How to make people angry

I am so good at it. See here. The sad part is, I don't write the stuff to make them mad, but they want to torture me anyway.

Bruins make it five in a row

Loses that is. The Bruins lost its last preseason game to the Islanders last night 4-2. I'm really hoping this is not the way the season is going to unfold.

Another bad Friday

Yeah, I know it's Sunday. I meant last Friday, so frig off. This is three Fridays recently that have really sucked. I used to like Fridays a lot, but not so much anymore.

My girls

I think my girls are beautiful.

Apple kills unlocked iPhones

Well now, Apple followed through on its promise to kill iPhones that have been unlocked using one of the hacks on the Internet. The unfortunate part of the big update they released was that it also killed third-party applications.

Honestly, I have no problem with Apple killing unlocked phones. They have an agreement with AT&T that they can have the phone exclusively for a few years and they need to do what they can to live up to that agreement.

Secondly, Apple is getting a kickback from AT&T on the service plans -- at least that's that popular belief. So, given that fact, Apple is losing money on every phone that doesn't use AT&T.

However, kicking out the third-party applications is just stupid. An update is supposed to make you device more useful, not less useful. Sadly, that's what happened with iPhone Update 1.1.1.

I can't even install custom ringtones anymore. I think they went too far on that part.

Gibson gives away Zakk Wylde Bullseye guitar

And I didn't win!!! See here.

Cam Neely named VP of the Bruins

It's about time the guys running the Bruins made a decent decision. Earlier this week, the Bs named Cam Neely as Vice President of the Boston Bruins.

Now, I'm not sure what the hell that really means. Does Cam get to choose players, make trades or do other worthwhile things in the organization? Who knows.

Cam Neely is certainly one of the Bruins most beloved players -- and for good reason. Cam was the quintessential power forward that could score, make plays and knock out anyone on the ice.

We're pulling for you Cam!

20 million register for Zeppelin tickets

People are registering at a rate of 80,000 per minute just for the chance to buy tickets to see Led Zeppelin in London. So far, over 20 million concert hopefuls have registered, reports Metal Underground.

If you are one of the lucky ones to get picked, you can then buy your ticket. Zep should head out on the road again -- they would make a mint selling tickets at $250 each.

What is it about Fridays?

Friday used to be good to me. I would have a slower day than normal and things would be just fine. Not so much anymore. Did I piss off the God of Friday or something?

Bruins post training camp roster

The Bruins posted its training camp roster today. There are 55 players invited to the camp -- let's hope they can do something.

Getting ringtones on the iPhone with iToner

One great way to personalize your phone is to use a custom ringtone. Personally, I use Ozzy's Crazy Train, but there is a problem with trying to do that with Apple's iPhone. Apple does allow you to use that song.

Here's the deal. In order to use iTunes to get a ringtone on the iPhone, you have to buy the song from Apple. That would be great if it were that easy, but it's not. Apple only has the rights to certain songs -- about half a million right now. And, no Ozzy is not on that list.

So, to get around this, I've been using iToner from Ambrosia Software. It's quick, easy and works with most file formats. And I can get Ozzy and Zakk Wylde on my iPhone.

Led Zeppelin getting back together

Good news for all Zeppelin fans -- the band has agreed to get back together for a show in London. Original members Jimmy Page (guitar), Robert Plant (vocals) and John Paul Jones (bass) will be joined by Jason Bonham, son of the late John Bonham, on drums.

It won't be cheap -- tickets will cost approximately $250 and will be allocated on a lottery.

I for one would love to be there. The music scene needs one of the legendary bands to come back and kick some ass.

Logic Pro 8 is looking good

Apple obviously gets music. I don't mean the iPod and iTunes, I mean high-end audio production -- they get that.

Today's release of Logic Studio shows how much they really do get it. I was wondering what they were going to do with the interface in Logic Pro and I now have the answer. A complete redesign.

What that means is that you can do more without leaving the main window. That may not sound like much, but if you have the Environment window, Loop browser and a few other things open, it can get to be quite a pain in the ass.

I haven't played with it yet, but I have high hopes.

People should have to take an IQ test before getting an iPhone

Seriously, I can't believe how stupid people are.

Okay, so two people took their iPhones to Europe, used them and then complain about the huge bills they got. HELLO!!! You are roaming on a European network -- you think Apple is going to pay for your trip?

Seriously, get a friggin clue people! You can read about the stupid people here and here.

Have pity on them.

Ozzy heading back on the road

After coming off the summer Ozzfest tour, Ozzy said he will continue his Black Rain tour in the U.S. Ozzy has dates lined up that will keep the band on the road from October to January.

Rob Zombie will be joining Ozzy as the opening act on the tour. Of course, Zakk will be on tour playing with Ozzy.

Some smart squirrels

Our Border Collie, Twiggy, will lay out all day and watch the squirrels. In fact, she is absolutely obsessed by them. She doesn't move a muscle and then all of a sudden pounces when they get too close. It's funny to watch, but it's also funny to see how the squirrels adapt to the threat of having a 60-pound dog jump on them.

We put crackers out for the squirrels and they gladly come and eat. One squirrel, one dog -- pretty fair odds. Twiggy likes it anyway and that's what matters. However, throw in another squirrel or two and the dog loses her mind. She can't handle having more than one squirrel at a time -- I don't know what it is, but it just doesn't work for her.

Sometimes the squirrels toy with her. One will come down and trick the dog into chasing them and the other one will grab the food. Pisses the dog off to no end.

Anyway, here are a few pics of the squirrels.

Monday a bit better

Friday really sucked, as you could tell from my post. Monday's are supposed to be the bad day of the week, but today wasn't too bad at all. At least I don't want to kill anyone today -- that's got to be a step in the right direction.

What a shitty day!

Friggin' hell, what a bad day. It's almost over though.

For Christ's sake, stop bitching

Steve announces a $200 iPhone price drop and the whiners come out in droves. It's technology, this happens all the time.

Visiting friends at the cottage

We had a great day visiting with friends of ours, Greg and Sylvia, at their cottage. We took a ride on Greg's boat, drank a few Heineken, boiled some corn, grilled some burgers and generally hung out and relaxed.

Greg invited us and another couple down earlier in the week and we gladly accepted. There was quite a crew on hand -- Darrell, Kim and their two kids; Greg, Sylvia and their two kids; Monique and I with our two kids; and let's not forget Maggie, Greg's dog.

Greg ferried us to an island that they hang out at -- it had a nice beach and other boaters lounging around having a few beer and playing with their dogs.

After we returned to the cottage we started preparing the food. Greg, Darrell and I started a fire in the pit and the kids soon gathered to roast crab apples. I'm not even going to explain, so don't ask.

When dinner was finished, the kids watched some television while the adults sat by the fire and chatted. We left about 10:30 pm, full and tired.

I hope I'm wrong about the Bruins

I took a quick look at some of my recent posts about the Bruins -- my disappointment seems quite obvious, but perhaps I'm being unfair. The season is still a month away and already I'm on the team about moves they didn't make. 

Is it possible the acquisitions they made in the off-season will be enough to make them a contender?

No.

The best NBC, Apple dispute headline

The prize has to go to John Gruber at Daringfireball.net. 

Apple to NBC: Go Fuck Yourselves, You Greedy Morons.

Just saw Mr. Bean

Rowan Atkinson is one of the most brilliant actors in modern history. Most actors need to speak to get their point across -- Atkinson does it all without saying a word.

Mr. Bean is an incredible character. His facial expressions and grunts say so much -- everyone in the theatre was laughing hysterically.

I don't want to give you the wrong impression -- the movie sucked. Atkinson was great, but the movie was bad.

Don't mind the man behind the Bruins curtain

How do you know your hockey team is completely screwed? Ask the Bruins. See here.

The Bruins gathered together its season ticket holders and let them ask questions of several members of the alumni and current team. On hand were Andy Brickley, Cam Neely, Charlie Jacobs, Peter Chiarelli, Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard.

Okay, I can tell you before the first question is asked that this is just a puppet show put on by the Bruins because they know they are going to suck ass this year. Thankfully the crowd didn't completely let them off the hook and did ask some tough questions.

Chiarelli's feet need to be held to the fire for not getting some decent players in the preseason.

The government wants my beer!

We have some smart politicians up here in Nova Scotia. They feel the entire province has a drinking problem. See here.

I for one do not have a problem. Ask anyone who knows me -- I know exactly where to find my Heineken. I can smell out Heineken from 100 yards, open or not.

What's really funny is that the liquor commission has actually made it easier for us to get beer of late. For one, I would like to say thanks!

Anyway, the province has a five step plan to convince people to drink less -- yeah, good luck with that.

Apple releasing new iPods

The invitation was sent out yesterday -- you'd have to be a friggin' idiot not to know what was happening. See here.

Former Bruins coach headed to LA

After a dismal season coaching the Bruins last year, Dave Lewis is headed to the LA Kings. See here. Good riddance -- Lewis never did much for us anyway. We need someone with heart and passion to bring the black and gold back to the top.

Dad and Oma's birthday

August 28 was a busy day. Today was my Father's and Monique's Mother's birthday -- yes it was a very busy day and it is a busy day for us every year.

There is always the question of where do we go and when, what if one of the families made plans that we can't make it to, etc. We usually make out okay and this year was no different.

I called my father this morning to see if we could go down and visit, but they were busy. Mom said they were going out for the day, so that made things easy -- the decision was made for us.

We did have plans to go over to Monique's Mother's house to celebrate her birthday with the whole family. Monique picked up KFC for everyone and all of the families brought a homemade dessert.

There were so many different types of cheesecakes and pies -- it really made you want to finish your dinner quickly.

Tidal Bore rafting

Monique's entire family is in town and decided to do something together -- they chose to go Tidal Bore rafting. I say "they" because I am not so stupid to put myself in a situation where I could fall out of the raft and be eaten by Orca or Jaws.

It took a few hours by the time the tide came in and beat the hell out of the boats. Surprisingly nobody was eaten by the vicious sea creatures -- personally, I think they just didn't look tasty enough to chow down on.

Me on the other hand -- well, I would look like a delicious swimming seal to the Great Whites.

Getting slammed with muddy Tidal Bore water wasn't the only fun they had. The guides let them out of the boats to go mud sliding -- seriously, mud sliding. For those of you that think there is nothing to do in Nova Scotia, you've got to hang out with this group more.

Anyway, I stayed home, nice and dry, did some work and relaxed.

Heineken and corn on the cob

Just got back from Monique's sisters. She made a big meal for the whole family today, complete with cold Heineken and lots of corn on the cob. I had a few beer and six cobs of corn -- I love corn on the cob.

The iPhone hack traded for a car

That's right, the guy that successfully hacked the iPhone has decided not to release a version of it to the public. Instead he traded the hacked iPhone for a car and a few iPhones to give to his buddies.

Good for him -- whatever makes him happy. 

I once traded a motorcycle for $200 and a leather jacket.

The Canadian plane wouldn't start

What a friggin embarrassment! I just got a call from Peter and he took the kids to see the air show on Cape Cod. They had a Canadian plane there to do a couple of tricks and flybys -- except the damn thing wouldn't start.

Can you imagine? The plane wouldn't start! It was probably our newest model biplane, too. 

Maybe they should have sent out a Buick and given the plane a boost.

Now before any of my fellow Canadians get all up in arms screaming about supporting the military, let me say -- frig off. I support the troops and have a lot of respect for the people, but our equipment sucks ass.

Just got back from a wedding

Monique's nephew got married today. Adam and Cheryl have been living together for a couple of years and have a daughter, so the wedding came as no big surprise.

Typically, I hate weddings, but then again I think all newborns look the same too -- surprisingly not everyone agrees with me. I don't know why, I'm always right.

Anyway, the wedding went well, although it was 91 degrees and muggy as friggin hell -- made things a tad uncomfortable, but everyone made it through.

Zakk Wylde Dunlop Cry Baby Wah

Here is my latest piece of gear, a Dunlop Cry Baby Wah, Zakk Wylde Signature model. That's a mouthful.

My friend Bill Lonero recommended I get a real Wah pedal instead of using the pedal that comes with some of the digital stompboxes. He said I'd notice a big difference -- he was right.

Of course, I chose the Zakk Wylde model because ... well, it's Zakk and he is the new master of the Wah, not to mention the best guitar player out there.

Been using it for a little bit and I'm really liking it.

The iPhone has been successfully hacked

Well, well the iPhone has been detached from AT&T. Interesting turn of events -- I'm sure Apple new it was coming, they aren't stupid.

Regardless, Apple will sell iPhones, but they will lose any money that AT&T would pay them from the service plans. Should be interesting to see what Apple does about this.

Ice Road Truckers is surprisingly good

I love the History channel. Dogfights is especially good, but every once in a while they launch a show that is a dog -- that's what I thought about Ice Road Truckers, but I was wrong.

A little background. The show chronicles the good and bad times of truck drivers driving the ice roads of the North. You see why I thought it wouldn't be all that good.

However, typical of the History channel, they pulled off a good show. Some of the drivers are nice and the viewers really like them; others are friggin assholes.

I felt bad for two drivers in particular -- both of them worked for the same guy who has to be the biggest frigtard on the face of the planet. 

Drew was in his first season of driving the ice roads and to say it didn't work out would be a huge understatement. Every single time Drew went near that damn truck, it broke down -- seriously, it broke down time after time.

Anyway, Drew couldn't handle it and went home. The sad part was the guy he worked for, Hugh, blamed everything on him when it was the pitiful truck. 

The one good guy that Hugh had quit because his truck had no heat -- in the North, no heat. Hugh is an idiot.

If you haven't seen the show, get it.

My iTunes widget

I saw this cool widget today that lists the albums you bought from iTunes. There are a couple of different ones including My iTunes Purchases and My iTunes Favorites.

Yeah, you see it right -- there is a Dixie Chicks song on the list. Frig off.

Now the Bruins are really pissing me off!

It's one thing for the Bruins to mess with my emotions as a loyal fan, but adding insult to injury, now they are messing with me as a Mac user too.

The club posted the preseason and regular schedule calendars on its Website -- that is great. For the past several years I've subscribed to a calendar from google, but now I can get it straight from the source, right?

Wrong!

In order to subscribe you need a Windows PC -- dumbasses. Just publish the damn calendar and let everyone subscribe. If your Web guy can't figure that out, you're in as much trouble off the ice as you are on!

Jen is out of Big Brother!

Thank God the bitch is gone from the Big Brother house. I don't know if I've ever seen a stupider person on television. And when it came down to the final week, she acted like a baby.

See Ya!

(Yeah, I watch Big Brother -- so what!)

Monique rocks

Yes, my lovely wife rocks more than just my world. See here.

Funny Zakk Wylde guitar lesson

Never doubt the humor of Zakk Wylde. This YouTube clip is hilarious!

The Bruins hurt me

I keep coming back, year after year, and I keep suffering the pain the Boston Bruins dish out. No matter how angry I get, I just can't leave the team -- that is what a true fan does.

I must say I expected a lot more from the Bruins this pre-season. I thought they would make up for the disastrous trade of Joe Thorton -- yes I am still extremely angry about that -- and pick up some decent players.

They could have picked up a couple of excellent scorers from the Sabres alone, let alone the rest of the league, but no they won't spend the cash to do that.

The Bs management can't expect that us loyal fans are going to stick around forever and get punched in the face with their poor decisions. Yet, that's probably exactly what will happen.

Trying out blogspot

I am a glutton for punishment. I try out new things all the time with my computers and blog software and I'm never quite satisfied -- most times I just get pissed off and go back to my original setup.

For the last couple of years I've been using Wordpress on my site to post. As time went on, I added more and more stuff to the site until it became slow loading and unbearable to post anything to. 

Of course, this isn't the fault of Wordpress or any of the other software I've tried. I just can't help myself.

I've come to a realization lately. First and foremost, I just want someplace to post something quick and easy. I can, of course, easily do this on my own site, but I'm afraid I'll start adding stuff again.

Blogspot looks pretty good. Just enough features to get the job done, without allowing me to go overboard. I'm going to give it a go for a while and see how it works out.

If it doesn't work, I'll toss it too.

Tracking our vacation to Cape Cod

Monique and I took the kids on their first long road trip. We drove down to Cape Cod, stopping in Bangor and Boston on the way down. We kept a journal of the entire trip -- with pictures using -- using Apple's iWeb and .Mac. Check it out.

Yes, I know it's not finished. I'm getting to it.

How much fun did I have at Ozzfest?

Well, I'm glad you asked, what a great question!

I did a write-up today on Macworld about my experiences in the sound booth. Definitely a lot of fun -- check it out.

A good time at Ozzfest

I went to Ozzfest in Massachusetts yesterday and had a blast. I went with a few of my buddies -- Peter, Paul Z and Paul B -- and everyone had a great time.

There were plenty of bands for this year's free Ozzfest but the big draw for me was definitely Ozzy himself. Peter and the two Pauls had a good time during Hatebreed's set on the second stage -- they were in the pit and got totally thrashed. Personally, I had a good laugh over that.

Why wasn't I in the pit? Well, I was in the sound booth on the main stage with engineer Greg Price. He took me on a tour of the sound setup for Ozzy, showing me Pro Tools and the Macs he had on hand.

Then, he invited me back to watch Ozzy from his vantage point. I have to say, there is nothing like standing behind the sound board during a show.

I only wish Black Label Society had played the show. Zakk did play with Ozzy, of course, but seeing BLS would have made it that much better.

Can you post from an iPhone?

Well the short answer is you betcha! I’m writing and posting this directly on my iPhone. I logged into the Wordpress admin interface using Safari and just started typing away. Now, is this a huge deal? Well yeah, because it shows how much more you can actually do with the iPhone.