Twitter Updates

follow me on Twitter

My iPod

So, the other day I finally got my iPod in the mail...

Yes! I finally had the money to buy myself an iPod after paying off all my credit card bills.

Plus, my iRiver had hit rock bottom as far as barely being useful... though I will still keep it around for doing miscellaneous recording and what-not.

  &  
iPod Video                       MicroMemo

I got myself the 80 GB Generation 5.5 iPod video in the color black. And for it I also got the XtremeMac MicroMemo Voice Recorder also in the color black, which I got Tuesday.

Both of these should serve me well for what I intend to use them for as long as they stand up to the quality any Apple product should stand up to!

I got the previous generation of the iPod Video and not the iPod Classic because Apple is being too much of a monger by going to a tightly knit closed system on all its electronic devices not allowing most prior third party devices work on their new devices.

So to take advantage of being able to use the most third party devices I got the previous generation iPod Video.

Even though Apple is being a bit of a monger with their current closed system for their devices I still think that what they do and create is just as sexy as.... well... this picture:

So when I got my iPod was busy uploading all my music onto it and checking out all the extras that came with and how to use all those cool little functions.

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Underoath Concert in Buffalo

Underoath

There's probably only a few words that can be used to describe the Underoath concert that Keith and I went to on Tuesday night... and that is that it was totally INSANE!!!

The place was totally packed out, and it wasn't even a small venue at all.

It got so hot and humid quickly from all the people packed in the place and all the sweat, that my glasses quickly fogged up if there wasn't enough airflow.

Keith and I were at the front and by the time the second opener for Underoath was playing we were already soaked with sweat.... it was like we just went swimming in our clothes!

So let's start with the first opener...

Maylene + the Sons of Disaster [myspace | PureVolume | Amazon] as I had suspected these guys were just OK for the most part... not too original of a sound and were alright live.

Maylene + the Sons of Disaster we're fairly entertaining live, but definitely not I band I really foresee myself really getting into a whole lot. Though were several people that were into them at the concert.

Up next was...

Poison the Well [myspace | PureVolume | Amazon] and I thought they were pretty good. They would definitely be a band that would be interested in looking into further. I probably set some pretty high expectations of these guys when checking them out when I was looking into the opening bands before the concert... and they didn't really let me down!

I actually bought one of their t-shirts... which is actually a limited edition shirt that I happened to think was pretty cool looking.

These guys actually managed to get several crowd surfers up on the crowd... which was really cool too! Pushing them up towards the front to security. (I don't think that Maylene + the Sons of Disaster had any crowd surfers for their set.... and if they did they didn't have a lot!)

The next band in line was then...

Everytime I Die [myspace | PureVolume | Amazon], and man was I a little off on my initial perception of what these guys were like.

Maybe it was because they were live, or the crowd, I dunno. But they played a pretty amazing set and definitely cranked it up at that place!

Though they might not have been the most original band with the most original sound but everyone there seemed to love these guys... but maybe it was because they were playing in their hometown.

There were tons of people that crowd surfed during their set!

Maybe because the lead singer said they wanted them to because there was 'amazing security there' in the front -- which all of the security at the front rolled their eyes... like 'here we go!'

Even though I might not be as into Everytime I Die, they sure did put on a pretty mean live show... and they said that they were trying to put on the best show in their hometown, Buffalo.

It was great to actually see the bass player dive into the crowd... even if he made a couple of the girls at the very front have to be taken out crying!

I left the front in the third to last song because I was becoming a little too hydrated and the pressure from everyone pushing forward wasn't helping... and trying to push at least half a dozen crowd surfers along was tiring me out plus, not to mention, all the crowd surfers that kept hitting my head... it just became a little too much... so I stepped out for a breather!

Which would then bring us back to...

Underoath [myspace | PureVolume | Amazon] who was simply amazing, and surprised me with their set in a couple things...

I loved how they opened with the video on the backdrop playing Salmarnir as they came on stage... that was an amazing entrance! I probably won't ever listen to that song differently...

And then how from there they broke into playing In Regards to Myself... which I was expecting to be the first song they played... but this entrance was probably better!

After those two songs I jumped back into the crowd pushing my way through the moshpit and towards the front on the right side of the stage.

I pretty much stayed up there until towards the end when some punk kid wasn't paying attention to the crowd surfers and fell back bumping the back of his head in to my mouth giving me a sore lip...

Then I pushed my way back the back left where it wasn't as crowded and I could still see Underoath on stage from a decent vantage point.

The back definitely isn't as fun though... not anyone there really knew the songs or moved around nearly as much!

I was probably the only one back there singing along and head-banging to the music!

This concert was probably ten times better than the Nightwish concert that I might otherwise have gone to see...

Though I will still get their new CD Dark Passion Play sometime of which I would like to get their 2 Disk Edition [Discography].

The Underoath concert didn't let me down on its promise to be a good concert... In fact it was so much more fun and awesome than I thought it was going to be!

It definitely was well worth it all to see all of these bands play!!

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Underoath & Nightwish Concert Dilema Resolved

Underoath

vs.

Nightwish

In a previous post I talked about how there were two concerts for a couple of my top bands I like that are playing on the same night...

And I had to figure out which one, between Underoath (ticket info) and Nightwish (ticket info), I was going to go to.

What made things a little difficult to figure it out a few weeks ago was that Keith was potentially going to go to New York City to visit with Justin.... and at that time Keith was also looking for a job.

Since then he had landed a job at the local mall, and won't be able to go to New York City... as well Justin is quite busy with his own studies as well.

Which made for the possibility of Keith wanting to go see the Underoath concert almost given (as long as he wasn't working).

As well, I hadn't been so diligent enough recently to check out many of the new releases some of my favorite bands had just put out, including Nightwish's Dark Passion Play and would probably like to get the 2 Disk Edition [Discography].

Plus, Buffalo is a whole lot closer than Toronto, so I wouldn't have to pay for all that extra gas... and I just barely had enough to buy tickets to the show I am going to...

Which if you haven't figured it out yet, is Underoath! (Of which Keith will be coming along too since he doesn't work.)

Doors are at six and giving a half hour or so leeway I'll have to get Keith and be on our way by 3:30 PM... I'll have to confirm with Keith what he wants to do.

Ok, so the bands that are playing with Underoath [myspace | PureVolume | Amazon] are:

Everytime I Die [myspace | PureVolume | Amazon], a local Buffalo band, they sound ok... Probably nothing to write a whole lot about, and probably won't be as good as Poison the Well. These guys sound too much recipe cookie-cutter stuff.

Poison the Well [myspace | PureVolume | Amazon] well, what can I say about these guys... They are pretty decent, and sound like they could be rather good. Might be quite likeable! They have a somewhat softer sound with enough screaming & singing to make good songs. They seem to go with Underoath's style quite well.

Maylene + the Sons of Disaster [myspace | PureVolume | Amazon] some of their songs have a rather interesting sound, and would be interesting to see what they're like live... they almost seem a little cookie-cutter-ish, though.

It promises to be a good concert... So I will be sure to let you know how it turns out!

Should be well worth the $20 bucks for tickets and the gas to see these bands!!

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Genius Work-Around

Like I was saying in this post I started working on this cool little script in JavaScript that moves HTML objects around on a website, a really cool script overall for all sorts of floating message effects....

And after I got home from work a little after 7:00 AM this morning I have been working on giving it classes to be smart... actually, to move more than one HTML object around in a totally customizable fashion.

However, when doing such I ran into a little problem... apparently a problem a lot of people have with Classes or Objects and the setInterval() method...

Especially when you try to do this:

setInterval("ObjectName.methodName()", this.pinginterval);

Which made making my script work with classes a whole lot harder than I thought it was going to be!

And Nothing Here Is Or Was Helpful!

So I found my own super-Genius - with a capital G - workaround!!!

Instead of doing this ...

setInterval("ObjectName.methodName()", this.pinginterval);

... I did this ...

setInterval("functionName('"+ObjectName+"')", this.pinginterval);

This works for me because my Classes or Objects are in an array:

var Objects = new Array('ObjectName1', 'ObjectName2', ... 'ObjectNameN');

So as long as I kept passing the ObjectName as a parameter to each subsequent function I could then call anything I want from the Class or Object simply by using:

Objects[ObjectName].Paramater

What tripped me up and had me pulling my hair out trying to figure out what was wrong with a particular line I typed, was a simple syntax error - when I typed:

setInterval("functionName("+ObjectName+")", this.pinginterval);

Instead of typing:

setInterval("functionName('"+ObjectName+"')", this.pinginterval);

Did you see it?

I forgot to include the single quotes around the function's parameter...

So basically when the line I typed was processed by the browser it would have seen functionName(strObjectName); instead of functionName('strObjectName'); as it should be in proper syntax.....

A stupid mistake that sent me hunting and trying to figure out what was wrong with it for about a half hour!

And now after I finished the script the time is 3:30 PM

I've been working on it for about 7½ hours. (Once you factor in eating and watching TV for a bit as I pulled my hair out to find a solution!!)

This all just goes to show one thing....

I AM A GENIUS!!

And that's final!

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

A New Direction

Lately, I've sorta been bummed and a little depressed at how things are going, and what I'm sorta forced to do do because of my various circumstances.

So I've been thinking quite a bit about what I really want, and what I really want to do... and what I really desire to become.

What I'm about to tell you might come off as unrealistic, selfish or some other negative reflection... but I really have to write this stuff down as a way to make it more realistic and more official as a direction for what my aims are.

Oh, and these things might not be as best said or everything, but it's the core of what I really want... so with no further adieu:

What I really Want...

The time and resources (mostly monetary to get the stuff I'd like to have, but also includes non-monetary things) to do whatever I want when I feel like doing it.

Have the coolest, latest technology (mostly computer devices - hardware, software and accessories).

To sleep when I want for as long as I want, or stay up whenever I want for as long or short as I want... so that I can do whatever I want... or in other words - Not be tied to a schedule.

To work on my great web 2.0 / revolutionary web app ideas.

Have my own web hosting to sell as well as to differ the costs of hosting my websites / web app ideas mentioned above.

The Solution...

Based on what I just listed above as what I really want, the solution is provided therein.

Since I listed my desires from greatest to least (for the most-part), as a solution if I work on the list from the bottom up then each item I work on will provide the solution for the previous item.

Which is why I am so eager to start my own web hosting business.

The End Result...

The end result then would be that I would be the owner of a web technology business.

And that is what I really want to become...

AntiTrust

Gary Winston

Sorta like the movie AntiTrust, where I would be like the owner of NURV... but instead of creating the communication software stuff, it would be for creating and developing my sweet web app ideas that I have and may get.

I would be like a mix of CEO Gary Winston and the programmer Milo Hoffmann where I would enjoy running the company and using my genius to do any of coding that I would like.

However, I won't use any of the sneaky, underhanded methods that Gary Winston uses... and hopefully won't have the problems that they encounter with the law.

... Other than perhaps an unintentional monopoly!

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

JavaScript Action Text

I am working on this cool little script in JavaScript that will move HTML objects around on a website, a really cool script overall for the unblockable 'pop-up' floating messages and other really cool object moving uses.

I am going to be using this script on the new website I am creating for my cousin's insurance agency (VanScoter Insurance Agency) to create something that looks like the moving text on Noto Insurance's website... but the major difference is that with the script I am making it won't use flash, which is harder for search engines to read and index, and will load faster.

But, to make so that it can move multiple HTML objects on the same page that are different CSS Classes (which is how each object is identified on the page) I am needed to figure out how to use classes in JavaScript.

Web Developer's Journal

So when researching how to create and use classes I found this Tutorial on WebDevelopersJournal.com that describes how to create functions and classes...

And as it turns out, classes are easier to define and create in javascript than I thought they would be.

So once I get home (I'm doing this post at work - The Ridgemont Wegmans) I am going to fix up my script.

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Pip & My Sequel Trouble

PHP

MySQL

Ok, it's actually PHP 4.4.7 and MySQL 5.0.x!

On my Mac Mini (Intel) I've got Mac OS X 10.4.10 and it comes with it's own Apache Server, in fact all Mac OSX distributions have Apache built in.

I don't remember, but apparently sometime I had installed PHP 4.4.7 and PHP 5 (to use both) I wanted to get MySQL on it because I wanted to start developing some serious web stuff locally...

Since the unfortunate total disappearance a month ago of the last web host I had used... and subsequently lost everything I was working on because I was developing it on their server(s) -- Bad mistake: Not backing anything up just because I didn't have MySQL!

So I got the latest MySQL 5.0.45 release for Mac OS X in the easy installer package format.

PHPMyAdmin

I proceeded to install it and checked to see if it worked with PHP 5 using PHPMyAdmin.

AND... Giddy it worked!

Now I go into the Terminal.app Unix Shell Application and type:

sudo cp /etc/httpd/php4.httpd.conf /etc/httpd/httpd.conf

Switch to PHP 4 and reload the PHPMyAdmin... And I'm Greeted with:

Error

MySQL said:

#2002 - The server is not responding (or the local MySQL server's socket is not correctly configured)

What On Earth!!

I have no idea what that really means...

So I spent the good part of four days researching and trying a bunch of crap to get it to work... by changing the php.ini file by changing the line...

; Default socket name for local MySQL connects. If empty, uses the built-in
; MySQL defaults.
mysql.default_socket =

TO:

; Default socket name for local MySQL connects. If empty, uses the built-in
; MySQL defaults.
mysql.default_socket =/tmp/mysql.sock

Restart the Apache Server and try to reload PHPMyAdmin...

And to no avail I still see...

Error

MySQL said:

#2002 - The server is not responding (or the local MySQL server's socket is not correctly configured)

So after taking a break and coming back I think of linking the mysql socket to where PHP 4 is looking for it....

mysql

MySQL Support	enabled
Active Persistent Links	0
Active Links	0
Client API version	4.1.22
MYSQL_MODULE_TYPE	external
MYSQL_SOCKET	/var/mysql/mysql.sock
MYSQL_INCLUDE	-I/usr/include/mysql
MYSQL_LIBS	-L/usr/lib/mysql -lmysqlclient

... In... /var/mysql/mysql.sock

And The info for PHP 5, which works with MySQL is:

mysql

MySQL Support	enabled
Active Persistent Links	0
Active Links	0
Client API version	5.0.19
MYSQL_MODULE_TYPE	external
MYSQL_SOCKET	/tmp/mysql.sock
MYSQL_INCLUDE	-I/usr/local/php5/include/mysql
MYSQL_LIBS	-L/usr/local/php5/lib/mysql -lmysqlclient

So why not create an alias linking /var/mysql/mysql.sock to /tmp/mysql.sock

Not being so fluent in Unix Command-Line stuff, I struggled to figure out how to do this and found this site... Here's what I did (the clean and easy to follow version):

1. Create 'mysql' folder in /var/
2. Create A Link Of /tmp/mysql.sock As /var/mysql/mysql.sock
3. Restart The Apache Server

The Commands:

$ sudo mkdir /var/mysql/
$ sudo ln /tmp/mysql.sock /var/mysql/mysql.sock
$ sudo apachectl graceful
/usr/sbin/apachectl graceful: httpd gracefully restarted

And ooh-la-la it works!

Sure it's probably a bit unorthadox, and PHP 4 only has Client API for 4.1.22... but MySQL doesn't change much on the front-end I'm assuming so it should be pretty good.

Everything was confirmed working after creating and editing the same table in MySQL 5 using PHP 4 and PHP 5

Update:

It has come to my attention that though the above may work... it may not work as well as it should...

Because I've run into the instance where the link I would create using $ sudo ln /tmp/mysql.sock /var/mysql/mysql.sock would disappear from /var/mysql/mysql.sock when switching from PHP 4 to PHP 5 and back to PHP 4 again after I restart somewhere in between I think.

I'm not sure where it is breaking down... but there's a couple more robust solutions that I'd suggest... and that is to change the standard link using the ln command to a symbolic link using the ln -s command in terminal.

So now the commands would now be:

$ sudo mkdir /var/mysql/
$ sudo ln -s /tmp/mysql.sock /var/mysql/mysql.sock
$ sudo apachectl graceful
/usr/sbin/apachectl graceful: httpd gracefully restarted

Or you can do what I did, and just make the folder /var/mysql a symbolic link... which is a little less work:

$ sudo ln -s /tmp/ /var/mysql/
$ sudo apachectl graceful
/usr/sbin/apachectl graceful: httpd gracefully restarted

Note: if you want to do the above there can't be a folder /var/mysql/ already, you'll need to delete it. This can be done using:

$ rm -r /var/mysql/

These commands should work better because of the difference between a hard link and a symbolic link...

A hard link (ln) disappears if the linked-to file disappears... and a symbolic link (ln -s) remains even if the linked-to file disappears and for this situation is what we need since mysql.sock seems to disappear somewhere along the lines of a restart or as described above.

Plus, since symbolic links allow you to have a folder point to another destination folder you can do $ sudo ln -s /tmp/ /var/mysql/

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for what happens to your system if you use these instructions. Though I have been able to use this methods successfully your results may vary. It is highly advisable you backup any files before changing or modifying them.

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

What's With It... I Get It

This post is going back on some things that I came across quite some some ago. I was going to post it then, but never found the time... and since I'm catching up on some posts, I thought "Why not just put it in here now?" - so here goes:

In this post we have to go back to like the 3rd week in August (I told you it was long ago)...

It was then that I came across and read this post by this girl.... If you don't want to check it out it is basically the lyrics for Chevelle's song I Get It "because it's stuck in [their] head".

The lyrics that she posted weren't anywhere near all that correct... I've got her version and the actual version of the lyrics side-to-side with the differences highlighted:

Actual Lyrics

So You Say You're Ignored
As It Is
Well Give Us Your Sad, Sad Trip

You're Right, I Get It
It All Makes Sense, You're The Perfect Person
So Right, So Wrong
Let's All Live In Your Imaginary Life

Assumed It's Whether We're Right Or Wrong
We're Doomed
And There's Plenty
For All

How Dare You Catch Me Counting
How Dare You Call At All
How Dare You Call This Suffering
How Dare You Call At All

You're Right, I Get It
It All Makes Sense, You're The Perfect Person
So Right, So Wrong
Let's All Live In Your Imaginary Life

Press On
These Tannins
They Double In Time
The Touch Of Life
Once Failed To Mention So Far

Of Course The Law Is Fountains
Of Face To Face Remorse
A Fast And Restless Blackmail
Like Pent Up Fetish Force
 

You're Right, I Get It
It All Makes Sense, You're The Perfect Person
So Right, So Wrong
Let's All Live In Your Imaginary Life

Do You Want It Enough
Do You Want It At All
Should You Need It All
Takes A Minute To See
Do You Want It Enough
Do You Want It At All
Should You Need It At All
Do You Want It Or Not

You're Right, I Get It
It All Makes Sense, You're The Perfect Person
So Right, So Wrong
Let's All Live In Your Imaginary Life

Life, Life, Life

Her Lyrics

So You Say I Make A Man
As It Is,
Well, Give Us Your Sad, Sad Trip

You're Right, I Get It
It All Makes Sense, You're The Perfect Person
So Right, So Wrong
Let's All Live In Your Imaginary Life

Assumed It's Weather
We're Right, I'm Wrong
We're Doomed, And There's Plenty For All
 

How Dare You Catch Me Counting
How Dare You Call It Off
How Dare You Call It Suffering
How Dare You Call It Off

You're Right, I Get It
It All Makes Sense, You're The Perfect Person
So Right, So Wrong
Let's All Live In Your Imaginary Life

Dress All These Turings
They're Doubled In Time
The Touch Of Life, What's Failed To Mention So Far
 
 

Of Course The Lionous Fountains
Or Face The Face We've Mauled
Of Fast And Restless Blackmail
Like Pent-up Vanished Falls

You're Right, I Get It
It All Makes Sense, You're The Perfect Person
So Right, So Wrong
Let's All Live In Your Imaginary Life

Do You Want Enough?
Do You Want It All?
Should You Need It At All?
Takes A Man To See
Do You Want Enough?
Do You Want It All?
Should You Need It At All?
Do You Want It Or Not?

You're Right, I Get It
It All Makes Sense, You're The Perfect Person
So Right, So Wrong
Let's All Live In Your Imaginary Life

Life, Life, Life.

---

Now, I can't say if she got the lyrics from somewhere else, or just 'made them up,' but seriously let's try to get them right the next time.

That's not what I'm really writing about...

As it turns out that there's this real terrible [female] DJ that works at the Zone at the late-night hours... did I mention she's annoying...

Well at work during breakdown, only a couple days after reading the post above, she said something like "Chevelle has a new single called I Get It and I'm going to play it now because it's stuck in my head, and you know what it's like when you get something stuck in your head..." blah-biddy-blah-blah, Right?

So I've been sorta wondering...

What Is It With Women And This Song?!!

Honestly that's two chicks (in the same geographical area nonetheless) that had it stuck in their head -- I don't recall it being on the radio that much... though I live a totally opposite day than everyone else (nor do I really care to listen to the radio -- especially Rochester's crappy 'rock' stations)!

Is it because this song so deeply resonates with women that live in their own little fairy-tale imaginary lives apart from reality that they get this song stuck in their head.

Or that this song strikes so much at the truth that women have this predisposition to think that they're always right (perhaps even - no matter what) and everyone should acknowledge it in them.

What's With It?

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Chevelle's Set List (Sept. 4)

I forgot to post this in the post about the Chevelle Concert.

So I guess I'll just stick it here, in a new post... the songs that Chevelle played in the concert I went to... in proper order (or so Keith thinks too):

1. Antisaint [Vena Sera]
2. Brainiac [Vena Sera]
3. Vitamin R [This Type Of Thinking]
4. Sleepwalking Elite*
5. Closure [Wonder What's Next]
6. Comfortable Liar [Wonder What's Next]
7. The Red [Wonder What's Next]
8. SMA [Point #1]
9. Saturdays [Vena Sera]
10. Get Some [This Type Of Thinking]
11. Straight Jacket Fashion [Vena Sera]
12. Well Enough Alone [Vena Sera]
13. I Get It [Vena Sera]
14. Clincher [This Type Of Thinking]
15. Send the Pain Below [Wonder What's Next]
16. Forfeit [Wonder What's Next]

* Chevelle actually played Sleepwalking Elite!!

For those of you that haven't heard it, it is an amazing song, I got it as a bonus track on my Vena Sera CD:

Vena Sera

Which actually included two demos, Sleepwalking Elite and Delivery. But Sleepwalking Elite is definitely an amazing demo.

I might be so bold as to predict that this will be one of the songs on their next CD they put out, if not their single -- if I'm bold enough to predict.

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Chevelle Concert (Sept. 4)

So a while back I went to this Chevelle concert.

And when I got back:

• I had no voice....
• I had a constant ringing in my ears!
• And I came back liking Chevelle even more!

I was probably a wreck when I got back! I was so tired that I crashed right away... I barely made it home.

Keith went with me and as he can vouch, he probably wondered if I was going to fall asleep driving back or drive off the road.

(I inadvertently switched lanes several times because I was so tired and could barely keep my eyes open... Thank God for the Doritos I brought, once I started munching on them I was able to stay awake better!)

Now back to the concert -- here are some of my comments and what I thought about it...

Ok, so the first opening band at the concert was 2 Cents [myspace | Amazon] they were a pretty heavy and energetic opening band.

Perhaps they were better live than I had initially perceived they would have been though I really didn't like their profanity.

But I think the fact that makes up for it is that they played their song Victims of Pop Culture that goes "pop music is the enemy..." and bashed a lot of those crappy little bands that really suck. Check out the last question in this interview to discover the meaning!

The second opener for Chevelle then was Fair To Midland [myspace | Amazon] who definitely had an interesting, and very light sound to them - even live.

Fair To Midland was very predictable in their music, like you can tell when they would jam out and then instantly stop and start again. And, beyond just that all their songs sounded pretty much the same!

So much so to the point that you started to ask yourself "didn't they just play this song?" - not that cool.

I'm perhaps surprised that though I thought I would have liked Fair To Midland more than I actually did after seeing them live... and what didn't help them was that the lead singer when 'dancing' would pretty much spaz-out on the stage as if ceasing in an upright position.

So as it turns out I liked 2Cents more than I liked Fair To Midland (minus their profanity).

And now we're up to Chevelle [myspace | Amazon] the headlining band. That have been touring for their new record...

Vena Sera

And their most recent single from the CD I Get It.

There are a lot of great things to say about them this concert.

It seems that everyone in the band just seemed to have more fun at this concert than at the last concert I saw with them, especially Dean:

They played a lot more of their older songs from Wonder What's Next and some from Point #1. And with a lot of the songs it seemed that Dean and even Pete would add a little extra to their playing, adding an extra chord and changing the sound / music a little.

As a whole they interacted a lot more and better with the audience! And they actually smiled and messed around with each other on stage, it was definitely a great concert!!

Even though Magic City Music Hall had a terrible sound and speaker set up that made it sound pretty crappy if you were right in front of the stage -- but it was still a great concert (you can't hold that against Chevelle or the other bands)!!

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Step Aside For The "Insightful Linguist"

I was browsing online and came across the folloaing ad for tickle.com's Classic IQ test:

(See if you can figure out which one is the right one above!)

I figured out which was the right one and thought I would probably do well.

So I took the test. Here're my results:

Your IQ score is 129

This number is based on a scientific formula that compares how many questions you answered correctly on the Classic IQ Test relative to others.

Your Intellectual Type is Insightful Linguist. This means you are highly intelligent and have the natural fluency of a writer and the visual and spatial strengths of an artist. Those skills contribute to your creative and expressive mind.

Take That!

So I am pretty much a genius!

Those picture questions were pretty fun... and the logic ones were fairly easy.

Give it a shot and see what you score!

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Honestly Guys

You know what... Honestly I don't really care anymore!

No, I don't!!

You see, I've been involved in all this Thirty Day Challenge stuff, and I'm almost not quite sure why I do it....

Yeah, I want to have my own business and make money through it and stuff, but the way the Thirty Day Challenge stuff is really isn't my style.

No, I'm not diss-ing Ed Dale or Dan Raine or anything.... or even Frank Kern who was part of it in the past!

I really look up to these guys and they know what they're talking about... they're geniuses.

So What Is It?

I am not quite entirely sure of that myself... but here are a few guesses of what it might be:

My Job...

First, and probably foremost is the fact that I work... yes, I work a horrible job... at the worst time of day...

I work at Wegmans... which might be a great place to work anywhere else, but working on the night-crew is tough.... tougher than anyone might expect.

Sure, it's just stocking shelves but that's not necessarily the issue.

It's the fact that you have to take a lot of flack from management and all of their incompetence... stupid annoying managers, power-tripping managers, managers that don't know a [blooming] thing... just plain dumb managers!

Don't get me wrong. Some, or most of the managers I've had are great... but it's those few managers that [stink] beyond all telling that totally ruin it!

But besides just management working on the night-crew is extremely stressful... it's stressful on the body and can be stressful mentally.

Sometimes it's enough to make you
totally want to give up on everything!

And then there's the time factor...

I dont' have the time I would like to have - working over 40 hours a week most of the time - to work on the stuff I would like to work on... which isn't even going into the fact that if I ever have a little time I'm worn out from work or so mentally stressed that I can't concentrate on much of anything!

Debt...

Probably one of the other top most reasons for my mass confusion is my debt...

I should explain that for the last few years I have managed to rack up debt in excess of $7,000 just on my credit cards.... which has been paying it's toll on me for the past year and a half.

And most if it wasn't really stuff that helped me any, between at least $500 in school books and $3,500 in a really crappy online business coaching service that didn't even tell me anything I didn't already know!... I could have avoided a lot of it!

I've been gradually been paying that off for the first year... but since I've gone full-time at Wegmans I've been trying to get rid of that burden once and for all!

I am actually pretty close to paying off the debt on my credit cards and expect to have all paid off by the end of next month. Horray!

But that doesn't even touch the surface when it comes to my school loans, though!

Yes, like every little boy and girl (Who doesn't have mommy and daddy or someone else pay for their college expenses in full) I had to take out student loans to pay for my stupid lame-old college education...

And quite honestly it really hasn't done anything for me and probably never will (to any great extent)... since business is something you learn in practice, not in books!

So as a result I had racked up school loans of like $21,354.

So if you can do the math I have, or had, debt of almost $30,000!

Okay, sure that might not seem like a whole lot to some people, or at least just looking at the numbers... but in comparison to the diddly-squat amount that I make, it's surprising at how much I've been able to do with my credit card debt!

I barely make enough money for anyone to live out on their own... not to mention anyone with huge amounts of college loans to pay off!

I barely make $15,000 a year and having to pay my parents rent every month (which is only a couple hundred less than renting anywhere else, though food and meals are included) plus other financial obligations...

I'm surprised that I've been able to sanely make it this far (though some people might question that).

Not Doing What I Like...

I guess that's what it pretty much boils down to.

I'm not doing anything that I like!

Quite honestly I would rather be sitting up in my room or small office and doing web design and coding stuff all day long... that's what I find fascinating and interesting and fun.

But the trouble is with all these other barriers in my way - mostly financial - that I can't just go and do that... unless someone would offer to pay off all my loans, and provide me food and housing with the web space and stuff to do that!

That would be great... I'd love it... but it's very improbable!

Which is probably why, once I finish paying off my credit card loans and stuff I will start to look more thoroughly for a job where I can do the things that I like!

A job where I can be involved in web design or stuff on the internet... and work during the day or on my own hours where I won't put my body through so much stress!

Wow, that was longer than I expected it to be, so I'll just leave it at that for now.

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Google Ranking [Chevelle Site:blogspot.com]

In the last couple days I have managed to get this blogged ranked pretty well among all the other Blogger/Blogspot blogs that mention Chevelle in them!

For this you would have to type Chevelle site:blogspot.com in Google's search box to see what the rank of the blog is among all the other Blogspot blogs out there that mention Chevelle.

Of all the Blogger blogs on Blogspot, I have managed to get my blog listed as #32 in all the blogs that mention Chevelle, and yesterday at 2:30 PM was the first post I made about Chevelle!

For the fun of it I checked where anything on Keith's blog showed up... and the first instance of anything on his blog in Google's SERPs that had Chevelle on it was ranked as page #263.

This blog is also ranked #729 when you type chevelle band without quotes. I didn't even see Keith's blog in any of those listings.

And when you type in Chevelle band site:blogspot.com, this blog is #13 in Google's SERP among all the other Blogger/Blogspot blogs that mention Chevelle and band!

Note: that these rankings are very likely only temporary, because as content is added it will remove my Chevelle keyword density and likely bump me down in Google's SERPs... though it would be cool if I got higher in Google's SERPs.

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Concert Conflict...

I was just on facebook poking around at some of the various bands iLike...

I just found out that Underoath who I really like will be playing near Buffalo, New York on Tuesday, October 23rd at the Evolution Entertainment Complex in Cheektowaga, New York (ticket info).

However, Nightwish is another band I really like that is playing the same night in Toronto, Ontario Canada - just across the lake. They are playing at The Docks Nightclub and Concert Theatre (ticket info).

  vs.  

Underoath                             Nightwish

Depending on how Nightwish's upcoming album Dark Passion Play [2 Disk Edition | Discography] is, I might be in quite a predicament to choose which concert to go to...

I have to wait and see how their new stuff is because they just got a new female vocalist, and I don't have enough of an idea of how they are just based on their new single Eva, because it is a very light song.

Hopefully Nightwish hasn't gone too soft on me... I like their heavy rock mixed with Tuomas's interest in soundtrack composing... it gives a real interesting sound in a lot of their stuff.

So far it seems much more likely that I will go to the Underoath Concert because I'm sure that Keith would want to go to that... and I don't know if anyone would want ot go to the Nightwish concert with me... Plus Underoath will be coming closer!

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Mini Happy Dance!

My web 2.0 content in the market I was talking about in the previous post finally got into Google's SERP (Search Engine Ranking Page)!

And I didn't have to pay to get there with AdWords....

Horray!

Here's the break-down of what happened:

• I Posted content to it on 8/21/07 at 8:51 AM and 9:28 AM.
• Set up a unique social bookmarking account for the popular social bookmarking services and bookmarked it at about 9:30 AM.
• Google actually crawled my content 8/21/07 at 13:33:05 GMT... Soooo - minus 4 (Eastern Daylight / Summer Time)... would make it 9:33AM
• Set up a unique social bookmarking account for all the other services at 9:35 AM.
• Then proceeded to social bookmark it at all those places at 10:45 AM.
• ... [Got bored and did some other stuff] ...
• Created a Squidoo Lens for my stuff at 3:30 AM on 8/22/07.
• Social bookmarked said Squidoo lens in popular bookmarking services with alternative account at 4:00 AM
• ... [Poked around the web a bit] ...
• Manually added my site to Google's To-Be-Crawled list, not having seen it in Google's SERPs even by 7:00 AM the following day!
• ... [Got really frustrated an made my last post at 7:30 AM] ...
• Finally am listed on Google's SERPs between 8:45 AM and 2:15 PM on 8/22/07 when I was resting.

  Here's some of the Data:

  For phrase match I'm listed as #111 (the eleventy-first result)

  For broad match I'm listed as #710

  Not quite in the top ten... but we'll see what I can do!

I didn't get out of Google's supplemental index or passed into their main index from their cache index 23-29 hours later!

What did this...

• Was it the fact that a bunch of other 30DCers were already in the market and using the same platform?
• Was it the fact that Google finds it fishy that all of a sudden a bunch of content was added to the social bookmarking sphere with the same tag(s) in a relatively short period of time?
• Does Google not put Blogger/Blogspot content in the SERPs right away?
• Was it the fact that I was trying too hard to get into Google?
• Did I mess up at some small little thing that I missed in the 30DC content?
• Did I do something wrong?

I think Google is just smarter and tricker than we know about how it moves stuff aorund it's indices.

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Just STOP IT!

Hey this goes out to all the 30DC people that have the same market idea I have:

WOULD YOU GET OUT OF MY MARKET!

Stop, turn, and run away... I have one decent market idea that I just put all my extra time that I have left into it.

And all of you are messing it up for me!

Seriously, that's not cool!

But Here's What It Really Is...

I don't really like any of the market ideas I have, sure I have a list of like 30 market ideas... but quite honestly I don't like any of them.

I wish that I could just pay someone to do all the boring work that I don't want to do... but my job sucks and doesn't pay me enough - plus it doesn't even leave me enough time to do what I really want to do.

So instead I've done all this work the last week in a market that a thousand other 30DCers thought of and I'm not getting anywhere in google and hating every moment of it.

I also set up accounts for other ideas on like blogger and got them their own emails.... but one I don't really know anything about and the market is too broad for me and I can't find anything decent to post about...

And the other is good and interesting with like maybe only one other 30DCer out there, but I am like totally stumped for creating any amount of content for it... at least any kind of quality content.

Also there's another market I saw that I might be able to work with... but I don't want to work with any of the stuff that I have now! So why should I really be looking at another?

If any of this were up to me I'd have my successful company and be working on other more fun scripting and tech stuff online.

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

The Last Chevelle Concert

Here's a video from the previous Chevelle concert that Keith and I went to on May 25, 2007 at The Town Ballroom in Buffalo, New York.

[You might want to make sure your speakers are turned down... this has real bad sound quality!]

Chevelle - Vitamin R:

This was one of the best concerts that we've / I've been too!

I am still convinced that when I had my fist up when Dean was near us, and when I pulled my fist away for a second and put it back up, that by doing that was actually what made Dean hit my fist with his fist and follow-through to hit Keith's fist as well.... that I don't think that without my little 'takeaway' with my fist that Dean would have hit our fists!

Also on one of the final songs I got to touch Dean's guitar as he held it out.

At the end of the concert Dean was about to hand me the guitar pick he was playing with, but I pulled my hand away and let Keith take it because before the concert he said he wanted to get somehting from the concert... and what better than for him to get Dean's pick.

I wasn't too disapointed because Keith got me another Chevelle guitar pick from a security guy during stage cleanup.

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Upcoming CHEVELLE Concert!

On Tuesday September, 4th Chevelle is coming relatively close-by, and I want to go see them. They are going to be in Binghamton, New York at the Magic City Music Hall. (Ticket info)

So Chevelle [myspace | Amazon] is the headlining band, and their new record...

Vena Sera

... is simply amazing!!

Plus, let's not forget about Dean:

The new addition of Dean on the bass (who replaced Joe) was a great move!

Opening for Chevelle is Fair To Midland (cool website btw) [myspace | Amazon] who have an interesting, slightly lighter sound to them.

Also opening for Chevelle is 2 Cents [myspace | Amazon] who are a little heavier and use various styles in their music.

So I will be there to see Chevelle play.... again, after seeing them play earlier this summer in Buffalo, New York.

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

My Blog

Hey there!

This is my blog... The blog belonging to Ben VanScoter, and so it shall be!

I have the right to post anything and everything or nothing for that matter that I want!

... And if you don't like it, that's fine too, but don't whine to me!

This great nation has given everyone the right to say whatever they want so I shall exploit my right to that here.

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.