Happy Halloween! Click HERE to view and/or download more photos.
Monthly Archive for October, 2004
I’ll admit it: I was jealous of alll those Winamp users who included their playlists on their weblogs. That’s why I downloaded Winamp and BlogAmp. I even had it it working for a short while, but the problem was I don’t use Winamp. I normal use Window Media Player for all my media needs. It was kind of pointless to have Winamp post the most recent songs that I had listen to, if I never use Winamp. Finally, after searching the net, I found an alternative I could use - SongWriter. The purpose of SongWriter is to let everyone know what you are listening to when you are playing music in Windows Media Player. SongWriter is a background plugin that ‘listens’ for a media file to begin playing. If a media file begins playback, SongWriter outputs the information about the current song. This information can be in the form of a text file, an XML file or an HTTP header. A variety of scripting techniques can then be used to transform this information into html output; for displaying to anyone who visits the website. However, I have not yet fully figured out how to display all the information I want, like Artist Name, Album Title and Song Title to the site. However, In the meantime, if you look over to the right hand side of the page, you’ll see a picture of the album cover from track that I’m playing right now. It’s updated every time Window Media Player starts to play a new song, so if I’m online and listening to Window Media Player while you’re reading this, then you’ll know what I’m listening to. If I’m not online, or if I don’t have Window Media Player open, it simply just leaves a picture of the album cover from the last track that I listened to. I’m still working on having the Artist and Title displayed too. Maybe when I’m not working six days a week and not so tired i’ll have time to play with it some more.
[Listening to: Party for Two - Billy Currington, Shania Twain - Greatest Hits (03:33)]
The latest version of Mercora - 2.0.0.0. It has a completely redesigned user interface that makes it easier to navigate the application and find the music you are looking for. This is much more streamlined compared to the millions (O.K., not really millions) of windows that would pop up before. You can download it HERE to check it out yourself. Mercora is a person-to-person network that enables you to find, communicate and share interests with friends and family. Mercora has built a framework for sharing digital content using peer-to-peer technologies to directly connect you with your friends on the network. You do all these things through the simple interface of the Mercora applications. Look me up if i’m online spierson82, I could use a few more people on “My Friends” list.
Sunday, we all went to Brookfield Zoo’s annual Boo! at the Zoo. Matthew came dressed in his costume and join in the Costume Parade. We had a good time visiting the animals and seeing the Halloween sights. Matthew even received a bag filled with treats as we left. Click HERE to view and/or download more photos.
Normal, I buy my fish at Petsmart, but my wife and son came home last week with two Blue Gouramis from Walmart. Since we already had an assortment of gouramis and tetras I thought nothing of it. But who would have know that Walmart sells killer fish. That’s right these fish are murders. They have killed every last fish that I original had had in that tank. About fifteen in total, some Black Fin Tetras, Lemon Tetras, Blood Fin Tetra, and Red Dwarf Gouramis, all of which lived peacefully together until these evil fish showed up. I first noticed that some of the fish looked like they had ich, so, I began to treat them. It wasn’t until later I came to the realization that these “new comers had resorted to bio-warfare. Although, that wasn’t good enough for these killers, when they saw the treatment might be working. They carefully arranged for the rest of the deaths to look like accidents.
It’s sad to say, but I final laid the last of my original fish to rest this morning. These gouramis may have won the battle but they haven’t won the war.
Fannie May seeks sweet retail return via Chiacgo Sun-Times
All I have to say is YEAAAAAAAAAAH!
Ok, while I was watching The Price Is Right at lunch today, something happened on the Showcase Showdown that I’ve never seen happen before.
Contestant number one passed on the first showcase, which was a mistake because instead of bidding on trailer she ended up bidding on a dining set and a bed. Although, neither showcase was that spectacular, it definitely was not the better showcase out of the two. But that’s not the strange thing, after both contestants had placed their bids. Contestant number one, who bid $12,000, missed the showcase by one dollar. That’s right folks, ONE DOLLAR!
Which made me think, what would be worse. Knowing that you passed on the better showcase that was worth more money or missing the crappy showcase by only ONE Dollar.
I just installed BlogAmp, which is a very simple Winamp plugin. What it does is FTP information about the track currently playing to my server. It stores it as a .js file so all I had to do then, is insert it into my web page with a little bit of JavaScript. If you look over to the right hand side of the page, you’ll see the track that I’m playing right now. It’s dynamically updated every time Winamp goes onto the next track, so if I’m online and listening to Winamp while you’re reading this, then you’ll know what I’m listening to. If I’m not online, or if I don’t have Winamp open, it simply just leaves the last tracks that I listened to.
I’ve stripped BlogAmp right down to it’s most simplest. By default, it displays the last 10 tracks that I listened to, it also includes information such as track length, bitrate, album info, etc., but I didn’t want all that. I’ve also removed the link to blogamp.sourceforge.net. However, I’m still trying to cuustomize the way it’s display. So, we’ll see how it goes.