Frank Caliendo on Letterman

A friend passed this along recently, and I just watched it again. Wanted to share with you. It's old I think, so you may have seen it. He's quite good at all the impressions he does here, but I really love his Bill Clinton! What he says, and his facial expressions! Hilarious! Thanks Chris :-)

Cool Special Effects: Death Star Over San Francisco

I can't believe it's really been a week since I have posted anything here. Not for lack of content, only lack of time (and energy, I suppose). More to come... but for now, enjoy this crazy video above, passed along to me by a friend.

Mac Game: Burger Shop

I found a cool game via a web link from Facebook, I believe. It's a site that sells lots of games for the Mac, offering a free 1-hour demo of each. I saw this one called Burger Shop at #3 on their Most Popular list and decided to try it... it was a blast! I showed it to the boys and they loved it, too!

Basically, you fill fast food orders :-) Jen and I think this was made by the fast food industry, because when I was playing it with the boys, we were all really starting to crave burgers, fries, milk shakes and more. :-) It's got a fun little story that goes along with the game, and is super fast paced but pretty simple. Click on the photo above to check it out.

If you don't have a Mac... come visit me at the Apple Store... :-)

Psych

For a while now, my parents, knowing we are fans of the show Monk, have said that we would enjoy the USA Networks show, Psych. So much so that they gave us the first season on DVD!

But, as you might already know, life has been quite busy around here, so we have not taken/found the time to watch it. Until last night.

Jen and I popped in the pilot episode DVD, honestly, not sure we would like it. We really don't like TV in general, and especially current/newer TV. But we do like Monk, and we do trust my parents' recommendations. So... we were curious as to what we'd think.

We loved it. :-)

The characters are fun, the story was funny and intriguing, I was laughing aloud much of the time we were watching. We definitely recommend. Looking forward to watching the rest of Season 1.

I'm assuming that we are late to the party here, I'm not even sure what season they are one. Lemme check... Season three. So, not too far behind, actually! But, if you have not seen it yet - as we had not - we do recommend.

Font Conference

A friend who is also a web designer passed this along to me today. I thought it was pretty funny. If you do design work, you might as well. :-) Enjoy...

Arnold Speaks

A friend sent me a JibJab video today, and one of the "related video" links was an animated Arnold Schwarzenegger... so I clicked, and found there is a whole site of videos (allegedly) posted by Arnold himself. :-) From what I saw, pretty funny stuff. Enjoy.

Free Derek Webb Album - The Ringing Bell

If you're a fan of Derek Webb, chances are you already have this album. But, if you're a Derek Webb fan with very limited funds (like me) then perhaps you were waiting for something like this to come along.

I got an email from the DW camp yesterday telling me I could get the album The Ringing Bell for FREE if I just tell three friends about NoiseTrade.com, the site that is offering this free download deal. So... I gave it a try, and am enjoying my new album right now! :-)

There are many more artists offering their music this way at the site linked above, but you can use the handy-dandy widget at the top of this post to email some friends, and get yourself the Derek Webb album in your email box. Fun!

Enjoy, and spread the word!

Unofficial Star Trek Movie

This weekend I discovered an unofficial Star Trek movie, which was released over the internet, officially completing this month. It's a three part series which you can watch online, produced by Renegade Studios, and actually has many familiar Star Trek actors in it, some even playing their familiar Star Trek roles.

The movie is called Of Gods and Men and was directed by Tim Russ, who played Tuvoc on Star Trek: Voyager. The story was written by two Star Trek: Deep Space Nine writers as well.

Even though you can tell it's done on a much smaller budget, I have enjoyed what I've seen so far (about half way through) and wanted to spread the word. It was done, according to a wikipedia article as a "'40th anniversary gift' from Star Trek actors to their fans" in 2006.

Nacho Libre

So, I am not a fan of silly movies generally, but our friends talked enough about the movie Nacho Libre (and how much they loved it) that I eventually decided to watch it. Jen even did... mostly. :-) We watched it with them again this past weekend (at least, highlights of it) and it's just hilarious. Silly. But hilarious. :-)

Here's a few good clips I found on YouTube :-)

Encarnacion


Little Hug, Big Kiss


Fantastic

12-21-12

For some reason the topic of the world ending in 2012 came up in a conversation with a friend yesterday. So, I decided to look it up online and found a History Channel documentary from a couple years ago called Doomsday 2012: The End of Days.

It was pretty interesting stuff... There are several strange coincidences involving not on the Mayan calendar predicting the end of time on Dec 21, 2012, but a Chinese ancient book and a few other things. Even a computer program designed to predict the stock market has predicted major catastrophes accurately, and seems to predict the biggest one in the year 2012. There is even some astronomical event (the earth and sun will be perfectly aligned with the center of the Milky Way galaxy... which might be bad...) which supposedly only happens every 25,000 years or so.

That's a pretty rare occurrence.

Jesus said we won't know when the end is coming. I believe him. But all this stuff is quite fascinating, and I can't wait till December 21st, 2012. :-) It will be funny when/if that's just a normal day...

How Did I Miss This?

How busy have things been around here of late, you ask? Well, today I was browsing my news RSS folder (for the first time in a while) and caught a few articles titles referencing the big WWDC keynote today at 10am PST... and I thought, "TODAY???"

That's right, folks. There are big doin's today in the world of Apple, and I was totally unaware of it!

I'll try to do better next time... :-)

Update from Greg's Head

I must say this poor blog has been quite neglected for the past couple weeks. It seems that my writing certainly goes in cycles. Sometimes I have lots to say and just can't help myself, so this blog is full of things to read. Sometimes I am so full of things to do that even though I do have things to say, I am not able to sit down and write them out. Other times, it's simply time for intake rather than output. I'd say we're definitely in a cycle involving a little of both of the last two.

So, instead of writing lots of detailed blogs (which I could certainly do, but must tend to other things) I will try and cover a lot of the stuff I'd like to chronicle here in bullet-point fashion.

• Work
  I have been very busy with web and graphic design, so much so that I am considering expanding. It feels as though the work load has grown too much for one person to handle. (At least, and still have family/free time.) I'm not certain how to work that out just yet, but the influx of clients continues, as well as a regular stream of work orders from satisfied current customers. A week or so ago I felt as though I was cresting the seemingly insurmountable hill of open projects, but then the hill just got a bit taller. So, I press on... Have made a few cool additions to my site (linked above) in the middle of the various projects I have been working on. I seriously need to update my "samples" page though as several of those clients have closed up shop and are no longer on the internet! :-)
  
  
• Music
  Oh, I finally did take our "Christmas decorations" down at our basicmm.com website, too. :-) I forget what motivated me to do it, since it was already late April or May when I did, but ... anyway, it's done. Also on the music front, our trip to Virginia in June may be in jeopardy because our family is too large to house! :-) We'll see what happens there...
  
  
• Fun
  Jen & I both have been enjoying Facebook and the many fun things therein. They added a live chat feature recently which has been extra cool. Realtime re-connecting with people you haven't spoken with in many years, or perhaps barely even know. Fun! (At least, for me that's fun!) Also, definitely loving playing the various word games there. I do love word games...
  
  
• Brennan Manning
  Jen cleaned out the attic recently and found a bunch of old cassette tapes. In one of the boxes was a set of teaching tapes we had purchased. It was "Healing Our Image of God... and Ourselves" by Brennan Manning. Manning's background as a catholic priest (and a monk, I believe) gives him an interesting perspective on the Gospel. But the heart of what he says is so great. It's the simple truth of the incredible love that our Father - Abba - has for us. We heard Brennan at a retreat over 10 years ago, and got his tapes there. He's been saying the same thing for decades - and I believe God has been re-emphasizing this basic point to me and Jen in recent years again - because it's the core of the Gospel/Good News. God loves us more than we can ask or imagine, and invites us to live life side by side with him, as his kids. Great stuff... on tape 4 of 5 right now. More on this to be sure...
  
  
• Friends
  Our closest friends - who are more like family - are moving. Their last day in town is next Wednesday. We have lived in the same town as them since we met in our college years. I moved up here to Rochester area with them right after college. Our kids have grown up together, sharing most of the fun/special days together. We've known of the move for a couple months now. That's kinda nice. Been a nice long goodbye. But it's still a goodbye, and life will definitely change. Very exciting for them, and I'm sure God will blow us away with the way(s) he fills what we can only see now as a void. But it's pretty sad at the same time. We're sure there will be tears next week. In the mean time, been helping with packing and moving as much as we can, and also just visiting as much as we can, while they're still here. We'll certainly see them again, but 15 minutes is a lot closer than 6 hours driving time. :-)
  
  
• Family
  We've also been visiting family a lot this month. We got to see my sister's new house in the Buffalo area. Then went over the next weekend for a big garage sale, and I made a nice mother's day lunch for my mother-in-law. :-) We're going over again this weekend, and then the next for various family events, too! It's nice that they are close, but it's also certainly an expense with gas being near $4.00/gallon!! Yikes!
  
  
• New Friends
  Jen has been going to the community center on Thursday mornings to join (mostly) moms with their pre-schoolers for a couple hours of playtime/funtime. This has been a cool way to meet people we have seen around town (at other similar events) and get to know them better. We obviously have the common link of having tiny kids :-) Looking forward to getting to know all of these new friends - who mostly live right around the corner(s) from us - over the summer.
  
  
• Lilacs!
  Whether you pronounce it "lie-lock" or, the proper, phonetic way (li-lac)... :-) I am just loving these flowers again this year. Been a neat spring in general. The flowering trees have been beautiful. Our neighbor has several lilac bushes and has generously allowed me to snap of some blooms whenever I'd like. And so, I've had beautiful, fragrant lilacs on my desk for the past week or two! Love it!
  
  
• Entertainment
  Almost forgot... been watching the NHL playoffs mostly these days. TiVo has been very helpful as we are usually out for evenings, but then watch the game in fast-forward once we are home! As close as the season was, it was surprising to see Pittsburgh and Detroit each take 3-0 series leads. The other teams both won their game fours, but should be a fantastic Stanley Cup Final between Pittsburgh and Detroit! They're both amazing.
  
  And, we've rediscovered our fondness for the 80s TV show, The Knight Rider. Our friends, the Vs, enjoy it as well (we loaned them our iPod to watch Season One in its entirety) and Season Two is now coming to our mailbox via Netflix. :-) Pretty corny at times, but also pretty fun. Ah, the good ol' days...

There have been lots of other fun events the past several days/weeks. Really can't share them all here. As I said, it's been a time of doing and intake more than a time of output :-) Suffice it to say, all of these social events have reminded me again that I am (or have become) a people person. I am not sure why I am doing an office-related job, then... :-) But am still super thankful for the provision we see from God in that.

More to come on the stuff I have been thinking through from the Brennan Manning tapes, as well as some good conversations with the church (friends who are fellow followers of Jesus), and just the stuff God has been placing on my heart and mind. So fun to share every bit of life with someone who loves me so much. Hope you know that, and you're experiencing that, too.

What Ever Happened To Steve?

We have kids. Lots of 'em. And they all like Blue's Clues. As do we. We even don't mind Joe, who replaced the un-replaceable Steve a couple years back now. Steve is definitely the best.

Well, not really sure why, but this morning I decided to Google "what happened to blues clues steve". Turned out to be quite a funny/interesting webventure.

Turns out that Steve just decided after episode 100 of Blue's Clues, that it just wasn't what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He's a musician at heart, apparently, and decided to pursue that. He released an indie record in 2002 I think? And is currently working on a new one (though the dates on his website seem to be pretty old... so not sure about that.)

I just found it fascinating to see "Steve" rockin' out in a music video (his own song) on a Steve Burns fan site.



Life moves on I guess. Good for Steve. Funny story from his "Press" page on his website:

One Spring afternoon in 1999, Steve Burns was on his way to a date. He was driving through New Jersey, fighting jitters, primping in the rearview, when something on the side of the road caught his eye; a mailbox with blue cartoon paw prints on it and a message that read YOU JUST FIGURED OUT JONATHAN'S BIRTHDAY! While most rock singers would have shrugged off such fleeting details, Burns recognized them as symbols revered by millions of Americans - Americans under four feet tall and on a first name basis with Steve Burns.

"It was obviously a Blue's Clues party," says Burns, who was, in fact, the host of Blue's Clues, one of the most popular children's programs in television history. He glanced at the toys and props left in his car after a recent charity performance. The khaki pants. The iconic green-and-olive striped rugby shirt.

"I gotta do it," he said.

He met his date, changed clothes, and drove back to the party. "We just showed up with the toys and knocked on the door," says Burns, a slight 30-year-old sipping a latte in and airy Brooklyn cafe. "I was like 'Hey!' " His narrow face and big, dark eyes bloom into the fully dilated character beloved worldwide. " 'Who's Jonathan?' The kids were, like, 'Cool! Steve's here!' " So Burns loped around, clowned with the youngsters, dispensed toys, and refused cash from the bewildered dad. It was a magic little moment - a kindhearted breach in the space-time continuum - and we sit silent for a second, contemplating it.

It would be strange being a rockstar to 3-year-olds everywhere... :-)

For you Steve fans out there... here are some pertinent links I stumbled across today:
www.steveswebpage.com
www.steveburnsrocks.us
Steve Burns - Wikipedia
Steve Burns (Band) MySpace Page

Current TV

I must say... it's weird, and slightly annoying to be watching a current TV show. I have said here before that I do not watch much current TV (really, barely any) but I got to watch the pilot of the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles show, and liked it. I can't really explain it, but somehow it was something I enjoyed and could watch.

So the weird part is, not only do I have to wait a whole week for the next show (and this one keeps a story line going from one week to the next) I also have to wait till who knows when for the resolution of the season finale's CLIFF HANGER! ARGH!

Totally forgot about that. I need to just stop watching till the whole show is done, and then watch it all in a couple weeks on DVD (without commercials!!) like TV was meant to be seen!

(Although I kinda feel hooked... so we'll see if I can stick to that...) :-)

Mr. Deity - "An Helpmeet"

From Crackle: Mr. Deity and the Help Meet - Season 2, Ep 9

Not really sure why, but this week's episode of Mr. Deity made me laugh. So, here I shall share. :-) This show can be a bit "sketchy" at times, but I happily approve of this one. Funny stuff :-)

(By the way, if you haven't seen this show yet, visit their site for more info on who these folks are.)

Knight Rider Review

The week has gotten away from me. The urgent has taken over. A few lingering projects continue to puzzle me. A new discovery has enthralled me. But I did manage in the busyness to catch the new continuing adventures of the K.I.T.T. and the Knight Rider.

Overall, I did like it. Jen had to leave before the first scene was over. Too scary. Too dark. Too intense. And on the whole, I'd say KR2 was a bit more edgy that KR1. But, isn't that pretty descriptive of all of TV these days?

I think I need to watch another episode to better formulate what I think about the show, but I must say, I'm looking forward to seeing another.

The writers did a pretty good job recapturing the banter between K.I.T.T. and his human counterparts. There are some similar characters between KR2 and KR1. (Not the same people, only Michael Knight makes an appearance from the old show.) There's the genius girl, who may end up being this version's "Bonnie". There's the driver whose name just happens to be Mike. Perhaps you could paint the designer of both K.I.T.T. cars as the Devin character (or a combo of him and the FBI girl...) But it's a new twist on "The Foundation" and should be interesting to watch unfold.

I did like the way the show was tied into the previous series. Some personal details about the main character tie very nicely back to KR1.

I'm not a movie or tv show critic, so I'll just leave it at this: Overall, I really did like it. That's saying something, as I am a fan of the original. :-) Perhaps they have won a new fan?

Definitely going to TiVo another episode :-)

Tecmo Superbowl '06!

I can't really believe this, but someone is making new versions of THE GREATEST VIDEO GAME EVER! My boys and I are quite excited to have found a 2006 version of the classic Nintendo game. But I just noticed today that they are working on (and have a sort of "beta version" of) a 2007 version! Ha!

This means that our Bills have Trent Edwards at QB, Marshawn Lynch tearing up the field, and Paul Posluszny striking fear in the hearts of opponents.

All at 8-bits. It's a beautiful thing. :-)

Not sure of the legality of it? (Are Tecmo, and the NFLPA sanctioning this?) But man is it fun. It would be so cool if they could somehow release current roster versions to play on an actual NES, not an emulator on my Mac. :-)

But... anyway... for you classic gamers out there. Check it out! :-)

Indiana Jones (Yeah, The REAL One!)

OK, I found out that I'm behind the times here. Hadn't heard that Harrison Ford was making another Indiana Jones movie. But indeed it is true. In theaters May 22. Ha! Should be pretty good!

(Gonna mess up that box set I have though....) :-)

Knight Rider - Again?

I mentioned in a previous post that I am a fan of the 80s TV show, Knight Rider. I remember as a young lad having a cool little black t-shirt featuring K.I.T.T. flying through the air. Even had a little Hot Wheels K.I.T.T. of my own. Who didn't?

Well, NBC has a Knight Rider sequel scheduled to air later this month. I'm not overly optimistic, based on recent "remakes" (Dukes of Hazzard???) but we'll see. I'm not a fan of current TV, to be sure. Perhaps this one will be different?

(Yes, I am forever the optimist...)

Speaking of re-makes. I did watch a free episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles via iTunes a couple weeks ago. Actually... it was the first current TV show in recent memory that I have watched and kinda liked. (Well, besides Monk. Jen & I do really like that one.) I'm not sure I'll pay to watch it. I might try and TiVo an episode or two. We'll see. Surprising that I like a show made by Fox. Haven't so far.

In other recently watched recommendations, I also watched the Rocky Balboa movie and liked it. How can you not like Rocky? (That was sort of a remake as well, I suppose!) And Jen & I watched We Are Marshall together. Both thought it was a very good movie. Just ... sad, though. No way around the sadness of that story. Kinda sad and... inspiring? But... sad.

Stuff to stay away from? I decided to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey since I knew it was a classic and I think Netflix recommended it based on my Sci-Fi preferences. Well... I gave it two stars. It was very, very weird. The reason I gave it two was that it was certainly ... creative? Yikes. Very strange movie. :-) I also got a free episode of a TV show called Kyle XY. I knew it was sci-fi themed, but forgot that anything from the ABC Family network is too... "drama" for me. Do not recommend.

Oh yeah. I also got to see a bit of what is apparently a classic - Krull. :-) Never heard of it, but my friend John was laughing at me for having watched it I think. :-) He described it as a cheesy Saturday afternoon, nothing better to show on TV kind of movie.

I'd recommend staying far away from that one as well.

And there you have, this week - or two - in entertainment from GregsHead! :-)

Tecmo Superbowl

Pretty sure I have mentioned here that I am a fan of old video games, and the king of all of those games - at least in the sports genre - is Tecmo Superbowl for the Nintendo NES.

A friend sent me a link to a video today (first one below) and I found the "response" to the first video (second one below). Both are pretty funny (especially if you are a big TSB fan like me...) And, I'm posting them here for my boys to watch. :-)

Enjoy!

Bo Jackson


Christian Okoye

Ryan Miller Speaks Chinese?

I heard about this a while ago... just saw it today on the Sabres website. Ryan Miller trash talking... in Chinese. :-)

I heard an interview where the reporters asked him to say it again. It was funny. He said he just said it over and over about 50 times and just can't forget it now. So he knows one phrase in Chinese. Pretty funny commercial. :-)

Enjoy.

Presidential Campaign Speech

I was listening to Glenn Beck's radio show yesterday (for some reason, his show is more interesting/entertaining when there is a presidential election coming up... we listened every day almost last election cycle, and then... hardly at all after that...) and he was talking about the New Hampshire primaries. He was fed up with how every candidate says the same thing in their public speeches, and mostly says nothing! So he said, "If that's all it takes... I think I could run for president!

Click the play button here below to listen to just that clip. Of course, you can get the full shows at his website, www.glennbeck.com. (That just seems like the right thing to do, since I'm posting his audio to my blog...) :-)

Enjoy! I think it's hilarious :-)

(The best part is "little Sally Muckenfuch"!) :-)

State Of The Union?

In a somewhat surprising move, the NFL decided to allow CBS and NBC to simulcast the Patriots vs Giants game that was scheduled to be broadcast on the NFL Network this Saturday night. The NFL is not known for its generosity, but the NFL Network is in such a small percentage of homes, and this game is of pretty significant (sports-world) historical significance, so it will be shown on all three networks.

New England coach Bill Belichick said, "It'll be like the State of the Union, on every channel."

If you'd like to read more, check out this article.

The Giants don't stand a chance, but I would laugh for DAYS if they managed to defeat the undefeated Pats. They are the least likeable "great" team I have ever seen in my couple decades of sports fandom. They are arrogant, obnoxious, self-absorbed, and really just a bunch of jerks. Very hard to root for them. It's hard enough to just stomach them at all.

That said, the Giants don't stand a chance.

But, not many more people can watch the annihilation of yet another 2007 NFL team. And the unsportsmanlike taunting and gloating of another.

Great TV, eh?

Fun Christmas Game

Object of the game is to freeze the bad guys till they become a big ice ball, then get up next to 'em and kick em! Then they break the other bad guys and bust into presents for Santa! Fun little Christmas-themed online game! Enjoy!

(want to play it full screen?)

What Color Am I?

I don't know why these quick little quizzes are so fascinating to me, but they are... My pick was interestingly accurate. It said to choose the "most appealing" one... that could mean a lot of things, so I chose the one I noticed first. Here's what it said about me.

You love a free and spontaneous life. And you strive to enjoy every moment, in accordance with the motto: "You only live once."

You are very curious and open about everything new. You thrive on change. Nothing is worse than when you feel tied down.

You experience your environment as being versatile and always good for a surprise.

So, click the image above and take their one-click test. See if it accurately describes you. :-)

The Busyness Continues

Here I am at the Apple store, waiting to meet with a Genius for our Mac Mini. (Was trying to install the newest OS, Leopard, on it last night and that didn't work.) :-) This is the first chance I have had since getting back from vacation to post anything to GregsHead.net! (I used to do this more often.....) :-)

I still do want to tell more of the stories that I did write down from our trip, but again... it's finding/making the time to get them up here. I will be posting a "highlights" version soon, though. It was SUCH a great trip!!

I'm #3 on the list here, so I am keeping one eye on the Genius Bar... but trying to remember what I was going to say here... :-)

A couple things of interest... first, the busyness does continue. Going on vacation was a nice escape from reality, but did make the work pile up a bit more. And, when I finally get to the projects I need to be working on, then I get a call or email from someone needing tech support on their sites. You never can quite predict how a day will go, eh?

Also, last night I watched Spider-Man 3 while re-installing the system software on my broken Mac Mini. :-) Actually really liked it. The violence is weirdly over the top, but "cartoony" enough to not be that bad. Aside from that, the story lines were very good. There were three different story lines of characters being consumed by revenge, and eventually overcoming it through forgiveness. Not as cheesy as that sounded. :-) Also just cool examples of the power of loving someone, even enough to die for them. (Don't want to give away the ending...) ;-)

So, I recommend it.

OK... it's gotta be my turn soon!!!

I am here by myself also. We had dinner with some friends, and we were late :-) Just got to finish my waffle and head out for this appointment. Hope to get to hang out a bit once we finish this.

I hope we start it... :-)

PDT

So, we're three hours behind out here, did you know that? Cause... I do.

Last night we went to bed at 9:21pm... exhausted! And then, due to me using the decorative pillow instead of the real one most of the night, I kept waking up thinking it was time to be up. It wasn't. I really thought it was at one point, and I looked at the clock (which is on Pacific Daylight Time - PDT) and um, it was 3:35am. :-)

The next time I looked it was 3:55.

Not a great night of sleep. :-)

THEN, Jen and I woke up together at 6:30 or so! Ha! (If you know us... that's not our normal time of day...) :-) It was really, REALLY nice to just wake up though, and not have kids doing that for us. Or have to get up and get them breakfast.

We watched an episode of Monk at like 7am, when we just gave up on the idea of sleeping to a decent hour. Now we're getting ready to go get some groceries and some breakfast. We have a nice view of the Pacific ocean out our bedroom windows, too. Very nice!

More to come...

(The Great) Chris Farley and Paul McCartney

Was just remembering this Saturday Night sketch today, and found it (of course) on YouTube. Classic, CLASSIC video. Was laughing as loud as I have ever laughed I think when I saw it again. :-)

Enjoy!

Looking (Linking?) Back

What a week! I'm sitting here on my porch with a nice hot cup of tea, at one in the morning, following an hour of trying to restore the network here in my house... have I mentioned before that I have four routers on my network for six or seven computers? Yeah... I need an IT department...) and I finally feel relaxed. :-)

It's been that kind of week. I actually don't think I took any sort of real break today. I know I didn't eat anything until dinner. That was kinda crazy... I just couldn't stop. Too much to do. At least, that's how it felt.

I mentioned earlier this week that the blog has been silent not because there's nothing to say, nothing to share... just simply because there was no time where I could sit down and share. Here's a quick overview of the past while for the Campbell family...

Work
Some people still have no idea what I do, but if you look at our income taxes, you can see that the majority of our money comes through my web design business. Just a couple weeks ago that picked up again big time! I got a few new clients (The Center For Body Wellness, First Church of Christ Binghamton (still their old site), and I'm working on a brochure for Angel Eyes Security), and lots of new work for current clients (Houston Nutraceuticals, The Scarlet Thread, Orient Express Band, Christian Way Farm, and Project URGE) and some stuff that I have not gotten started on yet for other existing clients (In House Graphics, Cross Creek Church, and Aussie Hill Alpacas.)

Whew! And the crazy part is, I'm sure I forgot a few! (By the way, if you clicked on all those links, you should get a prize. I'm not sure who you'll get it from, but you should get one.) :-)

Add to that all of the hosting accounts that I must regularly maintain (email problems, hosting questions, domain renewals, hosting invoices, technical support, and the list continues) as well as my OWN sites I need to maintain (GregsApples.com and BuffaloBillsReview.com get the majority of my attention. Though, my blog does get updated now and then. My web design site is horribly neglected, however. I did post a few links to the ol' Link-O page I maintain this past week...

Apple Sales
ON TOP OF ALL THAT... I have about a dozen peoples and/or businesses who are maybe at step 3 out of 5 in the purchase process for a new Mac. (OK, yes... I made that up. I just mean they are all pretty close!) So I've been doing a lot of research, communication, and question answering there. Even sent out a newsletter last week. :-)

If you're interested in a new computer, or even an iPod or AppleTV... stop by my store! Or, shoot me an e-mail. I can probably help you out.

Buffalo Bills Review
In talking with a few friends this week, I realized that some folks don't know that I - along with my partners in crime Dave Drake, John Dupra, and Dre Smith - am something of an international celebrity. :-) OK, not entirely, but we have found a small bit of success with our little show, now in its third season. It's a fun hour of Bills fans talking Bills football. We have guests on now and again, including some current Bills players like Brian Moorman the Pro Bowl punter. The team is 0-3 this year, but that hasn't stopped our downloads, and iTunes ranking from continuing to rise. Guess we're doing something right. :-)

And, it's tons of fun. :-)

Well, as I said, we must be doing something right, because all of a sudden we have had three websites contact us to purchase ads on our website! That's great! The site is finally not only paying for itself, but even making a little money. (Just a little, mind you... but it's a start!) I've been busy the last couple weeks setting up our various advertisers as well. (And of course, keeping up with all the latest Bills news. Anyone aware of all the insane injuries the Bills have sustained through only three weeks this year?? It's just nuts!)

Family
AS IF that all was not enough... we still have four kids to take care of, and boy do they need taking care of! :-) Hehe... :-)

One good thing, family-wise, has been that Jen & I have been trying to get one night (or even daytime) out per week. We have an awesome babysitter, and we try to take full advantage of that. :-)

Facebook
Oh, and I mentioned this before, but I must say I am enjoying the wonder that is Facebook. I have reconnected with - and stayed connected with - so many folks through that site over just about a month's time. Very cool. Almost too addicting, though!

MONK!
Oh yeah... the other thing that has taken some of my time over the past several weeks... we're Monk junkies! We're most of the way through season four now, and looking forward to seasons five and six! We are getting them on DVD from our library system! AWESOME! Free Monk! :-) The show is hilarious (we think) and such a breath of fresh air compared to just about EVERY other current TV show. Even though it's about a homicide detective, it's not over the edge as far as graphic grossness. The language is tolerable. It's just nicer on the soul. And, it's funny. :-) (Plus, it has revealed the OCD in me. I find myself straightening things all the time, and cleaning things... pretty funny.) :-)

Man. No wonder I never post anything here anymore. :-)

The Public Debate Continues

As I mentioned last week, Apple & NBC are not getting along. First Apple publicly announced they would drop NBC shows from iTunes in the month of September. NBC rebutted Apple's public statement, saying that in fact it was not asking to sell shows for more, rather, they wanted to sell seasons for less, which Apple did not want to do. Then a few days later, it was announced that they would remain on iTunes through the end of the contract in December.

It's all rather confusing.

In the meantime, NBC announced that they would be selling shows via Amazon's Unbox service, which lets you purchase videos to play on your Windows systems, or download directly to your TiVo.

Now it has come out that Apple wanted NBC to sell their shows for $0.99/episode, as Apple does with their individual songs at iTunes. NBC was concerned that such a price structure would eat into DVD sales far too much as a series season sells for $40 on DVD, and would be less than $23 at iTunes.

The public feud continues. Stay tuned.

More on the New iPod Line

I was able to post several articles to my Apple blog yesterday regarding the updates to Apple's iPod and even iTunes line. I mentioned that I would be doing that earlier, and thought perhaps you'd like the links. Some pretty neat stuff. Lots of links off of my pages to great content at Apple's website as well.

And, if you click the photo above, you'll be taken to my GregsApples.com site, where you'll first have a chance to sign up for my Apple eNews. If you're at all interested in the stuff Apple is doing these days - and maybe especially how to get the best deal on some for yourself - I think you'll enjoy receiving the Apple @ BWD eNews. I send it out about 4 times a year, and when there are major Apple updates. (Like, I'll be sending one today.) :-)

Here are the links to yesterday's articles. More to come!

Greg's Apple News:
New iPods: Refreshed & Revealed
iPhone Price Tag Reduced 33%
iTunes WI-Fi Music Store & Starbucks
iTunes 7.4 Brings Custom Ringtones
VIDEO: iPod touch Overview and Tutorial (from Apple.com)
iPod Touch, iTunes Wireless... Wow. (Article @ Newsvine)

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Greg's Apple Blog:
Greg's Newsvine Column:

The Water Horse

I was scrolling through the new movie trailers in Front Row tonight and found a movie called "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep" at the bottom of the list. It was rated PG, so I decided to check it out. Wondered what it might be about.

It had some impressive credits (but, don't they all?) and cool graphics/effects. And I liked the story. Looks like I may have found a movie we can take the kids to see in the dollar theater! :-)

Click the play arrow above to view the trailer. Movie will be in theaters on September 28th. Dollar theaters probably around Christmas time. ;-)

Apple Feuding with NBC

Apparently, Apple is sick and tired of NBC's shenanigans! The 3rd largest music retailer in the world (who also sells video content...) is parting ways with all of it's NBC content (30% of it's top shows!) in the month of September! Seems a drastic move by Apple, but they contend that NBC wanted to double the wholesale price of their shows, which would have raised the cost to consumers from $1.99 currently to $4.99/episode.

NBC on the other hand seems to claim almost the opposite... that they wanted to combine some of their content to make the package more attractive to the consumer.

Either way, the consumer is losing in this spat.

You can read more most anywhere on line, but here's a link to get you started.

I hope they make up soon. We got the Knight Rider from iTunes, and NBC also has the Sci-Fi channel as part of their content. And, it's just not nice to fight...

Steven Curtis Chapman

Some of you may know that I hold Steven Curtis Champan - and particularly his music - in high regard. More than that, there's definitely some strange connection I have with him. When I hear his stuff, I just completely identify with it. Those aren't the right words. I can't really explain it. It's almost like we're song-writing brothers or something. Twins even. When I hear his stuff, I can hear beyond the lyrics and music... I can hear how he wrote it. And, on top of that, nearly every time I hear his stuff, I either feel like writing a song, write a part of a song, or actually write a whole song.

Yes... it's kinda weird.

Perhaps someday I will meet him, and we will collaborate on some musical project. That seems far-fetched from my current vantage point, but there's definitely something strange there...

Strange is cool.

Well anyway... I found out that he has a new album coming out soon, and he's doing a tour to promote that, among other things. A good friend of ours has been to a few (I think) of his shows and is just blown away by them. Not only the music, but just every part of it. What he says, how it's said, and the music is powerful, too! :-)

Tonight I was visiting his website and found a pretty fun feature. It's not unique to him. The internet has brought the "famous people" a lot closer to us "regular folk". (In fact, some of you reading this right now might think I'm famous... so it has also made us "regular folk" appear "famous". Fascinating... It is indeed the great equalizer. Well, on his website you can view some amateur-ish videos of him in his home studio, teaching us his songs. :-) It was cool to get a preview of the new songs, and just fun to have him teach it to me :-) (He even told us the guitar tuning... just for fun.)

So, click the photo or link above and go check it out. And, if you get a chance to see him in person, I hear it's phenomenal.

And I hope to get his new album, This Moment, as soon as it is available! :-)

Growing Up "Right"

I was downstairs for a bit this morning (baking some chocolate chip cookies, actually...) and overheard Jen and the kids in the living room. They were watching the Price is Right, and I could hear things like, "That's $92!?? No way!!" and, "Yes!!! Michael got $1.00!!!! Now [the next person] needs to get $1.00 too!"

First of all, it's cool that my kids cheer for other people. That's a life lesson that will serve them well if they carry it beyond gameshows. But, the other cool part?

I now can be certain that my kids are growing up right. They get quite regular doses of The Price Is Right!! You're not a true American kid if you don't know how to play Plink-O or the Shell Game or that cool one where the mountain climber climbs up, and if you got the wrong prices, falls off the top of the mountain.

Glad to know my kids are growing up Right. :-)

Monk

Anyone out there watch the show Monk? We stumbled upon it (as I do with most TV) as a free video from iTunes maybe even a couple years ago. It's been around for a while, but on USA, so perhaps you've not heard of it.

The premise is that Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) is a genius detective whose attention to detail solves many crimes, but went way off the deep end when his wife died. He has an assistant who tends to his many needs from his many phobias, and a pretty funny cast for the police dept he works with. Tony Shalhou