I, like many here in Illinois, was awoken by an earthquake. Closet doors were rattling, metal pots were clanging and my mirror was shaking. At about 4:37am today Illinois experienced a 5.4 earthquake. I’m sure many in California are questioning what the big deal is, but for us in the land of corn this is enough to freak some of us out. It has been reported that this tremor was felt from St. Louis to Chicago to Indiana.

Working for an insurance company in central Illinois, I’m curious what if any action they will take in response to the tremor in their “back yard”. If anyone reading this felt the tremor or slept through it but live in the affected area, I urge you to check your house for any structural damage. Check for any cracks in walls or floors that weren’t there yesterday.

Good luck to you all and hopefully you made it through this rare Illinois event unscathed.

Now you can influence what news is displayed on the Yahoo! homepage.  If you like a story, create some buzz.  Who better to explain what the service is other than the horses mouth.  This quote was taken directly from the Yahoo! site.

The best of the best – chosen by people like you.

• The buzz can be about anything – a great story on a major news site, an extraordinary bit from an obscure site, an intriguing video, or a fantastic blog that shouldn’t be missed.
• Instead of editors, people like you determine the top-rated stories.

How does Buzz work?

• A story is ranked based on its Buzz Score. The score is derived from search term popularity, the number of times a story is emailed from Buzz, and the number of votes a story receives.
• Stories with the highest Buzz Scores may be published on the Yahoo! home page – you can impact what millions will see on Yahoo!

Doesn’t that sound familiar?  Think back a couple years with the launch of Digg and basically the same concept. Now we know why Yahoo! has gotten into the troubles they’re in. (Google zoomed past them as far as the number 1 search engine and Microsoft is attempting a company takeover.) Yahoo! always seems to be a couple years behind the competition when it comes to innovation. The only thing that will save Buzz from becoming just another player in the game is if the compatibility with other Yahoo! offerings makes it stand out from the crowd. Only time will tell if Buzz is a success, but if I had to make a wager, I’d put my money on it becoming lost in the already crowded field of social news sites.

OK, the title of this post is a reference to the movie The Matrix (a kick-ass movie in my opinion), the picture is something that struck me funny (I’d hate to run into that cat in a dark hallway ), now lets throw in another form of martial arts, shall we. A friend of mine has created a website for Kuk Sool Won schools around the globe. I couldn’t say it any better than the creator himself:

It’s a fully customizable website that allows martial arts schools to advertise their services, track their students, and put up information that will hopefully increase knowledge of Kuk Sool Won.

If your looking for a way to get some exercise that you can do with your entire family, you may want to check out your local Kuk Sool Won School. Watching little 5 to 10 year-old kids beat the crap out of their adult instructors is always good for a good laugh.

Did I mention. . . the website template that Jo Kyo Nym Joe has created for Kuk Sool Won schools everywhere also gets the instructor into blogging? Any site that gets more people interested in blogging is A-Okay in my book.

I feel kinda like one of those old cars that you have to crank to get running; each blog post is one crank of the lever. If you hadn’t noticed, it’s been almost 2 weeks since my last blog post. Why does that sound like I’m in a confessional, confessing my sins? You’re not going to tell me to say two Hail Mary’s are you? Actually, I was fighting a cold for about a week and didn’t have the energy to sit in front of the computer after a full day of work. Then the second week was spent telling myself that I need to sit down and make a blog post again. (crank that lever!) I am most definitely a creature of habit. When I blog regularly, I have no problems with keeping that schedule. When I take some time off, I find it rather difficult to get going again. In time, I hope to get rid of that old crank start and upgrade to a BMW 6 series.

How could you go wrong when picking your hope office package by choosing a bundle from Dell? That’s what I did a little over a year ago and have regretted buying the piece of crap, cheap ass printer that they were offering at the time ever since. I know, I know you get what you pay for; and I paid about $80 for a printer/scanner/copier. One month into the purchase we mindlessly clicked on the print button on some random document only to hear a loud clang as the print cartridges banged loudly on the sides of the printer. Not a sound you want to hear from an innocent looking piece of plastic sitting on your desk, needless to say. However, I’m fairly technically capable; so I take a look. Easy to diagnose: the ink carrier indexing strip fell off its notches on either side of the printer. I tried to put my long skinny fingers to use to get it hooked back on to no avail. No problem, this must just have been a fluke and it is still under warranty, so I’ll just fill out a support ticket on the Dell website (I don’t like talking to human support people if I can help it). The next day, they tell me they are sending a new one and I am to return my broken one in the postage paid box. Yeah for Dell!!!! Support comes through and saves the day.

Fast forward 1 year and 3 weeks and the same loud bang is heard when I try to print. Did I mention that the warranty is only for 1 year? I guess that extra 3 weeks of use I got out of the printer was bonus. Well, maybe not. You see, the printer was out of ink for about 3 weeks before I got around to ordering some more. 2 days after adding the new ink cartridges (for about the same price as I paid for the printer itself) that same ink carrier indexing strip slides right out the front of that damn piece of plastic hunk of junk wasting space on my office desk.

There is good news though. Look at the fun I get to have with it. . . Damn it feels good to be a gangsta!

You see, today is my last day at my current job and for some reason, they want their laptop back.  As soon as I’m done writing this post, I will schedule it to be published later in the day then I will format this laptop to get it ready to return to my employer.

This has the opportunity to good or bad for my blogging routine. Good, in that my future blogging will be done away from the comfort of my living room chair and big TV and moved to the spare bedroom and my home pc. This might get me more focused in my writing and might result in better thought out posts. Bad, in that I won’t be posting from the comfort of that big comfy living room chair and that I will now be posting on a computer that is shared by me, my wife, and 3 kids.

For those of you that are curious, I start my new job on Monday, August 27th. I am moving from a Windows administration job with a high focus of application support to a Windows administration job with a high focus on Windows 2003 domain controller security. I’m looking forward to the change as well as a little nervous. The new job will add about 30 minutes of commute time each way, which kinda sucks, but I can’t have it all. Wish me luck with my new job.

I turn  eh hem. . . 34 today.  I just got up from my nap and thought I’d give a quick post. Luckily I’m not too old to get an ice cream birthday cake.  Every year, I get my perfect birthday; relax at home and do nothing. Ah. . . life is good!

I’ve been tagged by Johnny Fuery to show you the face behind the blog. He’s been a reader of this blog almost from day 1 so what the hell, I’ll continue this meme. Also, it’s good to learn a few tidbits of personal info on your fellow bloggers and to put a face to the blog.  Rather than me tagging any new bloggers, if you want to be included on the list below, comment to this post with a link to your “face” and I will gladly add you.

First, a couple things to fill you in on some of my history. . .

1. I received my bachelors degree in Computer Science at the age of 21, in 1995, after splitting the cost of college with my parents.
2. I spent more years than I needed, following college, going out and getting way too drunk every Friday and Saturday night at the downtown bars. My beverage of choice evolved from Bud Light to IceHouse to Jack and Coke. Every Saturday and Sunday morning/early afternoon was spent swearing I’d never do that again.
3. I went from in the year 2000 vowing to never get married or have kids to 2001 getting married with a step-son and twins on the way. It’s amazing how fast life can change on you when you’re not looking.
4. I now work at a dead-end IT job where my only motivation to keep it up is to continue supporting my family.
5. I have an Xbox 360 and am optimistically looking forward to the following game releases later this year: Halo3, Half-Life 2 Orange Box (contains: Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 episode 1, Half-Life 2 episode 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal), Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Mass Effect, and Assassin’s Creed. I know I won’t get them all, but I can dream them can’t I?
6. Now for the face. . . a co-worker got a camera to start a new hobby a couple weeks ago and snapped this picture of me at my desk. That’s why it looks like the life is getting sucked out of me.

Again. . . I won’t tag any new bloggers, but if you want to join this list, write your “face behind the blog” post, include a link back here and I will gladly add you to the below list.  After I check out your mug that is.

1st thing to do:
Post a short paragraph or series of photos of yourself showing the face behind your blog. If you already show a photo on your blog, then make your post more interesting by choosing a photo that’s not currently online.

2nd thing:
Include links to others that have participated. Here are the ones that have participated so far:

Jason Spence at BlissLogs

Bob at BobMeetsWorld

Johnny Fuery at Really Smart Guy

Gayla at Mom Gadget
Char at Essential Keystrokes
Paul at Reflections

Rob at 2Dolphins
Zep at The In-Sect

Ingo at Stixster
Stevie at Lost In Cyberspace

The Paper Bull at (oddly enough) The Paper Bull
Lisa Sabin-Wilson at Just A Girl In The World
Dawud Miracle at dmiracle.com

Wendy Piersall at eMoms at Home
Dennis Bjørn Petersen at Petersen Inc.

Randa Clay at Randa Clay Design
Drew McLellan at The Marketing Minute
Becky McCray at Small Biz Survival

Phil Gerbyshak at Make it Great!

Steve Woodruff at StickyFigure

Dave Olson at Live the GREAT life that you desire
Greg at Become a Remote Control SEO
Ariane Benefit at Neat Living Blog

Genesis at the At Home Mom Blog
Armen at iFFECT.NET

Mihaela Lica at Online Public Relations
Tara at Graphic Design Blog
Doris Chua at Home Office Women

Edward Mills at Evolving Times
Tony D. Clark at Success from the Nest

Jonathan-C Phillips at SmartWealthyRich
Karen at A Deaf Mom Shares Her World
Lisa Gates at intrinsic life design

Rammel Firdaus at rammelfirdaus.com
Carol at Pentimento

Adam Kayce at Monk at Work
Thomas at Technical Blogger

Tammy Lenski at I Can’t Say That!

Chris Brown at Branding & Marketing

Rory Sullivan at Hamelife
Derek Wong at Going The Wong Way
Embuck at embuck.com
Ms. Q at QMusings

Shelly Tucker at This Eclectic Life

Steve at Ramblings from the Marginalized

Troy Worman at on!blog
Lilith at Lilith’s Owl Nest
Revov at REVO-OVER

Karin at Stop/Start

A link back to this post is much appreciated, to help create a more personal community!

Third thing to do:
Tag as many others as you like in your post to spread the meme.

Last, but not least:
If you link back to me here and send an email I’ll be sure to include links back to you.

I made a post yesterday about all the blogs that are running contests these days.  Some of them offer you a linkback, some offer AdWords coupons, others are passing out dayplanners, etc.  That post got me in the mood to join a contest, or 2, or 3 . . .  Today I found a contest that is a doosy, or should that be a moosy.  Over at JohnCow.com, they are milking their mad cow blog to offer up a $500 prize.  They are offering up a chance to wina a Playstation3 or any other prize of your choice.  You see, their web hosting provider is offering them $500 to run this contest, and all we have to do to participate is to make a post like this one.  We bloggers can continue to graze on their humorous posts, while we wait for them to anounce the winner of this contest on August 15th.  Come to think about it, that is 2 days before my birthday so would make a great birthday present.  My kids would love a Wii.

My condolences to the families of all of the victims from todays shootings on the campus of Virginia Tech. I had a topic picked to blog about today, but after hearing the news of this shooting, I lost my appetite for blogging. I almost wish the shooter had survived so these unfortunate families could have possibly gotten some answers as to why this happened. Every instance of school shootings seems to be pointless, meaningless, hopeless, and any other ‘ness that comes to mind, which makes it difficult to prevent the next one. If I believed in God, I would pray for them, but as it is, I will keep those families in my thoughts as the details unravel.

Sorry for the depressing post, but this is a depressing day.