Biggio won the game for us in the 9th inning by hitting a 3 run homer (against former team-mate Billy Wagner) to win 8-6. The series win leaves the Astros 2.5 games ahead of the Phillies in the Wild Card race. There’s still quite a few games to go until the end of the season, but this series was one of the most meaningful.
Author: kunefke
Proud to be a Texan
Seeing all of the support from people in Texas for the refugees from New Orleans makes me feel proud to be a Texan. Our church just sent a huge trailer full of supplies to the people affected by Hurrican Katrina, and it felt good to be part of that.
I’m happy to see everyone pulling together and pitching in where they can. I just wish that people would stop playing the “Blame Game” and start working to restore order. We can fix the problems that happened during this disaster and be a little more prepared in case it happens again.
I urge everyone to take caution when choosing who to donate to for relief. There are web sites that look like official sites, but please know that some of them are complete frauds. Also, don’t be too trustworthy of people on the side of the road or in places where there isn’t anyone else around. I’ve heard too many terrifying stories to trust anyone in those kinds of places.
I hope that the rest of the country will see and realize the giving nature of this great state we call Texas. Maybe they’ll talk about us red state country hicks a little better… Yeah Right!
The 4400
I’ve been watching all the episodes of The 4400 for the past week. This show is absolutely amazing. The story is so well thought out and the perspective of the show is just perfect.
The main thing to remember when trying to watch it is to start from the beginning. The first season was only 5 episodes with the first being 82 minutes and the rest being the standard 42 minutes per episode (after you cut out the commercials). The first season is on DVD at Walmart for around $14, probably because it’s only a 5 episode season. The second season just ended this past sunday night, and the final few clips were just teasing the 3rd season, which really made me want to see it when it starts.
The only thing that puzzles me is the way USA organizes their seasons. I’ll have to look that up.
New Orleans Flooding
I’ve had conversations with people over the past few years about New Orleans being hit with anything that would cause flooding. I’ve known that it was going to happen in my lifetime. I just didn’t think it would make me feel this bad for everyone out there.
I just can’t wait to see if the rest of the world bands together to send help our way. Maybe the rest of the world will see how much we’ve sent their way over the years, when they realize they can’t help us as much as we will help ourselves. I have no doubt that some of the other nations of the world will send help, and it will be greatly appreciated.
The chances of the United Nations trying to take charge in relief efforts are pretty slim, even though they may pass some resolutions on the prospect of helping out.
The people affected by Hurricane Katrina need a lot of help. If you can’t help out financially, please send a few prayers up to the Big Guy for them. The prospect of losing your entire city and history has got to be pretty darn sobering.
WinFS
According to this, Microsoft has decided to go ahead and put WinFS out there. The file system is intended to make searching and keeping track of documents a cinch with instant search results through constantly updated indexing. The thing is, Google Desktop Search achieves these quick results already.
Apparently the Desktop Search program made so many people happy that Microsoft wants to include it on their new OS, Windows Vista, so that they have more presence than Google, when customers make the move to Windows Vista from Windows XP.
Up until Google came up with the Desktop Search Sidebar, I thought Microsoft had given up on releasing WinFS with the new OS, but it seems that having competition brought their productivity up a notch. This is just another of many reasons to cheer for the brilliant team at Google!
Hollywood Slump?
The so-called slump that Hollywood is in is not what I believe should be called a slump at all. They try to blame the lower ticket sales on P2P file-sharing and bit torrent users, but what they fail to realize is that no one wants to spend money on the trash that’s coming out of Hollywood.
The people who take the time to download the movies aren’t interested in buying tickets, even if they didn’t have access to the downloads. The reason why they don’t want to spend the money is one or many reasons. These reasons can include too much skin, bad language, sex, sexual references, violence, cigarettes, alcohol, racism, children being rude and crude with their parents on screen, and I’m sure you can come up with a few more with a little more concentration.
I make many of my decisions on those factors as well as on the actors involved with the movies. If an actor is outspoken about politics the way some are, I try my best to stay away from helping them make money. I don’t go to the theater to see them and I certainly don’t give them more money by buying their DVDs. I don’t like it when a stupid actor or actress thinks they’re smarter than the real working Americans. They think they have a more important right to free speech because they can buy their airtime. Get a real job…
Hollywood should make some less offensive movies/films, stay out of politics, and then they “might” make some more money.
Site Design
I have the site finished for the most part. I have a little editing to do here and there, but it looks a lot cleaner than the previous design. Now I just have to finish working on the BAPCS design.
Feedback Form
I have been trying to figure out how to get a web site to send me an email without using Frontpage extensions, or having to pay for a service to do it for some time now. I’ve finally found a way to do it.
I didn’t use their directions exactly because every site is different, but they got me to the place where it works.
The Site Wizard is the wonderful site that helped me get there and I wanted to post a note here about them so I’d have it for future reference.
Free Internet Calling
The concept of talking online for free has been around for quite some time. I remember 4 to 5 years ago, using one of the instant messenger services to talk to my parents instead of using long distance. It was pretty bad because we were both using dial-up service. It was kinda like talking to each other through a 50 mile toilet paper tube. I had to wait for their message to get through before I could respond. This process made a simple question and answer take about a minute or two. I kinda got burned out on it, especially after cell phones started to have long distance for “free”.
With the advancement of broadband being distributed to both my parents and my house, we have tried it probably once, and that was about a year or two ago. It was almost exactly like talking on the land lines. Skype has been around for quite a while now, and from all the reviews I’ve read, works quite well. Google has just come out with Google Talk. The interface is very simple, there are no avatars, and the visuals are only attractive to these eyes of mine because it is very simplistic looking. It is made to be easy to use. They are also working to make Google Talk open to connect to all networks.
The capability to connect to all networks AND be able to use VoIP is available in the Gizmo Project, which is a project that Michael Robertson is working on. Michael Robertson is the guy who was majorly involved in mp3.com and Linspire 5.0 (formerly LindowsOS).
With the ability to use a bluetooth headset as your computer’s speakers and mic, you can talk as you would on a regular phone. It makes it very comfortable. I know this because I have a bluetooth headset (Plantronics 2500) that makes using my cell phone on the road much easier. I’ve also used it to replace my speakers on my computer when I needed the computer to be quiet, but wanted to hear everything the Big Brother 6 houseguests were saying on the Live Feeds.
If your budget is tight, you can’t get a cell phone, but you have broadband, your long distance can get a lot cheaper. It just takes a little experimentation, and you have to get your long-distance family members to install one of these programs on their computer.
Looks like the future of communications is getting better, and cheaper.
Google Desktop
Wow! Google has outdone themselves here. The ability to fit everything they did into such a nice little package is absolutely spectacular. It’s a little buggy visually when you try to minimize and then maximize, but it works well otherwise. Of course I’m using it currently on a Celeron Processor with only 32MB of video memory. It’ll probably be better when I get home. Check out the tool here.