"Blue Like Jazz"

Today I finished reading Don Miller's book, "Blue Like Jazz". Wow. Miller puts his "songs" and those of his friends into words in a way that everyone can understand. The book is about the Christian faith without focus on "the rules" and without feeling as though he is "preaching" to you. It's a book about love, forgiveness, grace, family, friendship, loving others and loving yourself. It's the best $10 you'll spend all year. Enjoy the music.

Buy "Blue Like Jazz" at Buy.com
Buy "Blue Like Jazz" at Amazon.com
(Hardcover Large Print and Audio CD versions are also available.)

If you want to read Blue Like Jazz and
truly cannot afford the $10, let me know.

Woohoo!

YES! The test results are back this morning and I'm all clear and still cancer free!

Four Months

Four months have passed and it is again time for my oncology checkup on Monday, October 23rd. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated -- both for perfect results of the bloodwork and for peace of mind while we wait for those perfect results.

Thanks, friends.

Reading: "Blue Like Jazz" by Don Miller

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is breast cancer awareness month (hence the pink). I encourage EVERYONE to help in seeking a cure. You can help fight all cancers through donations to the American Cancer Society. Women, please check yourself regularly and consult your doctor.

Transmission, TL, and TSX

Wednesday - "Check Engine" light illuminates on the '02 TL-S that I drive for the first time in the five years I've owned her (yes, it's a her, don't make me explain it). I schedule it for the 90K mile maintenance at my Acura dealer.

Thursday - TL-S goes to dealer, receives maintenance, and "check engine" light doesn't come on for them. Nice. Makes the 50 mile journey home like a new car with no trouble.

Friday - Off to work, drives like a new car, no issues. Leave work, start car, engine "idles" at 1500RPM and transmission will not shift out of first gear. Great. Call dealer and tell them to come get the car... most likely needs tranny which [thankfully] will be under warranty but the 4 days it will take them to do it will suck. Or, will it?

Because I purchased my car from that dealer they loaned me a car while the TL-S is being repaired -- a 2006 Acura TSX. It's a four-banger compared to my usual six-shooter but still packs 205HP, digital gauge cluster with LED backlighting, Bluetooth HandsFreeLink connectivity through the XM-equipped 360-watt sound system, drive-by-wire throttle, etc. While I'm used to another 55 ponies, "it ain't bad at all" in my mind -- a very nice sub-$30K sedan.

Tivo Series3 DMR

The Tivo Series3 DVR DMR (Digital Media Recorder) is now on the streets. After fighting with the Comcast set-top box and Tivo Series2 combo since January '06 and the fundamental flaws annoyances (having to switch inputs to view HD, no HD recording/playback, out-of-synch audio and video, and having a single tuner) we decided enough was enough and got an early Christmas gift (thanks, Steph!).

After Fedex sending out an illiterate driver and delivering my package to the wrong address it finally arrived. Setup was a snap -- up and running in under 30 minutes including the installation of two CableCARDs in the rear of the unit for dual digital tuner recording. The new unit is outstanding -- dual tuner (with the mentioned cards), full 1080i/p HDTV recording/playback, Dolby digital output (optical), HDMI connectivity, SATA storage, THX certified.

Yeah...

JasonAlanBradley.com

After a bit of work and assistance with graphics by my brother-in-law (thanks, Mike!), my new professional-career site is now online!

http://www.jasonalanbradley.com/

Windows Vista Ultimate RC1

Microsoft has publically released Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 -- the successor to Windows XP. I installed it on my Dell Latitude D620 this week to give it a whirl and it is very nice.

(Vista Ultimate RC1 on a 2.16Ghz Dual Core, 2GB RAM, 80 GB 7200RPM, 256MB nVidia video Dell Latitude D620.)

The Vista Aero interface

The Window Switcher

Alt-Tab w/Preview
SideBar (right)

Cancer Cure Research

In this quarter's CURE magazine there is a write-up from Lance Armstrong about his retirement from the bike to lobby in D.C. for more government-funded cancer research. One factoid from the article just runs all over me:

"A war on cancer was declared in 1971. From then until today all the money
totalled that the government has put toward cancer research wouldn't pay for six
months of the war in Iraq."

Google it, baby!

In today's world where Google is not only a name but also a verb I'm still amazed by the sheer number of people that don't utilize Google fully. (Side note: The Google Story by Vise and Malseed is an awesome read.)

As such, allow me to do my part in educating everyone so that you may share the wonderful goodness with others...

• When searching all terms are searched. There's no need to type AND between words, it's assumed.
• You can use "-" to omit a word. For example, "red car -BMW" would return all sites with RED and CAR but NOT those with BMW.
• Need a dictionary? Just Google it... define:life
• Need a calculator? Google it... "4+8/2" or "half of 235 times seven"
• Need a translator? "translate:world in german"
• Conversions? Yup, Google. "10 gallons in liters" or "75 pounds in kilograms"
• Mobile and need info? Send a text message to GOOGL (46645).. "outback steakhouse in madison, tn" or "movies 37203" and Google will txt you back with the deets.
• Looking for something and want to check all synonyms? "~car" will also check automobile, vehicle, etc.

Enjoy your new powers. Share them with others. :)

Drive Safely

I see Tennessee tax dollars are being put to good use. The sign shown below reads "CALL 511 FOR TRAFFIC INFO". So, let me get this right... we [Tennesseans] pay sales tax to allow TDOT to install remotely configurable display signs for traffic information, Amber alerts, and other emergency information. TDOT installs signs and, instead of just providing the information, they want drivers to change focus to their cell phones, dial the number and listen to a recording on a loop. Yeah.

Calm before the storm

Just a lazy weekend... the calm before the storm. I hope everyone is doing well. More rambling to come...

MCSE

Today I completed my certification track for Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) on Windows Server 2003 -- one of a 40,000+ member ever-growing groups of professionals. It has taken about three months to complete -- and a lot of study hours. Woohoo!

Best wishes, my friend

My colleague, Jim Sawyers, was visiting the office this weekend. Knowing the camera drops a note to me when someone enters on the weekend he decides to send me a message. The downside to this is that he has brainwashed his wife into joining the dark side as well.
Seriously though -- Jim & Carmen -- best wishes in North Carolina!

Pirates and a Lady

So, movies were the theme of this weekend. On Saturday Steph and I went to see "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." I think it's well known that Johnny Depp is a great, diverse actor. In this sequel he seems to play a more muted role than in the first -- a lot of the plot centers around Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) and William (Orlando Bloom). Nevertheless, Depp was awesome yet again. Someone is engaged to the arrow-shooting Elf boy. Who was that? Oh yeah, Keira. The trilogy wraps in 2007 with "At World's End."

Sunday afternoon went to M. Night's "Lady in the Water." Should you see it? If you like Night's movies you will like this movie -- intense attention to detail, no stone unturned, twists and turns and wonders of meaning. If you are not a fan of his films -- at least wait for the DVD. No spoilers here, but the movie has another good message to it -- at least one that I walked away hearing. Not quite as loudly said as "Signs" but still great.

It's Hot out there! (and you need a pool!)

Tower of Power

It's that time of year when we IT nerds professionals deploy new equipment to the general population. This year's unboxing porn brings us the Dell Optiplex GX620 with a 3.2 Ghz Dual Core CPU, 2 GB RAM, 80GB SATA, DVD+-RW and of course, the beloved flat panel of which our users will enjoy for the next year 48 months.

Quote of the week

This week's "quote of the week" is awarded to Chris Bransford. During a recent Battlefield 2 free-for-all is piloting the AH-64 Apache in a full throttle strike on my character he announces in his best Maverick voice:

"Goose, I'm too close for missles, I'm switching to crash."

God Bless America

As we celebrate the 4th of July holiday I thought it fitting to re-post the original transcript from Red Skeleton's TV show. I've never heard it put any better than this:

I've been listening to you boys and girls recite the Pledge of Allegiance all semester and it seems as though it is becoming monotonous to you. If I may, may I recite it and try to explain to you the meaning of each word?"

I -- me, an individual, a committee of one.
Pledge -- dedicate all of my worldly goods to give without self pity.
Allegiance -- my love and my devotion.
To the flag -- our standard, Old Glory, a symbol of freedom. Wherever she waves, there's respect because your loyalty has given her a dignity that shouts freedom is everybody's job!
United -- that means that we have all come together.
States -- individual communities that have united into 48 great states.
Forty-eight individual communities with pride and dignity and purpose; all divided with imaginary boundaries, yet united to a common purpose, and that's love for country.
And to the republic -- a state in which sovereign power is invested in representatives chosen by the people to govern. And government is the people and it's from the people to the leaders, not from the leaders to the people.
For which it stands, one nation -- one nation, meaning "so blessed by God"
Indivisible -- incapable of being divided.
With liberty -- which is freedom -- the right of power to live one's own life without threats, fear or some sort of retaliation.
And Justice -- the principle or quality of dealing fairly with others.
For all -- which means, boys and girls, it's as much your country as it is mine.

Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country
and two words have been added to the pledge of Allegiance...
UNDER GOD
Wouldn't it be a pity if someone said
that is a prayer
and that would be eliminated from schools too?
God Bless America!

Superman Returns (with today's CGI)

The Man-O-Steel has returned to the big screen. If you haven't already seen the new movie -- do so. It's worth the price of admission (even as it is these days). Today's special effects are incredible (though you understand how amazing the original Reeve's "Superman" film FX were back then). I'm not going to spoil anything for anyone but fans of the original movie series have to see this. Spacey's Lex Luther is much darker than the original and he plays his role quite well in this film. Outside of Spacey, I think the reason this movie will do so well is actually the lack of stars in the movie. Of course, we've seen Kate Bosworth (Lois Lane) in a few films (Blue Crush, Remember the Titans), the majority of the roles are played by lessor knowns so that you concentrate more on the plot itself and not so much "that girl from that movie". Enjoy the show!