Amazon MP3 Downloads

Image via CrunchBase

In light of recent events, many people are going back to paying for their music. If this is you, then I highly recommend Amazon's MP3 Downloads because they are usually cheaper than iTunes, and they are DRM free. DRM is an acronym for Digital Rights Management, which is a way of saying that you can't share it with your friends or put it on anything other than an iPod. In addition to these things, many songs are free with full length samples. I must insist that you use Amazon over iTunes, or any other service for that matter.

UPDATE: RIAA v. Joel Tenenbaum

Image via Wikipedia

My prediction was wrong. The RIAA (the bad guys) won their suit against Joel Tenenbaum. Joel owes them $675,000 that he cannot pay. Joel and his team of lawyers are currently trying to get the amount reduced. If not, Joel will declare bankruptcy. For further reading, I recommend Joel's site, JoelFightsBack.com and the Macword report

Related articles by Zemanta

• Reports: RIAA wins $675k in damages from file swapper (macworld.com)

Cash for Clunkers: FAIL

Image via Wikipedia

Some may know that I put in a fair amount of time doing odd jobs at an used car lot. Lately, there has been speculation about the Cash for Clunkers program causing used car dealers to lose a lot of their potential business. Not only would it take away their incoming inventory, but also their customers. This kind of thinking ended today at around 11:30 this morning. Calls started flooding in from people that had just been to the dealership and found out that their car did not qualify for the program. Surprisingly enough, this isn't a total loss for the used car dealers. Many people do not qualify for the $4,000. Loads get turned away because their 'clunker" doesn't meet weight requirements, or the ne car they chose is not fuel efficient enough. Another problem with the system is that additional funding for the program has not been approved yet, but the dealerships continue to offer this program. Bottom line: This program was not thought out at all. There is not nearly enough money to fund all of the rebates that people have applied for, not to mention that this is just a poor attempt to "Go Green", which is total bullshit. Anyway, this is going to come back to bite someone in the proverbial ass. Hopefully, the decisions by the government in the future will not cost nearly as much as the ones that have been made since the Recovery Act of 2009!

Bought New Knife: Benchmade 940 Osborne

Lately, my brother has bought several Spyderco knives. Feeling that I had to show him up, I purchased a Benchmade 940 Osborne today. I used the "Shopping Feature" on Google to find the lowest price. Through this tool, I found Hardware Sales Inc. to have the lowest price. The knife's MSRP is around $200. I bought it for $124.99 no tax, no shipping. This is one hell of a deal, and is made by the knife manufacturer that is known for superior quality.


Benchmade 950SBK Osborne Rift, Black/Gray G10 Handle, 3.67in. Black ComboEdge Blade Folding Knife

Thirty Day Challenge 2009

The 30DC has begun as of yesterday, August 1. The 30DC is an internet marketing course hosted by Ed Dale and Dan Raine that takes place over the first thirty days in August. Previously it focused on using a blog as a landing site to promote an affiliate. The course is free to anyone who wants to give it a try. The lessons can be found at this link. Hope some of you find it interesting and hop on board.

RIAA v. Joel Tenenbaum

Image via CrunchBase

Early this morning, I Stumbled Upon Joel Tenenbaum's blog about his fight with the RIAA. After reading that coupled with the story that the Guardian published today, I fail to see what the RIAA hopes to accomplish. They are taking Joel to court because he shared 30 songs. Originally, they asked for a settlement of $3,000. Joel sent them $500 saying that it was as much as he could afford. The RIAA felt that this was not acceptible. They had his computer seized and hard drive taken as evidence. They have done everything that they legally can to make his life as hard as possible. Luckily Professor Nesson of Harvard Law heard of his plight and offered his help as well as the help of his students. This is where we stand now.

I cannot understand what they plan to accomplish. Even if the RIAA wins the case, there is no way that they can collec the money because Joel simply does nothave it. He is not even paying for his legal counsel. They can try to make an example of Joel, but Joel already has thousands, maybe even millions of dedicated supporters. The RIAA is only costing themselves legal fees. If they lose Prof. Nesson will definitely file a countersuit, which will be successful. The RIAA has dug themselves into a hole that they can't get out of.

My prediction Joel Tenebaum 1, RIAA 0, Joel worlds newest millionaire

Update: What's Been Going on Lately

Image via Wikipedia

On July 6, I returned home from the Vail Shootout. I had a great time, worked my ass off, made a few bucks, and bought a new head for my stick. Sorry no pics from Vail. (No camera, and no phone) I bought a Brine Clutch to put on my Warrior Titan Classic. Since I have been back, I have been playing summer lacrosse with my friends from school. We have a lot of incoming freshmen and very little leadership on the part of our returning players, which is why we have lost every game thus far. No worries though. Still having fun!

I have also begun working out three to four times a week lifting and running. On Thursday, we went to Red Rocks Amphitheater as part of the workout. We run up the rows over and over again to improve speed and endurance as well as various other drills such as Squirrel Scampers. This coupled with the workout from the day before was enough to make me sore until yesterday.


On Xbox Live I have been taking ass and kicking names on Call of Duty World at War. I have gone up numerous ranks as well as upping my overall K/D ratio by 5 percentage points putting me at an embarrassing 81% :(

That is all that I have to report at the moment. Will write again hopefully tomorrow!

My Blogging Setup

When I started this blog, I had one intention. The intention was for me to keep a little record of what's going on. I chose to blog over keeping a journal because it is easier perhaps, it has the potential to make money, but most of all to share with others. I use StumbleUpon at least a half hour every day. Through my excessive stumbling I have come across several software gems for blogging and staying connected. The first of these is Flock.

Flock is a Mozilla browser based on Firefox, but it has a few great features. It has a toolba

Image via CrunchBase

r on the left hand side of the screen. In this toolbar you can view live Facebook feeds, your Flickr account, or the latest Diggs. There is another bar along the top of the window. This is the media bar for viewing Facebook pics and videos, YouTube, Flickr, or many other media streams. My favorite part of the browser is how Facebook is built right in. Everywhere you look, you are connected. There is even the chat window at the bottom of the screen. It is absolutely wonderful. I strongly recommend that everyone download and try this amazing browser. Two thumbs up!

Image via CrunchBase

My next favorite thing these days is called Zemanta. Zemanta is a great tool for blogging, sending email, or posting on forums. It is a great window that sits along side the compose windows of online tools and suggests relevant photos links, and tags for your post. This is the reason my posts contain manymore links and better pictures than I ever had before. These are two EPIC tools that anyone who spends any amount of time online should have in their arsenal. I genuinely hope that people take advantage. Anyway, that's all for now folks!

My Fun Day in the ER WARNING: NOT FOR FEINT OF HEART OR SQUIMISH

No long story or endless bitching tonight, because tonight I figure it would just be easier to tell the story with pictures. If each picture tells a thousand words, then this will be my lengthiest post yet at about 8,050 words. In the end, I only recieved 3 stitches. WARNING: NOT FOR FEINT OF HEART OR SQUIMISH

The North Face Rainwear

Image via Wikipedia

Today I was at REI looking for a great rain jacket. I found a great black North Face rain jacket that might have been the North Face Venture. REI had the jacket for $74.95, but they did not have it in my size. Since I need the jacket before the weekend, ordering it is not an option. Logically, I thought I would be able to get it at the North Face Outlet Store. The store had the jacket but it was $25 more expensive! That's ridiculous. If anything it should be cheaper right. I mean buying from an outlet cuts out the middle man so there is one less person trying to make money on it. This, however, is not the case. The raised price was not the only reason I was pissed off though. In the North Face store, the jacket I was looking at is right next to the cash register. There were two clerks standing right there and neither of them could be bothered to help me. They were too busy talking about their jerkoff failure of a friend. Overall, I was highly disappointed by the North Face store at 100 Detroit St.

Father's Day Present SanDisk 16 GB Extreme III Card

Image via CrunchBase

After much careful thought and consideration, (about 5 min) I have decided to get my dad a larger memory card for his Nikon D70. Dad is a semi-serious photographer when he has the time, but he has been working with 1 GB cards. These are most assuredly too small and inconvenient. This is why I have chosen to get him a SanDisk 16 GB Extreme III CompactFlash Card. This will hopefully give him more time too shoot by not having too spend time switching cards and uploading pictures all of the time. At $87 the 16 GB card is hard to beat for now. I know that the moment I buy it, the 32 GB card will retail for $87 or less. That is the problem in the computer hardware world though. It is inevitable that parts will become faster, smaller, have more disk space. There is nothing we can do except hope that we don't get screwed too bad.

Finally Back and Latest News

Geez! It's been a long time since I've written anything on here. The reason for my long absence was simply that I was enjoying summer so much that I forgot to write. Anyway, I'll fill you in on what I've been doing.

Lately I have been focusing on my summer assignment for AP Government and Politics next year. My assignment is to fill two volunteer government internships. Last week, I called the Arapahoe County Commissioner's office to set up my first internship. Surprisingly, they have been extremely helpful. Wednesday I had an interview with Comissioner Rod Beckenfeld. Comissioner Beckenfeld is the comissioner for eastern Arapahoe County in District 5. He was personable and ultimately gave me all the information plus more that I needed. After I interviewed him, I had another interview with Corbin Sakdol, the County Assessor. He was also helpful, and I was surprised to learn that the assessor's job is entirely determining the value of property. The assessor does not actually determine the taxes for the properties, just the value. Next week I have more meetings. Hopefully this assignment will reach completion soon.

Yesterday, I was at Driver's Ed. I had an on-street drive that was focused on rural and freeway driving. The instructor was LAME. For my first on-street drive, I had probably the coolest driving instructor possible. He was chill with just about anything. This last instructor was an absolute nightmare. She would not shut up. "Slow down a little bit more...Leave your signal on longer" She was the ultimate nit-picker. At least I am almost finished with Driver's Ed. (Two more on-streets)

Image by danielcraig via Flickr

Finally, perhaps the best part of the summer, the Vail Shootout. I will be in Vail laxing it up for eleven glorious days starting on the 26th! For those of you that don't know, the Vail Shootout is a massive lacrosse tourny hosted in Vail, Colorado. Teams and individuals come from all over the U.S. and Canada to show off and beat up on other teams. It is a chance to see some first-class lacrosse. This year, the Shootout promises to be a massive party full of great people with early mornigns and long nights.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfar 2 trailer

Just watched trailer. This game looks SICK! I will definitely be buying this when it arrives in stores on Tuesday November 10. Mark your calendars!

Call of Duty World at War: To Prestige or not to Prestige

I recently achieved level 65 in CoDWaW and was faced with the tough decision that the Prestige poses. Do I want the cool icon next to my name, or are my weapons too important? Do I want the XP I would get from completing the challenges again, or am I fine where I'm at.

Today, I finally made the plunge and prestiged. Turns out, I am doing just as good if not better than I did before. I countered the loss of the weapons by playing in the Hardcore playlists where strength of weapon is lees important than actual skill. This has helped tremendously. I strongly reccomend that everyone prestige at least once. It may encourage you to try a different game mode. For a long time, I only played Domination and occasionally I would play Deathmatch. Now, I have tried Headquarters and War, which can both be really fun.

Prestiging is a lot more fun than staying at level 65. It provides a goal to work toward. This keeps the game fun and keeps you coming back.

Peter Fox: Sick New Artist

Last week, my brother opened my eyes to the wonders of foreign music. I had never really listened to anything that wasn't in English, but now I am hooked on German rap. Peter Fox is my favorite so far, I plan to explore the genre more extensively and report later.

First Day of Finals Over

Today went well, geometry and world history were both easy.  Spanish was un chiste.  One more easy final tomorrow, then I am free for the summer!  Making plans to hit the movies this weekend.

Geometry and world history finals are over. I did well on both. Now to Spanish!

My Offseason Lacrosse Wall Ball Routine

With school drawing to a close for summer, I have had much more time to focus on my stick skills. Lately, I have followed the PurePowell Wall Ball Drill. Just in the past two days, I have noticed that I am becoming more proficient at dodging and even behind the back. I have also tried the US Lacrosse wall ball workout, which is similar but less intense. I plan to alternate between the two drills 4 days a week for the rest of the summer. With perseverence, I hope my left feels just as natural as my right.