Last day of august

The last day of august 2008 is here, wow it came fast. Yesterday I entered all the one entry sweepstakes that ended today that are on sweepstakes advantage. Today I entered all the monthly sweepstakes I usually enter. I am glad I am done entering all those sweepstakes!!

I got two sweepstakes wins this month. The $50 gift card from WD-40. The other win is the monster madness video game for PlayStation 3. I don't have a PlayStation 3, but I can't resist entering sweepstakes for video games. Two wins is a good month, but I hope next month I will get more than two wins.

Plastic car models

I used to enjoy putting together plastic scale models. I subscribed to scale auto enthusiast magazine and dreamed of building scale models like the ones in scale auto enthusiast. I never achieved my goal of building that great model.

I wanted a spray paint gun so I could paint my cars, but I only had bottles of spray paint for the body of the cars and I also had little bottles of paint and some brushes for the smaller parts of the cars like the engine and hubcaps.

I had I think three different kinds of glue. I had nontoxic glue that came in a tube, I also had the toxic version of the nontoxic glue. I had some quick set glue where I would hold it for 30 seconds and the plastic parts stayed together and it would dry in I can't remember how many minutes. Another type of glue I had was some kind of rubber cement I think. One type of glue I did not have that I wanted was quick set epoxy which I think is suppose to dry in five minutes.

Simula Programming Langauge

I have wanted to try simula since I learned about it. I like the name simula. I also want to try simula because I like smalltalk. I have found a few free simula compilers, but I don't know if I can install them.

I have one simula compiler that I think might work, but it needs a c compiler. I wish I could find an easy to install simula compiler so I can try programming in simula. I think writing a few lines of source code in simula would be great fun. Maybe some day I will find a compiler.

Cobol programming language

I have wanted to try COBOL for a while, but all the free cobol compilers I have looked at seem hard to install. I like one click installs and all the compilers I saw I would have to download a few files instead of one .exe or zip like compilers for other programming languages. So yesterday I thought I would look on wikipedia for COBOL compilers. On wikipedia I saw a COBOL compiler I had not heard of called Wildcat COBOL compiler for .Net.

I have .Net on my computer so I downloaded the compiler and set my path. I tried wildcat and it probably would work fine if I had llasm.exe. The instillation instructions for wildcat said I needed llasm.exe in my path. I had .Net so I thought I would have llasm, but I did not have llasm in my path. So I could not get the compiler to work.

I probably need to download the .Net SDK to get llasm.exe so wildcat will work. I think the SDk is large so I can not download it. I am so disappointed that I can not try COBOL, but I am sure some day I will find a COBOL compiler.

one of my favorite books is upgrading and rapairing pc's

One of the first computer books I read was Upgrading and Repairing PC's, fifth edition. I got interested in PC hardware because of Dave chalk's computer show. So I got Upgrading and repairing PC's to learn more about computer hardware. The book was a couple of years old when I got it.

It's a big book, but I did not mind I was so excited to learn more about computer hardware. I read most of the book. I think it took me a couple of months to finish. I learned a lot from the book even though I did not have a computer and had never seen the inside of a computer. I knew almost nothing when I started the book, but I learned about hard drives the system bus and CD Rom's.

I recently got a newer edition of Upgrading and rapairing PC's from a library and read 600 pages of it. The computer section of a library is an exciting place, I could stay there all day. I was excited when I got the book home. I could not wait to read the newer edition of Upgrading and repairing PC's. I had a great time reading the book, but did not finish it. Someday I know I will finish an Upgrading and repairing PC's book.

I have another website

I have another website. I want to use the website to practice html, css, javascript, php, and MySQL. I also want to try SEO on the site. The site will also make me use gimp for the pictures and maybe blender. Like blogging I have always wanted a website where I create the content and do the programming.

The only problem is I do not know what to put on the website. I only know I want to make a website. I know I will find something to write about. I would love for it to be popular, but the process of building a site will be fun even if no one sees it. I think it will be a great learning experience.

100 posts wow

I can't think of more favorite websites so four is enough. Today I want to talk about my blog. I can't believe I have stuck with blogging this long. I don't think what I write is any good, but the fact that I have done 100 posts makes me happy. I have kept to my goal of posting every day for a year.

I know no one is reading this, but that's fine. I have fun writing and if no one ever reads my blog oh well. Writing is a blast and I always feel good after doing it. I can write about my computer or
sweepstakes or what ever I want and it feels great. When I started the blog I felt scared to write on the internet, but I am not scared anymore. I hope I make it to 365 posts.

4.Sports Illustrated

My forth favorite website is Sports Illustrated. In the mid 1990's I had a subscription to Sports Illustrated, but never read it much. I liked sports, but probably did not like reading magazines. I was to busy listening to sports talk radio.

I like going to the Sports Illustrated website at least once a day because its relaxing to read about sports. Also I like the wesite because its updated every day. A lot of the other stuff I read on the Internet is hard for me to understand like when I try to learn how to use blender or learn a programming language. Sports Illustated gives me relief.

3. Sweepstakes Advantage

Sweepstakes Advantage is my third favorite website. I learned about sweepstakes advantage from about.com contests & sweepstakes. I have been visiting sweepstakes advantage since last October. Before I stated entering sweepstakes I never knew websites that listed thousands of sweepstakes existed.

I go to sweepstakes advantage every day to find new daily, weekly, and monthly sweepstakes to enter and also to enter the one entry sweepstakes that are expiring in a day or two. I also love the freebies section. I have found so many great sweepstakes on the site.

I don't spend as much time on the site as I used to, but I probably spend 30 minutes a day. I found out that if all I do is look at sweepstakes I get tired of them quickly so I try and do other things.

2. komando.com

I thought this morning that I could make a list of 5 or 10 of my favorite websites starting yesterday with about.com. Komando.com is my second favorite website. I started listening to the kim komando show on a local radio station in the late 1990's. I would listen to the show even though I new nothing about computers.

And I mean I knew nothing. I did not know what the start menu was or how to even start a program. I did not now what minimizing a program was or how to turn off a program. I had heard of c++, but had no idea how to write even a small program. I also did not know what a the desktop was. I had a great time listening listing to the show though.

One of the first things I did when I got my computer was sign up for Kim Komando's newsletters, The cool site of the day, Tip of the day, and her weekend newsletter. Later see added the news of the day and I signed up for that also.

I've learn a lot from those newsletters. I've learned about a lot of free programs like gimp, firewalls and antivirus software.what else have I learned. I have also learned that I needed anti spyware programs. I had no idea I needed anti spyware when I got my computer. The site has helped me a lot.

1. My favorite websites about.com

One of my favorite websites is about.com. I remember how I found about.com. It was on the New york public library's site in the best of the web section. I was looking for free compilers at that time because I wanted to learn c++ so I had to find a C++ compiler. The first about.com site I found on the New york public library's site was about.com C/C++. I signed up for the newsletter when I found out the site had a free newsletter.

I don't remember how long it took me to figure out that about.com had a lot of cool websites. I don't think it was a long time though. After I learned of the other sites on about.com I stated signing up for more news letters because the sites were so cool. Now I receive a lot of newsletters from about.com.

I don't know where I would be without the site probably still looking for a C++ compiler. I have learned so many cool things. I've learned about sports, business, computer repair and maintenance, programming languages, math, just so many things. About.com is a great website.

cobra programming Langauge

Today I learned of a programming language called cobra. Cobra is a small download. One requirement is that it needed the dot Net 2.0 framework which I luckily had on my computer. I downloaded the file unzipped it and set the path on my computer. Then I tried the hello world tutorial that is on the cobra website. Compiling my first cobra program was exciting. I am not sure how much I will use cobra though.

Puppy Linux

I found out about puppy linux from about.com Linux. What amazed me was that puppy Linux was so small and had a good number of programs that came with it. I have downloaded two versions of puppy Linux. Puppy Linux is the Linux distro I have used the most.

When I first went to the puppy Linux site I wanted to download puppy Linux so I did and burned it onto a CD and set my computer to boot from the CD drive. I rebooted my computer and puppy Linux came on the screen.

I wanted to see if I could get on the Internet so I tried setting up the modem, but puppy Linux did not support my software modem. I was disappointed that I could not get on the Internet, but I did play with puppy Linux a little. I had a blast using a text editing program and writing html, css, and javascript and then using a web browser to view the web page and just playing around with puppy Linux. Puppy Linux was fun.

2 past wins from February 2008

In February of this year I got two instant wins from the Tide To Go Instant win Game. The wins came two days in a row. The first win was a Tide To Go Pen. The next day I won a coupon for 50 cents off a Tide To Go Pen.

I thought it was amazing that I won two days in a row from the same instant win game. I have not used the Tide To Go Pen or the coupon yet, but I am sure I will have a use for them some day.

Damn Small Linux

I can't remember how I found out about damn small Linux. Damn small Linux is a small download. So I download Damn Small Linux and put it on a CD using my CD-RW drive.

I've tried the OS a little, but I have not used it much. I didn't try Damn small Linux that much because my CD ROM drive is loud and I hate listening to all the noise. I don't think I can boot from my thumb drive so I can't put it on that.

If I ever try using Damn Small Linux again I would put it on a thumb drive or install it on my computer. I'd love to install Damn small Linux, but I am not sure it would support my modem. Some day I hope to use a Linux distro every day.

sweepstakes wins for january 2008

In January of this year I won two prizes. The first prize was a pair of movie tickets from the Logitech bundle up and win game. The tickets were worth $20 dollars, but I didn't use them. I let the tickets expire I wish I would have sold the tickets for some money. oh well.

The other prize I won in January was from cinema.com American pie presents beta house DVD online giveaway. I have watched one of the American pie movies, but I don't think it was American pie beta house. But I think this one would be a fun to watch. I love movies about college.

Ubuntu Linux

I heard about Ubuntu Linux form about.com freebies. I have always wanted to try linux, but most of the distros are to large to download on dial-up and also most of the distros I saw cost money to get a cd shipped to me. Ubuntu was different I could request a cd and have it mailed to me for free so I ordered 5 cd's. I was so excited when the cds arrived. I could not wait to try Linux on my computer.

I put the live cd in my cd drive and went through the set up, but I could not get Ubuntu to work on my computer. Well I think it did work, but I could not get the x server setup right. I think it was a problem with the refresh rate on my monitor. I looked on the Internet to see if anyone else had the same problem and how I could fix it. I did not find a solution to my problem.I probably did not look that hard thought. I tried setting up Ubuntu a few more times with no success.

Someday I want to get Ubuntu working on my computer so I can try some of the programming tools that are suppose to come with Ubuntu and I also want to lean what I think are called shell commands. I also want to surf the Internet and use blender on Ubuntu.

past sweepstakes win feb.2008

The picture is of a 99 schnapps recipe magnet. The magnet came in the mail one day. It is a nice looking magnet. I have not put it on the refrigerator or anywhere else, I just keep it in the envelope it came in. I think it would get ruined on the refrigerator or somewhere else.

The fist gingerbread man I animated

This is the first gingerbread man I animated. I wanted to put my first animation on my blog, but I did not know where the file was on my computer. I checked where I put all my other blender files, but it was not there. I looked in the tmp folder where blender saves files and found it there, but it was not finished. It had 11 frames, but should have had 40 frames. I tried to upload it, but I always got an error when I uploaded the video. So I figured out maybe a video has to have a certain amount of frames to be able to be uploaded.

So that is why it is changed a little. As I said when I put up the last video my first animation was not good. The gingerbread man walked, but he did not walk right. The legs moved back, but they moved back at the same time. The legs did not go one forward and one back like they are suppose to. The arms were not right either. To summarise my first animation was horrible.

So in this short animation I used the original scene and fixed the animation so at least the gingerbread man looks like he is walking. I made the video 50 frames. Looking at my first animation on my computer because I still have the video I think it was only 11 frames. So I did find the original finished file and not some unfinished saved copy like I thought. I guess I messed up the number of frames too. The first animation never had 40 frames. oh well. I used quicktime instead of avi raw which I used the first time. I also tried to make the gingerbread man wave at the end.

prolog programming language

Prolog is another programming language I've tried. I have tried a line or two of sorce code in prolog and that is all. I wanted to learn prolog, but didn't follow threw with learning the language. I want to learn logic programming some day because I have no ideal what logic programming or prolog is or how to use prolog. As I have said before so many programming languages so little time to learn them, at least for me anyway.

perl continued

I have not programmed in perl much, but I downloaded activestateperl which I read about on about.com perl . I tried a few lines of code and that was about all. Two perl distributions and I don't use either Indigoperl or activestate, I like to download a lot of new toys and don't ever use then you could say. I am not sure I want to learn perl, but it does look like it could be fun.

Perl Programming language

I did not know there was a programming language called perl until I saw about.com had a site about the language. About.com had an email course to learn perl so I signed up for the course, but never tried to learn perl. I signed up for the email course twice by the way.

The about.com perl emails are where I heard about indigo perl which is perl, php and apache all in one package. I installed indigoperl on my computer, but could not figure out how to get indigoperl to work. After awhile I got indigoperl to work, but I was not interested in learning perl or php anymore.

I thought indgoperl was not being updated anymore, but I looked at the site and I saw it was recently updated. I think I'll get the new version of indigoperl and use it to learn php and test my website on my computer. I am happy indigoperl is still being updated.

First sweepstakes win of august

Today I had my first sweepstakes win of august. It was an instant win from WD-40 a $50 gas card. It has been awhile since my last instant win and I am glad to have gotten one. I had not won anything this month so I thought august would not be a good month and then I won the $50 dollar gift card. What a great win.

Rock Crawling

I heard about rock crawling from steel dreams a T.V. show about all things steel. Before I saw rock crawling on steel dreams I never new it existed. Some things I like about rock crawling are. I love vehicles with big tires. I would love to be able to buy on of those dune buggy's, I think that is what they are and drive around off road somewhere.

I don't think I'd do good at rock crawling it looks scary. I would be afraid to flip the vehicle over. I think I would not have the Patience for rock crawling either, because the sport looks to me like it takes time. Rock crawling was fun to watch though.

Open Object Rexx

Another programming language I have downloaded and installed on my computer is Open Object Rexx. I found out about rexx from the dictionary of programming languages. I was not sure that I could find a free interpreter for rexx, but some how I found Open Object Rexx.

As usual I got excited and downloaded and installed the interpreter on my computer. I wanted to learn rexx so I download the documentation. I read a little of the documentation and then gave up and have not used rexx since. I'm not sure I have even written a single line of rexx code. So all I can say is I like Open Object rexx because it is free. Maybe I will try using is some day.

The onion

The onion is the funniest website that I read. I have had to stop reading articles because I could not stop laughing. I like reading the sports section of the onion the best. It's always good for a laugh when I need one. I heard about the onion years ago on computer chronicles. I go to the onion once in a while, but I want to start reading it more.

Fortran programming language

Yesterday I downloaded the open watcom FORTRAN 77 compiler. A few years ago I heard about FORTRAN and wanted to download a FORTRAN compiler, but I could not find a free one to use that seemed easy to install except open watcom FORTRAN 77. I did not want to download and install open watcom's FORTRAN compiler at that time though.

A few days ago I saw FORTRAN mentioned on a website and I thought I want to try FORTRAN. I went to the open watcom website and downloaded a new version of the c/c++ and also the FORTRAN 77 compiler and installed both compilers.

Today I went to my favorite online site with free books and went to a FORTRAN tutorial and tried some FORTRAN code. I had a great time writing FORTRAN code. I always love trying out programming languages I have not used before. I don't know if I want to learn FORTRAN, but as I said I am having fun with it now.

Gimgerbread man walking

This is an animation I made using Blender. The animation is of a gingerbread man walking in place. It's from a tutorial in the blender manual. I've done the tutorial before, but the animation did not turn out good. The gingerbread man looked horrible and he did not walk the way he was suppose to.

The first time I tried this tutorial I saved the animation using avi raw. The file was huge about 35MB for 2 seconds of video. This animation is in quicktime format so it's about 3MB for 1 second of animation. I think I did a good job for my second animation.

My goal is to do one new animation a week and put it on this blog. I am not sure I will be able to accomplish that goal, but I will try. Some of the reasons for not accomplishing this goal would be. The animations take a long time to render, this one took 20 minutes for 40 frames. Uploading the clips also might take to long. So I will keep the animations short.

Favorite Pro football team

My favorite pro football team is the San Francisco 49ers. I started liking them when Steve young was there quarterback. Some of my favorite 49ers when I became a fan of the team were Ricky waters, Jerry Rice, and John Taylor who was my favorite player.

Those were the good old days when the 49ers got ten or more wins every year. Its been a few years since they have had ten wins. I love watching 49ers games when ever I get the chance.Last year the 49ers did not do so well, but hopefully this will be a good year. I think the will go 10 and 6 and make the playoffs.

one of my favorite video games

Continuing the football themed posts today I will write about a favorite football video game. I like to play video games, but I have not played one in a while. I am to busy on my computer trying to learn how to make a video game and entering sweepstakes.

As I said I like playing video games although I am not good at playing them. At least I don't think I am good at playing them. Anyway my favorite type of games are sports video games. One of my favorite sports video games was NFL 95 or was it NFL 94 I can't member the exact name.

On kickoffs I liked to kick the ball to the sideline and off the computer opponent so the ball would go out of bounds on the 10 or 5 yard line. On offense I enjoyed playing Mel Gray because he could not be tackled easily if at all and rushing him every time I wold score 100 points in less than a half of football. On dense I liked to bring a linebacker to the line and blitz every down. The linebacker would get to the quarter back every time well almost every time. I always controlled the linebacker.

Another thing I liked to do was block field goals. I would get a fast linebacker and bring him up to the line and when the ball was snapped for the kick blitz and get to the holder. That worked a few times I think.

Of course sports video games were not as hard back then as they are now. I think they are better now thought. They have better graphics and more things to do. I hope to make a sports video game myself someday.

More Notre Dame

One of my favorite books is about the Notre Dame fighting Irish football team. The book is called Shake Down The Thunder: the creation of notre dame football and it is written by murrary sperber.I enjoyed reading Shake Down The Thunder. I loved learning the history of the Notre Dame football team. I also learned somethings about the history of college football. It took me a while to read, but I got it finished. I hope to read it again some day.

I also enjoyed the movie Rudy that came out in 1995 about a player on the Notre Dame football team in the 1970's. Rudy is an inspiring movie and I always felt better after I watched it. It is a feel good movie. I think I can accomplish anything after watching Rudy.