Mother Nature is a Cruel Bitch

You may have heard by now that the east coast of United States experience its first earthquake two weeks ago.  To pile on more shit for the east coast, mother nature gives us a gift in a form of a hurricane.  In one week mother nature pretty much took a shit on the east coast.

This won't be a worthy blog post if I didn't include my experience of the earthquake.  When did the earthquake happen?  Around 1:50pm ish?  Ok let go with that.  Around that time I was nerding out by watching a Battlestar Galactica episode.  All of the sudden the house was making a weird noise like it was settling in.  Kinda weird for a house to settle in at this time of day.  Wasn't windy outside, so it couldn't be that.  Split second later, i felt the floor move.  I could feel myself swaying back n forth for a few seconds.  My bottle water sitting on the table next to me was also moving.  5 seconds of this it suddenly dawn on me that this is a EARTHQUAKE!  Just like that it was all over.  My mind was going berserk!  WTF just happened here!  Me being a nerd, my first action to go to my computer and tweet.

After tweeting, my mind was still processing what happened.  My second action was to call the family and see if they're ok.  Nope can't dial out because all the lines are busy.  Most of my family is on Facebook, so i posted on there about the earthquake.  If they see that i posted on Facebook then that will tell them i am ok.  Turns out my mom, dad, and one of my sister didn't even know a earthquake even happened.  My sister who lives near Baltimore felt it while at work.  My sister that didn't know it happened was quite upset because she never experience one either.  Least everyone was ok.  Then reports were coming in that the center of the quake was somewhere in Virginia.  It register a 5.8.

On that weekend, we were dealt with another one of mother nature cruel joke, Hurricane Irene.  Mother nature was probably thinking "well if the earthquake wasn't bad then here a over hyped hurricane."  It wasn't that serious when Irene past over Maryland.  We may have gotten around 60mph winds and a lot of rain.  There was minor flooding,  Some trees got knocked down.  A bunch of leaves and small branches were laying on the ground and roads.  Didn't even knock out power.  Was really glad about that.

What a week it has been eh?  On the bright side, that quake brought out some funny memes.  We will never forget!

The Spotify Effect

Hey I'm blogging again!  Why?  Because I need to praise Spotify for being awesome.  If you don't know what Spotify is, it a great music streaming service that allows you to find any song (except Metallica, Beatles, Zepplin, AC/DC & a few others) and play it instantly.  No buffering what so ever.  There is ads if you have the free version but they're not that bad.  Spotify has over 13 million songs!  Not only do they have music but they do have a few comedians.  Kind of came as surprise to me.  Other features include collaborative playlists, offline listening, artist radio, (like Pandora), mobile use, sharing music to other Spotify users, connect to your tv, etc.  Click here to see all their features.

Since it debut in the U.S, I was curious what Spotify was.  Thanks to @PFKnone for sending me one of his last invites, i got to try out the service and immediately fell in love with it.  So much in fact that last week I purchased their premium service.  Which includes having Spotify on my Android phone.  It the main reason why i bought a premium account is because i know i would want all this music on my phone when i go to work or travel during the holidays.

I've been finding a lot of great songs lately by trying out the artist radio and playlists other people have been creating.  If you follow me on Twitter or Google+, yesterday i posted a Youtube video of a group called Epica performing their rendition of Star Wars Imperial March.  Please give it a listen.

Also been listening to a lot of Dubstep by Skrillex, Doctor P & Flux Pravilion.  Puddle of Mudd re(disc)over album, Hollywood Undead, Epica, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and a few others.  I also got 3 80's playlists, classic rock playlist, and 2 top of the charts playlists that are updated every week.  Yeah I'm getting my moneys worth.  Anyone has any recommendations, please let me know.

If you like to try out Spotify, sign up for a invite to get a free account which grants you access to all their music. Highly HIGHLY recommend this service.

P.S - Not available in Canada.  Sorry canucks.

P.S.S - Sorry for not blogging more.  I blame Google+.

Rebranding Thy Self

Did you hear that Google is rebranding Blogger to *drumroll* Google Blogs?  Oh no you haven't.  Whoops sorry.  Let get you caught up shall we.  From CNET news....

Google is planning to rebrand two of its most popular services, Mashable is reporting.

Citing anonymous sources, the social-media blog said Google is planning to change the names of its Picasa photo management service and its Blogger blog platform to Google Photos and Google Blogs, respectively.

Google acquired Picasa in 2004 for an undisclosed sum. Its technology, which can be downloaded or used online, helps users edit and manage photos. In 2003, Google acquired Blogger owner Pyra Labs for an undisclosed sum.

According to Mashable, Google's decision to rebrand Picasa and Blogger is the result of its desire to "unify its brand" ahead of the public launch of its new social project, Google+. The search company already has several services that use its Google branding, including Google Docs and Google Apps.

Although Google reportedly plans to rebrand Picasa and Blogger in the next four to six weeks, it's worth noting that Mashable's sources said Google has no plans to rename YouTube, even though it doesn't have "Google" in its name. The search company previously offered a Google Video service but shut that down earlier this year.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20076925-17/report-google-to-rebrand-blogger-picasa/#ixzz1RHt8tYWS

 Now that you are caught up, what is your opinion on this?  I find it very stupid on Google part.  We all know that Google owns Blogger.  Why rebrand the name?  Is it because Blogger is not as popular as Youtube?  Which by the way is not getting rebranded.  Even though Youtube is own by Google.  Maybe it cause if Youtube is renamed to Google Video then no one will visit.

My friend @TabithaHeidi wonders what happens to all the Blogger links?  Do we have to change all the Blogger links in our posts, blogrolls, profiles and websites?

WE NEED MORE INFOMATION!

Plus if it not broken don't fix it.  Fuck with Picasa all you want but please leave Blogger alone.  We like it the way it is.  Just add the features you promised us earlier this year.

If you are gonna rename it, let not name it Google Blogs for christ sake.  Let be honest here, it a shitty name if you ask me.  I suggest Blogger+.  All you have to do is stick the + sign at the end.  The + sign can be a trademark of Google.  Blogger+, Picasa+, Google+, Youtube+.  The possibilities are endless!  or just leave it the fuck alone.

Google:  But Bobby you renamed your Blog.


Bobby:  D'oh!

Al Sleet The Hippie-Dippie Weatherman

"Tonight's forecast: Dark. Continued dark throughout most of the evening, with some widely scattered light towards morning."

If you don't know Al Sleet, that was one of George Carlin's characters during his stand up.  I bring this up because today is the 3rd anniversary of George Carlin death.  Back in 2008, Carlin died of heart failure.  Still saddens me to this day that he will never do another HBO stand up again.  Carlin was one of my all time favorite comedians.  I grew up watching his HBO specials.  You will be missed.


Now I flood you with Youtube clips.