I have two old HP Pavilion pc's taking up dusk. For a rainy Saturday, my wife and I decided to do some cleaning out of junk. I told her I'd format the hard drives(she didn't know what that meant). Before I did, I browsed over to the Ubuntu site and saw a new version released. I downloaded the image for pc's and started reading about the install. I got hooked into getting this up and running. A few hours later, my wife was wondering why it took so long to format a hard drive. The download takes a while at about 700mb. I tried a couple different sites for faster speed. Bad news is that the graphical install froze in the middle of the install. Says it need 192 mb of RAM. I have a little more than that. Anyway, I then downloaded the text version. The thing cranked for a long time. I went to the liquor store in between and it still was not finished. Figured this install required a couple beers. I was able to move some stuff for the wife during all the wait time. After several hours, I got it installed. It's pretty cool that it comes with OpenOffice, music programs, graphics and games. Would you believe I got hooked on Minesweeper and spent the better part of the afternoon listening to Grateful Dead on my iPod and playing games?

Oh!! I can't wait for this release! It's a vintage release from the Fillmore East with Crazy Horse. Only 6 songs of pure jamming joy!
Check out Amazon.com's advance review:
"For years, fans of Neil Young and Crazy Horse have been waiting for an official chance to hear Crazy Horse live with original leader Danny Whitten, the insanely talented guitarist who died of a heroin overdose in late 1972, inspiring Tonight's the Night. Tuned-in fans have been awaiting this very set for at least a dozen years, as it was originally to be tacked onto the end of a Decade-style triple CD of outtakes. Thankfully, this well-recorded live set from the infamous Fillmore East was well worth the wait. Here are scorching, extended takes of "Down by the River," "Winterlong," and "Cowgirl in the Sand," each propelled by guitar interplay so delightful you have to keep rewinding to hear it again. In fact, bits of it seem to prefigure the ways that Richard Lloyd and Tom Verlaine would feed off each other in the band Television, only with less of a sweet edge. But the world doesn't need any more arguments that Young was a proto-punk; what the world does need is at least a dozen more releases from Neil's archives! And hopefully, with this awesome live album, the floodgates have truly been opened and there are many more to come, in the vein of Dylan's Bootleg series. This disc is worth it alone for the version of "Wondering," a tune not officially recorded until many years later in Neil's weird '80s rockabilly phase. --Mike McGonigal "

My company has an opening for a contractor to assist with Lotus Notes application development/support. If your local to the Hartford/Simsbury CT area, please contact me via email: curt.stone@gmail.com

We took my kids and three of their friends to Fright Fest last night. My sister and brother-in-law brought one of their daughters and a friend. I couldn't believe the crowds and line waits. The parking lot was packed. The line to get in the park was mobbed. The speed of the tickets sellers amazed me at how slow they were. I watched a family for what had to be 15 minutes to get their tickets. What on earth they were discussing fascinated me. All this while hundreds of people waited they're turn. We had to hang around a couple hours till our time of 9pm. At 9pm, we had to wait in another long line to get into the haunted graveyard/castle/house/woods. They do a nice job with the attraction. Besides the special effects, they have all kinds of gouls to jump out at you. They got me to jump out of my skin a couple times. The party behind me was laughing histerically all the way through the 30-40 minute trip. All in all, it was a fun night. As we were leaving, four police cruisers were heading to the park. Seems we got out just in time.

Very excited about this new movie coming out today. When I read the book, I thought to myself that this would make a great movie for the big screen. The old John Wayne movie about Iwo Jima could stand some modernization. After seeing "Band of Brothers" and "Saving Private Ryan", you can't help but wonder what today's film makers could do with the story of this epic battle. But there's more than just the incredible battle that took down 26,000 U.S. Marines and 22,000 Japanese. The story is told from the perspective of one of the flag raisers sons. James Bradley grew up knowing little of his father's heroism or after war experiences. His dad, John Bradley, was a humble man and decided to put the war behind him to raise his family. James does a wonderful job describing the lives and death of the famous flag raisers. This gives the story a personal feel. Not many realize that the famous picture was actually the second flag raising and that the battle was far from over. In fact, many of the flag raisers lost their lives on that piece of rock. I hope Clint Eastwood's directing of this story does it the justice it deserves.

From today's announcement, looks like Lotus software is up 8% over last year's third quarter. Quote from the announcement, "and revenues for Lotus software, which allows collaborating and messaging by customers in real-time communication and knowledge management, increased 8 percent year over year."

Looks like it will die a real slow death if it keeps growing like this.

See announcement

My daughter participates in a Puppet ministry at our church. She is totally into it and is very good.(If I can brag) This past weekend, we attended a conference sponsored by One Way Street. They have competitions and seminars on all things with puppetry. Our team competed for the first time in the song competition. There were eight teams and we received a Gold award. The participants all voted our team the crowd favorite. If that wasn't enough, my daughter and her puppet Elvis competed in the lip sync competition and came in 1st place! Her teammate came in 3rd. They both are fun to watch. They have a synergy together.
I'm mad I didn't grab my camera but I'll get some pictures from one of the others who came. So proud of you, Lindsay!

Check out this Sirius widget from Yahoo! It's great for streaming Sirius radio. Of course you have to be a subscriber. It installs easy. I have it loaded on my iMac. It runs Windows Media Player in the background. It displays the song and artist nicely. (better than the Sirius web site). It's got tons of presets and looks like a satelite receiver.
Enjoy! Rock On!

Is it me or does something not sound right in this paragraph from a recent PC World article?
"In Lotus Notes and Domino Version 7.0.2, an update IBM announced Wednesday, the company has added the ability to install log templates on the Domino database. With them, enterprise employees can create, design and update Web blogs working within Notes, said Alan Lepofsky, a manager in marketing intelligence and communications for IBM."
How do you install log templates on a Domino database? :)

Who else would want to put up with the crap in NY but Joe Torre? Joe's the right man for the job. I'm glad George understands that instead of firing managers like he used to. The press starts all these rumors just for the buzz. Now quit with the ARod bashing and get some starting pitchers who can shut down somebody in the playoffs. I knew when the season started the Yankees could make the playoffs with the pitching they had. I had my doubts before the season began that they could get past the first two rounds of the playoffs. Problem is, where they going to get the pitcher they need? If a teams got one, they're unlikely to give him up.

Inspired by Sean Burgess's recent post and the last book I've read, High Fidelity, I present my 10 favorite songs. There's a funny scene in the book where Rob is interviewed for a local newspaper. Top 5 lists occur many times and are debated throughout the book. When the reporter asks Rob for his top 5 songs, he freaks a little. He struggles to get them out and then later has to phone the reporter to adjust his list. I have some of the same feelings Rob has about the importance of the top 10 list. I'll try and make it easier on myself by picking songs from my favorite artist but only give them one pick each. They have to be songs I'd never surf away from when they're on the radio.

Artist/song:

1. Grateful Dead - Scarlet Begonias/Fire On The Mountain - Ok, I sort of bend my own rule on my first pick. But, The Dead combine these two song so nicely in the late seventies shows. I love the combination of the psychedelic jamming of Scarlet Begonias and the reggae rythms of Fire On The Mountain. Affectionately known as Scarlet/Fire amoung Deadheads. Oh yeah, I have the Liquid Blue tshirt of the song.

2. The Allman Brothers Band - Whipping Post - The opening base line draws you in to it's power. Gregg Allman's vocals are awesome as he screams the emotion of this song.("Good lord, I feel like I'm dying!") Whether it's Dickey Betts/Duane Allman or Warren Haynes/Derek Trucks, the dual guitar attack is awesome and classic Allman Brothers.

3. Neil Young/Crazy Horse - Cowgirl In The Sand - It's a jamming song. I love the long live versions. I don't have any clue what the lyrics are saying. Even so, it does conjure up emotion. I don't know why. I guess that's why it's so great.
Neil releases a live cd from the 70's on 11/14/06, "Live at the Fillmore East". I see that "Down By The River" is on it. I don't have a live version of that song and I bet it jams, too.

4. Bob Marley - Waiting In Vain - I can't believe I never heard of Bob Marley and Reggae till I went on my honeymoon in Jamaica. I couldn't wait to get home and buy Legend. What a great soul. We miss Bob!

5. Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue - It's my artsy pick. I really like the Bootleg series from 75 with this song and Hurricane.

6. Jimmy Buffett - Margaritaville - It's a party. Nuff said.

7. Bruce Springsteen - The River - My Bruce pick is tough. I'll go with The River for it's emotion and it reminds me of my home town. In a diffent mood, I could pick Rosalita or Born To Run.

8. Dave Matthews Band - Crash Into Me - Tough for me to pick one from Dave too. I'll go with this sentimental favorite but I really love many of the songs on "EveryDay" and "Busted Stuff".

9. Van Morrison - Into The Mystic - I discovered Van Morrison later in my life too. Now, I can't get enough. The beauty of some of his songs is unmatched. His voice is an instrument I never tire of.

10. The Beatles - A Day In The Life - How do you pick one Beatles song? I'm a huge fan of John Lennon. I'll take "A Day In The Life" for it's uniqueness.

Now, I'm struggling cause I realize I've missed Derek and The Domino's Layla , Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird, no Gov't Mule or Jerry Garcia's solo stuff. Lists are tough.

It's now clearer than ever. I don't care how powerful an offensive lineup a baseball team has if you don't have dominant starting pitching. For all the money the Yankees spent in payroll, they're starting pitching stinks. It's time to overhall the starting pitching. Wang can stay and I'd even like Mussina to stay as a fifth starter. But please find a couple more starting pitchers we can win with in the playoffs. I don't think getting rid of ARod is the answer. He had a so-so year for his ability. Except for the captain, Jeter, they all stunk to lose this past playoff series. They should all buck up and give some of their paychecks back to sign some great pitchers. It would take some pressure off ARod if he were to lead the way. I know it would never happen but it's what they need to win next year. It'll be a long, cold winter.

I was pulling my hair out today trying to resize a column in a table today. My overall intent was to get the form to fit nicely on a portrait printed page. The form has several tables and subforms. I had to move them all to the left and leave .25" of space. In order to get one of the columns to resize, I had to cut the fields in the column, delete the column, add a new column and paste the fields back. This worked. I then had to check my hide-when formula's. Fun is.

From reviews I've read or heard so far, everyone's picking the Yankees to go all the way this year. Usually, you need great starting pitching to go the distance. This is one area the Yankees are weakest. But, I can't remember a batting lineup as intimidating as this year's Yankee lineup now that they're healthy. Can the best offense beat playoff teams who will have great pitching? Last nights 8-4 win may be a preview but we'll see. I'll believe it when I see it. It's always been my belief that great pitching always beats great hitting. It will be fun to watch.

Normally, I like to read a book and then see the movie. I've done the opposite on this one and "Band of Brothers". On a recommendation of a friend/co-worker, I rented the movie a while back. John Cusack and Jack Black are awesome in this movie. I think I'm mostly attracted to this movie/book simply for the music references. I like the Top 5 lists and the humor of it all. The book is based in North London unlike the film being in U.S. I enjoy the English humor. Some of the expressions I miss but it's ok because it doesn't spoil the fun. Rob is such a pathetic loser in a fun sort of way. He's 36 and an owner of a used record shop. He hires a couple of losers part-time and they work full time for the love of music. The story is mostly about Rob's love life or lack of. He goes into intimate detail of all his serious girlfriends. He even contacts them to see why they broke up with him. All this circles around his current girlfriend who's left him for someone else. It's your basic guy who can't deal with committment. The book is close to the movie but of course the book goes into tons of detail. I highly recommend them both.

I bought my domain a few months ago from GoDaddy.com. I finally took the time to get the new domain working with forwarding. It was not working before because I had an old named server causing a conflict. My virtual island is now live. Hurray! Now back to work on the real island.

Last Thursday, I attended a free web seminar on AJAX and Domino. The presentation was 30 minutes long and drilled into a sample application using AJAX. I thought the presentation was excellent. This was easy to follow and gave me a clear understanding on how I could apply this technique. I went out to one of the examples the presenter recommended and got that example to work on a test server. I asked a question about the challenges of debugging this technique. I got the answer I expected. It can be tricky. He did mention the javascript debugging capability of Firefox which I've yet to try. I figured print statements would be the only way to go. I just checked to see if his example was posted and it's not yet. Anyway, this is a great starter example of AJAX and you should invest the 30 minutes if you have an interest in AJAX.
You can watch the replay here.