Symbolic Link Batch File

Dear Blog,

I use Boxee, and when I download DVDs, they don't show up as episodes on my TV Guide. Someone suggested making symbolic links... Sounds good to me. Here's a batch file I use to generate these symbolic links (not catching me renaming 100's of files

@echo off
SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion
echo -------------------------------------------------------------------------
echo  This will make symbolic links for your ISO/IMG files
echo -------------------------------------------------------------------------
echo.

IF "%~f1" == "" (
  echo No file dragged onto this script
  pause
  EXIT
)

SET /P season=Season (ie 1)? 
SET /P episodeStart=Starting Episode (ie 1)? 
SET /P episodeEnd=Ending Episode (ie 4)?

IF NOT DEFINED season SET season=1
IF NOT DEFINED episodeStart SET episodeStart=1
IF NOT DEFINED episodeEnd SET episodeEnd=4

IF %season% LSS 10 SET season=0%season%
IF %episodeStart% LSS 10 SET episodeStartZero=0%episodeStart%

SET firstEpisode=%~n1 S%season%E%episodeStartZero%%~x1
MOVE "%~dpf1" "%~dp1%firstEpisode%"

IF %episodeStart% GEQ %episodeEnd% EXIT
SET /A episodeStart=episodeStart + 1

FOR /l %%n IN (%episodeStart%,1,%episodeEnd%) DO (
  SET currentEpisode=%%n
  IF !currentEpisode! LSS 10 SET currentEpisode=0!currentEpisode!
  mklink "%~dpn1 S%season%E!currentEpisode!%~x1" "%firstEpisode%"
)
pause

Edit: Hmm, my sickbeard renames the files, so here is my newer method... I append each dvd with their first episode, like first dvd would now end in s01e01. Do that for each dvd. Then sickbeard renames it. To show up nicely in boxee, I run the following, slighltly modified script:

@echo off
SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion
echo -------------------------------------------------------------------------
echo  This will make symbolic links for your ISO/IMG files
echo -------------------------------------------------------------------------
echo.

IF "%~f1" == "" (
  echo No file dragged onto this script
  pause
  EXIT
)

SET /P season=Season (ie 1)? 
SET /P episodeStart=Starting Episode (ie 2)? 
SET /P episodeEnd=Ending Episode (ie 4)?

IF NOT DEFINED season SET season=1
IF NOT DEFINED episodeStart SET episodeStart=2
IF NOT DEFINED episodeEnd SET episodeEnd=4

IF %season% LSS 10 SET season=0%season%

FOR /l %%n IN (%episodeStart%,1,%episodeEnd%) DO (
  SET currentEpisode=%%n
  IF !currentEpisode! LSS 10 SET currentEpisode=0!currentEpisode!
  mklink "%~dp1S%season%E!currentEpisode!%~x1" "%~f1"
)
pause

Enable Sound Controls (Mute) in Media Center 7 (7MC)

Dear Blog

Tonight I was having issues muting my HD content. My normal SD conent has normal, vol up/down and mute capabilities. Unfortunately, my HD conent was always like near max blast, even if I hit mute or vol down.

So what I did was turn on Auto Volume! It works now... no dolby digital sound from the TV anymore, but, I only use TV speakers anyway, so I'm not missing much.

I believe it's in:
Settings > TV > Audio > Auto Volume Checkbox

- ETdoFresh

Merge PDFs using Ghost Script (CutePDF)

Dear Blog,

Here is a batch file (.cmd or .bat) to merge PDFs

@echo off
echo -------------------------------------------------------------------------
echo  This will merge all your pdfs in the current directory to an output.pdf
echo -------------------------------------------------------------------------
echo.
Setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
%~d0
cd %~p0
set /p MERGEFILE=Output file (no need to add .pdf)? 
set PDFMERGE=
for %%f in (*.pdf) do set PDFMERGE=!PDFMERGE! "%%f"
"C:\Program Files\GPLGS\gswin32c" -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile="%MERGEFILE%.pdf" %PDFMERGE%
pause

Palm Pre (Plastic) Scratched Up

Dear Blog,

After playing some volleyball and using my phone, I realized sand + my thumb = deep scratches on my phone. Now when I use my phone, I could feel the scratches and it made me cringe...

Well I decided to buy some plastic repair off ebay called Novus plastic scratch repair kit. It came in 1, 2, 3 bottles, where 1 was just a polish, 2 was a shallow scractch repair, and 3 was the heavy duty scratch repair.

I picked up my phone, did number 2 like 2 - 3 times, and I finished off with a number 1. Looked much better, but the scratches are still there if you look at it in the right light. But the "feeling" is completely smooth. Soo happy I did this! If you have a scracthed pre, or anything that's plastic. Try this out. I think it was about $10 after shipping. Worth it, for me!

- ET

Setting up a torrent

Here's a quick, no frills, text-only tutorial on setting up your own torrent (and personal tracker), for family photos, family movies, etc (using uTorrent)...

1. Get your external IP address (or dyndns address)
2. Get your uTorrent listening port (by Options > Speed Guide)
3. Forward that port on router (sorry non-tech savvy peepz)
4. Enable Tracker (Options > Preferences > Advanced > bt.enable.tracker = true)
5. Create Torrent!
   1. File > Create New Torrent...
   2. Select files you want to server
   3. Trackers = http://yourExternalIP:yourForwardedPort/announce
   4. Check Start Seedings and Private Torrent
   5. Click Create and Save As... to make torrent file (then wait)
   6. If you see the torrent in your list, a green arrow, and everything is seeding, you are doing swell! If not, check your port and check it with the built-in Speed test in Options > Speed Guide
6. Give that torrent to all your friends and ensure tracker is always up (because of private torrent option).

Good luck all, and to all a good night!

- E.T.

What do you do?

Dear Blog,

What do you do!? What do you do when you have a friend that has only 6 weeks to live?

Granted, this friend and I haven't been in contact for years now... but it's his last days, and I have a way to contact him. Aww man, I just don't know!?

I really don't think about this often. I don't know how I would react to death? Personally, I want to feel like at any moment, I'd be ready... but I don't think I would be. There may be things I still need to experience. I tell you my priorities would be so much different if I knew I only had 6 or less weeks to live.

My friend has really touched my life, and molded me from someone who would have been completely dull to someone with a little personality. We have had adventures and I don't think I could forget them.

But what about now? What do I do? We can't relive those adventures, because I'm not that crazy (or young) anymore.

Hmm... oh well, the truth is, I got nothing. I will just try to be there, and maybe he'll know what I could do for him.

- ET

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Dear Blog,

I was thinking about how I was going to start this entry off. I got a few things on my mind in the middle of a Sunday night. Don't know where to start, but I try...

Saturday was such a weird day. It starts off with Colleen hitting my car as she backed out the driveway. It dented my hood a little, but really nothing noticeable compared to all the other things wrong with my car. Then we car pooled with Rebecca to see Wicked. But as we got on the interstate on Power, we tried to merge in with traffic. Rebecca and an eighteen wheeler were side-by-side by the end of the merge. What were our choices? Brake was the first thing! But there was too much momentum to stop on the dime.... so hit the eighteen wheeler or hit the side rail? We hit the side rail, sort of bounced off, and the eighteen wheeler clipped the rear view mirror. Strange thing was that we were still driving right behind the eighteen wheeler going like 60 like nothing happened. Haha. Needless to say I was a bit scared during the whole ordeal, but I'm fine now! And, of course, to top off the weird day, an incident occurred as we were watching the Broadway show, Wicked. Mid-way through the second half, the theater goes black. I wonder if it is part of a show, and an audience member yells what I am thinking.... "Is this part of the show?" and multiple audience members yell back "No!". There was a fire in a motel in the vicinity, and Entergy was required to shut off the power. We did not get to see the rest of the play, but the two main characters sang one of the final songs A cap ell a. It was a unique experience, but many people were still mad that they didn't get to see the show. We really won't know what the theatre will do until tomorrow.

Sunday rolled around, and we had a nice Easter lunch at Colleen's family's house. And now it's the middle of the night, and I think...

I think too much sometimes. I think whether I'm making a wise move by doing something I know I'm passionate about, or I wonder if I should move on and try something new. I love videogames, love developing, and love problem-solving. But is it something I will make money with? Will I be accepted trying to do this?

My family has shown me a lot of support, especially when it comes to following my dreams. And my wonderful girlfriend has also been doing extremely supportive. But I still feel judged. I'm pretty sure I'm doing it to myself. I'm working on a simple little board game, and I constantly say to myself, this has been done. But it's something that gets me excited, and I want to follow through with this (unlike so many other unfinished projects in my life). I admit, I get depressed sometimes, severely unmotivated at others. I just want to quit, mainly because I'm not making money.

But I won't! It's just how I feel sometime, but I'm strong enough to push through. I need to stop inventing excuses, and just move! I'm almost done, I see the finish line (or at least I see the next "step"). I need to get there. I will get there! The biggest things in my way are my darn thoughts!

- ET

Ranting about Software Piracy

Dear Blog,

I just read an article called Software Piracy - It's Not Right, but How Do We Fix It?

The answer is punishment against those that do it. He says that 75% of people will stop right away (stop dead). LOL! Are you serious? There have been attacks already, so it's been done! Piracy lives, punishment fails. Remember Napster? Remember KaZaa? See PirateBay? Piracy is like a weed, you clip it, it only grows back nastier and heavier than ever.

Sorry, but if I was 100% against piracy, punishment is too uncreative of a solution. Creative solutions could be the game developers themselves distributing "fake" versions of the game on Pirate Bay or something that will delete your save games at a certain date. Haha! Some hackers would be pissed! Maybe have a renaming function in the game for those implementing constant online protection. Like the main character could be renamed IHeartPinkPonies and the end boss could be PinkPony, or something ridiculous like that.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say, punishment will scatter the pirates, but pissing them off will bring them out. But not only that, it may burn them out as they get frustrated with accidently downloading "junk".

As of right now... it's too easy. Jump on a torrent site, start up the program to see if it works, and bam! You got new software! The comments on these torrent trackers help too! They have people saying, "yup, it works" or "don't download this, it's junk".

If you want to hurt piracy, think outside the box and be creative. I think it'll take a pirate to hurt the pirates. But either way, piracy will live.

Last thought: If people would spend half their energy on doing something (creative) about piracy that they use complaining about piracy, I think the whole industry would be somewhere else right now.

- ETdoFresh

New Life

Dear Blog,

Did you know that life can be bought for only a few bucks? What!? Alright, well, if you are looking for a cool activity to do with a loved one (spouse, child, girlfriend, whatever), why don't you create some new life?

Colleen and I were at the grocery store, and I decided I needed some mint. I could buy 10 - 15 leaves for 2.99 or I could buy a plant for 2.99. I went with the latter (and got two!). Well this was great! Colleen also bought a upside-down strawberry garden that starts from seeds.

Anyway, then it started getting serious. We cleaned out this huge weed pile we had by the A/C unit, and placed pine needles there and planted flowers. So cheap (like $0.89 for each plant). I also trimmed the fig tree, because it was getting a little to estate hungry (took up way too much room).

Then we bought seeds. We bought a little DIY mini green house, and seeds for all around $10 - $15. I think just growing mint and herbs pays for itself, but with patience, I'm going to try and grow many different things from seeds. I printed cool little graphics and taped it to the edge of the green house (plastic box) so I can tell what's what!

Hopefully we can make beautiful flowers, herbs, and vegetables grow in our backyard. But it's a cheap hobby (if you choose it to be) and you make life in your very own backyard (or your patio pot). I guess I gotta be prepared to take care of them once they start sprouting, until they are strong enough to survive on their own.

- ETdoFresh

D.E.A.L.

Dear Blog,

Four Hour Workweek was an interesting read. I have some friends that say it was an OK book, and other's say it was complete bologna (in nice terms). Anway, I gave it a read, and it was a good self-help book to get ya motivated.

DEAL is the acronym the majority of the chapters seem to go through. Define what you want (cost, style, quantity, etc.). Eliminate all the excess activities that don't get you results. The author mentioned Pareto's Principle where 80% of what you are doing is only giving you 20% your output, and vice versa, 20% of what you are doing is giving you 80% of your output. Automate your tasks so you don't have to be part of the machine you call your job. The author challenges everyone to hire a person in India or wherever most economical to gain experience not only automating some mundane tasks, but to gain experience "bossing" someone else around. Liberate your life! Find out what to do with the free time you have. Travel, Vagabond, etc.

Good stuff, but I don't think I'll be able to follow in his footsteps exactly. I like to work, and not really sure if I can define what I want exactly or eliminate all the things I think bring me happiness just yet. Once I get fed up with my career again, I may give this a shot.

- E.T.

How to make a Simple XML Socket Server with PHP and Windows 7 / Vista

Dear Blog,

Today we are going to discuss how make a simple XML socket server using PHP (as a command line server) and Flash as the client. I assume that PHP has been installed with the "sockets plug-in".

First let's associate a new type of file to Windows, called PHS, or PHP Script. (I borrowed the following from this site) Open up a command prompt window and...

ASSOC .phs=PHPScript
FTYPE PHPScript=[path to]\php.exe -f "%1" -- %*
set PATHEXT=.phs;%PATHEXT%

Now evertime you click on a phs file, it should open up in PHP CLI (Command Line Interface).

After that, we simply create a PHS like the following that will run as your server (borrowed from here and tweaked to work here)...

<?php 
echo "Starting XML Socket Server\n";

// Set time limit to indefinite execution 
set_time_limit (0); 

// Set the ip and port we will listen on 
$address = 'localhost'; 
$port = 9001; 
$max_clients = 10; 

// Array that will hold client information 
$client = array(); 

// Create a TCP Stream socket 
$sock = socket_create(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0); 
// Bind the socket to an address/port 
socket_bind($sock, $address, $port) or die('Could not bind to address'); 
// Start listening for connections 
socket_listen($sock); 

// Loop continuously 
while (true) { 
    // Setup clients listen socket for reading 
    $read[0] = $sock; 
    for ($i = 0; $i < $max_clients; $i++) 
    { 
        if (isset($client[$i]) && $client[$i]['sock'] != NULL) {
            $read[$i + 1] = $client[$i]['sock'] ; 
  }
    } 
    // Set up a blocking call to socket_select()
 $temp = array();
    $ready = socket_select($read,$temp,$temp,NULL); 
    /* if a new connection is being made add it to the client array */ 
    if (in_array($sock, $read)) { 
        for ($i = 0; $i < $max_clients; $i++) { 
   if (!isset($client[$i])) { 
                $client[$i]['sock'] = socket_accept($sock); 
                break; 
            } 
            elseif ($i == $max_clients - 1) {
                print ("too many clients") ;
   }
        }
        if (--$ready <= 0) {
            continue; 
  }
    } // end if in_array 
     
    // If a client is trying to write - handle it now 
    for ($i = 0; $i < $max_clients; $i++) { // for each client
  if (isset($client[$i])) {
         if (in_array($client[$i]['sock'] , $read)) { 
             $input = socket_read($client[$i]['sock'] , 1024); 
             if ($input == NULL) { 
                 // Zero length string meaning disconnected 
                 unset($client[$i]); 
             } 
             $n = trim($input); 
             if ($input == 'exit') { 
                 // requested disconnect 
                 socket_close($client[$i]['sock']); 
             } elseif ($input) { 
     echo "Client $i sends:\n$input\n\n"; 
                 // strip white spaces and write back to user 
                 $output = ereg_replace("[ \t\n\r]","",$input).chr(0); 
                 socket_write($client[$i]['sock'],$output); 
             } 
         } else { 
             // Close the socket 
             socket_close($client[$i]['sock']); 
             unset($client[$i]); 
         }
  }
    } 
} // end while 
// Close the master sockets 
socket_close($sock); 
?>

Double click that file, and you should have an XML Socket Server that repeats whatever you send it.

Now open up flash, and have it connect and send something to the server. If everything works, you should see the response in the trace portion of your flash window. Done! (I included the Flash file I made here).

Hope this helps someone in cyber-world!

- ETdoFresh

First Blog from Adobe Contribute CS4

Dear Blog,

Wow! This is a pretty cool blogging software. I was doing my entries in Adobe DreamWeaver, but little did I know, I had the software all along specifically for this kind of website. I'm going to test a picture, and see if it works well.

So this picture just shows the length of my hair during Mardi Gras season. I'm seriously considering chopping it off, but maybe I can donate it? We'll see. Well, this was just a quick entry, cause I was excited to see what this software could do! And  you know what, I'm liking it very much! If you have a blog, and you happen to have Adobe Contribute on your computer, I say.... give this software a try, it may speed up how you write in your blog!

- ETdoFresh

How Are You Going To Live Your Life?

Dear Blog,

Sorry I had to take a break! The city of New Orleans has been on a Saints Superbowl weekend starting last weekend! In New Orleans, we like to party a lot, and as for me... I've been really, really into football this season. This weekend has been great, because our friend had a hotel room down in the quarter, so all day Saturday and Sunday we chilled down there! Goodness, the party started way before we got there!

We watched the game, gave approximately 1000 high fives walking down the quarter, the occasional hugs to strangers, and of course we all got "Crunk" (Crazy A** Drunk. It could mean high and drunk also, but I'm sticking with the first).

Anyway, during all this, before all this, and reading my brother's posts, I got the thinking. We are always asking ourselves, what do we have to do, when do we have to do it, where do we have to do it, and why do we have to do it? Things from work, to errands, to basic living your life. All good questions to ask, but I think the one that most strikes me is HOW. Men from now to ages ago may have done some wonderful things, but what really makes them wonderful? Our logical minds always tell us, whatever furthers our species as a human race makes someone's achievements awesome. But thinking about it... how he achieves this marvel is of great importance.

How. How. How. Live life with compassion, with greatness, with heart, with happiness in your actions. Do what you want; but more importantly, whatever you do, do it with a positive, happy mindset. If you focus too much on WHAT, you lose sight, and the moments that are supposed to be the happiest in your life become worrisome, somewhat depressing, routine of "WHEN is this over?". I fall into this trap all the time. I'm trying to get off the "wheel", but it's hard. The wheel is easy. The wheel lets you do something, but it wastes time, and overall, wastes life.

It's my life, it's your life, live it HOW you want and you too will be a man of the ages.

- ET

My Fig Cake, Coax Cable Crimp/Compress, New Pre Case

Dear Blog,

Phew! Been a couple days, but I'm back! I don't have many pix, but I'll give a highlight reel of my past week (of nothing that important).

Before the big freeze here in New Orleans, Colleen collected the figs off our fig tree and boiled them down to a fig preserve. It was sweet, but I didn't know quite what to do with them. So I thought of Fig Newtons... I like those a lot, and figured that's what I could do with the perserves! So I baked a giant fig cake, and gave it a taste. It's nice for the first bite, but as you keep eating, it just doesn't agree! Oh well, gave it a shot. Here's how it looked like.

Then I decided to tackle a project behind my TV computer.... sorting out the coax cable back there. I bought a compressor, strpper, and F connectors set for R6 cables (or R59, i forget). So the two types of ways to put the connector on the end of a coax cable it Compression or Crimp. I chose compression because I have already done crimping with RJ-45 cable (Ethernet Cable), and I wanted to see something diffrent... It's really no too different, but as all cable connection setup, you have to clip and strip the end of the coax. Once you have a stripped coax, you simply slide the connector on and jam it as deep as you can into the coax's jacket. Then the compression type connectors have a plunger type area (black part in the picture below). When you compress the connector, you basically take the metal ring end of the connector, and bring it into the rest of the connector, and you no longer see the plunger. It stays on.... good enough for me. So I made a few short cables out of one medium cable, and now the splitter and the back of the computer look somewhat organized! Here are the tools and connectors I used (stripper, compressor, F connectors).

I was complaining about my Palm Pre's silicone case before, and low and behold, a plastic snap on cover has answered my prayers. I like the color and it's stability. Finally a case cover I don't have to sorry about losing! The feel may not be as cool as a jelly/silicone cover, but it stays on. That's really the most I can asked for, for a sliding face phone. So I'm happy with it.

All and all, a pretty good week. I had some audacious goals for the game I'm working on, but didn't meet them. Even though it's the weekend, I hope I can spend a few of these hours working on the game, cause I fell a bit behind this week. As for now, I say to you, adieu.

- E.T.

PS - Don't watch The Girlfriend Experience, bad movie! I watched it streaming on Netflix, and there was really nothing in that movie that made me feel any completeness. Just people thrown in front of a camera following a very vague story. Watch out!

Saints Win! Super Bowl Bound!

Dear Blog,

Palm Pre 1.3.5.1 Battery Drain - My Solution

Dear Blog,

I figure I'd blog about my struggles with Palm Pre battery issues after certain updates!

Where I'm Starting Off

I bought a Palm Pre, flashed a custom firmware on it (qinray 1.0.4 v2). I then used novaterm to install Dropbear which is a SSH server for my phone so that I can just PuTTy and sFTP right into it. Then I setup ez-ipudate so that I could have a static hostname for my dynamic-IP address, so I only had to type myhostname.homeip.net instead of 123.45.54.32. All convenient, and never really had an issue. My phone would last me about 2 days without a charge.

Before 1.3.5.1 - Updating PRL

The first time I encounter phone dying within one day problem with little or no usage was right around the 1.3 update. The solution I found to this was updating the PRL and disabling roaming. In weak signal areas, your phone keeps polling the area and draining your battery fast! Especially if you have roaming on (that's a whole bunch of more places to poll).

So first easiest thing to try is disabling your roaming, which can be done right from your phone. Press your menu button on bottom of your phone, tap the phone icon, click your provider on top left of screen (most likely Sprint), tap Preferences, Drag down to the Network Section, Tap Voice Network, Select Sprint Only.

While you're there also try updating your PRL (Preferred Roaming List). It' just a button almost at the dead bottom of the previous step.

If you can't update your PRL from your phone (like me), use computer software to update your PRL... I won't go into detail here, but overall: I find the latest PRL on the net (60659 during this post) and use QPST's Service Programming -> Roam Tab -> Browse for my PRL and click Write to Phone. Done!

The 1.3.5.1 Update

Well I have lots of homebrew software as stated in my Where I'm Starting off section. I can't really tell you which step fixed my problem, but here goes my story. After about a week or two of charging my phone every night because battery dies within 1 day, I got fed up. This weekend, I was determined to find out what was wrong. But before that, I could not even turn on my phone with the A/C adapter plugged in! So I pop the battery out, wait about a minute, pop it back in, and it starts charging! Nice! But I was determined to find out what was wrong.

I read some forums online, and I noticed people without homebrew had significantly more post praising the battery life, where homebrewers like me were shunning the battery. So immediately I thought, it must be my homebrew software. At this point, I have an SSH, sFTP, and DynDNS on my phone. My focus immediately went to DynDNS. How often was it polling? I had no clue. So I added period=86400 to /opt/etc/ez-ipupdate.conf to poll just once a day. This could have fixed my problem, but I delved deeper.

I then read this post, and installed Preware. I love Preware! I was doing everything by SSH before, but little did I know, this could be my last SSH session ever! I agreed to everything, and installed a few apps, like battery mointor, flashlight, etc. More imporantly, Preware didn't register I had software like Dropbear (SSH), and EZ-IPUpdate installed, so I just reinstalled them on top of my previous installs from Preware. Left the battery monitor software on over night last night. Woke up, and had only a 1.52% drop of battery per hour vs something like 8% - 10%. Oh man! It was wonderful!

Oh, and I use GMAIL, Exchange, Wifi, and EVDO (email polls every 30 minutes).

Conclusion

I'm excited about my new battery life, and maybe it's not Palm's fault entirely, but maybe us tweakers may be to blame (just little itty bitty bit). But once Palm learns to leave tweaker's settings alone, I think we can live in harmony! :) Later!

- ETdoFresh

PS - Use WebOS Internals for all your Homebrew needs! Very cool place!

A little more on the Nike+

Dear Blog,

Today in the mail, I got my Nike+ Sensor, and my Nike+ Sensor Pouch (what are the chances that I'd get them the same day?).

I unpacked it, and it was so small. I liked it! I immediately put it on my shoe.

I gave it a little test run around the house, and it seemed to do an OK job. But I then put it up to the real test. I uploaded some music to my iPod Touch, typed in the distance (1.5 mi), and pressed Start! I proceeded to run 1.5 mi, and when I passed out on my back patio, I looked at the miles.... zero! What happened! I hit start? Anyway, I'll give it another shot tomorrow. I'll make sure it starts registering my miles before I pick up the pace.

The interface is alright. I was expecting to see more information about my "friends" at Nike+.com. Apparently, it's really hard to friend anyone if you don't share your info. I shared mine, but my bro did not. I tried "friend"ing him, but it would never let me add him. However, he could request me very easily. He switched his data to publicly available for about 1 minutes, and I saw all his jogs as status updates on his site. But when he switched it back, they all disappeared. We haven't had a new run available to see if it only shows runs after we become friends, but I doubt it! That sucks, I was hoping to see all the cool graphs of my friends with this thing. I like where Nike+ is going, they just haven't got there yet. I'll still continue to use it as my personal time and distance tracker for my runs.... but I wish it was more than that!

- ETdoFresh

Can Google Hear You Now?

Dear Blog,

My bro invited me to use Google Voice. This is a cool little service that tries to replace your old voicemail service.

What I expected

Well, like my voicemail at my old engineering job, I knew I'd probably be able to play through the computer. It was cool, but was it worth Google taking over my voicemail just for that?

What I didn't expect

It doesn't clutter your email if you don't want it to. There's a seperate "Inbox" of voicemails on the Google Voice homepage. If you want to be notified by email, it'll send you an email with a direct link to play the voicemail. On top of that, Google Voice transcribes the voicemail! That's awesome. So, not only do you get a link to the audio file, it sends you the text of what the person said! Now that's nice! Now I'm seriously considering leaving my old voicemail to go with Google.

The setup

Not hard. These are the steps I went through (if memory serves me correctly):

• Gave google my phone number
• Google gave me a two digit code
• They called me and asked for the two digit code
• Google Voice account got created and voicemail # was given to me
• I was given a number to type to switch my current voicemail to Google voicemail
• Changed the settings so that I get an email (you can also get SMS, or text messages, of the call) when a voicemail is recieved.

I know somewhere in there I was able to record my greeting before I got the voicemail account, but I forget. Anyway, setup was easy, and I had Google Voice.

Conclusion

Well, I don't know for sure how I feel about Google having access to my voicemail, but the features are darn cool! Maybe if Sprint would offer this to me, I can use them instead of Google. Give it a try, and if you need an invite, I think I can send them!

- ETdoFresh

Palm Pre - Jelly, Rubber, Silicone Case Review

Dear Blog,

Today I'm going to review the Palm Pre Silicone Case (AKA Jelly or Rubber Case).

The Look and Feel

This case looks cool! I may even like the style of the Palm Pre with the case on, more than I do with it off! I'm a sucker for a rubber case. But more importantly the feel! Man, the feel is great!! I love the grip that you get when the case is on. No slip, no problem. Unlike the plastic, kind of cheap, material you feel when the Pre is bare, the rubber just gives it a ruff'N'tuff kind of feel. Very nice.

The Actual Story

Although it seems nice, this case actually SUCKS. Yeah, I know I was praising it above, but the "so-called" adhesive technology could not hold a dot of tissue paper on a wall of honey. OK, well maybe that's an overstatement... but after 3 or 4 days the faceplate portion of the case slipped off. After it slipped off once, it never really felt the same. And when it started to feel loose, I started playing with it, probably making it more and more loose. Now it's useless. The bottom part is still with me, but, it does only half the job... literally. I even applied a weak glue to the case and phone (my girlfriend bought puzzle glue). It helped the faceplate part of the case to stay on for another 2 days, but it came off again. With such a flimsy piece, I think more drastic attachment is necessary.

Conclusion

I would give this product an overall negative review due to its reliability. It feels great and looks cool, but at what cost? My next purchase will be a snap-on case... we'll see how long that lasts...

- E.T.

Eat, Run, Games (play), Eat, Sleep

Dear Blog,

I still have to update blog posts TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009 to THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2009, but should be done shortly. I'm basically setting it up so that when you click a pic, you get the full resolution (available on picasa) and that they all use HTML (especially <p>).

Phew. Anyway. Went to my bud's house to watch Farve and the Vikings destroy the Cowboys. Can't wait 'til New Orleans gets to do the same to them, but that's 7 days from now.

So what did I really do today?... basically just the title of this blog. I always feel guilty watching TV, but Colleen says she does not! She says "I put in an honest 8 hours a day each work a week, so when I have free time, I don't have a problem watching TV." I got to give it to the girl, she's right! But I don't put in normal hours, and don't really keep track (as of yet) how many hours I'm putting into projects. So I feel like, "shoot, if I have free time, I should be working on life altering career that I'm trying to build instead of watching TV". It drives me nuts! I can't enjoy a free minute without being haunted. Well. sometimes I can, sometimes I can't. I get this feeling the most when I sit on my couch at home! The comfiest place is where I feel the most guilty. Come on! Anyway, I'm not worried, cause I will continue to strive for my goal, and ultimately get what I want! Isn't that what we all want... for E.T. to get what he wants? Haha, kidding... we all desire something, and we all want our goals to come true. Let's make sure we either get it done or move on... no in-betweenie weenies!

- E.T.

Who Dat said they gonna beat them Saints!?

Dear Blog,

Alright! Saints won a playoff game! I'm sooo excited. I've been really watching a lot of football since playoffs started. I even BBQed today, cause I was just excited about football. You better believe I'm going to do everything exactly like I did today to please the football gods. Lots of work during the week, and all the same rituals during the weekend!

So, I jogged a whole 2 miles today! Oh my gosh! That took a beating out of me. Colleen still jogs slightly faster than I do, but I'm thinking I may run an aditional sprint every other day just so I can build up some speed!

And then we celebrated a friends birthday afterwards, and watched the terminal. I wish I never have to hear that my country is at war when I leave to visit other countries! When Colleen and I got home, we finished a mosaic puzzle of Charlie Brown! Man it was hard at the end when all we had were red pieces, but we still got a strategy going, and finished it up! All-in-all, fun times!

- E.T.

Pre you, man! Pre you!

Dear Blog,

Does this look familiar? Man, if your Palm Pre has been upgrading itself, maybe that answer would be "YEAH!"! At least I know that's my answer! Come on Palm (PALM), get this firmware together. I updated to 1.3.5.1 and it doesn't last a day anymore. My previous problem was the PRL file and turning off roaming... I got it back to 2.25 days. But then when another update comes around, another issue pops up! I just want my phone to last roughly two days with light to moderate usage, and still have access to all sorts of cool features like mail, facebook, etc. But I get about .8 days of power now! Stock battery.... ick!

On another note, my bro said he may get more serious about blogging again! I love it! I'm not too sure which one he'll write in mainly, but I guess I'll follow Alex's Life since the latest post is in that!

I love blogging, and I love just using Dreamweaver to type up my blog and upload it to blogspot! I don't have much tonight, except super excited about the New Orleans Saints Football game tomorrow. It's going to be a blast! Later!

- E.T.

iPod Touch Case Fail!

Dear Blog,

It's been a few days since I got this case, but the more I play with my iPod Touch, the more I see this god awful case! It's actually a really cool case, but the color! Ick!

I bought it off ebay. And the seller pointed out, tell me the color on your notes section on PayPal and I will send you that color, otherwise, don't blame me for the color selection. So I checked out, and didn't see this box anywhere. He said not to email about color, so I said "what the hey", I'll still get a silicone case, and whatever color it happens to be, it'll be destiny. But my destiny thinks it'd be funny for me to get a pink case! Haha, very funny destiny! Anyway, I'll keep it on as a reminder for times where I make mistakes. Mistakes happen, it's no big deal, but I DO have to live with the consequences!

I just woke up from like a 2 hour nap, and I'm wide awake @ 11:25 PM. I guess I'll sneak some programming in, and see what "work" I can sneak in tonight. Later!

- E.T.

Run, ET..... RUN!!!

Dear blog,

Brr. Another cold night in New Orleans. I have a schedule to keep to run the Crescent City Classic. Goodness, I can't see how I'll be able to train for 3 more months! But I will along with other things!

So I'm getting into this thing called Nike+. I just purchased the Nike+ Sensor online for $18.94 from J&Rs and bought the Marware Sportsuit Sensor for $9.95 after shipping. It's this sensor that you put on your shoe that let's you know how far you ran and includes sign up to a site where you can share your info with your friends. Cool stuff! I'll see how it goes and post my stuff maybe here on the blog too!

I've been getting work done, and feeling good! I hope to continue on this trend. Motivation = Good Feeling! Let's keep it up!

- E.T.

Think... Rethink... Time to Reflect

Dear blog,

Today has been a day of reflection for me. What do I want to do? Where do I want to go? Who do I want to take? When do I want to do this? How is it going to be done? That's right, the five question words in the English language. I want to answer these, and I've been avoiding this so hard that I never found an answer.

I figure I'd find the answer if I just thought about it...

What: I want create video games. I played them so long in my life, I have a good grasp of what is good and what is bad. I know them like the back of my hand. It's my passion. But plan B is to teach. I love teaching. I feel like I'm due to share knowledge to the world, since so much has been shared with me. I will never stop learning, but I do want to start teaching.

Where: Here. Right here! I have an established life, and I have settled down here in Metairie, LA. There's no place I rather live, and no one I rather live with. I started my LLC in Louisiana, and I hope to stay here for a good amount of time. I'm not opposed to visit other places, because traveling is one of my true loves, but I have a home (and it's not just a building that I live in) and here is where I start.

Who: Well it'll have to be me, but I do have a friend who is filled with ideas. He helps me out, not just in idea creation, but really keeps me motivated. When I think I was at my worst of unmotivation, he called me out on it. He's right, I'm really not going to get anywhere unless I apply myself.... and I will only apply myself if I have motivation. He'll be someone I take along if I start moving along.

One other person would be my brother. If there is someone I have to name I have the most in common with, it's my brother. He probably molded my dreams as much as I have for myself. One of my dreams is to own a business and to work together to make awesome games. Although it feels like a lot of time has passed already, I feel there's still much fire left in both of us to make this dream, or any other's we may have, come true.

When: Now is the time to start! But "when will the money come?" is the big question. The answer is, "I honestly don't know!". I really hope I can make this a lucrative venture, but if I can't, I may want to fall back on teaching. It's the only other passion in life I have. If I can't get anything done by Fall 2010, I think my life may need to turn its direction to teaching and I'll start going for my PhD.

How: That's really for me to know, and you to find out. I want to take it in small steps. But not small amounts of work. Each step will require much time, but I need complete steps so I feel like I'm doing something, and keep myself motivated. So, I will have to define steps for myself, and get on it!

Reflection is nice, and gives me some confidence to do what I love. I just need to shake off some negative parts of 2009 which are still attached to me in some ways, and get on with it. Tell me if there's anything else I can do to get my goals done!

- E.T.

Long time no blog!

Dear Blog,

Wow! Long time no blog! I really wanted to blog since the New Year, but something has kept me from doing it. I blame it on games! Right! Games! The one thing in my life that I was supposed to be striving for and making a career for myself has been the one thing that has been my down fall these last two months! Darn you very fun games!

So what games? Well, I'll tell you my life sucker! It's Team Fortress 2! Oh man! That game has leeched onto my life and sucked every free second out of it. I can't believe I let it do it too! I have a very addicting game personality, and if something is too fun for even a little while, I play! The game has 9 different classes, and with all the people out there, the dynamic is soo different. And me, I have the "I want to be the best player" bug, and I keep playing and playing until I either think I'm the best player or I just give up! It's been a wonderful distraction, but a horrible motivator. I'm stagnant all night playing this game, where I could be programming or learning something new. Wow, I never thought I would talk bad about games, but it really hurting me at this point in my life where I want to go somewhere! Make money! Do something creative!

Ugh! I beat myself up and up, and today, I deleted the game off my computer. It took me 2 weeks of actually saying it to myself before it finally happened! Slippery road I'm on. Anyway, I'm shaking off the cob-webs, getting ready to get back to work! But it took way too long. But ergo, I must try! Try as hard as I can, because regret is the one useless waste of energy in life, and why waste good energy? Let's go! Let's get a move on to my life's mission. Let's put down the controller (or keyboard and mouse) and let's make some games (and pick up that same keyboard and mouse)!

To start, I'll play around with this nice Apple Ipod Touch 3rd Generation. I wonder if I should try forcing my programs onto my device, or cough up some money, and just be 100% legit on this. The answer is obvious I know, but it's hard to break old habits. It also comes with this Nike Program which I'll try out. It tell you distance you ran, etc. Can't wait to give it a shot!