When selecting a notebook I thought one advantage that going with a Sony Vaio might have over another brand would be that my Sony Mini DV Digital Camcorder would work hand-in-hand without any glitches (you know, since both being Sony products, and that Sony markets the two products together on their website). I like the Sony Vaio overall, but the fact that it was a Sony did play some part in my decision.

So last night I went to Fry's Electronics and bought myself a Firewire cable. I was bummed to find that they had an extremely poor selection (read: only one cable to choose from, and it was a non-brand cable). But I got the cable and went home all stoked to import some Guttermouth footage to the notebook, and then to the website.

Step 1) Fire up the notebook
Step 2) Plug firewire cable into notebook
Step 3) Plug firewire cable into camcorder
Step 4) Power on the camcorder
Step 5) Run movie editing software
Step 6) Hit "Capture" button
Step 7) Watch "No Input" error message on the screen

How can this be! So I broke the code of the geek and opened up the camcorder manual, read the directions, try the exact method recommended, and it still didn't work! So then I went to the web and via google.com did a search and came up with DV editing page and read how some people have had cheap firewire cable fry their firewire ports on their camcorders!

OH NO!!! I thought. How suck would it be to have to send my camcorder or new notebook or even worse both of them to Sony for repairs. Especially the camcorder cos our 4 month old boy is doing so much lately and we've been using it a lot.

So I send Tyler an e-mail explaining the situation. Ty has the same camcorder as I (Sony TRV-900), and has a nice setup with a Mac that he uses only for his DV editing. So I schedule to go to his place tonight and test all my gear.

At first, my camcorder didn't work with his Mac. So we thought the firewire port was toast. He plugged his in, and it worked. Thus even more convincing me that my port was toast. Then we plugged his camcorder up to his Dell notebook, and it worked. Then we plugged mine up to the Notebook, and it worked! relief Then we plugged mine back to his G4, and it worked! weird

So then using his firewire cable (Belkin I think), I hook my notebook and camcorder together. BAM it works! So it turns out that I had just boughten a bunk cable, and nothing was ruined on my equipment. I still can't explain why my camcorder didn't work immediately with Ty's Mac the first time we plugged it in.

Two lessons learned tonight. 1) Non-name brand cables can jack with your high-end hardware, don't gamble. 2) Sony on Sony isn't necessarily better than Sony with Dell or Apple hardware.

Out.

That's right folks... I am finally up and running my new Sony Vaio GR-300 Notebook. It's a little different to get used to. The keyboard of corse isn't a full size keyboard, so I am hitting the wrong key here and there but for the most part I think I am doing alright. And I should be up to par in no time.

My biggest gripe so far is that I randomly will hit the touch pad while typing and move my cursor to a different part of the page or form, and mess up what I am type. To my surprise, it has happened quite frequently tonight. I'm sure that's also something I will get used to soon enough.

So far I've gotten winamp and trillian installed, and watched a scene from my latest entry into my DVD collection, Office Space. Gonna install Counter Strike now and see how well it runs.

Fred Bernstein of New York City has put an excellent idea for a Twin Towers memorial on his website. I suggest checking out his web site to see his visuals and full description.

But the quick of it is to build two docks out over the water that each are the exact size (width and length, not depth) of the fallen tower they respectively represent. Visitors would walk down the length of the dock as if they were a pier on a beach, and as they passed each "floor" of the building, they would be able to hear and read descriptions of that businesses and individuals worked on that floor.

Excellent idea.

Again, I suggest reading his website for full details. URL: http://www.fredbernstein.com/. I hope this gets good media exporsure so it can be seen by the people in power who can turn this idea into reality. [via blogdex]

I think I might try the ABPUNCHER© to firm and tighten my stomach. [via stinkfactor.com]

I have this web site for a few reasons, one of which is to keep a record of my life so I can come back later and have an account of my life to review. This past Monday I had an acquaintance pass away. Originally I didn't want to write about it. For one, I wasn't super close to this person and I didn't want to create any false image of having a stronger friendship than really existed. Second, I felt writing about him would only demean the actual friendships that my good friends did have with Pete.

To my surprise, I have been having a hard time not thinking about Pete. The thoughts come to me at random times and I get down. Pete was a fun loving guy. His background, as far as I know (sorry if I am incorrect), is Polynesian. As to my experience in life, Polynesians are one of the highest classes of people you can know. Sorry to racial stereotype here, but that's my experience. They are friendly and fun going people.

Pete carried all these traits. From the first time I met him he was chummy with me. I would look forward going over to my friend Tyler's pad because Pete (who lived next door) would always make an appearance (kinda like Kraemer, but Pete would bring food rather than mooch food). It's sad that he's gone. It happened outta no where. Pete was considerably young (40) and appeared to have many years left in him. When James came in Monday after getting the call and announced Pete's death it took me a few seconds to rundown in my head who he was talking about because Pete, in my mind, wasn't close at all to being eligible for death.

The reality is that we are all not far from death nor out of the lottery of having a tragic incident happen to us or one we love, such as Pete. The hope is that with the time we do have, we use it to love one another, and experience joy in the life we have.

I'm glad I got this out, I hope one day after I have forgotten Pete that I really do get the chance to look at this entry and remember Pete once again. My love goes out to Pete, his family, close friends, and especially his wife.

The Wgirls gallery is now back on-line. I couln't get to it when it first came out because the creator, Steve, had to take it off-line when the traffic got too high for his hosting service. [via blogdex]

Even more immpressive than Steve's Photoshop skills is the GIF2TXT v2.0 script he has posted on his web site. It will convert any .GIF image file to ASCII or HTML colored text art. Very impressive and quick. I helped mike in the creation process of creating an HTML version of Bruce Lee. I couldn't find the whole version, but mike broke Mr. Lee up and used a portion of him in his 5k contest entry King of Fu.

I just read that Futurama is slated to be deleted!!! This is horrible. Along with others I feel that Futurama never got the love it should have from FOX, and now its getting the can. Every week I play the same 'Is tonight a new episode' game, FOX seems to air more repeats or other shows in it's place than anything else.

GotFuturama.com is a web site dedicated to promoting keeping the show alive, and if you really want to support the show you can always sign this petition. I always doubt that petitions do any good, but I want to see Futurama stay alive if at all possible, so I signed. [via blogdex]

I haven't even began to explore the realm of cases for notebooks, but I thought I'd throw out the question and see if people have any advice. I want to be able to at least carry the following:

Sony Vaio Notebook
Headphones
Mouse
Power Strip
8-Port Hub
Network Cables
Issue of WIRED
CD Carrying Case

That doesn't seem like an unreasonable amount of stuff, so this shouldn't be much of a challenge. When I hooked up with some friends last Saturday for a LAN session of Counter Strike, Mr. Tyler pulled out the following from his notebook case: Dell Notebook, 3 sets of headphones, 3 power strips, 2 mice, a keyboard, 10+ network cables, 2 4-port hubs, and possibly more stuff I didn't see.

Seeing Ty and his setup made me realize that I definitely want to have a mobile network with me. I want to be able to take my case over to a friend's place and be able to have all the stuff to game. All he needs is a computer with a network card. And heck, he can have a few friends there and I can hook them up too.

Some may say "well, why don't you get the case Tyler had?" My response would be, "Well, Tyler was using a canvas sack to carry his gear it, not a real notebook case with synthetic leather like I want." Others may bring up concern about the weight of always carrying the so-called "mobile network" around. I'll see how it feels, if I don't like all the extra weight, I'll carry the minimal items for normal days, and only pack a full truck when I know gaming is ahead.

Out...

So yesterday I turned 23. I had the day off work (which meant I was on vacation from work for eight working days, then worked one day, then had my birthday off, and returned to work today).

My wife didn't know I had the day off so I surprised her by letting her sleep in, and then freak-out when she woke up and found me playing video games and not at work. She thought I was just being retarded and extremely late to work.

So once she was awake I played even more video games, took my son to the doctors (reg. check-up, doing great), ate lunch at King's Pizza in Huntington Beach across from Marina High. Normally their sub sandwiches are excellent but today the bread was awful... too bad too cos I wanted something really good for lunch on this day. Next was Costco where we picked up the photos from our recent trip and I got one of their tasty Berry Smoothies for only $1.35. Then it was Target for some minor shopping.

Next was Counter Strike. Now, circa one year ago... Every other Saturday or so I would get together with anywhere from 8 to 20 guys and hook up a huge LAN party and play Counter Strike from 1 PM till 12 midnight. We would make a day of it, order 6 pizzas the whole shimbaam. It was great. Well, as with all great things the time came where hosting the party was too much and it all came too an end. I tried to keep playing myself but it's hard with life to always find the time, plus the server started telling my that my CD key was in-valid (which it was).

Back to the now... I recently purchased my own copy of CS so I could install it on my new laptop (still hasn't arrived yet, getting quite upset with Sony). So I busted our the CD key and used it with my old install and had myself a good 90 minute on-line session. It was quite fun. Infact, when I just got on the computer now my goal was to play CS but I decided it's late and it would be better for me to get this needed entry in and then hit the sack, get to work earlier, get off earlier, and play some CS tomorrow night instead.

After Counter Strike I went and got my eyes examined because I want to start wearing contacts. The doc determined that my eyes have gotten even worse and I should even get new glasses.

There is this place nearby in Irvine called Palace Park. Every Tuesday and Thursday they off a deal for $10 you get unlimited Arcade Games and Mini-Golf (btw, check out this rad Flash Mini-Golf Game [via FORGOT, CREDIT COMING SOON]), and for $5 you can add unlimited Laser Tag, Go-Kart, and Rock Wall Climbing to the deal... Since my birthday landed on a Tuesday I decided this would be a fun thing to do, and invited friends to do as well. And it was a blast. The place is open from 11 AM to 10 PM, I didn't get there until about 5:30 AM, I wish I got there earlier to have gotten to play more games, cos I barely touched all the games they got in their arcade. The best thing about the pass is the fact that video games no longer cost a quarter to play, they are $1 and up!!! So getting this pass gives you the chance to play all the really expensive games without worrying about the cost.

Many joined me there and we dinned with the best pizza around, Papa John's. Thanks to everyone for pitching in and getting me Roller Coaster Tycoon and for the many gift cards.

After the place closed we went home and then James came over and we played Madden 2002 on Gamecube. I recently bought Madden with the cash I earned from the Horseradish Challenge but this was the first time I really got to sit down and play the game. Me like it.

Check out this flash amination. Done really well. They probably used software to do the bulk of the work taking captured video and converting it to vector objects. But they must of done a lot of cleaning-up I'd guess. boobytrap.org [via antiplug.com]

But finally Stinkfactor.com is up and running and you can view the Horseradish Challenge Part I and Part II for yourself. I took the challenge about a month and a half ago and I have been wanting to talk about it ever since.

I've been gone on vacation for the last week and a half and I was surprised when I got back to see the site up and running. I am bummed I missed the saltine challenge... hopefully the gang will give me a shot when I am back in the office on Monday.

I'll be writting up a report on my vacation within the next day or so. The short is 2 wonderful nights in Las Vegas and a week in Utah for snowboarding.