Morning Headlines…
Posted on September 18, 2009 - Filed Under Uncategorized
This mornings headlines:
Wynonna partners with Belmont University’s Music Department. Kanye West was unavailable for comment, however his agent did say that Beyonce would have been a better choice.
The New York Times is reporting a study out of Harvard University which shows that lack of Insurance is responsible for 45,000 deaths in the US each year. We tried to contact the Grim Reaper, but his agent said that President Obama is fielding his calls while he is on vacation.
Scientists have successfully created the first “Magnetic Gas”. Taco Bell wants to be the first customer.
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-09/scientists-create-first-ever-magnetic-gas
Linden Labs, makers of the virtual reality simulator Second Life are facing a First Life (ie real life) law suit for Sex-Code. Clarence Thomas has not returned out phone calls.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/09/linden/
Catholics are urged to pray before sex. Pope and priests unaware that men and women usually repeatedly say, “Oh My God” during intercourse.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-09-17-catholic-sex_N.htm
Rush Limbaugh makes the statement that we need Segregated Buses. Zombie Martin Luther King, Jr. has arrived to lay the smack down on him.
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/09/17/limbaugh-we-need-segregated-buses/
First rocky planet found outside of our solar system. Sylvester Stallone suing for copyright infringment.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/09/16/new.rocky.planet/index.html
Wired Magazine and CNN reporting on why Verizon’s new phones aren’t more exciting. Steve Jobs laughing all the way to the bank.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/17/verizon.cellphones/index.html
Tiny T-Rex fossil discovery startles scientists. So what? Midgets are always funny.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/09/17/tiny.t-rex.dinosaur.discovered/index.html
As Always,
“News Hound” Jax
Resume online…
Posted on August 27, 2009 - Filed Under Uncategorized
Not really a blog so much as a quick note about having posted my resume on my blog. That little button up there that says “Resume for Matthew Jackson” that you would have to be blind not to see. Yeah, if you click on it it doesn’t suddenly make your computer explode. I haven’t quite figured out how to do that yet (though I assure you, I am working on it), but it does display my resume for you to review. I would very much appreciate it if you are someone who is responsible for making decisions for your organization’s head count that you consider me for anything from corporate flunky to office whipping boy. I will do anything, and by anything I do mean ANYTHING.
If the formating is a little odd, I blame Wordpress for not liking the Linux version of Firefox. Things seem rather laggy and “strange” to say the very least. I suppose I could contact Wordpress and find out if this is normal, but to be completely honest I am sure it would require fairy dust and unicorn tears to make Wordpress work right, as I have already found out that copy and paste from Notepad is bad mojo for formating.
That’s all for tonight. No status updates, no pictures. Maybe tomorrow.
As Always,
Jax
Product plugs for friends and their businesses…
Posted on August 23, 2009 - Filed Under Uncategorized
I am not posting a full length blog tonight since I am actually a tad tired and it is rather late, nearly 12:35 am here in Nashville. I finished a little bit of “consulting” work this afternoon, and of course tomorrow (well actually a little bit later today being that it is already Sunday I guess) is all about church for me.
A couple of friends of mine have decided to start their own Web Services Company called Byte30 Web Services. This is a tough business to break into with some of the corporate giants out there like GoDaddy, Register.com, Level 3 Communications, etc., but sometimes the smaller home owned shops can offer the individual services that small business and gamers really like. Advantages like faster response times for support tickets, customized web development work, and attention to detail with whatever time it takes to resolve an issue. Some of these things a larger corporate giant either cannot or will not provide sometimes because they figure they are only making 9 to 10 bucks per customer and focusing hours trying to resolve an issue for one customer just isn’t worth it. Some of us have horror stories to tell about GoDaddy. I certainly wish Joe and Jason the best of luck in this endeavor. Maybe they will hit it big and make it a viable full-time business. Heh, then they can hire me as their flunky. By the way, their website link is now permanently posted over in my Links section to the side, and you can get to it by clicking the name of their business in this blog post above.
Since I am plugging for websites tonight, I would like to plug a website for an online friend who lives in the Nashville area, Jeff Anderson. Jeff runs a website for a little toy he came up with called The Crickettoy. His website is dedicated to Calvin the Cricket, which is a little toy that “chirps” and is used for “those awkward pauses.” Calvin even has his own blog on the site. Yes, it is geeky, it is a novelty, and completely out there, but it really is pretty funny. I can tell you from the one I have and carry with me a lot, it does get some laughs when you use it at the right times. People constantly ask me where I got it, so I hope Jeff has gotten some word of mouth business from me. He has gotten some good press nationally, been in a few magazines with it, and he drives a PT Cruiser made up to look like his little creation. He’s a great guy, has a nice family, and is a Christian. So please check out his site too, and order one of his Crickettoys or a T-Shirt or both. His site is now on my links section as well.
I have disabled, incase anyone didn’t notice, the need to register an account on here to post comments. For some reason, that the mighty Pixie is trying to track down, the domain is not sending out e-mails at all for things like new account registrations, notifications to us admins on posts needing approved, etc etc. Of course this means if you post a comment it will be approved when I get around to checking it since I am not getting e-mails and I don’t live with my blog on my computer screen.
I have been working on and off today and fine tuning some of the bans for the site to eliminate some of the “spammers” that like to post comments about “grow your penis” or “get laid tonight” or “cum check out my pictures.” You have got to love the wonderful spam we all get. It is sad that these people can’t just leave their spam to e-mail, but now they have to infest the blogging world too. So many of them seem to be coming from the Netherlands too, so I have been adding entire ranges based on the information I am getting back from ARIN when doing whois searches on the IPs these people are coming from. Of course being that I am banning entire IP ranges, there is the possibility I may have inadvertently banned valid visitors to the blog, so if you find yourself suddenly unable to visit the site either from home, work, or your iPhone or mobile device (as I do get a few iPhone hits), please let me know. And a special apology to some iPhone users. Yours might be harder to resolve as I think Apple uses the same range of IPs for all of their iPhones, which are based out of New Jersey for some reason. I have a “pest” who is trying to circumvent another ban by using her iPhone to view the blog, so I had to block the entire range. I am not sure if you get static IP addies for iPhones or not, but if you do and you know you do, send me your IP and I will add an exception for it. I think I can do that.
Well, that is about it for me tonight.
As Always,
“Bloggin’” Jax
Currently listening to: 977music.com (currently playing Eminem “Encore”)
Currently feeling: tired and stressed over rent money (which I don’t have)
I got into a discussion on zombies earlier today, so I figured this picture of Tux as a zombie would be appropriate today… beware the coming Zombie Apocalypse.
A welcome and a few quick ground rules…
Posted on August 21, 2009 - Filed Under Uncategorized
I had all of this on a “splash” page that was seperate from the site to lay down some ground rules for the blog… but due to it being a little confusing, and being that I can now just ban troublemakers and spammers, I removed it and am just reposting the rules and such here…
So you have managed to come to my blog. Who am I? Well I am Jax of course, and this is my little piece of the ether.
No, that is not entirely true, this is my piece of the ether which is piggy backed on to a friend’s piece of the ether. But for all intent and practical purposes, we will call it my little spot in cyberspace. This is my blog. I come here to post for a couple of reasons, but mostly because it is therapeutic and let’s me get some things off my chest. It is public, and only because I cannot make it anymore private than it is… so a few warnings as below:
A) These posts are my opinion, my thoughts, and my feelings. I don’t stop to consult anyone when I post, I speak my mind. As such, you may find offense at some of the things I say. I am sorry if you do, but you’ll get over it… or you won’t. Your choice.
B) I do have to approve ALL comments to my blog posts. If you are someone I trust, I may just make it so that I don’t have to approve your comments (if you create an account on the blog), but those people will be few and far between. I do this because I am NOT allowing this blog to be a free for all. If I piss someone off, I am not having it become a nasty grudge match online. The only drama around here will be from me. I’m selfish that way. I have refused to post some comments, and I may refuse to allow some others in the future. If your comment is hateful, spiteful, or just plain rude… guess what?
C) I am a Christian. As such, I am likely to see things a bit different than some people who read my blog. I don’t “hate” other religions, faiths, races, or cultures. I may disagree with them, and those views may be evident in my blog posts, but I don’t “hate” anyone. There are some people I dislike, but not “hate”. If I offend you with my views on things, you are welcome to comment on my posts. If you feel you are going to be mean or rude in response, please e-mail me instead. See point B above.
That’s pretty much it. I post here when I can or when I feel like doing so. There are times a week or two may pass between posts, but I am trying to post more often. I have some really cool ideas (at least ideas I think are cool) for some blog posts in the near future, so you may eventually see a daily post from me, or at least one every other day. More on that later.
Thanks for stopping by, thanks for reading my posts, please comment, and please come back.
As Always,
“The Proprietor” Jax
Blog changes, job news, and music…
Posted on August 21, 2009 - Filed Under Uncategorized
I have been taking steps today to do a little “cleaning” around the blog.
I have added a few new tools to the blog, including the ability to ban based on individual IP addresses and IP address ranges. (Ok, ok, so actually Dani added it, because the one I tried to install and get to work didn’t, so she came to the rescue again and fixed it… all hail the mighty Pixie.) I have already banned a few ranges, so if you discover that you are no longer able to get on from work, or home, or wherever you were coming to the blog from, please e-mail me at mattshiloh@gmail.com and I will take a look at it and see if I can make an exception for you or if I need to adjust the bans. For the most part the bans only affects few specific regions of the US, one university, and one school. I had a pest problem, but that has been fixed. Dani’s “ban stick” actually allows me to send offenders off to another website… and Dani came up with the awesome idea to send banned folks to www.failblog.com. So if you try to visit my site from another computer and end up on Failblog… well, either something went wrong with the ban ranges or we really need to talk.
I have just about recooperated from this week at work. While I did not work much this week at The Home Depot, the hours that I did work were long and hot. Working in the outside garden area can take a little energy out of you. Personally I love it out there as it is relaxing with the breeze and the “fresh” air… well as fresh as you can get in a city this size. However repeatedly loading bags of mulch, soil, rocks, bails of straw, etc isn’t easy, and I am not in the shape I was in high school. I’ve tacked on a few pounds since then and spent more than a few hours behind the keyboard of a computer in a comfortable chair munching on microwavable burritos, cheeseburgers, and pizza. And while I am working hard to get back into a shape other than round, it is slow going. I just realized after this week of harder than normal labor, that I am not 18 anymore and I am not in the best shape in the world. I guess I need to redouble my efforts at the gym.
In news concerning The Home Depot… Tim Simmons, our store manager, is the awesome. I went to him the other day and kind of explained my situation to him. Now I know that many people take temporary jobs through The Home Depot and all of them need jobs or they wouldn’t have taken temp positions in the first place. But I think it is safe to assume my situation is a little unique in that I am living where I am living, been through over the last year what I have been through, and am going through what I am going through now. So after I explained to him what I was going through, he told me he would speak with our HR rep, Alicia, about an overnight position they had coming open. Granted I had heard there were a number of others going for that same position, but I figured who knows, Tim is the manager and maybe they can add me to it. Well Tim came to me yesterday while I was in the outside garden area and told me they have a position coming open in Tool Rental at our store and that since I am already trained (meaning on the registers), that he wants to put me in that spot and that he would talk to Alicia. He said I wouldn’t have any hours on the schedule after the 27th of this month, but that they would get me hours and get me in to job shadow so I could pick up what else I needed to know.
In short, the worries of not having a job in a week are over. And to be honest, while I am new at all this home improvement and hardware stuff, The Home Depot really is a pretty good company to work for. It isn’t “corporate” in environment like I am use to, and the people are a bit rougher in language than I would prefer sometimes, but the employees really are nice and the work is pretty laid back. Now I don’t know that I will be at The Home Depot the rest of my life, infact I can almost guarantee you I won’t, unless of course they were to fast track me for management and I was making more than barely above minimum wage, but for now there is the added comfort of knowing that I am working for a stable company that isn’t going anywhere and isn’t going to flake out on me. The Home Depot has their own flavor of Kool-aid (Dell peeps will get the reference), and I am learning to drink it. It’s different… but it isn’t unpleasant by any means.
I am off work until Monday of next week, though I am e-mailing Tim tonight to see if I can come in next week and start job shadowing some. Also that might prompt them to get me some more hours since I am a bit behind on rent right now I need hours… badly. That or I need some major donations through the donation link to the side over there. Heh, yeah I added one for my blog, so feel free if you have an extra 10 bucks or even a spare hundred you just want to help a poor guy who is trying to rebuild his life… it will go to good purposes.
Ok, I am going to finish up trying to debug this plugin, do a little more online research, and then maybe get to sleep at a decent hour. Danielle is spinning music in Second Life right now, so I am jamming to that and just enjoying not having as many pressures, and trying not to think about the others… like being seriously behind on rent right now and possibly getting booted from here if I don’t get caught up REAL soon.
For those of you who would like to chill to Dani’s show tomorrow night (she DJs Friday nights and Saturday nights), go to http://www.virtuallifestream.com:10702 and click on “listen” at 7 pm CST tomorrow (Saturday). She plays at the same time on Friday nights. The show lasts two hours. She will be doing a Jazz show for another club on the 30th, but I am not sure of the time. When I get that I will post it.
Until later,
As Always,
“Blogging” Jax
Currently listening to: The DJ Daisie Show @ Urbanity (Danielle DJing for an online club in Second Life).
Currently feeling: stressed for the most part, but a little relaxed (though not much)
Since right now I am listening to a music show, I thought this little image of Tux as an iPod would be appropriate.
