Can you believe it? I’m still looking for last year’s forwarding address. That in itself could explain why I keep writing the wrong year, even though it’s been 2012 for almost a month.

But alas, while I still think 2011 was a pretty date on paper, I am looking forward to the new year.

So much happened during 2011. Good things. Time consuming things. New chapter things. But I won’t bore you with the details.

For the new year, I found myself getting spring fever January 1st. In the morning, not too early as I banished all alarm clocks from my area of the house for the first few weeks of the year, I got out the cleaning supplies and started in my office. Opened the windows, cleaned them spotless, and enjoyed the nice balmy 70 degree breezes. [We will not discuss the craziness of our local weather.]

Now, for those of you who followed my musings in the past, you might recall my habit of having something play in the background as I work. January first was no exception.

But what did I decide to play in the background and why did I pick it? Let me tell you the back-story: During our Christmas break, a family tv was going back and forth between two channels in an attempt to play the commercial-break game (didn’t work too well). One channel was playing a Chipmunks film (ahhhh..beam me up far, far, away) and the other was playing *drumroll* The Sound of Music. Just the name of the film creates images in your head doesn’t it? (I know some of you are cringing right now…I promise not to sing any of the addicting songs. *Grin*). Well, needless to say, I preferred to watch the later film. But as it was a busy time, I only got to see a handful of the key scenes.

Would it surprise you that on January first, I awoke humming several tunes from the said film and I simply had to get it out of my head? I didn’t think so.

With window cleaning put on hold for a few minutes, I raided my movie collection and pulled out the Sound of Music dvd from its quiet dwelling. It was quite nice. I enjoyed the music, the casting, the plot…and needless to say that by movie’s end, the cleaning was completely finished and the songs were no long dancing around in my head. This also means that I am no longer humming the tunes when I wake up. (I figure that will stay the same until I either I see part of the film on tv again, or I hear a tune being sung in a prank voice message.)

Until Next Time,
Living4Real

Check it out and see what you think – I hope it clears up the topic for ya.

Until Next Time,
Keep Living4Real

Pollen is upon us…unfortunately, for this is grand weather for opening the windows.

Working on a fun project on the weekends since the weather warmed up. AND I’m attending a pretty cool conference toward the end of the week (That is another reason I have a lot of work to do today for the week.)

With Midterms starting just after the conference ends, I have my plate full. But alas, I guess I should learn to juggle sooner or later. Being away from Tech has me a bit rusty in that area though! Haha.

Until Next Time,
Keep Living4real

Anywho…this site is a Timeline for the history of the computer, software, and languages. Let me know some of your thoughts! — And yes, there are cool pictures with the timeline. :p

Computer History Museum – Timeline of Computer History.

However much I wish I could simply grab my camera and hit the road on some random countryside exploration, the day seems to default to none other than paper research.

In light of the fact that POSSCON is coming up…and considering I have an overly zealous teacher this term who expects everyone to research as if they were earning a Ph.D in operating systems (we’re talking a beginner’s operating systems class here folks), I’m having to do double time so that I don’t get behind.

And yes, the idea of seeing what POSSCON is really about and the energy fueling it is worth working on this glorious Saturday. Really.

What is on your Saturday agenda? Work, St. Pat Celebrations? College? Road Trips????

Until Next time,
Keep Living4Real
Whilst I have to go figure out fork and ls commands.

This is a highlight of the month for myself, as it is the month wherein I get to celebrate Ireland! It’s so fun. Although this college term has me as busy as a beaver, I took some time out to find a few YouTube for the occasion, searching for some favorite musical moments. I hope there are a few that you enjoy and that get you prepped for this S’Wonderful day!

Until Next Time,
Keep Living4Real AAannnnnnd: Top o’ the morning to ya!

The Happiest Millionaire – not my favorite movie (at all), but Tommy Steele, who plays the family’s new butler just over from Ireland, makes the film have a few grand moments, like the one below. Stick with it as this clip includes the crazy alligators in the beginning. The song is, “I’ll Always Be Irish.” This YouTube video actually has the lyrics included in the caption if you’d like to see ‘em.

The Quiet Man – I wanted to show you the part where they are all singing in the pub, but alas, it’s not to be found on YouTube. But I found another video that will have to do. I chose this one because a certain lass is interviewed at the end of it, and I really thought that was cool.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Whilst this film is more about baseball, this Irish oriented scene is great. Gene Kelly preforms a fun little ditty at a party on the pier….and I thought it would be a fun one to add. (The whole film is filled with brilliant musical numbers btw.) One of me favorites.

The High Kings — Who could pass up singing this song on the 17th? It’s guaranteed to put a spring in yer step! (They did an amazing job putting their own spin on the melody. – Go check out their site…which you should join…just saying.)

The Irish R.M. — Now, this isn’t really a special thing for St. Patty’s Day…it’s actually a tv show that was shot in Ireland, which was based off of a book series written by two Irish cousins. There were only 18 episodes, but they are fun. This is the start of the first episode in the series…

Daniel’s Daughter — What can I say…it’s just one of the best films ever. Classy even. There are so many good scenes in it…the horrid directions, the fair, and ring…*sigh*…and the class. My hat is off to whomever wrote the script. It takes place in the town of New Kerry. Unfortunately, I could not find a fan video, so the (somewhat pathetic) trailer will have to introduce you to the film, WHICH you can buy on Amazon.

Enjoy!

The High Kings : Leaving of Liverpool (plus a wee bit of another song in the beginning) *big grin*

The High Kings : Red Is The Rose

The High Kings : The Rising Of The Moon

And last, but not least, The High Kings : Irish Pub

Their newest CD offering is available online – and as of this month – is finally available on Amazon.com. WOOT!

Check out their site and join it: The High Kings

Check out their tour dates as well as they are heading to venues within the states as well as in Ireland.

Until Next time,
Keep Living4Real
It’s the best way to live! ;D
ANNnnnnnD Happy Almost St. Paddy’s Day!!!

Considering the fact that I have a few assignments I have to submit this weekend, I have found it necessary to get up earlier than I have in previous days. Since my circadian rhythm has not be accustomed to such a routine-alarm buzzing in the ams for a while, getting up when those evil alarms go off can be a trick in itself.

Whilst reading though Amazon reviews one day a month or so back, I came across a product review that seemed to be ideal. The product was a clock that has wheels on it and when the alarm goes off, it leaves it’s place beside the buzzer-silencing fist and rolls all around the room it’s in. Now, I thought that sounded like it had possibilities. (I’d be mad as a hornet, but I’d be awake!)

The one problem was that the non-stationary clock was no longer being sold.

So resigning myself to the ownership of a stationary sleep-disturbing alarm, I spent a few minutes in search of an iPod tune that just might get me going at the inhuman hour I had to set it for. It took a few minutes, but I did find a song I thought would work.

How well did it work? Well, I’m up and writing to all of you with a semi-smile on my face – (hey…I am not a morning person by default here…in case you hadn’t put that together yet.)– and the alarm is still playing. I can’t bring myself to turn it off. So… I’d say it worked great.

I can see you sitting there right now going “Well, Living4Real, can you at least tell me what you played for the alarm???” Well sure I can.

I went for “Dreams” by The Cranberries – BUT – I keyed it up to about 16/17 seconds into the song – just after the opening heavy electric gave way to the lighter picking…so when the alarm goes off, it takes you gradually into the semi-upbeat song. (This being preferred over having to peel myself off the ceiling because of the rather abrupt start – we are talking before the sun comes up here ok.)

Now, the reason the alarm is still going is because the Cranberries song I refer to is, for me, within the soundtrack play-list for You’ve Got Mail….and who could possibly stop those songs mid way. Before the day is over with, I shall have to make a mental note to dig the movie out and watch it again. I like the film, but oh the power of a good soundtrack.

Sahara is the same way. Now that’s a soundtrack to own. And as crazy as it sounds, there are really a few noteworthy tunes on the *whispering* Music and Lyrics soundtrack album. Comes in handy when your leading actors can sing as well as act….but that is another blog entirely.

On to other fronts. I am excited because I’m soon to placing this term behind me. Finals are approaching. It’s odd actually because I feel like I just got out of the revolving door for midterms. But alas, I shan’t complain. Nope.

One final in particular I have a lot of studying to do. I studied as I always do for midterms, but it wasn’t as effective as I thought it was. So, for the rest of the next three weeks, my motto/prayer has been God, just help me finish strong. So here’s to that.

I don’t know about you, but I like to talk about something other than classes all the time, but when they are you’re main friends in life, that gets to be kind of hard no? I know some of you out there can relate. What’s that? I think I just heard someone say hear, hear. Ha. Told ya.

Anyhow. I had this TV show playing in the background called, *drumroll* I Spy. Honestly, I think it is one of my favorite shows. That and Rat Patrol are ranking very high at the moment actually.

I’ve checked I Spy out of my library before, and I thought I had watched every episode – between TV times and the DVDs. But how cool is this: I saw two shows yesterday that I had never seen before! That made my day.

I was working on class work and realized I’d never heard this script before (it was playing in the background behind me). So, you know what I had to do….I found a mirror and propped it up beside of me on the table so I could see the TV from my work station. Haha…Personally, I thought that was ingenious.

If you aren’t familiar with either show – Rat Patrol or I Spy – check them out! They are fantastic. I learned about the Rat Patrol from a college class I was in…the teacher played an episode that correlated with a topic we covered the week before. Gotta love that.

So that’s my midweek in a nut shell. I know this is a bit short and rushed, but I’m happy to be able to pen this much as I’ve not had much down time for writing (but my voice recorder has come in handy!). This term is one that I shall be glad to have in my past. I’m glad it’s almost over. YAYAYAYAY!!!!! LOL.

So I hope your weeks go well and to your liking.
And until I can pen something again,
Just Keep Living4Real

The double feature of the night was to be Singin’ in the Rain followed by none other than Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Or more affectionately called 7B47B by fans who type the name out a lot. *grin*)

With the telly serenading me with witty scripting and memorable musical moments, I began perusing another book I checked out of the library. Its title is ‘Scenes From the City, Filmmaking in New York’ It’s about 286 pages and it promises me over 250 rare and awing cinematic pictures. We’ll see if it keeps its end of the bargain.

As I started looking at photographs and reading quotes and captions, I came to a statement that caught my curiosity. Now, if I asked you what page I stopped on to investigate this curiosity, and you’d heard my discussion two days ago during lunch, then you might just guess it right – I was on page 37. (If you haven’t heard me talking about that, page 37 is where I stopped on another film book I was reading two days ago. Pure coinkidink, but noteworthy none-the-less.)

Scenes From the City is interesting thus far. The stills and captions say it all and I like that.

Getting back to what was on page 37. Gene Kelly was talking about the experience of shooting On the Town on location for the intro in New York. The book shows several shots and talks about the citizens gazing in the background as Kelly, Sinatra, and Munshin sing.

Kelly said there was lots of “quick cutting…and thus the dissolve went out of style.” They would be in one location shooting and then cut to another location. This reference to the ‘dissolve’ intrigued me.

So, off I went to the wonderful world of the Internet, searching for the term. It seems that the dissolve is how they get one scene to fade away and fade into the next scene via double exposing the film by frame. As Singin’ in the Rain was playing on the t.v. I watched it during certain scenes to see this ‘dissolve.’ I was amazed at how often it was used in the film – I don’t think I had ever consciously noted it before.

In my Googling, I traversed the trails of Wikipedia and read more interesting facts about what is considered true jump cutting, the 30 degree rule, and the graphic match. This led to facts about the French New Wave, and the Hollywood blacklist that started around the 40s.

This led to more rabbit trails of directors, films, and actors whose work I had seen over the years, and whose work I’ve read about over the past few days.

I’ve come to the web rabbit trail part – just in case you hadn’t picked up on it yet.

After somehow ending up on IMDb.com, I remembered talking about Adam-12 earlier in the day and decided to search for it. We had watched an episode of the Rat Patrol where Martin Milner (who played Officer Pete Malloy in Adam-12) was a bad guy. I watched a bit of Adam-12 (courtesy of Hulu.com) and started looking at the filmography of the two main Officers – Milner as Malloy and Kent McCord as Officer Jim Reed. It was fun to look through their acting careers as they both had played in other shows I was familiar with.

Under the bio for McCord, it mentioned his liking to work on his website, so – naturally – I went to Google. The bio page is a fun read. It talks about how he ended up acting on *clearing throat* The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, which was cool and there were a few pictures intertwined in the article of McCord with Ricky Nelson, Robert Hayes, and also with Martin Milner from Adam-12.

By this time in my web rabbit trail, my laptop announced that it was running on pure fumes and HAD to be plugged in. *sigh*

Thus ended my night of fun diversion from college life.

Sometimes you just need to jump into the pool of your favorite hobbies or current interests. Mine has been fiction and film for as long as I can remember. If you pick the right films, it is amazing how much of a respite they can provide.

So with computer happily plugged in, and the littl’ doggy fast asleep, I finished watching 7B47B (See how short hand comes in handy?)…and watching how they handled the ‘dissolve.’

I hope you enjoyed my evening adventures and took something away that you didn’t know before. And as the new day unfolds, I hope you find something in it to enjoy. Be it grace, love, sunshine, or snow…but if it’s snow, please keep it in your neck of the woods for I am truly tired of it for 2011.

So, I guess it’s time to say -

Until next time,
Keep Living4Real

I think the answer to that question comes in the form of Squeakers.

She is doing better so far. She can stand up and eat her food – herself – as long as we are close by her making sure she is steady. (THANK YOU LORD!!! LOL.)

What?! It isn’t that I didn’t like to spoon feed her. Whatever she needs – I’m there. But you know…well, gosh darn it…I just get happy about seeing her eat like normal. *grin*

It’s as I said the other day – when your littl’ doggy is not feeling good, it makes you feel as if there’s a baby in the house. Routines and plans have to be adjusted. But it will work out – and it’s worth it. I’m just really glad she is on the topside of the crazy past 2 weeks.

At present, I am trying extremely hard to get caught back up in my college classes (My dog took first priority people!)

So far, I’m doing pretty good. Hopefully by the start of next week I’ll be even with the suggested schedules.

For now, I’m drinking loads of coffee whilst trying to develop my first C++ program (how cool is that?). This isn’t my major, but the course is required.

Honestly, I’ve been interested in the computer programming part of things for years. Part of that interest stems from my enjoyment of computer games.

Although, I’m still a little groggy about which languages are used to write some of my favorite computer games (like Tomb Raider, Nancy Drew, Lode Runner, or even the likes of DS games), but at the very least, I’m learning about a few things that have been abstract in my head for a while.

Have you ever coded in a computer language? Tell me about it! What do you like about?

If you are reading this and you actually design software, what languages do you use? And why do you like that language over others?

I look forward to hearing your input.

Well, it’s back to the compiler for me.

Catch ya on the flip side. And until next time,
Keep Living4Real

This week was also the start of the first term in the New Year. But it flew by me without me hardly noticing it. Syllabus read and paperwork printed out, but my doggy was first priority – which brings me back to the title.

As squirt’s equilibrium is slowly leveling back out, it hasn’t been easy to stand up. SO, when a dog can’t eat over their dish, guess what us humans have to do? Yep, feed ‘em their food with a spoon. I thought it was brilliant. And my dog has one upped your doggy ’cause they’ve eaten out of a Wendy’s spoon.

Now, that doesn’t sound too difficult – but the thing is, doggies have fur under their chins, so when their head isn’t level and they are a bit crooked as they lick up their food, they start to wear their doggy kibble. lol..well, I say that like they are the only ones who wear it. My first doggy feeding attempt saw that squirt and I both wore a great deal of the water/food mixture.

My only positive pearl of wisdom – if you ever find yourself spoon feeding a dog – would be to simply impart a bit of encouragement: you will get better and start to wear less doggy food over time with practice.

How long it will take for this skill to develop varies on a case-by-case basis.

I’ve been swept up with the wonderful routine-diversion of company since before the new year. So not only did we get to go on holiday, but we brought in the New Year with fun films and finger food that could rival the best NY 5-star restaurant.

A lot occurred during the holidays and I never took the time to blog about it. Part of that stems from the fact that until three days ago, I hadn’t hit the hay before 1 a.m. since Dec 23rd! haha.

Considering the fact that I don’t always blog according to date, I will be posting a few blogs in the next few days talking about the cool stuff that’s been happening. Like how I found the entire Rat Patrol series the other day for 28 bucks. (which is what I’m watching in the background presently.)

I hope your new year is off to a fine start.
Leave a comment if you’d like, I’d enjoy hearing from you and how your new year is going.

My festive spirit has been a wee bit slow in surfacing this year, but we finally watched a few of our top favorite Christmas films. They are helping a lot! Lol.

I’ve had lots going on the past week, but I haven’t felt like writing it all up. A quick recap would look something like this:

• End of last week: By 9 a.m. we had not only baked and iced a cake, but we had it hidden as well. By 10, presents were wrapped and we hit the road to run a few errands and hit a few early bird sales.
• Za weekend: Half of the cake was eaten and presents unwrapped. Got out in the crazy weather and shopped for fun in search of an item that seems to be hiding from us. But I cannot say what it is for it is a Christmas present and telling you might just give it away to the wrong person!
• First part of the week: Santa came by our house –literally! Christmas music and all.

Yesterday was fun. Not having collegiate commitments, I was footloose and fancy-free. I spent most of the day trying to get out of Bolivia. You see, over the weekend I bought two computer games in the Tomb Raider series (2 dollars each. How cool is that ).

Now, believe it or not— Lode Runner fanatic that I am— I had never played a Tomb Raider adventure before.

As of last night, I finally completed the first part of the game (TR7 Legend) in Bolivia and I have found every reward in the Croft Manor except the gold medal. Between the pool area and the gym in Croft Manor, Lara should be in great shape…’course, she has died a few times and drowned once…but not counting those unfortunate events, she (via my keyboard orders) is starting to jump around like a pro. If only I were jumping and climbing along with her! Haha.

Trying to get to the other topside of the poolroom was a challenge that honestly reminded me of the Nancy Drew game elevator incident. *Light Spoilers* You see, in Nancy Drew: Royal Tower, you have to unlock a door with several bolts. That doesn’t sound complicated does it? Well, add the fact that the rusty bolts are a sequence lock – one that is located at the bottom of an elevator shaft – wherein the elevator will promptly cream you into mashed potatoes in several seconds…and you might see the difficulty that arose and caused my grandmother and me grief for what felt like an eternity. Being totally honest, I would have to say that Nancy had been creamed about 20 times before we got through that darn passageway.

Back to the Tomb Raider game, I’ve found a grand walkthrough site that you should check out if you are doing anything with the TR series. The gal has the site put together extremely well and even has a blog. She’s spurring me on to put a few ND game tutorials on my forthcoming site. And I’m hoping that my joystick will work with the game/computer…and I shall attempt to beat the clock in a Time Trial. Stella has a list for the TR7 in that section of the site. It seems that if you beat the clock for the England Time Trail, you can unlock *drumroll* a bulletproof Lara code. And if you know anything about my gaming history…that’s just what the doc ordered for Lara! hahaha

With that, I shall go back to work…I just wanted to say howdy! Are you guys getting into the Christmas festive mood? Have you put up a tree? Or have you ever played one of the games I’ve talked about? Add your comments below.

Last night, I was working on my PHP homework. I was ready to test my code on my local server and guess what? It could not connect with mySQL. AHHHH. I was getting the connection-to-the-socket error that I had issues with when I first installed mySQL. What puzzled me was that it had been working grand earlier and I had already remedied the socket issue weeks ago.

After google searching forums that gave numerous crazy suggestions, I decided to take the advice a family member offered – hit the hay and work on it the next day when I was fresher. Considering that it was pretty late in the night (well, late for a college student such as myself), I turned off my computer (I know, I can hear you gasping at this…but I wanted to start with a clean slate today.) and hit the hay.

Today at breakfast, I announced I was closing my door and would commence working on this afresh. (Not before praying over my computer and for wisdom! )

I turned on the computer and used the MAMP widget to fire up the servers – and BINGO – started up just fine. *Wahahaha*

So, the moral of the story – the day, activities…the darn grass…can really, truly be greener…with the dawn of a new day…with the rise of tomorrow’s sun. Just a thought. (I can be such a poet.)

Onward I say! -> I am working with Functions in PHP. Yay. And I’m freezing. It was 38 degrees when I went outside this morning – what a difference!

I’m delving back into the coding world with El Dorado (John Wayne, James Caan and Robert Mitchum) playing in the background.

Also, I’ve had a song by Switchfoot stuck in my head since yesterday. Check it out (video below)

Switchfoot singing, “Your Love Is A Song” with lyrics.

This gal listened to the song twice and played what she heard. Great instrumental of it. I would enjoy having such an ear for music! haha

Pretty good, no?

Until later,
Keep Living4Real

In my life at present, the fall term is not over (one final left), but I’ve secured a few hours this week to work on some PHP homework I’m working through (my organizational skills are being refined what can I say).

I’ve never touched PHP before in my life, but after several months of frustration, I realized the reality behind the saying, ‘nothing like the present!’ So with the help of a friend who is an experienced traveler in the world of PHP, I’m slowly working through tutorials and “ah-ha!” moments. (Although if you hear gurgling noises, it’s just me trying to stay afloat! )

I’m game and looking forward to what I learn. At the rate I’m printing out tutorials, I might have to make an ink-run to our local office supple store! Haha

So with music in the background and a superb caffeinated coffee/chocolate drink concoction by my side I shall delve back into the database web app world (must remember to sound like a professional )

Until next time,
Keep Living4real. Nothing beats it.