Archive for December, 2008

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My Niece and the Globetrotter Grant

Friday, December 26th, 2008

Spent the holiday with the family last night and found out one of my nieces is on an educational trip of a lifetime: riding to Panama via motorcycle! This was due to her boyfriend getting a “Globetrotter Grant.” Check out a small bit from Daniel’s explanation – as I think most of us understand something about an ‘addiction to social interaction:’ (via Twitter, Facebook, Skype, etc.)

Addicted to social interaction, I experience considerable joy when people unite. So naturally, it was this very drive towards cultural awareness and integration that ignited the preliminary thought process that ultimately resulted in a extensive and complex ride on my motorcycle.

I also work, practice counseling and attend graduate courses at Texas A&M which is where I stumbled across an opportunity offered by a unique group of A&M alumni that share a passion for international travel. Led by Peggy Amante (the benefactor) the Globetrotter Grant Board consists of 9 of the most open-minded and generous individuals I have ever met (read more about them and their travel grant at www.globetrottergrant.com). In February, I approached this board with a proposal. My plan was simple. I wanted to ride to Panama. On the way home, I wanted to climb and summit every highest point in all 7 Central American countries on the way home. They loved it!

And so Daniel and Lauren’s adventure began — and continues — check out their blog at ridewithdaniel.blogspot.com

Incredible! Here’s a pic from on top of Volcan Tajumul:

highest point in Central America

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A Cluuz.com search takes me Wayback

Sunday, December 21st, 2008

I happened upon a link to Cluuz.com on CNN today – a search engine geared towards the semantic web. Being an inquisitive guy, I figured I’d do a vanity search. The results included photos from my first webpage created back in 1998. Be sure to give it time to load for the full, glitzy rendition with animated GIFs. (Thanks, Wayback Machine!)

You see, the Cluuz.com search is a bit different than Google:

The Cluuz search engine is different from traditional search engines in that we don’t only show the links to result pages but we also show entities (people, companies, organization, phone numbers, concepts, etc.) and images that are extracted from within the search results. It is like peering into the documents to see ahead what is important. This helps you find the results that you are looking for faster.

What got all this nostalgia churning in me was a few vacation photos from Antigua that I posted back in 1999. You see, my Cluuz.com vanity search actually showed them in the results — along with some interesting links and charts to other people, companies, concepts that I’m linked to. I was quite suprised to see a link to John Scala show up in my results. I interviewed him, just briefly, nine months ago for a podcast.

This illustrates the idea, and the power of the semantic web. CNN’s article reports:

The idea behind the semantic Web, very broadly, is that things on the Internet will be described with descriptor languages so that computers can “understand” what they are.

An object might be a marked as a car part or a person, for instance. If objects were thus identified, an enormous network of linked data would emerge and machines, with their vast processing speeds, could suggest surprising and useful links that the human mind could never come up with, posing the possibility of a new sort of artificial intelligence.

The semantic Web, when and if it fully blooms, will complement, not replace, the current Web. What’s missing so far are enough fun ways to use it.

Well, I had some fun with it!

I’ve been a bit nostalgic this week since I just turned forty — so, using the Wayback Machine, I took a look back at the evolution of my web presence from 1998 to recent years. Perhaps I’ll do this again in 2018 — who knows how that will look/feel/sound. Until then, I leave you with this cute, (but annoying,) animated GIF from my page in 1998.

If anyone out there is brave enough to share their webpage URLs from years past, leave a comment — I’d love to see them! :)

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Happy Holidays via Skype

Friday, December 19th, 2008

Here’s my go at using the new Video Cards option with Skype:

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Thanks for the Meme – ories…

Sunday, December 14th, 2008

I was tagged to provide a meme from my long-time friend Kel Smith. A meme is a concept, usually involving a list of personal revelations, that passes from one person to another via a social network. The rules are simple for this one:

  • Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog
  • Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog – some random, some weird
  • Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog (or twitter page)
  • Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. (or twitter account)
  • If you don’t have 7 blog friends, or if someone else already took dibs, then tag some unsuspecting strangers.

So with that, I’ll do my best to dazzle you with weird and random facts about me (if you actually made it this far in this post.)

  1. I’m the youngest of 4 brothers and a sister.
  2. I once drove, alone, from Rochester, NY, to Des Moines, IA, and back in less than 30 hours. I would have made it in less time, but I forced myself to stop and sleep for an hour after seeing zebras and giraffes in the passing cornfields. (I’ve never been able to pull all-nighters, not even for important finals in college.)
  3. My wife and I were married on a cruise ship and have since taken at least one anniversary cruise every year to celebrate. We’ve cruised on Carnival, Norwegian, Celebrity, and Princess, but Royal Caribbean is our favorite. (This year will be cruise number 14 for me – and I cannot wait.)
  4. Though I’m partial to classic rock and alternative bands, I’ve often been caught listening to and enjoying Eminem, Ice-T, Public Enemy, and NWA. There are very few music genres that I don’t enjoy – except for the latest country hits. (Give me Tom T. Hall, John Prine, Merle Haggard, or Johnny Cash any day — but keep Toby Keith, etc. away from my iPod.)
  5. I once scrawled “Wash Me” in the dust coating a new, $30,000 drum scanner at a previous job. My boss wasn’t pleased – but then again, he wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. Nothing like coating the ceiling of a high-tech digital imaging department with a blown-on, flaky, popcorn-type paint. (Like I said, he wasn’t the brightest bulb in the package.)
  6. My first date with my wife was to an Ozzy Osbourne concert. Thanks, Ozzy.
  7. My affinity for a specific, Scottish beverage came from a lyric in a Crash Test Dummies song. (I enjoy the first one listed, but for some strange reason, not the second.)

Well, there it is.

Ok, so now I have to tag 7 poor souls such as: Mardy, Lee, Jim, Cheryl, Kristin, Chris, Jimbo.

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