Greyhawk68

Site is currently hosed, I’ll working on getting her fixed now. SORRY!

EDIT: Looks like the site is fine and dandy again, and up to the latest and greatest Blogsphere has to offer. Thanks Dec

Before you just take for granted that Terrell Owens is a complete douchebag, please read this interview transcript.  EVERY story I’ve seen makes this out to be MUCH worse than it really is in my opinion.  Most of the controversial comments that people (and articles) are focusing on are responses to questions that he was asked.  If you read the WHOLE transcript, you’ll see that this wasn’t that bad.  Was he completely right, no.  Was he the devil everyone makes him out to be, no way.

Technorati: terrell, nfl, football, eagles

Okay, I promised a post about much of what went on in Cabo, and in particular, trying to see Sammy Hagar perform at the Cabo Wabo.

Sammy owns the Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Every year, for the two weeks leading up to his birthday, he has his birthday bash. Basically it’s him playing at the Cabo Wabo (a VERY small intimate venue) with some friends. For example this time around he had Michael Anthony (Van Halen) and Matt Sorum (Guns N Roses, Velvet Revolver) with him on stage.

He played every other night leading up to his birthday on October 13th. We got into town on the 9th. That meant that there was a show that night, one on the 11th and one on the 13th. It was really too late to get tickets to the show on the 9th, so we decided that we would work for the 11th and if things went well, then the 13th also.

Things didn’t go well.

We underestimated how early we needed to get in line. You see, they start giving out the tickets (yes they were free) at 8AM the day of the show. So people start camping out the night before. We got there at about 5:45 AM. From the reports I had read, that should have normally gotten us tickets. Unfortunately for us, this year’s turnout was much larger than normal. We didn’t find this out until later naturally.

Anyway, we waited in line from 5:45 until about 11:00 AM. We had been in a line that had wrapped around several blocks, and at 11AM we were finally in view of the end of the line.

That’s when they announced the tickets were gone.

So we took over five hours of our vacation to wait in line, only to be denied. We found out from some other people that the last tickets went to people that were in line at somewhere around 2:15 AM. So it could have been worse, we could have waited over 8 hours 🙂

They do a pretty fair job with the tickets actually. They give out a wristband to you with your name on it (so you can’t sell it) and if you can get yourself a second wristband to bring a friend. That means everyone in line can bring themselves and one person. Pretty good way to do it, although taking ID and writing down names is what takes so damn long. The only thing I think they could possibly do also is limit people to one show. I saw and talked to many people that had hit 3-5 shows. So yes, the die-hards got in, but those newbies such as me didn’t make it.

So, pretty much the main reason we chose Cabo (seeing Sammy Hagar) didn’t happen. My friends Tim and Shawn and I made a pact at Tim’s wedding that we would one day make it to Cabo to see Sammy. So we took the step of getting there, we just missed out on the Red Rocker. Well at least I did.

You see, I left on Saturday the 15th. This was after Sammy’s b-day, and there weren’t supposed to be any more shows. Well Tim and Shawn were there until Sunday, so on Saturday, they went to the Cabo Wabo to pick up some merchandise and have a drink. It was at that time that they saw a flyer saying that Sammy would be playing that night.

So, they headed over there and waited, and sure enough Sammy and crew came out and played. It wasn’t a Sammy concert where they played Hagar and Van Halen tunes, it was just a jam session. Basically they played a whole lot of classic rock and roll songs they all knew. They said that they hadn’t even practiced, they just got up there and jammed. From what Tim said, it was pretty awesome.

So I’m happy that Tim and Shawn actually got to fufill our pledge, but bummed as hell that I missed out on it.

That being said, Sammy Hagar is still the coolest rocker on the planet, and I will some day see him in a tiny club…maybe even face down in Cabo.

Technorati tags: cabo san lucas, cabo wabo, sammy hagar

I was at the IBM Lotus Notes/Domino 7 Live event yesterday and it was pretty cool. Looking forward to getting this release in-house and I cannot wait for the new Sametime improvements as those look really cool (but not coming atcha until Q2 2006.)

Anyway, I didn’t get to fire up FeedDemon until today. Well when I did, I saw all my favorite bloggers announcing that they would be presenting at Lotusphere. In fact, as I look at my Trillian buddy list right now, every single one of the Notes/Domino contacts that I can see online right now are presenting. Very cool.

So that means that I’m friends with a lot of really talented people, and that the Notes blogosphere is alive, kicking, and full of really damn smart folks.

But, for the second year in a row, I was declined. So I’m a little bummed about that. Especially when nearly everyone I hang out with WILL be presenting. Heh. It’s okay though, not having responsibilities at the ‘sphere allow me to have more karaoke time at Kimono’s. I’ll be the one egging on my friends to stay for one more song… 🙂

And mark my words, I WILL present at Lotusphere some day. I’ve got some stuff that I think will take off in this next year, and that will be something great to wrap a session around. Until then, I’ll have to be content with being a bridesmaid!

Technorati tags: lotusphere

I play an online game called Guild Wars, and for Halloween they did some cool stuff. They spooked everything up, and had the Mad King come and entertain. I got lots of cool swag including this bitchin’ pumpkin head. Congrats to the ANet crew. What you created was a lot of fun!

My favorite online photo site, flickr.com, has now added the ability to order prints, posters, stamps and more! It’s only available in the U.S. as of now, but this solves the main complaint that many people have had with the service. Nice to see them finally get this in place. If you don’t know about flickr, you can read my review of flickr for ConnectedPhotographer magazine.

Congrats flickr!

The whole weekend just kinda sucked ass. You see, I figured out on Friday that I would be working on my birthday. Bad enough, but something I actually volunteered to do. Then the Dolphins play like total crap on Friday night, and lose. Okay fine. Then I work on four hours of sleep, and then a couple hours after I get home, my parents arrive. My youngest isn’t feeling well either. Not a good sign.

So anyway, my parents show up, and for some reason unbeknownst to me, my father has this huge need to fix my garage roof. Now it DOES need fixing, but I had called my Dad two days earlier to make it clear to him that I wasn’t going to do it this weekend. One of the main reasons is that it was supposed to be raining with a high temp of 50 degrees. Another was, oh I don’t know, that it was my birthday, and ripping out rotting wood and tarring a roof don’t rank high on my list of birthday festivities.

So anyway, Dad is determined to fix the roof pretty much whether I want to or not. I’m 35 and feel 5 again. Anyway, rather than get in a fight, I just go with it. We head to HomeDepot and buy the necessary supplies, head back to the house and spend the majority of the day fixing the roof. We had planned to go out to eat, but the youngest was not feeling up to it, so we order in. Later that evening I fall asleep on the couch during the World Series.

Next morning we get up and the youngest has got a fever, but we’ve been keeping it under control. But, once again, where we had planned on going out to a nice brunch, we went and brought stuff in. Then of course a day cannot go by without my father needing to fix something that I’ve woefully neglected, so we put leaf guards on my gutters after cleaning them out. We get done and head in. Normally around noon we eat lunch and my parents say goodbye. Not today.

You see, the youngest has had her fever start to rise, and now it’s over 104 degrees. We call the docs office and they say to take her into the emergency room. The youngest really is NOT herself… seems really out of it. So we leave my parents watching the eldest and take off for the emergency room. Before we leave, Jen takes the youngest’s temperature one more time. 106.3. Jen panics a tad.

We get to the emergency room and go through all the paperwork, then they have to take the youngest’s temp (and not the easy way mind you) then they have to take blood (where her veins collapse repeatedly) and they have to take urine (with a catheter.) Fun day for her too.

Anyway, after tests and much waiting, we find that she simply has a bladder infection. So we high-tail it back to the house. By then the youngest is feeling better, so that’s good. It’s about 43 degrees and raining. Wonderous. We bid my parents adieu secure in the fact that I can finally put the fucking hammer and screwgun away…

The rest of the evening goes fine, except for the fact that I’m getting my ass kicked in fantasy football (in both leagues nonetheless.) Oh, and did I mention I have traffic court tomorrow, so I’m getting up at 4AM again to work flex hours so I can make it to court?

Best birthday ever!

Yup, 35 today. Gettin’ up there in years, but that’s okay. What’s not okay is how I’m spending my day so far…

Being the dedicated employee that I am, I’m sitting at work watching a Notes database replicate from here to another office. You see, a user keeps corrupting his Notes, and he REALLY needs email right now because of a project with a high-profile, high-dollar customer. He’s working nights and weekends, and really couldn’t give up his machine to let me fix it. So, now, after going to bed at midnight, I got up at 4AM and drove to work. Fixed his machine through remote control, and started the replication of his mail database…three hours ago. [sigh]

We don’t have large pipes between the two offices…so this large mail file is taking some time. I’ve already got a server in the budget for their office for next year, and considering this, I may get it done much sooner.

Now you would think that I would be praised for this unselfish, get up at the ass-crack of dawn, drive 35 minutes, fixing feat on my BIRTHDAY nonethess, with my parents scheduled to arrive in oh 3-4 hours from right now… but no. The user didn’t say even a simple thank you yesterday…nada.

You see, this user HATES Notes because all he’s ever known is Outlook. It’s been compounded by the problems he’s been having with database corruption and the client crashing a ton. I didn’t KNOW it was crashing a ton…that was something he’s failed to mention until yesterday. He also failed to mention that every time it did hang or crash he would kill it with Task Manager… Now, why did the Notes client crash a lot? Oh I dunno…I think at one point yesterday he had 3-4 spreadsheets, 1 word doc, a powerpoint, a PDF, a browser AND Notes all opened at once… Don’t see how THAT could be a problem… And this guy wasn’t one to reboot, and so after crashes of programs, he would end the task and restart the program. Microsoft Office, Windows and Notes all LOVE that…

It doesn’t help the fact that every interaction I’ve had with the guy he makes some snarky comment about how “this didn’t happen with Outlook.” In fact yesterday he said “Outlook is my friend.” to which I actually replied “Then you keep shitty company.” [sigh] I had been patient and cordial with the guy for weeks, but I guess I got to my overflow point. And if nothing else, It made me feel a tiny bit better, and he thought it was funny…

Happy Birthday to me…