NSLog();

Crew Picture on Photoblog

Erik J. Barzeski — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:33:34 +0000

My "Crew" picture is on the photoblog today. I don't attribute the success of that image to anything but luck.

But anyway, check it out if you get the chance - and then download a desktop-sized version if you want.

iPhone Pic: Point Sixty Nine Cents

Erik J. Barzeski — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:46:31 +0000

It's not as easy to see as this one, but Burger King will apparently allow you to upgrade from french fries to apple fries for the low, low price of less than 7/10 of a penny.

Stop the madness!

Server Disk Died, LiquidWeb

Erik J. Barzeski — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:32:19 +0000

A few days ago, one of the hard drives (or perhaps the hard drive) on my server died. Though it took MediaTemple about 13 hours to notice the dead disk, replace the hard disk, and restore my data, I was impressed that not a single bit of data was lost, including up-to-the-minute databases. I didn't have to do anything except wait.

I'm also led to believe, without any supporting information whatsoever, that perhaps the disk has been having issues for many months. Since being restored, CPU use is way, way down, pages load more quickly, and FTP is far more reliable. I've not been happy with the service for most of 2008, but perhaps that had more to do with a piece of faulty equipment than anything else. Additionally, perhaps a "bad neighbor" was evicted or put on another machine. Either way, I'm quite pleased with the service I have now.

Still, there will likely come a day when the (dv)Extreme can no longer adequately support my sites, and I'll have to leave MediaTemple. Part of the problem with MT is that they don't offer a plan between the $150/month (dv)Extreme and the $650/month (dpv)Nitro. Someone suggested I go with LiquidWeb - which has two forms of dedicated (instead of "dedicated virtual") servers: the Webmaster series and the Professional series. One of the nice perks with those is that they offer seamless, free upgrades and downgrades, so I could start with a Webmaster and move to a Professional piece of hardware when necessary.

Any such move is at least a few months away, but in the meantime, if you've had experience with LiquidWeb, please post in the comments.

Employed for Another Year

Erik J. Barzeski — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:30:54 +0000

Good news: I'm employed for another year. Woohoo! Nothing beats sitting at home making money in your boxer shorts. And I'm intentionally leaving that sentence just the way it is.

Whispering Woods 2009 Rates

Erik J. Barzeski — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:17:17 +0000

With the range nearly complete, Whispering Woods released their 2009 price list. Membership rates are quite low! Surprisingly low, in fact:

Individual (25-59): $2100
Family (same household): $2850

Senior (> 60 as of 04-01-09): $1900
Junior/College (16-24): $1500

Foursome Special: $8000

Corporate (Primary): $2100
Corporate (Secondary): $1650

All rates include green fees, use of the practice range facility, and golf carts.

JPG Mag Themes

Erik J. Barzeski — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 02:15:58 +0000

Let this post serve as a bit of a kick in the pants for me: JPG Mag Themes. I'd like to use them to perhaps spur a little creative spell - I wouldn't mind getting an image in JPG.

We'll see.

This Election

Erik J. Barzeski — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:31:21 +0000

Today I dropped off my PA voter registration form. I'd previously been registered to vote in FL, and voted by absentee ballot in the last presidential election.

I don't care much for politics, and I never really have. I understand the importance of being involved in the decision-making. I had a lot more free time in 2004, so I took the time to educate myself a little bit beyond what people said and what commercials I'd seen (admittedly few, given the power of TiVo…).

This time around, I haven't really had the time or opportunity to do the research. Perhaps this post will kick that off for me - I have a month. I do think it's interesting that we're either going to have a black president or a woman vice president.

I don't care about Palin or Biden. The vice presidency doesn't seem to matter much at all, though I realize Cheney may have changed that. And even if the VP matters, they're not going to go against the express desires of the President, so for me it comes down to the two men: McCain and Obama.

Historically, I've sided with Republicans. I don't care for the heavy religious angle they seem to apply to everything, and I support Roe vs. Wade, stem-cell research, and a few other things, but I side with Republicans when it comes to smaller government, gun control, and the "family" as a unit. I couldn't care less if gay people want to marry each other and I think more should be done to separate church and state.

I'd register as a Libertarian except then I'd not really get to vote in the primary elections - and I'm a bit leery of the extreme Libertarians who want almost no government. Given the paragraph above, it really sounds like I'm a Democrat. The Republican Party has completely failed at the "smaller government" deal.

My wife is similarly conflicted. Her family's fairly staunchly Republican (and religious), and teachers tend to vote for Democrats. No Child Left Behind is an absolute, horrid disaster.

And yet I still can't get behind Barack Obama. I couldn't care less about his race - just as I didn't care about Hillary's gender - but the man doesn't seem to say very much. He has plans, but I've never really heard anything concrete about them. He's for "change" - but any Democrat coming in after W's eight-year term would bring "change" to the White House. What kinds of change? What goals does he have? Will we be within two years of having cars that run without any gasoline at all after his second term in office?

Perhaps I've just missed the specifics, but I watched the debate, and while McCain seemed to be more specific, Obama seemed vague. He's a great speaker, and no doubt a lot of people have rallied around that, but while Bill Clinton possessed similar skills, I always felt he was talking about an actual plan, not just a vague concept.

I voted for Bush in the last election, or rather, I voted against John Kerry. He did not strike me as the kind of guy I wanted leading this country - which is saying alot given my low opinion of George W. Bush. My opinion of W has since sunk, along with the rest of the country, to all-new lows, though, and that's a knock on John McCain. However, I do think he's realized the errors of the Bush administration - whether out of necessity or actual philosophical disagreement I don't care - and will not behave as Bush has the past eight years.

So right now, I find myself squarely caught in the middle. I'm not so much asking for help here, but I do welcome any comments you might have. This post was written extemporaneously, but I think it captures the central parts of my current feelings on this election. I'll be doing more research going forward, and your comments may help to steer that research.

Roku Box? Xbox!

Erik J. Barzeski — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 06:03:02 +0000

For some reason I'd heard several things about the Roku box within the past few days. I finally got around to checking it out and, well, I won't be buying one because… the Xbox 360 will support Netflix streaming with the fall update. Duh - I'd forgotten about that.

Woohoo!

One of My Favorite Pictures

Erik J. Barzeski — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:47:19 +0000

The picture on today's photoblog is one of my favorites (today, a small version appears to the right as well). If you get the chance, drop by, subscribe, and rate the image.

I do think this is one of my best photos ever, but in sharing that thought with a friend the other day, I said "that's pretty pathetic." It was a comment laced with "if this is your best ever, and it's not very good, well then your body of work must be really terrible." Never one to take a compliment well, I have a hard time giving myself compliments too. Instead I prefer to focus on the ways I can improve. It's a tactic that's far more efficient than focusing only on the things that are good about something, but less than the ideal: recognizing both what's good and bad.

And really, that's almost how I approach my whole life. Terrible with compliments, always looking at what I can improve about myself, never really taking much pleasure in the positives, but still somehow enjoying most of each day with the people I love and who love me.

iPhone Pic: Half a Penny!? What a Deal!

Erik J. Barzeski — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:15:39 +0000

Any time I see a sign like this, I'm tempted to try to take the people up on what they're offering, perhaps by giving them a penny and insisting that they "keep the change."