The ScooterBlog

It’s Tuesday … about 10:30 PM. I’m listening to some a Capella Maroon 5 music from their last album (nice change up from the album stuff), and in about three and a half days, I’ll be a married man.

I suppose I could be nervous, but I’m not just yet. I’ve told everyone at work, and it rings true, that I will be nervous about 5 PM on Thursday, because by that point, there won’t be computers to fix for architects. No more Outlook questions, no more VPN issues, just nearly two and a half weeks of a wonderful wedding and honeymoon (and a hiatus from this here blog … as if me not posting for two and a half weeks is somehow a NEW development!)

Now as easy as it all sounds now, I’m sure that come when I’m sitting down at a rehearsal dinner on Friday night that there’s gonna be nerves. Heck, I’m nervous about making sure I wake up at the right time on Saturday! But that all known, I also know that everything’s going to go fine … and hopefully, there will be a ton of pictures to prove it!

Ahh, nothing like reading a web site full of fifteen year old punks who just learned how to use the asterisk key to cover up their true thoughts ticked off that their day of truancy just got ruined by the lack of a Halo 3 beta, or as Bungle has put it, a delay that they are working on.

As you can see, while I would like to try the Halo 3 beta just like everyone, the reaction of the collective has been detest, anger, and typical juvenile behavior. You know, the typical stereotypic reaction of Halo-addict to, well, everything.

Never mind that the game has the word beta in the title … yes, I know in the modern world of the Internet, beta doesn’t mean unfinished, it means “kinda finished but we’re not responsible if it breaks on you”, and I will even grant those who are antsy to play that the buildup has been big (although if you bought Crackdown just for this, you hopefully aren’t just overlooking the fun to play game that Crackdown is, especially with the new content).

But, at the end of the day, this is still “not finished” software that you’re getting the ability to play. In other words, shut up, relax, take out your frustration on the Shai Gen, and rest assured that you’ll be playing Halo 3 in no time flat.

(The crystal ball I don’t have tells me that I wouldn’t be shocked either if they extend the beta by a day. Bungie’s good like that, you know? Doesn’t help me, I’ll be in Colorado enjoying a wonderful honeymoon, but hey, all good.)

Random thought as I sit in Wendy’ waiting for my car to be detailed … I tried to search Google for a Microsoft program. The exact search was:

“Windows Live Search” +”Blackberry”

When I did this, it brought up a screen which denoted that Google thought my search might include spyware or viruses.

Anyone else ran across anything like this?

Update (5/14) – Picture Added …

So here’s a question for the masses … I’m 20 days out from getting married (for those who did not know), and as of this past Wednesday, I have an official marriage license! It doesn’t seem accurate to use the mantra of “fiance” for Danielle right now because we’re a bit beyond that point now, but not truly married fro another 476 hours or so (as of this moment).

So … what’s the statement of choice? Wife-to-be? Bride elect? Some other funny yet endearing smart allaky statement?

I’m open to ideas here, help me out!

In my travails on the ‘net lately, it’s been all about finding ways to get the files you have out to the world so you can get them from anywhere, cellular included. I’ve been using Avvenu as a means of listening to iTunes music anywhere, and while it’s nice for iTunes integration, its player is low of features, and sometimes the sound quality is not perfect, but it’s decent.

Thus came the want to find something even more feature-packed. Orb so far has been my solution! It has worked perfectly for music, allows me to view all of my computer’s files from anywhere, and does so with a snazzy interface and a ton of customizability. It can just as easily be your homepage for the day as it could be your ultimate media player.

Cell phone integration isn’t a problem either. They have a special interface for phones that works perfectly on PocketPC and Smartphone devices like my BlackJack, and since it can output to Flash formats, you can use it on your Wii AND PS3! They also throw in the ability to stream natively through an XBox 360 on your local network (just for kicks I guess). I’ve tried the Wii and 360 customizability, and it does work nicely.

The only bug I have right now is that it’s not putting M4A (iTunes AAC Format) songs into my Library, but I can still access them and listen to them by browsing the files.

I have yet to try a lot of what this program can do … TV tuning ala Slingbox, DVR style recording, and audio recording and accessing Internet Radio feeds, but so far, I am really really happy with it, if for nothing else, because I now no longer need to “pre-load” music onto my Blackjack. I just get it wherever I need it!

Now there have been some other options out there … Lifehacker has an article on using a web server program named Jinzora, and ArsTechnica has a feature on MediaMaster and MP3Tunes, a couple of very nice hosted media solutions, and how they work. It’s also worth noting that the article that turned me onto Orb was on Lifehacker here, and offers some of the other options mentioned here too. It’s well featured and talks about lots of choices. Well worth your reading, and not hard to set up this stuff … why not have your music wherever you want it!