blueZhift Blog

Apple’s iTunes Plus store just went live today and features (or will feature as I have not checked myself yet) many songs so sale that are not encumbered by digital rights management (DRM). These “plus” track are also encoded at a higher bit rate which may translate into higher quality, though in all honesty, most […]

To paraphrase Captain Picard, if I’m going to be damned, it might as well be for what I really am! Sometimes I really wonder why I got married at all given the no win situations one can often encounter in such a union. I guess sooner or later every man gets the classic “Does this […]

I’m awake, I think…But I just watched Brian Vickers in the number 83 Red Bull Toyota lead about 60 laps of the Coca Cola 600! Can I be dreaming? A fast, powerful Toyota running with the big boys of NASCAR? The announcers alluded to some developments in the engine department, so maybe, just maybe, Toyota […]

The biggest race weekend of the year is once again upon me and all I can think right now is, please don’t suck Indy 500! I never worry about NASCAR’s Coca Cola 600 being in danger of major suckitude because I think that NASCAR in general is more self aware of its existence as entertainment. […]

While a lot of people use Second Life as a glorified chat room, for me one of its greatest attractions is as a creative medium. I’m very interested in creating new things for use/display there in addition to just having a good time. So with that in mind, I’ve focused on modifying my first avatar […]

Usually when one thinks of open source and the GNU General Public License, software comes to mind, not soft drinks! While Coke and Pepsi jealously guard their secret formulas, Open Cola’s formula is open source and GNU licensed. I think I’ll try to get my son, who has developed a great love of cooking, to […]

I love cool hardware mods! This Xbox 360 Laptop mod is one of the coolest I’ve seen in a while. I’ve gotta try something like this one of these days. Why take the world as it comes to you? Make the world the way you want it to be!
http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/11/ben-heckendorns-xbox-360-laptop-best-mod-ever/
http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/18/how-to-make-an-xbox-360-laptop-part-1/
http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/25/how-to-make-an-xbox-360-laptop-part-2/
http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/22/how-to-make-an-xbox-360-laptop-part-3/

The weather outside is pretty good today and for the most part I had a good lunch walk. Then I made one fatal, mood altering decision. I decided to pop into the Virgin Megastore to look for bargains since the store is closing in a month or so. I frequented this store regularly for the […]

Since the convention ended, I’ve been browsing a buttload of picture galleries of photos people took at the convention. These are from this Anime Central Forum thread. So I figured I’d start a link list here for easy reference. These links may or may not work for long, so enjoy while you can! Thanks […]

I watched the last episode of Inuyasha again last night on Adult Swim. I really hope that someday Rumiko Takahashi will write a proper ending to the story. I really love these characters and they deserve a proper ending to their stories! Yeah, just silly fanboy ranting, a fanboy who still doesn’t have any ACen […]

My fortune cookie fortune said that my dearest wish would come true. I’m not one to argue with the wisdom of fortune cookies, but I don’t even know what my dearest wish is.

The 10th Anime Central has come and gone, and I have the usual post convention let down as I ease back into normal life. ACen had a lot of problems this year, beginning with the mailed badges fiasco which led to my waiting in line for over 2 hours and paying an additional $5 for […]

Hello spring! Spring has finally made an appearance in Chicago. I spied the most spectacular black woman in a yellow skirt and top in the nearby Trader Joe’s yesterday. That was one time I did not mind waiting a short time longer in line!^_^

I’ve been having some fun over the last few days getting reacquainted with my Ubuntu installation. I’ve just upgraded to Ubuntu 7.04, Feisty Fawn and so far am very pleased with overall performance. It always makes me wonder why I even bother going back into Windows XP at all.
All was not well in paradise though […]

Michael Waltrip has had a terrible year both on and off the track. His team seems to be in total disarray and he’s missed a lot of races. I knew that disorganization within a racing team could make it hard to compete for wins, but as I watched more races and the performance of the […]