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Do today's professional sports breed mediocrity?
2008-05-07 18:41:00
Think quickly about your favorite sport. I'm sure you can easily think of one team that is a perpetual basement dweller. For example, the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays are constantly in the bottom of the league (MLB). I was a bit surprised to see their current record standing at 17-15.Some may say that it's up to the owners and general managers to provide their cities with competitive teams. If they were good businessmen and cared about their team and their sport, they would do what it takes to create a successful and profitable team.I'm almost of the mind that it has more to do with the size of the leagues. The NFL has the most teams (32). They're probably best able to support their teams, all in the US, due to the way the American public devours that sport. Many people live, eat, and breathe football. The one thing I think that supports that sport is the length of the season, being just four months for the regular season, the playoffs taking another month. Because watchers h...
More About: Sports , Professional , Breed

Spacejock Software and writing tools
2008-04-16 03:50:00
I've been writing my current book using yWriter, a handy program that helps organize chapters, scenes, notes, etc. Very simple to use and a fairly lightweight program that won't slow your computer down. The greatest part would most likely have to be the cost: free. Can't complain.In fact, all the programs on the Spacejock Software website are easy to use, easy on your computer system's resources, and are free.You may also want to check out yBook, a program designed to help you view ebooks in a friendlier format.There's a bunch of other programs that will help everyday life, such as a program that organizes your creative writings and their submissions to publishers, one that organizes your book collection, and one that acts as a timer for anything you wish.Spacejock also suggests that authors use an outlining/mind map program such as FreeMind. I've attempted to use the program with no success. Unfortunately it continuously froze my computer, even with updating Java. I sea...
More About: Tools , Writing

Nearly lost everything
2008-04-15 18:55:00
So, recently, my hard drive took a dump. I have two hard drives on my system, one to run Windows, and the other one to store various files. Well, the Windows drive pretty much died. It would load up to the desktop, but if you try to do anything at all, the system slowed to a screeching halt.Unfortunately, my book was on that drive. Fortunately, the drive didn't die completely. I installed Windows on another partition and was able to access and copy my information onto the other drive. So, crisis averted.Because of this, I had to dig through my files to reinstall stuff and clear up some space I wasn't expecting to need. In the process, I noticed that I had written a couple starters for stories. I think that for the most part they are quite well done and have a good hook to them. I just need to fill out the stories. Too bad I had forgotten all about them. I read one and didn't even think I was the one that wrote it. Maybe I'll work on them at a later time.As for my cur...
More About: Lost

Schrodinger's Cat
2008-04-10 17:35:00
I was disappointed to find out recently that one of my favorite small Austin groups disbanded. I had gone to see Schrodinger's Cat twice when I was still in school in Austin. The first time was in the fall semester of 2000, and I think the second time was the fall semester in 2002.Schrodinger's Cat was an a capella group, specializing in "big beat". What that means, essentially, is that they use their bodies in a more physical manner to produce sounds, not just vocally. So, they would beat on their chests, stomp on the ground, vocalize trumpets, etc. Very cool sound.They usually covered a lot of popular songs, but they did a few of their own songs as well.I found out that they had broken up in 2005. John Pointer (the founder)'s house had burned down, destroying many things that the group had relied on, with sound equipment, stomp boxes, and their CDs burning up.It saddens my heart, but I'm hoping that maybe one day he'll get a group together again. I loved their sound an...

Juno, and other stuff
2008-04-07 20:22:00
So, I'm having a tough time trying to figure out what to do with this site. I may go back to what I was doing before, reviewing various things I've tried out, watched, etc. To do that, I think it'll be better to have my own webhosting. But we'll see.But, to kick things off, the wife and I recently saw Juno . The story follows a young girl that gets pregnant unexpectedly. She finds out about the pregnancy, goes over her options, and decides to put it up for adoption. She meets with the potential parents, gets really attached to them, and finds out later that their lives aren't as peachy as they seem to be.The comedy is quite quirky, and her sense of humor really comes out, even with the thick sarcasm. Her emotions really pour out too, which does a good job of showing her range as a young, previously unknown actress.The movie was really enjoyable, and probably will end up being a DVD purchase in the future. I would say on a scale of 10, I would put it at about 8.5 to 9. I...
More About: Stuff

Life, and how it interferes
2008-03-18 20:44:00
Well, it's March 18, more than two months since I posted saying I was going to post more. Funny.I hope everyone had a good St. Patty's day, and hopefully that will continue on through to Easter.I got a cold from the wife, so I'm kind of battling that at the moment. It's not really bad, but it makes a good day a bit more miserable.I've had a few projects to take care of while at home, so even though I don't currently have a job, it's surprising how busy I've been lately. But, now that most of that stuff has been taken care of, it is my plan to continue a book idea that I've been tossing around since the beginning of December. I have parts of it actually worked out and written down, but definitely not edited, the entire concept isn't as robust as I'd like it to be, and a lot of work will be needed. Hopefully now I'll have some time to write and see how things take shape with this.Living in Canada's been interesting, but not too difficult. I'm quite glad for that mu...
More About: Life

Welcome back!
2008-01-14 20:54:00
So, it's been a few months since I last had a blog post. I was using my friend's webspace to host my site, but a little while back that got shut off and he didn't have any immediate plans to resurrect it.No problem, really.I sort of wanted to sign up to get my own hosting, but I had other things my money really needed to go to at the moment. Plus, I was getting a bit busy to worry about the blog, so I wasn't too stressed about getting it back online. I feel bad though for those people that may have happened to visit my blog regularly. I hope to be able to post more often now.Originally I posted my blogs on blogger.com, so I just attached my site name to it and here we are. I haven't yet gone through to make sure that all my settings are passable, but I will do that in the next few days, most likely.So, just before Christmas I moved up to Canada to be with my wife. We had gotten married in September, but I was still in Florida while she lived up here. I'm still not legal...
More About: Back

New domain!!!
2007-05-09 19:11:00
Alright folks, I did it. Blogger is good, but I wanted just a little more control. So, I set up my new website. If you have anything linking to me, I'll try to inform everyone soon. I'll try my best to switch everything over soon on sites like BlogCatalog and such. Anyways, check it out, leave some comments, and let me know how it is.www.blindeh.com
More About: Domain

Should I set up my own domain?
2007-05-08 20:51:00
So, Blogger does well for what I need. I gets my posts down and it makes things look all pretty and stuff. I can't really complain. But I have been thinking maybe I should get my own domain and some web space.My goal that I have in mind right now is to organize this blog a bit better. I'd actually like to split my blog into different parts so it's not so random and scattered. I'd also like to have something that people could input information easier, even probably having a forum for easy communication. And perhaps with the freedom of my own site I could feel free to do other stuff too.Maybe...plur
More About: Domain

BlogCatalog My Neighborhood Campaign
2007-05-07 23:18:00
I stole this post from SyafTheGeek and I thought I'd share it here.I was looking around for some more sites to visit more regularly. I only have a few that I enjoy reading on a regular basis, but I know there's more out there. I just need some help from other bloggers to point me in the right direction. Or so I believe.I was going through some blogs in My Neighborhood over at BlogCatalog and saw this post on Syaf's site. The concept was simple enough, and it sounded like fun, as well as a way to burn a good 10 minutes. Plus, it was a good way to show the love to one of the best networking blog sites out there.That's my story and I'm sticking to it.Note: It's probably a lot easier going into the source of the page (right-click, view source) then finding (ctrl-f) "start copying here" and "end copying here", keeping the tags on either side. And I put my site in since it wasn't in there originally. I'm a cheater, I know.***Start Copying Here:***Here are the rules:1) Writ...
More About: Campaign

Barry Bonds and the home run race
2007-05-07 21:33:00
I used to be a baseball fan. I used to love the sport. I followed it religiously when I was a kid. I could name just about any player on any team. I tried my best to get all the baseball cards I could. It was fun.The first sign that baseball was turning to utter crap was around the late 80's. It started with baseball cards, I feel. Fan appreciation for the sport and for the cards seemed to wane once Bowman entered the scene (again). They had produced baseball cards a long time ago, back into the 50's and other decades I can't recall. Before they restarted into the baseball card scene, the four major companies were Topps, Fleer, Score, and Upper Deck (which was a relative newcomer). But once Bowman joined in the fray, every other card company wannabe joined in also, making card collecting not very fun at all.Well, then came the power-ups baseball players started collecting. Various things were ingested, injected, and I'm sure many other ways to make them stronger and h...
More About: Barry Bonds , Home , Race , Bonds , Home Run

End dates for shows
2007-05-07 20:28:00
Just today Lost, a highly popular TV show on ABC, just reported that the series will end soon. They will finish the series with three more seasons, ending at a grand total of 120 episodes. This gives the writers plenty of time to come to a complete and definitive end, knowing exactly where and when to finish off what they need to cover.Due to the unique nature of the show, I think it's a wise move. There's only so many people you can kill before you run out of characters. And I don't follow the show myself, but I can't imagine it's a very large island filled with even more mysterious creatures. There can only be so much they can do while there.So I wondered if perhaps this formula would work with other shows. I mentioned in a previous post that in anime and Asian shows in general they follow this style a little bit more. Shows have a set number of episodes before they're even shown to the public. There is a plan from the first episode all the way until the end. And th...
More About: Dates

House of Sand and Fog
2007-05-07 19:43:00
I got to watch House of Sand and Fog recently, and though I hadn't heard of it, I thought it to be a pretty decent movie. It had been out since 2003, but I only heard of it after asking some friends what movies I should consider watching that I may or may not have heard of. This one was suggested, and while not great, it did a pretty good job keeping me interested in the film throughout as well as getting my emotions running seeing the actions of the characters.Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind, Requiem for a Dream) portrays Kathy, a woman who is evicted from her house due to a business loan tax she never paid on a business she doesn't own. Her husband left just 8 months previous and she never recovered from the loss, leaving her life so unorganized as to not even opening the mail piling up at her door.Ben Kingsley (Schindler's List, Gandhi) portrays Behrani, an Iranian native turned American citizen with his wife and teenage son. After working multiple jobs, saving and acc...

Reminder to the president
2007-05-07 19:17:00
I just want to remind the president, as well as all future presidents, of one thing. Remember that you are the voice of the American public. You were voted into office by those that support you. You need to show support to them, and all of your country, whenever possible.Now, I know that it's not always possible to do so, but when your approval rating is at an astounding 28%, perhaps there should be some rethinking being done. I'm trying not to be too critical as I know that the president has a lot of tough decisions to make with knowledge that the public may not be privy to, but there may be a time where I say perhaps the public is right and perhaps you should listen to them just a little bit more closely.Just because you are the president doesn't mean you have free will to do whatever you please. Just because you are on your last term doesn't mean that everyone will follow you through thick and thin, regardless if they like it or not. There have been plenty of other lead...
More About: President , The President , Reminder , Resident , Remi

Serial fiction 5/6
2007-05-07 02:06:00
I like to write. That may be apparent from reading this blog. But one thing I really like to write is fiction. It may not be so much that I think I'm talented or anything like that, but I like getting any sort of creative thought down into text. Fiction is a good medium for that kind of thinking.So, I am going to dabble in an idea. I'm going to write freely, with no particular goal in mind, just having some characters do some things and see where it goes from there. But I'll probably make it into a serial format where you should read it in order to get the full picture. Imagine each of these like mini chapters.So, let's get started. I wonder how this will turn out...It's early. Jason is used to it, but he doesn't particularly like it. It's not an early day for him, but he still has to be at work early enough today to get the updates on the servers in time for the morning crew to start work without any hiccups. It's almost 7 A.M. by now, and he's almost ready to s...
More About: Serial

How to plan your very own successful road trip
2007-05-04 00:27:00
So, you want to go on a trip. You want to travel to cool new places in striking range of your vehicle. Excellent!I've gotten one major trip under my belt as well as several short trips to places several hours away. I'm by no means an expert at road travel, but I'm willing to tell you what I do know to help you on any trip, whether it be 8,000 miles like mine was, or perhaps just a couple hours to a city near you.With gas prices on the rise, it may be more difficult to go out and actually travel like you wish, but it can be a small sacrifice depending on where you may want to go.But let's assume you're going to hit the road. Let's see some things that you may need while driving miles upon miles.The most important thing you'll need for a road trip is a vehicle. How obvious. Now, there are many considerations when choosing a vehicle. Depending on how far you're planning on traveling, you may need one with good gas mileage. Perhaps a motorcycle is the way to go. Or mayb...
More About: Trip , Road Trip , Road , Plan

Anime - Gunslinger Girl
2007-05-02 19:55:00
I'll admit it now, I'm a fan of anime. I don't consider myself that much of a geek, but I really like good anime. I guess it sort of makes sense to me though, considering how much I like animated media in general, as well as my half-Asian background (Korean, but it's kind of close).Like I've been gaming all my life, I also have watched cartoons of various sorts all my life too. From Saturday morning cartoons to Ren and Stimpy on Nick at Nite to The Simpsons to anime, it all just kind of flows along. I like it all.And I hadn't been much into the Asian background stuff until I started watching this stuff too. Well, I didn't ignore it, but once I started watching Japanese-based cartoons that are anime, I started really getting interested in Japanese and Korean culture, which with as little as I know now, I really like it. I wish I knew the languages though.I know when a lot of people think of anime (those people that are unfamiliar), they probably think of shows like Pokem...
More About: Anime , Girl

Worst hockey logo ever
2007-05-02 04:50:00
I'm not sure if you all know this, but I'm a hockey fan. More particularly, I'm a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, but I could watch any game of hockey over my favorite team in, oh, let's say basketball. I'll choose a Penguins game over any football or baseball game. So yeah, I like my hockey. I remember back in the early 90's when I became a fan of the sport. I used to like certain teams a little bit, one of them being the Vancouver Canucks. I wasn't a big fan of theirs. Maybe I liked them just because they had Pavel Bure. I'm not really sure. But their logo was kind of cool (right).Then I found out later what a canuck was supposed to be. A canuck was simply a Canadian. Well, that's not nearly as interesting as something I had no idea about. Whatever. I guess Canadians were already taken (but more French, Montreal Canadiens). And Northerners were already taken (again, more French, Quebec Nordiques). Canadian teams make good names for themselves.Anyways, so they took ...
More About: Hockey , Logo

Meme me - Why I blog
2007-05-01 20:27:00
Hey, it's another meme! This time from my friend over at SomeGoSoftly. The topic pretty much tells it all. So, here I will discuss why I blog.When I went to school at UTexas, I, for some reason, got into English after giving up on Engineering. Yeah, I know. Don't ask. But if I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have taken one of the greatest classes ever, creative fictional writing. I like writing, especially after having taken that class. I'm a strange person though, where I would rather write and write and write before reading anything. I'm not a big fan of reading, unless it's something quick and easy like an article online.So, when my SomeGoSoftly friend invited me onto MySpace way back when (about 2 years ago), I noticed there was a blog feature which I never really planned on using. And I was successful for a while. But that all changed. I eventually gave in, but I thought it was an easy way to keep me writing and doing something I'm interested in, but in a low-k...
More About: Meme , Blog

Writing fiction
2007-05-01 18:59:00
I haven't written anything fictional in a long while. Though I like it, I just haven't taken much time to do so. But for some reason, the recent VT shootings made me think what it would be like to be inside the mind of someone as affected as the shooter was. I wondered if somehow I could imagine myself in his shoes, just getting a glimpse of what the thoughts are like.This is just a story. I'm just starting with a vein of inspiration in getting into a mind of a kid like this. I don't know where it will lead me as I will let my thoughts transgress as I type along. I do not wish to possibly offend anyone if that happens. I am just writing what is going through my head, and I just hope it comes out decently enough.I'm awake again. The room is black, except for the small glow in the corner that houses my alarm clock. Tilting my head up, I can see it's 2:something. My eyes haven't adjusted and I'm not going to put on my glasses. I've been in bed for an hour or so, but...
More About: Writing , Fiction

One day blog silence
2007-04-30 17:59:00
Today, a lot of blogs are going silent. These blogs are remembering those that had fallen in the Virginia Tech massacre that happened two weeks ago.Taking the lead is OneDayBlog Silence .com, a website unifying the bloggers worldwide to lend their hearts for a day for those that died.It may be obvious, but I have not personally taken that route. A couple reasons. At first, I had forgotten about this day when I was typing out my new thoughts earlier. I hadn't written in several days and I had a few things that I wanted to get out.But even if I had remembered, I probably wouldn't have volunteered for such an event. I may not have posted anything due to forgetfulness or lack of inspiration, but I wouldn't have just not posted something.If you want to remember someone(s), then remember them. Talk about them. Discuss them. They would like to know that people out there are discussing this and remembering them and trying to figure out how to prevent this from happening again.So, m...

If I created a television show, part 2
2007-04-30 17:57:00
Expanding on my thoughts in a previous blog...So, again, the premise is that I would create a television show that is based around traveling on a road trip. I sketched out the basic idea in my previous post, but I had thought about it a little bit more and I'll try to clarify some of the details here.So, one of the first things I'd need to have if I was to make a show about road tripping would be a video camera. Hey, that kind of makes sense. I'd personally get a digital video camera that's small and easily hand-held, and one that I could maneuver easily. A flip screen would pretty much be necessary and I wouldn't be that able to look through a viewfinder while driving, or even while walking around from place to place.Of course this wouldn't be my standard if I was actually cool enough to have a show of my own, but it's how I kind of envision it starting off. It's not the film quality that's important from the start, it's the vision. So, for my purposes, a camera lik...
More About: Television , Show , Part

Meme me - Movies
2007-04-30 15:40:00
Now, while memes like this kind of leave a bad taste in my mouth, mainly because they remind me of bulletins in MySpace, I felt I had to do this one when I saw it. It's about movies. It should be fun. Visit the page I stole it from. Or steal it from me. Either way, just have fun with it.1. Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times.Dumb and Dumber2. Name a movie that you’ve seen multiple times in the theater.Snatch3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to see a movie.Will Smith4. Name an actor that would make you less likely to see a movie.Adam Sandler5. Name a movie that you can quote from.Full Metal Jacket6. Name a movie musical that you know all the lyrics to all the songs.Not answering this question to prevent any self-incrimination. To be honest, I don't think there are any that I know that well.7. Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with.D2 - The Mighty Ducks 28. Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see.The Shawshank Rede...
More About: Movies , Meme

Amusement parks
2007-04-24 19:10:00
It's summertime and the weather is hot. You can stretch right up and touch the sky. When the weather if fine, you got women you got women on your mind...Whoops. Didn't mean to get into a full Mungo Jerry song. But it's that time of year again. The sun is out, warming up everything, getting us ready for the end of school. Everyone wants to be outside again after another season of cabin fever. And what more wondrous place to visit than the local amusement park!I've had the pleasure to visit quite a few amusement parks over the years. I've always been a great fan of the riding of the roller coasters. They're just asking to be ridden. I'm there to oblige. I'm kind of a fan of thrill rides in general. I like rides that drop you from great heights, or big screen simulator rides, or swinging ships, or other such rides. And you gotta have some funnel cake while you're out there. Nothing like a sweetened pastry to make your day just that much better. And you probably ...
More About: Amusement , Parks

Ninja Warrior
2007-04-23 15:58:00
A couple years ago, I visited Korea. One of my most vivid memories is sitting in front of the television watching the shows that they watch over there. They had shows that everyone in the family watched. Their soap opera type shows came on during the evening for everyone to watch. Just watching the news felt different. And their game shows were usually hilarious.Game shows are different over on that side of the ocean. Usually they're more based around activities, stunts, and generally making fools of yourselves. The one I remember best is based on the old "telephone" children's game. You may know the game by a different name, but the concept is the same. In the original game, one person starts off with a phrase or a sentence. That person whispers it to the person beside him, who then in turn whispers it down the line. Then the last person reveals the sentence and how intact it remained as it got passed along.Well, in this game, there were four players. All the players ...
More About: Ninja , Warrior

Video games and violent tendencies
2007-04-20 20:02:00
I consider myself a gamer. I love games of almost all forms. I play them on my computer, on console systems, with cards, boards, or whatever else I can think of. I like fast paced shooters, slowly developing puzzles, socially interactive multi-player games, and all the rest. That's right, I like games.And, I like to consider myself relatively well-adjusted. I am fairly intelligent and I have a relatively mild personality. I am part of an online community of gamers that are all also well-adjusted. They're all considered older gamers, which probably helps, but knowing them, I have my doubts they grew up as problem children.And we play all types of games. It seems to us the more violent the games, the more we enjoy it. If it involves shooting guns, we're all over it. We love shooting each other, then taunting each other about it. It's all fun and games for us. And that is all. But I don't think this attitude is only to aged gamers. There's a lot of mature gamers ou...
More About: Video , Video Games , Games , Video-Games , Viol

Gun violence
2007-04-19 18:12:00
Unless you've been living in a cave with your fingers in your ears, you probably know about the recent tragedy that Americans are responding to. Virginia Tech University had one of its students brazenly massacre nearly three dozen people on campus, seemingly without prejudice.The perpetrator of the crime was identified as Cho Seung-hui, a South Korean that moved to the United States in 1992.At times like this, it is amazing to see how people respond. Having something as large as this attack was, shock waves are bound to happen. Personally having been a student at the University of Texas, I immediately thought of the Charles Whitman attacks from the main tower on campus. I passed by that tower daily, and every once in a while I would think what he saw up there, and what passed through his mind that day.I was a senior in high school at the time the Columbine attacks took place. Since it happened in a high school, all public schools around the country took steps to tighten securi...
More About: Gun Violence , Violence , Viol

Meme me - G3
2007-04-19 00:21:00
Meme (n.) - A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.A meme is an idea, a thought, or something along those lines that is transmitted from one person to another. In the blogging world, it is transmitted from one blog to another, tagging other blogs in your post to follow in your footsteps. Imagine a pyramid scheme, minus the scheme. Or, if you will, imagine a bulletin on MySpace that you have to fill out because everyone else is.But some are good. Some get you thinking, not just superficially, but actually deep down look into yourself kind of thinking. And that's some good thinking.Well, I've been tagged. Twice, in fact. ViceZilla got me, then Nellioness tagged me later. So, I guess by popular demand, I'll cooperate. It looks like fun, so why not?This particular meme was started by Alex Shalman. The name: Gotta Get Goals. The concept: Name 5 to 10 over the top goals ...
More About: Meme

I'm back!
2007-04-18 03:39:00
I know some of you have been waiting more than patiently for my return. I'm back and I'll be writing stuff soon. Got a bunch of stuff to catch up on, which is expected when I lose touch with reality for a week and a half. Can't wait to write up some more stuff.plur
More About: Back

Easter, and other stuff
2007-04-06 22:45:00
Easter is a strange holiday. Well, maybe not so strange in itself, but how we celebrate it is very strange.First of the major traditions is Easter eggs. What the heck do eggs have anything to do with Easter, or the resurrection of Christ, or anything with Christianity? Why do they have to be painted? What's up with all the pastel colors?And the Easter bunny. Again, what's a fluffy walking rabbit have anything to do anything with anything? He doesn't even talk! And rabbits don't lay eggs, so what the heck does the rabbit and the eggs have to do with each other?Somehow I think we had a couple good ideas for a holiday get bunched together to make it more trippy than a hippie on acid. And people don't even think twice about it. Walking untalking bunnies handing out pastel painted eggs on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of spring to celebrate the resurrection of Christ (which should happen 3 days after he died on Good Friday, which makes sense...
More About: Easter , Stuff , Aster