Author: Joe

Categories
Books

Steve Jobs

Steve JobsI was very glad when I saw that the library had the Steve Jobs biography available. I’ve been really looking forward to reading it since it’s release.

Despite being a rather lengthy book, I read through it pretty quickly. I’ve always been a big fan of Apple since we got an Apple ][ in our 2nd grade classroom. When Mr. McClaren came in to demo it to our class, it was truly one of the highlights of my young life.

The book was great. Despite already knowing a lot about Steve, there was very much in the biography that I didn’t know already. The book also wasn’t too slanted to one view in my opinion. It really seemed as though the author kept if very objective as an excellent biography should be in my opinion.

Even though I knew that Steve passed away not too long ago, it was very sad to read towards the end. Because it’s a book, I strangely was still rooting that somehow there could be a different ending.

If you have any interest in Apple, business, or just want an interesting read, I highly recommend this.

Categories
Adventure

Christmas 2011

Just finished up the exchanging of gifts with the family. We had Anthony on Skype so he could partake as well. Still amazes me the communication tools we have at hand.

Everybody seemed to enjoy what I had gotten them. I had a Wal-Mart gift card sent to Ant (I think that’s the only store down in Florida where he lives), an espresso maker and a sauce pan for my dad, a Macy’s gift card for my mom, and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and Halo Anniversary for Frank.

My dad thought that the espresso machine was a really big purchase, but I calmed him down when I told him how cheap I got it on Black Friday at Target. He proclaimed me the greatest shopper ever.

I also got Elvis the Dog a holiday platter which he went crazy over. It was the duck one and he went for the dinner roll first, then the corn on the cob.

I got some pretty cool stuff from the family this year too:

  • Nike+ SportWatch GPS
  • NorthFace Bionic Jacket
  • Coleman Portable Electronics Charger
  • sling chair
  • snow shovel
  • socks (3 heavy pairs)

All in all a fine exchanging of gifts. With no crazy stressful fights or anything like that.

Categories
Books

Ghost in the Wires

Ghost in the WiresWent back to some nonfiction for my latest read. Noticed Ghost in the Wires in the new arrivals sections. Since it claimed to be about the adventures of the world’s most wanted hacker and there was a forward by Steve Wozniak it was worthy of a read.

As a web developer I found it to be very interesting. While for some reason I was expecting more of some crazy hollywood hacks (even though I know how fake they are in the movies), it was very interesting to see of off the old fashioned social engineering techniques that were used. I always tell people that most hacks are a result of human error (giving out passwords, login, etc.) and the author certainly confirmed this.

The author’s hacks were great. It’s amazing to hear of his workarounds of the phone services. Very impressive stuff. Most of it was just a little bit before my time, but I would recall hearing some of the tales as he told them.

I also really enjoyed remembering all the various tech that was so prevalent in the 80’s and early 90’s that I sometimes forget about. VMS, Sun, some really great times.

 

Categories
Sports

Dodgeball Playoffs

Last night was both a very exciting and sad time. It was the dodgeball playoffs, and also the last night of the season.

Our opponent was the Lightning Donkeys and the first round game was an eleven match game. We started with our guy squad first and someone grasped onto a win thanks to Kevin. The man always finds a way to stay alive.

Matches were exchanged early on, until we ran into a bit of a hole. I gotta put a lot of blame on myself for this one. I just played horribly, not sure why I didn’t feel too bad physically going in. I had a couple of drops of what should’ve been automatic catches.

Kevin and Dustin gave us hope early on, but ultimately it wasn’t enough.

We wound up losing 6-3, which really bummed us. We can and have played better than that.

I did make and present awards to the team afterwards. I tried to sum up each teammate with an adjective that I thought best described their contributions and play this season. Everyone seemed to enjoy that, which felt good. They are a really good bunch of teammates and I really enjoyed playing with each and everyone of them.

Afterwards most of us headed over the the Windjammer in Somers Point. The SJSL was offering free beer, and that really got a lot of the league to show up. Handing out afterwards was a lot of fun too. We’ve got some characters in this league and I had a good time telling ridiculous stories and hearing some as well.

Categories
Books

A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to ArmsI was a little stumped looking over the recent arrivals at the library, nothing was really catching my eye. So I figured I’d stroll down the fiction section and see if anything jumped out at me. Apparently, you can’t just walk by aisles in the library and expect books to jump out, you kinda need to be looking for something specific.

I noticed a whole shelf or two of Ernest Hemmingway books. I knew he’s considered to be a great author, so why not give him a shot. I wasn’t exactly sure what to pick from the bunch, but went with A Farewell to Arms since I had read up on WWI a little while back.

The book was excellent. It bis one of the darkest and gloomiest things I’ve ever read. You really get a sense and feeling of how people felt during that time period. Nothing is over the top or greatly exaggerated, just dark and sad.

Even though you know that doom is coming, I still found myself rooting for a happy ending to this tale. The last several pages made absolutely sure that there would be not a shred of happiness to be found in this.

While not exactly an upbeat tale by any means and more of a romance story than I usually care to read, it was still a great book. I haven’t read anything of Hemmingway’s since high school and am glad that I went back and read another of his works.

Categories
Sports

Amazing Flag Football Game

Played in arguably the finest flag football I’ve ever played in this morning. We all met up at the usual field in EHT at 8:30 am. All the games we’ve been playing have been a great time, but this one really took it to the next level.

It was four on four. Chris, two Mikes and myself against Wes, Josh, Mr. Yuk-Yuk and Geoff.

We played up to ten, and the game took tow and a half hours. It was just a highly contested game, with each and every play battled over. There were for broken plays the entire game, just a steady back and forth answer for answer.

We used some early corner blitzes from Chris that were very effective. We never blitz him, and it really caught the other guys by surprise for a while. Both our Mike’s were amazing, making some incredible catches and throws all day long.

I’m old and my nagging groin injury isn’t helping matters much, but I did my best to create space for my teammates running routes, and throw a few blocks to help us march down the field a few times.

On the final drives of the game the other team seemed to be driving plays specifically against me. I sensed this would happen, hobbled I was clearly the weakest member of our team this day. I may be old and beat up, but I have played in many backyard games and made several plays on passes on the last two drives.

I knew how hard my teammates had played all day, and how much they carried me early on. It was great that I was able to come through for them on those last few drives, guaranteeing us a hard fought win.

Easily on the the greatest, evenly matched games I’ve ever been a part of. So glad that I have some good friends who wake up early to play flag football. A great bunch of guys led to a great game.