I’m currently in the process of talking to a few people about contributing to this blog and integrating it more into part of the network of sites we have. If everything goes well and we proceed I’ll be moving all my personal entries from below to a new page (and other contributors will get personal pages).

My hope is that the blog will turn more into a HTPC/Web Design/Networking/Whatever type of thing.

Most people probably wouldn’t notice the two changes to the Affiliates/Links on the left, but the first change is a great deal. For the HTPC crowd, most of you are familiar with Usenet or at least heard of it. For people in need of a Usenet Provider, I recently (just a couple hours ago) switched to NewsDemon, who are currently running a sweet promotion (no idea when it ends) where you get your first month of unlimited Usenet for $7 and it’s just $10 per month after… If you click the link after this promotion ends, the same plan is $19.95 a month. If you don’t want to pay month by month, you can buy ‘chunks’ from as little as 10GB ($2) to 1000GB ($87) that are a single fee until you run out. The second change is switching from MediaFrontPage to Maraschino. Maraschino, like MediaFrontPage before it is a singular website you would host on your home network that tries to incorporate features/information from SabNZBd+, SickBeard, etc. and consolidate the different interfaces to manage your HTPC.

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“Normal” Post:
As I’ve stated before on the blog, my memory sometimes annoys the hell out of me. It turns out I’ve written four different blog posts since the last one you see… When I wrote them apparently I saved them as drafts by accident (probably due to being tired and wanting to proof read before I submit) but I never got around to actually posting them. The ‘paranoia’ post below this one was written two days before my 31^st birthday and pending on how you look at it, not much has changed since then. Being the dumb-ass I am, I deleted the four posts that never went public before I read them so… oh well. Here’s a quick run down for those that keep track: Birthday (uneventful), Thanksgiving (uneventful), Hanukkah (spent alone), Christmas (mostly uneventful), New Year’s (drunk), Jan. 5 – Social Security Review for my disability*¹, Jan. 29 – 5 year anniversary of when I was diagnosed with Cancer, Valentine’s Day (Don’t ask), the last week – screwed up my knee when I fell because of the damn snow/ice.

The forums for the iOS application “XBMC Constellation” by “FSS.cc” are no longer sealed to Beta Testers and now open for the public. If you’re an XBMC user, please use the same screen name when you register for the Constellation forums to make it easier for other users to recognize you.

Both my iPhone and iPad now bitch at me every few days to remind me to write more for the blog, so things should happen more frequent (at least for awhile), especially if we get some new contributors for tech related stuff… Tutorials, Product Reviews (Hardware or Software), iOS related news, etc.

On that note, I’ll write again soon (my Mass Effect 3 pre-order arrives tomorrow).
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*¹: The review went well, my range of motion wasn’t as high as I thought it would be and the muscle damage in inner/front part of my right leg is apparently not as bad since my body compensated and the muscle in the back of that leg is stronger. The doctor said she’d never seen that before, but with the dead muscle in the front she couldn’t figure out why the circumference was still equal on both of my legs until she tested the muscle mass in the back of each leg. For doing their tests the beginning of January, they just sent me the paperwork/results about two weeks ago, so I was kind of confused for awhile with no clue what was going on (it’s a third party doctor that performs the review so they legally can’t tell you anything about if/how your disability would be affected).

Is it still paranoia if someone IS trying to get you?

I have no idea what’s been going on lately, but my body essentially wants to do nothing but sleep… sadly although I’ve been laying in bed almost 20+ hours a day the last few days, I’m still not getting shit for sleep. My birthday is this coming Friday so I’m guessing it may be related to my depression, but it’s beyond pissing me off at this point.

A lot of people tend to side one way or another on the “Windows vs. Mac” front and call people “Windows Fanboy” or “Mac Fanboy” respectively. No matter what side you fall on, you have to admit that Steve Jobs, one of the co-founders of Apple, Inc. was a wonderful inspiration to many people. He made so many innovations, not just to Apple but to the entire world.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.”

— Steve Jobs, Stanford University, 2005

As many people know, Mr. Jobs announced in mid-2004 that he was diagnosed with a rare form of Cancer and underwent a “Whipple Procedure” that summer to remove the tumor. In late 2008, early 2009 his health became a concern again that resulted in having a liver transplant in April 2009. A year and a half after the transplant in January 2011, Mr. Jobs once again took a medical leave from Apple to focus on his health. With multiple forms of health problems that continued, he announced near the end of August 2011 that he was resigning from Apple, stating in his internal Apple resignation that he could “no longer meet duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO”.

Sadly, Steve Jobs passed away on October 5th, 2011 at age 56. Apple confirmed his passing with the following statement:

We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.

Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.

His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.

*What I’m Watching or Listening to Now*
Just random stuff… nothing important…
*Random Question* OR *Random Quote*
“Dude, go f*** yourself!”
“With what?”

*Dates* – B = Birthday; E = Event; W = Weekend; X = Closed

*College*
Due to recent events, most of you know I haven’t finished my degree yet, and have been really thinking about how I’m going to proceed, be it the same college or elsewhere. I hope to finish where I started, but some things are making it difficult.

*Work*
See new “Dates” area for a few details of office closings.
I have so many projects that I need to work on and finish, but I can never seem to find the time or when I do, I can’t keep my focus.

*Medical*
A few months ago I mentioned about ‘over doing it’ at the Relay for Life and have been keeping a clearer view lately of my limitations. That part has gone back to as ‘normal’ as normal can be for me these days, however I ended up with other issues that started prior to the last post I made (not sure why I didn’t mention it then). I got an infection that caused a Temporomandibular Joint problem (essentially my jaw hinge got screwed and I couldn’t open my mouth). I spent a couple of weeks where I couldn’t even open my mouth far enough to take my pills without wedging them in there and damn near choking. So I was living on bottled water, Mountain Dew, and “Protein/Nutrition Drinks” (like “Boost” and “Ensure”) which taste like shit after your 50th bottle.
On the plus side, I found myself a new doctor to replace the asshole from February. She’s great, my first appointment with her we sat and talked about EVERYTHING medical from the start of the cancer onwards and ways of either explaining and/or treating most of the issues that have risen since then. I took this new type of antibiotics to ‘fix’ my jaw and although I still can’t open my mouth fully, I am able to open it about maybe 80-90% of normal, so I can finally eat without much problems. When the doctor checked my weight (Sept. 19) I sadly dropped to about 140 lbs. (down from about 165 range prior to cancer).
Another thing that had me worried (only a little) was the mass quantity of Ibuprofen I’ve been taking the last couple months since the last doctor cut all my medications. For those that don’t know, mass quantities of NSAID’s can cause hearing loss, but more importantly liver issues and since I was taking close to the recommended max daily for a prolonged period the new doctor ran blood work to check both my kidney’s and liver which thankfully returned normal results so I haven’t fucked them up (yet).

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As the title of the post states, it’s the start of a New Year (Rosh Hashana). In fact, the current date (as of writing) is the 5th of Tishrei, 5772 meaning that New Years was less than a week ago. I didn’t get to fully celebrate this year, but I plan on making up for it in a few days with Yom Kippur, which I hope to spend with a certain person so I can make the most of it. This year my birthday falls on Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, which is the 30th of Tishrei and for those curious, my actual date of birth was the 18th of Cheshvan, 5741 (which this year would translate to November 15th in the Gregorian Calendar).
More facts my readers probably don’t care about:
The year I was born, Chanukah was Dec. 2-10, but this year it’s Dec. 20-28, in both cases that’s ’24th of Kislev’ to ’2nd of Tevet’. Ok, I’m done with the lessons (for now)… I guess we’ll see if any of my readers comment on if this was fascinating info or I should just shut up about it.