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Beginning of the End

2010-06-28T00:11:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the beginning of the end, and the start to a new chapter in my life. Tomorrow I make the first step to ending my life in Arizona, the first step towards my move out of my comfort zone. Everything I know and take for granted will soon be gone. My friends and family will be left behind. Tomorrow I commence my journey to New York City.

Tomorrow I will be talking to my boss at my current company where I manage the information technology department and letting him know that I will only be employed for two more weeks. Even though this is a very good company and a great opportunity for growth and advancement in my career, my adventurous side overpowers my desire for a stable life.

I plan to move in with my girlfriend who I met almost a year ago. I will also be searching for a new job there to sustain myself. These two things will keep me very busy when I get there so I will have so much to write about.

I am very excited and anxious to start my life there. The big city, the lights, the people, the cultures, the rapidness of life in "the city" are calling me. I plan to document my transition from Tempe, AZ to the island of Manhattan.

Road Rage

2009-08-19T16:14:00.002-07:00

When you live in a big city, you are bound to get stuck in traffic. No one enjoys this and some people just go crazy. Perhaps if we got this app on people's phone they'd be able to release some steam without hurting anyone. ;)

iGun Road Rage - Watch more Funny Videos

Search for files quickly with dir and findstr

2009-05-22T08:17:00.008-07:00

This is a great way to search for files on your computer. Many people use Windows search or even download Google Search to their PC, but this method allows you to have an updated indexed list of all your current files.

c:\> dir c:\ /b /s > c:\dirlist.txt

After you run the above command, your computer will index all current files and list them in the dirlist.txt file located in the C:\ root.

After this, you can run a series of commands to pull/pipe information out of it. For example, if you want to search for all .jgp files on your computer you can run the following command:

c:\> findstr /i /e .jpg c:\dirlist.txt

If you want to search for all .mpg files withing C:\Windows, you could run:

c:\> findstr /i /b c:\windows\ c:\dirlist.txt | findstr /i /e .mpg

I really like this method because once you run the dir, you can run searches on it and get results back quicker than other conventional methods.

Source: Alex @Net

Sleep Paralysis

2009-04-29T09:14:00.003-07:00

"... when hypnogogic hallucinations are present, people feel that someone is in the room with them, some experience the feeling that someone or something is sitting on their chest and they feel impending death and suffocation."

This first happened to me when I was about 12 years old and and completely freaked me out. Over the years I researched these symptoms and figured out that I was experiencing was a documented syndrome called Sleep Paralysis. This happened to me continuously when I was growing up and can happen sporadically these days. I am able to control it better now and don't freak out as much as in the past. I just concentrate, control my breathing and the let out a big breath to help "stun" my body into waking up.

Sleep Paralysis | Stanford University

Puerto Peñasco Bright Colors

2009-04-21T01:22:00.001-07:00

Puerto Peñasco Bright Colors, originally uploaded by Art Rodriguez.

Leslie and Me after having a delicious lunch at Flavio's Restaurant during our visit the beautiful Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico.

Camera Info: Canon D450 | 21mm(ƒ/16.0) | ƒ/16.0 | ISO 400 | 1/200s -- IS Handheld

Mono No Aware

2009-04-13T02:33:00.002-07:00

This video reminds me of my sister during my younger years when me and her would use my dad's camcorder to try out different experiments and plays for our own amusement. I miss those days...

Music Tonight

2009-04-13T02:08:00.003-07:00

For a while I have been feeling empty, empty of good music. I go through this every once in a while where nothing I listen to fulfills whatever it is that music fulfills. When I find myself like this, I go back and listen to music that just makes you feel amazing. This is what made me feel great today, while driving back to Tempe on the 202 at a rather fast speed.

The Knife - Forest Families

Fueling Up

2009-04-12T03:32:00.002-07:00

Fueling Up, originally uploaded by Art Rodriguez.

Sideview of an Insomniac

2009-04-10T02:16:00.001-07:00

Sideview of an Insomniac, originally uploaded by Art Rodriguez.

I was up late unable to sleep so I went online and imagined what I would look like this late at night, voila!

anon D450 | 33mm | f5.6 | ISO 800 | 1/6s - Resting on my ironing board

Blackberry in the dark

2009-04-09T08:47:00.002-07:00

Blackberry in the dark, originally uploaded by Art Rodriguez.

Here is my first attempt at taking a nice shot of my messy desk with my desk lamp turned on in the far end.

camera info: Canon D450 | 55mm | f5.5 | ISO 1600 | 1/25s - Handheld

Canon Digital Rebel XSI

2009-03-31T08:05:00.003-07:00

I have been drooling over an DSLR for over 5 years. Ever since I bought my first digital camera, over 8 years ago, I have been craving to have an SLR so I could really take great composition shots.

Awwwww (angels sing & heavens shine light to me)!!!

I have gone forward and purchased my first DSLR, the Canon Digital Rebel XSI. I am so excited and can't wait for it to arrive. I honestly haven't felt this excited or anxious since the day my parents bought me my Nintendo and I had to wait 30 minutes for the ride home for me to play with it.

Great photography, here I come!!!

Why Macs don't have games

2009-03-30T16:43:00.002-07:00

I was surfing the net and came upon an article on Lifehacker discussing Microsoft's new marketing strategy. Their pitch is that you can purchase a Windows systems and save hundreds of dollars over a Mac. As I finished the article I proceeded to the comments to see what the people had to say about this feud. Then I found this:

Anonymous816435
Why don't Mac have games? Their demographic's college students or young adults right?

Lazarus
@Anonymous816435:
Who needs games when you can make free homemade music and cool movies? That way you can sell those movies to pay your rent. Then go to the gas station and say, "I'll trade you this song I made on my mac, if you let me fill up my Prius. Dont worry, it doesnt take much gas, unlike your Chevy over there. ugh. Here, hold my Venti mochachino double espresso half soy/half skim milk."
Seriously, you dont need games on a mac when youre busy being creative and out doing exciting things in your hybrid car, like going to Starbucks, or driving out to the countryside to worship the holy fruit.

Bruwinged
@Lazarus: Best comment ever.

Phoshi
@Lazarus: I was going to answer his question seriously, like porting cost/audience being too low, but you've stolen my power of speech with that. Bravo :P

Lifehacker

Digital Sheep, wtf?

2009-03-18T14:30:00.004-07:00

There are days when surfing the internet that you see pretty cool and funny sites/stuff. But then there are day when you have to say "WTF?!?". Today is one of those days for me:

Sheep In LED Clothing - WTF!?!

'Boys Don't Cry' will help you through a break-up

2009-03-17T09:25:00.001-07:00

Boys Don't Cry by The Cure

Mi Primer Dia Sin Ti by Los Enanitos Verdes

Three Libras by The Perfect Circle

My first job:

2009-03-17T09:17:00.003-07:00

My first work experience was in Northern California working in a sun-dried apricot farm. My job was to cut the apricot in half, take out the seed, then lay the apricot center up on a 4 x 7 board. You would do this until you filled up the board with apricots then you yelled, "board" and they would bring you another one which would get stacked on top of the previous one. You then continued filling that one up.

I got paid for $2.75 for each board I filled up. I was 13 years old. wtf?!?

I'll spend my golden years in Tangancicuaro, Michoacan

2009-03-17T09:17:00.001-07:00

Life is very simple there. It is a town full of beautiful culture and traditions. Many of my family members reside there and it would be nice to be in a place where older people are respected and cared for.

Worst Music Videos Ever

2009-02-24T14:44:00.002-07:00

So every now and then we come upon music videos that just suck. But what about the ones that really, really suck? They are so freakin bad that they can't help but to turn out being hilarious.

Here are Top 5 worst music videos ever:

5. Jan Terri - Losing You

4. Indian Thriller - Indian Version

3. Turu Turu?

2. Brave Warrior

1. Elektronik, Supersonik!

Voiceless Speaking

2008-03-13T15:09:00.002-07:00

It is not science fiction, the new Audeo Neckbrace translates your thoughts and projects into speach, voicelessly. This innovation has many great applications, the first helping secret agents and spies like me take care of business. Other applications are for people with voice disabilities. Check it out.

Gigolo-Meter

2008-03-04T23:32:00.003-07:00

This is what happens when surfing the internet out of boredom.

At least I got a great result seeing that the average is $195.00

If I were a gigolo, I'd have to charge...

Man vs. Girls Gone Wild

2008-02-09T16:03:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite shows on the Discovery Channel is Man vs. Wild. This show teaches your survival techniques in case you ever get stuck or lost in extreme place and conditions. I found the below video which makes fun of the show, check it out.

Arizona Snowboarding

2008-02-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

Snowboarding is an activity I enjoy doing, even though I live in the desert, a 2 hour drive north to Flagstaff, AZ is all a takes to go see some snow in the winter. This year we traveled up there for some fun in the snow. Check out the vid.

Working late

2007-12-17T17:34:00.001-07:00

Here I am staying late at work and taking a break to setup Blogger on the Go. It looks like I'm tired on this pic, its probably from the lack of sleep last night.

New Beginnings

2007-10-16T23:44:00.000-07:00

I have taken a step to kick-start my career again. Today was my first in a course for taking a certification exam which I really want. I was recently moved up to Network Administrator and I want to get all my certifications so I can become more knowledgeable. I just wanted to note that I am excited to be taking this course. I'll keep updating this as the course progresses.

In other news, I found out about this cool tool which enhances your Outlook. It is called Xobni which is currently in beta, but I believe this apps will change how we manage our email. Check it out.

Jack Bauer with School and a wall pc

2007-01-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

So since I had recently broken my self promise to cut the amount of TV I watch I decided to tune in on Sunday and Monday for the the 2 day/2 hour season premiere of 24. All I have to say is that Jack Bauer rocks and Chloe is amazing. This is by far my favorite show and I can't get enough of it.

I start school today and I am actually pretty excited about it. I will be taking 2 technical classes that will deal with programming in Java and C++. I hope work doesn't get too busy so I can concentrate fully on these courses.

Other than that, work it going pretty good. Today I established a policy for email size restrictions because our users had huge email accounts. I know a lot of people don't like it but it will make our environment stay at peak performance as well as keep us more organized.

That's it for today, i'll try to get on here tomorrow and write how school went. Laters.

Here are some cool links:
Things Jack Bauer needs in a Cell Phone
-this one is great, where can I get his phone.
A PC you can install in your Wall
-I think this is awesome, one day a computer will be more like a power jack. In the case of a business you can install these in offices and cubicles and avoid having a desktop increasing space.
Build a World with your Internet Traffic
-this is kinda g33ky but I am going to try it out as it seems very interesting to me.
Breast-boosting beer
-this is awesome, not only will they get bigger, we'll spend less since we won't have to buy those expensive girly drinks. "beer is the nectar of the gods" /agreed

New Year, New Ideas

2007-01-02T10:23:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year!!!
2007 has started and with it come new things, new ideas. I have set new goals for me to reach this year and I expect to keep them. I plan to completely become debt free by the end of the year as well as get my certification which I have kinda put off due to other things. I also on joining a gym and dedicate myself to going at least 3 times per week. I have previously joined gyms and after a while I stop going. Perhaps this time I'll use what I pay for. Unfortunately for the new year, I have broken one of my goals. I watched a lot of TV over the New Year's break. I watched a lot of news and TV Movies. I also watched some football games. It just happened, I didn't even know I was doing it until I got to my computer and realized what I had done. I am bad.

Anyways, I wish you all the best for this year, good luck with all your goals and aspirations. Here are some funny and interesting links your might want to check out.

86 Rules of Boozing
Worst Album Covers
JScreenFix
Original Super Mario Bros. in 3D

Techy Find find of the Day

2006-12-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while I will attempt to post a blog code named Techy Finds. By Techy Finds, I mean stuff that caught my eye, which means it has to be something really cool cause I'm cool like that.

Anyways, here is the something that I think will become huge in no time.

divShare: Park Unlimited Files for Free

Sounds too good to be true. They claim you can upload almost any file format for free. There is no limit to how many files you can upload as long as they are 100MB in size. You can create picture galleries, save important documents, upload video. This can come in real handy when you need to access files from remote places and aren't close to your computer. You can also share files by email or by linking them an online social community (i.e. MySpace).

divShare Site [Diversion Web Publishing, LLC]

Television

2006-12-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

So I haven't been a good blogger and kept on top of writing here at least once a week. A lot of things have happened since I last posted on here. Anways, regarding the TV thing I set for myself, I have been pretty good at it. I haven't sat down purposedly to watch TV. I have had to watch some here and there when visiting friends and family but I have mostly stuck to my computer. Right now I am watching the 1st season of 24 and I end up staying really late cause I keep wanting to watch another episode. Another new addition to my daily life is that I am another person that has began countless quests in the land of World of Warcraft. After being pushed by my friend Cesar to the point of annoyance to try the game, I decided to give it a shot. He was right, it is very fun and engaging. I am now working more hours at work so there is even less time for me to see any TV, but to tell you the truth, whenever I have watched TV, I have watched the series on PBS or political speeches on C-SPAN. Damn, I am getting old, or is it mature, i'll go for the latter. Anyways, we'll see how this turns out.

Birthday Night Out

2006-11-10T12:08:00.001-07:00

Leslie's turned 23 years old on Wednesday, but didn't really celebrate it until last night. I decided to take her out to the Bamboo Club, a Chinese bistro restaurant, for dinner. The food was delicious and so was the service. After dinner was over, happy hour conveniently started and friends started arriving. I started off with a Lemon Drop Martini and Leslie got her fruity tropical rum drink. It was a good time just chilling at the bar and talking with friends. The girls then decided they wanted to dance so we walked down Mill Avenue to Suite 301 where the music was pumping hard. It wasn't long until the girls started acting crazy and us guys kept our cool and checked out the scenery. After a couple of hours of that, we decided to call it a night before Leslie got sick from all the shots she'd been taking that night. We headed back home, but not before stopping by Jack in the Box to pick some up food.

Overall, last night was a great time, we hung out, partied, and I got to celebrate a fun bday.

Tonight after work, I am heading to Yuma to visit my parents. My friend Daniel has asked me to help him out with his daughter's bday party on Saturday so I'll probably be flipping burgers and taking care of the pinata. Looks like it will be a relaxing weekend away from the big city. We might even go down to Mexico, which is always fun.

Peace.

Cold Turkey on TV!!!

2006-11-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

I have decided to go completely cold turkey on TV. There is seriously no need for me to watch any television. I spend most of my day at work where every morning I check to see what is going on in the world. Local news has gotten to a point where it is more annoying than informative. They put too much attention on the weather, and living in Arizona, it is either Cool, Hot, or Very Hot, that is our weather. I have decided that I can do everything and more on my computer. I can quickly access the news from various sources, get completely different points of views from around the world. I can also access various meteorlogical websites and learn about how nice we have it weather wise here.

There are too many channels now on TV that it has become a waste of money to pay for all of them when you only watch a fraction of them. In my opinion, with so much programming the quality of shows has significantly gone down. There are a couple of great shows that appear here and there but for those its great the the internet is around. With the internet and high speed connections, it is possible to access any show. You can also purchase DVDs of series and watch them on your computer.

I have decided that I will not watch TV for a month, I will try to see if I can do it and document how things go for me and if I break my goal. We'll have to see what happens.

First Web Log

2006-11-08T11:11:00.001-07:00

Hi, this is my first attempt to keep a web log or blog. I plan to keep day to day history of the things that happen around me.

Yesterday, was Election Night and I voted for the second time in my life. I got a great feeling from exercising my right to elect public officials and have my say at which propositions should pass. Most of the choices I made came out successful. Arizona will be keeping Napolitano as Governor, Kyl as Senator and we will be represented by a new Congressman, Harry Mitchell. I tend to swing on the right conservative side most of the time, but this time I voted for who I though would better represent me and partisan views had no effect on me.

Other things things going on is Leslie, she is celebrating her 23rd year of life. wish her the best and a very Happy Birthday.

That is all I have to say for now, but I will surely try to keep this blog us updated as possible.

-Art