This post has multiple parts to it, so fair warning I’m guessing this one is going to be long.   Lately I’ve been more and more annoyed at traditional hard copy media.  It’s a pain in the butt to deal with and takes up way too much physical space (for those that know me you find that sentence greatly amusing).

Pictures

This started happening over the last year with photo albums.   Photo albums are terrible.   It means normally that one person has a copy of the image and you can’t share them.  It is essentially technology of the last generation.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a believer in having prints, but the pictures themselves.

I’ve made it my mission to start getting the family photos and scanning them in.   I’ve managed to get most of my father’s photos from the era he was with my mother.   The ones I’m missing are any he has of the kids hanging on the walls in his house.   My next run is going to be the pictures from his current family (so a good 15-16 years worth of pictures to go).

My grandmother on the other hand has been very tightfisted with her photos.  I can understand her being protective, but so far I’ve managed to get 59 photos out of her to scan (out of literally over a 1000-2000).   I have managed to scan my photo album, and more recently used the digital SLR and took pictures of my scrap book from high school.   So both of these can be tucked away in boxes that I don’t need to look at and take up physical space in my house.

All the photos I have are now uploaded to Flickr.   You can also read about my photo sharing issue with my mother over here.

Continued tomorrow in part 2

My complete and daily online activity for you to go all voyeuristic on.

	8:00am	Creeva shared a link on Google Reader. Enjoy the Sounds of Classic Arcade Videogames
	8:00am	Creeva scrobbled 2 songs on Last.fm. (Hide Details) leolaporte – TWiT 180: How Is Babby Formed leolaporte – TWiT 181: I Am Not Spock
	8:22am	Creeva posted 8 items. (Hide Details) LeVar Burton, The Internet’s Latest Superstar [none] [none] [none] We Are Having A Baby [none] [none] [none]
	9:30am	Creeva updated their status on Facebook. Brent tired and cranky.
	10:59am	Creeva updated their status on Facebook. Brent LeVar Burton, The Internet’s Latest Superstar – http://s3nt.com/da0x.
	11:00am	Creeva posted a note on Tumblr. LeVar Burton, The Internet’s Latest Superstar – http://s3nt.com/da0x
	11:02am	Creeva posted a note on Tumblr. LeVar Burton, The Internet’s Latest Superstar
	11:27am	Creeva posted 14 photos on Flickr. (Hide Details)
	11:27am	Creeva posted a note on Tumblr. 02-26-09_1122
	11:38am	Creeva posted a note on Tumblr. 02-26-09_1128
	11:54am	Creeva posted a note on Tumblr. LeVar Burton, The Internet’s Latest Superstar
	12:36pm	Creeva updated their status on Facebook. Brent so much to do, so little time.
	1:24pm	Creeva dugg 12 links on Digg. (Hide Details)
	1:24pm	Creeva dugg 2 links on Digg. (Hide Details) Riding the Rails? Know Your Hobo Signs (PIC) Will Ferrell & Mark Wahlberg Team Up For A-Team Spoof
	2:34pm	Creeva updated their status on Facebook. Brent water – it does a body good.
	2:48pm	Creeva updated their status on Facebook. Brent This weeks chain mail of the week is about a drug recall from 2000 – not even worth blogging about, so just sending out an fyi.
	4:56pm	Creeva posted 2 items. (Hide Details) LeVar Burton, The Internet’s Latest Superstar We Are Having A Baby
	5:55pm	Creeva posted 2 items. (Hide Details) LeVar Burton, The Internet’s Latest Superstar We Are Having A Baby
	5:55pm	Creeva published 4 blog posts. (Hide Details) LeVar Burton, The Internet’s Latest Superstar We Are Having A Baby We Are Having A Baby LeVar Burton, The Internet’s Latest Superstar
	5:55pm	Creeva updated their status on Facebook. Brent We Are Having A Baby – http://s3nt.com/dbme.
	5:56pm	Creeva bookmarked 14 links on Delicious. (Hide Details) No description available. LeVar Burton – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia No description available. No description available. Burton’s Star on Flickr – Photo Sharing! LeVar Burton — Because 140 characters isn’t always enough Diggnation — Revision3 The TWiT Netcast Network with Leo Laporte The TWiT Netcast Network with Leo Laporte Twitter / BrentSpiner Twitter / creeva Twitter / levarburton LeVar Burton Adobe – Adobe Flash Player
	5:56pm	Creeva posted 6 tweets on Twitter. (Hide Details) tired and cranky LeVar Burton, The Internet’s Latest Superstar – http://s3nt.com/da0x so much to do, so little time water – it does a body good This weeks chain mail of the week is about a drug recall from 2000 – not even worth blogging about, so just sending out an fyi We Are Having A Baby – http://s3nt.com/dbme
	5:56pm	Creeva posted 6 Jaikus on Jaiku. (Hide Details) tired and cranky LeVar Burton, The Internet’s Latest Superstar – http://s3nt.com/da0x so much to do, so little time water – it does a body good This weeks chain mail of the week is about a drug recall from 2000 – not even worth blogging about, so just sending out an fyi We Are Having A Baby – http://s3nt.com/dbme
	5:56pm	Creeva posted 2 items. (Hide Details) LeVar Burton, The Internet’s Latest Superstar We Are Having A Baby
	5:57pm	Creeva posted a note on Tumblr. We Are Having A Baby
	6:54pm	Creeva posted a note on Tumblr. We Are Having A Baby

Image from here

A few weeks ago I wrote about the NYPD want the ability to turn disable cellphone coverage in the case of a terrorist attack. Now it seems that states and local governments are fighting for their own ability to do that.   In my previous story I pointed how fruitless and ineffective it would truly be during a terrorist attack, I think it’s insane.   The question I have now has anyone thought about how this is a terrorist attack against our own people?

The idea of a terrorist is that they use fear as an attack weapon.   If there is an emergency going on and people can not get through to there loved ones that this wouldn’t inspire fear.   Heck it may scare some people if they can’t send a message about the emergency to Twitter or Facebook.  We’ve all seen enough movies that we are ingrained as a people if hte enemy is going to attack they will cut off our communications so we can not coordinate a counter offensive properly.   This is an of it’s self stupid since something will always get through, example Independence Day and the Morse Code maneuver.  Yet this would scare and dare I say terrorize people since not only would you be scared since you can’t call, no one around you can call and is freaking out also.

This is a sad side effect of living in the era of constant communication, we take it for granted.   When it would be ripped away form us, and we wouldn’t know what is going on, what ideas is that going to put in your mind.  People in the middle america may think a cell tower is down, what if they drive an hour – even the most idiotic person isn’t going to think all the towers are down.   Some people may think since I’m saying that the government has an inadvertant take on an idea that could become a terrorist weapon that I’m a nut job.   I however think this is a fairly obvious look at human psychology.

When I was four years old I really wanted to see Flash Gordon, even at that young age I was a sci-fi junkie.  Neither of my parents however were too keen on seeing this, I think the answer was always no.  I’m not sure why – I think Queen was still popular at the time.   I know that it was based on pop ideals and all in all it wasn’t that great of the movie – but geeze when your four year old is obsessed with something this small and it isn’t going to hurt him in anyway, indulge him.

My grandmother in Greenville seemed to agree with my modern view point on it.    We were down visiting and she agreed to take me.   We only managed to get down to see my grandparents in Greenville a couple times a year, so my grandmother spoiled me when she got the chance.  We went to the movies and I loved it, to this day I still immensely enjoy this movie, more now because of the memories then the movie itself.   After the movie my grandmother took me to McDonald’s and I had a hamburger and french fries with lots of ketchup.

What I have outside of memories is the rest of the story that I had forgotten over the years in direct memory, my parents in later years filled in the blanks.  My grandmother originally was going to get me some food during the movie’s intermission.   It had been so many years since my grandmother had been to the movies, that she thought there still was intermissions.   By the time the movie was over she felt bad that I hadn’t eaten and taken me to McDonald’s.

This grandmother died when I was young,  so I only have a few vague memories and stories about her.  I’m sure the rest I have will make it to the blog eventually.   The interesting side note is my wife once criticized Flash Gordon, I relayed this story to her, and never since has she bad mouthed the movie.

Every once in a while I actually do one of the stupid chain letter things – this one seemed right up my alley – so let’s look at the results.  Further discussion at the end.

SUPPOSEDLY if you’ve seen over 85 films, you have no life. Mark the ones you’ve seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own facebook account, paste this as a note. Then, put x’s next to the films you’ve seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom. Have fun.

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease – own it
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean – own it
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest – own it
(x) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club – own it
(x) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story – own it
(x) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
Total: 10

(x) The Princess Bride – own it
(x) Anchorman
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
(x) The Dark Crystal -  own it
(x ) Saw
(x) Saw II
(x) White Noise
(x) Vanilla Sky – own it
(x) Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates -  own it
(x) Fletch
(x) Fletch Lives
Total so far: 22

(x) Scream -  own it
(x) Scream 2 – own it
(x) Scream 3
(x) Scary Movie
(x) Scary Movie 2  - own it
(x) Scary Movie 3
(x) Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
(x) American Pie 2
(x) American Wedding
(x) American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 33

(x) Harry Potter 1 -  own it
(x) Harry Potter 2 -  own it
(x) Harry Potter 3 -  own it
(x) Harry Potter 4
(x) Top Gun -  own it
(x) Can’t Hardly Wait
(x) The Wedding Singer
() Little Black Book
(x) Happy Gilmore -  own it
(x) Mr. Magorum’s Emporium
Total so far: 42

(x) Finding Nemo
(x) Finding Neverland -  own it
(x) The Dark Knight
(x) The Grinch -  own it
(x) Monster Squad
(X) The Gate -  own it
(x) White Men Can’t Jump
(x) The Butterfly Effect
(X) Bubba HoTep -  own it
(X) I am Legend
(x) Money Train
Total so far: 53

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
(x) National Lampoons Vacation
(x) National Lampoons European Vacation
(x) National Lampoons Christmas Vacation -  own it
(x) Caddyshack
(x) Caddyshack 2
(x) The Hudsucker Proxy
(x) Fast Times at Ridegmont High
(x) Clueless -  own it
() 9 Months
(x) Death to Smoochy
(x) The Sting
Total so far: 64

(x) SpaceBalls
(x) The Terminal
(x) Robin Hood: Men in Tights -  own it
(x) Forget Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
(x) Dumber & Dumberer
(x) Final Destination
(x) Final Destination 2
(x) Final Destination 3
(x) Halloween
(x) Pulp Fiction -  own it
(x) Dirty Dancing -  own it
(x) Eurotrip
(x) Roadtrip
Total so far: 78

(x) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(x) Harold & Kumar: Escape From Guantanamo Bay
(x) That Thing You Do
(x) The Jerk
(x) From Hell – own it
(x) Hellboy
() 2 Girls and a Guy
(x) Rear Window
(x) The Whole Nine Yards -  own it
(x) The Whole Ten Yards -  own it
Total so far: 87

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
(x) Liar Liar
(x) War Games -  own it
(x) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off -  own it
(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
(x) Iron Man
(x) Gothika
(x) Howard The Duck-  own it
(x) Sixteen Candles
(x) Just One of The Guys
(x) Breakin’
() Breakin’ 2: Electric Bugaloo
(x) Ski Party
(x) The Mask -  own it
(x) Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 101

(x) Bad Boys
(x) Bad Boys 2
(x) Joy Ride
(x) Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean’s Eleven
(x) Ocean’s Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremecy
(x) Bourne Ultimatum
(x) Bedazzled
(x) Predator I – own it
(x) Predator II
() Kicking and Screaming
(x) Ice Age
(x) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
(x) Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory -  own it
Total so far: 116

(x) Independence Day -  own it
(x) Casino
(x) Resevior Dogs
(x) Back to School
(x) Christine
(x) ET
(x) Children of the Corn
(x) Summer Rental
(x) Batteries not included – own it
(x) Catch and Release
(x) Rush Hour -  own it
(x) Rush Hour 2 -  own it
Total so far: 128

(x) The Crow -  own it
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She’s All That
() Calendar Girls
(x) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
(x) Smokey and The Bandit -  own it
(x) Smokey and The Bandit 2 -  own it
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump – own it
(x) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator – own it
(x) The Terminator 2-  own it
(x) The Terminator 3
Total so far: 141

(x) X-Men – own it
(x) X-2 -  own it
(x) X-Men: The Last Stand
(x) Spider-Man -  own it
(x) Spider-Man 2 – own it
(x) Tango and Cash
(x) Jeepers Creepers
(x) Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday
(x) American Psycho -  own it
(x) Jumper
(x) Cruel Intentions
(x) Cruel Intentions 2
(x) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 159

(x) Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street
(x) Old School
() The Notebook
(x) K-Pax
() Little Big League
() A Walk to Remember
(x) Tropic Thunder
(x) Boogeyman
(x) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 166

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring -  own it
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers -  own it
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King -  own it
(x) Raiders of the Lost Ark -  own it
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom -  own it
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade -  own it
Total so far: 172

(x) Baseketball
(x) Hostel
() Waiting for Guffman
(x) House of 1000 Corpses
(x) The Devil’s Rejects
(x) Elf
(x) The Big Lebowski
(x) Mothman Prophecies
(x) American History X
() Threesome
Total so Far: 180

() The Jacket
(x) Kung Fu Hustle
(x) Shaolin Soccer
(x) It -  own it
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic -  own it
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail -  own it
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
(x) Hot Fuzz
Total so far: 188

() High Tension
(x) Club Dread
(x) Nick Fury : Agent of Shield
(x) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook -  own it
(x) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(x) 28 Days Later
(x) Orgazmo
(x) Super Troopers
(x) Waterworld
Total so far: 197

(x) Kill Bill vol 1
(x) Kill Bill vol 2
(x) Mortal Kombat
() Wolf Creek
(x) Suburban Commando
() Mr Nanny
() I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
() The Last House on the Left
() Re-Animator
(x) Army of Darkness -  own it
Total so far: 202

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace -  own it
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones -  own it
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith -  own it
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope -  own it
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back -  own it
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi -  own it
( x) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage -  own it
(x ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor -  own it
Total so far: 210

(x) Point Break -  own it
(x) Dogma
(x) Animatrix – -  own it
(x) Evil Dead -  own it
(x) Evil Dead 2 -  own it
(x) Team America: World Police
(x) Mallrats -  own it
(x) Silence of the Lambs -  own it
(x) Hannibal

Total 219

You see I already knew I had no life, so now you can see my movie choices – I think a bit of it is unfair since I’ve seen the original and remakes of a few movies on that list.  In that scenario should I count them twice.   I guess 219 out of 239 isn’t too bad, it’s also only the tip of the ice berg of what I’ve seen.   Heck tonight in the hotel room I’m in three movies have played so far while I’ve been catching up on blog articles.

I think I knew from our first date that my wife was going to be the one I was going to marry.   Granted I literally broke up with my ex the day before I asked her out, but it all worked out.   Though I was twenty -one and she was eighteen it was the first real date either of us had been on.   We had started “going out” with people before, but it was always meeting and doing things in social situations then you labeled as a couple and doing things was just being together and not really a date.  I did ask one girl out on a date previously, but it turned into a double date, so this was my first real date.

It was in September of 1997 and I managed to get off work early and get a hair cut, then I went out to one of our customers and bought her a bouquet of roses.   We went to Chi-Chi’s in Lorain, Ohio driving there in my 1986 Ford Escort.  I ordered a mexican pizza which they burned and she had me send back, and I believe she ordered the chimichanga’s .   We talked about going to the movies afterward and decided on Conspiracy Theory.   Walking to the car I asked her if I was the type of guy she could fall in love with (me=geek, not the best social skills).  She said maybe.   I asked her if I was the type of guy she could see herself marrying, she said she didn’t know.   We then drove over to the movie and had a wonderful time.

A few days later she was having problems with her parents, she was at a cross roads and all upset.  She was sitting on the front stoop of her friends house and that was the first time I ever told her I loved her.  She cried in my arms (not from me saying that, but because of the other stress) and said it back to me.   Three months later we were engaged. Thirteen months later on Jan 2, 1999 we got married.  From that first date until about 2004 when she went back to Ohio to visit family while I was stuck working in Oregon, we never spent more then 24 hours away from one another, over 2600 days of seeing each other at least once every day.

I’m not going to saying everything has always been fantastic, we’ve had our ups and downs.  We have managed to stay together and stay in love.   I love her more each day, and now she is going to be the mother of my child (last year we did say we would do something special for our 10th).  We are opposites, but we are also twins, we are stronger together then we are apart.  We are both critical thinkers, yet I’m the only one that thinks she is the better of the two of us – so sometimes she is wrong.

She is the core of my being and the center of my universe, even though I don’t always show it.   Her thoughts and dreams revolve around mine, like mine do around her.   She is my wife, and I love her.

Maximum PC recently ran an article titled 50 Skills Every Real Geek Should Have, I wanted to go through and see how I ranked in their skill list.   Let’s find out.

1. Name the Connectors – yes I was able to :)

2. Run your essential apps on a USB stick – no I don’t do this, I could – I just prefer to run everything in the cloud or on my N810 – which is with me most of the time.

3. Straighten Pins on a CPU – I have done this too many times

4. Know the 13 basic HTML Tags – well I kinda know most of them – I use freaking wordpress I hardly need to use HTML and when I do I look it up and hav ethe answer in seconds.   Though I do know quite a few by heart that aren’t listed in the basic 13.

5.  Get through to executive customer service – hey I read the consumerist.

6.  Beat quake in 60 minutes – maybe at one point in time, but I’m not big on FPS games.

7.  Build a Hackintosh – I know how, I just don’t the components that seem to work, and I’m a cheap bastard that won’t buy parts just to run OSX - I’ll stick with ubuntu as my alternative OS.

8.  Watch TV Online legally – um that’s how I watch 100% of my TV these days.

9.  Get around a content filter from a public computer – yes I know how, I’ve helped friends at other companies, it’s not worth it to do it at my own job though.

10. Recite Pi to 23 decimal places – nope – I have no inclination to ever learn either.

11. Replace the controller board on a hard drive – hey I did that once, it’s not a skill that comes up at parties though.

12.  Benchmark your computer – really?  Is this even on this list? Yes, I was doing this before I fully understood what the benchmarks meant on my 386 DX40.

13. Decorate your room with only printer paper – am I physically in the skill set to be able to do this?  Yes I am – would I?  No.  I’m more likely to decorate with NES cartridges.

14. Securely erase your data so it can’t be recovered – yes I am capable – it would be easier if you encrypted it first though.

15.  Get into a windows computer if you don’t have a password – yes I’ve done this quite a few times.

16.  Hide data from anyone – yes encryption, hidden volumes, stegnography (which I got bored with in 2001) – I am capable of doing all that – I’m more likely ot share my data then hide it though.

17. Explain what e=mc2 means – yes I would like the e=MC2 with a side of fries please – yes I am capable, but refuse to put in the details here since I want to make it through this list.

18.  Abstain from buying extended warranties – I may have bought one, once – it was on something i thoguht it fall apart though – so it’s all good.

19.  Use photoshop or gimp – yes I am capable.

20. Use a DSLR in full manual mode – I can – I’m just lazy and prefer it to do the work.

21. Mooch your neighbors wi-fi – my neighbor doesn’t have wi-fi but I’m ready to mooch when they do.

22. Protext your wi-fi – Wep2 currently – For a while I had mac filtering, I hated to keep getting mac addresses from visitors though.

23. Create an animated spray in Valve games – um – I don’t think I’ve played a single one for more then 5 minutes….so this one is a no.

24.  Setup RAID – yes I’ve done this a few times over the years for my home network.  Now implement Iscsi raid across multiple computers – that’s a challenge.

25. Calculate a Pitchers ERA – no I don’t know how – but I know google will give me the answer quicker then I can calculate it.

26. Run two Operating Systems – um I dual boot currently……

27. Install a hard drive in laptop – done before and some day I’ll do it again.

28. Pull off an elaborate prank – I think have the skill set and knowledge – I just never have – unless stealing street signs as a teenager counts.

29.  Rocket jump with a macro – um – I said I don’t really do FPS games – so no I can’t do this.

30.  Wire your home with ethernet – um every place I’ve lived with my wife we have had wired ethernet – we even used RG58 at one point.

31.  Know the 6 most important linux commands – yes I get command not found when I’m not thinking and run them in windows.

31. Rip your CDs to Flac – we did this for awhile then went back to MP3

32.  Stream Music, Movies, Pictures to any TV in the house – I’ve done this before – now we just carry our laptops around – shrug.

33.  Install and configure a VM – yes I’ve done this for literally years (maybe even a decade by now)

34.  Run multiple monitors – yes I use to dual monitor and run SWG on two different ones at the same time – I’m sad I know.

35. Run hacked firmware on a router – yes liek the rest of hte world I have a hacked linksys router /yawn.

36.  Pick a lock – I’m not good at it, but I’ve done it a couple times.

37.  Tell the difference between Dr. Pepper and Mr. Pibb – it’s been awhile but I think I could.

38.  Avoid DRM on everything – well streaming video legally that they talked about above seems to contradict this one doesn’t it.   However all my local video, music, picutres, and ebooks are DRM free.

39. Download a flash video and reformat it – yes I’ve done this – youtube videos locally stored on the N810 ftw.

40.  Get around in DOS – I grew up and DOS and resisted windows for a long time – so let’s just say yes.

41. Rip a DVD to h.264 – yes been there done that.

42.  Overclock your PC – yes I’ve done this my pride and joy was overclocking my AMD 133 mhz 486 to 160 MHZ – and it benchmarked and ran like a pentium 133 for half the cost.

43.  Use remote desktop – it’s part of my job – so yes.

44. Debate the merits of a star destroyer vs. the enterprise – yes, and the star destroyer would win.

45. Buld your own computer – built too many to actually count – I’m serious to – I worked at a small PC store and we sold hundreds – thousands of machines – so I cna build my own.

In irony they don’t seem to actually have 50 things on their list – so I think most geeks should know how to count also.