End of july

I won 4 sweepstakes in July, 16 romance novels, one diet book, two packs of gum, and a chef hat. July was a good month because 4 sweepstakes win is a lot for me in a month. The most sweepstakes wins I have had in a month are 8, that was in may 2008

Today I entered my daily and monthly sweepstakes. I entered all the one entries that ended on July 31 yesterday. The were a ton of one entries ending yesterday. The end of the month is a lot of hard work because of all the sweepstakes ending, but I enjoy it because that means there are a lot of chances to win some cool prizes.

I cant wait to see what I win next month. I hope I win something big or a lot of Small prizes would be good. I want to beat 8 wins in a month. I started sweeping last September so it has almost been a year since I started and what a great year is has been.

college football

My favorite college football team is Notre Dame. I started watching the Fighting Irish around 1992 or so. That was back when Jerome Bettis, Reggie Brooks, and Rick Mirer played for the team. I can't believe that was 16 years ago wow, such a long time ago.

I don't know why I started watching Notre Dame football. I do know I have enjoyed Notre Dame football ever since that time. It became something to do on a Saturday that I enjoyed. Sports were something I was obsessed with back then. I would say sports were one of my two hobby's. The other hobby playing video games.

I liked reading sports illustrated, I also read the sports section of the local paper, I listened to sports talk radio, I watched sports on television. Looking back now if I could do that time over again I would concentrate on school more, but I can't change what I did then.

Game Giveaway of the Day

One of my favorite websites is game giveaway of the day. I learned about it from about.com freebies. It offers video games from certain game publishers free for 24 hours. I have to download and install the games in that 24 hour period. When I first heard of the site it offered free games every day, but now they only offer games on the weekend.

I've download quite a few games from the site. I see a game I like and I download it even thought I know I will not have time to play it. Now my computer has a bunch of games installed on it. I have only played most of the games a little bit. I loose control because I need free video games. I love free games.

chef hat

I won this hat from the What Taste Buds Crave sweepstakes. The sweepstakes was giving away 5 chefs hats every day. I didn't need a chef hat, but I wanted a win so I entered the sweepstakes every day.

And this month this chef hat came in the mail completely out of the blue. I had no idea I won anything. I don't think I will wear it that much, but what an awesome prize. The hat is so nice and I might ruin it by wearing the hat. I love those surprises in the mail.

Haskell programming language

Haskell is another programming language I have tried only a little bit. I cant remember where I learned about haskell, but after I saw the name I thought I wonder if I can find out more about that programming language. I went to a search engine and typed in haskell.

I clicked on the link to the haskell.org website and wanted to try haskell so I download a compiler and maybe tried a small amount of code, but not much. I have not tried to learn haskell or used the compiler since I first download the compiler.

I probably have tried haskell a few more times since I got the compiler I am not sure. I am not sure I want to learn haskell. I can only learn so many programming languages. It would be wonderful to learn every language, but I cant.

Gentee programming language

Another programming language I have tried is Gentee. I cant remember where I learned about Gentee. I think it might have been in the dictionary of programming languages. I downloaded and installed the compiler and probably tried a few lines of code and have not used Gentee since.

I have spent a few minutes looking at the website and I think I might try learning Gentee. I think it would be interesting to see what can be done with Gentee. Some more reasons I think I might like to try Gentee are its free and a small download. I cant resist anything free. Of course I want to learn every programming language I have ever seen.

Chess

I think today I will write about chess. I got a book about chess from wikibooks featured section. I wanted to read it, but never got around to reading the book until recently. I suppose I should say why I want to learn chess first.

The challenge of learning chess is the reason I want to learn chess. I would have never thought that I could learn chess. It has always seemed like something that would be hard to learn. Something I would need a degree to be able to play.

I recently started to read the book and I can say now chess does not look as hard as I thought. It may take awhile, but I believe I will learn how to play. Some day I hope to get good at chess it looks fun.

computer books on the web

Two of my favorite websites are freeComputerBooks and freeTechBooks. I found the websites at about.com websearch. I love that the websites are full of free computer books that are online. I think books can be downloaded also.

There are so many books on a bunch of different subjects it is hard to know where to start. That is a big problem I have deciding what I want to learn. I need to focus, focus, focus. I love the free books.

Manybooks.net

Today I want to talk about a cool website I found on sweepstakes advantage in the freebies section. Manybooks.net is a site that has free books to download in many formats. I like the free part the best. I was amazed at how many books there are to download.

I got excited and download a few books. I don't know if I will have enough time to read all the books I download . It was fun to download the books. As I browsed the site looking at all the books I thought I could stay in the house and read books all day long now for free.

I suppose I could put the books on a laptop or PDA and go outside too. I don't know if I would like that as much. I like using my computer in the dark. Maybe I can concentrate better when it's dark. I don't know why I like using my computer in the dark better than when its light outside.

Desktop publishing

One thing I have wanted to learn, but have not is desktop publishing. I download scribus a free desktop publishing program I heard about from komando.com. Scribus looks good although I have never used the program.

I don't know much about desktop publishing, but some day I want to learn. The things I want to make most are cards and posters. I'm not sure what else I would like to create, but if I learn about desktop publishing I am sure I will find other things to create also.

A win I can chew

hooray for me. I have another sweepstakes win this month. I just received two packs of gum from Wrigley's red hot race day sweepstakes. They came in the mail I had no idea I had won. I like receiving surprises in the mail.

I remember entering this sweepstakes it took a couple of minutes to load on my computer, but I entered it anyway because it had some cool prizes. I will have fun chewing this sweepstakes win

Game Maker

A few years ago I looked through a little booklet a junior college put out for summer classes for the community and saw that they had a course on making a video game with game maker. I thought that was cool, but I did not want to do the class.

I had never heard of game maker before so I went to a search engine and found game maker and was surprised to find is was free with some features disabled, but it was not to expensive if I wanted the full version.

Once I figured out my computer had the system requirements I downloaded game maker. I think I only looked at the program once not for very long though. I have never tried to make a game with game maker.

After finding game maker a short while later I also found blender and because I could also make games with blender I decided to learn how to use that program instead. Fast forward a couple of years later and I have not learned how to make a game in either program. Well I have made a small game in blender, but I had hoped to make a bunch of games by now.

I had completely forgotten about game maker. Only recently did I remeber I had it on my computer. It looks like it might be fun to use. I hope I will learn how to make at least one game with game maker.

Past win warner Bro. mouse pad

Finishing last years wins is a warner bros. mousepad. I was supprised to have won this because there was an error when I played the instant win game and it said try again. I tried to play the game again, but my internet connection is slow and I couldn't do it so I decided to stop playing that instant win.

The next day there was an email saying I had won a mouse pad and I was very supprised. It was a great feeling to win because I had been in a dry spell and had not had a win in I think a couple of weeks.

Past win rotation station

One of my past wins was a rotation station. When I first looked at the contest site I did not know what a rotation station was. Rotation station sounded like some kind of cooking device, something that turns and cooks chicken at the same time. I found out it had nothing to do with cooking. I think you use it to work on in line skates.

Well anyway it was a surprise to win the sweepstakes because I had not been entering it for very long. I received an email saying that it would arrive in a couple of days and a of couple days to a week later it arrived.

past sweepstakes win

A win I liked a lot was a $10 gift card from shell. That was a great win there is nothing like free gas. It may not seem like a lot of money, but it felt good being able to get some free gas. It would have been nice to have won free gas for a year or a month, but $10 was good.

past win crackdown

The image above is crackdown for the xbox 360. I won it from crackdown wired energy drink. I got a letter in the mail saying I had won and I had to sign some legal stuff. I was surprised to win because I did not think the sweepstakes ended. The sweepstakes had not ended, but they had a drawing every month or so.

I worried for a few weeks that I did not fill out the legal stuff right worried and worried. Also I thought I might get a t-shirt. I read that this sweepstakes was giving away a lot of t-shirts. I did not need to worry I filled out every thing right.

Another interesting thing is that I received the xbox 360 game and then the next day I received the Gillette sports bottle. It is always fun to receive two prizes in two days. That has happened with a couple of prizes they seem to all come around the same time.

last years wins continued

The image above is a Gillette sports bottle. It is an instant win from Gillette. The Gillette champions instant win game to be precise. If I remember right I was feeling upset that I had not won a prize in a few weeks then I won this sports bottle and felt a little better.

more of my past wins

I won desktop wallpaper from buybeauty last year. It was an instant win and on the day I won I got two chances to play the game. The first time I played I got an extra play. I played the game the second time and won, but I did not realize I had won anything until I got an email saying I had won. It was not a huge prize, but any win is good.

Wii points card

I can't remember the order of my wins after the orange julius gift card so I will guess. I won a 2000 wii points card from pringles it was an instant win. I wanted the nintendo wii, but won the points card which is still a great win. I don't have a nintendo wii to use the points card with, but maybe I will win one before it expires.

My second sweepstakes win

My second sweepstakes win came the next day after I won the tony stewant #20 hat. I thought that was pretty amazing to have two instant wins in two days. My second win was a $5 orange julius gift card. This time I slowed down to see if the message said sorry or your a winner. I am glad I did because I had to claim the prize. I claimed my gift card and received it a month or two later.

My first sweepstakes win

The picture above is of my first sweepstakes win. It is a Tony Stewart #20 hat. I won it from an Armor All instant win last year. I thought I had messed up because I thought I saw your a winner and I went to the next sweepstakes I had to do. I thought oh no my first win and now I won't get it because I went to fast and did not wait to see the message.

I tried to go back to see if I could see the winning message again to see if I needed to provide any information, but I could not get back to the page so I thought I screwed up. I thought now when I do instant wins I need to wait and see if the message is sorry or your a winner instead of assuming it would say sorry.

I also read the rules to find out what to do after getting a winning message. I had read the rules when I first entered the sweepstakes, but I entered it for a while before I got the winning message so I could not remember what the rules said to do. In the rules it did not say anything about providing any information, but that did not boost my confidence that I would receive the prize.

There was nothing to worry about because the next day I checked my email and there was a congratulations from armor all. It said what I had won and when I could expect to receive my prize. Then a couple of weeks later I got the hat in the mail. What a great win.

3M instant win

This is a picture of an instant win. This prize is the only prize I won in April of this year. It is a race day credential holder I think. It may not be the largest prize ever, but I am happy to have won it.

It helped me keep my goal of winning a sweepstakes prize every month. I have won every month except for the first month I started entering sweepstakes seriously. I entered a sweepstakes once in a while before that, but it probably was only one or two sweepstakes a year.

Euphoria programming language

Euphoria is another programming language I have tried. This is another programming language I have not programmed in very much. I have only finished a small part of a tutorial that I found on the euphoria website. I did not write much code because the tutorial covers up the entire computer screen and I am lazy so I did not turn the tutorial off and practice what I had just read and then start the tutorial again. I don't know if I want to learn euphoria, but I like the name euphoria.

elastiC programming language

I first read about elastiC in the dictionary of programming languages. I downloaded elastiC and tried it out a little, but not much. I'm not sure what else to write about elastiC other than It would be nice to learn it. I do think one thing is cool about elastiC I could compile it or run it with an interpreter. I hope I got that right. I don't know how many languages I could do that with. I don't know what else to write so I'm done today.

ICI programming language

I have not used the ICI programming language much. Like all the other programming languages I have downloaded I got excited when I first installed it on my computer and then did not use the programming language much after that. I had dreams of reading the ICI manual, but never finished it. I did read some of the manual thought, but not much.

I always think to myself I get excited about a programming language and download the compiler and then realise I have to learn it. That takes me a lot of time. It would be nice if I had the time to learn every programming language, but I don't have the time.

Learning a programming language for the fun of learning a new language. That sounds fun, but I want to make my own programs. I want to get beyond writing hello world to the screen and
become a good programmer and as I have said before make a small program.

Visual Basic programming language

One of the first programming languages I wanted to learn was visual basic, but I found out I had to pay for it so I was disappointed. I learned about sharpDevelope from about.com. I got excited after I learned about sharpDevelope because I could learn VB.net for free. It also is not a big download so that was great also.

I downloaded all the things I need to run sharpDevelope and played around with it a little, but not that much. I don't know why I have not tried to learn how to use it. I think its because there is not that much documentation for sharpDevelope. At least I could not find much documentation. I don't think I want to learn VB.net any more something like squeak is more my style.

Icon programming langauge

Icon is another programming language I have tried. I first read about Icon in the dictionary of programming languages. I downloaded Icon from the website and installed it on my computer, but did not use it much. I probably tried a few lines of code and that was all. I downloaded it and forgot about it.

I don't know much about Icon, but I like that it is free and a small download. I looked at the documentation the comes with Icon and I also looked at the website again and wow it looks like Icon might be fun to learn. So many programming languages so little time to learn them.

NVU continued

Continuing from yesterday I still have the website, but have not updated it at all. I also don't have much content on the website either. After my first attempt to learn xhtml I tried to learn it maybe 1 or 2 more times without much success. The same goes for the website I have tried to do one, but never succeeded. I believe I can learn xhtml, and css if I put in the work to practice it every day.

So recently I have started to try to learn things I have tried to learn before, but never became good at. One of the things I want to accomplish is to put up a website. I don't know what I want it to be about yet. I also want to learn css and maybe even javascript. I also want to lean graphic design so I can make the site look nice.

That brings me to NVU. Although at first I want to use a simple editor like notepad for xhtml and css I think learning nvu would be fun. Although in the past I did not want to lean how to use a program like nvu or dreamweaver or homesite. I thought I should only use notepad for xhtml and css, but a couple of days ago I opened nvu and said this looks like a cool program and I want to lean how to use it so I will.

one more thing. I want to pass the xhtml quiz on about.com web design because I have failed it several times. The first time I failed it I got upset and thought I could never learn xhtml. I probably felt the same way the other times I failed the quiz. I am determined to pass it this time and believe I can with hard work. Practice, practice, practice and hope I pass the quiz.

NVU

NVU is another program I want to learn how to use. One of the first things I wanted to do when I got my computer was to lean html. I did not know about xhtml I only had a book on html 4. I found about.com web design which has tutorials on xhtml. I did not want to learn xhtml right away, I wanted to wait for a few months. I am not sure why I wanted to wait. That was what I wanted to do.

So eventually I did try the the tutorials on about.com. Actually it was an xhtml class I got by email. The xhtml class was where I first leaned that I could get free web hosting so I could put up a website for the class. I learned about frames, tables, linking, lists, images. I think maybe I went to fast because I did not seem to learn the material to well. I did not practice enough .

I put up a website, but it was not to exciting probably because I did not work on it much. I thought I did not have anything interesting to put on the site . I always think I could do html, css, and JavaScript, but why bother I have noting interesting to talk about. So I did not add new things to the website I just let the website sit. To be continued tomorrow.....

Physics

Like math I also want to learn physics. I read it is important for video game programmers to know physics So I downloaded Motion mountain a free physics textbook that I learned about from about.com physics. It took a while to download and once it was finished downloading I was excited, but did not read it much for a while.

Then one day I decided that since I have the book on my computer that I needed to read it. So I started reading and got to page two hundred which took me a while a couple of weeks maybe, but I stopped reading it before I finished the book. I think I tried to read it to fast and did not learning the information like I should have.

I think physics is a fascinating subject much more fascinating than I could ever have imagined. I did not know much about physics before I started the book, but I did learn a little from the small portion of the book I did read. I am not sure I will ever be able to learn physics and that disappoints me, but who knows maybe if I keep trying to read the book I could become good at physics. I sure hope I can learn it.

Python programming language

I know I have talked about Python before, but I want to write some more about it. I have known about python for a few years, but have not used it much. I did not want to learn python because I thought I might not be able to learn it. Maybe I started with a book that was to hard. I think it was for more advanced programmers.

As I have said I want to learn python so I am now excited to learn it. I hope I can learn it so at least I know one programming language well enough to write a small useful program. I also like the fact that I can use it with c which I also hope to learn. I think it would be cool to write a programme using c and python together which I think you can do.