Study, Study, Study

I woke up this morning to my alarm clock at 6:45AM and went right back to sleep. Some time after eight my wife came back into the bedroom and said "you realize it's after eight right?". I replied "yep!", and then I went back to sleep. About nine o' clock I got up and ate some cereal, and choked down some coffee. My wife asked if I was going in late, and I said "nope! ... I'm not going in at all!".

Yesterday I snuck around the office all day looking for a good place to sit and study. But it's really hard to study at work. I have found that the other instructors barely show up at all to work when they are not teaching, so why should I? I didn't even shower until about 11:00AM.

I can't say it was an enjoyable day off. I have been reading over practice questions all damned day getting ready for the big test. I hate all this studying. There are so many other things I would rather be working on. I think when I began studying for my MCSE I was all for it. I believed in my heart that I would be rewarded for my hard work. Now, I seriously doubt I will. I will be teaching more, and making the company more money. But I myself, will still be $100 short on my bills every month.

I have decided that after my exam tomorrow (whether I pass or fail) I am going to find a quiet corner with my laptop and work on my book the rest of the day. Enough is enough with this shit.

Current Mood: Burnt Out *again*
Musical Inspiration: The Propellerheads

Gloop Books Presents:

I have decided that courseware really sucks. When I say "courseware" I am referring to the 100 page or so leaflets that my training company pays $150+ for. I don't know what pisses me off more. The fact that they pay so much for them, or that I have to teach from the damned things. They are always out of date, and I know I can do better. So I think I will start writing courseware. I am starting with "Linux+". Because the major courseware vendors (like Element K) can't make a good Linux+ class book to save their asses.

Anyhow, before I go off writing courseware, I should finish the first book I started writing months ago. Many of you are hanging on hoping I release this book sometime this decade. When I went back through it yesterday I was thinking to myself, "this is a great book!" ... but it definitely needs some work to finish it up. For one, I need to do a bit more Wardriving and collect some material for the book.

With my battery acting up, I can't accomplish much. Unless hook up the ol' power inverter and drive around with that running in my car seat. I am in the process of getting a replacement. I think until then, I will work with some areas of the book that I never finished. Such as "wireless card modification" and "cantenna creations". I have some great photographs to put in this book. You will love them.

When I am closer to being done, I will also put up some sample content for everyone. I plan on publishing this book through CafePress.com. The cost will be relatively low. I am going to keep the cost of the book under $20, and hopefully still get it published in a hardbound format.

I have been working on a cover, which reflects the design and theme of Gloop Dot Net in general, as I hope to grow "Gloop Books" into a somewhat lucrative business. Some of that will be from personal projects like my Wardriving book, but the real money will probably be made on courseware. Seeing how I can turn a $40+ profit on every courseware sale, and the wardriving book will be practically free.

Let me know what you think about the cover. I think it's pretty damned funny. You will also notice that there is nothing technical about the photo on the front. That was intentional. The back of the book will feature more technical photos of cantennas, laptop modding, etc.

Current Mood: Jolly Good, thanks.
Musical Inspiration: iTunes Radio (bubble-gum trance)

Free iPods ... No, I mean, really.

Don't you hate it when you are are trying to surf websites, and you get some idiotic ad that tells you to "shoot the ipod and win"? Anyhow, it seems that there are some legitimate people out there giving away free iPods. It's a new method of mass marketing. It makes sense when you think about it. Let's say I sign up for a subscription service, and then get five of my friends to do the same. We have just justified the cost of the iPod.

You can call it what you want, but what it means is that getting iPods for nothing, isn't just some shitty spam method. There is this website with the ultra clever name of freeiPods.com. I went there a few months ago after I read about it somewhere and created an account with them. It REALLY looks like a scam. I didn't want to get spammed, so I created a new email account, and used it to sign up. A few months later, I never got any mail to the account, and I had forgotten why I created it to begin with. Oh yeah! That free iPod thing.

I decided to search around for more info on this free iPod website. Expecting to find a bunch of dismayed, and pissed off people I found a bunch of Blog entries from people who were happily posing with their new free toys and bragging about it. One guy runs a site called freeiPodGuide.com and he took pictures of everything. Not just the iPod he got, but the truck delivering it to his home. It's quite a hoot.

Wired magazine wrote an article on the site and interviewed the marketing folks behind it. They actually ship dozens of iPods daily, and make pretty good money with the whole system.

So here is how it works.

Create an account - This is just your email address, and a simple password (they really wont spam you, I tested it)

Chose your prize! - You can re-chose later, but the prize is one of many model iPods (classic 20GB or 4GB mini), or a $250 gift certificate to iTunes Music Store.

Sign Up for ONE Offer (you have a dozen to chose from) - This is the part where you need to buy something. I will explain in a moment.

Refer 5 Friends - Five of your buddies must do this too. This is how they are able to give you a $250 toy for nothing.

You knew there was a catch, you have to BUY something. But really, the catch is not a catch at all. They are give you some services to chose from, and they are not all bad. I think I will go with the Blockbuster service. It's like "Netflix". You can rent movies online, and they are shipped out to you the same day. You can have up to three at a time, just like Netflix. But, Netflix is $24.99 a month. Blockbuster's service is $19.99, and they let you have 2 free in-store rentals too. If I rent two movies a month, I spend $20 easily because I always accumulate gigantic late fees. Anyhow, it's a pretty good deal.

The other services are things like credit card offers, diet pills, ISP's, etc. None of them really interested me that much. Oh, there was one where you can buy postage online, and print postage labels. While that's neat, PayPal does that for me and I don't pay anything extra for it.

The bottom line is that I gave it a shot, and so should you. If five of you out there follow my link, you will earn me an iPod, and you will be on your way to earning your own iPod as well.

Did I mention you can cancel any of these "services" whenever you want? They say you have to keep your Blockbuster server for at least the two weeks of the free trial period. So basically, you need to stay on with them for at least one month. But if you ask me, $20 for an iPod is a pretty good damned deal. Don't you think? And you could watch a couple of movies using a service that you might just enjoy.

If you sign up, do it with this link!! That way, you are using my referral ID and helping me out. ;-)

It's Like Powerpoint

A short while ago, I attended the Apple sponsered "Pro Day" at my local Apple Store. I wasn't really interested in the topic at hand, I just wanted to talk to someone who works with Apple's business and small business department. I have a dream of bringing Apple training and consultation into my current employer. Of course I would want to drive and lead this department.

My goal today was to collect some materials on "how Apple fits into our equation". I think I may have wasted my time. I arrived at about 11:30AM, and the event was to begin at noon. I didn't see anyone else waiting around, but I was early.

I was eager to see the new iMac that debued just yesterday at the Apple Expo in France. But ... the stores don't have the new iMac yet, and won't until mid September some time. So I poked around the store thumbing through books, and dirtying up the demo models.

At 12 noon, one of the store associates wandered to a podium in the back of the store and announced that the Apple Pro day demonstration was about to begin. At that point, I took my seat in the Apple "theater". This theater is just a large projection screen hooked to an iMac which the speaker can stand next to while he "demo's things". After sitting down, two other guys wandered over and lingered near by. They were waiting for their repaired laptop to show up and just wanted to waste some time.

Today's topic, "Keynote". I have heard of Keynote, but I have never used it. The Apple guy told us, "it's like Powerpoint". I was waiting for him to add "... only better", but that never came out. He continued to rush through the presentation, seeming annoyed that my presence required him to go through the whole song and dance about what this product does. It was pretty mindless stuff. You can add pictures. You can add text. You can change your pictures and text. You can throw in transition effects. Yeah, you get the idea.

After about five minutes, the two guys who were standing around, slid away. And there I was, the only listener. The Apple guy continued for another five minutes or so, rushing through the presentation. Then he asks me, "any questions about Keynote?". I replied, "no, but I have an alterior motive for being here". I looked around and said "but I don't want to ruin this presentation for the rest of the audience". It was a joke, you see.

At this point I stood up and walked over to sit down next to the speaker, and he clicked off his phallic microphone that had been lingering dangerously close to his face. I went on to tell him that I work for a company offering training and consulting that is 100 percent Microsoft. I added that I would like to offer Apple services of some kind, whether it be mentoring/consulting, or if possible, training. I also told him that I had been on the website and read a bunch of documents that seemed straight forward, but I was interested in talking one on one with an Apple Business specialist.

It was clear to me then that I was not in contact with an Apple Business specialist. This guy was just a general staffer of the store, and maybe a "Genius Bar" worker. I guess I can't expect Apple to send out a business representative once a week for a 10 minute product demo. The Apple dude proceeded to bring up Apples website, clicked on Support, and then brought up some business related materials. "Have you looked at this stuff?", he asked. Actually, I hadn't. I had been looking in a different area of the website which was geared more towards businesses who wanted help from Apple. This stuff was geared for businesses wanting to help other businesses who use Apple products.

The Apple dude then went on to click on a few things, and shrug a lot. Then he tells me, "none of this is really managed locally" ... "if I were you, I would send an e-mail to the folks in California".

All right, so I wasted my time. But it was still fun to drive out to the "expensive mall" and play with toys I can't afford.

I headed right home afterward to study, but when I arrived home I found my wife and kids were missing. They also locked the house ... and I don't have a key. That's all right. It's a nice day to sit on my steps, use my wireless connection to blog, and maybe get some studying done.

And while I was sitting here, blogging to you about Apple blowing me off, and not wanting to study for my next Microsoft exam ... the mail lady pulled up. She was holding a Microsoft Welcome kit out of her Jeep window. I wondered when I was going to get that kit. It looked like it had been through utter hell. Stamped across the top was "DO NOT BEND". Well, someone didn't follow instructions.

Anyhow. I opened up my kit. There is my new wallet card and lapel pin. There was also a big sealed envelope telling me all about the "rules and requirements" of being a Microsoft lackie. Great. My new benefit package is nothing more than a "congratulations" from a laser printed template, and a 90 page disclaimer in 5 point print. It's like giving a dog a new dog collar for Christmas. It looks nice ... but oh yeah, "I'm owned".

Does this career get any better? I think in another life I was an airplane pilot, or a fireman.

Catching Up With Photos

I have taken a lot of pictures lately, and I haven't shared them. So now, it's photo time!

My son had his first football game on Sunday. I wanted to take pictures, but I couldn't find my digital camera. Where the hell did I leave it? I tried to remember the last time I used it. Oh, that's right. I took pictures of my muffler project and left the camera in the garage. So, here are some shots of my muffler project. I did this a few weekends ago.

This first shot is of my old muffler, off the Bug. As you can see, the muffler was DESPERATELY in need of replacement.



The new muffler just needed a little cleanup. It had a few small surfuce rust spots from sitting on the previous owners garage floor for the past 30 years. I sanded down the rusty stuff, and coated the muffler with a rust-killer and preventative. Hence, the shiny looking stuff.



I primed the new muffler. Looks good doesn't it? By the way, don't spray primer on a windy day. I think I am still picking gray goop out of my arm hair. I was going to take a picture of the new muffler installed with tailpipes and all ... but I guess I forgot.



So onto the next photos?

The First Game

This past Sunday my son had his first football game. We took some shots of him and his sister before they got their outfits trashed. It had been raining that morning, and the field was pretty muddy.







My daughter is a little young to be an official cheerleader, but we bought her an outfit so she could support her brother. It was a little short ... so you might notice we put pink shorts on underneath her outfit. And it was a good thing too because it was a tad chilly that morning.

Here is a shot of Bella with her Aunt Tanya.



Unfortunately, most of the other shots I took of the game looked like shit. But then, I don't know that it was a memorable game anyway. These kids didn't seem to have the most competent coaching staff. The team they played against had actually practice real football, while their team had spent weeks on retarded excersices. We knew they were in for trouble when the coaches had a cursing match with each other at practice just a few days before.

I caught this nice picture of Andy's girlfriend Abby, who came to support him (along with her mom and sister). They all came by our house later for a cookout and had a pretty good time.



I should have taken some pictures at our cookout. The weather just broke from drizzle, to straight sunshine, and it was perfect for a BBQ! I think I must have been manning the grill most of the time and I forgot about photo op's. Aw well. Of all that food we cooked up, there was very little left over. That made us happy. Aparently, our food was pretty damned good and it disappeared. We had a pretty good turnout too.

You never know what you will find when you empty out a flash card from your camera. The last couple of photos must have been taken by my wife. Today was the kids first day at school. It was day 1 of third grade for my son, and my daughters fist day of school ... EVER. I know it's going to be pretty hard on my wife. Our babies are growing up!!! :-( Okay, it's hard on me too.

Here are a few shots of my little girl, who is not so little any more.





And then I found pictures of my two dogs? I'm not sure if you know them. This is Angel (aka Black Girl).



And this is her son, Tubby (aka Brown Ass).



I also took some pictures of my wife naked! But ... I don't really have time to post them. See you later.

Our Stuff Is Pretty Too

I happened upon Microsoft's web page the other day checking to see if XP Service Pack 2 was public yet, and what did I find? Another attempt to draw attention away from what Apple is doing. Every once in a while, Microsoft attempts to show that they too have some artistic skills. Unfortunately for us, it's always a 'slapped on' design over top of something that was unattractive. It's kind of like taking a really ugly old car, and taking it to Maaco to be painted. In the end, it's a really well painted Chevy Citation.

apparently Microsoft gave up trying to get their own design department in gear, so they hired a real artist, Philipe Starck. He is best known for his many awards for architecture and design. But Philipe, we need to talk about this mouse of yours.

First of all this mouse looks like something I would pass up at Odd Lot's. The choice of color is extremely poor. I'm sure it looks better in person, but from the pictures I am seeing it looks like a Logitech knock off. That awful dark shiny gray stuff must be made from melted down GI Joe jeeps and machine guns. They claim it's a wonderful mouse to use, but I can only imagine that's because your hand will be covering it most of the time and you will often forget how ugly it is.

The real kicker was the picture of the artist, along with a wonderful quote which indicates his mouse is a meaningful art piece. Uh ... ye-ah. I couldn't help but bash them by screwing with their photo art. It's a parody, so they can't be too mad at me.



So kids, go get yourself a Starck mouse. They only run you about $30, which surprised me. I was expecting a price tag of $100. I guess that's $25 back to Mr. Starck, and $5 for the actual mouse. That makes sense.

Ralphs Dilema

I wrote up half a Blog entry and decided not to post it just yet. My Blogs have been nothing more than a bitch-fest lately. I decided to do us all a favor and put something fun here today. So, here is a cartoon I doodled in MS Paint. I vented, and enjoyed about an hour of a Friday afternoon NOT STUDYING. I hope you thoroughly enjoy it.

Click Here - (It's just a big image)