Steve’s Amazing Weblog Is Becoming Steve’s Amazing Blogspot!

This blog is moving!  I am making this move because WordPress.com does not allow me to add java or widgets from various sites and Blogger will.  I want to be able to add content for my readers and WordPress.com limits what I can add.  Also, I am in the process of migrated all of my old posts from WordPress.com and Yahoo! 360 into Blogger.  So readers, please visit my new blog at http://smanofsteel76.blogspot.com/!

Yahoo! 360 is closing!

I just uploaded my Yahoo! 360 blog posts to WordPress.  For those that have kept track, Yahoo! 360 is where I was posting before WordPress.  Now all of my blog posts are in one place.  I guess one good thing about Yahoo! 360 closing is that I finally consolidated my blogs!

Sleep Apnea And The Perils Of Cigarette Smoking

Its been a while since I have posted to my blog and I thought it was about time.  Since my last post, I was diagnosed with sleep apnea.  With the help of my new CPAP machine, I am sleeping better and feeling better.

However, I have been thinking a lot about my nasty habit of smoking, how it is probably not helping my sleep disorder, and I think its time for me to terminate it for good.  I want to feel even better than better.  Today, I have downgraded to Ultra Light cigarettes and by the end of the week I plan to stop all together.  Its depressing to think about how good I could feel without cigarettes but still be so addicted that it seems impossible to quit.  I hate being dependent on them and I hate the fact that the tobacco companies have me trained well to go and shell out over 5 dollars every day for a new pack of cancer sticks.  Enough is enough.

Anyway that’s the end of my rant.  I needed to write this to share my frustration and I hope my words can inspire other smokers to quit for good.  Smokers everywhere please join me in quitting this nasty habit.

So this is now the part where invite whoever took the time to read this to leave me comments.  Do you have thoughts about smoking or any words of wisdom?

Windows 7 vs. Linux?

Lately, I have been thinking about which operating system to run after Windows Vista on my PC and laptop.  I have been testing out the Windows 7 Beta 1 on my laptop and I must say that I really like it so far.  There are some bugs to work out still but overall its everything Windows Vista should have been.  However, I have always secretly been a fan of Linux but have never switched from Windows for various reasons.  I’d like to share some pros and cons that I have come up with so far.

Windows 7 Pros

1.) The new taskbar is pretty slick and jump lists are useful.

2.) Its faster than Vista and the beta is very stable.

3.) The new themes and the ability to save your own themes is nice.

4.) Windows Live Essentials integrates very well into Windows 7 and allows me to access my Hotmail, feeds, blog, photos, buddies, and more from the useful programs.

Windows 7 Cons

1.) I really hate the idea of buying another Windows product.  Windows 7 should have been Vista SP2 or they should give a discount to those that already spent their hard earned money on Vista.

Linux Pros

1.) Its free.

2.) Has pretty much everything Windows has and more.

3.) Linux can be just as slick as Windows with Compiz Fusion and other enhancements.

4.) I really like KDE 4.

Linux Cons

1.) Has no support for my iPod Touch or iTunes yet.

2.) There are way too many distributions to choose from.  Choice is always good, but sometimes I wish there was just one or at least a few less to have to evaluate.

3.) I can’t install Windows Live Essentials.

In conclusion, I am not sure what this tells me about which I should choose.  I do know that it would be very difficult to switch to Linux before there’s support for my iPod Touch.

This is now the part where I invite you, my readers, to leave some comments, suggestions, or anything else you have to add to this.

Windows Live Is My New Favorite Place On The Web!

If you have not yet checked out the new Windows Live site, its now time.  Days ago Microsoft updated the site and its now more social than ever.  The new home page tells you what your friends are up to and shows you some headlines from the news.  The new profiles tell your friends what you’ve been up to and you can also add some your favorite things, for example you can add your favorite movies, music artists, and books.  Also, the new Windows Live Photos is a great place to store photos, with 25 Gb of storage.  In addition to all these great things on the web site, Microsoft has updated the Windows Live Essentials, which is a bundle of software that helps you manage your e-mail, photos, videos, your blog, and more.  I must say that the new Windows Live is great, but what I like the most is being able to access my Hotmail from Windows Live Mail, upload photos with the Windows Live Photo Gallery, and being able to post to my blog with the Windows Live Writer.  These tools are very helpful with managing my day to day activities on the internet.  I highly recommend to all my readers to check out the new site at http://home.live.com/!

Shine A Light!

I recently got a free month for Netflix as part of a settlement for a class action lawsuit because I was a member a while back.  Therefore, I have been enjoying some movies that I missed while they were at the show.  One of these movies that I got in the mail today was the Rolling Stones and Martin Scorcese movie, “Shine A Light.”  I really like The Rolling Stones and their music, so I really enjoyed this one.  Now, I must say that The Rolling Stones are not getting any younger and they’re age really shows, but not in the music.  They still can rock!  I think what was really nice about this movie is that they picked some songs that have not been heard in a while…at least not by me.  In between songs, I really enjoyed watching them at the beginning of their career saying things about where they’d be in the future.  There were also a few guest appearances by Bill and Hillary Clinton, Buddy Guy, Christina Aguilara, and Jack White III.  Overall, I think this concert movie was very well done.  My only complaint is that I would have caught this at the theater!  I give this one five stars!

Shine A Light

Exciting New Changes!

I like to take this opportunity to officially announce that I have made some major changes to this blog. Last night I completed most of the changes and I am getting excited about my revised blog. If you’re thinking that it doesn’t look all that different, think again! Here is what has changed:

1.) The first major change is that I changed the title of the blog. I think I needed to give it a fresh title and since my hope is that my blog will become more and more amazing as time goes on, I changed the title to reflect that attitude.

2.) I also took all five of my pre-existing blogs and merged them back into one blog…this blog. All my previous posts from all of my previous blogs are here and I also updated the categories, which I’ll explain in #3.

3.) The categories have changed. Some have been added, some have been taken away, but in the end what I have are categories that make more sense.

4.) I put my “Meebo Me” widget back. I had Meebo here, then I took it away. Now its back, so my readers can chat with me when I am online.

5.) I changed the theme color to a nice black. I think it looks hot. Not literally.

6.) I also updated some of the feeds and badges for other services that I use. I took some off that I really don’t use anymore. I added some that I didn’t have before.

7.) I also made some minor improvements to make the blog look cleaner and nicer. For example, some of the widget titles that were all caps before are now NOT all caps.

I made these changes hoping that my blog would be more interesting and attract more readers. I also wanted to make my blog my hub for all things me. Plus its just easier to maintain one blog instead of five. In addition, I plan to post more often. My hope is that I can use this blog to stay in touch with family and friends, and also chat with people who share interests in the same subjects as me. I hope you, my readers, enjoy the changes and stay tuned for more updates.

Nonsmoking, Computer, And Ankle: Update From The World Of Me!

Its been a while since I posted anything but that will be changing.  Since its been a while, I should update you, my readers, about what has been going on in my world.

First, about 4 weeks ago, I finally quit smoking.  I started taking Chantix about six weeks ago and kicked the habit.  Its been a rough road to being a non-smoker but I am finally there.  Now I am counting the days until I can stop taking this horrible drug.  I hate the way it makes me feel, but right now its the only thing between me and a cigarette.  Chantix is definitely the lesser of the two evils, but it doesn’t seem to mix with the Chicago summer heat and humidity.

Next, I have finally purchased a new HP Pavilion Desktop Computer, the a6430f.  This means that all of my computer issues I was having before have been erased.  Now I can spend more time blogging and enjoying the social part of the internet instead of troubleshooting hardware problems.  I absolutely love my new desktop computer, which now has Windows Vista and Ubuntu 8.04 installed.

Finally, I can now say that my ankle is pretty much back to normal.  Or at least as normal as it will most likely get.  Its slightly bigger than it used to be but all that hardware takes up space.

Well, stay tuned for more soon!

MP3tunes vs. EMI

For those of you that don’t know, MP3tunes is a service  that allows you to store your digital music collection online.  I have been a user of this service for a while now and I was saddened to get this e-mail:

Dear MP3tunes Customer,

Let me start by saying that as the CEO of MP3tunes I appreciate your support over the last few years. Your suggestions and patience have helped us build the Locker system we have today. We just launched AutoSync that makes managing your music collection easier than ever.

As you may be aware, the major record label EMI has sued MP3tunes, claiming our service is illegal. You can read about the case here. Much is at stake — if you don’t have the right to store your own music online then you won’t have the right to store ebooks, videos and other digital products as well. The notion of ownership in the 21st century will evaporate. The idea of ownership is important to me and I want to make sure I have that right and my kids do too.

I would like to ask for your assistance in our battle for personal music ownership. We need your help because we are a small, 15-person company battling an international giant. They would like to make us spend all of our money paying legal bills. Here’s what you can do to help:

1) Please upgrade to a Premium account. This week MP3tunes is launching 3 service levels. I hope you will consider signing up for one of the paid levels. This will not only help us pay for the costs of our service (machines, storage and bandwidth) but a portion will go to cover our legal costs in our case with EMI.

2) If you have a chance to talk publicly about our cause on your blog, with friends, reporters or even EMI personnel please do so. MP3tunes is working hard to design a secure personal music service. We don’t promote sharing of music in any manner. We want people to legally acquire their music. But once they do, we think it’s important that you be able to use it how you want for your personal use. The AmazonMP3 store says: “You may copy, store, transfer and burn the Digital Content only for your personal, non-commercial, entertainment use.” and this is what MP3tunes allows you to do.

You have my commitment that I’ll continually battle for your right to store your music online and listen to it anywhere on any device. I hope you’ll consider helping MP3tunes in our battle. Thanks.

– Michael Robertson
CEO
MP3tunes.com

It appears as if the record companies are trying to take away all of our freedoms when it comes to enjoying our music.  It was bad enough that they did everything they could to stop people from sharing music and now they want take away our right to store the music, that we spent our hard earned money to buy, where we want!  Just because they can’t figure out how to operate with their CD sales dropping, doesn’t mean they have a right to dictate how people store and enjoy their music! Anyway, that’s my rant.  If you took the time to read this, please spread the word to help MP3tunes!

Nine Inch Nails Releases Ghosts I-IV

Sometime yesterday Trent Reznor released his latest Nine Inch Nails album. According to everything I have read, Ghosts I-IV is an instrumental album and it is available on the NIN website as a free or $5 download. You can also order various cd packages ranging from $10 – $300. I ordered my copy for $10 and I also got the mp3 download with it.  Unfortunately, my download never completely finished and I am still waiting for an e-mail from the NIN store that will hopefully give me access again.  So obviously, I haven’t gotten a chance to listen to it yet.  It will be interesting to see how quickly I get my issues resolved with the store!