Guess and Check

3/31/2005

Sweet hosting offer

Filed under: General,Technology — 11:34 am

Earlier today I was taking a brief look at de.lirio.us (via Matt). I clicked on the “wordpress” tag in the “recent tags” list and the fourth link there was for “Create a Website for Free” created by MacManX. I followed a link in that article for a “1and1 6 month Business Package Free Preview” and ended up signing up for a free test drive.

I got a call from a lovely robot ten minutes later. I told it the code they gave me when I signed up, and that was it. I now have six months of premium 1and1-brand hosting at my disposal. And when they say premium, they mean it. We’re talking about 2 GB storage and 50 GB transfer a month!

The site was ready to go and their place holder page was up in 15 minutes, and 3 minutes after that I added my own. Check it out at s122406133.onlinehome.us.

If I remember correctly, this deal is somewhere along the same lines as Jordan’s One sweet deal he landed a while back.

A sweet deal indeed.

3/30/2005

Pizza belongs in a triangle

Filed under: Current Events,General — 11:48 am

Well, looks like ol’ Heather has finally hit the Information Superhighway like a flaming sack of crap.

Uh, I mean my sister-in-law Heather set up a blog: a breadtangle of pizza. I think this will be quite interesting, especially if both my brother and her post.

And I suppose I can learn some things too. I didn’t even know they went to Mexico.

3/15/2005

Law & Order at The River Project

Filed under: General,Work — 11:52 am

I’ve been volunteering at The River Project for a little over a month now. I work mostly on a seahorse project and help out with updating their website a bit.

This morning they were filming a scene for Law & Order: Criminal Intent in our big shed. Diana, a woman I work with, told me that this is the third time they’ve filmed there in the past year or so. Of course, the coolest thing was that I met Vincent D’Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe. I chatted with D’Onofrio for a bit between scenes and gave him a poster on estuaries that he said his son would like. He seemed like a real nice guy.

Here are some of the better photos I took:

A bit of the set Diana and Vincent They renamed us 'Planet Preserve' A few of their chairs Me with Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe

And I’m told the episode they were filming is named “Beast”.

3/6/2005

The Brothers Chaps at NYU

Filed under: General — 5:02 pm

As some of you already know, last Tuesday I made my way to New York University‘s Kimmel Center for an appearance of Homestar Runner‘s own Mike and Matt Chapman.

I first went at lunch time to stand in line for an hour to buy tickets, only to find out that all of the tickets had been pre-sold to NYU students. This did not daunt me, as I returned an hour an a half before the talk was scheduled to begin, as I had it in my mind that I could purchase some person’s ticket for several times the purchase price. Upon arriving once again to the Kimmel Center, I met Issac, Rachel, and their Issac’s mom Marilyn standing on the sidewalk with a poster informing the passers by of their need for tickets as well. We discussed our common situation, and I joined them in our quest to get some tickets. We talked about how we ended up there, and I found that Marilyn had spoken with the NYU Program Board and was told that a certain amount of tickets would not be sold until the day of the event. Of course, this was a bit untrue, as evidenced by our current situation.

As show time grew near, Marilyn again called the Program Board. Here’s where the excitement beings. The Board had Marilyn speak with Anna, the girl in charge of the event. During that call to Anna, Mike and Matt somehow learned of our plight and agreed to come down before the show began to meet us. We entered the building, and waited in the lobby for what seemed like a very long five minutes.

Mike, Matt, and Craig Zobel then appeared. They spoke with Marilyn about what happened, and then took pictures, signed stuff, and hung out with the group that had assembled. I managed to get the first twenty minutes of this on video before my battery died. This gathering went on until they were pried away from us because they had to do the show.

At this point, it was back to the sidewalk for us. Issac still held the poster, and I found that now they only needed one ticket, as some student had given them one already. Suddenly, some generous soul ran up to us, handed Marilyn another ticket, and ran off. This clearly excited the bunch of us. Marilyn, Issac, and Rachel went in to the building, and I managed to convince them to give me their poster in the hope that it would continue to work its magic. At this point, my friend Melissa arrived and I began to tell her the whole story.

Soon, a gentleman came out of the building and quickly approached me. “I’ve got tickets. They’re stubs, but they won’t give you any trouble,” he said. He pulled out a stub, and I pulled out my wallet. “Is twenty bucks too much?” I asked. “Uh, that sounds great,” he replied, as the exchange was made. “I have another one,” he told me. “Okay, well here’s another twenty. Thanks so much.” I replied. He then ran back in to the building, and was able to get right in with his NYU ID.

I handed the poster to another girl that was waiting outside and wished her luck, handed Melissa her ticket, and proceeded inside. As we approached the room on the eighth floor where the event was, we saw Marilyn waiting outside. She was excited to see that we got tickets, said that Issac and Rachel were inside, and told us to enjoy the show. We went right in and found a seat. Lucky for me, it was right next to an electrical outlet. I plugged in my camcorder, and began recording.

I’d love to go on and on about what happened during the talk, but I figure you can just watch it for yourself (torrent for 1.66 GB avi). If you aren’t one for watching, then head on over to The Homestar Runner Wiki article on the talk, and you’ll be able to read about it there.

After the show, I managed to get a photo with Mike. After it was taken, he told me that he liked my jacket. Very cool.

So this turned out to be quite an adventure. Mike and Matt are the greatest.

Here are some of the better photos I took:

Issac and Rachel Matt, Homestar, Rachel, Issac, and Mike Craig Zobel Mike and I

Edit: Brian Jaworski, another guy who was waiting with us for a bit (the guy from Rutgers in New Jersey) did a write up on the event. Check it out.

Edit: (09/10/2005) New torrent file available.

Edit: (09/11/2005) Better torrent file available.