After being postponed last week, the UIL meet at my old high school went well. I judged Prose, Poetry, and Extemporaneous Informative Speaking. Poetry is the toughest to judge for me, since I’m really not an avid reader of poetry. Hell, I really don’t even like poetry, so I sometimes feel that I can’t give the contestants the critique they deserve. Either way, all of the events were fun and I got to see my old teachers again.

Today I plan to finish the Debian install on my media server, which I decided to completely reformat since it was filled with so much junk. All I really have to do now is set up file sharing between it and my mac. For some reason, it’s not wanting to play as nicely as it did with Ubuntu.

There’s a guy in Bel Air who decided to give his family’s snowman the ability to breathe fire. Observe:

Awesome. Enjoy more at the link.

Fire-breathing snowman – Boing Boing

I’m pretty well snowed-in here in Denton, as well. I’ve managed to walk to the coffee shop; not my usual one on the square, but the new 24/7 one only one and a half blocks from my apartment. I have to say that they’ve really improved since the first time I visited just a couple of days after they opened; a lot more comfy.

The mass text messages are starting to pour in from other KNTU DJs, saying that they’re trapped and are too far away from campus. I guess I might fill in for one. Hell, it’s more practice, and it’s not like I’ll be doing anything else around here.

Tomorrow I’ll be visiting my old high school to help judge speaking events for their annual UIL academic meet. My old drama teacher is overseeing the speech events, and I won’t have any idea what I’m judging until probably two minutes before the event is set to start. Either way, it’s a lot of fun, and I get to see one of my favorite teachers again.

Well, I believe it’s now time to walk around the dead campus and take a few pictures.

Although the HTML browser does a pretty good job, it still didn’t render pages as well as I had hoped. Mobile pages load fine most of the time, but it sometimes decides to only load certain images or not allow me to click on a particular link. I decided to give Opera Mini, Opera’s browser for dumb/entry-level smartphones, a try. What a difference it makes. A good 95% of websites loaded exactly like they would appear on your desktop, and the zooming and panning around the page on the small screen wasn’t as much of a hassle as people made it out to be. The only issue is that it asks you for permission to access the network everytime you click on a link or visit a website. This is really AT&T’s fault, since they really prefer dumbphone users to buy their exclusive apps instead of downloading and installing third party ones. However, the interwebz have revealed that a hack is available to allow any data usage on the phone without permission. I’ll just have to get a USB-to-MicroUSB cable and an outdated version of P2K commander, a Motorola phone system management program. I plug in the phone, change a setting, and done. Other than those couple of gremlins, the Motorola Karma is a fantastic, outrageously well-made phone.

I also turned in my taxes this week. I’ll be getting a hefty refund of…53 dollars. It would have been over three hundred if I couldn’t be claimed as a dependent. So, the new year’s resolution of buying a nice camera will have to wait for a while longer.

I have a trip to Austin in the works with my friends this June. Some of them will be staying a week, but I will probably just take three days off of work and stay from Wednesday to Saturday. Since they’ll be driving there earlier in the week, and I don’t want to put any extra miles on my old car than need be, I’m contemplating wither taking a train or flying to the capitol. Flying will probably win out, since I can get there in less than an hour and I’ve never flown before, so this would be the perfect first flight. Southwest will probably be the airline of choice, since they’re reasonably priced and fly out of the far less busy Dallas Love Field. I may also get a discount from a family friend. Yes, flying wins.

Last week was finally the week. The week Apple was set to change the world as we know it; to change the way each and every one of us was to interface with the world once and for all. That’s at least what the fanboys said. However, we got the iPad, an impressive, yet still disappointing tablet from the folks at Cupertino.

First off, it’s impossible to deny that this is a seriously cool looking device. The screen looks beautiful and is surrounded by an awesome looking case. The software also looks elegant and intuitive, just like that of the iPhone. Just like nearly every other Apple product, it’s a visual masterpiece. That’s just about where the “perfection” ends.

First off, there isn’t any multitasking on this thing. Usually, when I pay $500 or more for a computer, I expect to do a couple of things at once. This will be a debilitating flaw in the iPad, but it’s also one that can be easily fixed with a software update, which I expect them to do once enough backlash surfaces.

Next is the iPhone OS. The iPad probably has plenty of power to run at least a basic version of OS X that Mac desktop and laptop users would be familiar with. The 9.7″ screen should be more than adequate to view a OS X environment comfortably, since gobs of people have been installing it on much smaller netbooks and have been satisfied. This “OS X for iPad” should at least be an option for users to install.

Other than those two huge flaws, there are a few little things. There isn’t a camera, which can be forgiven, but is still an odd omission, given that almost every laptop, netbook, and phone has one. There is also the inability to make phone calls, despite the availability of 3G service. This can also be forgiven, but it’s still strange that they didn’t just throw it in there.

Even though the iPad is really just a big-ass iPod touch, it will probably still be a wildly successful device. However, it won’t have any staying power unless Apple fixes the multitasking problems.

Sitting down at the control board with a myriad of sliders, buttons, and switches attached to screens, boxes, transmitters and microphones was thrilling and overwhelming all at the same time. Just to be in that chair, mic at your mouth, with the knowledge of the fact that at that very moment, you are in complete control of 100,000 watts of broadcasting power, is the best feeling ever. As soon as a said my first weather report at the top of the hour and hit the button to begin the hour’s playlist, I knew that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Luckily, the hour went by without any major incident.

Due to a basketball game, I wasn’t on on Thursday, so hopefully someone is there next week to give me a quick refresher course before jumping in again.

Behold! The WWF (pre-World Wildlife Fund bitchfest) Slam Cam! The picture of the camera alone doesn’t do this hunk of shit justice. Just click on the image to get the entire in-depth review. I’ve even linked to just that particular frame so you don’t have to deal with the terrible 1999 era frame-designed website. The pictures that come out of this camera are barely recognizable. The software makes them even more comical.

I’m also a fan of the Pokemon 35mm camera, which puts a very tacky Pokemon vignette on every photo without your sayso.

I got a position as a DJ at KNTU, 88.1 FM, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-9PM. I’ve never been so excited or an nervous in my life. My voice will soon be thrown across one of the larget radio markets in the United States, D/FW. My orientation is tomorrow, and it includes free pizza! If this is how the radio business works, I think I’m gonna like this career.

School also starts next week. I’m still taking the happy medium of 12 hours along with work. This semester, however, I’ll be going to work in the mornings and school in the afternoons and evenings. Tuesdays will be aprticularly busy, since I’ll be Going to work and school until 4:50, then my radio shift from 6-9, and the, time and energy permitting, my usual bike ride Tuesday nights and 9:30.

Also this past week I’ve been watching the whole saga between Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno. I, for one, think that Conan is getting royally shafted. Jay is also being treated unfairly, but is still getting preferential treatment from the NBC execs. I believe that Jay should quietly retire, leaving as a mediocre host of The Tonight Show and pioneer of a doomed primetime comedy genre. Moving Jay back to Tonight would be too much of a disruption and would destroy any ratings the show had. Although I love to watch Conan, at this point he’s a lame duck, and since I don’t have a Nielsen box, I can’t help him out. So, I’ve switched to Letterman until the dust settles.

As for tonight, I probably won’t do too much besides hanging out with a couple of friends. Tomorrow I shall partake in the customary new year’s black-eyed peas and cabbage at the parents’ house. I’m just now getting over a bit of a stomach virus, so partying really isn’t something on the agenda. Thanks a lot, Waffle House. Bastards.

Now on to my resolutions for the coming year! Let’s go:

1. Get into photography. This goes back to my last post about DSLRs. Before I get into it, I still need to get me a good camera.
2. Volunteer at KNTU. I’ve applied to volunteer at our campus radio station but haven’t been called yet. I’ll probably drop by and see about it next week when people are actually there. This is more career requirement than resolution.
3. Start writing again! I can’t count how many ideas have popped into my head only to be forgotten once I feel like putting ideas on paper. This brings me to my next resolution:
4. Actually win a NaNoWriMo. I failed miserably this year, and all previous years. Granted, 2009 gave me my highest NaNoWriMo word count to date: 6,500 words. I could blame it on school, but it’s still pretty pathetic. Hopefully I can get myself to actually outline the story before writing it.
5. Ride my bike more. I already ride my bike to work and to class everyday, but when it comes to running errands or buying things, I usually do it with the car. A car that I will hopefully someday replace with:
6. Buy a classic Volkswagen. This probably won’t happen, but hey, I can dream, right? I would definitely like a Super Beetle, but would also be perfectly content with a Karmann Ghia or even a squareback. The trick is buying one that isn’t a rust bucket.
7. Start a podcast. I’ve always wanted to do this, but I’ve never had the resources to do it. Someday this year I’ll finally splurge and get a couple of mics and start a podcast with one of my good friends. We could definitely do it.

It looks like a lot, and it is, but it’s something to go on in 2010. Heck, I may even try to get my crappy political satire blog back up and running. We’ll just have to see what this next decade brings us. Happy New Year, everyone.

On Saturday, I proceeded to go to Best Buy to find and HDMI cable for my Xbox. I wriggled my way through the madhouse, only to find that they had nothing shorter than 6′ and nothing cheaper than $30. I went to Wal-Mart instead and found a 3-footer for $17. Still fucking ridiculous, but Forza 3 never looked so good.

There was also another reason why I went into the Best Buy hellhole yesterday: to look at digital SLRs. I’ve been looking for a camera since my parents have all but adopted my old Olympus point-and-shoot. I’ve really wanted a DSLR that shoots video, so I won’t have to decide on whether to buy a video or still camera, so I looked first at the Canon Digital Rebel T1i. I really liked the controls on this camera. I was changing modes and tweaking f-stops in short time, and this is coming from a guy whose only SLR experience was with a Pentax K1000. I played with the T1i for a bit, and then a gave a Nikon a chance. I can’t remember what model it was, since I couldn’t decipher the confusing buttons and interface. It could have been the D90, but I dunno. Then I went back to a Canon, in particular the EOS 5D. It had the same easy-to-use controls, but the kit lens and continuous shooting was kickass. I have never played with continuous shooting before, so I was almost giggling with delight at the prospect of shooting several pictures a second with relative ease.

I’ve also looked on the web for that perfect camera, and I’ve found another candidate: the Pentax K-x. In the same body as the K2000, another former candidate, it adds a better sensor and 720p HD video. It’s also cheaper than the Canon T1i. It may end up my final decision, once money becomes available.

Now, on to a restful week of nothingness and New Years.