BIGPRU.com

What-A-Week

2006-07-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

It's been an interesting week since Josh, Joel and Brian have been gone this week it's been up to me and Tim. But things have been alright... just allot of work.

I have keeping an eye out for Impact pics on Flickr, so if you post some drop me a comment.

[Sorry, I keep adding things to this post] I wanted to make sure that you guys check out the Keypoint Church videos that we have put online, they are also available as an iTunes "video podcast".

I found this today on YouTube, enjoy:

One Of My Pet Peaves

2006-06-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

I have three pet peaves, this is one of them:

"KNWA has a new digital channel on the cable up here and they are supposed to be broadcasting in High-Definition. However the cable channel is broadcasting a regular 4:3 tv image stretched out to fit a 16:9 frame. basically, its not high def and all the people look fat because they are stretched out horizontally. their anchors look bad enough on regular tv and now they all look bloated in "HD""
- Arkansas TV News

Nothing looks worse than video stretched out of proportion.

What are my other "peaves"? Businesses that put up signs made up of a white piece of 8.5x11 and the font "Comic Sans". People that refer to "movies" as "shows". Example: Steven Segall was in it, it was a good show.

Demon Hunter at the Music Hall

2006-06-23T00:11:00.000-07:00

Real quick 'cuz I need to get to bed... the Demon Hunter show was-a-delight. Most people agreed Zao was thumbs down, but the opening act ???, Spoken and Demon Hunter were the favorites (5 bands performed in this marathon concert). It was me, Josh and Troy... pictures on my flickr.

Is anyone watching Super Group on VH1? I like it... SAVAGE---ANIMAL!

Fastest Growing Cities, Complete List

2006-06-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

This was released yesterday by the Census
Bureau, it's a list of the fastest growing cities in the US.

I would be curious to see if Rogers or Bentonville make it next year. There are 1,000 people moving to the county every month, but I am guessing it is split between two cities.

Rank	Geographic area		July 1, 2005	July 1, 2004	Number	Percent Change
1	Phoenix city	AZ	1,461,575	1,417,119	44,456	3.1
2	San Antonio city	TX	1,256,509	1,235,089	21,420	1.7
3	Fort Worth city	TX	624,067	603,067	21,000	3.5
4	North Las Vegas city	NV	176,635	158,540	18,095	11.4
5	Gilbert town	AZ	173,989	156,816	17,173	11.0
6	Raleigh city	NC	341,530	327,547	13,983	4.3
7	Port St. Lucie city	FL	131,692	118,655	13,037	11.0
8	Charlotte city	NC	610,949	598,206	12,743	2.1
9	Bakersfield city	CA	295,536	283,010	12,526	4.4
10	Moreno Valley city	CA	178,367	166,261	12,106	7.3
11	Cape Coral city	FL	140,010	128,193	11,817	9.2
12	Elk Grove city	CA	112,338	100,686	11,652	11.6
13	Chandler city	AZ	234,939	223,895	11,044	4.9
14	Las Vegas city	NV	545,147	534,506	10,641	2.0
15	Albuquerque city	NM	494,236	483,844	10,392	2.1
16	Rancho Cucamonga city	CA	169,353	159,110	10,243	6.4
17	San Jose city	CA	912,332	902,760	9,572	1.1
18	Austin city	TX	690,252	680,748	9,504	1.4
19	Irvine city	CA	186,852	178,085	8,767	4.9
20	Miami city	FL	386,417	378,654	7,763	2.1
21	Henderson city	NV	232,146	224,542	7,604	3.4
22	Los Angeles city	CA	3,844,829	3,837,399	7,430	0.2
23	Stockton city	CA	286,926	279,818	7,108	2.5
24	El Paso city	TX	598,590	591,748	6,842	1.2
25	Jacksonville city	FL	782,623	776,104	6,519	0.8

My Conan O'Brien Coffee Mug

2006-06-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

My Conan O'Brien Coffee Mug
Originally uploaded by BigPru.

It was 10:30am Saturday morning when I heard a knock on the door. I rolled out of bed looked through my peep whole and I saw two blurry uniformed figures standing outside my door. I was a little startled... did I wait too long to pay that ticket?

As it turns out it was a delivery service, my eyes never fully came into focus so I couldn't tell you which one. They said "sign here" I drew a perfectly straight line across the LCD and they handed me my mystery package. I wasn't expecting anything what could it be?

Amy and Joe sent me a Conan O'Brien mug! Thank you guys that was really nice of you. Now I just need someone to interview...

How Long Are You Going To Live?

2006-06-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you run into things online that you didn't know were available, like a jpg that tells how long you can expect to live. Check this out:

Huennerkopf being my moms maiden name, it's good to see that expectancy working it's way back up.We don't know any other Pruzaniecs in the world besides the family in Chicago. Is it up to me and Nathan alone to carry on the family name?

Goodbye XNAMEDIA.com

2006-06-16T22:01:00.000-07:00

So-so sad. Josh lost his domain this week because he let it expire like a total n00b. Who bought his domain? Well indirectly Rupert Murdock (MySpace, Fox News, 24) did, he owns Intermix Media which owns ENom which is a domain "reseller"... they look for soon to expire domains, purchase them, then they wait to see how much traffic it generates and sell it based on it's popularity. Josh is going to be back at it soon, only I can't tell you the new domain because it hasn't been finalized yet... but you could figure it out if you used your imagination.

In other nerd related information, my blog is a wreck as you may have noticed. It's not worth the effort to fix since I am working on something new. I bought myself a book today. I think I am going to enjoy this one.

Cox Communication Blocks My FTP After Transferring 5MB

2006-06-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

aI am "insane with anger". After uploading 5MB worth of files to my website last night my FTP client started saying "cannot connect to server". I figured that it was a problem with that particular server so I tried another site with a different hosting company, same thing "cannot connect to server". I spent about 10 minutes trying a combination of different clients and my laptop, then I realized... my ISP is refusing ALL outgoing FTP communication (port 21). It was late so I decided to sleep on it, "maybe they are having some kind of problem weird problem" I thought to myself.

Today on my lunch break I called Cox Communications customer service and spoke with "Will" (we'll call him). He informed me that I probably had a block put on my modem and there was nothing he could do about it. He further explained to me that most people connect to the Internet for web browsing and email and I am in the 1% of subscribers who use their Cox Internet to trade files with non Cox servers. He also informed me that they are always on the lookout for people that are trading MP3 files that way.

Me: Can you transfer me to that department so I can talk to someone about this?
Will: No, but you can send an email to "abuse@cox.net" and they will review your request
Me: It is absolutely absurd that I transfer under 20MB (I was estimating) of files and you block me, I thought I was purchasing access to the Internet
Will: Well you may have violated the EULA and that is something that they will look at. We look at residential accounts with allot of scrutiny, we have business class Internet where we expect all kinds of VOIP, VPN and FTP traffic.

I am not sure how many people reading this have heard about the recent net neutrality discussion, but ISPs are trying to get people to pay more for the same old Internet access that we've all been enjoying for years. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but the customer service rep I was speaking to mentioned "business class" Internet at least 4 times to me.

He did end up sending in the email on my behalf, after arguing on the phone for 15 minutes. What was I uploading you ask? I uploaded wordpress to two different servers at 2.5MB a piece.

A Case of the Tuesdays

2006-06-13T07:57:00.000-07:00

Just another day at work at National Home Centers. I have been taking for granted how cool it is that I am working in a corporate office for a big company. Speaking of taking for granted, I forgot to recharge my iPod last night so I am stuck here at work with no podcasts! dangit.

I have finally arrived at version 2.0 of my apartment configuration. I bought and assembled a TV stand from Wal-Mart and I now have a table just for my PC and two laptops (NHC gave me a vaio this week). The funny part is my bed is in the living room because I still lack a couch so it works for now, but I am starting to get desperate! I have a bedroom that I have spent less than an hour in.

My traffic really spiked yesterday, that's what digg will do for you.

The Movie Cover Rip-Offs

2006-06-11T17:15:00.000-07:00

Every time I go to the video store I have to stop and laugh at the "rip-off covers". These are B movies that try to grab your attention by appearing similar to other popular movies. Here is what I found:

Blood of Beasts has the same color as the first LOTR and looks allot like Return of the King

This one could be a coincidence, but I think they look suspiciously similar.

Clawed "the legend of the Sasquatch", no thanks

The guy on the cover even looks like Brendan Fraser

By far my favorite, The Aviator cover looks creepy anyway. Maybe it is just asking to be made into a horror cover.

Thanks Kim for pointing this one out and inspiring this post.

Only one cup?

2006-06-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

It's really sad, I just got up to get a drink only to realize my only cup was in the dishwasher. Won't you help me?

If you have ONE cup that you would be willing to part with send it my way.

[address removed]

Look at this photograph...

2006-06-03T01:10:00.000-07:00

I had a great vacation last week in Ohio. It was great seeing all guys again. ~~I just deleted this sentence because it's 3am and it didn't make sense.~~

I took some time today to organize some photos that I and some other people took while I was visiting, they are in the flash window below (music by Nickelback):

I am finally getting used to my Apartment, only I don't have any internet (or cable) yet. Thank you "Linksys" and "Default" for providing free intermediary wireless.

2006-05-26T10:04:00.000-07:00

It's 11:58pm I just moved everything into my apartment last night and I haven't packed a thing for my trip to Ohio (my flight leaves in 6 1/2 hours). So that is what I will be using my lunch break for today.

Hopefully I don't get stuck on any small planes this time (it would be nice if I could stand up in the cabin). But besides seeing friends and family today I want to check out one of these "Chicago style hotdogs" with "lightly dilled pickles" Josh won't shut-up about.

Another Arkansas Milestone

2006-05-23T06:55:00.000-07:00

I hit another Arkansas milestone today, actually this morning on my way to work. My first ticket! The speed limit was probably about 45 MPH and the guy in front of me was going about 15 in his 1920 Chevy truck, so I passed him. Unfortunately for me there aren't any passing lanes (that I've seen) anywhere in Northwest Arkansas. My ticket is for "passing on a double yellow line" and my court date is June 13th at 9am.

And I will add that pull over time was not anymore than 5 minutes, anyone who has been pulled over in Ohio knows they will sit back in their cruiser and take a nap after they get your license and proof of insurance.

Joel Is Here

2006-05-18T19:58:00.000-07:00

Joel has arrived. After I got off work at 5 we went out to eat at the Express Marketplace (we only go there for visitors) in Pinnacle Hills. We finished the night with a little Risk, which I won by a landslide thanks to easy mission cards. I think Joel is putting ringtones on his phone as we ~~speak~~ type. It's nice seeing an Ohio friend in Northwest Arkansas again.

Hey, I Found Your Keys

2006-05-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

So I lost Josh's keys yesterday. I was in the office and I must've picked them up off of the desk. He was looking for them all day yesterday and he insinuated that he lost sleep over it.

So to Josh: truly sorry, I am bad about losing my keys... but I rarely lose other people's keys as well.

Arkansas Law

2006-05-15T06:33:00.000-07:00

Here's something I bet you didn't know. According to Arkansas state law, the sheriff may only be arrested by the county coroner. From what i understand this is a law left over from "frontier days".

Moustache May is Upon Us [Update 2]

2006-05-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again! The worst month dedication in internet history is here once again. Let's all celebrate... or grow a moustache.

[Update 2: The last link was broke here's the real PSD version of the the MM logo for those that want to get in on this]

I Have an Apartment!

2006-04-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

I finally have a permanent residence in Arkansas! I filled out my application today at The Links in Lowell, they ran a background check (which I barely passed) and a credit check and I was approved. I am excited, I will have a place all to myself for the first time in my life, plus it's a nice apartment.

On the grounds they have a basketball court, tennis court, 9-hole golf course, fitness center and a pool. My one bedroom apartment is on the second floor with a balcony overlooking the tennis courts. I will be moving in June 3rd (right when i get back from Ohio). wzerozerot

The Mexican News

2006-04-29T17:12:00.000-07:00

Apparently all Mexicans are going on strike this Monday to show the country how much they are needed. I heard this from a source at work. I have also heard that allot of contractors have countered by promising to fire anyone who misses work that day. So if you are looking for a job...

Also in Mexican news, the local Wal-Mart has a "Cinco de Mayo" aisle setup. I wasn't quite sure what holiday it was for at first, then I noticed that there was an awful lot of flower tortillas and apple soda.

[Amber points out: "It wouldn't just be Mexicans protesting"

and my reply is: "That was an inside joke that I failed to explain. Exeryone down here refers to them as Mexicans... which is potentially offensive to someone who is from Central America. I was trying to make fun of their oversight (I just didn't do a good job)."]

It's The Phrase of the Week

2006-04-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

Forget "viral" and "guerrilla" marketing all of the rage these days is:

"Inadvertant Interactive Marketing"

What I Know About My Job [Part 1]

2006-04-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

It's my second week here at my new job (which I do like by the way) and I have learned the following:

- I am the youngest person working in corporate

- Allot of my job is shaking people down for product dimensions

- A credenza isn't a flower

- The floor is noisy, I can sense exactly where people are in the building by the floor vibration

- I have learned allot about the kindness of others

OK, I made that last one up.

Hack: Tiger Widgets on the Desktop

2006-04-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

I have a cool little hack to share for you mac users out there. If you have switched from Yahoo widgets to Tiger widgets then you know that you no longer have the ability to put widgets on your desktop. Here's a hack that changes that:

How to activate the Dashboard dvelopment mode. Open the Terminal and type " defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES" (retype with "NO" to disable) and press Return. Then type "Killall Dock" to reset your widgets. Now debugging mode is activated. To get a widget off of the Dashboard and onto your desktop, just do the following:

1. Activate Dashboard by pressing F12 (or whatever key you've assigned to Dashboard).
2. Begin dragging the widget.
3. Press F12 again, before letting up on the mouse button.
4. Drop the widget wherever you want it.

You can do the same thing in reverse to drag the widget back onto the Dashboard. Also of interest: while a widget is frontmost, you can press Command-R to reload it.

[from macosxhints.com]

What Does That... Do?

2006-04-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

According to Josh: "A dimmer pack is a glorified power strip" I heard him say it for the 12th time today.

Kohls Is A Rip-Off

2006-04-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

I went to Kohls last night to pick up a pair of "not from Wal-Mart" khakis and I found a pair of Levis that I really liked. The cash register rang them up for $40 and so I told the guy that I thought they were around $30.

He just turns to his computer and types in "$30.00" without price checking. I learned two things from this experience:

1. Department stores are ALWAYS ripping you off with mis-priced items

2. I should've said they were "like $9"

First Day

2006-04-17T11:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it's my first day at work and I think I am going to like it here. Just like Tony & Jennifer said at Easter dinner yesterday (it was weird not spending Easter with family BTW) the people here are real nice.

I get to work with an Apple G5 with a cinema display (and a "Planar" second monitor). But that's not all they also have a snack room around the corner from my office that is stocked with a bunch of drinks and snacks. w00t

I Got A Job

2006-04-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

As I reported in a post 2 weeks ago I went out and bought a suite for my interview at National Home Centers. Apparently it helped because today I got the job. I am excited about this opportunity, I start this Monday.

Not Awesome...
Traffic is going to be bad in the morning, I don't think I have experienced 8am traffic yet but come 5pm you don't want to be anywhere near 540 and Walnut I will tell you that right now.

Awesome...
National Home Centers is like Lowe's with furniture and I get some kind of employee discount... don't know how much yet. But I may be looking for furniture soon. Here's a list of employment benefits from the website:

"Top Pay, Two weeks paid vacation after only one year! Paid holidays! Health & Dental insurance assistance! Prescription drug card! Paid Life Insurance! 401K retirement eligibility after only two months! Employee Discount!"

Is There a Chipotle Here Already?

2006-04-07T23:07:00.000-07:00

There a brand new burrito joint called Moe's Southwestern Grill that just opened here in Rogers. Pastor Casey called Josh today to tell him about it... he said, "It's just like Chipotle". I couldn't believe it, my favorite burrito could be 3.0 miles down the road!

I ordered the " Homewrecker" today and I have to say it's not quite Chipotle, but it's pretty close. The ingredients that missed the mark is the hot salsa, the rice and the cheese. But they do have free wi-fi which is a huge plus for me, especially since I can stay 'till 11pm.

More Tornados...

2006-04-06T20:17:00.000-07:00

The weather here is great 98% of the time, but we have those days when tornados come rolling through. A tornado may have touched down 30 miles south of us, but we won't really know until tomorrow. It's one of those things that takes some adjusting to, it's a little bit easier once you remember that most of them are small and most homes could survive a direct impact. Although "DVD" size hail is not a laughing matter.

The WuFFCers must've had an interesting night in Tulsa.

How to Upgrade Your Godaddy Account

2006-04-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

I was amazed when I saw that Godaddy had lowered prices, unfortunately if you have an existing hosting plan you won't automatically get the discount and the additional storage. I contacted support and this is how you upgrade your account:

1. Go to godaddy.com and login.
2. Log in using your account username (which may be the same as your customer number) and password.
3. Select "Web Hosting & Databases" from the "Hosting & Email" menu at the top of the page.
4. Click the domain you wish to upgrade or downgrade.
5. Click on the 'Upgrade/Downgrade Hosting Account' link on the right
6. Follow the instructions to select the plan you require. (I used Linux Deluxe Hosting with CGI - v2 - $6.95/mo)

Your hosting account may take up to 72 hours to complete change.

Now I have 50 GB of storage and I am saving $3/month.

The Podcast Numbers Are...

2006-04-05T20:33:00.000-07:00

Podcast numbers are up! I started the podcast shortly after I arrived at Keypoint Church in early February and thanks to feedburner we know exactly how many people are listening. I know that 23 people may not sound like much, but if this podcasting thing goes anywhere it could be 100 in a year. I also have a growing collection of outakes and Henaganisms ("dark 30", "BW-2s", "hi-fi") that will make for a funny bonus episode someday.

The New keypointchurch.com

2006-04-01T20:35:00.000-08:00

The New keypointchurch.com
Originally uploaded by BigPru.

I am excited to unveil at 8:00pm Saturday April 1st the new keypointchurch.com.

We have worked hard for the last week and it is finally done. Another website built on the fine Joomla content management system. This is no doubt the nicest website I have made to date. Be sure to check out the nifty flash rotating banner, it's my favorite part.

Wal-Mart Burning

2006-04-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

On-Fire
Originally uploaded by BigPru.

Looks like our brand new walmart is gone.

Interview Time

2006-03-31T02:42:00.000-08:00

I have been diligently applying for jobs for the last month and a half and I finally have scored my second interview this Monday at 11:30 (I turned down my first job offer at Parachuting Penguins). I must give a plug to SimplyHired for doing an awesome job of scraping the web every 5 minutes for new jobs matching my criteria. I was the first person to apply for this position, not to mention I never would have thought to search arjoblink.arkansas.gov for a graphic design job.

I am thinking about buying a suit for the interview, I am 22 years old I should probably have one anyway. Plus I could use it for a "hot date" sometime.

GRAPHIC / PRODUCTION ARTIST
National Home Centers http://www.nhci.com/

Sign Duty at Keypoint Church

2006-03-28T16:41:00.000-08:00

Here's some pics I snapped from "Sign Duty" this past Friday. Signs go up 5:00pm Friday and come down 5:00pm Sunday.

Made with Flickr Slideshow HTML Script

The Funniest Picture On Flickr

2006-03-25T14:30:00.000-08:00

creative...
Originally uploaded by schminktante.

I challenge you to find a picture funnier than this one on flickr!

More of my favorites here

Nerd/Geek/Dork Test

2006-03-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

Pure Nerd
56 % Nerd, 34% Geek, 21% Dork

I am not dissapointed in the results, it's just about what I thought it would be

Take the Geek, Nerd, Dork Test

RadioU Turns 64

2006-03-21T13:24:00.000-08:00

I just noticed today that radioU FINALLY put up a decent online stream. You can now enjoy "the U" anywhere at a nice 64kbs "CD Quality" WMA stream. Fells like I'm home... although I could never quite tune it in right in Springfield.

Get Dugg

2006-03-15T23:17:00.000-08:00

I am a big fan of the social news site digg.com, basically users submit stories and if it gets enough votes it appears on the front page. I finally achieved my goal of front page status toda y with my story "Action Figures Made From Cat 5 Cable". It's was truly a unique experience seeing my story being read by 10,000 other... nerds.

And to answer Nathan's question "What ever happened to you wanting to be a storm chaser man!?" Chasing is very different than sitting and waiting to see if you die.

We're OK

2006-03-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

Phew, the tornado went just north of us, by like 5 miles. Thank you Jesus.

Tornado ALERT!

2006-03-12T19:58:00.000-08:00

OK, I am a little nervous... we have a confirmed tornado heading straight for us, DUDE I am freaked out. But I believe God will keed us safe. If you read this within the next 3 minutes please pray for us.

Hobbs State Park Hike

2006-03-10T19:51:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from our trip to Hobbs State Park, there are more on my flickr site, but these are the most interesting ones.

It felt like we were in a Creed music video... I'm six feet from the edge and I'm ...

Don't shake all over my lens dog.

Kafka went for a swim

The lake picks up a little the more north we go.

Beaver Lake is about as low as it has ever been, this is what it looked like a year ago.

There's Sabrina!

I climbed the mountain all by myself, not even a safety rope.

Josh slipped and almost fell off a 100 foot drop. Good thing I was right there to take a picture of it.

Violators Will Be Towed

2006-03-09T08:42:00.000-08:00

I found this on thisisbroken.com and I thought it's too funny not to share on my blog:

Lauren sends in this picture taken in an airport parking garage, and notes: "Maybe they are trying to cheer you up after realizing your car is gone?"

Four Things Meme

2006-03-07T22:20:00.000-08:00

Four jobs I've had:

An '01' at K-Mart
Baseball Umpire (93-2001)
Stockboy at Gordon Food Service Marketplace
Waiter at Perkins

Four movies that I can watch over and over:

O' Brother Where Art Though?
Napoleon Dynamite
Shawn of the Dead
Fight Club

Four places I've lived:

Springfield, OH
Rogers, AR
Middletown, OH
Parents Basement

Four TV shows that I love:

24
Mythbusters
anything with "UFC" in the title
Nova

Four places I've ~~vacationed~~ traveled to:

Chicago, IL
Orlando, FL
Myrtle Beach, SC
Atlanta, GA

Four of my favorite dishes:

Chipotle
Tacos
General Tso's Chicken
Meatloaf

Four sites I visit daily:

Four places I would rather be right now:

New York, NY
Barnes & Noble
Chipotle
Wal-Mart

Four bloggers I'm tagging:

But I Updated Last Week- GOSH

2006-03-06T11:45:00.000-08:00

I got my first plea ever today to post something new on my blog. The lack of updates is mainly due to how busy it has been here lately.

Friday:
Working to get some projects done, one for a new website I am developing with a guy here, and also on a project I recieved from Ozark Sunrooms this week for a church that needs a glass roof installed. Around 3am a friend from Springfield called me- he was completely drunk - and we had a 20 minute conversation. Then I couldn't sleep the rest of the night (darn you OL' CROOKED KNEES!).

Saturday:
Pastor Casey got his notes done late, so that meant crunch time for us, we worked all day getting songs into Open Song and getting his "Power Point" ready for the big screen. We did find a little time to play a game Josh rented called "stubbs the zombie" which is a must-play -game in my book.

Sunday:
Me and Josh got up around 7:00am to get ready for church. First stop was to the new office where we have relocated storage of our tech gadgets. Setup started about 7:30, service started right at 10:30 and finished before noon. When we finally got home I started editing the sermon, and normalizing the volume getting it ready for the podcast.

Thas was my weekend. And I really like this commercial.

Postal Service, Don't Patronize Me

2006-02-23T18:01:00.000-08:00

Originally uploaded by BigPru.

2-17-2005 Keypoint Church Ad
Originally uploaded by BigPru.

I finally got around to changing my address in Springfield to Rogers Arkansas. (sorry it took me so long) I was kind of curious how they validate that I am me and not someone else trying to steal my mail. The answer: they charge you a dollar and validate your credit card.

I was a little disappointed in one of the special offers they gave me. Most of them were OK, but a free Geico quote? Please. Don't patronize me.

Podcast Numbers Are Up

2006-02-19T09:13:00.000-08:00

2-17-2005 Keypoint Church Ad
Originally uploaded by BigPru.

I haven't been out of the house for two days now, of coarse we had to cancel service today because of the weather (we have freezing rain right now). But the good news is the podcast feed has taken off, partly because of the newspaper ad we ran this past Friday in the two local papers featuring the podcast. We now have 21 windows iTunes listeners.

Job Update

2006-02-17T17:27:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick update, I decided not to pursue the Parachuting Penguins job, it was just too many hours and not enough what-not. I really dig the company's vision, but honestly it would've been at or above the commitment level of Keypoint... which kind of defeats the purpose of me moving here.

I feel that God is leading me towards the freelance route which is great because the potential for greater profit is there, but the downside is you can't rely on that same old check every week. The good news is I have some stuff coming through already, I signed a contract to scan in some pages for a book and I am going to start doing some CAD work for Sunrooms of the Ozarks here soon.

Arkansas Delight #001 Independent Business

2006-02-16T15:39:00.000-08:00

Independently owned and operated businesses are everywhere here (so far no stubborn McDonnald's owners). The Blockbuster down the street is locally pwned and operated, which means that they can carry stuff that corporate doesn't have the sense to buy. The downside is they can also charge late fees, but that is a small price to play for titles like:

Futurama
The Office (BBC and US versions)
American Mullet
Red vs. Blue

See Arkansas Annoyance: 1

Job Interview Tomorrow

2006-02-13T21:36:00.000-08:00

Whew! I have my first job interview tomorrow. I am going to Parachuting Penguins tomorrow at 4 pm (Mountain Time!) to hopefully get a job. So I will give you all an update as soon as I have news.

News & Podcast

2006-02-12T05:11:00.000-08:00

News from Arkansas
I have been looking for work a little more over the last week, today we went to Parachuting Penguins to pick up some prints for this Sunday and they asked Josh if he knew of anyone that was looking for a graphic design job. I gave them a resume and am hoping to hear back from them Monday.

Me and Josh have been working our butts off this week gearing up for the big one year anniversary service for Keypoint Church this week, although we did find time to play 4 hours of Halo 2 with James. We have two new intelligent ligting fixtures, a new widescreen projector and a new push for life groups. I am really excited about it (I must be to be typing this post 5 hours before I need to get up this morning) we are hoping that through this event we will be able to boost our numbers and win some souls over.

Podcast
One little bonus this week is we are now podcasting, I spent a couple of hours... learned some new things and BAM! got us in the iTunes Podcast directory. Every sermon download includes artwork relevant to that weeks message, and I can see exactly how many listeners we have thanks to feed burner's stat tracker. I am a statistics junkie and I can't wait to see how many subscribers we land after we announce it tomorrow. I am seriously considering doing a short one-a-week podcast for my "patnaz" back in Ohio.

The Office & My Name Is Earl

2006-02-11T23:58:00.000-08:00

The Cubes - Bob
Originally uploaded by thepretenda.

Somehow I got sucked into two shows on NBC over the last three weeks.

The Office is great, I am really enjoying the different archetypes. Funniest moment so far was when Steve Carell's character edited together a home movie about his office instead of making a Power Point presentation about profits for the board.

I don't know why my name is Earl is so entertaining, but it may be because Jason Lee's character is a millionaire redneck who lives in a hotel room.

Calvin Urinating On Things

2006-02-07T22:25:00.000-08:00

Calvin pee'in on things

After a discussion earlier today with Josh about the Calvin and Hobbes franchise being the only comic characters not to licence out their franchise for products (like... sponge bob), I said what about those "Calvin pee'in on things" stickers? Not knowing the answer we resorted to the ultimate collection of human knowledge... wikipedia.

According to wikipedia:

T-shirts as well as the ubiquitous stickers for automobile rear windows which depict Calvin urinating on a company's or sports team's name or logo, are unauthorized. After threat of a lawsuit alleging infringement of copyright and trademark, some of the sticker makers replaced Calvin with a different boy, while other makers ignored the issue. Watterson wryly commented "I clearly miscalculated how popular it would be to show Calvin urinating on a Ford logo."

So if you see another sticker please realize it is piracy and remove it from the Chevy pickup's rear window.

Arkansas Annoyance #001

2006-02-06T11:19:00.000-08:00

The city water in Rogers feels like poison, you hop in the shower and it smells like public pool water. I haven't noticed it tasting funny but it can't be helping how dry my skin feels since I got here.

also... if you have a XBL SN please post it below so you can get pwned by me and Josh in Halo 2, thanks.

Update

2006-02-05T13:22:00.000-08:00

Everything is going well. Still looking for a job, I applied for two more Wal-Mart jobs today and I found another one on Hotjobs I am going to acquire about on Monday. I did make my first "dollar" already. Josh got me in contact with this guy and I made a logo for his new business. I am not going to show it yet, but I will post ot here when he gets it up and running.

I Have Arrived

2006-01-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

Things have been a blur since I arrived in Arkansas three days ago. We have already had our first staff meeting and we are currently at the C3 conference in Grapevile Texas. I am sitting accross from Josh in their Tempest coffe shop... he's probably blogging right now too I would guess. Pastor Casey is a trip (which most of you know already) he has so many ideas for the church it's hard to keep up.

My car was in a "fender bender" the first full day here. The good news is it driveable and the damage is limited to the hood and bumber. Honestly I am too excited about opportunities to let it get me down. That's it for now...

Running late

2006-01-22T19:55:00.000-08:00

10:43pm and we are only at Greenville Illinois? We had some tarp
problems... I didn't know Lowe's had free string. (and knowing is half
the battle)

Here it is...

2006-01-21T17:29:00.000-08:00

Sixteen hours until we head out. I think the Tivo will be used on the
way down. 300 hours of entertainment to choose from.

Power Mac G3 1998

2006-01-15T21:07:00.000-08:00

Power Mac G3 1998
Originally uploaded by Kernel Panic.

I found this on flickr, my how times have changed.

Amber's Going Away Video

2006-01-13T21:42:00.000-08:00

Amber made this cool video commemorating my leaving Ohio, so check it out if you have the 33 MB.

http://www.bigpru.com/media/Aaron.wmv

And thanks to all of you who came out, it's ironic having a going away party because it just made me realize how much I will miss all of you dangit!

Year 2005 Video (203 MB)

2006-01-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday I worked on a highlight video for Word of Faith featuring the best pictures of 2005 for 14 hours (4:00pm - 6:00am) straight and... I think it's one of the better things I have pieced together. I don't really feel like optimizing it for the web, and I have a buttload of online storage anyway so here you go.

Year 2005 Video (quicktime).mov (203 MB)

The Book of Daniel (Part II, the Review)

2006-01-10T09:03:00.000-08:00

My Tivo missed "the Book of Daniel" last Friday (I scheduled it online, but my Tivo wasn't plugged into the Internet) so it took me a couple of days to grab it off bit torrent.

First let me say that the show is "B" material at best. The characters are almost completely unbelievable, stereotypical and corny. For instance their otherwise normal teenage daughter gets caught dealing marijuana to support her comic book career. Normal people usually don't just start selling pot. If someone walked up to me and asked if I could score them some weed I wouldn't even know where to start looking.

I personally didn't feel the show was anymore offensive than other prime-time shows I have seen recently. It is crappy, and it has that stupid liberal ideology that's hard to get away from these days on any medium ("homosexuality is genetic"). What did catch me off guard was the Jesus character on the show was portrayed in a positive way. Jesus would talk to the main character and converse as if they were best friends. That almost saved the show for me, but I really don't care about anything the networks put in prime time and I will probably not watch it again. It won't last more than a season.

Just a Little Note About the Party

2006-01-10T08:02:00.000-08:00

My going away party starts at 7pm Friday the 13th. You do not need to bring any food, unless you want to of coarse. If you are reading this now you are officially invited (unless I have never met you before, because that would be a little weird). And here is a link to Yahoo! Maps so you can get to the house.

247 Hedge Drive Springfield, Ohio

Directions

2006-01-06T15:26:00.000-08:00

Going Away Party
Friday, January 13th 7pm
Yahoo! Maps (google maps doesn't understand where I live, double true!)

"The Book of Daniel" controversy

2006-01-06T13:08:00.000-08:00

There is a mild controversy going around in certain circles about the new NBC show "The Book of Daniel" premiering tonight. I recieved an email from a congregation member yesterday requesting my help calling the local affiliate (WDTN) and request they not air the show. Two affiliates have dropped it so far (the Little Rock affiliate dropped it, then the local WB station picked it up).

Synopsis: "Aidan Quinn stars as Reverend Daniel Webster, an unconventional Episcopalian minister who not only believes in Jesus - he actually sees him and discusses life with him. Webster is challenged on many levels as he struggles to be a good husband , father (apparently he has a homosexual son and a drug dealing daughter) and minister, while trying to control a nagging addiction to prescription painkillers, and an often rocky relationship with the church hierarchy, led by Bishop Beatrice Congreve Roger Paxton, a senior warden of the parish and stalwart churchgoer."

I have mixed feelings about these sort of activist approaches for the following reasons.

- The show has not even debuted yet, 99.9% of the people protesting have not seen it or heard directly from someone who has
- The world mostly hates Christians and when we go attacking things it usually reflects negatively on us
- There is no such thing as bad press, getting upset about it is only likely to get them higher ratings
- The show is on NBC, the worst ranked network right now. If you just give it time it will probably die anyway (it sounds like crap anyway)

Have you heard anything about this? I would be interested to hear you thoughts on the matter...

Sleep all day, Stay up all night

2006-01-04T09:37:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while I will be so exhausted when I come home from work that I will just go to sleep. Sometimes I will sleep for 15 minutes and then resume my day, days like yesterday I will sleep for 8 hours and wake up at 1:30am fully rested. What to do? Should I go back to bed and sleep 16 hours of a day away?

I stayed up all night, left early for work and went shopping at Meijer's before work. It's 12:30pm right now and I am getting really tired. Hopefully I will be able to stay up until 10pm tonight and get back on a normal schedule. I blame the holidays.

Does this happen to anyone else?

- Also, I wanted to let anyone who reads my blog know that I am rescheduling my going away party from January 8th to Friday, January 13th . If you are reading this you are invited to come*.

*No internet weirdos please

To Rock or Not to Rock

2005-12-30T10:13:00.000-08:00

A good friend of mine Chris M. from CTK asked if I could help out with their New Years Eve concert featuring Staple, Disciple & Dizmaz. I feel kind of torn because I wanted to go to Em's thing... but on the other hand this might be the last Staple show (definitely the last one before drummer Grant leaves the band) in a long time. They haven't played in Arkansas since October 2004... and who wants to see a concert in a city named "Little Rock"?

Hopefully I can make it to some of both, you guys will party late right?

Busy

2005-12-21T11:18:00.000-08:00

Haven't posted anything extremely interesting in a while, I have been getting ready for the Arkansas move. Me and my boss settled on a hiree, he's really passionate about CAD and has some good web skills. I have been working really hard getting some projects done for WFFC&AE that I can't say a whole lot about yet, but I will say that Nathan needs to look at the Asteroids *cough*scoreboard*cough*. I am averaging about 70 hours a week between Bright Ideas, WFFC and a freelance project so I am approaching burnout... not-much-farther.

Last night I got to hangout with some old highschool friends at Steak and Shake, that was some much need relaxation. I should get my car back tomorrow from the shop, apparently my starter burned up (literally) and it will be $400 to get it fixed.

Finally I would like to give a plug to the shouldn't-be-illegal "American Idiot" mashup album "American Edit" that got me through the last couple of days. It's hard to get ahold of through the usual means, but it's definitely available on bit torrent (or IM me).

The Worst Resume Yet

2005-12-16T14:04:00.000-08:00

I just received a "resume" in the mail today that defies explanation. I am not sure at this point how much of it I am going to post but look for something soon. It came in the mail on a CD-ROM, with chicks in bikinis... and the City of Kettering logo.

iPod, Back from the Dead

2005-12-14T13:16:00.000-08:00

last night after thinking that my iPod just might have recovered from it's hard drive problems (it would spin, grunt, stop and start again) I plugged it into the old USB 2 port and got the exact same crap. I was just about to order a $150 drive replacement when I decided to see if I would be able to crack the thing open to install it. I found instructions online at iLounge, filed down a bingo chip and went to work.

Long story short, the problems seems to be the hard drive cable was just loose. So I feel relieved, my iPod is back to it's former glory and I now am over my cracking open an iPod fear.

Searching for my Replacement [Part II]

2005-12-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

Day two of taking resumes and answering phone calls, I have a bad headache and hopefully I can make another half-hour without hearing another phone call. We have had about 50 responses I have some more advice to pass on based on my experience (mainly so that I can reference it later). This is the little stuff no one ever thinks of.

I look at everything, what email service do you use?
Since this job is very technical in nature, nothing you send is above critique, my boss needs someone who is technically savy because he is not. I have been noticing what email service people send from. Acceptable services include Yahoo, Earthlink, Gmail (really impressive) your own domain (the best). Certain doom? Hotmail, that says allot to me about what kind of crappy user experience you are willing to take.

Put some work into your resume
I kid you not, I just got one that literally says "Bullets may be used here to create an attractive list of skills" 3/4 down the first page. And to my own horror I have discovered that my guidance counselor was right all along, nobody want to read a resume more than one page long.

Name your resume
That may sound like a no brainer, but it really simplifies the process if I can just download it to folder and not have to go back three pages to see who sent it. "Resume - John Doe.pdf"

miscellaneous
-This is a Graphic Design position, so send your resume in PDF over .doc, and definitely don't send a "txt", "wpd" or "rtf". I am not going to install Word Perfect 7 just so I can open your resume.

-Someone sent me a link, "my resume is online" ... dead link... NEXT!

-I wish I could hit a button and filter out people who use Internet Explorer, that would take out 90% of the hard work.

We are going to start interviewing people Thursday, but we really don't like %50 of them. I am happy Emily is applying, you have a good chance of landing it.

Searching for My Replacement

2005-12-12T12:29:00.000-08:00

We started getting phone calls today for our for my Bright Ideas replacement and I have a few things to share from the experience.

Sending a cover letter is pointless
So many people wrote cover letters and I know that the resume professionals say that you need to, and you might say well it can't hurt. Yes it can, if there is just too much text there I will not read it and you would be better off summing it all up in a one page resume. [I would like to be a part of your great company blah blah blah blah]

Don't build your portfolio site in flash
Flash can be annoying (I think it's lazy) one site was so large it took a couple of minutes to pop in. If you can count to 100 faster than those load idicator numbers are ticking away start over, go HTML.

When you call act interested
A little less than half of the people don't ask any questions which seems fishy to me since our ad is "GRAPHIC DESIGNER Full Time Adobe Photoshop, MS Office, CAD and HTML experience is a plus." You will send a resume when you have no idea what we do?

It's nice to see some mistakes since I am now drafting a new resume of my own.

Amateur Heartstrings

2005-12-04T22:19:00.000-08:00

I found this on Demon Hunter's website today, it "My Heartstings Come Undone" as performed by a high school pep squad.

Enjoy

Wish List for the SantaMan

2005-12-02T11:12:00.000-08:00

OK SantaMan I know you are real, so here is my modest list of things for my stocking:

1. An INTEL Mac iBook ($700)
these don't even exist yet

2. XBOX 360 Premium Bundle ($400)
Perfect Dark, Call of Duty II or Project Gotham III

3. A nice digital SLR camera ($1000)
I would even settle for a prosumer camera like the DSC-H1

4. Robosabien V2 ($230)
Who doesn't want a creepy little robot

5. How to Survive a Robot Uprising ($11)
What better than the gift of still living? I need to keep junior inline

Total: $2341

Put a Pin In My Frappr

2005-12-01T15:00:00.000-08:00

I just made a frappr map, so if you read, enjoy or even hate this blog let me know from where you hail.

http://www.frappr.com/bigpru

Also I wanted to pass on this little bit of knowledge I came across today, if you use an RSS reader (I am trying out bloglines at the moment) and you want to read xangas you can use the following sting: http://www.xanga.com/rss.aspx?user=XANGAUSER

I thought that was useful, and I am now reading a few xangas. If you have to highlight text, or listen to crappy music when you read xangas give RSS a try.

Telling My Boss of My Intentions

2005-12-01T14:43:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to telling my boss of my intentions to leave. He was very supprised but also very supportive of me which I appreciated. Already there's a stack of resumes to go through from when I was hired that he held on to, I found out that I went up against allot of people to get that job so that was a nice little pat on the back. The worst part about this timing is I may not get to use what was going to be my new office in Beavercreek, OH-MAN! That would've been sweet, even for a day. I hate making these kind of announcements, but this time it wasn't that bad.

(And no Josh I wasn't offered double sallery to stay on)

Downtown Chicago Picture Show

2005-11-28T14:06:00.000-08:00

We had a good time in Chicago, I think this was the first time we just said "forget about it" and ate out for Thanksgiving (consequently also the first time I ate ribs for Thanksgiving dinner). Usually when we go to the Windy City we just hang out with family, this year we managed to make our way downtown and experience something new. Here is some commentary on the pictures we took in Chicago Friday, November 25th 2005.

This is the view of downtown Chicago from River Grove, where my grandma lives

We took "The L" from River Grove to downtown, an 11 mile trip

My first time on public transportation, the train was surprisingly clean and fare was only $2.75 one way

This is Union Station, the central point where the trains meet for their final destinations. I touched this up with Photoshop, I love match color. [see the original] [Google Maps]

We are heading for the Sears Tower, but first we have to cross one of the 10 bridges that support the massive amounts of traffic downtown [Google Maps]

Don't ask me which buildings these are

It looks like the cia takes care of the busses around here

It's the Sears Tower, the tallest building in the world (kinda)

I tried taking some boring hallway pictures inside the mezzanine but was instantly reprimanded by the receptionist

A 137 story elevator ride and 5 ear pops later here we are 1/4 of a mile above sealevel on the Sears Tower Skydeck, where we enjoyed 5 mile visibility [Google Maps]

Usually the only thing fancy about Mcdonald's is their ketchup, but this two story restaurant was very nice

We missed the lighting of the Christmas Tree by 15 minutes, Danielle was very sad

My Aunt Bonnie recovering from the blistering cold

All of the pictures of the street looked very cool after the snow melted

The exterior of Union Station taken by Nathan (one of my favorites)

The ride home, n00b

Happy Birthday Anna (13) and Danielle (17)

I would like to add that the Sears Tower gift shop was selling Al Capone t-shirts, which I think is an odd choice for the worlds tallest building to be glamoring one of the worlds most notorious terrorist. Also, props to Google Earth for allowing us to see the city in 3d (and satellite) which was also useful after the trip so I could figure out where we went. There is so much you can do with that program, I really enjoyed the "Google Earth community" which acts like a wiki tour guide.

Snowy Street

2005-11-26T09:29:00.000-08:00

Snowy Street
Originally uploaded by BigPru.

We had a great time here in the great Windy City, yesterday me and my family went to downtown Chicago to see the Christmas tree and to experience the atmosphere (there's allot of Mc Donnald's). So we had a good time and we took like 237 pictures which you can see on my flickr. We also got a chance to watch some Hispanic soap operas, and that weird gameshow on Univision (sadly Mexican wrestling was not on). Keep an eye on my flickr I will add some commentary sometime between today and tomorrow. [from: the car]

Three Cool Things

2005-11-17T10:28:00.000-08:00

I have three random things to share:

1. For those of you that want to complain about your final cut render times, consider this: "Each frame (of Toy Story) took 4 to 13 hours (depending on the complexity of the shot) of time on a RenderFarm consisting of 87 2-CPU SparcStation 20's, 30 4-CPU Sparc-Station 20's and a SparcServer 1000" -IMDB
So that's about an entire year non-stop to render.

2. Take a look at the bad art museum, something near and dear to my heart.

3. This really cool AJAX online DOS emulator... mmmm... sb_email.exe

Getting Ready for the Next Big Thing

2005-11-14T09:25:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last post, I haven't had much energy for blogging since the news came out last week and I've been working frantically to get stuff done it time for the big move. I have been realizing over the last week how much I am going to be missing all of you Springfieldians, it all feels so surreal in that life just goes on like nothing is going to happen.

I am a little anxious because this will be the first time I will really be living on my own and being so far from home too. I really don't even know how to cook, thank God for microwaves, I could care less that it cooks vitamins out of my food at least I will be able to survive. Speaking of vitamins, there will be no scientifically unproven, non FDA approved pills allowed in my Arkansas dwelling (I am looking at you echinacea and juice plus).

More than anything else I am excited about being a part of Keypoint, Josh wants me to learn After Effects 6.5 and I already have some grand ideas that I want to try out. But other than that it's BREAKTIME 2005 (AE fall retreat) so we have been busy this week planning for it. You guys are going to see some cool stuff.

"The Springfield News-Sun is Terrible" he said

2005-11-08T08:19:00.000-08:00

My mom invited her parents over last night for dinner which was really just a front for my Arkansas news. Before all of that came out we were having a discussion on the November 8th election, long story short we wanted to find more information on Viv Barrett who is running for the Springfield City School Board. I searched on Google to find the top result was a piece by Gail Centar, a Springfield News-Sun Staff Writer. This has to be the worst writing in a news article history, the wording is so terrible that when reading it out loud you can't help but laugh every time "she said" is used. Here is an unaltered sample:

"I really want to be a part of the solution and show it any way I can," she said.

All the candidates running for school board are excellent, she said.

"I'm just presenting myself as a possible servant for the city," she said.

Playing off a famous quote from former president John F. Kennedy, she said, "It's really not what can the school board do for me, it's what can I do for them," she said.

I searched through this article which is covering the four people that are running and the phrase "he said"/"she said" is used 70 times! Personally I have always thought the News-Sun was garbage, but I would not be supprised if it was revealed that a robot wrote this article. Read it for yourself.

Commercial Photo Touchups

2005-11-08T07:04:00.000-08:00

I was browsing on digg today and found a really cool graphic artist site that shows the original photos and the final touchup. Check this out if you would like to see what kind of work goes into professional photography, or if you are a girl and you are insanely jealous of those skinny models in magazines this may be a little vindication.

I Dare you to Move

2005-11-06T17:48:00.000-08:00

God put a seed in my heart a few months back preparing me for a big change, it's official, I am moving to Northwest Arkansas. God has provided an opportunity at Keypoint Church to help Josh R. and Pastor Casey with their 7 month old ministry. It's a tough decision leaving behind all the people I love, but it's also a very exciting new chapter in my life.

I wouldn't do something like this if it were going to cause everything to implode in my wake, I am recommending Nathan to the trustees to fill my position. He is ready for the job and I have taught him just about everything I know (plus he knows his way around a sound board). It's awesome seeing the Media Team working as it was designed and training new leaders.

I am moving in a little less than three months, I have allot of work to get done before I leave. Your prayers will be appreciated.

Arnold Schwartzenegger

2005-11-04T11:25:00.000-08:00

Some people hate him, some think he's the greatest American ever. I am somewhere inbetween, but regardless you have to love these soft drink ads that have leaked over the pacific featuring our governator.

Bwain 1
Bwain 2
[update: Google Video]

Bring it back to the carpet! Maybe some Seagal too?

Me, Sabrina and Josh

2005-10-28T23:34:00.000-07:00

Me, Sabrina and Josh
Originally uploaded by BigPru.

Me, Sabrina and Josh... check my flickr for some Arkansas picks.

My New Server!

2005-10-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

My new server is now live, sorry it was gone for like 3 days due to some newb-ness on my part. My new server has tons of ~~cool tapes~~ cool tools. Let's see if this poll works:

// Important! You have to include it before your html code
include_once "/home/content/s/h/s/shsbiga83/html/advancedpoll/db/poll_cookie.php";
?>

include_once "/home/content/s/h/s/shsbiga83/html/advancedpoll/db/booth.php";
echo $php_poll->poll_process(4);
?>

[Update: BLAH! it didn't work... oh well I will work on it later]

Online Bills, The OC and xbox360

2005-10-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

What's the point in paying bills online if they send you a receipt in the mail? I don't need one more receipt to keep track of. There is a certain type of super-paranoids among us that keep every piece of paper and print all their emails... I would like to put the blame on them.

Vallery won't stop talking about how awesome the OC is, she insists that if I watched an episode (which I am willing to do) I would love it. That's very unlikely given that from what I hear it's a "soap opera" for teenagers. In related news I ~~was forced to watch~~ saw an episode of Gilmore Girls today, it's like an upper class "OC".

I got my first hands-on with the xbox360 today, the controller feels nice and the gameplay was smooth. I played the demo for Call of Duty 2 to and it-was-a-delight. The only negative experience was due to the improper setup on Wal-Mart's part. The 360 is hooked into a 720p 16:9 monitor, but is running widescreen in standard def, ewwwww.

What Is This? A Center for Ants?!?

2005-10-20T12:53:00.000-07:00

My boss told me today that tomorrow he may send me out to a jobsite to help with the construction. I think it would be awesome to go out for a day and check out a construction site and get to know the installers a little more, but I can't help feeling a little like Derek Zoolander... not because I am a sissy girly-man pretty boy but because I don't know anything about building. When i first started my CAD drawling I set my paper size to 11'x17' (for those of you that don't know, ' means feet) if I had a printer that could print that out it could be a little hobo house!

A Little About Me

2005-10-17T08:03:00.000-07:00

For those of you just tuning in...

Chapter I: About Me
Hello, welcome to my blog. My name is Aaron and at the moment I am twenty-two years old. I was born in Springfield, Ohio back in '83. My family moved to Middletown, Ohio around 1989 where I was home schooled and raised by Christian parents, my dad wanted to be in a more central location for his evangelism ministry but my mom had to drive 1 hour to work each day for her job with the board of MRDD.

Chapter II: Middle School
Our family (at this point me, my bro (now 19) and my two sisters (16, 11)) moved back to Springfield in the summer of 1996 and coincidently it was my first year at a sortof-regular school, there was a total of 15 people in my 8th grade class at Springfield Christian, I graduated with 15 demerits. I debated between going to Grenon and Shawnee high school.

Chapter III: Shawnee High School
Thanks to the coach-man A.K.A. Neil I tried out for the Shawnee cross country team. I also participated in track & field, I tried out for- but did not make the basketball team, indoor track and power lifting. Coming from home school to high school in just two years was a HUGE jump, and sports helped ease that obstacle.

My Junior year I had an opportunity to enroll as one of the first half-day Joint Vocational School students in the new Cisco Sytems 2-year program. During that time my fascination with graphic design also grew and I found time between classes to design bulletins for my church's youth group. By the time graduation came around I was the first (and maybe last) student to design the school's webpage, I had broken up with a couple of girlfirends and sported low B GPA.

Chapter IV: Wonder What's Next
My three quarters at Wright-State weren't that memerable, so I transfered deciding to persue my Cisco Certification. I am currently one class away from an associates degree in Network Administration from Clark State Community College. During my life I have worked many jobs including baseball referee, Perkins, K-Mart, Gordon Foods (marketplace), Blockbuster Video, Cell-Phones Beeper Vibes and currently I am at my first full-time employer Bright Ideas Additions. I also work part-time at my church Word of Faith Family Church as their graphic designer.

So, that's my story- all 22 years worth. Welcome to my blog.

"Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial By Fire" 9PM CBS

2005-10-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

I don't usually post here to warn of upcomming TV events, but this is a made-for-tv Walker Texas Ranger movie starring THE Chuck Norris DANGIT! You wouldn't want to miss Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial By Fire at 9PM (EST) on CBS tonight would you? Hope not.

Heads Up: Switching Servers

2005-10-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

If you are trying to reach my site sometime in the next 24 hours you may have difficulty because I am in the middle of switching hosting companies from globalcon to go daddy. Thanks for your patience.

Three Ideas for Concert Venues

2005-10-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

So we just got back from the Project 86 show (which was awesome) and I have three ideas concert venues should adopt:

3. Lockers to put stuff in wether it be cameras, or newly acquired band merchandise
2. Fans for the fans, because nobody like the oder coming off the sweaty guy next to you
1. Some for of entertainment between bands, show a video- or play some music

that's it, and spoken rocked.

Fayetteville, AK AR (October 27-31)

2005-10-11T07:10:00.000-07:00

I am totally psyched because I am heading South to visit with Josh and Sabrina at the end of the month. Yep, I get to see Keypont Church, Casey and Fayetteville! I promise to take a butt-load of pictures.

Coincidentally Fayetteville is VERY similar demographic wise to Springfield.

Project 86 @ Newport Music Hall (October 12)

2005-10-11T06:01:00.000-07:00

off with your head! Anyone interested in seeing Project 86 in concert should consider going with us tomorrow. They are playing at 6:30 in the Newport Music Hall (Columbus, Ohio) w/ Spoken, Number One Gun, Mourning September, and The Fold.

We will be meeting at WFFC at 5:30pm, if you are interested and have not yet spoken to either me or Luke call my cell at 206-9707 so we can plan transportation. You will need to buy your ticket in advance online through ticketmaster.com ($10) before hand.

Napoleon Dynamite Hosts SNL

2005-10-06T22:33:00.000-07:00

Jon Heder from Napoleon Dynamite is hosting Saturday Night Live this week. Maybe this will settle our dispute on how qualifide he is as an actor. Coincidently Ashlee Simpson is performing, so if nothing else you could see if she gets booed off stage- again.

iPod + Video Debunked- for now

2005-10-06T22:16:00.000-07:00

Check out my little contribution to engadget I did tonight with a little research.

Update: Ok, so maybe this isn't precisely what we thought. Apparently the page is still live in some parts of the world as, and a peek at the source revealed, the links followed through to a file called wwdc2004/wwdc_ipod+itunes_[size].mov, which would appear more to refer to a video whose subject matter is principally the iPod and iTunes. Curiouser and curiouser.

read the whole story

Bad Design - Shriner's Club

2005-10-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

Bad Design - Shriner's Club
Originally uploaded by BigPru.

I don't want to discount the Shriner's contribution to society (what's up with their tiny cars?) but evertime I see this plaque I notice it looks like a guy with a kid carrying a double barrel shotgun.

40 HOUR > 390 HOUR Tivo Upgrade

2005-10-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

40 HOUR Tivo --> 390 HOUR Upgrade Installation
Originally uploaded by BigPru.

I started my Tivo upgrade journey three days ago and finally finished last night. I screwed up the first night by following instructions for a UK tivo and ruined my Tivo OS. The next day I bought InstantCake to reinstall the software and get the drives running. Now I have a working DVR that can record (at high quality) 180 hours of television.

Xzibit: That's enough space to record TV non stop for seven days in a row. (he-he-he-he)

Goodnight Dissasembled Tivo

2005-10-04T00:06:00.000-07:00

Well it's 3am, and still no Tivo... I have given up for now (and am honestly pretty lost). Tomorrow is a new day... I will probably figure something out when I wake up in the morning.

...He's fluent in Vietnamese and he's a computer genius

Hey Laserlips! Upgrade That Tivo

2005-10-03T16:07:00.000-07:00

Alright, it's time to pony up and upgrade my tivo. I am not anticipating anything fun, but it will be a challenge. Hopefully I will emerge from my workbench before 1am tonight with a working 290GB bundle of DVR joy.

Also in TV news: There is a new series on the National Geographic Channel called Science of the Bible that I reccomend you check out.

Update will follow tonight... with pictures (maybe)