Joe Fearnley – uhhh, right

Yes, that’s right, I’m bringing the Sunday social back. Let’s start by having a quick review.

One by one, I’ve joined a gym and have been hitting it pretty heavy. No weight lost, but it feels good. It also feels good to be part of a “private wellness club”. Just a club to be honest. I can shower there and it even has a steam room and sauna.

I’ve been trying to learn Python. I’ve on my way. I bought a book and have been attempting the challenge. Documented here.

I’m also officially in two bands. One where we have recordings and one where we recorded three songs in a day. Life goes by fast. If you take minute, add some creativity, and try to make something happen, I guarantee you’ll feel like a better person. And for those of you who didn’t know I can play the guitar, here is a teaser for you – http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=786136928252&subj=12108490

I came across this article on digg the other day and it me got thinking about all of the movies and television shows I’ve seen in the last twenty years that included that scene where they are reviewing some sort of security tape. It usually has the investigator, partner and techie guy that can “enhance” the video or image to the investigator’s request. The funny part about it is that it’s pretty much the same scene except the newer ones might contain a touch screen. I don’t much about forensic technology today, but I think it’s safe to say that once something is pixelated, the closer you get, the worse it gets. If it does get better, your software’s probably just guessing. Regardless, capekid on digg post this video in the comments and it totally hit home with me.

Black history month in the year 2010 officially ends in fifty minutes and I have to crank this out. The United States lost today in overtime to Canada in the Olympic gold medal game. Bad! Moving on.

Black history month this year was not celebrated like I think it should have been. With that being said, I’d like to pay homage to one individual of the black community that has made me laugh from the first time I began watching movies. I grew up with the Naked Gun movies but nothing could really top Airplane!. The jive-talking scenes in that movie with Mrs. Clever being the interpreter was absolute comedic film gold. Oh, and this is pretty funny.

This all kind of started because I have been watching the A-Team reruns on hulu. It just so happened that Al actually appeared in one episode. Turns on he’s been acting a while. For what it’s worth. Happy black history month.

I am (was) in the process of creating a web application prototype that utilizes Google Maps and its API. I was in the situation where I had to reference the main map object at multiple times throughout the life of the page. So I looked up javascript singleton constructors and found this dude’s implementation to be good. So I whipped this little snippet and away I went…

Where to begin with this one. Let me preface this by saying I am a fair weather fan of metal. I went through a phase in junior high where I listened to a lot of Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot because I watched this documentary about twenty times. Then in the early 2000s I listened to Shadows Fall because I thought they were the second coming of shred. I eventually had an Iron Maiden CD in my car around this same time and I liked it. Something about British metal made me wonder what life as an estranged teenager in the early eighties was like.

Well, given all the metal and it’s exploitation in the mid to late eighties, I never liked Judas Priest. Yet that’s not the point of this post. I stumbled across this film when looking up metal documentaries. I’ve been listening to a podcast call Raised by Wolves (which is hosted by the singer of Jugheads Revenge, and if you’re in eighties punk you should tototally listen to it) and they we’re talking about Heavy Metal Parking Lot. And for those of you that have not seen this film, here is a glimpse:

Back to my search on metal documentaries. There is one named Dream Deceivers and basically is about the story of two teenagers that make a suicide pact and both shoot each other in the head. But unfortunately for James Vance, he lives. It’s a wild story that starts out with the one mother with the flowy hairdo that thinks heavy metal is the anti-christ (you know the type) that wants to blame the Judas Priest for her son taking his life (or attempting to).

As the film unfolds, you get a glimpse into two kids’ lives whose mothers not only neglects them and their signs of depression but who also have a father that believes misbehavior can be corrected by a few fists to the head. Another disturbing part is when they call the sister of one of teens to the witness stand to talk about her suicide attempts. And the whole time, James’ mother wants to blame music on the fact that she’s a bad mother. The scene where the mother and father are sitting on the couch talking about previous counseling sessions shows why these children were troubled. But, in the end, the women finds a new life with God and James loses his. Go figure.

This film isn’t just about how music can influence your life. It’s so much more than that. I think this story should be a case study in child development research. I also think anyone thinking about having a child should watch it. Some problems can’t be ignored, others can’t be cause by heavy metal.

Dream Deceivers on google video

When I graduated college and first got a job , Rachel and I moved back to the student ghetto with Jason which would put life at 2005. He had me watch more comedy than I dared to stand and the Louis C.K. stand up became my favorite. I think this special is comedic gold. I had no idea who the guy was, but by the summer of 2006 he had his own show on HBO that included Jimmy Norton and Mike Hagerty.

2009 is down and we face another year in front of us. Not only is another year gone, but a decade as well. Looking at the big picture (the decade), a lot has happened. I graduated from high school, I accomplished more with the sport of hockey than I ever will, I graduated from college, I got married…..the list goes on and on. As far as the small picture (the last year) goes
I got to say, it was pretty lackluster. I hit none of my goals and just sort of floated. But not this year.

Physical

I’ve had plans to hit a physical regiment for the last few years. Last year I was on it. Hitting the bike two times a day, eating less than ever. But then the sun comes and I fall out. But not this year. Down with beer and up with healthy living. I am as big as I have ever been in my life and its only going to get harder. I’m waking up at six tomorrow mourning for a wake up call. Which will eventually lead to a tight ass and a new look on life.

Speaking of hockey, one resolution is to start playing some puck again. I got invited to a hockey tournament in march and I’ll be damned if I can’t hack it. I still have my wooden stick, so keep your head up.

Programming

I choose to write software as a profession and if anyone out there is in this world they know its a constant struggle to stay on top of the latest technology. I think struggle is the wrong word to use because that one of the great things about it. The thing is I attempted to learn python last summer, trying to better myself, learn the whitespace coming from a C-oriented background, but fell off the train a month and a half later. I was on it, learned a little bit, and now have to get back on.

I thought for a second I would hop on the ruby/rails/merb train. That still could be. I plan to explore it as well. But for now, my plan is to learn python and write a django app before summer. Word!

Music

The last on my list for this year, accomplishment speaking, is music. I have tried for the last three years to get something going musically and its really beginning to happen. With another band in the works I’m not sure how it’s going to happen calendermattically, but I’ll figure it out.

Conclusion

2010′s going to be a fast year and I’m excited. Also, I love this apple keyboard but I hate it when I get shocks every time I sit down to use it. Oh, and I need to stop saying “That’s one way to go about it.” Please punch me if you hear me say this.