Misc ramblings from Tues 03/13/2007

Hey, got my license tabs today, so at least that's off my plate. Now I just gotta see if they'll drop that part of the ticket.

I got so friggin' ticked last night - was playing a couple of games in the new baseball game in Road To The Show mode before I went to bed, and I couldn't get a hit to save my life! Like 4 or 5 games in a row I went either 0 for 5 or 1 for 5 with 2 or 3 strikeouts - I don't know what happened, but I could not make contact with the ball. Got ticked and turned the game off in the middle of an at-bat. Stupid videogames!

These Grateful Dead podcasts I downloaded are awesome for at work! They're pretty mellow, just background noise more than anything. Today I'm listening to the Jerry Garcia Band from 1987 - I really like his solo stuff. It's basically the same as with the Dead, but he sometimes covers songs I recognize more than the Dead do. I know, like you really care :)

Hey, he's playing a song that Cracker covered somewhere - "Deal". Oops, I checked Amazon, it's not on Kerosine Hat, which is the only Cracker CD I have. Guess I heard it somewhere else, but I know I have a CD where someone covers that song. I haven't listened to "Kerosine Hat" for a long time, but I love it. Once when I was driving back from CA with a girlfriend, I only had 2 cassette tapes with me, and Kerosine Hat was one of them. I listened to it "about 10 times", then she got sick of it and wouldn't let me listen to it anymore. I don't remember what the other tape was, but it must not have been very good.

Guitar Hero 2 Songs

Here's a song listing for GH2 (not official) and my misc. comments of what I'd rather have

• Alice in Chains - Them Bones - I wish they did "Angry Chair" instead, just for the goofy-arse solo that's like 3 seconds long!

• Allman Brothers Band - Jessica - boring, heard it too many times

• Anthrax - Madhouse - couldn't they pick "Indians" instead?

• Avenged Sevenfold - Beast and the Harlot - don't know it

• Black Sabbath - War Pigs - SWEET, but heard it a kajillion times, but anything from Paraniod is good

• Butthole Surfers - Who Was In My Room Last Night? - Sweet song

• Cheap Trick - Surrender - yuck - they should have picked "Dream Police"

• Dick Dale - Misirlou - don't know it

• Drist - Arterial Black - don't know it

• Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench - cool, but I'd pick a different tune

• Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine - yuck - that opening riff is irritating. I had a college roommate who would play it over and over because he knew I hated it.

• Heart - Crazy On You - rather have Barracuda

• KISS - Strutter - boring - how about "Love Theme From Kiss" instead???

• Lamb of God - Laid to Rest - Sweet

• Lynyrd Skynrd - Freebird - I suppose...

• Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil - cool

• Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box - I'd rather they pick a different song from their 2nd album

• The Police - Message in a Bottle - ok

• The Pretenders - Tattooed Love Boys - don't know it

• Primus (original recording) - John the Fisherman - very cool. If they had you play bass, "Tommy The Cat" would be cool

• Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The Name Of - horrible song - JUST KIDDING - awesome

• Reverend Horton Heat - Psychobilly Freakout - All I can think of is Beavis saying "It's a Psychobilly Freakout" in his high voice - LOL!

• The Rolling Stones - Can You Hear Me Knocking? - cool guitar sound on that one. Could have chosen "Happy", too

• Rush - YYZ - ok, I know it, but I don't remember it...

• Spinal Tap - Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight - cool! The guitar solo is great.

• Stone Temple Pilots - Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart - I'd rather have "Vasoline"

• Van Halen - You Really Got Me - what about Eruption???

Delivering The Goods Cover by Skid Row & Rob Halford

Rob Halford totally kicks a@@ in this!!!

Today's Listen - The Who: Who's Next

Q: What is Wooden Jesus listening to right now?
A: The Who - Who's Next (Remastered)


I found this baby in the back of my car this morning and threw it in while at work. I bought this used at Half Price Books a couple of years ago and I've probably listened to it 3 times since I bought it. "Who's Next" is a classic Who album that I unfortunately rarely find myself in the mood for. There's a bunch of classic songs: "Baba O'Riley", "Bargain", and "Won't Get Fooled Again" are probably the most famous tracks, and it's a great album. But I rarely find myself in the mood for this CD, possibly because there are some "slow" songs on the disc like "Love Ain't For Keeping" and "Getting In Tune" that really don't grab me.

Don't get me wrong - great album with a bunch of alternate tracks. But compared to what I usually listen to while working (Metallica, Black Label Society, Queens of the Stone Age) I just don't tend to throw this one in and go (possibly because I hear the "hits" all the time on classic rock radio). Maybe a few spins through this classic CD will change my mind, though. If you like The Who at all, you MUST have this CD.

I need to find another word other than "classic", don't I? :)

JustToast

JustToast - a brand new blog about our dream of a restaurant that just serves toast.

Today's TL Old School Joke

“Hey, how’s about heading over to the liberry?” asked Hal.

“Dude, it’s library, not liberry,” replied Spackle-Head.

“Oh yeah, at least my momma didn’t go and name me after some crack filler!”

I drive a Dodge Stratus!!

I drive a Dodge Stratus!!

Guess what...I got a fever. And the only prescription is more cowbell.

MilkandCookies - Behind The Music: Blue Oyster Cult
How funny are Christopher Walken and Will Ferrell in this classic SNL clip? Jimmy Fallon is cracking up through the whole thing...enjoy!

Cool drawings - explodingdog 2005

This site has some very unique drawings:
explodingdog 2005

My favorite is "ugly shirt"

Mitch Kline Photography Portfolio

Here's an interesting guy I used to work with - looks like he's gone from computer programming to photography. Some very impressive shots here.
MITCH KLINE PHOTOGRAPHY | PORTFOLIO

TinyURL.com - where tiny is better!

This is pretty cool - takes a big long url (like a link to an eBay item), and shrinks it down for you to throw in an email:
TinyURL.com - where tiny is better!

Enter a long URL to make tiny:

Now playing on iPod Mini - More Megadeth!!!

Megadeth - Countdown To Extinction
Yep, I am still kicking - been too swamped to put an update out here. I am now listening to Megadeth's "Countdown To Extinction" album (the original mix, not the remix that MegaDave released last year - I've heard that one, but only twice).

I remember when the original came out in 1992 - I kinda liked it, but it wasn't my favorite. At the time, it sounded a bit too "produced" for my tastes - it basically wasn't as heavy as I preferred at the time.

But now, I quite enjoy it - I haven not run across a song I don't care for on the album on this listen through. Have my tastes changed? Probably a bit, but I still dig the heavy stuff (but not the new stuff like Korn or Good Charlotte) - I'll still take 80's/early 90's thrash over some of today's music.

By the way, the intro to "Symphony of Destruction" is SWEET!!! Heavy guitar riffs are so cool.

Take another listen to this CD/album sometime - you won't be disappointed.

Link - A Realistic Assessment of How Many 12-Year-Olds I Could Beat Up Before They Overtook Me.

How many 12 year olds could you take in a battle? This guy says he could take 7 - I'm smaller in height than him, and a bit older, so I guess I'd have to say I could take 5 or 6.
McSweeney's Internet Tendency: A Realistic Assessment of How Many 12-Year-Olds I Could Beat Up Before They Overtook Me.

MVP Baseball 2005 - Forum Cherrys Edits

Forum Cherrys Edits
Cherry is a frequent source of info on MVP Baseball 2005 on the IGN Message Board. He has a ton of player edits and slider edits to make the game more realistic.

Sweet! The White Shadow Jumps Onto DVD

Finally!!!
The White Shadow Jumps Onto DVD
What a great show The White Shadow was - I loved Haywood's afro and...dang, now I'm forgetting the players' names. I remember the episode where the guard who wore the cap either robbed or was going to rob a liquor store (well, I can't say I remember it if I can't even get the characters' names...). Well, it was a good drama that actually tackled some real issues. Can't wait for it to come to DVD.

.Net Developer's blog: A W Developer

Here's a site with some geeky .Net stuff on it. This might come in handy some day...
A W Developer

Regular Expression Library -- presented by ASPSmith.com Training

Good site for finding regular expressions:
Regular Expression Library -- presented by ASPSmith.com Training

I need to find a way to categorize technical links like this. I want a section called ".Net Links" that has links to helpful sites. I just need to take some time and figure this out.

Or I suppose I could just build a blog for misc fun stuff and one for technical stuff. We shall see what the future brings...

The Casual Friday

This site is genius!
The Casual Friday

Hey, I know her! Site: Girl In Progress....

Here's a site that's been featured on MSN Web Spaces:
Girl In Progress....
She's pretty insightful and entertaining - since it's written from a woman's point of view, not all guys will dig it, but it's worth looking at.

It's a different way of blogging unlike mine - I use my blog to put random links I run across so I don't need to email bookmarks to myself , and I intend on some day writing some funny stuff (haven't gotten to that part yet). Actually, it'll be stuff that's funny to me and like 1% of the population most likely. I haven't grown comfortable enough to let out too much of my personal life yet.

So, should a blog be personal? Or should it just be a place to put whatever you want? I think it's the latter - if I want to get personal I will, if I want to post links to stuff I find that's fine, too. It's my blog, right?

Discuss amongst yourselves...

***---Everything you will need for MVP BASEBALL 2005---***

Just a link to some guides and stuff for MVP Baseball 2005.

Some "new" old music - Powerman 5000

Just been listening to PM5K "Tonight The Stars Revolt". A few weeks back a buddy had this cd playing in his truck, and damn did it sound good! So I picked it up on eBay for like $5 - well worth it!

What happened to these guys? You've got Rob Zombie's brother Spider on vocals (and Rob contributes vocals to one song), heavy music like White Zombie - the complete package as far as I'm concerned. I know they made at least one more album ("Transform", which I think was recorded, scrapped, then re-recorded), but they kinda dropped off the face of the earth after "Tonight The Stars Revolt".

Let's have a toast to what should have been - lift 'em high for Powerman 5000!

Tracksy - free web stats

Use Tracksy to view blogger stats. I didn't read any of the instructions originally and didn't set it up correctly...it's pretty sweet if your blog is hosted on blogger.com - just login, click "add new site", then there's a section labeled "Blogger Users" (which I missed because it was below the "add new site" section - funny how we navigate the web, clicking on the first things we see on a page, but that's another discussion for another time). Anyway, then just select your blogger site, and Tracksy hooks itself up automagically.

Update: I don't know if that automatic hookup to blogger works or not. I ended up adding my site to Tracksy, then clicking "get HTML code", and I copied the Tracksys code into my Blogger site template. Now it does work, and you get site stats real-time - very cool!!!

And here's the Tracksy Blog.

Scott Elkin - Programming

Scott Elkin - Programming

This site helped me with Hiding a Row in ASP.NET - he's got a bunch of useful programming links for C#. Here's his main blog: Scott Elkin's blog.

Setting the focus on an ASP.NET page

Setting the focus on an ASP.NET page

This could be useful! I have this issue on a login page I made at work a few months ago. It bugs me that I'm not setting the focus to the first field on the form - I'm going to convert the code in this link to C# and give it a shot.

Scott on Writing - Scott Mitchell's blog

Scott on Writing
I believe that this is Scott Mitchell whose articles have helped me numerous times from 4 Guys From Rolla

Now playing...Megadeth!

Listening to Megadeth - Rude Awakening. Got it from the library, didn't have real high expectations since live albums for metal bands are not usually very rewarding. But halfway through disc 1, I have to say I'm quite impressed with Dave and crew. Good recording - you can hear the vocals and guitars just fine, great energy from the band - sounds like they're having fun. Gotta give this one high ratings.

Update Sat June 9, 2005 12:33 PM:
I've listened to pretty much the whole thing now - I still like it a lot! The only thing I didn't care for were a couple of songs on disc 1. I personally don't care for "A Tout Le Monde", and it's inclusion in this collection is a minor ding on my rating, but that's what the skip track button is for on a cd player. All in all, a great effort by Dave and crew.

I especially like that it does not sound like Megadeth did any overdubbing on the songs like so many other bands do on live recordings. No overdubbing (or very little that I can tell) is a huge plus - I already have all the albums (I know - they're cd's, but I'm still old school in referring to them as albums), I want to hear what the songs sound like LIVE! And Megadeth has done that here.

4.5 stars out of 5

Listening to currently: Hellfueled--Volume One

Ultimate Metal Reviews - Hellfueled--Volume One

Got this off an mp3 newsgroup. Eerily Ozzy-sounding, give it a shot!

Amazon - Hellfueled Volume 1

Hellfueled band site

Currently listening to on iPod mini - nothing!

The friggin' headphone jack on my iPod mini is shot (there's an article about this being a common problem somewhere, but I cannot find it at the moment). Waiting to get a replacement - going to be a couple of weeks.

ONDotnet.com: Creating an FTP Client in .NET

ONDotnet.com: Creating an FTP Client in .NET

Creating an FTP Client in .NET by Jesse Liberty -- "The .NET framework provides the plumbing, allowing you to concentrate on the application you are building." At least, that's the theory, but when it comes to FTP, .NET has a bit of a gap in the pipes. Jesse Liberty shows you how to write a simple FTP application in .NET.

Currently listening to on iPod mini:

Megadeth - Rust In Peace [Remixed & Remastered]
Awesome album - one of Megadeth's best. Dave Mustaine went in and re-did a lot of the guitars and vocals - the guitars sound AWESOME, they're really brought to the front of the mix. As for the lyrics, I didn't care what he did to "Five Magics" - that song is totally re-done and it's tough getting used to. All in all, a good effort!

Currently listening to on iPod mini:

Exodus - Fabulous Disaster
Good old late '80's thrash metal. Toxic Waltz was always a treat to see on Headbanger's Ball.

Last listened to on iPod mini:
Nebula - Let It Burn
It rocks - good sludgy stoner rock.

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