Friday, December 30, 2005

Check out these video podcasts! (Don't worry, you don't need a video iPod!)

I have been downloading and trying out various video podcasts and have stumbled acrossed a few that I really like.

You have to check out these podcasts:
http://izzyvideo.blogspot.com/

http://www.dawsbrothers.com/

You can check out their podcasts on their site or get them in iTunes. The Daws Brothers' one: "Adventures in Filmmaking" is very funny and interesting. Check it out!




Christmas!

I got the iPod from my parents, the Wacom tablet from my grandma, the Seinfeld season's 1 & 2 from Jenni, the clock from my parents, the dock from myself, the Timbuk2 bag from Ana and Nick, and then just a few of the things from my stocking.













I don't really know what to title this.

Well, it looks as if this Christmas break is winding down. New Years is coming up and that is the last of the "Holiday's" for a while. Then I work all week next week. I don't know... it's not that I dread working at AAA, but I just feel like I'm not being used to my full potential. I wish I had a job as reliable as AAA (they let me work whenever I come home on break) but related to my field of study. I guess I'm a lot like a race car that is only being used for running errands to the grocery store! Well, maybe not.

Moving onward... my teeth still feel kind of funny. They hurt a little more today than they did yesterday but I don't want to take any percocets because I don't want to feel loopy or sleepy at work. I took some ibuprofen and that should keep me alright for a while.

I'm gonna post this and put some pictures on here from Christmas. Hang on...

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

I'm dumber now...

I got my widsom teeth taken out yesterday. I think I'm gonna skip the post Christmas update for now and go straight to the widsom teeth update.

I woke up yesterday morning, got in the car with my mom and went to the dentist. We got there, and waited a few minutes because we were a few minutes early. They called my name and I followed the nurse lady back to a little room and I sat down, she put on some dance/rave music, put my x-rays up and said the doctor would be in in a minute. I don't know of the music was for the doctor or for me! Either way, the doc came in, hooked me up to some saline, then as I was asking him a question, he injected a small syringe and the next thing I remember is wobbling back and forth as I got into the car.


Then I was in my room changing into my pajama's, then back downstairs in front of the tv. Eventually, the giddiness wore off and I was semi-coherant. Jenni came over to visit for a little bit but left when I was going to take a nap. I laid in bed for about 40 minutes tossing and turning trying to fall asleep because I was in the worst pain I have ever been in. I couldn't believe it hurt that bad and I couldn't do anything to stop it. Then I felt a little queasy so I went into the bathroom and laid on the floor, hoping I would throw up. Well, nothing came and eventually my mom stumbled across me and took me back to my room, made me some scrambled eggs and apple sauce and gave me two percecets (I hope I spelled that right) and I started feeling better!


I finished eating and rolled over to fall asleep but only in the next minute or two, my stomach felt like it totally just turned upside down or something. My mom put a bucket by my bed for just this occasion. So I rolled over and picked it up, put it near my face and let loose, one... two... nothin... nothin... oh good, I guess that's ittttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt! Yep, just three times. Mostly red, blood I guess and some scrambled eggs in there. So I dumped it down the toilet, rinsed out the bucket and rinsed my mouth, went back to my room and I have felt like a new man ever since! Pain went from (on a scale of 1-10) a 9 to a 2 (right now). It just feels like it's sore from someone punching me in the jaw.

I'm still a little woozy at times, that's the percecet for ya. If I'm not careful, I may tip over, but the pain is at least under control now. Well, let me put some pictures on here for ya. I was gonna put more pictures, but it's taking a while, so maybe just one...

Friday, December 23, 2005

Cheney loves his iPod!

Check it:
Cheney & iPod

On a return flight from a four-day trip to the Middle East, U.S. vice president Dick Cheney used one of the only working power outlets on Air Force Two to charge his beloved iPod, frustrating reporters who were trying to file stories.

“Working passengers began lining up their laptops to share the power from a couple of working outlets—particularly the reporters who urgently needed to prepare their articles to transmit during a quick refueling stop in England,” reports the Associated Press. “But when Cheney said his iPod needed to be recharged, it took precedent above all else and dominated one precious outlet for several hours. The vice president’s press staff intervened so a reporter could use the outlet for 15 minutes to charge a dead laptop, but then the digital music device was plugged back in.”








And Bush loves the song "My Sharona!"

An iPod White House

Last week, in an interview with Fox News, President Bush revealed that he has an iPod Shuffle — the stripped-down version of the music player that's barely bigger than a stick of chewing gum.

"Lightweight and crank it on, and you shuffle the Shuffle," he said. The president said his library includes the Beach Boys, the Beatles, country music and Aretha Franklin.

Bush's daughters gave him a standard iPod for his birthday earlier this year. His media adviser, Mark McKinnon, said the commander in chief used it to play "heart-thumping" music while he rode his mountain bike. The player featured plenty of country music but also Joni Mitchell and the Knack's "My Sharona."

McKinnon cautioned against reading too much into the selections, though.

"No one should psychoanalyze the playlist," he said. "It's really just great songs designed for a great workout. And if there any songs in there with controversial lyrics, I'll take the heat for that."

_________________________________________________________________

The Subject: George W. Bush

The Occupation: President of the United States
The Analyst: Matt Simonton

The Playlist:
  1. Centerfield, John Fogerty
  2. New Biography, Van Morrison
  3. Brown Eyed Girl, Van Morrison
  4. Circle Back, John Hiatt
  5. Castanets, Alejandro Escovedo
  6. (You're So Square) Baby, I Don't Care, Joni Mitchell
  7. El Paso, The Gourds
  8. The House is Rockin', Stevie Ray Vaughan
  9. Swinging From the Chains of Love, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings
  10. Say It Ain't So, The Thrills
  11. My Sharona, The Knack
  12. Alan Jackson
  13. George Jones
The Analysis:

At first glance, "iPod One" seems to contain nothing out of the ordinary for Mr. Bush. But a preponderance of country and classic rock is merely a veneer coating an iceberg of confused identity and self-doubt. One need only sample singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell's "(You're So Square) Baby, I Don't Care" to begin to understand Mr. Bush's failing sense of self-worth, a problem that originated on the playground in the 1950s with his peers' chants of "mushy Bushy, mushy Bushy." "Centerfield," John Fogerty's light FM radio hit, possibly refers to the president's conflicting emotions about his time as owner of the Texas Rangers, but more likely traces back to a childhood incident involving a dropped fly ball. With his mother, former First Lady Barbara Bush looking on, young George dropped the ball that cost his little league team, the Fighting Algonquin, the city championship. It was at that moment that Mr. Bush first realized he hated his mother's authoritarian child-rearing system, and could only purge his repressed anger years later by projecting his emotions into an artificial creation dubbed "the war on terror." Furthermore, Van Morrison's hit "Brown Eyed Girl" raises crucial questions concerning Mr. Bush's relationship with his spouse; Morrison's nostalgic lyrics point to a general disillusionment with marriage and a lessening of the sex drive. The song also marks a trend in Mr. Bush's playlist for carefree music, signaling his desire for a less stressful environment; as he insists, "it's hard work." In sum, a truly unhealthy individual in critical need of extensive therapy.







Free videos!

Free video for your video iPod, brought to you by the BBC.

My old iPod is reaching back from the grave!

Some pics...

Here are a few pics to give a visual update...



























Here's the new Subaru!
















Christmas time in the office. They make us wear these hats or we're fired.










































Also, check this out. It's a comparitive test between the iPod and a cassette tape, the results may shock and surprise you!

Also, check out this awesome Mac blog. And for our city iPodder's...

iPod and dating?

iBelieve? I think our church should sell these or give them to new members...





I can't wait for my iPod!

For those of you who don't know anything about the iPod, or at least the one I'm getting, I'm going to put some specs down, "lay it down for ya!"
My 60GB can hold:

- 15,000 songs
- 25,000 pictures
- 150 hours of video

Holy cow!

This is what I have on my computer right now:

- 1,800 songs
- 5,000 pictures
- 10 hours of video

But, I will be able to use my iPod as an external hard drive, transporting huge
amounts of information as well as a portfolio that I can plug into a TV, show pictures and or videos that I have taken or edited.

I think I might get an Agent 18 case for it from Jenni for Christmas. I also found that someone online posted a code for $10 off the Agent 18 case. Type this in the Coupon Code box when you are checking out: a18nano05








































There is another case though, I can't remember where I saw it, but one that I wanted because I think I liked it more than the Agent 18 one. I can't find it
though...

Oh, we got the new Subaru the other day. I thought it was a 2000 something, it's a 1999 Outback Wagon. It's white with gold two tone bottom. It's got heated seats, heated mirror, dual power moon roofs, all wheel drive, huge fog lamps, cd player, tape player, black leather seats and a few other goodies. It's pretty cool, but it feels just like my litte green Legacy but it's like it got all dressed up or something. It still feels the same even with all those cool things in it. I like it a lot though, I'm a sucker for wagons!

This isn't the case I want real bad, but this is one I want. I want it for flying because that way I don't have to hold the iPod while watching videos, it has it's own little stand kind of. I guess I could just bring my dock or something... The case is from Belkin.




















I'm not sure if any of you have heard of it yet, but there is a neat game, I think it's called Sudoku. There is a great site about it if you are interested. It's a game of "logic." So naturally, I'm not very good at it, but here is the link. My mom showed me it the other day because it was in the paper. It's cool. I haven't really done a whole one myself yet, but it looks like a lot of fun.

Oh, I'm also glad I got the 60GB because it is almost identical in size to my old 10GB so that way it will fit perfectly in my Griffin Road Trip radio transmitter and charger. I hope anyway... The 30GB is crazy thin! I like it, but I had to just go all the way.

Nick got a new digital camera AND and iPod. But he paid for the iPod with his own money, the camera is a Christmas gift. It's a cool camera, it's kind of the new version of mine, which is the new version of his old one. He's getting the Minolta X1. It's 8 megapixels, 3x optical zoom and has a 2.5 inch LCD. It's cool, it's a little bigger than mine, I like the size of mine. I have the X50. I think mine starts up faster than his too.

I just found the case that I wanted, but now I think that
I want the Agent 18 case more! Here's the link for the other case.
















Well, that's good for now, I'm gonna post this before my computer crashes and I lose it all or something!

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Yep, another post in the same day.

I'm back...

I'm going to do another post because I found some neat stuff. For a very thorough review of the new 5th generation iPod's, here is a link: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/comments/apple-computer-ipod-5g-with-video-30gb-60gb-ipod/

Also, they had this handle little table to show the value of the various iPod's on the market right now:

Model Capacity Price Ratio
shuffle 512MB $99 $198 per gigabyte
shuffle 1GB $129 $129 per gigabyte
nano 2GB $199 $99.50 per gigabyte
nano 4GB $249 $62.25 per gigabyte
4G iPod 20GB $299 $14.95 per gigabyte
5G iPod 30GB $299 $9.97 per gigabyte

4G iPod 60GB $399 $6.65 per gigabyte
5G iPod 60GB $399 $6.65 per gigabyte

As you can see, the 60GB is certainly the best value.

I found this great quote from Bill Gates, here it is:

“To create a new standard, it takes something that’s not just a little bit different, it takes something that’s really new and really captures people’s imagination and the Macintosh, of all the machines I’ve ever seen, is the only one that meets that standard.” — Bill Gates

Can you believe that when they first came out, the 5GB iPod was $399!? Wow! I was just looking at the old ones.




















Well, I'm gonna post this and move on...

Christmas is coming!

I can't believe that Christmas is almost here! It's so close!

Well, what's new? Let's see... I got my grades yesterday online. All A's but one B. A "B" in Scriptwriting. I hope that it wasn't a close to an A "B." I'm really happy with my grades though. I haven't gotten grades like that since freshman year in high school!

I am really enjoying being home, seeing family and all, but I still can't wait to get back to school. I just want to get back to work. I love what I'm doing over there. I also am saying that I can't wait to go back because when I do, it will be after Christmas and that means I get to play with my new 60GB black iPod! Oh yeah!

I picked it up yesterday and got the price knocked down to $329. They are originally $399. I got a 10% discount for being a student and another 10% for trading in my old iPod. It was a 3G 10GB.

I know, I know... I always said I was going to keep my old iPod. I planned on it too, except I was guaranteed money for it from Apple and I felt better that they had it because there were a ton of people who would have bought it from me and I probably would have given it away, but the battery life was about 1-2 hours, it would randomly restart itself or just shut off completely, when you picked a song, it would play a different one and it was scratched pretty bad front and back... so needless to say, $39 is pretty good for a tried and true, but dying iPod.

Right now, Nick and I are trying to put various quicktime movies on the iPod. I made a mountain bike video for Nick, we'll he starred in it and I shot and edited it, but we want to put that on there along with some other funny videos. Movie trailers from the Apple website work great, at least we can watch something! I also have some episodes of Lost so I'll be able to rewatch that later. A friend at school has a mac and there is a program called "Handbrake" that rips DVD's and allows them to be put on the iPod really easily. My friend only did one DVD but I'll have to see how it goes.

Oh, I'm back at AAA. Not for much, but for a little bit of time. Just enough to make some money, but also I don't have much time because of my wisdom teeth coming out, Christmas... all that stuff. We'll, I'm gonna post this. I'll probably post some more later. See ya!

Monday, December 19, 2005

Back home!

This is my first post since I got home.

My mom and I went to the airport to pick up my dad. He just got back from Kenya. It's weird being back because I haven't seen anyone since August. I'm getting bored fast though, but that should all change because I'll probably be starting AAA on Wednesday and then get my wisdom pulled out next Tuesday and then in no time I'm back to the MMI (mulit media institute). I can't wait, new classes to tackle! Let's see, they are:

- Basic Broadcast Electronics
- Media Ops and Equipment
- Into the Professions (A guide to professional and personal enrichment)
- Film Production Techniques (single camera shooting)
- DVD Authoring (using Director MX and DVD Studio Pro 3.0)

It's going to be way easier. I'm also going to work on campus to make a few bucks for my cruise during Spring Break.

Soon I'll have a new 60GB black iPod! I can't wait! I always told myself that I was going to keep my 3G 10GB, but I think it's time to move on. The battery life is about 1-2 hours, it's pretty scraped up (front and back), and it will randomly restart itself and change settings and when I pick a song, it decides to play a different one instead. I thought I might keep it for nostalgic reasons, or maybe it would be worth money in a few years, but I don't think it will be. I've been checking eBay and they're not getting much for a used 10GB and the ones on there are in perfect shape. So I am most likely going to trade it into Apple for 10% off a new iPod which when combined with my 10% off student discount will mean that I will only have to pay $80something out of pocket to get the 60GB. My parents will pay for most because it's my big gift and the rest of the dough I can get from relatives. I also bought myself an iPod dock with s-video out refurbished from the Apple store for $10. I'll have someone buy it for me, but if not, it's only $10!

In the morning, I'm going with my dad to pick up my moms new car. I'll post some pictures later one. It's another Subaru from our family friends, the Parkers. They supply us with the Subarus and and Lucy supplies us with the Buicks. The new Subaru is a 2000 something Outback Wagon with two tone beige and gold with heated seats (I think) and 2 moon roofs and some other goodies. It's hot! I have yet to drive MY Subaru, Suzy. Nick hogs her. I love her. I miss her.

Well, I better go to bed. Have a great night and Happy Holidays, er... I mean Merry Christmas! And if anyone is offended that I said that, then I'M OFFENDED when you told me Happy Holidays. See ya!

Friday, December 16, 2005

Thursday, December 15, 2005

End of semester update...

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to put an update online while I am exporting the mountain bike footage of my brother from Avid to Quicktime to put on a DVD. Whoa, that's a lot of explanation...

Let's see, I am going back home this Saturday then work a little, get my wisdom teeth out, then maybe work a little more then come back to Tulsa to start "Round 2" of the MMI.

This has been a very [to the 10th power] busy, but also fun and rewarding. I learned to much! Next semester is supposed to be much lighter than the past semester.

I know some of my grades so I'll share them with you:

- Media Analysis (The Art of Watching Films): A
- Avid: A
- After Effects: A

That's all I know for sure, here are the estimates:

- Flash: A
- Advanced Audio Production: A
- Field Production & Editing: B
- Physical Fitness (HPE): A
- Scriptwriting: B

So there you go. I'll put the real grades up there when I find out what they are.
Did I tell everyone that I got an early Christmas present?! I don't think I did. When I was at my Grandma's for Thanksgiving, she had me pick out something. It's a Wacom tablet and I love it! You can check it out here, its the Graphire.

I'm also planning on getting one of the new video iPods for Christmas. I want the black 60GB. It would be great because my roommate and I have already downloaded a few episodes of LOST and I could watch it on there, as well as music videos or any of the other new shows they have out right now.

Well, I can't think of really anything else to say. I'm going to my room for an hour to take a break, get something to eat, clean up... Oh, go see Hoodwinked when it comes out, it's really funny! See ya!

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Hoodwinked!

Hey everyone!

I am just putting a quick post to tell you all what my plans are for this evening. I'm going to the premiere for the animated film Hoodwinked. It was made by former Tulsans and one of them graduated from ORU. They had a free lecture and Q&A last night so I went to that with another classmate and that was cool. It's funny because when my professor told us about this event, everyone was like "I don't think I'll go" and I said I probably would, then someone said, "You'll probably get a free ticket ($20) to the movie if you go!" Just joking around, and I did! I got to meet the directors and it was great!

So the premiere is tonight. They are showing it in LA, NY, and Tulsa. Then it's in theaters around Christmas. The website is: www.hoodwinkedthemovie.com. I'll tell you more about it when I get back! See ya!