James M. Burke

I’ve been debating something over the last month or so…  Should I make the switch to Flickr?  I currently use the open source PHP package called Linpha.  I haven’t customized it as well as I originally intended to, but it has done its job.  Flickr is the new hype, and I think it’s pretty cool…I just hate having it on some other server.  It’s kinda nice having my PHP/MySQL database and all files are located on my jbctech.com server.  Flickr provides some cool stuff too and integrates pretty well with WordPress.  I’m interested in hearing from my visitors.  Do you like the current Linpha solution, or would you like to see me switch to Flickr.

For those of you not familiar with Flickr, it’s a Yahoo online photo solution.  It allows you to tag photos in all sorts of ways, and the pro account has lots of storage and search capabilities.  You can sign up for a free Flickr account over at flickr.com; let me know what you think.

Updating jbctech.com to tonight’s WordPress svn sync revealed yet another version bump to WordPress 2.0-RC2.

Last night, I was playing Halo 2 (as usual) on my Xbox 360. After hour two, my friends and I were playing Slayer on Backwash and my box froze. My controller was still vibrating from someone hitting me, and the last frame was still on the screen. The controller continued to vibrate until I power cycled the Xbox.

This is the second time this has happened to me, and I’ve checked…both the unit and the power supply were cool. If I remember correctly, the last time it happened, it was on Backwash too. That seems to be the only map that we (Xbox 360′ers) have problems on. Regular gameplay is very choppy when playing in this map. Maybe some software update will fix it?

On Saturday, I made a deal with the Infiniti of Raleigh dealership and traded off my truck for the G35. I have been wanting a G35 for quite some time, and they happened to have exactly what I wanted. This one is pretty much fully loaded..all it’s missing is the navigation system. I hate losing my truck, because it was nice to be able to haul stuff around if needed, but this will be much more fun to drive, and definitely more affordable on gas.

One of the pains about moving to another state is having to make that lovely visit to the DMV.  Well, the New Mexico -> Arizona transition was easy…show up, take the vision test, get your license.  North Carolina wasn’t as nice.  Apparently North Carolina is one of the states that requires all out-of-state residents to take the written test again…ahh, it reminds me of the good ‘ol days of Driver’s Ed.  I ended up passing today and got my license.  It’s now official…I’m licensed in the state of North Carolina.

In a post called “Happy Holidays!” over on AMP’s ZZzzz, my friend Allison found a cool video of Christmas lights.  The owner tied their Christmas lights into music (which sounds like Trans-Siberian Orchestra).  They did an AWESOME job!  I would love to meet that person; but I would HATE to be their neighbor.  :)  If that was on every night, I’m sure it can be gradually annoying.  Awesome find, Allison!

 http://members.cox.net/transam57/lights.wmv

EDIT:  As a matter of fact, it is Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  Visit their website at www.trans-siberian.com, and you’ll hear the same song. 

This is a little old, but I was out of town, so here is the “news flash.” Last week, Mozilla released a much anticipated Firefox 1.5. Here is an exerpt of the new features (taken from the Release Notes):

• Automated update to streamline product upgrades. Notification of an update is more prominent, and updates to Firefox may now be half a megabyte or smaller. Updating extensions has also improved.
• Faster browser navigation with improvements to back and forward button performance.
• Drag and drop reordering for browser tabs.
• Improvements to popup blocking.
• Clear Private Data feature provides an easy way to quickly remove personal data through a menu item or keyboard shortcut.
• Answers.com is added to the search engine list.
• Improvements to product usability including descriptive error pages, redesigned options menu, RSS discovery, and “Safe Mode” experience.
• Better accessibility including support for DHTML accessibility and assistive technologies such as the Window-Eyes 5.5 beta screen reader for Microsoft Windows. Screen readers read aloud all available information in applications and documents or show the information on a Braille display, enabling blind and visually impaired users to use equivalent software functionality as their sighted peers.
• Report a broken Web site wizard to report Web sites that are not working in Firefox.
• Better support for Mac OS X (10.2 and greater) including profile migration from Safari and Mac Internet Explorer.
• New support for Web Standards including SVG, CSS 2 and CSS 3, and JavaScript 1.6.
• Many security enhancements.

Get your copy at www.getfirefox.com.

Some of you may noticed that I updated the Photos site recently.  I added various photos from IBM and NetApp events.  I also added a few pictures of the new house…more to come.

Yesterday, I returned to Raleigh from Amarillo…I flew there on Wednesday night to attend my grandfather’s funeral. He passed away November 27 in an Alzheimer’s care center in Wellington, TX. The service was held on Thursday in my birth town of Pampa, TX. The service was excellent (given the circumstances); since he was a World War II veteran, they did the military thing, with the flag folding, taps, etc.

The truth is, for the last few years, he was miserable and uncomfortable. He was sleeping 23+ hours per day. Because of the Alzheimer’s, he had no idea who we were when we would go visit. That is truly a sad disease. I believe memories and people are the most important thing in this world, and without that, I see no reason to live. And, as a result, I feel I truly “lost” my grandfather years ago. I do miss him, but I do know that he is in a better place now…

EDIT: On a positive note, I got to see my dad, mom, brother, aunt, two uncles, and a cousin I haven’t seen in years. My brother was released from jail on bond (another story, probation violation) just in time to attend the event. I also got to visit my other grandparents, one of which was in the hospital in Amarillo…it was good to be there for her too.