Who's a Hero Now?

An awesome launch event from Microsoft for IT Developers was held today in Dallas and I was fortunate enough to attend this event. The Heroes Happen {here} event helped launch Visual Studio 2008, Windows Server 2008, and SQL Server 2008.

The Key Note given by Jon Roskill was excellent and was themed around Dynamic IT and outlined goals that all IT departments should shoot for. Best of all the latest products from Microsoft showed how easy it could be for IT departments to reach those goals. Most IT departments spend 80% on keeping things going and 20% on creating new solutions. The Dynamic methods goal is to switch those percentages around with each other and with this selection of tools, you can reach those types of goals.

Various tracks were available to showcase the latest tools and various guests were on hand to talk about how these tools are helping them in their daily workloads. The Vendor expo had a variety of sponsors on hand to showcase some of their products and the event wrapped up with a number of free goodies for all to take home and start using.

Free SWAG

• Windows Vista Ultimate
• Visual Studio 2008 Standard
• Windows Server 2008 (1yr)
• SQL Server 2008
• Windows Mobile Dev Kit
• Microsoft Forefront (trial)
• Microsoft System Center (trial)
• and more goodies

Events like this not only inspire you, but they also put a lot of the tools in your hands to start working with. If you get a chance to attend one of the events I recommend you jump all over it and fast. You can look at some of the information online and most of these products have basic versions or demos available for download as well.

It's an HD thing

Amazing about sums it all up and interesting at the same time. Sometimes you just have to stare and take it all in and I'm talking the tiny details that come from a really nice HD picture. Only thing is not all shows are broadcasting in HD and that means you see a lot of shows in SD (Standard Definition).

Now if you don't take those shows and try to stretch them out, its not so bad. I do notice things in the area of text from SD broadcasts, they just look bad in that area. Also just because a channel is in HD, doesn't mean that they are broadcasting programs in HD all the time. In fact I've even seen some HD stuff, like the Today Show for example and their cuts to stories appear as SD. In most cases that format switches auto for you and then switches back to HD, but you still notice a difference in the quality of the picture.

HDMI is pretty much the defacto connection and we are talking about 1 cable to rule them all so to speak, sending both HD video and Audio in a single neat cable. Only thing is I'm not setup with HDMI all around, so I'll have the best picture I can to my TV via HDMI and then send my all my audio out to my stereo via digital audio. We are still going to have a great experience all around, just a few more cables.

So when you start looking at upgrades to the world of HD, keep in mind HDMI and how many connections between all your devices. Over time you'll also see more and more Channels switch over from SD to HD content. DirecTV is pretty much leading the market with the number of channels available in HD, but you could still see some stuff in SD.

Gaming in HD or at 1080p is the best and I'm enjoying this a lot on the LCD tv and my Elite Xbox 360 handles it great. Games are pretty much designed for this format and you can't go wrong with this combination. PC connections are also a nice feature in some of these HD TV sets too.

Last is the area of HD DVD or I should say Blu-Ray. I'm in no hurry, I know Blu-Ray has one, but until these drives drop way down in price, the media drops and pretty much we see SD DVD leave the market, which I don't see happening, I'll be fine with normal DVD and in fact a lot of DVD players upscale to 1080i or 1080p and look great.

Lets make a movie

That's right, its time for Script Frenzy once again, having moved up to April form June. Same as last year with only 30 days to write a movie script from scratch. I had a great time last year doing this and have decided to make a sequel to my blockbuster from last year.

No it wasn't produced or anything like that, but come on now, that is what all writers want to do, make part two of their great project. So its time for me to dust things off and wake up my characters from last year and see what adventures they can get into this time.

Last year was fun and tough at the same time, I'm hoping that I'll have it easier in April and looking forward to the break afterwards leading up to NaNoWriMo. Today is the start and if you ever thought about writing a screenplay, then why not take the plunge and join in on the fun. Take a look at Script Frenzy and just write daily.

Will You Give Your Support?

Dear Family and Friends,

This year, Edith will be participating in a very special event called the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk.

She will walk a total of 60 miles over the course of three days with thousands of other women and men. The net proceeds will support breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment through Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund.

She has agreed to raise at least $2,200 in donations and has set a personal goal of $3,000. So she needs your help. Would you please consider making a donation? Keep in mind how far she will be walking - and how hard she will need to train. You can donate online at http://www.edithowens.com/3daywalk/ or call 800.996.3DAY to donate over the phone.

According to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, more than 200,000 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and nearly 40,000 will die from the disease. That's why she is walking so far. To do something bold about breast cancer. I hope that you'll share this incredible adventure with her by supporting her in her fundraising efforts.

Thank you in advance for your generosity!

Sincerely,

Robert Owens

P.S. Ask your employer if they will double your donation through a matching gift program.

14 days til fade in...

Well my NaNoEdMo is not going well at all. Just didn't get into it like I thought I would and I think with Script Frenzy coming up fast and furious I've just held back in that respect.

I'm planning on coming back for my 2nd Script Frenzy event and I'll be using Celtx once again to do this. The product is great and I don't think I could have managed it with out the free download editor.

I pretty much could just run with it and it helped manage things for me. I've already looked at the updated version and I'm ready to create a new movie script.

After this is over, then I'll look back at editing my first NaNoWriMo over the rest of the year. Maybe I'll try NaNoEdMo next year, just depends on how things fall schedule wise. Well if you ever thought about writing a movie, then nows your chance. Next month for 30 days is Script Frenzy, its not to late and it doesn't have to be perfect, you just have to give it a try and hit the goal.

A Night at the Caucus

Well the title says it all... yes I voted as a Democrat in the 2008 Democratic Primary on March 4th in Texas. I became an Obamacan for the night & the time being and hung out with Texas Democrats. The truth be known and for the past few elections, I've pretty much voted as an Independent in a lot of the races in Texas and that doesn’t do much really around here.

Texas for the longest time has been nothing more than a Republican state, until now or at least on appearances after this Primary. Here's the situation for the Republican party and based in Texas. John McCain has wrapped up the GOP and is the guy. That being said, Republicans stayed home and didn't vote as a majority. You not going to see them come out until the actual election in Texas. So they have an attitude of its time to sit and wait.

On the other hand, the Democratic Party had huge turnouts and unlike anything in previous years. We are talking a flood of voters like you would not believe and if this was the actual election, then Texas falls to the Democrats and becomes a real shocker around these parts.

Truth be known I've been following results for sometime and listening to what is being said and watching how the candidates respond and go about campaigning. I pretty much like what I've seen in Obama and don't with Hillary, so if I can at least have a say in that and exercise my right to vote between those two, why not take that shot?

This is where its crazy, you go and actually vote and make your choice. Then you go and caucus and pretty much vote again. Yes you get to vote twice, crazy if you ask me, but you get to vote twice. After all of that is said an done, they total up votes and then decide on who get how many delegates from your precinct.

Now I'm not sure if the overwhelming turnout was solid Democrats for once and how many other Republicans came out and tried to have a say and who would go up against McCain, but it was interesting to see the whole process and be apart, as crazy as it seems. The funniest thing I heard that night was an official yelling out to everyone, "If you’re a Republican, your not suppose to be in here and need to leave!" I did see at least one person leave at that time.

The Democrats are fighting tooth and nail and will continue that. The Republicans are sitting back and waiting to see what happens. Hillary won Texas in the end, but at least I helped Obama get some Delegate votes and keep his lead in that area. I've got a lot of time between now and the actual election and it should be entertaining and educational as well.

The WorldWide Telescope

I just finished watching GBTV #0320 with Cali Lewis and she mentioned a project called the WorldWide Telescope and I was amazed at what I saw. The exciting news is this project developed by Microsoft Research will become available as a free download for Spring 2008.

Much like the features of Google Maps or Google Earth, your going to be able to travel virtually around and see some of the best images threaded together and made available from telescopes all around the world.

This is going to be a great resource tool to help educate kids of all ages, allowing them to learn more about Space and see just how small we truly are in the Universe we live in. Best of all, you can take guided tours from leading Astronomers or create your own. In addition you can take part and click on areas to access tools to provide you more resources to information on the places you visit.

To learn more take a look at the TED presentation and watch the WorldWide Telescope web site for more information as it becomes available.

Tony n' Tina's Wedding

It's always fun to see family and friends get married. Having gone to a fair share of weddings, I can say I've seen a lot of things and even photographed a lot of things. So when our cousin Tony from New York invited us to attend his wedding here in Texas, we jumped at the chance.

Truth be known, Tony n Tina have been doing this just about every night for the past 20 years, being the longest running Off Broadway hit running. The best way to describe this is My Cousin Vinny meets the Wedding Singer with a Rocky Horror Picture Show twist.

So the service was held at the Sara Ellen and Samuel Weisfeld Center in Dallas, a beautiful Church and the perfect location for a Crazy Wedding to take place. With a heavy New York wise guy feel and funny antics, your drawn in and a part of the Wedding, never knowing who all is a real guest or who might be an actor or actress.

Live 105.3, Jagger in the Mornings, Jagger Mafia made the event all possible with specially priced $10.53 tickets. After the wedding Ceremony concluded, we moved downstairs for the reception and enjoyed Pasta, Salad, Bread, Cake, Champagne, and the Cash Bar.

The family(cast) made its way around to visit everyone and party. You know how some parties can quickly get out of hand and this event had its fair share of crazy moments. Funny and a real hoot with a real wedding feel, as crazy of a wedding you can imagine. I'd recommend you being a part of this event if your ever invited and the nice part is you don't have to bring a gift and go home happy.

Here's to Tony n' Tina, may you have another wonderful 20 years of getting hitched.

First look at a working title

Well I actually went back to the last day of November 2007 and cracked open my novel. The novel that I wrote for the 2007 NaNoWriMo contest. My first time at writing something so large and creative. Actually earlier in 2007 I wrote a movie script at a total of 20,000 words, but the Novel was my primary objective for the year and reaching the 50,000 words goal.

So I began to read my story, the one I kicked around in my head and finally let out on paper, well the screen at least. I have to say I'm pleased for the most part, its not a best seller, but I'm actually liking my idea and looking forward to editing and rewrites over the next few months.

Actually I get started in about a week and get to review my first draft and make any and all changes. My end result is to polish it up more over this year and would like to actually have it printed. A very limited run of say, one copy at least.

So wish me luck and where is that red pen now. Oh my... my, inner editor, I can't remember if I even let it back out from last year. I hope its not mad at me... I'd like some help with next months NaNoEdMo.

The Spiderwick Chronicles trailer review

I guess it was this past Summer when I first saw the movie posters for the Spiderwick Chronicles and decided I wanted to read Holly Black and Tony Diterlizzi's bestselling children's book series first. In fact I had seen the titles in my Library for some time and this gave me the nudge to pick up the five books. After finishing the first book I was hooked and had to continue reading them and it’s the complete set that tells the whole story, so I absorbed them with ease and really enjoyed the story.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is now slated for a February 14th, 2008 Theatrical release and stars Freddie Highmore as twins Jared & Simon Grace. The last thing I saw Freddie in was the 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and I loved his performance of Charlie, even though I'm a bigger fan of the original movie. I missed out on seeing the Golden Compass where he does voice work for the Character Pantalaimon, but I still have that book to read and will more and likely pick up the movie on DVD when it comes out. So I'm looking forward to seeing how well he pulls off the lead role of Jared and then performs double duty as his twin brother Simon.

So last night a Preview screening was held in Dallas and I had passes to attend the event. As much as I would love to tell you what I thought of the movie at this time, I can't. Due to some crazy internet promotions, people were allowed to print out their own passes and gained access well before those of us with Official Preview Passes. So after a 45 minute drive to the northern parts of Dallas, we were left out in the lobby with our Jaws opened in shock. Out of all the free screenings I've been invited too, I had never been denied access.

So the only review I can give you at this time is from two trailers and a movie clip showing Thimbletack the house brownie, who when angered becomes a boggart and very mischievous. The longer trailer with voice over is my favorite and revealed a lot more of the movie and story. The shorter trailer is the one you see more of in promotions and gives you a general feel of the movie and story. I really loved the clip with Thimbletack and feel they did a great job in bringing the character to life for the screen. So as much as the internet defeated me in seeing the preview last night, it at least showed me a little more of the movie today.

Well, that's all I can tell you about the movie and story and it looks like I'm waiting with the rest of the fans now. Give the books a read and then go out and see the movie. Trust me, You have plenty of time to absorb these books and then take a journey into the fantasy world of the Spiderwick Chronicles.

A Giant Defeat in the end

Turn out the lights the party is over baby! Dreams do come true for those who believe. I said it early on when the Patriots were picked to go to the Super Bowl this year.

The Patriots were caught video taping deffensive signals from the Jets coaches. In the end it was more of a slap on the wrist and a fine. I hate cheaters and felt they should have paid more. I actually thought it should have been drastic and they should be out for the season. Yes I can be really hard in that area.

Not the case and so I felt they should have been forced to tell the other team every play they were about to make then. But that wouldn't fly as well and the way to make someone pay is to fine the coach, fine the team, and dock the team a first round draft pick. Whoop Di Doo!

So the Pat's keep playing and run an perfect season and don't loose a single game. They are at the end of the season and face the Wild Card team New York Giants. What a game, Pats are winning most of it, but look bad to me and then the Giants pull it off with only 35 seconds left for the Patriots to try and get it back. Sorry, justice is served at last. You get to think about how you beat everyone, were caught cheating and then denied the glory of winning the Super Bowl. LOL

Thank you New York Giants, I didn't want you to beat my Cowboys, but who better to crash the dreams than a Giant. Way to go and congrats to a great season!

Super Bowl Ads
If you missed the Ads, well head on over to MySpace.Com/Superbowlads and see what you missed. I enjoyed quite a few of these and tomorrow will be the talk around the water cooler on which Ad was a favorite. Just give some praise to the Giants while your at it.

Double Shot for your ears

Playing catch up for the podshows brings you shows number 3 & 4 for your pleasure. Number 3,
What's on my Tivo and the Boob Tube lately, I take a look at some shows I'm watching and love and have a few thoughts on them.

Number 4 is from the headlines and my thoughts on Arlington restricting adult businesses. The result is over half of them have closed up shop now. Come on fellas, you can find other things to do with your money now. Sit back and listen, from Tivo to Legs, its two for one and thanks for coming back to the Robowerks podcasts.

RSS: http://www.podshow.com/feeds/robowerks.xml

Check back for show number 5 on Lost & Cloverfield.

Time to Edit draws near

Wow, January has come an gone now and its time to start looking towards NaNoEdMo. In today's e-mail was an announcement from NaNoEdMo about the site coming online and that the forums are opening up. That gives me less than a month to work more on my World Building and prep for editing last years 50,000 word Novel I wrote.

But wait, its doesn't stop there, we are talking back to back events with the 2nd Script Frenzy kicking things off in April. The nice thing is that gives me the summer free more or less and time to look towards the 2008 NaNoWriMo event.

If all goes well and I finish NaNoEdMo, I'd like to think I'm steps closer to printing my first Novel. I'd really like to see it in a Printed state before the start of the next NaNoWriMo. So wish me well and if you ever thought about writing yourself, stop thinking about it. Do It!

Writing for a larger audience

Sounds like a dream of writing for a larger audience might come true after all for me. It's still a bit early, but a chance to write for an online community has presented itself and I'm looking to throw my hat into the ring and give it a go.

Fact is I've wanted to do something like this for sometime and no I don't plan to quit my 9 to 5 job. For starters, the new gig is not really a paying gig anyway. So I can't very well do something like that and I've never thought about making a switch in careers anyway.

No, I have a passion for writing and reading and well the only way to solve the writing itch is to just write. So I blog about various things from time to time and I'm even podcasting now. Speaking of which I'm way off schedule on the podcasts and need to get back on with some shows and quick.

Well if all goes well I'll start writing for this online community and hopefully do more along those lines. Keep checking back here for updates and my podcasts, my goal is to get three shows for each of my blogs out this week. Wow a huge 6 shows to record this week, thankfully they are short shows right now. Thank you for checking into my blogs & podcasts and being patient.

Grand Opening for Neighborhood Marketplace

ARLINGTON, Texas, Jan. 16, 2008 – The new market-style grocery store offers fresh produce, favorite brands and familiar values to our local neighborhood. Located at 5401 Park Springs Blvd. and the intersection of Green Oaks Blvd is the much needed Grocery store. As part of Wal-Mart’s commitment to the community, the store is also announcing $34,000 in grants to local organizations, schools, the new public library, and public safety agencies.

Pictured above is a very similar looking Neighborhood Marketplace and what the insides look like. It's really nice to have a store in such a close location and keeps us from driving farther and dealing with crazy traffic. The previous store was not the best of stores and we were very happy to hear that Wal-Mart had purchased the property and have waited for long time. The wait is finally over and its nice to know we can do our grocery shopping here in the neighborhood, even if its just for a quick item we are needing. Thank you Wal-Mart.

Gmail hickup for IE7 users

You've got Gmail! but you can't see it... Argghhhhh!!! What gives with this, well it appears to be some issue with Gmail and IE7 users. They are working on this and hopefully they'll have it fixed soon. Great, so what can I do until that time comes? Here is where the work around comes into the mix. One recommends that you set your browser to delete Cache every time you exit. Another asks you to switch back to the classic version of Gmail. The last is a new link and the one I decided to try first. Click the following link if you have a Gmail account and your an IE7 user.

http://mail.google.com/mail/?hist=0

In other news, it seems that Gmail has released some new features for iPhone users. Hmmm, I'm not an iPhone user... wonder if any of that could have broke my Gmail. I'm sure they'll get this sorta really quick, I'm just glad I found answer with a quick search on none other than Google.

Show number 2

It's been a week and I'm back with show number 2. It had its ups & downs and I'm hanging in there. So this week I had some minor tech problems and played Hammerlock from the Podsafe Music Network.

http://www.podshow.com/feeds/robowerks.xml

I'm not sure why, but I have tiny box on the right hand side that is suppose to display my new shpws. I'm not seeing it yet, so click the link above and paste that in your browser or Podcacher. Hang in there with me... Hopefully things will get better.

Fort Worth Stockshow

I finally made it to the Stockshow! That's right I'm 39 and I've never been... at least to the best of my knowledge. I actually work out at Will Rogers Equestrian Center for the APHA World Show ever year and I'm familiar with the grounds, but I've never made it out for the Stockshow until now.

This year I'm helping out with a Judging Contest that APHA puts on during the show. We help with about 3 contest during the duration of the show. That is what I'll be working on tomorrow.

So today I took the family out and I have to say, I'm impressed with the size of the show and how some things are done. For starters they have vendors selling food all over the place and I'm talking some pretty good smelling stuff and its not like the show I'm used to. Wow the food available! It also have a mini State Fair look and feel with all of the rides and games available. We use those areas for parking... not fun and games.

The highlight of the day was taking my girls to ride the ponies. The smiles and giggles was priceless and worth every penny I spent. So if your local and never been to the Fort Worth Stock Show, then you shouldn't wait any longer. The show has just kicked off and there is plenty to see and do.

Two out of three aint bad

Well week one is a wrap more or less. I recorded two shows today one for this site and the other is on my TXPaladin on Live site for the Xbox 360. Its fun and will take some getting use to and building a rhythm more or less to these shows.

Right now the shows are short and sweet, if you want to call them that. They come in at 10 minutes each and will remain that way until I decide to upgrade the software. I think I'll keep them always under a 30 minute show time.

I'm using a program called Cast Blaster to do the shows and for the most part these are straight and live. So I hit record and if I flub up, then that's what it would sound like live. I'm not spending time with edits and producing a bunch of stuff. I plan to gather my things and roll with it.

You can find shows listed on the right side under the robowerks heading. If you like, feel free to subscribe to the show with your Podcatcher software using the following link.

http://www.podshow.com/feeds/robowerks.xml

This weeks show features the Austin, Texas band White Trash Cowboys. I found them on the Podsafe Music Network and really liked the sound and that they were from Austin, Texas.

Looking Back at 2007

A couple of the things I'm really proud of from 2007 come in the area of my writing. The creative side in me and the desire to write more was put to the test this past year and I'm happy to say I had a blast taking part in two writing contests this past year. The first was a 20,000 word Movie Screen Play. I used ScriptFrenzy as a warm up towards my final goal of writing a 50,000 word Novel for NaNoWriMo. I'm proud to say I stuck with my goals and refused to give up.

I had a number of other goals outlined, some I met and some will have to show back up on my list of things for 2008. Continuing my writing will be on my list, as its a new passion I've released and I want to continue learning and improving in that area. One goal for sure is to polish my first novel and have it printed in a book form, so I'll spend a good portion of 2008 in edits and rewrites, my goal is to try and have the book finished and printed before the 2008 NaNoWriMo contest kicks off.

April will mark the start of the 2008 ScriptFrenzy, I'm glad this was pushed back, it was really tough to do this with my World Show duties this past summer. I don't really plan to send my scripts into anything at this stage, its more of an exercise to keep me writing and on task. Its the goals that help in this process of writing.

More on my goals for 2008 will come later in my blogs or my new podcasts that I plan to start this year. Till then I hope everyone has a Happy New Year and if you set some goals, reach for them and stick to them, it feels good when you reach them.

Listen Up!

Well it looks like I'm going... Sorry, sounds like I'm going to start podcasting shows next year. Just another adventure I keep telling myself in being apart of this huge thing called the Internet.

I've been blogging for a few years know and writing about what ever comes to mind. In fact I've got two blogs, the one hear and then my Gaming/Techie style blog. Yup, I'll actually attempt two Podcasts, one for each of the blogs.

How will it go, I have no clue really, but I plan to jump right in and just go with it. I don't want to really write out a bunch of stuff or script the shows so much, but I'll try to at least put some notes together for each show and then wing it live more or less. Disaster about to happen? Perhaps, you'll need to tune in a listen.

I hope to try and do one a week. Wow, 104 shows in 2008... I must be crazy. I actually plan on keeping them short for now. Really short... short shows at about 10 minutes only to start with. Why so short? I want to make sure I can fill that time for starters. I'd like it to be an addition to my blogs only. Plus I haven't paid for the full version of the software and I'm limited to only 10 minute shows for now. Later in the year I'll see about extending them to a full 30 minute show. Yes after I can afford the full price on the software.

There you have it... I've blogged about it and now I have to do it. I need to be careful about the things I write about and say I'm going to do. Somebody stop me if I say I'm going to go Bungie Jumping... Please somebody stop me if I ever do that. See you all later and yes, you will hear more from me soon.

Once you go Digital, You'll never go Back

There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling the transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image; make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour Starting on February 17, 2009, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind TV Networks to the Outer Limits your homes.

The count down has begun alright and our analog, over the air, TV signals are going away, only to be replaced by digital signals. To learn more about making the switch over you can visit DTVAnswers.Com and find out what is involved. But my first question was, do we need to buy a new TV and like the theme from outer limits says, "There is nothing wrong with your television set."

Actually if you have a Cable provider or Satellite service, you'll be fine and they will send the digital signals to you. The boxes you have in place should already convert the signals for what your needing. Now if you have a new HDtv, then your more and likely going to need an upgrade to get HD signals. But the fact is, you don't have to upgrade to an HDtv, if you don't want to.

Now if you get some programs using an antenna or rabbit ears as some like to call them, then your going to be in trouble and will need a converter box. The boxes are going to cost about $50 to $70 to convert the signal over to your existing TV. Ouch you say? Check out the web address above, they have links on getting a coupon for $40 off, up to two TVs, to help with the cost of making the switch. So if you shop around, then you'll be out about $10, but once again, most of us are on Cable or Satellite and fine.

Now if you want to use this as a reason to go to HDtv... well sorry, its not an option and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I'd like an HDtv in the future and its nice to know that I can get one on my terms and that I'm not forced into. They might control the signals, but I control what I'm going to buy in the end and when I buy.

Merry Techmas

Wow, talk about the ultimate in Xmas gifts this year. So I love tech toys and electronic thingies and anyone that really knows me, knows about my past as a DJ and my love of LPs. What's an LP? Do a search on wikipedia and you should find it right away. Back to my story... a cool item found this year was a USB turntable, one that allows you to hook it up to a regular stereo if you like or use the USB plug to connect it to a computer and capture the music and save as an MP3.

This is what I thought I was about to receive, when I peaked inside the box. I should have known though, I mean why would this item not be in its original box. Then I noticed the words on the turntable... Technics 1200... the top of the line in turntables, used by DJ's worldwide and it was the ultra cool black model. I was speechless and never thought I'd own one of these. My wife and my mother & father in-law gave me an awesome gift and it was only the beginning of things to come.

Actually you could say that my Zune30 really started things off. An awesome gift for my anniversary and a real surprise too, my wife is full of surprises. So I set the turntable up and pull out the old dance albums and its great to hear that music again and it feels like forever since I've played them. I've got a lot of tunes to catch up on, with three huge crates of LPs to pick through. But all of those will have to wait, it's time to head to my side of the family for Techmas.

Ever had one of those Christmases that take you totally by surprise? That is what I felt when I opened the gift from my Dad. The UB802, 8 Channel mixer was a pleasant surprise and something I had on my list as a cool item for making Podcasts with my daughter. I really wasn't expecting this at all. So I tell my Dad thanks and said, "I guess you decided to purchase something off the Internet at last?"

"Something?" was his reply, "Have you opened the big box yet?" Not only did he get me the cool mixer, but the really cool MXL 990 microphone as well. I have the perfect setup for a mini podcast studio now. Granted the turntable is huge and not something I'll carry around as easy, but the rest is perfect and I look forward to learning more about Podcasts and doing some shows with my daughter next year.

It was truly a Merry Techmas for me this year. Check back in 2008 when I launch my various Podshows and we'll see how cool the new toys perform. Til then, Happy New Year to you all.

A Wonderful Life

Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you all, well all that will accept my wishes that is. Wow 2007 has finally come and gone. We've ran from place to place and passed out gifts to the family and friends.

So as I look at everything, I can't help but feel its truly a Wonderful Life for me. I'm blessed with the best wife and two loving daughters. I'm wealthy in family relations too and couldn't ask for anything more.

Year after year I'm asked what I'd like for Christmas and I've really got everything I could ever want. It's my favorite time of the year and time with family is priceless and the best gift I could imagine.

So I'm thankful and blessed... its all I could ever want really. Merry Christmas once again and have a very Happy New Year to you all.

The Darkside of MySpace

After less than 24 hours of setting up the MySpace account I got my first message from someone and I asked my wife if Ms. J (as I'll call her) was one of her friends. My wife had sent out a blast to her friends to add me as a friend. She replied NO! and we looked to see what was sent to me. How and where Ms J's friend had found me, I have no clue. The fact remains, this is the type of thing that happens on sites like this. So I post it just as it was written for you to see. The claim is someone is using a friends MySpace account. So here goes the message from Ms J's friend.

Hey do you come here often? I really don't, but couldn't resist checking things out. I'm glad I did. I liked your profile and decided to write you. I'm looking for a nice guy to be friends with at first. Yeah, I want to take it slow. I like being single. I hope you're fine with that. If you want to know more about me, here goes. I'm easy-going, curious and smart. I love reading, watching TV and biking. I'm also darn pretty and love wearing sexy clothes.

I hope you'll want to hook up but if you do, don't reply directly to this message. I'm using my best friend's account, and I don't want her to think you're writing to her. Please use my own e-mail instead: ? at yahoo.

Bye bye and thanks!

Now Ms. J is not suppose to know what is going on. Right! Let's just jump right to it, I really don't know any women that would say, "I'm also darn pretty and love wearing sexy clothes." followed by "I hope you'll want to hook up..." and I'm happy with that and not saying I'm looking for that. I just think its plain sad... I stated I'm married in my profile. I need to go back and add proudly & very happily married, not looking for Hook ups!

Thankfully some of my wife's friends have added me and I'm starting to find a few of my own friends online. It just seems odd that someone would message like that. It's also sad to hear the stories of husbands and wives looking for so called Love here, only to stumble across each others pages. Hello, they wrote a song that applies here, "Looking For Love in all the Wrong Places."

I'd like to think this is the last message I'll get like this, but I'm afraid to say that more & likely this is not the case. My wife and I forming a joint page could be an option to stop this, but I think having our own pages is fine and I like to share stuff like this. Facebook looks better and better every day. I haven't event touched on the real issues I have with MySpace.

Back on topic... Ms. J, I'm sorry your friend is using your account without your knowledge. Now as to the friend, I'm happily married and not looking to hookup, you might think about looking for people that are single. I guess listing I'm married is not enough. Oh and one more thing, the guy Tom that e-mails first at sign up and is added to your friends is real person and the one who built MySpace. Sorry I deleted you at first, I thought you were a bot and didn't want to look like a sap who only has the bot for a friend. No hard feelings I hope.

Social Networking Thang

Everyone is doing it these days... and you can't turn around with out hearing one of the big three it seems. So I've decided to give them all try and see what its all about. My little experiment in social networking on the web or off. Over the next year I'll have my very own Facebook site to keep up with, MySpace page just like everyone and will even use the Twitter site, as best as I can, for someone to know everything I'm doing. So we'll see how well they and I do through out the year with managing and keeping them updated.

Facebook is one that I've started to see more of in the tech circle. It appears to be similar to MySpace, but I'm finding my way around and liking what I've seen so far. In the end, it comes down to friends and contacts. So I have three on that site so far and I'm still learning all the ins and outs of the site. It appears really clean, but I haven't found an easy way to tell someone how to visit my Facebook page.

MySpace, well I've got it now... my wife has told me for the longest time that I should get one and that people will look for me or I can look for people. As of now I have one friend, my wife and I looked for her. How silly this sounds as I write, I looked for my wife on MySpace. She's really not that hard to find, I know where she lives after all. The best thing I can say is the friendly URL is available. But a ton of people must use it, I couldn't even find something close to my name and had to use one of my net user names instead. Take a look at my MySpace page if you like, it will be a slow process as I learn stuff here.

That brings us to Twitter. You know I can't really think that I'm someone that needs to be tracked really. Maybe I got it all wrong, but its a mini blog of sorts and allows you to post tiny messages about things your doing and you can do this from the web or cell phone posts. With twitter you can watch others that Twit or be watched as you Twit. It's tied into my Facebook and MySpace pages already, I've even posted it to the left hand side here. Here's a direct link to my Twitter page.

That's all for now, don't forget to check out my Gaming/Tech blog as well and have fun watching me and all my friends on the Net.

Well I did it!

Well I did it! I wrote a novel... a total of 50,000 plus words to be exact and in 30 days I might add. What to do next... I need to decide on a cover for the book, find and agent, sign with a publisher and make millions in sales and the next two books.


Come on! You didn't think I was serious about all of that, right? Actually now I'm going to take a little break and then I'll crack it open and look at what I've done. It's just a rough draft, but still I'm not going to toss it away. I plan to edit, tweak, rewrite, and even add to it.

I want to finish it out as best as I can and would like to have it all wrapped up by next November and write a sequel to the story. I need to work on the 30 day's of World building exercises, before I start the rewrites too. These will be easier and only take about 20 or 30 minutes out of the day.

The whole thing was a blast and I felt great at what I accomplished. Crazy thing, now that it's over, I feel like I missing something and should be writing more. I do feel that this is the best way, at least for me to approach something like this. You write like mad and just let things flow and and then you can come back and really tweak and fine tune stuff.

Will you anything on the bookshelves, not anytime soon, perhaps a sample at some point. I'd like that, but it will be sometime next year. I'll see what things look like around January, about the time I decide to give it a read and start jotting down some notes. For now, I just want to smile and keep saying, "Dude, you just finished writing your first novel... well at least the first draft."

McD's Wi-Fi via ATT

So I'm trying to catch up on my writing for the book and we needed to Eat as well. My wife checked into Mc Donalds and their Wi-Fi and as part of our service with ATT, we are allowed to connect at their locations via Wi-Fi. Cool!

So we brought a laptop with us and I was able to connect, check on some facts and write away. All at the same time with the family. The girls had a blast running and playing and I could still get a little bit of work done. At this stage, any extra time I can get some writing done, then all the better for me.

I'm about 4079 words off and looking at a day or two of some Hard Core writing. I know with the Holidays coming up, I'll have a little time from work and will have to see what writing I can get in.

Falling behind...

I'm not real worried right now... I'm only nearing the halfway point, but I am about 2 days off on my daily word goal. If you haven't noticed the bright yellow box in the upper right of this page, then you might need to get your eyes checked out.

For those that have noticed, its my total word count so far in the NaNoWriMo contest. Each day I need to get at least 1667 words down on paper. I'm actually needing to shoot for 1725 and finishing a day early. So if you know the day of the month and a little math, you can see where I'm at and should be each day.

I fell behind this past weekend and have been doing anything I can to maintain and catch up is all. My hope is this weekend will allow me to kick some serious words out and bring me closer to where I should be. My goal is to be at 31,050 by the end of the day on Sunday. That's only 9772 words between now and then. Wish me luck now.

Wall to Wall Moto!

Finally, it's been years in the works and I finally made it to the International Motorcycle Show here in Fort Worth. It never fails, I've wanted to go and something would come up and keep me from going. This was my year, in fact the show snuck up on me, I hadn't even looked or thought about it and then with about a week or two before it arrived, I came across a post about the show being here.

It's nice to see so many bikes all in one location and you can go from Bike to Bike and sit on them to see how they feel. I'm a Sportbike kind of guy, so its odd to sit on a cruiser, but I get to at a show like this. I also know that my current ride is so much heavier than the newer bikes being made as well.

Lots of cool stuff from custom paint and mods were all on hand for the viewing. On the extreme, they had an MV Agusta F4CC, very limited all hand made, from the top to bottom. With only 100 being made and a sticker price of $120,000, which includes a jacket and watch to match. You get to see it all at a show like this.

Well with a price tag like that, it makes my BMW K1200S an affordable purchase at some point and I don't need a matching jacket and watch. At least I could sit on the BMW. I was lucky I could even touch the MV Agusta.

Hot Babe of the Day

Ok, this is not something you'll see on a regular basis here. I was helping out a buddy with his site and installing a new look and blew up the old site to make way for the new. So I was going to test out my work and he does this Hot Pic of the Day thing and I thought, Wow, its my chance to make the first pic. Little did I know, he was still near and came across the site changes and beat me to it. Now I spent some of my morning looking for a selection and as near as I can tell, this girl ranks high on the radar for many sites out there. Here's what you would have seen on the BobNewhouse.Com site if I'd been a little faster and he would have already been on the road.

Jessica Alba first showed up on my radar with a a show called Dark Angel and my buddy Bob, always told me that Buffy would take Dark Angel any day of the week.

Well I'm sorry, but I don't see Sarah Michelle Gellar on any of the lists I looked at today. Now back to Jessica, the next thing I really watched her in was Sin City and she looked good in Black & White too. I've also found out that she'll be in Sin City 2 due out around 2009.

Well enjoy the pic for those of you that stumble across the site. This will be the last time I post one of these. Take a look at BobNewhouse.Com for more Pic's of the Day if you like. Sorry Bob, you could have seen this when you first logged in. :)

Let's do this, I pledge...

I hereby pledge my intent to write a 50,000-word novel in one month's time. By invoking an absurd, month-long deadline on such an enormous undertaking, I understand that notions of "craft," "brilliance," and "competency" are to be chucked right out of the window, where they will remain, ignored until they are retrieved for the editing process. I understand that I am a talented person, capable of heroic acts of creativity, and I will give myself enough time over the course of the next month to allow my innate gifts to come to the surface, unmolested by self doubt, self-criticism, and other acts of self-bullying.

During the month ahead, I realize that I will produce clunky dialogue, cliched characters, and deeply flawed plots. I agree that all of these things will be left in my rough draft, to be corrected and/or excised at a later point. I understand my right to withhold my manuscript from all readers until I deem it completed. I also acknowledge my right as author to substantially inflate both the quality of the rough draft and the rigors of the writing process should such inflation prove useful in garnering me respect and attention, or freedom from participation in onerous household chores.

I acknowledge that the month-long, 50,000-word deadline I set for myself is absolute and unchangeable, and that any failure to meet the deadline, or any effort on my part to move the deadline once the adventure has begun, will invite well deserved mockery from friends and family. I also acknowledge that, upon successful completion of the stated noveling objective, I am entitled to a period of gleeful celebration and revelry, the duration of which may preclude me for participating fully in workplace activities for days, if not weeks, afterward.

Signed,
Robert

31st October 2007
Novel start date: 1st November 2007
Novel deadline: 30th November 2007

The Magna Carta I & II, the fork in the Novel

They are really just my Likes & Dislikes, to help point me in the right direction and they come in the form of two lists called the Magna Cartas I & II.

Chris Baty's No Plot, No Problem book introduced the twin lists as a guide and after I created them I could review the lists during next months NaNoWriMo, through out the writing process.

This is just a reminder of things I enjoy to read and things I try to avoid and in doing this, I'll try and use some of the same items from Magna Carta I and steer clear of Magana Carta II this month. So let me start off with my Magna Carta I and some of the things I like in books.

Magna Carta I (Likes)

1. Fantasy


2. Magic


3. Sci-Fi


4. Complex Characters


5. Humor


6. Witty Banter


7. Emotional situations


8. Fast paced stories


9. Lots of twists


10. Surprises

Now for the things I really don't care for in books or the types of books in general I avoid all together.

Magna Carta II (Dislikes)

1. Romance Novels


2. Westerns Novels


3. Extreme Gore


4. Sexual Violence


5. Racism or Sexism


6. Very limited to hardly any dialog at all


7. Flat & boring Characters


8. Bad Stereotypes


9. Slow paced stories

I have my general path to work on and the things I would like to try and include in my novel, as well as the things I should really avoid. I'm not saying that things on list one are always right or things on list two are always wrong. It's a choice I need to make and the things I need to remember and include or exclude. I'm sure Romance & Westerns are great, just not my kind of thing.

Things are starting to fall in place and I only have one last item to take care of. I'm sure he's watching and eager to speak his mind and try and put his twist on my story this month. I know he means well, but I'll need to sit him down and ask him for a favor and to really wait till I'm done. I'll let you know how that all goes next time... other than that, I'm ready to rock and roll this crazy thing.

Only Seven days til NaNoWriMo

I just finished reading Chris Baty's, No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days and I did this just in time, as I head into my first NaNoWriMo. Why on earth would someone think about doing such a thing? How about the high numbers of people thinking and wanting to write, only getting side tracked, stuck, and abandoning their child on the doorstep of things left unfinished.

So this exercise in creativity and sticking to a deadline, while writing a novel, is the answer to the problem. This month we will not leave our stories on the doorstep, we will push ourselves to complete the tasks, have fun along the way, and let our characters reveal the world inside and tell their stories.

Write fast and leave your Inner Editor behind, take a chance and let your characters try things and see what happens. In the end, you might be surprised at what you have and after a little break you can turn around and make changes and polish things up. Sounds like a crazy plan, but a plan for success if you ask me. With out the goals and deadlines, to many things will creep up and get in the way. Your imagination will fall into a slumber and the stories will die. Just like eating & drinking, you have to feed your stories on a regular basis and in truth its only a couple hours out of each day.

I had fun during Script Frenzy and reached the 20,000 words goal for a movie. I feel good about this project and I'm ready to take it head on. It's not about quality as much as quantity, but at the same time I think I'm capable of creating something fairly decent and look forward to completion and having something to edit afterwards.

Everything has its place

It's a good way to look at things and will hopefully help things feel right and make sense as I write my Novel next month. Were talking about the back story here. What? That's right just like it helps to have a feel of the world around us, its no different in writing a story to have an idea of the world and the characters the story will take place in.

So I came across a site with exercises to help with the creation of a fantasy world. It's a collection of 30 days and an exercise for each day. Upon completion, you should have a really firm grasp of what makes things tick in the land of your characters.

Here's my problem, I don't have 30 days here to do this. Sure, people will say our World was created in 7 days (actually 6 with a day of rest) or it was just a big bang. The exercises actually let me rest on day 30, but I still need to cram 29 exercises into 20 days or less. The world I make needs to be ready by the first of next month, I can't have it stewing and cooling off, I need to hit the ground running at the start and write. Otherwise my novel could just be a Big Bang.

If I really wanted to be impressive, I could spend a solid 7 hours and 15 minutes and have my world created all in one day. I think I'll try and shoot for 6 days and spend about an hour and 15 minutes and work on at least 5 exercises a day. Yes, this is all for fun too.

Free Your Mind

So the chorus goes... "Free your mind and the rest will follow" as sung by En Vouge on their March 24, 1992 Funky Divas album. This is the idea, more or less behind the free software download called Freemind.

It's known as Mind-mapping software and allows you to make a flow chart of your ideas for just about every project you can think of. Leonardo DaVinci pretty much developed this process to help him visually plan out things and make things easier.

I'm always a huge fan of stuff that is free an I hope to use this tool to plan my Novel out for this years NaNoWriMo event. I'm also looking at using a product called yWriter to help with the organization of my Novel as well.

NaNo Oh No!

It's almost that time, time for me to start the great novel. My first novel, the one that will sell half a million copies and become the next Harry Potter and lead me down the path way of fame and fortune.

OK, not even close to half a million copies, not the next Harry Potter and no where near a path to fame and fortune. But it will be an adventure of sorts and a challenge to say the least.

From November 1st thorough the 30th, I'll slave away and let all of my creative thoughts take shape and build a world in the form of a Novel. The goal by the end of the month, to complete the 50,000 words required to win. What do you win, absolutely nothing... just the satisfaction of reaching the goal.

It's an exercise in meeting a deadline and trying to be creative and just write your heart out. It is no where near quality, but all about quantity. It's a rough draft at best and nothing more that that. In fact its not even really meant for someones eyes to read in this stage.

To learn more, visit the NaNoWriMo web site, but they have had their share of trouble so far. I just hope they'll figure it all out before the start. I can really use the support of all the other NaNoer's out there and don't want to deal with a slow sluggish web site. Here's hoping they'll get things fixed soon and wish me luck on my latest journey, heading down the path of a Novel Writer.

2, 4, 6, 8... Who do we appreciate

So today I over heard two moms talking about something and one of them said, "do they even wear skirts any more for cheering?" The mom replied, "no its all Hoochie outfits now!" :o Just like the High School Cheerleader pictured here it's shocking and true it seems. So being the father of a young daughter, I'm happy she's not wanting to be a cheerleader... at least so far she hasn't mentioned it at this young age. I also have a younger daughter following her older sisters footsteps, talk about double trouble. The High School Cheerleaders didn't look like that when I was going to school.

This crazy sport that starts out with very young girls and costs tons of money for these Lil darlings to cheer for a small peewee football team, where they more and likely don't even know someone on the football team. When I was growing up, I didn't even see a cheer leader until Junior High School. Cheering back then was the basic chants and claps of Fire Up! Now days its more about music and dance, all spurred on by the whole Bring It On movies.

Its funny how times have changed and how the normal Barbie dolls for girls are not enough. Now you have the Bratz and Flavas giving Barbie a run for the money and forcing her to lower her standards and sexy up her image. Not to mention the shows and music videos as well, its getting harder and harder to watch or listen to anything these days.

Don't get me wrong I'll be the first to say at a professional game, the girls on the sidelines are attractive to look at and fun to watch, but I'm not sure how much they really help my team win the game. OK, they keep the crowd fired up during breaks and time outs and perhaps that helps. But do we have to start our young ladies down this road?

Who will ever see it

So it was 1967 when the Navy Barracks were built and for what ever reason, the plans turned out to be the symbol of a swastika. Whoops!
















The response was, nobody will ever notice and see it from above. They never thought about a Satellite image from above or the fact that people from all over would access these images for free over the Internet.

What most people don't know is that the symbol itself has been around for ages and represents a lot of good things. It wasn't until the Nazi party took the symbol and it would for ever be tied to the negative association here after.

The Navy is about to spend $600,000 dollars to change the layout of the Coronado, California facility in order to make sure people can't see it from above. It's ironic that it was built and perhaps nobody noticed or thought about it or perhaps it was just bad luck. Perhaps it was just bad luck the Nazi party selected the image in the first place to begin with.

It's a gamble

I was playing small and taking tiny risks is all. I like betting on red or black most of the time. I'll play odd or even and some of the other areas like 1-12 and so on. The table was a $25 to $1000 table and I had just started.

So I'd build up a bit and then lose and build up and lose. Then I started winning and managed to be up a few thousand and it was time to make my move. You got to bet big, to win big and I was going to capture my corner with my next bet.

I placed $1000 on 5-6-8-9 and it was time for the ball to make is way around. No going back from here, the deed was done. The ball drops and starts bouncing around, hip on hop all over the place and it final lands. I'm watching the wheel move around and looking for the number.

It was 8 and my loan chip was no longer lonely, paying out a nice 8-1 odds. I'd jump up an extra $8,000 to add to my wins. I was my single chance at placing a big bet, none of this $1 to $5 bets, I was playing large. All in all it was a fun night at the 911 Appreciation event and the winning chips would be converted to tickets for door prize drawings. If only I could have been lucky in that area. Better yet, I wish it was real money. Real money I could afford to risk and better yet, real money I could stand to win.

Are you ready for Football?

The league is open for business at last. Pretty much a total league overhaul with only two of us returning for years past and a whole new cast of coaches with dreams of victory and claiming the rewards.

The cost of ownership has not only gone up, but the league has set rules and fees in place to help raise money and provide higher payouts to teams that make it to the final game.

So you better hope you picked the right match, cause if you look to pick up players, its going to cost you and if you think about making a trade, better be prepared to pay for signing bonuses to the league as well. It's all about the money and love of the game.

Paladins look at another league
I've decided to look at another league this year and will see about running two teams. In the new league I've setup the ownership and will have my players drafted for me in the new league. It's not something I normally do, I like the research and be apart of the draft selection process.

This is a new league and new way of doing things is what I keep telling myself. The only thing I've really done, is provided a listing of positions I'd like for each round. It could back fire on me, in a real draft, its possible to switch if you feel a running back is not the best move and taking a wide receiver would be best. I'll see how things turn out and if I like giving up that control.

2 year milestone reached

Wow, I made it finally... I went two whole years with out drinking a soda. I'm talking about your major Soda in a can, bottle, or fountain drink... I use to drink them like water, glass after glass on a daily basis and then I decided to just give them up.

It's something I've done from time to time and my longest stretch before now was a year. Now I need to decide if I plan to do it all over again and should I just go for 3 years or do I need to double and go for 4 years. Crazy to think about not having a Soda in 4 years. They are pretty evil and something I can do with out, its just bad how wide spread they are. You know if I went to a restaurant and they treated them like Beer and made me pay for each, I know I'd drink a lot less of them.

If I decide to try and go for 3 or 4 years, I plan to start at the first of the year. Maybe it will be easy and my body will hate the taste of them. Then again, I so loved Dr Pepper, could it have changed that much?

The FFL faces possible lockout

Hard to believe that after so many years, the league might remain closed for this upcoming season. Players and team owners scramble at the last minute to come to an agreement in efforts to breathe life into the league.

At the close of last season a large portion of the clubs found their teams in a struggle to keep their teams going. Owners decided to close up and sell the teams off. Now in the closing minutes the league is faced with a deadline of restructure and finding new owners who can come in and take charge and run with things. It's a no huddle kind of situation and time is clicking away fast. It looks like hope is around the corner and we'll have to keep our eyes on the situation.

A mole, a dog, and the kids knocking next door

I'm trying to get some lunch going for the family and my wife said, "the dog is doing something in the backyard". I look up and she calls me outside to look into. She thinks the dog has a mouse.

Crazy looking thing, not what I expected to see and I'm having a hard time telling which end is the head and which is the tail. After researching more later I find out it was a mole.

If only our problem would have ended here. See we need to sweep the whole backyard and make sure its not some poisoned rodents through out the yard. That's when my wife says, "Our neighbors Trojan boxes have been thrown behind the shed".

"What?" trying to process everything, its been so long since I've seen a box of those. Then it hits me and I know what is going on. Flashback weeks to when we had the Tree guy out to give an estimate. He noticed through the fence a couple kids fooling around (during the day I remind you). I thought perhaps I should have said something at that point, but I didn't want to be the guy next door telling on everything I see.

I couldn't let this one go though, mind you at least they are being safe kids, but I don't want the open boxes, wrapper, and yes the goods dumped in my yard. My wife is disgusted, as I, but its out of our hands. The kid next door has told Dad, "it's not me, you know me Dad..." Dad has to believe him as he looks at the hickey on his sons neck. At least I was able to let the family next door know that someone has been getting in their backyard during the day to pass the time. I really feel for the kid next door, someone sure is making him look bad... Yeah RIGHT!!!!

Meerkat Manor - Family Business

So I was sitting in the theater for a free Kids movie and they brought up one of those preview pieces, a behind the scenes sort of thing. The show is Meerkat Manor and it looked cool and I decided to record it for my oldest.

Little did I know that it was a real circle of life kind of show and sad to say some of the little guys get whacked so to speak.


This show is very entertaining and educational. You really find that you want to come back and see what will happen between the Whiskers and the Commandos and which side will win the turf war.


But keep in mind that this is very real and what they do and explain to the young at heart that its how they live and survive. I think you'll be amazed at the quality of filming and how well they weave a story into or interpret the stories for the Meerkat's. The new season has just kicked off this week on Animal Planet.

From Screen writer to Novelist

Well its 3 months away and then I'll take my steps towards my next adventure so to speak. The feeling inside of me to write is hard to explain at times, but its a feeling that I'm enjoying all the same. That being said, the next upcoming contest I'll take part in is called NaNoWriMo and lasts for the whole month of November. During this time, anyone who wants to attempt to write a 50,000 word novel can take part in the free contest.

Yes I'm some what crazy, but I like to think I'm dedicated and will take this challenge head on. I'm not sure how easy this will be and I know the word count is a lot higher, but with out the constraints in formatting a Screenplay, I hope I'll do well and reach my goal.

Just like Script Frenzy, its not about quality as much as quantity in reaching the goal. It's more about being creative and just writing and letting nature take its course. It's all about creating a first draft and then at the end you can look back and edit and rewrite if you so choose. So wish me luck and I'll report back on my progress in November and at the first of December.

As for Script Frenzy, I haven't looked back at my script since I finished it. What I did was send it off to the President of the Dallas Screenwriters Association. He was nice enough to come out and speak to a group of us and reviewed the first 10 pages of our script. Here's a little bit of what he had to say and granted its only the first 10 pages, who knows what he would have thought towards the middle and end.

Hello Robert,

You've written an interesting beginning to a movie. The characters are multi-dimensional and its an interesting premise. I also thought that your basic sense of format was correct, for the most part. The free software that you used has a lot of useful features and I might recommend it to other writers who may not be ready for the industry-standard software.

I've made a few notes on the attached script, which I hope you will find more helpful than critical. Food for thought, but it's your story to do with as you wish. I'd say it's an excellent first draft for your first script. Whether you decide to continue screenwriting or not, realize that you can deliver, if you want to pursue it.

Take care, and good luck with your future writing plans.

Steve Davis
President,
Dallas Screenwriters Association

I was impressed with his feedback and I'm looking forward to next June and perhaps a sequel to my first movie script.