Lately as a part of my work with ChaCha I’ve posted (a long with some others) news stories on ChaCha’s Facebook/Twitter pages about celebrities who have passed on or when something interesting happens to them. This has made me realize, while only 27 (28 on the 19th), I am old. After posting these we always receive a good number of people, yes they are mostly younger, but some are 18+ and they have NO idea who these celebrities are.

My brother (right) and me (left)

For instance today Corey Haim died and on the posting on Facebook a few people say “Who is he?” or just “Who?” This is what makes me feel old. I mean who hasn’t seen The Lost Boys or maybe The Two Coreys (ok I didn’t watch this either)?

Anyway, that is my gripe for the day. On top of me having a 9-year-old son who makes it seem like time flies by, I now have this younger crowd throwing it in my face that I am indeed old. Oh well. At least I’m not turning 30 this year like my brother.

My brother (right) and me (left) at Halloween of '86

This was a video shared by a co-worker and it shows what was seen when the Hubble telescope was pointed at a blank patch of space (at least to our eye). Thousands of galaxies which we would have never known about. Watch the video to the end as it shows the 3D version. Would be very cool to one day see more of another galaxy, but I doubt I’ll ever live that long.

Dawn Brancheau and Whale - AP

Sad story today (or yesterday now) of a trainer at an Orlando SeaWorld being killed by Tilikum, a 30 year old 12,300 lb killer whale, in front of an audience. While I think this is tremendously sad and by no means think she deserved it, it makes me wonder why we keep such animals for our amusement. This whale was probably doing what he would instinctively do in the wild. Whether she fell in or he grabbed her, he probably saw her as a toy and didn’t mean to kill her. Or maybe he did, I don’t know. But now this whale could possibly put down after it was forced into this life of smaller “aquariums” and a entertaining us as humans.

I have mixed emotions overall. When something like this happens I think how it wouldn’t if we didn’t treat animals (large animals especially) like this, but when I am at the zoo I do go and watch the dolphin shows (or I suppose being at the Zoo period supports it). Either way I do think this is horrible and I feel tremendously sorry for Dawn Brancheau’s family for what happened to her today.

Have you seen this commercial? I forgot what I was watching (or listening to) the other day when I out of nowhere heard this little kid voice say “Oh ****” with the bleeped out word of course being shit. I laughed and caught it the second time come on. In my personal opinion I thought it was a funny easy to remember commercial (and made me want some Joe’s Crab Shack). But after not seeing it again for a while and asking my family if they’d seen it I find out that some networks have banned it. Dumb! Guess it is just my opinion, but I don’t see how this commercial hurts anyone atleast not more than skimpy clothes or other insinuated things shown on TV.

Oh well. If you haven’t see it, check it out below. Oh yeah. Be honest with yourself. This stuff happens. Parent (or adult) says bad word then the kids repeat it.

Audible.com recently added Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It! to their long list of audio books and this is one I decided to purchase. I’ve been debating for a few weeks whether or not to buy the physical book as I’ve felt I wouldn’t have time to sit and read it, so I was glad to learn that there was an audio version that I could listen to as I went about my daily work.

If you’ve never heard Gary give a keynote or speech you should pull up Google now and do a search. Gary has so much energy he puts into his talks that when I heard he was doing the reading for this book I knew it was one I would be buying.

Gary offers advice and information in this book that is not like others. Some of the books similar to this make it seem like its easy to just jump in and become rich or successful. Gary lets you know that you have to work for it and “sweat”, but since it is your passion you are doing it should be something you enjoy. I’ve always felt that I could never be happy doing something that I was not passionate about. With Gary’s words and encouragement from this book (and his keynotes, speeches, vlogs) I know that I can take my passion(s) and turn them into a career that I will love and be successful at.

With that I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is working at job they hate or want to start doing something that they are passionate about. Or if you just want to hear Gary’s motivating energy each day to make you feel like you can conquer anything.

Last night my family and I went downtown for the lighting of monument circle in Indianapolis. This was our second year in a row going and I think it may become a tradition. We stayed at the Sheraton which is overlooking the circle and we had a great view from our room and the hotels 9th floor balcony. This was the view 30 mins before the lights were turned on (images from my iPhone, not the best):

Circle of Lights - Pre Lighting

and this was after the switch was flipped:

Circle of Lights - Post Lighting

Sadly after the lights were turned on we went straight to our room (to avoid waiting at the elevator with the many guest who were on the balcony), so we missed the fireworks which happened to be going off over/behind our hotel view. Hopefully next year I will remember my good camera and we will stand outside or down the street so I can capture the fireworks as well.

Here is a photo from a previous year courtesy of Fun City Finder:

Tomorrow my mother turns 50 so for her Sunday celebration dinner I made a dish that she enjoys. I learned how to make this Cambodian (maybe influenced from other cultures) dish from my son’s Aunt back when she visited last year and have since had to make it multiple times as my family enjoys it. It is a very simple dish made with beef, tomatoes, leaf lettuce, onions, cucumber, garlic and oyster sauce. Then the dipping sauce pictured is made from the “juice” from the beef/oyster sauce cooking mixed with freshly squeezed lime juice.

So for anyone possibly wanting to try I’ll list the way I cook it, but not amounts because I just use what I use without measuring anything. Everything is eaten over rice, sorta like a lettuce wrap. Grab a piece of lettuce, tomato, cucumber and beef. Dip in the sauce and eat with rice. Yum. So here it is.

1. Cut beef in thin slices. (I place it in the freezer for a bit first so it firms up and becomes easier to cut.
2. Marinate beef in oyster sauce. I pour enough to cover the beef, with maybe a bit extra to help make the dipping sauce.
3. Heat a little oil in pan and place a bit of chopped garlic in. (Garlic amount varying on how much you like).
4. Place meat in pan with a little bit of thinly sliced onion and cook until done. (With it being thinly sliced it probably will take 15-30 minutes depending on how much beef you use).
5. While beef is cooking I was the leaf lettuce and place on serving tray. (I rotate it around, but not a must). Then I thinly slice peeled cucumber, tomato and onion and place on top of lettuce. Set aside.
6. After beef is done I remove it while leaving the juice in the pan. Place beef on top of vegetables. Take remaining juice in the pan and add lime juice, salt, and pepper to your taste. I like to add quite of bit of lime juice.
7. Enjoy however you want with rice! You can eat it like I do above or any other way you choose.

Cambodian Beef Dish with Bean Curd (Fried Tofu Skin) Sushi made by my brothers girlfriend. (Bean curd skins stuffed with rice)

When Prototype was released I admit that I had high hopes that this game would rock. The concept of running around consuming people, using my powers to kick ass, or changing into another person sounded awesome. But due to financial reason I was not able to pick up the game the day or even week it came out. So as I normally do I went to Justin.tv to watch someone else play.

Upon first finding a cast that was playing it one of the first things I noticed was the way you “climb” buildings in Prototype. Instead of climbing them (well you can climb, but it is much slower) you instead just run straight up them. In my mind I was imagining playing and it just seemed like the game was all about running up and down buildings fighting the military. I had watched a bit of Swiftor playing as well as 4Player Podcast’s Brad play and just had decided that it was not a game for me.

Fast forward to two days ago (Jun 29th) when my son was at the store with his Grandparents. As always my son being the spoiled kid he is he came home with a game. What game you may ask (as if the title of this post or the first paragraph isn’t enough to give it away)? None other than Prototype. (For another topic or discussion. Yes my son plays games some may feel he shouldn’t). I thought oh boy, why in the world did he get this, but I also figured I would give it a try.

So that night after my son had stopped playing and went to bed I decided to start a new game and give it a go. Going into it I still had the prejudgments I had made based upon my only watching the game be played by others. I felt like I knew it was going to suck, but I figured I could earn some easy Achievement points.

After starting the game and watching opening sequence I began to feel slightly different and thought that maybe my notions may be wrong and the game may be better than how it appeared. After the start you are thrust in to a tutorial of sorts which is actually supposed to be happening on Day 18 and you learn all the abilities that will be available too you. From the moment I started running I knew then that I could actually get some enjoyment from this game.

After the initial tutorial of you learning how to play you are thrust back into Day 1 as Alex Mercer (the main character) is talking to someone about what had lead up to Day 18. On Day 1 you find yourself with limited powers and you now must earn Evolution Points and purchase them yourself. The game world is open and you can run anywhere and do “side” missions/objectives to earn points or you can jump right in doing missions. I decided to jump in and do my first mission.

Upon starting the missions and playing through you learn that you can consume certain people and “learn” what they have to do with the story. When you consume them it goes into a sort of flashback sequence where it shows you what they have seen and talked about with others. One of the objects on the way to beat the game is to piece together the puzzle by consuming people and tying together these memory bits.

You also learn that you can consume people to learn new and improved skills. You can learn how to use the rifles/weapons better, how to drive the heavy tanks, how to fly a helicopter (later on in the story) and how to call in air strikes. I enjoyed doing this along with roaming around looking for people that knew things about the story so I could consume them.

The design of the game is well done in my opinion. The flashback’s or views of what the people you consume have seen is done really well. Along with that you are able to go back later and watch them in any order you’d like. One of the other things I really liked, which isn’t a big deal but impressed me, is that when I go into a cut scene after disguising myself as some random woman walking down the street, I appear in the cut scene as that woman. Omg, such a tiny little feature but so many games skip out on it. Most games if I am dressed one way I may have something different on during the cut scene, which totally kills it for me. The way Prototype has done it helps me to feel like I am the character.

Overall I’ve played for about 5 hours or so and feel I am pretty far (Day 11). I’ve mostly been sticking straight to doing missions and only doing the side stuff here and there. So far I am really enjoying the game play and all the action I get. Unlike what I watched where it seemed like everything was none stop, I’ve been able to spend a lot of my time not running from or killing the military. The game also in my opinion does offer a challenge for those gamers that are looking for one. I am playing on normal difficulty and still find myself dying a time or two on some bosses/fights.

So my final thoughts on it are words that I’ve heard many times. “Never judge a book by it’s cover”, or in my case never judge a game by only what I’ve seen watching others play.

Alan

I’d say it is definitely worth a rent and a buy if you think you could find yourself going back and finishing all the side achievements/objectives.

If you are like me you occasionally (well more than occasionally for me) find yourself clicking around the web looking for something to do. Or maybe you already know of a few sites you visit occasionally to play games, but you are getting bored of what they offer. Well I am here to try and help that boredom or sense of finding nothing to do.

• daybreakers

You can now spend your free time enjoying multiplayer games with people from all over at zero cost. The site I am talking about is OMGPOP.com (formerly iminlikewithyou.com) a flash based multiplayer gaming site. OMGPOP bills itself as “a place to hang out, play free online multiplayer games, chat and make friends” and that’s just what it is. On the site, which you can play on without creating an account (more on that later), you can play games that range from Blockles (similar to Tetris, but better) to HoverKart

(just launched today and similar to Mario Kart) to Putt Putt Penguin, an original putt putt type game where you must “shoot” the penguin in the hole as fast as possible.

These three games alone are enough to keep you busy for hours, but the list doesn’t stop there. Here is what else they have for you to try.

• Ballracer: A high paced game where you race hamster’s in balls. Be the first to get your hamster to the end to win the gold.
• Letterblox: A game that will be familiar to most where you must rearrange the six letters you are given to make words.
• Draw My Thing: Played pictionary? If so than you are probably ready to kick some behind in Draw My Thing. You have 60 second to draw or guess what is being drawn.
• Balloono: Similar to bomberman, but with monkeys and balloons. Yeah it rocks.
• Jigsawce: Like putting together jigsaw puzzles? Well have you tried it with 6 people all at once!? Well now you can!
• And lastly they have Tracism, Gemmers, and Dinglopop, all which are great games, but I don’t have as much experience with because I am addicted to some of the aforementioned ones.

On top of all the games they also have a leveling system. So it is basically a game (for those that like RPGs or leveling games) where you level as you play other games. You get more experience for placing in the top 3 (Gold, Silver, and Bronze), but still earn exp for just playing. You also can earn experience by partaking in events that are done through the chat rooms. Along with the leveling system you earn coins that can be spent in the item shops download Blue Thunder on items to upgrade your profile (photo frames for your profile pic and bouncing balls to play with on your page) and items for the HoverKart game (new enginers, cars, and more).

You can have all this and more for free. Then if you start to find yourself addicted to OMGPOP you can look into purchasing a Star account which gives you more options for setting up games and now you get 35,000 coins per month to spend upgrading your profile or HoverKart items. The Star accounts start as low as $3.50/month if you buy a year to $5/month if you want to go month to month. With the Star account you can start private games and invite just those that you want to play with. Along with that you are given access to any games that are released in Beta and many more options to come.

With all that being said you do not need a Star account to enjoy the fun that can be had on OMGPOP. You will find yourself spending many hours (and they keep track of your “wasted” hours for you) playing the games and having a good time. I currently have a Star account and can see how the benefits help my experience on the site and can see it being something I keep for a while. $5 a month is like a sandwich and is worth it even if I just play a few times a week. If you decide to come over look me up and maybe we can play some games sometimes. My Profile.

Lately I’ve been trying to find something to occupy my time, while doing something that I find fun. One thing I enjoy doing is tearing apart code/scripts and piecing them together to do what I want and need. So out of the blue a couple weeks ago I thought of the idea to use a domain I own, http://nerf.tv, for URL shortening. I did this mainly for myself, but I am happy for anyone to use it.

So I had this idea in my head, but I am really no programmer. So I started searching Google to see if I could find a way to do this with what I had to work with. After searching and searching I stumbled upon urlShort, an open source GPL source code for doing just what I wanted. I quickly downloaded the code and in no time had it installed and doing what it was supposed to.

But as I stated earlier I wanted (want) something that I can toy around with and do experimenting on. So I dug right in tearing apart the code and making changes. One of the first thing I did, and I am doing, was trying to put everything into CSS and make it so it is easier for me to change the design if I want. Then I had to messed around with changing the bookmarklet to be the way I wanted. As of now I am pretty happy with the changes I’ve made, but want to do some more.

Today (or maybe yesterday) I started working on adding tracking for clicks on the shortened URLs. I was able to get it up and working, but it is not the prettiest looking yet. If you visit http://nerf.tv/track.php you will see exactly what I mean. The plans are to make either a login system or another means so users (mainly me) can track only the URLs that they create and want to.

For now I will be doing this while I still try to think of other things to do. One I did a bit of was try to help a stream I watch, 4 Player Podcast, change over their podcast RSS feed so that they can host it themselves or use something besides their current host (which hasn’t updated in weeks). I may write a blog post on exactly what I did, but have to admit I am afraid of being picked apart by people telling me there are easier ways and what not.

I also want to redo the theme here! (Oh boy I need to slow down and stick with one thing )download daybreakers