Tuncer's Blog

People Suck

2005-11-23T09:56:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted to this blog in quite a while. I got pretty busy over the summer and not only abandoned this blog but let my stupid domain, tuncerdeniz.com, expire. Lo and behold, here comes some fuck from Dubai and buys the domain. When I ask him to sell it back to me, he says he wants $1000. I told him to "go fuck yourself". Like that bitch is going to get any offers for tuncerdeniz.com. Seriously.

So, I've registered tuncerdeniz.net and this will be my new home for a while.

Apple vs The Rumor Sites

2005-03-16T19:15:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot of media coverage about this and frankly, I'm glad that Apple sued Think Secret and all those rumor monger sites. Here's my take on it...these sites exist to make money off of Apple's secrets. To me there is something fundamentally wrong with that. Think Secret has become such a popular site and it is making Nick DePlumme (or whatever his real name is) so much money that off of Apple's trade secrets that it kinda makes me wanna puke.

Maybe it's because I run a web site of my own and know how much hard work you have to put in it in order for it to be successful. These sites, on the other hand, depend their success on some Apple employee (who is probably getting a cut of the action) to illegally give out trade secrets. Come on, enough is enough...

Apple, like any other company, has every damn right to find out who is leaking their secrets. And if that means they need to steam roll over Think Secret and all those other sites, fine.

This Week's Lamer Award Goes To...

2005-02-20T22:02:00.000-08:00

This week's lamer award goes to the guy who for the last 6 months has been trying to mock me by creating iChat buddy icons that look like mine. It's getting old dude and really lame :)

Happy Birthday, Here's Your Diagnosis

2005-02-19T13:45:00.000-08:00

Well, after running a high fever, with aching bones, and headaches, coupled with a really sore throat, I decided to head to the Doctor today. The fever has gone down but the throat is still killing me. Diagnosis. Strep throat.

Today I turn 36 and swallowing anything is a major pain. Going to dinner tonite to celebrate with friends is going to be tough, but wouldn't miss it :)

The Flu

2005-02-17T21:09:00.000-08:00

I have the flu again. Second time this year. You can bet that next year I'll be getting the shot...that is, if my doctor can find it :)

Apple Shares Up And Up!

2005-02-14T13:06:00.000-08:00

Apple was up another three dollars and change. Glad I bought two weeks ago. As predicted, the company announced they would split last Friday. As for another prediction, the stock will slep after it splits this coming Friday, but overall the stock is lookign great...

This Week's Award For The Smartest Guy In The World

2005-02-13T11:06:00.000-08:00

This week's award for the smarest guy in the world goes to ex-Google employee Mark Jen, who got himself terminated by his employer for posting in his blog about his new job. Jen says, "Either directly or indirectly, my blog was the reason." Duh! Jen's fatal error was posting criticism about his employer.

Ok, first off, if you're hired by Google, shut the fuck up and work. Their stock is going through the roof and Jen would have been a millionare in a few years time. Obviously Google realized after the fact that this guy wasn't too bright and made a mistake by hiring him.

Posting about your employer or for that matter, posting stuff about your personal or work related problems, just shouldn't be in your blog. People will come to your blog and will read it and if you start posting about your drug problem, or that you won the lottery, it's only going to invite problems.

That said, I hope my employer isn't reading this...he's a prick.

You Know You're Getting Old When....

2005-02-12T16:42:00.000-08:00

I'll be 36 years old if a few days and I've started to make a list of "you know you're getting old when...". I'll update it when I get a few more.

- Hair starts coming out of your ears. I went out and bought one of those nose and ear trimmers.
- Teenagers who tell you they've never heard of "The Beatles".
- Going to the bathroom takes more than 30 seconds and sometimes "hurts".
- You look in the mirror and yell "what the fuck, when did my eyebrows get so bushy?"
- You tell your kids that same old line, "there are kids in Africa who are starving to death. Eat your food!"

More to come...feel free to post their own.

Is The Mac Tide Turning?

2005-02-05T08:42:00.000-08:00

Although I've been a Mac user for some 20 years now, it is only now that I'm beginning to see people get really, really interested in getting a Mac. After I moved to Calgary I've seen a slow but steady interest from my friends about switching to Mac.

One friend, who owns a small company, has been thinking about switching to Mac, especially when the new Mac mini came out. Another friend is considering getting a Mac mini because I've had to reformat his PC twice in the last year because of spyware and viruses. Another friend, a long time PC user, called me and asked me about the Mac mini. You see the trend here...

It's also amazing when people ask me what they can do on a Mac. When I tell them about the iLife products, they're really impressed. When I show people iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and what not, PC users are really impressed. When they ask about Microsoft Office...well...that's a sticking point. Since Office is usually bundled with a new Dell (or they can pirate it easily) they balk at the price of Office 2004 for the Mac.

I'm not sure if the tide is really turning but it's just cool to see that the Mac has new found respect among people. PC users who once felt their Windows PC was superior to the Mac (I'm talking back in the Mac OS 9 days), now see it the other way. Want less headaches, better everyday software (for photos, movies, surfing), get a Mac.

Star Wars Episode III: A Lost Hope

2005-01-31T09:16:00.000-08:00

Here's a pretty damn funny Episode III parody. Worth checking out. The peeing sequence had me on the floor.

Star Wars Episode III: A Lost Hope

Apple Shares

2005-01-30T09:45:00.000-08:00

Last week I bought some Apple shares for the first time in a long, long time. I've always had a resistance to buying Apple's stock, but the buzz around Apple these days is electrifying. Great earnings and great products equels a rising stock. I predict that the stock will hit a $100 and then split. Err, at least I hope it does ;)

One Tough Car (video)

2005-01-28T09:28:00.000-08:00

Here's an ad that has Volkswagon in a bit of a tissy. According to this news.com article, the ad was sent to a Volkswagon roster agency in the UK. Wolkswagon demanded the source material from the creators, two guys named Lee and Dan, but it appeared last week on the net and has been circulating ever since. Volkswagon today filed charges against the creators of the spoof commercial. Ouch.

• One Tough Car

Banana Peppers

2005-01-27T10:17:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last entry. Life has been extremely hectic lately without too many breaks in between. Though one break Mimi and I took recently was a fantastic 10 day cruise to Mexico. It was simply fantastic and I catch myself day dreaming from time to time about it.

Cruising is certainly not for everyone. There were lots of old people on the boat, which was fine with us because we wanted to relax and have a good time. We met a ton of interesting and nice people on board though we did bump into a few assholes who thought they owned the world.

The boat was excellent. It was launched in early 2004 and had plenty of cool stuff on board including 5 pools, spa, virtual golf, mini golf, casino, theater, 6 restaurants, discos, bars, internet cafe, and on and on.

Mexico itself was a blast. We did a lot of shopping and visited lots of cool places. Overall the Mexican people were extremely warm (more so than some Americans we met on board) and some of the food we had while on land was amazing.

I ended up playing in the Casino the last two nights and won $400 at Blackjack. I'm not sure why but everytime I play Blackjack, I win. I'm not a heavy gambler but I have a formula that seems to win everytime I play.

We really loved Mexico and plan on visiting again, this time with the kids.

Thanksgiving in Canada

2004-11-25T08:42:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving in Canada is going to be fantastic! We'll have friends and family over, cook up a nice 15 pound turkey, eat like pigs till we have to unbutton our pants, and watch football all day. Then tomorrow we'll go shopping with the kids and eat left over turkey.

Oh, but wait, Thanksgiving in Canada was a month ago! Nevermind. It's one thing I hate about living in Canada (besides the rising Canadian dollar) is that Thanksgiving is on the wrong day. Yep, no turkey for me. Wife is working, kid is off to daycare. I'll just sit at home and watch some football by myself. Hmmmph.

Sometimes It Pays To Complain

2004-11-19T11:34:00.000-08:00

Today my wife left for Dallas. She's off to see Barry Manilow (ugg, don't ask) with her sisters. Late last night I gave her her itinerary and she noticed I had put "Maria" instead of her real name, Mercedes, when I booked the flight. So I figured I'd call American and have them change it.

Well, this is where it got interesting. I was put on hold, then the operator said that "AA.COM" won't change it since the flight is 7 hours from now. I told her that was unacceptable and demanded to talk to a supervisor. After a few minutes, she came back online and said, and I'm not kidding, that her supervisor would change the first name on the electonic ticket for a change fee of $100. I almost threw the phone in disgust when she said that. I told her that was also unacceptable. So I asked to talk to the supervisor.

The supervisor came on and I told her that I couldn't believe they were going to charge me $100 for a first name change. She said something like "why should we pay for your mistake, you're the one that did it wrong". I told her that people make mistakes, honey, when typing on the computer and that I didn't realize it until now. I begged her, screamed, negotiated to no avail. I said, fine, I'll pay your fucking $100 but you can bet I'm going to file a complaint with American. She said "please do".

So after I paid the 100 bucks, I asked for her full name, location, etc. Then I fired off an email to AA customer relations and basically told them that I'd been flying American for some 20 years and this is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I also said I would avoid AA whenever possible.

Well, this morning I got an email back. AA apologized profusely and refunded the $100 charge on my ticket.

Cruising

2004-10-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Maria and I booked a 10 day cruise for late December on Princess. We'll be leaving December 29th and returning January 8th. The last time I was on a cruise was when I was probably around 5 or 6. Anyway, this will be our very first, extended trip anywhere. We won't be bringing the little one since he's still 2 1/2 years old and bringing him along would be a lot of work. Luckily my parents are more than happy to come to Calgary to take care of him while we're away. Some things have to fall into place workwise before I feel comfortable leaving. We'll see how it goes.

Winter has finally hit hard here in Western Canada. We got a good dose of snow the other day and the temperatures have dropped sharply. Just last week I went golfing in 70 degree weather. That's Calgary weather for ya.

The Circle Is Now Complete

2004-10-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

I made my final mods to my xbox today. I have the very first version of the Xbox, 1.0, and there are two loud fans inside. Microsoft used really cheap fans in the early versions of the console so I always dreaded turning that thing on. So the first thing I did is take the fan and heatsink off the NVIDIA GPU and replaced it with a NorthBridge heatsink. I also ended up replacing the case fan. That required a bit more work as I had to round off the corners of the entire fan in order to fit it in.

Once done, I was pleasantly surprised at how quiet my xbox was. Ah, silence!

Sting

2004-10-12T09:24:00.000-07:00

So last night we went to see Sting in concert here in Calgary. Overall it was a good show. Annie Lennox was the opening act and she rocked. I'd even venture to say that she stole the show. She got multiple standing ovations during her performance.

Ole Sting played a few Police songs such as Roxane, Every Break You Take, etc. Unfortunately his solo music is a bit on the mundane side. When you go to a concert you want to jam and Sting's music at times is a bit dry. It was one of the few concerts I've gone to where the audience sat through half the show.

It also got me thinking how good the Dave Matthews concert was when we went to see them in Toronto in late June. 3 hours of fantastic music. That's a concert I'll gladly pay money for.

Here's other concerts I'd love to go see:

Pink Floyd - Rumors have been around for years that Waters and Gilmour will put aside their differences and Pink Floyd will finally tour one more time. Not gonna happen but you never know. Pink Floyd's last album and tour was in 1994...10 years. Well, at least I can dream.

The Police - Copeland and Sting hate each other. Not gonna happen. Again, I can dream.

Pure Adrenaline

2004-10-06T15:27:00.000-07:00

I'm not really into racing games but the other day I picked up Burnout 3 for the Xbox after reading a glowing review of it on Gamespot. It is by far the coolest racing game I've played in the long time. The game is all about speed but they've added some cool elements that make the game more than just another racing.

First is takedown. When you make one of your oponenets crash into a wall or an incoming semi, you get rewarded with boost. Boost makes you go faster. By far the coolest thing is the camera work. When you cause your opponent's crash, the camera goes into a super slo-mo and shows the crash you just caused. Some of the crash effects are pretty amazing. Another thing I like about the game is the sense of speed you get when you turbo. No other game I've played does this as well.

The other thing that's cool about the game is that rarely crash because of a slide. You usually can bounce off walls and such. Of course, if you hit something head on, you're going to crash. To me nothing is more frustrating that playing one of those racing games where the slightest touch of the wheel makes your car spin out or lose control.

Anyway, it's a really fun game. Check it out.

I also popped in Halo again the other day. I never got through it much as I found it really boring. First person shooters suck on consoles. By far the most over-rated game I've ever played. Microsoft did a great hype job on that one. I'm hoping Halo 2 is a bit better.

Noel At The Movies

2004-10-04T08:37:00.000-07:00

For the last few weeks we've been planning on taking Noél to the movies. He's 2 1/2 years old now and at home he'll sit through "Iron Giant" or "Monsters Inc" without any problems. So I thought to myself, hmm, he'll love going to the movies then. Uhh, wrong.

We got to the movies, bought our tickets, and made our way to the theater. At first he sat down during the commercials. But then wanted to walk and look around. I figured, ok, he'll do that and then the movie will start and he'll return to his seat. When the previews started, he was a bit afraid but after a while he was ok.

Just before the movie started, he grabbed a pop and started drinking it. Forgetting that it wasn't his zippy cup, he tilted the cup back and pop started to pour out the lid. He completely soaked his shirt. Luckily we brought a spare with us. Once the movie started, he decided he didn't like the booster seat he was on and wanted to get on my lap.

While on my lap, he began to drink pop again and once again spilled pop on his new shirt. Off came the shirt. This time we didn't have a spare so we put on his jacket.

About 20 minutes into the movie he decided he had enough of the lap and got down. Then he began pulling on the chair in front of him and naturally the people in front got pissed. After that he started running around the theater.

Ok, I had enough. I got him and headed to the pet store near by while Maria and Dominic finished watching the movie. So much for that experiment!

Emailmania

2004-10-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

My Inbox has grown to 1300 messages. Everyday I try to make inroads into my inbox but I can't seem to get it down to a respectable number. A lot of the emails are your general Mac gaming questions but while I try to respond to them, a lot of them I simply have to delete. "When is DOOM 3 coming out?" "is there a good game pad I can try". I'd love to respond to everyone but I just don't have time. If I spend too much time on email then other stuff doesn't get done...

Star Wars Trilogy DVD

2004-09-27T13:24:00.000-07:00

So I got the Star Wars Trilogy DVD the other day and so far I've only been able to watch the first movie. It might just be my imagination, but the movie "looks" great. Gone are the faint boxes around the Tie Fighters. Everything has been cleaned up and sounds fantastic.

Watching the movie...I could only think...wow, what was George thinking when he did Phantom and Clones. Here's some of the differences I caught between the old movies and new movies.

1) The actors. Star Wars was perfectly cast. Mark Hamill, by no means a very good actor, had this great boyish, adventure-ish enthusiasm about him. Han Solo...Harrison Ford, nuf said. And Carry Fisher as the strong-headed princess is perfect. The actors in the new movies lack these traits.

2) CGI madness. The sets, models, and stuff like that in the early movies looked...well...real. Everything in the later movies is CGI and we're all used to it. No wow factor.

3) Plot. From the moment Darth Vader walks into the rebel ship, you get this sense that this dude is one bad mother fucker. The tone the early movies is of good vs evil. The later movies is about love and hate. Blech.

4) Jar jar binks...

5) Big stuff. Star Wars had the death star. Empire had imperial walkers. Phantom had a "pod" race...yipiie! Clones had a cool Jedi fight scene at the end but somehow lack "biggness" to it. Dunno...

That said, I'm looking forward to Revenge of the Sith next May. George promises that it'll be a very dark movie.

More Xbox Surgery

2004-09-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I successfully replaced the DVD drive that was giving some read disc errors. I decided this past weekend to do a bit more hacking. I bought through the Internet one of those mod chips. No, no, I don't plan on pirating any games. But here's why I did it. With the hack I'll be able to store all my xbox games on the hard drive without having to reach for the DVD itself.

Anyway, installing the mod chip was a bit of a pain but was able to do it in about 2 hours. There were a few tricky parts to deal with. First, there was a "pinheader" that I needed to install. Basically this pinheader has about 12 pins that go into the motherboard. The first major problem I ran into was that the holes that the pinheader goes into were filled. Since I have the original 1.0 xbox, these holes were filled. Later versions of the xbox had these holes open. Though painstaking, I removed the solder from the holes with a soldering iron. After that I was able to install the pinheader.

After that I had to solder three cables to the back of the motherboard. There was one point that was extremely difficult to do but I was finally able to get it. After that I install the mod chip onto the pinheader and closed up the xbox. On the first try, the xbox wouldn't boot properly. I thought, oh, oh, I just fried my xbox. But after reading a bit on the Internet, I figured I forgot to solder something. Opened up the xbox again and this time soldered the back of the pinhead. This did the trick.

So now I was presented with a flash screen. Oh, brother, I have to flash the mod chip? After some more reading on the Internet, I found the flashing software. Burned it onto a DVD and put it in the xbox. According to the instructions, the flash program will detect the DVD and start flashing the thing. But nothing would happen. I tried several DVDs and CD's, but nothing. So I pulled out my old DVD drive and bang, the DVD with the flash worked.

Ok, so I have this thing flashed. Now what? More reading. Ok, now I need to install a dashboard. A dashboard is kind of like a menu where you can run games from your hard drive, copy games from DVD to the hard drive, ftp from your PC to your xbox and back, and more. So after lots more reading, I found some software that will let you do everything. Install the dashboard, install a new hard drive, flash the xbox, etc, etc. So, I installed the dashboard. FTP'ed to the xbox. Copied all my saved games to the PC. Then I installed an 80 gig hard drive into the xbox and copied back my saved games. Then I copied my copy of NHL 2K5 to the hard drive. All is good now.

The other things I want to do on the xbox is replace the fans inside as they are ultra loud. Since I have a 1.0 xbox, there's two fans inside instead of one in 1.1 and up. I've already orderd a headsink and new fan.

I really enjoy hacking and stuff. I mainly do it for fun. In the past I've added bigger hard drives to my tivos. I've also replaced all fans in my Dual 800 Mac and my Dell. My office is now very quiet :)

In closing I'd like to say that I don't in anyway condone pirating. Hacking my xbox is just a hobby for me and while I know it is illegal and all to hack your xbox, I'm di it because I have a 2 year old who destroys my bought xbox dvds.

Snow!

2004-09-20T17:11:00.000-07:00

It snowed for the first time today here in Calgary. Not a surprise but damn, winter is coming. We've had a lousy summer...way too many cold days and too much rain.

Looking forward to getting the Star Wars Trilogy DVD, which goes on sale tomorrow. I'm planning on watching it with Noél. He's just 2 1/2 but seems intruiged with space, fighting, and oh yeah, girls with funny hairdos.

Oh Shit

2004-09-19T07:07:00.000-07:00

Noél, who is is almost 2 1/2 years old, has picked up a bad habit from mom. He's now constantly saying "oh shit" or just "shit". And he doesn't say it just once in a while, it's his new favorite word. Shit, shit, shit. The things kids pick up from their parents! At least he's not saying the "F" word yet.

Hustled At SuperStore

2004-09-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

The other day I was hustled at SuperStore. What's SuperStore, you ask? It's kinda like the Canadian version of Costco but they tend concentrate more on food stuffs. I hate going to SuperStore because it's always packed, especially on weekends. The most fucked up thing about SuperStore is that you have to pay for your plastic bags and have to bag everything yourself. But the prices are good.

Anyway, getting back to the hustle. So I took my son, got him out of the car seat, and began looking for a cart. As I'm approaching the carts, a man who already has a cart comes up to me and asks if I'd like to have his. I said sure since Noél was eager to get into the cart. The carts have these anti-theft devices on them where you have to put in a coin into a slot on the cart in order to get the cart. So I asked the guy how much it was and he said $2. It was the first time I had been to SuperStore and didn't know how much the carts took. At other stores such as Safeway, they only required a quarter.

Anyway, it seemed odd to be me that it would be so much but I gave him the $2 Canadian coin anyway. So Noél and I did our business at the store. When I went to return the cart tol get my $2 back, I noticed it was only a buck. I was hustled for a dollar.

What kind of sorry ass society do we live in where someone hustles another person for a buck using a shopping cart. I mean, I've been duped before by crooks, but a middle-aged well-off man? Is that what is has come down to? Grr...

The Sims 2 Addiction

2004-09-16T10:03:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I got my hands on The Sims 2 for the PC. If you're a fan of the original, you'll want to check it out. Unlike the original, your sims in the sequel have a lot more personality and have specific life goals. Graphically the game is just gorgeous. You can zoom in all the way and check out really interesting detail.

I started my first family just two days ago and here's what's happened so far. Lisa and Alex Kennedy moved into a $13,000 house (you start out with $20,000). Alex got a job as a political campaigner and quickly moved up the ranks to Lobbyist. Lisa got a few jobs here and there but would get fired all the time so I decided they needed to adopt a baby. A few phone calls later and they got a black baby girl named Candine. After a while Candine grew up to be a teenager

One day Alex came home from work with the flu. The next day, Alex woke up and dropped dead. Lisa was broken up for a day or two, then got romantically involved with the next door neighbor, a black man named Darren. Lisa asked Darren to move in. Then she proposed to him and they got married. Darren had a teenager, now the same age as Candine.

The house was too small for four people so they moved into a new, bigger house (when Lisa married Darren, he brought with him $60,000) with a pool and four bedrooms. At this point Candine has matured to adulthood and gotten a job. Lisa is a bit older now though Darren and her have no problems getting it on. Dirk is still in school and is going steady with a girl.

So that's it for my first family. I'm not sure how long I'll be at it with The Sims 2 since I got bored of The Sims pretty quickly. But the sequel seems to have a lot more depth so I might be at it for a while. We'll see.

NHL Lockout

2004-09-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

This week the NHL lockout is expected to begin. My feelings...yay! You know, I love hockey and all but I'm kinda glad this lockout is going to happen. Here's why. In the last few years the players' salaries have skyrocketed faster than in any other sport. In fact, NHL players enjoy the best revenue sharing out of all pro sports in the U.S. The average salary has tripled in the last few years from 500,00 to 1.5 million. According to an independent study, NHL teams lost nearly 250 million last year. Of that, only something like 11 teams made money.

So the big issue at hand seems to be the salary cap. The owners want it, the players don't.

IMHO not having salary caps in pro sports is a bad thing. Take a look at the NBA and the NFL, both of which have salary caps. Thanks to the cap, the overall competitivness in these two sports is at an all-time high. During the last decade, 3 teams have dominated winning the Stanley Cup: Detroit, New Jersey, and Colorodo. Why? They're big spenders. They go after the big free agents or trade for top players before the trading deadline. Money is no object, winning the Cup is all that matters.

My team, the Chicago Blackhawks, haven't won a cup since 1961, the current longest streak in the NHL. And my guess is they never will. The owner is about the biggest tight wad you'll ever see and he just refuses to lose money by spending more than they take in. If there was a salary cap in place, teams like Chicago might have a chance in the future.

So let them go on strike. Hell, let them go on strike for a year. Dissolve the NHL and form a new league with a salary cap. Soon enough those mediorce 10 goal scoring multi-millionaires will fold.

Reconnecting

2004-09-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I called one of my old friends who I hadn't talked or written to in over 8 years. When I lived in Venezuela in the early 80's she was a good friend of mine and we stayed in touch even after she moved to Argentina and I moved back to the U.S. I also visited her in 1988 because my parents were working in that part of the world.

But as luck would have it, I lost her address and was never able to get in touch with her. I finally found her dad's address and phone number by looking through an Argentinian online phone book. A couple of calls later I was in touch with her and we spoke for a good 20 minutes.

Reconnecting with old friends and loved ones is a cool thing. I've often wondered where some of my other childhood friends are and how they're doing. Sometimes you just need to put your life on hold and pick up the phone.

PowerBook 101

2004-09-11T09:02:00.000-07:00

I'm a huge PowerBook fan, so much so that I've given up on using desktops. I do all my work on the PB. In all, I'm on my PowerBook about 8-10 hours a day. I've been using PB's for so long, I've come up with some tips for those in the market for a PB.

1) Size: Size is very important. If you are like me and usually stay at home then consider a PB 17 inch. But if you travel a ton, my advice is to go with either a 12 or 15 inch.

2) RAM: Don't buy RAM from Apple, the charge way too much. Go to dealram.com and get the cheapest ram you can find. If you're a power user, get 1 Gig of RAM. If you're a lite user, you can get away with 512 MB.

3) AppleCare: Before the year is up, GET APPLECARE. It will more than pay for itself. In every PowerBook I've had something has gone wrong. The last PowerBook I had, the original PowerBook 17 inch, had numerous problems with it including a dead battery, corrosion on the palm rests, a faulty DVD drive, the latch to close the PowerBook was broken, both fans grinded, and the paint on the letter A was missing. It cost Apple over $1300 to fix it :)

4) Caring: PowerBooks are fragile. Take good care of them or else you will lose your investment when it comes time to sell it. Whenever you travel, use a sleeve to protect it and carry it in a sturdy and durable laptop backpack or case. Do not leave the PowerBook at any time on the floor. If you put it on the floor, put it under the bed or sofa. I had a friend who woke up one moring and step right onto his PB breaking the screen.

5) Other Tips: Don't ever slam shut the PowerBook, you will break the latch. The end tip of the power cord is horribly designed and will break if you bend the cord a lot. The battery on the PowerBook will eventually lose steam and won't last very long. Try to convice Apple to replace it.

Congrats to Jean-Luc

2004-09-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

A special congrats go out to IMG's Jean-Luc Dinsdale on the birth of his son, Noah. He was born at 4:51 AM Thursday. Ok, the easy part is over! Now come the feedings every 2-3 hours, lots of crying, etc. I remember the first two weeks in my son's life...wow, talk about sleep deprivation!

XBOX Surgery

2004-09-09T14:13:00.000-07:00

About a year ago my PlayStation 2's DVD drive pooped out on me. And a few weeks ago I started noticing that my xbox's dvd drive was starting to give me problems too. Every once in a while I'd get the dreaded "This disc is damaged or dirty" message in the middle of a game.

So I went onto eBay and searched for a DVD replacement. I found a Samsung DVD drive for about $60. Installing it was pretty easy though I had to cut some plastic parts out of the inside of the XBOX. All in all it was pretty easy and the DVD is running great. The best part of it is that games load much faster with the new DVD drive.

I've also decided to hack my XBOX so that it accepts back-ups. I'm sick and tired of putting in games I've bought that don't run because of a little scratch here and there. This way I will still have a back-up.

Moving To Blogger

2004-09-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

I've decided to move my blog from TypePad to Blogger, mainly because it's a free service and I like the look and feel of Blogger more. It also allows me to have it hosted on my own server so I can upload pictures and what not.

I Know What I Did This Summer!

2004-09-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally back to the blog, after what, 8 months? I have finally sat down, sucking on a few freezees, to finally post something...

Here's some of the things I've done over the summer:

- Cleaned the fish tank. Emptied it completely, cleaned the hell out of it, and put in some new gravel as I was sick of the old one. The new gravel is blue, a lot prettier than the white I had in there before. The four fish that had remained alive seem to be enjoying "clear blue water" now instead of that ugly green shit. I've also bought about 15 new fish though a few have died but it is to be expected since it's practically a new tank.

- Dave Matthews Band Concert. Went to go see DMB in Toronto. We had 6th row tickets and had a great time. The only disappointing thing was not hearing some of my favorite songs (two step in particular).

- Built the deck. We had someone build us our deck. Though the summer here in Calgary has sucked and rained a ton and we haven't been able to enjoy it much. Still, it's done though :)

- Went to B.C. The Mrs, kids, and I head out to beautiful British Columbia for a weekend at the Fairmont Hot Springs (see picture). Noél had a whale of a time in the hot springs pool. Overall great trip.

- Chicago. Got in a trip to Chicago. Mom and Dad came up from Nashville to visit. Took in a Cubs game with my old Bungie boss Alex Seropian. Ate a lot :)

That's about it. Hopefully next time this year we'll be in Turkey. Over and out.