Schools Out

Well, now that I am no longer studying, researching, or writing a dissertation, I have a lot of free time again! So what am I doing with that time?

I’m back to reading and watching (and actually paying attention to) DVDs again! This past week I have read four full length books, three of which were by David Morrell, a VERY good author. I am also in the process of reading three books right now. (Another Morrell book, and two more “business oriented” books.

Up until now I’ve only posted reviews on books on my sidebar there, but going forward, movies that I really liked, or that have received some strongly negative or heavy outside feedback I will probably post on as well. (The Da Vinci Code and The Phantom of the Opera for example.)

All that said, I am seriously thinking of going back to school. Not sure what I’m going to study this time, if I do go for it again, but thinking on it, and trying to think through what I want to get a third Ph.D. in if I do it. Or do I go get another Bachelors or Masters?

What to do…

Libraries…

This last couple of days I’ve spent a lot of time in a library, researching a couple of projects I’m working on, looking for a couple of old books that I had read before, and checking out their DVDs. (Did you know that in many libraries, you can check out a DVD to watch, and not pay for it? (Provided you bring it back of course!!))

Things sure have changed since I was last in a library for any amount of time. It is NOISY now! People all over talking on their cell phones, people asking other people questions in an “outdoor voice”, and just plain people talking! What happened to the “sanctity” of a library where everyone was quiet, and if you made a sound, everyone HUSHED you. (Often louder than the sound you made, but it got you quiet pretty quickly!)

I’m telling you the world is changing, and not all for the good. I see deterioration EVERYWHERE.

Come on folks, give others in the library a chance to study, ready, do their thing in peace and quiet!

A Tradition

Ever year I’m not around family, I tend to go to a movie on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Today was no exception.

I went to see Casino Royale. I went into this movie mainly to see how the new guy did. I had low expectations.

The movie started out without the “naked girls” that is characteristic of Bond movies. That lowered my expectations of the movie following form/etc.

All that said, this movie was EXCELLENT! The acting was good, the plot line was good, and it VERY closely followed the book, although in modern time vs the time frame of the original book by Ian Flemming. The gagetry of the original “series” of movies is gone, for the most part, and he goes on wit and readily available tech, not super tech.

This movie was well worth the ever growing cost of going to a movie! I highly recommend it!

45.. Thought I’d never get here..

Twenty years ago I thought I’d never hit 45 based on what I was doing and where I was. Well, yesterday I did it. I finished my 45th year on this planet!

It was a relatively quiet day, first I went into work for a couple of hours to clean up a couple of projects I was working on last week, then I went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean:Dead Man’s Chest, which was good, but I still liked the first one better. It did have some interesting twist to it though! And the ending left hope for a third one that will probably be good as well. (One can hope right?)

After that, my boss at Interactive Digital Multi-Media, Inc. (the Founder and CEO), found out it was my birthday, so he took me out to dinner and drinks afterwards, visiting with a few very pretty ladies.

Did get a call from my Mother, but was in the middle of eating so we didn’t chat long. I would have called back, but by the time my boss and I were done, it was too late to call back…

Over all, not bad, no physical cards, and only three (none from family) ecards, but that’s cool…

Feeling technically challenged…

This past week I’ve been having a technically challenged time. At work (AV Books, Inc.) we had two computers decided they didn’t like their operating systems and they just crapped out. (Small company, and although I’m the primary tech guy since I have a PhD. in Comp Sci and since I have been CIO of companies, I’ve been assigned the “tech support role” for the company (ok, by me as much as by the CEO…).)

At home I was moving my powered up laptop from the office to the living room so I could watch a movie () and the laptop slipped out of my hand. I caught it, by the power cord but not before two USB pluggins hit the ground with force and broke. One being a 256M USB Drive with a LOT of data on it (luckily only backup data) and my Bluetooth dongle. Had to go out and buy new ones. The bluetooth dongle didn’t want to work for the first two hours of putzing with it and my cell phone . Got it all working finally.

Two days ago I ordered the Jabra BT620s headset which I can’t seem to attach to my computer to listen to music. It gives me the dings and pings from the laptop computers operating system but no sound from Rhapsody or anything else. It also works well with my above mentioned cell phone for the phone part, but won’t let me listen to the music on the PDA (via Pocket Tunes ). Going to have to work on this issue today when I have time.

And finally, came home yesterday to one of my “servers”, and the most important one, it’s the printer server, and a few other important task, must have talked to the two computers at work, and it cropped up with the same problems they were having. Going to have to work on that today or tomorrow too.

A friend also has computer problems, so I’m heading over to his house today to fix them and get his computer back to where he wants it.

Update: (an hour later…) I fixed the Jabra problem with the laptop. It now works correctly for the laptop. Now to get it to work right with the PDA.

Florida could be a problem…

Well now that I’m living in Florida my studies and work habits could get bad… The weather has been sooooooo good, it’s hard to stay in and work on my dissertation or to read or to study or to work on web pages, or to…..

Spent most of the weekend out sailing again, and let me tell you, if it’s not something you’ve done, you should! (If you are in the Ft. Lauderdale area, I can get you hooked up on the Second Star which does two charter cruises a day for $40.00 per person, up to six people per cruise for three to four hours of sailing on the ocean, and if you want, you get to steer the boat, play with the sails, etc!)

Now, on the good side, I’m getting back into shape, walking Kodi almost every day, doing ab rolls, pushups, and eating better. (Kinda embarrassing going to the beach, or playing on the boat being over 270 pounds and ghost white! )

I am going to have to start scheduling via my planner all my study time I need!