Not much to post about lately. I've been fighting off a nasty cold/cough. I think it started last week (or early in the week) so I've been taking a lot of Vitamin C, Zinc and Tylenol cold. It's weird how it'll affect me, seem to go away, then come right back. And I can't shake this cough... I may actually have to see a doctor on this one. A shame, I've managed to stay away from the doctor for probably 5 to 10 years or so. Maybe more, with one exception when I needed a physical 4 or 5 years ago.

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For the longest time, I was one of the people who claimed that I would never need an MP3 player. With the exception of some songs, I get tired of hearing the same old music pretty quickly. I'm rarely on the train or even in the car for a very long time. When I am, I have XM radio and often listen to Opie and Anthony, or a mix of the 80s, rock and dance channels. It's enough to keep me entertained.

Then one day, http://www.woot.com had a special sale. 30GB Zune for $100! I figured, 30 GB would be more than I would ever need in an MP3 player, and this was a decent price. I ordered my Zune and then the fun began!

I got really into podcasts and despite loading 20 GB of music onto my Zune, I left enough room for some audio and video podcasts. I thought I'd share my play list and if you know of any cool podcasts I might like let me know. If you produce your own podcast, feel free to let me know all about it and take advantage of my blog for some free promotion.

Photography:

• This Week in Photography (TWiP)- TwipPhoto.com/
  
• Tips from the Top Floor - TipsFromTheTopFloor.com
  

Technology:

TWIT.TV with Leo Laporte and Friends - TWiT.tv

• The Tech Guy (Ask Anything about Technology w/ Leo Laporte)
  
• This Week in Tech (Tech News w/ Leo Laporte, John Dvorak, Patrick Norton)
  
• Windows Weekly (Microsoft News w/ Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, etc..)
  
• Security Now (Security News w/ Leo Laporte, and Steve Gibson of GRC/SpinRite)
  
• FLOSS Weekly (Open Source Software/Hardware discussions w/ Leo Laporte and Randal Schwartz)
  

(Yes, There's a lot at TWIT.TV. lol)

• Off the Hook (Hacker Podcast) - 2600.com
  
• Hak5 (Hacker Podcast) - Hak5.org
  

Random Podcasts:

• This Week in Law (Law and Technology w/ Leo Laporte and Denise Howell) - TWiT.tv
  
• MunchCast (Geeky Food show w/ Leo Laporte and Cammy Blackstone) - TWiT.tv
  
• Scam School (Bar Scams/Tricks taught by Magician Brian Brushwood) - Revision 3
  
• Ask a Ninja (Comical QA show with a (?) real Ninja!) - AskANinja.com
  

While most people complain their commute to work is too long, I often find myself complaining that it's too short :)

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So I've had some time to evaluate windows Vista. Since it's release I've heard nothing but bad things about it. It's slow, It crashes, Nothing is compatible with it, The UAC is annoying, It's just crap! I adopted this opinion for a long time. I listen to a lot of tech pod-casts, especially those hosted by Leo Laporte (from Tech TV's, The Screen Savers), and he's been commenting a lot about how after a year and a half, the problems with vista have mostly been addressed. With the investment of the new PC, I decided to add Vista Home Premium to my cart and come up with my own opinion.

Installation of Vista was a breeze. I got it up and running in no time. I stepped through all my hardware and installed the specific drivers and everything just worked the way it was supposed to. The system flys, I can multitask like it's nobody's business! I can see how there would be a lot of issues when Vista first came out. Like XP, it takes time for manufacturers to adopt the new platform and develop the necessary drivers and software.

As I stated above, I also heard a lot of complaints about the User Access Control (UAC) that Microsoft implemented in Vista. Basically, any time I go to do something that will affect the system (i.e. requires administrator access) I am prompted. I don't get why this is a big deal. It's a single click that only occurs when I'm performing an "administrative" task such as installing software, changing settings, etc.. It's perfectly acceptable and for me to know there's that extra level of security, I have tossed my plans to turn the UAC off. It's benefits far outweigh it's cons.

So, here's what I've been told (and believe) - When it comes to Vista, if you're planning on upgrading a Windows XP machine, don't. XP is a great OS. I use it on my Laptop and it has given me almost 7 years of reliability! If you get a new PC, leave Vista on it. There's no reason to shy away from it.

And either way, if you do or don't agree with me about Vista, Wait a year or so and you'll be able to play with Windows 7 which I'm hearing great things about. I'm looking forward to checking it out!

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Halloween was a great fun! I actually had my first trick-or-treaters since I moved into my current residence. Two boys, about 7 years old each. Poor parents, I gave them each like 3 or 4 full-sized candy bars! I was sopoo excited. The mother asked me about the decorations, and i don't think I answered her... Sorry mom, and sorry about the candy... You're welcome Dentist ;)

This weekend is pretty nuts but a lot of fun. I met up with Tiffany and Julie for dinner and we headed out to check out Tanger outlets. Then we met up with others at a party. I had work this morning which kinda sucked, but it turned out to be pne of our better events. Everyone was habing a blast the entire time. Us, the client and the customers. The fun isn't over yet! I have another party to go to tonight. This one, more low-key than last nights but should be fun nonetheless.

I'm going to leave with some great YouTube treasures:

TAKE ON ME:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HE9OQ4FnkQ

HEAD OVER HEELS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0TYun-Nq1Q

Yes... They're literal!

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So it's 2 days (1 day, 2 nights) until Halloween, and i have some fun times ahead of me.

I decided to go all out this Halloween with my decorations. Some people like to carve pumpkins, some build scarecrows, but in my true geeky spirit, I invested in Hallowindow. Hallowindow is a set of animations created by Mark Gervais. Mark created a collection of animation loops that can be projected into a window for full-frame viewing from outside.

I picked up a 42" x 10' roll of Vellum (a type of tracing paper) and hung it covering my entire livingroom window. Because Hallowindow was produced for a 4:3 screen, and my window has a 16:9 aspect ratio, I had to hang some black curtains on either side. I took my projector down from my ceiling and hooked it to a VCR and projected backwards at the window. It worked great. The Vellum, being slightly translucent made a great rear-projection screen. After purchasing a new DVD player to replace a broken one, and a lamp timer, I have been projecting halloween scenes every evening from 6:00 PM until 2:00 AM.

Tomorrow is work's annual Halloween costume contest. I've won just about every costume contest held. Previous costumes included a Spaceball, Medieval Warrior, Pac-Man, Voltron and even a Motorola SBV-5100 cable modem (I do work for the local cable/internet/phone provider after all!), Unless they find this blog, I'll surprise everyone tomorrow as the purple-grape Fruit-of-the-Loom guy :) I blew up 60 (or so) purple balloons, secured them to an over sized purple sweatshirt, and have matching sweatpants to wear in to work. It should be hysterical.

This part is a message to all the trick-or-treaters in my area. I've been living in my co-op for about 2 years now, and I haven't had ANY trick-or-treaters yet. Mostly because I don't get home until really late at night. I decided I may take some personal time tomorrow and try to get back home just before sundown. IF anyone does come to my home, I have full-size candy bars for the first bunch of people! If you're THE first and don't have too many people with you, You just may get a bunch of candy bars... I still remember the look on the face of the first trick-or-treater to come to our home when I lived with Carmine and Vince in Hicksville. We poured half a tub of candy into his bag, took pictures with him and frankly, I'm surprised we didn't have confetti and balloons fall from the ceiling!

Finally, What to do on Friday night? A bunch of people are heading into the city to see Rocky Horror. I wanted to go but other friends of mine cant make it. And, after buying the computer (which should be delivered tomorrow!!!) and last-minute Halloween supplies, I don't think I have any money to go. What to do... Hmmm

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It seems like it's been forever since I've updated my blog, so I figured now was as good a time as any. I'm in the process of cleaning my home and re-organizing my life a bit so I'd like to start up the blog some more. Maybe even give it some direction. I have so many interests that I might even start up a few sections. We'll see. I'll make this my new years resolution. New Blog, New Website and starting today, a new computer ;)

I just ordered it from NewEgg for about $750. Here's the specs:

• Intel Core 2 Duo 3.16 Ghz Processor (The beefy E8500 Wolfdale)
  
• Gigabyte P45 Motherboard (GA-EP45-UD3P)
  
• 512 MB GeForce 9600 256 bit Video Card (Gigabyte GV-NX96T512H)
  
• 4 GB High-performance Memory (2x2GB G.Skill 240-Pin DDR2 1066/PC28500)
  
• 1 TB 7200 RPM Hard Drive (Samsung Spinpoint F1, 7200 RPM, 32MB Cache, SATA 3.0Gb/s)
  
• Samsung Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-R/RW/DL/LightScribe)
  
• 500 Watt Power Supply (PC Power and Cooling PPCS500)
  
• Windows Vista Home Premium (OEM)
  

And before anybody gives me any slack about putting Vista on the system, It's time that I learn it! It's been out a year and I can probably clock about 3 hours on Vista PCs. If it doesn't meet my needs, I have a fresh XP disc ready to go.

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I just received a chain email alerting me to a virus that came out over a year ago, so I wrote up a "usefull" chain email and sent it out as a reply. Here it is for archival purposes. I look forward to anybody's comments, additions or arguments:

(Written July 2008 - If recieved as a chain letter, stop passing on beyond 2009!)

BASIC RECOMMENDATIONS FOR COMPUTER SECURITY:
Prevent Viruses, Spyware, Malware and Hackers from getting into your system:
by Jason 'Jaypoc' Bauman

Keep your PC up to date
Always update your PC. Most operating systems can be set up to download and install updated automatically. Once a bug in an operating system or peice of software is identified and a patch is released, it only takes malicious programmers a day or two to develop and implement a virus or worm that can take advantage of that bug. Keeping your PC patched constantly will ensure that your protected from such attacks.

Surf Safe Sites
Stick to web-sites that are well known, or run by legitimate organizations. Stay away from adult sites and sites that offer pirated software, music and movies (This includes using Peer to Peer or illegal bit-torrent sites). Often these sites are riddled with malware and spyware.

Don't click links in email.
Spammers/Malware developers can make an address appear legitimate in an email, but clicking on the link can sometimes send you to a totally different web site. It's always a good idea to confirm the address by checking the status bar at the bottom of the screen, or copying and pasting what you see into the address bar. If you recieve an e-card, don't click the included link, but go directly to the site and then type in the confirmation code given in the email. Also, don't respond to or click links in emails from people you don't know or don't trust.

Use a Firewall
If you're at home, put a router (wireless or wired) between you and your internet connection. If you're using a public hot-spot, turn on your PC's software firewall. If you are unsure how to do so, contact your computer vendor (or send me an email. I'll help if I can).

When in Public, pretend you have no privacy
If you use public Hot-Spots to connect to the Internet, you should keep in mind that nothing you do is private. Don't enter any information that you wouldn't want the person sitting next to you seeing. Unless you are using a secure website (https://) then any information send to/from your computer to the Internet could be seen by someone using special (and freely available) software on another computer nearby. When logging into sites, make sure the site offers a secure login page before typing in a name and password.

Use Strong Passwords
Easy passwords are easy to guess, or break using freely available software. Malicious hackers use "dictionaries" to guess thousands of passwords a second, and if your password is a dictionary word, or close to, it is likely to be one of the passwords that are guessed. Combine Capital and Lowercase letters as well as numbers and if allowed, symbols.A good practice is to use a phrase, make an acronym of it, and replace some of the letters with numbers or symbols. You'd be surprised how easy it is to remember very complex passwords this way.

Install Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware
Install an anti-virus program and make sure you keep it up to date. Most good antivirus programs will release updates on a daily basis. Be sure to keep your anti-virus solution up to date as a backup to catch anything that got past you. You may also want to install an Anti Mal-ware program (i.e. Spy Sweeper, Ad-Aware, Spybot). These are okay, but you generally don't want to install more than one Anti-Virus program (same goes for firewalls). Most commercial anti-virus programs protect you from spyware nowadasy as well, so using a separate program is often not necessary.


If you took the time to read this, then you should have a pretty good idea of how to keep your PC safe and clean. Using a little common sense while online and keeping an eye out for "trouble" will greatly reduce your risk of Virus/Malware infections, and possibly even eliminate the chances completely.

If you'd like a GREAT (and entertaining) resource for keeping your computer safe, I recommend a podcast (downloadable radio program) called "The Tech Guy" podcast. Hosted by Leo Laporte, a long time technologist. The show covers everything from Home Entertainment, HDTV, Radio, Phones, Computers, Security, etc... If you want an entertaining look into "geekdom" Leo is great and he breaks things down for the less tech-saavy.

The podcast can be downloaded for multiple MP3 players at - http://twit.tv/ttg

It is also available via iTunes and the Zune Marketplace

The Tech Guy can also be heard on XM Satelite Radio and multiple local radio stations. Check your local listings.

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So weird. During my 15 minute break I decided I wanted some junk food, so I went to the candy/snack machine and bought a cheese/cinnamon bun...then I came back to my desk. Decided randomly to check what holiday was today, and it turns out it's National Sticky Bun day! How did I know? What are the odds? I havent had one of these danish/buns for months. Is there subliminal advertising at work here? lol.

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so I was talking to some friends online when they told me about the lunar ecipse tonight. I ran outside with my camera and despite the clouds, managed to get a few cool shots. Here's one of my favs.

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The other day I picked up Chinese food for lunch yesterday and I received quite an odd fortune cookie. It read:

"Your spouse's bills are yours and yours are yours."

First of all, I don't have a spouse, and if I did, I guess this would hold true, but what happened to the inspirational fortunes. This is like a reality check slapping you across the face.

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