotten the opportunity to go to the show for the past three years. I can't say that this was one of the best, but it was still cool. This definitely had to be the year of the trucks for the show. I was really impressed with them. I was a bit disappointed that there was only one Toyota Tundra in the whole show, but I got put onto a new truck. The Nissan Titan. I was really feelin' this truck. The size. The power. This link shows how the Titan compares with some of the truck big boys, including the Tundra and Ford F-150.

You can see how the Titan can hang with the big boys. I'll definitely have to look into this if I can get the power of a F-150 for about $5,000.00 less. We'll see. Maybe one day I could be flossin' this.

Nissan Titan

Super Bowl

I'm still not too sure where I will be bowling at this year. Ever since I have been in Chicago I have always been moving on the day of the Super Bowl. The first one in 2002 is when I moved from Texas to Chicago. In 2003 is when I moved from my apartment to the townhouse where I am at now. I don't even know what to do with myself now that I am not moving this winter. I had better move next winter so that I am not in this situation again. ;-)

Anyways, I will be pulling for the Panters since they knocked off my Cowboys in the Wildcard Game. I hope they pull it out, it should be a defensive, low scoring, grind it out kind of game. I'm looking forward to it. In fact I might just meet some people at a sports bar and watch the game so that I can concentrate on the actual game. I remember back in 2000 when it was the Rams vs. the Titans. That was one of the most exciting Super Bowls in my generation and I bareley remember it because I was at a party with music and people that don't even like football talking too much.

Well I don't have any new additions to the site, but one thing that I do have on my to-do list is to convert all of the video files to mpeg2. I'll be sure to get it eventually.

New Web Design

I got kinda bored with the old design and plus I had some free time at work. ;-)

NFL Playoffs

I gotta say that this year's NFL playoffs are one of the best ever. There has really only been a couple of decisive games out the 16 that have been played so far. One of those non-decisive games being my Cowboys, but all well. They over-achieved anyways. Next year they'll be back again and even better.

New photos

I just added some new photos to the site. I added some photos from my first Bear's game here in Chicago. Man I gotta tell you that it was cold. We had seats in the second to last row on the side of the new Soldier's Field facing Lake Michigan. By the second quarter I could not feel my fingers or my toes. But you know what. I would do it again in a second. The game is so much slower and easier to see than it is on television. I just have to conserve and get ready for that $65 hit. That's a far cry from a $5 ticket at the Alamodome. ;-)

Well it's just been too long since my last blog. I still haven't updated the website with my new photos yet. I've been slacking. Maybe because I woke up today and the temperature outside was -3 degrees. And I'm not talking about Celcius either.

Anyways, at least I completed my TIVO PC the week I got back from Christmas. It's cool. I already have a few recordings that I have. The next step is to purchase a DVD recorder so I can start archiving some movies and Spurs games. I also want to get some of the other modules working as well. There's a music jukebox, video player, web server (program recordings on the web), game emulator (to play old SNES and NES games), weather monitor, news feed, and image viewer. I'll get to it eventually I guess. Just like the photo updates. ;-)

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well we are finally in a new year. Time to start up those resolutions once again. One of mine is to stay in better shape. I work out once in a while, but I need to become more disciplined and also eat alot better. Time to minimize the trips to Mickey D's and reduce my carbs intake. Another resolution of mine is the leave all of the extra baggage that accumulated from 2003 in the year 2003. The past is the past and there is nothing that we can do about it. It's all in God's hands now. All we can do is just look to the future and try to make that better.

Well I have some new photos from my Christmas vacation that I will be posting, so I'll have to get to that. Later.

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.

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.

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.

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

[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

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

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. ;-)

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.

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!!!!!!!!!!

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

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.

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. ;-)

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

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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.

Interesting news...........................

Mickey D's wedding reception::This is definitely something that I would do.

Saddam captured!!!::On film that is......

Added Guestbook

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

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.