Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Unfortunately, I live about 10 miles from these people. Am I ashamed? I try to pretend I don't even know where Claysburg, PA is. Luckily Claysburg is NOT part of The Cove.

Friday, June 20, 2008

The Super Awesomeness That Is . . .In case you’re not an internet junkie, let me just inform you that the latest version of Firefox (version 3) was released this past Tuesday. Of course I had to download the application the hour it came out (10AM PST). And yes I did pledge my download beforehand. But in any event, Firefox 3 has indeed been worth the wait! Some of my new favorite features are the improved tab saving feature, the improved surfing speeds and the awesome support for new add-ons.

Add-ons! The outstanding feature that slaps Microsoft’s Internet Explorer in the face and stomps the crap out of it while it pukes and vomits all over its dining room floor. What browser could possibly compete?! That being said I figured I’d clue you in to some of the awesomeness that is Firefox Add-ons. If you don’t have Firefox, don’t sweat it. It’s free! And so are these add-ons. So download them now and make your internet browsing experience sweeter than an ice cream sundae on Tuesday!

Better Gmail 2 – Made by LifeHacker.com, and adored by Gmail users worldwide. If you thought Google Mail got you excited before, you’ll be completely dumb-struck by the time you change your Gmail skin. Google Labs has wised up a little and actually uses this add-on to build some of its features directly into the site.

Forecast Fox – Shows you the weather, radar, and extended forecast for your zip code built in to the browser itself. The best part is you can pretty much stick these icons wherever the heck you want! The only thing better would be if the forecast came from WeatherUnderground.com.

Gmail Notifier – Sick of checking your Gmail account every 5 minutes to see if you have any new emails? Well stop that! Let this add-on check it for you, however often you want. Then you can delete your shortcut to Gmail because when you click on the icon, you’ll go straight to your inbox. There’s even a popup preview as soon as the email comes in.

IE Tab – It really irritates me that we design our web applications at The Workplace for Internet Explorer browsers only. We’re so sufficient on Microsoft that you can’t even have a login ID that doesn’t start with the letters MS (okay, that is a stretch of the truth, but you get the gist). So with this bad boy I can tell what websites I want Firefox to open up in an embedded IE browser. I get the HTML rendering of IE, but the look and excellence of Mozilla. To all those websites designed with IE in mind, SCREW YOU!

PicLens – Oh my holy apple pie! If this graphic intensive add-on doesn’t get your mouth drooling, then you’re blind or lack salivation glands. What this puppy does is nothing short of spectacular! Visit a webpage that supports PicLens, such as Google Images, Picasa, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook and much, much more and be completely bedazzled by how you can view the photos and videos there. By clicking the PicLens icon you are whisked away to a three dimensional world of photo searching, viewing, and wonder! PicLens even has a default search menu where you can search thru everything from sports videos, to TV shows and movies, to news pictures and broadcasts! You’ll be stuck just viewing stuff for hours! Endless hours!

Greasemonkey – For the advanced internet surfer and programmer, this add-on lets you customize code after a webpage has loaded. Don’t like how Facebook draws and displays its tables? With Greasmonkey you tell it what websites you want it to work on, what code you want to change, and presto! Before the page is rendered, the HTML is changed every time! Only you can dream up what you’re options on webpages could be! Make sure you know JavaScript before tackling this bad boy.

So how do you get all this stuff? It’s so simple you’ll wish you never asked. Just head on over to http://www.mozilla.com and download your very own copy of Firefox 3. Once you install it, head back over to the same Mozilla page, click on the Add-ons menu, and go to town! Some other awesome add-ons you’ll want to check out are FoxyTunes, DownloadThemAll, BlueOrganizer, and Delicious Bookmarks. Oh and don’t forget about the themes for Firefox. Make it look like whatever the heck you want! Someone let me know when the Campbell Brown theme comes out!

Friday, June 13, 2008

While driving home from volleyball the other night my friend Brad and I came up with a great idea for GPS navigational systems. Now I've had my Garmin Nuvi since Christmas of '07 and I am totally in love with it (in a nonsexual way of course). I can find places to eat when away from home, but more importantly I can can find my way home when I'm away from home. When I first started using my Garmin I used the Australian Female Karen to get me around. She did a good job but I'd venture off course so often (because the roads around me are so remote) she just annoyed the CRAP out of me by saying "Recalculating" in her little British accent so many times. So I switched to the American Female, Jill. I like Jill. While she still says "recalculating" just as often, it doesn't quite have the same -turn-around-right-now-you-f'in-idiot sound to it. I like that.

Anywho, I have ventured off course. The great idea. Why not make nav units with celebrity voices?! These are some of the options Brad and I came up, but feel free to post your ideas. Maybe Garmin will get the hint.

Sean Connery - "You missed the turn. You're going the wrong way!"
Robert Goulet - First of all he sing all the directions to you and then end with, "GOULET!"
Harry Carey - "Hey! If the road up ahead were barbecue spare ribs, would you eat it? I know I would! I'd wash it down with a cold Budweiser."
Bill Clinton - "I would not . . . turn . . . down this next road. Miss Lewinsky Lane.
Kim Jong-il - "Make a reft turn on Arec Barwin Rane."

And my two personal favorites . . .
Yoda - "Make this turn you will. Yes yes. [Goofy Yoda giggle]
Darth Vader - "Turn right here, or give yourself to the Dark Side." Of course the unit would constantly be breathing heavy all the time.

Monday, June 09, 2008

I started riding my bike to The Workplace today. And I'm not talking about a motorbike either. It's a pedal bike. It's light, weighing in at less than 20 pounds I'm sure. It's a distance of 11.5 miles from my house to The Workplace, which currently takes 50 minutes to accomplish. That's 11.5 miles early in the morning, then another 11.5 miles in the late afternoon when it's 95 degrees. Why partake in the trek? It's simple really. Rising gas prices. I calculated at the current cost of fuel, and my motor-vehicle's fuel efficiency I'd be saving about $15 a week by riding
4 days a week. It's not a whole heck of a lot, but that number will only go up as gas prices continue to break records on a now daily basis. We're in the beginning of a new era. The days of inexpensive fossil fuels are over. The trend is slowly going to become what new, reusable energies can we "manufacture?" Also, how we can save on energy costs is going to peak some interest. While in most cases we can't generate our own energy (unless we can afford personal wind turbines or solar panels) there are numerous things we can do to save energy and be greener. I've compiled a list of some easy, and very affordable things you can do to save on your energy usage costs. He's back and greener than ever! It's Captain Jimmy's Top 10 Ways to be Green (Don't Listen to Kermit, it is Easy)!

10. Ride a bike. Even a motorcycle is going to use less gas that your honkin' SUV or your compact car. Especially in the bigger cities, you'd be amazed at how many places you can get to in a 10 mile radius by riding a bike. In some cases, it might even be faster.

9. Switch to energy saving light bulbs. Okay, so you can't get them in three-way but 3 watts vs. 60 watts should make that a no contest. You'll see instant savings!

8. Stop getting paper delivered to your house. Paper being newspapers, magazines, pay stubs. You can get your news online these days, even your local news. All those junk magazines (Victoria Secret, Cosmo and Nintendo Power excluded) you trash anyway and some magazines now offer their publications in PDF format. Just don't be an idiot and print the stuff out. And if you have direct deposit at work, try requesting to not have a paper pay stub anymore. Every little bit counts.

7. Carpool with friends. To work, social gatherings, just stop driving solo so gosh darn much!

6. Unplug or power down your stuff! All your stuff, especially big honkin' electronics, guzzle up your electricity even when they aren't "turned on." Get power strips and shut 'em down. Your PS3 is pulling 10 times as much power as your LCD HDTV. Even your phone charger plug is waisting electricity when plugged into the wall and not your phone.

5. Do more that uses less. Read a book instead of watching TV. Go play sports outside instead of Tiger Woods PGA on your XBox.

4. Turn off the lights when leaving a room. No sense in lighting up rooms when there is no one there to enjoy it. You could even invest in motion sensor lighting that completely takes the effort out of the equation.

3. Stop going out to eat so darn much. Get some extra food at the grocery store and cook up some nice meals at home. On the grill perhaps. That's my new thing. I made some kick a** grilled broccoli the other day. And who doesn't love a good grilled steak? Stupid vegetarians that's who!

2. Do more during the light hours. Wake up a few hours earlier and get more done when the sun is out. This way, once night comes, you won't need any extra electric lighting.

1. Drink from your faucet! I could go to some fancy pants statistic website and find out how much plastic waste is produced a year thanks to bottled water, but instead I'll just make you ponder. If your water tastes bad, get yourself a filter. In the long run, you're going to save tons of cash. People carry around giant coffee cups and mugs, why not carry a stainless steel water mug instead?

Now I know what you're thinking. "That top 10 was stupid and so are you Captain Jimmy!" First of all, never call The Captain stupid unless you want to be poisoned while you sleep. Secondly, no doubt some of the stuff listed could be argued, like the energy it takes to power your PC to read the news vs. no power for newspaper reading. But basically it you'd just get your head out of the polluted clouds, all it takes is a little conscious effort and caring. Which unfortunately is something most people don't do anymore.

Monday, June 02, 2008

Slap me thrice and call me Slacker! I know I skipped the whole month of May with my extremely talented blogging skills, but let’s face it; I can’t just do what the rest of the world wants me to do. Unless of course I’m getting paid for it, then I don’t mind as much (unless of course it tramples on my moral beliefs which I seriously doubt blogging would do).

So what the crap has been going on the past month? Here’s the quick lo-down. Early in the month I got my hair cut then headed on down to MD for a friend’s party. It was great! We drank; I played Guitar Hero, what could be better? I then went to Rehoboth Beach to play in a volleyball tournament where I completely crapped out (I’ve been seriously considering early retirement), but hey, I got hit on in a bar by a dude. Nice to know if I stopped attracting women (ha! Like that will ever happen) I won’t fair too badly with the other team. Not that I'm planning on switching teams by the way. Then it was off to Buffalo, NY for a few days to work. The weather was nice at least. I had a couple birthdays to celebrate then. Following that, I chilled with my old neighbors (old as in used-to-be neighbors, not old as in old people old) and then rang in Memorial Day with the fam. I closed the month with another hair cut and another friend’s party in MD where I once again drank and played Guitar Hero. Again, it was great!

That my friends was my month of May. Hardly anything to gloat about, but it was probably more fun than say a root canal or child birth. Oh I also had a few thoughts this month as well. Consider this a bonus to this entry! I know, you can wipe that drool off your face now.
  • How do one armed folk wash their hand?
  • My Garmin GPS (aka Jill) currently knows when the sun is setting. Will she still be accurate come the year 9424?
  • Also, if I went back in time to when GPS satellites were first launched would Jill still work? If so I’d impress the crap out of people!
  • If the Brits are currently paying more than $8.50 a gallon for fuel, then why would any oil conglomerate think Americans couldn’t afford that?
  • Not only can you not drive well when you’re having sex in the car in front of me, but it’s very distracting to me as well.