Ipod Graveyard

A longtime favorite news feed "engadget", had a great article on past iPods today. It reminded of me of that first ipod back in '03. The 3rd Generation iPod arrived as I was drooling over the Apple online store with my credit card out. I might have had some control if i hadn't been spending my time wandering the isles of Compusa, returning to the Digital Audio counter time and time again. I am glad I became a iPod owner. But be warned that second apple purchase will be much more easy to make. You will realize after using apple products that although they are sold at a premium they don't have the compatibility problems of the past. (example text.doc might be a word document emailed to my powerbook. I can pay for word like on my PC or use the openoffice port "NeoOfficeJ" but surprise surprise it opens with no programs installed!) Well once I grew to love my iPod I went dual platform with my desktop being PC and my first laptop in Aug. '04, a PowerBook. With the student discount a $399 iPod was $369 and $300 back with purchase of a Laptop. Well $69 for an iPod I couldn't pass up, so I got my 4th Generation which I still have today. I must say the new $299 ones with a color screen is making me think of another one. But a $199 2gig Nano is what has everyone talking. Sorry for my gushing about my Apple stuff. But its just so great. I got my sister a iPod Mini and my brother constantly has my Shuffle. My brother, who doesn't ever spend money even on books at CSUS (he uses the library reserve system), wants me to get one of the new iPod Nanos. Of which he couldn't remember the name and called it an iPod Galore or iPod Nemenor. I must say it is tempting with the color screen and near Shuffle size & Weight.

Globalization of the internet

LARGE COMPANIES CONSOLIDATE WEB CONTENT Globalization, Sometimes called Walmartization is picking up speed on the internet. This time, however, Walmart is not taking part as they have kept their quarter trillion dollor company out of the content market, which is what the internet is. This of course is not for lack of trying. They have moved into the music market but can't seem to beat out iTunes, and DVD rental which fell so far behind Blockbuster and Netflix that they nixed the idea and decided to just resale Netfllix service. The news of the day is that News Corp is buying IGN. Also known as "Snowball" network. Which includes Gamespy.com & Rottentomatoes.com. If this is a bad (or good) thing is yet to be seen. This caught my eye because Rotten Tomatoes has been a nice, non-corporate, place to see what movies are good (and how good). Will the future of Rotten tomatoes include a push for Fox Movies? The new Family Guy DVD may have been a front page feature before because its a hilarious show, now if it shows up as a featured DVD it may be suspect. Some of the site i have used as free good utility sites is Flickr.com and Sacramento.Craigslist.org. Flicker (as well as konfabulator and others) have been purchased by Yahoo! which is becoming more google like by day, and Craigslist has been partly purchased by ebay.com. However the big three search engines still remain big developers of content rather then purchasers of such they all incorporate acquisitions into their empires. THE BIG THREE AT HOME One thing we see in the world of the big three is that the differences are starting to blur. In-fact they crawl each other so many of the results are the same as well. The biggest most recent change is a more open development and customizable pages. Although MSN and Yahoo have long made their home pages customizable they have recently made FULLY customizable pages that can have your choice of web feeds among many other things. The result of Open Development and Customizable pages make the three into the same function. One develops a feature the others can release the same feature almost immediately. OPEN DEVELOPMENT Google: Google Labs labs.google.com MSN: MSN Sandbox sandbox.msn.com Yahoo!: Yahoo! Next next.yahoo.com Custom Pages Google: http://www.google.com/ig MSN http://start.msn.com/ Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com/ MSN's custom "Start.com" is, as stubborn MSN is apt to do, Internet Explorer only. However it is by far the best with full RSS compatibility and popular RSS feeds to start with.

Major Disasters of Bush Administration

I don't mean to get political. I just think the list on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart yesterday (Tuesday August 6th) was very funny. Every presidency has their problems no matter what party they belong to. That is what government is designed to do, solve problems. The list is one of "Major Disasters of Bush Administration" and has 26 Alphabetic item where Katrina is (obviously) the latest. I didn't see the list on their website so thought i would copy it here.. [x] Abu Graib [x] Bin Laden [x] Chalabi [x] Deficit [x] Enron [x] Failure To Find WMDs [x] Halliburton [x] Iraq [x] John Bolton [x] Katrina [_] Locusts [_] Mars Attacks [_] North Korea [_] Osama & Jenna [_] Pregnancy: Osama & Jenna [_] Queer Revolt [_] Rodents of Unusual Size [_] Syrian War [_] Tigers [_] Unicyclists, Nuclear [_] Voldemort [_] WWIII [_] X-Rated Tape: Osama & Jenna [_] Yam Shortage [_] Zero People left on earth What caught my eye was of course Rodents of Unusual Size which is from the best movie of all time, The Princes Bride. Also great movies: Mars Attacks & Harry Potter (Staring Voldemort). (thanks to the "TV Squad" for pulling the image of their TiVO.)

Campout at Aunt Nelda's Cabin.

Our annual reunion at washington city california.

Unfortunately my favorite hike to the waterfall i missed by choosing an inopportune time to relax on the couch inside the cabin. But it was a great campout as always. I did sleep well on the double deck air mat that i wrote about previously. It did loose air, and could have used a little more air on the 3rd night.. but because the mattress was so thick it still kept me up off the ground.

Back to school

Well its that time of year again.. Time to look at the clock 3 or 4 times thinking up excuses to miss school then running out the door arriving a few minuets late. (& blame it on the traffic). Its not just me is it? Well my first class, which is always the one in most jeopardy (as demonstrated last year when i didn't go to my first class more than a half dozen times), is another Stat Class. I don't know if i can take another stat class. If there are any more stat classes after this I will scream. They try to hide it too. Calling it "Data Management" isn't fooling anyone (not anymore anyway). Well today the school unveiled the new logo. It can be found at http://www.csus.edu (as the picture is hard to make out.) I think it is great. It does however have a small resemblance of the church young women's logo. One more thing.. Thanks to NPR for finally getting out their stuff as pod-casts. Now if they would just put out "All things considered" out as well, I will be happy.

Aaris' b-day today

Today was Aaris' Birthday. (the above picture is her birthday party on friday, before her grandpa Wallace went back to colorado). I got her a Nintendogs for her birthday which she was happy to get.. Unfortunately, although it would be great for a 7 year old kid, Aaris' speech difficulty which includes Rs and other letters makes it difficult and frustrating for her. She can't get past the naming. While my nintendog took about 20 saying's of the name for the dog to learn it hers took about 50+ and doesn't keep, requiring her to redo it over and over. I would not suggest this game for anyone under 10 (especially if any speech impediment is present.)

Otherwise she had a great birthday. One benefit of being the only kid in a house of adults is lots of presents...

My playlist

Although my iTunes has 2271 songs (now more legal than from back in the napster days.) my current playlist is 140 songs. I thought I would post them.. If you are looking for one of these let me know, I know where you can buy/find it.. The one I want to add to my collection isnt currently available (and mastercard says they have no plans to do so). It is the one in the Mastercard commercial of a family shoping for a vacation. It is a version of "Pure Imagination" that sounds like it is sung by Barenaked Ladies or smashmouth type band (some say the ataris, whoever they are) If you haven't seen it, the commercial Gorilla-ed the charlie and the chocolate factory movie. That means the company found some way to use a popular movie to market something without saying the name. In this case they took a song from the first movie and reworked it to make it hip-er. Anyway here is my playlist. 100 Years - Five For Fighting A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes - Daniel Bedingfield All These Things That I've Done - The Killers Augustus Gloop - Danny Elfman Another Postcard - Barenaked Ladies Tarzan and Jane - Aqua Are You Jimmy Ray - Jimmy Ray Are You Sure You Want To Be Famous? - Preeya Kalidas/Raza Jaffrey Around The World - Aqua Back From Mars - Aqua Beautiful Child - Rufus Wainwright Believe - Josh Groban Better off Alone - Alice Deejay Big Yellow Taxi - Counting Crows Feat Vanessa Carlton Birdhouse In Your Soul - They Might Be Giants Blue (Da Ba Dee) - Eiffel 65 Bolero (Original Film Version) - Various Artists (Moulin Rouge) Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day Bounce - Sarah Connor Burning Love - Wynonna Can't Hurry Love - Dixie Chicks Carrying the Banner - Newsies Clocks - Coldplay Come What May - Nicole Kidman & Ewan McGregor Complainte De La Butte - Rufus Wainwright Corrupt - Karissa Noel Crazy In Love - Beyoncé Featuring Jay-Z Dance with me - Debelah Morgan Destination Moon - They Might Be Giants Don't Let Me Down - No Doubt Don't Let's Start - They Might Be Giants Don't Release Me - Dalip Tahil Double Trouble - John Williams Dr. Evil - They Might Be Giants Snuff Out The Light (Yzma's Song) - Eartha Kitt / Emperor's New Groove, The Elephant Love Medley - Nicole Kidman Ewan Mcgregor Jamie Allen Endless Night - Jason Raize Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag) - Sherman Brothers Feel - Robbie Williams Feel Good Inc (Single Edit) - Gorillaz Feeling This - Blink-182 Freaky Friday - Aqua Gasolina (Remix) - Daddy Yankee (feat. Lil Jon, P Green Hornet Theme - Al Hirt Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride - Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu & Kamehameah Schools Children's Chorus He Mele No Lilo - Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu & Kamehameah Schools Children's Chorus I Do - Toya I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do - Hilton McRae/Siobhan McCarthy I Should Be Allowed to Think - They Might Be Giants I Want to Break Free - Queen If You're Not The One - Daniel Bedingfield In My Head - No Doubt In the Middle - Jimmy Eat World Ironside [Excerpt] - Quincy Jones Island in the Sun - Harry Belafonte Island in the Sun - Weezer Istanbul (Not Constantinople) - They Might Be Giants It's a Small World - Baha Men Its My Life - No Doubt Keeping the dream alive - Freiheit Kitchen Kabaret Medley - Disney la breeze - simian Lady - Lenny Kravitz Lahaina - Volcanos Lonely - Akon Lonely No More - Rob Thomas Lose My Breath - Destiny's Child Making Out - No Doubt Mamma Mia - Siobhan McCarthy Millennium - Robbie Williams mm Mmm Mmm - Crash Test Dummies Morning Hymn and Alleluia - Nuns Chorus Move Your Feet (Radio Edit) - Junior Senior Mr. Brightside - The Killers Dayo! (Bannana boat song) - Muppets & Harry Belafonte Muppets,Kermit the Frog & Jimmy Buff - My Little Grass Shack - Lisa Loeb My Own Home - Sherman Brothers No Apologies - Alanis Morissette No Way Out (Theme From Brother Bear) - Various Artists NUMA NUMA... - O-ZONE Ob La Di, Ob La Da - The Beatles OJ's brandy- what about us - OJ's Brandy One by One - Lebo M. One Day I'll Fly Away - Nicole Kidman Picture Book - The Kinks Pineapple Princess - Annette Funicello Platinum Blonde Life - No Doubt Proud Of Your Boy - Clay Aiken Rich Girl - Gwen Stefani Feat. Eve Rock DJ - Robbie Williams Rock Your Body - Justin Timberlake Rumors - Lindsay Lohan saturday night at the movies - robson & jerome Seether - Veruca Salt Seize the Day - David (David Moscow) She's an Angel - They Might Be Giants Shut Up - Black Eyed Peas Somebody Told Me - The Killers Something - There Celin Dion; Peabo Bryson Spider - They Might Be Giants Standing Still - Jewel Starry Eyed Surprise - Paul Oakenfold Stuck - Stacie Orrico Sunrise - Norah Jones Take Me Away (Pre-Release Single) - Avril Lavigne Take Me - Out Franz Ferdinand Tarzan Boy - Flipper Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus The End of the Tour - They Might Be Giants The Flower of Carnage - Meiko Kaji The Girl In 14G - Kristin Chenoweth The Lioness Hunt - Lebo M. Lime in the Coconut - The Muppets The Name of the Game - Lisa Stokke/Nicolas Colicos The Old Hawaiian Way - Big Kahuna The Reason - Hoobastank The Remedy (I Won't Wor - Jason Mraz The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room - Hilary Duff The World Will Know - Newsies These Boots Are Made for Walkin' - Jessica Simpson The bells are ringing - They Might Be Giants This Love - Maroon 5 Toxic - Britney Spears Trouble - Coldplay Twisted Nerve - Bernard Herrmann Under Attack - Lisa Stokke Vote Beeblebrox - Andy Dunlop, Chuck Norman, Douglas Payne, Fran Balke, Hannah Thomas, Miggy Barradas & Neil Hannon Wakko's America - Animaniacs We Are All Made Of Stars - Moby We Both Reached for the Gun - Danny Elfman Welcome - Various Artists What You Waiting For - Gwen Stefani When Christmas Comes To Town - Matthew Hall/Meagan Moore Who I Am - Jessica Andrews Woo Hoo - 5.6.7.8's Yeah! - Lil' Jon, Ludacris & Usher You Are My Number One - Smash Mouth You Don't Own Me - Bette Midler Goldie Hawn & Diane Keaton Your Song - Ewan McGregor And Alessandro Safina (now i just need songs with titles starting with J, Q, X, or Z)

Pawel's birthday

when I sent this post from my phone I posted "We had cake and Pawel is now a citizen." Well that sounded like the cake made him a citizen or something, (which is of course not the case). Well congrats to Pawel. Only Aaris' and Sammy's Birthday parties to go. Pawel's today (Thursday) Aaris' Friday and Sammy's Saturday. Sheri is getting a bounce house and shaved ice for the party. It will be like a circus around here for the next few days.

Steven returns home

My cousin Steve returned home today. Everyone met him at the airport. He served a mission for 2 years in the Chicago, Illinois mission. It seems that young men who leave on a mission from this house are cursed to go on a state-side mission. Well, like Ben Karoly says, the best place to serve a mission is wherever the Lord sends you.

Well this family never has trouble finding excuses to have a family BBQ. So after arriving home, about 5 times the ten or so who showed up at the airport joined us for swimming and food.

A day at the fair

Today our family went to the California State Fair. We saw the animals and exhibits. The show today was Carrot Top (who was actually quite funny). Aaris, of course, wanted to ride the carnival rides. They were around $3-4 each so we let her pick one. Keith went with here on the fairis wheel. Uncle Walace (Aaris' Grandpa) won (at great cost for foam pellet stuffed animals) 3 stuffed animals and a couple goldfish.

Washington City here we come...

Its almost that time.. Camping at Aunt Nelda's up at the Yuba River. This year I will need a new air mat. We just got back from a vacation at the Santa Cruise area where we camped one of the nights. I found out then that my AeroBed has a slow leak. I woke up several times in the night to find myself on the ground. While I'm at it I might get my dream camping set up. As camping at the river there is a bathroom and shower in the cabin, a stove for heating up the potluck dinner and lots of family. Is it really camping when you can shower and put your clothes in the laundry? Here is my wishlist to make it even less like camping.

Of course a airbed is a must. $39 at Sam's Club is a regular air queen bed. But at target a double high is only $49. Which got me looking at target. (The pump is extra for $19 so its actually nearly $70.)

I thought that with a pump for coleman air furnature why not a chair. They are only around $20 each. But if I was willing to pay $60 for chairs I would go with This bowl style chair.

And no setup would be complete without a table for dice & card games and stuff (Zilch maybe?) And for some reason coleman has a table and stools for half what just a table costs ($24 vs. 50). I will have to go instore and look at it.. It may be cheap plastic.

The Creme-De-La-Creme is the tent. Ah, for $199 for a tent might be worth it for this. Rooms, Shelves & Big windows is only the start. Room to stand and power and lighting build in!! Wow!

But why spend $350 when you can spend $35 more on this? A rechargable electric lantern that looks like a regular camp lantern?

My first parking ticket

Stupid downtown and their crazy wacky rules.. I was doing deleveries in my own van for work. The city hall offices has parking out front that I always use.. Well it turns out that if you park there after 4 you get a ticket.. Passenger loading and unloading only... They should have signs more promenent then at the end of the road.. (blocked by trees I might add. Well thats enough of a rant. Its not like I haven't had my share of infractions with the traffic code. Last year i stoped on a stopsign about 5 feet too late, turned and saw a cop waiting, stared at him for like 20 seconds and ended up at traffic school... At least I didn't get a DUI as I was wasted on nyquil. (I guess he took my word I was sick.) My first anything was a warning on the day of my Grad Nite in high school... I did a U-Turn from the meridian lane, (thought no-one was watching) Anyway.. School is fast aproaching.. I hope i can figure out what I want to do with my degree now its only a year or two away.

Mark and Nedla

Something you rarely get when going to a wedding. Dress=Casual.. Like a present to the guests the wedding and following reception was as casual as a BBQ. This is not to say it wasn’t a nice wedding. The chairs, tables and dress were nice and white. Very Beautiful centerpieces matching the bouquet (I may be biased as my mom made them). And a great dinner with plenty of ice-cold bottled water. All in all, I think that comfortable guests made it even better. After we met a lot of Nedla's Family and there was plenty of fun. Aaris loved the tire-swing, and also the shaved ice. Keith and Scott left early, taking Emily’s car to visit Tim, Scott’s friend who lives in the foothills on the way home. They didn’t show up at home till 3-4 hours later. It was nice to go into the foothills because of the heat.. If it is as hot tomorrow I am for sure getting an air conditioner. Whether a window or portable has yet to be seen. (Although a window one is less than a hundred while a portable is $300 I have slider windows)

Aaris' new baby

I have a baby named Cindy Annalisa Howton who is now officaly my cabbage patch kid forever. her website is www.mycpk.com "I promise to love my Cabbage Patch Kid with all my heart. I promise to be a good and kind parent. I will always remember how special my cabbage Patch Kid is to me!" - Aaris (6)

Just a note.. Aaris is my cousin but more like a sister.. Isn't she sweet?

My first moblog

Monday we went to the Whitings for some cake and ice cream in celebration of Jeremy's b-day. We are not great gift givers. We ended up picking an audible membership. I hope he likes Audio Books as much as I do.

This is my first mobile blog. Maybe I will update this more often now that I can at any time. (Although typing on a phone is a pain.)

WOW Guild.

Just a quick note. This week I decided to make a website for my WOW guild "The Dungeon Masters." I hope to finnish it by the end of the week. {update} The site is done and can be found at WWW.THEDUNGEONMASTERS.COM and Mirlu our guild leader is doing a great job!

Photos

I put on some photos from disneyland up on the web. Though I should list them here. // they have been removed since my new move to jholdaway.com // you can find them on flicker // http://www.flickr.com/photos/jholdaway

Not Much

Well its been a few weeks and not much has gone on around here.. Which is usually quite a few things. Last weekend my brothers and I (Scott is home from BYU) as well as the Whitings went to see Batman Begins. I must agree with Adam West, the performances were outstanding. And this, unlike the last two, wasn't over the top. Yesterday was my cousin's Birthday Party. Her new husband arranged it as a surprise. Keith, my brother was swiming in the lake/pond and a fish thought his hanging mole was a worm. He said it hecka hurt but the skin-mole is still unharmed. Well thats enough for a little update. Next week is the 4th of July. It should be much fun.

Disneyland was a BLAST!

Well, it was fun at least. I was glad to get the coupla days off of work and enjoyed the fireworks & parade tremendously. I would suggest going, but wait at least till the 17th of July when Space Mountain reopens.
One of the cool (only) new ride for this year is Space Ranger Blast or something like that. It is a ride but also a game. You shoot targets and get points.. I got 90,000 plus the first time and Pawel got well over a few hundred thousand. Due mostly to a stop in the ride where he shoots a triangle for a min strait. It turns out the triangles are worth the most points.. Not only does the shape determine the points but people playing the game at home light up the targets. There are bonus points for hitting a lit target. The fireworks were by far the best ever. I do like the music for the "Believe!" show from 5 years ago but a few effects stand out in the new show. The show is a series of attractions around the park. The new show adds a projection on the castle and 360 degrees of fireworks at a few key moments. My favorite effects were the Pirates of the Caribbean where the Matterhorn and the Island shoot fireballs at each other, timing it to the soundtrack where the pirate ship fires in the ride. Also the star tours part of the attraction where lasers shoot across the sky. Well we had fun, rode all the rides a bunch of times. (Tower of Terror 4 or 5 times one day). I had Snow White sign a Post Card for Aaris, because Aurora's line was almost an hour long. Thanks to Apricot for his "guest" post the other week. I will be busy for a while spending the rest of the money I don't have on movies. Why do they have to come out with so many at once. i.e Batman Bewiched War of the Worlds Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

It's Jeffrey not Geoffrey

Emily took Jeff shopping and they bought some fabulous new outfits. They even revamped some of his dull old khakis into stylish cut-offs. With new shorts and flip flops Jeff is ready to hit the beach. He must be anticipating the inevitable implosion of PC Focus more than ever. Unemployment would give Jeff the leisure time he so desperately needs. On a lighter note, I hear that Jeff has decided to have lots of fun at Disneyland. That shouldn't be too hard considering the fact that Disneyland is his favorite place. A couple of weeks ago he told his mom that he wanted to marry Mickey Mouse so that he could live at Disneyland.