So to start out, let me say that the reason the process took so long is because I’ve spent a lot of time waiting for items to go on sale. By doing so, I have saved over $175 on the original price as specified by rebates and coupons. Sometimes I managed to combine coupons or “check out codes” with rebates for significant savings. Any savings leave room for upgrades and improvements without a lot of loss to the original budget. Budgeting your computer build is just as important to sticking to it.

In the list below I’ll show you the computer part, make and model, original price (at the time of purchase, including shipping), sale price after any coupons or discounts (also including any shipping), any rebates available, and savings. I’ll also put a link to the online storefront of my place of purchase on the make and model of the computer part, so you can read the details of each part and view the item itself.

• Case – Thermaltake V9 Black – Original Price $138.98 – Price paid $89.99 (-additional $20 Rebate) – Savings of $68.99
• Motherboard – Asus Sabertooth X58 – Original Price $199.99 – Price paid $179.99 – Savings of $20
• CPU Cooler – Corsair H70 – Original Price $109.99 – Price paid $96.29 – Savings of $13.70
• Hard Drive – Western Digital VelociRaptor 600GB 10000RPM – Original Price $279.99 – Price paid $249.99 – Savings of $30
• Video Cards – Zotac GTX 460 1GB – Original Price $407.72 – Price paid $387.73 (-additional $40 Rebate) – Savings of $60
• Power Supply – Corsair AX850 850w Certified Gold – Original Price $211.29 – Price paid $191.29 (-additional $10 Rebate) – Savings of $30
• RAM – Corsair XMS 12GB (3x4GB) DDR3 2000 – Price paid $314.24
• CPU – Intel i7 950 3.06Ghz Quad-Core with HyperThreading – Original Price $294.99 – Price paid $243.79 – Savings of $51.20

Total savings came in at $273.89 after rebates (I’m still waiting on Zotac and Corsair to send me theirs). It’s worth noting that Corsair and Thermaltake send rebate debit cards, a move in the rebate field I’m not terribly fond of. Zotac, I think, sends a check.

I’ll delve into my individual notes for each of the parts now, with particular care as to why I chose an item. You’ll find that price (with comparable features), and length of warranty play a very large role in my choice of parts. I’m also a very brand-loyal customer. A lot of these manufacturers have a lot of credibility with me and I tend to not stray from a brand that’s done me right in the past.

First things first in building a computer is to choose a CPU platform, and CPU series. I knew I wanted to go Intel this time from a longevity point of view. I have had AMD since I started building and the platform just didn’t seem to last as long as the Intel platforms some of my friends have kept. Therefore, my platform and series was going to be the Intel i7. At first I was watching the 980X with hopes that it would come down in price pretty drastically over time, however the 6-core just wasn’t budging from the nearly $1k price tag. Then I shifted my focus to the easily overclockable i7 920, a lot of power could be squeezed out of that 4-core wonder. I started comparing prices and looking at the i7 950 after reading some forums and noticing it was showing up as a “well what about this?” question. The higher core multiplier made it a better choice for me being a newbie at overclocking, and after seeing it priced WAAY below market at MicroCenter (local pickup only) I chose that route. I’ve managed to keep it at a stable overclock of 4.03Ghz! More to come on the overclocking process in a later post.

On the case, my choice was pretty much the fact that I’m brand-loyal to Thermaltake. However, I knew I didn’t want any side-windows or doors on this case. I also wanted large fans (greater than 120mm). My last cases were windowed and doored and I’m totally over that. The nearly 50% off in discounts and rebates lead me to the Thermaltake V9 Black. Overall I’m pleased with it, but some of the “quick-install” parts were pretty shabby and I ended up removing them altogether. I also had to remove the large 230mm fan from the side panel to make room for the H70. I would like to note that Thermaltake warrants 3-years on their cases from the date of purchase.

In choosing the motherboard I was eying the Rampage III X58 boards from Asus for awhile, with closer attention paid to the Rampage III Gene and Rampage III Formula. At some point in my periodic checks for reduced prices I saw an advertisement for the “newly available Sabertooth X58″. Asus has a 5-year warranty on the Sabertooth X58 board, due to it being part of the “TUF Series”, with comparable features to the Rampage III boards and lower price this was a board I had to do a double-take on. I’m glad I got it. My only qualms are with the fact that the PCI-e x16 slots are very close together, and cause my top video card to be starved for air. This could become a problem in high-demand video processing situations.

Next up was the choice of Video Cards. I knew I wanted something relatively powerful, but in sticking to my policy of not paying much more than $200 per video card ($400 for SLI) the options I was left with were limited. Thankfully some articles solidified my price point as valid, and I found that nVidia’s GTX 460s were turning heads in the terms of price-per-performance as well as overclockability. See this article for how a GTX 460 SLI setup can take on a Radeon 5970 head to head. The results are astounding considering the prices of a Radeon 5970. I had recently advised of purchasing an ION platform for my parents and for that we went with Zotac products. I had also been running my own ION platform pretty hard until building this machine and it was also a Zotac product. The Zotac GTX 460 1GB was reviewed on a few different occasions and heat and noise were the concerns most reviewers had. Seeing that Zotac puts a lifetime warranty on their cards (if you register within 30 days of purchase) and the rebates and discounts at Newegg for the cards I figured this was a winner. I must say, I am blown away at the performance of these cards. I’ve got them overclocked to the Zotac GTX 460 AMP! levels with ease. Cooling is a concern, but I listed that up with the motherboard notes.

For me, choosing a CPU cooler is an exercise in patience, understanding, and a lot of reading. I began to pay careful attention to what overclockers were using as their cooling for the i7 series when I was looking for a CPU. There were a few that were using traditional heatsink + fan air cooling, but most were using some form of water cooling. I wasn’t very confident in my abilities to drop lots of money on something I’m new at, so when I saw the all-inclusive water-cooled loop of Corsair’s H50 and H70 I was intrigued. After reading the Corsair H70 reviews on HardOCP I was pretty much sold. Here’s one comparing the H50 to the H70 and here’s one more focused on the H70 with a couple other premium coolers as comparisons.

Quality of power is a major concern when you start overclocking, and for the longest time this was a part I felt I could skimp on. It wasn’t until my last computer that I put a bit more effort into finding a high quality power supply and after doing so I was pleased with the noticable lack of “blue-screening” I ran into. This round was going to be no different. Leaps and bounds had been put into the power supply industry since 5 years ago and efficiency has, thankfully, become a driving point in creating a quality power supply. After estimating my power consumption based on Video Cards, CPU, and estimated Motherboard/Chipset, I had determined that my minimum power requirement was going to be 750 watts. After browsing Newegg I had come up with a few options. After reading reviews of the 80 Plus Gold Certified 750w power supplies I was able to find that my goal was the Seasonic X750. I kept a close eye on it, and was ready to offer a HardOCP forum member $100 for the one he was trying to sell. By the time my message got to him his sales offer was already expired and he recommended I take a look at the Corsair AX850. After a bit of research, I added it to my watch list as the prices were close to the Seasonic X750, and the AX850 is actually a Seasonic in Corsair clothing. Sure enough, before I was able to settle into the idea Newegg had a Power Supply sale. I ended up buying the AX850 with the sale as much as I would have paid for the X750 without – and had extra headroom for the overclocking I was planning to do.

RAM was an internal debate for the longest time with me. I watched the Corsair Dominator PC1600 6GB kit (3x2GB), and thought about buying two of them. I watched a similar kit that was 12GB for 6x3GB modules at PC1600. I looked at my motherboard’s Qualified Vendor List, and picked a 6GB set out of that. I even looked at Finally I just looked for a $300 price point kit with seemingly easy overclockability and I found my 12GB PC2000 kit. It would give me more certified headroom for my CPU overclocking and that’s why I chose it. I never looked at other brands because I’ve been Corsair loyal for over 8 years regarding RAM. The lifetime limited warranty was a fine selling point in the past, and never having to take them up on it was a selling point here in the present and hopefully will continue to be in the future.

Choosing my Hard Drive was easy. I knew I wanted a VelociRaptor. Western Digital is the only brand that makes 10000 RPM consumer targeted hard drives, and the 600GB was at a price I was willing to pay. I may even add another in the future, but that will be after an SSD purchase to eliminate boot times and program loads. I use the 600GB VelociRaptor as my Games and Storage drive (and as a way to verify my SATA3 6Gbps link).

Well, there you have it folks. A long and dirty rundown of my parts and choices. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for an update that will give you a bit of insight as to my overclocking process and results.

These malty sweet offerings tend to be a favorite winter seasonal. Big malt presence, both in flavor and body. The color ranges from brownish reds to nearly pitch black. Hop bitterness is generally low, leveled and balanced, but hop character can be pronounced. Alcohol warmth is not uncommon.

Many English versions contain no spices, though some brewers of spiced winter seasonal ales will slap “Winter Warmer” on the label. Those that are spiced, tend to follow the “wassail” tradition of blending robust ales with mixed spices, before hops became the chief “spice” in beer. American varieties many have a larger presences of hops both in bitterness and flavor.

Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 5.5-8.0%

When I started exploring and enjoying beer, one of the first big “hits” with me was a winter warmer style ale. The Moonraker Ale, by J.W. Lees & Co., introduced me to malts like I had never tasted before, and a smooth mouthfeel like I hadn’t ever experienced before. Though I’d have to go back and give it another go almost two years later, I’ve always been a huge fan of Porters, Stouts, and Winter Warmers.

So, lets see how Rob did this time!

Drinking Notes

Appearance: Mocha brown body topped by a caramel head that dissipates fairly quickly.

Smell: Very malty chocolates, toasted notes, and alcohol are detected.

Taste: I initially pulled out some peppery spices, with some lightly chocolated biscuity malts, and very mild hop character, with that alcohol warming. I felt like the chocolates and sweet cream was skimped on the taste because it was all in the scent. Room for improvement, but definitely on the right track.

Mouthfeel: Light body. clean finish. Slight coffee noted on a burp. Unfortunately I was hoping for a silky creamy thickness on the palate of this brew. This ends up being the only real disappointing character of the beer.

Drinkability: It seems to carry the warming effect of the style very well, and though it comes slightly shy on some of the flavor and palate, it is a very drinkable brew. Cheers!

The Marks

Appearance: 4.0 (20%)

Smell: 4.0 (20%)

Taste: 3.5 (40%)

Mouthfeel: 2.5 (10%)

Drinkability: 4.5 (10%)

OVERALL = 3.7 (Solid B)

1. 64-bit Operating System, DirectX 10/11

   Yeah, it was available in Windows XP – and it SUCKED. Yeah, it was also available in Vista – but it was the first of its kind and carried the burden of being Vista. There is a very smooth implementation of 64-bit in Windows 7, my programs seem to be a bit more responsive from the get-go and I’m able to switch tasks a lot quicker even when my taskbar is LOADED with running programs. Also the move to an operating system that now supports the DirectX 10 cards I’ve had for a couple years (and DirectX 11 cards I can upgrade to) is an instant value-add.

2. Live Taskbar Previews

   They kinda had this working in the Vista Business version I have running on one of my computers at the house, but it seemed like it was more of a freeze-frame shot of what was happening in the window. With Windows 7, so far, everything is LIVE. I like being able to mouse-over the windows explorer taskbar item and see how my data copy/restore is coming along while using StumbleUpon in Firefox, and listening to Pandora Radio in an IE8 window.

3. “Snap” Windows, and Aero Shake (or the Magic Eraser)

   A feature that I’ve used A LOT while restoring backups from various locations to other various locations. Drag a windows explorer window to the side of the screen and it “snaps” to take up half of the desktop. Open a second window and “snap” it to the other side of the desktop. Then I just drag folders across to the other. I don’t have to open both windows and right click one of them and “arrange vertically” anymore. Nor do I have to hope that I didn’t have another window hiding behind one of them. You can also “snap” a window to maximize it, but I don’t find it anymore useful than clicking the maximize button. There’s also a feature that you can use a window to “steal the show” as I’ll call it. If you shake the window (while it isn’t maximized) like a magic eraser, it will minimize all windows behind it leaving it alone on top of the desktop. To return everything the way it was before the magic eraser, just repeat the motion.

4. “Libraries”

   This is going to get a lot of use out of me. I noticed this feature when I started copying “My Pictures” to the documents folder. Windows 7 knew what that folder was traditionally used for and it decided to drop it into one of the default Picture library folders. Had I not wanted Windows 7 to do this, I could have copied the folder to my big partition and added the directory to the Pictures Library. This feature works exactly like the iTunes “watch folders” for you iTunes users. Another way to look at this for any System Admins out there is that this is like adding more aliases to a virtual directory. For me, it allows my file structure disorganization to be in a central location. By default Windows has a Documents, Pictures, Music, and Videos Library set up. I haven’t gotten to the point of seeing if I can create my own Libraries yet, but I’m loving the possibilities this leaves for me.

5. Gadgets

   I know you’ve seen these in Vista too.. but they were on that annoying, dreadful Sidebar. They’ve removed the idea of the sidebar as a dock for gadgets, and instead let them float free on the desktop. I only wish they copied MacOSX’s “widgets” a little closer, I don’t like that the gadgets are always on or always off – I like the “on demand” way Apple puts them in their OS. Currently, I’m running a Calendar, Weather, Oil Price, and various system stats widgets.

6. Search

   Call it a Spotlight ripoff, or a Quicksilver knock-off, but it’s something we have in Windows too now. This is something Vista has (and is notably my favorite feature of Vista), and it would have been stupid for Microsoft to not bring it to Windows 7. They’ve improved it in Windows 7 to include the ability to search libraries, external hard drives, and even Networked PCs. I use it as my “Run…” box more often than anything.

7. Taskbar

   I mentioned Live Preview earlier, but Pin and Jump Lists take the taskbar a bit further. The “Pin” feature makes the traditional Windows Taskbar operate a lot more like the MacOSX “Dock”, something people have been faking with external applications for awhile now (search for ObjectDock by Stardock for an example of one such program). You can pin a running item by right clicking it on the Taskbar and selecting the “Pin To” option, or if it isn’t running by right-clicking the link in the Start Menu and doing the same. On top of the “Pin” feature, the pinned item also has “Jump Lists” or a menu that works very similar to the Recent Documents of Windows XP with a mix of the old Alt+Tab functionality.  Jump Lists are also available via the Start Menu in any programs that show up there.

Other Things I’m Looking Forward To

• I’m looking forward to playing with a network priority feature I came across yesterday (and it was apparently available in Vista). Simply put, I have set my Wireless card to allow my wired connection priority. It’s probably a lot more useful for a Laptop or Netbook user.
• I’m really looking forward to trying out the new concept of a “HomeGroup”. It seems to take on the idea that network sharing should be simple – as it should be for the typical user. Microsoft seems to be getting back in touch with the average user.
• There is another feature that I might take advantage of on newer computer hardware (more and faster RAM, Faster Processor, better GPUs) and that’s the built-in Windows XP virtualization. I think that it makes the move almost a no-brainer for those tied to some programs that won’t run in Vista/Win7.

I’m sure I’ll have more to speak on what I’ve loved about Windows 7 in my article explaining the workarounds for the upgrade bug, but to those of you out there already on Windows 7 with me what are your thoughts so far?

Disclaimer: I do not claim any ownership of Microsoft or Apple products, graphics, icons, or publications mentioned in this article. All such productions are credited to their respective owners.

From BeerAdvocate: “The Bitter style came from brewers who wanted to differentiate these ales from other mild brews, enter pale malts and more hops. Most are gold to copper in colour and are light bodied. Low carbonation. Alcohol should be low and not perceived. Hop bitterness is moderate to assertive. Most have a fruitiness in the aroma and flavor, diacetyl can also be present. These are traditionally served cask conditioned, but many breweries have bottled versions.”

I don’t think he has a name for it yet, but that doesn’t matter… Lets just cut to the chase, shall we?

The Review (Drinking Notes)

Appearance (20%) – A steady rush of carb bubbles allowing a consistent 1-finger off-white head to top a cloudy copper body. If this were filtered it would probably receive the best marks for appearance I’ve given in awhile.

Smell (20%) – Noticable sweet fruity hops on the pour smells like a pear or a mild apple, the pale malts and some roasted notes are picked up on a closer sniff.

Taste (40%) – A quick striking citrusy character hides quickly behind the toasty buttery mid. A delicious wooded fruity flavor finishes it out.

Mouthfeel (10%) – The buttery toasted flavors tend to stick to the palate, rather than the pale malts or bitter hops. It burps as a light wood. Reminds me of Autumn when the leaves are changing and you can taste the sweet dryness in the air, before it gets too cold.

Drinkability (10%) – Very enjoyable, and probably the best brew yet to come out of StubbornMan’s home brewery. It had a lot of character, nice flavor variation over the range of 40-50 degrees in temperature. If he had to repeat it, I’d probably recommend adding a bit more of the citrusy hops to it so that taste lingers a bit longer than the first swish around the mouth.

The Scores

All categories are given a rating on a scale of 0 to 5; where 5 is Excellent, 4 is Good, 3 is Average, 2 is Poor, and 1 is Terrible. Beer is rated based on the style and particular tastes of the reviewer.

Appearance – 4.5/5.0

Smell – 3.5/5.0

Taste – 3.75/5.0

Mouthfeel – 3.5/5.0

Drinkability – 4.5/5

TOTAL = 3.90 (B+)

Appearance (20%) – Poured a molasses color with a frothy milky-cocoa head that diminished slowly, undetectable carbonation through the dark body.

Scent (20%) – Nose gathers chocolate maltiness, woodiness, and slight florals.

Taste (40%) – Dry stout, much like a Guinness with a bit more floral hop character, and less of the cream. Dry-roasted nuts seem to be detectable on a healthy burp.

Mouthfeel (10%) – Medium-light body goes down smooth.

Drinkability (10%) – Very drinkable, it nails the Irish Dry Style with slight variation. An enjoyable session brew.

The Marks

Appearance (20%) = 4.0
Scent (20%) = 3.0
Taste (40%) = 3.5
Mouthfeel (10%) = 4.0
Drinkability (10%) = 4.0
Total = 3.6, B

Things I knew I wanted:

• Exchange Support
• WiFi and/or Mobile Internet that does not suck.
• Decent Camera (the BB8830 doesn’t have a camera)

The only decent mobiles out there that had Exchange Support for email were Windows Mobile 6.1 powered phones. I was also looking to not appear too greedy, so I tried to keep the budget for the new phone under $150. With our provider, the only real option at this point was the Samsung Omnia. I wasn’t upset with that, because it appeared to have fairly good user ratings. I received the phone and was pleased. It connected to Exchange without any trouble, it had an 802.11 radio, and a fantastic camera with more features stock than the iPhone.

Every few weeks I am the On-Call technician for the ISP/hosting company I work for. I’d like to be able to attach my cell phone to my laptop and be able to handle 95% of the work that I would typically be responsible for while on-call, which only requires a stable internet connection for RDP or SSH. I began to look for tethering options and came across WMWifiRouter in my searches. I was a bit skeptical because my wireless network has a reputation for disabling certain “features” that may allow the user to do more than they want to provide, but I gave it a go. Here were the necessary steps to make this work for my phone:

1. Enable Internet Connection Sharing on your windows mobile phone.
2. Restart the phone.
3. Install WMWifiRouter.
4. Restart the phone.
5. Run WMWifiRouter.
6. Connect to the wireless ad-hoc network it creates (see image) from your laptop or other wireless device.

From there, you should be able to browse the internet, download files, run a speed test, and connect to your office VPN to scare the night technician by printing to the network printer.

Appearance (20%) – Espresso colored body with a medium tan head. The head is fairly tight and hints that it may leave some lace behind, though only leaves small gatherings of froth. Carbonation cannot be detected behind the dark body.

Smell (20%) – Pine spirited hops on the first drift, though frothed milk and some light coffee can be detected when it warms.

Taste (40%) – A smooth coffee and cocoa flavor at the start leads to a piney hops finish. Very impressive.

Mouthfeel (10%) – The hops stays behind on the tongue but it’s not a sticky hops presence like in other beers. Coffee and cocoa bitterness is discovered on ructus (when I burp).

Drinkability (10%) – The first presentation of a Stubborn Man beer left some to be desired, this was by far a much better presentation. With some tuning and a bit of experimentation this could be a favorite of mine, definitely a great start. I’m looking forward to more of his dark bodied ales.

The Marks
A – 3.5
S – 3
T – 4.5
M – 4.0
D – 4.0
TOTAL – 3.9 B+

So there you have it, a solid B+. Looking back at all the beers I’ve reviewed, anything I’ve given a ‘B’ or above is well worth another visit. So visit his blog, send him a tweet, or otherwise let him know you’re interested in having one of his stouts.

I’ve found Kevin Smith’s movies fairly enjoyable over the last few years, but it’s usually the person himself that far exceeds the humor of his writings. I enjoyed his open forum discussions “An Evening with Kevin Smith” to be far more amusing than the content of his films. Things that define Kevin Smith are what make his works good. “Clerks”, to me, wasn’t nearly as enjoyable until I understood the adventure it took to become the movie. Jay and Silent Bob is more of a meme, though it played an excellent role in “Dogma” which I finde to be one of his funniest works. Chasing Amy is the best movie he’s ever done, and I was hoping for one as high a quality as it in “Zach and Miri”.

“Zach and Miri” is what you’d get if you mixed the bad humor of “Old School”, the disgustingness of “Superbad”, and just a little bit of the charm of Kevin Smith enough to know he was there, but not enough to be convinced it was his throughout the entire project. It even got the from-the-hip reaction of

…it sucks and you might as well watch porn and get more out of it.

My problem with “Zach and Miri” was that it wasn’t the definition of Kevin Smith that I’ve come to love. Movies like Clerks, Jersey Girl, Dogma, and Chasing Amy define Kevin Smith to me. His most recent movie “Zach and Miri” just doesn’t have the same appeal to it. It seems to be more tuned to the rotten, disgusting, trashy humor that is found in “Superbad”, “Old School”, and all accounts of the “Scary Movies” instead of the perverted yet sensible humor in his own “Clerks”, “Clerks II”, and “Mallrats”.

What I did like about “Zach and Miri” in bulletted form:

• Smith’s somewhat-perverted sense of humor showed face in a few of the scenes (Untrustworthy Boss, the After-Closing Customer, Paintball Hockey)
• The little geeky references that make it into all of Smith’s scripts.
• The actors worked well together, and all of the main characters were cast into roles correctly.
• Even minor roles were given some worthy thought. Specifically, Craig Robinson (Darryl, from “The Office”) and Justin Long.

Smith has good judgment when it comes to casting actors into their characters (or maybe he just has a rock-star casting director). The initial pick to use Star Wars as a plot for the porno was somewhat amusing. The paintball booth at a hockey game scene near the end of the movie was the biggest part that seemed all of Smith’s vision, with the Laxative-related reference coming in close second. I’ll have a question for him regarding both if I ever make it to one of his “Evening with…” sessions.

What I didn’t like about “Zach and Miri” in bulletted form:

• Rotten trashy humor like is found in less experienced and less respected writers/directors.
• Focus more on the raunch and less on the story until it was too late.
• Very amateur-like teen girl storyline went full force for the last 20 minutes.
• The need for Jason Mewes to have a fairly sizable role in this film.
• T&A films are not Kevin Smith.

If Kevin Smith wanted to take notes on a good T&A/porn related film he should have taken a look at “Girl Next Door” which though a very sexual story and filled with items from the adult film industry, was very tastefully produced and included elements for all kinds of mainstream movie-watchers.

I’m keeping a close watch on “Red State” and hoping it will be a good example (though a new genre) of Kevin Smith’s talent. If you’ve seen “Zach and Miri”, what do you think? How does it compare with Smith’s other films?

Mr President from LL Cool J and Boomdizzle on Vimeo.

What do you think? 1st amendment introduces the song, before some questions are asked. Lyrics to follow.

Dear Mr. President with all due respect,
I wish we could have a conversation.
I‘ll take a trip down to your residence,
We can talk about the state of the nation
Mr. President, I would ask you about the war,
Really and truly what is it for?
When an IED makes a soldier fall,
is he dying for something above us all?
Is it all about oil at end of the day?
Is the pledge of allegiance something to say?
I hope not ‘cuz I love The USA
In spite of all drama we have today.
Mr. President are you aware
Our Flesh and blood is dying over there
When the coffins come back, do you care?
When only the poor kids die, is it fair?

If I can talk to the President would he pay attention, really listen?
If talk something intelligent would he be willing to change his position?
Now it’s time time time,
To speak my mind mind mind.

Don’t get me wrong, I respect the flag
But it hurts to see a kid in a body bag
He fought for his country with all he had
Now we have a family without a dad
Lil mama crying and the kids are scared
9/11 why were we unprepared
Mr. President, are you aware:
Unless you’re rich, you have poor health care.
It makes you scream and want to pull out your hair;
Discharged from the hospital soon as you get there.
Mr. President: Truth or dare
Terrorists are hiding, do you know where?
Illegal immigrants are everywhere
Isn’t really their fault they wanted to come here?
I respect you, please be clear
But talk with me, show the people you care

If I can talk to the President, would he pay attention really listen?
If I say something intelligent, would he be willing to change his position?
Now it’s time time time,
To speak my mind mind mind

What am I to do
I’ve been waiting here near you
Tell me something that just makes sense
You sent us off for war
Please be honest what it’s for
Doesn’t matter if it’s life or death
Yeah

I’m not republican or democrat,
I’m independent and I want the facts!
When are the soldiers coming back?
Are we prepared for a terror attack?
Late at night I watch CNN,
It gets so bad I might stop breathing.
Middle East hates us, what’s the reason?
Mr. President, My heart is bleeding.
I tuck my kids in every evening;
Try to teach them to keep believing,
Hoping my government won’t deceive them,
Tellin’em set some goals: you can achieve them.
Mr. President
I have to know if die for you
What will have to show?
Will it really and truly help our country grow?
Waiting for your answer, Let me know!

If I can talk to the President would he pay attention, really listen?
If I say something intelligent would he be willing to change his position?
Now it’s time time time,
To speak my mind mind mind

Now it’s time time time,
To speak my mind mind mind.

Firstly and most importantly, I have my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry 8830 “World Edition” phone. After using a generic LG flip phone for two years, when my contract was up for renewal I had come to the conclusion that I was ready for a smart phone or PDA. Research In Motion had a new, fairly powerful, handheld and what appeared to be the most capable for what I wanted to be able to do; so far it’s done a great job.

So what was I looking for in a new handheld? Firstly, a QWERTY keypad. You don’t understand the want for this until you’ve been using “T9″ or some other predictive text on a standard numeric keypad for two years and have a chance to toy with a friend’s QWERTY keypad. The next thing I looked for was a fast Internet-enabled phone. I was wanting to be able to have the ability to do quick wikipedia, imdb, Google, weather, or various other queries. I also wanted to be able to receive email for my quickly moving DJ business so I could stay on top of bids and questions as they came (quick response is the easiest way to capture clientele). Thirdly, I wanted to have a phone that was supported well and extendable for Google Apps powered domains because everything except the actual website for RockShow DJ is hosted on Google servers (Calendar, Documents, Email). The possibility of travelling outside the country or the possible need for a second phone number made the World Edition a versitle choice. I sacrificed the ability to use it as a camera, but any place I go that I need to take pics I’ve got my work cell with me (hacked Moto Razr V3c), but typically if I’m wanting to take pictures I’ll carry my next gadget with me.

My DSLR is a Nikon D100 I bought used in great condition. I’d been looking for a decent, well-priced camera for a good month before I came across a good deal on ebay for a used D100. As a photography nerd, my only issues with it are totally my fault. I don’t have any good lenses for it (the lens I use is a 35mm-70mm Nikon lens used with my dad’s N8008). However, I have a few on my Amazon wish list I’m looking at that would cover the bases. The features built into the new lenses will make it a lot easier to use on the DSLR, for one the aperture is a pain in the ass on the old lenses and digital compensation doesn’t help it much. A lot of my current photos are either over or under-exposed without any healthy mediums to make it look as good as what the camera is capable of.

Of all the other gadgets I have there’s really only one more that “keeps me going” and I’d say it’s a laptop I’ve got on loan from my girlfriend. Dell released a super small form factor laptop in their Latitude series, model “X1″. I’ve got it dual-booting the latest updates of Ubuntu Hardy Heron and Windows XP SP3. I don’t carry it around much, but it’s great for sitting on the couch watching tv and Stumbling, watching for email, or  working on my server during commercial breaks.

Now, for all the Computer and Web Applications I use daily or multi-weekly at least.

1. Mozilla Firefox – Tabbed browsing, StumbleUpon, reliable browser
2. Mozilla Thunderbird – Email client I’m comfortable with.
3. Pidgin.im – Open Source AIM/GTalk/Yahoo/MSN/IRC client
4. Putty – SSH/Terminal client
5. SQLYog – MySQL Query and Database GUI
6. Visionapp Remote Desktop – Tabbed RDP client, great for managing multiple Windows servers.
7. XFire – Tracks my gaming (I’m a stats whore)
8. Cacti – RRDTool MRTG-like frontend (more stats whoring). To see my home server’s stats you can use the login guest:guest home.n00tz.net/cacti.
9. Google Analytics – Web Visitation Stats for n00tz.net, daltongamers.net, and thatmollygirl.com (STATS STATS STATS!)
10. Torrentflux – torrent management via web interface (I like Azureus’ webGUI better, but this is better for multiple users)

Got something you can live without? Let me know!