Cerberus Starraiser

There’s an App For That

Well, I have my Motorola Droid, and for the most part, I love it. I have a few gripes about it, but I’ll go into detail about that in my secondary review to be posted on GearLive.com.

What I’m really psyched about is this app I found called WPtoGo. It allows you to post to WordPress blogs like this one. I can view and edit older posts, view and review comments, and it even has some basic formatting tools.

So maybe I can post just a little more often on the personal blog, eh? We’ll see. Maybe write some more of my idle thoughts. I’ve worked very hard to tone the emo down, and it has become easier as I work through my divorce and find out who I really am. I believe I’ve made some great strides. I am a much different person than the man who struggled with self-hate and loathing, blaming himself for his cheating wife, unable to truly put the blame where it truly lied and wash his hands of it.

I lost a lot of friends along the way: those who hate me for who I was, and those who drop my various social network friendships for being tired of hearing my depressed rants and avoid me in person. It is unlikely I’ll get either group of people back, but in the end, I can only rely on myself.

So, we’ll see.

Synchronizing OneNote 2007 with Office Live

Excited that I finally figured this out, here is a step-by-step how-to that will enable you to put your OneNote notebook online with Office Live, allowing for Live sync and sharing amongst multiple computers.

DISCLAIMER:  At this time, Office Live Small Business gives free webspace in the amount of 50 MB.  If your books are smaller than this, then you will be fine.  If you choose to upgrade your server space, you can do so by purchasing additional space.  $4.95 a month plus taxes gets you 1GB of space.

If you are only using Windows Vista or 7 machines, you will NOT want to use this method because there are free WebDAV providers out there that OneNote will be compatible with.  Only use this method if you are looking for a free or cheap way to sync with multiple computers that include Windows XP computers.

If you want me to explain how I set up my personal Vista machine to sync via WebDAV with a public provider, let me know.

Let’s get started.

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Soundproofing?

I knew that my company was upgrading some of the recording equipment we had.  I teach webconferences online, I record classes for our clients, and our company records helpful clips for our customers.  I wasn’t sure what to think when I walked into the “recording room” this morning.  I sure laughed, though.

As ghetto as it looks… it works, and it was a marked improvement over our previous equipment.  I record because I have a strong voice, and I’ve always wanted to podcast and stuff, but I never really got the chance to.  Besides, I’d much rather write. 

(I still giggle when I see this stuff though.)

A Bill of Assertive Rights

Taken from When I Say No, I Feel Guilty by Manuel J. Smith, Ph.D.

1. I have the right to judge my own behavior, thoughts, and emotions, and to take the responsibility for their initiation and consequences upon myself.
2. I have the right to offer no reasons or excuses for justifying my behavior.
3. I have the right to judge if I am responsible for finding solutions to other people’s problems.
4. I have the right to change my mind.
5. I have the right to make mistakes—and be responsible for them.
6. I have the right to say, “I don’t know.”
7. I have the right to be independent of the goodwill of others before coping with them.
8. I have the right to be illogical in making decisions.
9. I have the right to say, “I don’t understand.”
10. I have the right to say, “I don’t care.”

I have the right to say no, without feeling guilty.

Stunted Growth

WARNING:  There are spoilers concerning the DLC for Lost Odyssey and of Final Fantasy IV in here.  Read at your own risk.

I *love* gamerscore.  I want more.  I play and play on my Xbox to increase that score, and eventually, as I see more and more people with a lower score than my own, I feel just awesome.

I also love RPGs.  I get into the stories and emotions of the characters.  I enjoy immersing myself into a world that is not my own, and living the lives of these people.  That is why I play these games.  I am not the kind of RPG gamer who plays a game to get every single item in the game, or to say they’ve done everything they can possibly do (“Completionists”).  Sometimes, running around for hours and hours and hours to level up to defeat an optional boss or monster that has NO direct bearing on how the story will end for a single item that will probably over throw the balance of the game anyways (Read: Economizers) just doesn’t seem WORTH it.

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Save or Die Radio

Branching out, folks!  In addition to my random musings here, my big D&D Dungeon Mastering articles on Alt.Universes, the shenanigans that occur on We’ve Been Framed, and the non-stop action of SPHERIC, I now add a new project to the mix: writing for the staff of Save or Die Radio!

SoDr is a podcast/blog that focuses on the topic of tabletop gaming.  They study and discuss the world of tabletop gaming, from figurines and cards to roleplay and character sheets.  They are great taking feedback from their listeners, and have recently started adding a few columnists, of which I am one.

I intend to have the material I publish at SoDr to be different than the material I publish at Alt.Universes.  At Alt.Universes, I publish articles that I do a lot of research on, staying objective to try and be a resource for Dungeon Masters who may run upon the information I have to share from my experience.

At SoDr, I intend to put up content that is a lot lighter in nature, funny stories, and an upcoming article on why you people out there need to quitcherbitchin about 4th Edition.  And whatever else I might want to complain about!

So, if you’re a tabletop player like me, please go over and subscribe to their podcast!  I will personally thank you later. 

Seriously.

I will.

…Quit staring at me like that.

Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption

FINAL FANTASY IV ALBUM BY OVERCLOCKED REMIX: http://ff4.ocremix.org

The OC Remix community has done it again.  In a new project, spanning 14 months from inception to release, designed to honor the great Nobuo Uematsu and his soundtrack from Final Fantasy IV, the wonderful artists who contribute to OverClocked Remix for our listening pleasure have captured the heart and memory of a grand tale of, as they put it, betrayal, strife, and redemption.

I enjoyed nearly every track on this album.  Now, I am not completely geeked out when it comes to video game music, but as with each of OC Remix’s albums in the past, I find that while every song is a wonderful capture and tribute of the feeling and emotion of the original, blended with the spirit and style of the idea the artist wanted to convey, I usually want to add only a few to my mp3 player to listen to over and over again.

In what is a record for me, there are 10 tracks from Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption that I felt I had to add to listen to every day.  Let me put my thoughts down on these.

(Just because I didn’t put a track here doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it, I loved just about every track, and I had a love-hate relationship with the rap song [name purposefully left unmentioned], but these are the ones that made me go “OOH, I want to listen to that every day!”)

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This is a test post using Microsoft Word 2007

I’m deciding whether or not I want to continue using Windows Live Writer (which allows me to view posts in the style I create them in) or Word 2007, which is integrated into the program and provides a much richer blogging “experience.” We’ll see about that.

Dream Chronicle VII

It’s been a while since I’ve slept soundly enough to remember a dream I had.  At least, ones that I can post on here

Last night, I had limited sleep, but it was good sleep.  This dream involved myself, my roommate Ken, and his 7-year-old son, Gabe.  It was probably also influenced by the several hours of Gears of War play that occurred before I went to bed.  And an interesting reference to Tales of the Abyss.

“He’s in there,” Ken said.  He pointed at the decrepit building, guarded by a number of rough-looking men, armed with all manners of pipes, wooden staves, and brass knuckles.

From my vantage point behind a roadblock down the street, I hefted my staff.  Two entrances, one on the same street as us, and one around the corner, both crowded with thugs, gave us our only hope of entry.

 

“Ken, just the two of us can’t hope to take all of them.”  I shook my head.  “We need to get help.”

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Don’t Trust Me – 3OH!3

God, I love this song.  It’s just perfect.

Black dress with the tights underneath,
I got the breath of the last cigarette on my teeth,
And she’s an actress (actress),
But she ain’t got no need.
She’s got money from her parents in a trust fund back east.

T-t-t-tongues always pressed to your cheeks,
While my tongue is on the inside of some other girls teeth,
T-tell your boyfriend if he says he’s got beef,
That I’m a vegetarian and I ain’t fucking scared of him.

She wants to touch me (Woah),
She wants to love me (Woah),
She’ll never leave me (Woah, woah, oh, oh),
Don’t trust a ho,
Never trust a ho,
Won’t trust a ho,
’Cause the ho won’t trust me.

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My Wedding Ring

This is a piece I wrote over a year ago.  I found it, and realized it is not posted publicly.  So, here it is, just as I wrote it back then.

When I was growing up, I was subjected to the usually comical routine of the Wedding Ring Dropped Down the Drain. The ring would be dropped or put or misplaced somewhere ridiculously difficult to get to, and the rest of the show/episode/story would play out the mishappenings of whoever was supposed to retrieve it, usually before Significant Other found out it was lost.

I was never understanding of why the wedding ring was a big deal. Then I learned how much they can cost… and “realized” that losing a wedding ring was the equivalent of accidentally dropping thousands of dollars into the sewer, never to be seen again. And that, to me, was the justification for said attempts at retrieval of said item.

I had been thinking recently, looking at the wedding ring on my left hand, thinking of my wife, gone thousands of miles away. I find it interesting to note that until now, I never ever considered the emotional attachment of a wedding ring.

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Affixa: Integrate Windows With Webmail

–Notably Good Ltd

Email for the common user is increasingly web-based.  Gone are the days where a mail ISP just dropped your mail in a box somewhere, and the preferred (only?) method of doing anything nice with it was to have a client installed on your machine.  Gone are the days where web-based email was a horrible thing to have to navigate, used only in the emergency where you had no choice but to check it online.

But, Windows has yet to truly acknowledge this.  Send To | Mail Recipient is limited to the client you have installed on your computer.  Every one of us has done it: right click a file, choose Send To | Mail Recipient, and then moan in displeasure as some client we never use (read: Outlook Express) would pop up and declare that you need to set up your account!

This has been driving me crazy.  I use Google Apps for my email, and I was trying to find some solution around this.  There are some odd registry hacks out there that can jimmy-rig it for sending emails and handling some mailto links, but then you run into the problem of sending attachments (read: having to do it manually).  I found relief in the form of Affixa.

Relief, at least, for Gmail and Yahoo! Mail users.  As Affixa’s website puts it: “It’s 2009, and email is web-based.  So why is Windows still partying like it’s 1999?” Read the rest of this entry »

The Adventures of Edwin and Daniel, Vol. 4: And When All Was Done, Left 4 Dead Was Played

My weekend was a lot of fun.  I went over to Edwin’s house on Friday night, and he watched the Battlestar Galactica finale with friends (Andrew, Deanna, Kervin, and some other guy who I only see hanging with Deanna.  I forget his name.)  while I worked on the We’ve Been Framed comics, adding our website to all of the images and cleaning them up a bit.  I kept talking at the wrong points though, so I felt bad as Deanna kept shushing me all night.  I eventually gave up and shut up for an hour   After the finale, there was much debate over the whole “They said they were gonna answer ALL the questions!” topic.  Then everyone cleared out, except for me and Kervin (who were spending the night), and we stayed up all night long playing Guitar Hero.

And there was much Left 4 Dead played.

Saturday we got up and went to the Amish smorgasbord, Shady Maple, in Lancaster.  This is like, my favorite place for breakfast, ever.  Usually, if there is any doubt on whether I can come out to Edwin’s place on the weekend, he usually just says “Shady Maple” and I’m always like “I’m there.”  The place is gynormus, and they have a whole lot more there than the smorgasbord, though that’s the only reason why I go.  Gift shops and a farmer’s market, and the such.  Standard Amish faire.  I always get the handmade Eggs Benedict, and then whatever else I feel like.  They have the best made-to-order pancakes, which I didn’t get this time, but they’re the best.  I did take part of Edwin’s sweet potato pancake though.  MMMMMM.

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New Comic on Office Offline

Office Offline is an Microsoft Developer blog belonging to David Salaguinto.  Being that my company’s main focus is supporting Microsoft software, reading his comics that humorously point out situations surrounding their software, sometimes even poking a small bit of fun at them, are a great past time for us.

Recently I had a great idea for a comic, but one that really would not fit online at the other site I post comics on (We’ve Been Framed).  Then, as I was browsing Office Offline, which I do all the time, I remembered that David accepted submissions.  I chalked it up, sent it in, and voila!  He accepted, then, COMIC.

Check out his site:  Office Offline.

Direct Link to my comic:  Click here. 

Have I Not Changed Since High School?

Through sheer coincidence, I received an email (completely on accident, intended for another Dan) from a friend’s mother I have not seen since I was 14 or 15.  Have not talked to her since then at all, and my friend hasn’t had a lot of positive contact since then either.  But through a couple innocent exchanges, she sent an email that completely rocked my world and made me think. was it all my fault?  Do I not know how to choose them?  Am I wrong to look for a stable, loyal relationship?

Take a look, and give me your thoughts. 

Let me set the context.

Her:

You sound like you are doing ok.  I know things were a little whacky for you growing up, I guess for everyone in one way or another.

Me:

Thank you, things are doing okay, for the most part.  I am getting over a nasty breakup and divorce that I’m still processing through, but other than that, I have good friends and a great job in as a consultant and instructor for a tech firm.  I live and work in Philadelphia.

Her:

A divorce??? You are so young!  I didn’t even know you were married.  I remember you used to plan marriage very early but something always went wrong with the girls as I recall.  That’s really too bad.  You seemed to me like someone who just wanted to have a family.  You have a lot of years ahead of you to find the right woman. 

Me:

Yeah, that’s exactly what happened, just to a more adult end than it did in high school.  I guess I really have not changed much.

Then, that prompted this response, which, I’m not even sure how to respond to, it’s caused a lot of thinking.  It was uncanny, how she found this much insight into my situation based on what she knew of me when I visited my friend at her house one summer back in high school.  Notice the part I underlined, i thought it interesting to point that part out.

Her:

Dan, it’s NONE of my business, but have you ever thought about how MAYBE the desire to have a happy family of your own might be coming from some unresolved stuff from your own family that you grew up in, and that you might be attracted to, or attracting, the wrong sorts of girls?  Maybe, in order to have a better outcome, instead of looking for another girl, you might want to look at your life and yourself… not necessarily in therapy unless you are into that, but just self examination for example.  maybe think about what felt good and what felt bad in your family, try to see if you are doing any of the less than positive things in your own life that happened in your family home, just look at the whole thing.  Ask yourself did those girls have anything in common, ie do you have a type you are attracted to?  What did you like about them, what did you dislike?  I bet they all cheated, I get the feeling that at the least they all let you down in some way.  Maybe they are lacking loyalty, dedication, maturity???  Maybe you might be moving fast and might be intense for girls of such an age?  If you really want to get married for good reasons, and that’s who you are, have you considered looking in churches etc for girls who were raised to believe that after high school they should look to settle down and become wives, not necessarily go out and be free and run around, or even go to college?  These days, girls more and more are taught that they don’t have to depend on men and get married, that they can take care of themselves and not get married, they can go have fun like men have fun.  The statistics for females cheating is rivaling male cheating now.  I’m not saying that I’m for or against early marriage and any one type of mindset, but I was wondering how you might wind up finding someone that it would work with and be happy.  of course, you could put the whole serious relationship thing on the back burner yourself and realize you are really very young and you do have so much time.  A lot of men don’t even think of marriage these days until they are in their late 30’s, early 40’s, then they marry a woman young enough to still give birth without difficulty which is the way it was done a couple of centuries ago right up to the 1950’s!  It’s just some thoughts.  I always hated to see/ hear that you were heart broken, again.  You struck me as a good kid.