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I discovered something the other day that I shocked me. I couldn't believe it's been under my radar.
Pandora.com
Perhaps I'm behind the times but this site is freaking cool. It's free internet radio. You basically tell it what song(s)/artist(s) you like and it will show you other songs that people like that are related to the song you give it. You can then rate it whether you like it or not and it will customize the playlist even more.
Simple but snazy.
My boss, who owns an iphone, showed me it. Apparently you can steam the site to your iphone and use that as your music. There are a few caveats to this, though. You can't play a specific song that you want and you can't go back and repaly a song. This is because of their licensing agreements. But you can skip a number of songs (limitation of how many is by hour).
Is there any other snazy sites I've missed? Comment up.
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A great song for you guys while you read (bare through the beginning):
You might be wondering about the title. Well I just recently stumbled on Linkedin.com, very cool. For those professionals out there--or college students about to enter their first job for the rest of their life--this is the facebook for the corporate life. Was never a facebook kind of guy but this is definitely worth a look into. You can meet other coworker's (if they have a linkedin account) and previous coworker's contacts in other companies. A great way to meet other people and get that 'in' you might have been looking for.
So if you see someone in another company that you'd like to make a connection with, you can have your buddy--who already has a connection with them--introduce you to them. They also have referrals and other neat stuff. A great way to practice on your resume too (your profile).
Bare in mind that the demographic is professionals, not teenagers, so keep it neat and clean--I'm talking to the young padawans out there.
Looks like I need to put something out on TheRootSource, I'll probably do that this weekend. Speaking of this weekend, I'm working Sunday and I'm on standby Saturday morning (7AM, woot!). So if I sound bitter, that's why.
For you anime/manga fans out there, I started a miniproject. The goal is to connect people to anime they might not have heard of before but would like because they liked (insert great anime/manga).
What else? What else? Oh, I was thinking about the idea of having an entire thread/category dedicated the professionals out there. I really would like to stay current on the latest and greatest technologies (but don't have the time), and would be a good learning opportunity. Surely we have people here fluent in VMWare, BI apps, AIX, etc. I know some people on here who knows Citrix and Networking. Would be cool to connect like-minded professions and could also give some insight into the people in school thinking about getting into "computers".
I should really get off of this "connect" bandwagon.
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Where to begin?
TheRootSource
I've shot/desktop-recorded all the material for ep5-6. I've basically created a software RAID on my fileserver using linux. I dabbed into a lot of different Linux commands and I plan on explaining everything I just did... it will just take a lot of work of editing and voice over. Pretty cool stuff though, a 3TB volume is sexy to look at. I just need to take the time to edit it all and get it just right.
Trial by Fire
My book is... fluid. As you might all know, it's constantly changing (read: 'maturing' -- hopefully). All it takes is one late night of staring up at the ceiling in bed to decide an entire character needs a lot more work. Sadly, that character is the main character so I've gutted everything out and I'm trying to start anew. I think it still needs a lot more work--I'm trying to stick with the general idea of the story but it might not work now... I'll have to think on it some more. You will noticed all my old chapters are gone and I've started over, and starting everything at Rough Draft 1. This is the perils of reading my WIP. For those out there who have read everything so far, basically I've changed Michael to being a nerd (shouldn't be that hard since I can relate).
You will notice a nice little bone I throw at you guys at the end of Ch1. I meant to show this part of the book later but I figured why wait?
TheManPages
Heh, well, technically we have the next part that's been done for a while now. I just need to get around to publishing it. If I was bold and really wanted to take this project to the next level, I could use the domain I recently purchased (TheManPages.org) and really go to town with this.... but I don't have the time. I'd love to one day though. For now, a simple Google pages will have to suffice. The most recent TRS episode wanders into TMP's territory, which I hope to use later. For now, it's on the back burner.
Movies / TV Shows
So I really want to see Tropic Thunder and I might be going today. I recently watched In Bruges which is a... quirky?... dark...comedy?...about two hitmen taking a break after a job went sour. You will notice the multiple question marks in that last sentence because its--different. Some parts of it I liked but I think for the most part I didn't like it. I'd have to say not worth the rental. Also got Harold and Kumar EFGB. Haven't watched it yet but I was a big fan of the first one. Netflix dropped off Shooter, which I saw in theaters and was wanting to watch it again, and The Brothers Grim... which looked interesting. I'll let you guys know how Brothers Grim is.
As for TV shows, I recently watched Spooks Code 9 which is a spinoff of Spooks. I'd have to say the first episode I wasn't sold but willing to watch the next episode. Second episode I started getting a little into it but I'd have to agree with everyone that I've talked to so far, it's no Spooks and doesn't deserve to use it's name. If you guys haven't ever watched Spooks, a BBC spy series based on MI5, go watch it! Fantastic series--even though I stopped watching after they brought in new characters. I wouldn't mind watching it again actually. What else? Ah, Psych is as awesome as ever, so is Burn Notice.
I got into MiddleMan, which is quirky fun show (even cass got into it, imagine that?). My Boys--only for cass--which isn't bad. Flashpoint is an interesting cop drama. Weeds is getting really interesting and I saw the previews for Dexter *drools*. Speaking of previews, I saw Life is coming back. Awesome. And I watched The Mentalist a few months ago (It's coming out in Sept). That show kicks some serious a. I also watched Fringe (also comes out this fall) and that looks good too. You guys got to go watch that one.
Some other fall shows that I can't wait to see:
Chuck
Prison Break
How I Met Your Mother
Big Bang Theory
Eli Stone
House
NCIS
Terminator SCC
Pushing Daisies
Bones
Supernatural
The Unit
Some of the ones I'm on the fence:
Smallville (Seriously? When is this going to end?)
Eleventh Hour (original was a classic but this looks like a remake?)
Knight Rider (I didn't watch the tv-movie that they did but I heard it wasn't that great)
Valentine (I like the writer, he did Veronica Mars)
Gossip Girl (I'm off and on with this series, I should probably not watch it because I know I'll end up not liking it)
I know what you are thinking. Surely he doesn't watch all those shows. My friend, I do. It's one of my many colorful flaws (and why I need 4TBs... that will one day be 12TB)
Personal Life
Well, they gave me a three day weekend and I blew it on couch-time and movies. Talk about lazy. It's Sunday and I still haven't really gotten out of the apt. I did help dad out with installing his new water heater for half an hour but I didn't exactly help out all that much. Cass was expecting me back home to go work out.
Which, btw, working out is a pain. I mean, you know you should and you get there to work out and then you realize because you haven't worked out for so long that you are weak. And then it's depressing. A few hours later then you are sore... And then you THINK about going back because you feel guilty for not going but you just can't because it's too painful.
Eh, I think I'm one of the laziest people in Dallas.
What else? Oh, so work gave me three days off because 1) I've been working a lot lately and they pitied me and 2) The next two months I'll be working weekends. Woot!
My main project right now is Operation Stupid. Which right now I can't disclose what it is exactly, only that it's big and possibly illegal in some countries. In the next month or two, I might be able to share more, so stay tuned.
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So all this hard work at work has earned me a day off from work tomorrow. Well, not exactly completely off. I have a conference call at 9AM and an interview to sit in on at 10AM. Possibly hiring a new guy so that's cool. I'm all about pawning off my work to other people.
So what's been going on with Root (there he goes with third person again)?
Well I've been reading Bleach manga and since I'm a fan of the anime I was a little surprise at how different it is. I mean not hugely different (yet) but enough to make me wonder what else is different. I think I'm only to the 3rd volume but I gotta say I'm a little surprised. Should be a fun read since it's been a long time since I've watched ep1.... which is about since ep1 has been out. How long ago was that?
Also reading Psyren and To Love-Ru. The former is like a less pornographic version of gantz and the latter is like Please Teacher (or whatever the Japanese version of that title is). Both pretty darn good, although To Love-Ru is starting to get old (volume 65 currently) but it probably won't stop me from continuing to read. I'm a stubborn guy, takes a lot for me to veer off of something I started to like (read:Sword of Truth Series lol).
What else... Oh, got ch7 out. I was itching to write it since it has a great fight scene. Also re-did ch5 since that seemed to be the new place where people stopped reading--which I'd have to agree with them. Dialog wasn't all that great. Hopefully what I've modified will make it better.
I should probably get a new chapter out on No Rest for the Wicked. Might do that tomorrow, but I have a lot of things that I've told myself "hey I'll do it Tuesday since I'm off". Ever done that? Then when Tuesday comes (technically today) you actually don't do any of what you'd planned and veg out all day.
TheRootSource is still in the works but I'm about due for another video aren't I? I was thinking of a product review. Just got BlacX and really liking it. Speaking of purchasing, I am expecting a new 8 port PCI-X SATA card for my server. A little tight on money right now so was the best bang for the buck I could find and I've been wanting to try out LVM and volume groups in Linux. So I'm doing a software RAID setup (just bought yet another TB drive to offload everything so I can build another array). So that will be fun. I might record it for you linux newbs out there.
Speaking of Linux, probably should publish another TheManPages. What is up with me, project titles, and no spaces? Just realized that. TheMusicSource, TheManPages, TheRootSource, etc.
I really need to get away from that.
What else, what else? Oh, finally got around to finishing Avatar (you know, what my avatar is based on?). That was cool. Series finale was pretty sweet. I definitely think it could have been better Season 3 but it was still noteworthy.
Anyways, I'm rambling and I have to get up tomorrow for a little work. But then the rest of the day is free. Woot!
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Ever heard of the phrase "burning the candle at both ends"?
I find myself doing this more and more often. With work overtaking my life (60+ hours a week and the word weekend becoming laughable now), I find less and less time to do anything that I want to do.
This is where one should take a step back and ask "why work so many hours?"
I use the word 'should' because 'one' doesn't like money like I do. Actually, I take that back. I hate money. I can't get rid of it fast enough. |o.O|
But with all seriousness, you do have to make the decision of whether to work hard and party hard or work less and be content with less (financially speaking of course). You could argue that it's a better life style but then I'd argue that my parents made me do it.
Right now you are probably thinking what the hell is he talking about? He couldn't possibly blame his parents on his own downfall.
But it helps me sleep at night.
Yeah, I was spoiled early with the finer things in life. So I blame it on my parents because I find my lack of responsibility/accountability in my life part of my charm. [:-|]
And how did all this come up from root's head? And why is he talking in third person?
Well I don't know why I'm talking in third person but I finally got chapter 6 out (TBF series). Very rough draft (as are all my other chapters) but I finally got something out there. I started it around the time I should have gone to bed (just got home from work) and finished some time around 2:30AM. Today I'm paying for it but I find the satisfaction of sticking it to the man.
I got to do what I wanted to do. *sticks out tongue*
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Short and sweet. Almost too short? Well it's infinitely faster to transcode and upload, that's for sure.
Anyways here it is:
So KillerGator (see below for a pic of him I found over in the EggXpert Faces thread) came up with a nice (extensive) FAQ thread on video cards, which we will be posting up after a slight modification. So congrats KillerGator for being the only Bounty contestant and winner lol. Spend the 20$ wisely on egg gear my friend 
Until the next quickie,
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Holy cow batman.
That was by far the best movie I've watched in a very VERY long time.
No surprises after the credits, unfortunately, but still. After almost 3 hours of goodness, I still wanted more. By far the best batman movie of all time.
I still can't believe how good that was.
Wow.
I can't say any more without spoiling it, which I would never do. Bottom line GO SEE IT! I don't care if you don't like comic stories, go SEE IT!
"Wanna see a trick? I'll make this pencil disappear." LMAO.
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Hustle. If you like movies like Ocean's Eleven, Confidence, or even Pool Hall Junkies, this is a must rental. Heck, I'd even be willing to buy it.
It's more Ocean's Eleven than anything else. A number of characters that come together to perform "long cons", or cons that take elaborate planning. They also show a lot of short cons in season 1--many that are classics. But the really fun thing to watch is not only these elaborate plans coming into fruitation but also how they can think on their feet quickly when unexpected problems arise.
- Picking the mark.
- Getting them (said mark) hooked.
- Grabbing the loot.
- And slipping away without their mark wanting to look for them.
These steps are generic enough but HOW they do it is at times just pure brilliant. Then there are the characters themselves. In a way, they meld together like Firefly. A family of a sort but each has their strengths/flaws. And lets not mention what's-her-name from Dexter. Sexy with a capital S.
If all this interests you, then you too will rate this show 5 out of 5 eggs
I've already put in Season 2, 3 and 4 in my queue. There has been talk of Season 5 but the cast just can't seem to get together at once.
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Yes. Yes. I look like carp. And no, not the fish.
Just got off from work and after seeing all the comments for ep2, I suddenly had the urge to make another video. So here is ep3. And yes, I spoke softly for a reason. Cass would rise from her slumber and decapitate me with her stiletto heels like the bad zombie I am.
ARRRRRRG!
Stay dead my fellow zombies,
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Well it's been a long time since I last posted but I think I've finally 'figured it out'. Stupid camera. Anyways, now that I know how to work this, I'll hopefully start posting up more videos. I'm also going to try and do multiple videos a week and at around 10minutes. As you can see, however, I couldn't do it this time around.
Part1
Part 2
::ShowNotes::
Microsoft open to Yahoo deal if Board is replaced
Blueray 400GB on a single disc
Firefox 3.1 news and FF4
Fable II Pub Games
Diablo III
Bad Company
Google vs. Viacom
Bounty - Create an FAQ thread for 25 points (each)! (example of what I'm looking for)
Peace Padawan,
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This issue is going to be relatively short (taking into account all my other Sunday News issues).
So I haven't be on lately. Why? Well work has been chewing up my weekends lately and that has a domino affect on the non-working part of my life. Last I left you guys, I had mentioned the bachelor party and then a wedding. Bachelor party, heh. That was... interesting. We were floating down the river down near Austin. It was in the middle of June and it was hailing. An omen perhaps?
Well I won't speculate. Wedding went... OK. It's over anyways. Ever been in a really stressful wedding before? You feel all kinds of relief when its over. Funny thing was, it wasn't even my wedding. It was some one elses. And we weren't even the bestman/MOH, just a groomsman/bridesmaid.
Anyways, just before he wedding I learned I have to be in Nashville, TN next week. So tomorrow my fight leaves. This time I'm going out to train someone else. So that's something new.
Saw Wanted last night and I have to say, WOW. Go see it. Killer hottie assassins. Can't go wrong with that. And he's sarcastic. I'm sure you all know I like sarcastic people.
As for everything else, it's been on hold. Stupid YouTube wasn't accepting my video's. I think it's the format it's in. I have to fight tooth and nail to get it to work. Why can't I just get a camera that I can hook up to the computer, make minor edits, and upload to youtube? It should be simple damnit. But NOOO. Youtube has to fail on uploads and not tell me why.
And my books have been on hold due to work/life. But I haven't forgotten them. Nor all my other projects.
Until my life gets back on track, I'm on hiatus.
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Would you like to watch a 3 part, 30 min show once a week or 1x10min show 1-3 times a week (depending how busy I am).
For the latter, I'd ideally break it up like...
Monday - My Threads/Blog Picks
Wednesday - TechNews
Friday - EggXpertNews/User submitted Qs
Sunday News blog posts would be my personal news, for the few out there that even care |o.O|
Comment up.
Bounty #2:
Review one product on Newegg and send me the link. Your screen name on EggXpert will have to be the same on Newegg. 5 points for submitting, 10 for being a star.
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Issue has sections, so if you don't care for one just skip it (like any other newspaper). I do tend to write long posts. Bad root, bad.
TheRootSource
TheRootSource is finally uploading! All three parts should be out tonight. I'll update my Ep1 blog post tomorrow night when it's finally all up (going to leave part 3 uploading over night). Special thanks to LadyTekki for the tips. You can all thank her for the show's part 2 and 3 (I say that with sarcasm).
Still waiting pathetically for pictures. Perhaps 20$ means nothing these days, or I really only have 2 viewers and they hit the refresh button on my show three hundred and....(checks) twenty six times. But then I realize that part 2 and 3 isn't out yet so they wouldn't know. And who checks my blog anyways? So I encourage everyone to subscribe to my channel. Who knows, I might randomly one day give out free bounty points to those subscribed to me.
Youtube
Even if you don't like my show, I think everyone should join one of the two groups I've made on Youtube. We call all share videos with each other and post up mini discussions. This might be used in the bounty system as well (for those few that do like the show).
http://youtube.com/group/NewEgg (really just so some yahoo couldn't grab it and defile it)
And
http://youtube.com/group/EggXpert
My Book(s)
So TBF is on a little hiatus until I can edit the previous chapters to my liking. I've had a sort of a writer's realization... almost like an epiphany. Kind of wierd (I hate that word). It's like my eyes opened up to something that had always been there and I feel like an i***t for not catching it before. So Chapter 1 has been edited with this epiphany in mind. I'm curious to know if it's any better. Probably not a huge improvement but the general flow of it should be better.
And for those who've taken a peak at my other side project, Ch2 is almost done. Ch1 sort of helped me come to the realization of my flaws (see above). It's definitely a fun one to write and the idea was to turn to the side project when I got bored with TBF.
This week I'm going to get at least two more chapters (TBF) up to snuff and then the last two chapters by end of next weekend. That's the plan anyways. This makes my project 2 weeks delayed. My bad.
And I've realized I talk a lot about my book, so I'll try to tone it down--at least on my show. Sunday Issues you can always just skip over that section haha. It's a passion of mine, sorry 
TheManPages
Ahh, another project that's founds it's way into the back burner. I'm going to try and have the next installment out this month. For those who don't know of this project, check this thread out. I'm going to try and rally up the team together and get started some of the harder sections. If anyone wants to be part of the project, feel free to PM me. We are always looking for people who have the time to help write/research.
Parts Wanted
Haven't heard anything new in this. Is no one interested anymore? I don't know if it's just me but the forums seem to be slowing down lately. Maybe it's the weather? I think so. Summer hits and everyone doesn't want to stay in side (freaks).
Movies
So watched What Happens in Vegas, and I wasn't even forced into it. It's a good movie and gets you all warm and happy in side at the end. But I wouldn't recommend watching it with other dudes... not that that's what I did on Saturday.
Oh, also watched The Seeker: The Dark is Rising from netflix. It was OK. I didn't hate it but I didn't like it. Limbo, if you will. It's a kids movie really but like Harry Potter kind of kids movie. Looked interesting when I queued it.
Still waiting for Wanted to come out. I saw a great youtube video on some extra content that I hadn't seen before on it. Didn't even know it was based off of a graphic novel. Man I really need to work on my geek roots. I'll look for that vid and post it up on the EggXpert group.
Personal Life
Today was fun. Played golf and had some father/son bonding time. But Texas's heat is unforgiving and I'm sunburned. I really want 'the sun is killing me' t-shirt at jinx.com. It would be a fitting shirt. I wasn't made to be out in the sun but I'm OK with my monitor tan.
Saturday was...interesting... but I'll save that for another post during one of those 'life' rantings. I will say though that I learned the chat room isn't quite as fun any more as it use to be.... so I'm going to try and be in there more often. Not that I'm a joy to talk to but at least be there if things go south.
Tomorrow is work. Again. I hate how that happens. Work five days and you are blessed with two days of time off. But Saturday is the day of recovery (from Friday night which is a celebration of the two days off) and is also chewed up with laundry and general cleaning (hey, we clean sometimes). And Sunday is a day of dread because you know the next day is Monday and Monday is work. But you try and not think about it, and you might sleep in until 10 or so. You have lunch and before you know it it's 5:00PM and you wonder where the day went. And then it happens. You think about Monday.
Damn you Monday.
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As I tackle YouTube into accepting part 2 and 3, I've taken the liberty of disclosing my keynotes.
The first keynote is that Ning is leaving us. *sad*
Second keynote is the bounty system.
What is the bounty system? Well it's for all the bounty hunters out there. What's the prize? 20$.
Yup. Twenty U.S. Dollars.
How can you get such a treat from root? Easy. Complete the challenges.
Every episode I will give a challenge. I'll also post challenges on my blog. Here's a ten thousand foot view on it:
- Harder the bounty, the more points will be given
- If you outshine other people, you will be given additional 'bonus' points.
- There is no 'one' winner per challenge, so anyone can play.
- Each bounty will revolve around improving the site and helping people.
- After a set amount of time/bounties (yet to be determined) the winner will receive the 20$ from me
- Money has to be spent on Newegg.com or Neweggmall.com.
- I will post up weekly the leaderboard as well as bonus point winners and what they did to get it
- Bounties do not expire unless stated otherwise.
The first bounty:
Send in a picture to me (TheRootSource@gmail.com) of yourself holding up a picture of a # sign. If you send in that, you get 5 points. The bonus is an additional 5 more points.
Be creative. Nudity will not get you the 5 points.
Good luck bounty hunters,
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YouTube is being special. It won't let me upload the other two parts. Stay tuned and I'll update this as soon as I've got the rest of it uploaded... or just subscribe to me.
EDIT#1: So can't sleep for some reason and I'm bored. Because of this, I decided to create a YouTube group for us. Come join! Open to all. More the merrier (and then that way I won't be a group of 1).
http://youtube.com/group/NewEgg
And
http://youtube.com/group/EggXpert
Still can't get the stupid videos to post. They keep timing out and this is day 3. I'm starting to wonder if it's the video itself...
EDIT #2:
Day 3 and still no luck with YouTube. I'm trying a different encoding. Updated the show notes with the surprises I had in store for you guys
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
::ShowNotes::
EggNews
PersonalNews
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My Book (Yes, I know. Another shameless plug. But hey, it's my show.)
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TechNews
Threads
Blogs
Keynotes
Later Padawan,
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