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March 30, 2007
RPM Challenge '07 Globle Release Party
The RPM Challenge is put forth to encourage music artists to make music. The rues are as follows:
That’s 10 songs or 35 minutes of original material recorded during the month of February.
Today was the global release party for all the album submitted. There were a lot of them. Over 850 albums mad the cut off. That is over 8500 original songs written in the month of February for the challenge.
The event started in The Music Hall Portsmouth. All of the entries CD were placed on stage so that the magnitude of the event could bee seen first hand. It is hard to beleve that all of this music did not exists before last month.
Here is one side of the stage. So much music.
Here is the other side of the stage. So much music!
This is a close up of a random section of the CDs. As you can see, so people put in the extra effort to make completed CD cases with artwork and everything. Other just make due with a burned CD and sharply.
After the presentation was over the participants split off into the various listening events around town. There were so many people there that it took six local venues to accommodate all the people.
I followed the crowed over to Bourbon's, a bar where one of the listening parties was being healed. There I got to talk with a few of the musicians and get there reactions to the event. The listening parties were broken up by genre. First up at Bourbon's was the "Other" category. These are songs that can not be classified into traditional music genres. Many of the musicians there produced some real bizarre (in a good way) stuff.
I good example of this is Walter Sickert & The Army Of Broken Toys. It is difficult to describe what they do so I will let a W.S Mag interview do it for me:
Contrary to their music, Walter and Edrie are some down to earth people who are passionate about their music. Walter Sickert is a experienced music producer. He was personally involved with three bands with entries for the RPM challenge. He, alnoge with just about everyone else there, expressed that the challenge catalyzed people who have been thinking about making music into actually doing it.
The motivation from the challenge was also the story behind the formation of Doctors of Medicine's album, Save the World, Get the Girl. All the members of the band are music teachers. For a long time they had wanted to pull their talents and make a album. They had planned to make the album during February vacation. However, they procrastinated as badly as their student and by the last day of the vacation they had not begun recording. In just one seven hour session, they managed to record most of the album. They managed to completed it in just four hours the next day. Creating a entire album in just ten hours takes a extraordinary amount of energy. I asked them if they plan to continue to work together on other album. To them, making Save the World, Get the Girl was just a lot of fun and they would definitely continue making music.
In addition to the motivation of the RPM challenge, technology was the other impetus in the speed and volume of the result. With the power of music authoring software many musicians authored their albums without ever stepping foot in a professional recording studio.
There was so much going on in so many places I did not get to listen to the music and meet every one I wanted to. I have a personal interest in the technology behind music. It is great to see the creativity being explored here.DMG prodused an entire album using GameBoys. 10010010 not only wrote all the software for their synthesizer but included the entire source code and documentation with the submission of the album CD.
The music found in the results of the challenge have incredible volume, incredible diversity, and incredible quality. Just imaging what could be produced in the next 28 days.
Posted by binhqx at 10:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 29, 2007
OpenSER 1.2 making my life harder and easier
So OpenSER 1.2 was released and low and behold the non-caching Least Cost Routing (LCR) module code was removed. I had been using that code to build my LCR platform and now it is removed from the latest version!
However, 1.2 now has a perl module that allows the execution of perl functions to handle calls. With this feature I will be able to quickly write my own LCR code.
So it is good and bad.
Posted by binhqx at 3:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 28, 2007
Never underestimate the power of tea
One thing that always surprises me is how powerful caffeinated beverages like tea can be. Especially when it comes to motivation and physical activity.
On nights when I do not want to do anything physical like DDR, all I need is a cup or two of regular tea to perk me up. In a short time I can go from practically sleeping to playing hard DDR for two hours. Caffeine does not actually give a person energy, it just ward off the feeling of sleepiness. So I could have played the DDR with or with out the tea. It just snaps my brain into gear and gives me a bit of motivation to just do it.
I believe the reason it is so effective is because I do not consume much caffeine over all. I do not drink any caffeinated beverages in the morning or at work. The only times I do drink it is when I feel run down at the end of the day and sill need to get some exercise done.
On a side note: I would not suggest drinking carbonated beverages before exercising. They my provide a lot of caffeine, but I find the carbonation makes my stomach hurt after some physical activity.
Posted by binhqx at 10:21 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 27, 2007
Mojitos part 2
Cap, SB and I wandered down to Mojitos tonight just to see what is going on. Tuesday night seem to be the most chill down there. They had a xbox360 setup for anyone who wanted to play Madden. On this particular Tuesday they had a live acoustic band playing. The place is so laid back. We walked in and I immediately spotted people I knew wandering around and playing video games. There where a couple dozen people in the place total, though it feels empty compared to Saturday nights.
We where feeling a bit hungry and Mojitos keeps there kitchen open late all week. We have never eaten there before and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food. Usually bar/club places have mediocre food, but Mojito's is an exception. They keep the quality up even on nights when they do not have many customers.
After food, we got to spend some time talking with Opa. He owns and runs Mojitos and he is a old school pen and paper RPG gamer. If you ever want to hear interesting stories, talk to a RPGer. They will have great tails about campaigns that hey participated in or run. Opa has quite a few of his own.
Now I understand why it is so conformable to just go down there and just geek out (be your self). The place is run by a old school geek.
Posted by binhqx at 11:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 26, 2007
Matt heads off to Panama today.
I was surprised this morning when Matt came down stair with all of his gear in tow. Apparently there was a breakdown on military communication (thats a oxymoron) and would be shipping out to Panama this afternoon. I gave him $15 for gas money and told him that he owes me a drink when he gets back.
So he will be having fun playing army in the jungle. I bet he will have a blast, it is just the type of stuff he enjoys doing. It will be two or four weeks then he will be back with some cool new stories.
However now I find myself a bit bummed out. Some times you do not realize just how much a person brought to a household until they are gone. It is going to be real quite around here now.
Posted by binhqx at 10:04 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 25, 2007
Current populer game it LaTour: The Godfather
There has not been much interest in mobster games or movies over here. However, The Godfather: Blackhand Edition is the exception. We have been playing it nonstop since SB bought a copy.
The Godfather games follows a story line smilier to (but not the same as) the Godfather movies. The player gets to participate in many of the memorable scenes. The majority of the game involves expanding the influence of your mob families influence by finding new businesses to extort.
The real fun of the games comes from fighting user interface. The player uses the Wiimote and Nunchuk to simulate a number of melee fighting moves such as grabs, punches, chokes, jabs, throws, etc. These moves are acted out by the character on screen. Part of the fun is just living out violent fancies as you rough up a shopkeeper so they will pay you extortion money.
All violent fancies aside, The Godfather: Blackhand Edition is a good game. If you are a big fan of the movie you either love it for allowing you to play some of the best parts, or hate it because the story differs from the movie.
Posted by binhqx at 10:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 24, 2007
Abi has a blog now!
I just got a email saying that my sister Abi has her own blog.
See it here: Abi
Posted by binhqx at 7:09 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 23, 2007
Catzilla vs. Godzilla
I saw this image and immediately knew that i had to make it into Godzilla parody:
Posted by binhqx at 10:04 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 22, 2007
Starting Spring
March 21 was the first day spring in the norther hemisphere. I know that was yesterday, but it did not feel like spring at all. It was cold and windy out all day.
Today was much more spring like.
Posted by binhqx at 4:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thread safe dynamic counters in PostgreSQL.
Okay, a little research about Concurrency Control in PostgreSQL gave me the answer I was looking for. Here is the updated code:-- Create the table to hold the counters
CREATE TABLE counters (
counter_name character varying(32) NOT NULL,
count bigint DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL,
counter_type character varying(32) NOT NULL
);
-- Add a index to counters table that use counter_name, counter_type.
-- This will dramaticaly increase performance.
ALTER TABLE ONLY counters
ADD CONSTRAINT counter_name_counters_pkey PRIMARY KEY (counter_name, counter_type);
-- Create a rule that will increment the count field when a recored is inserted and the
-- primary key already exists.
CREATE RULE insert_on_duplicate_update_counters_table
AS ON INSERT
TO counters WHERE (
-- Check Statment: Check if the counter name and type already exist. If it does not, just
-- do the insert as normal with the count set to one.
(new.counter_name, new.counter_type) IN
(SELECT
counters.counter_name,
counters.counter_type
FROM
counters WHERE
counters.counter_name = new.counter_name AND
counters.counter_type = new.counter_type)
-- end SELECT
)
-- end Check Statment
DO INSTEAD
-- If the name and type of counter already exists, increment the counter.
UPDATE counters
SET
-- Set increment the current value of the field.
-- note: the self reference that makes the update thread safe.
count = count + 1
WHERE counters.counter_name = new.counter_name AND
counters.counter_type = new.counter_type;
-- end UPDATE
-- end CREATE RULEThe key is the UPDATE statement. I did not know that a UPDATE could reference its own values. When it does, the rows it references are locked until the update is complete.
Posted by binhqx at 1:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 21, 2007
Things to fix: the slouch
I have noticed that I have a tendency to slouch. There is nothing worse then seeing a picture of myself and my friends where I am a inch shorter because I was slouching at the time. I need to become aware of my slouching and correct it.
Right now when I force myself to sit up straight, I can feel the strain on my back muscles. Those muscles must be really out of shape. I should bug my boss about getting a better desk and chair at work. That is probably the place where I slouch the most.
Posted by binhqx at 11:51 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
My counters are not thread safe!
I discovered those counters that a showed off yesterday are not thread safe! If a multithreaded application attempts to update the same counter at the same time, the results will not be accurate.
If I find some time later, I will see if I can make a thread safe version using table locking.
Posted by binhqx at 8:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 20, 2007
Easy dynamic counters in PostgreSQL.
I was working on some call processing code in PostgreSQL and realized that I needed a way to create counters at runtime to gather various statistic about the queries. I mainly needed a way to generate a list of the area codes that calls failed to and how many failed. I came up with a rule that would override the function of a INSERT and would increment a counter. Here is the code for it:
-- Create the table to hold the counters
CREATE TABLE counters (
counter_name character varying(32) NOT NULL,
count bigint DEFAULT 1 NOT NULL,
counter_type character varying(32) NOT NULL
);
-- Add a index to counters table that use counter_name, counter_type.
-- This will dramaticaly increase performance.
ALTER TABLE ONLY counters
ADD CONSTRAINT counter_name_counters_pkey PRIMARY KEY (counter_name, counter_type);
-- Create a rule that will increment the count field when a recored is inserted and the
-- primary key already exists.
CREATE RULE insert_on_duplicate_update_counters_table
AS ON INSERT
TO counters WHERE (
-- Check Statment: Check if the counter name and type already exist. If it does not, just
-- do the insert as normal with the count set to one.
(new.counter_name, new.counter_type) IN
(SELECT
counters.counter_name,
counters.counter_type
FROM
counters WHERE
counters.counter_name = new.counter_name AND
counters.counter_type = new.counter_type)
-- end SELECT
)
-- end Check Statment
DO INSTEAD
-- If the name and type of counter already exists, increment the counter.
UPDATE counters
SET
-- Set increment the current value of the field.
count = (
-- This query will return the current count + 1
SELECT
counters.count + 1
FROM counters
WHERE counters.counter_name = new.counter_name AND
counters.counter_type = new.counter_type )
-- end SELECT
WHERE counters.counter_name = new.counter_name AND
counters.counter_type = new.counter_type;
-- end UPDATE
-- end CREATE RULETo use the counter all I need to do is call:
INSERT INTO npanxx_stats (counter_name, counter_type) VALUES ( "variable name", "variable type" );
In this case the rule would check if "variable name" already exists. If it does not, a record will be created for the counter. If it does exist, the record will be incremented.
So for my area code example I would call the following each time a call failed:
INSERT INTO npanxx_stats (counter_name, counter_type) VALUES ( $area_code_var, 'area_code_unreachable' );
Now I will have a list of all the area codes that failed and the number of calls that failed.
Posted by binhqx at 9:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 19, 2007
Still not feelling too well
I guess I am still in a bit of recovery. I have had a headache all day and i do not feel like doing anything.
Posted by binhqx at 12:29 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 18, 2007
Another LaTour specialty drink: Klingon Blood Wine.
I have had a good days recovery so my thoughts have become a bit more coherent. I would like to share with everyone a drink that has become surprisingly popular here at the LaTour: Klingon Blood Wine. Its popularity has very little to do with the taste. Instead, it has to do with appearance and cost. Blood Wine is deep red an color like blood and it cost practically nothing to make liters of the stuff.
This is not the official recipe, more like a house special way to make it. Remember, it is not about the flavor, Klingon Blood Wine is all about the look. Here are the ingredients:
* DeMoulas' brand fruit-punch.
* A packet or two Blue colored Kool-Aid (the flavor does not matter)
* Sugar
* The cheapest clear colored vodka/rum you can find.
Drink or pour out the top 1/4 of the bottle of fruit-punch. I use the DeMoulas' brand punch because it is more opaque then other fruit-punchs. Then mix in the blue Kool-Aid and the color of the punch will turn to the deep red.
Refill the of the bottle with your alcohol till it is 4/5 full. Now you add sugar and mix till the flavor of the cheap alcohol dissipates. Make sure that you keep mixing while you do this because the Blood Wine will separate and all you will taste is the alcohol.
Now you should have enough Klingon Blood Wine for a few weeks (Or one crazy St. Patrick's Day). Keep it refrigerated in a ornate bottle.
Posted by binhqx at 9:41 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Celebrating St. Patrick's Day (The day after)
I think I partied a little too hard last night. My head is pounding and the sun is too bright. it is a good thing St. Patrick's day only comes once a year.
Posted by binhqx at 1:13 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 17, 2007
Celebrating St. Patrick's Day
I was going to go to a concert tonight but then Cap, Matt, and SB all wanted to go out to a bar to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. So I went out with them instead.
There was much drinking and merriment.
Posted by binhqx at 11:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 16, 2007
Late night snow storm in Dover.
It started snowing around noontime today. As the afternoon wore on it got heavier and heavier. We shoveled once when we got home. By midnight there was a good six or seven inches on the ground.
We figured we should shovel off as much as we could before the rain was predicted to start falling. Once we finished shoveling, we decided to take a walk through the blizzard to downtown.
Most of the town was dead quiet. This is probably because of the weather and because it was nearly 1:00 am. The one exception to this was the Dunkin Donuts and Store 24. Those two locations were bustling with people.
Posted by binhqx at 11:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 15, 2007
Go Yuki in Boston
Cap and I had a little adventure down to Boston to hear Go Yuki. It is a long drive for us, but it is fun to get out of NH and visit a big city.
We left right from work and drove south. Once we got to the city, finding parking was a pain in the butt. There was a Bruins that night, so all the parking locations near the venue where greed for the event. There was cheaper parking farther away. However it was raining and we where willing to pay a but more for a close location.
We hit the Boston streets on foot and had a few hours to kill. While we where eating dinner the rain stopped. This gave us the opportunity to do some exploring around town. You never think of Boston as a seasonal attraction, but that appears to be the case. By 7:30 many of the interesting little boutiques where closed. The only places still open where the restaurants and pubs. Cap and I checked out some of the historical locations. I had never seen many of them during the night with no one around.
Around 8:00 we where supposed to meet up with band members at the venue, the Bulfinch Yacht Club (BYC). We found Eric and Kenn just down the street and helped them move some equipment to the BYC. When we got there we found that there was currently a private party going on inside and they would not let us in.
Instead we hung out side, talked to the band, and tried convince passersby to see the show. Eventuality we did get inside.
The Bulfinch Yacht Club is a bit of a hole. It is not very big and not very comfortable, and the quality of the sound system is poor. However, the people who run the place are friendly.
The first show of the night was Celerity. They are a fairly typical Punk / Rock / Grunge band from Athens, Georgia. It is a bit colder up here in the north, they must have been freezing to death. The music was okay, although they did do a good grunge cover of Paint It Black.
Next up was Go Yuki. They did another fantastic set, as usual. The band play with their defining energy and Yuki had another cute outfit to strut around in. The only problems they encountered where from the poor sound system. Yuki likes to walk out into the audience during her set and connect with them. Unfortunately when ever she would get off the stage the sound system would produce feedback. I blame BYC for this.
Here are some images that Cap took of the performance:
The last show of the evening was Trans Cardia. They say that they are a dance influenced progressive rock group. To me, Trans Cardia sounded like straight up rock. Like Go Yuki, much of their energy comes from their lead vocalist Keenan. Scott, the guitarist, also maintained a strong stage presence. I enjoyed the show and hope that they can make it up to NH one of these days.
By now it was past 1:00 AM so Cap and I had to hit the road. It is a dark trip back to home. The overall experience was well worth the trip.
Posted by binhqx at 11:25 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 14, 2007
Chai Cookies
I call my latest culinary creation a chai cookie. It was invented while Cap and I where making some sugar cookies. The recipe called for vanilla extract but we did not realize we were all out of it. So we searched for something else to flavor it. I found a bottle of Voyant Chai Cream in the cabinet. It has a strong Chai/Vanilla flavor. I just dumped a bunch into the batter and baked the cookies.
The result were sugar cookies with a warm Chai flavoring to them.
Posted by binhqx at 8:14 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Blog entry #700!
I thought I would use this one by stating that this is my 700th blog entry. w00t!
Posted by binhqx at 4:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Stabbing Day! (Ides of March)
Tomorrow is Stabbing Day (a.k.a the ides of march). To celebrate, I am going to get a Caesar salad and stab the hell out of it.
"Et tu, Brute?"
:)
Posted by binhqx at 3:39 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 13, 2007
Yotsuba&!
Yotsuba&! is a manga by Kiyohiko Azuma about the adventures of the six year old girl. The story begins when Yotsuba moves into a town with her father. Before that, Yotsuba had lived in the countryside. Her adventures revolve around exploration and discovery of these new surroundings. She quickly makes friends with her neighbors and they become a important characters in the series.
What makes this series so appealing is the absolute adorableness of Yotsuba. In each volume, Yotsuba will encounter new obstacles and adventures. She will then trample through them with the charisma and delight that only six year olds have. Her father has a laissez-faire attitude toward Yotsuba's upbringing. Luckily, Yotsuba appears to be indestructible.
ADV Manga was selling Yotsuba volumes one through three back in 2005. You should be able to find these at any book store that caries manga. Since then no other volumes have been released in English. However, it is easy to find scanlations of many more volumes with some googleing.
I highly suggest reading these if for nothing more then having your heart melted by a little girl named Yotsuba.
Posted by binhqx at 11:05 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 12, 2007
Sometimes I talk to myself
Recently SB brought to my attention that I will talk to empty rooms. For example, I will come up stairs from playing DDR and SB will as me who I was talking with. The answer is no one. I was down there all by myself.
I think the reason I do this is some type of internal idea test. Have you ever had a idea that was good in your head, but when you tried to verbalize the thought, it sounds dumb. When I am by myself, I tend to do a lot of thinking. When i have a idea I say it out loud just to hear it verbalized. If it still sounds good spoken, I will remember it for later.
So if you ever do hear me talking to no one, I am probably just doing some self editing.
Posted by binhqx at 1:19 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Exciting week ahead
I have a rather exciting week planned out.
Wednesday I have a dentist appointment. This is the bad kind of exciting. My old dental work needs to be maintained. Why did a take such bad care of my teeth when i was younger.
Thursday, Cap and I are taking a Boston trip to see Go Yuki. We where not going to go, then Cap got a personal invitation from Yuki. We figured a way to schedule a evening in Boston. So we will be at Bulfinch Yacht Club for the show.
Saturday, I am going to a night of metal and hard rock. RatPak is putting on a 3rd Anniversary Show with many of my favorite local metal and rock bands.
Posted by binhqx at 12:36 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 11, 2007
Daylight savings messed me up.
This year daylight savings began on March 11 as opposed to the beginning of April. The change messed me up. I was expecting to catch up with my mom and sister on there way north. However, by the time I was available (done with DDR and weekend work) it was too late. They had to leave before it got too dark to drive safely.
Now I feel like a real idiot.
Posted by binhqx at 8:30 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
March 10, 2007
Social self confidence ... restored!
Tonight, Cap and I where chilling at Mojitos. Randomly, two girls, about my age, beckon me over to the bar. Being polite, I walk over and introduce myself. One of them tells me that I should buy them one-doller shots. I was fairly amused by the idea and in the worse case scenario I would be out two dollars. I offered to buy the shots. However, one of the girls looked to be getting cold feet and refused my offer. I engaged them in some light conversation for a bit longer but I got a feeling of embarrassment and uncomfortableness from one of them. So I politely excused myself and when back to hang out with Cap.
At Mojito's part of the bar extends far out into the room. Patrons can stand on ether side of it and talk too each other. It is also a good place to stand with a drink and watch whatever they are playing that night on the projection screen. At the same time, one can survey the ebb and flow of people around Mojito's. Unfortunately this side of the bar is right next to a main thoroughfare.
Cap and I where there watching the movie, watching the growing crowds, and occasionally moving out of the way of foot traffic. This night they where playing Team America: World Police. Its okay that we can not hear the audio, we have seen the movie so many time we know all the jokes. At the time I was holding on to a bottle of american beer. I do not particularly like the beer, but the bar sold them cheep and having a drink in hand kept the pushy wait staff away (dark beer bottles work best for this).
Just then I was surprised by four or five of girls that came in from my right flank. They where talking to each other in a loose group. When they go to where I was standing they stop walking and appeared to have accidently put me into the middle of their conversation. I swung around to see what was going on and perhaps apologize for disrupting their group. Then from behind me I hear, "get over there before those girls fall all over him!" I spin around again. Right in front of me, on the other side of the bar, are the two girls I had been talking to before.
The look I receive from those two is the type usually reserved for cats that have just pounced on the mouse that will be their dinner. I greeted them again, and asked if they where enjoying their evening. Immediately I was interrogated about the drink I was holding. Whether or not I liked it and how much was left in the bottles. The truth is, I do not like the beer and the bottle had been empty for the last fifteen minutes even thought I had still been regularly taking sips from it. So I was a bit evasive of their questions. Eventually they just admitted that they felt bad about our earlier encounter and wanted to make it up by buying me a drink.
Suddenly I realized I was being hit on by these two girls. What a boost to my self esteem. These two must have some guts to just approach a random guy in a bar. They where not my type, but deserved a reward, so I was as charming, funny and interesting as I know how. We talked for a while and even took a chance on the dance floor. The dance area at Mojito's tends to be over crowed and it is easy to loose track of people there. That is what happened, I got lost in the crowd and lost track of them. Its okay, I had my fun and needed to find Cap again. If they wanted to come back and chat again, I was standing back where they first saw me. I did not see them for the rest of the night. It did not effect me at all, I was still glowing from my inflated ego.
Most importantly I learned something tonight. Being hit on is fun and rewarding. I have read that this is true, and it makes logical sense but first hand experience has verified it. In fact, I postulate that the reason why woman get all dressed up and go out is to attract this type of positive attention. Although in our contemporary culture, it is the male that is supposed to be the aggressor. It is enlightening to be on the receiving side.
So that is how one small encounter restored my social self confidence.
Posted by binhqx at 11:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 9, 2007
Fridays Chronology
Nothing worth writing about happened to me today. So I will just give a brief chronology of todays events.
* When to work. Got a bit ticked off by some of our VOIP gateway providers and general mismanagement of my time. Someday I will have a job where I can work on a project for more then 45 minutes at a time.
* Got dinner at Smiley's. I do like their grilled chicken salads. They do not cost much and contain, lettuce, chicken, a entire tomato, and two pickled peppers. We also got a order of atomic hot wings. These wings where above and beyond their regular atomic hot wings. These where insanely hot!
* Watched session six and seven of South Park. These are so funny. I am sure that political satire of these episodes go well over the head of most viewers.
* Played DDR. Two hours of it. Good exercise.
* Go to bed. Zzzzz........
Posted by binhqx at 11:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 8, 2007
Fluttr Effect
Aunty and Rick invited me out to see Fluttr Effect. They are one of those bands that defies genre labels by providing a wild range of styles in their music. A single song can range from the deep tones of solo cello reminiscent of chamber music then expend into hard rock. Fluttr Effect can play non-traditional rock because of there talent with non-traditional rock interments. With Vessela Stoyanova on the MIDI marimba and Valerie Thompson on the electric cello, the band can produce some unique rhythms and melodies. On the other side Kara Trott, Troy Kidwell, and J Marchionna provide the traditional rock sounds with vocals, electric guitar, and drums.
Together they make a unique live performance. I recommend taking listen to their myspace and music pages. There is so much range, everyone should be able to find something they like.
This show as particularly fun because Aunty brought my cute four-year-old cousin Ari with us. She was a hit with the band. The rock music is a bit to loud for her ears. However, once we put in a pair of earplugs in, she was just fine and loved the show. Ari sure can bounce and dance with the best of them.
Posted by binhqx at 2:13 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 7, 2007
I have lost my sociability.
This entry is a downer. This is because I have been disappointed with myself lately.
Over the summer and fall I had gained a socializing ability that made me appear outgoing and confident. Back then I could do things like take a trip to California and make a ton of new friends in just a matter of days, or I would hit downtown Dover and talk to the passersby on the street or at a concert. I met so many new people during this time.
However since then I have lost my extroversion. I do not have the social confidence that I had back then. When I do go out, I am a bit of a wallflower; quite and self-contained. I think my overall self confidence and self worth is much lower now.
I have constructed a shell around myself, a piece of social armor to protect me from unpredictable world. It is a very familiar place, it is the same shell that I have always carried on me. Over the summer, I had a good friend crack me out of it. I was still me, just with more confidence to express myself. However, without the continuos practice of just being social: meeting new people, making new friends, I have fallen back to my introverted ways. I am disappointed with myself because I really enjoyed being a outgoing personality.
The goal is to regain my confidence. This time I can not depend on someone else to do it for me. I already have the ability, I just need the determination to use it.
Posted by binhqx at 5:56 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 6, 2007
Rock & Roll Benefit for Mario
Mario is one of the coolest people I have met since moving to Dover. He contributes so much to the local music community and is just a all around nice guy.
Recently Mario's father passed away. This hurt him very deeply, his father was a important person in Mario's life. In a amazing show of support, Mario's friends pulled together a acoustic rock & roll benefit for him at Mojitos.
Some fantastic musicians donated their talents to bring people in. There where also a few Items donated for auction. A painting, a dinner for two at Mojitos, and a hug from Mario brought in some additional donations.
Here is a picture of Fetch strumming and singing some mad acoustics:
The pinnacle of the evening was when Mario took the stage and gave a touching speech. He talked about how great and how much of a positive influence his father was. Mario thanked everyone for coming and showing support. It can best be summed up with a quote from the speech, "If we could measure our wealth in friends, I would be rich man."
It is very true. Mario has earned so much respect and admiration by being the unselfish person he is. It feels great to give a little bit back.
Posted by binhqx at 12:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 5, 2007
Cool Pop/Techno Remixes
Today I happen across some cool pop/techno remixes of random songs. Here are a few that I found particularity interesting:
Doctor Who Theme
Cotton Eye Joe
Take Me Home, Country Roads <-- Very good!
Posted by binhqx at 11:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 4, 2007
Big Sunday Ham Dinner at LaTour
SB bought a enormous 13 lb. ham earlier this week. Cap and I decided that we should use it to make a big ham dinner. It was quite a production, Cap made a delicious ham glaze and he cooked the whole thing with pineapples. I know that traditionally one uses pineapple rings pinned to the ham. Unfortunately all we had was pineapple pieces. Cap improvised by just pinning many pineapple chunks to the ham. The result of this was dubbed ham razor. It may look funny, but tastes delicious.
With the ham we made potatoes au gratin, carrots in a brown sugar sauce, and crescent roles. What a dinner!
It would have made for a good sit down dinner had our dinning room not been turned into the LaTour office. We did the next best thing. A ham dinner in front of the TV, watching MST3K Gunslinger.
Good Times.
Posted by binhqx at 5:55 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Not having a girl friend is lousy ... for my hair
I have found a unexpected difficulty with being single. Those of you who have not met me in person may not know that I have small patch of long hair at the back of my head, usually known as a rat tail. I keep it tightly braided and tucked away where no one can see it.
However, it does periodically need to be unbraided, cleaned and re-braided. However, it is hard for me to braid the hair at the back of my own head. When I have a girl around, she can help me out. Now I need to bug a family member with braiding skills each time I need some braiding.
I guess it is just some more incentives for me to make more friends (ones with hand dexterity).
Posted by binhqx at 12:32 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 3, 2007
Human brains feeding the net.
Luis von Ahn is a smart guy who has come up with a way of getting human beings to solve problems for computers. You may ask why people would need to solve problems for computers. The truth is, there are problems that are hard for PCs that are easy for people. A good example of one of these problems is recognizing the subject and objects in a picture.
Luis von Ahn has turned this problem into a addictive game. In the game two people are randomly paired up. They are both given a image and have to type worlds that describe it. When the players type the same word they win the round and are give points. The plays must beat as many rounds as they can in a given amount of time.
The servers take the data from the game and use it to apply labels to the image. The result is a large number of images with accurate words to describe them. This data can be used to increase the accuracy of image search engines.
Luis von Ahn did a talk on the subject for google. Watch this video. It is very interesting.
Google has licensed the game and made it into Google Image Labeler.
Posted by binhqx at 2:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 2, 2007
Snow Day
We got some nasty weather today. It started as snow last night and kept snowing till around noon time. That is when we got out to shovel. It is a good thing we did too. Shortly after we got out there the snow turned to rain and the shoveling got real heavy.
Then it was just another work-from-home day. Working from home is a lot like being at work, except I can not mooch the food they keep there. It is colder at home too.
Looking around this place reminds me of all the stuff I need to do to make it more livable. If anyone is looking for gifts for me, I would suggest swiffer products or gift cards to the Ikea store.
Posted by binhqx at 3:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 1, 2007
Funny stuff: Uncyclopedia
This site is absolutely hilarious!
http://uncyclopedia.org/
Posted by binhqx at 3:52 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack