So what is this site all about?
Right now it’s really about nothing. Currently I use this site to practice my web development skills so this site is my sandbox to try things out as I learn them. There is no content regarding life, technology or cool products on this page. Such information can be found in my blog. One day I hope to grow this site into something more than just a placeholder.
View some vacation photos here.
From the Blog
A list of the most recent articles from my blog.
- Why Windows Sucks
- February 17, 2008
- Macworld 2008, Take 2
- January 22, 2008
- Macworld 2008
- January 13, 2008
- Wired writes about how the iPhone has unwired the wireless industry
- January 10, 2008
- Happy 2008, with predictions
- January 10, 2008
Movies
A list of movies I’ve watched. Links to the IMDB means I watched the movie in a theater. Links to Netflix means I watched the movie on DVD.
Movies are listed from most recently watched at the top.
- Is Wal-Mart Good for America?: Frontline
- Feb. 28, 2008
- An inside look at the retailing giant. Several years ago I read Sam Walton’s biography and learned the humble beginnings of the company. Sadly, what Wal-Mart has evolved to as shown in the video scares the hell out of me.
- The Spiderwick Chronicles
- Feb. 23, 2008
- A good story with a great sense of adventure. I was a little put off by the mention of a Boggart, thinking it was a rip-off from Harry Potter but I have since learned through the ever-helpful Wikipedia that a boggart is a British term for a household spirit and has been mentioned in several other works. I thought the same thing with the animal that looked very similar to a Hippogriff, which also turns out to be a popular mythical creature.
- Rounders
- Feb. 18, 2008
- An interesting look at underground poker games and the people who play them. I love the ending.
- Drop Box
- Feb. 12, 2008
- Imagine a movie filmed entirely in one location—the inside of a video rental store. David Cormican plays the role of the clerk at the store, and Rachel Sehl plays the role of a pop star diva who accidentally returns a homemade sex tape instead of the movie she had rented. Cormican played his character well—a sarcastic and bored clerk, but I thought Sehl was very amateurish in her performance. However this is an independent film so bad acting could be somewhat expected. The only thing that kept me viewing was to find out what happens next.
- Doc Hollywood
- Feb. 10, 2008
- Classic Michael J. Fox movie with an endearing story. The first scene with Julie Warner is nice eye candy.
- Trading Places
- Jan. 27, 2008
- A classic starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd. I love stories when the good guys get revenge on the bad guys.
- Pretty Woman
- Jan. 26, 2008
- The classic Richard Gere / Julia Roberts love story. I still think this is a great movie.
- The Endurance
- Jan. 21, 2008
- The amazing story of Sir Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance expedition of 1914-1916, in which Shackleton’s crew of 28 men endured being trapped in the ice for 10 months, then escaped to a remote island only to be stranded again as Shackleton and a group of 5 other men traveled 800 miles across the stormy southern sea to seek rescue. Amazingly everyone on the expedition survived, despite bitter cold and periods of little or no food and water.
- Catch Me If You Can
- Jan. 14, 2008
- Fascinating story of Frank Abagnale Jr. and how he scammed so many and eluded the FBI. It doesn’t bother me that this is the Hollywood version of the story and therefore not accurate.
- Life
- Jan. 13, 2008
- I love this movie. Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence play two men who are wrongly jailed, and they spend the next 60 years in a work camp. Even though they don’t always get along they are the best of friends.
- Winged Migration
- Jan. 6, 2008
- I struggled through this one. The scenery is beautiful, but after about ten minutes I’d had my fill of it and the rest of the movie dragged on and on.
- The Shawshank Redemption
- Jan. 1, 2008
- One of my favorite movies. I actually read this story by chance many years ago, a novella written by Stephen King titled Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, before it became a movie. The movie stays very true to the book.
- O Brother, Where Art Thou?
- Dec. 15, 2007
- When I first saw this movie a few years ago I didn’t like it, until about a quarter of the way through when I realized it was a comedy and not meant to be taken seriously (duh). Luckily it was on video and not in the theater, so I was able to rewind and watch it from the beginning with the proper perspective. Since then it’s become one of my favorite movies.
- Knocked Up
- Dec. 15, 2007
- I assumed this movie was going to be filled with lots of stupid humor, but I was pleasantly surprised that it actually had a plot and was more serious than I anticipated. I enjoyed this one.
- First Knight
- Nov. 25, 2007
- Watched this from my AppleTV. I saw this several years ago and I still enjoyed it.
- Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself
- Nov. 22, 2007
- Another DVD from a different show. I still really liked this one but to me it just didn’t seem to be as polished as the previous video, although it took place two years before. I’d like to know how many characters he has, because this show included characters that were not in the later video.
- Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity
- Nov. 22, 2007
- My sister-in-law and her husband brought this DVD with them while staying with us for Thanksgiving. I’d never heard of Jeff Dunham before I saw this video, but he’s an absolutely hilarious and very talented ventriloquist. He’s funny enough to be “just” a comedian, but his cast of characters and how he interacts with them really shows off his skills.
- Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
- Nov. 20, 2007
- Saw this with my wife and kids. A touching movie, we looked over at one point and our daughter had tears in her eyes. I really liked this one.
- The Heartbreak Kid
- Oct. 13, 2007
- Another comedic masterpiece from the Farrelly brothers. I don’t think I've ever heard the “P” word so many times in my life. I really liked this movie.
- The Nightmare Before Christmas in Disney Digital 3-D
- Oct. 27, 2007
- I'd seen the regular version of this on VHS (remember VHS?) so it had been quite a while since I last saw this movie. Seeing it again in 3-D was neat, as it added a depth of field. However, I would’t call this an improvement of the original movie—in fact, after a while the 3-D effect goes unnoticed. And unfortunately the best 3-D effect was a pumpkin animation at the beginning that wasn’t even part of the original movie.
- Born Into Brothels
- Sept. 30, 2007
- Looks into the lives of several children who live in the red-light district in Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes. A photographer teaches them photography, and this movie documents how each kid responds and how photography changed their lives. An inspiring movie.
- Control Room
- Sept. 16, 2007
- An interesting look at the Al Jazeera news network.
- Blades of Glory
- Sept. 2, 2007
- Saw this again, this time on DVD at our friend’s house. Still hilariously funny.
- Mr. Bean’s Holiday
- Sept. 1, 2007
- I love Mr. Bean. The problem is, I think Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean character makes better TV than a full length movie. This movie was really funny, with typical Bean antics, but the story itself was somewhat weak. I had a hard time deciding how to rate this movie, but the deciding factor is since I’ve seen it once I probably won’t want to see it again.
- The Bourne Ultimatum
- Aug. 17, 2007
- The third movie of the Bourne series, I missed watching the second movie but picked right up on this one. Filled with endless action, I think the Bourne movies have become this generation’s Mr. Bond. I really enjoyed this movie.
- Transformers
- Aug. 11, 2007
- Watched this one with my son Andy. We didn’t know anything of the Transformers story (unlike others in the audience, who seemed to know every detail of each character) but we liked this movie. The special effects were awesome, and this is what carried the movie for us.
- Planetary Traveler
- July 29, 2007
- This is the first full-length movie that was produced entirely on desktop computers, so I was interested in seeing it. Unfortunately it was a computer-animated sci-fi adventure, which didn't interest me at all.
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- July 18, 2007
- I loved this movie, better than any of the other Harry Potter movies before it. The acting in this one was better, and the actress that plays Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch) was perfectly cast for her role. The role of Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) to me still doesn’t seem like the “real” Dumbledore (played by the late Richard Harris), but he does have some awesome scenes that made me like his role better. The movie is very dark, and the final fight scene was cool.
- Evan Almighty
- July 8, 2007
- A cute movie, with Steve Carell in a somewhat “serious” role. But it still has plenty of funny parts. This could have been a rehash of Bruce Almighty—especially with Steve Carell—but thankfully it wasn’t. This is the type of movie that leaves you with a renewed belief in the power of faith.
- Ratatouille
- July 3, 2007
- Hands-down the best movie I’ve seen so far this year, I liked it even more than Pirates, which was the movie I had anticipated the most this year. I have to admit I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Ratatouille, even though it was from Pixar. I’ve loved every previous Pixar movie but this one seemed just a bit different and I didn't think it would hold my interest. However, I am sooooo glad I saw this because the movie was great. Pixar does it again! Oh, and we left the movie starving...
- Ocean’s Thirteen
- June 16, 2007
- Good, but not as good as the previous ones because I felt the plot was a little lacking and perhaps a bit foolish. Still worth watching to complete the trilogy. I hope they don’t make any more after this one.
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
- June 9, 2007
- The movie I anticipated the most so far this year, and it didn’t disappoint. I loved this movie, even if it was almost 3 hours long—though I didn’t really care for the scenes with the multiple Jacks. Visually stunning. Did they leave it open for a Pirates 4?
- Shrek the Third
- June 2, 2007
- As good as the other two Shrek movies, this one kept up the laughs and the animation, as always, looked great.
- Snow Falling on Cedars
- May 28, 2007
- Admittedly I didn’t pay much attention to this one as I was on my computer, nor did it do anything to gain my attention either. So I really don’t have anything to say about this movie.
- Waking Ned Devine
- May 28, 2007
- A very amusing movie. A story about two friends who find out one member of their community won the lottery, with the intention of figuring out who it is and buddying up with that person to hopefully get a cut of the winnings. A twist occurs when they discover the winner is dead, so they hatch the proverbial “Plan B.”
- Spider-Man 3
- May 12, 2007
- Third in the Spider-Man sequel, I liked this one better than 2 but not as much as the first one. There are many startling moments, a few too many that in turn makes it seem like a gimmick by the film’s producers just to get audience reaction. But the special effects are incredible, and I especially liked the opening sequqnce with the black goo and the clips from the previous films.
- The Queen
- May 11, 2007
- I really liked this one, it’s the story of Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair and what happened during the week after Princess Diana died. It shows an interesting look at the roles they both played during the crisis, with the Queen following her royal instincts and Tony Blair convincing her otherwise.
- Kingpin
- May 6, 2007
- A movie from the makers of There’s Something About Mary that stars Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid and Bill Murray. A spoof of the pro bowling circuit, I’d give this one a mere OK.
- Red Heat
- May 6, 2007
- A classic Ahnold movie, also starring James Belushi. Schwarzenegger plays a detective from Russia that tracks an escaped criminal to Chicago, where he teams up with Belushi. A good movie, although at almost 20 years old it’s starting to show its age.
- True North
- May 6, 2007
- An IMAX-like movie with stunning visuals of mountains, rainforests, aurora borealis and the like. Narrated only by a new age soundtrack. Pretty cool.
- Disturbia
- Apr. 22, 2007
- Went to see this with my 14 year old daughter because she likes thrillers. I’d say the movie was OK, they showed all the good parts in the trailers so the rest of the movie was pretty much filler.
- Blades of Glory
- Apr. 21, 2007
- A REALLY funny movie, I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. A really good movie. I can’t get the image of two hot dogs in one bun out of my mind...
- America by Rail
- Apr. 19, 2007
- A long long long video that takes you on a train ride from Union Station in Washington, D.C., up to Chicago and then over to Sacremento, with vignettes of small train trips along the way. While the subject matter was pretty boring I liked seeing how the country changed from one coast to the other. Someday I’d like to take this trip.
- The Girl Next Door
- Apr. 7, 2007
- A good story about a high school senior that falls in love with a 19-year-old girl who turns out to be a porn star.
- The Last Mimzy
- Apr. 7, 2007
- I really enjoyed this movie. A story about two kids who find an object on the beach. Turns out it’s from the future, and it gives them extraordinary powers.
- Mark Twain’s America
- Apr. 4, 2007
- A made-for-IMAX quick glimpse of Mark Twain.
- Secondhand Lions
- Apr. 1, 2007
- A hilarious movie. Haley Joel Osment is sent by his mother to live with his wealthy and eccentric uncles (Michael Caine & Robert Duvall)
- You, Me and Dupree
- Mar. 31, 2007
- A very good and entertaining movie. Owen Wilson plays his classic "I-can’t-do-anything-right" role while Matt Dillon and sexy Kate Hudson try to live a normal life of newlyweds with Wilson living with them.
- Pirates of Silicon Valley
- Mar. 18, 2007
- I was interested is seeing this after listening to the audio book The Second Coming of Steve Jobs (see my reading list). A fascinating look at the rise of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, and the audacious steps and events that shaped their futures.
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Mar. 4, 2007
- Watched this with my eight year old son Andy. I loved these movies when I was a kid and I figured he would too. He wasn’t interested in watching it, but afterwards he was glad he did. We’ll be watching the sequels soon.
- Stranger Than Fiction
- Mar. 2, 2007
- My wife and I wanted to watch this in the theater but we didn’t get a chance before it was pulled from circulation. A good story, and we were impressed with Will Ferrel’s “serious” part.
- Bridge to Terabithia
- Feb. 24, 2007
- Saw this in the theater with the wife and kids. I didn’t know anything about this movie before I saw it but my wife said it was very different from the trailers. I watched the trailers afterwards and agree. An excellent movie, and one that moved us all almost to tears at one point.
- Brokeback Mountain
- Jan. 21, 2007
- Never had a chance to see this one, so we rented it. I’d rate it as OK.
- Babel
- Jan. 19, 2007
- Another one I saw at work for Emmy consideration. A very good movie, with a time shift somewhat like what was used in Pulp Fiction. In my opinion Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett only had parts in this movie to get viewers to watch it, because otherwise the story was good enough to stand on its own with the remainder of the no-name cast.
- Troy
- Jan. 14, 2007
- A very good movie, even if the story wasn’t historically accurate.
- Flushed Away
- Jan. 5, 2007
- Saw this one at work. We received a copy for Emmy consideration so we viewed it in our conference room. I generally like kids movies, but I was glad I didn’t pay money to see this one. A classic story of friction between a male and female who end up falling in love with each other.
- Ken Burns’ America: The Congress, 1988
- Jan. 1, 2007
- Ok, I know this sounds very bland but I love finding out how things work and I’m a fan of documentaries. I enjoyed this one.
Books
A list of books I’ve read.
Currently Reading:
Books are listed from most recently started at the top
- Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance
by Andrew Kirkpatrick, Richard Rutter, Christian Heilmann, and Jim Thatcher
- June 28, 2007 – Present, 2008
- Inactive since July 2007.
- Undaunted Courage
by Stephen E. Ambrose
- April 24, 2007 – Present, 2008
- I took a long hiatus from this book shortly after I started reading it—it’s very dense. Picked it back up at the beginning of 2008 and am actively reading it.
On the reading list (Future Reads):
Books are listed from newest added at the top
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) (Unabridged Audio CD converted to Audiobook)
by J.K. Rowling and narrated by Jim Dale
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) (Unabridged Audio CD converted to Audiobook)
by J.K. Rowling and narrated by Jim Dale
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) (Unabridged Audio CD converted to Audiobook)
by J.K. Rowling and narrated by Jim Dale
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4) (Unabridged Audio CD converted to Audiobook)
by J.K. Rowling and narrated by Jim Dale
- Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself
by Alan Alda
- This book is a followup to his memoir Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I’ve Learned, which I really enjoyed reading.
- Brothers In Battle, Best of Friends
by William “Wild Bill” Guarnere, Edward “Babe” Heffron, and Robyn Post
- Holy Terror (Rogue Warrior)
by Richard Marcinko and Jim DeFelice
- Vengeance (Rogue Warrior)
by Richard Marcinko and Jim DeFelice
- TextMate: Power Editing for the Mac
by James Gray
- Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany
by Stephen E. Ambrose
- The Keeper’s Son
by Homer Hickam
- The Design of Everyday Things
by Donald A. Norman
- Bulletproof Ajax
by Jeremy Keith
- Macromedia ColdFusion MX 7 Web Application Construction Kit
by Ben Forta
Past Reads:
Books are listed from most recently completed at the top
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3) (Unabridged Audio CD converted to Audiobook)
by J.K. Rowling and narrated by Jim Dale
- February 4 – March 5, 2008
- Knowing all of the events that happened throughout the series makes me focus more closely on certain events, such as the true identity of Scabbers the rat and why the sneakoscope Ron gave to Harry keeps going off.
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) (Unabridged Audio CD converted to Audiobook)
by J.K. Rowling and narrated by Jim Dale
- January 21 – January 31, 2008
- Continuing my way through the Harry Potter audiobooks. Jim Dale does such a wonderful job in narrating these.
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Book 1) (Unabridged Audio CD converted to Audiobook)
by J.K. Rowling and narrated by Jim Dale
- January 3 – January 16, 2008
- I decided to re-listen to the entire series of Harry Potter audiobooks because I didn’t get a chance to listen to the final two or three books, so over the past Christmas holiday I busied myself with importing the CD’s of all seven of the Harry Potter books and followed a procedure I found on the Web for importing audiobooks that uses a very useful script called Join Together to turn them into audiobooks. This was a daunting task involving the import of 99 CD’s (in series order: 7, 8, 10, 17, 23, 17, 17), and hundreds of tracks that needed to be converted and joined together into chapters. This was truly a labor of love because the process was not enjoyable at all. In any case, I digress…listening to the first book was a refreshing break from the drama of the final book.
- The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity (2nd Edition)
by Alan Cooper
- July 19, 2007 – January 2, 2008
- I picked this book up thinking it would be a light read on how various high-tech products are poorly designed, with examples from various categories such as cell phones, computers, etc. The book started out that way, but then turned pretty technical which is why it languished on my reading pile for several months until I could muster up the fortitude to finish reading it. The author discusses how everyone is responsible for poorly designed interfaces, including graphic designers, management, and the programmers themselves and how using personas when designing interfaces is so important. This book wasn’t quite to my taste but it provided some good background knowledge.
- State of Fear
by Michael Crichton
- March 1 – Nov. 27, 2007
- I started reading this and it didn’t capture my attention so I let it sit for a few months. I later picked it back up and the more I read the more interested I became. An intriguing fiction-based-on-fact look at global warming that really made me ponder the whole global warming controversy. I especially liked two sections at the end of the book—the Author’s Message and Appendix I: "Why Politicized Science Is Dangerous," where the author points out the similarities between the current global warming hype and a similar event involving eugenics that happened almost 100 years ago.
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)
by J.K. Rowling
- July 21 – July 23, 2007
- A bittersweet end to the Harry Potter series:
Some will make you happy,
Some will make you mad,
Some is unexpected,
And some will make you sad.
An excellent book, filled with more twists and turns than any of the other books. The last 200 pages are unstoppable. And I especially liked the epilogue.
- Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design
by Andy Clarke & Molly E. Holzschlag
- March 14 – July 14, 2007
- Took me a while to get through this one, although it was well written and contains excellent information. Andy Clarke displays his CSS mastery with everyday examples. I especially liked “the view into the future” of what the future version of CSS can do. The book is very elegant with many pictures, I think this would capture the attention of a designer more than a hard-core coder, even though the information is relevant to both types. I met Andy Clarke in person at the @Media 2007 America web conference in San Francisco in May 2007. Not only is Andy a good author, he’s an excellent speaker too.
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Book 1)
by J.K. Rowling
- June 25 – June 28, 2007
- I originally read this one when it first came out. We were on vacation and my 8 year old son had just finished reading it so—wanting something for a quick read—I picked it up and read it again, in anticipation of the final Harry Potter book due to be released next month.
- Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition
by Steve Krug
- June 1 – June 28, 2007
- I was looking forward to reading this since Web usability is becoming one of my primary focus points. The book was well written and offered several examples throughout each chapter.
- Learn to Program
by Chris Pine
- March 13 – March 14, 2007
- Primarily focuses on programming Ruby but a good primer on programming in general. A quick read, and afterwards I went back and practiced some of the examples.
- For One More Day
by Mitch Albom
- March 1 – March 4, 2007
- A typical Mitch Albom book, dealing with death. A quick but gratifying read.
- The Second Coming of Steve Jobs (Unabridged Audiobook)
by Alan Deutschman and narrated by the author
- February 21 – February 28, 2007
- Wow! An eye-opening account of Steve Jobs, one that has made me reconsider my opinion of this great visionary. I still admire him but now take him with a grain of salt. Any ideas I had of wanting to work with him has vanished, I’d rather remain a consumer of Apple products rather than an employee.
- Madam Secretary: A Memoir
by Madeline Albright
- January – February 28, 2007
- I would normally never consider reading this book. I’m not all that interested in politics and the sheer size of this book is intimidating. It was handed out during Discovery’s employee celebration of its 20th year Anniversary and Madeline Albright was a speaker at the event. But I’m glad I read this book, she has a fascinating history and some of the “behind the curtain” information is equally interesting. I once had a quick encounter with her. Well, encounter isn’t the right word but I don't know what is. When I used to work in Downtown DC she moved into an office that not only was in the same building as me but was on my floor, just down the hall from my office. I once rode in the elevator with her but had no clue who the short round woman was. If only I knew!
