Foreverpurple

Can this be true??? Rick just called me, says he’s listening to the Scott Ferrall show on Sirius and Scott said the merger has been APPROVED!?!?!? I can hardly believe it’s true. I didn’t find anything confirming it on Google News.

How’s that for blog power?? 16 months pending…last week I install a merger counter and here we are with approval finally!!! I’m starting to scare myself!!

The closest I can find is that they are at a 2-2 vote tie waiting for Tate to vote so it can go either way. I don’t follow news on tv so I will have to wait for confirmation in the morning.

The tentative deal is more palatable than the proposed deal:

Under the tentative deal, the companies would pay a $20 million fine for violating FCC rules. They allegedly have operated several hundred repeater antennas at illegal locations and failed to follow through on vows to develop radios that can work with either satellite service.

Also, the FCC would be able to review a three-year freeze on subscription prices several months before it expires to decide if it should be extended.


Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, a Democrat**, voted to block the merger Wednesday after he failed to muster support for several stronger concessions he proposed last week.

He wanted the services to freeze prices for six years, include a tuner that would let satellite receivers receive new digital broadcasts from traditional radio and set aside 25% of their channels for public-interest programming, up from the companies’ 8% commitment.


Besides the price freeze and public-interest set-aside, the companies have agreed to offer a la carte programming for both services within three months after the $3.9 billion merger is approved.

And they’ve said they’ll make interoperable radios within a year and create an open standard so any company could make satellite radio receivers.

**Jackass extraordinaire and NAB flunky obviously…

If you have always wanted to give Linux a try but found it to be too complicated to set up dual boots there is a new version that lets you boot from a cd and run the OS. That’s right no installation to your hard drive! OR you can install it just like a normal program and it becomes a boot option at start up and uninstall just as easily. Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 www.ubuntu.com FREE!

Podcast via your phone with Gcast! Sign up, get your url, phone in your podcast and then log in to the site to edit the podcast so people can find it. You don’t have to do it by phone, you can upload your audio files too. FREE!!

I know a couple people who are very intimidated by any sort of photo editing software but from time to time have the need to crop or resize a photo. You can do this (and more) online at picnik.com and then save the edited image back to your hard drive. FREE!

For online photo editing AND storage you can try Adobe’s Photoshop Express also FREE! http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopexpress/

VenturiMini? let’s you stream calls and music from your cell phone to your FM stereo (works like satellite radio receivers) over bluetooth. $129 and yet another potential competitor of satellite radio.

The newest Blackberry Pearl 8120 is PC World’s top pic of the smartphones.

Ditch Microsoft Office on your home computer and use Google Doc instead. They are working out some bugs as they make this feature available offline but the potential is there. If you are a light user of office suites you should find Google docs quite sufficient. FREE!

Check for WiFi? without starting your pc with Canary’s Wireless pocket-size Digital Hotspotter. $60 I prefer the Tshirt

Microsoft AND Google are working toward handling your (collectively all of us) health records online. This is a bit disturbing especially as Microsoft continues to invade our lives beyond our computers, first our cars and now our medical records? No laws guaranteeing privacy? Erm…seems scary and not cool to me.

XP gets a mini reprieve from Microsoft. On some low cost laptops you will still be able to purchase XP HOME. It will completely be retired June 30, 2010 or one year after the release of Windows 7, whichever comes first. Yes Vista is such a hunk of shit that Microsoft has moved up the deadline of Windows 7 from 2010 to 2009.

Want to web conference with audio, video and data but can’t afford something like Webex? Try DimDim? www.dimdim.com We are going to to give it a test at work.

Search by voice on your GPS enabled Blackberries with TellMe? and OneSearch?. No more trying to type it in! Weee!

If you bought a HD DVD player you can get a rebate from Amazon, WalMart?, Netflix and Best Buy. Check around their websites or contact them for info.

I finally got two clown loaches last night to deal with my infestation of snails. Fleas and snails …is the apocalypse on the horizon? I was hoping when I released them I would see a shark like feeding frenzy as they devoured the tasty snails. It wasn’t quite so violent or feverish but they quickly went to work picking through the gravel. I taped for over 6 minutes but it’s rather uneventful unless you just want to see my huge pleco (who I’ve decided to name Ralph) who seems to have a permanent 90 degree bend from it’s choice of tank sucking spots. You know how your mom always said that if you make a face too many times it will stick that way? It’s completely true! I’m naming the loaches Jules and Vincent :)

I’ve noticed that when I meditate at the docs office it is more focused and relaxing than when at home. I think there is enough background noise so that I don’t get so focused on my breathing. May try different places in the house to see if I can find a better spot.

Phoebe gets her cast off tomorrow!!

The warmth you feel for others is readily apparent today as the Fire Sign Theatre encourages you to burn all your candles at both ends. With so many planets in Sagittarius-friendly fire, you are inspired and inspiring, loved and loving. Don’t get caught up in spinning mental wheels that take you nowhere at all. Just follow your heart.
By Rick Levine Wednesday, July 23, 2008

all my candles burning at both ends…story of my life!

That’s sure what it sounded like at 1 a.m. this morning when a tree branch hit the power lines outside our bedroom and began setting off a barrage of explosions that drove us from our bed dazed and panicked. Well drove me anyway! I made a full circuit of the upstairs and came back to the room for my robe and Matt was still trying to wake up enough to figure out what was going on. I told him to call the police department and have them send the fire department and I went outside to try to see what was going on, thinking the line was down. Captain Obvious was sitting in the middle of our street taking pictures with his cell phone. His contribution to the situation? “That don’t look good.” No shit sherlock! Did you think to call the police before you started taking pics? And why are you cruising around at 1 a.m.?? Anyway the power line began to pulse about every 10 seconds with this unsettling loud hum accompanied by a glow that illuminated the neighborhood. This was coming from the alley outside our bedroom window but in the air so the line was not down. About 10 minutes of this very frightening show a police car arrived, followed closely by the fire department. They quickly cut the electricity to the alley where the lines were arcing, spitting a wide shower of sparks and still pulsing that eerie glow/hum combo. Satisfied that we were no longer in danger, we went back to bed. Sleeping was nigh impossible with a combination of adrenaline and the bright flood of light coming from the fire truck headlights directly into our bedroom window.

Maybe an hour later the fire truck left and it sounded like AmerenIP? had arrived in their very noisy truck. I was still trying to go back to sleep when they shut off our power. I am a very light sleeper and need a fan to drown out noises so now it was dead silent as a thunderstorm moved in. By now I am exhausted and frustrated but fell asleep finally, then woke again when the power came back on. I managed to drop off again only to awaken a short time later by the phone ringing to summon Matt to work. I dozed while he got ready and then he woke me again at 5 a.m. when he left. An hour later the alarm went off much to my annoyance.

Somehow I managed to drag my ass to work on time even with the added task of looking after Po, our neighbors dog. Thankfully she is a sweetheart and very well behaved. She must be terribly lonely because tonight she had a hissy fit when I left her in the yard to come back and look to my kids. So I figure there is no reason Po can’t sleep over at our house and go back in the morning when I get up.

I have no words… just:: WHAT THE FUCK???

Switched.Com article

I love Sci-Fi specifically the Sci-Fi horror of Stephen King. There’s nothing of his that I don’t love. I’m pretty big on Dean Koontz too.There is a new way to get your Sci-Fi fix online.Leviathan Chronicles is a Sci-Fi adventure story told in segments and delivered in podcasts that you can listen to online. The episodes of this saga can be streamed online or downloaded to listen to later on your iPod or MP3 player. Imagine listening to a riveting adventure while you drone away at your desk! I can see this being wildly popular. Imagine your commute with an exciting book on tape but it’s not on tape it’s on your iPod and you don’t have to stop listening because you got out of the car. I can’t read in the car, I get terrible motion sickness. Listening to music on long trips isn’t entertaining enough and watching movies can be a hassle. But a sci fi saga on my MP3 player? SWEET!! No bulky cd player to lug around either. Forgot your iPod? No problem just log on to the website and stream it! How long before major book publishers pick up on this idea and start offering best sellers and classics in podcasts? Of course those won’t be FREE like the Leviathan Chronicles!

Take heed… the power of this blog is mighty! Yesterday’s post about the I70 Express lane through St Louis being closed to westbound traffic did not fall on deaf ears. MoDOT? must have been abuzz yesterday afternoon… heads rolled, hammers dropped, lives were ruined and shit hit the fan. I’m happy to announce that this morning the express lanes were OPEN!

Represent bitches.

I want a widget that will count the time since an event like the one below but that is customizable so it will actually fit in my sidebar. Any help out there?

I’m so sad for them! They have been good friends with Howard and Beth for a long time so I feel like I’ve come to know them through his stories. They seem like such an ideal couple…funny, happy and laid back but in love in a very stable and real way. Not that crazy ga-ga hollywood in love today but not tomorrow way. Jimmy seems so sweet and kind and mixed with funny it’s just sexy! I adore Sarah, she’s funny, hot and so laid back you can see her just hanging out with any…very low key. I sure hope they work things out.

I noticed last week there is a digital billboard up in St Louis now. Not the big digital tv like thing at Lumiere but a regular billboard. Now given all the billboard graffiti in St Louis, is this really a wise idea?? I mean how much did that thing cost and what happens when some artist decides to glam it up a bit??

I don’t like Carlos Mencia but I have no idea WHY! I love comedy and comedians but I just don’t like him. I heard him do some radio interviews a few years ago and he did the same shit on all of them. I watched one or two eps of his show too. It’s not that I hate him or don’t find him funny, but it’s like he’s a non entity to me. Not sure how to explain it but he doesn’t illicit any sort of emotion in me. It’s just Carlos = blah

Recently I was having a conversation with someone…. erm okay let’s just be honest as always here. It’s someone I previously talked to (when I knew Matt was lying to me about Doni and I was planning on leaving him) who wanted to take me out on a date. Anyway I explained how things had changed, mostly how I had changed my mind about leaving. He respects that but we talk from time to time about the situation anyway he put this question to me: Do you still love him or do you stay because it’s safe and comfortable? I stopped for a minute and thought about Matt and I had my answer… madly in love with him. More in love than they day I met him which seems crazy and impossible when we are coming up on our 7th anniversary. It seems that for the majority of relationships the love begins to weak and wane with time. Not all but it seems less common today. I can’t say what the future will bring for us but I hope we arrive there together, in love and happy.