I hate my friends and Google told me so.

In web development there is a set of elements of a site that are repeated on a per-site basis. It need not be this way and it hampers way users interact with their friends, it slows the web down, and it increases security risks. I've seen a very small amount of attempts to rectify this situation and none of them really promised any hope until I reinstalled the Google toolbar and saw what it had to offer (that for some reason wasn't available just by keeping the plug-in up to date).

Google has built in a "send to a friend" (STAF) element which can be used to replace that functionality - or add it to where it never was - on any website. This is a marvelous step forward in the operation of the web, even if Google merely thought it a convenience (although I have no way of knowing what caused them to add it). Although I find some - extremely minor - inconvenience in the functionality of Google's STAF tool, I will never again use a site's custom-built version.  The inconvenience is that it sometimes seems to take a while to pop up the new window it uses - but that might be my own fault for having too many extensions installed.  The advantages are numerous:

First, you no longer have to hate your friends by risking their personal information; there is now only one company you have to trust with your information.  Who knows what a company is really doing with the addresses you supply them with?  An old friend of mine recently dumped her years-old address due to spam, and instructed everyone to NEVER even enter her new address in any web form, whatsoever, for this very reason.  In defense of the individual websites, yes, their usage license should prevent them from sharing, let alone saving, your addresses.  But that is a "should" and not all websites even HAVE a usage license.  You can be guaranteed that the website is going to use the analytics gathered from their STAF usage to determine the popularity of their site (ROI), but as a user - is this something you even need to concern yourself with?  From the site's perspective, is it really something that should even be used as a measuring tool?  Even the best results that could be aquired from it will still only be a portion of the statistical picture, because there ARE people who will refuse to use the site-based STAF.  It's really nice for the site owner to see their stats, but word-of-mouth should be left as word-of-mouth.

Then, as you are already using your email tool, that is Gmail, as the delivery method, you also have the convenience of having all your contacts' addresses on hand, and you may send the message to as many people as you'd like, and in whatever fashion you'd like.  Typically site-based STAF tools send things in a blind carbon-copy fashion, which is probably most preferable, but what if you want to send them in mass CC style? I prefer to have the option.  You also never know whether the site's tool will be able to handle sending to more than one friend at a time, which is also an annoyance you shouldn't have to put up with.

 

Some sites will force you through the laborious process of signing up with their system in order to use any of their tools.  This is a far less common occurance for STAF tools, but it has happened and it should never.

The page you send is, for the most part, actually included in the email you send.  It doesn't seem to include Flash files, so any YouTube videos or Homestar Runner episodes that you might try to send won't actually appear in the user's inbox, but that is proper and to be expected.  Your friends' email readers won't show those things, anyway.  Sending the content in your actual email serves three good purposes:  It does not force your friend to potentially register for whatever site you may be sending them to - as many online newspapers have thought it justified to do.  Directly related to that, the content that you're sending to your friend won't have the chance to "expire" - an annoying practice that other (usually newspaper-based) sites have taken up.  Finally, the sent mail is recorded for your own purposes in your Sent folder, so if you ever need to look up what you sent to someone, it's right there.

Removing the STAF element from a website gives the agencies one less thing to clutter up the site with and keeps costs down, as neither designers are needed to create graphics, nor developers needed to program them.  (Modern API's do streamline the coding production of these, but you can't balance the amount of hours used for creating a custom STAF with the zero hours for using a browser-integrated STAF)

Google isn't the only one to attempt to free the user from the site-based STAF tools; I have tried (and enjoyed) the Cooliris extension.  Cooliris does more than just replace the send-to-friend, such as in-page quick previews of links and context-menu relational searching, but it's STAF element pales in comparison to using Gmail as a delivery method.  Investigate if you'd like, and if you have other STAF alternatives, I'd love to hear from you.

 

Read more...

Family: My daughter talks a lot

It's really awesome.  She holds entirely huge conversations with us now, and only at 2.5 years old.  It's surprising the complexity of words that she already uses, and how she seems to easily switch back and forth between Russian and English.  As you can tell, my pride level is turned up high with her.  What's really cute is when she doesn't know something exactly, she responds, in Russian, "I dunno.  thpp," finishing off with a cute little raspberry.  It makes me want to laugh every time, but I can't because she says it with all seriousness.

Last night once I got home, she insisted that I take my shoes and socks off and hop in her "bathtub," which is really just her toybox, so that she could wash my feet, hands, and hair.   Washing, this time, consisted of rubbing a plastic refrigerator magnet on my feet/hands/head as soap, and then pouring imaginary water from a woven basket on me.  Hilarious.  Of course, then it was her turn and I had to give her the bath.  Where does she come up with these things?  I'm not sure, but she DOES seem to have a fixation with the imaginary bath probably because she seems to have such a fear of actually getting her hair washed.  Perhaps by cleaning herself via imagination, she figures she can put off the real thing that much longer!

Later, we read some books together and she really ate them right up.

Read more...

eBooks Online

While naturally people love free eBooks the best, we should realize that harpers need to be paid for their tales, or there won't be very many tales told.  EBooks are better than print books for a large number of reasons; If you feel you need a hardcopy of the book you're reading, it's probably because that feeling has been learned by a lifetime of reading in such a method.  However, for now I'm just going to dump the why's and what's of the eBook (since DownloadSquad has already done that) and just list the resources, so I don't forget them later:

Compiled by FriedBeef:

• Project Gutenberg: 20,000 Public Domain books
• BookMooch: Exchange Used Books
• eBookSpyder: Technical Books
• Google Book Search: Read Classics Online
• Dwalin: English and Russian Modern, Plain Text Novels
• FreeComputerBooks: Specialized IT Books
• LibriVox: Have someone read to you
• CliffsNotes: Book Summaries
• WikiBooks: Free, Open-Content Textbook wiki
• DailyLit: Receive book portions by email

...ah, forget it... now I see that FriedBeef has compiled the user comments into a Comprehensive eBook List. :P

Read more...

Work: Impressed with new client

I'm rather tired as I write this, but I want to just log that I really appreciate the chance to learn more in detail about our new client.  I think it's safe to drop names; the client is Nestle.   Now, while I'm always going to be one who by default will prefer the other choice than the major corporate entity, I have to admit that after our training today, I think Nestle is extremely concerned, adamant even, about the privacy and desires of its consumers.  We had a CRM training class today that outlined their standard data collection procedures this morning and the our presenter was filled with a figurative fire about the lengths they would go to obey the privacy wishes of their consumers.  Corporate they may be, but it is still good to see the human element retained within the company.

Read more...

Religion: commitment first

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

It's easy to read this and not understand why some prayers seem to go unanswered, but if you think along those lines, then you are not considering related verses such as:

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (John 15:7-8)

Evidence such as this proves that some prayers shouldn't be said; some prayers are the fruit of our human desires and unjust longings. Our God says that you will receive when you ask - but only when He is within you. If His words are in you, are first and foremost amongst your thoughts, then the types of prayers that will come out of you are also going to be of His words. We must fill ourselves with His holy spirit as we attend to the Bible in regular, daily study.

God wants to see you filled with the honest desire to reach for Him. Leading into study with prayer, exiting from it in like manner, letting each footstep taken be towards Him. Pray as David did in the Psalms, "Open my eyes so that I may see wonderful things in Your law." Try to consider the Word of God as literally MORE IMPORTANT than daily food. It's THAT important. (On a side note, I found it quite interesting once to try a single-day fast of only water just for the sake of observing what an effect it would have, and I found myself thinking quite a number of times how much more I appreciated God's watchful eye over me, providing for me whenever I need it.) Like Job, our natural desire for God's word should be more than for physical food, "I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread." (Job 23:12)

I'm going to try something over the course of this next week, and I propose you each find some way of doing a similar test - that is, if you are not already incorporating the Bible into your daily life. I've found that I really enjoy taking the bus into work for the half-hour or so of "me time" it provides. However, that time is often translated into playing a video game on the PSP or watching a movie on my cell phone. Sure, it's a lot of fun - I love video games - but in the end it's not the games or movies that matter, is it? I pledge to use this time next week to study the Bible, and to take note of how each day seems to unfold. I expect things will probably feel more fulfilling, and it will feel like there's more time in each day.

Read more...

So, should it still be called "Smoking"?

Smoking 2.0: Smoke Free, Tar Free, Battery Powered = Healthy? - Medgadget - www.medgadget.com

An interesting new alternative to the standard, tar-your-lungs smoke stick (cigarette), the NicStic vaporizes nicotine instead of burning it. The user still has a little stick in their hand, and it does produce a new odor apparently unpleasant even to smokers, but on the other hand there is no smoke. So, theoretically it's acceptable for use indoors.

My thoughts: I'm not so sure it would go over well with non-smokers who would have to share space with a user of the NicStic, so this too would probably be shunned to the outdoor realm - but considering that there is indeed no smoke to fill one's lungs, I'd respect a user of these quite a bit more than a regular smoker. At least they're not killing themselves - and others - with their habit.

Read more...

Corporate/Capitalism: The Soy Controversy and more

Someone recently asked me whether I liked a popular, brand-name soymilk. I don't drink Soymilk anymore because of the controversy that soy causes. Yeah, I know soy is still in a lot of foods, especially those little protein bars (the ones that taste like candy bars and claim to be good for you), but that's beside the point. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy#Soy_controversy

In addition, the company that makes the soymillk in question this morning takes soy and adds sugar, plus artificial flavors. It also adds sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate for preservatives. IF they're going to add a preservative, they should NOT use the benzoates (either sodium- or potassium- ); these can combine with Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) to form benzene -- a known carcinogen. (Potassium Sorbate is safe) So, they are essentially making something quasi-healthy into something definitely-not healthy. I can't get myself excited over that.

Having a little fun, I did a quick search on some of the other ingredients in this particular brand of soymilk. It's important to consider however that these ingredients are not common to only soymilk, but many, many manufactured foods available today. ALSO please note that this is the result of a quick websearch and may or may not be documented properly.

• Potassium Citrate can have the effects on you that can stop your body from working and stop your blood flow and circulation. Do not have it if you are pregnant, or sick.
• Dipotassium Phosphate - the purpose of this in food is to prevent protein coagulation and also to prevent its precipitation. However, this active ingredient is commonly sprayed on leaves as a fertilizer, and seems also to help control certain fungal diseases on ornamental plants. It's also added to antifreeze solutions as a buffer, liquid detergents as a dispersion medium, and what-the-heck, added to paper, um, just because?. It's generally okay to consume, but ... why would you want to?
  
• Sodium Polyphosphate - An emulsifier. Harmful if swallowed or inhaled, and in contact with the skin. Why do they even have to add emulsifiers? Can't people stir their drinks anymore?

In conclusion, the safest way of choosing what to eat would be to just not eat processed foods at all. You can't even trust the organic brands to be good for you, considering that the Big Corporate Food companies have been buying up the small, organic companies and making those brands their own -- without telling anyone. But that's another story.

Read more...

Family: Close call, only bruised

We had a close call last night with Leia.  While having dinner at a friend's house, as it was our friend's birthday and she likes to cook for people (she likes it too much, to the point of feeding you when you're not hungry.), our little girl was crawling under the table just as our host was sitting down.  I guess her chair tipped back enough for Leia's hand to slip under and she came down on Leia's wrist. 

It was a little weird; she didn't cry for a good while, so I wasn't sure anything had really happened, although I certainly felt it had.  It really didn't look good, and she wouldn't let us get any cold compress on it, what with the way she whipped it about.  Eventually, I took her to the bathroom to run some cold water over it, hoping obviously to keep the swelling down.   We still didn't know at this point whether anything had been broken, really, but it was starting to be obvious by the way she moved it all around that it was fine.

A few minutes later, she was again playing in the living room, and if anyone asked her how her owie was, she replied, "Nope.  We washed the owie away!"

Read more...

Politics / Religion: Raising children, not Bratz

As noted on this Shoutwire article, the Bratz dolls are unfortunately popular with many a young girl. I vaguely remember first seeing these dolls in the toy section of either Wal-mart or Target, thinking to myself that I'd just seen yet another product with a flash-in-the-pan shelf life. I truly wish I'd been right, but I suppose the cutesy, big-eyed, cartoon look of the dolls coupled with the risque and revealing attire simply calls out the typical Western consumer nowadays.

It all echoes back to the Biblical admonition, "raise up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old, he will not depart from it." What do you want your children, in this case your daughters, to be when they are adults? Are you raising her to be a God-fearing, respectable woman, or for lack of any nicer way of saying it, a slut?

This topic crosses over into the realm of politics since essentially the makers of the Bratz dolls are cultivating an environment that is appealing to pedophiles, considering that not only do they dress these toys up with sex appeal, but they sell the identical clothing and accessories to real, live girls. There are laws against this kind if thing, I believe, and it amazes me that somehow MGA slips entirely past them all.

Read more...

Family: Dos Svidania

We've had a crowded house here for a while, now, although crowded doesn't really describe it very well because this house is, thankfully, a pretty spacious one.  Today, however, my wife's mother and grandmother are heading home, flying back to Ukraine.  I have mixed feelings about it.  First and foremost, and I suspect understandably, I look forward to it.  My patience and ability to withstand a situation such as living with one's relatives, be they in-laws or not, is -- and perhaps I say it with an air of conceitedness -- a bit stronger than most.  But I'm a pretty laid-back type of personality; not much bothers me as Psalm 5:22 helps me get to sleep at night.  But getting back to the original point, it will be nice to have the house alone to our family, for once.  It hasn't been just us since just before our daughter was born, so yeah - I look forward to it.

On the other hand, however, I don't envy them the trip they have to take nor the time they'll spend again in Ukraine.  While certainly a worthwhile country to visit once or twice, it is - in my opinion - certainly not a comfortable place to make a home in.  But I won't turn this into a rant against living conditions in Ukraine.  It's just difficult to live there, and they'll be apart from (pretty much) their only family in the world.  I wish there were viable alternatives.  Ideally, I wish they could stay in America, yet in their own apartment that's not too close, but not too far. 

Read more...

Family: Just a couple of vacation pix

We were at Disneyland a couple of months ago, and here's a few of the best photos. Since I'm on the subject, I'll mention a nerdy anecdote about Disney photos: They've gone digital with their Disney PhotoPass, which I totally support. The way it works is this: In prime photo spots, you'll find an official photographer who'll hand your your PhotoPass (if you don't already have one), and snap your family's picture. All the photos get stored on an account which you can access online from home, later, or at certain kiosks in the parks.

Naturally, they want you to buy their prints which are fairly expensive, but with the online service, you get to see the photo at a size that's worthy of sharing online with friends and family. If you're technically proficient enough, you can also figure out how to get print-worthy photos from their online service! I was able to do this, although it's VERY cumbersome -- they've programmed their graphics service pretty well to make it so. All it takes is some manipulating the querystring to change the zoom level, and a little Photoshop work; I had to take nine zoomed-in pictures at 320 x 240 and patch them together to get what I achieved.

Read more...

Series Watch: Heroes, now with even more flavor!

So I caught up with Monday's issue last night.  I'd like to lead in by saying how much I really appreciate the way that KARE11 has implemented online episodes for Heroes.  I don't know if they have any other series that they're doing this for, but this is exactly the right format for rebroadcasting episodes online.  At first, it was a little laggy in fullscreen mode, but apparently they've fixed it.  Now, you can see the full episode in nice quality fullscreen with just a minimum of commercials.  The commercials are very tolerable.  In fact, regular shows should be shown with these kinds of ads.  (If you're unaware, it shows an ad for one company where normally it would show two minutes or more of random-ish ads)

Anyway, back to the show.  While last week was amazingly good, this week was even better.  I turned the screen off while thinking how fantastic the writing was for this time; this kind of feels like when one of your favorite books is made into a movie and they've kept it true to the storyline.  That's the kind of good that I'm talking about.

It's very easy to compare it to Lost right now, since when Lost first started, it seemed like an amazing roller coaster ride of plot twists and mysteries. But it also compares to the current episodes of Lost in that whereas Lost seems unable to reveal answers to the audience, Heroes dishes them out in extremely filling and tasty portions while giving you new mysteries as dessert. 

Some of the cool, new noticeables were: 

The symbol that the Haitian wears as a necklace is the same as the tattoo which psycho-mom's alter ego has on her shoulder.  It's been easy up until now to just write Jessica off as essentially a really lame superpower that was coincidentally not unlike schizophrenia, especially considering that she's attacking good and bad with no difference between the two.  I've held the Haitian in a good light up until now, but what's this strange connection?

Hiro's dad seems to be in charge of this evil corporation; something I wasn't quite expecting once he and his daughter left back to Japan.  It just shows that Hiro is more tied into this all than he thinks, and it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Where does Linderman fit into all this?  This character has been very central to many of the plots going on, yet why haven't we actually seen him?  Does he work with this corporation somehow??

All these questions and more next week -- same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!

Read more...

Family: Things our daughter says...

When she's upset with us, specifically not wanting to do something, she says, "Ya ne budu druzhit."  It's so cute that it's hard to argue with her; it means, "I'm not going to be friends (with you)."  I'm not exactly sure where she picked up on this little phrase, but I absolutely love it.  It's probably from this little Russian doll that they brought back from Ukraine on the last trip.  What is its name... Niki?  I think that's what she calls it.  Anyway, it says phrases like "Ya tvaya padrushka" ("I am your friend") and "Davay padruzhit" ("Let's be friends") - so our daughter is probably applying a little learning logic.  Anyway, it's worth remembering.

Read more...

Stuff I use: (Might use...) Zpeech

Proving that no idea is unique, I stumbled across a site the concept of which I had thought up myself, a couple of months ago.  Zpeech aims to provide any website with a message board of their own.  I really like this concept because there have been numerous times when I've stumbled onto a company's product website that LACKS any real support by the company itself.  In cases like this, it would be especially nice to have message boards by default for which end-users can discuss (or complain about) a company's products, to the point of suggesting solutions to peoples' problems when the company itself can't seem to bother. However, Zpeech, in my opinion, isn't ready for prime time, because it's little more than a cross-platform, website-based chat engine.  Because of that, you can't categorize the site's discussion, so there go the hopes of talking about a specific aspect of the site in question.

Stepping back and going reflecting a little on the internet itself, it seems to me that there needs to be yet another overhaul in the way that people communicate with one another.  Perhaps a massive message board/forum could be built into the browser itself, thus unifying how and where people discuss things.  Perhaps not; it's quite a far-fetched idea, I suppose.  But as it stands, many people have blogs or accounts on "social network Z" or whatnot, but there is no way to harmonize the discussions and topics that are written and re-written hundreds of times across the lot of them.  Something should be done, but I'm not sure what. :)

Read more...

Family: We are what our parents were, what our children will become

Have we become what our parents planned for us to be? Most likely, we haven't! When does anything ever truly go according to plan -- we are, after all, only human. But how alike have we become our parents? I was staring - well, glancing - into the mirror today as I walked past and thought to myself how amazingly I looked just like my grandfather on my father's side. I mean, lose a little more hair and gain twenty or thirty pounds, put a scowl on my face, and I'm him.

It's not really fair to imply, however, that he was a grumpy, old man; he wasn't - there were definitely moments of happiness with him, and it warms me to recall the times when I saw his smile. Those were the times when you could feel his pride in his family. The scowl I mention is more of a reflection on AN attitude in his life that is simply easily remembered from the times that it happened. His temper was, admittedly, pretty short. I can feel it in myself sometimes, the urge to blow a gasket about whatever annoys me in the tiniest bit and just sulk. Or maybe that's just another aspect of being human. But I can try. I can choose to be good-natured because that's how I want to be remembered. That's how I want my children to grow up to be.

I look around and see the ways other parents raise their children; the foul language they drop so casually in front of their young ones to pick up -- which they do, as if it were shiny, gold coins, they pounce on such exciting words... the poor habits, the less-desirable friends... all of it is an open book to our children, of what they will become once they are our age. If you ask around, people everywhere want things to get better; they want children to respect their elders... they want people to hold positive attitudes.... they want all of this, but they don't stay the path themselves.

It starts with you, and it starts with me. Be who you want your children to be.

Read more...

Series watch: Heroes, what you've been wanting.

This week's release was spot on, and here comes my thoughts, spoilers included. While yes, we saw the inevitable loss of life due to, and gain in power by, Skyler, and unfortunately Simone leaves the show... what didn't this episode have? Perhaps... perhaps it could have been better had Hiro and Ando been on-track for their storyline in the previous episode, but that's a minor compromise, considering that Hiro dumped Ando and is back on track, himself. He's finally wising up, and perhaps he'll soon realize he doesn't need a sidekick/partner, sword, or anything else to kick butt and take names. Get going, Hiro! Follow Peter's lead! On a side note, about this distraction storyline, I have no clue how Gustafson (the agent from whom Ando stole the bag) found AND knew that Hiro was in on the deal, but I'm willing to let that go because he's gone.

It looks like the tables have turned, finally, on all fronts with HRG, Claire's dad -- and it's about time. He and the Haitian are bested by Peter (woo hoo!) as he totally takes control of his powers... (Speaking of Peter, his role this week was probably the most satisfying, especially because we are given proof that Peter can now duplicate the powers that Skylar has stolen. That was something I was musing over the moment those two ran into each other.) Claire confronts him with the truth... AND he's cornered by this new "team" led by the introduction of Hana, the hacker-type hero.

Sweet stuff.

Read more...

Gaming Exercise: Move over, Wii

The headline of this article is a bit misleading; the Wii - for whenever I might find one on the shelf for purchasing, as that hunt continues - is far more realistic in the realm of purchasing.  However, I can see the awesome health benefit and would love to have a Virtusphere.  Imagine a human-sized hamster ball propped up on a stand that allows it to roll in any direction without moving, and you've just imagined the Virtusphere. 

 

However, their website says absolutely nothing about purchasing one online or through any kind of store (at least from initial glance, that's what I got), so it's probably one of those "If you have to ask, you can't afford it" kind of prices.

 

As much as a holodeck would be really, really cool; this is probably going to be the closest thing to it that we'll get in this lifetime.

Read more...

Family: Meals are planned by the parents, not the children

That's part of the basis for this blog entry I read, which goes into great detail although it uses some family-unfriendly language once in a while in order to do so.  I decided I'm not actually going to link to it because the emo-whiny attitude of the 30s-yr-old author is too negatively apparent in it.  But there are some good points nonetheless; in a nutshell she decries the do-everything-to-please-the-child methods of many modern parents.  I exhibit similar tendencies, sometimes, when I don't feel in the mood to put up with the tantrum, but fortunately for our family, we eat in a quite healthy fashion most of the time by default.  We do not even buy the sugary, pasty kiddie treats that make babies grow into picky, whiny adults.

That is where the problem is more easily solved; just don't purchase the offending foods in the first place; it's easier to not give the sugared cereal to your son or daughter when you have no choice in the matter.

Read more...

Stuff I use: Yoono

Along the lines of my recent synchronization chat, I have finally settled on using Yoono for my bookmark managing.  I do realize that Google bookmarks has something like (or perhaps exactly like) this, now, but I'm used to Yoono and it does everything automatically, or nearly so that I hardly notice the difference.

Yoono synchronizes your bookmarks to their server online.  Then, from any computer you work with, you can auto-synch your bookmarks (or Favorites, if you're working in IE).  It's almost entirely seemless; only once in a while do I find a popup from Yoono saying that I need to choose whether to merge or replace bookmarks.  Additionally, it comes with a StumbleUpon-like toolbar that will suggest a website that you don't currently have in your list, when you ask it to do so and tell it which site you want to find similar ones for.  I've used that a few times and found some fantastic resources out there.

Finally, it also lets you share your bookmarks rather easily; you can just give your bookmark URL on the Yoono homepage to someone else and they can browse around to their hearts desire.  If there are any bookmarks you want to keep private, you just mark those as non-synchronized and they will not be shared.  There's perhaps a lack of privacy in the sharing, sure, but I don't travel to sites I wouldn't want to share, anyway.

Read more...

Series watch: Lost, on Fate

Last night's episode, more than anything, says to me that the mystery behind the show is about manipulating fate.  We know that the Island experiments were set up in an attempt to change the numbers in hopes of saving the world.  Considering Desmond's supposed-yet-probable trip back in time, combined with the less-than-coincidental bus accident shown in Juliet's past, we can see that people ARE able to manipulate fate to some degree. 

Desmond left us while showing his current belief that fate cannot be changed; he thinks that no matter what he does, somehow Charlie is destined to die.  But let's think about this; the show has revealed that some know that the world is destined to be destroyed, right?  How is this show going to end?  Sure, it might end with everything being destroyed, but chances are that things will work out to be mostly happily ever after, otherwise you're going to wind up with huge masses of angry fans.  So, if the world can be saved, then Charlie can be saved.

Other than the polar bear painting in Penny's father's office, I think that about sums up the episode.  Not a whole lot revealed other than that yes, they can change things and make them right.

Read more...

Family: Bedtime

In our family we don't have an awesomely rigid schedule for the daughter's bedtime.  All the experts, books, friends, and family say you should, but somehow we haven't really ever caught onto it.  However, we're coming around.  We have to put up with the fussing and fighting now, of course, but it's happening. I feel a little like one of the families from SuperNanny (although definitely not as dramatic/bad as shown there).  Having to continually put her back in bed because she believes she needs us by her side.  In the end she breaks down and will settle for pretty much any kind of compromise.  We're sitting just at the doorway now as she nods off, and will keep moving outward until she's grown past the need.

Read more...

Series Watch: Heroes

While last week's offerings were really delicious, I left the Heroes table this week with some bad aftertaste.  "Run!" might have better been labeled, "Run through the plot holes!" as I felt there were some inconsistencies in the storyline.  First off, psycho-mom is just a lost cause.  I'm guessing that the writers perhaps wanted the viewers to feel some kind of empathy for one of the badguy characters, because that's all she's really turning out to be.  I'm personally still struggling to really figure out exactly what her power is.  They keep modifying its abilities as the show progresses.  Now, apparently, both sides of her personality can be physically present at one time, with no rationalization, as evidenced when Niki and Jessica were talking to each other in the stairwell.  Strange.

But worse than that, Jessica's motivations have now shifted 180 degrees with no justification at all.  Whereas originally she was doing whatever she could to protect her son, now she's just doing whatever she can... just because.  Looking between the lines, I suppose there was some way that Jessica could have somehow made a deal with Linderman to get her (Niki) out of jail, but frankly they should show that happening.  To not show it makes Jessica seem inconsistent.

And how could she possibly have tracked Matt and Linderman's ex-employee after having left the elevator? There is no way she could have known where they went; for all she knew, they were still inspecting the diamonds.  Weak.

I always enjoy seeing Missi Pyle in action, the role she played in Hiro and Ando's distraction seemed downright stupid.  Her plan of action to get this bag from the government agent is to sit and wait, crying, for someone to come along and help her ?  Again - weak.  And Ando's arguments of how his ideas are always deemed stupid while Hiro's aren't -- hold on, Hiro was trying to save Charlie's life .  How does that compare to stealing a bag?  Hiro should have dumped Ando the first time through Vegas.

And finally... that Sylar showed up in Manhattan at this next victim's house, after having been off in Texas trying to hunt down Claire... it seems ALSO weak.  Why would he give up trying to get Claire when she's right there?  MAYbe he felt threatened by the Kenyan guy, but wouldn't he just feel he'd found another target, instead?  Sylar doesn't seem to be the kind that feels any doubt in his abilities.

Overall, I felt this week's episode only hobbled along.

Read more...

Hunt the Wiimpus

So, this weekend began my hunt of the great white Wii... I woke up early this Sunday and stopped at Best Buy, before they were open, but found no one waiting and decided to return later.  I came back in about an hour and a half, went inside, but found absolutely no sign that anyone was even interested in a Wii (meaning no one was standing around waiting for one... no one had one in their cart, and so forth).  Naturally, none were on the shelf, either.  SO, I left and decided to check Circuit City.  Just as I pulled up, two guys walked out of the store with the last ones. 

SIGH.

No store can keep these things in stock!  (Though I saw a handful of PS3's, as can be expected...)

Read more...

Stuff I use: Orb

I installed Orb this weekend, after having bookmarked it about 10 months ago.  I don't know why I waited for so long!  It is awesome; it hooks into all of your media on your always-connected/always-on PC, and allows you to stream it to anywhere you want, including your data-connected phone!  This, to me, and if you have a data-connected cell phone, is an iPod-killer; why carry an expensive MP3 player with you when you can access ALL of your songs at all times?  (true, you wouldn't be able to use it in certain situations such as onboard an airplane, but still... the abilities of this are amazing.)

Read more...

The World of Synchronization

What kinds of things do you need to synchronize? For me, I would ultimately like to synchronize selected files between my desktop and work PC's. Then, I want to synch my daily information such as appointments, contacts, notes, and tasks between both of my PC's, plus Gcal + Gmail, and my PocketPC / PDA phone. Finally, I want to also synch other select files between my PDA and both of my PC's. I've almost got everything going properly, and here's how:

For computer-to-computer syncrhonization, I've currently got two tools in utilization, although technically I might only need one. The first one that I set up came along with my purchase of FTPVoyager: Scheduler. Essentially, it runs a specified FTP process at a requested time. This requires a little more knowledge than just installing the program; you'll need to set up your own FTP server somewhere (or have one hosted for you), and then you'll have to go through a little trial and error to make sure your synchronization settings are just right. But I keep this around because I like the one-way syncrhonzing that it offers. Say I download a file while I'm at work and want to be able to access it later from home. I've got an extensive "download" directory on my home server, for archiving everything I've ever been interested in. But I don't want to bother having the whole thing stored on my work PC as well. So, anything I save at work gets copied home automatically.

I have since been introduced to FolderShare, a free across-the-internet file sharing/syncrhonization tool that has recently been purchased by Microsoft. It has even more potential, and I really enjoy using it, as well. This provides you with automatic, two-way file synchronization of any directories or files you so choose. In addition, you can also create a shared folder to which you give other FolderShare users read and/or write access. I like this because of the side bonus of being able to create a communal, photo screensaver. Just point the default My Photos screensaver to one of your Foldershared directories, and viola! Now you and your parents can update each others' list of pictures that show on the screen while idle.

In the past few days, I've also noticed GigaTribe, which touts privacy/encryption for file sharing, but I don't see that it's so much of a synchronization tool. In the past I've tested FolderMatch, and Microsoft SyncToy, but they didn't measure up to what I needed - they were too manual in operation.

In trying to set up Outlook to Gmail synchronization, which I have not truly achieved yet, I attempted to test the "holy grail of synchronization" but found it to be far too bothersome both to set up AND to run, plus it requires a purchase I didn't want to make (because I didn't want to pay for such a cumbersome process.) So, I'm still on the lookout for a way to do this. I have hopes that somehow the Google API will be modified to allow services such as Plaxo to automatically synch, because they do such a great job of the things they do already.

As for getting things to my PDA phone (which by the way if you have a regular cell phone, Plaxo (the non-free version of it) does offer a synch service for you), I use the default ActiveSync in addition to a practically-free third-party app called MightySync. This particular program is important to me because it allows me to synch up files/folders from my PC specifically to the memory card on my PocketPC, something that ActiveSync does not do by default. I like MightySync, even though I have found reason to fault it from time to time, such as the "unkown errors" that it sometimes shows...

Read more...

Stuff I Use: Plaxo

Plaxo - I like it, even though it doesn't have the ability to synch with Gmail contacts*. Plaxo incorporates the Jajah plugin into Outlook that makes calling your own contacts super-lazy, er, super-easy. I like that. It annoys me that in order to remove duplicate contact entries in their database, you have to subscribe to their Platinum service, but I suppose they want to make some money, somehow.

* Synching with Gmail: Nothing has that (yet?) because it's a problem with Google's API for Gmail. (I tried setting that up once, as I found some website claiming to have done it. Looks like they did, and I almost had it working, but it's SUCH a pain that it's not worth it. All I want is to store my contacts/calendar/tasks/notes locally on my computer using Outlook so that they can auto-synch to my PDA cellphone, and then something to synch to Gmail so that I can use all that online, anywhere, with sharing capabilities. We should already have this ability, don't you think?

Read more...

Series Review: Lost

So, welcome back, Lost. You're looking pretty good. Where are your spoilers, for those who haven't watched you yet? Oh, here are a few...

While they didn't address the "whole mystery" of the island itself, it does feel like a satisfying serving of episodic questions and answers. What did we find last night? Brainwashing, a la Clockwork Orange... So what's with the that? I'm not sure the purpose behind that, but obviously Karl was a regular member of the Others and has at some point decided to leave. They really don't like letting anyone leave of their own accord.

A much-needed escape back to the original island... At one point while watching the show, I thought to myself, "If Sawyer and Kate don't get off this second island, that'll pretty much end it for me." Although I knew that they would, having seen clips of them chatting with everyone else again, it was still important for closure that they left in last night's episode.

The revelation that Ben is even more controlling than we might have thought... how many besides Juliet are being held on the island against their will? She definitely had a strong desire to leave the island, as evidenced in the way she helped Sawyer and Kate to escape. However, why she made Alex stay with her didn't make much sense. Juliet could have somehow claimed ignorance of her getting away. That Alex is Henry's daughter isn't so much of a suprise; obviously she would have grown up as someone's adopted daughter. But of course, that still doesn't explain why the Others wanted her in the first place.

Overall, a welcome step into a lengthy season finish. I'd like to know about the sky turning purple...

Read more...

Games I need to play

Gamecrush lists some games that need sequels. I looked at this list and saw a bunch of games that I've never played (except of course for Double Dragon; everyone who's anyone has played that. Well, okay, you younger gamers out there have an excuse).

I especially want to try Psychonauts and Beyond Good and Evil. These two particularly caught my attention when they were first released, but like so many games, they fell victim to the onslaught of "other things to play" that is the rule of the day, nowadays. Back when Double Dragon was around (and earlier), everyone had a chance to play the best games, because there were just so many games to go around. But with the plethora of interesting things to try for the four main platforms, things just get lost.

Which isn't always a bad thing, though; now, you can spend far less of your dough on even the best games, as long as you wait a few months (or years, sometimes) and pick up your titles from the bargain/used bin. It's not all bad.

Read more...

April Weekend Update

We're keeping busy mostly doing the family thAng. Leia surprised me the other day by knowing some words I wasn't aware of - grandma asked her in Russian what a fish does, and Leilani replied with the kissing-fish motion - so cute! And she knows "crocodile" too - although grandma apparently got her to do the hand-motions modeling jaws opening and closing, Leia gave a good, gravelly "roar/hiss" in response. They learn so quickly, don't they?? Oh, and she already knows how to turn the TV & DVD player on. Not that it's very hard to push a button of course, but she knows which buttons to press. Give her a little bit and she'll be teaching mom & dad how to use the 8-10 various remote controls around the house. She's now currently smitten with the Muppets, Stitch (as in Lilo and...), and Bob from Veggie Tales. It's hard to keep her away from the cartoons, but the best answer is to distract her by playing with her. I came across a couple of sweet blog entries I think should be shared, so I'll leave off with them: http://jon.zaadz.com/blog/2006/3/how_to_have_a_36_hour_day -- great stuff here, read & re-read it. and http://wiki.ehow.com/Drink-More-Water-Everyday (the title is self-explanatory, and this is something we should all just remind ourselves of, every day) and to combat the healthiness of that LAST blog... http://thekurths.com/2006/03/roll-your-own-frappuccinos.html .37 / bottle? Coffee Shops REALLY make a lot of money off of the consumer. God bless & Talk to you soon ~~

Read more...

Overlanders: Going home

Our newsletter, still reporting from Ukraine :)

Sitting back, enjoying some Zhifchik now. (That?s a kind of pop here, more like a carbonated apple cider with Echinacea added. As much as I love the Ruby-red Squirt that I can apparently only find in Ames, Iowa, I like this stuff that much more. But of course, they don?t sell it anywhere in the States, even at Russian grocery stores)

I took Leilani out for a quick (one-hour) stroll this morning, ?round past the circus and back. I found a couple of interesting things I thought I?d write about? At the market, of which much can be written alone, there are these little old ladies that sit around with insulated boxes (read: coolers, but for hot foods) selling piroshki out of them. These are like hot, stuffed sandwiches, usually fried, sometimes baked. They contain either meat, potatoes, or cabbage and they?re actually incredibly tasty. Many people buy them, as you can tell seeing everyone walking around with one. What?s especially interesting is that they cost about 16 cents a piece. Add that to a glass of kvas (a non-alcoholic malt beverage) for about 18 cents, and you?ve got a pretty-filling meal for less than 50 cents. Take that, McDonalds!

They do have McDonald?s in all the major cities here, by the way. But except for the fact that the menus are all phonetically spelled out in Cyrillic writing, it?s pretty much the same stuff that makes you sick 10 minutes after eating it as we have in the US.

Jumping back to Yalta, in our vacation-within-a-vacation a while ago, I just wanted to mention that we did get to see the Swallow?s Nest (Google it if you don?t know what it is), but we only got to see it from a distance. Had I looked in any tourist book, I would have found out that it?s no longer available as a tourist destination; apparently sometime in the 70?s some Italian woman purchased it and turned it into a very expensive Italian restaurant, since it needed repairs and the country didn?t have enough money for it. Oh well, maybe next time (in about ten years from now?) we?ll make some reservations and try it out.

--

There?s a verse in Proverbs that goes something like, ?Don?t start building a wall if you don?t have the money to finish it.? Ukraine seems to have skipped over that verse. Construction methods or style in Ukraine is just wrong, I think. There?s some roadwork that?s going on near our friend Natasha?s house. When we first arrived in Ukraine, they?d dug two holes; one off the side of the road, and one in the middle of it. There weren?t any workers to be seen, nor were there for a couple of weeks thereafter. After we got back from the Crimea, I did see some machinery out there every other day or so. They dug another hole, I think, and called it quits for a while. Then they came back and expanded the first hole. Now it?s sitting there again, several holes in the road with piles of dirt sitting next to them, and people do their best to get around it all. Elena told me it?s because they don?t have the money to finish it ? whatever ?it? is, of course, because I can?t really tell what they think they?re doing.

At least living in Ukraine teaches you to be on your toes, because you don?t know when someone?s going to start a project like that, or when they?re going to finish, either. Just last night (the 7th) ?they? shut the water off for our building. No warning, no information about it, just foop! No water, have fun. Fortunately, it just came on as I started writing this, at 10am this morning (so we all rushed about washing, flushing, filling, and boiling.). Living over here is like camping out and you discover that your campsite has running water so you get all psyched up about it, but then you realize it doesn?t work after all.

These aren?t just isolated incidents, either. Here?s another example: When we first arrived in Ukraine, we tried calling a friend of ours, Inna, at her workplace since she doesn?t have a home phone. (She has a mobile phone, but if you call one from a landline, you get an extra bill sent to the landline.) At first, we were able to get through to some kind of general secretary, at least someone who was in charge of answering the telephone. We asked to be transferred to Inna, and the secretary said she?d do so, however we only wound up on eternal hold. Later (and by this we mean pretty much EVERY single day thereafter) when we tried, no one answered the phone at all. Personally, I just do NOT get it. If you?ve got a job, DO your job, make the customer happy, and keep your job. That?s usually how it goes. Here, it?s more like: you?ve got a job, so forget everything else.

Maybe it?s because living conditions are just that good over here. I notice they still do have incredibly long lines for things still, here ? it?s just that the lines have moved. Where once, I have heard, they waited in line for toilet paper, now they wait in line at the ATM. And I?m not talking about the small, maximum of 5-minute wait that we have over here. It?s more like a constant line of 20-50 people who have almost all crammed themselves into your personal space (particularly that personal space at an ATM that is universally understood in America, in which if someone stands it feels like they?re watching your bank transactions).

We went into a toy store to buy a present, yesterday. I stayed outside with the stroller while Elena and Inna (whom we ran into entirely by accident!) went inside. I?d never seen hardly a single person go into this toy store every time I walked past it, but for some reason at this time, I watched as (I counted) 20 people filed in almost without stop. This is a store about the size of a bedroom, already filled up with toys on the walls and floor. I tell you, it?s just unexpected chaos over here, everywhere you go.

I don?t feel it?s right to complain in such detail for so long about Ukraine, though; I mean, there are a lot of things that are good about the country, too. When you do find friendly people, they?ll go out of their way for you, to the end. Life does not ?rush by? even half as fast as it feels like it does in America. Television, cars, and commercialism in general just aren?t as much a core part of your life here as they are, there. It?s easy to be a neighbor here, just because everyone is out there, walking around.

Monday: This is interesting: First, I already knew that everyone had to have at least one passport. After talking with Elena I learned that people in Ukraine also must have a place of residence actually listed in this passport. I suppose it makes sense, since they?re required to carry these documents around anyway, but without that residence listed, they can?t get a job, go to the bathroom, request a house call (doctors still make house calls over here!) or what not. (Okay, I?m kidding about the bathroom part, if you hadn?t figured that out)

Tuesday: Remember how I said the handicap-friendliness of Ukraine is a little lacking? We were walking around the market today and I saw a store that I need to mention. We saw it earlier but I forgot to say anything then. It has three steps leading up to the door, which makes it non-accessible, although that really doesn?t matter because the roads, sidewalk and market are full with enough curbs and potholes to make navigation via wheelchair impossible to begin with. But at the top of the stairs? A handicap-access button for the door.

Absolutely. Hilarious.

Wednesday: Well, I start my trip home tonight, while Elena and the baby have decided to stay on for a few more weeks. Talk to you all again later, State-side!

Read more...

Overlanders: Strollers and Clerks

We bought a combination stroller/tricycle for Leia?s birthday on the 30th. Not quite sure if they have them in the States, but I wouldn?t be surprised to find one; they?re pretty nifty. Of course, I like most any kind of toy/furniture/etc that has a dual purpose. It?s like a tricycle with safety bars and a parental-control handlebar, so at first the child just rides along as if it were a stroller. Later as she grows up, you can take the footguard/seatbelt/parent control off and it becomes a regular tricycle. Oh, and there?s also a fold-under bar so that you can turn it into a stationary rocker; another cool feature. There seems to be a wide variety of these kind of toys here in Ukraine. Either that, or we?re just under the effects of that ?you just bought something so you see it everywhere? feeling. They make them with many different themes; dogs, cats, teddy bears, and so forth. We bought what we felt was the best-quality one (there were some incredibly shaky-looking ones out there) that happened to have a cow theme. It has a battery-powered cow riding on the handlebars that, when you push it?s hoof, it sings a little ditty to the tune of ?Aloeutte?:

If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops, oh what a rain that would be. Standing outside with my mouth open wide: Ah ah ahah ah ahah ah ahah If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops, oh what a rain that would be.

It?s awesome how much Leilani enjoys this little cow. She does the infant-full-body-shake dance every single time it plays, and she even hums along with it sometimes. On the downside, it?s probably one of the more addicting little tunes you could ever imagine. You remember how it felt when you?d catch yourself singing the ?Barney? theme song (most everyone?s come across that at some point)? A few hours later when you?re still running it through your head, this song feels like that, too!

This little toy gave us another perspective into Ukrainian commerce again. In America we really take for granted just how courteous we are to one another, even though there are many times I?m sure it doesn?t feel that way. We looked through several stores while comparison shopping and decided to buy it at one store where we thought this particular one was cheapest. While looking through all the stores, I got the feeling that the clerks weren?t there to actually help us ? they?re there to make sure you don?t steal anything and/or the kids don?t play with/break/mess up the toys on display.

When it came time to buy, we asked if it came boxed up and with instructions, and the clerks argued with us, telling us that they don?t have room to store boxes (I think that?s what they said) and that we needed neither box nor instruction book. Eventually they found some instructions from another floor model (because, as they explained, there apparently is no storage; all their toys are out for purchase), so we paid for it at the register. They didn?t give us a receipt, and when we asked for one, they argued with us, again telling us that we didn?t need a receipt. The argument went something like, ?Why would you want to return it? You don?t need a receipt.?

Well, we stepped out of the store with it, turned around, and returned it. It just felt bad shopping with them, so they didn?t deserve our money. We found it at another store for about 5 dollars cheaper, where it came with a receipt and 3-month warranty. That felt normal. The clerks were much more friendly and helpful. It?s good to find at least some of that here.

One quick update from a few hours ago: We were riding in a "Marshutka" which is like a taxi except it's cheaper, more like a bus, and usually a lot more crowded (Dear Europe: Deodorant does not cost very much!). We were about to get off when Elena asked if the driver would be stopping also a short distance ahead, to which he said he would. So, Elena called me back on, I got back on and shut the door. For some unfathomable, crazy reason, the driver then decided that he wasn't going anywhere because I shut the door. He just parked the bus and told us we weren't going anywhere because of that. !?!?!?!? Maybe he thought I shut it too hard, or decided that I should have to pay again because I stepped off and back on, but whatever. Way to rack up points for your country's reputation, taximan.

Read more...

Overlanders: Ukrainian Bakeries

Russian/Ukrainian baked goods: Something of a mystery to me. You go into a bakery over here (By the way, this is also a very loose phrase here; ?going into a bakery? since for the most part a bakery consists of a couple of shelves here and there amongst other edibles, or any other goods for that matter, be it raw meat or whatnot. I will try to touch on that subject at a later time) and view the offering of cakes, pastries, and et cetera. They ALL look absolutely delicious, but looks can be very, very deceiving. Some very cakes appear moist and flavorful, but when you actually bite into them you find that they are as hard as biscotti and not quite as tasty. Even the frosting is hard and brittle. And it?s not because the cake has been sitting out for too long, either, (although I have no way of truly testing that theory) because I?ve tasted freshly-finished cakes that are nothing but crunchy shells. It baffles me.

On the other hand, you can find some here that are just ?get in my belly? scrumptious. Leilani?s cake last night was, for the most part, one of those. It was a basic, round, yellow-type cake with a center layer and frosting, with some kind of nuts on the outside edges. I could do away with the nuts, since they didn?t seem to taste much at all. The cake itself was standard (with the exception of the very bottom layer, which strangely enough tasted like FISH. I just didn?t eat that part from then on), but the filling and top frosting were the parts that I couldn?t get enough of. It was some kind of caramel-like frosting/filling made from sweetened/condensed milk and just makes you drool like Homer Simpson to think about it. MMMMmmmagllglglllllll.

And of course there is always the amazingly-common, ultimately-tantalizing wafer cookie that I mentioned before. It is inexplicable why in America there is nothing even relatively close to how excellent a cookie they have over here. In fact, the wafer-cookie offering presented in America verges on a level that can only be described as insulting when compared to that of Ukraine. In America the wafer cookies are like paste-filled cardboard, whereas here they are butter-cream chocolate- or vanilla- filled heavenly bars of supreme temptation. Can you have only a bite? Definitely not? Is one cookie enough? Hardly. If faced with a stack of these cookies, the only way to win the game is not to play.

Read more...

Birthdays

It was Leia's first birthday yesterday :) The Tkachenko family came over for dinner last night; Elena and Grandma made a great chicken-basted-with-wine dinner and then we gave her the presents that Tkachenkos brought over. (We're still going to get her this tricycle/stroller we found, we were just shopping around for best prices/quality, etc since both can vary greatly over here) Leia enjoys all the gifts a lot; mostly musical-type instruments including one really, really, really LOUD toy piano that interestingly doesn't have an off switch! We then put her in front of the cake with her single candle lit, but she didn't really figure out what to do with it, even with coaching and two lightings. But she was probably just tired; she wasn't entirely interested in the cake for that matter, either.

Jumping back a few days to Feodosia, I wanted to touch on the dinners they had there in the pansionat. They don't give you too much food like they *always* do in America, which is a good thing because sometimes they pick a great menu while other times it leaves a bit to be desired. A couple of times the protein-of-choice for the dinner was either fish or liver. If I've witnessed enough good examples over here, I suppose that most Ukrainians enjoy that, but I could pass easily on both, pretty much every time. Liver is, I think most will agree, definitely an acquired taste. As I?ve found that my tastes change as the years go by, I?ll give everything a try once, but it still failed the test for me. (And they snuck it in a second day, too; the next day they made these meatball-things, but they ground up the liver & filled the meatballs with them. Herghk!)

Fish, on the other hand, is often (especially in restaurants) a much safer bet. But in Ukraine I?ve come to find that fish comes in only two varieties: Cold (meaning either dried & salted or preserved) and FISHY, or hot with all bones included. They just like picking out the bones every single time, and the way the fish is cut often tends to shatter the bones so you?re left with even tinier little pieces to pick out. Yay. (See, maybe I?m spoiled, but I prefer to do all my food preparation BEFORE the food comes to the table).

But enough complaining; there was a lot of good stuff on the menu, too, some things of which you just can?t prepare properly when not cooked in large batches (like this strange milk-soup/ pudding-like thing. I forget the name of it, but I could have just filled up only on it?) It?s kind of like the rice-pudding dessert at Bombay bistro (or insert your favorite Indian restaurant name)

Read more...

Crimea

It?s been an unexpected week since last I wrote; I say unexpected because I didn?t really plan ahead regarding lack of communication while we went on our vacation-within-a-vacation. Regardless, we?re back (to Krivoy Rog) again and can finally send letters out. I took some notes for the first couple of days while we went out, so I?ll back up a bit.

Last ? Thursday, I think, we took an overnight train to Feodosia, which is located on the far-Eastern edge of the Crimea. It?s a kind of relax-me town, where a lot of people go just to sit in the sun & swim. The train ride out there was possibly the absolute worst I?ve ever been on, but it?s all relative as my bad experience had to do with the fact that I was riding out the worst headache I?d ever had and already used up the few ibuprofen we?d brought with. We left at 5:40pm and arrived at 9:30am, and hadn?t quite finished adjusting to the time zone, either (which reminds me that we forgot to get some herbal remedy for jetlag from my brother before we left?). So, we all spent the night waking up every couple of hours, Leilani included.

Other than that, and of course the general discomfort of riding on a train (I don?t think I?ve ever actually traveled on any kind of ?luxury? train), it went pretty well. The train passes close by the sea right toward the end, which gave a nice view. A large difference was immediately noticeable regarding the atmosphere, upon exiting the train. Much more in Feodosia is green, and one of the first things I noticed was a group of people doing some gardening on one of the public ways. In Krivoy Rog, the most I usually see there is just an old woman here or there sweeping the walk. But I don?t suppose it?s really fair to compare the two cities outright; one is a vacation-town while the other is essentially a mining town.

We hauled our bags around while we considered our options; Lena wanted to find a ?pensionat? which is kind of like a hotel but with a meal plan. In Feodosia they?re almost all located a stone?s throw from the beach. We actually didn?t have to go far at all, but we wound up taking a taxi to the one Lena had in mind, just because we weren?t familiar with the area to begin with. (Later we found ourselves back at the train station after only about a 30-minute walk (30-minute walks are NOTHING in Ukraine, mind you. Our average daily walk in Feodosia was 2-3 hours, I think.)) After we checked in and unpacked our bags, we headed down to the beach, just to take a look around.

It?s not what most people in America would expect, mind you. Yes, there?s a big huge ?ocean? (It?s the Black Sea in this instance) and there are a lot of waves. There?s sand ? but not on the beach, actually. Once you?re IN the water, it?s nice sand out as far as you can touch, but the beach itself is comprised entirely of rocks, like river rocks, polished and round. That was a bit of a surprise to me, but not too hard to adjust to. All the hotels/pensionats have their own section of the shoreline fenced off (with barbed wire tops! Whoo!) and they?ve fashioned wooden pallets for people to lay on. Once you get used to that (and the fact that everyone wears Speedos/bikinis no matter what over here...) it?s pretty normal.

After we glanced at the beach (and dangled Leia?s toes in, since she absolutely had to), we walked down the shoreline some more where there was a kind-of boardwalk (but all cement; they use only cement for building stuff in Ukraine.) lined with some souvenir shops. There was a lot of nifty stuff to buy, surrounded by a lot of cheap junk. Isn?t that the way it is everywhere? There was a lot of different things than those we found four years ago in Truskavyets, so there was a nice variety at least.

On the way back to the hotel we saw some good old-fashioned police violence. We?re not sure what the incident was, but we saw some guy running away from an old lady while she was yelling for the police. I?d give you dime-to-donut odds that the guy was drunk, since this happened pretty much RIGHT NEXT to a patrolling police car. A very short chase ensued, however I also think the guy could easily have run away. For some reason, I think he got stuck on a fence near the train tracks, he turned around and put his hands up, walking back to the cop chasing him. Out of the blue the cop gives the guy a karate kick to what I hope was just his gut. He was a little far away, but he didn?t fall down on the ground so that?s where I assume his foot landed. After a little more confusion was cleared up which involved the old lady running over and bashing him on the head a bit, they dragged him off to the cop car and the show was over. If we?d have gotten it on video, I?m sure it would have made the ?world?s dumbest criminals?.

I?ve got more to say about the trip, but it?ll come later. I?ve got to send this off & get to sleep already. Good night!

Read more...

Adjusting

Letter time again! Looks like rain outside, and the baby is taking a nap, so I might as well write up a report, even though it?s technically only been a couple of hours since I actually sent that last letter. We?ve got to wait until tomorrow before we can actually pay the ISP for another months? usage here, so Natasha let us send from her account ? thanks, Natasha :) So, I sent the last letter out but have not checked email, as the connection wasn?t quite feeling up to it.

Like I said, it looks like rain, and hopefully it really will. It was again particularly warm today, and like I described before ? dusty. We were walking around town this afternoon with Natasha, and picked up some books and learning toys for Leilani. She?s not ready for them yet, but since we?re only here once in a great while we have to plan ahead. We?re trying to teach her English and Russian at the same time, and so far it?s working well; she responds equally to both languages and answers in both, too. A couple of days ago she was non-stop with the ?what?s this?? and pointing at everything.

Time just flew by this afternoon, too. I think most of it went to the walk, as of course one has to walk everywhere here ? a good thing, really, as it keeps you more fit. Which is also important because it?s all too easy to eat more waffle-cookies here than you initially intend to. If you ever get to Ukraine, you just have to try these things; there?s absolutely nothing like them in the States ? even the imported waffle cookies that you can buy at Russian grocery stores. They?re just not the same. (My family has requested that we bring back as many as possible.)

This next part continues the next day: No, it didn?t rain, and it feels worse because of it. But no matter, we had a lot of things to get done ? business-type stuff, no need to bore you with it ? and we did. Still haven?t found out about going to the Crimea, although we?ve looked at some maps and Elena has a place in mind to go first.

Read more...

Going to Ukraine

Hello from Ukraine! We made it successfully here, with only minor hiccups, the worst of which was that we weren?t able to buy a train ticket from Kiev to Krivoy Rog. We got to the airport and found out from talking to other people that all the tickets were already bought up; it being the weekend, most of the students in Kiev were heading home already.

So, after calling around to see what our options were, our friends the Tkachenkos graciously made the trip up to Kiev in their car to pick us up; that?s a long haul and we?re grateful for the help ? thank you, Sergei and Elena!

Leilani was an absolute rock star during pretty much the whole trip. I was personally most worried that she?d have trouble with the pressure in her ears, since I remember a horrible time when I was young where I fell asleep midair and woke up on the ground with the most killer headache from the pressure change. But not our girl! She slept and ate through most of the trip, including the time when Sergei was driving us. That was pretty nice as we were able to watch both of the in-flight movies (Monster-in-Law (okay) and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (better than I thought though I still wouldn?t have gone to see it in the theatre had I known more of the plot). When she was awake, she didn?t cry very much, though we probably helped that by keeping her busy, walking her up & down the aisles, and so forth.

It?s good to be here again, although there are certainly things we gloss over in our memory. Actually, we?d never paid much attention to the handicapped-access before since we didn?t use it, but now that we?ve got the stroller here ? wow. There?s really very little in the way of being handicapped-friendly here; the ramps at the train station, for example, are either cobblestone or a nice, slippery 45-degree angle! Seriously.

In Amsterdam, we ran into a mother of three who was also on the way to Ukraine and helped her out as much as we could; her husband was still at home in the states, so looking after three young children by oneself is enough to bear, but she had more luggage than it was imaginable to take on a trip, and she looked terribly worn out just getting as far as she had. She seemed like a nice person, so we helped her move her luggage around a bit. My dad (having worked for the airlines) will probably not believe it, but she probably had 9 or 10 carry-on pieces and probably 6 or 7 enormous check-ins (not counting the two-baby stroller, car seat, and baby-backpack, of course!). She eventually made it all the way there, but I don?t know how she got as far as she did, by herself.

And we finally made it ?home? to grandma?s apartment, looking much as we left it although with a bit more dust; for some reason it seems much more dusty here in Krivoy Rog. Maybe it?s the Fall, but everyone says it?s the metallurgical combine. We found the laptop and (obviously) have it working with no difficulty, although I?m typing this letter offline, as we need to reconnect the provider before we can send.

We took a little walk with Leilani around the neighborhood, and it?s good to have the heavy-duty stroller with us, considering we?ll be here that long. There are many more stores since we left, but everything was still pretty much in the same place we left it. We happened by our friend Natasha?s house and found her outside, so we stopped to chat for a little while. It was so good to see her again; we?d really missed her. But as it was getting dark out and Leia was getting cranky, we agreed to get together tomorrow to continue talking. Sadly, we?re not going to get as much time to see her since she?s going to be leaving in two weeks to go to Sweden. We?re ALSO not going to be able to stop to see her sister, Ira because she?s living in Kiev right now and we probably won?t have time to stop before we fly back. :(

We?re still trying to figure out how/where to go to the Crimea? we?ll have more to say on that as it unfolds, hopefully for the best.

Read more...

SeaPack

SeaPack was probably my very best thing I made for the UT2004 era. I saw a lot of cool stuff made by other people, some forgotten, that I thought would all really work well together. In this day and engine, water was a new thing - there weren't a whole lot of games that really let you play around with it.  But some people had made working boats and vehicles and weapons that really screamed for special maps - so that's what this is.  Look through the details below and, if it still works, give it a try.  It probably does.

DOWNLOAD HERE or from MODDB


Info way older than 2018:
HIS THREAD has the latest information.



This is hopefully the start of something bigger in the future. After tinkering around with Vynum's fixes of Monarch's UT2004Navy (Annnd digging into a few other vehicles... I'll come back here & write credits for everything...), I created a non-U4E version of my SterlingFlood board and filled it up with aquatic vehicles.

It was a lot of fun! So, with relative ease, I flooded Torlan (aka the Most Modded Map EVAH) and put the Navy in there - ALSO a lot of fun.

This is a BETA release and I expect at some point to release an update hopefully without having to rename the files; please expect that.

SeaPack Way early beta version! Contains: non-U4E SterlingSea map, and the flooded version of Torlan.

Note: This zip file does not include the following mods, which you will need to support it:

SinkPack2004, Annihilation Arsenal, and UT2005Navy
(UT2005NAVY requires UT2004Navy*, which requires AirpowerIII)

This is a BETA release and I expect at some point to release an update hopefully without having to rename the files; please expect that.

SeaPack Way early beta version! Contains: non-U4E SterlingSea map, and the flooded version of Torlan.

Note: This zip file does not include the following mods, which you will need to support it:

SinkPack2004, Annihilation Arsenal, and UT2005Navy
(UT2005NAVY requires UT2004Navy*, which requires AirpowerIII)

At some point, I would like to release more "SeaPack" boards supporting the Navy and the other aquatic vehicles out there. (Would anyone be interested in helping out?) I'm going on vacation tomorrow, and when I get back, I'm looking into helping Xyx & Shinzon with something. I should then help out U4E with something ELSE.... But after that, or at the same time, I can start moving slowly on this again.

Whoops - I forgot that Monarch doesn't have the DL up for that (UT2004Navy) any more... Since he said he didn't mind if I created stuff with it...

SeaPatch for March (a) - Contains a flooded RedPlanet and ArcticStronghold. RedPlanet has some YoJoe vehicles in it, however I noticed that in at least one test, my FPS dropped to OMG levels when the KillerWhale came into view... Gotta go tell Scot_G about that.

SeaPatch for March (b) - Contains a deeper IslandHop, an updated VCTF-NavalCombat, and a tweak for the wbNavy.u -- basically lets you enter the ManOWar if a bot is in control, so you can kick it out.

Oh, and I compiled EVERYTHING that's needed into one RAR file... but it's currently about 150 meg. :P  So, I need to do some cleaning, I think, before I can post that.

Read more...

First newsletter post

This is going to be a major first test of my new "newsletter" system going out to family, friends, and aquaintances... So hopefully you remember me - there are a lot of old email addresses that I haven't used in a while entered into the database.

So what's news? My wife Elena and I have been living in South Saint
Paul, Minnesota for three and a half years, ever since she arrived here from Ukraine. It's been nice and peaceful here, but we're soon going to be moving to Woodbury, having bought a new townhome there that's larger and more up-to-date (We've found more than enough oddities with the electrical and general repairs that the previous owners of our current house put in...) Our direct family (Thank you guys) helped out SO MUCH in polishing this current place up that it sold in an amazing 5 days of being on the market. We'll be in limbo for a little while, since our new home won't actually be ready until approximately Nov. 30th (+/- 2wks).

So do please update your records! Email addresses and telephone numbers are going to stay the same. If you don't have our telephone number, just respond to this and ask. (Or, change that: just respond to this so that I know you're alive!)

During that limbo, we're actually going to be using some of that time, plus some vacation, to head back to Ukraine so that "pra-babushka" can see her great granddaughter. (News flash: If you didn't know, we've got a nearly-one-year-old daughter named Leilani who is just absolutely wonderful, perfect, beautiful, (assume that the adjectives go on and on
here).) We're actually leaving in two days, so things have been horribly hectic for a while now. Assuming this emailer works, I'll actually be able to keep EVERYONE updated as we go.


It's too late at night to continue; this has taken quite a while to set up!
God bless,
Daniel, Elena, and Leilani Overlander

Read more...

DM-OldManMountain

Name: DM-OldManMountain


This map is well-completed I am releasing a beta download so if you test it PLEASE COMMENT even if it's just an "all-okay - release it!" kind of comment. I've heard back from the U4E team and they're not going to include it in the next default U4E pack, so I'm going ahead with all three varieties of this board.

Those varieties being: Unreal4Ever, LawDogs, and standard UT2004. I created this originally with U4E in mind because I had the idea of massive boulders falling all around the players, and they players could pick them up with the Gravgun (IAM) and whip them at each other. On pen & paper, I designed it with CTF in mind, and went so far as to mirror the board, but it turned out the boulders didn't like the mirroring, so I just kept the original half before mirroring and turned it into a Deathmatch.

The theme is a rocky mountainside that pits the players against each other in the middle of an avalanche. This, to my knowledge, has never been done before in UT2004, and would not be possible without DaJMasta's "GoodKarma" (Kudos, DaJMasta!) It's great fun and can scare the willies out of you when the boulders land a little too close for comfort!

You've got to see it to believe it.

Download: HERE


By the way, how'd you do this?

In case you're curious, here's how this effect works. It's pretty simple, but a pain in the butt to set up. First of all, there are about 30 NetKarmaActors (NKAs) waiting "off-camera" in some tunnels that exit into the sky, behind a zoneportal so you can't see where they're coming from.

These NKAs fall into the board, and the ground has been planned from the beginning to allow for only a few rocks to collect here and there. Otherwise they all roll perfectly down the mountainside, back into the return tunnels where they begin the board. Below the clouds they fall into at the bottom of the board you'll find some very plain PhysicsVolumes that change the gravity so that the rocks "fall upward" to wind up at the top of the mountain again. Easy recycling!

Now comes the tedious bit. While the rocks constanty falling is certainly pretty, by themselves there are no effects that make it believeable. SO, approximately every "ten feet" on the ground, I've placed a collection of four actors: A class-based trigger (based on NKAs), a ScriptedTrigger, an Emitter, and a ViewShaker. The class-based trigger activates the ScriptedTrigger which then makes the booming sound of the boulder hitting the ground AND activates the emitter and viewshaker. The emitter sends baby rocks into the air which have impactsounds attached, and the ViewShaker, if you're close to the impact, rocks your world of course.

Then there's just the repetitive manner of duplicate this grouping across the ground, and changing the tags on each of them accordingly :P  Viola! You have your very convincing avalanche!

Read more...