Well, things are coming along...I've been really busy trying to work when the power isn't out...when it is out, then I'm completely lost haha. The DVD application is really coming along. At the moment, the base core code is complete and now it's just adding in final tweaks and bug fixes which is relatively easy. It definitely challenges my logic though because you've really got to think about what the program and code is doing and how to make it do exactly what you want :)

Employment-wise I've got a couple things going on. I was supposed to fly out to Texas tomorrow to meet up with some people for a potential job, but they didn't get my airplane tickets and hotel lined up yet...so it looks like it might be next week instead. That's okay though...Although I really have no idea what I'll be doing this week. Probably working on that DVD application but you can only do that for so long. I'll probably try to spend as much time with my horse as I can, seeing as how I'll likely need to sell him with whatever new job I get since it'll likely not be located here in Vermont.

Yesterday, Abby made and brought me some pizza, it was definitely amazing! :) Then we watched some TV and then she had to get some barn chores done.

I believe once I am done with this entry, I'll be heading out to the barn myself. Today's my last day of chores, so it'll be the last stalls I muck for quite some time :) I'm quite happy about that :)

Tonight, not sure what's going on, I'd love to go out to dinner and a movie, dinner is doable, movie not so much since there's nothing decent in theatres. We'll see...I definitely want to just relax, no code, no servers, no nothing tonight, just have fun and relax :)

I hope everyone had a nice weekend!!

 Been getting some really unusual music lately. Oddly I can stand it too haha. Brokencyde's new album is pretty hilarious. I made myself a ringtone from the Freaxxx song lol. I told Abby she could pick any one song and I'd make it into a ringtone for her when she calls me.

Friday I hung out with her. We went to her house, just chilled out, watched some movies, went for a walk. Saturday I finished up my final for Nutrition class, ended up getting a 94 on it and an A in the class overall. Quite happy with that. Then I met up with her around 12 and we went to her house, did some things to get ready for her party, took a nap, took a walk, watched some movies, then people started showing up around 5 or so...had a ton of fun at the party. I beat Bethany 21 to 4 in badminton. We did some four-wheeling which was badass, but we didn't get as dirty and muddy as I had wanted too lol. Bonfire was awesome, Abby and I laid out a tarp and watched the stars for a bit after everyone left, then we huddled close to the fire since it was kind of cold.

Sunday, we went and saw Transformers 2 which was pretty badass. That was too be expected though. Storyline, was eh...nothing to awesome...at least the movie was badass...after that we did chores at the barn and then went out to get some ice cream.

Today I spent finishing the add new customer bit on the DVD Rental script I'm working on. Also started in on the search feature which is pretty much complete. This week I'd like to accomplish finishing the edit customer part.

After I finished coding, I went to the barn to get my chores done. Then I went and Abby made me some pizza which ended up awesome. Definitely hit the spot and of course seeing her was awesome. Then I came home, and I've been playing a little Xbox since. I got a new free costume for LittleBigPlanet. It's the summer solstice one. I really want to get Killzone 2 for my PS3. We'll see, there's so many other things on the list. Haha.

Tomorrow, it's back to UVM. Ick. But whatever, it's money. I start my Japanese class in a couple weeks, I am pretty psyched for that. I need to write a letter to HR telling them what a fuck up my boss is. It's fucking ridiculous. :) Maybe I'll just move to Boston and work at the Apple Store. Who knows...Apparently Steve Jobs is back at Apple, he looks decent. Maybe he was secretly working on that tablet I so desperately want :)

I found out tonight that you can make ringtones in Garageband and since GarageBand can import songs I just used that instead of purchasing the song over again. So I made one from Brokencyde, Attack Attack! and This Romantic Tragedy. I'm loving it!

Haven't been riding as much because it's either been raining, or I've just wanted to come home and work on some web projects and things...or because Cub is lame which means Abby and I can't ride together...which has been quite fun the 4-5 times we've done so.

Only have to work tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday! Yay for Friday off, I am hoping Abby can spend the night on Friday, that would be most excellent. If not, I am sure she'll stay pretty late into the morning hours :)

Hope everyone has an awesome week!

Today was unusually amazing for a Monday. Woke up kind of late, sleeping in is nice :) Just wake up when I am done sleeping, took a shower, got ready for the day. I went out to my first consulting appointment. It was for a slow computer which is one of the worst to go out on because that really doesn't tell me anything, there's a million and one reasons as to why a computer could be slow. I ran my usual checks and applications to look for what could be causing the problem. I ended up telling them to purchase some new RAM for not only the machine that was having an issue but for most of their machines. One guy was running 512MBs of RAM, now mind you, these guys are graphics/print designers and sit and play in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign all day...and for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters nonetheless haha. I hope some people have heard of them :P So yeah, we're jacking them up to like 6-8GBs. 512MBs is ridiculous!

After that, I went out and had lunch with my mom, but not before I stopped off at my local gun shop and got my stock replaced...it's kind of ghetto, but whatever haha, it works. I saw the Bushmaster A3 that I really really want, so I am definitely going to be saving up for that. Maybe by the end of the summer I'll have enough money to drop on that (only $1200 haha). After that I found out my car needs like $900 in repairs, I hate cars. Haha. I wish I could just ride my horse everywhere. I'd definitely be down with that.

After lunch I hung out with Abby, we watched a couple episodes of Wildboyz and then I went to my second appointment. It was a good one though, cause it was for one of my old managers from Small Dog. He's looking to do some DVD rentals and needs an application to not only inventory the DVDs, but to handle rentals, returns and customer information. So it's definitely going to be a good learning experience. We'll be writing it in PHP & MySQL and there's a big possibility that he won't be the only people using it, considering I've seen little nothing else out there in the market. So it's going to be a really crazy ride this one!!

After that, I headed out to the barn, met back up with Abby and Bethany. Had some good times there. Abby made me a whole thing of rice crispy treats for me, which I "shared" hahaha. She's so wonderful to me, it's really nice to know there's someone out there who really cares about you...a lot. I believe she's coming over when I get home from work, we're just going to relax, maybe watch a movie or build our Sims a house hahaha.

Tonight, I've got a buncha homework to do. I might start working on an outline for the DVD project. Who knows...maybe I'll do neither and just watch a movie and relax :) Did I mention how amazing Ponyo on a Cliff By The Sea was!? Yeah, it was great, Miyazaki for the win...Did I mention how badly I want that A3...oh, cause I do ;) Thursday is Abby's birthday. I am going to order her some flowers right now...she loves lillys. <3

So I've been working pretty much all day on getting rename tokens working. I think we've almost got it. Fortunately squeaky is going to lend a hand and help out with some of the coding. I had to pull a bunch of code out and do things that you're probably not supposed to do to get this version working. And this version doesn't quite accept rename tokens yet, but that's definitely coming. So I thought I'd leave it open for FREEEEE for the next 7 days, get you guys to test it out, let me know how it works. Then I might toss out like 4-5 tokens when we get that working to do some testing on that.

I also worked on getting the searching working, so that's not quite finished yet, but it seems to be searching although, not much data is returned yet.

Boy what a day, I've been staring at this screen for about 12 hours now. My eyes feel like they're on fire!!! Hahaha.

So tonight, I think I might watch some more Fruits Basket, even though the English dub is really getting to me haha. And I'm not really that tired believe it or not.

Tomorrow, I am hoping the weather clears up. It's pretty much been pouring non-stop since 12pm or so. I would love to go out riding since I've been inside all day.

The MRTG graph for the MySQL server isn't working and hasn't since Friday afternoon, it's annoying the hell out of me...I'll probably spent hours trying to fix it too haha

Anyways, that's enough yapping for now, off to fix this issue...if it's not one thing it's another....lol.

Just got a whole ton of new music. I've actually not listened to much of it yet, but the new Vanna album is quite amazing. It's definitely going to go on my iPod :) I've been working a lot on adding stuff into Delicious Library. I've completed movies, so I guess next I'll work on video games and TV shows. We're like 7 episodes away from having 4,000 TV episodes haha. We've also got like 950 movies which is nuts. I'm really hurting on space now haha. I can't wait to get a new server. I'll be able to offload like 100GB+ onto there.

Yesterday, I didn't really do much, actually, I did like nothing at all haha. Around 2 or so, I went to the barn and worked there. It's so nice seeing all the horses and everything. Was also really nice to see Rita and Bethany and her new horse Joy. She's a really good looking horse. After that, I stopped by the old apartment and we picked up the server rack and a few other items that had been left behind. Got back and put everything that would fit in the rack, in there. I'll have to take some photos, maybe this afternoon :) Or how about right now :)


So there you have it, a few photos. I am really hoping to get that new database server before the beginning of summer. We're really in need of a decent box for handling it all. Today...

Woke up around 9...definitely a bit later then I was hoping for, but it's okay. I think I finished a Dirty Jobs episode, got some breakfast. Then emilie called and we chatted for a bit, figured out some plans for today. I think I'll head to the barn around 2pm or so, get my chores done, then we're going to meet up at the grocery store and pickup some stuff to make a nice meal at her place...I dunno what else we're going to do. I'll finally be able to see my kitty.

Hopefully the roads aren't too bad. I guess just take it nice and easy and it'll be fine. So now I'm going to read a bit of my Anime Insider mag and maybe watch a movie. Have a lovely day everyone! :)

Yesterday I spent a bunch of time moving the iMac into the "bedroom" and hooking up all 9-10 drives to it and connecting that to the AppleTV instead of the Xserve. It seems to be working (and hopefully a lot better) as the previous setup was pissing me off. That's about all I did yesterday, I did some work on a vBulletin install morgan  setup.

Also ltdan  and morgan  started the wiki for the network. I am quite happy with it. Just one less thing that is not on my plate.

I actually got some Xbox in the other night. Definitely had a good time. Also spoke with my good buddy Greg the other day, he's well, I can't wait to see him soon, hopefully Christmas. I also hooked up with an old friend from AP, Shelly. We used to talk like every day for 12 hours haha. I haven't spoken to her since like 04-05 though, so it was really nice to catch up. I love catching up with people who I like.

Today we're going to the barn, I think I might go riding either tomorrow or Tuesday, whatever day is supposed to be like 50 F. Then we're going to dinner and I guess come home to watch some movies or play on Playstation Home as it seems to be pretty fun. Emilie seems to be enjoying it. I haven't had time to sit down and play with it.

Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend and a wonderful Saturday :)

 Between working at UVM, working at the barn, fixing broken mail server *cough* Palomino *cough*, I've barely got time for anything else. When I get home at night all I wanna do is plunk myself down in front of Xbox or watch a movie. My brain can't really handle much more haha.

Been pretty quiet on the consulting front which is nice, because I am not sure I have time for much more. I am pretty much running on people calling me now, I barely have time to check the GC account for new people which kind of sucks.

I'm still working on getting one ad network on here, to probably replace the Google ads, or maybe have them all in rotation, not sure, still a work in progress.

morgan 's boyfriend is looking to take her down to Boston or Montreal for dinner and hanging out, I thought I could do the same with emilie although not at the moment, probably after the new year, maybe even as late as the Spring.

Not much else is going on...have a couple staff and friend parties that I might attend, depends on how much work I can get done between now and when they happen.

Hope all is well with everyone, sorry if I've not been able to comment on your entries, I'm trying!!

Today was a rather uneventful day. I did get to configure an iPod touch with a Cisco VPN, rather interesting. It's nice to know that now the 2.0 software does support Cisco VPN IPSec stuff. Other then that, nothing to wonderful happened. I finally remembered to bring home my saddle & bridle so that I could clean it. Hopefully I can do that either Friday or this weekend sometime.

Tomorrow at work we've got no work, but rather some wellness thing we need to attend. I don't think I shall complain as I am getting paid to not work, sounds good. I think emilie is going to come and pick me up too, which is going to be awesome. Today there were absolutely no seats on the bus on the way up to work.

After work, I did work at the barn, was nice seeing my horse. Apparently they had some hail there, but he didn't mind it, I guess the skimpy fly sheet worked for even that. The other horses, were like, "ahhhh!! what's this stuff hitting me!!". LOL.

Anyways, as the subject of this entry mentions, SPORE! I did get my hands on a copy, and yes I've been playing it since about 8pm this evening. It's an amazing game, I think I shall definitely purchase the Galactic Edition as this game definitely deserves my $50 or whatever. Emilie loves it to, we're definitely going to make some awesome stuff.

I finally got the Xserve rebuilt, my MacBook and Emilie's MacBook rebuilt. Everything but that Cisco switch has been fixed. At some point either on Friday or this weekend, I've got work on that Xserve for Keith and I's consulting appointment next weekend.

Hrmm, so Emilie and I are going to watch a movie now!

On Saturday night I believe it was I got my hands on the trial edition of the Spore Creature Creator. Unfortunately, I did get to play it until last night. emilie & I have been making tons of these little critters!



Hopefully sometime today we'll be getting the full demo version, I know I pre-ordered it last night. I'll probably buy a couple copies (for $10, why not!). That means we'll get access to even more body parts and stuff. It's definitely going to be awesome. I even made that ClipShare site (which is where the above video comes from) so I could upload my own videos and stuff. What a pain in the butt, but I finally got it working :) I know Spore integrates with YouTube, but I hate relying on other people/services haha

So besides playing Spore yesterday, I worked at the barn. I brought the baby kitties a new box. I used the big one from my State Line order. It was actually not as big as I thought it was, after seeing the kitties inside of it. It worked out really well. They're starting to become a lot more lively, and are looking to play a lot. After the barn, I got some food shopping done. Got these awesome chips, can't remember what they're called.

Before heading to the barn and all though, I spent the morning, installing Mac OS X Leopard Server on my Xserve. The poor PowerBook had had enough of being the server I think. The little laptop can't handle such tasks haha So I migrated all my iTunes stuff over and got it working with the AppleTV. Works pretty well now, although the server sucks up a lot more energy and all. I also got my PC up and running so I could play the Spore trial later that night.

We got Chinese food last night, quite delicious. Then we spent like hours and hours playing with the Spore Creature Creator. I was up until like 2am working on that video site and playing Spore. Unfortunately I got up around 7am today, which sucks, but oh well, I'll probably take a nap this afternoon or something. I've got a consulting appointment around 10am today, should be pretty simple, but who knows. I've got to install Mac OS X Leopard Server on a PowerMac G5 and then migrate some data over. Hopefully they'll be using OpenDNS so I won't have to worry about setting up a proxy server of some type.

So hopefully sometime today the full version of the Creature Creator comes out. I pre-ordered it last night. If not, well I've still got lots of ideas to mess around with and we've got a bunch of new movies to watch. I got every Dirty Jobs episode, so we'll have fun watching those.

Have a lovely Tuesday everyone!

I've been a user of Microsoft Windows much longer then a Mac user. Ever since I moved myself onto the Apple operating system some 3-4 years ago, I've never looked back, except for the one obvious thing. Gaming. I must have my games, although I am starting to become much more of a console gamer except for any FPS games. All FPS games must be played with a keyboard and mouse, or else it's just lame.

More to the point though. I've been beta/alpha testing Windows "Longhorn" or Vista if you may ever since build 3683, which was...2001, 2002?? It's been a lot of fun, but it's been really great lately. The last build I tried was sometime in December, I think it was one or 2 builds after 5231 or whatever that was.

I noticed that Microsoft is now including more then just Calculator and Notepad. Things that would be like Apple's iPhoto, iCal and really nice working email client are built right into the operating system. Now we don't have to search and download 3rd party applications, everything is right there like it should be.

You need to understand I am NOT a Microsoft, Apple or Linux fanboy. I understand that each OS has it's weaknesses and it's strengths. I switched to the Apple platform because I had stopped gaming and I needed something that was going to make me more productive.

Using Windows, is not productive for me. I am always needing to download extra programs or make sure my virus protection software is up to date, along with my spyware scanning software. I had to make sure my registry wasn't mucked up and that programs weren't leaving behind files even after I un-installed them. But now with Vista and it's many new features I have a feeling that a lot of my issues will be taken care of and now I can re-consider using the Windows platform as a main computing environment, not just for gaming.

I use Apple for about everything right now, although that is changing as we speak, partly thanks to Google. Apple has everything I need out of the box, iCal, iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD along with a great set of professional media editing tools and tons of 3rd party pieces of software. Some of the pieces of software I use on my Mac, I couldn't even find a comparable piece of the Windows system. Everything about my Mac is seamlessly integrated and all the programs work so nicely together. Hell, it looks good too! The only issue is, NO GAMING!! Most of the games I play are PC only, although I have seen that Quake 4 is now out for Mac and World of WarCraft is for Mac too, but in reality most of the games I play, Half Life 2, Battlefield 2, Oblivion, and others are PC only. Apple is great for multi-media.

Linux, I have to say is the least productive operating system for me currently. It's #1 on the learning experience though. When I use Linux I probably learn AT LEAST one new thing about it and how it works PER DAY! There's always something new to learn with Linux for me. It's always changing...it changes...almost everyday! A new patch or a new set of features is released for an application I use and I can download, compile and install that patch quickly! I am always trying out new software created for Linux and using bleeding edges stuff. It's fun to see how the developers try to program new programs and pieces of software that have already been done on other operating systems, OS X and Windows mainly. Personally, I use Linux mostly for it's stability and security and implement that into web services, mail, ftp, and databases. Linux is good for being a server.

Windows...Windows...Windows...So many people say how horrible Windows is. Let's get this straight...Windows is...yes, I am going to say it...a wonderful operating system. It's just the IDIOT people who can't work the most simplest things that have so much trouble with an operating system that is so easy to use. Alright, so it doesn't come with all the cool things Apple's OS X comes with, but it sure is easy to use. Or maybe, it's so hard to use only the advanced computer users of today can tackle this beast from Microsoft. You need to understand how the spyware, malware, and viruses work, so that you can prevent or remove them from the systems. I've used Windows for so long this is mostly all a second language to me and my Windows machines are locked down and used only for a couple specific tasks.

So if you've read this by chance...leave some comments...maybe I'll update it or create another section about how I feel Windows Vista is doing in productivity terms compared to Apple's OS X!

First here's a few photos emilie took this morning. Thought I would share them with you all! That's my little kitty!







So anyways, I had to pick up my parents at the airport yesterday, they were just getting back from a trip to Ireland, kind of sounds boring to me, but hey, they had fun. Maybe if they had some horsey activities over there, I could handle it, and I am sure they do, but I could probably do the same thing here, for a lot cheaper.

Today, not much going on, just finishing up some Mint installs. It's some really great web analytics software, check it out if you have your own website and stuff. Also working on a new social website for equestrians. It reminds me a lot of FaceBook, but obviously not a feature-filled, but I think people will enjoy it.

I actually chatted with Adelaide the other day, one of my ex-girlfriends who I've not spoken to in ages. She was a really great person, still is, we definitely had a lot of fun. Unfortunately she's way down in CT, but who knows, maybe we'll meet-up sometime.

It's miserable here, crappy and raining...but I think I will still go to the barn as I've not got a lot of other work to get done and I've got some really delicious (or so they say) horse treats to give out.

I am thinking about going back to school since I might have guaranteed admissions to the University of Vermont, but ONLY if I can get into the Equine Science program. I think it will definitely be a challenge but it would be a real lot of fun and stuff to learn all about it. We'll see, just waiting for an email back from my advisor.

Well, I'm off to get some other things, done. I've been messing around with Linux and I love it. I've been using it for servers for many years but now I've turned my main desktop into a Linux machine and I must say, it's awesome, although not as good as Mac OS X, but definitely much better then Windows! Have a lovely day everyone!

Heya everyone! Sorry I've not updated in a while (at least a real update). I've been trying to comment though, but with all this crazy business, it's been a bit hard.

Last Friday I headed down to Mass. to play some more airsoft games and I had a training. Friday, got down there around 8-9pm and we just grabbed some pizza and watched Rescue Dawn and passed out. Saturday, the 3 of us (Greg, Jess and I) went out to IHOP. It might have been the first time I've ever been there but I am not 100% sure. It was good though, minus the fake syrup (I guess living in Vermont has made me spoiled). Good stuff though! Then we went back to their place and Jess went to work and Greg and I decided to drive over to Federal Airsoft. It was about an hour and half drive, but worth it. Greg ended up getting a TM 1911, it's really nice although it's not my type. I got more for the Glocks. So we hung out there for probably 2-3 hours, Craig's always got good stories to tell, so that's fun. Got home around 7pm or something and hung out for the night, I can't exactly remember what we did.

On Sunday, we pretty much woke up, geared up and headed down to Bridgewater. We had to wait a bit cause they were still doing paintball and stuff. Training started like 45 minutes later then it should have which probably means we missed a lot of stuff. We got this really great book though which talked about many CQB tactics and stuff. I'll be reading through it when I finish my zombie survival book. So the training was cool, although a bit lame since we were using like "caution" tape to make rooms and walls, it would have been better if they actually had a real facility, oh well, it was only $10, so it wasn't a complete monetary waste.

After the training we got to game and it sure was fun, the first game we had good light, but about half-way into the second game it started to get dark which kinda sucked haha But it was a lot of fun. About 9PM it all ended, maybe a little bit after then, and we were home by like 10:30-11pm. Basically just passed right out haha I was soooo tired and sore.

Monday -- I left Mass about 9am. Stopped by emilie's work and we went out to lunch, got her just in time too hehe. Then I went and worked at the barn, we're back to our normal 3 stalls, which is nice, I did enjoy working more though, more money too $$$!! Monday night, just watched TV, read my book, nothing special.

Tuesday -- Had a bit of consulting in the AM, the clients drive was actually dead (it made sounds worse then I've ever heard, clicking AND squeaking LOL). So I'll be going back there with Ark to replace the drive. In the afternoon emilie and I went to see Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. I only made it like 3/4th the way through the audiobook, I wanna listen to them all...but the movie itself was okay. It definitely didn't feel as epic as The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. It was good though, just not as fantastic as the first. I wonder why they're doing them out of order too?? As far as I know, The Magicians Nephew was the first one...anyways. Went to my parents for dinner and got some laundry done too. Just read books last night and sleep quite well...

Today I am going back to the vets (the client from yesterday) to replace the drive...I probably will just be watching since eMacs aren't my thing and they can kill (literally). Then I am driving down to the Apple Store in Salem, NH. If anyone wants to meet up, just say the word! I'll be down there from about 3:30 till 5pm I would think. My iPhone is crapping out on me. I am going to see if I can pay them an extra $100 (maybe just my $100 gift card) and upgrade to the 16GB and give Emilie my 8GB and then we can sell her 4GB. Dunno if they'll go for it though since it's a replacement unit...I also might get a black Macbook and sell this PowerBook. Anyways, it's going to be a looooong day haha

Have a lovely one kids!

Been quite busy over the last couple days, had consulting on Monday and Tuesday and I went shopping with my Mom yesterday for my birthday. Unfortunately the Army Navy store is no longer in Burlington which sucks. I ended up getting some steel toe SWAT boots though and a new pair of Carhartts.

Keith aso came over last night, we were supposed to study for the Mac OS X Help Support essentials exam, but he brought over the Cloverfield DVD and we ended up watching all the special features and the movie. I love that movie, I finally saw the "thing" fall into the ocean in the last scene of the movie. I have no idea what it is and no body else does either. It was funny to see one of the special features, when they were filming in NY they had to keep everything under wraps and let nothing about the movie out. Every day they would change the name of the movie so no one had any idea what was going on...but even they, people/extras were taking photos on sets on loading them up on the net and by the time the directors got home, they were already up there on the net, crazy...I think they did such an awesome job on that movie! I've got the DVD now, and I am going to make a really nice rip of it, maybe a pure rip.

He got me an original DOS manual for the Apple II, still in like mint condition...it's probably worth like $5000 on eBay hahah That was just the joke gift though. He got me this kickass Gears of War poster. I'll be hanging it up later today, take some pictures of it :)

So we're probably going to Koto's, my favorite restaurant, this Saturday, which is my birthday! Then we're going out to the movies, that'll be nice. I am sad makkintosshu won't be able to make it probably, but he's got some important family things to deal with, and we'll get together with them another time.

So I've gotten like 2500 Nintendo DS games, lots of Japanese ones, and lots of American ones to. I've really gotten into Professor Layton and the Crazy Village or whatever it's called. I also got Brain Age which I've been wanting for awhile, but I've not tried it out yet.

I've yet to modify my PSP, I just don't have the time to read through the directions and make sure I'm doing everything correctly. It'll be cool though, I've got some good games for it.

Today, nothing much going on, cleaning up the apartment, might go out riding, although it's a bit hot for me, maybe later this afternoon when things cool down. Never got my bike tire changed, so I might get that done today. I've started watching DEA (the Spike TV show), and it's okay. I don't think they've fired one bullet yet, it seems to be drama and it's kinda lame. Even Cops is better haha On DEA they've got all these badass guns, and they don't use them LOL. It's okay though...

I bought myself a Classic Army Armalite M15A4 RIS which looks like this:



I also got a SWAT flashlight mount for it, a vertical grip, 10 extra magazines, a quick loader, a smart charger, 4000 bbs, 2 batteries and a MICH helmet.

I also got some digital camo pants, jacket and a really kickass vest that has a pistol holster, 4-5 pistol magazine slots, 3-4 rifle magazine slots and spots for patches...it pretty much looks like this one but in digital ACU camo.

I've got a pretty good wishlist going on too. I've got the JG Full Metal MP5A5 RAS with a G&P Red/Green Aimpoint Replica, and a MadBull Gemtech "Blackslide" Barrel Extension. Also got a TM High Capa 4.3 pistol, OE TECH Hydration Backpack in ACU camo, the AMP Tactical Green Laser with Mount and also the woodland camo vest I linked to in the previous paragraph...

So hopefully I'll be getting my rifle and stuff in next week sometime and Greg (my best friend from grade school, middle/high school and pretty much for life) and I are going to play with some guys in Massachusetts. They've got like whole courses and things setup to play in. It looks so much fun so I cannot wait for that.

I definitely need to keep working cause my wishlist is like $600 lol...and I wanna get multiple magazines for that TM pistol...I also want to add a G36C to that list, so that's another $250-$300.

Ok, well I got some chores to get done, I'm out! Have a lovely day everyone!

This past weekend, I got to try out some of the new features that come in Mac OS X Leopard Server. First lets back up a bit to Tiger Server.

OS X Tiger Server is the first piece of server software I've used from Apple. I come from the world of Linux where most of the configuration is done by hand, you have to edit your own application configuration files. There's no pretty GUI or buttons to click on. Tiger Server saved a lot of time because all I had to do was type a few things in, click 'Go' and I could have a very resourceful server. In just a matter of minutes, I could be running a web server, file server, DNS server, VPN server and more! Apple really made Tiger Server easy to setup and manage. Thy provided some really great tools too.

With Leopard Server they've made it even EASIER to setup and manage. I think Apple has really extended the potential of Leopard server, they making is so Leopard Server has a place in the home as well as large companies. They continue to provide some really awesome tools to manage it and it includes loads of new and cool features.

When I setup Leopard Server, I did a fresh install (no upgrade) so I am not sure if some of the things I am talking about will apply to people who choose to upgrade from Leopard Server.

Upon boot up after you install Leopard server you can choose what type of server you want. There are three options, Standard, Workgroup or Advanced. Each of the three types just had a bit different configuration in which services it uses and sets up for you. While I think this is great for people who like things done for them, I prefer to configure each service by hand (I guess that's the Linux-side of me coming out). People who really just want the easiest way to manage their server should probably choose either the Standard or Workgroup configurations. This will also allow you to use some of the new and nifty tools that Apple has included with Leopard Server. Unfortunately when you use the Advanced server type you loose the ability to use some of those tools (you can still use Server Admin, Workgroup Manager and command line utilities though). I am torn between letting Apple do all of the hard stuff so I can use the new tools (using the Workgroup server type) or just using the Advanced server type and handling everything myself. I'm still deciding but I have to say I think it's great Apple is making their server software usable by most anyone with some experience in computer and networking.

So after choosing the type of server you want, Apple will go about and work its magic, setting up the services and configuring them for you.

For my tests I choose the Workgroup type, so I got the iCal service, web server, iChat service, Mail service, Time Machine backup service, the Open Directory service and a few others. I have a feeling most people will choose the Workgroup type, because it includes a lot of services while still being able to easily manage it.

One of the new management applications that comes with Leopard Server is called Server Preferences. It looks very similar to System Preferences, but it allows you to easily manage the services on your server. Over the last 2-3 years I've gotten very used to using Server Admin and Workgroup Manager to manage all my services and users, so if I choose to use the Workgroup server type on my live server, I'll have to get use to doing everything through the Server Preferences application. It's definitely a great tool for people who are new too OS X Server.

A few of the things that I am really looking forward to actually using is the wiki server, the iCal server and possibly the Time Machine service.

I run a couple wikis (think of Wikipedia.org but on a much smaller scale) so I would love to move them into this service. I have a few shared calendars that need to actually be editable by more then just one person, so the iCal server will surely help with that problem.

The last thing, Time Machine backup service sounds really interesting but at this point I don't know enough about how it works to rely on that as my only backup service. It sounds really great that client machines can backup to the server rather then a local disk. It saves me from having to buy multiple external drives for each client, instead I can just point them to the server and use that as my backup location. I guess I'll just have to do some testing!

In the few days I spent playing with Leopard server, I have to say that I am really impressed with how easy Apple has made it for someone to setup and manage a fully featured server. They include some great tools and some really new and much welcomed features.

Here's a few PDF files that I found quite useful when setting up Leopard Server, check them out cause they're very useful.

Getting Started with OS X Leopard Server
Installation Setup & Worksheet