TeamBlank

Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Check out my new band "Codename:  Panzers" and our debut album "The Road to Achievement"

1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to "Random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

5 - Post it to FB with these instructions in the "caption" and TAG the friends you want to join in. (you can untag yourself if you don't want this photo up)

6- View other fictional bands on this group site:  http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fgroup.php%3Fgid%3D68703079337&h=6db04b00f8a49753b6f0f52f97000d52

The world is already digital right?  Last month I had an analog antenna on the roof of my shed and was completely happy with my 5 channels.  Now I have to deal with a digital world.  Lets see... my tuners in my XP Media Center are analog.  My Xbox 1.0 does not stream HD, and my 27inch tube TV... well it is not really ready either.  So I guess I better get up on the roof.  The question is, am I taking down or putting up?  What are my options?  Dish?  Cable?  IPTV?

GeoBlank & Michael on the roof!

After it is all said and done I don't want another a monthly payment and I hear that open air digital gives you a pretty good set of channels.  I had an antenna before so I will have an antenna still. 

http://antennaweb.com

Ebay.com was my friend.  Almost everything you see below I got for way under cost and because of http://cashback.live.com I actually got 30% back on several of the already low "Buy It" now prices I found!

Click for larger image.

Upgrade complete!

Vista Media Center was something I had put off for too long.  Since I had to do it for the HD stream I am much better off.  Network tuners also made the wiring easy from my new antenna to the garage and onto my network.  The recent upgrade to the Windows Home Server also is a great addition to Media Center.  You can read more about that feature if you search for PP2 and WHS.

Since I am cheap and since I really did not want a bunch of components in my family room I opted for the Xbox 360 "paired" surround system by Pioneer.  The system has an integrated Media Center / 360 remote control and compliments the room nicely.  Rock Band sounds pretty good as well!

Now I have all my original channels in HD and I also get some new ones like the Retro TV Network - That is right - Air Wolf, A-Team, and the Hulk daily!  JCTV is a great channel.  If you have not seen The Logan Show what are you waiting for!  And of course with the Vista Media Center I can now enjoy The Guild on demand  through my Media Center Extenders.

Life is pretty good!  (Maybe I will use some of the money I am saving on cable to finally go gold - Xbox gold that is!)

A classic is a book that doesn't have to be written again. - W. E. B. Du Bois

Sometimes a true classic does not have to be re-written in the sense that the features and content change but sometimes a true classic does need to be updated to run on newer hardware and refreshed operating systems.

A true classic that I recently re-discovered is the multi-player game called Warlords.  

I first got a copy of Warlords II over 15 years ago.  I was instantly addicted.  It could be compared to Risk as it has a turn by turn approach ad you gain new armies at the beginning of each round.  It has a fantasy / role-playing feel which is very appealing to those of us who played a bit of D&D in our youth.  My brother in law and I spent many long nights playing Warlords II and then Warlords II deluxe.  To this day I am not sure what deluxe brought to the table… 

Last week I discovered on my shelf Warlords III which I had not played before.  I found it in a bin at some electronic store and had not even installed it.  Getting it to run on XP and Vista took a while as I had to download a patch and then discover a command line switch to make it use more generic icons (otherwise it froze).

Once again my brother in law and I were enchanted and were soon battling the 6 other computer players and then each other until only one Hero was standing.  I have not played a game until 6:30am for quite some time.  I was glad to see that I still could keep up with the best of them.  I am not so sure I will share the details of the next day however.  Let's just say that I required several cups of coffee to keep moving.

Since playing Warlords again I did some research on the web and see that V4 and V5 are in the mix.  There is a Nintendo DS version that came out last year and looks fully featured.  I found a hybrid version of the game for XBox Live called Puzzle Quest that is roughly based in the same world as Warlords and you have quests and a map to play on but the battle sequences and the way to progress through the game are more like playing bejeweled.  It was only 800 points so I downloaded it. 

Choosing weapons and deciding which potions to buy and which villages to raze has me thinking that it is time I seek out Fable II and play a real game.  Classic games are okay, but I may need something a bit more modern now that I have the bug again.

Resources:

• Steve Fawkner's Blog - http://forums.infinite-interactive.com/blog.php?b=9
• Warlords Site - http://www.warlorders.com/
• Another Site - http://www.heeter.net/warlords/
• Warlords on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warlords_%28game_series%29
  

• Church Sign Generator - http://www.churchsigngenerator.com/
• Says-IT - http://www.says-it.com/
• Sign Generator - http://www.signgenerator.org/

You have to fight the green monster with your mind, not your fists.  - Matthew Broderick

True Story

We are in a world where companies are trying to save money on one hand or go green on the other hand and sometimes these conflict.  It seems to me that going green also can cause more waste and use more energy than what people were doing before they were green.

A buddy of mine works for a company who recently removed all garbage can's from their offices.  This was a money saving tactic.  Employees now need to carry trash to a central location to discard it.  I made fun of him because I work for a company where for 15 years I have had a black "garbage" can in my office sitting next to a grey "can" can, and a cardboard box for recycled paper.  These take up a lot of room in each of the 100k offices around the world.

A few days I came into the office to find that "we" made a new smarter move to reconfigure our garbage cans.  Now each employee has the same black garbage can for garbage and the grey can and cardboard box have been replaced with a new blue garbage can for recyclable items.  This includes aluminum cans and paper.  My first instinct was why not email us and say to throw more stuff in the grey can...

But wait it gets better.  At the same time we switched all of our kitchenette products to be "green" and so they are now compostable.  All of these items now must go in the new compost bins and should not go in the black garbage can or the blue garbage can.   Most of what I see in people's offices are either plates, cups, and silverware, aluminum pop cans or paper.  So now 80% of the waste we create must be taken to the compost bin because it is not eligible for the new office configuration.

Using compostable plates, cups, and silverware may be smart but what happened to the million utensils that were in the kitchens on Friday?  What happened to the 100k grey garbage cans?

Signs

On the Monday that the compostable showed up we were also  hit with a barrage of new signs.  These signs were placed in every kitchenette and along some strategic locations in the halls.  The signs taken individually are meant to help people adapt to the new compostable technology.  When looked at as a group they become a SNL skit waiting to happen.

The signs... (my reaction in parenthesis)

Do Your Part - It takes you to be a success! (Thank you.  I needed a sign to tell me it is up to me to reduce the impacts of Al Gore)

Please Remember - Coffee Cup Lids = Trash, Coffee Cups = Compost, Coffee Sleeves = Recycle, Stir sticks = Recycle.  Please separate these before disposing of them as to not contaminate the waste streams.  (What about the impact to my work streams?  and since when do we need stir sticks and sleeves?)

Warning! Spoon may warp if left in hot fluids such as coffee.  Pleas use a stir stick.   (Ah - now I understand the need for stir sticks.  I can't wait to try my cup of soup today)

Do your part, please take only one plate.  (Before we had compostable plates I would take 7 or 8 just for the fun of it.  Does going green mean I lose my lunchtime joy?)

Warning:  HOT! - New compostable cups conduct heat - please use a sleeve!  (No lie on this one.  Dang they are hot.  I am glad I can now wrap my compostable cup in a recyclable layer and then later separate them and sort trash as part of my day.)

Did you Know?  Your kitchenette has gone green!  (No I did not...)

Summary

So now when I walk into the kitchen it is covered in little "green" signs that appear to be made out of some hazardous shiny paper.   I used to use a single polystyrene cup to drink my coffee and now I must use a cup that makes my coffee taste like old potato water and use a cardboard sleeve as to not burn myself.  When I forget about the new wooden stir sticks I end up with a melted spoon that adds to the new found flavor of the cup.

When I am done with the coffee I have a choice to make.   Get up and walk past rows and rows of black and blue garbage can's to throw it in the new central compost bin or just drop it in the wrong can in my office so I can get some work done.

Did I mention that while the new cups are conducting heat into the palm of my hand my coffee is actually getting cold quicker?  So now I must get up twice as often dumping a third of my coffee down the drain. 

I work in an awesome place and I am very grateful to have a garbage can in my office.   Sometimes however the change that happens around us does not always seem to make sense.  Is it really good for the environment?  Is it good for my EPS?