I must say this whole Myspace thing is going better than I thought. I’ve been on it for 3 days and already have 8 friends (9 if you count Fort Minor). I’ve been on Friendster for over a year and only have 5 friends in my network there. Myspace has got people from my past and present on there. It feels like I’ve barely scratched the surface. This could turn out to be fun after all.

Camille Neviere – Take a gander at the girlfriend of the previously unknown but now famous Marcos Baghdatis. He kind of came out of nowhere (I say kind of because he’s ranked 27th in the world. Gotta be halfway decent to crack the top 30.) by making it to the finals of the Austrailian Open last week. One word….hottie!!! (I’m referring to his kanojo* NOT Baghdatis.) She’s French to which I say, Vive la France!

I knew I should have played tennis. All the tennis guys have hot girlfriends. My all time tennis favorite, Pete Sampras…check. Andre Agassi….check several times. Andy Roddick….very big check currently plus a half check for a previous relationship (Mandy Moore was(is) cute). James Blake…4 checks (for the same woman). I haven’t seen Roger Federer’s girlfriend yet but you know she’s gotta be hot. He’s Roger Freaking Federer.

(* kanojo = intimate female partner in Japanese)

Coretta Scott King,
AP Photo

Coretta Scott King Dies at 78 – I arrived at work this morning to the news that Mrs. King passed away. This saddens me on several levels. I have always admired her for her strength of character and conviction. She has carried on her husband’s dream and vision and made great strides towards seeing them come to fruition in America and the world-at-large. Mrs. King was not only a key figure in the American Civil Rights movement. She went on to be a champion of human rights the world over. Her legacy will live on through her children and the institutions she established for positive, non-violent change. Coretta Scott King thank you for your courage, your strength and your leadership. You will be greatly missed.

Wanna know a good way to jump start your day? Listen to Snap! on the drive to work. My personal DJ, aka 60 gig, black (Black Power!) iPod with video, played Snap!’s Mary Had A Little Boy (vs. Milky and 2NF) this morning when I got in the car. I was getting my dance on sitting at the traffic light up from my house. I can’t dance worth a lick in public (Geeks can’t dance. Too self conscious.) but I’m the best car/bedroom/shower dancer on the planet. Believe that. I defy you to listen to almost any Snap! song and not shake your booty. If you have to have a song stuck in your head all day, Mary Had A Little Boy is a good one. Check out The Cult of Snap! 1993-2003 to indulge you inner Snap! fandom.

After two days of using BlogJet and one day of using RocketPost I have to say RocketPost is in the lead so far. The only problem with it is it doesn’t have an iTunes plugin like w.bloggar and BlogJet do. That’s no biggy at work where I don’t have iTunes installed but if I start using it here at home it could prove to be a pain. For the time being I think I’ll install RocketPost and just copy the now playing code over from BlogJet when I make a post. Kind of hack kneed but it works.

The search for the perfect blogging tool continues. Another downfall of both of the ones I’m trying is that they won’t let me modify my template. That’s one of the best features of w.bloggar. I can modify my main and archive templates right from the program instead of having to go out to blogger.com. That’s a big convenience feature. To be honest I think I’ve found the perfect tool. It’s w.bloggar. The problem is that the latest version is over a year old. It’s got a ton of features I like but it’s buggy and kind of unstable. The wonderful guy who designed it seems to have moved on to bigger and better things. I could go back to an earlier version (3.0) but 4.0 has the killer features I want. So please Marcelo if you ever read this release one more version of your wonderful app. Combine the stability of 3.0 and the features of 4.0 and I’d be in blogging heaven.

If anybody happens across this and has a recommendation for a tool that they use leave a comment or drop me a line. Please keep the move off of blogspot comments to yourself. I know it’s on the newbie, lamer side. I should be transitioning to my very own, super 1337 website some time later this year.

Now playing: School House Rock – I’m Just A Bill –

Just got an ever popular Letter from the Chairman. It’s one of those quarterly pep talks from the head muckety muck saying how much he appreciates all of us peons. He needs a serious visit from some present or former NFL players stat. In the first paragraph alone he throws around 3 or 4 sports clichés like they’re going out of style. Here’s a brief synopsis: Blah, blah, blah, play to win, mumble, mumble, championship company, zipity do da, big MBA business terms, raising the bar (stole that one from Cingular who “acquired” it from pole vaulting and high jumping). He even throws in a poker (which is apparently a sport now according to ESPN) term, buy-in. Then of course he finishes strong with another play to win in the last sentence. Very nice Mr. Head Muckety Muck. Jerome Bettis and Joe Montana just ran past my cube heading to your office. Next time go with FedEx.

In the next to last paragraph he mentions how important, nay critical, it is for everyone in the organization (which would include me I suppose) to have the highest level of engagement possible. I fully agree Mr. Chairman. As I’m sure you can tell from this post [sarcasm] I am fully engaged! [/sarcasm]

This is another test. Trying out RocketPost here at work. Still looking for a replacement for w.bloggar. I’ll evaluate this here and BlogJet from home.

I got off of my first call of the day a little while ago (a long while ago now since I’ve been typing on this since 8:30 am). The call was probably 20-25 minutes long (which is very long around here). My average call time is around 2 minutes. That extended amount of time was thanks to having to reboot 4 times. I relish the day when Windows computers boot more quickly and where we can finally install software without ever (that’s EVER) having to reboot them. Microsoft has been making this claim for a while.I remember my Windows 2000 training very well. Oh yeah guys it’s great! You can do an install and never have to reboot. Um yeah. That wasn’t quite the case. The same claim was made with Windows XP. After having done hundreds upon hundreds of installs and having to sit through their requisite reboots I can positively affirm that that claim is false. Could Microsoft Vista be the answer? Possibly but I’m not holding my breath. I’ll believe it when I see it. I have a feeling we’re still a little ways off from that nirvana in the operating system realm. (I know, I know. Switch to a Mac. All in due time. I’m still getting high off the Apple gateway drug known as the iPod. Not quite ready to move on to harder drugs like a full blown Mac just yet.) If I’m still doing tech support (other than my own fun/hobby type stuff or helping out a friend) by the time this amazing accomplishment comes about please shoot me. Just have mercy on a middle aged man and put me out of my misery.

Patience. That’s something I used to have in spades. I oozed it coming out of college. I could sit on the phone for hours steadily working through a problem until it’s resolution. I’ve still got it but I find that it gets worn thin much quicker now. This comes to mind because of something my first caller said this morning. During our 3rd reboot she made the comment that I was really patient. I told her it’s kind of a prerequisite for this job to which she replied that if she was on my end she would be pulling her hair out and ready to throw the computer out the window by now. I laughed inwardly because I pretty much was to that point in my head but it’s silly to express that outwardly. The computer doesn’t give a crap how you feel. It couldn’t care less whether you’re mad or frustrated at it. When there’s a problem, the computer is only behaving in the manner it was programmed to behave based on the current conditions that exist. When you keep that in mind you see how silly it is to get mad at this useful, powerful but ultimately flawed man-made machine. (Again I know Macs are perfect. I’ll get there one day. Mac Mini here I come..) I think a better characterization for the trait my caller observed would be an innate understanding of the nature of computers (at least from a support perspective) developed from years of professional and personal experience. Now if I could just figure out a way to squeeze that onto my resume or use it to arrange a raise.

Well I’ve finally taken the plunge. I’ve joined Myspace. My friend, Mariah invited me to come join her new addiction. As my other friends will tell you I’ve never been able to resist when it comes to Mariah so here I am, a MySpace newbie. I’ve been invited before but never signed up. The site seems to have a different vibe than what I’m usually in to but I figure I’ll give it a try. Hopefully my MySpace experience will be better than my Friendster experience which has been a total flop. Daryl + Social Networking sites = oil and water. Daryl <——— social neophyte.

Anyway, check out my Myspace (is that even the proper terminology?). My Myspace. That just sounds funny. Like my my what nice… thumb wrinkles you have. I think I’ll just say check out Myspace from now on.

Now playing: David Crowder Band – Do Not Move – A Collision Is Coming – EP

Mexican Soccer Ball,
originally uploaded by Okiboy14.

Pardon my dust. Just shaking off the cobwebs in my old but rarely use flickr account. This weekend is all about experimentation.