« March 2005 | Main | May 2005 »
April 28, 2005
VoIP & Why can't I buy a movie online RIGHT NOW?
Well it's about time the FCC put their foot down. Considering how new this technology is I am impressed, things are moving along quickly.
For a while now I have been wanting to try the VoIP service from Sub Rocket. I found their service named in an article on Clark Howard’s website. I called "Vongage" and everyone I spoke to did not have English as a first language. It was very frustrating because I wasn't asking your average questions. I had called BellSouth (my DSL and landline) and asked if I could get VoIP, they said yes, another company could indeed give my VoIP as long as BellSouth was allowed to piggyback on the phone number with the DSL line, but the trick is not to cut off my phone line with BellSouth at first, because it would then kill the DSL. So I would have to get the new service, confirm that they can piggyback, and then call BellSouth back and have them cancel the phone and use the new phone number from the VoIP service.
I don't completely understand it but I knew enough to explain it to Vonage. The people where idiots. Complete idiots.
So then I called SunRocket, and I got an AMERICAN!! OH OH!! YAY! And better yet you can pre-pay for the whole year ($200) and if within the first 30 days or so you don't like it, you can get a full refund. Like if for example 911 doesn't work. So the dude went and talked to his manager and came back and told me yes we could do it.
I haven’t actually tried yet. I still have to have an electrician come, get the air conditioner fixed, and have someone put pine straw down on our hill ($ CHA CHING) so we don't get yelled at by our neighbors.
So speaking of technology and our future; on my way home yesterday a song came on the radio. I can't for the life of me remember what it's called but it is in the end of the movie "Cruel Intentions" when Reece Witherspoon is driving in the guys car and has journal in the car with her right after he dies. Well I had an urge to watch that movie at that moment. So the first thought that entered my mind was, I wonder if I can just buy it online?
Yes this is a paradigm shift, it was actually my first thought. So I went online looking for the movie. With older movies I don't particularly care if it's a super high quality MPEG. So I did several searches in google, and the only thing I came up with was "Starz" on "Real".
So I get all signed up, 14 free days or something like that. I get to the website, get Real all downloaded (Jesse told me he was going to divorce me if I did it! hehe).
So I go to the website, and crap on me. It has 300 movies TOTAL. Yes, total. No Cruel Intentions, in fact very few old classics excluding Dead Poets Society. So I downloaded Freaky Friday out of desperation and then I watched it, and then canceled my service! One free movie and a lot of frustration later, I realize Hollywood hasn't got a clue.
Posted by brandy at 10:09 AM | Comments (1)
April 24, 2005
Nearly the end of a good day
Well Jesse has completed all his papers and I am so relieved, nearly more so then him!
I am rounding out the day with a good article in the current "Harvard Business Review" (7 Transformations of Leadership) and a wonderful cup of Earl Gray by Choice Organic Tea's. If you have never had any I highly reccomend them. I once wrote an email to them saying how impressed I was by their tea and the promptly sent me a sampler of their product line. I like to buy from this yahoo store because they suggest shipping ground, and to your work to help the enviroment!
I'm nearly done with Monte Cristo, I'm anxious for the end! It's been tempting to read my IA books this weekend, but I think it was time for a work free evening or two!
Posted by brandy at 08:09 PM | Comments (0)
Good weekend indeed...
I have gotten to relax all weekend and it's been great! Last week at work was relativley tiring and I havn't gotten to relax in nearly two weeks.
Friday night Jesse and I got all dolled up and went out for sushi (my favorite) and today so far I have watched the Bridget Jones 2 and Resident Evil 2. I have read a silly girly novel yesterday and today I am half way through the Count of Monte Cristo which is suprisingly the same as the movie (with a few small differences), atleast so far.
Jesse is in his office pounding away at the keyboard on his financial paper. My duty this weekend was to leave him alone so he could finish it. :) So for me this weekend is about sitting in bed and doing nothing (except maybe a bit of laundry).
Posted by brandy at 02:45 PM | Comments (1)
April 19, 2005
Fireworks rocks my socks, long live fireworks!
I just read this article and the guy says;
"Fireworks will slowly disappear. Photoshop is Adobe's star, and the vector-orientation of Fireworks just doesn't mesh with Photoshop's workflow."
While it may not "mesh with Photoshop's workflow" it is an essential web tool. He also says; "If Adobe is the darling of art departments, Macromedia is the up-and-coming star of the IT set."
Up-and-coming? Um... I'm sorry but it has no competition. Where have you been the last 5 years?? Macromedia has been the one and ONLY top dog for multimedia designers and developers a like. Director had no competition, and when it did come (ehem flash) the company was competing with itself!! The only reason I ever even got heavy into Illustrator was for my typography class in school. I love Photoshop, don't get me wrong. But Photoshop was YEARS, and I mean YEARS behind with its ability for designing code driven sites. I was using Firework's slice'n'dice feature 5 years ago!
Fireworks and TopStyle are the only two tools I use on a daily basis. I really would cry if they merged it into PS. I would actually be completely happy with fireworks if its basic photo manipulation was a little bit better (levels...) but I would be very pissy if fireworks were merged into PS. At the worst, just open-source the damn thing so people can make install files for new OS updates..
Honestly Fireworks has been so good I haven’t even needed an upgrade. It does what it does, and it does it well. I know it's all speculation but I just have to put out my voice and say Viva La Fireworks!
In my mind Adobe is nearly non-existent (save PS) in the web world. I think Adobe should take on macromedia's model of being a part of the community, I think they should leave the product names alone, and continue to enhance on the features. Macromedia is WAY bigger in the web world then Adobe. It would be silly to mash up the whole macromedia line and re-brand it. It is in my mind, a hope that they won't re-invent the wheel and that's the purpose of the merger, to leverage.
After all, Wachovia was bought out, but most people didn't even realize it. They kept the Wachovia name, merged it a tad and kept going so as not to alienate customers. It was a smart move and it worked.
Posted by brandy at 03:06 PM | Comments (4)
April 18, 2005
In the words of Jared... "if they touch Fireworks..." I'm going to freak out! lol
Anways yeah.. please don't mess with fireworks, and leave it's name alone! LONG LIVE FIREWORKS!!!!!
Posted by brandy at 11:30 AM | Comments (0)
April 15, 2005
Nothing like...
A cup of Earl Gray at 7:40am!
Posted by brandy at 08:17 AM | Comments (2)
April 05, 2005
Rock Stars & My Dad
So I spent this past weekend in Scottsdale Arizona (near pheonix) seeing my dads first big gallery opening featuring him and his photographs. It was so neat to get to experience that with my mom and dad!
Rock Star Gallery is representing my fathers Fine Art Photography prints. The store owner, his wife and young son were really sweet. I also met their awsume framer and his signifigant other. They were just so nice! I got to speak to the guy who is a partner in the mutlimedia company that created the website for the store, he was there to film the whole event and he was also cool.
Mom and Dad, now married over 30 years!
Entry way to the store, my dads famouse Led Zepelin print.
All my dad's photo's on the walls
That's Jim Morrison in the middle top photo, and Paul McCartney (sp?) in the left middle, lots of other Lez Zepelin's hidden by the people.
More photo's along the temporary black wall
It was so neat seeing my fathers photos all up on the wall, and big, the way I always wanted to see them. My father's photo's are truley peices of art. He sold I think like 10 prints that night which was just amazing! I'm so proud of my dad! It's awsume that after all this time he's getting things going again, I hope he has many more shows like this one. We wound up going out to eat, just the three of us after the show and it was just really nice.
I treated myself to some pretty jewlery that rock stars wear.
Posted by brandy at 10:29 PM | Comments (1)