Shortly after Emma was born Amy and I decided that we needed to have wills written. We had two children, some considerable assets, we needed to make sure everything was covered. We already had insurance policies for both of us, and we took the time to compare car insurance. We also found some (for lack of a better word) cheap home insurance. We’ve learned the value of that over the years. You can never be too prepared when it comes to things like insurance and its reassuring to know that no matter what happens your family will be protected.
Posted by mcangeli on September 28th, 2007 | Comments Off | Aside
If you haven’t been keeping up with the events in Myanmar (Burma) you must be living under a rock or in a cave near Tora Bora. There has been, for at least a week now, an uprising going on that is trying to over turn the current government. This uprising for the most part has been peaceful. Well, on the part of the uprisers anyway. There have been some lives lost, the exact number is probably never going to be confirmed as the State would rather keep it that way. Now, all internet service has been cut in an effort to quell the flow of news that the government does not want out spreads around the world through bloggers.
Ko Htike a Burmese student living in England at the moment has been sharing with the world news and photos from friends and family in Myanmar. Its a pretty good way to get news out and when the government doesn’t want it out, its perhaps the only way.
In a time where information flows like water (or electrons over copper) its hard to imagine a place where atrocities like this would happen. Imagine the outcry and public revolt if something like this happened in Canada, the US or England. People wouldn’t stand for it and from the looks of it they aren’t standing for it in Myanmar either.
We have been looking for a way to reduce the flow of cash from our checking account and one of the best ways we’ve come across is transfering the outstanding balance on two of our current credit cards to two that have 0% apr on balances and transfers for an introductory period. So far we’ve found a selection of credit cards that offer just that as well as some that offer cash back rewards (whats better than making money while spending money?). The Co-op bank is currently offering some low rate reward cards as well as some with 0% for 6 months which is a pretty good deal.
Details accurate at date of publishing - Sponsored by Co-operative Bank
Posted by mcangeli on September 28th, 2007 | Comments Off | Aside
Well, now that the Braves are out of playoff contention, its time for the season to change in the office to college football. The season is already three weeks in and everyone has their favorite teams. UGA, the Gators, Tennessee football, Tech, Miami you name it everyone has a team they’re rooting for. Me? I don’t really have a favorite team (Emory doesn’t do football…) but I’d have to pull for Ga Tech as a home town favorite. Its fun though, watching larry talk about the Gators. He’d do anything for that team.
Posted by mcangeli on September 28th, 2007 | Comments Off | Delusions
If you’re tired of the phone calls from Mom and Dad complaining on how sloooww their computer has become, how fast it used to be, how many pop-ups there are, etc., spending hours upon hours fixing and repairing, re-installing and scanning, then this post should convince you with 5 reasons why your parents should use Linux.
Posted by mcangeli on September 28th, 2007 | Comments Off | Aside
Hello internets, Luka here! Thanks for letting me post here today! There’s a cold going around my office, and I’m really hoping that I can stave it off. I do NOT want to get sick! Stupid office working. Think goof thoughts for me? Happy Free For All Friday!
Posted by Free For All on September 28th, 2007 | Comments Off | Free for All Friday
We’ve moved! Well, we did about two years ago. Some friends of ours are in the process (well they’re unpacking now…) and we’ve all agreed that its a giant pain in the ass. Moving that is. We both did it different ways, Amy and I hired a crew to help move the heavy stuff and the other stuff we moved ourselves. Our friends packed everything in to a POD (movable storage) and moved it like that. The POD company dropped it off at their new house and they were able to unpack it as they wanted. Either way, we couldn’t have done it with out the help of movers.
Home Bulletin was a valuable resource for both of us in finding the help we needed. Using the site we were able to track down reputable sources in our area to make it as painless as possible. Anything we needed including full service moving companies, car shipping, self storage and international moving they were able to help us find. Turned out to be the best thing ever.
Posted by mcangeli on September 27th, 2007 | Comments Off | Delusions
Linuxtracker.org is pleased to announce the availability of Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) Beta - Desktop CD i386 on the linuxtracker bittorrent network. For faster downloads, more accurate statistics and to see all of the available torrents, please visit http://linuxtracker.org. The Ubuntu developers are hurrying to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software that the open source and free software communities have to offer. This is the Ubuntu 7.10 beta release, which brings a host of excellent new features. Note: This is still a beta release.
Posted by mcangeli on September 27th, 2007 | Comments Off | Aside
While it isn’t a complete breakthrough in blogging (some among us have been posting to our blogs via emails, sms’ or a good old wap phone for a while now) there is a site that has taken it to a new level. Trumors.com has taken the art of sms marketing to a new level allowing readers to post and read via sms from their phones. Its a pretty cool concept, now your readers can be in contact with your blog where ever they are, all the time. Breakthroughs in mobile marketing like this can do almost no harm to sites looking to gain traffic as long as your users *HAVE* to opt in to such a program. You couldn’t just collect cell numbers and start sending out random messages. Thats not cool. What is cool is the ability to update your blog or website at a moments notice by simply typing a few things in to your phone and hitting send.
Posted by mcangeli on September 27th, 2007 | Comments Off | Aside
Last week I wrote about mike huckabee, a candidate for the Republican Presidential Nominee. Today, it looks like someone else might be throwing his hat in the ring. Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich is running a series of events this weekend in Atlanta called American Solutions. Its a series of workshops designed to come up with a new path for america, developed by its citizens. I think he has other motives though.
There’s been talk for a while about Gingrich running for President. I think he’d be a good candidate for the job. I met him when he was speaker of the house. I like his politics and his ideas, and I believe he would support the Fair Tax. Not to mention he has experience. If he was going to announce his candidacy, tonight at 7pm when he talks to the group at American Solutions would be the perfect time.
A coworker has said that while he agrees with Newt on several issues, there are some he doesn’t and he’s not sure if Newt could get enough of the vote. I don’t know if he could or not, but I think that if he does announce, he’ll help bring a lot of stuff to the race that others are shying away from and it might help change the landscape of the 08 presidential race. I’ll have to keep an eye on him and see exactly where he stands.
Posted by mcangeli on September 27th, 2007 | Comments Off | Politics
Baseball, Football and Hockey are all in season right now (one is coming to and end, one has started and the other is getting close). Its a sports fan’s dream. My nephews are in heaven right now with all the sports going on (its not enough they play soccer, they also follow almost all the major sports as well) and one of them (kyle) could tell you all the major stats for baseball up to this point. Maybe I need to introduce them to sports trivia.
TriviaFix is a sports trivia site where the content is user generated (making it very cool and very varried). Users can form their own teams, have their own contests, submit their own content and win prizes on a monthly basis and its all rather easy. They have categories for four of the major sports (soccer is not included yet) and you earn points not only for answering, but for submitting questions as well. Its a cool setup. Registering on the site was a snap, and while I’m not the stats or trivia guru my nephews are, I’m going to have to try my hand at some of the baseball trivia.
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Linuxtracker.org is pleased to announce the availability of LinuxMint 3.1 “Celena” on the linuxtracker bittorrent network. For faster downloads, more accurate statistics and to see all of the available torrents, please visit http://linuxtracker.org.
Posted by mcangeli on September 26th, 2007 | Comments Off | Aside
So the fall season is off to a roaring start. Monday night I caught most of Chuck on NBC and K-ville while the Amy was watching Dancing with the stars! I have to say, while the premise of Chuck (a computer nerd who is sent an email of critical CIA information by and old friend) is a little far fetched, the show was pretty funny and well paced. Plus the fact that Adam Baldwin is in it playing an NSA agent who is out to use Chuck to solve issues and the HOT CIA agent who is protecting chuck make the show even better.
The first episode had chuck thwarting a bomb attempt by loading a virus (one of the porn spam things) on the laptop controling the bomb. I admit, it is a little far fetched. Of course, so is a gorgeous blonde CIA agent who can take out opponents with out a crowded bar noticing. I think I’ll tune in again as it proves to be worth it. Maybe next time, Chuck will keep a plane from crashing to the ground using nothing more than an USB flash drive loaded with knoppix.
Posted by mcangeli on September 26th, 2007 | Comments Off | TV
She’s quirky. Or at least thats what I say. If you’ve been to an Arby’s recently, you know they have trees inside their stores (real trees planted in the ground). Grace likes to run in circles around the trees. So much so, that we bribe her to eat dinner by telling her she can after she eats. Does that make us bad parents? Hardly. It does make her quirky though. I’ve thought about buying her her own silk trees for the house, but I don’t know where she’d put them. Besides, if i did that it would take away from our trips to Arbys.
Posted by mcangeli on September 26th, 2007 | Comments Off | Delusions
We’ve finished remodeling the kitchen. We put down ceramic tile, painted the walls and ceiling and replaced the stove, dishwasher and kitchen table. It looks good and its amazing what a new floor and a coat of paint can do for a room. The problem we had was finding a pattern of tile that we both liked and could live with forever (because we’re not redoing it any time soon). When we were looking at flooring options we came across AnchorBay Tile and we were literally floored at the choices available. SO many to choose from, its impossible to pick when you like so many. The quality and service is outstanding too. They even offer affordable flat rate shipping to the 50 states (Hawaii and Alaska even!) The nicest thing I have found about Anchor Bay is that they offer a different selection on tile than most places (especially HD or Lowes). My next task is going to be tiling the bathrooms (and getting rid of the current vinyl thats on the floor now) and now that I know where to go for ceramic tile and I know how to do it, it’ll be a snap!
Posted by mcangeli on September 26th, 2007 | Comments Off | Aside
On Thursday, September 27th, post about any abuse topic you care about - child abuse, domestic abuse, animal abuse, drug abuse, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, political abuse - and let the world know you stand united with thousands of bloggers as part of the Bloggers Unite “Blog Against Abuse” campaign. Depending on your topic, you can even link to local, regional, national, or international organizations that you care about or support. Every post will count!
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You can e-mail your link to blogforhope@yahoo.com by Oct. 10 with any results (traffic, comments, etc.) By doing so, you will automatically be be entered in to win $250 for charity (from Copywrite, Ink.) six months of premium services (from BlogCatalog) and gain more recognition for your blog and the topic you post about. (More details can be found at Copywrite, Ink.)
When I was working for a webhosting company, my boss became obsessed with World of WarCraft. Its an online multi player rpg (roll playing game) where players have the opportunity to earn gold, trade goods and act like orcs, elves, druids, wizzards and other stuff like that. I never got in to the game but he did (to the point where he would stay up at night and play until he had to come in to work…). It was kind of sad really. I’m glad he never found out about the market there is for wow gold. Did you know you can earn the gold and then sell it to people? Same for other goods in the game. Kind of odd really. Making a business out of fantasy, though I suppose it you believe something enough… its probably better to go with a reputable source like Gamegoods then someone like “Bob’s house of WOW”.
Posted by mcangeli on September 26th, 2007 | Comments Off | Delusions
The Iranian President (ie: nut job) Ahmadinejad is a nutter. People have known that for a while now ever since he denied the holocaust ever happened. He’s an enemy of this country in that he is actively pursuing nuclear weapons and he believes the US to be an “object of Satan”.
Unfortunately, earlier this week he was able to actually visit the United States (well, New York…) on a trip to the UN (we really should look at moving the UN headquarters to Switzerland or something) and he had the opportunity to speak at Columbia University. If you want to know what he said, you should check the CNN article on it. it covers it pretty well. I wanted to mention though, that he claims it is
high time for these powers to return from the path of arrogance and obedience to Satan to the path of faith in God
As if he has the moral right to comment on the United States straying from the path. Has he taken a look at his own country lately?
Posted by mcangeli on September 26th, 2007 | Comments Off | Videos
We’re working on some trade show displays for the company at work (several of the larger printing shows are coming up before the end of the year) and my job is fairly straight forward. I have to come up with a digital presentation of our capabilities. Luckily, most of this already exists. I also have to provide the hardware to display said stuff. What I don’t have to do is make the display look good. That where a company that specializes in trade show displays comes in. The Godfrey Group is amazing at what they do. They’ve designed some of the coolest trade show displays around and it shows. Like I said, my task is easy, theirs isn’t.
Posted by mcangeli on September 26th, 2007 | Comments Off | Aside
Linuxtracker.org is pleased to announce the availability of Foresight 1.4.0 x86 dvd on the linuxtracker bittorrent network. For faster downloads, more accurate statistics and to see all of the available torrents, please visit http://linuxtracker.org.
Posted by mcangeli on September 26th, 2007 | Comments Off | Aside
This weeks AmieStreet Wednesday post is a cool cat named Jeff Jacobson. His music is light and airy and is a little bit more electric than Jack Johnson and his bubble toes. Check out Your Californa below and let me know if yu like it as well.
Amy and I have decided that Denver, well Colorado in general is an awesome place to visit. Another place out that way that we’d love to visit is Branson, MO (yes, we LOVE to travel!). I don’t know that we’d move to Missouri but it is fun to check out whats available in the Branson Missouri real estate market (one of our favorite thing is picking up those little homes for sale books where ever we go). The land out that way is absolutely gorgeous. Large blue skies as far as you can see and in the warmer months some pretty good golfing too from the looks of it. Whats better than golfing during the day and relaxing back at your own cabin at night?
Posted by mcangeli on September 25th, 2007 | Comments Off | Aside
A barmaid in Oz (Thats Australia for those in the know…) is being charged with being criminally stupid and mean after she knowingly gave a patron a shot of cleaning solution. This of course, came after feeding him shots of water (yea, water) in the hopes of landing him in bed. Apparently she’s been known to be a prankster (she covered a bar with sticky tape…) but this one has gone a little too far.
The guy in question received ulcers on his skin (and probably elsewhere) and she has lost her job and could land in jail.
This was a misguided joke at an ungodly hour
I don’t know if that defense would stand up in court…
Posted by mcangeli on September 25th, 2007 | Comments Off | Aside
Amy heard on the radio the other day that there’s something like 95 shopping days left until Christmas. 95!! Where the heck has 2007 gone?!?!? I don’t have the foggiest but I wanted to share something with you that’s going to make your holidays brighter, coupons!! Thats right! CouponChief has coupons for EVERYTHING and EVERYWHERE you could possibly need to go shopping this season. Maybe you need to swing by Kohls to pick up something for your wife or niece. Perhaps you thought your nephews (or even a friend *ahem*) would like the new Halo3 that just came out and you ran in to BestBuy to pick it up (you shouldn’t have, really ).
Either way, CouponChief has the coupons you need to make Christmas a success (and you might be able to pick up something for yourself while you’re at it as well…)
Posted by mcangeli on September 25th, 2007 | Comments Off | Delusions
Ever felt like you had too many plates spinning on poles over your head that if you lost your concentration for one moment they’d all come crashing down around you? It some times feels like that between work, home and everything else. I work full time. We have two kids, three dogs and some cats. I work part time (fireworks). Amy works full time, plays bells at church and is trying to start her own business as well. Too. Many. Plates.
The nice thing is that we have sturdy poles supporting the plates we’re trying to spin. Family, friends and each other. We pick up the slack in our lives where we can and we help shoulder the burden of everything (have you noticed how much work it is owning your own home?). We both share the responsibility of the kids and the chores and the animals. When we can’t we can lean on our family or friends. Our support poles help keep the plates spinning. Remove a pole, the plate comes crashing down (or the child doesn’t get picked up from school!).
Help like that is essential in life and I’ve come to realize over the years that no matter what you think, everyone needs a little support every once in a while. After all, as I think it was the Beatles who said it “I get by with a little help from my friends”.
Posted by mcangeli on September 25th, 2007 | Comments Off | Delusions
A couple of weeks ago, I attended a Microsoft Technet event where I was introduced to some of the new technology MS is unleashing on the world. One of the products I was most impressed with was the fleeting glances we got of the Microsoft VoIP offerings that would allow small to medium businesses to install a VoIP solution on existing hardware (no need to replace current phones!). From an IT standpoint, its a pretty good deal, though I’m still a little leery of putting a full VoIP solution in the office (we’ve been running it at home for two years now and its been great), I am getting a little closer to liking the idea. This offer from MS and from 3CX Small Business PBX is a step in the right direction.
3CX Small Business Phone System provides Economical Enterprise Telephony on Windows
3CX today released version 3.1 of its Small Business Phone System. 3CX Phone System is a Windows-based IP PBX that completely replaces a proprietary PABX. Its based on the open SIP standard and interoperates with a wide range of popular SIP phones, VOIP Gateways and SIP-based providers. Although it includes enterprise telephony features such as Call Queuing, Voice Mail and Auto attendant, its targeted at the SMB market - 3CX Phone System is easy to install, manage and its low cost.
“The release of 3CX Phone System is set to accelerate the massive change occurring in the Telephony market space. With 3CX Phone System, advanced features such as Call Queuing can now be obtained for a fraction of the price of traditional Enterprise PBXs. What’s more, advanced features such as integration with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 unified messaging are not even available on today’s proprietary PBXs,” said Nick Galea, 3CX CEO.
Key features of 3CX Small Business Phone System:
Complete phone system - provides call switching, routing & queuing
Eliminates phone wiring & patching of extensions to a particular network point
Makes teleworking easy because employees can answer extension from home
Purchase cost dramatically lower than a traditional hardware PBX
Scalable - Unlimited extensions and phone lines. No proprietary expansion modules needed!
Web-based configuration & status indication - Easy phone system management!
Unified messaging - Receive voice mail via e-mail
Auto attendant (e.g. 1 for sales, 2 for support etc.)
Reduces long distance and inter office call costs using VOIP providers.
Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging integration
Call Queues
Certified for Windows 2003
Four available editions: Small Business, Pro, Enterprise and Free
3CX Phone System for Windows is available in 4 editions: The Small Business Edition supports up to 25 extensions, the Pro edition supports an unlimited number of extensions. The Enterprise edition includes advanced features such as Exchange 2007 integration and Call Queuing. Pricing is competitive: Small Business costs $350, the Pro runs at $895 and Enterprise costs $1250.
3CX Phone System Free edition
A free edition, supporting an unlimited number of extensions, is also available. The main difference with Pro and Small Business is that it’s not possible to buy a support package for the free edition, nor does it include the advanced features of 3CX Call Assistant. Not withstanding, the Free Edition does more than most commercial PBXs do; including an auto attendant, voice mail and even user-to-user support via the 3CX moderated product forums at http://www.3cx.com/forums/. The free edition can be downloaded from http://www.3cx.com/ip-pbx/index.html.
About 3CX
3CX is a privately held company with a management team backed by years of experience in developing and selling network infrastructure software. It maintains a global presence with offices in 6 countries and localized information available in German (www.3cx.de), Spanish (www.3cx.es), French (www.3cx.fr), Portuguese (www.3cx.com.br), Japanese (www.3cx.jp), Traditional Chinese (www.3cx.hk), Simplified Chinese (www.3cx.cn), Vietnamese (www.3cx.vn) and Korean (www.3cx.co.kr).
Linuxtracker.org is pleased to announce the availability of Dragonfly BSD 1.10.1 on the linuxtracker bittorrent network. For faster downloads, more accurate statistics and to see all of the available torrents, please visit http://linuxtracker.org. This is the newest stable release of Dragonfly BSD, superceding the earlier 1.10 release
Posted by mcangeli on September 25th, 2007 | Comments Off | Aside
Linuxtracker.org is pleased to announce the availability of JackLab Audio Distribution JAD-1.0 FINAL on the linuxtracker bittorrent network. For faster downloads, more accurate statistics and to see all of the available torrents, please visit http://linuxtracker.org.
Posted by mcangeli on September 25th, 2007 | Comments Off | Aside
Google issued a challenge to create videos of how email travels around the world that could be put in to a montage of sorts. What you see above is the result. its pretty cool watching the little gmail envelope travel round the world. Isn’t it? Check out the Page to see where the clips are from…
There’s a cold going around my office, and I’m really hoping that I can stave it off. I do NOT want to get sick! Stupid office working. 
Think goof thoughts for me? Happy Free For All Friday! 
On Thursday, September 27th, post about any abuse topic you care about - child abuse, domestic abuse, animal abuse, drug abuse, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, political abuse - and let the world know you stand united with thousands of bloggers as part of the Bloggers Unite “Blog Against Abuse” campaign. Depending on your topic, you can even link to local, regional, national, or international organizations that you care about or support. Every post will count!
