In a holding pattern...

 Doing something here so Google doesn't take the page down, at least until I figure out what I want to do next. I was a little shocked that I haven't posted here in over 15 years...

Hail to the chief

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new president!

I feel that we, as Americans, should be proud of this election... regardless of who we voted for individually, we as a nation stepped up today and spoke out. Loudly and clearly. I cannot recall there ever being a voter turnout like we had today. In my county alone they're estimating ninety percent.

NINETY PERCENT.

Wow.

We have an opportunity now, regardless of who we are and what we believe, to unite behind our new President-elect and to move forward to make America the nation we want it to be. Together.

God bless America.

Finally - my big voice acting premiere!

Well, after a long wait, I can finally announce when the episodes I appear in are due to be released! I've had a lot of fun participating in these projects and look forward to working with Pendant for as long as they'll have me. My thanks to everyone at Pendant - they have been incredibly supportive of me and my new-found interest in voice acting.

Here is the list of release dates - please understand that these are tentative dates and might change. The episodes can be found as linked below, and also on iTunes:

August 29 - The Kingery - Episode 17
September 10 - Catwoman: Queen Of Thieves - Episode 1
September 19 - Seminar - Episode 19
October 15 - Catwoman: Queen Of Thieves - Episode 2
October 24 - Seminar - Episode 20
December 10 - Batman: The Ace Of Detectives - Issue 35

New cellphone goodness - the Sprint HTC Touch

Well, a while ago I sang the praises of the Blackberry. I still use it on a daily basis, but it's primarily for my day job.

Now that I'm starting to do a little more work on the side I decided to look at a personal cellphone. I felt better doing my personal business on a personally-owned device so that there is no appearance of impropriety.

After doing some research, I settled on the Sprint Touch for several reasons. We already have an account with Sprint, and their service hasn't sucked too badly, at least for us. The Touch was chosen because of its size and the fact it was a Windows Mobile device.

I had thought about a Samsung Instinct, but I liked the idea of a Windows Mobile device because of the availability of software and because I was already comfortable with the OS, having used a Dell Axim for several years.

This has to be the smallest PDA/smartphone I've ever seen, measuring 2.4 in x 0.6 in x 4 in. It easily fits in my front jeans pocket, although it comes with a nice leather belt case. The screen is a generously-sized 2.8 in TFT touch sensitive display. The screen, like many Windows Mobile devices, is easily used with the included stylus. What makes it unique is its TouchFLO interface which can fairly easily be navigated with a finger. Shortcuts and a speed-dial screen is accessable with the swipe of a finger across the screen.

The phone includes a 2 megapixel camera that does stills and videos that can be stored internally or on a MicroSD card. The camera does decently in bright light, but does not have a flash, so inside pictures in low light can be a problem.

A data plan is almost a must, because if you do any web browsing at all, or want to do e-mail, it's cheaper to take the $15 Vision package rather than paying through the nose by-the-byte.

It has its faults - texting on the virtual screen takes some getting used to, especially with meathooks like mine, but once you do it actually works pretty well. Also, like many smartphones, it will occasionally lag or lock up, requiring a battery pull to get it going again. Frankly, evey PDA I've ever owned has done this, so it doesn't bother me so much.

Overall, I'm really happy with this phone. I'll continue to use my Blackberry for work, but after hours I spend more of my time using the Touch instead.

Train derailment causes excitement at home

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Ouch - what a way to start a morning commute in a sleepy rural town on the edge of suburbia...

On my way into work this morning I noticed the railroad crossing barricaded with a train stopped across it. I thought that looked odd, so I looked down the track...

...there I saw the twisted wreckage of what was once a coal train.

Fortunately, no one was hurt, but a number or coal cars were totaled and a good run of track pretty badly ripped up. It's fortunate that this was a coal train rather than something carrying chemicals - we get quite a few of those coming through the city, as well.

I have to say the BNSF folk were really quick on getting out to the scene and start the cleanup, although they have a huge job ahead of them. Once they clear the track they effectively need to rebuild it.

In the 12 or so years I've lived in this town I don't ever recall a derailment within the city limits - needless to say it generated a lot of excitement among the populace. There were quite a few rubberneckers and lookie-loos along the highway that runs parallel to this section of the line :-).

If any of y'all are train buffs, I've linked the photo above to my flickr page with all the photos I took of the incident...

Happy 5th birthday, virtualoak.net!

Wow - it's hard to believe that I've been blogging on and off for five years now.

Initially, the idea was to simply create somewhere to park the web presence for the domain, as up to that point it was strictly being used for e-mail. I didn't have much to say until Intuit pissed me off with their cute little DRM stunts.

Since then, I've chimed in whenever the desire and motivation struck me, talking mostly about the music industry, video games, webcomics, and yes, even Jack Thompson. Before I knew it, five whole years have passed.

Well, here's to many more years of loitering the Tubes!

Old-time radio lives on with Internet audio dramas

Almost 20 years in the technology industry, and who would have thought I’d become an actor?

Don’t worry – I don’t plan on giving up my day job. I’ve simply found a new hobby. Recently, I’ve discovered a group of people online who share a love for audio theater in the old-time radio style. I discovered this group, Pendant Productions, while looking for Star Trek fanfiction – they produce an audio drama called Star Trek: Defiant, along with several productions based on the DC Comics universe and a number of original dramas. After listening to Defiant, I started listening to their other productions and got quickly hooked…

What does this have to do with my new hobby? Well, the last few places I’ve worked have asked me to take on additional duties over and above those of the geeky variety – namely record telephone system and voicemail greetings. My wife jokingly refers to me as the “voice of the city” since I record the greetings for the phone system at our city hall building.

I mentioned my new interest to my wife, and how I thought it was pretty cool that people were doing this for fun, simply for the love of the art. She suggested that with my voice I should do some auditions and see what comes out of it. Well, I did and got a role in an upcoming audio drama yet to be named, for now known only as “Project Muzak”. I’m looking forward to doing a few more auditions with some of their other projects.

If you are interested in checking out Pendant Productions, their dramas can be downloaded either from their website at pendantaudio.com or via iTunes if you prefer that method.

My thanks to Jeffrey Bridges, Kristen Bays, and the rest of the group at Pendant for giving me a chance and allowing me to play in their sandbox for a little while. :-)

Duke Nukem Watch: New Trailer Posted - End Times Imminent

And, lo, I beheld 3D Realms opening the sixth seal, unleashing Duke Nukem unto the Internet...

Incredibly enough, 3D Realms has finally released evidence that we may see DNF completed before the heat death of the universe sets in. The video above links to a mirror on YouTube, but links to downloadable versions are available on 3D Realms website.

Original voice actor Jon St. John returns to reprise his role as Duke as does the original theme music.

Ol' Duke is eloquent as ever... "I'm lookin' for some alien toilet to park my bricks! Who's first?"

Thanks to The Sixth Axis for mirroring this to YouTube.

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Duke Nukem Watch: Duke Nukem Forever Trailer Releasing Tomorrow

Hail to the King, baby!

In what may be a sign of the apocalypse, shacknews.com (via Digg) is reporting that a trailer for the looooooog-awaited Duke Nukem Forever will be made available. The screenshot you see above is allegedly from the trailer.

DNF, one of the most prominent examples of vaporware in the games industry, has been in development for over *10 years*.

Being a big Duke fan, I can only hope that this is true, but after so long it's difficult to get excited about it... at least yet.

Ok, 3D Realms, put your money where your mouth is. Let's see the goods. As Duke would say, "It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum... and I'm all outta gum..."


read more | digg story

Happy Holidays!

Just a quick hello to say Happy Holidays to everyone.

Between work, elections, soccer and karate for the kids, work, *more* work, etc, I've dropped out of sight for a while. I'm hoping the New Year will end up being a little less hectic.

Looks like its shaping up to be a decent winter. Usually snow doesn't stay on the ground for more than a day or two, but we've had it now for the better part of a week. Hopefully we'll have a white Christmas for once.