Michael and Shannon Beilke

Not much to report

2011-09-19T22:06:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog, hah, just kidding! Anyway, as the title indicates, there haven't really been any changes on this end. Shannon and I are still at the same part-time jobs. Sebastian is now a fifth grader and Collin is in second grade. I got their school pictures last week and will try to post them soon along with our family picture that we had taken some months back for church.

What happened to MichaelandShannon.com???

2011-05-14T13:17:00.000-05:00

So, if you are reading this, you may be a relative, or friend, who wanders over to our website every now and then to view pictures. Your latest attempt may have returned a "page not found" message from Apple's mobileme site. Yes, I used the .mac-turned-mobileme service to host most of my site. As the semi-regular visitor to our site may have noticed over the last few years, I have been making very few updates. This is mostly due to two reasons: first, I have been taking far fewer pictures and, two, my aging iMac has been having issues. My primary tool for updating the website was iWeb. After some disc crashes (changing the hard drive in an iMac is a serious pain and I think there is something else wrong there) it became more trouble than it was worth to recover the data. The short of it is, I let my mobileme subscription expire intentionally. I still own the domain name, but am uncertain of what I'll be doing with it. I may point it to this blog or I may set up hosting on a service like Square Space, where changes are done directly through the site. In the interim, you can visit Shannon on Facebook, where she can be found daily. I do not have a Facebook account, nor do I intend to get one anytime soon (Mark Zuckerberg is not getting my information that easily ;-P ... like Google's any better, right?).

P.S. - Stay tuned to this blog. I may relay info on other ways to view pictures through Microsoft's Live service - I've been toying with that some.

Tanks for nuttin' AT&T

2010-03-26T21:10:00.000-05:00

So, this is one of those angry posts. I spent most of the day unable to connect to my gmail account through any clients (mail, thunderbird, etc.) on any of my computers. The only way I could manage this is by connecting to a neighbor's open access point. Additionally, I was able to pin point the problem to my connection by directly connecting my iMac to the modem, thus bypassing the router. The problem appeared to be with one of AT&T's routers, since a trace route timed out on the fourth hop from my modem. I submitted a help ticket through their web site (which in itself was like pulling teeth) and waited for a call. The call finally came tonight and she essentially told me that since it wasn't one of their services, she didn't care. However, if I wanted, I could pay for help. Now this didn't make sense, since the problem was not on my end, or Google's, but with their equipment. This made no difference to her. I hung up and continued to troubleshoot on my end. Eventually, I came across a post in Google's Gmail forums where another person with the same problem (again, AT&T) just yesterday made the decision to reboot her modem. I tried that on mine and it froze. Again, Ah! Working. I followed it with another "tracert" from the command prompt and the result was rather interesting. It was taking a different route! I was right! The problem was with AT&T. They must have made some changes yesterday, but the routes changes must have not propagated correctly. My problem is now resolved, but my opinion of AT&T has taken a huge dive as a result of the poor service I have received, today.

Last Airbender Movie

2010-02-12T14:52:00.000-06:00

Before there was the over-hyped, purely special effect movie "Avatar", there was "Avatar: The Last Airbender." An excellent animated cartoon series on Nickelodeon that received much deserved praise and viewership from a wide demographic, the movie version has been in the works for some time. Unfortunately, "Avatar" went into production first, so the upcoming movie is simply called, "The Last Airbender." A teaser trailer had been on the movie's site for what seems an eternity. Finally, a new one is up and, as someone from Caprica might say (okay, mixing my universes here), it looks frackin' awesome!

R.I.P. Geocities

2009-10-26T17:55:00.006-05:00

Today marks the end of an Internet icon. Back in the late nineties, a classmate at UW-Marshfield/Wood County introduced me to Geocities. By today's standards, Geocities pages are simplistic and maybe even childish. The pages were static and required either altering the html code or launching Yahoo!'s Pagebuilder program. However, back in the late nineties, there was no Myspace or Facebook. Geocities was the easiest way to build yourself a home on the Internet. It was either that or establish an account with Tripod, or some other hosting company,and using Frontpage, one of it's competitors or write the code yourself.

Truth told, I didn't have a Geocities site until 2000. It was there that I set the countdown clock until Sebastian's anticipated date of birth. On that same site, I posted our first pictures of Sebastian in a resolution that took our dial-up connection an eternity - by today's standards - to download. Not too long after, I decided that I wanted more control over the look of my page and went to Tripod. Using Trellix, I was able to have more control over the design, but I kept those Geocities pages active rather than redesign those early "baby pages". It was not until a major redesign a few years back that michaelandshannon.com no longer linked back to those Geocities pages for the Sebastian baby pictures.

So, while Geocities brings about a sense of nostalgia and I am sad about it's passing, I know very well it's limitations and obsolescence in this world of social networking and ever faster dissemination of information dominated by Facebook and Twitter. Yahoo! is a company that for too long has neglected properties with great potential and it has floundered about for the past decade without any real direction. This was a move that needed to be done for them to truly move forward. In reality, nothing on the Internet ever dies. Google and many others cache information and archive.org, with it's "wayback machine", has been capturing sites longer than I have kept one. So, while the many people who kept a Geocities page at some point may be sad to see it go, countless Geocities pages will live on in digital memory (unfortunately not much of ours does).

Eww, there's dirt on my food!

2009-08-14T08:27:00.002-05:00

I love the web comic, Joy of Tech. Having switched back to Firefox recently (leaving my safari bookmarks behind) I realized that I was forgetting my ritual checking-out the latest comic on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. So, this morning I waded through a few weeks of JoT backlog and had a few good laughs. This one was the best, because it is so true. How many people actually make meals from scratch, today? Vegetables come from a bag or a can, right?

Now, what is new with us?

2009-08-01T18:02:00.002-05:00

Not much. I've graduated from the technical college and am actively searching for a job in IT. I've had one in person interview and another over the phone. I did not, obviously, get the job on either occasion. I have now widened my search parameters to allow for the possibility of moving. Previously, I was hoping to find a job in the Eau Claire area, but there simply aren't any jobs. I would like to have a job in place before repayment of my student loans begins. In all honesty, however, there are very few jobs in Wisconsin and I will NOT go for one in Milwaukee, Racine or Kenosha. I have no desire to return to that area. Pretty much any other area, at this point, is fair game. Unfortunately, there are many IT people looking for jobs at this point and most of them have more on-the-job experience than I.

The boys are gearing up for a week-long visit to their grandparents (Conley's). Then, in the fall, Sebastian will be entering 3rd grade and Collin will be in school all day for the first time as he enters kindergarten. Both boys will be going to a public school for the first time. Until now, I've had them in parochial schools. My reason for the change is to offer them more opportunities, to take advantage of greater flexibility in (I have no idea what lies ahead for my employment, etc.) and I feel they would be better equipped to handle Sebastian (he has ADD).

A Few More Notes

2009-08-01T17:55:00.003-05:00

I'm trying out a new way of displaying this blog on the site... I'm using it's RSS reader. Unfortunately, this will not display any movies embedded into the posts and the reader also seems to portray any embedded pictures as overly large. Ah, well.

Another note is that I've removed Ashleigh's and April's old pages. They've both had pages on a certain social networking site that is popular among teens (which they both are now) and I haven't seen either for quite some time now. In other words, they neither need the page, nor do I have anything new to display for them. Alas, they grow up so quickly.

Additionally, the originally planned "memorial" page will remain on hiatus during the site redesign and will not receive a link until it is completed. The planned link will be where the current "Links" link is at. Once in place, "Links" will still be accessible from the top of the "Home" page.

Site redesign/refresh

2009-08-01T17:34:00.001-05:00

I think I've finally found a way to get away from the frames I've been so reliant on since I first started this site in 2001 (my original mid-2000 Geocities site doesn't count).  Frames were a crucial component used by the software that I made the original iteration of the site with and I found them quite useful as I made various redesigns, migration or used services from across the web (ie.- my blog is at a different location than the rest of the site, but the frame makes it look like it is still at michaelandshannon.com).  Frames, however, have dropped out of favor with developers and is being dropped, I believe, from the official HTML specifications.
I too think the change is long overdue and hope this redesign works well.  Please be patient as it will take some time to implement these changes completely.  Hopefully, I can also get some new pictures up at some point too.  I know that the "recent pictures" in the photo album are getting rather old.  I guess I better get my camera out and start snapping.

Yes, it's been a while since my last post

2009-05-20T07:25:00.001-05:00

I'm now a college graduate, again.  Now, the tough part is finding a job in a market where there are none.  I either can try to wait it out here or begin submitting resumes to areas that have jobs in my field, like Madison.

April Fool's Day Snow

2009-04-01T07:18:00.001-05:00

The weather decided to pull an April Fool's joke on us, it is snowing this morning.  It  is right at freezing now, so I doubt it will hang around all day.  I'm just ready for spring.

Sign of the Times

2009-01-07T19:37:00.003-06:00

I think it is telling when it takes "five" Presidents to tackle our problems. On Obama's recommendation, which Bush liked, our current President invited the President-elect and the three living former U.S. Presidents to the White House for lunch/discussion. They gathered in the Oval Office for a two-minute photo-op.

Photo: AP

STAR TREK

2009-01-03T23:37:00.001-06:00

11 Doctors (via news.bbc.co.uk)

2009-01-03T12:32:00.002-06:00

1. William Hartnell (1963-1966)
2. Patrick Troughton (1966-1969)
3. Jon Pertwee (1970-1974)
4. Tom Baker (1974-1981)
5. Peter Davison (1982-1984)
6. Colin Baker (1984-1986)
7. Sylvester McCoy (1987-1996)
8. Paul McGann (1996)
9. Christopher Eccleston (2005)
10. David Tennant (2005-2010)
11. Matt Smith (2010 - ?)

New Doctor Announced

2009-01-03T12:29:00.004-06:00

This just in: Matt Smith has been named as the 11th actor to play the Doctor. This was announced in a special episode of "Doctor Who Confidential" on BBC One at 5:35 London time. He will be the youngest (age 26) actor to play the role and replaces David Tennant. Tennant, my favorite so far, has been in the role for three years and steps down after a series of four specials to air throughout 2009. It would be assumed that Tennant's character will regenerate in the last of those specials into Smith, who then takes over for series 5, which will air in 2010.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7808697.stm

Update: Further reading of article seems to indicate that 3 specials will air this year and the fourth will air in early 2010. It is unclear if Smith will appear in that last special or in the first episode of series 5.

Image courtesy news.bbc.co.uk

Another Star Trek Trailer

2009-01-03T12:20:00.001-06:00

Similar to other one, but with "old Spock", Leonard Nimoy. This movie stars Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto (Sylar in "Heroes") as Spock. Leonard Nimoy, as indicated in earlier line, stars as an older Spock.

In related news, Majel Barrett (Number One in original Star Trek pilot, "The Cage"; Nurse Chapel in the original series; Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek: Next Generation; and the computer's voice in virtually every incarnation of Trek (including the upcoming movie) passed away on December 18th. She married Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry in 1969 after the original series was cancelled and has been involved in Star Trek for four decades.

New Star Trek Trailer

2009-01-03T12:09:00.001-06:00

Originally this film was supposed to be released on Christmas '08 but was moved to beef up Paramount's summer line-up.

Winter has arrived

2008-12-03T11:05:00.001-06:00

We received our first significant snowfall last night. Looking at the extended forecast, the snow may be stuck on the ground for some time. Maybe, at long last, I'll finally have some relief from my allergies.

"Eight years of hell are over."

2008-11-05T09:49:00.001-06:00

That is a line from the Pravda newspaper in Russia and one I couldn't have said better. Now, I'm no fan of the current government in Russia, but absolutely not a fan of the Bush Administration, either.
Headlines across the world have harolded a new era and the leaders and the people they lead, in general, seem quite pleased with the results in this country. It seems, they see it as a chance to heal the damaged relationships that we have with so many nations and I couldn't agree more. There was so much good will shown towards us after the attacks in September of 2001 and the Bush Administration squandered it. They abused our allies and acted unilateraly at times they shouldn't have. Good allies were treated as lap dogs and given orders, as if subjects, rather than sovereign nations. It is most definitely a time for change. A time to mend those relations and work with the nations of the world to solve the problems around the world. As Barack has said, it will not be easy and it will take time. There is an incredible amount of work to be done, but if we work with our allies, potential allies and trade partners I know it can be done.

McCain on SNL

2008-11-02T14:36:00.001-06:00

I may not exactly be the biggest fan of John McCain, but the guy knows funny and can deliver comical lines with the best of them (as proven in the Alfred E. Smith Charity Dinner). He showed up on SNL last night for the opening skit with Tina Fey in her much celebrated role as McCain running-mate, Sarah Palin.

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama

2008-10-20T14:31:00.001-05:00

I have admired Colin Powell since the mid 90's and he is one of maybe two people that has served on the Bush Administration that I actually like (Fmr. Wisconsin Gov., Tommy Thompson would be the other). On Sunday's Meet the Press, he finally decided to endorse one of the candidates. Colin Powell, a Republican, chose not his party's candidate, but the Democratic candidate, Obama. His reasoning is sound and resonates many of my own feelings about the politics of the last 7+ years. He stated that the Republican party has moved too far right (the reason why today I vote primarily for the Dems and appear liberal compared to mainstream Republicans), that McCain was being too negative, etc. There isn't a word in his conversation in this video that I disagree with. This is someone I would vote for if he ever considered running.

McCain and Obama stand-up

2008-10-19T10:04:00.001-05:00

Gov. Palin appears on SNL

2008-10-19T09:57:00.001-05:00

In a skit that opens with Tina Fey as Palin doing a press conference, Sarah Palin drops in as an observer touring the studio. The skit also features an appearance from Tina Fey's 30 Rock co-star, Alek Baldwin.

Political Junkie

2008-10-09T13:54:00.001-05:00

I've been watching the election evermore as we get closer to election day. I watched the VP debate live last Thursday and caught the SNL take (which Joe Biden laughed uncontrollably to on an ABC interview). Up until a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't particularly against either candidate and saw them both as an improvement over the current president, but the McCain camp, likely in deperation as Obama rises in the polls, has been incredibly negative and has been spouting continual lies and has been down right dirty. Yes, I know that playing dirty is part of politics, but they are being extreme, especially as Obama has kept things relatively positive, only firing back when fired at first (and at least keeping with truth - even though exagerated). Anyway, check out the SNL skit, if you haven't already seen it. Tina Fey is awesome as Sarah Palin.

Wet, crazy and busy

2008-09-11T12:44:00.001-05:00

Sorry about lack of news, pictures or other updates. School has obviously begun and thing picked-up immediately. I've been very busy with class, the kids and their schedules and trying to keep the place as near to clean as I can, given the situation. I'm only taking 12 credits this semester, but they are classes covering topics that I really haven't much experience in. For instance, in my class today, we set up RAID 5. I haven't had a need for a RAID array at home, so I never really bothered with it. While it was simple, it took me some time to figure out how to do it. Well, that's about all I have for now. Later.

Site Updates

2008-08-02T12:01:00.002-05:00

I've been working on the site, but still haven't followed all the way through with my previous post. What I have done is work on the video pages, tediously sifting through video sites to find replacements for previously pulled ones. So, for today at least, all videos appear to be there. I do hope to soon finish fixing all the photo albums under Collin and Photo Album so they appear for Firefox 3.

Firefox Fixes on Site

2008-07-22T19:10:00.004-05:00

Apple pushed out an iWeb update today that appears to fix the compatibility issues between some iWeb features and Firefox 3. I've already run some of the site through iWeb to get these fixes to the site, but still have several pages left.
On a related side note, I've already stopped using Firefox as my primary browser on my mac and am now using Safari. I was already dissatisfied with the browser (crashes and outright sluggish behavior), the issues with iWeb was simply the last straw. I am still using it on Linux and Windows computers, for now.

Doctor Horrible

2008-07-08T07:31:00.004-05:00

During the writer's strike, Joss Whedon got a little bored and developed his own little project...Doctor Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog. It stars Neil Patrick Harris as Doctor Horrible (Doogie Howser, M.D.), Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Serenity) as hero, and Felicia Day (Buffy season 7, The Guild) as the girl Doctor Horrible has a crush on. This interesting concoction is being premiered on the web on July 15th in 3 parts. Part 1 - 15th, Part 2 - 17th, Part 3 - 19th. Free viewing ends on the 20th. After that, they are going to a pay format. I believe a DVD is also in the works.

Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

Bill Gates' Last Day

2008-06-27T08:08:00.002-05:00

Today is Bill Gates' last day of daily work at Microsoft. He will still, of course, maintain much say in operations at the giant software company, due to his continuing role as chairman. His reason for stepping down is noble, he wants to dedicate more time to his philanthropy work. I may not be much of a fan of Microsoft, or its products, but the fact is that Microsoft had a big hand in making computers accessible to the masses.

This video came out at the last CES in honor of his pending departure. While externally Microsoft seems to lack humor, internally is a very different story. Their training videos, etc., leak all the time and they have a wonderful sense of humor.

Well, Bill, you've had a great run. Enjoy retirement and helping the needy in third world countries. By the way, Windows still sucks. :-)

Who needs cable or dish?

2008-06-20T12:10:00.005-05:00

Until I went back to school last fall, I always subscribed to at least some minimal amount of cable or satellite TV. However, I now wonder whether such is necessary. Over-the-air digital television offers a crystal clear picture that isn't as compressed as that offered by cable or dish and the amount of networks available through that has increased over that which was offered in the analog-only days. Even in my small market, I get a decent increase in channels by going digital. However, that is still only a small amount of programming versus your typical cable/dish package.

Now we get to the real point of this post. My DSL connection opens up a world of ever-growing content to me. The shadier folks on the Internet have long been using a peer-to-peer (P2P) technology, called bit torrent, to download various programs, movies, music and software - all neatly cataloged on tracker sites. While some of this content has been placed there by the content creators, much of it has been illegally been made available. Over the past few years, though, partly as an effort to battle the P2P sharing of their content, the various movie and TV studios have begun to offer up their content on the web.

iTunes was really the first big place they chose to distribute this content. For $1.99, Hannah Montana fans download the latest episode of the Miley Cyrus pre-teen/teen comedy. NBC, who saw great success in that Apple media store with shows like the Office (which was failing prior to its iTunes appearance), eventually pulled out of the service in what looked like a couple of school kids having a verbal fight on the playground. This sort of hailed the beginning of a new era on the Internet. Rather than focusing more on a pay-for-download service like iTunes or Amazon's Unbox, the studios shifted more towards streaming.

The streaming services appear in two types. The creators of Skype, the IM/VoIP/video conferance client owned by ebay, moved on some years ago to a project now called Joost. Joost, available for PC or Intel Macintosh, is a client that lives on the computer. It offers a very nice interface and a large variety of programming. When you close out the program, it evens immitates the ever shrinking white dot that old televisions displayed as they shut down. I've seen such classics as MacGyver and Bewitched as well as more recent programs like Babylon 5 and Jericho on Joost. The service is free, supported by a single commercial placed at the typical commercial breaks and when you first start the program. The downsides to this service are that their servers seem slow (the shows constantly pause for buffering purposes) and the navigation is horrible. I am surprised that a service with such a nice interface can't find a better way to find the programs. I have a much easier time finding programs on Adobe's Media Player. The problems with Joost are fixable and I sincerely hope they work towards solutions.

Adobe's Media Player really is one of Adobe's sample programs for showing off their new cross-platform Air technology. Based on their Flash technology, Air allows for the running of programs on or off of the web. The moving toward "cloud computing" is something you will see more of as Microsoft (Silverlight), Apple (the open-sourced SproutCore) and Adobe (Air) are all working towards solutions for this. Adobe's Media Player is a solution for playing local media as well as offering a navigatable library of streaming content from MTV, CBS, Nickelodeon and others. Unlike Joost, finding programs is easy, since it breaks it down by studio. This to me seems more scalable than Joost's solution of poorly-named, intermingled channels, most of which have content from independent producers, sporting dirt bikes, scantily clad women and other MTV-esque garbage.

Moving away from local clients, we find that most networks, major or cable, sport video right on their own web sites. CBS.com sports a nice library of recently aired content as well as classic programs. FOX and NBC worked together on hulu.c om, which holds a ton of recently aired programs as well as classic TV shows, movies and various independent productions (such as my personal favorite of Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show).

The interfaces for the players on these sites tend to be very similar from one to the next. Finding the video sections on some sites can be difficult and some have buffering issues while others seem to have issues on occassion with links pointing to the wrong episode or skipping a segment of an episode in playback and repeating another section instead. Overall, such issues have been minimal and pausing a program for a few minutes can help with the buffering issues. Hulu.com seems to have the nicest interface for a browser-residing player. I appreciat it when full-screen actually means it fills your entire screen. Some sites just fill up to the toolbars at the top of your browser. If I'm pipping the content out to my television from my laptop, I don't care to see Firefox's or Internet Explorer's menu bars or toolbars. I only want to see the program.

Finally, in the not as free category, I've also found pleasure in using Netflix. I love the DVD by mail service, but they also have been working on a streaming service, offering up tons of older movies and TV shows for all subscribers to the service. This is included in the monthly fee you pay for DVDs by mail, so if you are a subscriber, you might as well take advantage. The interface is nice, playback is near DVD quality and usually starts relatively quickly. The downsides are that their servers have been slow at times lately - delaying playback, and they currently are Windows XP/Vista only (they are trying to blame this on Apple for not licensing FairPlay DRM, but I don't buy this). Also, don't expect a ton of recent blockbusters in the video library. Pickings are a bit thin, but you can find plenty of B-movies in there.On a side note and moving slightly away from big media and into the realm of more independent, niche content, I am a fan of technology and, as such, I delight in viewing/listening to the wealth of tech content that is available from Leo Laporte's TWiT network and Kevin Rose's Revision3.

While at times I miss the convenience of being able to flip through the channels to find something palatable to watch, I am by no means suffering of a lack of content to keep me entertained. Even with 50 channels, there rarely seems to be anything on. Now I can view what I want, when I want, as long as I know how to find it. It would be nice if it could all be in one place, but for now, this is a solution that I can accept and even prefer to cable television or dish.

What does your desktop look like?

2008-06-06T14:34:00.003-05:00

Computer desktops are a very personal thing. They tell a lot about you, after all, your desktop speaks of your personality in so many ways. First, there is the operating system. Are you just another windows sufferer, not feeling open to trying the alternatives like a Macintosh or Linux? Or a business-type still bound to Windows for applications and job requirements? A Linux user may be perceived as geeky, but this may also be true of the also UNIX-based Macintosh. However, Macintosh users, at first glance may be perceived as a creative-type, since those make up a very large portion of the Mac user base.
Next, there is the all important picture. Are you the boring type, using one of the default, or pre-installed, pictures? Or maybe you are a family person, using pictures of the wife and/or kids? Music fans, such as myself, may have images of their favorite band or solo artists, while others may display images related to their work or hobbies. Shannon often uses anime characters or wallpapers related to games she likes. One of my instructors, now retired so he can enjoy his hobby full-time, had an image of his sail boat on his work computer. I tend to alternate between Love Psychedelico and YUI images, but have used pictures of the kids in the past.
Next, there is functionality and neatness. What type of shortcuts to applications reside on your desktop and how are they positioned? A messy desktop may reflect how one lives away from the computer, while a neat desktop with carefully thought through links may reflect a much more organized life style. I've carefully hand-picked the applications that reside in my already busy dock to reflect my daily work flow and keep the apps grouped by function. This tends to be true on my Windows and Linux machines as well, though they are used less and for different purposes. My mac desktop can get cluttered from time-to-time as I surf, creating a mess of shortcuts and various downloads, but a periodically clean it up. This kind of reflects the actual desk on which my mac sits as well as much of the house.
So, what kind of a desktop are you?

LOVE PSYCHEDELICO featured on NPR

2008-06-06T10:43:00.002-05:00

My favorite band was featured on NPR a few days ago. The article from that is here. The gist of the article is that Delico has drawn more on influences from the British Invasion than on Japanese music. The article also compares Naoki's guitar playing to Dire Strait's "Money for Nothing" (one of my personal fav's). They played "Standing Bird" and feature it on the site with the article. I'm also including a YouTube video of the live performance at the Nippon Budokan of that song. Of note, the Budokan was built for the 1964 olympics, the Beatles made their Japanese debut there and it holds 14,201 people. See the wikipedia entry for it here.

Worn out.

2008-05-23T09:01:00.002-05:00

So, went from school right into cleaning house. Living with three slobs is not easy, I tell you. Is it really so hard to pick up your own socks off of the floor or to pick up your coat and hang it up? How about dishes, at least? Such is life. For the past couple of weeks I've been scrubbing high and low to get the place livable before Shannon's parents show up for a visit. I lucked out in that they couldn't come up last weekend, but they may show this weekend. Also, Shannon's friends may also show up tonight. Maybe I need to unionize and go on strike if I don't get some help.

Winter, GO AWAY!

2008-04-28T06:30:00.003-05:00

Alright, so it is April 28th and it is snowing. I wouldn't mind this anomaly so much, except we just finally saw the last of the snow piles in store parking lots disappear a week ago. This last winter was long and, overall, cold. So, it seems, this little snow (which we've had a few of this month) seems to be winter's way of saying, "Na, na, na, na, na, na, na. I ain't gone, yet." Never mind that the semester is over in less than two weeks and that April is over come Thursday.

As Far As Pictures Go

2008-03-29T15:36:00.002-05:00

I haven't really been taking many pictures. The only ones since Christmas were of our recent visit to CMEC (Children's Museum of Eau Claire). The boys had a great time and Sebastian got to play with the daughter of a classmate of mine. As soon as the weather cooperates more and the parks have a chance to dry out, I intend to get outside with the boys... hopefully school cooperates there as well. Anyway, that is when you can expect to see more pics up here. I'm sorry, but interior pictures of our cramped duplex apartment just aren't exciting.

Speaking of school, all still going well there. Doing my best at keeping those A's going and the semester is over half over now. I'm very much looking forward to summer, something I can't say has been true for many years (I hate heat). I'm starting to feel the wear and tear of school and am in need of an extended break. With that said, though, I'm having a blast learning more about what has been a longtime hobby of mine, computers.

YUI - I LOVED YESTERDAY

2008-03-29T15:04:00.002-05:00

I pre-ordered YUI's new CD, due out in Japan on the 9th. The price of shipping a CD to the U.S. from Tokyo gets me everytime.

The title is supposedly a reference to the Beatles' song, "Yesterday" and the boxes supposedly symbolize the layers of protection around her as she was growing up. In the limited edition album art, she is stepping out of those boxes. This CD includes many of her recent singles, all of which were good.

In case you were wondering how much I spent on this, 2513yen plus 1210yen on shipping (roughly $37 U.S. total). Expensive, yes, but I'm a fan of supporting artists that I enjoy.

Hacktone Love Psychedelico poster

2008-03-12T09:28:00.002-05:00

As I've mentioned many times over, this is my favorite band. If you enjoy the Beatles, Bob Dylan, um sixties rock in general... you'll enjoy this band. They have been heavily influenced by the rock of the sixties, especially the Beatles. Check out some of their music in the video section of my site (www.michaelandshannon.com). Once in the video section of the site, look at the top of the page for "Love Psychedelico" and, of course, click it.

Post of misc. nonesense

2008-02-20T23:04:00.002-06:00

Okay, so the spring semester is well under way and we've been busy. Time for a quick update on how things have been. Like much of Wisconsin, we are still buried in snow and dealing with sub zero temperatures.
Yesterday (Tuesday) the primary elections were held in Wisconsin. The week leading up to it proved to be a bit interesting with the nations' eyes turned to our state. Obama, despite bad weather, made it to our city and gave a speech at our local university. The former first lady, however, twice canceled appearances here - although Chelsey Clinton did visit our city. Too bad for Hillary, no wonder the state went to Obama.
School is proving to be a bit interesting, in the difficult but could be worse sense. It isn't necessarily that the courses are difficult, but the combination can be. Among the classes are three operating system administration courses: Windows, Unix and Netware. While I'm enjoying learning about the finer points of these operating systems, the combination of the three at the same time gets confusing. First, that is three courses where I have to remember a two to four username/password combinations for each. Second, there can be striking similarities between them, but only enough to throw you off as you move from one to the next (especially in command line) Third, none of these classes involve the Macintosh :-( Okay, the last one I just added for fun. I love my mac, but I can enjoy computers no matter the OS.

I have a story involving school, the anti-mac environment in my classes and my Netware Instructor, but I'll save that for another time. I'm tired and need to get to bed.

Yui's latest - Namidairo

2008-02-02T22:43:00.000-06:00

After a little longer pause than I'm used to from her, she is back with her newest single, "Namidairo". This song marks a return to the acoustic guitar and a softer tone, much like the music on her first CD. This song is the first time, though, that I've seen a Japanese title on one of her tracks. Also, no English words in the song at all. She usually throws in at least a few words of English, so a bit off of her usual pattern.
Anyway, I nice little song from Yui. I like her "rock girl" persona, but it is nice to see her return to her roots. Enjoy.

Note: Video was loading slowly when I tried it, so may require a bit of patience

The day Yahoo! starts to die a slow death

2008-02-01T07:22:00.000-06:00

Forbes, this morning, has an article announcing Microsoft's offer for Yahoo!, a massive $44.6 billion (yes, billion). That is a 62% premium given their current stock price. From Microsoft's perspective - the one where they are obsessed with Google - this makes sense. They can't stand anyone else being a leader in any tech sector and keep making plays where they probably shouldn't.
Google has been a huge thorn in their side. This is not because Google has been a direct threat to Microsoft's business model. We don't see boxes of Google Office '07 in the store or Google OS. No, it is the mere fact that Google has been highly successful and profitable in a slice of tech that bothers them the most. The fact that Google stock seems to have no ceiling while Microsoft's has been very much immobile and undervalued likely chafes them as well.
I don't have a problem with Microsoft spending part of its massive war chest, but this really does spell the end of an era. When I first entered college in the mid 90's, Yahoo! was the search engine of choice. I still have a Yahoo! email account and on rare occasion still use their IM. My main issue is that Microsoft has the habit of buying great companies with great products and turning those products mediocre. The article talks of Microsoft's plans for integrating the two companies making me fear the results.
Will Yahoo!'s decent products receive the Microsoft treatment as well? My two favorite Yahoo! products are it's IM and their search. Their search isn't as nice as Google's, but it is much better than Microsoft's search. I use it on those rare occasions where Google fails me and it remains the engine behind other search sites, like goodsearch.com - which donates proceeds to charities.
Yahoo! is probably seeing this as an escape from their own problems (and it may be), but this could end up working out even better for Google. Indeed, if Microsoft ends up doing the Yahoo! search engine the Microsoft way, it will just become another Microsoft Live Search and lose the remaining loyal users it has. Where will that lost market share go? Um, Google.
Microsoft's problem isn't Google. Microsoft's problem is Microsoft. They lack vision, so they buy it and kill it. They lack focus, so they attack a company who wasn't really a direct competitor until Microsoft made it one. Microsoft should stop worrying about being everything tech and start focusing on it's core components. Windows Vista's "Wow" was in it's lack of adoption and Office 2007 has only served to confuse long time users with a new unintuitive "intuitive" interface. Those are their bread and butter products, but they are too consumed with Google envy to give them the attention they deserve. Their lack of focus and vision is going to be their ultimate demise.

2nd Semester in Action

2008-01-18T11:47:00.000-06:00

One more class and I will have completed my first week of the 2nd semester. Winter break was nearly a month long and getting back into the swing of things was interesting. What is really proving challenging is the strategic aspect of it. A family of four, four different locations to go to early in the morning and one vehicle. I've had to tell a couple of my instructors to expect me to be late in certain classes.
I'm taking 16 credits this semester. That is the fullest load I will have through this program. Thankfully, 12 credits from my past life as a college student were able to transfer in and satisfy some of the requirements (general ed courses). The fall semester will be my lightest (if all goes as planned) with 12 credits.

Coming Soon: LOVE PSYCHEDELICO

2008-01-10T09:27:00.001-06:00

It is finally starting to look more substantial, LOVE PSYCHEDELICO is going to have a CD released in the U.S. HackTone Records (co-founded by David Gorman of Rhino fame) has a myspace profile set up, complete with snippets of four Delico songs.
LOVE PSYCHEDELICO, my favorite band anywhere, is a successful Japanese rock band that has been heavily influenced by 60's rock, particularly the Beetles.
The band is made up of Kumi (vocals) and Naoki (guitar). They met in college and found they had similar interests. Kumi, having spent part of her childhood in the U.S., implements a good amount of English into her lyrics. Some songs are completely in English. While English lyrics in popular Japanese music is not uncommon, few master the smooth transitions between the two languages that Kumi exhibits. Kumi's vocals are also rather incredible. She can do the all out rock singing, but is also very capable of the soft, sweet singing as used in "neverland".
I couldn't possibly say enough to show how great this duo is. What I can say is, when this CD comes out, buy it! In the mean time, head over to the "video gallery" on my web site, click on "Love Psychedelico" and view some of the videos.

New Pictures Up

2007-12-31T10:35:00.000-06:00

I developed a roll of film last week and took some pictures with my digital over the weekend while visiting family. They are posted under "Photo Album" on the website (www.michaelandshannon.com).

12 Pains of Christmas

2007-12-14T15:34:00.000-06:00

As someone who has worked retail for 10 years, I've very much learned to dread the holiday season. Apparently, the folks at JibJab feel the same way.

The 12 Pains of Christmas | Funny Jokes at JibJab

Studying Sucks

2007-12-13T14:14:00.000-06:00

Granted, I brought this on myself by going back to school, but why do final exams all have to be crammed into one week. Whoever thought up that idea was a nut! Anyway, two exams down (Cisco - CCNA 1 and Computer Concepts). The Cisco exam, an exam where the class average was about 51%, I received a 76%. That gave me a solid A for the semester in that class. The CC exam hasn't been graded, yet, but I fully expect near a 100% on it. Tonight, I have the one I'm most concerned about, Psych, but even if I don't take it, I'd receive an 80% in the class - it is weighted at a whopping 20% of the semester score. 60% or higher on it will land me with a solid A. This exam is swiftly followed by my Electronics Concept exam in the morning. I'm only mildly concerned about that one. I have nearly 98% so far in the class and we have a review before hand. If I spend an hour studying for it after my Psych exam tonight, I should be okay. I also have an exam in Math&Logic covering the stats unit. That one is online, so I'll likely take it after the Electronics exam tomorrow. After that, over the weekend I have one final project to do for the online Network Diagramming course I'm taking this semester, then...*breathe*, that's it for a month. My second semester as a networking student begins in the middle of January, hopefully I'll be going into it as an "A" student. Back to studying for that Psych exam.

Winter Has Hit

2007-12-06T14:59:00.000-06:00

It was bound to happen, eventually. We were buried in snow and I'm buried under exams and other school-related work...thus the lack of current updates. This picture is from a few days ago, but just add a few more inches to imagine the way things look right now. This stuff may hang around for a while too, since I woke up to -11ºF this morning. If it doesn't warm up too much, should be a white Christmas.

Recommendations

2007-11-24T21:51:00.000-06:00

I decided to try something "new". My fav place to shop online, outside of iTunes and Newegg.com, is Amazon.com. I have ordered countless things from them and generally am pleased with the service and prices. I figured, since I already try to share my tastes in music with visitors to my site and would be more than happy to discuss tv, movies and books, I would give their "Associate" program a spin. I have complete control over the items I "advertise" on my site, unlike Google Adsense on which I've accumulated all of 70¢ on. I am not by any means trying to push products on anyone in order to make a buck here or there. Rather, I'm first trying to convince the audience to give something a try. If you wish to rent it, or buy it elsewhere, that is fine. However, if do decide to buy from Amazon, please, please, pretty please click the link on my site. It does cost me roughly a little over $100 a year to run michaelandshannon.com and I am a "poor college student", so anything I can recoup is cool. Thank You.

Note to those wishing to leave comments:

2007-11-11T20:19:00.000-06:00

I don't mind people wishing to counter my views on issues, but if you chose to do so, don't hide behind the label of anonymity. Such posts will be deleted. It doesn't have to even be a name, something as simple as "Outspoken Republican" or "Right-wing nut-job" will suffice. I welcome the opportunity to debate issues, just be sure to keep it clean and civil and do it with pride and, most of all, an IDENTITY.

Thank You.

Funny DHL commercial

2007-11-11T20:15:00.000-06:00

I came across this through a link in the shoutbox at yui-lover.net (fan site for YUI). It took me a few seconds to get what was happening, just think about what DHL does....

No "Fall Pics" this year.

2007-10-28T08:33:00.000-05:00

So, for the past three years I've taken pictures of the boys during the peak colors of autumn and certain people might be waiting for this year's pictures to show up. You can stop waiting, they aren't coming. There are two reasons:

1.)Peak was lousy here this year. If we had a peak, it was around the 20th. Unfortunately, leading up to it, we had tons of rain and when. So, as many of the leaves were changing, they were falling. half of the leaves were gone before we ever got to peak.

2.)No time. Hey, I'm a student now. School is more important.

I did have the boys in a park on the 20th, but only to play. The above two reasons kept me from making any real effort at taking those nice pictures. I am going to make an attempt to get some family pictures taken this year, so family can look forward to that. Other than that, just keep looking for the occasional snap shot to show up in all the usual places.

Changing things up...for now

2007-10-24T22:17:00.000-05:00

Alright, I'm going to try something a little different. If Google won't index me on my site, maybe they'll do it on their own blog site. Anyway, I'll just integrate this page into the site. I do have posts as recent as today on the old blog, so please visit there. Also be sure to visit our site, www.michaelandshannon.com, if you aren't already there.