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Fuck Me!
It's cold!
// posted by stacey on 12:49:00 PM // |
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Quit Your Yakkin'
During the Olympics Volkswagen featured a bunch of new commercials for one of its new cars. Don't ask me which car cuz that really isn't the point. In the commercials there is a device that is called your "fast." This "fast" apparently represents your need to drive fast in a cool car. Oh and the "fast" speaks, but only the driver can hear it.
One commercial in particular feature a guy and his girlfriend. He is driving fast with the windows down and she's complaining about it. His "fast" doesn't like her doing this and the guy ends up saying, "I can't hear the sound of the engine over all of your yakkin'."
I bring this up because there are a number of impromptu meetings taking place in the vicinity of my cube. These have now been going on for over 20 minutes.
I am restraining myself from yelling, "I can't hear my music over all of your yakkin'!"
// posted by stacey on 11:38:00 AM // |
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Saturday, February 25, 2006
New Podcast
I've got a new podcast for you. This edition features Kano, Parks and Recreation, The Lashes, The Concretes, Arctic Monkeys, Shelley Short, Mindy Smith and Alexi Murdoch.
Go to scoopsthepodcast.com/podcast to stream it through the site or to subscribe to it. If you have iTunes this is the way to go. Click on the subscribe button and it will automatically be added to iTunes for you.
For those folks who don't have iTunes you can subscribe to it by going here.
// posted by stacey on 7:52:00 PM // |
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Friday, February 24, 2006
Best Concert -- Ever
This morning I was looking for some music on my ipod that I haven't listened to in while. I came across the playlist I had created for the U2 concert that I went to in December. Remember, its the one I kept saying I was going to write a review of but never did?
Well listening to that playlist took me back to that moment. That concert in Hartford was the best concert I have ever been to -- and I've been to a lot.
It's still very hard for me to explain how wonderful it was and all the feelings I experienced at the concert. I started singing with the first song and didn't stop until the house lights came back on. I lost my voice that night.
That concert was the fourth time that I saw U2 in concert. The first time was in Las Cruces, NM on the Joshua Tree tour. The next two times were in New York for the Achtung Baby/Zoo TV tour. Once at Madison Square Garden and then later that summer at Yankee Stadium.
The Vertigo show was great in that the band played a wide range of their songs as you can see from the set list. The band sounded great, the stage was awesome, and the people I ended up hanging out with were cool.
What made the night most memorable for me was that they ended the show with 40. Any U2 fan knows how the end of the song goes when one by one each band member leaves the stage while the audience keeps singing until eventually the house lights come up. In the three previous shows I had been to they never ended with 40 so needless to say that was my defining moment of the concert. I can now die the most happiest U2 fan ever because of that.
Here are some avi clips that I took at the concert. Be patient as it may take a bit for them to load.
Clip 1 (4.5MB)
Clip 2 (2.2MB)
Clip 3 (2.4MB)
Clip 4 (7.9MB)
Clip 5 (1.9MB)
Clip 6 (6.2MB)
Clip 7 (13.3MB)
// posted by stacey on 9:50:00 AM // |
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Thursday, February 23, 2006
New Search
So after two and half hours I still can't get the entire sire to republish but at least the index page did. So if you search only search from the index page.
ARGH!!!
// posted by stacey on 2:15:00 PM // |
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Blogger and Search
One of the things that has been pissing me off lately is that the Google Search has not been working properly. Granted it is a free search but quite frankly it has been lazy. That's why it is going to go away. It is already gone on the podcast page because Google Search never, not once actually returned at result. There is another free search engine by Atomz/WebSideStory that costs just as much (nothing) and indexes the site much quicker and more thoroughly. For example, it took four fucking seconds to index the site and wow actually returns a lot of results. The one negative for the free search is that I don't get revenue for the ads in the search results. I can deal with that as long as I have a working search feature.
You'd be seeing it on the site now if Blogger wouldn't keep having this problem timing out every single time I try to republish my entire fucking blog.
Note to Blogger People (technically Google): Just in case you scan any posts that mention Blogger, I do love your service. It is robust, easy to use and yeah free. But for the love of God the republishing sucks. And while I'm at it your spell checker could use some work too. I mean you'd think that since it is attached to a blogging tool that words like Blogger, blog, etc. Would not come up as misspelled words. It's your own fucking tool there has to be a way to add keywords to it!
Well hopefully, I'll be able to get the entire blog to republish soon so that you can see the new search.
// posted by stacey on 1:12:00 PM // |
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Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Noise Canceling Headphones
One of the few items I had really wanted for Christmas was a pair of noise canceling headphones. I was getting tired of having to raise the volume up on my wiped every time I was on a train where the noise from the train itself is way too loud or that person three seats away from you insists on talking at loud decibels on his cell phone.
Thankfully, I got them.
Today for example I was happily listening away at a reasonable volume. It was a most peaceful train ride. When the train was pulling into my station I took the headphones off and realized that there was person talking real loud on his cell and about eight kids talking really loud. I was oblivious to this whole thing.
I strongly recommend that anyone who rides a commuter trains get a set of noise canceling headphones. Your live will be so much more happy.
// posted by stacey on 6:36:00 PM // |
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Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Like this Guy
Like this Guy
Originally uploaded by scoopsy.
Ass hole!
// posted by stacey on 7:20:00 AM // |
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Commuter Rule #6
Take your coat off on the train. This way you won't take half the seat next to you. Unless that is your plan to begin with. Either way you are an ass hole!
// posted by stacey on 7:13:00 AM // |
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Monday, February 20, 2006
Where's Rick?
Since I had today off for President's Day the sadness that usually hits me on Sunday afternoon was delayed by a whole day. You know the sadness I'm talking about. It's what happens on Sunday evening when you remember that you have to work for a living and that you have to go back to work on Monday. Well, I've remembered that I have to work for a living and have to go back to work on Tuesday.
What makes this even more depressing is that Rick has had to move down to a cube with is IT brethren on 21. What really sucks about this is that Rick has been asking for a regular sized cube for a couple of years now, believe we have plenty empty ones on 22, but the on he was offered on 22 was even smaller and more awkwardly shaped. Then someone in IT left and space became available downstairs. He was told to move and was slowly doing it but on Friday was told he start moving down. Depending on how much stuff he was able to move, chances are he won't be on 22 on
This means that the person I talk movies, television, politics, music and of course all things Apple will no longer be there.
Tomorrow will be a very sad day indeed. :(
// posted by stacey on 5:26:00 PM // |
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Saturday, February 18, 2006
iWeb and GarageBand
Well. I've finished with my preliminary template changes to iWeb. I still have on image to change size wise but I'm happy with the results so far. I decided that I was just going to focus on a template for m podcast files and keep the blog where it is only because I'm happy with my current template.
Happy with the iWeb stuff I finally got into the new GarageBand to record this week's podcast. Wow, is all I have to say about the upgrade. Where iWeb leaves a lot to be desired GarageBand exceeds my expectations. The new podcast feature allows for episode artwork, which previously had to be added in iTunes and if I choose I can even add chapters/markers to add artwork and URLs for each song. Brilliant. Users can also publish directly to iWeb or export the file for uploading elsewhere. There is also a publish to iTunes feature. This doesn't work for me since I do music that is sometimes copyrighted. By copyrighted it isn't an MP3 that is available for free on the artist's website. The music import feature is vastly improved and it seems the compression is also better.
As we speak my iWeb files and podcast are uploading to my server. You can check it out in about 5 minutes by going to scoopsthepodcast.com/podcast.
// posted by stacey on 8:50:00 PM // |
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Friday, February 17, 2006
Copyrights
I used to have a copyright thing on the website. Always did, then I redesigned the blog and simply forgot to add the footer info. Figured I would get to it sooner or later but just never did.
Then on February 15 I get this email from Peter. "Um, you don't have a copyright notice on your web site. Maybe you should check out adding a Creative Commons license to your work?"
He also copied the URL of the Google search he did on my site where the results were indeed no copyright info.
I have now added the copyright so that Peter will no longer have to worry about this and will have one less thing to point out to me about the site.
He also started bugging me about an RSS feed for staceycooper.com on February 12. Then he started telling me how to do this in Blogger. Dude, I know Blogger inside out so of course I know how to do this. The main reason why I never placed a feed on this is because the majority of people who view this site are my co-workers and we're all on IE 6, therefore no feeds. So why bother.
Now just on principle, I'm not adding it. Peter can't always get what he wants. ;p
// posted by stacey on 12:37:00 PM // |
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Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Curling
I can now say with all honesty that I fully understand curling and the strategy behind it.
Just don't ask me to explain it.
// posted by stacey on 7:05:00 PM // |
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Tuesday, February 14, 2006
iWeb Update
So I didn't actually sit around on Sunday and create new templates for iWeb. I got lazy and watched the Olympics instead.
Today, during my lunch break I decided to go through a quick run through. I have successfully created a new template. Just a bare bones kinda thing just to walk through it. It took less time than I thought only because I didn't go into the details of really changing the images. I just changed the colors and some textures just to see how it would work.
So now I'm jonesin'.
The ease of use of iWeb with the blog and podcast feature seems ideal for me. Creating the XML on my own for the podcast is a pain in the ass, iWeb takes care of that without additional hosting fees. I currently use Liberated Syndication for that aspect at an additional cost of 10 bucks a month. Don't get me wrong libsyn is awesome but to save the 10 bucks and have everything on one server is awesome.
So tonight, the real deal starts. Choosing the template I want to change, modifying the images with the ones that I want then going intot he XML file to change font colors etc. I expect that the longest amount of time will be changing all the supported images.
I'll keep you posted.
// posted by stacey on 3:16:00 PM // |
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Monday, February 13, 2006
Cheney Shooting
For the past couple of days I have been enjoying the puzzling story of Dick Cheney shooting a fellow quail hunter on a ranch in Texas. (Not that ranch in Texas but another one in Houston.)
Here are some intersting links some serious and some not so serious.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nellie-b/trying-to-sort-out-the-di_b_15553.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-hamsher/hey-there-you-with-the-s_b_15552.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-melber/cheney-talk-softly-and-c_b_15546.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-franken/cheney-shoots-guy_b_15543.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roy-sekoff/cheneys-got-a-gun_b_15542.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/exclusive-first-photo-of_b_15538.html
// posted by stacey on 8:02:00 AM // |
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Sunday, February 12, 2006
Things to do When it Snows
It is still snowing here in New York. Blech. I am holding off on shoveling for a bit, although I did have to make a path so the dog could out and do her business. Sometimes it sucks to be a dog.
The snow is giving me the chance to catch up on some things. I've started a beef stew and got the dishwasher going so that's two things I may not have done today. That leaves me my with a major task that I have been putting off for a couple of days now.
I recently purchased Apple's iLife 06. I mainly got it for the upgrade of GarageBand for my podcasts but thought I would check out iWeb and the new blogging and podcast features. If all goes well I could save 10 bucks a month. Dudes, don't knock the 10 bucks, that shit adds up. I knew before I purchased iLife 06 that the templates for iWeb weren't that great and that there wasn't an easy way to update the template like you can with Blogger. But like the true Mac geek that I am there is a way. It just takes time. Something I didn't have much of until it started snowing.
This could be an all day job and there could be some anger involved but at least the end result will be something I'll be happy with.
// posted by stacey on 12:20:00 PM // |
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Blizzard 2006
Blizzard 2006
Originally uploaded by scoopsy.
OK, here is the first picture of the blizzard. I've got about a foot of snow now and its still snowing. It is expected to keep snowing until about 4:00pm with about two to three inches of snow falling per hour. If all goes well, I won't be going into work tomorrow! Woo-hoo!
// posted by stacey on 10:48:00 AM // |
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Saturday, February 11, 2006
Snow
It has started snowing here in New York. Needless to say I am not too happy about this. If it pans out the way the weather folks say it is we could end up with 10-16 inches of snow.
we've had a fairly mild winter in New York but I somehow had a feeling that February was going to kick our ass. If my predictions pan out this is just the beginning of a serious ass whooping.
// posted by stacey on 7:11:00 PM // |
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New podcast
Hey, there's a new podcast for you and a new URL. The podcast blog has a new home at scoopsthepodcast.com. Check it out I've got some really great tunes this week. Well I always have great tunes, but I'm really enjoying this weeks.
// posted by stacey on 9:21:00 AM // |
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Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Going Old School
I love it when peapod.com has their 10 for 10 sales. I still have five boxes of brownie mix from the last one!
This time around one of the 10 for 10 specials was Snack Pack. Growing up these used to be one of my favorites. Popping the top on that little aluminum can would always make my mouth water. Well the aluminum cans are gone but my mouth still watered when I pulled back that foil cover to that old school pudding goodness.
// posted by stacey on 1:33:00 PM // |
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Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Oscar Nominations
This really has to be one of my favorite times of year. I love the Oscars. What started out as sort of a crappy year in movies ended up being a really good one and for the most part I agree with the nominations.
Here are my thoughts on some of the major categories:
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Philip Seymour Hoffman - CAPOTE
Terrence Howard - HUSTLE & FLOW
Heath Ledger - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Joaquin Phoenix - WALK THE LINE
David Strathairn - GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
I like all of these actors and think that they had really great performances. I really believe that Philip Seymour Hoffman should win if only because he step into a lead role effortlessly after so many supporting roles. David Strathairn is also a favorite.
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
George Clooney - SYRIANA
Matt Dillon - CRASH
Paul Giamatti - CINDERELLA MAN
Jake Gyllenhaal - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
William Hurt - A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
Again I like most of these guys. Jake Gyllenhaal and William Hurt are surprises in this category since their names haven't really come up in any other awards (Golden Globes and SAG Awards). I'm expecting Clooney to prevail in this one if only because he strays from his usual mode of acting. I also thought Matt Dillon was good in Crash. I just hope that Paul Giamatti doesn't get it because you didn't win for Sideways so we're gonna give it to your for this, like Russell Crowe got his for Gladiator instead of The Insider. Not that Giamatti's performance was bad but I don't think he should get it.
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Judi Dench - MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS
Felicity Huffman - TRANSAMERICA
Keira Knightley - PRIDE & PREJUDICE
Charlize Theron - NORTH COUNTRY
Reese Witherspoon - WALK THE LINE
OK, just because Judi Dench is in a movie doesn't mean she needs to be nominated. I think by doing this a lot of other really, and I mean really great performances got over looked. She's good and all but personally, I think she should be banned from the Oscars just for doing all those bad James Bond
This is a tough category because they Academy usually goes for performances where actors really transform themselves or play someone with some sort of affliction (Holly Hunter, Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron). I don't think having a smudgy face will do it for Charlize this year. This leaves a tight race between Felicity Huffman and Reese Witherspoon (learning to sing counts as transforming).
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams - JUNEBUG
Catherine Keener - CAPOTE
Frances McDormand - NORTH COUNTRY
Rachel Weisz - THE CONSTANT GARDENER
Michelle Williams - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Rachel Weisz should win this one hands down although Michelle Williams could pull an upset. I am glad that Amy Adams was recognized for Junebug, a small film that was really good.
BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
CAPOTE
CRASH
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
MUNICH
I saw all of these movies and I liked each one. I'll rule out Munich because it was pretty much a remake of Sword of Gideon and I'll also rule out Good Night, and Good Luck. Of these Crash had the biggest emotional pull on me but I suspect that Brokeback Mountain will win. Lets just hope Dennis Quaid won't be around to make his rhymes with chick flick comment.
Perhaps the one moment I am waiting for is the performance of "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp"
// posted by stacey on 10:00:00 AM // |
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