Thursday, September 29, 2005

A little somfin' for Dustin

About a month ago San Francisco officials chose not to hold a "winter sporting event" on the "slopes" of the S.F. city streets. Well, even though it didn't happen a month ago, they said it would happen! And it did! Here is a link to the article about the ski and snowboard jumping event that took place today: Article
And here is a link to the pictures: Pics
Funny to note that everyone is wearing short sleeve shirts and shorts :0

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Bob Loblaw

Haha, say that name fast: Bob Loblaw. funny!

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Individual Deliverable 3: So Much More To Say.....

Yeah, I wanted to add a lot more to this but the limit was 500 words (no more than that) and I'm at 499.

Three Most Influential People in History

It is very difficult to choose who the three most influential people in history are. There have been so many people through history who have had substantial impact on our world today. There have also been a lot of people whose names are well known but haven’t really affected us today. Many movie stars are famous for entertainment, but haven’t actually done anything to change our world. When I think of a person who has had a great impact on society I often think of people who created lots of controversy during their lives. Some have even done things that we would consider to be evil. However, the three which I have chosen are credited with doing positive things during their lives, and these positive things have carried on into modern times and still affect us today. The three individuals that I have chosen are Jesus Christ, Henry Ford, and Bill Gates.

I choose Jesus Christ first because I believe that he is the most influential individual that has ever walked this planet. He has influenced humans to the core of our being. He didn’t just bring entertainment, or some great invention to help society; he brought a deep spiritual understanding about God to our world. Jesus is said to have lived a perfect life, or a life without sin. He was crucified on a cross at the age of 33. For Christians, his death marked the redemption of sins for all who believe that he is the son of God. His life is known, whether accepted or not, in the entire world. I’m sure that there are remote places that haven’t heard of him, but his name is recognized more than any name in the history of the world. His life is still intensely studied by scholars, shared by many, and argued about by others.

The next most influential person that I choose is Henry Ford. Credited with the invention of mass producing the automobile, Mr. Ford revolutionized the world as we know it today by providing us with simple, affordable transportation. By bringing the automobile to the mass consumer, he created a world that could spread out more and become more independent. He didn’t necessarily have some philosophy that changed people’s hearts like Jesus. Instead he had an idea, or invention, that changed the world.

The last individual that I have chosen is Bill Gates. He was a difficult choice for me because he isn’t the sole inventor of a graphical user interface for computers. Some of the credit must go to others in the industry such as Xerox, Steve Jobs, and others, but Gates was the one who had the passion to push the idea forward quickly. By getting this interface to the market he was able to make computing simple and understandable for the average user. Computers are the future and the easier they are to use, the more people can use them and the further we will progress.

CNN: America's most dangerous jobs

Here is a list of the 10 most dangerous jobs in the U.S. I'm glad to see that law enforcement wasn't on there, but sad to see that airplane pilot was :( What is up with refuse and recyclable material collectors (garbage men?) being on there? How is that dangerous? weird

Rank Occupation Death rate/100,000 Total deaths
1 Logging workers
92.4
85
2 Aircraft pilots
92.4
109
3 Fishers and fishing workers
86.4
38
4 Structural iron and steel workers
47.0
31
5 Refuse and recyclable material collectors
43.2
35
6 Farmers and ranchers
37.5
307
7 Roofers
34.9
94
8 Electrical power line installers/repairers
30.0
36
9 Driver/sales workers and truck drivers
27.6
905
10 Taxi drivers and chauffeurs
24.2
67

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Shotgun Shooting Exhibition

Check out Patrick Flanigan's amazing shotgun skills in this video ~> Shotgun Skills!

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Cool/Weird

if you stare at the cross in the center...eventually it will seem as if all of the violet dots have dissappeared and that there is a green dot moving around on a white backround...however, the violet dots really never dissappear and the green dot is actually violet

Friday, September 16, 2005

Car Clones?

Kinda. Many of us have noticed that some cars just look a little too much like each other. Some of us know that those cars sometimes actually share the same platform, drivetrain, and other stuff but just have different bodies. The worst thing about this is the price differences between these mostly identical cars when all that changes is the name. Well, here is a small list of some of the vehicles on the road that share platforms. A couple of them are obvious, but a few of them I was kinda shocked about:

Clones
(mechanically and otherwise identical except for minor trim/price differences)

• Chevy Traliblazer -- Isuzu Ascender
• Chevy Silverado 1500 -- GMC Sierra1500
• Chevy Colorado -- GMC Canyon
• Ford Explorer -- Mercury Mountainer
• Ford Escape -- Mercury Mariner -- Mazda Tribute
• Ford Crown Victoria -- Mercury Marquis
• Pontiac Vibe -- Toyota Matrix
• Chevy Venture - Pontiac Montana
• Infiniti Q56 -- Nissan Pathfinder Armada

Kissing cousins
(common platforms; different exteriors -- may share engines, etc.)

• Mercedes-Benz E-Class -- Chrysler 300
• Chrysler Crossfire -- Mercedes SLK
• BMW 3-Series -- BMW X3
• Cadillac XLR -- Chevy Corvette
• Jaguar X-Type -- Ford Contour
• Lexus RX330 -- ToyotaHighlander
• Audi A4 -- Volkswagen Passat
• Pontiac Montana -- Pontiac Aztek
• Ford 500 -- Volvo S80
• VW Phaeton - Audi A8

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Quarters

Quarters is a classic drinking game that involves bouncing quarters into shot glasses (or other glasses). Well the following video is a guy that I would NEVER challenge to a game of Quarters. VIDEO

Even if it took 100 tries for him to get some of these, they are unbelievable!

boring dayz

Well, school has started and the excitement of summer is over. Very sad to see the hot days and light until 9pm going away. Fall is in the air as my neighbor's tree is already dumping leaves on my lawn. Time to look forward to the snow starting to fall.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Bio

an assignment for one of my classes is to post a short bio and pic. Here it is:

I grew up most of my years in Salinas, CA. I graduated from North Salinas High School in 1996 and went on to attend San Jose Christian College for 2 years. After those two years the cost of school was too high so I moved to Sacramento, CA to try and make enough money to go back to school. Instead I ended up getting married and putting off school for a year. After my short break from school, I began attending California State University Sacramento in 2000. I have been going to CSUS for 6 years. In 2003 I changed my major from Computer Science to MIS because I was unable to pass Calculus II and Physics. I have been very happy with my choice because MIS gives me opportunity to socialize more rather than sit with my nose at a computer screen and write code. I plan to graduate in the fall of 2005. I currently work for FedEx Express as a courier and I plan to apply to their Information Systems department in Memphis, TN when I graduate.

Exploring Flickr

There are a lot of great pictures in Flickr. If time permits it should be explored. There are pics of everything: cars, hurricane katrina, boats, cats, dogs, puppies, kittens, burning man, costume parties, and of course AIRBORNE CATS. You have to check that last one out.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

So long Old and Busted, Welcome the New Hotness

The new camera has arrived, and it rocks.
Old and Busted:

New Hotness:
I'm gonna miss it. I've had it for more than 4 years, thousands of pictures, and dozens of car shows. Heck, besides my Nova and Regina, I think it's the longest relationship I've ever had. ;)
R.I.P.....uh, um I never named it. Oh well, later camera.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Blog Spam

that's right, we don't just get it in our e-mail or text messaged to our phones, we get it in the comments on our blogs too. I usually delete them quickly, but the deleting is getting annoying so now when anyone makes a comment they have to do a word verification thing. It's just a box with a squiggly word in it and you have to type what the word is before you can post a comment. No big deal. The cool thing is that it stops automated spam programs from posting useless comments on my blog.

Canon Loyalty Program

Canon Rocks! I've got a PowerShot S110 Digital Elph (digital camera). It is having issues with the gears in the zoom lens. I think they are broken or have sand in them. I took it to a camera repair shop and they quoted me $150 for a new lens setup. Regina bought the camera for me in 2001 so it's a little old! Not really worth repairing. Anyways, she contacted Canon to see if they'd repair it. They said that for $175 ($15 more than repairing my old one) we could do their exchange program and get an upgrade to an S410!!!! We were like, OKAY! We are okay with paying half price for one. Now I'm just waiting for it to get here. Should only take 2 days, we get to keep all of the accessories we currently have on our camera, and they send the new one to us before we send the old one in. I'm very excited.

Monday, September 05, 2005

Hi everyone: From Google Earth

Hi James:
Hi Sheri:
Hi Jon, Shane, Alex, and Amy:
Hi Mom and Dad:
Hi Brizzis:
Hi Ethan:
Hi Oakleafs:

Marks Pool Party

Here are pics from Marks pool party. ~> PARTY

Saturday, September 03, 2005

do homework or don't, do homework, or don't, do ho........

mework or don't, do homework or don't, do homerek or dnot, od mrehork or nodt, do mr horwk or don't, od wrekhome ro todn, whatever....... I hate school. Stuff due at midnight tomorrow. Verdict: Put it off until later.

Friday, September 02, 2005

More Hot August Nights

I put up another 128 pictures from Hot August Nights on Flickr.com. Check them out ~> HAN