I've become a huge fan of Apple over the last couple years.  It all started when I won an iPod at a Tech Conference.  I won the older flash based iPod Mini.  I really liked it, but the kids wound up stealing it from me.  Finally I got an iPhone Video all for myself, which led to getting an iHome alarm clock.  I love it.  I wake up to iPod music every morning.

Well, fast forward about six months and Apple releases the iPhone.  I said, "No way am I buying such a goofy phone.  I mean come on, who needs an iPod on a Phone?"  Boy was that a dumb thing for me to say.  See, it's not about the iPod on the phone.  It's about the interface.  It's about cool fluid motion menus, scrolling and multitouch!  The iPhone wasn't evolutionary in the world of phones.  It was revolutionary.  I played with a friends phone for 10 minutes, and 2 hours later, I owned one.

So I do a lot of surfing the web for iPhone junk and ran into this girls website called Justine Ezarik, or as she prefers iJustine.  Not only is she a gorgeous babe, she loves technology and she really likes Apple!  So as you probably guessed, she likes the iPhone.  So much so that she makes videos and parodies of it.  Like the one I've added to this blog entry.

On another note, I bought a Sony HVR-V1U today!!!  I can't wait to get it!  HDTV 1080p video is going to ROCK.  I'm selling my PD-150 on eBay along with the Wide and Tele zoom lenses to pay for it.  I'll blog about it and post some video when I get it.  Can't wait!  Can't wait.  No go watch iJustine...

The "class of 2029" refers to students entering college the fall of 2025. Most of these students will be 18, which means they were born in 2007. For them, Anna Nicole Smith, Steve Irwin, Ray Charles, James Brown, Saddam Hussein, and Robin Williams's career have always been dead.

1. No one's ever worn a digital watch.
2. "I'm Rick James, bitch" is just something old people say.
3. To relax, they've always turned on the nightly news. The news has always been delivered by comedians.
4. They don't know what a LOLCat is or why it talks that way.
5. They've always been able to use a cell phone on a plane.
6. Tattoos have always been normal.
7. Mr. Rogers has never taken them to the Land of Make-Believe.
8. Good sitcoms have never had laugh tracks.
9. Apple has always been a big deal, as have Google and Facebook.
10. They've never paid for a classified ad.
11. They've never danced to "Numa Numa."
12. Who's Mario?
13. Katie Couric has still never been a respected news anchor.
14. Kids have always had their own phones.
15. They've never "missed" a TV show that they couldn't watch an hour later.
16. Movies have always come in the mail.
17. They've never licked a stamp.
18. Americans have always worried about Muslims.
19. They don't care if Tony Soprano died, if Ross and Rachel ever got together, who got to be a millionaire, or who was a Cylon.
20. Lindsay Lohan was never innocent.
21. They've never read "People" Magazine.
22. They don't remember Castro or why he was ever a big deal.
23. What's a mousepad?
24. "Lord of the Rings" looks fake and the effects are laughable.
25. Andy Samberg has always been a movie star.
26. The Olsen Twins have always been legal, but it's still creepy to want Mary-Kate.
27. There's never been smoking in restaurants.
28. Saturday Night Live's good stuff has always been made for the Internet.
29. Pop stars have always worked with rappers.
30. Perez Hilton has always been on TV.
31. Computers have never been beige.
32. Role-playing games have always been played on the Internet. What's a 20-sided die?
33. All TVs are "high definition."
34. They've never had to pull over for directions.
35. Cafes have always been a place to work on a laptop.
36. The "dot-com bust" means as much to them as the Great Depression.
37. Ipods have always come with a phone.
38. Global warming has always been a major voter issue, and Republicans have always acknowledged it.
39. Vice presidents have never been useless.
40. Quarters have never all looked the same.
41. Abe Vigoda is still alive.

Interesting Huh?

Boxing in the Ballroom was fantastic this year!  We really enjoyed the event.  We sat with Darrell, Ken, Leanne and their spouses.  What a fun time.  Thanks to Sprint for providing our table! 

We stayed at the Worthington Hotel, rather than driving home so we wound up with about thirty Pier 1 people at Pete's Piano Bar in Fort Worth.  If you've never been to Pete's Dualing Piano Bar, you've got to go!  These two guys are simply hilarious.  The jokes never end! 

I think we made it back to the hotel at about 2:30 for another two hours of hanging out with some friends before we all decided to crash.  What a great night.  Of course, I wound up sleeping till like 4pm the next day.  Haha!  Can't wait for next year!

I'd like to present to you the most evil creature on the planet.  Yes.  The Yellow Jacket Wasp.  Yes, these evil little bastards are the scum of the earth.  So unforgiving and mean.  I mean... come on... all I did was crush their house with my foot.  No big deal right?  You wouldn't be mad if a big giant stepped on your home right?  I didn't think so.  We'll these little bastards didn't like it much.  They sent hundreds of their little brothers and sisters to swarm my little city slicker of a human self.

You see, it all started at the lake.  I was simply packing the truck to leave when I got too close to their nest (which none of us even knew was there).  I upset them and that's when good wasps go bad.  I initially thought I stepped in an ant bed, because my legs and feet (I was wearing sandles) starting burning like fire!  A started brushing them off and stomping when I realized there were no ants on my legs, but a swarm of yellow jacket wasps.  So I realized I better get the heck out of there.  So I started running to the cabin and pop, pop, pop on the back of my legs.  I tripped and fell, busted my knees on the rocks and banged my chest on the deck stairs.  That in itself hurt more than the wasp stings.  However as I am laying there feeling my knees hurting, the wasps constantly reminded my back-end that they weren't finished.  So a few more pops on  the posterior and I was up and running again.  I got into the cabin, proceeded to clean my wounds, and Leslie walks over and says "What is on your back?"  Another freaking damn yellow jacket!  He rode me all the way to cabin and inside to remind me they were serious!  Leslie thumped him off and we never found him.

David proceeded to expell two cans of hornet spray into their nest.  As we left, you could still hear them buzzing, but they were leaving us alone.  Evidently, they were more worried about their survival than us after the spray!  Little bastards!  You get what you deserve.  I mean all I did was walk by your house.

So I just got through counting them and I have 18 stings on my legs and feet.  I have a pretty good mind to drive my butt back up there with some C4 and blow their nest and about 40 feet around it into oblivion!  Grrrr....

Today I spent a lot of time developing the groundwork for a new website/organization I am starting.  It's called the Information Technology Leaders' Forum or simply ITLF.

ITLF is a website/organization that will work to gather Information Technology Managers, Directors, CTOs and CIOs knowledge, resources, ideas and visions to assist each other with carreer growth and help make each others companies' successful. 

I'm quite excited about this project because there are only about three or four other websites targetting this group of people, and quite honestly, none of them are very good.  Especially considering they all cost money to join, either by the person or a donation from their company.  My website will be free to join and supported by the community and ad revenue.

http://www.itlf.org/

Go check it out and sign up if you are an IT Manager!  - Mike 

Today I ordered a SpiderBrace 2.  One of the big issues I've had with shooting digital video is that the camera gets so heavy and I start shaking after about 10 minutes of use.  A few weeks ago we shot some video at church for the baptisms and by the time we were done (about 15 minutes) I was pooped.

Anyway, I was at Pier 1 and we had a new product launch showcase on our conference room floor.  One of the camera guys was shooting the newer HD version of my camera and I noticed he had a brace on holding the camera.  I asked him where he got it and what it was.  He told me about spiderbrace.com.  An Austin, TX based small business that created this device. 

It is made of High-Impact PVC and shifts all of the weight of the camcorder to your shoulder.  You can attach a LANC remote for zoom and focus to the handle.  Best of all, it only costs about $65 USD.  I looked at a similar version of this at B&H Photo about a year ago that was almost $600.  What a deal!  I am excited to get this thing and try it out!

You know, normally this time of year I'd be begging for rain, paying $250 a month in watering and swimming just about every day.

But no.  That's not at all what's happening.  No!  I am begging for sunshine, paying zip for watering, and spending $200 a month in chemicals because the rain keeps flooding my yard and filling up my pool with grass, dirt and algae!  Wooo Hooo!!!  Oh did I mention I've been able to swim a total of twice?  Ugh...

Interestingly enough, with all of this algae I've been killing, I've noticed something interesting about the female algae.  You'd never guess.  An Algebra.  Yes, and if you laughed at that then you need help.

Oh in the words of Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs "Oh.. I can smell it now."  By the way, love the show Rowe, but come on, is it possible to get even one more Ford logo in in every shot? ;)

So we're driving home from work today on I-35W and we are rear ended on the highway.  Now you're probably already asking yourself "Why is the title of this entry 'Illegal Immigrants'"?  Well let me tell you...

The person who hits us doesn't speak english.  He also does not have insurance or a driver's license.  Guess what else?  He's in the USA illegally.  Great.  We are stuck with the bill for the repairs to our brand new Acura MDX.  Well, at least the bill for the deductable and any increased rates since we won't qualify for 'claim free' discount anymore.

But wait, it gets better!  The police come and guess what they do?  NOTHING.  They let the guy go.  He's an illegal, who just cost me money who was breaking several US and Texas laws!  Why is he not arrested and deported?  People ask what's wrong with America and why I am utterly opposed to 99% of the immigration bills.  Because we refuse to enforce the existing laws.  If this were to happen in Mexico, and roles were reversed, I would go to a Mexican jail where they would bust my ass for months before deporting me to the US.  Then, some hot sot Mexican lawyer would sue me and my family for damages.  America!  Wake Up!  Wake up before it is too late to repair this country!

Connor turned six on June 1st.  Yesterday, we took him to Putt-Putt on 820 by NE Mall.  Connor invited a bunch of his friends but only about three or four R.S.V.P.ed, so we weren't sure what to expect.  Well, eleven kids showed up with several parents.  We were fine with that, but I must wonder how many people understand that répondez s'il vous plaît (RSVP) means "please respond".  What if we hadn't planned for them and had to turn them away? No big deal, it turned out fine.

Connor also invited his Dad.  That was interesting.  I didn't really mind him being there.  It was Connor's birthday after all, and he can invite anyone he wants.  I say it was interesting, because his Dad sort of monopolized on it.  Leslie and I watched as his Dad took him on the go-carts, etc rather than us.  Again, I don't really have a problem with it as long as Connor had fun.  It would have been nice if he'd shown a little respect for who paid for and organized the party and asked us, or at least Lesie, if she'd like to take him on a ride, etc.  Again, I don't really have a problem as long as Connor had fun.  Just interesting learning more about people's character.

On another note, Dustin is living with his Mom in Conroe.  She's currently living with her parents.  I'm not sure how long this will last, but I expect Dustin back in a month.  We'd like to send him to Pincove Christian Camp in July, but we will have to see how that plays out.  I'm still waiting on his report card for the 8th grade, but he swears he made all A's and B's.  Based on his word, I bought him a cell phone for passing and making good grades. 

Hilary wants to be your new president.  And if you can't tell what is wrong with this picture, then you should definately vote for her.

Actually, the truth is, if you can't tell what is wrong with this picture then you shouldn't be voting at all!

I'm not going to go into a Hilary Clinton rant here, but I do have to say "This is pretty funny - and deserving."  Now for all you GWB (that's George W. Bush for those who can't tell what's wrong with this picture), I am not too happy with him right now either.  But, you have to pick the lesser of the evils. ;)  All for now.