St. Pierre et Miquelon

I was looking on Google Earth a while back, and found out about an island south of Newfoundland called St. Pierre. (46.779036, -56.181047) The Provence is owned by France, they speak French as the official Language, The vehicle registrations are French, and the power plugs are even 220VAC with French plugs.

So for someone who would love to go to France and never leave North America, this looks like a great solution.

Smart

I don't mind someone trying to be a missionary - fine by me if you want to go and get yourself killed in a place like Iraq - handing out Bible coins. Fine. I have a slightly bigger problem when you take advantage of your situation - a Marine in Iraq, to "spread the good word" while on duty. I have a tremendously huge problem with you if you do so and your actions result in aggression and or killing of more U.S. Personnel in Iraq due to religious intolerance. Its bad enough these guys have to be over there in the first place, lets not make it any harder eh?

Attention teens, mainstream zombies and pop top 40 types

Um, can we please have our Twitter back? I am willing to give you Facebook. (well you forcibly took facebook, but thats ok)

Please

Geekin' out @ Cheesecake factory

Geekin' out @ Cheesecake factory, originally uploaded by Chris1051.

Taken with the LG-VX9100M - a photo of me waiting in the Cheesecake Factory browsing the web on the N810 and listening to a podcast on my iPod - I took this photo using my new phone and sent it to the N810 via bluetooth, and then emailed it to myself, and then uploaded it on my desktop here at home.

Jesus : Breaking up families since ... well, Jesus

Hat tip : Thaddeus

Most people don't realize the huge risk we are taking as atheists who have decided to "come out" to our family members. I myself haven't really "come out" to my parents or grandparents - but I have experienced a semi-fall out after revealing atheism.

This is so hard and who would have thought that that wonderful "good book" the bible would have anything to say on the matter?

Thaddeus pointed out something to me and I think this is worth a reiteration here.

Matthew, Chapter 10

10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
10:35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
10:36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Straight from the man's lips himself. (Or so we are told -if its in the bible it must be true) Yep thats him -gentle Jesus meek and mild.

No time

I dont really have time to post a huge post but I wanted to share this this morning.

I heard this on the DSC on Monday and it really struck a nerve with me. Please give it a listen.

Erin Livingston - Cassy & Ty

I highly Recommend:

I, like most people suffer from allergies. After cutting the lawn, exposure to cats, walking around in middle Tennessee, etc.

I cannot recommend these products enough. I have the one called "Arctic". Here are some important things to consider:

If a slight stinging sensation bothers you, this product is not for you. Here is what happens. After dropping the eye drops in the eye, it feels a bit like that feeling when you are running and sweating so much that the sweat gets in your eyes, and it kind of burns. This lasts for about 2 - 5 minutes. But after having an itchy red eye - it is a welcome sensation. You can really feel the eye drops working. The result is a very comfortable eye and when inspection in a mirror, a very clean and very white white of the eye. They managed to package a bottle of awesome.



Zyrtec-D

I had a prescription for this more than a year ago. I still use it. If your nose gets clogged from allergies use this it works. Hands down.

No screenshots

Instead of doing screenshots of the N810 I am going to start just plain taking pictures of it, and you should be able to see, what I am doing.

Been busy all morning - started cutting the lawn and it starts to rain. So I stop and then realize I am out of gas. So I go and buy some gas - the last time I bought gas for the lawn mower it was something like $2.10 per gallon. Feeling he sting from the gas pump I came back and started again. Mr. Crayfish has made some new burrows in my back yard which I have yet to take any photos of.

Going to try and spend some time doing some relaxification today.

Tonight's rant - Celebritism

Give me fucking news not fucking bullshit celebritism bullshit I dont give a fuck who the fuck Ashlee Simpson is riding the bone roller coaster with for fucking fucks sake! Grow a fucking brain and report on the goddammed war! You know important shit thats going on in the world. How about the fucking earthquake or the typhoon. Most brainwashed Americans know more about fucking Ashlee Simpson than they do - the 78,000 + Deaths in Myanmar

Get a fucking clue fucking main stream media!!!

NowPublic

I got an interesting bit of flickr mail. Someone requesting to use my Creative Commons photo in a story. I approved its use, (its good they even asked) and now I am totally loving this site. Its news, powered by ordinary people. Not just the same Cut and paste bullshit done by the mainstream media. I just wanted to give them a shout here. Go and check them out.

NowPublic.

I am going to add their rss to my google reader as well as my RSS reader on the N810.

Good stuff.

Their RSS feed

Got an email from AL

I will repost this video here:

Christians aren't perfect. They just want you to be

Another finger waving minister arrested in sex scandal.

A Plano megachurch minister was taken into custody Thursday after authorities say he drove to Bryan, Texas, to have sex with a person he thought to be a 13-year-old.

Joe Barron, a minister at Prestonwood Baptist Church, is accused of online solicitation of a minor.

According to Bryan police, Mr. Barron had chatting for about two weeks with the person that he thought to be a juvenile. "The online conversations were sexually explicit in nature," the release said.

On Tuesday, Mr. Barron asked if the girl could meet him in person, police said. Two days later, he made the three-hour drive to Bryan to meet the girl.

Undercover officers arrested him upon his arrival, police said. In his vehicle, police said they found web-cam and headset as well as condoms, police said.

How many more???

Kudos to Chuck E Cheese Employee

Officials: Day Care Put 38 Kids Into 15-Passenger Van On Field Trip - Orlando News Story - WKMG Orlando

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A Jacksonville day care is being investigated by the Department of Children and Families after 38 children were placed into a 15-passenger van on a field trip to Chuck E. Cheese's, officials said. DCF spokesman John Harrell said 38 children from Kids Creation Child Care were stuffed into the van and were heading back to the center when a Chuck E. Cheese's employee saw the incident and called police. Harrell said the group of 4-year-olds were sitting on other children's laps, some were sitting on the floor between the seats and others were standing in the van. Police ordered the day care to get a second van, but when it arrived they found that neither driver was properly licensed -- one driver only had a learner's permit. Harrell said the day care center will likely be fined but will not face any criminal charges. An investigation into the incident is ongoing. Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

Incredible - and you wonder why us parents dont trust daycare.

Complaining works

After being fed up with having to wait almost a whole month - from the Nokia Repair Center. I call them up on Wednesday and complain (+1 888 665 4228). I ask why it takes so long for a simple replacement etc. etc. The lady says she has "escalated" my query. So While I am listening to the iPod and polishing off a big fat lunch #3 from Las Palmas, I hear the doorbell ring (here at work we keep the door locked) and its the USPS guy. He has a shitload of mail and a box. I dont get too excited and then he says "I need a signature confirmation for Chris..." The box is the right size for an N810... hmm I start to get a little excited. I sign it and thank him. I take in into my office. I see the return address. Oh hell yes. You know these guys probably had them on hand all along.






Yes people, complaining does actually work.

1051 Explained

I was going to see if the chris1051 username was available at gmail. And no it isnt. I ask the simple question: WTF!?

Who is this guy? I suspect its SKOALMAN88

(Trust me you don't want to click on that link unless you want to go through the standard myspace AUTOMATIC music that sucks and wait for all the java and flash applets to run and bog down your system - to see a profile of a dude and a shitload of other people saying "Whats up?... not much... yeah.... cool... Read more on the death of myspace here and here.)

- an apparent farmer who uses the SKOAL product. Thats fine but I wish he would not use my unique username for his myspace. If he wants to be the SKOALMAN why not just choose skoalman@gmail.com? WTF?

Or how about the Skoalinator or similar?

I am a bit pissed - cause I didnt even like the name Chris1051 to begin with. I wanted "Chris" but since thats a pretty hard username to get I had to think of something unique. So I chose my last 4 of my office phone. Surely no one else would pick that right? Yeah I was wrong. For whatever reason this guy chose it. But I used it thinking no one else would and have been using it for every web 2.0 site I have joined over the last 4 years. A quick Google Search shows nothing but me in ALL the google links!

I was only going to start a new email so I could redirect my legitimate online persona email (social networks etc) to the real Chris1051 instead of my spam email.

Just a thought for the SKOALinator.

Technological Problem #4,080

For an early adopter such as myself, I seem to be wrought with problems. The iPod has been working fine and I am so glad that the battery has lasted from Sunday. The problem is it will only charge while being connected to the PC.

I posted a thread over at the iLounge. I will quote it here:

I came across something odd. I have used a Belkin Car charger since 2005 for my 4th Gen ipod (which later died) and it worked like a charm. Its basically a cigarette lighter plug in dealio and the other end plugs into the ipod to charge. Well lately I noticed it locked up my nano (video 8GB) and so I unplugged it and reset the nano and discarded the charger figuring something broke it. I then decide - when I get home to use a genuine apple wall adapter which came with my 4th Gen, and the firewire cable (plugged into the wall adapter) to solely use it to charge, and the same thing happens with the nano, it gets locked up, the album art (that is normally shifting very slowly is frozen. This is using a Genuine Apple wall charger and a genuine Apple firewire cable. This is truly odd. So When syncing, I am using the genuine USB cable it came with and after syncing, it finally is charging it. SO apparently only the USB it came with can charge it. Is this something they implemented with new software - to ensure no one uses 3rd party chargers? Also, My music library is on my desktop so if I wanted to say charge the ipod at work, what is the harm in plugging it in to that computer (that doesnt have itunes) is the ipod going to see that the PC doesnt have itunes and freak out? Or can I just plug it in and it will charge it?

any help is appreciated.

So I havent tried the suggestions, but tonight I was a bit fed up and just went ahead and hit "Restore" I am going to try the suggestions if this doesnt work.

So I am syncing the nano fresh and also giving it a good overnight charge.

Biggest Church in town

Biggest Church in town, originally uploaded by Chris1051.

It seems these churches are always trying to outdo each other. Which is fine by me but they need to have their tax exempt status revoked - make them compete with the rest of the business world. Just because they are in the God industry doesn't mean they should get a free pass when it comes to taxes.

Dothan Impressions - A Great Divide

(For geo tagged info on the photos click them and you can browse the geotag in flickr)

I left Nashville on Monday for a nice road trip. I was in the "new" company truck this time its not an extended cab, and also doesn't have a tool box for extra storage. So things were tight. I had "Mr. Garlic" seated in the front seat - something I promised my daughter I would do, is to take him with me.



The ride down was very long but a nice ride. Here are the snaps of the ride down:



















Once there I checked in and dipped in the pool as it was nice and hot. The view from my room:



Dothan, AL is a strange place. I came in on the Montgomery Highway on Monday - a perfect example of the Amerification of cities all over. That is - a main street with multiple stop lights and lined with the customary Best Buy, Circuit City, Dicks Sporting goods, Wal Mart, Every Fast food joint under the sun.

I check in to the Holiday Inn Express - which also contributes to the recent Amerification.



Brand new hotel - and even with the state of modern pest control I found a dead roach on the floor near the courtesy PC's - next to the Breakfast room. You just can't escape these bastards. The hotel is nice though. Great for business trips.

Which brings me to the point of the whole trip. Without actually disclosing who I work for and what it is exactly that I do, (I am a CEI - figure that out) I am in town to take a cert course. Being that I have no experience in Traffic signals, I was pretty overwhelmed. The instructor was good, however he was pushing for us to take the exam on the Tuesday. After 4 hours of instruction. I told him I was pretty unfamiliar with the subject matter, and felt more comfortable taking the exam the Wednesday morning. (I really wished I could have taken it this afternoon [WED]) but I had to take it this morning. I spent 3 hours in the TGI's after dinner sipping on a few beers and studying my ass off. The TGI's were dead anyway. The exam, was ok. 100 questions, but I admit I was stuck on a few questions and am really nervous about the result. I came to a point sometime this morning during the last minute studying, that these people really mean business and - it was a shame I didnt have more time to study.



So I am sure I passed (>70%) but its kind of nerve racking. And when done - I handed the guy the exam and he said ok well let you know within 8 weeks. I am thinking to myself WTF!? So that was it. They told me I could leave. Saying everything except "Get the fuck outta here" In a nice way. This seemed odd to me. I really would have liked to have heard my results today. Oh well.

Back to Dothan. The weather is beautiful. The trees are wonderful - the same can be said of the state of Alabama, which - before this visit - I was not generally impressed with.



It was so nice to see Palm Trees again. Though being 87 miles away from the coast was a bit teasing, -especially because I couldn't go down there. But Anyway, yes the environment was nice. The town itself has loads of big peanut sculptures. I tried to take as many pictures as I could of them (there are lots of them scattered throughout town) but only managed to get 3:







This was cool, and added a unique flavor to Dothan - thereby downgrading its Amerification ranking.

There was no observable middle class. I saw either rich white people or very very (emphasis on the word "very") poor black people. I saw rich white people driving around in their Air conditioned SUV's and BMW sport cars, and I saw black people sitting on the porches of their run down dilapidated houses - this was truly the poorest of the poor. I have never been to Louisiana but I am told it is a similar situation there. There really are 2 Americas.



What isn't run down and standing on one wobbly leg is either shut down, or razed.

I would have loved to have eaten in some cool independent restaurants for a real feel of the local cuisine but I just couldn't find any that weren't shut down. Maybe I was ill informed. So I had to go with the tried and tested restaurant chains. Monday night it was Olive Garden.



And the next night it was TGI's Which happen to be right next door to the Olive Garden.




For lunch on both days I ate at Atlanta Bread. Didnt even bring my Laptop in. Wishing I had my N810 - which is another blog post altogether.



And tonight I am probably going to go back to olive garden. I know I suck.

After the exam, I decided to hang by the pool again, fucked around and got sunburnt on my legs and face. -Owwwww. It burns it burrrrrrns! I fell asleep listening to the iPod - which doesn't charge unless its hooked up to a PC. (suck) so I have 1/2 a battery left after 3 days lets hope it holds out for the road trip tomorrow.

In the Morning I am going to hit the road back to Nashville. Its been an interesting week. Thanks for reading.

Blog Lapse

Will blog about my Dothan, AL experience later. I just now spent the last 2 hours -poolside at the hotel. Now a tad hungry and will think about going to Atlanta Bread Company for lunch again. Then go out and take some photos of Dothan. THEN finally come back, blog, and post to flickr, etc.

Now going to have a shower, check my sunburn and then head out to eat.

Currently listening to :



No scrobbling. Will do that when I get back home. (The track is from the iPod not YT)

Day 15

15 days after sending the N810 off for "repair" I still have no idea when a replacement is going to arrive. Looks like I will have to take my road trip (MONDAY) without it. :(

This sucks. I would have hoped that since these guys can't repair it, and therefore need a replacement, would just cut out the middle man, and send me the replacement directly. I couldn't even be so lucky as to have that kind of logic working behind the process.

At least I have Google Earth's Flight Simulator to occupy me. And Starcraft.

WTF

I dont really have anything to blog about except of how annoying stoopid cars like the above are still showing up on the roads. Especially in states who have no safety inspections, (i.e. Tennessee) I don't mind seeing a professional racing car, or a car thats professionally done, (with a wing that isnt too stoopid) but these DIY fucktards are still annoying, as they were in 1999.

I don't know if the photo above was meant to be a joke or not, for the sake of the peopla who happen to be driving near it, I hope it is a joke.

New Haircut

New Haircut, originally uploaded by Chris1051.

I am skeptical. I thought this would make a good contribution to the "I doubt it" post by Phil Plait.

Lyrics ring true

Dumbass

Man accused of trying to cash check for $360,000,000,000

Hat tip from John C. Dvorak.

Roadside Beauty

Thistle 108, originally uploaded by Chris1051.

I started a set on flickr. Since I am on the road a lot working. I can see loads of wonderful things. I have yet to organize my previous roadside photos.

Let Down

So far:

26 November 2007 - I hear about the N810 and drool.
15 March 2008 - I come to the realization that I can and should purchase this device.
20 March 2008 - I purchase the N810 online and pay $437, The device is back ordered.
28 March 2008 - After waiting for 8 days, The N810 Arrives via FedEx.
21 April 2008 - I get Rickrolled and the device fatally crashes.
22 April 2008 - I send in the device, Pay $23 to have it shipped via UPS to the repair center.
23 April 2008 - Repair center receives the device.
28 April 2008 - I find out that they cannot replace the device and have to replace it.
1 May 2008 - They apparently still can't get a device shipped to them - to replace (you would have thought they would have had these things on hand.

Today's Screenshot: