ben's journal

Blog Moved ... For Now

Ben — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 04:51:00 +0000

I have signed up for the new Blogger Beta. So...for now, all new posts will be to the new beta blog located at:

http://benhinc.blogspot.com/

Eventually I will be able to merge the two blogs (so Blogger tells me). I hope so...I want to keep my post streak going.

Abbie's Latest

Ben — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 21:59:00 +0000

I've posted pictures of Abbie's latest crazy toy in my Picasa Web Albums gallery. It's called the "Kitten Mitten" and it's pretty crazy looking. At first she was afraid of it but no longer. She really seems to like it, and best of all it really freaks out my mom. The best $10 I ever spent (on Abbie!).

Click here to see the pictures or click here to see my entire Picasa Web Albums gallery.

Widgetize me, baby!

Ben — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 04:26:00 +0000

Using Opera 9? No? Well you should be. It's only the best browser in the world. And now it's even better because it has Widgets. Widgets are nifty little things that live on your desktop, independent of the browser but still connected to it. See Google Gadgets or Yahoo Widgets if you still don't know what I'm talking about.

So anyway, if you are one of the lucky, intelligent ones that uses Opera 9, you can now "widgetize" my blog. Just click the button below and you'll see what I mean.

I've also added a smaller "Opera Widgetize" button to my sidebar for when this post gets buried (although that does take a while, doesn't it).

Also of note: you can "widgetize" any feed you want. Just go to widgets.opera.com/widgetize and mess around a bit. You're likely to leave slightly impressed, as I did. Only drawback: the only kind of widget you can "generate" right now is a feed reader widget. I expect more types to be added soon - the possibilities are endless!

Gcal on Gpages

Ben — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 18:31:00 +0000

Oh yeah, gotta love Google. My life, in calendar form, is now available on my Google Pages homepage (located at http://ben.hinc.googlepages.com/). Just scroll down to the bottom and you see it in the main part of the page.

There's nothing too personal on there so I'm not worried about stalkers or anything. Check it out and see when I'm available, maybe we can get together.

A very Cheap Trick

Ben — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 05:32:00 +0000

Tonight (or rather last night) I went to see a free Cheap Trick show at the Festival of the Lakes in Hammond, IN. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical going in but left pleasantly surprised. I had a lot of fun and actually knew more of their songs than I thought I did. In fact, "I Want You To Want Me" has been a song I've wanted to karaoke for a long time. Fun for free is always a good thing and now I can say that I've seen Cheap Trick. For free. Most awesome.

I have cleaning to do. My parents are coming in tomorrow (or later today...?) so last minute scrubbing and sweeping is in order. Accompanying my cleaning is the most awesome Internet 80's station ever: Club 977. Visit http://www.club977.com to listen yourself. I guarantee that if you like 80's tunes you won't be disappointed. Joan Jett is rocking out now and who knows what they'll dig up next.

(As a side note, this is my first post from my panel-mounted blog poster on Ubuntu Linux. Most cool. Hopefully it will work.)

Yeah, Toto just came on!!! Gotta love the 80's channel.

The Hoff

Ben — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 08:21:00 +0000

Only the funniest video I have seen in a long time that doesn't have "Juggernaut" in the name. Just watch it.

Blogged with Flock

Flock

Ben — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 21:24:00 +0000

This is my first post from Flock. It's a Mozilla Firefox variant that is supposed to make it easy to utilize the new "Web 2.0" services that are out there. Unfortunately the Web 2.0 services that Flock supports are not necessarility the ones I utilize. For some reason Flock seems to be anti-Google which means that instead of Google Web Search it supports Yahoo and instead of Picasa Web Albums it supports Flickr and Photobucket. To me these are serious drawbacks. The only Google service it does support is Blogger, which is probably more due to market share than anything else.

I was a little surprised that when I installed Flock that it didn't automatically recognize all the Firefox plugins I had installed, especially since Flock is basically Firefox with new features added. So, I had to manually copy the plugins from the Firefox folder to the Flock folder.

I'm still playing with Flock features so there isn't much to say about them yet. Maybe soon...

Blogged with Flock

Trying To Be #1

Ben — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 02:42:00 +0000

Watch these videos. Both of them. Go to MySpace or Google Video and watch them again. Tell your friends. I'm going to be #1 ... or at least in the Top 100. Thanks for your help and support.

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Compiling

Ben — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 08:16:00 +0000

Yes, you read right. I am up late compiling. I never thought that it would be the case, but it is. See, I have a Linux box now and I'm currently engaged in a crash course of all things command line. I never knew how frustrating it could be ... until now. Other than the compiling problems, the system is running fine. It's a bit slow - Pentium II-450 with 384 MB of RAM - but it seems adequate for what I am doing with it, which mostly consists of messing around and listening to my MP3s while doing it. I managed to mount a Windows share all by myself (after a lot of reading and googling) and even set it up to mount the share during boot. That was exciting. I think I might've clapped. Let's see....

...sorry, back now. Had to stop, had to deal with another error. Who knew I needed libgtk2.0-dev installed? Well, I did. Now I do, so maybe there won't be any more errors.

In other news (and known to most already), I received a promotion at work a few weeks back. I am now the branch manager of both the Crete and Manteno locations of Great Lakes Bank. A modest raise went with the increase in responsibility (and aggravation). And, it looks great on a resume.

And ... to make sure I don't forget, the best non-regular season non-broadcast network show is coming back on for its third season on Sunday. Yes, I'm talking about The 4400. If you've never seen it, I highly recommend. I also recommend you rent (or otherwise obtain) the first two seasons. Season 1 is short - it was originally meant to be a miniseries - and season 2 is of normal length. I'll be watching.

A Glimpse of Me

Ben — Tue, 30 May 2006 15:40:00 +0000

Here's a sampling of what you'll find at my MySpace:

Also... I have a homepage. It's the only one I have, complete with photo albums, resumes, and links to other places that are cool. Check it out.

Ben's Only Home on the Web

No Longer a "Jeremy" Virgin

Ben — Thu, 18 May 2006 05:00:00 +0000

You read it right. I am no longer a "Jeremy" virgin. On Tuesday night, May 16, 2006, I was honored to be in Row 2 of Section 102 at the United Center for the first of two Pearl Jam shows at the United Center in Chicago. In addition to "Jeremy," PJ played an awesome set that included about half of Ten (1991) and a little sampling of each of the four subsequent albums - Vs. (1993), Vitalogy (1994), No Code (1996), and Yield (1998). They skipped over the next album - 2000's Binaural - and played one track from 2002's Riot Act, the awesome rocker "Save You." It sound fresh and fast and furious and made me wish that they would've brought out a little more from the "dark" era between Yield and Pearl Jam. Speaking of their latest release, PJ of course performed a number of songs from their self-titled disc. They all sounded great, especially the hard-driving "Comatose" and the opening track "Life Wasted." And there were the requisite off-album tracks such as the excellent "State of Love and Trust" and "I Got Id" as well as some covers, including "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" by the Beatles and "Baba O'Riley" by The Who. The only thing I really hoped to hear was my old college favorite "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In a Small Town" but I can't be too upset as I've been able to sing along to this one at previous concerts.

Overall, a great experience and PJ can be assured that I will be returning again. Now that I'm a member of the Ten Club, I'll be sure not to let my membership lapse so next time I can get some better seats.

I have already ordered the official digital bootleg of the show. It should be available shortly. Perhaps after I have a few listens I might provide more of a play-by-play of the concert. Of course, now that I've typed that, you know I won't do it.

Here is the complete setlist:

Set 1
Release, World Wide Suicide, Life Wasted, Severed Hand, Comatose, Given To Fly, Low Light, Corduroy, I'm Open, I Got Id, Even Flow, Unemployable, Daughter/(W.M.A.), Present Tense, Do The Evolution, Jeremy, Save You, Porch

Encore 1
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, Better Man, Come Back, State Of Love And Trust, Black, Alive

Encore 2
Go, Blood/(Atomic Dog), Indifference, Baba O'Riley, Yellow Ledbetter

A Face in the Window ...

Ben — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 05:39:00 +0000

Or something else? My sister something odd in one of the photos she took at Manteno State Hospital. Head over to the Friends of MSH site to check it out.

Star Trek XI, Manteno State Hospital

Ben — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 03:34:00 +0000

It was announced yesterday that J. J. Abrams will produce and possibly direct Star Trek XI. The Zap2It article about this leads with "from the 'Just Wacky Enough To Work' file" and I tend to agree. I think what is most important about this announcement is that all ties are effectively cut from the past producers of all things Star Trek, most importantly Rick Berman. It is truly a blessing that the man that resurrected and subsequently killed Trek is no longer involved in any way. Some fresh blood is extremely important, and I think that Abram will make a fun movie. Supposedly the announcement by Paramount was spurred by Abrams "excellent" work on M:I:iii so we'll see if that's true. Personally, I'm a fan of the M:I franchise so I'm hoping to be entertained by the third installment.

As for Manteno State Hospital ... a light night/early morning excursion on April 19th yielded some interesting pictures and a fun time. The pictures are posted on the homepage.

Something You Should Know

Ben — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 02:57:00 +0000

I have been thinking long and hard about this and I have finally accepted a volunteer opportunity with the Peace Corps.

This may come as a shock to some since I am doing quite well for myself in Manteno (well, I haven't had to ask the parents for money in a while, at least) but in the last year or so I have realized that I am looking for something in life that is not there. I feel a compulsory need to reach out and help. What skills do I possess that will help people in 3rd world countries? I wondered the same thing as I began looking for volunteer opportunities. My first impression of the Peace Corps is that they just hand out food or build houses. Turns out they are involved in a whole host of activities, from agricultural and business development to information technology and education. It is in the area of business development that my skills will be put to use. I will be assigned to a bank in Lima, Peru, where I will work with other volunteers there as well as bank employees to provide loans and support to small business owners and other entrepreneurs.

The timeline right now is some time in May so I don't have much time to get my affairs in order. I ask that you be supportive of my decision and speak to me only in Spanish from now on - I will need the practice. I will post more details as they become available.

My Googlefied Life

Ben — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 04:57:00 +0000

Yes, I am I walking, talking advertisement for Google. Well, at least my web browser is. Most of my web browsing these days is the result of something I have clicked on from a Google service. I utilize everything from Gmail to Google Page Creator, sometimes on a daily basis. Since Google is such a big part of my life, I have decided to list all of the Google services that I use and also provide a brief review of each of them.

Google Personalized Home
Google's personalized homepage solution was something that I was looking forward to for a long time. Having used other personalized homepage services from Yahoo (too flashy) and MSN (too bloated), I was left wanting more. Sure, Google's classic homepage is nice but it is all little sparse. Wouldn't it be nice to add your own content to the reliable old Google search box? That's exactly what Google Personalized Home allows you to do. My homepage in Opera is set to Google Personalized Home so I see it every time I start up the browser (which is more and more frequent since I have begun beta-testing Opera 9). Some highlights of my version of Google's homepage include my favorite RSS feeds (BetaNews, News.com, Wired News), a preview of my Gmail inbox, and various general news providers such as CNN, USA Today, and Google's own news aggregator. I think of the personalized homepage as my jumping off point into the wide world of the internet. I'm sure that's exactly what Google wants me to think about it. And, of course, best of all is that here is no ads. Pretty strange from a company that generates the vast majority of its revenue from serving ads to web surfers like me.

Gmail
I love Gmail. Since I started using it on August 24, 2005, I have sent or received 660 e-mails (not including those I have "deleted forever," of course) and have used 3% or 83 MB of my total allotted storage space. While other web-based e-mail providers may be flashier or easier to use,
Gmail just works (as long as you are using Firefox, Safari, IE, or Opera 9). It has a clean, simple interface and I love the idea of e-mails being kept all together and then being sorted by labels or other means (see my earlier review of Opera's M2 e-mail client, which utilizes a similar storage paradigm). The integration of Google Talk with Gmail is a nice addition and I foresee future integrations with Gmail, including Blogger and Google Reader (see below).

Picasa
Finally one that doesn't have a Google or a "G" in the name. Picasa is the best free photo organization software available. It is clean, easy to use, and incredibly good at what it is designed to do. First of all, what it is not: a photo editing program. For this, Adobe, Corel, and others have better solutions. Picasa is a phenomenal way to organize and share digital photographs. It's tight integration with Gmail is convenient and makes sharing photographs via e-mail easy to do, as many of my friends and family know all too well. It offers a complete set of simple edits, my favorite being the "I'm Feeling Lucky" option which almost always makes every photo look better by automatically adjusting brightness, contrast, and fill. It is easy to add labels and captions to photos. It also easy to export photos to webpages. The pages that Picasa creates are not flashy and I'm sure there are solutions out there that output better-looking photo album webpages. However, it is more important to me to have a complete package and that is what Picasa offers. For examples of the pages that Picasa exports, feel free to visit my homepage and click on the photo albums links. I obviously can't recommend Picasa enough and since it's a free download, I encourage everyone to give it a try.

Google Reader
I used to use Opera to read my RSS newsfeeds. While the Opera solution is still the best browser-based newsreader I have used (what the heck is a "live bookmark"?), I have moved completely to Google Reader for my feeds. Perhaps the best aspect of Google Reader is that it is fully portable, meaning that no matter where I am, I can check my feeds. Previously I had to remote in to my PC to read my feeds in Opera which is a tedious process and isn't always 100% reliable. Using intuitive keyboard commands, it is simple to quickly scan my unread items. In Opera, it is nice to be able to open the posts in background tabs as I go through my list. That way, when I'm done, I have everything I want to read opened up and ready to go. I look forward to Google Reader being integrated in to Gmail, which to me is a logical next-step. However, the difference in the basic interface may be a stumbling block. If anyone can figure out how to do it, I'm sure Google can. If you don't use RSS feeds or use a software-based reader, I highly encourage you to check out Google Reader. I have it open 24/7 in Opera and it is so easy to go to it and hit "r" and have all of my unread news items fill in for me to peruse.

Google News
I used to use Google News a lot more before the advent of Google Personalized Home and Google Reader. Still, I think it is a great service and it's nice to have news edited not by humans but by an impartial algorithm. Whenever I want to know what is happening in the world, I always check Google News to see what the top headlines are. In combination with a Google account, it is very easy to customize Google News with your own "sections." For example, when there was talk of Opera being purchased by Microsoft, I added a section to my personalized news page that showed every article out there that had the terms "opera" and "browser." It worked as advertised and I still have the section on my personalized Google News today.

Blogger
This one is obvious, isn't it? I'll be honest: I haven't tried every free blog tool out there. I have tried Xanga, and I found it quite limiting. Sure, it is nice to tell you what mood I'm in and what I'm listening to, but I think it's more important that you read my posts. If I want you to know what I'm listening to, I will tell you. What I like about Blogger is that it is infinitely customizable. There are dozens of templates to choose from, and if you don't like any of them, you are free to create your own. I have been using Blogger since January 2001 before it was a part of Google. Even though Google now owns Blogger, they have resisted the temptation to "googlefy" Blogger and have allowed it to develop its own identity. One thing I would like to see is a tighter integration of Blogger with Gmail. I wouldn't want the existing Blogger interface to be replaced, but it would be nice to be able to link your Blogger account with Gmail so that posts could also be created from the Gmail interface. I think it is natural to get ideas for blog posts from your e-mails so it would certainly be nice to draft a post without having to open up a separate Blogger tab. Overall I have been very happy with Blogger and it has served me well. If you don't have a blog and are thinking about creating one, I would certainly recommend Blogger as your first and only blog provider.

Google Video
One of the newest services from Google is Google Video. It is not the slickest video store out there nor is the most popular user-submitted video site. However, I think it offers a nice overall package. Features such as adding videos to websites and using Google Video Player to download video files to your computer are useful. Having added a video go Google Video myself, I found the process to be relatively straight-forward. Despite an approval problem the first time around, I found the idea of putting myself online for the world to see to be extremely exiting and I'm glad it all worked out in the end. I haven't purchased a video from Google Video so I can't give a reading on what that process is like but I have heard that improvements are constantly being made (as with all Google services). If I ever do decide to pay money for video content from Google, I will be sure to share my thoughts here.

Google Page Creator
The newest Google service (ok, Google Finance is newer) is Google Page Creator. It's been around for a few weeks but unfortunately new accounts were blocked for a while. However, last night I received a notice in my Gmail account that my request for access to Page Creator had been approved. My initial disappointment that Opera was not supported (I haven't tried to force Page Creator to work in Opera by masking its identity) was set aside when I actually began using the service in Firefox. It was extremely easy to move my existing homepage (created in Dreamweaver 8) to Google Page Creator by just copying-and-pasting and doing a little fine-tuning. I think the end result is very nice-looking and usable and fully CSS compliant. The ability to change the template at any time is useful and should make any amateur homepage creator happy. This service is certainly no replacement for software-based web development software such as Dreamweaver but I don't think that it is meant to be. It seems to be geared toward everyday homepage creation for casual users. I am most certainly not a casual user and understand HTML, CSS, and the like very well but I am also not interested in putting a lot of time and effort into maintaining a homepage. So, Google Page Creator is a good solution for me because of its simplicity and ease of use. Plus, like Google Reader, it is portable, allowing me to quickly sign in wherever I am to make changes that can be published to my page at ben.hinc.googlepages.com very easily. I haven't yet decided whether or not I will move my homepage to Google Page Creator permanently but right now it seems likely. I won't uninstall Dreamweaver but it will be nice not to have to start up the program every time I want to make a minor edit.

In Summary...
Google services are good and getting better. I have been happy with my experiences so far and look forward to trying upcoming services as well as testing new features added to the services I currently use. More Opera support would be appreciated, but I expect this will be coming once Opera 9 is final.

Google Page Creator

Ben — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 07:18:00 +0000

Leave it to Google to make creating a homepage amazingly simple. In a matter of a few clicks (and some copying and pasting), I transferred the homepage that I meticulously created in Dreamweaver 8 to Google Page Creator. You can view it at http://ben.hinc.googlepages.com/. The page appears to be fully CSS compliant since turning off the stylesheet in Opera results in a text-only version of the page. Small-screen rendering works well, too, which means the page will look nice in Opera Mini. The only glaring problem is that the Page Creator application itself only works in Firefox and IE. Will I move the homepage to Google? I'm thinking about it.... But for now, all changes to the original "Home on the Web" will be mirrored on the Google version.

2006 Chicago Auto Show

Ben — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 21:32:00 +0000

Due to "popular" demand, I have posted pics from our trip to the 2006 Chicago Auto Show on the homepage. Go there or click here to go directly to the gallery. I highly recommend visiting the page, though, as there are a lot of galleries there!

24 - 13 = 11

Ben — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 04:01:00 +0000

For those of you mathematically un-inclined, my equation is Total Hours of 24 - Aired Hours of 24 = Remaining Hours of 24. Yes, I know. It is always a sad state of affairs when a season of 24 is more than half way over. Even so, once again, Monday night's episode rocked. I have been privileged enough to watch the last few episodes with fellow 24 uber geeks so it has been even more fun than usual. What's the deal with Tony? He can't die too ... right? I guess we'll all have to watch and find out.

In other news, took the Mazda in to the dealer today for the mandatory recall regarding the intake manifold shutter valve. I'm not exactly sure what that is or what it does, but what I do know is that it starts better, runs better, and seems to be using less gas than before whatever they replaced was replaced. They also let me know (very kindly, I might add) that my 15,000 mile service is quickly approaching. Just the usual stuff: new air and fuel filters and a tire rotation. I may have them do an alignment as well - seems to be pulling a little to the right. All in good time.

New Pearl Jam doing well

Ben — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 07:07:00 +0000

Seems like the new single, "World Wide Suicide," is doing quite well. According to a news item on Pearl Jam's official website, the track is currently ranked #1 on three Chicago radio stations: WKQX (Q101), WLUP (The Loop), and WXRT. It is also ranked fairly in the Modern Rock charts (see this article for more info from Billboard). One interesting factoid was that this is PJ's 31st appearance on the modern rock chart, second only to U2's 33 appearances.

Keyboards, Mice, Screensavers: Who knew they were related?

Ben — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 05:11:00 +0000

My screensaver recently stopped working. This has happened before. Usually I just go in to the display properties dialog and change the delay time, hit apply, and voila. Not this time. And what was even stranger was that not only was the screen saver not working but power management seemed to be not functioning as well. After several reboots and "re-applications" of both the screensaver and power management dialogs, I came to the inevitable conclusion: it was time to go to Google and start searching. My initial search of "reset screensaver windows xp" yielded no useful results, so I changed it to "screensaver windows xp not working." This worked a little better, but often times with these technical issues it is better to search Google groups rather than using the general Google search. So...off to the groups I went. I went through a couple of pages of results, clicking on a few, but none were satisfactory. Finally I got to a post that really piqued my interest: someone's screensaver was not working and they had must installed a Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 6000. Looking down, I noticed that my mouse was a Wireless Laser Mouse 6000.

It seemed that my shiny new Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 keyboard/mouse combo could be the answer to - or rather the cause of - my problem. Apparently something in the new wireless products from Microsoft (not sure if it is the keyboard/mouse itself or the IntelliType/IntelliPoint) conflict with certain components that load automatically on Windows XP SP2 Media Center Edition 2005 systems, specifically ehtray.exe and DVDLauncher.exe, part of PowerDVD. Disabling these two apps from the process manager (and removing them from the startup routine using msconfig) seems to have reinstated my screensaver to its former glory.

Seems like a lot to up with just for a new keyboard and mouse. But trust me, the laser mouse is worth it. It's like buttah!

Straw Poll - McCain still the front runner?

Ben — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 04:30:00 +0000

The SRLC is over and Bill Frist came out with a commanding lead in their straw poll. This was expected since Frist is from Tennessee and that's where the conference was. The front runner, McCain, took a unique approach and asked his supporters to vote for George W. Bush instead of him as a show of support for the consistently embattled president. So while First took the first spot which was no surprise, it was a surprise that Gov. Romney of Massachusetts took second place with 14%. McCain finished with 5% however Bush ended up with 10%. If 2/3 of McCain's supporters wrote down Bush as requested and the other 1/3 voted for McCain, it would seem to me that McCain actually came in second place with 15% of the vote. However, this was not the headline and Romney ended up with the lion's share of the publicity. Was McCain's stunt beneficial? Time will tell, but he is still the front runner in my book.

Categories Are Here

Ben — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 23:12:00 +0000

Ask and you shall receive, at least in this case. After sending an e-mail to the creator of labelr, I was quickly invited to join his "beta test." Thank you!!! This product is great - it does everything I need it to do - and it even has a slick Google-inspired interface. Very nice. I hope all of my readers enjoy the new categorization features. Go ahead, check them out and let me know if you encounter any bugs.

TV: Best 24 Quote Ever

Ben — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 04:35:00 +0000

Well, at least from the first two episodes of "Day 5."

Jack to Derek:
"Let's get something straight, kid. The only reason you're still conscious is because I don't want to carry you. Now get in the van."

Pure Jack all the way. Why is he so cool?

TV: Best O.C. Quote Ever

Ben — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 04:02:00 +0000

Maybe not the best, but I thought it was funny.

Ryan to Seth:
"Are you high?"

Seth the pothead...who would've predicted that one?

In other news, I was completely disappointed by this week's episode of Lost. Absolutely nothing happened. Charlie going crazy, babies being baptized, who cares? I was waiting for some action, some suspense. I was let down.

At least 24 is keeping me entertained.

Politics: Big Night

Ben — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 23:54:00 +0000

Because I'm a big huge nerd, the night of the State of the Union address is always a big night for me and not just because it's W making the speech. It could be any president - Democrat or Republican - and I would be just as interested. Because it is not just the president himself that is on display tonight but the institution of the presidency.

As an added bonus, we welcome Sam Alito to the Supreme Court today. All this talk of "20 years of progress" being undone is crap. Some people (Ted Kennedy, anyone?) define progress in strange ways.

Hopefully I'll have more to say after the speech. We'll see if I remember.