Warning, boring and probably uninteresting nerd post follows:

It’s no secret I do like what Google does!

Google released a new version of their Google Maps application for PDA / Smartphones and other similar devices. It’s a standalone application that no longer runs under the JAVA menu/midlet manager (which means it shows up as it’s own application icon and runs a bit faster). It works a whole bunch better than it did a while ago.

However the real reason why I post and am so excited is that they’ve a sweet new feature which uses information from the nearest cell phone tower you are close to to pinpoint your location. This sounds scary but it will provide you a GPS like starting location which is most useful when using the maps to find directions or where you are located when you have no clue where you are! So far i’ve found it will put me within a few blocks of where I actually am, not too shabby!.

I had used a piece of software almost a year ago called navizon which did a similar thing but it would also use your wifi connection to figure out the location. This program would emulate a GPS and allow itself to be “plugged in” to any PDA application that could use a GPS. Navizon didn’t work well and would cause (many) issues with my PDA. I stopped using it and just moved over to Live Search, a Microsoft product. I have to admit the Live Search PDA application was what google maps is on the desktop browser.

I also think because Live Search was so good on the PDA it was probably a HUGE motivator for google to finally update their maps PDA application. So if you have a windows mobile PDA, smartphone, palm or blackberry visit: http://www.google.com/gmm and download the program to your device. You’ll probably use this application a lot!

The Thursday before last I turned on my laptop and all I heard was a click, click, click… the Hard Drive would not start… bad times! After a few minutes of trying to see if it’d spin I decided to get Apple Care on the phone to setup a time to take this laptop in. Thanks to Greg I didn’t end up having to be subjected to a (presumably) torturous help session with an “Apple Guru.” I was already getting the maybe you need technical support before seeing a “guru” when I explained (over the phone) do you hear that clicking noise… yeah that’s the hard drive so I don’t think there’s much that can be done over the phone. The apple phone person (they need a catchy name also) said oh, yeah you’re right you’ll need to bring that in.

Fast forward a week later I picked up my laptop from the Harbaugh house and have been spending the next day or so on and off re-installing programs. Luckily I had enabled the Time Machine function of Leopard so all my documents and programs were backed up nicely. Unfortunately, the backup I had was an upgrade backup so I decided to just re-install the operating system from scratch and pull back what documents I needed.

While it was a bit of a pain in the butt and odd being without a home computer (HTPC is setup for the living room so it’s not the best for browsing the internet or doing work on)… I guess the lesson in this post is: BACKUP YOUR COMPUTER CRAPS REGULARLY!

Welcome back lappy!

Being the day after Thanksgiving, Lori and I seem to have a tradition of decorating for Christmas. Last year we got a tree the day after Thanksgiving. This year, since we are in a house it made more sense to use the day to focus on outside decoration, lights. I can remember being a kid and getting excited to put up lights at my parent’s house and then my grandparent’s house, which usually was a HUGE project.

Though it wasn’t as elaborate as i’ve done in the past I think the lights turned out well and there are quite a few more than we’d put up on our balcony at the apartment. I’m still debating if I want to put a net of lights on the big bush tree thing between our house and the neighbors. All of the non icicle lights are LED, and had we not had the icicle lights already I’d have bought those as LEDs also. I really like the look of the LEDs and they use like 3.2 watts per strand!

Big thanks to Timbo for the help. Here are some photos.

Up next will be more interior decorating and then maybe (if I can delay it) in a week or so we’ll get a tree. I will admit I’m a little sad being not as close as we once were from All-(far from)-American Home Center because they really did have the best trees and the most decoration elements. Though, I’m sure we’ll find a decent tree lot around here.

Wednesday evening was the Revolution Church Thanksgiving Eve service. I got to Artesia High School around 4 with Downey’s speakers and amp in my truck. We unloaded and began to setup the system. The band was to be huge and with two sets of speakers to setup and two amps it was quite the undertaking for Tim and I. We both worked in overdrive to get it all done. The end product sounded so sweet which complimented the very solid band playing that evening.

The music was good the message and the interaction portions were also. The mood of the “backside” of worship along with the deeper explanation of communion flowed well together and people seemed to be moved. Overall I enjoyed the evening and especially the after fellowship pie and mingling. Unfortunately, I only took a few photos and videos due to the cramped nature of the evening’s setup and operation.

I really did have a blast and I’m excited for the Christmas service!

Was one of the lucky 10 or so (for PS3) who were able to pick up the Rock Band bundle at Best Buy this morning. So far the guitar is so much better than Guitar Hero 3 and much more fun to play. The drums are VERY frustrating but I should probably go through tutorial mode and play it out and try to learn the way it wants me to play.

The microphone is a novelty but will make for a cool karaoke element for the game. Though, you can place it in your shirt pocket and sing along with the game and also play guitar in multi-player mode, I expect to see a video on youtube in a few weeks of someone who also modified the drumset to make some kind of one man super rockband.

The (surround) sound in the game is much better. The game has a good track list and with what they currently offer and what they have announced to offer online should keep the game playable for quite a while. The online play is good and seems to work much better than Guitar Hero’s flaky online play.

The bummer part is so far the GH3 guitar doesn’t work in RockBand though it’s supposed to. The xbox 360 GH3 guitar works with their RockBand and word has it a game or system update will solve the problem.

Oh and I almost forgot to mention one of the unlockable songs is… Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld, aka the “Tim-Mah!” song.

Spaceballs is a great movie:

Sandurz: Prepare for light speed.

Helmet: No, no, light speed is too slow.

Sandurz: Light speed too slow?

Helmet: Yes, we’ll have to go right to…Ludicrous speed!

Sandurz:Ludicrous speed! Sir, we’ve never gone that fast before.

Today verizon started offering symmetrical internet service to their Fios customers. So I now have a 15mbps up / 15mbps down internet connection…

it just feels so wrong!

Kind of late to write about last week, but if I’m keeping a journal of some sorts here it is:

Julie was in town to spend a few relaxing days in SoCal and up in Solvang (where she had never been, a few photos are here). Friday was a nice day of catching up, Lunch at Super Mex and then dinner at the Yaki Tori side of Sushi of Naples. After many Saki later we returned home for sleep.

Saturday Lori and Julie left for Solvang leaving poor me to be home alone! I did some odds and ends around the house and went with Tim to meet up with Jason to bottle our beer at the Brewbakers. The beer, a Cream Stout turned out well! Tim and I returned to my place for some GH III action and then we met up with Jason, Andrew and Kevin (the Camion) at (mother)Fudd Ruckers for dinner.

After dinner we returned back to my house because I had a BluRay copy of Live Free or Die Hard we were bent on watching. Well that proved a challenge but after an hour or so of *tweaking* my system I found the proper combination to play the movie. The PQ was perfect and the surround was booming (it was after midnight by now so i turned down the bass a bit not to scare/piss off the neighbors). Man I really NEED a 60” TV!!! I enjoyed the movie and was very happy I was able to play a BluRay film on my HTPC.

Sunday morning came pretty quick, Tim and I did some setup at Lakewood and then I took off to Downey for our setup. It was acoustic Sunday so not much for stage setup and it went pretty quick, though the lack of sleep and lingering cold did catch up with me and I was pretty grumpy. Sunday after church I went home and took a nap. Woke up ate some dinner, watched the Pixar Shorts and Ratatouille BluRay discs I bought until Donovan came over. I had a great time hanging and talking with Donovan and then playing some GH3. Richard came over with leftovers from his new favorite BBQ restaurant obsession and we took turns shredding at the GH3.

Monday afternoon delivered back Lori and Julie we planned a little Carnage Asada BBQ in Julie’s honor and invited over a few people. The BBQ was fun we all ate like pigs! Fire pit started and some went in to play GH3. Donovan, Julie, Lori and I ended up staying up until 1:30 or so playing the GH3 and talking. Made for great times!

Tuesday was a sad day because we knew Julie was to leave soon. We ended up getting lunch with Donovan in Costa Mesa and then took a trip to Hi-Times to show Julie. After returning home Lori and I took Julie to the airport and bit farewell to her.

Thanks to Ian for planning the surprise trip and lending us Julie! We need to plan these cross trips more often, once or twice a year just doesn’t seem often enough!

West Middle School’s marching band never did things like this, if they did I may have enjoyed it and stayed in band!

Though I prefer Murphy’s over Guinness… they do make awesome commercials:

I guess it took them a week to film with some sequences were re-shot 15 times! Read Here

If you watched tonight’s South Park, you saw them make fun of something that hits close to home… Guitar Hero!
It was a funny episode and I will allow them to make fun of my favorite game. Man I lost it when they mentioned “Buckethead on Expert” and then “John The Fisherman” and then they played John The Fisherman!
If only Guitar Hero had songs from either Buckethead or Primus!

For embarrassment’s sake, here’s a video of probably my 3rd or 4th time playing Guitar Hero III: