Krispy Kreme Returns to Arizona!
Krispy Kreme returns after about a year and a half hiatus from the Tucson/Phoenix area due to bankruptcy. Alas, there is good news in Phoenix. More »
Tags: arizona, local, NewsCops: Phoenix Speed Enforcement Cameras Put to the Test
Despite that really powerful title, I want to share a tidbit from this weekend. I was traveling home from midtown Phoenix back on over to my posh center of the East Valley in Phoenix; but I had to take the 101. Yes, the same 101 with that 8-mile stretch of photo enforced speed limits through Scottsdale. The same topic I viciously criticized earlier this month.
Tags: arizona, Automotive, discussion, laws, police, scottsdaleMy Sister Graduated University of Arizona!
Congrats, Melissa!
She graduated with a BA in Computer Science and Psychology (I think). Her endless excuses for not hanging out with our social circle due to hours of studying and “homework” reaches its end.
Now its time to reflect, look back, forward and enjoy some seafood. Pictures to come later.
Tags: family, Personal, Success, tucsonLinux Conversion, Complete.
This weekend, I committed myself to fully converting to Linux and to quit Windows. I took a look at my usual computer usage and what applications I really used and made certain I had a reasonable alternative.
I would admittedly rate myself as 4/10 on a scale from Linux Neophyte to 1337 Hax0r. I can navigate the file system, recover things, compile things, and understand the fundamentals of Linux. So, this was a daring challenge when I wanted to switch over.
Never fear, Wine is here. No, put down the Chardonnay, I’m talking about Windows Emulator “Wine is Not an Emulator” (WINE). I discovered that it isn’t just for installing some silly freeware Windows junk. You can literally take your software with you, if you have some time to get into it.
I was able to successfully run AOL 5.0 <g>, Microsoft Office 2003 and uTorrent. Amazingly, they all had compelling performance compared to their native counterparts. I was able to download a torrent at 95% of my connection speed, so it stayed. Office works like a charm, including all necessary fonts and glitz and glam. AOL actually works well* and renders FDO as its supposed to, but the browser doesn’t work because Wine lacks IE. Overall, I am quite satisfied.
* This statement is intended that running a Windows app is certainly a challenge, let alone something as proprietary as AOL. 
I’ve configured my Thunderbird, Firefox, Pidgin, and Skype with all their bells and whistles and am a happy computer user. So let me break down what the comparable applications are:
AIM/AOL/Yahoo/MSN/Gtalk/mIRC/IM: Pidgin
Office: Open Office, MS Office under Wine, Abiword
Winamp/iTunes/Music: XMMS, Amarok, Rhythmbox
Skype/VoIP: Skype, TeamSpeak
Command Prompt: Bash
Task Manager: ps aux, top, System Monitor (Gnome)
Photoshop/Paint Shop Pro/Graphics: Gimp, Photoshop under Wine
McAfee/Norton/AVG/Anti-virus Software: None! It’s Linux!
Dreamweaver/Notepad/Text Editor: Bluefish, Screem, Gedit (Gnome), vi
Windows/Operating Systems: Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat, SuSE, Mandriva, and many others.
There you have it. No excuses. If you’re on the fence, you’ll enjoy the multitasking ability of Linux, no freezes or crashes and the impressive uptime.
I’ve included a screenshot for the curious. Enjoy!
Update 11/28: From the comments below, WINE probably means “Wine Is Not an Emulator,” instead of my own interpretation “WINdows Emulator.” Thanks, Ed!
Update 12/4: I went into further detail on the recursive acronym in the comments below, as well as struck out my typo. Thanks!
Tags: Gutsy, Linux, Microsoft Word 2003, Migration, Pidgin, Skype, Software, Ubuntu, uTorrent, Windows, WineInternet Stars are Viral
November 2nd, 2007 | 1 Comment | Posted in Blogging, Bragging Rights, Funny, Geeky, Social Networking
Hm. I posted this on Facebook and didn’t get the response I was hoping. I love this video, it’s a montage of the all the internet memes and stars that we all know and love. We don’t know a damn thing about them, except that we’ve seen them at one time or another.
I admit, I haven’t seen the anime one, but I feel special knowing that I’ve seen these. An Internet Junkie, I am.
Memorial Day: Williamsburg and Busch Gardens
This Memorial Day weekend, Sarah and I decided to take a small vacation to Williamsburg, VA. We joined the thousands of drivers on I-95 to reach our destination. I recount the details of our escape to Busch Gardens. 
We weren’t sure what we wanted to do this weekend. For the past couple weeks we were determining which local (statewide) attractions would be good to go to. I was mildly interested in Colonial Williamsburg, but I didn’t realize that Busch Gardens was so close. At this time, I finally realized that Sarah successfully sold me on it. I proceeded to look online for hotel prices near the park, and I used my corporate discount on tickets.
Two hundred fourty seven dollars later, we scrambled to prepare a day’s rations and quickly anticipate the next day’s events. Tires at 45 PSI, coolant at the “normal” level, cleaned out the backseat, loaded our cooler and two days-worth of clothes. Since the weather has been considerably more humid, I squirted Fabreez in the back seat to combat the awkward smell emanating from there. Everything was ready.
We used our four hour drive (everyone and their boat was on the ‘95) to chat about our professional work lives and whatnot. I found it interesting that her and I have similar work dynamics, and we have a unified goal to helping people. Anyhow, the conversation was helpful at understanding why she’s stressed when she comes home sometimes.
We arrived at our hotel which was rated three stars on Travelocity and five stars from 11 users. So far, it seemed good. I was pleasantly greeted by the woman at the front desk. She confirmed my reservation, coded my mag-stripe room keys. We arrived at our room and attempted to swipe the room key and burst in. To our disappointment, the keys didn’t work. I went to the front desk to ask them about it and even provided them the helpful detail of explaining what I’ve done to reproduce it, and that it blinks a red light once. Five minutes later, we were helped by a friendly maintenance worker who brute-forced his way in the room with his room key programming unit. I was intrigued in it because it was like what you’d find in a movie. It even made beeps for every key code it attempted. After about 15 minutes, he advised us that the door’s lock may not unlock, but verified the other door was usable.
Other than that, I resumed my normal inspection of the room, as if I was going to really worry about it. Overall I was pleased. Figuring the room lock was a minor mechanical issue, I would give the room 3.5 stars. I mean for $147, on a holiday weekend, you can’t ask for much.
We now had some free time so we went to the local shopping outlets, as Sarah loves finding deals but it mainly served as a browsing opportunity. She was interested in some Converse All Star shoes that were brightly orange colored with some other designs on it. They looked cool, but we decided that none of her clothes would go with it. That is, unless she had a state-provided orange jumpsuit that I didn’t know about.
We also found our first mini-golf attraction since Tucson and a Dairy Queen. Conveniently, we got some tasty Blizzards and went to the pirate-themed miniature golf. They had a donation container for the troops and their families, and in a patriotic spirit, I donated to it. (I almost never donate cash in those containers). We played some golf and had a good time. I forfeited on the sixth hole when I ricocheted my ball into the simulated river. It was all good though, Sarah and I had a good time.
We arrived back home and enjoyed ourselves watching extended-basic cable. Having only local channels at home, we were entertained and watched a combination of the Myth Busters and some Court TV. After about 11PM, we got some much needed sleep and decided to set our alarm for the next morning at 7AM.
We had our complimentary breakfast. The cliche of “you get what you pay for,” couldn’t be any more prevalent. So we had some cereal, OJ, and I had some toast. We checked out and loaded up the car in a secure manner anticipating a day of abandonment of the car. We advanced to finding good breakfast food. About a block away, we arrived at IHOP.
If anyone has ever had dinner with me, you know I drink a lot. I usually require more than three glasses of the said beverage. I understand my liquid needs are more than others, but I at least would like servers to refill me once or twice. So, we ordered our breakfast, and that’s it. I didn’t interact with our server for the rest of the morning. Not being sure of restaurant employee dynamics, I asked Sarah if it would be appropriate for me to ask another server for refills, which she said it’s fine but it throws them off their pattern of taking care of their patrons. After I asked for a refill, our server reappeared with refills. After that, her abandonment resumed. We left a below-average tip for below-average service, and finally consulted with the cashier to run a check for our table and left.
Now full, and somewhat thirst-quenched, we drove to Busch Gardens. We came from a bypass road, but we caught glimpse of the highway with a four-lane exit into the toll-booth style parking fee. The highway was a complete parking lot, and everyone was bumper to bumper. Being ‘leet and in the bypass road, we jumped in our spot and entered the Busch Garden’s parking premises. We got a nice parking spot, up in the front right next to the tram that would take you to the main gate. We loaded up on sun screen, and I chugged down a bottle of water from the case of 12. Tickets in hand, and pockets as empty as we can, we hopped on the tram and proceeded in front of everyone purchasing tickets. I love the Intarnetz!
We had a great time in the 4D-theater. Sarah pointed out many similarities between this theme park and Disney Land. We had a fun time on the rides. I need to pace myself when it comes to coasters, so we did the “easy ones” before doing the more thrilling ones. We didn’t do the “Griffon” coaster, because that was just too death-defying for us to try. It stops at a 90 degree angle, and drops you 300 feet. Nah, I’ll pass on that. Feet sore, legs tired, and feeling very fatigued we left around 6:30. This time, I drove back, as Sarah attempted to take a nap.
I was satisfied with 80+ MPH traffic. It seemed as if everyone finally agreed to get home, fast. We all did. It’s interesting the the way people react to a police cruiser in the median, everyone drops about 10MPH instantly, but they regain it a 1/4 mile later. Realistically, one cop can’t ticket 17 drivers. He’s looking for the kid who does 130 in his red Corvette. Regardless, I maintained about 90 MPH the entire way until the 295/395 junction. It was mildly foggy and it was very congested, but it was moving, and I was thankful for that.
We had a blast and it was considerably inexpensive to drive there and stay overnight. This was a much-needed vacation and I’m more pleased knowing that Sarah had enjoyed herself. Although there were a couple snags, I’m used to it, so it was no big deal and we had a fun experience visiting Williamsburg and will be returning in the future to check out the Colonial stuff too.
I support the troops and celebrated our nation’s freedom by liberating ourselves from home. That said, here is a counter in this entry is counting the number of troops who paid the ultimate price in Iraq.
Tags: I-95, Travel, VA, Vacation, virginia
Ted Leonsis SEO Contest
Ted Leonsis (Vice Chairman, AOL), is hosting his own search engine optimization (SEO) contest. Essentially, just a contest to see who can get the highest result on the search term “Ted Leonsis” on Google.
I’m going to give $500 to whomever has the highest ranking Google SERP for [ted leonsis] at midnight Central Time on Christmas Eve (on whatever datacenter Google is serving me results from at that time). I call this SEO Contest, “It’s a Very Ted Leonsis Christmas” and I encourage Ted to join in the fracas.
I guess there are only two rules in play here. The first is that if either myself or Graywolf wins, we will donate the money to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Anyone else can take the cash if they win. The second rule is you must link back to this page so I know who is eligible to win the loot.
I just noticed that Ted Leonsis AOL Corporate profile is gone. That was quick, not even a friendly 404 redirect either (to the new location of Ted Leonsis profile.) A text copy of his profile:
Ted Leonsis
Vice Chairman, AOL LLC
Ted Leonsis, Vice Chairman of AOL LLC, serves as a strategist and visionary for AOL, focusing on the transformation of AOL into a company that is driving some of the most exciting Web 2.0 technologies. He also oversees a unit focused on how AOL interacts with consumers and protects their privacy.
Leonsis is a pioneer of the Internet and new media, a sports team owner, and an innovator in the world of philanthropy.
He has been with AOL for 13 years and is credited with positioning AOL as a major media company and inventing the successful channel programming model.
As head of AOL’s core service, Ted became known as AOL’s “champion of the member,” delivering a world-class experience for AOL’s members. He led efforts to develop cutting-edge products and programming across the company’s dial-up, broadband, wireless, and voice services.
Prior to joining AOL, Leonsis founded and was CEO of Redgate Communications Corp., considered the first new-media marketing company, participated in launches of the Apple Macintosh, the IBM PC and Wang office automation, and founded four computing magazines.
As majority owner of National Hockey League’s Washington Capitals, Leonsis has employed state-of-the-art consumer and interactive initiatives to dramatically boost the Capitals’ attendance and revenue. He is a minority shareholder in the National Basketball Association’s Washington Wizards with future purchase rights to the team and to Verizon Center in Washington. In addition, Leonsis’ investor group owns and operates the Washington Mystics, a franchise of the Women’s National Basketball Association.
Leonsis is a former mayor of Orchid, Florida, and sits on the boards of Georgetown University and several charities, where he has used the interactive medium to encourage greater volunteerism and involvement. Recently, he received an Andrew Heiskell Community Service Award from Time Warner, AOL’s parent company. Leonsis was named one of the 25 most powerful people in sports by Sporting News and businessman of the year by Washington Business Journal.
I think its a fun geeky way to end off the year and Ted’s retirement - I’d do it too. So far all I see in the googledance that johnon.com moved to #9.
[tags]Ted Leonsis, Leonsis, Ted, AOL, Geeky, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Google, Contest, Holidays[/tags]
Holy crap, it rained!
For those that don’t know, Tucson is dry as a bone. We apparently are now in Monsoon season. I left work, and almost had to swim home. Heres a picture of Rosemont and Speedway I snapped. This happened Friday afternoon.
[tags]Tucson, Arizona, Rain, Wet, Monsoons, Driving, Flooding[/tags]
Tongue Piercing
After some thought, I figured I’m going to get my tongue pierced. I was intrigued by Rachel’s jewelry, and we talked about it and I think a tongue would be pretty cool. I’ll update afterwards. I’m a little anxious since its my first piercing, but I trust her and she’s cool about things.
Update 10:44PM -
So I got it peirced on my tongue. I was calm about it though since Rachel was there she just got her eyebrow done and didn’t even flinch and it was so quick, that gave me relief. So anyhow, we get started and just prep stuff and the tattoo artist is really cool and was nice, and just one step at a time, and he did my tongue. It hurt just a bit, but not as bad as I thought. I did well, and Rachel was very cool and coaxed me along. It was like 5 minutes, really nice; $41 and a little tip. Well we go back and Rachel prefaced how the rush of adreline will come and hit you and you get light headed. I didn’t feel it that much until I was staring at the wall (I have this weird thing with depth perception and weird thing my brain does…) so I felt lightheaded, then just relaxed a bit and I felt better - at least I thought I was. So we’re out there, Rachel again reiterates the fact ‘am I okay to drive’; luckily she wanted to smoke a cigarette. I was like cool, just chilling there. Then I hear her say “are you ok?” I realize my hesitation and I replied “yeah I’m — fine”, realizing my knees are bent I look around for a plane to level myself against. Then I was like losing balance- blacking out and luckily she was there to help me not fall. Then I just relaxed a bit, still mentally there, just the spots and stuff were slowly fading away. Anyhow, we then relaxed in the car I was going to let her drive, but she didnt want herself too, she has an issue with driving, fear, and inexperience. Which I was like okay, well whatever, lets just relax for a bit. She tried to call her aunt for a ride or something - but it didnt pan out, but after relaxing with the A/C I was good, then we went back to her place for a bit.
I will see about getting pics up a bit. but it looks good, and proportional, I’m satisfied with it, and its a very liberating feeling. I may not get another piercing anywhere else though. Next plan - tattoo. Later on though. I dont want to keep doing stuff to my body. 
My 16 Free iTunes Songs
As you can tell I drink a lot of Pepsi products by the number of free songs I won.
I’m a big fan of Shareaza, and burn my own CD’s separately. Since I do that, I dont know what to get on iTunes, since its like a one-time shot w/out paying. It will be my 1st opportunity to get legit music without feeling “guilty” from the RIAA.
Any ideas?
Update: Well, because iTunes and Pepsi sucked at it, I couldnt retrieve my free songs even while the special offer. I still love iTunes though.