xhtmled

BioShock

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:31:00 GMT

I just finished beating BioShock and can clearly see why IGN gave it a 9.7 rating – the highest rating they have ever given a game for the Xbox 360. This is without-a-doubt the best first-person shooter I have ever played. It is extremely addicting and I haven’t been this excited about playing a game since Gears of War.

The visual design and voice cast throughout the entire game is spectacular. The story is a sci-fi mystery with a retro, yet at the same time futuristic feel, and is very well-written. It’s a great example of just how far video games have come over the past 25 years.

I was somewhat disappointed with the last goal and also the ending. At one point during the very beginning of the game, it took me over 20 minutes to get past a Big Daddy, but it took me less than 5 minutes to kill the final boss. Even though I had a complete arsenal of weapons at the end of the game, it should have been significantly harder to beat the game. After building up a great story throughout the game, the conclusion lasted a mere 3 minutes. I chose to save all of the Little Sisters and saw the good ending. I plan to go back and play the game again on hard and will harvest the Little Sisters this time so I can see the evil ending and get the remaining achievement points.

iPhoto '08

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:25:00 GMT

The new Events feature in iPhoto ‘08 is a great way of organizing photos, but it’s too bad this wasn’t added several versions ago. It’s going to take a long time to go through and reorganize my existing library of 2,641 photos. :(

One feature that I really like is how you can mouse over a photo while in Events view and it will flip through all of the photos in the Event when moving the cursor side-to-side.

Another great addition is the ability to create shortcuts for keywords. As long as the keyword window is open, you just need to click a single letter and that keyword will be assigned to the active photo. It even works while viewing photos in full screen mode.

New Apple Keyboards

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 22:14:00 GMT

Apple unveiled two new, ultra-thin aluminum keyboards today. When I saw the photos that were leaked a few weeks ago on Engadget, I knew I was going to have to pick one up if the rumors were indeed true. I had hoped there would also be an identical version that was wireless, just as they have done in the past with their previous keyboards.

When I heard they had introduced a wireless version I was thrilled, but then when I saw that it is reduced in size and does not include the normal-sized navigation keys, as well as the numeric keypad, I was extremely disappointed.

I assume Apple made it more compact so it wouldn’t be as bulky when traveling. When I take trips, I usually bring my extra bluetooth keyboard and use it with my laptop because I like having the expanded keyboard and more flexibility. The keys on the new wireless keyboard are laid out just as they are on the MacBooks, except for a few along the top row . I don’t see why anyone would want to lug around an external keyboard when it’s for the most part, the same thing that’s on the laptop.

I’ve been using a numeric keypad for so long that I cannot imagine not having one for my everyday use. I’m not sure what Apple was thinking, but it really sucks that they didn’t make them both the same.

The new look is gorgeous and the eye-pleasing brushed metal goes well with the cinema displays. I also really like how the new design is about three times thinner than the previous keyboards. I will probably end up getting the wired one even though I can’t stand cable clutter – at least it’s $30 cheaper.

Zeitgeist

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 00:58:00 GMT

Since the Smashing Pumpkins broke up in 2000, Billy Corgan has hardly been hiding. He formed a short-lived band called Zwan, wrote a book of poetry, and released a solo album TheFutureEmbrace. The same day the album was released, he ran a newspaper-ad in the Chicago Tribune and announced that he wanted to revive the Smashing Pumpkins. Two years later the band’s sixth commercially-released studio album, Zeitgeist, was released.

Tracklist

Bonus Tracks

Death from Above (Best Buy)
Stellar (iTunes)
Zeitgeist (Target)

Three special edition Zeitgeist albums were released that each contain a unique bonus track. They are exclusive only to Best Buy, iTunes, and Target. It is unclear if this decision was made by the band or record label, Reprise, but it just seems like a lame attempt to increase the overall number of albums that were sold.

The album has received mediocre reviews, which usually cite the lack of two of the original members, James Iha on guitar and D’Arcy Wretzky on bass. Corgan not only fronted the band but also wrote the majority of their songs. Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin remained close to Corgan after the band’s breakup and was a member of Zwan and played drums on a few songs for TheFutureEmbrace. While it would have been be great if Iha and Wretzky were involved, it’s great that the Pumpkins are back and that Corgan and Chamberlin are still creating music together.

Zeitgeist has a sound that is familiar to some of their old music, despite the lack of half of the original lineup. Corgan’s razor-sharp solos and grinding chords remain utterly unique, while, Chamberlin thrashes impressively at his drums and continues to have the same enthusiasm of his younger self.

With songs such as “Doomsday Clock” and “God and Country”, along with lyrics like “I want to fight, I want to fight, A revolution tonight” from “United States”, the album’s political focus is extremely evident. It addresses the political and social upheavel that has occured since MACHINA: The Machines of God was released in 2000.

The illustration on the album cover, created by Obey Giant’s Shepard Fairey, is the Statue of Liberty being swallowed by the ocean. This seems to emphasize global warming due to the melting ice caps along with our country’s drowning civil liberties, in the blood of the fallen, no less.

This is the Pumpkins’ most aggressive metal album to date and should be a part of any Smashing Pumpkins’ fans’ collection. If you never liked their music before, then there really isn’t anything groundbreaking on this album that will help change your mind.

Zeitgeist Release Party at the 9:30 Club

On July 10, the day Zeitgeist was released, the Smashing Pumpkins had a “surprise” release party at the 9:30 Club. While it may have just been a coincidence, I believe they intended on having the event in Washington DC, since the album has such a strong political focus.

The first hundred people waiting to get into the show were given picketing signs that read, “I said YES to the mighty SP!” in a mock campaign for the Pumpkins’ return. Behind the crowd was a giant black and white Pumpkins flag that hung down from the roof of the 9:30 Club. A barbershop harmony quartet wearing red and white striped jackets sang to those waiting in line and also on stage just before the band came on the stage. Right before the show started, the band drove up in a a couple of antique limousines. I heard they had originally planned to do a video shoot, but decided to cancel it at the last minute.

I noticed something very strange when I got in line. The guy directly in front of me was the exact same guy who was right in front of me at the show that I attended in Asheville, NC. What are the odds? It’s a small world out there.

xhtmled v3.0

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 02:43:00 GMT

After taking an over-extended blog hiatus of almost two years, I have finally returned to my home on the interweb. A few weeks ago I began working on new site for xhtmled and launched it last weekend.

Frontend

The previous version of my site, which has been archived at retro.xhtmled.com, received a lot of attention and was featured on several different CSS galleries. With this version, I decided to take a more minimalist approach by eliminating the sidebar and making it free from clutter.

I have always preferred using underscores “_” to dashes “-” because I think they make URIs easier to read, since they lie on the baseline and add more whitespace between each word. It has been proven that Google treats dashes as word separators and when the Googlebot reads underscores it will treat the entire string of words as one word. Therefore, I have gone against my personal preference and have switched to using dashes instead of underscores.

Backend

The site now runs almost entirely on SimpleLog, a content management system written in Ruby on Rails. I grew tired of using MovableType not too long after I began using it, but never got around to converting over to a different CMS.

Here are some of the reasons why I chose to use SimpleLog:

Simplicity: Just like the name suggests, it’s simple. MovableType has a lot of features that I never used that just got in the way. Simplelog has just the number of features that I need — nothing more, nothing less.
Speed: Another thing that I really could not stand about MovableType was having to rebuild to rebuild my pages. Now whenever a change is made to the database, it is reflected in real-time.
Pages: Having the ability to add new pages directly from the admin interface is just as easy as creating a new post.
Markdown: Support for Markdown is built into SimpleLog, which keeps HTML tags out of the textarea box in the admin section. This makes it much easier to read and write content. When an entry has been saved, Markdown immediately converts the marked-up text to well-formed XHTML.

Subversion

Subversion (also known as SVN) is an open-source version control system. It keeps track of each and every change that is made to your project. Once I’m satisfied with how everything looks on my local development site, I check the files into my Subversion repository. If you ever need to retrieve an older version of your work, it will allow you to easily rollback to a previous revision.

I prefer to store all of my repositories on a remote server. This way they are stored at an offsite location just in case anything were to ever happen to my local workstation and it also enables me to check out files on multiple computers.

Capistrano

Capistrano is a tool for automating the deployment of your web application to a server. It is also capable of doing much more, but this is what it is most commonly used for. After I’m finished checking my files into Subversion, I just need to enter a single command line in order to have the changes appear on my live site. No more FTP!

Feeds

The feed subscription link has changed from http://rss.xhtmled.com to http://www.xhtmled.com/rss so please be sure to update the link if you subscribe to it in your news aggregator.

On the Horizon

There are a few things that I plan on adding over the next few weeks, such as integration with my Flickr, del.icio.us, and Last.fm accounts.

I hope you like it and if you stumble upon any bugs please let me know.

Smashing Pumpkins at the Orange Peel

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 03:55:00 GMT

It’s been almost seven years since the Smashing Pumpkins played a live show since they broke up in December, 2000. Last month, they completed a 15-show tour in Europe and are started off their U.S. Zeitgeist tour with a sold-out 9-show residency at the Orange Peel in Asheville, NC, which has been dubbed Smasheville.

I was extremely lucky to have been able to purchase a pair of tickets before TicketWeb’s server crashed right after they went on sale a few weeks ago. A couple days later the tickets went up on Ticketmaster and they ended up selling out in just over two minutes.

My wife and I arrived about two hours before the show started and there was around a hundred people ahead of us in line. We ended up standing about six people back from the stage and had a really great spot.

The band took the stage at 10:00 p.m. during a Japanese music intro and played for nearly three hours. They opened with “United States”, which incorporated the national anthem in the guitar solo, and it sounded amazing. Billy Corgan barely spoke with the crowd then eventually loosened up about a third of the way through the show. He joked about a local offering him some weed about one minute after he arrived in Asheville and also said the local tried to explain that the city was built on a crystal.

Mid-set, the band left the stage and left Billy alone to play an acoustic set that included “Rocket”, “Gish”, “Daydream”, and “It’s a Song I Sing”, a tune he had written the night before the show.

The Orange Peel as well as the city of Asheville were both great locations for the Smashing Pumpkins to host their East Coast residency. I had a great time and feel very fortunate that I was able to make it to their opening show.

Setlist for June 23, 2007

United States
Doomsday Clock
Bleeding the Orchid
Today
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Glass and the Ghost Children
Home
Hummer
Lucky 13
(Come On) Let’s Go
Blue Skies Bring Tears
For God and Country
Daydream
Rocket
1979
Question Mark
Translucent
Starla
Tonight, Tonight
Tarantula
Starz
Zero
Disarm
Gossamer

Encore 1

Shame
Silverfuck > The End (tease)

Encore 2

With Every Light

On July 10, their comeback album, Zeitgeist, debuts and I have already pre-ordered it from iTunes.

My Favorite Apps for OS X

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 02:05:00 GMT

Web Browser

Safari is the default web browser that ships with OS X and it is extremely powerful. There are many great browsers to choose from on OS X, but I usually end up going back and forth between this and Camino.

Font Management

My font manager of choice is FontAgent Pro. One feature that not only saves time but helps save some memory on your machine is font auto-activation. If an OS X application asks for a font, such as opening a PSD file, the font will be opened if it hasn’t already been activated. I have tried many different font management programs and this is by far the best. However, I’ve read a lot of good reviews about FontExplorerX and I’d like to try it out sometime.

FTP

Transmit takes FTP to the next level on OS X. It allows you to make server-to-server transfers, upload your files by draffing them to the dock, and allows you to set favorites that are similar to Safari. After I switched to using Macs three years ago, I tried out several different FTP clients. I’ve been very happy with it ever since and haven’t felt the need to try out any others.

News Reader

NewsFire is a nice and simple news reader that has a clean look to it. I previously used NetNewsWire as my default aggregator but I like how NewsFire isn’t as bloated and it also has a couple of nice features that NetNewsWire doesn’t have. It also supports Growl notifications so I can get a brief summary of new stories without having to click on Newsfire to read them.

Text Editor

Textmate is an inexpensive text editor that is packed with many different features that make a web developer happy. It supports many different scripting languages including XHTML, CSS, PHP, and even Ruby on Rails. I especially like the dynamic file outline that appears along the side of the main window.

Icon Customization

I like to change my icons around from time to time and by using CandyBar, it enables me to do this. If you’re tired of seeing the exact same icons on your screen all of the time, be sure to check it out then head on over to Pixelgirl to pick out some cool icon sets.

Screen Captures

If you ever need to take a full screen capture of an entire page Paparazzi! is your answer. Just enter the URL and save the image to a PNG file with the click of a button. It’s too bad the built-in screen capture utility for Mac doesn’t have the ability to do this.

Time Tracking

I keep track of the amount of time that I spend on all of my projects. Khronos is an effective project timer and best of all is free. It even has the ability to print invoices and export to various spreadsheet applications.

Wireframe Creation

A wireframe is a great way to visualize the architecture of a website before it is created to see how it is structured. MyMind is a utility that lets you build graphical representations of your site with ease.

Photo Management

iPhoto is excellent for managing photos that are taken on a digital camera. It automatically loads when a digital camera is plugged in and allows you to create separate libraries. If you have a Flickr account, then you have to be sure to use FlickrExport which enables you to upload your photos directly from iPhoto to Flickr.

Notes

Sidenote is an advanced note taking utility which is designed to be available whenever you need it. Just move your mouse to the side of the screen and it instantly appears. This comes in handy when having to make a quick note about something then you can always read it later by moving your mouse or you can tack it on the screen so it won’t disappear.

Netflix Rentals

Netflix Freak has a very clean look and enables you to completely manage your Netflix account directly through the application. No more having to click on lots of pages the find the movie you want or modify your queue. If you subscribe to Netflix this is a definate must have.

Video in iTunes 6

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 20:44:00 GMT

Apple released iTunes 6 today, which includes support for videos. Over 2,000 music videos and select TV shows can now be purchased through the iTunes music store. Each video costs $1.99, which is certainly worth the price to be able to download high-quality TV shows that have the commercials edited out. I can see this being useful when my TiVo ends up missing a show that I regularly watch. Usually, I’d end up missing the show since many of them don’t come on again until long after the season has ended.

Free iPod Shuffle!

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 20:03:00 GMT

My iPod shuffle came today, which was sent to me for free from Gratis Internet. All I had to do was just sign up for one of their promotions and refer three friends to do the same. Also included was an i heart iPods t-shirt. This one took only two days to get here from the day I was approved, unlike the last one which took several months to arrive. My next goal is to get a free iPod nano.

Corpse Bride

Sat, 24 Sep 2005 23:46:00 GMT

This afternoon I went and saw the movie, Corpse Bride. I was expecting to see mostly adults in the theater since the tale is rather gothic and dark, but surprisingly there were many kids in the audience.

The movie is based on a 19^th century Russian folktale of a groom who marries a zombie. The story was well written and the animation was absolutely flawless and smooth. It was so good that I found it hard to believe that it wasn’t entirely computerized. It was only 75 minutes long, which was rather short, but understandably so. There were many tech firsts for this movie, one of them being that it was the first feature-length movie shot using stop-motion animation, which is the most labor-intensive method of making a film. The figures have to be set in position, photographed, then moved a fraction of an inch then shot again, and the process is repeated again and again. A minute or so of footage can take an entire week to produce.

This is definitely one of my favorite animated movies and I highly recommend going to see it, especially if you’re a fan of Tim Burton. Also be sure to check out the website as it’s one of the best Flash sites that I’ve seen in a while.

My Name is Earl

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 03:09:00 GMT

Last night was the first episode of My Name is Earl, which stars Jason Lee. It is Blue Collar TV at its best and is a mix betwen “King of the Hill” and “Raising Arizona”.

The premise of the show is that Earl, a raggedy guy, watches TV host Carson Daly tell a guest that he attributes his success to karma, the notion that good things happen to good people, bad things to bad people. Earl decides that karma is the secret to life and that he needs to be a better person by making up for all the bad things he’s done in the past. While picking up trash he finds a winning lottery ticket for $100,000 that he had previously lost, shortly after he almost backs out of his plan. He decides to keep his goal and ends up taking a guy that he used to pick on all the time when he was little to a gay bar so he could meet a guy.

I thought it was well written and was funny all throughout the show. I have high hopes for it and hope the rest of the episodes are as good as the first. Here are a few lines from the show that I found to be particularly funny:

Ain’t no use running fool, i know where your momma parks your house

Patty doesn’t care if a man has muscles, muscles can’t buy Mad Dog

I tried Earl, I did, towards the end I even pulled out my good boob

Earl, I think you’re trying to sell a cat to a man who fancys dogs

Error Tracker Pepper

Sat, 10 Sep 2005 23:58:00 GMT

Description

Error Tracker is a Pepper for Mint that enables you to see common HTTP errors (401, 403, 404, and 500) that your visitors receive while accessing your site.

Installation

Listed below are the instructions on how to start using the Pepper:

Download the files and unzip the file.
Create a custom error page for each of the following error types: 401, 403, 404, and 500.
Be sure to include a link to the Mint external JavaScript file in each error page:
```
<script type="text/javascript" src="/mint/?js"></script>
```
Upload the files to your root web directory (e.g. public_html).
If your server is running Apache, add the lines below to a file named “.htaccess” in your root web directory (e.g. public_html). If your web server is not running Apache you’ll need to contact your web host to find out what you need to do to have the server direct your visitors to your customized error pages.
```
# error handling
ErrorDocument 401 /401.php
ErrorDocument 403 /403.php
ErrorDocument 404 /404.php
ErrorDocument 500 /500.php
```
Note: Be sure to replace .php with the extension of the file type you’re using.
Upload the directory “jeffmiller” and its contents to /mint/pepper/.
Login to your Mint installation and in the Preferences click “Install” under Pepper.
Click the Error Tracker Pepper “Install” button. Click “Okay.”
Click Error Tracker under Pepper in the preferences pane.
In each of the boxes, enter some words that are unique to each error page.
Click “Done.”

Feel free to submit a comment to this post if you experience any bugs or have any suggestions.

Version History

v1.06 (February 18, 2006)

Updated for Mint 1.2 by Geoffrey Grosenbach

v1.05 (September 23, 2005)

Corrected an issue with HTML entities in the preferences pane.
Added compatibility with the new getCfgValue() API calls. (Mint 1.1+ is now required)

v1.04 (September 13, 2005)

The path to the error now links to the missing file and a secondary line has been added that displays and links to the referring page.
Truncated the error text to cut down on horizontal scrolling. (the full path may be viewed in the popup text by mousing over the error)

1.03 (September 12, 2005)

Added an error checking routine that displays an error if one or more of the required fields are missing in the Preferences pane.

v1.02 (September 11, 2005)

Fixed a bug where the entire page title was being displayed instead of the error code.

v1.01 (September 10, 2005)

Initial release.

Disclaimer

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS-IS, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ANY DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE USE OR MISUSE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

Download

error_tracker_pepper_106.zip
File Size: 8 KBs
Downloads: 2987

A Fresh Look at Mint

Tue, 06 Sep 2005 17:03:00 GMT

Last night, Shaun Inman released his long-awaited stat-tracking application, Mint. Mint is the replacement for what was previously known as, ShortStat, which I’ve been using since I released the retro version of my site in the beginning of May. I’ve been running it for about 15 hours now and have noticed some big improvements over ShortStat. The load time is significantly faster, the stats are no longer clogged with referrer spam, my visits to my site are now ignored, and the interface has a much cleaner look.

One of my favorite things about Mint is that it offers a quick and easy way to view all of my site’s important statistics in just one page view as opposed to having to click a lot get to various pages like with Urchin. Another great feature is the Pepper API, which allows others to create add-ons to make it better. Shaun is already offering two great additions; Local Searches, which records what your visitors are typing in on your local search form, and User Agent 007, which tracks visitor information such as their browser, platform, resolution, and Flash version.

Mint costs $30 per domain, which isn’t too bad, however I think it would be a lot better if he decided to charge $10 or $15 for each additional license.

Repent: Belgian Pent Ale

Fri, 02 Sep 2005 00:41:00 GMT

This evening I went to DuClaw Brewing Company in Hanover, MD for their exclusive Brewer’s Reserve Invitation to try their newest ale, Repent. The event kicked off at 6:00 p.m. and we arrived right when it started. The beer was served in a 12 oz. snifter glass and had a sweet, fruity taste with hints of caramel and toffee. It was a lot different that most of the beers that I normally drink. It tasted more like a wine than a beer. It had a nice kick to it since it has a whopping 14.6% alcohol by volume (abv). I would definitely order it again the next time I visit the brewery if it’s still available. I managed to pick up one of their limited edition glasses soon after I got there, which sold out in less than an hour.

Show Netflix Movies using PHP 5

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 16:02:00 GMT

I wrote the following PHP script for use on the Netflix page that I recently added to my site. The script parses the RSS feeds that are available for my Movie Queue and Previously Viewed Movies using the URLs that Netflix provides for my account. It uses PHP 5’s new SimpleXML extension which really simplifies parsing XML documents by quickly extracting data. In order to accomplish the same results under PHP 4 a lot of code would have been needed.

<?php

// define feed urls
$queue_feed = 'http://rss.netflix.com/QueueRSS?id=ENTER-YOUR-ID-HERE'; // url to queue feed
$recent_activity_feed = 'http://rss.netflix.com/TrackingRSS?id=ENTER-YOUR-ID-HERE'; // url to the most recent rental activity feed

// function that parses the xml and converts it to a nice ordered list
function show_movies($file) {
        $xml = simplexml_load_file($file);

        echo "<ol>\n";
        foreach ($xml->channel->item as $item) {
            $link = $item->link;
            $title = $item->title;
            $title = preg_replace("[[0-9]+- |Shipped: |Received: ]", '', $title);
            echo "  <li><a href=\"$link\">$title</a></li>\n";
        }
        echo "</ol>\n\n";
}

echo "<h2>Movie Queue</h2>\n";
show_movies($queue_feed);

echo "<h2>Previously Viewed Movies</h2>\n";
show_movies($recent_activity_feed);

?>

In order to use the script your server will need to be running PHP 5. Just replace “ENTER-YOUR-ID-HERE” with your id number and you’re ready to go. You can get the id by logging into your Netflix account then clicking on the RSS link at the bottom of the page. The number can be found under the Personalized Feeds section and it starts after the = sign in the URL.

NHL Rule Changes

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 14:35:00 GMT

Hockey season begins in another five weeks and it can’t get here soon enough. It’s the only sport that I regularly watch on TV and I’ve really been missing it the past year. There are several new rules that have been adopted by the NHL in the upcoming 2005-2006 season. Some of them will help increase the speed of play, making the game more exciting, and some will take away aspects of the game that I like.

Here are some videos provided by the National Hockey League and EA Sports that describe the new rules:

What I Like

Four feet will be added to each of the zones between the goal and blue lines. This extra room will help give the players more space to skate around in their offensive zones, which will speed up the action and give them more scoring chances, especially during power-plays.

To allow more continuous play, there’s a new Tag-Up rule, which allows a player to dump a puck into an offensive zone if his teammate is already in the zone as long as he returns to the blue line before touching the puck. The red (center) line will be ignored when making passes so a player can pass the puck from his defensive zone all the way up to their offensive blue line which previously would have been stopped due to a Two-Line Pass. Players can make much longer passes now which should increase the number of breakaways thus creating more chances for a one-on-one against the goalie.

In the event of a tie at the end of a game after five minutes of overtime, there will be a shootout as opposed to the game ending in a tie. Each team will be able to select three players and the team with the most goals after the six shots will be the winner. If the score remains tied after the six shots, the shootout will proceed to sudden death.

What I Don’t Like

One thing that I am really frustrated about is the Instigator Rule. One of my favorite things about watching hockey are the fights. Every couple of years or so a rule is changed to try and decrease the amount of fighting. One of the biggest things that draws a large number of people to hockey are the fights. Why the NHL keeps trying to remove it from the game is beyond me. If things keep up the way they’ve been going, NHL hockey will be a non-contact sport in another 15 years. It was fun to watch a game where a team was getting their ass kicked then to see the other team come out throwing punches in the last few minutes. This new rule is a bit harsh and will probably put an end to any fighting at the end of a game whatsoever. If a player instigates a fight in the final five minutes of a game, he will receive a game misconduct and an automatic one-game suspension and the length of the suspension will double after each additional incident. On top of that, the player’s coach will be fined $10,000 which will also double after each incident.

There is a new zone that has been added to the ice called the Goaltender Trap Zone. It’s a 28’ area behind the goal that is shaped like a trapezoid. Goaltenders who play the puck outside of this zone behind the goal line (in the corners) will now be penalized for delay of game, resulting in a two-minute penalty. I think goalies should have freedom to go wherever they want on the ice, especially within a few feet of the net that they have to protect.

Moved to Maryland

Mon, 29 Aug 2005 01:36:00 GMT

After living in the Carolinas for eleven years, I’ve moved back to my hometown of Annapolis, Maryland. For the past couple of years, my wife and I debated on whether or not we should stay in Wilmington or move up here after she graduated from college. She finished up school last month and we came up with a lot more reasons on why we should move instead of staying where we were.

We’re really going to miss living at the beach, but there’s a lot more things to do here since we’re also close to Washington D.C. and Baltimore. During September, we’re planning on going to the Maryland Renaissance Festival, seeing the Bacon Brothers play at Ram’s Head Tavern and we’ve got tickets to an Orioles game at Camden Yards. Another thing we’re looking forward to is being able to relax more during the holidays since we won’t always have to drive to Alabama or Maryland to visit family.

Harold Miller, 1919-2005

Thu, 21 Jul 2005 03:36:00 GMT

I am sad to report that my grandfather, Harold Miller, passed away at 6:45 this evening in his bed at the VA hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. He turned 86 last month and had been suffering from numerous problems such as cancer and kidney trouble during the past few years. I saw him twice while I was in Maryland over the 4th of July and am glad that I got to see him before things took a turn for the worse. My parents visited him the past three days because the doctors said they thought he didn’t have much longer to live, especially since he hadn’t eaten anything since Friday. He died 25 minutes after they arrived at the hospital and said their final words, which seemed as though he was holding out for them to get there before passing away.

He will certainly be missed and I will always hold fond memories of him in my heart, especially when we used to go fishing in the Chesapeake Bay and eat at his favorite restaurant, Sip & Bite, in Fells Point. In one way it’s a blessing that he is no longer suffering yet at the same time it hurts to think that I will never see him again. We will be honoring his wishes by scattering his ashes at sea in a couple of weeks.

Movable Type 3.2 Beta

Thu, 14 Jul 2005 22:32:00 GMT

I upgraded my installation of Movable Type to the 3.2 beta version that was just released today. The upgrade went pretty smooth and I haven’t run into any problems (at least so far). After logging in I could instantly tell that a lot of improvements had been made. There’s over 100 new features and you can read highlights of some of Six Apart’s favorites on their Beta Blog. Here are some of my favorite changes:

Colorful Icons: Tons of new icons have been added which are nice and colorful unlike the grayscale images that were used before. The color makes it easier to find a link that I’m looking for instead of having to read all of the text.
Easier Navigation: A new sub-navigation menu has been added along the top of each page which greatly improves usability by not having to scroll as much.
Global Search: The search feature now enables you to search for any text throughout your entire weblog or if you have more than one blog, it will search through all of them at once for a particular string.
Improved Listing Pages: Each listing page (comments, entries, etc.) now have a more consistant display and there’s status indicator icons that clearly show more information about each item that’s listed.

Fantastic Four

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 02:55:00 GMT

Last weekend I went and saw the Fantastic Four which wasn’t so fantastic. It was probably the worst comic book movie I’ve seen. With a 100 million dollar budget, I really thought that it would have been a lot better. If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t even bother until it comes out on DVD.